RESTRICTIONS [To the Editor of THE SPECTATOR.] Sio,--When I read
an article like '" Lotteries and Betting '' in your last week's issue I was startled by your assumption, shared by all politieiaas4hat this country should be run on the lines of a. girls' school, except that school-mistresses are much more intelligent than our legislators. Why should not adult citizens bet as they please and take the conse- quences ? They are allowed to overeat and play the fool in almost every respect but betting and drinking.
The idiotic laws on betting and drinking have created many vested interests which are the real obstacle to common- sense reforms. Why not sweep them away ? To stop all the police interference with individual liberty would probably save ls. in the £ income tax. This saving would encourage the citizen to work, and would thereby distract .him from betting and lotteries and all the other deleterious amuse-
[We have always maintained the right of adult citizens to bet with one another as they choose. It is the organized exploitation of betting that is the evil.—En. The Spectator].
Previous page
