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that of 1902. The referendum was fixed for March 15, and on that day the people decided- in favor of the new tariff by a vote of 330,366 against 222,668. The day after the vote a deputy wrote us from Berne : "The protectionists have persuaded the citizens that the new tariff was a necessary measure to safeguard our exports. For my part, I do not believe it, as, for the most part, protectionism is an economic and political principle. But others voted for the tariff because Switzerald could not remain free-trade when all the states of Europe were protectionist. And you, dear economist, what did you do?" I replied : " The new tariff will increase the price of living; it will prevent strangers from taking up their residence in Switzerland; it is doubtful that it favors exportation, but it is certain that it will prevent useful importations. It is a prohibitive rather than a protective tariff. I voted against it." A. BCHAUX, " La victoire du protectionisme en Suisse," in La reformt sociale.
Betting and Gambling. If betting and gambling (which may be considered as equivalent to a series of bets) have these two elements in them : (l) the issue upon which one stakes is uncertain; (2) one backs one's opinion, stands to win or lose as one's opinion proves correct or false if these are the elements in betting, life, strife, and play may all be considered in a measure betting. The uncertainty in the great decisions of life, and the impossibility of escaping the consequences of the choice, need but to be mentioned to be seen as possessing the essentials of the bet. Likewise competition, whether in the academy, in politics, in business, or in civil service, as clearly contains the common elements mentioned above.
But it is in what we have called play that betting and gambling are most com- monly thought to be practiced, and it is in this activity, the narrower use of the term, that it is most often cried against. It is impossible to separate sport from business or business from sport in our complex systems. Stock exchanges and ball games are not purely business or purely sport. The ethical quality of betting can be judged only by estimating its effect upon character and upon society. Here, too, the result is difficult of determination. It may not be too radical to say, however, that gambling in business is not legitimate business ; it is only a parasite, it leads to no increase in utility, is anti-economic and anti-social. Again, in aiming at his own success, a man when betting for the purpose of making money is always aiming at another's failure ; and this attitude is certainly immoral. It certainly is difficult to pronounce off hand upon the morality of betting when the desire of gain is not the leading motive. But an amusement which requires an extraneous stimulus of a small stake to keep it alive is apt to tend more and more to rely on this adventitious issue, and thus to pass by insensible degrees into the "gamble," in which gain is, if not the sole, at any rate a dominating, motive. W. R. SORLEY, " Betting and Gambling," in International Journal of Ethics, July, 1903.
T. J. R.
Reform Program of German Dwellings and Settlements. A general improvement of dwellings and settlement relations is a pressing necessity for the great mass of the people of Germany, as well among the well-to-do as among the poorer classes, but especially among the latter. This necessity is not confined to those who dwell in the cities, but includes also those who dwell in the country, and not only in the case of the industries, trades, and related callings, but also those on farms, in the forests, and engaged in related activities. The reform concerns itself not only with the improvement of dwellings, but also, and principally, with the improvement of the relations of settlements. This comprehensive reform has to deal with the entire range of local questions, especially the premises of dwellings and the causes of griev- ance arising in local politics, and these not only here and there, but everywhere. It has to deal with the great manifold of misunderstandings and their causes, to apply a great mass of different rules, and presents itself to its task as to a great whole intrin- sically united, but made up of diverse parts. DR. K. V. MANGOLUT, "Ein Reform- programm fur die Wohnungs- und Ansiedlungsfrage in Deutschland," in Archiv fur soziale Gesetzgebung und Statistik, Vol. XVIII, 1903. A. D. S.
