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agreements while they were in force than had been the case previously. The undiplomatic way in which the Democrats cancelled those agreements caused a good deal of ill-feeling on the part of the nations concerned; and, as a result, Austria, Germany, and some other countries began to discriminate against the United States, and have kept up that practice more or less ever since.

The United States has apparently made a mistake in putting coffee and some other things on the free list instead of using them for reciprocity purposes. This applies particularly to South America. Of its products imported into the United States ninety-two per cent are admitted free of duty. But of the United States exports to the countries of South America we pay duty on all. We furnish to those countries fifteen per cent of their imports and purchase of them thirty per cent of their exports; showing in their case that buying from a country does not result in return sales. In ten years we sold to the countries south of us $904,000,000, while we bought of them $2,135,000,000. In thirty years we purchased of Brazil $1,500,000,000 worth of her products, and sold to her only about $250,000,000 worth of our products, which compelled us to pay the enormous sum of $1,250,000,000 in gold or its equivalent to settle the balance of trade. Nearly every cent of that sum has gone into the pockets of European merchants and manufacturers. The exchange alone charged by the London bankers on this business, as reported by a congressional committee, aggregated at least $10,000,000, and we paid to owners of English ships $30,000,000 in the same transaction. And yet Brazil to-day discriminates against us. She charges a higher duty on flour, for instance, when it comes from the United States than when it comes from the Argentine Republic. She does this in return for a reduction of duties by the Argentine Republic on Brazilian coffee, whereas we admit that coffee free of duty, and in the last fiscal year imported from Brazil $70,643,347 in value of her products, while the Argentine Republic did not take $4,000,000 worth. This illustrates how the United States has thrown away opportunities for reciprocal trade by putting an article like coffee on the free list, and then submitting to unjust discrimination on the part of such a country as Brazil, from which we import nearly six times as much as we export to her.

One great obstacle in the way of the extension of our commerce is our lack of steamship facilities. Much of our trade with South America is done by way of Europe. The United States has not a single line of steamships running to the River Plate, although, as the United States

Minister at Buenos Ayres reports, there are "numberless lines of European steamships running to and from the River Plate." He relates how trade has to be carried on with the United States by way of Europe, and shows how impossible it is for it to grow much under such conditions. And the River Plate is not alone in this respect. Without direct and frequent steamship communication trade cannot be successfully conducted with any country; and as long as we continue to depend on foreigners to do our n-carrying trade, our exports to South America and many other untries will remain of comparatively small importance, and reciprocity treaties will not help us much.

E. J. GIBSON.

LICENSED GAMBLING IN BELGIUM.

Not long ago the well-beloved son thy and influential citizen of Belgium lost a fortune in one of the gambling establishments that flourish so vigorously in that country under the protection of the laws of the kingdom. This young man's experience at the gaming tables was by no means exceptional. A like misfortune had overtaken many young men before him, and it has overtaken many since; but in this particular instance it appears to have had the effect of arousing the righteous indignation of a resourceful father, who is popularly credited with having caused the introduction of an anti-gambling bill into the Belgium Parliament. This bill divided the attention of that legislative body, at its late session, with a radical measure for the extension of the popular suffrage throughout the kingdom, proposals for the reorganization of the army, and the Congo bill, definitely assigning to Belgium a place among the colonizing nations of Europe.

The agitation awakened by this movement possesses a peculiar interest and significance, by reason of the fact that Belgium may now be said to be the only important country in Europe where gambling organizations flourish practically by the authority of the general Government, and where gaming clubs are conducted under the direct surveillance of representatives of the governments of those cities where such establishments exist. To be sure, Monaco furnishes a conspicuous exception to this statement; but inasmuch as that little principality ranks as the personal perquisite of its reigning prince, who conducts the affairs of his miniature realm to suit his own inclinations, regardless of the wishes of his subjects, it is scarcely necessary to consider Monte Carlo in this reckoning. It is likewise a notorious fact that gambling, in one form or another, and on a more or less extensive scale, is carried on under distinguished patronage in nearly all the great capitals of Europe, where gambling scandals, affecting the character and reputation of people high in social, political, and military station, frequently challenge the attention of the authorities. In nearly all the continental watering-places there are cercles in the casinos where roulette, baccarat, and petits che

vaux are played, on a comparatively small scale, without any pretence of official interference. Outside of Belgium and Monaco, however, these and other games of chance are played in defiance of law, and only where the local authorities choose to wink at them.

Under existing conditions in Belgium, authority is given to the communal governments of Ostende, Spa, and certain other municipalities to permit games of chance to be played within their jurisdiction, under such regulation, and in consideration of such pecuniary compensation, as they may severally prescribe. For the purpose of illustrating the practical operation of this privilege and the extent to which advantage is taken of it, it will be sufficient to describe its application to Ostende, the great cosmopolitan watering-place on the Belgian coast, which attracts tens of thousands of outside visitors during the summer season, and provides very much the same sort of entertainment in summer as Monte Carlo does during the other seasons of the year.

Ostende is within less than six hours' journey from the great capitals of London, Paris, and Brussels, and with its refreshingly cool and invigorating sea-breezes, and extensive hotel accommodations, it incidentally offers peculiarly strong and easily accessible attractions to the vast throngs of gay and festive dwellers in the leading European capitals, who crave more pungent and lively recreation than is afforded them at the more quiet and conventional summer resorts. All the countries of Europe, as well as North and South America, are numerously and conspicuously represented at Ostende during the summer season; and no effort is spared by the local authorities to provide the kind of dissipation these representatives of cosmopolis seek. The daily routine is at once brilliant, giddy, and gorgeous; and the spectacle presented during a pleasant summer afternoon or evening on the magnificent terra-cotta promenade, which stretches for more than three miles along this section of the coast of the North Sea, is unrivalled for color, vivacity, and brilliancy. On the outer side of the promenade is the beautiful beach, thronged with rollicking bathers and little children with their nurses, playing in the sand, and on the inner side is a long row of hotels, restaurants, and private villas, with picturesque and imposing façades heightening the effect of the panorama. Looming high above the rest, on an abrupt promontory, is the royal chalet where King Leopold enjoys the summer sea-breezes when he is not yachting up and down the adjacent main. There is no lack of popular diversions provided for all sorts of tastes, and they achieve their obvious purpose of attracting all sorts of people.

The central feature of the fine array of architecture on the sea front is the Kursaal, wherein music, theatrical performances, and dancing and lounging accommodations are provided for those who pay a modest price for admission thereto. This Kursaal was erected and is owned and conducted by the city, as is the gambling hall, which is practically under the same roof. The gambling establishment is nominally controlled and managed by a single individual, who is understood to have a number of Berlin bankers as his silent partners. In payment for the exclusive privilege of carrying on the gambling business under municipal surveillance, this man pays to the municipality of Ostende 2,500,000 francs annually. The latest concession was granted two years ago on somewhat higher terms than those obtained under the previous grants, and it has two years yet to run, unless it is sooner terminated by the enactment of the proposed law prohibiting the making of contracts for such purposes, and cancelling all those now in existence. During the four years covered by the present concession, therefore, the amount of money which the management of the gaming tables has agreed to pay to the city of Ostende is 10,000,000 francs.

The annual budget of the city, for defraying all current municipal expenditures, according to the figures set forth in the latest official documents, is only about 2,000,000 francs, so that the revenue derived from this gambling concession is more than sufficient to meet all the expenses of conducting the city's affairs. As a matter of fact, however, only about one-fifth of the revenue thus derived, or 500,000 francs, is annually devoted to the defraying of the current expenses of the municipality. The balance required for the municipal budget is obtained from the very large revenues received from the baths, the Kursaal proper, and the other institutions that have been established by the city at the expense of the gambling establishment for the special accommodation of summer visitors. With these constantly increasing sources of revenue to rely upon, not only are the tax-payers of Ostende practically relieved of nearly all the burdens of local taxation for carrying on their government, but they have the satisfaction of realizing that they have also a large annual balance to the good for permanent improvements, the cost of which comes out of the pockets of others than those whom they directly benefit. In addition to the 500,000 francs annually deducted from the proceeds of the gambling concession, about 200,000 francs of this fund are devoted to certain forms of charity, leaving about 1,800,000 francs of the annual gambling revenue for what may be termed a public improvement fund.

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