16 JANUARY 1926, Page 16

[To the Eclairr of the SPECTATOR.]

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SIR,—Several of your correspondents have compared the vices of gambling and drinking in their. letters on the subject of taxing . betting. Mr. Gladstone, in comparing the same vices, condemned gambling the more severely. In spite of its sensual coarseness and the evil results of which he was aware, he used to say that drinking might be compatible with a generous spirit. In gambling he could see nothing but the repulsively mean effort to get money, even a friend's, without doing any service in return.—I am, Sir, &c., C.