THE JOYS OF BOOKMAKING
Sra,—In his powerful and courageous indictment of our excessive con- centration upon sport of every kind at this critical hour in our history, Mr. G. A. Riding asks whether we can any longer afford to waste so much time, energy and man-power on such a lavish scale. I think I can throw a little light upon one dark corner of this surprising scene, namely that of betting on horse-racing. Travelling-one day by train during the summer, I got into conversation with a bookmaker and four of his paid assistants, who were going from one race-meeting to another. He told me that he had never worked in his life and that he lived by his wits. During the war he avoided national service by always keeping on the move. He got the lour men out of the pits to watch horses for him. He said he was just out to make money for himself and that it was pure greed on his part. He said, moreover, that he was very happy. According to his own very frank account he was simply living on the community and contributing nothing to it. One wonders how much valuable man- power is being wasted in this kind of way during these days of economic crisis. With regard to the whole business of sport, can nothing be done to get things into a better perspective?—I am, yours truly,
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