If the strongest Ministry that ever took office attempted
to make betting a criminal offence, they would be turned out in a month.
Betting is now not a casual amusement, but a serious national pursuit.
The perfect honesty with which payments are made by agents is amazing.
A man who bets on commission for others may have L100,000 to lay out on
a race; every farthing is accounted for, and dishonesty among the higher
grades of the betting brotherhood is practically unknown. It is this
rigid observance of the point of honour that tempts people like our gang
in The Chequers bar to risk their shillings; they know that if they make
a right guess their payment is safe. The statesman who called the turf
"a vast instrument of national demoralization" was quite right, and if
he could have lived to take a tour round the country in this year of
grace he would have seen the flower of his nation given over to mean
frivolity.
Jerry has tutored me in racing matters. He has not a thought that is not
derived from the columns of the sporting prints, and his life is passed
mainly in searching like a staunch terrier for "certainties.
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