The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1895-03-10

under the protection Of the public assist
ance, sticks his naked arm into the
wheel, draws out a number and gives IL
to the official who presides. He reads
the number aloud and shows it to those
present. The same method is followed
for as many numbers as the scheme al
lows, when the door of the wheel Is again
closed and sealed fast.
These are certainly long ODDS; but,
then, all lottery prizes are at long ooos.
People do not stop to consider tnat- a
man who would refuse to bet on single
number at roulette, with only thlrty-six
chances against hims on the ground that
1t would be throwing away his money,
finds his Imagination differently anected
when it is question of lottery ticket.
with thousands and thousands OF
chances against him. Whether TINS lot
terry attachment to State bonds would
influence improvident people to become
investors in our own country may pc
doubted. 1t certainly does influence the
French, nevertheless. Another curious
fact is that there are always prize WIN
ners who are never heard from. among
the "Bons de Exposition OF 1888, the
number S45, 443 won $4,000. 1t has never
been claimed. A dozen more winning
5000 a piece have never been presenteu.
The $40 bond government loan OF 1901
has an even more remarkao pie snow ~ aec
Twenty-Five numbers gaining from SS,oo0
to 5000 each have never been presented
for payment, and over five nunoreo
numbers gaining $40 each tdoubie the
original price and permanent vaiue OF
the bond) are still unclaimed
FOR RELIGION AND ART.
The only other annual expense of the
French government which may be
strange or interesting to Americans are
those of religion and art. The S,OOO,OOo
francs for art seem small when seen in
the budget, huddled between the i'm
mense costs of public instruction ana
public works. Yet 100000 francs year
is no small sum, and may be made to do
much. Imagine Congress voting $l,6oo'-
600 yearly for art. In France this year
ly expenditure makes the government
buyer of pictures and statues for the ma
tional and provincial museums, it sends
meritorious students of the government
art schools abroad to study, it supports
the art schools themselves, besides guar
anteeing the existence of the Grand
Opera and the Theater Francois. III you
should desire to see the result of this
policy, beg of you to obtain PERMISSION
to visit the collection of any rich picture
buyer in your city to whom you gain ac-
cess. You will find his walls are hung
with the work of French artists. The
hundreds of thousands of dollars whlcn
he managed to get hold OF and SEND out
of the country for the qualification OF ms
love of art where have they gone? To
France.
On the side Of religion, the annual ex-
penses of the French government, IL not
so satisfactory. are. to say the Ieast'
fully as curious. The State pays 43,o0o-
900 francs a year for religion, that being
SIS, 500, 900, quite tidy sum. Salvation is
really free in France, and that, be 1t re-
membered, under real or so-called
athesistical regime. All religions recog-
n1,,1f ty,a prot
estant and Jewish, have their priests
and ministers paid. and their church
buildings are State properly. A bishop
receives about $4,000 a year; common
parish priest rarely has more than $500,
except In the case of ministers who are
married. AS to the church buildings,
neither priest nor minister can touch ms
fuger to them for the most necessary re-
pairs. All these have to be DECIDED on
by some government functionary, VINO Is
a practical politician. good part or
the expenses of the real budget which
are credited to religion really goes, there
fore to pay these gentlemen who keep
the accounts and have the solicitude OF
all the churches.
the most chic phases of the minute finan-
ciering of the French government for the
last. In land where boys ana girls
pay toll tax it may be well imagined
that nothing that might be thought OF
.
80 900 francs only, and is usually
Jumped in the budget under the head of
direct taxation. The sum results from
certain special taxes for the profit of
the State" First comes 100000 francs
annually wrested from the dead hand,
the Mortmain of the old English law
and in actual French, Mainmorte les
biens de Mainmorte." 1t is special tax
on the real estate of corporations OF all
classes, and it is intended to approximate
the profit the State would derive from
collateral inheritance taxes. forfeitures,
legal charges for deeds, mortgages and
Wills were the real estate held by pri-
yate individuals instead of soulless cor
porations who do not die and seldom sell.
Al tax on carriages and horses brings
Is OOc 900 francs. The tax on billiard
tables brings 100000 francs. The tax on
bicycles brings 100000 francs. A mill
tary tax brings 100000. The charges
which the government makes to all
tradesmen for verifying" the correct
ness of their weights and measures add
up 5000 900. A special tax on mines
brings 5000, 900 more. and, lastly, there
comes an annual sum of 100000 francs
from the special tax on clubs and So
cieties AS will be seen, the financiering
of the French government goes on the
principle, first, that If you take care of
the pennies the dollars will take care of
themselves, and, secondly, that one
should never let a chance go by.