Evening star., 1942-02-08
In Local Bridge Circles
By Frank B. Lord

February is blood bank month for
Washington bridge players. In
nearly all of the clubs of organized
bridge one game will be played this
month for the benefit of the blood
bank fund of the Children's Hospi-
tai. the entire gross proceeds going
to that purpose, with no deductions
for expense.
The movement started two years
ago and so far as the bridge players
are concerned has been in general
charge of 1t. Comdr. w. A. Corley,
acting with representatives of the
various American Legion posts. 1t
is one of their charity undertakings.
A tidy sum has been raised for the
purpose and it will be bigger this
year than heretofore because Of the
large number of clubs and increased
membership participating.
The Federal Bridge Leagues game
will be played at the Wardman Park
Hotel next Tuesday night and
membership restrictions will be
waived so that any player desirous of
helping the fund may take part. The
Washington Bridge Leagues blood
bank game will be played at the
Shoreham on February l8. President
Hamlin is putting forth a strong
effort to make 1t the largest In the
history of the organization. He is
striving to have so tables and the fee
has been raised to 81 per person,
which will mean a total Of s240 for
the fund.
The Women's Auxiliary was the
first to start this year with the
benefit. There were 10 tables in
play at the home of Mrs. D. E.
Stephan, 1885 Euclid street. The
North and South winners we're Mrs.
Mary Goodstein and Mrs. NJ Mayer;
East and West were Mrs. Frederick
Eberson and Charles A. Lyons. The
Army and Navy Club and similar
organizations have also scheduled
benefit games.
Evidence that bridge playing is
growing in popularity despite the
war is shown in the report of the
Internal Revenue Bureau. During
the calendar year of 1910 the bu-
reau collected s4,465 900 from the tax
on playing cards. while in the CAL
endar year of 1941 the amount so
obtained was s6,086 900. This is an
increase of more than 81 800, 900.
Prior to october /, 194l, the i'm
pose upon playing cards was 10
cents a deck. On that date the
tax was increased to II cents a
deck and it is now 13 cents. A part
of the increased revenue from this
source is due to that fact, but only
a comparatively small part. On the
basis of 10 cents deck the in
crease in revenue was approximately
81 SOC, 900. which represents an in
creased sale of several million decks
of cards. OF course, not all OF them
were sold for bridge playing, but a
very substantial portion Of them
were SO sold.
The excise on playing cards Is
one Of the many so-called nuisance
taxes which in the aggregate pro-
duce many millions of revenue. The
Increased revenue from playing cards
has been realized despite the fact
that the law refuses to make any
distinction In its tax upon different
grades of cards. Those that retail
for $3.50 a deck pay the same tax as
those which sell for IS and so cents
q deck. Thus far the manufacturers
have practically absorbed the tax, for
there has been no advance in the
selling price of most Of the grades.
The duplicate game at the Ma
tional Press Club on Monday night
was played in competition with a
popular moving picture production
which was being shown at the same
time In the club auditorium. Not
withstanding the game proved in
teresting, especially because of the
photo finish by which the winning
pair achieved their victory. The
leaders were punched up to the last
board; in fact, DR.. N. j. McHugh
and Mrs. Paul E. Golden were tied
on match points with Mrs. Oliver
Hoyem and Mrs. Jack Bennett. To
break the tie 1t was necessary to
compute the cumulative scores,
which gave the advantage to DR..
McHugh and Mrs. Golden by very
marrow margin. They gained this
margin for the reason that on one