Purity

After August 1, "no games are permitted which savor, either openly or secretly, of gambling," in Italy.

It is not known whether the national lotteries, which bring the Italian Government an annual income of 329,000,000 lire, will be abolished by this Draconian Decree. It is not considered likely.

It is hoped that the Government will devote its energies to suppressing the most annoying gambling evil in the Peninsula, the morra. In this game, two persons wave their hands simultaneously, while a crowd of surrounding gamblers guess, in chorus, at the total number of fingers exposed by the principal players. When twenty lusty Italian workmen shout "Uno! Sei! Tre! Dieci!" at the top of their lungs at the same moment, one can surmise the motives which induced the Government to pass the antigambling law. At the same time, one appreciates how from the morra grew the equally dreaded Camorra, or Black Hand.