FREE BOOKS

Author's List




PREV.   NEXT  
|<   109   110   111   112   113   114   115   116   117   118   119   120   121   122   123   124   >>  
ng?" "Certainly, sir, but between possibility and reality is all the region of the infinite. Indeed, I may say that it would be a great piece of good fortune if the Crown were to lose largely on the first drawing." "A piece of bad fortune, you mean, surely?" "A bad fortune to be desired. You know that all the insurance companies are rich. I will undertake to prove before all the mathematicians in Europe that the king is bound to gain one in five in this lottery. That is the secret. You will confess that the reason ought to yield to a mathematical proof?" "Yes, of course; but how is it that the Castelletto cannot guarantee the Crown a certain gain?" "Neither the Castelletto nor anybody in the world can guarantee absolutely that the king shall always win. What guarantees us against any suspicion of sharp practice is the drawing once a month, as then the public is sure that the holder of the lottery may lose." "Will you be good enough to express your sentiments on the subject before the council?" "I will do so with much pleasure." "You will answer all objections?" "I think I can promise as much." "Will you give me your plan?" "Not before it is accepted, and I am guaranteed a reasonable profit." "But your plan may possibly be the same as the one before us." "I think not. I see M. de Calsabigi for the first time, and as he has not shewn me his scheme, and I have not communicated mine to him, it is improbable, not to say impossible, that we should agree in all respects. Besides, in my plan I clearly shew how much profit the Crown ought to get per annum." "It might, therefore, be formed by a company who would pay the Crown a fixed sum?" "I think not." "Why?" "For this reason. The only thing which would make the lottery pay, would be an irresistible current of public opinion in its favour. I should not care to have anything to do with it in the service of a company, who, thinking to increase their profits, might extend their operations--a course which would entail certain loss." "I don't see how." "In a thousand ways which I will explain to you another time, and which I am sure you can guess for yourself. In short, if I am to have any voice in the matter, it must be a Government lottery or nothing." "M. de Calsabigi thinks so, too." "I am delighted to hear it, but not at all surprised; for, thinking on the same lines, we are bound to arrive at the same results." "Have you anyb
PREV.   NEXT  
|<   109   110   111   112   113   114   115   116   117   118   119   120   121   122   123   124   >>  



Top keywords:
lottery
 

fortune

 

Castelletto

 
guarantee
 

public

 

company

 

thinking

 

profit

 

reason

 

Calsabigi


drawing

 
possibility
 

Besides

 
opinion
 
current
 

irresistible

 

reality

 

formed

 

Indeed

 

infinite


favour

 

region

 

service

 

thinks

 

Government

 
matter
 

delighted

 

results

 

arrive

 

surprised


profits

 

extend

 
operations
 

increase

 

respects

 

entail

 

explain

 

thousand

 

Certainly

 

communicated


practice
 
suspicion
 

guarantees

 

Europe

 

express

 
undertake
 

holder

 
mathematicians
 
secret
 

mathematical