Sweeps' End

In the summer of 1930, two Irishmen of the Old Sod--a bookmaker and a politician--put their heads together and figured out a scheme. They would run a lottery on an English horse race, ask the Irish Free State to sanction it, give a fat chunk of the proceeds to impoverished Irish hospitals. R. J. Duggan, the bookmaker, had experience: he had run sweepstakes before. Joseph McGrath, the politician, had a flock of friends: he had been Minister of Labor under President Griffith. With the Bail's consent, Duggan & McGrath formed the Irish Hospitals' Trust, Ltd.

In their first lottery--on the 1930 Manchester Handicap--Duggan & McGrath, to their surprise and delight, collected -L-658,358 ($3,300,000). In their second sowing, on the 1931 Grand National, they reaped -L-1,188,000.

By 1934, the Irish Hospitals Sweepstakes had overshadowed all the world's lotteries. Thanks to its smart publicity men, Jack O'Sheehan and Jim O'Farrell, it brought more fame to Ireland than Guinness' Stout. The Sweeps' huge Drum (ticket-mixing machine) standing in Dublin's Plaza Hall became Eire's No. 1 sightseeing attraction for tourists. The Draw, held thrice a year (on the Grand National, Derby and Cesarewitch)--with Eire's prettiest nurses picking tickets out of the Drum's 24 portholes--was a national shindig. Irish hospitals were run as though Rockefeller-endowed.

One of the nation's most important industries, the firm employed 3,000 office workers (swelled to 5,000 during sweeps-time), had the largest payroll of any firm in Eire with the exception of Guinness Brewery. In ten years Irish Hospitals' Trust, Ltd. had collected -L-60,870,000 (more than half of it in U. S. dollars), had donated -L-14,000,000 to Eire's hospitals, had given the Irish Free State some -L-200,000 a year in taxes.

Last week, Irish Hospitals' Trust, Ltd. served dismissal notices to its employes, announced voluntary liquidation. Reason: the war had thrown a monkey wrench into its sensitive international sales organization and the take is too small. For last fortnight's Sweeps on the Grand National, only -L-224,500 was collected. In Dublin, rumor had it that Promoter McGrath (Duggan is dead) will soon organize a new company--to establish an Irish Monte Carlo, known as Killarney.

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