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LEFT WAGER 264 WAGNER general farming and conducted a large ranch in Texas, From 1911 to 1913 he took an active part in politics and was a member of the New York Assembly from 1905 to 1910 acting as speaker from 1906 to 1910. He was elected United States Senator from New York in 1914, and was re-elected in 1920 by a majority of over 400,000. During his term in the Senate, he was chairman of the Military Committee, and had much to do with the passage of the Military Organization Bill in 1920. WAGER, in law, a promise to give money or money's worth on the happen- ing of an uncertain event. Every con- tract of insurance is in the nature of a wager, but such contracts are pei-mitted, because they serve useful purposes. Sporting wagers were enforceable at common law unless they were of an in- decent or otherwise improper character; thus, a wager on the life of Napoleon was held void, as tending to weaken patriotism and to encourage the assas- sination of a foreign sovereign. In Eng- land, by an act of 1845, all agreements by way of wagering are rendered null and void as between the parties; but the enactment does not apply to any sub- scription for a prize to be awarded to the winner in any lawful sport. Where a person employs an agent to bet for him, or to enter into transactions contrary to Leeman's act (passed to prevent gambling in shares) no action can be brought on the bet or bargain made by the agent; but if the agent pays, the principal remains liable to indemnify him. These rules apply to all wagers; but there are certain forms of agreement which are not only void but illegal. Acts were passed in 1665 and 1710 to dis- courage betting on games, and an act of 1835 provides that any security given for a gambling debt shall be void, and that money paid to the holder of such security may be recovered by action. As the loser of a bet cannot be legally compelled to pay, the debt is only what is called a debt of honor; but sporting men are usually more scrupulous in paying such debts than in the meeting the claims of their lawful creditors. By the criminal law penalties are imposed on persons who keep or use houses for betting purposes, and magistrates may authorize the police to break into such houses and arrest per- sons found therein. Persons who win money by cheating at cards, etc., are liable to be indicted for obtaining money by false pretenses; persons playing or betting in the street may be punished as rogues and vagabonds. In the law of Scotland wagers are treated as 'pacta, illicita, and debts incurred by wager are not enforced. In the United States gam- ing contracts are in most States void, and money paid or property delivered on such considerations may generally be re- covered. See Gambling. WAGES, the payment for work done or services performed; the price paid for labor; the return made or compensation paid to those employed to perfoi-m any kind of labor or service by their em- ployers; hire, pay, recompense, need. The rate of wages is determined by the ratio which the capital, for the productive use of which labor is sought, bears to the number of laborers seeking that kind of employment. When the capital increases more rapidly than the laboring popula- tion of the country, wages rise; when it increases more slowly, they fall. But in the United States and most countries, the rise of wages produces an increase in the number of marriages, and in due time, of population, with the result of ultimately causing wages again to fall. All attempts to fix wages by law are inoperative and mischievous. The effort was made, in England, in the reign of Edward III. (1350), on the part of cap- italists, after the black death, in 1346, had swept away so large a part of the population, both in Great Britain and the continent, that wages naturally and greatly rose. If, on the other hand, the capitalists were required by law to give higher wages than the natural law of supply and demand fixed, his motive for continuing to carry on his business would become less potent, or might wholly cease, and ultimate injury be done to those whom it was sought to benefit. Wages in ordinary language is retricted to the payment for mechanical or muscu- lar labor, and especially to that which is ordinarily paid for at short, stated intervals, as daily, weekly, fortnightly, etc., to workmen. Strictly speaking, how- ever, the term wages comprehends as well the pay of officers, the fees of bar- risters, medical men, etc., the salary of clerks, the stipends of clergymen, as the remuneration for mechanical labor. See Minimum Wage: Unemployment, etc. WAGNER, COSIMA, the widow of Richard Wagner. She was bom in 1841, the daughter of Liszt, the composer. She first married Hans von Biilow, a musician, and one of Richard Wagner's most intimate friends, but was divorced from Von Biilow in 1870 and married Wagner, whom she assisted greatly in his musical writing. Following his death she organized a small staff and maintained the Bayreuth Theater, where