The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1852-06-15
The Illegally OF the American Art Uaion.
SUPERIOR COURT.


OPINION or JUDGE ROOSEVELT. ia
JUNE A.-Judge Roosevelt has given tho follow
ing opnion-concurring with that Of Judge Mitchell
on the illegality and unconstitutiOnality Of the
American Art Union
| Frst-That lottery within the meaning of the
constitution, was a " schome," by which cOntribu-
tons in money were solicited to a common fund,
composed of equal shares, to be distributed after
wards (suhiect to fixed deduction for PROFITS aud
expenses, into unequal PORTIONS called blanks and
prizes determinabie by the /" wheel Of fortune"
any other appeal to chance. Second-That an in
Vcstmeht OF the common fund, that invited and
trihuted for subseguen. unequal pirtitioa by lot,
in objects OF value ,ad OF uu,iey noueyei Sc
curites can make no difference in principle. pic
tuie, statue, splendid coach, or an deliberately
carved piece Of plate or furniture, worth thousand
dollars is, to tue eager Imagination as much IA
"Irize as purse containing hundred eagles in
gold. Tho passion tor gaming may be stimulated
as eiectually by tho prospect Of the one as OF the
other. Their mutual convertibllity is too obvious
to escape the dullest perception. great CONNER
cisl emporium all know, and especially the Keen
sighted gamestcr, can turn painting into gold,
and gold into painting, with equal, nearly equal,
facility. Tho '.woik of art" it 10 true, may, in
tho fluctuations of demand and supply, sell for less.
but II may also sell for more than the artists pti;e
and this element, therefore, being an additional
ingredient of hazard, instead of counteracting,
rather to aggravate tho virulence Of the poi
sen. What the constitution intended to prohibit
the setting up Of lotteries aud tue sale of lot
terry tickets The greater or less certainty of tho
they had any pecuniary value and any tendency to
stimulate tho gambling propensity, were circum-
stances of no account. The moral opium, IN all its
forms and degrees, was to DO excluded fron tho
social system. Watcher wrapt III tho grlccful
covering Of tho painters genius or ia the sober
nteguehts OF classic lore or in the sacred garbof
elgion herself, it was equally poison poison
subtle and seductive and 30 pcrvadingly permit
cious, as not to be entrusted to the administration
Of tho Legislature itself. ''No lottery" say
tue trainers OF the consttution-making excep-
ton L, favor Of any particular "scheme," or any
particular purpose, whether IL be an Art Union,
u College Union, or Church Union, whether
It be taste, d talont or religion no lottery
ball hereafter be authorized in this State" And
lest this inhibition upon tho Legislative power
should, as u mere negative provision be insufficient
ed, directing that the Legislature shall piss laws
to prevent the sale of all lottery tckcts(by what
power soever sanctioncd) within this State"
What, then, it may be asked, is the five dollar sub
scription to the Art Union what but the purchase
of ticket in the Art Union Lottery! Can any dis
tincton, in principle, be drawn between the corti
Bcate" delivered to the subscriber the evil
dence Of his chance in tho lottery of the Art Unon
and the ticket sold in former times to the candi
dates for fortune in the Union College scheme
The method is The same, the motive is the same,
the object is the same and the passion addressed
and relied on for success is the same; and | may
add, the 'pubc good" SO strcnuously, and no
doubt sincerely, urged, is the same. And yet, tho
Union College lotteries stopped forever
merely to be succeeded if the defendants counsel
right, by the lotteries Of the Art-Union, and
others Of kindred character. Some stress has
been LAID upon the fact, which is not denied. that
the Art Union scheme involves no blanks. Every
purchaser of ticket, it is said, is to draw a
prize. If this distinction be admissible, it
must be applied equally to moneyed lotteries,
and the managers would only have to ave-
| rage scheme of dollar prizes, at tho bot
tom to sustain system Of twentics and oven
hundreds ofthousands at the top. Absolute blanks
not essential to the idea of lottery; intentional
inequality in the distribution, be it great or small,
to be determined by chance, is all on this point that
is necessary. It is tho possibility of drawing a
splendid prize" that constitutes the temptation Of
the deuded victim; the blanks whether absolute or
comparative in his view of little or no account
But even admitting them to have some influence
it is difficult to conceive how small modicum Of
certainty, in the shape of overvalued engraving
thrown into stupendous mixture of chance, can
entirely. not partially, ncutrazo the poisonous
ture Of the compound. 1t may make the drug more
extensively seductive-and that, presume is both
its object and lis effect but does it render it less
pernicous! My conclusion is, that, purchased, rs
these paintings were, for the express purpose, the
opposed distribution Of them by lot, in unequal
portions among the holders Of tickets by way of
anks and prizes, is in every just acce; OF the
term and in every just view of the evil to be reme
died, q lottery, and such not only unauthorized,
at prohibited by law. judgment, therefore. should
| be given for the plaintiffs.