The daily phoenix. [volume] (Columbia, S.C.) 1865-1878, 1867-05-23
The CharItebie Lottery schemes.

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time % tinte, of the various "gift
enterprises, 'sthe 'icharitable pfesent-
alton project;" &c.-all Of which are
unmistakable lottery schcmesfin vic.
lation Of the laws Of most of tho
States, and more for individual ag-
grapdizement than anything else
these things, continue to be auda-
ciously put forth for public allure
.ment. 1t is evident that nothing
short Of the direct and vigorous ac-
tlon OF the Ian, brought to bear i'm
mediatcly upon the managers of these
enterprises, is to prove effective in
saving the community from their
mischiefs and their decentralization.
1t is gratifying to see, therefore. that
Attorney-Gencral Brewster, of Penn
sylvania, has officially given his OPT
Mon and taken prompt action against
scheme, ostensibly i'll behalf Of a
Gettysburg Asylum for Invalid Sol
diers, q bill for which wns lately put
through the Legislature of that State.
The act, in addition to its pretended
object, was designed to legalize MI
extensive lottery system in Ponnsyl-
vania for period of twenty years,
under cover of phrascology authoriz-
ing the corporation created to hold
fairs and acquire property, real and
personal, and to dispose Of the same
at such times, in such places and
upon such terms as the corporation
should src fit. 1t is asserted that the
names of several respectable general
officers, including that of Maj. Gen.
Meade, were used as corporators,
without their knowledge of the real
character OF the concern, and it was
not until the proceedings of n pre-
tended meeting of the corporation
lat which only two were presently
lately became known. that the expo
sure took place. At the meeting in
question, the principal business trans
acted was the election Of n number of
the leading lottery men in the conn
try, including some in New York and
Maryland, it is said, rs members of
tho corporation, and the wholesale
transfer to them of oil the powers
and authorities supposed to have been
conferred upon the corporation. Out
of S12, 600, 900, which, in time, the
lottery would have brought in, only
about $500, 600 were to be doled ont
to the ostensible asylum fund, and
there WAS at first sight what appear
ed to be liberal donation of $40, 600
Mt once to the State. Such was the
scheme, but it has been nipped il
the bud. This ought to be a lesson
i'll regard to all these great pretended
charity undertakings, where prize
schemes. tickets and drawings figure,
whether they be in the North OF the
South; whether they be for q "Get-
tysburg Asylum for Invalid Soldiers, ~
or n Southern Orphans Home" 1t
is true, that in some minor local
projects, undertaken occasionally by
parties well known among those
whose patronage s..sought, everything
may be fairly done, and the proceeds
secured to worthy object; but even
then the effect is pernicious in fos.
tering a spirit of gambling. Gene.
rally, however, the public must lie
largely ficeccd in such TRANSACTIONS
for, even snpposing the projected
charities should ever be entered upon,
the danger is that only n minor por.
ton Of the moneys received will he
thus applied. Immense profits, as
shown i'll this PENNSYLVANIA charter,
would accrue to the managers
and where these things are without
charters, any pretense of expenses,
commissions, costiless If worthless
articles, &C., may be put forward :u
absorbing the moneys of those who
are duped, through either feeling
of charity or n love Of gain, into
taking ventures i'll them. Where any
projects of this sort are made to hniI
from Baltimore, the we'll known fact
that all lotteries and devices in
evasion of them are unlawful in the
State OF Maryland, ought to be q
sufficient admonition to the distant
public. But, if all is true that VIC
hear, it has not been. If charter
is granted by the Virginia Legisla.
ture to an association to build an
asylum for soldiers orphans in that
State, it certainly does not authorize
the running Of n lottery in any shape,
as grand charitable entertainment
or otherwise, in Maryland. We had
one example of this sort of thing in
our city few months ago, when an
individual, on the pretense of an in
tended gift Of $4,000 for the benefit
of the poor, ran off his $4,000 gift
scheme very successfully to himself,
by a distribution of cheap jewelry
and still cheaper engrnvings mostly,
q al ,l,. sd i ~