The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1869-11-20

wiser policy, would need no nursing. Give
us free trade as fast as possble-in ships,
in ships materials, and merchandise; and
give us once more a sound currency upon
a specie basis, and American commerce will
reoain all its former supremacy. But if we
are put off with palliatives and make
shifts like the one for which Mr.. Low
pleads so well, the day when ''the mortifca-
ton of the present hour will give place to
pride like that of our fathers will be as dis
tant as ever.
THE GOVERNMENT AND THE LOTTERY
DEALERS.
From the NJ Y. Times.
There are always plenty of shiftless. impro-
vident, visionary mortals in the world to go
into any scheme which promises them fu
ture without hard work, and for small out
lay. When man has thrown away all his
real opportunities in life and finds himself
sinking with the milestone of his own folles
tied about his own neck, he hunts up lotte-
ries. dreams of lucky combinations, and
throws away his few remaining dollars in the
most hopeless attempt to win fortune that a
| rational being can commit himself to.
Lotteries are illegal in this State SO are q
good many other things which thrive among
us. 1t is illegal to carry arms, but multitudes
OF people do it, 1t is wrong to sell whisky on
| Sundays behind cigar stores but there are
| places where it is done. We believe that there
| are from five to seven hundred lottery Offices
| in New York city and Brooklyn. The Micaw-
| bers of the community make it we'll worth the
| while of the managers to carry on business
| which is not the less immoral because the Ma
tional Government gives it o sort of official
| countenance.
The headquarters of the lottery system are
| in Kentucky. The offices here represent the
main organizations in that State. They are
carried on under disSriises which would not
| impose upon a smart boy in primary school,
| Let us see how the trick is managed. Tom
| Scapegrace walks into room and sees pla-
| card stuck up informing him that gig is
| worth from IS62 to $500 SADDLE" from SS12
to S36. ''horsA' from 500 to S64O, 'day"
from S. to S.. For the gig there are sixty
numbers put into box, of which nine only
are drawn out. In order to win the said
| "gig'-or, say, $2J0-a man must name three
| numbers out of the nine--the chances against
his doing that being, of course, enormously
great. He chooses three numbers, 3, and
| Z. for example-and stakes one dollar that
these numbers will como out in the draw. If
that calculation should prove accurete, he
wins two or three hundred dollars. Of course
the practical operation of the system is this
the whole Scapegrace family keep putting
down their dollars on the lottery dealers s
counter, and seldom taking any up. They
go there again and again, just as they are
drawn to the whisky bar, or as the fly will
keep trying to walk over a spiders web. 1t
is SO much pleasanter to find fortune
than to work for it, that a lottery Office is
never likely to spread it's nets in vain for
fools.
1t will be observed that the man who in
vests in lottery does not buy lottery
ticket-that would be against the law. The
name of the article is changed just as whisky
: is sometimes sold on Sundays under the in
Of i1ar bo ar hItNyc q
: policy of numbers He has had a dream,
or his wife has dreamt that her sisters hus.
: band had dream, in which the successful
= numbers were revealed by the accommodate
a ing Fates. The believer in chance, as against
r hard work and Providence rushes off to the
a lottery Office and stakes his money on the
| combination OF numbers which the hand oi
= destiny has obligingly written out for him
= He thinks the lottery itself cannot be such
very mischievous institution or the Govern
q ment would certainly not sanction it, AnC
the lottery dealer shows him the receipt fo
v a hundred dollars special tax. This gives the
S whole concern an air of responsibility. The
- lottery office, in a certain sense, has a Gov
= ernment mark upon it. Is not that guaran
e tee of fair play? Many an ignorant man ant
# woman think So and are encouraged to go OF
e squandering the dollars of which they have
n robbed their families.
The Government is in this anomalous posi-
n tion-it recognizes and taxes that which thu
n laws of the State declare to be an immoralit!
it and an offense. 1t even helps the head man
n ayers of the lotteries. We will explain il
what way. Formerly they were very much a
= the mercy of the small dealers, scattered owe
II the country. But the astute chief manager
went to Congress and said, 'You can neve
g get on with these lottery dealers-it would b.
Q farce to tax them. Try us. We'll very sooi
Il take all the trouble off your hands, and turl
l. over to you very handsome revenue. Max
l. a regulation that no lottery dealer shall carr
J. on business unless he pays a special tax o
500, and five per cent. on his gross receipts
IS We, the managers, will give a bond for tn
e five per cent, and without the bond let NJ
y lottery Office be opened At this particula
e time the Government was much in need o
10 money and was casting about in every diree
= tion for something to tax. The managers
e bait took. The order was made-the lotter
Is dealer could no longer set up business on hi
h own account, but VAS entirely under tn
n thumb of the chief protector, who had tn
fl plunder left at his own disposal
/ The Government thus not only taxes Grim
g but encourages it-makes it plausible, and en-
10 tices the unwary to involve themselves in it
,e This is not only an impropriety, but wha
% would be worse in the eyes of strict 6nancier
s. it is an improperly which pays indiffei