The morning star and Catholic messenger. [volume] (New Orleans [La.]) 1868-1881, 1874-05-17
! me worst Kind q oanbling.

=
The ssPabHe Library Of Kentucky "
whatever that ID, may have some claims on
the confidence and support of the people
of that State. We know nothing of its
history and character; but we do know
reputable course to raise money for it.
public library fails of the great end Of
making mankind wiser and better if Il
panders to the vice of gambling. Ths
conductors of the "Public Library of
Kentucky" are guilty of this wrong on a
schemes" in aid of their institution.
receiving for the sale of tickets millions Of
dollars, and now announce a fifth, which
may, for aught we know, be folio we'd by
sixth, a seventh and 30 on. While the lot
terry business pays the promoters as we'll az
it does in this instance, they must be very
deficient in ingenuity if they do not dis.
cover reasons or excuses for another-and
still another" positively the last Gift
concert" The crop of fools, always large.
is uncommonly fiourishing this year. Stock.
gambling is very weak-minded pursuit;
players at faro are not overburdened with
brains but the simpletons who throw
prodigies of intellect compared with the
people who invest in lotteries of the
"Public Library of Kentucky
In Stock gambling the chances of profit
or loss may be said to be even, except that
the commissions, interest, and other ex.
penses of doing the business, steadily run
against the gambler, and are morally sure
to ruin him at last. At faro, if the game ia
honesty conducted, the chances in favor of
the banks, arising out of I" splits" are said
not to exceed ten per cent; but this ia
enough, if the game is lively, to enable the
banker to rent an elegantly furnished house
and supply his customers with the choicest
froa sc
and become rich besides. 1t is matter of
mathematical demonstration that a man
playing against a faro bank, whatever his
capital and whatever his luck at times, is
certain to be cleaned out of his last dollar
if he goes often enough to the green cloth.
And this, too, on the assumption that the
banker plays square game. Now let us
lottery of Kentucky. For the last (the
fourth) drawing there were sold $4,000
tickets at $50 each, making the total of
money received $2,250, 600. The prizes
distributed amount to only 81 ,125 900, or
half the money taken in, proportion alto
gether COO small for lottery which puts on
the pretensions of fairness and liberality
affected by this one. The total of prizes
awarded should be at least three fourths Of
the gross receipts, and then would leave
handsome balance for the institution to be
benefited. The number of prices an
nounced to be distributed is IL 900, but
ii 600 are for only $37 so each, and the
other Thousand represent various sums up
to the capital prize of $2S7 500. The
chance of drawing any prize in the lottery
was one to four, and the probable ties were
very great that the prize drawn would be
actually less than the sum put in ! In other
words, man invests $50 in order that he
four to draw $37 so. His chances of draw
ing one of the considerable prizes are, on
the whole, less than the chances of his
being struck by lightning. Not one OF the
people who bought a whole or fractional
ticket in the Kentucky lottery dreams of
derbolt but all of them were silly enough
to count on the strong likelihood of draw
ing the capital prize. Of such poor stuff
are gamblers made! These lotteries are
especially detestable when they fleece the
public under the guise of doing a benevo-
lent work.
Men and women who might object to the
Havana lottery, pure and simple, allow
themselves to be fooled into subscribing for
"gift concert" which is but the sneaking
name for the worst kind of lottery, when it
is proposed to devote any part Of the pro-
ceeds to an object nominally public-spirited
or charitable. Tue Kentucky schenes attack
generous minded but thoughtless persons
on their weak side, and are far more dan
gerous to public more than the unadulter-
ated gambling concerns, which do not
affect to appeal to anything but the most
sordid avarice. We have little pity for
the fools who part with their money in
gambling ventures; and it is only waste Of
words, ordinarily, to try to save them from
their folly; but we take the pains to point
out the deiusions of the Kentucky lotteries
for the benefit of those who may be deceived
into the belief that these schemes differ 10
any thing from vulgar gambling. They do
not, except that the probabilities of getting
ones money back are much less than IN
most schemes of chance. The law should
be enforced against the selling or advertis
ing of these lotteries in New -York.-Joar-
nal Of Commerce.
PROGRESS. -Amidst the general dullneSs
which envelops city, it is pleasant to see sign