The New Orleans Democrat. (New Orleans, La.) 1875-1876, 1876-01-05
Le1tery Swinrllhe ma TIA Suppfessiop

LettefY Swin1lihg and Its Suppfession
from the New FORK Journal OF Conanerce1
Boston is entering upon new era Of
reform. The police are energcticallJ
executing the admirable license law
i passed by the last Legislature. This
subjects the whole liquor selling bust
ness to proper surveillance and control
brings q large revenue into the treasury
and will, we confidently predict, very
perceptibly diminish ) the evil Of
drunkenness. The vices Of irtem'
perance and lottery speculation
lessness and recklessness which
make q man drunkard incline him 10
invest his money In games OF chance.
Unnerved and untitled for steady hard
work by the excessive use Of liquor, he
seeks for q sudden fortune which may
relieve him from the painful necessity
Of daily toll. Gambling, in all forms, Is
a species Of intoxication, and ministers,
like rum, to q love OF feverish excite
rnent. While the Boston police are pro
ceeding against the unlicensed liquor
vendors Of that city, and thereby break
| ing up the worst dens In their jurisdic-
| ton. 1t seems peculiarly appropriate
that they should also operate against
| the sister evil OF lottery dealing.
This has been carried on in Boston for
many years openly, in defiance Of the
laws Of tffe State. At the very time
when there was the greatest hue and
cry against the least violation of the
Maine law, and liquors could be OBJ
tained for drinking purposes only by
deception and artifice, the lottery deal
nous trade quite above board. In those
days the police used to pretend that the
laws were defective, that their right to
arrest was not clear, and that cases
could not be prosecuted to conviction.
The present police chief takes diff
ferent view Of the subject, and instead
of complaining Of what he cannot do,
does all that Is in his power and leaves
the sequel to the courts, which will I'M
doubleday sustain him. He Is arrest
ing all the lottery dealers i'm Boston.
and unless he meets with some unex-
pected interference will soon root out
the dcmoralizing business there. The
discoveries made by the detectives are
interesting. They find that the aver
age commission paid to the local deal
crs Oh sales of tickets is 25 per cent, and
that still other liberal commissions go
to the general agent I'm that city and to
the agent OF the lotteries resident in
New York.
At least fifty per cent Of all the money
taken is absorbed by the middlemcn.
the rest going the lottery headquarters
In Kentucky. II is not actually known
yet how large Tor smalD proportion of
the receipts Is returned in prizes to the
ticket buyers, but the figures taken
from the best sources Of information up
to this time indicate that not more than
one tenth OF the cash invested find its
way back TO the fools who parted with
it, The chance of drawing u small cap
it'll prize, which Ii the great feature Of
these lotteries, Is estimated at only one
out Of 1906: and this is the reward
which every gudgeon expects to get.
In one of the fairest schemes ex-
amined by the police, IL appeared that
the total sum OF $148 was all that could
be drawn by one hundred tickets (the
full number i'm the scheme), costing
from 81 to IS each. We are given ex-
ampIes of lotteries in which some
prizes are really paid to lucky ticket
holders. In others there is no pretense
Of paying anything outside Of ring,
and the robbery thereby committed Is |
pure and simple. These yillainous con
Germs are patronized almost exclusively |
by the poor, and their Offices are stu
ated among the tenement houses
or in the shabbier business quar-
otISs WuIIt tuty ui5 du tFtI DIe5- |
ent temptation TO the ignorance
md poverty which there abound |
At the best, the money paid for lot
Iery tickets is so much robbed from
wives and children while,
Ut the worst, IL is money gained by
crime. The proceeds Of burglaries and
petty thefts find their way into the till
If the lottery swindler; and one of the
greatest hopes OF criminals is to draw q
prize by which they may be relieved
rom work" for their last provided
uck serves them In the next lottery
drawing but as luck stands by no one
except the proprietors and abetters of
he fraud, the poor thief is never free
rom the fatal necessity Of committing
me crime more. Lotteries are feeders
# crime and for that reason, il not be-
,ause they are misrepresentation and
lelusions, and tend directly TO foster
dleness and dissipation In communi-
y, they should be- crushed out with an
ron hand.