The New Orleans daily Democrat. [volume] (New Orleans, La.) 1877-1880, 1878-02-12
THE LOUISIANA LOTTERY.

monstrous monopolya-the Louisiana Stat.
Lottery Company-sh awaken the peopl
to correct knowledge Of that institution,
great benefit will hive been conferred.
It is not difficult to make manifest the evil
of such an institution; but the moro serious
question romans: How shall the institution
be BOT rid Of?
TO answer that is the object Of this article
Let it be granted that the charter of thu
| Lottery Company is In harmony with TIN
constitution Of the State and the spirit of o,il
political and social polity; and that all lega
requisites were observed by tho company al
its organization for business In short, let II
be granted that. unless it has violated It's
charter. in letter and spirit, since that charter
| vase granted; it exists. by virtue of it's char
| tered rights, US firmly as any corporation In
| the State.
II, however, from its first act as body cor.
porate it ignored and violated the purposes
and conditions Of its creation and has ever
since persisted, and is now persisting. in such
violation, ii has itself furnished the means by
| which 1t may now be got rid Of.
It il, Of course. too simple proposition to
moro than state that the charter Of a corpora
ton may be declared forfeited when violated
BY tho corporation. Such forfeiture may be
declared by tho State Legislatures; and by
section 131 of the Revised Statutes Of the
State It is made theoduty Of the Attorney
General to Institute proceedings against a..
banking or other corporations chartered by
the State Il y 10 obtain the forfeiture
Of their charter IN case of uiolation of he
,nba ..., bua ~.
lac for The forfeiture Of their charters
Here then. Is the remedy Now for the
facts which make the remedy applicable
The act ofo the Legislature creating tho
Lottery Company was promulgated August
%. 1868.
Tho first section thereof declared "That.
mhreas, many millions Of dollars haze been
,citdrawn from aud lost to this State by The
sale Of Hnrnnd. Kentucky. Madrid and other
iottery tickets, policies, combinations and de-
vices, aud fractional parts thereof, it shall be
hereafter unlawful to sell, offer or expose for
sale any Of them, Or any other lottery, policy
or combination ticket or tickets, devices or
certificates or fractional parts thereof, except
In such manner and by such persons their
heirs, executors and assigns as shoU be here
matter authorised'
4".rticle 2 of the articles OF incorporation
(seetion Of the actl declares that "nte objects
and purposes Of this corporation are: FIRST
The protection of the State against tie great
losses heretofore incurred by aendsRb large
amounts Of money to other States and foreign
countries for tie purchase Of lottery tickets
and devices, THEREBY 1MPovER1sHING OUR
OWN People. SECOND establish solvent
and reliable home institution for the sale Of
lottery, policy and combination tickets, etc
On the twenty-sixth of August, 1868, OF
three days after the PRONUNCIATION OF the or
ganic act Of the corporation created to pre-
vent the evils under which the State was SUI
fering from the withdrawal of "many mil
lions Of dollars in the purchase Of foreign
lottery tickets, and whose "obiects and pur-
poses were, FIRST, the protection of the
State against the great losses incurred by
sending large amounts Of money to other
States and foreign countries for the purchase
of lottery tickets and devices, thereby impov-
erishing our own people, "oand which was "es-
| tablished' that there might be "home insti-
| tuition" among us; on the twenty sixth OF
August, 1868, the corporation, created to pre-
vent the evils and confer this blessing, trans
ferred AID its rights and franchises to three
persons, citizens and living IN the States a
| NeW York and Ne,r JerseyiL
| Let any one who wishes to peruse the con
tract by which this transfer was made, exam
inc the record in which it is fled John A
Morris ct ais, No. $50 of the docket of the
Circuit Court for the District Of Louisiana
Suffice it, for the purposes of this arti
Gle, to say that the transfer is in terms
equally broad ed inclusive as the grant in
the act by the Legislature to the Lottery
Company: whatever was granted by the
State tothe Company was assigned and trans
ferred by the Company to these persons
Gems AMI residents Of Ner York and Near AJer
seq.
| 1t is thus made plain that the purposes and
objects declared by the Legislature in Great
ing this corporation, have been deliberately
and from the beginning ignored and utterly
violated.
By filing tfSs contract in'the cause named