The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1879-01-15
THE FRENCH NATIONAL LOTTERY.

TWELVE MILLION LOTTERY TICKETS SOLD
HOW THE PRIZES ARE TO BE DISTRIBUTED
UNIVERSAL EXCITEMENT IN PARIS.
Since the outbreak of the France has known
no such excitement that which eliminates to-
day. The Senatorial elections fade into insgnihcnnce
before it. Twelve million lottery tickets have been
sold to nation of thrty-sx million people. and the
drawing begins this morning. The French were get
ting weary Of republican dulness and wanted new
sensation, and the government, which always
keeps its finger the popular pulse, gave
them the lottery. The first issue was con-
fined to . million tickets. at one franc
each. Within three days these tickets were
selling on the Bourse for twenty-five francs each
The gambling spirit once tapped, flowed over the
country. Peasants. workingmen. domestic servants
all wanted pour their little hoard of earnings or
savings into the great pool. second million OF
tickets was issued, then third and then fourth
These were immediately bought up by spectators
and commanded enormous premiums. Then issue
followed issue rapidly. and the government was
forced to fix the limit at 12O0O O00 where it stands
to-day. The last million almost drug in the
market. Tickets sold ut little than their
original price although. strangely enough. they still
found buyers in England ut Is Sd. each.
BUSINESS AND PHILANTHROPY.
The Exhibition was. of course. the excuse for the
lottery. The government wanted to close it as brill
iantly rs they opened it; to distribute among the
public the vast Of unsold goods in the building
and send away all the exhibitors in high good humor
Moreover. they proposed to pay the railway fares
and hotel bills of all those poor provncials who de-
sired to their national exhibition and werc kept at
home by financial straits large number of lots
also apart the poor and the lottery alto
gether a highly philanthropic air. NM Mar
teau aud Montargis were appointed managers under
fore the middle of December s,5Ooo0of. had been
pended for the provincial visitors. At the end of the
year s5oOO0Of. had been devoted to purchasing
the prizes, whether from exhibitors or from
traders in France abroad. So that commerce has
received an astonishing impetus Partisan merchants
more brisk and cheerful. The city is full
of visitors, who have come to take part in the
drawing. Rumors were recently spread abroad that
the experiment would fail and the managers would
never succeed in distributing the unwieldy mass of
| objects under their care. and the further these
rumors circulated the more uneasy grew ticket hold
and visitors But mainly through the services of
large body Of clerks, who have been classifying the
| goods day and night for two months faith is TO be
kept with the public. and the first prize of 100000.
will be drawn this morning. There was never amore
| various collection than that which stands in the
Palais do PIndustrie in thirtysix compartments. On
toy locomotive. set in motion by spoonful of water
| and drop Of alcohol. Here you find pictures by
| Ger6me. Meissonnier Gustave Dore. and opposite
them u collection of cheap coiored prints. Sewing
machines dresses by Worth. canoes, dolls. kitchen
ranges. Brussels carpets jostie each other in indie
may rise tomorrow morning the happy pos
| SCISSOR OF an iron gate q tower, smiths
| pins, q stained window, a live monkey q cannon,
| twelve dozen false noses, church clock plough.
fifty packages of mustard. life size statue. boat
| Grindstone or Chinese psgoda. fashionable
| 1ounger of the boulevards may be saddled with
chld's hoop parish priest with opera glass. and
book. But the humor of the lottery is officially
nned to the surprise lots each of which contains two
bottles Of ink, Of backing pound Of candles,
| pair Of suspenders and corset.
/ THE DISTRIBUTION PRIZES.
After the first prize OF 10000 francs 1000 others
are to be drawn each worth moro than 900 francs
These will be distributed at the rate of $50 day for
| eight days. During the next twelve days 5000
smaller prizes will be allotted and the drawing will
| be ended with two Of $4,000 francs each AMI of
&c., 900 francs. Thus the excitement will be kept at
will have little thought for politics or art.
| Mathematical ingenuity has been much exer-
csea 20 .eos' the ra & IN. % y, %
have been working at this problem They have finally
| adopted two machines-onc OF twelve wheels to de-
the SERIES the second of six to mark the psrt
ulsr nainher. But the late in the lottery
by no means content. They insist that the smsler
ing deprecated the last million tickets till they
almost sold ut par and many disputes in clubs cafes
anu on the Domlevards nave sprung from the
| nothing Is more curious than to watch how
| deeply this whole lottery experiment has for
| the moment entered into French life. They
talk OF nothing else think OF nothing else dream of
nothing else At afternoon calls the ladies' no longer
discuss their dresses but compare their chances of
winning. Lucky numbers proposed by actors
from the STAGE and characters in the reviews ut
the Varieties and Palais Royal represent the hexagona
and duodecupal wheels of fortune. The walters Mt
restaurants receive lottery tickets for their fees.
The beggars in the streets shine for lottery tickets.
| The theft OF lottery tickets has been thoroughly
organized by expert pickpockets In short all classes
in France whether high or low. are lottery mad.
SUPPRESSION AND RENEWAL OF LOTTERIES.
The excitement may perhaps be due to the tact that
this is the first lottery in France since in 1885, when
ncnt. II had always been popular since Louis XIV.
used il to distribute the royal presents. the En-
perors of Rome. Nero and Helogahaus. had used it
before him. But it rooted into the thoughts
and habits of the people in Italy. though they
offered sturdy opposition to their Parliament whenever
they feared to he deprived of it, In Germany immense
properties have been sold in this way. Prussia long
depended on lotteries for part of its public revenue
! In Austria they were recognized ~ important aud
benefcent institutions, and in England they dis
trbuted annuitics under the license of Parliament,
endowed science and learning and fostered art until
in 1873 they were held pernicious to public morals
and had actually wrought so much distress among
the poor that the power which created them swept
a necessity of existence They the JOY and
solace of the Italians Three Popes temporarily sup
now p as vigorously as when the Venetian merchants
introduced them The Italian will leave his children
to starvc that hc may buy lottery ticket Every
casual accident OF his life corresponds in his dream
| book with number. and that number he purchases
| il he begs steals the money. Next Saturday. he
! says, his fortune will be made; he will roll
| in his carriage and never work again.
His credulity and superstition in quest Of
| lucky numbers is incredible. Guerrazzi, the
| famous novelist, tells a well known and we'll authen
ticatcd story of priest peasant and the peasants
| wife, who dug up dead body from the graveyard
and while the priest held the corpse by the hair the
peasant struck of its head and his wife took 10 home
| and cast it into seethine caldron to watch how
many times it bobbed to the surface. that they might
bet that number in the lottery; for the deceased
learned and had studied algebra. and there
must be still much cabal power in his head. And
this the middle of the nineteenth century. and in
Tuscany. the garden OF Italy, and in Florence, the
Athens OF TUSCANY.