Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1879-01-04
saturday Evening. Jan. 4. 1879.
The Lottery in Spain.


Madrid November 15) Correspondence Of New
York Herald.l CT
| had gone the other morning to pay
my devotions to the Virgin, not our
Lady of AtochA (the Virgin from
Antioch) nor any of the manifest vir-
gins in brOoade before whom candles
burn in Madrid churches, but our
Lady Of Raphael, as you see her on
the walls of the Madrid Gallery, in
the picture called La Perla.2 This
gallery is one Of the glories Of modern
civilization, and whenever my mind in
the years Of absence reverted to Spain
| found that it rested on the museum
in the Frade. | have friends on those
walls whom | could not miss seeing
without feeling thatI had ~transgressed
the rights Of friendship La Perla,"
THE Meninas,' 1.-THE Surrender of.
Breda all the works of the incom-
parable Yelasquez. | am afraid |
worship there more than in the
churches, for there really are no
churches in Madrid, no more than in
New York or Boston. l had made my
deVotions, and was strolling home
through the Gale San Geronimo when
an unusual hustle attracted my atten-
ton. Newsboys we're shouting extra
newspapers and loungers were running
out Of the cafes and wayfarers stopped
to read-to read with strained and
breathless attention. | thought the
king had. boon shot, or the ministry
had resigned, or the faYorite bull
fighter had died, or that there was
some other incident of a t~ranscendent
character. So | purchased an extra
and stopped to read, and found it was
only columns of figures and these fig
ures recited the prizes in the lottery.
The lottery had been drawn that
morning and all Madrid, all Spain was
palpitating over it.
HOW LOTTERIES ARE MANAGED.
If | were asked to name the first
evil in Spain, the first that should at
tract the reformer's eyes, | would say
the lottery. The government manages
it. | asked a Spanish friend whether
the management was perfectly honest.
YES" he answered, it is the most
honest thing in Spain" As / had ne
interest in the lottery | took my paper
home and studied it. | discovered
that lotteries were frequently held in
Spain. In this special drawing there
were 1894 prizes, and the value of the
money distributed was $166, 440. There
was one principal prize of $4,000, and
three others. resnactively 100000
$4,000, and $1,000. There we're three
of $1,000 each, two Of $50 each, and
1847 of sixty dollars each. The paper
did not say how many tickets were
sold, but there were numbers on my
prize list running as high as $4,000.
Each ticket is divided into ten parts,
each part costing sixty cents making
the value Of a complete ticket six
dollgrs. If, therefore, $4,000 tickets
we're sold at six dollars apiece
there would be a revenue to the gov
eminent from this lottery alone, after
paying all tbs prizes, of $4,000. /
observed that the first prize, No $50.
had been drawn in Cadiz, and that OF
the other great prizes one was drawn
in Seville, Two in Madrid and one in
Getafe, a little country town on the
way to Addalusia. This, however.
was only a small lottery the great one
comes at Christmas. The first prize
in this is 100000, and the price of
each ticket is one hundred dollars.
The government gives the great lot
terry once a year as Christmas present
TO Spain. As you cannot buy one-tenth
of a chance in this grand prize for les.
than ten dollars, and as ten dollars i,
good deal of money in Spain, many
sSpaniard will have a dinnerless anC
s%upperless Christmas in his darini
venture for fortune. One hates t,
think of the moral effect Of a venturi
like this upon the character of a poo
pie. If it were now and then, for
special purpose-a hospital, q churcl
or an asylum-it might be pardoneC
as a yenial sin, like dram-drinking o.
failing to vote on election day. Blu.
this appeal to chance every fortnight
and at the end of a year a suprem,
appeal, with fortunes in the wheel
cannot but deaden the moral sense ano
the pride Of a community. The lot
terry, however, is a feature in Spain
Wherever you go-to the cafe, tn.
church or the railway station--you ar,
pursued by cripplos, children, womel
all vending their lottery tickets
the night before the drawing Tn
streets ring with their cries, as Broad
way during the war was wont to rim
with the cries Of newsboys shoutinI
tidings Of a battle. There il. how
ever, an awakened sentiment on tn,
subject of gambling in Spain. Wher
/ was here in the time of Amadeu.
there we're gambling shops over ever,
cafe, and gambling was an ~estabishe,
industry which even revolutions coulC
not disturb. The gambling house
have been closed. | suppose the lot
terry would 20 also, except that TIL,
government feels on that subject a
Napoleon did about his revenue iron
brandy, or England about her reyenu,
from opium. 1t isa profitable vice
In the national budget | find that GU
Of an estimated revenue of 657 700.
000f., 50, 10000, 000f. are expected from
lotteries.