The Sunday herald. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1866-1887, 1882-06-11

w ME lne Jnlleu olales bONeIullent Is So
busily fighting lotteries and the sale Of lot
terry tickets It is worth while for It to con-
slider that it is itself maintaining lottery
Of the largest proportions, attended with all
and more than the pernicious effects of those
it is trying to put down. What are the de.
moralizing features of lottery Why, that
by the tempting bats It holds out as promi-
nentlv as possible it takes people of from
honest industry, makes them disconteuted
with paltry gains, and leads them TO
squonder time, money, and effort in the
search of the most distant and illusory re-
turns. Yet the lottery or gambling spirit is
strong in human nature, and doubtless will
always find some way to satisfy itself. The
Government makes itself pander to it while
IT holds out all the places in the Civil Service
Of the United States, great and little, from
the collectorship of the port Of New York,
which is said TO pay more than the prcsi-
dency, down to laborers' posts, as prizes to
he won by anybody who is lucky in the dis
graceful game known as office seeking.
The prizes are always in the market, draw
| ings perpetual, for no merits in the incum-
bent will prevent his discharge when his
place is wanted.n They are awarded by
pure chance, for the most unworthy is as
likely to get them by luck, influence" ," or
any other of the factors Of confusion which
enter into this welter of chaos, as the most
worthy they are tempting, for the pay is
NI,, 1,srlN ,,,l L.. .I,,N,
must always be the case where there
| is a succession of green hands rather unde-
| fined than otherwise Within every four
years there is on an average more than one
change for every civil office under the Gov
ernment. This means all these thousands
of young people caught up from the multi
tude who are always dabbling in this lottery,
immersed in Government work Just about
| long enough to I've untitled for anything else,
| aud then thrust out to fight off starvation
and beggary as best they can, or Join again
| the horde of eager strugglers whose tickets
almost invariably prove blanks. And yet
the great wheel of % rotation in ofhce" goes
round, with its sixty thousand prizes tum.
|
their farms, and looms, and forges, or theil
private desks, to spend their most precious
possessions in the attempt to share in the
distribution of these gifts of Pandora, where
even hope is turned into a curse. II is fol
this reason we see with so much dismay
measures like that brought in by Governor
Curtin, of Pennsylvania to reduce this evil
state of affairs to a system, and deliberately
eject by operation of law every petty office
holder under the United States at the end
great lottery wheel. In Gods name, why
should the Government set itself to lure
our young people Systematically into
this demoralizing pursuit of Office, with
all the associations of evil and shame
and ruin which we know to cling around il
from constant examples before our eyes in
Washington, when already there are toe
many engaged in it 1t cannot be that W,
have not risen above the paternalism O
Turkish despotism, which thinks that every
citizen is at liberty to become leech upor
the Government when he wishes, and tina
offices are like dishes at a banquet, to bt
passed around until all have had taste
The Government has done all that is neces
sary and all that is right, when it throw!
open such vacancies as occur by death, res
ignation, or discharge for cause, to free com
petition on the ground of merit by all sucl
Ii citizens as desire to enter its service. 1t il
c not bound, in fact it is forbidden by ever,
: consideration of public policy, to keep NJ
the present random flinging about of appoint
q ments which has more than the evils o
Il ayowed lotteries, heoause IL absvrbs III
+ whole of the gamester's time, energy, and at
- tention, instead of few paltry dollars, an,
: gives rise to crimes like Guiteau's by tn
!, same law which causes the suicides a
d the gilded hells of Monaco and Mentone. Iti
10 strange the sophistry by which legislator
n otherwise conscientious blind themselves t
e their duties in this matter.