Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1883-11-14

Personal Liberty in the United states.
To the Editor Of The EVENING STAR:
The action of the District Commissioners a,
the 'th inst. addressing letter to the Postmas-
ter General. and suggesting that newspapers
advertising lotteries be excluded from the mails
and that department clerks be forb dien IN pnr.
chase ticketsis such an strociouS piece OF impu-
depce as to deserve the scvere>t cenSure on ths,
part Of the American press and the people a,
large
The Commissioners In making these demands
forget two things. namely. the legality OF the
lottery company against VIII Gu Their chief attack
Is directed; aad secondly. that port .on of the
liberty OF an American citizen TO spend his
money rs he pleascs Has ever rational being
IN any part of the world heard Of such a proceed
Ing. which would lead one TO doubt the sanity of
the COMMISSIONER
The (L0uislana) lottery. towards the snnpres-
sion OF VII Oh the Commissioners are .ualgl, d.
rrcted Ia an institution ia Lrh by Tie, .,.risIa-
ture (of the state OF louisiana. and tEou,rb of
course. expected 10 pay the managers "A hand
some profit. it is lewally bouud turay ever 4 Ger
tain amount for benevolent purposes SnurGgb
SO good. Ii TINS IS objectionable why not sir 9
nearer nome iIrSt. and abolish gambling uriri-
mating in the District ut Colunh A Instead of
conimen1tDE on outside AFFAIRS and allowing the
evil to grow In Their own midst und Il urbrd.
One OF the great evils and worse than lot
ter"S louisiana, ara the nuHeruils fairs with
which We are blessed. ard most especially the.
church fairs started fnr the purpose, of raising
money for religious purposes exhibiting the
most shameful gambling. the most harsfac, d
methods on Just such occasions 10 -xtort money
for the Lord. no change gicr,l.' Fortune
'raet'S. " RdTiing, &c. &c. are resorted To for
that iaudabie purpose to raise money for the
Lord. and no objection is raised 10 this mode
OF lottery. Can il be an honor to man 10 l,ay
oil debt incurred-aDd such debts ~ the first
thing that ought To be- avoided among believers
in God and reli- zion for build ne and maintain
ing a church where there are a suiiic; emf
number OF paid-up churches existing. Why
incur the debt IN the first place and then resort
TO gambling to pay it of? Can such proceed
lnGs please the Lord? But the vanity OF man
mas TO be gratfed under any preteNt and were
IT 10 build a temple. II the entire cost had to be
raised 10y gambling and 10y lotteries and chance
games. Let legislature put a stop to that let
II cut out this cancer. this growing evil among
our best society people" frst. and then direct
Its Efforts tow ards outside affairs.
The next step which ought to be taken up by
| all the newspapers is that ''of exclusion from
mail if advertising lottery schemes Why:the
church fairs are advertised 10 the newsnapprs
TOO. ana especial attention is called TO the lead
ing features of chances on such occasions
Should such issues be excluded from the mails
too? guess there would toe considerable OBJ
lection to this practice. Still. if We admit that
either of the two cases ia gambling and lottery
! (Which we cannot help but acknow ledwing) then
newspapers ought to be excluded from the
mails But since there is rarely day on VIII Oh
some such advert isement for some such pur,s,se
appears in some OF the papers it viii be we'll for
such papers TO close up business at once since
they are not allowed to br their own tree agents
| as to the matter they are allowed to publish Do
We live in Russia. where the newspaper censure
exists and the daily ISSUES are Inspected pre-
VlGuS to sending OFT. or do we live in a free cat
| least, so-calrd iree.) country. How long will
the American allow himSell TO be tramped ul.un
| by men who will. as circumstances suggest al
the same time dete4d and prohibit the self same
| thinr just as suits their fancy!
The same remark hcldS good concerning the
objection of tie COMMIT -sioners to allow de-.
partmT1t employees 10 spend their money which
they nave earned by Their daily work in lust
such manner as they see tit. Has the world
ever heard of such preensinn Who is the
government empoye Responsible To i'm what
manner he spends his money. and what is the
Inference whether he Spends il at a church, Ma
some. DAD Fellow or some other kind of a IA r.
| or IN the purchase Of some other lottery Itch
cts! G. H. r.