The Hawaiian gazette., 1884-07-16

A LOCALIZED LOTTERY. Has 1t come tc
this7 1t appears to have done 80, for last
Saturday. the Hon. L. Aholo read for the
first time a bill relating 10 the Hawaiian
Endowment Association" In plain words
the object Of the bill Is TO establish a lot
terry in Honolulu There can only be one
opinion by right thinking men upon this
subject and that Is, that however specious
the money argument may be, the legaliz-
ing Of lotteries Is morally vicious, and
more especially vicious in population
such as We have IN Hawaii mel. 1t is per
fectlv true. as Mr. Ahulo advanced that
European countries have used them and
do use them, but that gentleman did not
touch upon the fact that they have been
condemned again and again by the fore
most and most successful nations Of the
earth
Lotteries originated in Florence about
1880, were legalized IN France IN 1889 and
soon spread over Europe. During a couple
Of centuries they were in full swing all
over Europe. but every now and again
some Statesman who had power would
try to stop them altogether as Pope Bene-
dict Mi from 1724 to 1870, or would at
tempt to keep them within bounds by
means Of yearly licenses, as the Act of
George III in 171S But in 1905 the evil
Of lotteries was felt to be so great that the
English Parliament appointed commit
tee to enquire ..how far the evils attending
lotteries had been remedied by laws re
specting the same" Now mark the report.
The Committee sad:
'.Ths Foundation 4 he lottery 'V''-1H is 50 rad
ic4ly riciaFs. Idi your coH1gities feel o-HriHoe5
that under no system Of regulations hai osH b
derised. riU Il b possible fer PdriiameIif 70
adopt r I'm CfFoaotoHs soifroC Il ronsaue. and,
az nt same finc 70 diuoG II q al thr orilsef
,-hiet q has Hitherto prorti 50 BdHqUl source -
We have here before us a solemn warn
ing Why should we wilfully throw our
selves into scheme which has been con
demned by one Of the first Legislative
bodies in the world. as being radically
vicious The men who reported in lS0S
had no lack Of experience on the subject.
Over a hundred and fifty years Of expert
ence Of lotteries lay behind them, and in
stances spreading over n considerable Dor
ton of that time were cited in the full
report
A thing which Is ura7s had better be met
at once; 1t Is no use to compromise with
II. The lottery system Is vicious and We
INCREASINGLY pronounce against it per q,
without going at all deeply into the bill:
we merely write as the Legislative report
gives us knowledge.
We are quite aware that many argu-
ments may be brought forward of a spe
cious character which are liable to catch
the unwary One Of these was advanced
to ourselves. 1t will help the newspapers,
lots OF advertising and printing said one.
True. But 1t will sap the moral fibre Of
a community such as ours.
II we begin to legalize lotteries for the
sake of certain pecuniary advantages that
are to accrue, we might Just as well ad-
vance a step farther and legalize a hand
some gambling Hell at Waikiki. All the
blacklegs. pigeons and cocotie, of three
continents would flock here during the
season" and money would be scattered
round like water.
But Is this what Hawaiian men. is this
what those who love Hawaii are struggling
for? Is this TO be the end Of all the self
sacrifice that has made Hawaii what IT Is :
No, a Thousand times moi II we would
keep this country pure and clean we will
have nothing to do with even the thin end
OF the wedge as presented TO us now.
One Of the worst features of tine affair
Is that the bill comes into the Hawaiian
Legislature supported by the Ministry.
Ii shows hoN thoroughly demoralized the
minds Of these men are, Let US trust that
other advisers may find place in the coun-
els Of the hing, who will meet this mat
ter as 1t ought to be met