The Arkansaw traveler., 1888-03-10

By one of those coincidences which are called "strange" in fiction, although they are all the time occurring in real life, it has happened that (while Mon- sieur Lesseps has been agitating the idea of lottery in France to carry through his new Panama canal pro- ject) the old Union Canal, the very oldest canal in this country, and which was originally and materially aided in its construction by lottery, has outlived its usefulness and has been abandoned.
 The Union Canal of Pennsylvania was tine first projected on the Ameri- can continent. It was suggested by William Penn in 1890, years before canal was in operation even in Eng land. The route was surveyed by Da- vid Rittenhouse, the astronomer, and Dr. William Smith, provost of the University of Pennsylvania.
 The drawings of the lottery in aid of the Union Canal took place in the old Arcade in Phil adelphia, on Chestnut street, near Seventh, and were regarded as occa- sions of public interest. The work was interrupted by the Revolutionary war, but later on Robert Morris, Rob- ert Fulton and Jacob Francis became interested in it.
 The canal was eighty mine miles long, and necessitated in it's construc- tion some of the greatest engineering work of the day. The first tunnel in the United States was bored for this canal, and . colossal pumping appa- ratus was used to raise the water to the necessary height.
 The canal cost $3,000,O0O (equiva- lent to ten times that sum at the pres- ent time), was worth to the country every dollar it cost, and would never have been completed had it not been for the lottery.
 A rival to the Union Canal was af- forwards started by the Bostonese to enable "the Hub" to compete with New York; but although this canal was completed (through the agency also of public lottery formed to aid in it's constructiom it failed to render Boston equal to New York, though it did much good, nevertheless.
 Various public works besides canals resorted to the lottery for aid. When New England patriotism fell short of finishing the Bunker Hill monument, large lottery was suggested to con- tinue the good work, and "raffie" was gotten up at a "ladies' fair," to which Fanny Elssler, the danseuse, contributed, and which supplied the funds required.
 Even the phlegmatic Germans took kindly to the lotteries, and drawings of interesting magnitude took place in Vienna and Berlin. The lottery then found it's way, on the general princi- ples of human nature, into Great Brit ain, where it took root and flourished. The first English lottery was for the repairing of harbors and Notifications along the coast. The first public drawing in England took place at the W CoL OOOI Ol Olu I dul H.. in the presence of a vast crowd. Queen Elizabeth, the most sensible and successful of English sovereigns, established the lottery by royal edict, and placed it under the control of the prime minister and the chancellor of the exchequer. So successful were it's results that it was continued as an &C., cepted institution for raising revenues down to the close of the eighteenth century. It was during this brilliant period that the banking system, insur- ance, exchange and paper money were first introduced, and all, if not born of, were undoubtedly cradled in the lottery system.
 The greatest public institution in London, or perhaps in the world, the British museum, was materially aided Tn it's inception by lottery. Nearly sixty thousand pounds sterling were thus contributed to this magnificent object one hundred and thirty five years ago.
 Meanwhile, the lottery had gained a firm foothold in France. The mercu- rial Parisians took kindly to it. They dearly loved the excitement of the drawings, while at the same time the government took care to devote the major portions of the funds thus raised to public purposes.
 At present, lotteries in France are in full favor for charitable and art pur- poses, and are regulated by govern ment, a public official being present at all drawings. Over forty lotteries have obtained the sanction of the French government during the last decade. The lottery known as "The Central Union of Decorative Artso had a capital of 14,OO0,OOO francs (nearly $3,O00,000). One lottery dis posed of six hundred thousand tickets in twenty days. The Algerian Ma