Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1890-05-23

coed in such scheme and it viii bend at once
al lts energies and the large means under its
c ca 70 cause to De nominated and elected a
Governor and General Assembly fayoring its in
terests: We would soon have the laws so
framed, especially the election laws, as 10 ex-
actiy suit the wishes and purposes of that cor
poratton Ii would take no great length of
time for matters to be SO arranged. by statutes
ana through appointments, that the popular
Will though repeatedly expressed against this
lnst,Lution, would never be announced The
whole election machinery Of the State would
pc paced. substantially and practically, in its
hands and all the officials of Louisiana would
nolo ONCE under its dictation and subject to its
demands. In other words, we would come
squaTely back to the condition of things against
which the people of this State struggled SO
long from 1SeS to 1877, and from which they
freed themselves by movement only short Of
revolution. 1t is my deliberate conviction
that this power of money control given to g
gambling corporation could be turned at any
time and at any moment, without the slightest
conjunction, against the virtuous, the good,
the intelligent people of this State and against
its property interests.
The Governor then calls the attention of
the people to the vice, sorrow, death, ruin
and Generalization the lottery has wrought
among them, and to the fact that they
have seen all other forms of gaming are
comparatively innocuous when placed in
contrast with the pestilential agency re-
ferred to. He points out how monstrous
are the gains of this corporate devil, by
the fact that its stock, though of the par
value of but 500 share, is selling for
200, SO that if the mere placing of the
tickets in the wheel and the drawing of
them out is honestly done, the system is
itself radically wrong and dishonest
A favorite argument with some of the
press for licensing lotteries is thus replied
to by Governor Nichols:
The present company's Act of incorporation,
the very Act under which it had its being, is a
confession OF the losing and destructive charac-
ter OF this business, so far as the ticket-holders
are concerned, for it distinctly recognizes and
declares that millions of dollars had been with
drawn from and lost to this State by the pur-
chase of lottery tickets elsewhere, and declares
the objects and purposes of the incorporation to
be the protection OF the State from the great
losses incurred by sending large amounts of
money to other States for the purchase of lottery
tickets, thereby impoverishing our people
There is no attempt at concealment of the fact
of the losses. nor of the impoverishment of the
people through the purchase of tickets but the
excuse for the existence of the company is
SIMPLY that company established and selling
IN the United States from this kind of gambling
l think 1t was an outrage on other States and a
disgrace to ours to make Louisiana the acknowl
edged headquarters of gambling, and to legaliZe
losses and certain impoverishments to Others
and a still greater disgrace for the common
wealth to be partner in such a transaction.
He well declares that no government
which proposes to carry on its schools, its
State institutions, its Courts, its asylums,
its river and street improvements from the
proceeds of gambling wheels, can hope for
the favor of mankind, the blessings of
civilization or the commentator of con-
science. He adds that Regulation" means
repression always, and not providing
means of support from an evil that
has not behind it a shade of good that
the sale OF the lottery tickets of foreign
concerns would be infinitely less injurious
to the people than the maintenance of the
home concern.
The agents of the former skulk about corners
and bar. rooms and the results of the corruption
reach no further than the debauching of a few
subordinate and Insignificant officials, and such
lively small number OF tickets in a few local..
ties; whist the sales of the legaized lottery ex-
tend over the entire country and the tickets are
scattered broadcast in immense numbers over
the whole State, and the company, standing on
the vantage ground it does Gts stockholders
toillng not and spinning not, yet amassing i'm
mense fortunes) enters into a broader and
higher field of corruption.
He repeats that to re-charter the COM
pany will be to turn over to them the
whole State, city and county government
of Louisiana it will put its creatures
into all places of trust; it will corrupt the
fountain of justice, and SO hedge itself
about that to regulate, control or dislodge,
it will be well nigh impossible. His final
appeal to the Legislature is almost piteous
In its entreaty not to continue the de-
bauching of the people, the destruction of
public morals, the robbery of the State,
the corruption of youth, the shame of the
commonwealth. He invokes the aid of
all good men to assist in the defeat of the
fraud that has Louisiana by the throat
and that dares to offer her the bride of
millions of dollars for support of her State
institutions, for permission to cling, YAM
pire-like, to her veins He declares that
all the power of the Executive of the State
will be used to prevent the awful wrong,
and that by the help of self-respecting
citizens he hopes to accomplish the defeat
of the monster. At least he pledges the
people his word that his name shall not
be stained by solitary movement in the
direction of compromise with the lottery