St. Landry democrat. (Opelousas, La.) 1878-1894, 1890-05-24
A Sensible View Of the Lottery
Question.
n. O. 2fatnS.


our interior contemporaries denouEef
the proposition 10 renew the charter 81
the Louisiana State Lottery Company
To listen to The incohercnt rawlings o.
some of oar country cousins, one might
assume that it was in contemplation t.
turn the State over to the Lottery Com,
panv. body and boots. and that the
honor. virtnc and independence OF
every hnman being within our borders
were ahnnt to he bnrtered away by
those who regard Mr.. Norris PROPOSE
ton in n favorable light and Louisiana
| converted into Il monster cesspooi oil
all descriptions Of vice and immortality
y great many people, who leave
their thinking to others and accept ns
gospel truth all the mouthings of news
papers and oratorical reformers, have
been led to believe that The question,
relative TO the Lottery. to I've submit.
ted 10 The people is: Shall lotteries he
utterly extirpated in Louisiana or not
Now, This is the veliest twaddle of ILL.,
informed or distempered imaginations,
and the cunning insinnation of design
ing and interested managers Ut other
lottery schemes. No snch question is
really nnder consideration there is no
snch proposition for the Legislature to
| determine.
The Ien|. practical. vital issue is this ::
| Shall the charter of HE Louisiana State
Lottery Company be renewed after
Jannnry list, 1895, for and in considera.
ton Of the sum of $JOO,OO to he paid
annually to the State for the aid of our
iegccs, schools and cllaritics or. mark
the alternative, shall that company he
driven ont Of the State and the lottery
business given over to corporations
operating under The laws of Mexico,
Spain and Austria, which contribute
not one cent to either onr city or State
treasury? That is The real Issue 10 he
determined, and its gravity, together
with the magnitude of the interests in
volvcd, suggests the fnrther question ::
Will the Legislature venture to deny
the tax payers of this State the right
to say whether they will have The Lou
isiana State Lottery ard twelve mil
lions, five hundred Thousand dollars,
or permit tie lottery lmsincss to be
carried on. free of all charge except the
black mailing fees to the police. by the
Mexican and Havana, and the skin
game lotteries that will spring up on
tho Mexican border and, for that matter,
in our own midst, the day the Louisiana
company goes into liquidation, and
prohibition is substituted for high IL
ccnsc under the benign Influence of Tie
anti lotteryitcS?
ne noprno IN tt,n haitian na,n err Nth
have very high toned, moral and
pions law on our statute books; and,
if such n law will make lis more vir-
tuous and honorable people than onr
nr ighhols, and will maintain onr
schools and charities and build our lc-
wees, then we say. God speed the law.
But there is not sensible. level head
ed, informed man in this city who be-
lieses that any law or constitutional
provision that may be- enacted will sup
press, or even lessen, the lottery evil
or business. call it which you will
New Orleans was a great ln'taiy mart
long before the incorporation Of the
Louisiana Company was dreamed Of
it has been lottery mart almost from
the day of its foundation indeed, it is
not ventnrng much To say that, before
the present company was chartered,
the bnsiness was carried IN here, ii not
10 greater extent, at least in Il more
reck less and irresponsible manner, in
direct violation Of the laws, and hence
attended with more lemoraliZed influ.
ence than it ia to-day; and so sure as
the sun shines, should the present con
ccrn he driven ont Of the field, the
trade will continue To ti0nilsll in all
the uIb.itllrd and licentions bravery
that characterized it. in former times,
lie the iau, What il mny.
We repeat then, because we are de-
termined that the Legislature and the
peapEe shall clearly and distin lily UNI
derstand what is before them, that The
choice is between the recharter of the
Louisiana Slate LMie1y Company for
and In CONSIDERATION Of the snm ofSl2,-
800, 900, for our iesfes, schools aud
charities. or the Mesican, Havana gnh !
skin game lotteries generally, for the
exclusive benefit of foreign States, cor
porations and domestic sbarpers.
And now having stripped the issue
of all the sham morality and spurious
sentin,entality il Which it has been 80
cnvel"pcd, we desire to
ask those members 81 Tie Legislature
who propose 10 assume the very grave
responsibility of refusing The people of
this State an opportunity TO express their
sovereign will us to this proposition at
the ballot box, what steps, in case they
actually sneceea 10 thus intfuding be-
tween Tie people qrd their legal right
TO determine this CHOICE for tLemselges,
they thereafter propose to take for Tie
-,,-huiiding aaa maintenance Of the
,1ined j.v,-es. aud the sappost Of the
schools and charities Ct Ct Louisiana
1t is needless for us to go into il 'e'
;ital of the wreck aud ruin which pre-
rails over half the State, due to the in
of our levee system or Of
he disgraeefnl inadeqnacy of our pub
ic schools to the needs Of an enligliten.
d community or the shocking candi-
ion of OUT Insane Asylum aud many of
'nr other charitable institutions. The
ad, The tisgracefni, the Disgusting
tory, has been told by every paper in
he State that has done its duty by
very legislative committee in the past
wcnty years, in the records of every
nntliet lllat has arisen between the
lily Council without money, on tho
ne hand and The school Board on The
ther, ia behalf of HE schools and the
\ salaiied and often unpaid teachers. !
he facts are Of public notoriety aud,
hongl, familiarity with them may have
limited our sensibilities, !. they are, in !,
he eyes of the country, a foul, burning,
disgrace TO the State. Thence,
efore our Legislators and journals ;
1rfhar canf aud fuma at thu prnpoa;