The Opelousas courier. [volume] (Opelousas, La.) 1852-1910, 1890-09-13
The Honor of the state.
Louisiana Review.


lt is claimed in certain quarters that
the honor of the State is involved in
the acceptance of the lottery PROPOSE
ton. 1t that be SO, then our people
haze been living under u stigma for the
past 70 years; the more so since 1877,
when the moneyed assistance of the
lottery was accepted to establish the
Nichols government in it's fight against
The Packard government. If State is
disllonored BY tolerating lotteries. then
kentucky, Georgia, New Jersey,
Delaware, Maryland. and nearly If not
all, the older States of the Union, have
lost their honor, for, at various times,
they have permitted lotteries. So
have France, Germany, Spain, Italy
and every other nation.
The Northern States whose interfer-
ence In this question has been invoked
by the anti-l0tteryites, ut the very
moment when solid South is protest
ing against the Force bill, have no
ieyees to maintain to protect lilo best
portions of their territory from over
flow no debt to eat up their revenues
neither are they handicapped with the
dense mass of illiteracy thrust upon us
by a ruinous war and an era of political
persecution. The Federal government
makes munificent provision for the
Union veterans, while ours are uncaretl
fer.
The liquor traffic is pronounced i'm
moral, yet the United States govern
ment derives a revenue of over one
hundred millions annually from the
traffic, and our own State Legislature
has seen fit to double the licenses upon
the same. Let us be consistent. If we
are going to refuse revenue from lot
teries, which are certainly not more i'm
moral than the whiskey traffic, lei the
knife of latter-day morality cut ont
the internal revenue tax on the whislSey
business.
The lottery has been in operation in
Louisiana for tho past % years. Yet,
our public morals will bear successful
comparison with those of any other
State or country. Every people, every
country, have their code of morality
Some of the States which prohibit lot
teries foster divorce and the sunderiDg
of the marriage tie, Louisiana does
not, though she has chaftereda d lottery.
For many years the American clergy
has been actively engaged il the work
of injecting religious sentiment into
legislation, and we have seen the peO-
pie of nearly every State wrought up
into frenzy on the question OF prohibi-
ton
Whenever a people are influenced by
religions sentiment they cease to reason
and to tolerate contrary opinions.
The separation of Church and State
ID one Of the Fundamental principles
of this government. Tt is the strong
est safeguard to the preservation OF
personal liberty. Hence, the people
should firmly eliminate religions inter-
ference from public affairs
We say this with due respect to the
clergy. Their mission lies in other
channels.
Ib cannot be denied that religious
influences have been unstintingly in-
jected into the question at issue, and
that the boycotting Of tho press, which
has been suggested III religions assem-
blies, and the violent feeling that pre-
walls Ia regard to this question, are
largely attributable to this influence.
We stand ready to cheerfulIy acqui-
esce in the decision of the pGnple of
Louisiana, and to bear our share of the
additional burdens that tile rejection
of the lottery proposition would inn
pose upon our people. Bat We cannot
be made 10 believe that the honor of
the State is involved Lii its aceeptance,