The morning news., 1890-07-27
WAR ON THE LOTTERIES.
THE BILL THAT CONGRESS Is
ASKED TO PASS.


Germs and Provides Penalties for
Violations of the Law-Newspapers
Containing Lottery Advertisements
to be Ruled Out.
WASHINGTON, July 26. - The lottery
lobby was deceived. Speaker Reed is in
favor of the Wanamaker anti-lottery bill,
and it will pass the House at least, if
not the Senate.
Representative Moore today reported IA
vorably from the committee on the District
of Columbia the bill prohibiting advertising
of lotteries in Washington city aud recon-
mended its passage. The committee esti-
mates that 81, 900 are contributed an
nually by the people of Washington TO GER
tain lottery companies. while the returns, it
says, are inconsequential.
LOTTERIES AND THE MAILS.
The House committee on postoffices aIs1
pOstroads has agreed upon a substitute bill
in lieu Of a number of pending bills adverse
to the lotteries and ordered 1t to be reported
to the House. The substitute prohibits lot
terry circulars and tickets, lists of drawings,
money or drafts for the purchase of lottery
| tickets, or newspapers containing lottery
notices or advertisements, to be received in
| the mails or delivered by carriers. A fine
not exceeding $500 and imprisonment not
| exceeding one year is to be imposed upon
! any person depositIng such matter in the
mails. The Postmaster General is also to
| be authorized, upon evidence of the exist
ence Of a lottery or gift enterprise, to cause
| registered letters directed to the company
to be stamped Fraudulent" and returned
to the senders, and he may also forbid the
payment of money orders addressed to a
lottery or gift enterprise company.
REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE.
The report of the committee to accom-
pany this bill was filed this afternoon The
committee says the intent of congress to
exclude the matter from the mails which
relates to lotteries is evidenced by the fact
that several acts have already been passed
to accomplish that purpose 1t is also evi-
dent that congress intended to give the
Postmaster General power to execute
these several laws, but experience has
demonstrated that legislation is inadequate
to this object, and that without
further and more forcible legislation the
use of the mails by lottery companies will
| continue to grow in greater ratio than it
has in the past. The lottery business now
| is in the hands practically or one concern
| the Louisiana Lottery Company-and it
has reached alarming proportions In
| Washington alone it is estimated that this
| company mails not less than 5000 letters
a month, and in New Orleans its
mail deposits amount to five or ten
| times as much. All this is
| declared to be mailable without let or hin-
| drance, because, under the existing statutes,
| 1t seemed to be impossible to obtain proof
of its character. The committee quotes the
| first law passed. declaring lottery circulars
and letters unmailable and shows that, by
| decisions of several attorneys. the decision
has been forced by the courts only, and
conveys no power to the Postmaster Gen
eral to seize, detain or withdraw from trans
mission and delivery any ordinary letter or
packet not known by them to relate to
lotteries.
NO WAY TO GET AT 1T.
Accepting this construction of the law as
correct, the Postmaster Generals ability to
purge the mails of this class of matter is
limited 10 unsealed circulars and similar
matter not protected by the sanctity of a
| seal, and which for this reason can be in
| spected. The person who deposits contra
band matter can be reached by law only
| when he can be identified as the man who
deposited it in the mail. By decision
| of the supreme court sealed letters
| in the mail can be opened and
examined only under a search warrant
properly issued. One of the main benefits
to be derived from the substitute bili If it
shall become a law, is that it makes the act
of mailing lottery letters and circulars a
criminal offense, triable by courts in any
jurisdiction through which they may pass
or into which they may go. By
the provisions of the substitute bill
letter mailed at New Orleans
may be traced into any other state aud
| identified BY its delivery. so that if the
source of mailing can be located upon an
| individual al any city the offense may pass
under the review of the courts of the place
| of delivery, thus securing a fair trial in To-
| calites wherein the influence of the lottery
| is not established.
OTHER ADVANTAGES.
Other advantages to be derived from the
| substitute bill are extensions of the penalty
| for mailing letters intended for the lottery
| by the public iuste I'd of confining it to
| mailing to them by such com Danies to the
public and the enumeration of several things
as checks, money, etc, for the purchase Of
| lottery tickets. the mailing of which is pro-
hibited. A greater benefit, if possible, will
be the closing of the mails to newspapers
which contain lottery advertisements aud
lists of prizes, thus partially cutting
off connection between the lottery aud
its customers, and reducing the number
of its victims The substitute bill, the COM
mittee says, forces the lott cry company to
reach their destination through the person
OF agents The bill includes within its pro-
visions any agent or representative of the
company acting as an Individual, firm, bank,
corporation or association of any kind,
and declares that the published
advertisement of a lottery concern that re-
mittances for it may be made to any other
person, firm, bank, corporation or associa-
tion shall be held to be an acknow ledg-
ment Of the extension of said agency by
all the parties named therein If enacted.
the bill would permit the Postmaster Gen
eral to deny to any agent of lottery
company the benefits of the registry and
money order systems and would result in
compelling the lottery companies to obtain
their remittances through express COM
panieS or similar channels.