St. Landry clarion. (Opelousas, La.) 1890-1921, 1890-10-18
THAT ELL.
New orlessss New Delta.

| The amount ofsapiency that the anti
lottery postal bill asaeveloped among
the pro-lottery people Is something won.
derful. When it wasgfrst proposed in
Congress several pnaphesying shops
opened up and proceeded to run full
time. Predictions that it would fail to
pass were thick enough to put to shame
even the much quoted foliage in the
/ celebrated Spanish yalley. But it
/ passed, and ruined tie reputation OF a
good many as reliablesand Trustworthy
prophets. At first fhey were dazed
and for twenty -four hours, almost,
there was breathIass silence; then
they recommended. Temporary stands
were erected out Of he ruins of the
prophesying establishments which had
been wrecked by the congressional cy-
clone, and the erstWhile prophets
mounted them and pnoceeded to verify
the truth Of the Old ednplet
No rogue ere felt The halter draw,
But what he Cursed forms Of law"
Curses, loud and deep were the order
of the CAV.
Peter the Testv Wien he found the
b,lrgomasters Of Men Amsterdam ac-
tually neddling Wi The duties Of law
making, paled into iis ficance. .sThe
- IL
advised the passage Of the law, s'the
subseryient tools in Congress who
who passed it, the sycophantic post
master general" !" who proposed to exc
cute it, all came in for their share Of
the objurgations. Defiance came next.
" Whose afraid of your old alaw?" was
the question asked. The lottery adver-
tise1nent was going to be published, law
OF no law. The Supreme Court OF the
United States would say whether "the
rights Of the States" ssthe liberty Of
the press" and athe freedom Of indi-
vidual action" were to be "r,Rhlessly
trampled upon"
The little coterie of Louisiana gam
blers and their hired henchnen and
poor dupes really imagined that they
were the people, and the States and the
Union. They forgot that others had
rights as well as they. They forgot
that one of the rights OF State was
to have its own laws respected, and the
sale Of lottery tickets, which it had for
bidden, stopped. They forgot that
freedom of individual action meant
only so much freedom as you could
enjoy without injuring anybody else.
They forgot that liberty OF the press
did not mean license of the press. They
forgot that it meant "the right to pub
lish what they pleased ahd then to be
responsible for it after YOU had done
it.
In their treatment OF the bill, the
lottery papers have studiously concealed
the facts. They have represented this
bill as an unprecedented measure.
Which is not so. They have represent
ed the bill, or tried to induce the peo-
pie to believe that the bill authorizes
the opening of letters. Which is not
so. They have represented it to be an
invasion of States rights. Which is
not SO. They have ascribed it to Re-
publican hatred of the South. Which
is not so.
But with all OF this buster and brag-
gadocio there has not yet been found
one who dares make his acts agree with
his talk. Their attacks upon the con-
stitutionality Of the measure have been
made from the safe standpoint ofncws-
paper columns. Their talk about
atesting its constitutionality" and
agiving the Supreme Court chance
to pass upon it was all a. bluff of the
rankest sort.
Talk is cheap, but an actual test Of
the right to send their gambling edi-
tions through the mail has term in
Jail at the end of it, and nobody seems
to be anxious to take the risk.
| It is not so dignifed to make faces
at the law as it is to break it for q test,
but it is safer, oh /. so much safer.
And hence the Bob Acres of journalism
indulge in q tremendous amount of
wind without corresponding action.
The law is directly in line with all
previous Federal legislation on the
subject for fifty years. 1t is no invas-
ion of the rights of any State. 1t was
passed by the unanimous votes OF the
whole Congress, Democrats and Re-
publicans alike. IT is the result Of the
indignation OF the decent people OF
the United States at this keno game.
tt is clearly constitutional and has
been so declared by the Supreme
Court OF the United States. And it
will fine or Jail the man who breaks it,
and we dare any of the constitutional
lawyers who so ably condemn it to try
| it and be convinced.