The daily critic., 1890-08-29

tion does not carry with 10 the right 20
discriminate between citizens with ref
erence 90 Tie same kind of matter. rs.
for instance. registered letters, money
orders. ard postal notes, leaving the
Postmaster General 90 decide 20 whom
they may ri MAY not De delivered
4 The Anti Lottery liIl proposes 90
give The Postmaster General this
rrht-he right 1 decide. ur on "evi-
dence satisfactory 60 him what per.
sons or corporations are engaged I'm con.
ducunc any lottery OR any business
such as is prohibited by The act from
usirc The mails, or as acting az agents
CIR representatives of such persons OF
corporations
In exclamation Of The dangerous
POWER thus proposed to be conferred
uTou fle Postmaster General the Times
goes cn as follows
Having "srottrd" such persons IuI .o-
pore 'iot he may instruct pus'ma-.ur- to
rD'mu fo The syuders ON REGISTERED .atgrr-
addressed 10 them instead Of delivering
such letters. Ile will have the same yrNrr
aud authority with reference ro money
orders and postal notes Now, there is no
limit tO DE number or character of the
agents whom a great lottery NAV employ
The chief agent Tor the Louisiana Lottery
Company Tor receiving remittauces in New
Orleans has been for several years national
bank. and t may have agents who are en-
gagged ln various KINDS OF business OF their
own. Congress cannot prohibit anybody
directly from acting as The agent OF a lot
terry in any state tau @ properly authorize
tie Postmaster General 20 withhold from
all persons or corporations that he believes
90 Re acting as such ageuts all registered
letters aLu money orders, whether they
bclotE 20 @ LOTTERY OF relate TO its business
or not2
Upon this statement Of the case the
Times remarks
The provision Of the bill raises a very se-
rious question. and 10 suggests one OF the
chief difficulties Of dealing with the subject
I'm this way 10 Us doubtful IL any court
would uphold a postmaster In refusing to
deliver registered letters TO national bank
OF O business firm, or even 10 an individual
citizen, on TIE simple ground that they
were acting as agents of a lottery, without
some proof that those letters related To the
lottery business, and Il Is more than doubt
ful whether Congress can infict a denial OF
some of the most important uses Of the
mails upon persons as a penalty for acting
as lottery areHts But this Is not the only
practical difficulty which the bill presents.
II not only provides that no letters or cir
Culars concerning lotteries aud gift en-
terpriscs, no list OF prizes drawn, no lottery
ticket, or check, draft, bill, money, postal
note or money order for the purchase of
any such ticket, and no newspaper, circu-
lar, pamphlet or publication containing any
advertisement % lottery or list OF prizes,
shall be carried iu the mails or delivered
at Postuiliees, hut it makes % a misde-
meanor punishable by fine or imprison-
mcut, or Goth, To- deposit anything OF the
Kind or cause II 20 he deposited
for the purpose Of being carried In the
mails. 10 would be difficult 90 enforce
tie prohibition Of carrying and delivering
this Mind Of matter but that iu regard 10
dCtositing would be simply impossible OF
enforcement All the power Of espionage
at The command of the Government aud an
lat could be devised would De impotent
tu prevent the depositIrg Of matter Of this
kId, aI q the effort 10 enforce such pro-
NIsi,u might lead TO an Infinite deal of
abuse m Il injustice. In fact, 10 is 10 be
feared that the Anti-Lottcry tiIl as 10
Igsstt The Houtgis au im1raCtiCable sort
~ measure, which would either become q
dead letter very speedily or lead 90 an arbi-
uary exercise ~ power hy the pusto1lce
Department which might DO more harm
than good.