The Newberry herald and news. (Newberry, S.C.) 1884-1903, 1891-08-27
Rev. DR.. 3. II. Palmer on the Louisiana
Lottery.

Following are extracts from the
speech of Rev. Dr.. B. N. Palmer, de-
livered at a public meeting of the An
ti-Lottery League of Louisiana, held
in the Grand Opera Horse, ,-is-,New
Orleans.
II lay the indictment against the
Lottery Company of Louisiana that it
is essentially an immoral institution,
whose business and avowed aim is to
propagate gambling throughout the
country. This being not simply nui-
sance, but even a crime, no Legisla-
ture, as the creature of the people, nor
even the people themselves in conven-
ton assembled, have the power to legit-
innate it, either by Legislative enact
ment upon the one hand or by funda-
mental charter upon the other. In
other words. I lay the Indictment
against the Louisiana Lottery Com
pany that its continued existence is
incompatible, not only with the safety,
but with the being of the State"
Indeed, sir, if the worst should
come to the worst in this present cam
paign, I for one could wish that all the
technicalities being swept away, there
might be sor1e method by which the
question could be carried up to Su-
preme Court of the United States,
whether it is competent to any State
in the Union to commit suicide. And
if that venerable Court should return
an answer, which think they wonld
not for a moment considerHa possible,
I would then, for my part, make the
appeal to the virtue and common
sense Of the masses of our people, that
the very instinct of self-preseEEaattiiun-
may stamp out of existec:e an institu-
ton which is fate1ro the liberties and
to the life the commonwealth.
~*
Suppose there should be an organi-
zation effected in this city for Thug
gery-aud, by the way, we have had
some little experience of that of late
when all the machinery OF human JUS
tice. proving inadequate to defend the
safety and life of the commonwealth,
extra legal measures were necessitated,
under the instinct Of self-preservation,
to stamp out the existence of tle Malta
in our midst. Now, Sir, Iput the Lot
terry upon IL" same moral plane"
Let me illustrate this so that it shall
be understood by all present tonight.
That Company issues, if you please, az
thousand tickets of $500 a piece, Great
ing thus within its vaults fund Of
S500,000. 1t has first got to take $780,
600 Of that and deposit it safely in its
own locker as its portion of the plum
der. 1t then takes the other half, the
$250,000, and divides it into twenty
five shares of $4,000 each and puts
those into the wheel, and the 500 men
may take their chances as to which of
$4,000 each and puts those into the
wheel, and the 500 men may take
their chances as to which ofthem shall
get these twenty-five prizes.
Now, Sir, let the Lottery exist five and
twenty years. If only twenty-five men
out of the five hundred succeed in
gaining what the Lottery promises,
how long will it take to transfer the
entire wealth of the State Of Louisiana
into the hands Of one out of twenty of
its citizens? What will be the condi-
ton of things when one-twentieth Of
the population own everything upon
the soil, and let me ask, sir, how long
is any community going to stand that
sort of thing? When the country
has been led straight up to the verge
Of the precipice, do you suppose that,
like a herd Of bufaloes, all the people
Of this State are going to leap that
precipice into the boiling and Kissing
depths below? No, Sir, they musta and
they will recoil, and if this Lottery
cannot be destroyed by forms of law,
it must unquestionably, be destroyed
by actnal revolution"