The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1891-12-20
FIGHT FOR LOTTERY.
Gamblers Prepared TO Buy Con-
gress if Possible.
MILLIONS or DOLLARS READY.
Fabulous Profits Before the Law Went
Into ETect-Hissory Of the Great
Feast of Louisiana

EQUIPPED LOBBY tAzF ever S-szlIez COZ g-ess
= preparing 20 az siege % the capitol.
. II Is baked DT more millions o. dollars
than caa &c raised 4 support Of any otaer
enterprise. Entirely gnser- p1lozs. sAs-s
. 10 question OF az willingness 20 exp@nd
unllEnI5@S. czzsh II the pErcEzse q the gov
s-TlEneZt- Nith This p1rp5se Il view, IN
enormous corruption fund has been placed
IN bank Il SII fye spent Ike water, for
there Is 10 boGnd 70 the z4d2cisy and
criminal activity for which th.s greatest
Of gambling concerns, The Loulsiaa. Lot
tsEy Company, mas made Itself famous.
In fsct, the DoldRess OF the lottery >
methods has done much 70 damage It's
cause. Daring the last congress IT'S OFF,
GERS cane 70 Washington City EIth the
avoEed intention q buying mp both Sen
ass and House They evidently thoGghE
ina: they coEld control national .eg.s.2-
ton as they did affairs in Louisiana Il
was merely question Of money. They
offered one senator SIS merely 10 refer
the bill whieh they were anxious 70 defea-
70 another committee. where they thought
they coaIa have II pigeonboled. In an
otler case .hey pr0fezed Z 0rIb= q So, 500
70 secure the possponeEaent Of c0nsl1er2-
hours So openly did they aauat .heir
gresnbacks ss 70 defeat their osn p4--
pose. The 2ati-lottery lsE w2s passed
almost without dissenting voice. largely
because any man xho voted against i
would have been ~ once suspected 81 hav-
ing lottery currency ii MS pocket Yet
u : ordinarily ten times - easy 70 pre-
vent zhe passage Of . Dill Is u 5 70 ges
Ole through, Tor the reason thar there are
50 many stumbling blocks which can be
placed IN the nay. Il remains 10 be seen
whether these gamblers from New Orleans
wili succeed any better IN their present
effort 10 secure the repeal OF the Las. Igo
years ago they tried 70 get charter for .
term Of years IN Dakota. bat the brazen
way II which they went about the task OF
buying NJ the new state SET public opinion
against them. and they failed
The loss o. revenue % the lottery, owing
10 the operation OF the new Law, has been
enormous. One illustration Of this i al
forded By the fact that tie company now
viii not sell more than ten-.wenrieIhs Of
any ticket This reduces al the prizes
paid 10 exactly one-nasf OF the sQL1s zd-
yertised. For example, the capital prize
Is sJlo.ss1: bur whatever ticket draws it,
ten-f~entletas OF the amount remains IN
the hands Of the concern. 60 Il : with
all the other premiums. The lottery IS
gambling game which cannot De beaten.
That L i an open sEIn1le - the best thai
can be said for i, and that people are
willing and eager 10 be taken II by IL
wholesale Is grlevous rejection on the
human understanding. Before the passage
Of the las 10000 tickets were printed and
put on sale every month. OF this number
only about 1900 we're sold, mostly IN
twentieIhs az 81 each. OF course, the So
90 unsold tickets drew rhree-tenEhs Of the
prizes Offered on al average, which meant
large saving TO the company.
4 brief calculation viii show how well
nigh fabulous the profits OF the lottery
were. Surprising that 1000 tickets were
sold al so each, that would make the
gross receipts OF 81, ~. 90 on = single ordI-
nary drawing. Out Of that sum the CON-
pany advertised 10 disbQrse s6s0,1o0 in
prizes, silus leaving for itself the modest
sum OF 5000 for expenses and profits.
But, as = matter Of fact, only seyen-Eenths
OF the prizes had 10 De paid out, for the
reason above mentioned. and this meant
$4,000 more 20 be added 10 the gains of
the enterprise.
Now there vas such drawing every
month for ten months in each year. That
signined 50 ~. go for expenses and profits
In each Of the two remaining months
yearly there was an extraordinary draw
ing. when the prizes were doubled and
1900 tickets were sold al $40 each. Reck-
oning on the same plan g. before. the
gross gains for those tao month we're
S3,&91,1o. Add this 10 the sum above
mentioned. AMI you have the enormous
total Of sl3. 730.0Do annually 10 pay the
cost drumming the lottery and remunerate
Its owners. No wonder they are willing
10 make vast outlay for the purpose Of
perpetuatiug their business.
The charter Of the Louisiana lottery was
obtained in 1873 from the lezis allure OF
that state in which negroes had = major
ity. Il vas To run for twenty-five years.
the consideration being $4,000 : year, %
Oe paid 20 certain charities. In is way II
is a curiosity. II says:
WHEREAS. Many millions OF dollars have
been Withdrawn from AMI lost 70 this stsre By
the sale OF HaysHs. Kentucky, Ms1ri1 a1d other
lottery tickets. lEnpoyerishtng our cwa people,
II shzl Dc unlawful hereafter 70 sell any .ct-ery
LcAeT, except sGeA IS are hereinafter author
lied, etc
Thus the law was made TO declare thar
John i. Morris, Charley Howard ami their
associates should for the period mentioned
have an exclusive right u all the plumber
which had previously been Distributed
else here.
Only twelve months more remain for
this charter to run. % profitable has q.
been - Is owners ,hat they have offered
% extend II Tor another TWENTY-FIVE years
One proposition made by them vas 20 pay
OF the entire state debt. amounting 70
$4,000 = paragraph now incorporated
IN the constitution Of the state provides
that there shall De- no further lotteries per-
Mltted after January l, isti- 50 the com
paly has made i mai offer Of
$1,000 annually for twenty-five wears,
III consideration Of the extension
Of lJs privileges for rhat period
by 4 constitutional amendment which
Slu De voted upon BY ghe people nex,
Ap-iL Il Is proposed that this income
snail X divided among various public and
charitable enIerpTlses-plulIc schools
leyees, the drainage % New Orleans and
The hospitals IL i brsDe extended 10
the people ii large for permitting the con-
tlnueG existence OF the most gigantic
sS.uJ4e on the face Of the e4rI1- IL tie
ieYce parishes, particularly n New Or
leans. the amendment i likely 70 obtain
considerable majority. anu /, would 10. re
surprising il L should carry the state.
To understand the tremendous political
influence which the lottery J. abe 10 bring
TO bear IN behalf u It's proposition. one
U.ust understand that this gambling con
Germ literally runs the politics Of she city
Of NeS Orleans, and 70 = great extent +
the state. IL has hundred local Offices Il
New Orleans, which are tarnesi ont among
the local politicians. They are mostly To-
Gated IN cigar shops. II any one desires
the privilege Of selling tickets lie does not
- % the company, hut 10 the influential
politician OF the ward Il : a poor office
that does not sell 81 least seyenty-Tlve or
lgn tickets > day, On which the commits
sion Is Is cents on the dollar. By this and
ctae- means the lottery holds the town n
the hollow of It's hand
- ia- a. state polIIlcs are concerned,
the lottery = sad 70 control them IN part
Ov keeping members Of the legislature on