Iron County register., 1892-04-14
A Louisiana Dogberry.

The inconsistency Of governments in
their treatment Of different forms of
gambling has frequently been made d
| subject Of ridicule. The common arg
unents against betting, bad as the most
Of them are, eyince vague perception
that the practice is one TO be con-
demned, and the vagueness of this per-
ception among the people al large
probably accounts for the incoherency
Of the law. A comparatively harmless
form Of gambling, one might at first
think. would be that in which large
! number Of people each contribute a
small sum. few of whom receive back
much larger sums, the prize winners
being determined by pure chance a
short time since, however. this was
discovered 20 be very heinous form,
while not 50 very long ago bets upon
the endurance Of this or that human
life Qife insurance) were discovered to
be perfectly legitimate. In 1868 & lot
terry company was chartered for twen-
ty-ive years in Louisiana. 1t became
very wealthy in a few years, largely, no
doubt because Louisiana and the other
States took care that il should have no
competitor. IN 1879 the conpany's
charter was revoked. but a United
States judge was found TO stay by writ
Of Injunction the operation of the re-
pealing statute.
The charter Of the company expires
in 1895. and there is much opposition
TO its renewal. A judge of the Louisi-
ana'Court Of Appeals writes aD article
in the current Forum earnestly pro-
testing against such course by his
State and urges on people Of other
States TO wage war for Us upon this
deadly and potent evil" He wishes
national legislation closing the express
service 10 lotteries. and an amendment
TO the Constitution of the United States
prohibiting tie several States from
charteTing lotteries. As a specimen Of
what man can find TO say who has
weak intellect and a capacity for strong
language, this article cannot well be sur
passed. a man whose mind is only of
a certain size is not to De blamed If any
idea which gets into it fills it complete
l.. even though the idea be small and
misshapcn: but such men are capable
Of doing much harm by filing other
minds similar TO their own with their
distorted ideas.
One charge made by the judge
against the lottery Is. that it Is a
scheme Of robbery. As basis of this
charge he figures from the companys
own published advertisement that only
q tridle more than half Of the gross
receipts for tickets is given in prizes.
No charge that the company misrepre-
sants the number and amount Of prizes.
or that the drawing is not perfectly fair:
but there is robbery and dishonesty
because the profits are large It is a
disgrace to a reputable magazine ike
the Forum TO publish an article con-
tanning such an abuse of language 1t
may be a disgrace TO Louisiana to
charter lottery. but if is a greater
disgrace to have on her bench a man
who allows himself TO write like this.
Il may well be that lottery is not a
good thing to have in a community. It
certainly does not assist directly in the
production Of wealth, and its effect
upon distribution can hardly be held
TO be valuable. Every one who buys a
ticket knows that the chances are
greatly against the money paid for it
proving a good investment II, not
withstanding. he keeps on buying tick
els instead of food and clothing. it is
difficult TO see how the State is called
upon to interfere 4 large share OF all
the money spent Is spent foolishly- but
If the Government is to prevent men
from making bad investments, one Of
the first things it should do is to remit |
the greater part of the taxes collected, |
which are very bad forced investment
indeed