Mississippi leader. (Jackson, Miss.) 1892-1895, 1892-05-12
LOUISIANA'S LESSON.
An Inspiration to All Moral and Political
Reformers

ne VI lilt Yum
paign i'm Louisiana, which eliminated |
on the 10Th ult. in such a decisive vic /
tory for the Foster ticket, should ever
serve as living inspiration to all NOR
al and political reformers. Space
would fail us in an attempt to review
all the varying phases of this memoir
able campaign and the conditions
which led up to it,
Brought into existence during the
corrupt carpet bag era in Louisiana and
enjoying a monopoly of that class of
gambling, the Lottery had amasSed fab
ulous wealth. As the time approached
for the expiration of its chartered
rights much of this was dispensed III
ostentatious charity" and i'll public
benefactions. In presidential cam
paigns it contributed literally to the
campaign fund of both the leading po-
litical parties. and i'll every factional
fight in the dominant party of Louisl-
ana it would open its Golfers to both
factions to insure "a pull on the win
ner.
1t spent hundreds of thousands OF
dollars annually in newspaper adver-
Using throughout the United States,
literally substituting in its interest the
secular press of Louisiana and also
large number of papers i'll Mississippi
and other States. which became its
open sympathizers and defenders and
Haunted the advertisements of its
drawings in the faces of their readers.
Lottery gambling gradually popular
lied all other forms of gambling, and
its debauching influence and the CLAM
our of its wealth as insidiously as slow
poison permeated and impregnated
every stratum of Louisiana society,
and thousands of the most respectable
people of New Orleans and other por-
tions of that State grew to look upon
it with liberation and even as thing
to be desired for the money it brought,
! bers regard Jackson's high license
saloons: Not exactly good places to
train Sunday school children in, but
places that may we'll be tolerated by
people who are not fanatics" because
they bring revenue to the city.
It even became the boast of the Lot
terry advocates that % per cent. Of the
Lottery's receipts were gathered from
other States just as it is the boast of
Jackson and other license towns that
| the bulk of the saloon revenue comes
from the country and towns where no
saloons exist.
To add to the difficulty in the way of
reform and the overthrow of the Lot
terry, Louisiana had a cosmopolitan
population. largely foreigners, with
little moral perception at best, and
thousands with none at all on the sub
jet of gambling.
This was the situation when grand
old Governor Nichols spurned the
Lottery bride of 100000 for levy work
in time of great emergency, and drew
llle lire Vi All lIlc lIOJItIy -
press and heelers When the Legisla-
ture met in May, 1890. and the same loyal
old Governor sent his memorable mes
sage to that body against recharter of
the Lottery, the Representatives of that
gigantic and purse-proud gambling con
Germ who had grown to believe they held
complete control over the destinieS of
the State, arrogantly boosted that
every man had his price, and all they
desired was to know what it was and
they would make him their servant.
The long and memorable struggle in
the Legislature for the submission to
the people of constitutional amend
ment for a new charter, has become
historic and cannot be more than men
toned here. 1t ended in the Lottery
gamblers bribing and cajoling two
thirds of the members of each house
into voting for the submission of an
amendment for a recharteP. This
amendment, drawn at the dictation of
John A. Morris, the Lottery's head
provided that he and six unnamed as
sociates should have an exclusive
monopoly of all Lottery franchises i'll
the State for % years from the expira
ton of the old charter, for which the
Lottery was to pay the State the enor
nous sum of S1.250,O00 per year. TIC
make the bride more tempting to the
people, it was specifically provided that
this enormous sum was to be divided
out, so many hundreds of thousands
each for charitable institutions, school
and levy purposes and to manned and
disabled ex-Confederate soldiers. A
more brazen and cunningly devised
scheme-a more insulting proposition
to bride and morally and politically en-
slave a whole State was never witness
ed in a civilized nation.
Though Morris and most of his Lot
terry associates were Republicans and
the Legislature overwhelmingly Demo
cratic lin name) majority of the Dem
ocrats combined with the Republican
members to sell their State to this
gambling monopoly just as Democrats
in Congress for the last 20 years have
combined with Republicans to keep
the people in financial and political