The record-union. [volume] (Sacramento, Calif.) 1891-1903, 1892-01-02
"a CRY FROM MACEDONIA,

ga CRY FROM MACEDONIA"
One Of The most forcible and convincing
arguments yet made against the infamy
of the Louisiana Lottery, the campaign
concerning which is now fairly rending
the unhappy Southern State, is that adj
vanced in the Forum for January by
Judge McGloin of the Louisiana Court of
Appeals.
He shows that the lottery, if selling all
its tickets, takes in SIS, COX. 900 per annum;
yet the full possible amount that can be
drawn is only little in excess of Sl4, OOO,-
600. So the lottery skins a profit from
The people in excess of Al per cent. of all
the money it receiyes-thrice as much as
any other lottery, save the Mexican, ever
dared to exact in all the history of gam
ing.
But here is another phase of the lottery
evil:
AS tbs, we are surrounded by visible evil
oences OF the decentralization already accom-
phshed among our people. We have horror
quences which must flow from twenty-five
- years more OF this hideous trade this system
ate debauching of a people according 10 the
latest and most improved of business meth
ods Already our servant girls are becoming
IN considerable numbers practiced and habit
9ai thleYes, putting our market baskets under
dally toll for lottery money. The number of
oehlcatlons, large and petty, is multiplying.
The number of lottery Offices has multiplied
ana the roll OF their habitual customers Is
growing steadily. Saddest of ali. this roll
numbers multitude of women and of chill
years.
This is putting it very mildly. We are
assured by undoubted authority that the
Generalization in New Orleans. where
there are 147 licensed policy shops and
daily drawing of the lottery, is wide
spread and something sickening to con-
template. Rottenness permeates the COM
munity; the grasping for money to gam
Die in the lottery makes thieves and de-
1aulters, robs home of its needs, sends
wives and children to the street and the
poor-house and fills many suicides
grave.
A very devils dance goes on, and the
whole community is caught in the whirl,
whether people will or not. Bribery of
officials, corruption of municipal boards.
the purchase Of the Legislature, the de-
basement of many offices and officers,
the autocratic rule of the lottery king.
Morris-all these things spread a pail of
gloom and moral decay over the whole
State. Political committees are bought
and sold, the pulpit is menaced, the press
purchased and men and women who dare
10 stand out against these infamies are
condemned, reviled and prosecuted. The
wreck of character aud ruin of homes:
the graves of starved victims and the
mangled regulations of youth and age
alike, strew the path of this modern car
of Juggernaut and make the name of
Louisiana q shame and a reproach
throughout the land.
The anti-lottery people of Louisiana. a
devoted band having a their head the
Chief Executive of the State, and sup
ported by the Farmers Alliance, appeal
to the people for help. It is vertically ''a
cry from Macedonia, come and help u.s."
What are the people of the sister States
going to do about it? Are they aware that
Of the monthly lottery drain seven-tenths
OF the sum wrung from the people by the
lottery comes from those of States other
than Louisiana? That the lottery fiend
Is feeding daily upon the vitals of Louis
lana, and monthly upon the people of all
the other States?
If ever there was cause demanding
the use of the weapons nearest at hand
this is one; if ever there was excuse for
the use OF fire with which to fight the
legions of hell, this is one. That the
lottery cancer shall be licensed for an
other twenty-five years, to eat into the
vitals of the people, and send its deadly
virus coursing through the veins of the
communities of the United States for an
other quarter of a century, is too fearful
to contemplate. But the issue is before
the country; it must be faced. If aid is
notextended to struggling decency in this
delay, the grip of the lottery thug cannot
be shaken from the fair throat of un-
happy Louisiana, and in the twenty-five
years to follow that vampire will suck
from the financial life-blood of the nation
the enormous sum of seven hundred
millions Of dollars; it will in the strength
of its new power more than ever corrupt
our young men, debauch our maidens,
and make US a nation of low level gam
blers that, the ordinary gamester will de-
spise.
That we do not overcolor in this esti-
mate is proved by the amazing advance
made by the lottery in the past decade
and halt. Fifteen years ago the tickets