Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1892-02-27

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and packages, which are invioable. The gov
eminent authorities cannot intercept matter so
sent, and the management of the gambling
concern will be safe from prosecution outside
OF Uncle Sans territory. So it appears that
the fight is about to assume a new and more
difficult phase This country will soon be
flooded again with fractional tickets and the
new law for Furnishing the senders by criminal
proceedings instituted wherever the specula-
tive securities are received will, it is claimed,
be useless
There is but one way to solve the problem.
Accordingly the post office, when it finds itself
unable to attack the lottery directly. proposes
to assail patrons of the swindle-the purchasers
OF tickets in the United States. No legal
| enactment forbids any one to buy a ticket. but
the law will punish anybody caught using the
mails for that purpose. If it is ascertained
that you have mailed dollar to the lottery
company to pay for a share in the gamble you
| are liable to $500 fine and years imprison-
ment That is the penalty for each offense.
scaled communications being sacred evidence
may be difficult to get. but the department reg
ularly employs corps of the most skillIul de-
tectlves in the world. and they have means of
hnding out such things, So that no person who
commits this petty crime can feel safe. They
are ready with certain methods for testing
people who may be suspected OF this sort Of
transgresson These tests they declare to
be very different from ''decoys" Just AS postal
employees are tested by letters seat through
their hands containing marked money-but the
nature OF them they refuse to disclose for OBJ
vious reasons.
MAY YET REAP A HARVEST.
1t is expected that few determined prose-
cutions against individuals detected in sending
money by post for tickets will frichten people
out of using the mails for this purpose. How
ever, that Will not prevent the lottery concern
from dlspatcning tickets i'll bulk by express
FROM Nicaragua &c cities and towns ali over the
Union, addressing them uni, seal to agents,
by whom they can be distributed to purchas-
ers Thus. no :withstal ding al the difficulties
Diaced III its way, the lottery may again reap
l.aESests of millions of dollars annually i'll
profits obtained from the specula'ively inclined
III tiIa country. Making. as 1t int: IDS, regular
SPECIAL drawings for the United States, other
Uc:i" -ags FOR Mexico, others yet for Great
aritain, and possibly others IN addition for
ether countries, Its gains are likely 20 be far
greater in the future than hitherto. This pros
lcct does not concern the post Office. II IS not
an Institution for the propagation of good
Gorais and Its only aim Is 20 preventive mails
from b. ing utilized to vicious ends.
lhe lottery company, ii is said, will have
go trouble Ill securing all the privileges 1t
cInts in Mexico. That country is the hotbed
5: lotteries OF every conceivable kind. Not
ly Is there great lottery concern in opera
= On IL the City OF Mexico, well as numerous
'-nalier ones everywhere, but all business is
run more or less on a lottery basis. Everything
In the way OF property, from real estate to "a
IhuIe, is sold by rattle. anu the churches
are largely supported Oh the same speculative
system.
POSTAL SAVINGS VERSUS LOTTERY.
Postmaster General Wanamaker is anxious
that the spare cash Of the people shall not be
|,quandered in lottery investments. The
scheme he has most at heart is to invite them
H. n damn hair viz will fbo
u-inS tue post offices as places of deposit. He
says: The making OF money is part OF the
genius of the American but the saving Of it is
not 50 conspicuous" Let the government an
lrounce its willingness to receive deposits. and
'fniIlIons of individuals who now have nothing
will, II Is claimed, quickly become small capi-
ta.lsts. For proof one need only1look at Great
Britain, where one person in every eight in
habitants has cash to his or her credit in tie
hands of the national post Office. nearly one
million new accounts having been opened with
an aggregated sum of sl05, OC0, 900 during 1890
Other fore ign nations find the postal savings
system equal. y successful. People in this coun-
try commonly hoard their money in stockings,
cracked teapOts and stoves because they are
dist,ustful of banks. Nearly all Of the vast
sum which is now kept thus hidden away by
nervous persons would be quickly turned over
to the government. the guarantee against loss
being absolute Every one who accumulated
u deposit of IS would Immediately acquire an
appetite for saving. There is demand for the
adoption OF the system in the United States, as
is shown by the numerous letters and petitions
addressed on the subject to the department
and to Congress-.
A plan suggested is to issue at post offices GER
tifcates OF deposit, bearing interesfat the rate
Of Il cent u day on 500, or little less than
per cent per annum. principal and interest
payable to the depositor on demand at any
money order office. Sums deposited should
not be loss than 81 and any amount over $40
might draw al " ysf r0r, he haUn ipn
Of the next month after the deposit was made.
The Secretary OF the Treasury could receive the
money, keeping account OF deposits from each
state separately and put 1t in circulation by
loan to the national banks of the same state,
exacting suitable rate of interest.
POSTAL TELEGRAPH AND TELEPHONE.
The Postmaster General expresses confidence
that the telegraph and telephone will become
important adjuncts to the Post Office Depart
ment within very few years. He says that
there would be no difficulty in blending
telegraphy with the present postal system,
using for service the force already under pay.
This accomplished kilograms would be sent be-
tween any two points for q cent Q word. which
would bring the luxury of quick interchange
of intelligence within reach of persons of mod
crate means. Special rates would be given to
newspapers and the use of certain wires might
be given to the press associations at q merely
nominal tariff during certain hours OF the
night when their lines would otherwise be COM
paratively idle.
''Ten-cent telegraph messages and Scent
telephone messages, in connection with the
postal service, are near possibilities" SAYS Mr..
Wanamaker. Collection boxes in the towns
could receive the messages, written on stamped
cards like postal cards. From these recepta-
cles they would be gathered at frequent inter-
walls. conveyed to the central Office and dis
patched. In rural parts the most important
benefits would be obtained by the adoption of
this system. News Of approaching frosts could
be promptly spread by telephone over country
districts and fruit-growing regions, giving
warnings which would save valuable crops and
the days market prices for cattle, grain and
produce might be obtained by the farmers d.
rect by inquiry from others than the buyer Who
drives up to the farm house in his buggy"
TUBULAR POSTS.
Another innovation contemplated BY the
Post Office Department Is the tubular post.
Before very long it is expected that all cities
and large towns in the United States will have
systems OF pneumatic tubes for transmitting
mail. This method has proved most successful
In London, Paris and elsewhere. Collections
are made half-hourly, the metal carriers travel
ing at the rate Of fifty miles an hour or more.
The cost OF tubular message in Paris Il 10
cents; In Vienna 6 cents. Plants Of this de-
scription are expensive, but the business pays
WELL Some years ago tube was constructed
underground between the Capitol At WASH
lnRton and the government printing ONCE.
It big anou0h to ahoot q man thro,,oh aud