St. Landry clarion. (Opelousas, La.) 1890-1921, 1892-01-16
TRYING TO BRTBE A STATE.

From New York World.
There is to be State election in Louis
| lana next April, and the chief issue in the
canvass that will soon be under way is the
| constitutional amendment which provides
| for renewal of the charter of the Louis
lana Lottery Company for period of
| twenty-five years. 1t is a strange thing to
see the people of a proud commonwealth
| dividing upon the question whether they
| will give an Infamous and pernlcious
| gambling concern the sanction of con-
tract with the State for mutual profit.
! Public sentiment in Louisiana is already
sadly debauched by the operations of the
| lottery in New Orleans since 1868, but if
| the naked proposition were presented of
renewing the charter of the company by
| law or by constitutional amendment there
is no doubt that it would be defeated.
| The company has acquired much influence
and would not scruple to use corrupt
means to affect the action of the Legisla-
| ture and of the voters, but it would not
hope to prevail but for the enormous bribe
which it offers to the State itself in the
contract which the people are asked to
ratify.
The lottery was one of the infamous
| creations of the "reconstructionn govern
ment of Louisiana in 1868, and the new
constitution, adopted in 1879, decreed that
all such institutions should cease to exist
| after the expiration of its charter in 1893
/ As the time of its doom drew near, the
/ company set to work, not merely to get rid
of the prohibition, but to secure in the
| constitution an actual contract with the
/ State for new lease of life. and it offered
/ to pay into the public treasury the annual
sum of $1,250,000 for twenty-five years
/ To make this huge bribe more enticing
/ the purposes for which the revenue should
/ be used are specified. To the people who
| live in the dread of the overfows of the
| Mississippi, the prospect is held out of an
annual expenditure of $350,000 for levees
| Another $350,000 is to go to the support of
/ public schools, $150,000 for the support of
/ public charities, $4,000 for pensions to
| Confederate veterans, 100000 for improv-
| ing the drainage of the city of New Or
/ leans, and $250,000 is to be turned over to
| the general fund of the State. Here is an
/ appeal to sordid sentiment craftily de-
/ signed to secure support from all classes
of citizens who desire the benefit of the
expenditure of these sums without having
! to contribute directly to them by taxation,
and this is the chief reliance of the lot
| terry company for obtaining support for its
/ scheme. Nobody can defend the lottery
itself as an institution, or deny the injury
thatis done by its operation, and all argu-
ments for the constitutional amendment
are based upon the public benefits to be
/ derived from its corruption fund.
This puts the State of Louisiana in a
humiliating position, which should make
/ it, if it yields to the vile entlcement, the
scorn of all civilized people. It has of
late taken pride in its growing prosperity
and its hopeful prospects. 1t is amply
able to provide from the resources OF its
people, contributed by honorable taxation,
/ for the support of its schools, its charita-
/ BILE institutions, its public works and its
general administration and the character
and self-respect of its people would be
e. y, Al ia
spirit and patriotism for the maintenance
/ of all public interests. And yet the organs
of public opinion are STOPPING to the grove
/ ling pretense that the State can not carry
/ on its government without accepting aid
! from gambling concern that draws its
revenues from the weakness and vicious
/ cupidity of the people. This would be
sufficiently degrading if the lottery were
regarded as all agency for drawing money
! by such vile means from the people of the
4 State who were to enjoy the supposed
benefit, but the lowest depth Of depraved
moral sense is reached when it is argued
that by this infamous device the State of
4 Louisiana will be able to draw a large
share OF its revenues from the people OF
the rest of the country by pandering to
the gambling spirit and playing upon the
hopes of the poor, the ignorant, and the
reckless throughout the land. Nothing
could be more shameless than the avowal
involved IN tnese arguments, ana yet they
are used by nearly all the newspapers OF
the State, by public men of both parties
and by citizens who deem themselves res,
s pectable.
The contest against the lottery is carried
on chiefly by the Anti-lottery League
which has been foced to establish news,
paper of its own in New Orleans in order
to reach the people with its appeals and
arguments, so thoroughly has the press
been subsidized by the corrupting concern
There is hope of arraying the great mass
of respectable and thinking people against
the insidious evil that MANAGES the State
but there is large ignorant and venal
element in the body polite upon which
the Lottery company will work with all 1t:
power. The sentiment of the country al
large is undoubtedly strong against tbs
Il lottery and all its works, but it is to be
feared that it can not exert any great in
fluence upon the action of the people O.
Louisiana in this matter. 1t might, per
haps, by its unanimous voice shame tha
State into an appreciation of the degrad
ing position il is in danger OF taking
among the Commemorative of this Union
and awaken some sense of self-respect.
Now is the time to subscribe to thu
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