The Jersey City news. (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1889-1906, 1894-11-14
RELIGIOUS LOTTERY
How Colleges and Churches
We're Maintained in Pro-
vineial New Jersey.
PRINCEToN'S MANY DRAWINGS
News That the College Had Won
$1,000 Raised President Burr
from a Sick Bed-Early
Anti-Gambling Laws.
-PRINCET0N'S MANY DRAWINGS

LOTTERIES were VI -
/ about the middle of the sixteenth century
says the Newark Sunday Call and
as private enterprises, had several times
existed in the Province of New jersey
| AS many of the settlers here were Eng
| lishmen, they must have known full wei
| how often a lottery works more harm
| than good, and how it serves to arouse
| in the minds of the people dlscontei9
| with their present conditions AND a purll-
ing desire to acquire that winch IN the
| highest and best sense does not ana can
| NOT belong to them. They saw their Pro-
| vince menaced with an immediate danger
however. The red man was aroused
| and becoming more demonstrative every
| day. Prompt measures were necessary
The present had to be attended to, and
| the future must take care of itself. Ii
| Ultimate evil was wrought by the tolera-
| ton of lotteries, the immediate good TO
| be attained could not be questioned IL
| was not a time for protracted meditation
or moralizing, but a time for actloh'
Hence the Province was delivered from
| genuine danger, but emerged from 1t only
| to find that the lottery spirit had peeh
| given a fresh impetus because the state
| had given the seal of its approval TO such
-
| methods of raising money.
Now. the State had not always been
favorable to lotteries, for in 1870, nearly
thirty years before the Indian CLAIMS
| affair, it had made a law prohibiting lot
| teries. That this law was deemed neces-
| sary is sufficient proof that lotteries were
in existence at that time, alrnough lne
| records of them are exceedingly meagre.
and 1t is probable lotteries were not very
INTERESTING PHASE.
Al interesting phase of the early ms.
| tory of the lottery in New Jersey is that
they were often established by the most
| prominent institutions In the province.
This is hard to realize when one thinks
now this practice OF raising n o;uiyze "a
world today. The Louisiana state LOT
terry is regarded with strong dlsravoT, as
every one knows, and those who purchase
| its tickets do SO with considerable Sc
| crecy. It is not only the law that they
fear, but public opinion concerning such
practices is so strong that 1t wouid pc
exceedingly uncomfortable for the lottery
| patrons oftentimes if their dabblings
III such affairs was widely known. one
reads with some surprise, therefore, the
following extract from a letter Wrltl shi IN
pen, a student in the College OF New
Jersey, concerning the august president
of the institution, Rev. DR.. Burr, who
won Zoo in a lottery:-"It hath given the
| president (who hath been sick these four
or 1--WE days. such a pleasure that his
spirits are greatly refreshed, W Nia en- e : cnle
lege president rejoicing in the capture OF
a thousand dollars in a game of chance
is somewhat startling. The gooo Sentler
man was wrapped up in the success OF
fhe college, however, and its needs were
then most urgent. A thousand dollars
meant more to the college then than half
a, million would to Princeton today. Be
sides, there can be no doubt but that
DR.. Burr firmly believed the end Justifled
- LoTaEERqES FOR PRINCETON.
The college had much to do with lot
teries beyond the winning of the EGO
! prize. On January 16, 1859, the Penn
s%ylvania Journal announced a scheme
for the Beneft of the New Jersey College,
( to consist of 5000 tickets at Dos. each, or
E12, 000." The managers hope those VINO
| generation will ncourage the design,
which is to furnish the youth with all
useful learning, and at the same time to
tnstill into their minds the Principles ct
! enough, and today would be set down as
as a very ID and inconsistent sentiment
| indeed, to be published as part of a
| lottery advertisements.
Another interesting statement connect
| ed with the notice is the following
sPrizes not demanded within six months
after the Drawing to be deemed as gen
| erously given to the Use of the said Col
| lege not to be Demanded afterwards,
| but applied accordingly" In 174S the
Assembly, as stated above, prohibited
| lotteries, and remembering this, the real
significance of the lottery just described
| will appear. The college could not estab-
lish a lottery in Its w Province, so it
| arranged for one just across the borders
| in Pennsylvania, thus designing to evade
the law. Three years later the college
/ was interested in a similar. enterprise in
Connecticut, and in both lotteries tick
| cts were disposed of by special commit
| tees appointed, and could be had of some
of the college trustees. William Peartree
Smith, of New York, was a trustee, and
| FIRST LAW AGAINST LOTTERIES.
The first legislative action taken con-
| corning lotteries in New Jersey was to
| condemn and prohibit them in 1880 and
/ in 174S. Then came the acts authorizing
the Indian claims lotteries in 1853 and
so. The last had barely been passed,
| halt and enacts a law in 176O, prohibit
ing the buying or selling of lottery
tickets, except those OF a certain lot
| to purchase the claims or he Indians
to lands in this colony, and another
lottery for the benefit of one Peter Cor
| DOM This was manifestly a jab at the
made somewhat of a %tulhuit, The AS
| sembly soon relented tovsuxd the college,
| and doubtless the special need of the
| set forth by the learned and pious men
| who were devoted to its welfare.
What an odd sight it would be today
to see the faculty and the trustees of
| Princeton College haranguing the Legis-
Iature on behalf of a special lottery
law! At all events. the collegiate party
| gained the a~scendancy, for in 1862 All
| act was passed empowering the trustees
Of the college ito raise by a lottery a
sum of money for the use of said col
IIege," the amount not to exceed $4,000.
Il The college Immediately took advantage
! Of the act and erected cas- the ex-
1 preston was them a lottery, the draw
ing for which was to begin at Nassau
HAll, Princeton, April 4, 1854, Hor as soon
before as the lottery is filed The
writer saw the other day a ticket for
Ethis lottery, which is in the possession
1 of Mr.. william r. Weeks. of Newark.
1t is a very Misunderstanding bit of paper,
scarce an inch wide and not three inches
long. 1t is as follows:-
NEW JERSEY COLLEGE LOTTERY.
1853 Numb. L, liza.
This ticket intitles the Possessor to
such Prize as shall be drawn against its
Number, provided it be demanded within
Six Months after the Drawing Is finished,
subject to a Deduction of Fifteen per
cent. ROBERT OGDEN
THE STATE HAS A DRAWING.
The autograph of Robert Ogden Is In q
Il 7po efafa ~ rraSArvaffop and altb0uch