The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913, 1895-06-16
ADVERTISING LOTTERIES.

In discussing the lottery evil and the
possibility of suppressing it, District At
torney Barnes, after pointing out that as
the law stands it is no offense for news
paper to publish notices OF lottery draw
ings, after they have taken place, and that
until the law is changed there can be no
prosecution for such publications, went on
to say:
"Of course, it ought not to be necessary
to change the laws. The newspapers
should be public spirited enough to follow
the spirit of the law rather than it's de-
fective wording. So great power as the
newspapers should be above taking ad-
vantage of a flaw in the statutes. If the
example set by the CALL were to be fol-
lowed by the other newspapers, it would
save the State great deal of trouble and
expense, and go very far toward stamping
out the lottery evil in this State"
We commend these words to the serious
consideration of our contemporaries.
Every right thinking citizen, every man
who has any comprehension of the respon-
sibillties OF the press, will agree with the
District Attorney that it ought not to be
necessary to change the laws and that the
newspapers should be public spirited
enough to follow the spirit of the law
rather than its defective wording. Under
our law the sale of lottery tickets is a
crime. The law is just one The lottery
is pernicious in every way. Every scheme
of that kind is so honeycombed with fraud
and comes so near to downright swindling
that no law is needed to condemn it in the
minds of intelligent men. Our contempt
raries are well aware of these facts and
upon the slightest reflection they will see
that the power of the press ought not to be
debased to the service of such schemes
We are we'll aware that the force of habit
is as strong in journalism as elsewhere and
that because thing has been done in the
past is considered by some editors sutfi-
cient reason why it should be continued. We
are convinced, however, that our contempt
raries on reflection will see the advisability
of breaking away from old custom so far as
lottery publications are concerned. All the
journals of San Francisco are in the hands
ofmen comparatively young. None OF them
are too old to make new departures. All
of them are interested in the advancement
of the City, and most of them have a
laudable ambition to promote the welfare
of the community. 1t is reasonable, there
fore, to presume that when they have con-
sidered the consequences of lottery publ
cations they will abandon them and come
forth as champions of honesty, morality
and the law.
That an editor makes considerable sac
rifice in refusing lottery advertising is
well understood. The sharpers who run
the lottery games pay the highest prices
for every inch of space a newspaper allows
them, and the income of some journals
from this source forms an important part
of their revenue. Nevertheless they should
give it up. They may lose in money, but
they will gain in prestige and public
esteem.
What influence can newspaper exert to
promote honesty in office and purity in
politics when every reader sees that the
paper itself takes advantage OF technical
defect in the law to encourage lotteries by
advertising their lying premium lists for
the sake of sharing some of the profits of
the sWindles2
Men often act wrongly not through any
intention to do evil, but from lack of re-
Election upon the nature of the act and its
certain consequences. It is to this we
must attribute the course of our contempo-
raries in publishing lottery notices, for no
one can doubt that at heart they are in
favor of enforcing the law and suppressing
the iniquity. II, therefore, the churches,
the Civic Federation and all other forces
that tend to mold public opinion in the
interests of morality will bring their infu-
ence to bear, we are convinced that the
publication of lottery notices by the re-
putable journals of this city will cease and
all the papers of San Francisco will act to-
gether in supporting the officers of the law
in their efforts to crush out the nefarious
trade.