The White Pine news. [volume] (Treasure City, Nev.) 1868-1906, 1900-12-20
THE WHITE PINE NEWS.
Thursday. December 90, 1900
THELouISIANA LOTTERY.

A resolution passed the last Legisla-
ture 10 this State in favor OF amending
the Constitution by striking out the
section which prohibits lotteries and
the sale of lottery tickets In Nevada.
Another resolution providing for the
submission of the question to the people
is sure to come up before the Legisla-
ture that is soon to meet at Carson
City, Corrupt influences were without
doubt used in the late election by the
promoters OF the lottery scheme in be-
half of certain legislators elect, ano
there is no question but what every ef-
fort will be made by fair means and
foul to influence our lawmakers In favor
of the measure. In view of these facts,
1t behouves every citizen OF the State to
post himself thoroughly on the merits
of lotteries in all their phases, and use
what influence he can to the end that
the Legislature may bury the scheme
and the men behind 1t beneath the sod
of public gnominy. As the Louisiana
Lottery is best known, let us look for
a moment at the history of that insti
tuition.
1t was first chartered In 1868 by the
carpet-bag government which con-
trolled during the reconstruction days.
Under the provisions OF its charter, it
was to pay the State license OF $40, 600
a year and did so for twenty-five years
"a total of 81, 900, 900. 1t would seem
as If the people of Louisiana should
have been satisfied with an institution
which paid so munifciently for the
privilege of doing business, bnt they
were not. When the Democratic party,
which represented the better element
of the State, resumed control In 1879.
one of the first acts of the Legislature
was to revoke the lottery's charter,
with a compromise provision, however,
that It should be allowed to do business
until Dec. 81, 1893, after which date IL
should 20 out OF business forever.
Everything went smoothly for few
years, but as the time approached
when the lottery was to go out of ex.
istence, its manipulators were loath to
give up their opportunity to bleed their
foolhardy and guiIlible victims, and
concocted clever scheme to prolong
its life. They offered to pay the enor-
nous sum of 81, $50, 900 annually for
renewal OF their franchise, which money
was to be devoted to building levees,
To pubic charities, schools, pensions
and other philanthropic purposes. 1t
was great temptation to the people OF
Louisiana. Her lands had just been
flooded by the Mississippi and thousands
of homes had been ruined. She needed
new levees worse than Nevada needs
storage reservoirs and here was COM
pany that offered to build them with
out expense to the people. How great
then must have been the evils of the
Lottery, that the people should have
voted, rs they did vote, to refuse such
magnificent offer.
What those evils were are perhaps
most graphically pictured by Congress-
man Wilkinson of Louisiana in a speech
which he delivered in the House of
Representatives in 1890, when the bill
to prohibit the use OF the mails by the
lottery was before that body. We re-
greet that we have not the space to
quote that speech in full, as it appears
in the Congressional Record, but con-
tent ourselves with culling the follow
ing extracts:
mo voice of any Louisiana Repre-
sentative will he heard to-day In sup
port of the institution whose privileges
this bill so largely curtails. Who can
justify or defend il?
ut takes from the many to benefit
the few. Il rcaps its amplest harvest
from among the poor. 1t swallows in
It's cspacious nav the earnings OF hon.
est toll. 1t drains sums, small in amount
but tremendous in the aggregate, from
out of the avenues OF trade. The re-
tail dealer, the honest shopkseper, in
New Orleans especially, is the loser, and
wonders why the times are dull and
money IL so scarce.
''What wonder this is so when by its
own avowal with every ticket sold every
prize paid out, it only'gives back lit
tie more than so cents on every dollar
that it receives? 1t is an adept In the
tempter's art. Without the aid of temp
tatIon, the author and founder OF so
much crime. its occupation would be
gone. Those intrusted by others with
sums OF money, large ard small, are the
easiest victims of its alluremeuts. To
many home once happy its wiles have
brought disgrace and desolation un-
told
This corporation, which by its daily
drawing tempts to the taking of % cents
from the daily market money, has a
revenue many times greater than that
received in taxation by the government
OF Louisiana.
us it any wonder that such an insti- |
tuition, with such wealth and power,
with its very existence sometimes de- |
pendent on the exercise of political |
control. should be constant menace to |
good government and political liberty |
in Louisiana? And this institution, its |
calling outlawed by almost every State |
in the Union, masquerades under the |
garb OF disinterested charity and a |
MAGNIFICENT Dhilant rOnvii,