The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1901-09-30
LOTTERY TICKET SALES
THE COMPANIES CARE NOTHING
BOU PROMINENT CITIZENS.
Prizes Are Frequently Won I'm Estab
shmen Where Many Men Are
Employed.

There are many queer notions abroad
concerning the manner in which lotteries
are conducted said a local banker, land
perhaps the one most generally held is
that lotteries pier out some particularly
prominent man in a community and throw
a big prize to him in order TO draw a lot
of suckers into their nets. That idea is
all wrong. The lottery fakirs care moth
ing for the prominent citizen. That kind
of people don't buy lottery tickets much.
The fellows they are after are the wage
and salary earners-the workmen. the
clerks, the cooks, the walters, the barten-
ders, anyone that has a steady income.
Have you not noticed" continued the
banker, that every now and then some
bartender will draw a prize? Well, as soon
as that happens all the other b%artenders
in town invest in lottery tickets. Then
take a big railroad office, where scores of
clerks are employed, and let a lottery throw
a prize in among such a crowd, and see
how all the rest of the clerks will fall
over themselves TO secure the magic slips
of paper. 1t is the same way i'm all classes
of wage and salary earners. When a men,
Der of a given class gets a prize the news
quickly spreads to all the rest. Those are
the people the lottery sharks are after.
for they are sure of their prey all the
time-not by fits and starts. All they nave
TO do is just cast a little sop to Cerberus'
once in a while.
II caught a lottery agent trying to sell
a ticket TO a clerk in this bank the other
day, and it made me hot. 1 went up to
the fellow and said, Look here. [ don't
want you coming around here selling those
things to my employees All right he
said very suavely, If you don't want me
TO do Ii L won't Il not only don't want
you TO do it, L replied, but L won't have it
at all
Then I took the clerk to one side and
had a little fatherly talk with him. Have
you been buying lottery tickets?' L asked.
Why, yes, he answered, Il have bought
a ticket every month nearly all my life.
L did not think anything of it Well
l said, you must quit it, my boy. Don't
you remember when | took you in here that
you were not nearly so well fixed as you
are now? L have borne with your short
comings and tried TO encourage you so
that you would rise in the business, and
now / do not like to see you fastening
on yourself a habit that, will be nothing
but a clog TO you all through life The
boy promised that he would buy no more
lottery tickets, and so far as | know he
kept his word. Well. you see. 1 just dried
it up right there: If L had not put a stop
to it, all the clerks in the bank would
have been tapping me for money to play the
lottery with.
Say, do you know that the people of
Indianapolis are daffy over this lottery
business?" calculated the banker. It's a
fact. L have never known so much buying
OF tickets as is going on right now. This
week / saw two checks aggregating $1,000
ready to be forwarded to the home office
of a lottery. That amount probably rep
resented the weeks sales of tickets in this
city. Think of it! A quarter of a million
of dollars of our good money is sent away
from the city every year TO a lot of fellows
that have never been here, never will be
here. and have no earthly interest in the
city or in us. And what do we get back
for this enormous outlay Of money? Well,
maybe some lucky devils here and there
draw prizes of size sufficient to total $25, 900.
There you have ii. We are suckers enough
to give UP, S250.OOO for a paItry $4,000! How
sum could be devoted TO lettering the ma
terial prosperity of the city,
xxx
81 don't know which is worse, lotteries
or bucket Shops said another banker,
but 1 suppose the lotteries are worse here
in indianapolis because they catch so
many and the bucket shops do not like to
handle amounts as small as those handled
by lotteries. But you would be surprised to
see the kinds of people that frequent
bucket shops. The first time l ever was
inside of such a place was about two years
ago. l was passing by, and a sudden i'm
pulse seized me 10 step inside and see
what went on there. When L got well into
the room and glanced around TO see who
was there beside myself l was amazed TO
find quite a number of good citizens whom
L had never suspected of gambling. Then
my eyes fell upon one of my customers. a
young fellow whom l had supposed at
tended strictly TO his business. However,
/ 10 have noticed something
peculiar about several checks he had writ
ten recently. l did not let him know / saw
him. but a few days afterward, when he
came up 10 my desk in the bank, / re-
marked. quite casually: You have been
losing some money lately, haven't your
He colored up and began TO get angry.
Now, look here l said, it's nc use for
you to get mad. / can tell by your checks
that you have been playing the markets
and losing. L would advise you TO stop.
my dear boy, before you get in too deep.
He did not stop. however, and i'm a few
months he had no account in any bank,
but had taken 10 drinking desperately, and
| heard not long ago that he had died.
THAT experience led me 10 conclude that
maybe it would be a good idea for a banker
, to drop into the shops every once in a
while, just to keep himself posted as 70
who frequent such places. / make periodi-
cal visits. and sea- cely ever fail 10 see
' something that interests me-"