The Washington herald. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1906-1939, 1907-03-10

eminent accepted from the lottery COM
panies a tax on gross receipts. But Hon
duTas instead of Mexico, was chosen,
and the way it came to be chosen IS
worth the ceiling.
A short time before the Louisiana char
ter expired Ed" Burke, treasurer Of the
State. had fallen into the careless habit OF
reselliug State bonds which should have
been Cancelled and by the time he had
thus disposed of bonds in the sum Of
S2.0.0,OJ0 some ru6e person with the well
fare OF the State at heart decided it was
time TO bring Burke 10 accounting. But
when the treasurer was wanted he was
not TO be found. Subsequently he met
his wife in cuba, and, with her. went 10
Tegucigalpa, the capital of Honduras
Mr. Burke, in choosing Honduras as his
residence, showed commendable intelIi-
Eence, for that was. and stin is, the only
country where he could not be bothered
on account Of his misunderstanding with
the Louisiana authorities.
Burke Manages the Deal.
1t happened that when the lottery Off
Gals began casting about for a soft place
ON which 10 alight after being boosted out
of Louisiana. they bethought themselves
of Burke. Negotiations were opened with
the abscouding treasurer, and by him
with the government of Honduras A
deal was closed whereby Honduras was
to give lcsal domicile 10 the lottery com
pany. As an evidence of the decadence
of the management of the lottery, it is
said that This concession could have been
secured for a small sum, whereas Burke
was allowed 90 hold up the lottery COM
pauy with little less mercy than he had
shown in selling cancelled bonds. This
was fifteen years ago. since which time
the concern has been known as the Hon
duras National Lottery.
Its legal residence abroad. however. did
not change the fact that most of its sales
were in the United States. For twenty
years or more the tickets had been print
ed iu the establishment of State Senator
Rogers. in Wilmington Del. and the lists
of prize numbers drawn had been print
ed in New Orleans. \ year ago, during
a printers strike ia the Wilmington
printing office, some of the strikers
called the attention of the government Of
hcials 20 the work being done and The
place was raided. Tickets and machinery
were restored, however. The printing Of
the lists was transferred from New Or
leans less than two years ago 20 Mobile,
and this establishment also was Taided
cy the government detectives.
Aid from Express Companies.
The enactment OF the Federal law pro-
hibiting the transmission of lottery mat
ter through tie malls was a severe blow
TO the business. but not as serious as was
supposed at the time as the express COM
panies promptly began the work OF car
ryilg the cuutrabaud matter. As the gov
eminent lsht grew ferccr even the ex-
press companies declined to handle the
tickets and lists, and the company was
forced 10 distribute them by messenger.
The profits of the Louisiana lottery
crowd during the years of its existence
can Do gppToNimated from known figures.
For Instance. the largest months business
ever done by the company was the last
month before the removal To- Honduras,
when 8. 100000 was taken in by the lottery.
IL is probable that The profits from the
lottery have not been less than S25.0o0,U0o
all told. The plan of operation called for
the distribution each month of - per
cent of an money taken I'm for prizes
Agents commissions averaged 20 per cent.
administrative and miscellaneous cx-
penses averaged per cent, which left %
per cent of net profit.
The gross income of the company fig
ured on this basis must. then. have been
II least Sl2J.0U05J during its life.
The biggest lottery city in the United
States. as shown Icy the sales OF the
tickets Of this company, was Chicago.
James commonly known as Doc Moore
had been the Chicago agent for many
raF.r -r-r
pacity- The sales formerly We're as high
as $500 ID month iu this CITY Of the
tickets of this one company; and when
tae explosion came last month the gov
eminent agents on The case claimed that
MoUres sales were S60C09 q month.
Made thousands OF Profit.
This Chicago agency of this one com
pany has been worth not less than $4,000
"a year net for q third of a century. Il
has been one of the forms Of graft that
attracted but little attention because Of
there being but one drawing a month and
The conservative investments Of the class
Of people who buy lottery tickets.
Strangely enough. Boston bought more
Louisiana lottery tickets than any other
city OF its size ia the country, the month
iy safes in that city being about $4,000
New York bought about as heavily All
the other larse cities were good markets
for the tickets and the local agents made
large sums of money Tt is said that IN
the case OF Moore, the Chicago agent,
tho hundreds Of thousands of dollars he
has made out Of this agency have been
spent trying to beat the races"
There is but little question that the ac-
ton Of the government in suppressing the
old Louisiana company viii result in the
death not alone Of that concern. but OF
thc numerous small companies that oper-
ate sporadically. The biggest remaining
lottery in the world is the Spanish Ma
tiOnal Lottery of Madrid, an institution
centuries old. In this lottery, at each
drawing, the perqUisite of the King is
ticket No. J.; but il is not recorded wheth-
or the King ever drew any prizes on this
complimentary ticket. In Sa1ony, Den
mark, Italy. Mexico. France. and many
other countries lotteries are operated with
government sanction. The National Lot
terry Of Mexico supports the charitable in
stitutious Of the City Of Mexico. The
Beuedcencia Publica, another big Mexican
lottery, and "a former rival OF the Louis
lana, viii see it's concession expire i'm one
year, ard Limaatour. minister Of finance.
Is known TO favor a policy of taxation
which viii suppress lottery on big
scale throughout the republic.
No Lotteries in England.
In England lottery died many years ago.
The last effort TO operate lottery IN
Great Britain consisted of a scheme Of
lighting several candles in Il row and al