Los Angeles herald., 1910-02-17
THE PANAMA LOTTERY
BY Frederic j. HaSkin

gross profit to the lottery company is
$3.50.
In spite of the fact that the ticket
buyer stands 100 chances of losing to
Ga of winning, the tickets find a ready
sale. There are all sorts Of systems
proposed for beating the game, but it
is usually noticed that the man who
has a guaranteed system of getting
ahead is the fellow who Is always
broke. Most of the tickets are sold by
20-cent coupons, the poor people being
the regular patrons.
All sorts of stories Of good and bad
luck are rife on the isthmus. Some
times an American gets the grand
prize. Usually he becomes such a few
erish gamester that his usefulness to
the canal is ended and sooner or later
he is down and out. Sometimes he
varies this program by throwing up
his job and returning to the states.
In one instance a winner cf the grand
prize threw up his job and prepared to
return home He became so drunk on
board the ship that he locked himself
in mis- stateroom and died. His re-
mains were buried at sea. A member
of the United States senate, who had
helped to pass the anti-lottery law in
the United States, bought ticket and
won the grand prize. In another case
a prominent official was sitting in a
poker game and lost all he had except
lottery ticket. At last he threw that
into the jackpot-and lost again. When
the drawing came around that ticket
won the grand prize.
The manner of conducting the draw
ings is entirely fair. They are held ON
Sunday at the lottery Headquarters
Forty little ivory balls are placed in a
box. These balls consist of four sets
numbered from zero to nine. A child is
called to do the drawing, and the
mayor and two witnesses chosen from
the crowd assist. The child draws out
one of the forty balls, and the mayor
posts it on the board. Then another
ball is drawn out, and the result is
posted. This is repeated until the
drawing is completed. Thus, if the
first number drawn was q the second
T. the third 8 and the fourth 6, the
ticket calling for the grand prize would
be numbered 2796. 1t will be seen that
by this system there is no chance for
crooked work.
The lottery idea seems to have come
into existence during the sixteenth
century. BY 1909 it had reached such
q popularity that it was included in
the governmental budget as a means
of revenue raising. Every parliament
tary budget from that time to 1924 con-
tanned the lottery. This was justified
on the ground that there is always
certain amount of vicious inclination
and gambling spirit in the community
and since this has to have an outlet
somewhere 1t should be turned to good
account and ought to be made to bear
it's share of the public burden. This
reasoning was well and good, but it
failed to consider the fact that lot
teries multiply the gambling spirit a
hundredfold. 1t was this consideration
that led to their abolition in England
and America.
Lotteries have been abolished from
nearly every English-speaking country
on the globe, but they still have firm
hold in Spanish-speaking countries
Nearly every one of the republics of
Latin-America has its bull fights and
lotteries. They seem to go hand in
hand, and where one is abolished the
other goes with it. Many of The coun-
tries of southern Europe still main
tain their lotteries, and they are so in
tricately woven into the warp and
woof of the finances of those countries
that to abolish them would be like abol-
ishing a customs tariff in this country
In England at one time there were
lotteries which offered grand prizes
amounting to 100000. At a parlia-
mentary investigation after one draw
ing it was disclosed that there were
fifty suicides in single night in Lon
don which were traceable directly to
the lottery. Societies for the suppress
sion of lotteries sprang up in America
early in the second quarter of the nine
teenth century. They had plenty of
work to do, for in the year 1892 there
were several hundred lotteries oper-
ating in nine of the United States, with
total drawings amounting to $66,000,000
year. The Louisiana lottery was the
last one on United States soil, and was
finally banished. 1t moved to Hon
duras, where it has had a rather tur-
bulent existence.
Few people realize how narrowly this
country escaped a perpetuation of lot
teries. After being denied the use of
the mails the agents used the express
service. Then congress enacted law
under the interstate commerce clause
of the constitution forbidding the
transportation of tickets In interstate
commerce. The constitutionality of
the law was attacked, and the supreme
court decided by a vote of five to four
that lottery is an article of interstate
commerce and its transportation could
be entirely prohibited.
Tomorrow--The Presidents Speeches.