Grand Forks herald. [volume] (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1916-1955, 1922-07-19
LOTTERIES AND GOVERNMENT.

In this country the ban has been placed on lot
teries so long that the idea of a government lottery
to raise large sums OF money seems strange to most
of us. Yet lotteries arc quite legal in many coun-
tries. and in some they are conducted under the aus
pieces of The. government. Cuba has one which, is
giving the government some trouble. Charges of
fraud in the handling of the enterprise have been
made, and the whole subject is under investigation.
In the early history Of this country lotteries
were quite common, and were considered perfectly
proper. The Louisiana lottery was the last great
lottery to be conducted in the United States. That
lottery. which is popularity known as a state lottery,
was not so in fact. It was aprivate enterprise, op-
Grated by a corporation for profit. 1t had obtained
a franchise from the state of Louisiana, for which it
paid a percentage of its receipts to, the state, and its
drawings, as is now recalled, were under the supervi-
sion of commissioners appointed by the state.
North Dakota narrowly escaped having this lot
terry grated on it. and the contest oyer that question
has become historic. The Louisiana franchise was
about to expire and the new company was looking
tor a new home. North Dakota, just being organiz-
cd, poor and ambitious, seemed a promising field.
Pledges of revenues which at that time seemed enor-
NOUS were made, and the proposal to establish the
lottery here was dressed up in its most attractive
traRpings. There was a majority in each house of
the Legislature in favor Of the lottery bill. The gov
ernor, John Miller, was prepared to veto it. The
house could have passed the bill over the veto, but
enough men in the senate to constitute more than
one-thlrd~of that body entered into a compact to
sustain the veto, and every effort to break that CON-
%b1natlon failed. The bill was therefore abandoned,
and the constitution was Immediately amended so as
to prohibit the operation Of lotteries within the Dor
ders of the state.
The federal government has gone as far as it
can in the direction of prohibiting lotteries. The
promotion of Lotteries through the use of the mails
or by means of interstate is prohibited,
and that prevents the operation Of a lottery on any
large scale. Many of the states also have anti
lottery laws, but these. Of course, are optional with
the state. i any state should choose to license a
lottery to operate within its own territory, the fed
eral government could not interfere. But in actual
practice it would be almost impossible to conduct a
local lottery without violating some Of the yery
stringent provisions: Of the federal law.
The charge is now openly made that Mr.; Bryan
never got beyond the horse and buggy era" Not
a bad era at all-if you could drive with one hand.
London dandies are reviving a cautious1side
Whisker. # We get tn. old songs again. 4eyensthe
old lambrequinsm might come back.
The federal trade commission reports a4""nonop.
1%olistic situation with respectto the gasoline market
This will come as 4 great shock to the country.
Uncle Sans coal ultiInatunn to miners and %.
~erators, You mine coal,or will"
If a few ofnaofher,s sisters mana0S ~ ~A+g::rxr