New Britain herald., 1929-11-02
THE NATIONAL LOTTERY

THE NATIONAL LOTTERY
 The national lottery is not mar riage. There are stringent laws about lotteries and games of chance. News papers cannot publish references tc "lotterv prizes" without getting into Jams with the post office department. Newspapers even must be caretui how they handle news about "prizes," most Of the more or less sstute editors getting around the difficulty by stating that something or other was given away There no longer is q Louisiana lottery in the land. Time was when that particu- lar lottery got many millions of spare nickels and dimes and by the time the government waded into the thing the promoters retired to Mexico or South America or to Paris-any- where but in Atlanta.
 The spirit Of taking chance, how ever has not been suppressed. IL IS said that 22,O0O,0oo people were yitally interested in the recent stock market lottery. That figure may be q bit exaggerated. Half that number, however. would be quite large total of spectators on how sundry figures on the tape happen to jump.
 And no lottery in history ever brought about such tremendous losses. If gambling. speculation, and chance taking generally eNerts a de- moralizing influence upon the pub lie. as is claimed by all thoughtful thinkers in armchairs while their feet are sprawlcd upon library tables, then the 11,O00, ,000-or 22,- GOO, ,OO0-who gambled in the recent bull market must be tremendously demoralizcd. Perhaps most of them will admit they are somewhat de- moralized but not so much because they took q chance as because they lost tidy sums now in the possession Of the big boys who came 10 the aid Of the market and their own pockets.
 The national lottery exists primari- ly to permit the purchase and sale Of securities, obviously in legitimate manner. Its underlying principle therefore. is one O. sound economies What happens however, is that the majority don't consider II in any such light at alI but as a convenient casino for plain and fancy gambling mostly through marginal accounts. Then there are 9 great many others n ho do not buy for investment, but in order to sell to somebody else at the earliest opporMnity-after the hoped for rise II is these who cause the vide fluctuations m securities, not the reports or corporation earn ings or the state and condition of commerce generally That is proven by the accepted fact that the major ity Of the speculative public never bo,hers it's collective cranium about the technics of the commercial stu- alton, they "go into rne market one day" and the next day get out of it fl the figures indirate stocks went up. When d sufficient uumb"r think Of selling at the same time the figures 20 down. What any paruc1- lar company earns. inc extent Of jts surplus, and any other fundamental in connection with ita operation. has nothing in common with hat hap pens to its securities. Tha entire busi- ness is lottery. and there je TO claim otherwise that se.ms abl. 10 hold water.
 We are not saying the thing ts wrong or that 2 is uSar Fortunate Iv. we are not roforuere trying 70 tel others how 10 |i.c wh~ 10 do with their money CT 70 get into or Out Of tho market. w. only know what happens, and ~c rather think that the spirit which mo.os a man Or woman to bet on Yalc or bart mouth is 10 different than the spirit which stimulates them to be' on the stock quotations-ouly in the latter it is done on q much wider scale and runs into much greater sums. This merely happens 10 he the ease be- csuse there is an opportunity every working day 10 get into or Gut of the national lottcr~
 "pSYCHOiGGf,' THAT'S ALL
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