LOTTERIES IN THE MAILS.

CHAPTER I.

This chapter will embrace a historical sketch of lotteries in the United States and Europe together with the Anti Lottery Laws of Congress now in force.

Section 1. The lottery, as a method of gambling, has prevailed from the remotest antiquity. It is not intended, however, at this time, to give even a general history of the lottery, but it will be sufficient for the purpose in view in this work to note, briefly, the evolution of the law of lotteries in modern times. Prior to the last decade of the Seventeenth Century, lotteries, public or private, were, it seems, not condemned by law anywhere and the people operated them at pleasure, without let or hindrance, unless it was, in some countries, to obtain a license therefor.

Sec. 2. The first lottery, authorized by law in England, was established in 1567 and in 1569 there were only three lottery offices in the kingdom. A lottery to aid in the colonization of Virginia was authorized in 1612 in the reign of James I. Nothing probably shows the advance in public opinion on this method of gambling in the last three hundred years more than the fact that the first lottery, sanctioned by law in England, was drawn at the west door of St. Paul's Cathedral in London. But opposition to lottery gambling at last came in some degree and the Statute of 10 and 11 William III, C. 17, reciting that persons had fraudulently obtained large sums of money from the unwary by color of patents or grants under the Great Seal, licensing lotteries,

provided that all lotteries should thereafter be held as common nuisances and all patents and grants for the same should be void and denounced penalties upon those who set up or operated lottery schemes. The effect of this Statute was however, simply to deprive the king of the right to issue letters patent for lotteries, but the parliament, of course, possessed the power to authorize lotteries, either public or private.

Genoa was the first of the nations to introduce the lottery as a source of revenue. France resorted to it for that purpose about the year 1580. An English Chancellor proposed the lottery for a long series of years as a justifiable measure of finance, on the principle of its being a voluntary tax, assumed by the adventurers. Ex-President Jefferson, in his memorial to the Virginia Legislature in 1826, stated that money, invested in a lottery, was a voluntary tax and Chancellor Kent, in 1839, thought the lottery was "a fair way to reach the pockets of misers and persons disposed to dissipate their funds." England, from 1709 to 1824, following the theory of her Chancellor of the Exchequer, alluded to above, established and maintained lotteries by law to raise revenue and, from 1793 to 1824, the government realized an average yearly profit of £346,765 by this method. The tickets were sold to contractors, who resold them at retail by "Morocco men" who traveled through the country. These state lotteries, conducted often fraudulently by the contractors, operated perniciously upon the morality of society and public opinion soon revolted against them. In 1808, the House of Commons appointed a committee to examine into the subject. While the report of this committee conclusively showed that lottery gambling was very extensive and very pernicious, the revenue obtained by the government was too great a temptation to be long resisted and the State lottery was continued. In 1819, the question arose again and through the efforts of Lyttleton, Buxton, Wilberforce, Canning and Castlereagh, measures were adopted to suppress the state lottery, the last drawing in which occurred in October, 1826. By a blunder

in legislation, however, authority was given by the Act 1 and 2, Will. IV, Ch. 8, to hold a lottery for the improvement of the city of Glasgow, but these "Glasgow Lotteries," as they were called, were abolished by the Act 4 and 5, Will IV, Ch. 37.

But owing to the supposed good effects of encouraging art, what were known as "Art Unions" were exempted from penalties by 9 and 10 Vic. C. 48, and in consequence of these exemptions the evil of lottery gambling has been renewed in another form and gift concerts, Art Unions, etc., still exert a baleful influence on public morals in England.

"In the Italian republics of the 16th Century, the lottery principle was applied to encourage the sale of merchandise." Charles Knight, in his history of England, says that in 1710 the newspapers were "full of the most curious advertisements. The projectors of schemes to make all men suddenly rich-the managers of fraudulent insurances-the sellers of state jewelry by lottery-all these and many others, who traficed in human credulity, were exceptions to the general spirit of the English Tradesmen."

Francis I granted the first letters patent for a lottery in France, and in 1656, Tonti (the originator of Tontines) opened a lottery for the building of a bridge between the Louvre and the Foubourg St. Germain. It was said France raised enough money by lotteries to defray the expenses of the war of the Spanish Succession. Lotteries were established in France, also, for the benefit of religious communities and for charity purposes. All these were practically merged in the Lotteric Royale by the famous decree of 1776, which suppressed private lotteries. These lotteries had a demoralizing influence on French society, and in 1836, France enacted a general law prohibiting all lotteries. The other countries of continental Europe also suppressed private lotteries, but in Germany, Austria, Spain, Holland, Italy and Denmark the State lottery still appears as a powerful and reliable means of revenue.

What are denominated lottery bonds, the nature of which will be hereafter examined fully, were formerly resorted to by

the nations above named and are yet by all except France, England and Italy. The Societe du Foncier, the city of Paris and many of the municipal governments of Europe have authority now to negotiate and do negotiate such bonds. Mr. Henri Levy-Ullmann, in an article in the 9th Vol. of the Harvard Law Review, 392, says that these "lottery bonds are popular with the public which is greedy for all transactions of chance; the greater the chance the greater the number of speculators."

Sec. 3. The history of lotteries in the United States is substantially the same as that in England. Many of the colonies, prior to the Revolutionary War, passed laws forbidding private lotteries, but as was done in England, many lotteries were established by law. The State of New York, in 1721, prohibited all lotteries not licensed by the Government. In 1783, another act to the same effect, though more stringent, was passed, forbidding private lotteries and gave the State a monopoly of the business. From that time to 1821 no less than forty-four acts were passed establishing lotteries for raising public revenues. Under these acts money was raised for opening and improving roads, for improving the navigation of the Hudson river, for Orphan assylums, boards of health, and lotteries were favorite means, also, for raising money for educational purposes. This mixture of morals and lotteries and the elevation of one by means of the other continued in New York until the adoption of the Constitution of 1821 which contained the provision that "no lotteries shall hereafter be authorized in this State."

Notwithstanding public opinion seems to have been crystalizing, during the first quarter of the present century, for the overthrow and suppression of all lotteries in this country as well as in England, Mr. Tyson, in his work on lotteries in the United States says that "in 1833 there were 420 schemes operated by 200 offices in Philadelphia." These offered prizes to the amount of $53,136.930; seventy-three of these were in New York, sixty-five in Virginia, eighty-one in Connecticut, sixty-two in Rhode Island, thirty-four in Delaware and North

Carolina (joint grants), seventeen in Maryland, twenty-nine in Delaware, etc., etc. These were all illegal except twenty-six operated by the Union Canal Company, and Mr. Jefferson, in his memorial to the Virginia Legislature, gives the names of seventy acts of the legislature of that State prior to 1820, authorizing lotteries for all sorts of purposes.

The first attempts to suppress lotteries in most of the States were by legislation simply, but it was found, however, that laws forbidding lotteries that could be repealed, or that did not bind subsequent legislatures, were not effective, and at this time all the States have adopted constitutional provisions prohibiting the licensing or authorization of lotteries. The last great struggle with the lottery monster was between the state of Louisiana and the Louisiana Lottery Company, but the moral sentiment of the State triumphed over this great vice and in 1893 the charter of that company expired and it was forced to quit business. Lotteries, in that State, are now prohibited by a constitutional provision.

While the opposition to lottery gambling was later taking form in the United States than in England the work finally accomplished here was decidedly more thorough than there, for the constitutional provisions of the States and the legislation of Congress have been so construed as to bring “Gift Concerts" and "Art Unions" within them.

It must not be supposed, however, that constitutions and laws could kill either the gambling spirit or gambling habit; all they could do or have done is to suppress gambling under the name of lottery. The avowed lotteries under the operation of these constitutions and laws have disappeared but gift enterprises under various alluring names and disguises flourish even to-day not only in the large cities but also in the smaller towns and hamlets throughout our country.

On the suppression of avowed lotteries in the United States, that species of gambling, at once, increased enormously in Old Mexico and Hondurous. Indeed the Louisiana Lottery was transplanted to Honduras and under another name (The Hondurous Lottery) has done and is probably doing a large