LOTTERY (ante). In this country lotteries were generally tolerated, though not with out earnest remonstrances from some quarters, until about 1830, when the oppbsition to them assumed a tangible form, and not long afterwards they WC1T forbidden by law in sev eral states, and opposed by a strong public sentiment in others. Before this time they were chartered for a great variety of objects, such as the erection of colleges, academies, asylums, hospitals, and even houses of worship. As a convenient way of raising money for public and charitable objects, they were for a long time tolerated by men of influence, who were not wholly blind to their demoralizing tendency. As early as 1699 an assem bly of ministers in Boston denounced them as a. " cheat," and their agents as " pillagers of the people; " but such testimonies, being generally regarded as too straitlaced and puritanic, exerted but a feeble influence. For a whole century and more afterwards, lotteries were in fair repute as a means of raising money for public and charitable objects. Indeed, it was not until after 1830 that any organized movement for their suppression was made. In Boston, in .1832, an association of young men connected with Dr. Lyman Beecher's church, after a careful investigation of the subject in all its bear ings, condemned them and called for their extermination on grounds of morality and public policy. This action was extensively approved by the press, and did much to
create a sound public opinion in New England. In 1833 Job R. Tyson of Philadelphia published A Brief Survey of the Great Extent and Ecil Tendencies of the Lottery System of the United States, and in the same year a society was formed in Pennsylvania to promote the abolition of the system, which was accomplished within a year or two in Pennsyl vania, Massachusetts, and Connecticut. Maryland followed in 1836, and from this tiine the progress of the reform was rapid. At the present time it may be said that lotteries are under legislative ban in every state of the union, though in a few states the laws on this subject, being partly prospective in their application, have not yet been carried into full effect. In most, if not all the states, the sale of tickets for foreign lotteries is prohibited, and to advertise them is a penal offense. A few years ago the so-called " art unions " were permitted to dispose of pictures and statuary by lottery; but this is now generally forbidden.