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MABCH 3, 1905
The Commoner.
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Newspaper Guessing Contests Illegal j
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In June, 1903, noting the growing
prevalence of the "newspaper guess
ing contest," Mr. Bryan wrote a letter
to Postmaster General Payne. Mr Bryan
took the position that these so-called
contests were, more demoralizing than
the ordinary lottery, as well as less
lair, and asked if the postoffice depart
ment had issued any order on the sub
ject. The letter follows:
Postmaster General Payne, Washing
ton, D. C. Dear Sir: I enclose a cir
cular sent out by a St. Louis company
which is conducting a guessing contest
based upon the number of admittances
to the Louisiana Purchase Exposition.
You will see that the sum of $85,500 is
offered in prizes, the estimates being
sold for 25 cents each, or Ave for a
dollar. The company is soliciting the
aid of newspapers throughout the coun
try to advertise the contest. It is ap
parent from the advertisement that
this is even more demoralizing than
the ordinary lottery, because the low
price of the ticket and the large capi
tal prizes promised are more alluring
to those who are susceptible to the
temptations offered by a lottery, and
because the contestant has no way of
knowing how many competitors he
has. In the public lottery the prizes
usually bear a fixed and known propor
tion to the amount received for tick
ets, but in this case the company may
take in ten or a hundred times the
THE VALUE OF CHARCOAL
Fw Pcoplu Knew How Useful it is in
Preserving Health and Beauty
Nearly everybody knows that char
coal is the safest and most" efficient
disinfectant and purifier in nature, but
few realize its value when taken into
the human system for the same clean
sing purpose.
Charcoal is a remedy .that the more
you take of it the better; it is not a
drug at all, b.ut simply absorbs the
gases and impurities always preseni
in the stomach and intestines and car
ries them out of the system.
' Charcoal sweetens the breath after
smoking, drinking, or after eating
onions and other odorous vegetables.
Charcoal effectually clears and im
proves the complexion, it whitens the
teeth and further acts as a natural and
eminently safe cathartic.
It absorbs the injurious gases which
collect in the stomach and bowels; it
disinfects" the mouth and throat from
the poison of catarrh.
All druggists sell charcoal in one
form or another, but probably the best
charcoal and the most for the money Js
in Stuart's Charcoal Lozenges; they
are composed of the finest powdered
Willow charcoal, and other harmless
antiseptics in tablet form or rather in
the form of large, pleasant tasting loz
enges, the charcoal being mixed with
honey.
The daily use of these lozenges will
soon tell in a much improved condi
tion of the general health, better com
plexion, sweeter breath, and purer
blood, and the beauty of it is, that ro
possible harm can result from their
cci-tinued use. but on the contrary,
great benefit.
A Buffalo physician in speaking of
the benefits of charcoal, says: "I ad
vise Stuart's Charcoal Lozenges to ail
patients suffering from gas in stom
ach and 'bowels, and ''to clear the com
plexion and purify the breath, mouth
and throat; I also believe the liver
is greatly benefited by the daily use
of them; they cost but twenty-five
cents a box at drug stores and al
though in some sense a patent prepara
tion, yet I believe I get more and
better charcoal in - Stuart's Charcoal
Lozenges .than .in. any of the ordinary
charcoal .tablets.".
amount paid out in prizes. The con
cluding paragraph of the advertise
ment discloses tho gambling character
of the institution. It reads as follows:
"A good investment. Better than
stocks and bonds. Wo are receiving
from shrewd business men from the
large trading centers, monthly ordere
for certificates, they claiming that the
investment is safer and thn. nnssthn.
,ity of large gain greater than invest
ments in bonds, life insurance or any
of the speculative stocks offered on the
boards of trade in the various commer
cial centers. Most of them purchase
certificates systematically, that is,
send in every month for from one to
five dollars' worth. Almost every one
can economize a few cents a day, and
the funds thus saved can be Invested
in certificates, and with a hundred or
more certificates in your possession you
are likely to wake up some morning
and find yourself the lucky possessor
of an independent fortune. It hardly
seems reasonable that with a hundred
certificates one could miss ALL of
the 1,880 prizes."
Please let me know whether the de
partment has issued any order on the
subject and whether or not such a non-
test is regarded as a violation of the
anti-lottery laws. Yours truly,
W. J. BRYAN.
Mr. Bryan's letter was referred by
Postmaster General Payne to C. H.
Robb, assistant attorney general for
the postoffice department, who made
the following reply:
Office of the Assistant Attorney Gen
eral for the Postoffice Department,
Washington, D. C, June 23, 1903. Your
communication of the 10th inst. ad
dressed to the postmaster general, sub
mitting a circular of the World's Fair
Contest company, S't. Louis, Missouri,
and expressing the view that the prize
scheme advertised therein is a lottery,
has been referred to this office.
It is unquestionable that the effect
upon -the public of these so-called
guessing contests considering the
elaborate plan upon which they are op
erated, the very large prizes offered,
etc. is almost as pernicious as that of
ordinary lotteries, and it is the disposi
tion of the postoffice department to
scrutinize very carefully all such
schemes and to deny the use of the
United States mails where authority of
law can be found for so doing. You of
course understand, however, that in all
such cases the department must be
governed by decisions of the federal
courts and opinions of law officers of
the government.
In this same connection your atten
tion is directed to the 'opinion of At
torney General Miller, 19 Opinions of
Attys-Gen, 679; opinion of Attorney
General Griggs, 23 Opinions of Attys
Gen. 207; opinion of Attorney General
Knox, 23 Opinions of Attys-Gen. 492;
and to the decision of the United States
circuit court for the southern district
of New York, in United States vs. R03
enblum, set forth in the inclosed cir
cular. From a consideration of the author
ities above cited you will observe that
the scheme to which you call attention
is beyond the reach of the postoffice
department, unless it shall develon
that fraud is being practiced in its op
erations. Very respectfully
C. H. ROBB,
Assistant Attorney General for the
Postoffice department.
Hon. William J. Bryan, Lincoln, Neb.
On November 2, 1904, the postmaster
general, aroused by the growing pro
test against the eVIl3 of the "newspaper
guessing contest" referred the matter
to Attorney General Moody, and The
Commoner takes great pleasure in
pi-inting in full the opinion written by
Mr. Moody. That opinion is in line with
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all that The Commoner has said in
opposition to this insidious form of
gambling and beara out the contention
made by Mr. Bryan in his letter to the
postmaster general in June, 1902. At
torney General Moody's opinion is as
follows:
Department of Justice, Washington,
D. C., November 28, 1904. The honor
able the Postmaster General. Sir: I
have the honor to acknowledge the re
ceipt, on the 17th instant, of your let
ter dated November 2, relative to so
called "guessing contests," and asking
an expression of my opinion as to
whether you have authority to exclude
from the mails advertisements and lit
erature relating to the World's Fair
Contest Company, which you refer to
as typical examples of "guessing con
tests." The scheme of the World's Fair Con
test Company, as stated by you, is as
follows:
It offers ?85,500, divided into 1,180
prizes, to the persons submitting the
nearest estimates of the total number
of paid admissions to the World's Fair
at S't. Louis, Mo., from its opening to
its close. For the privilege of submit
ting an estimate in this enterprise 25
cents Is charged, jr for $1 five estimates
may be submitted. This scheme has
been syndicated; that is to say, a verv
large number of magazines and other
publications are advertising It, and giv
ing to their subscribers the privilege
of submitting guesses.
The National Contest Company, ac
cording to the advertisement accom
panying your letter, 'proposes to distrib
utes 3,415 cash prizes, aggregating ?100,
000, to "3,415 men, women and chil
dren who can estimate nearest to the
popular vote cast for the winning can
didate for the. presidency of the United
States for 1904,' the largest prize
amounting to $25,000, and, the .smallest
to $5.00.
I assume for the purpose of,this opin
ion that the mails are still being used
to bring these contests to a close.
The question is whether these
schemes are within the language of
sections 3929 and 4041 cf the Revised
Statutes, which iri effect authorize you
to deny the use of the mails to "any
lottery, gift enterprise, or scheme for
the distribution jf money, or of any
real or personal property by lot,
chance, or drawing of any kind."
Similar schemes for the distribution
of prizes have been considered by my
predecessors, and the conclusion
reached that inasmuch as "calculation,
foresight, knowledge, Inquiry, and in
formation enabled the participants to
approximate the correct result, the use
of the mails in promoting such enter
prises was not a violation ol the law in
question." (10 Op. A. G., 679; 23 Op,
A. G., 207 and 492.)
Tho conclusion reached in these,
opinions rested upon the theory that
since the distribution of prizes under
the schemes considered was not dew
pendent wholly upon chance sucbj
schemes were not within the law. Sinc
these opinions were written section;
3929 and 4041 hae been construed bj
the Supreme Court of the United States!
in Public Clearing House vs. Coyne
(194 U. S., 497) ; and since the decision
in the Coyne case the court of appeals
of New York in c unanimous decision
(August 5, 1904), in the case of Peo-.
pie vs. Lavin, has ruled that a guess-;
ing contest identical in principle tcf
those under consideration is within,
the New York statute, which, a3 thej
(Continued on page 13.)
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