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The judge has told you that New Hamp-
shire is not satisfied with their lottery. He
has suggested that New York is not satis-
fied with their lottery, and he has sug-
gested that Great Britain is not satisfied
with their lottery.
I believe it was Delegate Weidemeyer
that pointed out that the great State of
Israel is more than happy with their lot-
tery. There are countries all over this
world that are more than happy with their
lottery, and we suggest to you pure and
simply as to whether or not the lottery is
a good financial possibility that it may be
— only that it may be; and that of all the
areas in this constitution in which we
should not be restrictive to the legislature,
finance more than any other single item
should be unrestricted.
The mind of the prophet is totally inept
at this point to conceive all the myriad fi-
nancial programs that may come before the
legislature sometime, and that they will
have to decide whether or not the program
might be a good means of finance just for
this purpose.
We submit that they should not be fore-
closed.
That moves us to the legislature, which
is my second point. You have been told
that the legislature does not want to have
to deal with this legislation. You have been
told that a very prominent legislator will
make an appeal to this effect.
I suggest to you that one legislator ap-
peared before our Committee, another one
or two were on our Committee, and they
did in all candor suggest that they would
prefer not to have to deal with this issue.
I suggest to you that the executive de-
partment, the legislative branch, and the
judicial branch has spent the main time in
its thrust to this Convention to strengthen
those branches. We have done all we could
to bring about a legislature in the State of
Maryland that will have the power and the
strength and the wisdom to deal with the
people as they should be dealt with, and to
do for them as time comes what is best to
be done for them at that particular time.
We sug-gest to you in principle that to
the extent that the legislature in any way
is restricted from the flexibility to deal
with problems as they arise, to that extent
the legislature, which in fact we all wish
to strengthen, is weakened.
There is a naked statement in the ma-
jority report that lotteries have debilitat-
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ing effects on state finance. There is no
foundation for that statement, no citation
for it. It just simply is the opinion of the
majority — or at least some of the majority.
We suggest to you that even if it is so,
the fact that a lottery might have a de-
bilitating effect on the finances of the State
is not sufficient cause to restrict the legis-
lature from an entire field of possible fi-
nance without having the wisdom and the
judgment of the facts before the Conven-
tion to make such a decision.
Thirdly, I think we might call the point
"sin." It has been suggested to you that
this is a bad thing. In the ancient days the
great institutions of the State of Maryland
went forth into the world to raise money.
Even the Lutherans could solicit the Epis-
copalians, I believe it is said somewhere in
the majority report, and true, that is a
good thing.
It is suggested that the evil plan which is
now before you no longer has the spirit
of generosity which once permeated these
wonderful lawyers that we had in Mary-
land.
I suggest to you that I am a farm boy,
and I do not know much about the sophis-
tication of Baltimore, but I know hogwash
when I see it, and without any question in
my mind, the purpose of a lottery now, in
the past, and in the future, will always be
to raise money.
The purpose of a lottery is to raise
money. If you can show me any time when
a lottery in this State or any other state
was held for any other purpose, I will
take that statement back, but I doubt it.
The purpose of the State would be to
raise money. The purpose of a Catholic
Church's bingo game would be to raise
money. The purpose of any institution, or-
ganization, state political subdivision or
group or individual that holds a lottery
henceforth and evermore would be to raise
money, purely and simply.
I suggest to you if that effort is unsuc-
cessful in raising money then the legisla-
ture would do away with it, the church
would do away with it, and whoever has
it would do away with it.
Generosity is not the purpose of a lottery.
It is to raise money. We suggest to you
again it may be sinful, it may not. It may
be evil, it may not. But it is done through-
out this State.
There is hardly a community that I know
of that sometime during every week of this
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