R.W. EMORY STALKER, GRAND REPRESENTATIVE OF THE GRAND LODGE OF LOUISIANA NEAR THE GRAND LODGE OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK |
Since R.W. Emory Stalker was appointed Representative of the Grand Lodge of the State of Louisiana near the Grand Lodge of the State of New York we have become greatly interested in Masonry in that State.
Although Bro. Stalker has never had an opportunity to visit the Grand Lodge which he represents his correspondence and research work has provided him with many interesting stories regarding Louisiana Masonry.
This week Bro. Clinton Overton uncovered an interesting article regarding Masonic activities in Louisiana at the end of the Civil War when the State's financial construction was strengthened by a five-cent Masonic stamp. Bro. Overton is a natural born philatelist and his knowledge of stamps has won for him the friendship of some of the world's foremost stamp experts. He is a subscriber to the magazine "Stamps" in which George D. Cabot has written regarding these stamps.
The stamps were known as the five-cent issue of the Louisiana lottery type which went on sale in the sta1;e on February 28, 1866. Imprinted on the stamp was a picture of the square and compasses and the letter 'G". One point of the compasses was below the square. According to Mr. Cabot lotteries were not always so frowned upon by society as they are today. In England under the common law, gambling (or "gaming" as it was tlien called) was not illegal, and as we adopted the common law of England, lotteries were perfectly legal in this country until prohibited. by statutes or by state constitutions.
Before the Revolution, he says, lotteries were common media for selling lands, erecting forts, paving streets, building and supporting schools and colleges and for ecclesiastical purposes. George Washington, Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson and other prominent citizens lent their names willingly to "worthy" lotteries. Two of the buildings for Harvard College were built with funds obtained from lotteries of 1794 and 1806. In 1776 the Continental Congress set up a $10,000,000 lottery, but it was never carried to a conclusion.
In the United States, so far as known, only two states have ever used stamps in tariny lotteries-Maryland and Louisiana. Maryland had such a tax from about 1846 to 1859, imprinting on each ticket a simply worded elliptical stamping showing that the tax had been paid.
But Louisiana commenced its program with the issuance of some adhesive Lottery Tax stamps to build up a lottery business which eventually shook the nation and made the "Louisiana Lottery" a symbol for gambling excitement and political corruption by reason of the vast profits which became available and strangely enough the Masonic emblem appeared on the most popular Lottery stamp ever issued by the state.
The reason for employing the Masonic Emblem, almost unique in stamp usage, is one of the philatelic mysteries, according to Mr. Cabot. He nevertheless expresses the belief that it is possible that the New Orleans Charity Hospital named beneficiary to $50,000 of the annual proceeds from the tax which was voted by an Act passed by the state legislature in 1866, may have had some Masonic background. The Grand Lodge of Louisiana is unable to confirm this, says Mr. Cabot.
Related Article
Freemasonry And The Louisiana Lottery Tax Stamps of 1866, The Louisana Freemason, January 1995.
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