By act of March 2, 1893, entitled "An act for the suppression of lottery traffic through national and interstate commerce and the postal service, subject to the jurisdiction and laws of the United States,"19 the carriage of lottery tickets from one State to another, whether by mail, or by freight or express was absolutely prohibited. Two objections to the constitutionality of this measure were raised. First, that the regulative power given to the Federal Government over interstate commerce did not include the power absolutely to prohibit that commerce. This objection will be considered in a later chapter. Secondly, it was objected that lottery tickets are not articles of commerce, - the chief reliance for this contention being the decisions of the court as to bills of exchange and contracts of insurance.

After having been three times argued before the Supreme Court the Lottery Law was upheld in Champion v. Ames,20 four justices dissenting. The majority, in their opinion, holding lottery tickets to be articles of commerce, say: "It was said in argument that lottery tickets are not of any real or substantial value in themselves, and therefore are not subjects of commerce. If that were conceded to be the only legal test as to what are to be deemed subjects of the commerce that may be regulated by Congress, we cannot accept as accurate the broad statement that such tickets are of no value. Upon their face they showed that the lottery company offered a large capital prize, to be paid to the holder of the ticket winning the prize at the drawing advertised to be held at Asuncion, Paraguay. Money was placed on deposit at different banks in the United States to be applied by the agents representing the lottery company to the prompt payment of prizes. These tickets were the subject of traffic; they could have been sold; and the holder was assured that the company would pay to Kim the amount of the prize drawn. That the holder might not have been able to enforce his claim in the courts of any country making the drawing of lotteries illegal, and forbidding the circulation of lottery tickets, did not change the fact that the tickets issued by the foreign company represented so much money payable to the person holding them and who might draw the prizes affixed to them. Even if a holder did not draw a prize, the tickets, before the drawing, had a money value in the market among those who chose to sell or buy lottery tickets. In short, a lottery ticket is a subject of traffic, and is so designated in the act of 1805. (28 Stat. at L. 033, U. S. Comp. Stat. 1001, p. 3179.) That fact is not without significance in view of what the court has said. That act, counsel for the accused well remarks, 'was intended to supplement the provisions of prior acts, excluding lottery tickets from the mails, and prohibiting the importation of lottery matter from abroad, and to prohibit the act of causing lottery tickets to be carried, and lottery advertisements to be transferred from one State to another by any means or method.' We are of opinion that lottery tickets are subjects of traffic, and therefore are subjects of commerce, and the regulation of the carriage of such tickets from State to State, at least by inde-pendent carriers, is a regulation of commerce among the several States."21

18 American Law Register, December, 1900.

19 28 Stat. at L. 963.

20 188 U. S. 321; 23 Sup. Ct. Rep. 321; 47 L. ed. 492.