The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1857-09-17

\ THE Police DESCENT UPoN THE OBSCENE
LrTT RATURE-There i, We believe, little rem
nsrt Of faith in what is called rural simplicity
ard We have 70 doub. that there are great mauy
nice people who believe that Philemon il more
yiItuous dressed in homespun and making hay.
than when attired in broadcloth and balancing
yardstick in Broadway bazas-that Phils is
pure a. the running water of her own mountein
brooks, while the mind Of her city cousu flo "a
with pollution like the metropolitan sewers. In
fact, our country cousins would have us believe
that New York is n Gomorrah doomed to eter-
nal perdiilon while the rural districts are Ca.
man. where the chosen few dwell forever In To-
noceuce, purity, truth and love-
We have several times been called upon to in
sinuate, in a delicate way, that this was
An erroneous idca-that the moral condition of
the city, all things considered, was much higher
than the country. Our Boston contemporaries
have been especially indignant at The comments
Of the HERALD in relation 10 the degeneracy of
the Puritan stock, and have even been so imper-
ineDt NJ to deny the truth Of certain positive
facts drawn from their own columns to support
ton TO some further particulars of recent seiz-
ure Of obrc,ne books and plates made By the po-
Ice Of this city, and beg that they will note the
fact that toe business Of the proprietor Of the
stock so tax, was almost entirely located In the
country, ard the greater part Of II in New Egg
land. The books Of the concern show that its
chief profit was derived from correspondents in
Boston. ard that it, sales 10 Its Athenian branch
were much larger than N any other OF its
agents. Indeed, it has not, so far appear
cd that there was any demand for
the filthy trash in New York city, and
that The police have given the public The first in
tipation Of the fact that any such establishment
existed. We are glad TO see that the respectable
booksellers Of this city had no part in circulating
the poisonous stuff. and that they resisted the
temptation held out by the extraordinary profit
derived from the foul business
This epost by the police proves distinctly
what we have 20 often alleged-,hst the vice and
immortality Of the city is drawn from the coun-
try. We believe that II il notorious that there
IL more concealed lewlness, more sly rum drink
ing, 10 the small cities Boeton, Philadelphia,
Prov dcncc, Buffalo, Cleveland, Cincinnati aod
Cbicsgo-than in New York The chief demand
for ot~ceoe books and nas'y newspapers IL the
small manufacturing toms in New Englatd.
and II is from these same towns that the brothels
Of the metropolis are chiefly recruited The
police can prove that the prostitutes Of this city
come chiefly from New England and the o,ner
IA aF fho hat 4.
end woman born aud bred in the city an 10
mate of a house OF III fame. These Obscene books
are published here, because the solitude of
great city affords the b.st shelter for crime-'he
hest means Of disseminating is work and Of safely
collecting its profits. Having been published,
be books are eagerly snapped up in the rural
districts, and the Feed they COW brings forth fruit
for the brothcl, the prison aud the hospital In
deed IL is within the knowledge Of the police that