The Athens post. [volume] (Athens, Tenn.) 1848-1917, 1857-09-11
VOL. IX.--NO. 46S.
THE VICE OF OUR AGE.

In the ordinary state Of society which pre-
walls in civilized countries, il must needs be
that offences come. A certain average pro-
portion of homicides, robbsries and misds-
meanors will be found; rising or lowering,
psrhaps, with the state OF The political bar
ometer, and the fluctuations OF circumstances;
but sure enough 10 be calculated upon in the
provisional arrangements Of our courts Of
justice and our prisons, and exhibiting, from
year to year, features Of terrible sameness.
But apart from this, there are forms of crime
more predominant than usual in some condi-
tons of social life and in certain periods and
localities. Different ages and different al
mosphsres have produced, in monster growth.
one or another of these forms. Our age and
society have their characteristic yicej and it 10
Fraud.
The nature of the man usually impels him
to the kind of wickedness into which hs
plunges; whether Il be such rs has left soms
elements Of honesty and daring, or vice ut-
terly degrading and destructive. The soul
expresses lis quality by the evil in which 10
delights, as well as by the good il approves
and loves. II is the same with communities
their moral and social conditions generate the
vices to which their prevailing nature assimi-
lates, while the spreading corruption Furnishes
as well as procaims the iniquty. The mean.
ness Of the pet crime of our day--cheatery--
springs from, and reflects upon, the society
where it grows into full luxuriance. In the
days of romantic highwaymen, stern necessi-
ty, or the love of adventure, was mixed up
with the violence perpetrated, and often the
graces and courtesies Of nober scenes were
kept in play by acts Of gallantry and gensr.
osity on the robbers part. But the villain
who violates implicit trnst--who quietly site
in his office to forge and falsify names and
accounts, keeps upa system Of fraud for
months and years-lives in an atmosphere Of
lies, and sells his manhood piece by piecs--is
sort Of criminal with whom tho bold knight
errant of the road would scorn TO keep com.
pany. The abundant production of SUCH
shows that the lifeblood of the social body 10
impoverished; for the excrescences thrown
out are loathsome as well as dangerous
How much even of the bloody crime of the
present day is the fruit of this wretched
knavery! Almost every murder can be traced
to this working Of covetousness.
This predominance Of the mennest form Of
vice in our country, among great and petty
criminals, may be connected with the relaxa.
tion of the moral bonds of social life, which
is too often the result of great aud universal
commercial activity. Commerce is good and
glorious in itself; but every power can bs
pushed TO such an extreme, as to master ito
investors. Where competition is keen, and
profits are small, no room may be left for
other considerations, and hearts and sous
may 90 for nothing in the relation between
seller and purchaser, employer and employed.
When the luxury of conscience cannot bs
afforded on the side, il 10 very apt to bs dis
pensed with on the other. Philosophical and
humane commercial men may judge how II is
best to meet the acknowledged evil, the fruits
Of which are becoming more fearful every day,
and how to destroy the by bydra-hsadsd monster
without arrsaling the engine of business.
which our national interests require 10 bs
kept up to its highest rate Of rspidity. There
ought TO be soms way Of curing The moral
laxi.y that renders possible such systematic
frauds. The law cannot eradicate the de.
spicabe ain, whose perpetrators it keeps in
awe; yet society can do something towards 10
by checking the nordnate love Of display,
reckless extravaganza, and indifference to the
rights Of others, of which fraud il the natural
issue