Cedar Falls gazette. [volume] (Cedar Falls, Iowa) 1860-1895, 1864-05-27
From the nuiuqlte Times
popUZAu HsEE1ATsRE AND TRsE
INCREASE OFF CRIME


ly and greatly increasing Especially is this
true OF our large cities. Oar exchanges from
New York, Chicago, and other places of large
population, find abundant matter for their
local columns in the record Of crimes Of every
magnitude, from the least to the greatest
We have noticed of late many editorial
continents upon this dcplorable state of al
fairs; and various reasons are assigned for it,
One Of the most potent causes of the increase
of crime, however, is generally passed over
in silence; in most cases, perhaps, because il
is unseen, but in some because there is an
unwiltngncss to acknowledge II. Yet that
cause is so prominent and apparent that ig.
norance OF it on the part of any thoughtful
mind seems impossible. We refer to the
influence OF impure literature.
The American people are, above oil others
a reading people. Children learn to read at
n very ear Y age, and thencciorth while they
live a supply of reading matter is deemed al-
most as indispensable as supply of food and
clothing. OF course the education of the
majesty is not such as prepares them to seek
and crjoy the highest orlur of literalurc--
Something light and entertaining, something
that will amusc, or, if instructive, will convey
instruction in the most pleasant and agrcea.
literature. And even tho most learned find
it profitable TO turn away sometimes from
books that require Stg8y to those that merely
ask readiag. . ...- g.. ...--... ..r. .-.'.
With this popular tasto for light reading
we find no fault But we do find fault with
that taste for impure, indecent literature
which is so shamcfuly on the increase; and
still more do we find fault with those who
IN, ,rit;
and ovcrsupplying it with the poisonous
mental food which it Graves. That low aud
obscene books win be published, and read
hy u certain class, is to be expected and per
hapS silently tolerated, but when works OF
fiction which assume place in the higher
class are sent forth under the name AMI
sanction Of respectable publishers, depend
chiefly for their interest Upon the intrigucs
and adventures Of adultcrcrs and adultercsscs,
it is high time for decent and Christian pco.
pie to enter vigorous protest.
We are more particularly concerned, how
ever, in regard to the character of our news.
papers. Everybody reads the papers. They
exert power greater than that Of books.
greater than that of the pulpit, greater in
deed than tlat of any other human agency
in the land.
MaI'iitSlIA, luc lhcIThlS, lccllnES, nnu
character Of the reader are to a great extent
subject to the influence Of what he reads -
Many of the leading city newspapers have
become mere police gaaettcs, gorying in the
privilege of exhibiting to tho public tho vile
scenes that occur in tho lowest, darkest hela
ri earth. Cases adjndicatod in our courts
involving in almost every form tho violation
OF the ScveRth Commandment, are reported
-, =,
Times, places, conversation, posturcs, atti.
tudes, everything connected with the com.
mission of crime, must be fully and glowing.
ly described. And when there aro no facts
of thc Kind to report, we have every reason
! to believe that certain Journals habitually
impose upon their readers by reporting M
actual occurrences, most reyUlting, but whol.
Iy imaginary cases Of crime And to account
for the non publicity Of suth case outside
| oI his columns, the cunning reporter usually
adds that the aggravated pDrty or parties
have compromised with the offender, and
agreed, ior money, 10 keep silence!
! Even when church council, unwilling to
expose unnecessarily the vile facts that call
for ecclesiastical acton, decides to sit with
closed doors, newspaper reporters hesitate
not to smuggle themselves into a garret, use
gas pipes for speaking tubes, or bri5c n party
concerned, or otherwise clandestincly obtain
a ful', perhaps exaggerated report Of the pro
| Ccedings, that the daily break fast of scandal
may bc served up TO their readers. Readers
! of a certain Chicago Journal Of high moral
| prctcnsions, will understand our illusions
Thus the local columns Of our most widely
read city dai!cs become tho leading text
books in the schools Of vlainy. Young vii
lains have there detailed to them the history,
! adventures, experiences success and mis-.
takes Of Old villains. They are apt scholars,
and with such helps they become old and
ripe in vi!hiny While they are yet young in
/ years
For certain class Of pcrsons--ar ard tho
class is large one such reading has u
| strange and irresistible fascination. And in
many minds is awakened an nncontrollahc
desire. to initiate tho heroes of intrigue and
crime. The sleeping devils of passion ato
I aroused, and ovcrpowerng Reason and Con-
scicnc., drive their victim madly on from
vice to vice, aud from crime to crime, until
at last he ends his career in the State prison
or upon the gallows
! Many who are not thus affected by such
| literature, are at least so famiiarizcd with
crime that it loses half its horrors, and our
! people come 10 look with. lcniency and tolcr-
alton upon yiilainy the most revolving and
! satanic. .a
| Even some Of the most widely circulated
religious newspapers are beginning to publish
most disgusting advertisements of medical
! character, just because it pays to do so and
we fear that money will yet tempt them to
devote at least a small space to the records Of
crlme. In business papers, published ex-
| press'y for gain, we may expect such things
but when prolcssedly religious journals de-
sccnd to such means OF cnriching their pious
| publishers and editors, the time has come for
! their really Christian patrons to express their
| indignation ia emphatic terms. II o,r here.
| toiore highly lrized New York 9bserrcr and
| Independent must display in their broad col
umns the flaming advertisements of auack
nostrums that professional abortionsts thus
successfully recommend to their numbcrless
victims If they mus, do this to live, we say
! let them die and The sooner they die tho
better. We demand Of religious journalists,
| if Of no oth'rs papers that we can place in
! the hands Of wives and children, aud read
| alond AT the family ffesile. Ii they cannot
give rs religious papers, let them Mt least fur
| nish something that is not positively indecent.
| MAsoSRY.-Masoury is older than letters.
! Brands Encyclopedia Of Science, literature
and Art, says THAT from Egypt were de-
rived the principal mysteries. and that it was
in dan kncss Of snbterranean apartments that
those limitations had b;Ith, in which secrecy
was the first law. According to Putarcf.
the Spiynxes, with which the entrances of
their temples were decorated, signfed that
Egyptian mythology was mysterious and cr,-
bIcmatic In these temples the line and
square were never abandoned, they had no
| circular monument, md their temples were
covered with symbolic characters" Thus
has Masonry seen the introduction of letters,
the discovery Of the arts and sciences, and