American citizen. [volume] (Butler, Butler County, Pa.) 1863-1872, 1867-05-29

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death and sick ness, and endeared them
selves to the Imagination and the heart
of every true man, have drawn their
bounties and hard earnings, and started
for home, and on their way thither been
robbed of their little pittance, and rem
dered bankrupt, and that by those who
had the shape Of men, and would deny
it if we said they were monsters!
1t strikes the Imagination when it is
one who wears the uniform of the sol
dier; but this villainy is carried on un-
der circumstances more trying still, where
it is a voman instead of man. A man,
if he is stripped of his possessions, can
repair the damage again. If he is thrown
down to-day, he is on his feet again to-
morrow. There are endless resources
open to him. But woman, what can
she do? There are thousands and tens
of thousands in these cities who are de-,
pendent on one or two sources of sup,
port; and they often fall into the hands
of men the most unprincipled and avari-
cious. There are thousands of sewing
and laboring women who are driven down
to point Of poverty, beyond which one
single step is starvation-oh starvation
is the door Of heaven in comparison
damnation And into that, with utter
indifference and remorseless greed they
are thrust, as sheep are thrust into the
shambles for butchery. YOU know it
Wo all know it. 1t is no time, there
fore, to be sentimental, and say, "tMen
can not commit such wickedness." 1t is
no time to say that men can not, in civ
ilized society, be guilty of cannibalism.
l tell you, there are more cannibals in
New York than in the isles of the Pa>
cifc! And if you were to take away
this night the support that comes from
eating men, there would be thousands and
thousands of empty maws tomorrow in
that city
Now vast sums, millions and millions,
are invested in way which directly and
obviously result in the utter destruction
of men. All the ferces of huge capitals
are invested in ways SO notoriously de-
pendent upon the morbid tastes of men,
and classes, that every step you take to
correct those ways is understood to be an
attack on capital 81, gs31E
There are haunts of thieves through
out the cities without which robbery
would almost be paralyzed. They are
known yigilant eyes have watched them
there is no doubt in respect to their char.
acler and yet the robberies go on be
cause these places are often all secretly
maintained in the interest of capitalists.
There are deps of orgies. Nothing
this side Of he'll can equal multitudes of
these places. We do not need to 60 to
Vesuvius to see volcanoes. We have
them all around US, in spite of the po,
lice, aud the common sense Of the cons
mupitys; and it is only becansc capitalists
have an interest in them. They may not
be known. 3. You can not tell by the way
a tree looks where its roots are sucking
sap from. \ There is many aii1an that
wears clean linen and has good associa>.
ations, and appears regularly at the house
of God, and sits down at the communion
table, and munGhes the bread, and drinks
the wine, and seems to be Christian
man, who, if you follow down his roots,
you will find to be sucking sap out of the
common sewers. And these dens are
kept open aud are sustained in spite Of
law and public sentiment, because capl-
tai is intere ted in them and is at the
bottom Of them.
Palaces Of pleasure there are where
death is double. s.edged. Hundreds and
thousands arc travelling in ways which
are called ways of pleasure, but which
are ways Of damnation and there is great
capital invested therein. These haunw
Of miscalled pleasure are WINGED at and
encouraged by thousands and thousspds
besides those 1whP!afe known to- be al
rectly responsible for then. If it we're
not for what may be called respectable
.Lypod16catrapitatisis thsycsald noeex.
ist as thsydpu u1u4w
Saloons and gambling dens, which ars
.dese6 fafLapsrf. sfes atte1ad nsFOaarous
prQfpsiop .altsoyer tia cities. Why, il
there were such means for neral culture /:
if schools were as thick If provision for
refinement, or solacs, or lsuccor, or relief,
were as great, men would marvel. They
would raise the CRY of prodigat,y. Mt
fiies in summer are thicker than these ga
looms for depravities. yssiDnSD /
Look st the way psh seek their living
by adulteratiops in food. We who arr
in comfostabIe circumstances may by Wig
kiisnee save ourselves firm the evils ol