New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1868-06-06
WHAT SHALL BE DONE ABOUT I1'

crime presented in she report on fouhulihs
Hosprtal in Montreal, which we pllno .ii'
morning, recalls to mind the great Social us
order which makes such institutions necessary, |
and mon which some months ago We took |
seyeml occasions to enlarge. The Question Is
raised in public and in private: What shall be
done about this terrible demora.lization that is
going ON in regard to the relations between
the sexes: the disuse and the instability OF
marriage, Inconsistency, incontinepce, the pre-
yention of births, the destruction of babes
newly born, and the General violation OF the
old fashioned ethics of domestic and social
lifef The question is asked as if it was new
one, and as if the problem was new. But IL is
in fact very old. Worse times than ours in this
respect have been seen and have been sur
yiyed In Imperial Rome the frequency OF
divorce made marriage something like legal
prostitution; adultery became the fashion
| aboyion was exceedingly common; and children
who had the impertinence to be born were
abandoned and often murdered. The evil was
| so undisguised that the popular writer's dealt
| with it in the plainest terms. 1t was
80 universal as to implicate the whole
wealthy and worldly class, and it was 80 enor-
| nous that the Emperors--even the vile IlDerlus
| and the incestuous Domitian-pursued 1t Wig
orousy through all its departments OF turpl-
tude Laws were made to compel the mobiles
and the wealthy to marry. But it was OF no
avail. Manners were more powerful than laws
| Society seemed on the brink of dissolution. 1t
4 would be tedious to tell how it was saved.
MANY things conspired to save it. But promi-
nept among the agencies that arrested the de-
scent was the bold writing and preaching OF
the Stoio philosophers, Antipater, Museums,
Dion, Plutarch Tactus, and many another
eloolent defender of marriage and of chastity.
Human nature was not extinct. The age had
a conscience, and these men reached it. 1t had
a renduum of common sense, and these men
stimulated it. The emperors did very ittlej
the noralists did very much. The laws prob
ably had the effect to suppress the evil on the
surface, and to aggravate it in reality, but the
teachings had the effect TO rally the lntell-
gence Of the generation to the defense OF us
virtue.
In sch matters as these, SO deep and secret,
40 couupting but 80 undemonstrable, legisla-
ton can produce only negative results The
remedy, we firmly believe, is to be found In
faithful teaching. The physician must teach
AZ he goes about con0dentialy among families,
| and becomes uCQudluICu WIN bhO N'0NiNN'N
which he knows arc undermining the health
he has made it his solemn duty to preserve
from every form of disease, as well that
which foolish people bring on themselves as
that which Providence, to correct foollshness,
brinss on them The Psychologist must teach
by showing to people, by book and lecture,
how they are made, and why it Is imperative
on them to be strictly obedient to the laws OF
thor making, il they would save themselves
from pain unspeakable. The social philosopher
mutt teach by unfolding the laws that regu-
late the health, wealth, and the comfort and
peace of social existence. The moralist must
teach by explaining the rules and sanctions of
duty, and convincing people that there Is
really no help for them save in allegiance to
truth, and honor, and purity. And then, in
conjunction with all these, the minister of the
Gospel must use his acknowledged and i'm
p0tant influence, through public discourse and
private admonition, to recover and to sustain
tn. ancient reverence for the institution OF
marriage, and to impress upon the public mind
tn, feeling that the issues involved in these
matters of personal and domestic purity, the
rearing and training of children, are issues
vital to their moral and spiritual salvation.
The grand difficulty is that these teachers,
one and all. shrink from their duty of teach
ing. There is no lack of knowledge to COM
municate. There is no lack of opportunity for
setting it forth. There is no lack of faith in
tho efficacy of truth if properly presented by
those who know it. Education in all things
else is our panacea. There can be no doubt
that comprehensive, practical, faithful instruc-
ton ain season. and not "out of season."
would in time work reform among the ra-
tional people of the generation, sufficient to
create public sentiment which others must
obey But the subject is on all hands supposed
to be too high, too low, too delicate, too Diff
cult, or too something else, to be dealt with by
human speech. Somebody's feelings will be
hurt; the public morals will be endangered; it
is wiser to cover the thing up, so that the age
may look decent if ii is not yirtuous
Could any course he more irrationali or
course the subject is delicate one to write
about, especially delicate to speak about. But
can there be no delicacy Where there Is TRUTH
Must the truth be spoken indelicately OF not at
| ALI With all our training in discourse, con-
versatioD, and writing, it ought by this time to
be possible to treat of a great mischief in a
manner to exhibit all its features without
making the artist hateful. At all events, we
are persuaded that the remedy Is here, finally
| if it is anywhere. Let us know what the mis-
chief is, how extensive, how deep, where stu
ated, and by what causes INDUCED; let all who
have the interests of their fellow inch at heart
conspire to remove It it will then be removed.
| When in the place Of garrulous correspondents
who ttillate the public taste with spicily -dished
scandal, we have FavOrinus, q Quinctilian, a
Tacitus, Valerius Maximus, o Juvenal, to