The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1869-09-24
oArRTAK1NG As A SCIENCE.

PFRp1r1oN no longer has any terror for tho evil
doer. Oath-talxing swearing before God,
with the uplifted hand, on the sacred Bible
has lost it's sanctity. Law for the punishment
of him who periures himself has lost its in
Huence and is now but phantom-a mere
shadow which melts away like the snow of
autumn. He who deserves to fill the felon's
cell rules his gang with an iron hand, and
bids the peace-loving citizen and the law de-
fance. He lis conscious of his strength
whenever he desires to use it, and walks
The streets the best-dressed man in town.
The murderer, or would-be assassin, if he
be numbered among the ''rings" which govern
ms politically, no longer fears the hangman's
moose Ignorance and knavery no longer
quail and give way before learning and in
tegrity, but stalk boldly forth and stare
honesty out of countenance. Honesty, sobri-
ETY., and intelligence are no longer a requisite
in Office getting Or Office holding. Dishon-
esty, chicanery, and lying beat down modesty
and ability, and trample them like worms be-
meath their feet. Conscience is thing OF the
past, perjury a thing of the present, and men
practice it as though it were as honorable as
it is lucrative. Oath-taking has become
science, and he who can swear best and hard
est is the most successful professor. Look
on either side, among nearly every trade and
calling where money-getting is the chief aim,
and you will find those who live by their wits
sailing along smoothly, while honest labor is
still tugging away in the traces. The one APP
pears as happy as the other. With the first,
the science of oath-taling has been mastered,
and thousands who are witness to his
success devote their time and attention to it,
with all the avidity that the learned alchemist
win devote to a newly discovered mineral
Dodges are invented, plans laid, money spent
with lavish hand, the laws are gone over
and dissected, and all with view to cover up
or make right a dishonest and dishonorable
action, whereby money shall be placed in the
pockets of he who best mastered his lessons.
Lying can no longer be called wrong, or if it
can,it is not, for lying is now the order Of the
day. He who lies well. is proportionately
successful; he who hoodwinks and lulls into
repose those who are around him by his
cleveness in the art, and then seizes the ad-
yantages, is called ''smart" or ''sharp you take
either term-one is as appropriate as the
other; and that the successful practitioner
shall have earned for himself the title OF
'sharp" is not all; no, if that were all, we
should know where to lay hands upon our
man; but society does not stop at giving him
that which is but another name for rogue,
but takes hold of him and embraces him in
her arms and bids him go forth to greater
deeds in the same line. He has lost nothing
in the social scale. On the contrary, he is a
hail fellow well met, and hands that would
scorn to do mean action clasp his, and
all because they would rather have his
friendship than his enmity. And why? Fear
at the power which he sways with relentless
hand, evidently outside Of the law, compels you
to make the best terms you can. But lying
is not good in law There it is that those who
do not see the practical workings Of the law
are blinded, Lying IS good in law, as any
lawyer can testify, and, where it is sworn to
by the professional oath-taker, is far better
than the truth for all practical purposes, in
nine cases out of ten.
There are times, let us be thankful, when
the oath-takers vocation is. lost; but that is
only in such cases as the public attention has
been called to, and those who use the profess
sional are fearful of losing what little respecta
bility they may possess by having the eyes of
their neighbors riveted upon them. 1t is in
the petty cases, in which the public is not in
terested, that the science of oath-taking is
most observed and most sldlfully used. How
many villains, whose proper place is within
the stone walls of prison, are daily let loose
to prey upon the community by our present
system of administering some of our laws
none can ever know save those who have
daily business in the courts, or are familiar
with the haunts of the corrupt and vile.
AS an instance wherein the science of oath
taking comes out in colors least inviting we
take the liberty of citing case which may
still be fresh in the minds of those who are
interested in such matters. Some years ago.
a man who had been well known as a bounty
jumper, substitute dealer, and general thief,
but who always managed to cover up his
tracks so that it was impossible to obtain
direct proof of his guilt, found his occupation
gone by the collapse of the Rebellion. The
police had had an eye on the gentleman for a
long time, but as he became more settled,
they hoped he had reformed. And so he had:
he reformed as thief and became an incen-
diary. He bought out small grocery store
in the lower part of the city, fitted it up in
good style, had it insured for good round
sum, and then set about making a specula-
tion. Having saturated everything with coal
oil and other inhammable material, he locked
up his store as usual, and started on journey
Io