The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1869-12-22
The report, which cannot be noticed now, and,
apart from certain impracticable theories and
. few inconsistencies, the report is well and
carefully made up.
The Public Morals of the DAY.


lamentabe condition of the public morals of
the day. We know not where we live if it be
not In the midst of crime We know not what
air we breathe if it be not outside the
atmosphere of Christianity. Murders. homi-
cides, government frauds, bond robberies,
divorces and political corruption fill up the
measure of the days news. In our issue of
yesterday, for instance, we had to chronicle,
first, that atrocious case of wife murder at
Bombay Hook, in New Jersey-a murder
heralded long time ago by the threat of the
accused husband, ''Tn get rid of we yet"
Then follows the case of Eckerson, at Hacken-
sack, for the murder of Peter Stokum. The
case of the condemned convict Real, for the
murder Of officer Smedick, still keeps that
bloody story alive in our courts. 1t was sup
posed that the question was settled by the
decision Of the Supreme Court; but ii appears
that there is still some technical flaw by which
the case is to be prolonged, and possibly JUS
tice is to be cheated. In another court the
lottery business, which is not only unlawful,
but Infamous, involving, as it does, the ruin
our social life. Men VIGOROUSLY engaged in
illegal transactions come before the courts to
demand an adjustment of their quarrels, and
they find judges willing to come into conflict
with each other, one judicial official appoint
Ing certain receiver in the affairs of gam
bling concern, and another official appointing
different one, thus turning our courts into
rdicule and contempt, recognizing gam
bling as within the pale of the law, like
any other legitimate business. One of
the parties in action in this lottery
business dares to threaten a judge of the
Supreme Court with public charges of perjury,
drunkenness, corruption and general malfea-
sance in office. Some people might ask, can
the judge SO threatened dare to hold his seat
on the bench while such serious charges are
pending? Should the threat be carried out
the judge will doubtless exercise his best judg-
ment in the matter, not uninauenced, of course,
by public opinion.
Passing this Shiny piece of business con-
corning the lotteries, we find perfect
mountain Of government frauds growing up
around us. The Custom House furnishes
its share, and it is very ugly contribu-
tion-for instance, frauds in drawbacks, frauds
in sugar, frauds in the storage and warehouse
system. The Internal Revenue Department
also presents its claim to public attention in
the shape Of whiskey and tobacco frauds, by
means of Illicit distillation and the use of false
stamps. These dishonest transactions are
brought before us every day. The meanest,
yet most ingenious, Of all these devices to cheat
the government was the counterfciting of two
cent Treasury stamps on bank checks by
Kautzer the other day. Bond robberies have
become so familiar that it requires case like
that developed in the Tombs Court on Mon
day to revive a little interest in them. Alto
gether, public morals at the present time are
in most degraded condition. 1t may be very
well to attribute the fact to the consequences
of our late war and the Generalization
which followed it in many classes of the
community. To certain extent this
may be true, but it happens that
this decentralization exists among classes who
might be deemed superior to such influences.
1t is not in low places altogether thai we have
to look for the prevalent vices of the day. We
can find them among the so-called intellectual
classes, and even in the churchmen and church
devotees. Witness the weekly illusions from
some of our pulpits; the eagerness with which
the congregations seek for everything that can
minister to a morbid appetite, and swallow it
in the name Of religion, and how disappointed
they are if the preacher only touches the mar
gin, without going into the centre and heart of
an indicate subject, which even sensational
preacher sometimes has not the effrontery to
penetrate. Witness the Woman's Equal Rights
and Womans Suffrage meetings, at which
some of these clergymen are more bold than in
the pulpit, and proclaim opinions that strike
at the root of society," scott at marriage ties and
all domes ic relations, fattered and petted as
these orators are by a few foolish women, who,
like Growing hens, know not whereof they
speak For twenty years we have been accus-
toned to laugh at the womans rights move
ments, but the mischief is being developed
now.
In our columns of one days news yesterday
we gave, side by side, one great cause Of the
present condition of the public morals of the
day, in the vices expressed at woman's equal
rights meeting-which is only one example
in hundred-and we gave the result in the
low morality evinced in the cases Of wife muir
der, divorce, seduction, abduction and public
and private frauds which are developed in the
courts and police reports. The prevalence of
loose New England opinions upon questions of
morality, marriage, free love and family rela-
tions-the sweetest bond which holds society
together-is dragging us down into gulf
deeper, perhaps, than we think of.
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