The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1870-11-04

every rank and condition of life. The fee
demanded of the fine lady would probably be
considered fair provision for the rearing of
the offspring of the servant-g girl, but each of
them gives, according to her condition,
sum which is perfectly we'll understood to be
an equivalent for putting some poor child
out of the world. Nor is the Arcadian SIM
plicity of the country at all free from parti-
cipatIon in the gains of infanticde. In the
rural districts of this State there are quiet,
unpretending cottages which seem, amid
empowering foliage, the chosen abode of
innocence and peace; but from these places
wasted baby-forms are carried into nameless
graves.
The, ''offense is rank and smells to heaven"
Why is there no hint of its punishment? Are
the police under the delusion that they are
appointed merely for the purpose of dealing
with open and public offenses? Gan they not
move before the exposure of some infant
body is fully brought home TO an individual
offender, or before Coroners jury finds
some parties unknown guilty of causing the
death of some clandestinely born child?
Would it be expecting too much of the ener-
gy and ability of our detective officers to call
on them to reply to some of the numerous
advertisements, addressed under some
transparent periphrasis or other to
''ladies who have been unfortunate?"
If they find that the sum de-
manded for relieving the mother of her un-
welcome burden is such as to leave any other
alternative for the disposal of the child but
murder, we shall concede that there do exist
benevolent persons whose anxiety to befriend
unfortunate children is beyond all praise, and
whose profession we have entirely misunder-
stood. The case is easy of proof. There are
people who publicly advertise their readiness
to take care of mother and child for "a sum
which will, on inquiry, be found insufficient
to maintain the latter for year. These peo-
pie either dispose of their charges to'some other
philanthropic individuals, or they retain them
in their own houses. If theypart with them,
where do they go? The number of tender
hearted couples who would willingly adopt as
their own the offspring of strangers is it need
hardly be said, not very great in New York.
There need be little difficulty in tracing the
mode of disposing of any child. If by any
one of the hideous devices known to the pro-
fessiops the progress of life is arrested, the
course of inquiry is equally open and equally
imperative.
It is useless to talk of such matters with
bated breath, or to seek to cover such terri
BILE realities with the veil of q false delcacy.
In impudent defiance of all morality, law,
and decency trade of murder is known and
acknowledged to be practiced in our midst.
Can it be that the social degeneracy which
follows political corruption like its shadow
has already overtaken u.s. and that we have
become callous to the plague-spots that
infect society Has the Haunting vice,
on which our city rulers smile, deadened
the public sense of all goodness and
decorum, and lowered our standard of
social morality? The fact would not be
without example if it were so; but unless on
the strongest of evidence we cannot accept
such a conclusion. Respectable citizens have
merely ceased to express indignation because
of a mistaken belief in their utter powerless-
ness. From lethargy like this it is time to
rouse ourselves. The evil that is tolerated
is aggressive; if we want the good to exist at
all it must be aggressive too. The ak is laid
to the upas tree of corruption which threatens
to overshadow US, and there are strong and
willing hands enough to strike it home, if
they were reused to consciousness of their
power.