New Orleans Republican. [volume] (New Orleans, La) 1867-1878, 1871-03-21
TENDENCY OF LAWLEssNEss.


truth is universal, if the people understood
the theory of government as well as they
| do the contagiouSnesS of disease, there
| would be less use for reconstruction laws.
| Every man understands that cutaneOus
affections are prone to spread, and that if
Il sore is not properly cleansed and healed
| it will extend liberation propagatas
itself by irritation 1t affects the adjoin-
ing healthy flesh by intiaming it. Sores feed
themselves Ultimately what was heathily
sickened by irritation becomes morbidly
and desperately diseased and deadened by
modification
The social being is strkingly similar to
the physical man. Communities are
liable to the spread Of moral ulcers upon
their surface, just as men are, and with
exactly the same results. Lawicssness is
| the chief of these evils. small offense
appears, and is not suppressed 1t propa-
| gate, another, and these two produce Il
| third. A cruel man beats his horse, then
| he feathers in upon niger, then he
puts head upon feller'' who has
spoken about MS offenses. and then he
| develops into Il muscular leader of men,
| and an exponent of public sentiment.
| Others, seeing his good works, take up
| their fists. clubs or revolvers, and follow
his example. Il is the small sore spread
Il, L., Nv,
the first appearance Of the disorder, or, to
continue our metaphor. if the original
| pu>tule had been carefully tended and
eXtirpated, the disease would have ended
with the horse, and a rowiy might have
been diverted from the error of his ways
into proper member of society.
The great mass OF mankind are law
abiding. Ten men out of twelve con-
scientiousl y and inwardly revolt at cruelty
of every shape. But unfortunately they
are merely negative opponents. They
are the healthy flesh which remains i'll
active while the sore is spreading in a
way that must ultimately affect them.
Disease is active. Lawlessues> is dis
ease and its nature is to grow. 1t is in
sidious, irritating and minute in its APP
proach, but destroying and deadening in
its final embrace. Society tolerates the
small offense, and in return is enveloped
and mastered by the poisonous creeper
which was at first tolerated because Of its
insignifcance.
To apply our theory to a case in point,
let us illustrate it with short news item:
MOBILE AND ONO ROAp. - An attempt
was made on this road to throw the train
into Il creek Seventy-tive feet deep. on the tit
teenth of March. by cutting the bridge.
The attempt discovered in time to ar
rest the train.
This i, the elimination of crime in men
WHO commenced by beating horses, who
followed that incipient cruelty up by
brawling with their fellow men, and who
haze had their abaSeulent fostered by that
sentiment in Alabama which has almost
sanctioned the killing of negroes. and the
lynching Of men who did not think and
speak as the community thought and
spoke. What was at first simply tolerated
by the negative character of small opposi-
ton to oifenses. either because it was
small, or because il was in sympathy with
public sentiment now arrays itself against
human life unfortunately and with IN
human tendishness. A lax enforcement
of the laws enacted for the protection of
all Is dangerous to every man. woman and
child in the country. 1t assails us in
private life. and it wavlays in railroad
cars 1t shoots Us. il corrupts the purity
of the government. it demoralizes society,
and it precipitates us into creeks seventy
five feet deep, when We are asleep and in
motion, at the rate of TWENTY-FIVE miles
an hour. 1t begins with the ku-kluxism,
and ends with railroad disasters. 1t
strikes the lowly and asSassinates the high.
It is terrible and like the cancer that it
is We should extirpate it wherever found.