, 1874-12-20

We may fairly call the quarrel between the
contending factions Of the Good Samaritnns
the 81 War Of tho Roses" if SHAKESPEARE is
right:
For women are as roses, whose fair flower,
Being once displayed, doth fall that very hour
There is another warrant for it. The con-
be as long and fierce as that OF the Houses of
York and Lancaster. We do not propose to
| wear either the white rose or the red rose in
our buttonholc. IA plague O both your
Houses" say VIC. Tho people of Chicago are
as heartily tired Of the dissension as were the
people Of England of that other War Of the
Roses, which lasted thirty years. It is time
to put stop to it. We want no truce We
demand an unconditional surrender Of all
sides to the public for the public veal. The
present strife, conducted with nll tho mali
ciousness and bitterness of women in anger, is
y disgrace to the city as seen from outside,
and IN unmitigated nuisance ns tolerated at
home.
There was never raison detre for the
Good Samaritans. They were organized
ostcnsibly for the purpose of fostering q
doubtful oharity,-that Of reforming aban-
doned women. We question the efficiency of
cooperative repression Of this evil. It is like
the vice of intemperance in that, all the per-
sonal, moral, religious. and social adverse in
duences failing, it will hardly be eradicated
by any public and ostentatious system of re-
form. If anything was to be accomplished
in this direction, there were already enough
institutions to take charge Of the matter
The Catholic Sisters conduct home of this
nature under the name Of "Good Shepherds;
the Protestants hare n similar place of resort
called the Erring Women's Refuge" The
discipline of the former, being more rigid,
has probably enabled it to do more in
the way Of rescuing young women and
mere girls, who have fallen but
are not wholly abandoned, than the
mora lax administration Of the latter. Both
are subsidized out of the fines OF the Police
Courts. More practical charities than either
for the relief of ruined women already c1-
listed in tho Foundlings' Hospital and the
Lying-In Hospital for they furnish relief to
those who might be unable to earn an honest
living with tie burden they thus dispose Of
There was, therefore, no demand for the
organization of the Good Samaritan Society
in tho first place. Subsequent events have
proved that tho organization has been mainly
c vehicle of notoriety for some Of the women
connected with'it, though we do not doubt
TINT many ladies' joined it with pure motives
most wretched class of creatures. But others
began BY Aocking to the newspaper offices
for notices9A their chief aim was to get
their namt$ before the public. An in
sufhciency Of official position in the Society
was probably the occasion of the first |
disscnsion. Then came secession and the |
organization Of another Society, to provide |
more Offices. Not long after there was still |
another division, and now there were three
Societies. each having list OF officers as long
as it could be made. Still there was conten-
ton evidently not yet enough Offices to 90
round. We cannot undertake to follow the !
infinite ramihcntions of the divisions md sub |
divisions Of the Good Samaritans. We only |
know that, for some months past, there has
scarcely been aday when the newspapers have |
not had the announcement of some new Off |
shoot or quarrel. At lost it has been neces-
sary to call in the police TO keep the two fac
tons of one Of tho main branches from !
scratching out each others eyes, and pulling |
out each others hair, and tearing each others
clothes, and otherwise defacing each others |
fa;r foatures aud garments. It must be IN
edifying spectacle for the women-candidates
for reform. We should think the A1agdalens |
would begin to doubt whether reform is SO !
desirable rs it is represented and to wish that |
the samarit1ns had passed by on the other
side. We commend to the leaders Of the two |
fnctinus fha nuestinnf SHAYapEtpE mt into |