The new Northwest. [volume] (Portland, Or.) 1871-1887, 1874-08-14
A SOCIAL REVOLUTION.

too mOnstrous to be admitted to public
view, and yet too offensive to he hidden
from olfactory sense, becomes so ofiens-
lively obstrusive as to fill the entire at
mosphere with the reekings Of its rot
tenness, one of two alternatives is both
necessary and inevitable-the patient
must die, {. e., put off the old order Of
things and put on a new, which is all
that is implied in the change we call
death, or suppuration must take place,
by which the physical life of the pa
tient may be sustained till another hid
eous ulcer grows, to be in turn subjected
to similar treatment with similar conse-
quences TO the body afflicted.
The Beecher-TiIton scandal, over
which the public has gloated for nearly
year, while bringing shame and sor-
row to the brows and hearts of tens of
thousands of the good and true, evident
ly brings trepidation to hundreds of
thousands who fear that through this
exposition in high places may be
brought about q publication of their own
completely in things equally unlawful.
That our social system is rotten to the
very core is proven not only by the
great eruption now going on at its apex,
but also by the feverish excitement un-
der which the whole body corporate
and corporal is laboring while the ulcer
is being treated by physicians who evil
IDENTIFY themselves need healing.
The philosopher and philanthropist-
and to be one must necessarily include
the other-who views both ulcer and
patient in the light of science aud rea-
son, clearly sees that for all this moral
rottenness there must be cause, and
that cause goes far back of the present
effect, else the disease, naturally slow
in Its growth as compared to its present
proportions, could not have assumed ii.
present chronic type and so demoralizeC
the victims under its immediate infiu,
ence that they speak under "hallucina.
ton" and the witchery Of a spell which
causes them to apply new meanings tC
old, well-established, plain Anglo-Saxor
words, hitherto supposed to signify JUS
what they expressed. 1t causes them
to equivocate, Prevaricate, latitudiDate
attitudinate, and aIti-matrimony- Innate
And what will it all amount to?
Evidently our present code of social
ethics is at fault somewhere, or these
things would not be- Excresences never
grow upon healthy body. No one not
affected by malady has fever merely
because others are sick. The fever
shows that be is sick himself.
So we conclude that as the whole So
cial body is affected by the scandal now
suppurating in high places, the social
system itself needs renovating and re-
building in such a way that it will breed
no more ulcers. How this may be done,
we propose to show, in n series of care
fully-considered articles as soon as we
can get time to prepare the people TO re-
ceive and comprehend them. OF course
We shall give these opinions as our olgl.
Divers and sunlry persons, have from
time to time, out fthe depths oftheirown
innate nastiness of Imagination, accused
us-as we are reliably informed-of ad-
vocating, or at least tOlerating the hide
Gus doctrine of promiscuity and its
kindred accompaniments.
When u woman has lived for nearly a
quarter Of century with one man, and
is still living with that one; who is the
mother of a large family of children,
and who has spent and is spending her
life in their service, it would seem that
her actions might speak louder than
other peoples suspicious. For this rea-
son We do not stOop to handy words with
the lewd in heart, or declare our denial
of such accusations for the benefit of the
low and ignorant accusers who would
not read them, and who would much
prefer to believe us as wicked as them
selves if possible.
But a social revolution is imminent.
II must come. When reservoir be-
comes so old and rotten that il will not
longer safely bear the pressure Of waters
that are needed to sustain the life of a
great city, is it better to dread rebuild
ing until tile receptacle bursts and
deluges and destroys the city than TO
go to work bravely to build a new and
more substantial reservoir? And ought
not every plan TO be submitted to the
people that they might compare ideas
and get the benefit of every builders
skill?
Acting upon this belief we propose to
speak at length, as we have time and in.
clination upon the "social revolution
and Mhat should come of IL. -