The new Northwest. [volume] (Portland, Or.) 1871-1887, 1876-06-09
ANOTHER VIEW OF THE CASE.

| Wepublished last week synopsis o:
letter received from an Olympia
friend relative to remarks concerning
the inhabitants of Port Blakely, which
occurred in the Editorial Correspond
ence published in this paper few weeks
since, and we submit below another let
ter from the same locality, the writer OF
which takes an entirely different view
of the matter
Reading short article in the NEW
NORTHWEST relative to the moral
status of the Inhabitants of Port Blake
ly, 1 will here observe that 1 don't
think your structures, whatever they
may have been, were any too severe. l
was there last fall, stayed few weeks,
and took look at things generally.
For deep depravity it will bear off the
palm. A Woman Suffrage, temperance,
or other reform paper or lecturer, either
or all combined, would, in my estima-
tiOn, have about as much influence for
good as would a very few drops of water
in quenching a burning volcano. The
greed and sensualism of few leading
ones, who care for naught but gold and
the lower instincts of life, have made
the place what it is. When the desti-
nies of any place fall into the hands OF
men of this class, who, by sharp finance,
can command plenty of means to graf
ify such tendencies, then the condition
of such locality, till it's prime movers
die off or move out, is unfortunate in
deed.
No censure of such baseness is too Sc
we're. No efforts at present to oameliorate,
are advisable or available. "Cast not
your pearls" etc. However moral the
energies and functions of the human
system are, no one can breathe mias-
matte air long without physical con-
tamination. And whatever the mental
and moral resistance, any one is spirit
ually damaged by even a short continu-
ance with surroundings. 1t helps the
matter not whit to read in a newspa-
per that old Captain R or Major so
and so has given so much lumber or so
much money toward some church
building or some other liberal enter
prise. The leper is leper still, morally
or physically, and the nearer you get to
him, the more the danger, without the
prospect of much good to any one. The
instincts of some are so low that they
seem to be given over to reprobate con-
duct till they shuttle off the flesh, and
the sooner they do that, the better for
themselves, and all concerned.
There is a certain order of baseness
that men and women have no right to
have patience with. 1t merits nothing
but downright contempt. Any attempt
to palliate only makes the matter
worse. And when true Republicanism
shall succeed in the hitherto unaccom-
plished task of separating gold and lust
from honorable motives and just deeds;
when brazen-faced impudence ami
mated by lucre shall pass for its inher-
e11t 1OOrtt, and no more; when smooth
faced hypocrisy finds no more robes and
holy observations to lure unsuspect-
ing ones to ruin; when weak or inad-
vertant step in woman, which would
attach obloquy, or perhaps compromise
her usefulness and reputation forever,
would, in the estimation of her more
fortunate sisters, be no special detri-
ment to u spruce young delectable, or
more aged money-grabber of the lord
and master sex, then, and not till
then will truth, righteousness, and
equal rights to all universally prevail.
X,