The Wichita city eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1872-1883, 1876-03-09
1.-THE Crime of Society"

| The wrath of the Democratic papers,
says the Atchison Champion, over the
Belknap development is something
wonderful, to behold. You would not
think, reading their comments on this
disgraceful affair, that the last Demo-
cratic Secretary of War managed to
steal outright, from the puplic treasu-
ry, nearly million of dollars, and fl
nalIy, to cap the climax of his rascali-
ty, turned over to the rebels all the
property of his department. Nor
would you think. reading their furious
articles, that the actual leader of the
present Democratic House, Fernando
Wood, stands charged, on sworn affi-
davits, with just exactly the same
crime as that in which Belknap is in
volved, viz: selling, as Mayor of New
York City, lucrative appointment
for money consideration.
To seek party advantage out of this
crime-to see in no lessons, no moral,
except such as help or hurt party or
CARNATIONS, is to reveal, not hatred of
crime for its turpitude, but gratifica-
ton that its commission may help some
one to place.
A prominent southern man said, in
Washington, on the evening of the day
Belknap's crime was made public :
"The Republican party is no more re-
sponsible for the crime of he husband
than Kentucky women are for the sins
of the wife" The fact is that this crime
is legitimate outgrowth of the social
life of Washington. The Chicago Iri-
bunc justly designates it "the crime of
society" That paper truly says:
"There is moral and a lesson in this
terrible fall which may be and should
be taken home to the hearthstcne of
every family. The cause of this wreck
is domestic extravaganza fashionable
recklessness of expenditure and rival
ry in social display. The sudden ac-
QUESTION of wealth so common of late
years has had most demoraliZing eff
and industry, and we may add honesty,
have lost caste, and the possession of
wealth, no matter how obtained, has
become the badge of social rank and
the passport to every circle. 1t has in
a measure superseded in social estima-
ton personal integrity, personal intel
ligence, and personal accomplishments.
When men having no other common
dation than wealth VIGOROUSLY ac-
quired by the plumber of the public, the
appropriation of public money, or by
frauds on the revenue, are admitted to
the highest official and social circles,
who can be surprised at the criminal
consequences extending through all
official and business walks of life?
The elevation Of wealth to the high
est social rank has, of course, intro
dnced a wild exravagance in domestic
expenditure. IL has made display for
displays sake part Of our daily life.
We all spend our honest income, aud
ycarn. all unsatisfied, for more. For
years the extravaganza of fashionable
life has been becoming more and more
reckless, from the owner of millions
down to the man who lives on his dali
ly wages. Each has been attempting
to equal the next above him in point
of display and expenditure. This cor
rupting influence has pervaded fashion,
able and social life as well in the rural
hamlets as in large cities.
But nowhere has this fatal practice
been more baleful in its effects than in
Washington. The rivalry of diamonds,
velvets, laces, satins, and in the way of
houses and furniture, of horses and
carriages, of plate, or entertainments
of the most sumptuous character, has
been alike destructive to morals and to
integrity, and the majority of those en-
gagged in this costly strife have had no
honest income to sustain it. Debt,
crime, or corruption was inevitable.
The wonder is not that such a wreck
of character and honor and of lifelong
integrity should take place, but that
there have not been others, and many
of them. Looked at calmly, what 9TH
err result can be expected from this gen.
eral, almost universal, practice of liv-
ing beyond honest means, an abandon
ment of honest labor for equivocal
pursuits, and the laborious effort to
get rich without work."