The New Orleans daily Democrat. [volume] (New Orleans, La.) 1877-1880, 1878-01-27
THE MODERN MANIA.

have at various times and places possessed
large masses of people. otherwise OF SOUND
mind and memory, are the most remarkable
aud the most difficult to account for, according
10 the discovered laws Of psychology. Ihey are
not the result OF any dlssase Ina. becomes IS eR,
normal laws OF health YET ,Whols people mas
been SO possessed by them that old men and
maidens. young men and children, the wise and
experienoed, as we'll as the gay and thought
less, are all carried away. and with reference to
the one subject lose all judgment and all dis
erection That ever memorable period in the
Growth of the human intellect. when possessed
6v a military and religious fervor. the fairest
nnd bravest and best of Europe beginning In
the eleventh century and lasting nearly two
hundred years poured their hosts into the
East to drive the Saracen from the Holy Land,
Is scarcely TO be considered In the category to
That mania of bigotry. intolerance and rerse-
cuton which ragged all over Europe and found
its elimination in the tnqusitions and auto dd-
Yes of Spain. In which the religion of the meek
and lowly One who said He who is without sin
among you let him cast the first stone" was
made the pretext and occasion for the widest
orgies of human passion. thirsting for human
blood, which was confined. to no country or
cultus or church, was one of the darkest blots
on human history. OF the Same class was that
horrible mania against wtchcraft in New Eng
land. some 1850 or 200 years ago. when poor.
being neither young nor pretty. we're burned at
the stake or were sewed Ia sacks and drowned
In the sea because some thrifty, farmers sheep
had cast their young or a black frost had cut
short the potato crop, and some one of these
helpless creatures was called n witch, was in
vested by the imaginai ion with dominion over
the laws of nature, and condemned to death for
the use of that power.
Then there have been the speculative manas.
One of the earliest of these was Pattersons
Darien scheme, In which an unknown adven-
turer, brought up for the church and turned
buccaneer, started company to build city on
the Isthmus of Darien and carry on trade with
India and China. The whole Scottish people
went wild after this. man. The nobility, the
1 the "ss wa doa so
their dowers and iontures to take the. stock. In
a few weeks 100000 were subscribed In Scot
land equivalent to four times that sum at the
present time. This mania extended to England.
in few days f3oo,0o0 were taken there and
22OO.Ooo by the Dqtcn.,
Every one has heard Of John Laws "Missis-
eippi Scheme" by means Of which he deluded
the French people and had complete control of
the French government so long as the delusion
nobility and dignitaries of France to his feet
and kept princes and dukes waiting In his ante
often been toid. The wonder still is how such
q thrifty, Industrious. shrewd people as the
French became so infatuated with the wild
schemes of this adventurer.
Equally visionary, though the mania did not
spread SO wide nor take so deep hold on the
people, was the South Sea bubble In England,
would get rich immediately without work.
The stock In this. concern rose in one
day from $50 to 300. and soon after TO 400.
Perhaps the most singular of these manias
was the L uipomania, which ragged in Holland
from 1884 to 1887. when the stolid Dutch went
crazy specializing In tulips The widest spec
lation was done In species Of tulip roots that
never existed. Twenty five hundred forms
were given often for. single root. which was
OF rye, fat oxen, 3 fat swine. IL fat sheep.
hogsheads OF wine. tons OF beer 2 OF butter,
1000 pounds Of cheese and a complete bed suit
One root of SeBpe. Augustus sold for 4Go0
forms and a new carriage, two gray horses and
complete harness. The Widest gambling. to
am
Every age of tue world and every country has
some mania, with which the great body OF peo-
pie run mad. The mania which af1iicts this
country, is that for public on governmental edu-
Everybody seems to think that the only way
for our boys and girls to get any knowledge of
books Is for the government to give 1t to
them at the charge of the taxpayers; Poor
little children with shiveIing forms and empty
Hsomachs, emaciated by insufficient food made
prematurely old by want. are taken by The great
stepmotber-the Htate-and their heads filled
with cube roots and isosc6es triangles. Great
pains and double expense are incurred to teach
them where are the mountains of the moon,
and what M ethical character was sucked by a
wolf. under the vain tneory. rnat such knowl-
edge makes soo6 ab b1 W sh stae Nothing rs to
their relations and duties to God and man.
THAT would be teaching religion which the
pa Of and eon
to teach. Her pupils are not taught that 1t is
disgraceful and wrong to swear, or to preak the
ing to steal and lie and kill and to disobey the
laws OF home and country-that would be teach
ing religion. Nothing Is taught OF the nature
and functions OF government, the proper linz
itation on its powers and duties and the duties
al citizens = that would be teaching them
why should not the State provide every boy and
girl with three good meals dav. suit of clothes
and shoes and stockings2 Such n benefcent
tbs Of crime than
the fact that Africa is n continent inhabited by
black and brown negroes and ourang- outangs.
Most of the crime committed in the world s oc
cssioned by pouertV-that is. by the desire to
possess some property that one person pos
sesses and another does not. Nothing tends so
Society oME1u as abund ance Of food Men with fair
round bellies with good capon lined never be-
asance, brings them to lack the lining Of capon
II is ever those who. like Cassius; have q lean
and hungry look" that become, the violators of
law Public education makes the criminals by
Increasing the number of the wants and desires
of men and exciting aspirations and tastes in
thousands that they can never hope to satisfy
nv their own honest labor. Being raised intel
lectually above their class and station in life,
not having the means to enable them to crafty
their enlarged the n q tb nnbe
school with all the wealth of the State become
restless and dissatisfied with what is attainable
violation of the rights of property to satisfy
desires artifeially created. Upright and hon
orable men of all classes refrain from stealing,
the hypothenuse of a right-angled triangle is
equal to the sum of the squares of the other two
sides" but because they were taught by their
mothers that 1t Is wrong and disgraceful to steal.
and that they will suffer the punishmsnt Of hn-
man law as we'll as Of the divine. The child's
moral nature responds to the teaching and the
command.
A truthful man does not bear false witness
against his neighbors because ne has been
taught that water is composed OF certain equiv
alents of hydrogen and oxygen. and the air OF
nitrogen aud oxygen, but because OF the natu-
no temptation to do otherwise. and the moral
nature having been cultivated. power Is. nc
Quired to resist any temptation. and he feels
that he would lose his sell. Prospect. It used to
be said that ignorance of what is taught In the
the, majority Sf those, found in in ' ans
write This is a non seqtit,u A like canvass
Of the pepitentiaries would no doubt disclose 81
black cloth coats and high silk hats. and the
women among them had no red velvet farth hi,a.
they became criminals for the want of such
elegant attire. If so the State should at once
nd rrp>-ide with a