Lewiston teller. [volume] (Lewiston, North Idaho) 1878-1900, 1879-11-14
The Deradence of Public Morals.

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The Deradence of Public Morals.
Public morals may not be worse to-
day than in the past Times may
have been when they were better.
Perhaps there have been times when
they were worse. Seemingly all the
vice and immortality of centuries have
eliminated in producing this scandal
Gus age; but we need not characterize
this period too severely as being one
Of great immortality. 1t should be re-
membered that this is . time when,
with the aid of the railway and tele-
graph, all the notable deeds of crime,
remote or near are focused in the
daily press, holding constantly as it
were before our gaze the doings and
thoughts Of the world; but whether
we are better than the age that has
preceded us or not is Of little moment.
One thing is certain, the state Of NOR
al sentiment is at low ebb, not only
at home but seemingly everywhere,
This is displayed in every condition of
life; in the church, in the state, in
business, in the professions and in
hushandry. 1t is found in the regal
palace, as well as in the middle and
lower walks of life. It is an age rich
in the developments of railroad wreck
ing, official defalcation, election frauds,
robbing of savings banks and other
tiduciary institutions; in forgegies of
notes, bonds and titles to real estate;
in substituting the press; bribing legis-
lators and the courts; in compromising
of felonies; in robbing and rlesecra-
ton of the tomb; in abductions of
children; i'll the sale of female virtue;
in robbery; in seductions; in clerical
escapades; i'll murders; in the cheapest
OF cheap demagogy, and in licentious-
ness and incompetence.
Men of wealth, influence and in
telligence fall daily from the path of
rectitude. The idol of to-day may
occupy a felon's cell tomorrow. The
great leader of a political party, whose
ringing voice upon the stump awoke
the echoes Of the land in behalf of
truth, patriotism, honesty and liberty,
may be the first to fall prey to ava
rice, lust or love of power. The reve-
lations Of year are so startling as
almost to cause one to tremble lest the
state be resting upon great moral
volcano --lest at some near time we
shall awake to see society shattered
into a million fragments, and to OBJ
serve an upheaval that will unsettle
every throne in christendom. A phil
osopher seeking the cause of all the
immortality ct the times must carry
his inquiries into various quarters,
would he learn the truth. One thing
he could not fail to discover, and that
is that money is the root of all evil."l
He would learn that men are bought
and sold for gold; that down before
the golden calf nations and indi-
viduals bow. The question is not how
good man is, but how much is he
worth! We often respect a man more
for what he looks like than for what
he is. A celebrated writer has said:
Scarcely man is to be found who
would not behave with more civility
to knave in broadcloth than to a
knave in fustian." We patronize men,
visit with them, vote for them, and
favor them when we know them
to be the basest of villains, simply
because they are rich We open to
them our prison doors and set them
free when the law has consigned them
there for their offenses Where is the
whisky ring that robbed the govern
ment of its millionsl Where are the
members of the famous credit mobilie,?
Where are the unjust judges of the
land who lent their power to the rob
berry of the City of New York; Where
is the ballot box thief who stole the
vote of whole ward in the city of
Chicago' Are they in the penitentiaryl
No! Why are they notl Because gold
was more powerful than law; because
people bow in reverence to wealth and
respect ii more than they do the law.
The remedy for all this is simple.
Public sentiment needs a change.
Herbert Spencer has hit the nail on
the head when speaking of the cor
ruption of public morals, he says:
GAS for remedy it manifestly follows
that there is none save in purified |!