The Dallas daily herald. [volume] (Dallas, Tex.) 1873-1887, 1880-12-15


and multiplicity in the nature thereof
Thus we SEQ sec that gambling hOu,es, varie-
ty theatres and certain gilded temples of sin
we need not name, are necessary evils, and
are attractions, too, justas churches and legit-
innate theatres, and museums and libraries,
and elegant public buildings and public
parks are attractions. We state but fact
lamentable though it be, and it is best to
look facts squarely in the face and
deal with them as such without circumlocu-
ton or evasion. This being the case, what is
best to DO in the management and control of
such evils? They will exist; they are diseG s
tor which there is no cure at present. Com
mon sense, then, dictates that all that can be
done is to hold them rs much in check us
possible, and this can be done to the extent
OF keeping them orderly, Ahd preventing
that excess which would inundate society 10
It's utter destruction. Let us look at this
tang now, from practical, not impractical
standpoint. Every good citizen deprecates
eviI,and sorrows in his soul that he and all the
rest of mankind are not perfectly pure But
we have tangible proof every hour of every
day that society is full Of impurities and the
best We can do is TO hold tho tide us much rs
possible. 1t may be that our city govern
mont might enact ordinances and enforce
them with that vigor and rslentlessness that
would drive frem our corporate limits every
gambling house and every drinking saloon
and every other Objectionable institution,
but would it keep men from gambling;
would it stop tipping; would it curb the
brutal passions of mankind? On the
contrary, while it might not ia
crease the propensities TO these particular
evils, it would make them dangerous. The
river would be damned up ut its natural
outlet and it would break over the restraint
and carry devastation before it in its rslent-
less force. A rEyenous wild boast would be
turned loose in our midst and there would be
safety nowhere, and the sanctity of society
would be trodden under foot by ruthless
viciouSnsss. Look at the great cities of the
world, of our owR country, for instance.
New York, the greatest ofthsm all, is honey
combed with its gambling bells as we'll IS its
palaces Of sin in all their forms. Right in
the heart of the city is Harry Hills
whors burglars and thieves, and women in
their most degraded forms, congrsgato in tho
full glare of tho street lights and under the
very 'yss Of the police, and New York is
ADM lily the better for it, because there
the law authorities come to know these chSr-
Scters and there safety valve is furnished
tor the excess of the evil that is in them. 1t
is right that every city should have its ordi-
nsnces against Objectionable resorts, that
they may servo as brakes to prevent too
full Roadway, but wise discretion
should DO used in their framing.
Ia this every circumstance should be con,id-
cred. In the first place, such ordinances
are enacted for what purpose? Clearly for the
protection ofsociety. How can they best be
made TO protect society and 10 advance the
general goodf Can it be by using them as
goaSs TO drive the worst elements into def
ance Of society, and TO organize these elo-
mOnts into combined array of hostility?
Common sense, common prudence and prac-
teal judgment all answer in the negative.
We know that the strictly virtuous
and the eminently moral may be 10th to en-
dorse this view of the case, but we take it
that every person who calmly reasons about
the matter practically and treats it logically
will acknowledge the business of our conclu-
sions and the plain commonsense we con-
ceiye them to embody. We are glad to
know that in considering of the questions we
have been discussing, that some of our city
councilmen have taken the same positions
we do. There is a responsibility resting
upon the council, and upon its exec
utive officer tho mayor. II the ordinances
as they now read, are unnecessarily strin-
gent, they should be repealed or amended
and the council sho uld rise TO the full meas
ure of the expedient requirement, in the
full confidence that the sober thought of the
people and their constituencies will always in
the long run approve the course of COCO
sense and wise discretion. In view of any
such probable course, the mayor, too, would
be eminently justified in proceeding slowly il
the too rigid execution ola law, perhaps fun
dsmentally defective, at best of questiona-
BILE availability; and more particularly il
view of the fact that some of the matters il
question are as vel and orderly conducted
rs any of their Kind anywhere in the coun
try to be found.