The Vancouver independent. (Vancouver, W.T. [Wash.]) 1875-1910, 1881-05-26
VANCOUVER INDEPENDENT.
THURSDAY, MAY 26, 1881.


moralists and censors should once in a
while turn their attention from the
hackneyed subject of the Glowing
bowr' on which they have been harp
ing so persistently, and if only for
the sake of variety, turn their elo-
uuence to the correction of other
abuses? Let these self appointed GEN.
sors look about them; they will easily
discover other subjects of reform. In
temperance is not the only cause of
idleness and crime. Let us study the
and, as sensible physicians, cure them.
1t is not enough to denounce intern
perance. Let us investigate the causes
which lead to it and suppress them.
We may howl at intemperance with
the same persistence and variety of
note with which dogs howl at the
the howl produces about as much eff
feet in one case rs in the other. 1t is
not given to the noisy bipeds to bring
about useful reforms any more than it
is given to the noisy quadrupeds to do
it. The moon performs her appointed
journey and intemperance goes on
without check. Let us recognize the
fact that intemperance is not the only
cause of crime. Love, jealousy, hatred,
covetousness, etc. often lead people into
committing crime. If intemperance
heads the list of incentives to crime,
let us fight the causes which lead to
intemperance; from the cure of causes
only, can reformers expect beneficial
and permanent results. In this light,
We think that the Trades Unions are
among the most prolific causes of de-
moralization in the community. This
point is well illustrated in the Hdr-
peys Weekly of the 26th of March:
Three nice looking boys, apparently
fresh from school, apply at a shop to
get admitted as apprentices to learn a
trade. The answer given them by
skilled workman is this: "Want to
learn the trade hey? no, no; we can't
encourage apprentices. The union
won't allow it, they would cheaper
the price of labor" The legitimate
result of this brutal refusal is seen on
the opposite side of the same page;
discouraged by refusals, the prom
Using boys who now have grown to be
men, instead of following useful avo-
cations and becoming useful members
of society, have frequented saloons;
they have learned to smoke cigars and
to drink bad whiskey; they patronize
low literature and low dens; they have
become dead beats generally; their
moral sense has become blunted by
sense of unjust treatment; they are
ready for almost any crime that will
bring money into their empty pock-
cts. They, who might have become
honored and useful members of soci-
ETY., have become its dangerous ene-
mics. 1t is very easy to denounce
whskey drinking, but philanthro-
pists do not find single word of re-
proof for the infamous monopolies
called Grades unions,n which are
driving virtuous and aspiring youths
INTO dens of vice and pollution. Why
is it that our moralists, they who as
sumo the duty of guiding our conduct
and our consciences are so often found
allied with the monOpolists? Let
them raise their voices for the benefit
of the youths who wish to learn useful
trades; let them denounce the selfish
men who are driving them to dens of
vice; morality which does not lead to
practical improvement is of no value.
OF what use is our public education
system, with the avenues to useful
employment closed to our aspiring
young men, save to produce plausible
and accomplished rascals, the more
dangerous that they are more intelli-
gent and educated? In this connec-
ton we would say that the action of
Messrs. Goldsmith and Lowenberg,
stove founders Of Portland, appears to
us more beneficial to the community
than all the temperance lectures de-
livered on this coast for many q year.
The trades union men objected to so
many boys being employed in their