Green-Mountain freeman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1844-1884, 1881-03-09
A Grand Work Well Done.

Mr.. Anthony Comstock. the tireless
secretary of the society for the suppress
sion of vice. has given an account of his
work in "A quarto volume of some six hun
dred pages. He has been bitterly assaile,l
on many grounds but for the most part by
men and classes whose frauds he had ex-
posed, whose crimes he had ferreted out
and brought to Judgment, whose methods
of entrapping the inexperienced and un-
wary into their nets he had laid bare. 1t is
true that he has fought fire with fire. and
has sometimes used Greek fire in dealing
with willy and accomplished Williams who
lived by preying upon the public in one
way or another. His volume is not
pleasant reading. 1t is never agreeable
TO read of the vices, the wickednesses or
the crimes of our fellow-beings But such
things are in the world, and so long as
every pathway is beset with snares and
pitfalls it is of the utmost importance to
be doubly armed with precautionary
knowledge. Mr., Comstock tells at length
of the tricks and devices to which sharpers
resort to catch the unsuspectng; the inno-
cent looking advertisements and reading
notices they put even in religious papers ;
the use they make of the post office in
sending circulars and letters; the adroit
schemes they invent for catching the
notice Of those who, unused to the ways of
the world, imagine that possibly they may
be lucky enough TO gel much for nothing
or next TO nothing.
How these INSCRIPTIONS adventurers
practice on human ignorance and crelu-
lity using the appliances and inventions
of aiuili1ntiop 10 Jnnait,o hn
plunder the confiding, is enough to fill
any one with amazement. People cannot
be too fully warned beforehand of the
wiles and inventions of the sharpers who
spend ingenuity enough in spreading their
nets and batting their traps to make the
most important and useful discoveries and
inventions were it properly applied. Sad
dening AS the volume is, it is needed
medicine and wholesome tonic. Ger
tainly no one who reads it will ever blame
Mr.. Comstock for the methods he has ad-
opted in unearthing information leading
to the detection and Punishment of men
who had batfled the police, exposing their
iniquties to the world Experience has
shown that what is everybodys business
is seldom attended to by anybody. 1t is II
great thing to have society whose special
mission it is to look after class of vices
and crimes which the police cannot deal
with, and which employees an agent so
admirably qualified for his work and
earnestly devoted to it as Mr.. Anthony
Comstock This society for the suppress
sion of vice held its eighth annual meet
ing in this city Tuesday evening, 10th inst.
1t is free from debt and begins work with
small sum in its treasury. An indica-
tion Of what it has done is shown by the
fact that in 1875, 165 different obscene
books were printed in this country. Last
year but two such had been discovered,
and the only immoral pictures captured
had been imported from abroad. Not one
in ten of those who to-day advertise to
sell obscene matter do so. Their business
is purely swindle. None of the others
keep any considerable stock on hand,
where formerly truck-loads were dealt in,
The streets of the city are comparatively
free from peddlars of obscene articles, and
the shop-wndows and secular newspapers
respect public decency. Formerly, ac-
cording to the general manager of the
dead letter Office in Washington, so many
obscene articles passed through that Office
that it had never been deemed proper to
employ ladies there until two years ago.
Last year not u single obscene b, ok or
article of any sort made its way into the
Office. These facts show what well direct
ed efforts have accomplished, and indicate
what may be done. The worst thing said
of Mr. Comstock is that he is IN enthusiast; !;
but, considering the object to which his
energies are devoted, and the importance
of the work he has done and is still engag-
ed in, the criticism becomes commenda-
tion, 1t is a pity that his enthusiasm were
not more contagious.-C Christian at Work.