Salt Lake evening Democrat. [volume] (Salt Lake City, Utah) 1885-1887, 1885-10-31
A CONTRAST.

The Ncws of last night contrasts the
condition of morals in Philadelphia with
things in Utah. The showing against
Philadelphia is not to tho credit OF that
city by any means, but the moral con-
dition of Philadelphia has nothing in the
world to do with Utah and the question
here. If infanticde is rife in Philadel-
phia then SO much the worse for that
city. Infanticide is crime everywhere
and should be 80 punished. II it
does not exist in our own city
then il is to our credit. Utah should raise
her own standard, and its merit should not
depend upon its being better than that OF
some other place, but rather upon itself.
II girls are led astray by policemen in
Philadelphia, then such policemen shonld
be severely dealt with, more severely than
another offender, because it is their duty
TO guard society and not prey upon its
members. All these things can have no
bearing upon the Utah question, because
here the question is as to obedience to Il
particular law or disobedience TO it.
There is no place in the world where
the crimes spoken of in the Nc,cs
as being rife in Philadelphia are deemed
virtue, and it is q poor argument with
which to uphold system to say that 1t is
not so bad as something elsewhere that is
there declared crime. The arguments
often made in Utah to uphold the doc
trine and practice of polygamy are dis
grace to mans intelligence and an insult
TO all who are sincere in their belief in
polygamy. Evil and crime are evil and
crime everywhere, and their prevalence
in one place is no justification for their
TEN in Utah is not so bad as some Of tho
crimes committed elsewhere, crimes that
are punished by the law, too, is not to
praise Utah's system very highly. One
mans crimes are no excuse for another
mans crimes, and to endeavor to make
them an excuse is to spread an impress
sion that all the world is bad, and the
only thing to be guarded aganyt is not to
be the worst
The methods OF the Ncms in this direc.
ton are but the spreading OF moral poison
throughout this Territory for the youth Of
the Territory, whom the Nems addresses
more largely than any other paper in the
Territory, are taught that everything out
side Of Utah is corrupt to the core, and
especially is this so in the relations
OF men and women. The Neps
has correspondent in Chicago
whose sole business seems to be to
hunt up all manner of sexual crimes and
then forward an account OF them to the
Ne,os as showing what Christianity in the
world is like. Ii the NeWs believes that
the accounts which its Chicago CORE
spondent send to it are d true picture OF
the Christianity OF the world. i. c., those
who are not OF its faith, then the News
is depraved beyond comprehension. Is
it a noble work to only look for the evil
among men and rejoice when it is found ?
Such seems to be the idea OF the Ne,vs, at
least.
The world is too full OF crimes Of all
kinds, but it is no way to crush out crime
TO be forever glorying in it because
some crimes are committed more largely
in one community than another
Crimes arc more abundant in Philadel
phia than in Salt Lake City because it is
larger, just as crime is more abundant in
Salt Lake City than in some Of TIE re-
mote villages of Utah. The crimes O
Philadelphia are an example for no one
but regret for all who desire to see vir
tue aud civilization advance and triumph
The crime OF a man protesting one relig-
ion is no greater than the crime of mar
protesting another religion, and il one re
ligion minimizes crime more than an
other, then the religion which minimizes
crime SO far as that Is concerned is Tho
hest