San Antonio daily light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1886-1907, 1886-12-28
SOME CHANCE NEEDED.

I
by virtue are equally Intellectual to with
draw the lives of men and women from
| vicious inCinatiOns and practices. The
| pages of all periodicals reflect this fact -
the inadequacy OF the present moral and
religious education to restrain human
passion, lust, greed OF wealth aud power
and all thar cOrrupts society and retarus
the progress of men towards more per-
feet civilization. The columns Of all
daily newspapers TEEN with the recOrcs
Of crime, many OF them of the most re-
voting character. Take away this rec
ord of crime from the telegraphic re-
ports that form SO very important fes-
ture of our great morning daIlies, and
you will find those Geographic columns
cut down to meager proportions. 1he
whole line and list Of sensational news,
after which the saint and SINNER are
alike anxious, is built upon and grows
out of this criminal record. The church,
and the sunday school, and the young
mems lecture room, and the reading
rooms, and the whole social life OF the
| church In which so much thar ought TO
influence to good is presented, Goes not
prevent the columns of our newspapers
from presenting year in ana year out
an ever increasing array OF testimony,
showing that In spite OF all these appll-
auCes the great mass OF humanity Is un-
! hV 10
moral restraint. The courts OF jus
tice are equally powerless to
arrest this stream Of vitiating and cor
rupting life. The punshmenIs for crime
prescribed by law were never more rig
OruuSly enforced. The whole machinery
OF jury, court and Jail, penitentiary and
EallOws, not to mention the summary
processes of Judge Lynch, is in active
exercise; never more so. But all this
avails nothing, and the fact is pressed
home upon pulIits and pe"s, upon judge
and jury, upon Optismist and pessemist.
upon philanIhropist and journalist, upon
home and parent-Crime is not dunn
shed by all the appliances OF this wise,
civilized enlightened and humanitarian
age. Why this is so it is not our prov
ince Ms journalist to point out. The
work Of the journalist largely consists IN
showing the evils that exist. Looking
over the whole face of things as r, fleet
ed In the news that is brought to hi
table daily from ali parts Of the world.
the Journalist siz up his facts rs they
appear to him from the record, and. cali
ing attention TO them, throws upon the
chur b, society, or the stale, the re-
-ponsibiity Of correcting that which hr
has shown to need correcting. rhis
much we accomplishment, no matter
how rigorous. does not restrain from
crime; the fear of hanging here aud of
hell hereafter does not deter men and
women, or even children, from the most
damnable crimes and dis0OliCal praC-
tees. This much we can see and Say.
It therefore becomes the duty Of the
statesman, Of the jurst, to study well
the temper of our criminal classes, the
tendency of the present system to
harden criminals rather than reform
them, and in the light of such facts and
probabilities as are developed. to devise
some more efficient way Of dealing with
our criminal classes. II the evil that
men do lives after them, is it not time
that little serious attention was de-
voted to the enquiry-1s not our whole
criminal system at fault in seeking as its
than to reform them? By reformation
some afterward of reparatiOn might
possibly come for the evils done; by
hardening in vice the very opposite re-
-ult is made certain.
The Austin Statesman serves notice
on Msxey and Reagan to keep close to
the Potomac flats during the coming
senatorial contest at Austin and leave
the field open to John. This is true
craftsmanship according to Austin.
Great aches from little toe-cOrns grow;
great screams from little writer's flow;
and Austin's got it bad, you know.
THE Harvard needles are not a success
those of the male persuasion, when 1t
comes TO playing practical joke on
their sister medics. They found that
out when constable collected S25 rs a
lady students fee for setting a broken
wooden leg, to which operation she had
been summoned by some envious STU
dents.
THE house put that S246 600, southern
calm for railroad use during the war,
through without debate. Ii WAS a
virtual steal, as the road WAS entirely
out Of service and of no practical use
when the United States laid down her
own rail and put in rolling stock. II
that Manchester and McMinnville steal
does not come back like curse To rOost
in the democratic coop in 1888, there
will be 10 truth In retributiOn.
THE ladies are coming rapidly to the
front as the dentists of the future. There
are several 10 lated in Philadelphia and
all doing good business. Their prac-
tlce among women ana childr is grow
ing to monopoly, and there are scores
of gentlemen that would as soon have a
pleasan faced lady looking into their
eyes and taking a col with her arm
around their neoks, for dental purpOs s
only, rs TO have fellow man at the
fnrnnns EnmnnLn h. rhnrl ND hnntiatl