The Iowa plain dealer. [volume] (New Oregon, Howard County, Iowa) 1867-1895, 1888-10-18

on earth he drew many OF his pref ties
SMILES from the vineyard and the
feasts where wine was used. He actual
~ made wine by miracle. We heal
OF no denunciatiOns of wine from
him. or of ito manufacture. He de.
nounced the money changers, and II Il
blasphemy to say that infinite wisdom
through him converted q good thinc
like water into bad thing called wine
% yo pharisees and hypocrites, how
shall ye eacape the damnatiOn ofhell.
/ may not have quoted the passage cor
rectly, but 1 have the substance
and, unlike Blaine, he would de
nounce wicked trusts, II on earth to-day
The only excuse offered for this out
70 that arrests for crime are less thar
formerly and that our jails are com
paratively empty. The men who us(
this argument are woefully superficial
They seem incapable of comprehend
Ing the fact that the prevalence oil
CRIME can never be measured or In
dictated BY the number of arrests OF
convictions for crime. Never In thu
history Of Iowa WAS there as much
legal crime IS now, nor do
believe there ever was . country on
earth % cursed with legal crime q
Iowa i to-day, under the law l am
now discussing. ! feel sure there are
not less than 50, 600 crimes daily com.
mitted In Iowa. have no doubt there
were moro than 10000 crimes COM
mitted daily during last weeks corn
palace festival ct Sioux City. / hxye nc
doubt that more than 10000 sales OF
aicholic liquor daily occurred in that
city last week and that the like will
occur every day while the festival
lasts, and each sale was grave crime
under the law, yet have not heard of
an arrest for crime under the law. II
all the crimes committed under this
law were punished, the minimum fines
would be more than &2,5OO,OOO daily
and Ia one year l,WO,OOO,OW. Any one
who il posted knows that there has
not been In this state one arrest to So
GOO Offenses under this law.
These m0le-eyed men who talk about
crime diminishing in Iowa do not
know the meaning Of the word crime.
They think there Is no crime commit
ted unless they hear Of some poor devil
arrested or In jail. Any invasion Of
the rights Of others is crime, v hether
punished under statute or not. II \
poor deyil steals coat, though 1t may
bo taken to cover his nakedness. he is
generally arrested and jailed, but q
Jim Fisk may steal from the stock
holders Of the Erie road SlO,OOO,OOO by
turn OF the wrist In one night, and
thereby ruin 10000 stock holders, and
commit 10000 crimes In one act. He
= M - h,~A
loose his standing in the church.
All invasi0ns Of the rights OF proper
ty lawfully acquired are crimes. The
great republican convention of 1850,
which nominated Nj. Lincoln, had
not q pro-slavery man In 1t, yet it
solemly resolved that all those who in
terfered with the right of property in
slaves 10 the states were guilty Of the
''gravest of crimes" Slavery was
Afterwards abolished, but by military
necessity. which knows no law, human
or divine, except the law of national
self preservation.
And / now denounce Col. sweeney
and every member of the legislature.
the governor. the state, and every man
who voted for, aided and abetted the act
by which millions of property law fully
acquired In Iowa were confiscated with
out compensation. rs the Rravest GRIM
inals. 1t Is not likely any of them will
ever be punished by human statutes,
but II they are not punished by divine
law. It would seem there must be some
mistake In the divine economy. In
other words, Il would seem that ii
there Ii no hell there ought to he one.
1t 10 true that crimes against life.
and crimes against chastity have not
under these laws, It Is
also true that breaches of the peace
and crimes against property, such as
burglary and larceny. have decreased.
The reasons are obvious. Comparative
" few people now visit towns and
cities in Iowa few farmers ever 70 to
the city for the simple purpose alone
Of buying goods they 70 largely for
rest, recreation and holiday exercises.
When In town they want to see their
friends aud have pleasant time, and
II they cannot have such Injuries as to
them seems proper to use. they do not
90 at all. 1t is but natural that the
more that 60 to town the more irregu.
larities will occur from the existence
Of holiday pleasures.
D0s 0ASAACO AAAN AUANOouCO 0tO 6ClUUIu
at home business in our
cities and towns languishes, few
strangers visit the city there Is but
little to steal or burglarize and the
skillfll burglar or thief is not fool
enough to 20 TO the city in which he Is
about the only stranger, making iieR-
tificati0n Of the crime and the crimi-
nal almost certain.
But do these people who use the
argument of diminishing statutory
crimes and arrests in Iowa know that
The argument Is old and threadbare
The slave states once used the argu-
ment TO prove slavery was right. |
Virginia once boasted that her jails
we're empty compared TO Pennsylvania
or Massachusetts such was the fact,
md why? The towns In the latter
states were full Of business and strang-
BIB. while Virginia cities were dull
md few strangers entered them,
yet the fact was, there were
more crimes In Virginia than in Penn.
sylyania or Massachusetts,. The
real cause for her empty jails was
crime, slavery. Every
and everybody who aided
and allotted him was . criminal, and
this brought about . condition Of
things which made the usual statutory