St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1889-05-12
SUNDAY CHATTER.

sided men In the clerical vocation. He can
apply to practical affairs the principles that
make for sound and wholesome life. Some
explanation Is found in the fact that his
father, who was sagaciOus churchman, gave
him business training for two years before
he commenced his theological studies. His
remarkable success as the executive head Of
his denomination in New York city is proba-.i
bly, quite largely the result of this knowledge
of the affairs of secular life. No doubt the
clergy, as a rule, could labor more effectually
if they had been educated in the lines of the
average man as well as in the professional
phases. 1t is not that they should preach
politics or lower the spiritual tones, but they
would enhance their power and influence if
they could get finger on the popular pulse,
and keep an ear sympathetic and alert to the
breathings of the heart of the common man.
I t I
The prison authorities IN New York have
finally supplied the three institutions with
appliances for executing murderers by cleo
tricity, warranted to kill in fifteen seconds.
These are the Westinghouse dynamos that
produce what is termed the alternating cur
rent in distinction from the continuous and
pulsating. The dynanlOs are made for cleo
trio lighting and have pressure of 1000
kill. During the application the prisoner is
to sit in an oaken chair with electrical cap
and shoes, and closing Of the circuit for
fifteen seconds is W arranted to kill him as
dead as JULIUS CESAR. 1t has been claimed
that this Westinghouse system of lighting
would not kill, ana controversy on the SUBJ
ject has appeared in the papers But the
process will be found so rapid and effective
that no one subjected to its operation is
likely to find any complaint. 1t will save all
such shocking plumbers as in the case of the
Bald Knobbers Friday when the rope broke,
ttt
1t has been noted from the data furnished
by some of the penal institutions in the East
that the criminal classes are more than keep
ing pace with population, and Ignorance and
intemDerance are not the most influential
causes for this increase. In the newer parts
of the West, and quite generally in the South,
the crimes are chiefly Of the emotional sort
attacks upon the person as the result of I'M
restrafnable temper. In the older sections
the crimes are i'll the main against property.
The criminals are more intelligent. and ex-
pertness and success in their pursuits re-
quire steady nerves, hence they do not IN
dulge very much in stimulants. Apparently
the most potent cause of crime is the lack of
industrial training. Out of 52o convicts
sent to one penitentiary in the last two
years Ali had never served at trade. They
had been allowed to grow up without habits
of industry. The lesson of the figures is that
parents, whatever their circumstances, who
do not train their children in some gainful
calling are largely responsible if they become
criminals. ~
There is no question as to the evils OF i'm
proper use of liquid stimulants. They are
numerous and often ruinous. There is no
form of incubation or monition on this SUBJ
ject that is not familiar, but few seem to
realize that there are great perils also in, the
eating habits Sir HENRY THOMPSON, a cele-,
brated English physician, is writing upon
this subject in one of the popular magazines.
He comedies the gravity of the drink habit
but says that prolonged experience and
wide observation force him to the conclusion
that more mischief in the form of actual dis
ease and of impaired vigor and shortened
life accrues to civilized man from erroneous
habits in eating than from all the alcoholic
Indulgence. He charges to the, sins of-the-
table, among those who are above the mere
struggle to get enough to eat to live, the pro-
duction of more than half the diseases Of ma
ture and later life. There is no doubt as to
the truth of his views While there is some
attempt at the Interpretation of the
laws of the human anatomy in the
schools, even the educators do not realize the
need of more exact and impressive teach
ings on this subject. In fact, many of them
do not know the relations of the table to the
efficiency of the human machine. Persistent
over feeding or wrong feeding will clog the
vital functions and fill the system with the
elements of disease and death. But then the
man or woman who ruins the health and
drops, into an untimely grave from bad eat
ing habits is called away by mysterious
visitation of Providence, and can have
pathetic and beautiful sermon preached
about his exhibition of the Christian virtues
and the sanity patience and fortitude in the
physical suffering endured. The fellow who
reaches the same end by drink is poor devil
unable to control his appetite, and better
have died years ago. But no credit as re.
former and devotee of lofty principle can be
had by preaching temperance in all things,
as PAUL did in the olden time.