Idaho semi-weekly world. [volume] (Idaho City, Idaho Territory) 1875-1908, 1890-05-30
PUBLIC wRohe.polna.
A Spirit OF Indifference That Ii Deserv-
ing of Censnre.


A Spirit OF Indifference That rs Deserv-
ing of Censure.
The pessimist who looks longinglv
backward. hopelcssly forward, and
critically upon the present finds in the
calm unconcern OF the public In the
presence Of acknowledged evils that
sxist an argument in favor OF his dark
estimate of public virtue. That there
Is a spirit of Indifference in regard to
public wroag-doing that is deserving of
censure is we'll attested by the fact that
disclosures of many forms of dishonesty
and vice in community are received
seemingly without surprise or evidence
Of serious displcasure. There are rea-
sons for this, however, which, while
they can not wholly excuse such mani
fest indifference, at least show why ii
exists, and prove that its existence is
not to be accepted as evidence of a
soiled public conscience. With some
there Is doubtless enough conscious
partnership In the wrong to silence open
condemnation OF 1t, but that this is moi
usually the case is Witnessed In the we'll
known disposition of sinners to cry out
against wrong~doers of their special
typo whenever public occasion is pre-
sented to do so. That the large class
in every community who abhor vice
and loathe social impurity, suffer it to
exist without public rebuke, Is partly
due to disinclina ton to give offense,
partly from wholesome dread of get
ting into trouble by intermeddling with
disagreeabie matters, and partly from
uncertainty as to methods that
would produce opposite results Any
single one of these reasons Is plausible,
while the com it often ex-
ists-of all of them is sufficient to
cause the prudent man to pass wrong
doing of the more subtle, but not the
less vicious, kind with his finger upon
his lips, seeing, yet not seeing it The
sensational newspaper of a city
furnishes with every issue numerous
illustrations of how much rough, I'M
kind criticism there is which hurts the
feelings and damages the reputation of
the Innocent without doing any good :;
how many wholesale denunciations are
hurled, without pausing to seek cause or
explanation of the alleged action; how
many cruel exaggerations are made in
recounting the shortcomings of those
who are, 1t may be, striving
against circumstances to hold up their
heads in the world. In view of all this
it is not strange that humane and SYM
pathetic people avoid altogether the
discussions that open wide the door of
uncharitable criticism and unkind re-
mark. On the other hand, however,
there is duty which each individual
owes to society in the matter of exert
ing an influence against evil-doing; and
this he can not ignore with .impunity
Every one, consciously or unconscious
ly, is, in a greater or less degree, red OIL
restrained by public opinion. AS ar
aggregate Of individual opinion this
force is constantly at work molding the
conduct of the community. All law. u
be effective, must follow this force. since
without its sanction no law Is fully exc
cuted. Besides, there is much in the
way of vice that no law can touch, bu
there is little that would hold up 1T
head under the ban of public opinion
honestly and frankly expressed. Thi
is not the field of the reformer
| Win MS aggressive IDEAS ana dis
tasteful officiousness; it is rattle
that of the quiet, self-respecting
| citizen who is possessed of thu
moral courage necessary to make hin
refuse to smile upon the social monste
/ whom his conscience condemns; to refus'
to grasp in friendship the hand of on,
| from whose practices of life all his bes
| instincts recoil; to welcome to his hom
one in whose integrity he has no conf
/ dence. The sentiment so fatal to goo-
| government and social welfare, whicl
seeks to avert the just penalty of erin
/ regardless of the danger to which sue
action exposes the community, is onl
an extension of Indifference TO wron
which is a menacing power everywhere
In this connection it is not too much t
say that if evil-doing were the matter G
intelligent concern that it ought to be
no mere pity for pain, or compassion TO
/ a criminal, would induce an interior
enee in the Just measures taken to SUP
press crime by visiting just penalt
upon wrong-doers under sentence fo
violation of Iaw.-Portland OregoniaI