The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1890-10-09

Whether from having adopted the habit
OF wearing green goggles, or from the eff
fects of gastric troubles. or from whatever
cause, ex-Prssident Hayes II rapidly laps
ing into . condition Of confirmed pessi-
mism. At Ill public questions, and espe-
cially In respect TO his party's relations 70
those questions, he seems predetermined
to gaze Through glass darby" Such, it
will be remembered, Was the view he ex-
pressed ct the Mohonk conference in re-
gard to the trace problem at the South
and the practicability Of legislation to pro-
tect the blacks in their political rights. and
of their capacity for self-government
More recently, the day after the tariff
blu received the Presidents signature. the
ex-President. before il was possible that
he could have become informed Of the
nice adjustments Of that measure, or Of its
probable bearings and operation, made
haste TO pass scathing adverse criticism
upon II. and to predict dire disaster to the
country and to the Republican party be-
cause Of its passage. And still later, being
called upon TO open the National Prison
Congress, he felt constrained to paint in
son,per coiors the social and commercial
spirit OF the times.
THE crimes Of today" said Mr.. Hayes.
'are due to the business and social spirit
of the times; the crimes Of capital; Of
sudden wealth; OF those avaricious for
money; not always for the money, but for
the power that money gives; the power of
money gained rapidly, but not always by
the purest means" This is gloomy pic
ture. It is . harsh indictment of con-
temporary society. II unjustly and with
ont the slightest foundation Of fact implies
that 1t the present time and in this coun-
try crime is frightfully on the increase and
thst society u degensrating.
II may be admitted that in many cases
the love Of money and the struggle for
wealth impel to crime, but that Is trite
fact which has been repeated in all stages
Of the historic period. and statistics will
not sustain the chsrss that it Is growing
evil, or that It is at all peculiar to this
country or era And while it may be ad-
mitted, ana proudly admitted, that in this
country at the present time the accumula-
ton Of wealth is more rapid and general
than in other times and countries - rule,
statistics viii not sustain the ex.President's
intimstion that its acquisition here and
now is more commonly by impure means
than elsewhere and u other periods.
Neither now nor ct any period since
Adams time have all men been upright
and honest There Is and always has been
avarics in the world. But society in this
country and in many others il more cir
cumspect in department and main
tains higher standard Of NOR
ais than at any former time.
Statistics abundantiy prove that business
is conducted on purer and stricter prin-
ciples than formerly, and the present can
safely challenge comparison with former
times as to the proportion of dishonest
failures. And certainly there has been no
period Of this country's history in which
public spirit and generous benefactions
were 20 common as at present
To say that crime is by far too common
in this country Is but to repeat the verdict
OF all times and all countries. But to an
than formerly among the upper
business and social classes. An
overwhelming preponderance of GRIM
inals are distinctly not in the
sordid sense money-loving nor at all wealth
accommodating. They care for money only
as present means of gratifying appetite
and dissipated habits. The crimes COM
mitted by these are as million to one
compared with crimes committed by the
money-loving and wealth-acquiring classes,
or by people of good social standing.
These being the facts. and they are well
sustained by statistics and are undeniable.
it is clear that the ex-President's morbid
presentment Is gross libel on the business
and social conditions of this time and
country. He should not be the man to ut
ter that libel.