Fort Worth daily gazette. (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1882-1891, 1890-11-03


forth more discussion than that termed the
hsocal evil Wise statesmen, pious
men, and genuine lovers of their kin
have wresilsd with this problem aud
have been unable to reach satisfactory
solution. IT it Is possible to exterminate
II, or if it must be recognized as insep-
arabic from mans fallen condition and
! therefore regulated, are the questions
that have confronted reformerS. All
experimentation has resulted in this
/ The evil goes on; neither legis alton nor
seutimentalism has grappled it success
fully. Il is rooted TOO deep in the car
nal heart for surface treatment.
France regulates by law, admits the
! presence, but guards, as far as law can
! do, the health and morals of her citizens
Many cities abroad aud in this country
have tried to extrpate 1t from their lin
lis and are at last compelled 10 admit u
want of success that Is disheartening.
There are laws which govern alike the
moral and physical world, and one of
these is the law OF contagion. Label a
! disease contagious. ani there Is no
amount of sentImentality that could pre-
/ vent q quarantining of all affected.
/ There is place reserved for the victims
and mark put upon their hnbitations.
To vice the same law of isolation applies;
. it is uore insidious than disease, fatal
because by continual presrncs and un-
/ barred intrusion it finally secures to itself
{ a welcome
| There seems TO be hint that might
here be profitable in the marking of
Cain and the srcluding of the leper, and
those who hold to the view that it IS bet
ter for the morals of community thut
this evil be held in bounds and that only
within certain limits in the town the ne
farious work be allowed TO go on, ought
not to be condemned unheard. If the
presence of this social evil is al
United. then II the unholy calling is con-
fined to some territory apart from bust
| ness haunts and from decent homes, no
! one will deny that temptation is by tins
much removed. While IL may be
proof of strength to triumph over temp
tation there is authority of Holy Writ for
saying 1t Is wiser to flee from il, or,
what amounts TO the same thing, keep
out OF its reach.
There are those in this city whose sim
cer.ty cannot be questioned. good people
who would wage war of determination
by driving the inmates of the palaces of
sin from quarter that Is properly desig-
uuted. These are uumindful that such
an expulsion may result disastrOusly TO
decent ueiE hborhoods. THE GAZETTE
that which Is morally wrong, but claims
that honest men differ as 10 the methods
most efficacious in prevention.
Reformation to be radical must como
from within, and race regeneration m ust
begin with the individual. Society
rat her than law IN the case under con-
sideratinn regulates. The brand is on
the scarlet woman; she Is known wher-
ever she goes, aud comparatively rare Is
it that she can find an entrance into So
ciety. Women are charged with being
hari on the Magdaliue, aud that even
when she reforms she is not restored to
position; but if her SIN has found her out
she must carry the mark and nll en-
tails to the grave. Whether omen
ought to be more lenient, admits of ar
gumput, but no one will deny but that
the "great gulf txed'' has saved many
a soul from stain. We're the same rule
applied 10 sinners AMONG men, might II
II the doors of homes were sternly closed
against men leading immoral lives, if
mothers, wives, sisters anu daughters
were shielded from The baleful Influences
of evil com munication then there would
he less need for laws to regulate, or OF
efforts to eradicate. Social ostracism g
a punishment few men court, ana here
is where good men and women can work
effectively. If the heads of families will
riedly refuse to allow bueiness consid-
atoms or any form OF self aggrundize-
ment TO enter into the question of fitness
for social intercourse, and will vigilantly
guard their homes and the female meu-
beers of their families against the
concentrating presence of roues
and will themselves set the mark of Cain
on men 8 foreheads there will follow a
reformation that will be radical. Is this
chimerical?
II boys are taught not so much by pre-
cept as example to shun as they would u |
viper's den all places where evil turks,
and that manlinrss and vice are not !
bound together, then there would be a !
dawning OF better things. Is this i'm !
possible? II il be gran ted that reforma-
ton by these means is the dream of a
visionary, then there seems to be but one |
thing to do, and that is to deal with the !
hideous thing as did the Hebrews with /
leprosy. Let the doors OF evil dwell |
apart that the contamination may not |