St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1892-12-04
A MODERN BANDIT.

When some future SUETONIUS comes
to write the history of famous criminals
of the nineteenth century, ne will call
JAY GOULD bandit chief.
The essential characteristics of human
nature have been the same ever since
civilization has existed. if not from be-
fore that time. There is class of phil
osophers who ignorantly argue that
Christ was the author of the current
moral code. But of course this is en-
tirely untrue. The laws of right and
wrong were recognized, even by pagan
races, centuries in advance of His birth;
| and all that He claimed for His teach
] ing was that it afforded new incentive
to holy living.
The vices of today, also, are as old as
the world; and modern society, which
| has invented so many things contribut-
ing to physical comfort and conven-
fence, has not developed single orig
inal crime. Some vices have persisted
through the flight of years in the iden-
| teal form in which we find them in the
shadow land of the earliest traditions.
Others have altered their garb to meet
order. The growth of commerce has
impaired to the sin of stealing, for ex-
ample, shapes which it could not have
had when trust relations were un-
known. But the embeZzling bank cash
Ter of whose exploits we read in this
mornings paper is only the successor
of different style of thief; and, had he
lived in an earlier age, he would have
preyed on his fellows in the same way
as did his prototypes of that generate on.
The millionaires of the nineteenth
century are the modern successors of
the great military captains who ruled
the world in the days which are gone
In ancient and medieval times the most
prominent figures on the stage of his
tory were men who displayed their
genius in the organizing and marshal
ing of armies. Their ability in this
direction put them at the head of affairs
and won for them the mastery which in
some cases lasted only during their own
lifetime, but in other cases made the m
the founders of dynasties and secured
their children's children the scepter OF
nations. In these days, the opportuni-
ties and the incent ives to activity on
the field of battle are limited. The
industrial structure of contemporary
society invites effort along a different
line. Wealth is now the basis of power.
The contemporary potentate or despot
in each community is its rich man, and,
instead of going outlike CESAR, or even
like NAPOLEON. to conquer an empire,
the highest intellee tual vigor concen-
trates itself on the accumulation of
fortunes.
Deeds of violence and rapine have
always been counted wrong unless they
were committed in war upon ones enc
mics. The Roman moraliStS had no
condemnation to pass on the destroyers
of Carthage, and the Gauls were con-
sidered only the natural prey of the
general to whom their pillaging was as
signed. Priests and teachers prayed
for the success of the French legions as
they swept over the fair fields of Eu- |
rope, destroying as they went; and !
murder and robbery carried on in big |
way were sanctified under the name of |
patriotism. The human mind is capa- |
BILE of logical reasoning only up to |
certain point. 1t can apply its accepted |
moral code to small and prosaic deal |
ings. But the glitter, the grandeur.
and the magnitude of feats of arms ex-
cite 50 many conflicting and distracting
emotions that 1t cannot measure them
by the same standard. The man who !