Barton County democrat. [volume] (Great Bend, Kan.) 1885-1915, 1892-03-10
WOMAN VS.. WOMAN.

|
WOMAN VS.. WOMAN.
| Last year Thomas II. Jones, a popu-
lar young citizen of Lawrence, was sent
to the penitentiary under the ''age of
consent" act. A few days ago he was
pardoned out, mainly through the in
strumentality of the W. G. T. U.
Woman's greatest enemy is woman
Specific information relative to the
above case is not at hand, neither is it
necessary in order that an intelligent
opinion may be formed. Suffice it that
the victim of jones' insensate lust is a
young girl. yet in her teens, such an
one as our state has deemed it to the
best interest of society to have the
strong arm of the law thrown about as
a protection against the lasciviOus de-
signs of rakes of the Jones stripe. The
design of the law is to promote and pre-
serve the purity of womanhOod; yet the
maudlin sentimentality of the members
of an alleged christian society has con.
spired to render the law Ineffective and
| have succeeded, in at least one case.
AS fitting finale, and that the jewel of
consistency may be theirs, they must
each admit the moral leper to their
homes; and, if they are mothers, they
must subject their daughters, who are
presumably spotless as yet, to the con-
taminating influence of the polluted
scOundrel.
These pious women are shocked Pc
yond expression at the heinous crimi-
Dality of the rum fiend who is persuaded
into taking the chances of letting some
thirsty individual have bit of wine for
the ''stomache's sake; Notwithstanding
that the victim (?) of the rum sellers
base conduct (as is usually the case) is
a man of mature years, intellectually
and physically strong and competent to
judge for himself whether he should or
should assuming an individual respon-
sibility as toi the consequences. That
man too has probably hunted the town
over, has mayhap perjured himself
at the druggists, has disgraced and
stulti6ed himself at the jointist's; has
voluntarily subjected himself to these
degrading influences, yet according to
these good women the vender is guilty
of placing temptation in the way of
this strong man. The law has been
violated and all the moral influence of
community is brought to bear against
1.-THE destroyer of the home and 6reside'
and the inevitable conviction is had;the
maximum penalty of the law is assessed
and loud hosannas are heard as the
transgressor is hustled off to dungeon.
A cotemporaneous transgressor of
the law appears upon the scene. The
enormity of his crime as compared to
the other is as the mountain to the
molehill. He is worse than a murderer;
he has not only destroyed a ''home'' on
earth but for one soul at least, accord
ing to the belief OF these christian wo
men, he has destroyed the heavenly
home" of one of their own sex-and
the soul of a young girl has been con-
signed to perditiOn through his base
| instrumentality. Another trial is had;
a jury of men adjudge bin. guilty under
the ''age of CONSENT act. Do these
christian women send up another ho-
sanna? Do they herald the news to the
world that the law has been invoked
and the inhuman wretch who has
robbed young girl of that which is
dearer to her than life itself will receive
punishment as nearly commensurate
with the crime as human laws can ad-
just such things? No. But they i'm
mediately start petition for signatures
asking the governor to pardon the con-
vict. They ask the mothers of young
girls to sign it, and at least enough of
them do so to WELD the requisite influ-
ence and the pardon is granted. Pre-
sumably the unpunished criminal is
admitted to their several homes, but
what of his victim? She is ostracised
by society; is Stunned on the street;
is spurned by these I-am-holier-than-
thou" persons of her own sex, until she
is driven to the lowest depths of degre-
dation. These women have announced
to the world by their action that the
estimate they place upon such an act,
is, in effect, that the young man who
violates the chastity of young girl
was ''just sowing his wild oats, dear
boy" but the confiding victim of his
brutal lust has committed the unpar-
donable sin.-sNewton Journal.
KANSAS is the only state that has
three Keeley Institutes. But then
Kansas is a prohibition state.-Law-