Wheeling Sunday register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1882-1934, 1893-11-05

gandists IS merely a repetition OF what
an fathers aud mothers ought 10 know,
although many OF them act as II they
did not. have had occasion to act In
a case which is typical Of the interest
every parent has IN the suppression OF
vice. One morning, having boarded a
summit train, l observed several young
lads standing on the platform or one OF
the cars. A boy in the group handed
10 another something be had been read
ing-somsthing which il required no
very experienced eye TO see was not at
to be read.
"Now look at that" said number two
TO number one, fishing another puollca-
ton from his pocket and handing it to
his companion.
I asked to see the occasion Of this
bvDlay and was shown, as l anticipated,
q most pernicious aud filthy specimen
OF English composition in the shape OF
a printed poem. Other varieties OF tho
same evil type were handed me by the
rest OF the boys. One OF these youths
was a student IN a New York lawyers
Office, two others went TO school IN
Newark. I made It my business to
visit that school and have a private
talk with every boy there, w%hereupoR
discovered that ell OF them without
exception had been reading this per
niciOus matter. 1 further sscertained
girls in that same institution,
whose ages ranged from sixteen
20 nineteen years, were the
pOssessors Of more Of the stuff, two, in
deed, having made copies Of il and dis
tributed the same among their compan-
ions. These copies haj been made IN
the ~schoolroom during school hours!
In tracing up this matter it trans
pired that a young fellow OF nineteen
had been supplying the school children
with these polluting wares, and from
him 10 was learned that a girl living In
an elegant house had for some time oeen
/ acting as chief distributor. She in turn
had got the things from a young fellow
employed by a manufacturing concern.
il required one days active work In
Newark TO get to the source OF this
stream OF evil. The incident Is typical
OF TOO many cases. 10 the majority OF
such incidents parents seem entirely
obIiyious OF the dangers TO which their
offspring are exposed, and any WORK
done for the suppression OF vice might
as we'll be accomplished in African
wilds for all interest they manifest
Fortunately all fathers and mothers
are not SO neglectful.
Nor is the evil confined TO one locali-
ty. In New York city young men IN
booksellers shops have facilities for
p~ropagating the germs of evil, and in
an appalling number of cases have taken
advantage Of the fact. Reproductions
Of ancient nastineSs have proved highly
dangerous in this way. What magic
property there Is in age that renders
an article wicked centuries ago virtu-
o AS. though classic, in this nineteenth
. century is not easily asCertainabIe to
an ordinary mind. So far as l a dis
cover, the argument is that genius can
render even sin desirable. 1t is a curl
Gus commentary upon this theory that
the yirtuous literature which has des-
cended 70 us through the centuries Is
not nearly so much in demand as the
other variety.
Questionable advertisements are by
no means the least OF the demOralizing
influences which suppressOrs OF vice
have TO contend with. The labor en-
tailed in ferreting out the gentry whose
revenue is derived therefrom is always
great. Chicago and the west seem
the places wherein this noxious
poison thriVes. An industry in degrad-
ing publications recently took root
there which for a time threatened our
people with g1 ~inundation of immoral
ity more fearful than the black pest
itself. With reference to such books l
have already had occasion to sag pub
licly that each edition of a questionable
book stands by itself. Because II edl-
ton may be in violation Of law there is
no reason for %supposing that any other
edition is OF like character. In other
words we cannot assume any such con-
dition to exist in the enforcement OF the
law. This requires that each edition
must be examined, briefed, marked,
and II Objectionable prepared for trial.
This involves an amount OF offensive
work that DO money consideration can
compensate for.
The campaign against immoral lit
e-ature has been and is holly wag ed.