The Stark County Democrat. [volume] (Canton, Ohio) 1833-1912, 1893-05-25


decent men or women. This oo6s 10
published in the city Of Chicago, so the
newsboy informed me, and is sold upon
thousands OF trains. II bears the imprint
of no publisher and is sold, as the boy
said, from 7j cents to $2 apiece. This
same youngster also asked me if / would
like some very rich pictures-photo-
graphs of girls. / told him l would like
to see them. lie said that he had sold
out all his samples that day, but that
when got back to Cleveland he would
bring me around the sample album from
which / could make orders, and he did
Second-We see the development Of
this curse in the obscene pictures which
grow in number and in villainy appar-
emily each day. Tradition tells us of an
artist who painted lewd picture and
after death was held prisoner in pur-
gatory so long as the picture lived on the
earth, and his soul was never released
until by the intercession of some saint
the picture was destroyed. II some soul
answers in the underworld for every
lascivious picture now in circulation, the
chambers Of hell must surely be crowd
ed by this time.
We have class of weekly newspa-
pers which have been flooding our ma
ton with filth now for nearly gener-
alton. Instead Of growing fewer they
grow in number from day to day. The
Police Gazette and The Police News now
have their scores Of rivals. There is
scarcely q day that passes DER our head
that set Of dirty scoundrels do not
originate new scheme for flooding the
world with this illustrated filth. At
least a half dozen Of these villainous pub
locations have originated in New York
within the past year and have met,
some Of them, with remarkable sales.
A paper called Music and Drama is now
being issued in New York which is dirtier
| to the square inch that even The Police
| Gazette has dared to be sinceits publica-
ton. Another villainous sheet called
( Broadway likewise touches lower
| depths than The Police News. So we
might name scores Of other papcys that
seek to live as the distributors Of q th.
WORSE THAN soDoM AND GoMoRIA VI.
The amount Of obscene matteuf ircu.
lated today in pictures is somethl rg in.
calculable to those who have not pves.
tigated it. The picture has CONF 30 be
part Of literature as much as tts) let.
ters itself, Our daily newspapers are
now all Illustrated. Our weekly ltsws.
| papers are lsing illustrations. ThD COW.
er Of pict ire to bless or to cugo is as
the power Cf the living, vital persol ,Rlity
| itself. We look at the frescoes of buried
Pompeii with disgust and horror and
strive in OUT imagination to picture the
depth of their degradation. We look
with amaZe1Nent upon the scenes at Cor.
inth in which the worship of Aphrodite
was conducted. But Corinth in her deg
radiation and Pompeii in her vulgarity
of art, if they should rise from the
dead, would certainly find new lessons
in their art from their modern ancestors
The vendors of obscene matter in oul
cities have gone to lower depths than the
ancient debauchee Of these old worlt
centers. And not only so, but men who
pretend to responsibility in the bushes!
world use these means of public de
bauchery TO advertise their wares. Every
saloon is filled with lascivious pictures
Every cigar store is full of the mos
vicious prints. Every whisky and beel
manufactory uses the vilest possible pic
lures which they think will pass thu
notice Of the police and tie district at
torney for the purpose Of attracting tho
crowd Of boys that passes the open show
window.
When returned to Cleveland on tht
day referred to after the conversation
with the newsboy on the train, h,
brought to my hotel his sample album
Of pictures. If man had told me ther,
were persons in America mean enough
to take such pictures, devil enough 4
sell them as business would utteci,
have refused to credit the statement 70
a moment. This album represented
stock of negatives representing hun
dreds Of subjects both Of men and WON
en- in every conceivable condition anC
position. Their bestiality is something
indescribable, is something inconceivabl
to those Who have not seen them.
simply passes the power of the average
human mind to believe such things to b
possible till after they have been seen.
These pictures not only are made t,
represent every possible sin of lust ant
lustful passion, but every unnamable sil
and debauchery of the human body
Not only those for which Sodom anC
Gomorrah were destroyed, but acts O
degradation at which Sodom and Go
morrah would stand aghast if they coul(
rise from the dead and see them today
These pictures are issued by the hun
dreds and the thousands in almost every
great city-and by great city mean {
city of 100000 inhabitants-in America
The photographer who took them from
life, who prints and sells them, is doinl
business on one of the principal streets
today In Cleveland, and the newsboyl
running out from Cleveland have acteo
and are acting, unless arrested, as his
personal agents. This is but sample
Of what is carried on on a larger scale
from Chicago as a center, and from al
our great cities, with more or less So
erecY. but with large success.
| Third-We note the fact in the grow,
ing power and influence of the criminal
daily newspaper. This successful sheet
which is practically report of daily
crime, is the mother of the whole brood
Of modern vicious letters. The editor OF
the modern newspaper is the one man
who in our daily life sweeps its whole
gamut. He alone is in position to speak
with authority and with freedom. Car
lyle declares: "The true Church of Eng
land az this moment lies in the editors of
it's newspapers. These preach to the