The Yellowstone journal. [volume] (Miles City, Mont.) 1893-1901, 1894-01-10
SOCIAL CONDITIONS.


To one who has lived to a middle age
in any of the growing cities Of thus coun-
try, the throes Of moral publication that
this community has recently gone
through. is not a new sensation. nor l.
the position of Judge Milburn a novel
one. or the acts of the grand jury. liz any
respect, unprecedented. While the
moral plaques that have been attacked
in these proceedings are common TO the
whole Morid. il is no doubt true, that in
the new and inchoate settlement of the
new world, they take on. either through
public indifference or tacit consent. a
wider freedom than would be allowed
them in the well adjusted communities.
and whenever vice assumes unsavory at
titudes. or virtue becomes unusually
outraged. the law is invoked. and vice is
humbled-for the time being. Fol- the
temporary good these proceedings may
have, they are 20 be commended by all
good citizens, but 10 man or woman,
however mucl a puritan and a zealot he
or she may Re. car honestly look for
more thar te lporary success in these en-
gagehents; Or il would be a community
and a locality favored beyond any that
the world history records. that could
wholly an permanently eradicate vice
in every form. Such an existence is
hopefully and prayerfully looked forward
to by the faithful. and the worst of us
believe,that it may be true. but we never
expect to see it upon earth. 1t must be
plain. therefore, that these periodical
raids are productive not of extermina-
ton but suppression, though there may
be those engaged in the crusade who be
iieve that they IA accomplish what the
world has labored 1t for countless ages
and failed. In most endeavors in life
this would be called sublime egotism.
but in this particular direction it is zeal
born of a of conception of
the rights of humanity. All men can
not be alike; nor do all women enjoy IN
their years of peril the loving care that
guides them to true and virtuous
~womanhood. That these things are so
none will dispute. though whether so
through design or accident. is a question
not essential to the present considera,
ton of the subject. The rights of hu-
manity hat are here limited at. are diff
cult of e%lucidation. but that they exist.
no one can deny. The laws of God and
man alike condemn the practices of the
scarlet woman. but the Great Master at
least put her on a level with humanity
when He defined the moral conditions
that must be possessed by those who
wish to stone her: and the world is no
less sinful now than then. And so it is
that this paper. in being called upon TO
publicly discuss these questions that are
sd v~ariously understood. feels impeIled
to question the right Of any man or set
Of men to say. BE thou like me-" As to
the particular cases that have been con-
sidered by the recent grand jury. this
paper does not care TO enter into a dis
except to 20 On record as be-
as Judge Milburn expressed
himself in passing judgment in one case,
that there are grades of crime as well as
Of godliness. and under the influence Of
this belief, feeling that the work Of the
grand jury was too comprehensive. and
yet not comprehensive enough. In other
words. hat it included those that it
could safely have left out. and missed
of those who it was most desirable
to reach and punish. We do not charge
that this omission was Intentional, and
it may be that the somewhat severe pen
atty exacted in the cases already adiudi-
may have a wholesome effect upon
those who fell not under the wheels Of
judgment car. 1t is much to be re-
that n Of the most ineradica-
BILE results Of the sitting Of this grand
Jury is the feeling that it was organized
especially to convict, so far as a grand
jury can convict; in other words, that
p personnel was such that it could have
u sympathy whatever with those whose
daily life, the judges charge led it to in
1estigate. Here lies the most lamenta-
b1e feature of the whole transaction, for
{ ID in the long run a matter Of small
consequence whether the keeper Of a
house Of prostitution is fined e1OO, more
= less, or whether the keeper Of q gam
Iag house is compelled by law to pay the
pseiodical stipend that the law e~xscts.
Ehese people were in the business with
} full knowledge that these fines, pay
nents or penalties could be lawfully ex-
lcted from them. and there lie no room