The Corvallis gazette. [volume] (Corvallis, Or.) 1862-1899, 1895-05-02
MORALITY IN CORVALLIS.

Much is being said nowadays con-
cerning the general III orality OF our citi-
zens The mayor, i'll his message, dealt
directly with this subject, and he declares
that Corvallis, morally, is in rather bad
condition. One citizen whose comnu-
nication appears elsewhere, thinks the
mayor has been making mountains out
of mole hills, and that Corvallis has only
her natural share of evil society.
II is probably true that our people are
no more evil-ninded nor vil-act1ng than
those of other communities, The people
who really belong to Corvallis are gener-
ally law-abiding and as pure, morally, as
the average citizen of other towns. The
great fault seems to lie i'll the general
friendliness shown by the city officers
towards the loose element of society, the
=shiftless vagabonds who have no abiding,
who live by what they call their wits,
and who are a tax on and disgrace to
any city. Corvallis has been and is filled
with variety of tin-horn gamblers, plnps
and fiends of various descriptions, who
are not allowed to remain i'll any other
town in the valley. They do not work,
vet they manage to live fairly well, get
ting their sustenaace from the communi-
ty through some mysterious form of indi-
rect taxation 1t is this class who do not
belong to Corvallis, and who should not
be allowed in Corvallis, that lowers our
moral tone aud subjects us to the crltl-
cisms that have been heaped upon us OF
late
The GAZETTE has frequently called the
attention of the city officials to the neces-
sity of ridding Corvallis of this element.
1t seems that the council has been greatly
to blame for allowing this state of affairs
to continue. 1t is responsible for the ac-
tions of the police judge and chief OF
police, and more or less directs their Off
cial actions Officer McLagan has made
several attempts towards rldding the city
of these undesirable fellows, but his
efforts were so frowned upon by those IN
authority that they availed nothing. His
last effort was in the arrest of young Sid
Moore for vagrancy, but the case failed
to come to head. Police Judge Porter
dismissed the case before any testimony
was offered ON either side, and Moore
still graces the streets of Corvallis. He
is of age and will help to elect officers oi
the city at the coming election. There
is quite a number of his ilk and they
will all vote solidly. 1t behooves the
reputable citizens to act unitedly and
intellegently or else there is danger that
the buns and the vags will control the
election.
The men of Corvallis are greatly tc
blame that these 1eecl1es find Corvallis {
profitable field for their operations. They
act as the producers, the suckers. fol
the tin-horns. Many citizens of gooo
standing, socially and in business, con
tribute to the support of these parasites
by indulging in little gambling as {
relaxation from the worries and cares OF
the day, or 'just to spend all hour o
two" These citizens do no pretend tt
be gamblers They would feel highl,
indignant were the term applied to them
They probably do not gamble for thu
sake of the profits, and certainly the,
receive none Nevertheless, they ar
gambling. Their influence on younge
men and boys is far worse than that
the professional gamblers. They do no
mean to be lawbreakers, yet they violat
the law. They despise the class tha
they associate with i'll gaming, yet the.
support the members of that class. The.
merit censure and disapprobation
Whenever these citizens or amateu
gamblers cease to gamble, the profes
sional gambler will find his occupation
gone, and herein is room for moral sua
sion
This is spring time. 1t is time for tn
city to do its house cleaning. Let tn
citizens get together, renovate the cit
household, get rid of the bugs and ver
min, wash the stains from the city
reputation and let us remember, first an
foremost, wise old Franklin's motto, g
new broom sweeps clean"