New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1897-01-03
SOCIAL REFORM NEEDED.

1t would be hasy Judgment to say that a re-
cent occurrence in fashionable restaurant in
this town which has been largely and unneces-
sarly exploited by that portion of the press
which makes speciality of salacious sensa-
tons. and which has given rise to police in
vestigation that threatens further disclosures
Of "racv" nature. furnishes proof Of general
social decentralization. But that il indicates So
cial tendencies Of a most demorazing and de-
grading character is not to he denied 1t raises
the question in the minds of thoughtful men and
women and especially of fathers and mothers.
whether or not in the social life of this great
city there is something so radically unwholesome
and bad as to cndanger not only the manners
and morals of the young men and women OK
posed to its influence. but the very permanence
of society and stability of the State. For one
thing at least. is certain: that the framework OF
a society whose recreations are impure and gross.
and which finds its pleasures in sensual exhibit
tons either insdously suggestive or wickedly
want0n and BADLY bad. cannot long endure.
While it does endure it saturates all the strata
and all conditions Of civic life with impurty
and vileness rottng out the very foundations
of public virtue upon which depend the well
fare of the people and the permanence Of the
State
1t is a good sign that the disclosures which
have been made. and have been utilized for
profit by newspapers which deal in pruriency
by wholesale and retail. have actually shocked
the community Shocked not merely It's re-
ligons sense or its mora, sense, but its sense OF
dpcency-that common sense which surveys all
transactions. whether social. political or COM
mercal from the coldly intellectual and philo-
sophie point of view of their effect upon ma
tcrial interests. From that point Of view it is
easily discerned that neither public nor private
credit can long survive. nor business prosper,
nor enterprise succeed in community whose
higher social classes have in their love of luxury
and habits of idlennss lost all selfrespect and
sense of shame. The occurrence referred to was
not a sudden outcroppng of vicious tastes or an
abrupt eruption Of youthful folly. 1t was the
logical development Of a tendency which has
been manifesting itself in myriad forms for
long period in what Is called. or calls Itself, our
best society Depraved tastes have been fed fat
with social scandals and rank gossip. with the
veness Of nsinuatiOn and the malice of innu
endo with the tittle-tatte Of the idle and the
coarse Jest of the literary buffoon. all spread
in unctuous display upon the pages OF the cheap
and nasty press Contrbutory to this volume
of unwholesoma emanations have been the
dwellings Of the drama. the veness OF the
vaudeville and the pernicious activities of tn"
press agent
And has socety-so called-nO business with
this state Of things? No duty to perform? No
mission to accomplish to relieve it from the stain
of completely with the forces of corruption and
Generalization? Can 1t do nothing but drop
down with the tide? Is there not enough Of in
tellectua force in it. to say nothing Of the stam-
ina of moral purpose and the uplifting influence
Of proper self-respect. to do something TO check
the downward tendency Of the time and assert
the rule OF common morality, common decency
and common sense? Certainly there ~. But
who shall move in it? Who take the first step
toward arresting the manifest tendency. purify
ing the public taste and elevatng the standard
OF common morals? Social influences can do
what is Impossible for any other agency, even
! legislation TO accomplish. Who are the society
! leaders TO undertake it and find in it the reward
Of publ, approval. with the satisfaction of the
| highest social duty done?