Arizona republican., 1899-04-02
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THE FAULT FINDER

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 The Republican contained a story
 Saturday about General Woods ldig-
 nity and how ke sat down on an Nold
 acquaintance who tried to be too fa-
 miliaf. There are many people in this
 world whom the focl-killsr ought to
 take off because of their undue fdnili-
 arity. Some men seem to think it
 smart" to slap a man on the back and
 call him by his first naina or give him
 a good stiff blow over the lungs and
 yell "how are you old man?' A case
 of this kind occurred in Phoenix not
 long ago which nearly resulted in a
 tragedy. Seeing the victim on the
 streets for tic first time in weeks re-
 minded me of it. This man whom will designate as A. has ieen in Phoe-
 nix two seasons for his health. He was
 in one of the leading saloons several
 weeks ago when one of these fresh"
 men entered and walking up to "A
 gave him d heavy blow over the lungs
 almost knocking him down and l hallooiEg, By love, old man. how are 1 you?" He staggered back and after
 moment gasped, If I had a gun I'd
 kill you, you fool" Within another
 minute "A" was stricken with hemorrhage and for several days his life was despaired Of Probably some Of my frienGs may say he had no Dusl-
 ness to be in a saloon. Possibly, but
 that is not the point. The man who
 attempts undue familiarity with any
 one reeds to be summed as 2 pest1-
 fence. He is always 8 nuisance under
 the most favorable conditions.
 There is always something pathetic to me about the very poor and yet now
 I btrc nt the unwisa actions Of this class that almost destroys all my sympathy for them. In my early days I was taught not to despise the small things in life; to make tke best possible of all cOndi- tions and if I could not Go what 1 might like to do, do what l could get to do. In other words, to make the best Of lits's conditions as they pre- sented themselves. If many of the very poor would follow this teaching they would get along better My at- tention was called few days ago to a woman who was reported to be in need. 1t was said that any donations | would be appT eciated, and that | she would be glad of the opportunity | to work. I took occasion to make | some investigation and found that she | would work only whsa she got her |
 
 higher than the ruling price paid wo- men for day labor. Rather than worI; for the current wages this woman would live on tlia verge of starvation My sympathy was soon dissipated and l felt that if she wanted for food she deserved to want. It reminded me ot an experience of mine in an eastern city few years ago. My Iaundress, ! good, hardWorking German woman told ne her husband was out of en- oioymcnt ard begged me to help him get place. l found employment for lim at one of the large manufacturing plants few days later, being we'll ac- Iuainted with the superintendent The wages were one dollar d day, pretty good as business was at that time. But no sir, Henry could not work for | dollar day. He could not think Of TorkinG for less than dollar and a luarter, and he ought to have dollar nd a half Many people who are poor nd distressed deserve nothing better his may seem cruel statement, but is SC.
 This is not kick but suggestion. | here are in Phoenix more young men wing without legitimate means of [ upport than in any other town of it's ize have ever visited. Many of them ! Xist upon the shameful earnings of | hameless women. While this indus ry is not peculiar to Arizona and 'alifornia, it is carried on more eX- | in this territory than in any ; ther locality I have ever vitited. X [ lajority Of these disgraceful parasites | ave com. here from the coast A few | them were born here. There is an ther class of young men or rather boys U Tho are looking forward to an exist U nee of this sort. They are yet only H Ommon hoodlums awaiting apportuni
 eS Some of them have drifted into d hoeniX and some of them were native T Orn. The seriousness of the situation | as brought to me while listening to : ne trial the other day of a young man 1r theft. His testimony proved that e was hobo, that he was only wait lg fer something to do and that he ' as not particular about the job. Moth d lg could bs too easy or too disgrace Il. The trial showed, what was more that during his stay in 2 1wn he had formed the intimate ac- 4 uaintance of several boys, one of hom was little more than a child, and . lat all were travelling the downward / pad together. Is it not possible to D l0p this thing? Cannot every young N lan without visible means Of suppo-t t l. 2 compelled to leave town, or if he ? refers to stay hers, spend his time on U le chain gang. The police are al- . wed to exercise a great deal of dis ', 'etion in these matters. They need l' 1t apply the rule to men who are pro5- ? ply honest and unfortunate, but to Il loae who are known to be idle and ; sreputable. Thers need be 10 trouble IL
 DrjCPIlliO convictions and m pSFSh- shment of guilt beyond the perad- 'nture of doubt A police court Is n Jt a criminal court. It has not time E
 weigh evidence carefully or con - der technicalities. Police court mag trates as a general thing could not do
 is thing 10 a nicety if they had ever ,
 much time It is their business If ey err, to err on the side of severity, \ Id they seldom make mistakes IL is