Arizona republican., 1901-05-25
WAS IT PROFANITY?

Within the past week distinguished New York elergIymAasusnda a prominent Chicago school teacher have laid them- selves open to the accusation of having
 used profanity. Dr.. Rainsford. the New York divine, expressed his esti- mate of the allegation that the mio- sionaries were responsible for the Boxer outbreak in China, declared with em- phasis that it was damned rot" Miss Margaret Haley, the Chicago school teacher, who has been trying to make the corporations pay more taxes and endeavorlng to provide a pension oys- tenn for school teachers, alluded to an
 unsympathetic legislature as that damned legislature Both of these ex-
 ponents of the higher life" are being
 criticized for having set bad example
 by encouraging to the use of profanity
 among those within the sphere of in-
 fluence of theee leaders of educational
 and religious thought. There is oppor-
 tunity for a little argument before con-
 demning-or damning-Dr. Rainsford
 and Miss Maley for the use of profame
 language.
 Any dictionary will furnish authority
 for the statement that the past par
 ticiple to which objection has been made has a legitimate use. Legitimate ly. damned is synonymous with
 condemned" No one would condemn
 for profanity critic who alluded to a
 damned play" not at least without ul-
 te-lor evidence as to his intent The
 word in its legitimate sense has had
 pretty generous use throughout the lt- erature of the ages. In a more re- stricted and emphatic sense damned"
 means "condemned to hell" It io in this definition that by common consent the use of the word is looked upon as profane. And 1t may be admitted that the average citizen. hearing the word. at once jumps to the conclusion that it has been used in the profane sense. But as to Dr. Rainsford did he mean that the critics of the missionaries should be or had been condemned by popular opinion. or that they had been or should be consigned to eternal torment? As to Miss Haley, did she mean to send the legislature to the hot place. or did she mean to intimate that its actions had met with popular coademnation?'
 From the standpoint of the defense Dr. Raineford haa the weaker case. He used the word which is under suspicion in connection with another word which is condemned by polite society as out and out slang. Damned rot" sounds more like an offetfseo d gafrist' deHcate tympanums than damned legislature" though if the doctor can convince us that 1t was only damned rot" he meant he may escape convic- tion of having used profanity Per haps those who have had intimate re- lations with legislatures will insist that damned legislature" necessarily would have reference to the climate in which itr members would be compelled to spend their future existences But the vast majority of persons have not had intimate experience with legislatures. hence it is not an unfair assumption that the explanation that Miss Haley meant condemned legislature" would probably receive general acceptance as plausible.
 But the effort to ascertain what Dr. Rninsford and Miss Haley actually in- tended is rather hopeless without some testimony from the principals or more complete information from the report CTS who heard the expressions. A little evidence ap to the accents used. the ex- pression of countenance, the position of the fist and the speed of articulation might throw valuable light on the sub ject In the absence of these aids to the investigation a conclusion can be reached only hypothetically.
 But suppose the New York divine and the Chicago school teacher did mean "condemned' when they used the more expressive and comprehensive term Did they do wrong in not tabooing a word which is legitimate enough tech nically, but which has degenerated in the common understanding into "cuss word?" Or were they only standing on their rights in using a good old Eng llsh word in A way justified by long string of authorities. and would not their critics be in the wrong in pre- suming to put the lower meaning into a word spoken from such high places? Sioux City Journal.