Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1902-09-24

of modern society and the progress OF
desecration which society has given the
idea Of the new woman. 1t Is doubt
full term at best. If we would keep
our women pure we must keep them ig-
norant, if not Of evil, at least Of dirt.
but what shall be done, what can be
done, with those women who insist up
on knowing all that the men know, and
by a certain unreasonable claim of
equality. who propose to keep up with
the masculine procession. share and
share alike? There is not conscien-
tious man, nor a thoughtful woman In
the society Of any Of our great centres
Of population who does not mark with
serious apprehension the lowering ten
denotes of the time; the multiplication
of frivilous marriages. the desecration
of the marriage tie, the increasing
number Of scandalous divorces, directly
traceable to the spirit Of lawlessness
in excessive wealth and the bad exam
pie of the Infamous, but prosperous
rich. Yet, If we read our critics Alright,
we must not speak Of these things ex-
cent in decorous, half excusing whis-
pers. We must not call spade spade.
If we do, we at once become 'indis-
Greet" and sensational" getting our
information at second hand" or else
the subject of some "pique" or re
sentiment" or. at the very least ignor-
ant and INBRED"
Licentiousness, like revolution, never
goes backward. The assumption of to-
day becomes the claim Of tomorrow. In
a land where there are no patents of
nobility, and where in some sort money
must set the standards, the rich them
selves, before all others. should look to
it that their colleagues in good fortune
do not disgrace the order-shall we say
of the Golden Fleece?-by their disre-
gard of common rights and their in
difference to public opinion.
If such offences as we have set forth
are endured and condoned, how long
before that which embraces but a set
becomes the distinguishing mark of a
section? If the press is so easily Sc
duced, or misled, what must 1t become
when it Is bought outright? Look at
the lobby at Washington! Does 1t not
exist? Yet are there those who will
swear that it is only a figment Of par
tisan malignity. 1t already costs mil
lion of dollars to set a presidential can
didate in the field; already hundred
thousand dollars to sustain contests for
seat in the senate of the united
States-how long shall it be-the press
already defending the Four Hundred
before our public men shall become but
a race of Medician princes, without the
learning of the arts of Florence, and
the chair itself a simple commodity to
be knocked down to the highest bid
der?
The writer Of these lines has always
stood for the decent, the stable, and
the orderly in government and private
life. He has grown gray fighting to
defend the affairs of public credit and
private honor. He would no more cast
a stone in the stagnant pool of cor
rupt social fabric just to see the scum
rise to the surface than he would do
any other perilous and unclean thing.
He was drawn into this present conten-
ton not of his own choice. Yet If he
had to make his case before his Maker.
he would humbly represent that the
time has come when some voice loud
enough to be heard should be raised
against an increasing evil, having Its
center, called by a most equivocal
courtesy the -Four Hundred, and hope
to be forgiven in the event that his
voice provoked a single echo in re-
sponse.