Wausau pilot. [volume] (Wausau, Wis.) 1896-1940, 1903-08-18
CMaaasa1a Elliot.
TUESDAY, AUGUST 10, 1908.
ublished weekly andsentered atthe Post OfhC
at Wausau as second class matter.
A Bad Harvest.

The Milwaukee Sentinel, referring to
a recent piece of savagery, -the whip
ping of woman prisoner by Georgia
TAILOR, says: while unique in its de-
tails il is not worse than other shock
ing scandals that have been'eXposed in
various parts of the country. The pity
of it is that, after the furry of indigna-
ton has lasted nine days or less, the
American people dismiss each case
without further thought"
This apparent callousness of the r ABB
lie mind to wrong doing and cruelty
has occasionally been referred to and
commented on BIZ the PILOT Its por-
tent is surely bad But it does not SO
much suggest complete loss of public
conscience as it might seem to. 1t
rather suggests carnival of crime and
lawlessness throughout the country
and in which every class, high and low,
rich and poor, has its full share. Hence
it comes that before the American peo-
pie has had an. opportunity to think
mine days or less' upon one "shock-
ing scandal" the daily press announces
another equally as bad in some other
place.
We are doing something, however,
with the boodling and bribery crimes
and we may get around tardily, by and
by, to other classes of criminals. In
the mean time, If the press and the pull
pit would do what they can to create a
public sentiment against law lessness
of all sorts it would help to stem the
flood of crime which sweeps daily over
the country without seeming to excite
much public interest.
Probably very much of this inditfer-
ence toward lawlessness comes from
the inadequacy the law for the pun
ishment of the. lawless millionaires,
who are daily augmenting their i'll got
ten millions, by evading and violating
laws, and by bribery of public officers,
by bribing their ways to seats in the u.
S. Senate, and by manipulating stocks
so as to rob small investors, and by a
hundred other unlawful and dishonest
ways, in which they are unmolested by
the administrators of the law, or are
given free swing on account of the
failure OF legislatures to enact laws for
their control, or government
Another cause of the loss of moral
sensitiveness is that we have during
late years lost many old landmarks,
and many ideals that formerly helped
to ennoble the minds of our youths.
Not the least of these is the declaration
of independence, which we having
violated In spirit anu leJLeE nave
come to regard as an obnoxious nuts
snce, which we are ashamed TO hear of,
because it openly accuses us, and con-
victs us of having violated the funda-
mental morals of government.
The Savior of men accused the Phari-
sees of stoning the prophets and then
building fine sepulchres for them. Our
forefathers did not stone their prophets,
but gave them all honor while they
were living, an built monuments to
them when they were dead. 1t re-
manned for us OF lie present age to
stone the sepulchres of Washington
and Lincoln, and call those who quote
their wise sayings, anarchists"
But what is he who rudely tears
down nations ideal and gives none to
take its place A nation without an
ideal is a nation ripe for anarchy, and
he who destroys the ideal is the prince
of anarchy.
Many of those who deplore the cal
lousness of the public mind at the pres
ent time are much to blame for causing
it although they did not realize what
they were doing.