The Caldwell tribune. [volume] (Caldwell, Idaho Territory [Idaho]) 1883-1928, 1903-07-25
e.S0LID ARMY OF EVIL. !"

tai city of idaho, the foremost Re-
publican newspaper of the State
uttered a solemn warning to the
people. It said: "Are you going
to be herded into that corral by the
speeious plea that you should cast
your vote on the side Of evil be-
cause the candidate for Mayor has
been nominated by Republican
convention? The Statesman can
not believe that the great mass of
the people of this city will permit
themselves to be put in a position
of voting with the solid army of
emil" The "solid army of evil"
to which the Statesman refers is
the Republican party of Boise and
was led by such men as w. E.
Borah, Judge J H. Richards,
Judge Kingsbury, c. c. Cavanaugh,
Ex-C Chief Justice Huston and other
notables, and by such women as
Mrs. w. HI. Savidge and Miss Mar
garet Roberts. In the ranks were
Hosea Eastman, Jos. Perrault,
Judge McGinty, Erv Johnson,
Judge Stewart, we believe, and
dozens of others, prominent in the
social, financial and public affairs
of Boise and the State at large. It
is one of the most disheartening
features of modern politics that
men and women of firstrate abilities
and general good repute are not
averse to allying themselves with
the most vicious and degraded ele-
ments of society in order to further
their own personal interests. The
Statesman is right in classifying
gamblers, prostitutes and saloon
men and all who confederate with
them politically to work moral deg
radiation under the head, "the solid
army of evil" Society has always
falsely and unjustly distinguished
between the man who openly prac-
tees evil, and the man who secretly
patronizes and encourages it. The
man who sings rot-gut over a pub
lie bar is unsparingly condemned
by good and virtuous people, while
the stakeholder in q distillery
which turns it out by the barrel
receives the homage of culture and
piety, and occupies the front pew
in church. The woman who con-
ducts an establishment on first
street back of Main is accounted so
vile that mention of her sends a
blush to the brow of decency and a
shudder through the frame of
Christianity, but her patron on
Main street is received with bows
and smiles into the inner circles OF
the very elite. The eminently re-
spectacle gentleman who climbs the
back stairway and gives the pass
word admitting him in den of
heightened gamblers, moves about
in the highest social circles, and
often is lionized for the very thing
that puts the brand of tin horn on
less hypocritical brother. The
Statesman stands upon solid ground
when it regards accessories as equal
ly culpable with principals in vice.
The consorts and the evil doors are
tainted with the same wickedness
and, combined, form the "solid army
of evil" The publication of society
involves not so much the retorma-
ton of the fallen as the unsparing
exposure of those who stand in
the high places shouting good lord,
good lord, while secretly intriguing
with the devil. 1t is responsibility
with wine laden cellars and silver
punch bowls, not the sot in the
gutter, that constitute the allure
ments to intemperance. The guild
ed club rooms and luxurious par
lors convert more worthy men and
women into gamblers than all the
dead-falls and blind pigs. "Soci-
ETY." the paradise of sensuality,
with its. voluptiousness, intrigue,
promiscuous amours, mesalliances
and secret divorce record, stretching
from Aspen, Colorado, to Sunny
side, Oregon, fill more brothels than
Il. Al.