The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1904-06-21
A PARODY ON REFORM

T h e G | b e has been asked to give
countenance and encouragement to an
agitation that was to be begun for the
Improvement of moral conditions in st.
Paul. The Globe would be very
much pleased to do so if it saw any
movement headed in that direction. 1t
has its doubts of anything that might
be done under the auspices of persons
who had already proved themselves,
at least upon one occasion, impractical
and unwise. It's idea is thoroughly
justified by the opening demonstration,
which was an address on Sunday even
ing by a prohibition orator along the
most approved prohibition lines.
We think that there are conditions in
st. Paul that admit of moral improve
ment, and should be glad to give our
countenance and support to any effort
along that line But what can any one
hope from a cause that either selects
as it's leader or permits to appear in
any prominent position a man who
presents Carrie Nation as his ideal Of
a reformer? Select one sentence from
his reported address on Sunday even
ing: In the face of the great evil that
condemn the resort to the use of force"
That is not the language of reform, but
Of license; of a license as intolerable
and as criminal as any that the worst
element of community could claim.
Look at the spectacle. Here is a man
who calls himself a reformer, a man
who is selected to protest against al
legged violations Of law because they
Ire violations of law. His position and
his advice are characteristic of the
laWbreaker. He eounseIs resort to vio-
lence, or at least does not condemn it.
He says that one element in a commu-
nifty, because it disapproyes the acts of
another element, is warranted in enter
ing upon its premises and destroying
property and rectifying by w-defying
force the evils that it deprecates. This
is bad citizenship, bad religion and bad
sense. Out of it nothing but evil could
come.
We notice in another part of this
gentleman's address the stock prohibi-
ton appeal to prejudice. He speaks
with the utmost sympathy of the
drunkard who goes Keeling down the
street, and asks what punishment can
be great enough for the saloonkeeper
who has tempted this poor fellow to
his fall. This is the folly and futiIity
of all work on prohibition lines. 1t be-
gins at the wrong end of the problem.
In limited sense the existence of a
saloon appeals to the appetite for drink.
1t cannot appeal to anybody with whom
that appetite is not already an exist
ing fact. No saloon sends its ennis
saries out upon the street to drag GUS
toners in; but just exactly as the OBJ
portunity for any form of moral evil
exists throughout the world, and lust
exactly as moral character is created
only by resisting it, so the opportunity
to obtain intoxicants may end in the
downfall of certain individuals and in
the upbuilding of character by resist
ance in others. What society needs to
reach is the customer of the saloon.
Strengthen his moral fiber. stiffen his
manhood, and the problem is solved.
By making him an object of maudIin
pity and throwing the blame Of his
weakness on others, no good is accom-
plished for society Or for humanity.
To such hystericaI caricature of re-
form, events in the recent past have
pointed. We are sorry, indeed. that the
intimation should be realized We be-
'lieve that there are moral ills in st.
Paul that need public care. We have
pointed out not few of them. The
indifference of parents to their respon-
sibility for childrensthe lack of parental
control, the swarming of boys and girls
of tender years upon our streets at all
hours Of the day and night; the MAIN
tenance. of foolish laws upon our
statute books as a pretense Of impos-
sible morality, while the authorities
are not expected and would not be per-
mitted to enforce them; the federation
to some extent Of prohibited forms of
vice, the lax administration of certain
wholesome regulations-all these call
for sane and rational public move
ment by which the entire moral tone OF
the community would be elevated ard it's
dailyslife purified. A movement initiated
by such an address as that to which
We have referred Is merely lampoon
en- reform. 1t may and must do a GER
tain amount Of evil, but out Of il no
good can come.
The Pipestone County Star reminds
US that states, like individuals, grow