Manchester Democrat. [volume] (Manchester, Iowa) 1875-1930, 1905-07-26
DANGER THREATgNs me NATION


Discomfort and Dishonesty Caused by
Reckless Extravag ance Of Rich.
Wherever we follow our spectacular
rich (the newspapers force us to fol-
low them, we find them parading like
eccentricitles, taking of shoes and
stockings in Baltimore after fash
ionable gathering to wade in a public
fountain; playing leap frog in Wash
ington (men and women), after smart
dance; wandering of for hours in the
Bois de Boulogne Tin couples with hus-
bands and wives separted), after bril-
liant Paris dinner; watching the body
to body contortions of a young woman
and boa constructor (this in New
York before company of mem; ap-
plauding uncomfortable features of
the stupid seeley revel; gambling,
sorging, drinking, gallivanting, IN
short challenging the devil to offer any
FLIP for their jaded senses! What
wonder II the unsophisticated West il
yielding to this contamination, as ap-
pears in a recent Boston paper which
speaks edltorially Of ian entertainment
in Minneapolis where three hundred
men gathered to enjoy the dancing of
nude artists modelw
All of which means, II 1t means any
thing, that powerful element in our
'.'best'-that is our richest society-is
setting profigate example in this
country, an example that threatens the
sanctity and stability of countless
American homes. Pleasure and show
and money! Dress for the women!
Gems for the women! And rich hus-
band! There Is the poisoned lure that
tempts our maidens! Pleasure and
show and money!
And Of these three but one ia essen
tial: money, for money will buy the
other two. Does any one doubt that
thousands of our women are practical
~ selling themselves Tor money in
marriage and then selling themselves
again for money in divorced Does any
one doubt that this pressure for riches
brought upon men by our women
wives, sweethearts and society, is q
fundamental cause of the dishonesty
that is more and more tainting our
business and political life All, now
We have said the word, the bitter,
wounding dishonesty! There IL
the danger that threatens this repub-
lic-dishonesty among its citizens. All
other evils are less than this, all cures
for evils are vain until this evil 10
cured, for the whole principle of rep
resentative government fails abjectly
when the people strive only to plumber
and betray the people!
If one of our writer's twenty years
ago or even ten years ago had dared
to question the honesty Of the Ameri-
can people, he would have been count
ed an tmpudent renegade, babbler
whose stupid insults would have
aroused only contemptuous smiles.
But to-day 1t is different, our eyes have
been opened, and, without surprise
though with dismay, we see able men
commissioned by our great magazines
to go from city to city, from State to
State, from one business enterprise to
another, with the sole purpose of prov
ing the existence of wholesale corrup-
ton in public and private affairs. And
month after month we read these
CHASTITY revelations until 1t seems us
If everything is rotten, all our cities,
all our States. the whole world Of
business and finance, even our national
government, even our courts. And we
take it as a matter of course!-Suc-
cess Magazine.