The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1905-03-27

COMMERCIAL ADVERTlS
police and medical inspection and es-
| pionage.
). The right of enforced examina-
ton and commitment 10 lock hospitals
] when disease is found.
Note that all these impositions,
| strange to say, refer TO women alone
| as the sole offenders and sources of
| disease.
| THE FUNDAMENTAL QUESTION.
| Let US consider the great and fun
| damental question of this inquiry
| namely, HIS the la. rigE. IL s'tEr-
| ten vice e.: sny '.a3pa wh;:teVer9
| We are unfortunately, so little train
| ed In ethics, or perhaps better, morals,
| that many of US may be at first puz-
| zled to answer this question. L believe
| that If l We're to ask a hundred people
consecutively, What is the law? the
| reply of the great majority would be
| that the law is simply a statutory dec
| laration of the will of majority.
| May the law then [ ask, "sanction
| evil, If the majority SO rules?' This
| is the real c-ux of the situation, and
| 1t is no trifiing ula tte- that we should
| hold correct views on this head, for ac-
cOrdingly as the millions of American
| citizens answer this question, must our
| country stand or fall. Wk) are better
| fitted to answer this question than
some of the greatest minds of which
the Anglo-Saxon race has ever boast
| ed?
| MORAL AND CIVIL LAW.
l gather my extracts from Ritter
| book on ''Moral Law and. Civil Law
4 e :
Amos, in his 81 Systematic View of the
Science of Jurisprudence, says "the
purpose OF the law is to fortify and to
maintain the public morality" Bish-
| op, for thirty years recognized IN
| the United States as a standard au-
| thority on criminal law, says: Mo
| rality, religion ana education are the
three great pillars of the state aud
the substance of all private good. A
community from which they are ban
ished represents more than the gloom
| of the original chaos. Therefore, they
should be objects of primary regard
| by the law Further, the common
! law practically and fully cherishes
| the public morals, and it Furnishes as
| a crime every act which it deems suf
ficiently evil and directly tending to
impair the public morals. - What,
| them is moralitya Morality requires
| a man to treat his neighbor honestly
| and fairly; IL can compel him to do so
and punish him if he does not. Reli-
| gion is a matter of belief; morality
is a matter of conduct. cat com.
mon law says Lieber on Penal Law,
indictability and immortality are con-
vertable TERMS In Well IS "Pol-
lock on Torts'' he says: 'tAll posi-
tive law presupposes moral princi-
1 IL hot
1.-the law as a mode of benevolent
| guidance and aid, Enthusiastically
stands forth as the ever-present and
| incarnate witness of that ultimate
morality OF which, it is at best no
more than the symbol and the coun-
| terpart.'' Furthermore, morality
and moral character are exactly the
| same in legal contemplation as are
| they when viewed from any other
standpoint
| To go back to another very old
authority: by the law is the knowl
| edge of sim - The law itself must be
righteous standard, and if it defects
at all, the reign of evil has begun, for
| there is no longer any standard by
| which sin can be proved. If that
which should be the instrument to con-
| Wet of sin becomes sin itself, to what
| then, are we to appeal2 Such are the
| opinions of eminent authorities whom
none can gainsay.
GOOD CAN NOT COME.
| AS for myself, and I trust l speak
| for all in this professedIy Christian
| land, [ would declare: 1--WE can not
| consent to sanction OF evil that good
| may come from it, If appealed to
| to be practical, we answer that we can
not afford to be practical at the
sacrifice of principle; we will fight
| evil wherever we see it, and under all
| circumstances we will oppose the de-
| basement of the public standards of
| right~and morality. This we win do
| in entire confidence that in spite of
ali appearance the right so upheld Will
| in the end prove victorious. Pure laws
| are the heritage we would leave to
our generations yet unborn, and let
| catacIysm of evil, point back to this
day Of boosted civilizations as the
memorable era when the public stand
ards OF right were first debased.
DOES LEGALIZATION PROTECT.
Does the legalization of vice bring
| ing even the majority of the prostl-
tutes under control and by lessening
disease in the community afford the
protection which it promises2 Any
statistical inquiry, drawn from for
eign sources, for purposes of compari-
son, is valueless, since 1T serves only
to contrast an era of Indifference with
an era of regulation For the present
status of the question in Paris, 1
would refer to a brief but admirably
clear presentation of the subject by
Frederic Griffith of New York.
THE RESULT OF LEGALIZATION.
The result of legalizing prostitu-
ton, in America, for 1 trust [ speak
for Canada as well as for the United
States, would be to place the whole
burden of proof that unrestrained sex