The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1905-10-26

to do business along the Midway dur
ing the last Fair is enough to cause
the protest, in no weak or uncertain
sound, of those who have at heart
the highest welfare of our people and
our State. 1t is doubtful whether
some of the features of this Midway
would have been permitted even on
gay, voluptuous Coney Island, for the
moral sentiment of the people has
forced somewhat of reform even in
the attractions of that resort
Gaming or gambling tables flourish
ed at our last Fair. Tempted by low
err impulses, by. the skillful arts of
the operators of these places, by the
influence of others-by the devil
many men, and more pitiable still,
many beardless youths, engaged in
these games of chance, where it must
have been the most of them were
tieeced and all of them suffered real
loss to their moral character. The
tendency to attempt to get something
for nothing is strong and it is grow
inG stronger. Gambling should be
discontinued and discouraged rather
than encouraged. Chance games are
rightly antagonized by those who are
concerned for the honesty and inte-
gritty of our people today and tomor-
row. Far from a square deaP' was
it for those gambling devices to be
licensed to entrap the weak and un-
wary and, especially, the boys whose
character is to a great extent in a
formative state.
If outward signs are indicative of
what was going on within, some OF
the side shows were highly impure
and immoral. The very lowest, most
depraved instincts of men were pan
Il n NV these
shows for the sake of money gain.
Really deplorable and pathetic it
was to see men and boys baited into
certain entertainments" carried
along by the force of numbers, help
ed along by the feeling that their
identity had been somewhat lost in
the crowd. No ladies were, of course,
wanted in these shows of the baserI
sort, but many men and boys went
into them. 1t was an insult to the
pure women and to pure-minded men
that the outside performances of
these shows which evidently take
hold on hell" were permitted And
we judge that the inside operations
were fully as bad as the outside.
Saturday afternoon at the Union
Station in Raleigh two of the men,
who we understand were licensed
fakirs at the Fair, actually began fir
throng of people, and one of the
combatants killed a by-stander, who
was not engaged in the fight. Should
men of this, type be licensed to ply
their nefarious business on the Fair
grounds? If they are, they will con-
tinue to jeopardize character and
even human life.
We don't know exactly where the
responsibility lies for the licensing of
hi nfan
worse than catch-penny traps. But
no amount of license fee should be
sufficient to pay the way of such en-
terpriSeS.
A great many good people patron
lie the Fair and they want to continue
to heartily do so. If we mistake not
promise has heretofore been made
that the impure and immoral shows
will be conspicuously absent. Surely
it is wrong to decry pleasurable ana
clean attractions. But the sentiment
of the good citizens of this State isl
strongly opposed to attractions of a
low order and it is surely not extreme
prudishneSs or Puritanism which
creates and fosters such sentiment
Because they love whatsoever things
are pure and lovely and honest andI
uplifting and hate the impure, the
ugly, the false, the degrading influ-
ences at work in the world, they must
oppose certain Midway features of the
last Fair.
We know there are many men in
the management of the Fair who do
not want to have any part in putting
before the public immoral "attrac-
tons" who have heretofore most
strongly fought against these. Their
will and the sentiment of the host of
good people in North Carolina should
prevail. We can but believe that
hereafter a much stricter censorship
and supervision will be exercised by
the authorities in charge of the Fair
in respect to these Midway stands
and shows.
B. w ROGERS.
Oxford, n. c., Oct "a, 1905.