The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1907-07-20

programme for plain people. They as
sumo that everybody should live his own
life at the best-and give his neighbor
| a chance to do the same The law pos
tulates personality; 1t never intended
that one should efface his identity in
| the shapeleSs, colorless, goodygoodiness
| which is sometimes mistaken for crime.
Why the Korean Killed tho Japanese.
All Oriental peoples have the principle
| of the fifth Commandment written so
deeply in their traditions and character
| that veneration for father and mother is
| carried to the extent of ancestor wor-
ship. 1.-The most sacred obligation of an
Oriental son." said an aged and eminent
missionary in China upon hearing the
| following incident, sis to avenge the
! death of a father" While ! was in
| Korea Korean had been ordered out
of his ancestral home by a Japanese
cooIie who coveted it. When he re-
sisted he was hung to the caves of his
own house by the Japanese. The
Koreans son returned home and, with
| some friends. sought out the murderer.
| The latter fed. swimming across river;
| the son followed, a knife in his teeth.
| When he had overtaken the fugitive he
| slew him. and cutting out his heart and
| liver, formally offered these as a sacri-
flee to his fathers spirit. In the eyes of
his fellow countrymen that son was
! looked upon as a hero.
The story is a bloody, gruesome one,
| but it illustrates how deeply the obliga-
lions of sonship are felt by primitive
| people In this respect the east has
! much to teach the west. We have lapsed
so far from the attitude which regards
parenthood as divine that almost every
4 body can repeat shameful stories or the
| neglect and even abuse of parents by
| children While it appears customary in
| many quarters nowadays for parents to
! subordinate themselves to their children,
| and for children to be f1ippant, disre-
spectfuI and selfish toward their parents
/ nd still remains in
force. a wise, beneficial and binding
social law.
Twentieth Century Crimes.
Read the annual total Of lives lost
on the railways of the country. mostly
/ because of the greed of the COM
panies. Consider the more sanguinary
| roll of employees manned and Killed by
machinery. Look at the army OF child
laborers whose lives are blighted, If
not destroyed, by the days tnsensate
| love of gold. Behold the procession
of coffins filled every day by bad SAM
tary conditions. impure food, mis-
labeled drugs-then ask yourself how
we'll this progressive and enlightened
generation is keeping the sixth com
mandment Thou shalt not kill The
deaths in a ruder state of society,
where everybody travels armed and
human life is reckoned cheap, are few
and merciful as compared with this to-
tai.
Civilization takes a mans safety out
of his individual keeping and puts it
in the care of society If society is to
prove itself fit for this high respon-
sibility 1t will need considerable ton
ing up. We have not the respect for
human life that we delude ourselves
into thinking we have; bloody muir
der shocks our fine sensibilities. but
we view almost unmoved, and fire.
quently aid and abet, social institu-
tons which are worse.
Tho Shame of Society.
Instead of anemic sermons on the
ref1nements of spirituality, these times
need fire-filled sermons on the seventh
comman dment. While this is not as
adulterous a generation as the every
day newspaper scandals might lead a |
superficial observer to believe. there is |
nevertheless a laxnesS of regard for |
the sacrednesS of the marriage rela- |
ton that is ominous. Unless there be |
awakened a sturdy and militant senti- |
ment for the purity of society In this |
respect, dark days are ahead Of u.s. |
And who will lead in this awakening If |
not the Christian teachers who hold |
the ten commandments as divine?
The Moslem who is Jealous of his |
wife cuts off her nose; unfortunately |
his wife has greater reason, but not |
the power to cut off her husbands |
nose. Lacking the inner restraints of |
entails pay tribute to the great truth |
which underlies the seventh COM
mandment by keeping their women Sc
cluded behind the curtain" But in |
vain; the moral corruption of the east |
is the prime factor in its political, |
commercial and social backwardness.
Not alone in thigh society is the
seventh commandment violated. With /
an Indifference that Is culpable we
permit the very springs of society to |
be poisoned by the penny peep-shows
that may be found in almost every
city. by the suggestive character of
or hot kha
stage Of the theater; by widely dis /
seminated literature of an unhealthful /
character; by the circulation of I'M
proper pictures; and by a permitted |
mon evils are so many battering
rams, steadily hammering away at the
foundations of the home.
Graft and Theft.
On the other side of the world they
do not understand our popular word
graft; perhaps it is a little difficult
10 explain why we should create a
euphemism for any of the forms of
stealing. The CRATER is a thief, and a
violator Of the eight Commandment.
w hosoeVer, be he clerk or director, Is
a silent partner in any crime of steal
ing, whether that stealing be one of
the modern burglaries on large scale
called thigh finance" or plain, every
day bank robbery or fraudulent deal
ings with the state, IS himself no bet
ter than thief.
Let US call spades spades. In all the
manifold and nauseous exposures OF
crooked dealings with the public there
mas been too little odium attached to
the men cognizant Of these crimes, al
though themselves not principals or
direct bsnefciaries. The brand of
should be attached to any
man who suffers fraud to continue I'M
rebukod. Let us have manhood
enough to label all thieves and Grim
inals, and to treat them as such until
they have exhibited penitence and
make restitution. A vigorous public
mind