The daily morning journal and courier., 1907-09-23
.REV. N. ]. {QUIRES ON
 ! DlSGBEDIENCE ID LAW
(Continued from Sixth Page.)

frankness, l must say that you your self gave me to-day an illustration of my remark. You rode your wheel on the village sidewalk, contrary to the law"
 True" replied his American friend, but the walk was clear; if any pedes- trian had appeared, would have got off"
 The answer was direct and to the point: There's no if in the law; you .disregarded its unconditional prohibit ton"
 That is the American spirit. He as- sumes the right to obey the law when it suits his convenience-or to disobey it, as seems best In a multitude of ways will you see the exhibitions of this lawless attitude towards law and the right of others. You who live on corner lots realize the trouble you have to prevent indiscriminate cross | ing of your lawns, not all are boys, either, or those who know no better. We are told on all hands that there is a woeful lack of the sense, the proper sense, of property right; the right of man to the unmolested use and enjoy ment of his own.
 | l, is manifested first, in a disregard for the rights of property; then it is . short cut to fearful disregard for the rights of life.
 When people lose the sense of the sasredness of property we have all sorts of plfering, theft, embezzlements, ] forferies and burglaries-a gorilla war 1 fare on property And the same spirit man'fests itself further on in assaults, homltldcs and murder You have read good deal of late about waves of crime sweeping over the land.
 Judges from the bench college pres1- dents and others writers on morals and economics insist that the whole | country Is aHies2d with this spirit of laWlesGness. I suppose your daily news paper is the best and sufficient evidence of it. The police of many cities have been compelled to wage a persistent warfare against carrying concealei wcapans, especially on the part of thu foreign population. Deeds of volcn C. the ready knifc-the ever loaded pistol passions aroused hy drink--these ana many other things are the visible signs of this general disorder Everywhere 1t is the same disregard for law-the same rebellion against restraint-the same determination to interpret law for ones self and disregard for the rights of others A large percentage ot all those killed yearly by the rail. oad: are those who are trespassing on prop erty not their own The large number who are injured or killed by the rtcl1- less driving of automobiles are the vic tins of this same spirit of disregarc for law as well as for the rights ol others So long as the breaking oi bones and killing are confined arnons themselves the patient and long sui fering public might view ther se.f-iiG' notation with considerable equanimity but there comes a time when certain classes of people must be saved iron thomselves-we call them in Aaiie In sanity takes on many forms ar. spes d madness is one of them, It has be reached Tn Pittsburg, as declared by of ficials on account of the number of fa tai accidents; and in many other plac es as judged by like fatal casualties.
 People who arc giving this matte considerable attention just now find hard to determine among which classe
 this general disregard for law as l1y is most rampant, They tell Us tia
 the petty criminals merely steer in tn wake of bigger ones, such as the law
 defylng corporations whose misde~d d
 have been spread before the country i
 recent government reports. Yet thes
 are declared not to be the worst oi
 lenders against morality and decencl
 There are thousands of executive
 throughout the land who deliberatei
 refuse to execute laws which they hay
 taken oath to execute. What is mor common thaa for mayor to let it be UT I derstcod that he Goes not intend to eN
 ooute t...s CT tat INV! When the tow is tnus throwa wlGe open despite tn ' laws, to the gin-mill, the pool roon
 ara the brothel what is it but scho
 Of IaNlcssness taught by a perjurei " Tho hoodlum and the thug, when the resolve what laws to ignore, are less blame than he!
 These have the plea of ignorance
 of depraved appetites and passions ' unfavorable environments-of an eve |, present temptation to do wiring reekir
 in the air they breethe pleas tn n would hardly become such officials
 those in San Francisco in Philadelphi T in other cities of our land, or those WI
 sit on the moneyed thrones of t ,e great insurance companies, or who
 rect great railroad systems and t ,- most wealthy industrial corporation
 Many of these mon, taken separate so and sing ' as ...d.vidua.s, are charmil
 men ot refinement and education-p "a a.s in society and not few of the
 in the churches interested in. varto v- forms of philanthropy and educatio
 but who, acting in their business al
 corporate capacity, show the rapaci Q of the hawk and the pitiless appet
 of the lion-employing the law of ,d air and of the forest-the law of t
 beasts of prey, rather than that of VI kingdom of Jesus Christ.
 Suffer me to use an illustration trC ce another field of morals. For ma
 years the reform people of the sts
 have been trying to reduce the salo zi evil by eliminating a good many of
 lowest and most irresponsible saloo s- from the business of selling, In the
 rohberics and even murders are pl9
 ned-plunder divided--they are the IT, sorts of thieves and thugs-of evel
 thine vile and unwhoesome. An