The Intermountain Catholic. (Salt Lake City [Utah] ;) 1899-1920, 1907-05-18
CRIMINALS.

When boy starts off the straight and mario"
path to accomplish something which may not be-
really criminal, the gate has been opened to th.
broad way to destruction. Perhaps he IS caught m
his dishonorabIe dealings and set right; perhaps
his inner conscience warns him of his error and
he sets the seal on the gate of waywardness; per
haps the religious influences about him effect his
return to the path of moral rectitude. On tn.
other hand he may daily on the road, now
side, now on the other, and finally reach climax
which wrecks his life forever.
Life is very uncertain quantity among grow
ing boys and young men. We believe a very small
percentage of the crimes committed III this world
originates in men who live their first twenty-one
years in moral and religious surroundings and
whose characters develop under the wise and dis
Greet tutelage of parents and the church. The
foundation of honesty, fair dealing, morality and
decency laid in the formative years preceding the
twenty-frst birthday.
The statistics of crime for the past year fur
nished by Harpers Weekly show the cost to the
United States government alone to be $14OOOO,OOO
of which frauds in the postoffice reach total
of $4000000O. Enormous as these figures are, the
grand total cost of crime in the United States last
year reached the stupendous amount of 81 O76327.-
6o6, figure $5OOOOOOOO greater than the total
expenditures for all kinds Of spiritual ecclesiasti-
cal, physical, humanitarian educational and heal
ing agencies combined.
These figures tell story which language can
not adequately describe. They are ncomprehensi-
bic, and should arouse the church bodies to vigor-
Gus action. Here indeed is a condition upon which
every moral agency in the nation may unite in
combating. All questions of church government
all dogmas of faith and all the vexing problems
which agitate churchmen and retard the work of
God may well be put aside in seeking remedy for
so grave a condition. The broad principles of NOR
atty which even the most Liberal" churches pro
fess in common with the Catholic church suggest
and supply the means to strike at this enornity
Only one thing suggests itself. Strike at the
root The remedy lies not in increasing the forces
of policemen and preservers of the peace. but i'm
guiding the lives of young into paths of right
eousness. transforming evil tendencies into vrtu-
Gus activities and making moral rectitude the
standard by which each life is measured
While we know the Catholic church supplies all
the spiritual and moral needs of those who are for
tunate enough to come within the scope of its in
huence, 1t Is preposterous to allow questions which
separate 1t from other great and good moral agel-
cles to interfere In any way with a work which re-
qWres such enormous activity for good. Any re-
hglon Is better than none, and any moral teaching
which can reach those beyond the sphere of Cath
ohcIsm must exert power for good With mind
and heart set upon the redemption of humanity
the work requires tolerance OF intolerance and yet
a strong sense of the business of the cause for
which we labor Gods work in general require,
the application of the broad principles of Chris
tlanlty and any agency which reaches and saves
young men from lives of crime is good agency.
And the growth of Catholicism will be nightly IN
creased as criminality is reduced among the peo-
pie of the world