The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1909-08-16
KANSAS cOMMENT
THINGS COME RIGHT.


III tnat interesting county, Canada,
Inc sunday laws have been made so
tlsnt that 1t is a crime to sell a dish
u ice cream, or play brass instru-
acc aecorolng TO a newspaper story; and
the Iruly Good people are carrying
on their campaign with such energy
ana success that il is predicted that
II VIII be prison offense for a man
to scratch himself. after awhile
human nature in Canada is much
the same as it is in this country, and
consequently there is a strong protest
governed too much The old familiar
cry about the liberty of the individual
IS heard on every hand, just as we
near 1t In Kansas when the man
whose tongue is hangingout, finds IL
impossible to buy any drink stronger
than turpentine
There are also complaints to the
erect that sundry laws governing food
are becoming burdensome. and the
campaign against drinking cups is
held UP to scorn. and so forth. But
IL should always be remembered that
the intention of such laws is wise and
just, and everything will be properly
adjusted in time. 1t usually happens
tnat reformers are distinguished for
zeal; II they were not, there would be
no reforms; and sometimes the zeal
may be carried to unreasonable
lengths, but good sense always pre-
walls in the end, and everything comes
right.
Laws which prove too drastic and
uncomfortable will be modified when
their weak places have been definite
y located; and when they have been
mod1fied and properly adjusted to
conditions. they always represent a
distinct advance. People who are i'm
patient of all restraint will always find
faut, but there cannot be laws too
stringent in the suppression of vice
and evil Our esteemed forefathers
went to one extreme when they
branded and pilloried rogues for
trifling offenses, and sent people to
the gallows for crimes that would
bring brief Jail sentence now. The
other extreme was reached within the
life time of the present generation.
Not many years have elapsed since
this country was the scene of a con-
tinual performance of crime and vice.
Saloons were practically ungoverned,
running wide open, with all sorts of
collateral evils, day and night.
Gamblers and procurers piled their
trades openly, and disreputable the
aters educated the masses in things
that were shameless.
The present movement in the direc-
ton of general virtue IS a healthy
protest against the RIGHTEOUSNESS that
threatened the moral life of the ma
ton. 1t is possible that the reformers
are often Incorporate, to the verge of
fanaticism, and men who are intOler-
too much influence; but the move
ment is wholesome, and everything
will come right in the end.--Emporia
Gazette.
"MY COUNTRY, IT'S OF THEE
The son of the man who wrote
America" has been pardoned from
prison after serving five years for per-
jury, larceny and ENLIGHTENMENT
Patriotism, which swells to fine
ecstacy as it chants of national glory
and grandeur, must also fortify itself
Election that the noble free who live
here have some ornery company.
Prosaic facts won't do as the theme !
to which to tune harps and pitch or
chestras and lift voices, but they serve
a useful purpose as foundation stones |
for a durable sort of patriotism.
A very small part of personal and |
life is worked out on Fourth |
of July days and band concert even |
ings. Not much, comparatively, of it |
and tempted hills as such things go |
to the making of a life of spiritual |
great deal of 1t plods !
along in the sweat boxes of business |
ness practice. And the greatness of |
the country is that, with the meanness |
Of its commonplace, and the worst of |
It's occasional faults, it is the deserved |
object of the patriotic alteration.
Singing peanS to the flag, and dis
cipling the criminal and schooling the |
away from crimina1ity, take |
their places of proportionate impor-
lance and necessity, in the making of |
he national institution-in vindicating
still to ring back in freedoms tones
from every moutain side."-OttaWa
Herald.