The Owosso times. (Owosso, Mich.) 1897-1926, 1909-12-10
THE OWOSSO TIMES
EDMUND O. DEWEY. EDITOR.
OWOSSO, MICH, DEC. 10. 1909.
A Meaningful Resolution.

IS Five hundred cIuD women recen'
Iy met at tine hotel Astor, New York
S., There was adopted a resolution
demanding that the State Legisla
fure compel all males who desire t
getamhrried to pass an examination
before a reputable physician, and t
prohibit the marriage of all male
who cannot show a " clean bill o
health" The presenter OF tine reso
lftions had something to the poin
TO say as preliminary to the reso
buttons, a single clause of which
will be enough to furnish goot
idea az the rest: 'Let us prohibit b!
law tie marriage of innocent girl!
with men who are unfit for tina
State of life"
q For some reason, known only tt
&ems&lves, when social purity is the
subject under discussion, the wo.
nan, when tried by her peers, Is pro.
&ounced the guilty party by the
women Of the social world, who then
by verdict as merciless as it is Of
fentimes cruel pronounce her an out
Gst and send her adrift to meet as
Vest she may the miserable death
Hhich the best authorities affirm Is
not far off.
IS Granting that the woman Is simp-
y reaping what she has sown, there
IRE still certain facts which bear
consideration. The crime is a dual
one. la it right that one should suf-
Ter for the two? In the olden time
Moses commanded that such should
BE stoned, and yet In the face Of that
N was Christ who said to such sin
ner, Go and sin no more" With
out palliating the offense can not the
human. in such instances follow in
the footsteps of the Divine and with
fervor repeat to the woman at least,
eco and sin no more 90 ,~s~'~ p.e
The resolutions, however, are not
intended to cover such instances.
they reach far beyond them. They
are meant to underlie a condition of
society that is simply appalling. City
9f country, the same evil exists, and
the word that covers the whole idea
Isl pollution, or, if shorter word Is
wanted, take smut. 1t will be found
In common use everywhere; and Is it
too much to say that every grade Of
lie uses It? 1t ia the bane of school
HE, public or private, and from the
lowest grade to the highest it will be
found to have taken possession.
ThereDis hardly now anywhere such
2thing as Childish innocence"
1He other day man with son of
lie right age on his hands asked
tie editor of popular periodical If
he should send the boy to college
~ wanted to make a man of his son
md he feared the debasing influence
af a college course. If that man is
20 simple as to believe that his son
81 as innocent as he supposes, he
had better make few searching en-
4uiries. In the language of tine
world he will be found to know a
thing or two" and If the young man
and his dad get to matching stories,
the sire must not expect to come out
1hCaus IL 10 a cdu W
make, but the boy, supposed to have
been ruined at college, had 'This hap
tfsm of fire" long before his matric-
ulation, and too often it happens
II there is any happen-that the ia
Their, offended at such an idea, is the
very man who believes that his son,
because he is his son, is the last boy
On earth of whom such statement
pan truthfully be made.
y The question now is not, What
shall be done about it? but,
What shall wet ought to be in
about it? And short
and sharp singing comes the an
swer: Put stop to it. Let age and
middle life and mature young man,
hood and young womanhood protest
against and repel the slightest indi-
sAtion of the unclean. 1t is the
Torld's greatest terror. or the
deadliest pestilences this Is the most
10 be feared and it is by far the most
prevalent. High and low. rich and
ppor-ali are in its clutches; and If,
Us the resolutions declare, $50 per
cent. Of the deaths of women are
caused by men" and "75 per cent.
RI the operations rf1oh women are
Caused by men" and If children are
destroyed by men who should not
have been married. then, indeed,
the resolutions have not been pub
Itshed moment too soon and So
aiety, individually and as a whole,
should bend its every and its best
shdeavor to the eradication OF an
svil which is doing more to under
nine the Nations very life than all
the most malignant diseases which
nave so far assailed mankind
Michigan Tradesman.