The Ogden standard. [volume] (Ogden City, Utah) 1902-1910, 1910-02-15
EDITORIAL BY
MRS. BURG

AT the Congregational Church las:
evening Mrs. Fl. z. Burg. Fnown 10
| ogden as Miss Virginia Brandt. read
the following editorial. An especially
large congregation was proseat and
listened attendvely.
because for some time | have been
a collector OF some OF the tolls that
! have been paid TO our large cities
throughout the states. want TO sneak
about our citys toll.
"A little article in yesterdays Out
look begins This way:
Human history repeats itself. just
because II Is human. The old Greek
tradition. which everyone remembers
OF the doomed youths and maidens
who every year were chosen by lot
from out the city OF Athens TO be sent
as tribute to the Minoiaur. who de-
voured them. is living history today.
The modern city pays It's toll-any
city, every city. where coalitions are
wrong-and the toll is always In
young and precious human lives.
LAS we read this. misgovernment is
suggested 10 our mlnds-but IL sug.
gests at first only abstract images OF
wrong. Such rs 4 citizen thinks about
-
streets. wasted funds. fraudulent con.
But this is not the real city-toll. The
payment is not In such ap easy. i'm.
personal way. for the toll OF today Is
as 1t was in the days OF Athens. toll
of warm, human blood-the lives of
maidens. men end women The mis-
governed city OF today Is feeding its
yawnlng hotmouthed monster, Vice,
hundreds of lives every yer and the
Ninotaur OF old was merciful. indeed.
compared 10 this modern city machine.
This city machine lives not by the
comparatively proiscworthy atrocities
OF money misapproprlatlon, waste OF
graft but II smacks Its lips over the
tears OF mothers, agony of fathers,
hapless suffering of doomed victims.
and tcrrors and expressions unmen-
tionable Part OF this toll s paid be-
cause the city does not realize what
ls done in the dark places OF miscov-
ernment and kept out of sight, Then
part of the toll Is paid knowingly
open-eyed, and they stand in front OF
the great monster and they watch him
glut his thirst on the hundreds Of In
noceot victims and they do not lcok
AT the blood on their hands and they
prattle OF the atrocities In Russia or
massacres in the far east. the cannibal
tribes In Africa or the horrors along
the Congo. when worse than these
horrors are the result Of the abhorrcEt
toll they are paving each year TO the
Unsuitable powers of evil in their mis-
governed city.
Come with me some evening MS We
go TO collect some OF the toll that has
been paid-our rescue homes are fill
ed with YOUR city's toll-comc with
me through tenements, easements re-
dolent with typhoid. through saloon
dives preying hard on the poor, see
the protected criminal glover al you
and know the horror OF the white
slaves as YOU pass on Watch young
man loll from saloon door not re-
sponsible for the cursed words or acts
that make him feared and disgusting.
He Is toll Watch another-I saw this
myself last eyening-he stood with
his hand on the knob OF door, down
where the red,lights CLEAN. and seem
cd 10 hesitate When at length he
opened the door and the red light
streamed over him from the doorwaE
| saw that ne was only Doy In
cadets uniform. Only toll Fathers
and mothers stepped in selfishness
or vice leave their children to run our
streets at night, seeing all, learning
all. soon TO become toll The sup.
posedly closed gambling places add TO
the Minotaur'S meal and brings the
lack OF a meal In many hungry
home And then the public dance and
IL is from this that the giTl-rescue
worker learns much about toll. Bnt
do not 60 there to learn about toll
that is paid. for here it is only music,
laughter and light. Come with us to-
any OF our shelter homes some months
after the public dance hall opens and
let them tell you of how they became
toll through this refined cultiyator Of
the passions We have learned to
fear the light and laughter and music
that coypr n misEOyprnCd CitV'S cess