The evening times. [volume] (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1906-1914, 1911-10-05
(Rrooklyn Eagle.)

Profanity in public places Is in most
cities an offense punishable by fine,
but the ordinances established against
1t are rarely enforced, a fact which
is familiar enough to every person
who has occasion I o pass gangs 81
loafers upon the street corner.
On the stage. though the theater
may be classed as in a n a public
place. comparatively little effort has
been made to prevent swearing by
statute until the recent crusade In
New York city. inspired by the out
burst Of profanity in which the late
Clyde Fitch permitted one Of his
characters in The City" to indulge.
Ro ssaS BY George" might be
Socrates swore by the dog. the caper
and the cabbage. and by these tokens
he. in his day, was accused of swear
ing deeply and voluhly. ''Zounds!"
seems to us today as anything but a
solemn or momentous form Of ad-
duration. but back in the period Of un-
reformed England 1t was possible to
surpass in hlasphemy the awful i'm
port that was impaired by the user
the most sacred events chronicled in
holy history. In like manner UNI
knowing boys Of the present time use
the ejaculation "Gee!" ignorant Of 1T
derivation.
IF ever I should hetake myself to
swearing" says Sir John Hardwood.
Il shall give very little concern to the
fashion Of the oath. Odds hodtkins
will do well enough for me and lack
a-daisy for my wife"
SO YOU see, it depends altogether
gard profanity. Custom. education and
usage all play their parts In the for
nation of IL ideas as to what is
swearing and what is not swearing.
In the present agitation we must
not lose sight of the fact that the en-
deavor to modify and purify the
speech of mankind is not new. 1t is
as old as cursing itself. There have
been many movements for the refor-
nation of swearers and many laws
for the punishment Of oath-takers. In
of Manners accomplished considerable
good in England. Joseph Addison de-
cried profanity. and has been followed
by hundreds Of writer's and reformers
on both continents.
AS to the laws. there have been
plenty of them. So early as the ninth
century Justinian prescribed the SEN
tence of death for n form Of swear
ing. In northern Britain the penalty
was cutting IL the tongue-in other
countries branding the tongue with
a red hot iron. In France. under
Philip H.. swearers were condemned
to drowning. and the council Of Con.
s~tantinople passed a sentence Of ex-
communication upon the swearers of
the heather oaths.
In nearly every country at one time
or another laws have been in force
imposing fines for the punishment OF
those who use profane language. In
Washington. D. c.. such an act wal
adopted. providing a $50 fine for ev.
cry offense. Not long ago the authors
ties in Ireland sought to prevent irri.
tating party cries. and. with this end
in view. imposed a fine of forty shill.
ings and costs on all persons utterine
them.
II statistics on this subject were pos.
women and children who intersperse
their conversations with oaths. from
the mildest form of so-called speech
establishment to the blacklist fnvec.
tive OF the proverbial piratical curses
would be something appalling. Uncle
Toby said: Our armies swore terri.
bly, in Flanders. but nothing to this
thereby intimating that in the time Of
Iristram Shandy. the civilian more
SA0AA AZ Ills owu Will tne military
lar than whom. up to this period
none had been accounted so vel
equipped as to vocabulary. al to force
Of lung power and general swash.
buckling proclivities to rip out voul
old-fashioned. sulphur-smelling. hair.
raising. blue-and-red streaked speci.
mems Of profanity.
Dean Swift was rather inclined to.
ward swearing. and was not at al
backward in using profane expression,
both in his speech and writings. Dur.
ing the fever of the South sea specu.
lation Swift rot an article in which
he proposed to turn t public accoun,
the many oaths that were uttered. HI
called his new financial proposition
the Bank Of Swearing" This banl
was to have the monopoly Of levyins
all the fines which the laws Of thu
country imposed upon swearers-fnel
which had been rarely inflicted al
though warranted by the statute book
The dean maintained that a banl
organized on this basis would prov,
a gold mine. and to carry out his as
sertion he proceeded to calculate tn,
sums thai might be realized by putin,
the act in full operation. The en-
thusiastic promoter argued in thi,
way:
1T is computed by geographers tina
there are 100000 in the kingdom
~Irelandl. of which number there ma,
be said to be 1000. 900 swearing souls
It is thought there may be 5000 gen
tlemen. Every gentleman, taken on,
With another. may afford to swear on,