Perth Amboy evening news., 1912-09-28
- CHURCH AND SUNDAY SCHOOL Il
CIVIC WELFARE.
BY WILLIAM n. EAnDfn.

appeared in its columns of the issue
of September %, and was signed by
one of the saloonkeepers of our city.
1t is worthy a perusal, not once, nor
twice, but many times, that its full
import may be gathered. 1t is
straightforward and sincere, and de-
mands attention. Those who are
familiar with the literature of the
slavery question OF fifty and more
years ago will perceive much in COM
mon between the two. This is not
the place to take the questions raised
seriatim and answer them, but there
are some fundamental considerations
that may well occupy our attention.
What is the aim of life, whether
of the individual or of the communi-
ty? By the very laws of our being
it is primarily that of preserving life
and propagating life. 1t is self-pres-
eryation that makes q hunter, a till
err of the soil, a maker Of useful arti-
cles and q seller of what men need.
While originally each man did prac-
tically everything for himself, it was
a ~foregone conclusion that some
would do one thing and some an
other, as individuals clustered In
communities. But this clustering in
communities brought with it a social
life that made it impossible for any
individual man to live any longer
wholly unto himself.
This means that the fundamental
law of our being, self-preservation
and propagation of the species, must
receive a material modification in
the interests of all concerned. And
the more highly civilized we become,
which means the more closely we
live together in community life, the
more profound is the modification.
There are many things that an in
dividual man has a perfect right to
do simply as an individual, where
any harm borne concerns himself
and himself only, that when he lives
with others in a community he has
no right to do, because the harm in
wolves not alone himself, but others.
In other words, a mans individual
liberty finds it's restrictions in the
welfare of the others among whom
he lives. Put plainly, it means that
a man, in the pursuit of a living for
himself and his family, is no longer
at liberty to find that living at the
expense of the welfare of the COM
iIultlby Nc ~ hO oCOho I
Are there not some higher cOnsid-
erations, born of the fact that men
are living in communities and there
fore cannot live to themselves, than
that of merely making a living,
necessary though this latter may be?
The man who declares that he must
live, and therefore snatches the food
temptingly displayed in front of the
atD,o -, I,4a1-, i,tn tho ho MI ~
night and takes from the safe the
money wherewith to buy the food, or
wrecks a bank or some industrial
corporation, thus robbing the depos-
itors or stockholders, Is restrained in
the exercise of such liberty, altho
in response to the demands of a
fundamental law, In the interest Of
the community. The mar who makes
his living by Turing young girls to
their destruction, selling them at so
much a head to lives of shame, as
if they were SO many cattle, is re-
strained in the exercise of such lib
erty, altho in response to the de-
mands of a fundamental law, in the
interests Of the community. The
man who laid his hands on another,
to coin his labor and sweat who
brought to this country men and
: women of an alien race, who drove
them into his fields to slave for his
living, was restrained In the exercise
of such a liberty, despite the fact
) that thousands of his fellows were
respectable and thought the practice
, of even divine origin, in the inter
) ests of the community we call the
State.
/ Why multiply instances? They
5 are on every hand. And here is q
business, if you wish to employ that
, term, that results in taking the
: bread from the mouths Of starving
children as their fathers are sent to
3 jails, asylums and homes. broken
, down physically, mentally and NOR
ally; a business that depriyes the
3 State of the services Of many Of its
, brightest and fairest citizens, and
converts them into doddering idiots.
, to say nothing worse; that annually
: costs the State, and each community
of the State, not only an enormous
= sum. counted up in the billions, In
/, the direct purchase of the commodity
: offered, but as we'll another enor-
/ nous sum for the maintenance Of
4 the police, courts, and jails, asylums
homes and charity organizations
f whose establishment are made neces
sary by the carrying on Of this same
8 business. 1t stands to reason tina,
x the very welfare of the community
$ demands a restraint in the exercise
, of the liberty claimed in the carry.
S ing on of such business.
e The men involved may be gener
: Gus to public charities to a fault
r they may put their hands in theil
: pockets out of all ease in the sup
j port of public enterprises, they may
live within the provisions of the Law
-, SO as to become models unto al
r others, they may be the heaviest o.
Taxpayers, they may be the best o.
men in relation to their families
and above all may be simply doing
what all of US are doing, namely
working for a living; nevertheless
their particular form of activity il
detrimental to the welfare Of the
3 -z~.ro-pI+r ond cnpiofu dnnS rioh