New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1912-12-20
VICE, CRIME AND LAW.
Anywhere. everywhere,
We will follow him ?

II ought TO be obvious 10 the broadly
judicial mind of Mayor GaynoT that
his subtle distinctions between vice
and crime" aud his faCile philosophy
Of expectant ldiSSer fdrc concerning
the former. would. if carried 10 their
logical conclusion. result in simple an
archy. 1t is easy to say that prostltu-
ton will cease when all men become
chaSte that there will be no more
gambling when men no longer desire
II. and that drunkenness will be abol-
iShed when all men are temperate ana
this may be euphcmistic and plalSi-
bic method Of pleading non p0SSNma'
by those 10 whom enforcement OF the
law against such practices would be
inConvenient or embarrassing. BUT
where is the pleasing process To stop
His honor abhOrS the bearing OF falSe
witness. particularly against himsell
and his friends But when he thinks
IL is practised he does not console nm
self with the reflection that II VIII
cease when all men have become truth
full. We have no idea that he cOndoneS
larceny, yet # IS perfectly obvious That
il will be ended when all men voluh-
tarily quit stealing. Meantime why
illuminate or legislate against these
things. which are as old as the human
race itself? Why not wait placidly for
= transformation Of human nature an-
tomaticaly to introduce the milien-
mum?
Ii will not serve 10 answer thal
there is a distinction between. vice ana
crime. and that while the latter may
lie repressed and punished by law. the
former must be left for human nature
70 deal with. for In respect Of the so
called vices which are under consider
alton the distinction between them ana
crimes largely fails Vice is commonly
regarded as a practice which Is Sud
fective 10 the person who engages I'D
II and which affects him alone. while
crime is a wrong inflicted upon some
other person. But every student oil
such matters knows that the latter
definition is consDicuouSly applicable
10 the major vices" Every one OF
them has many more innocent victims
than it has voluntary practitioners
The extent 10 which dependent tanll-
lies are deprived Of the support to
which they are morally and legally en-
titled. acts Of dishonesty and violence
are melted and loathsome ana deauly
diseases are disseminated among the
innocent and helpless marks these
things as properly subject to legal re-
pression and invests with grim irony
the SNUG pretence that they are I'M
separable from human nature ana
must be left 10 its regeneration.
We are not 80 visionary as 10 expect
the entire elimination Of these vices
through the operation Of law. Inc
capital crime Of murder began with
the second generation Of the race ana
has been outlaWed ever since. but
still nersistS. We do believe II posi-
bic. however. TO repress their most
fiagrantlv criminal manifestations. ana
fo exercise through the administration
of iudiciOuS laws an educational III
auence which will make strongly for
restricting their prevalence and mini
MIXING their evils 1t would be StuIu-
fvjng 10 deny the possibility Of making
an end Of that police protection ana
cooperation which form the most per-
nicious and revolving features OF the
case. and 10 distract inconvenient at
tentjon from which the Mayors phiio-
sophical platitudes and fallacies seem
ebrewdlv but ineffectively designed.