The Fargo forum and daily republican. [volume] (Fargo, N.D.) 1894-1957, 1913-09-23
EDITORIAL COMMENT
Stoning the Woman.


Minneapolis News: The head Of
Detroit's police force, in a squirt of
zeal, has fixed Oct. Is as the date
when the 1000 women Of Detroit's
underworld are to be put out Of bust
ness. Asked what these outcast vic
tins Of mems lust are to do, his sole
reply is: MY duty ends when the
resorts of vice are closed"
Technically, that may be true. But
you can take it from us that the duty
of society doesn't end there-not by
a good deal.
BY it's long tolerance the city Of
Detroit is partner in guilt for this
vicious situation; and the chances are
1t will find it cant get out of it's re-
.sponsibility by the mere fiat Of a po-
lice official.
The churches, which have invited
and applauded abrupt closure, won't
be blameless either, unless, having re-
membered the teachings of the Mas
ter, they are ready to shelter all peni-
tents, minister to the bruised and dis
eased and help them to go and sin
no more" We will observe with great
interest what the churches Of Detroit
do on and after Oct. Is.
The vile business in which these poor
women were engaged ought, Of course,
to be stopped. But stopping 1t isn't
the simple thing of clapping on a po-
lice Injunction. We venture the opinion
that it can't be stopped until the causes
beneath it are stopped also. Is De-
troit, O any other American city really
ready, in good faith, to try to reach
the bottom?
We have heard of no proposals in
Detroit to put the law with equal
tirmness on the males who made it
profitable for these women to sim.
The record Is silent about n o n
centrated movement to require the
payment Of wages in honest industry
high enough to permit men and wo-
men to live comfortably in marriage
free from the pressure of illicit COM
petition.
The plan apparently is the ancient,
cruel and futile one of stone the wo-
man, but let the man go free" So
VandaIs on CIingnean's Dome.
ST. Louis Times: One by one the
beauty spots Of the North American
continent are being sacrificed in the
so-called march Of civilization" to the
demands Of Californians
are now making a last stand in the
hope of saving n of the natural
parks of that state from the hands Of
| spectators; and already Niagara has
been shorn Of much of it's native su-
blimity, while the last vestiges Of nat
ural forests in a score of states are
vanishing.
The latest invasion of the despoilel
is reported from North Carolina
Clingman's Dome, one of the wonders
of the western world-a mountain al
most equaling in altitude the highest
of the Rockies, and wearing a robe Of
spruce and balsam trees which has
been the glory Of ages, is being shorr
of its beautiful trees. A railroad has
been constructed almost to the sum
init Of the mountain, and 200 men will
axes are busily employed in undoine
the work upon which nature has beer
intent for centuries.
In The Asheville Citizen we find
description of the despoilation, in thu
midst of which we read this uncon'
sciously ironic line: This is perhaps
the first description eve given of tn
ton has been given by writer's onl.
to the wonderful scenic effects" AM
further on in the article we find thi
statement: "All spruce and balsan
trees r cut; the small trees from
four inches to eight inches are cut u
for pulp wood"
We trust that lone who has eve
felt the sublime influence of Cling
mans Dome, with it's health givin,
odors and it's sheer beauty flung up t
the very sky will ever encounter thi
narrative from The Cltizen-unless, in
deed, they may find a way to give vote
to a righteous Indignation. and sto
the work of Vandals as selfish an
lt~houghtleSs, surely, as any who eve
blotted out beauty anywhere.