The Tacoma times. [volume] (Tacoma, Wash.) 1903-1949, 1913-06-05
Muss Men ALWAYS Be Beasts !?

1uSG wen Always De DedStS &
AN EDITORIAL HANIIdN GARLAND.
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OoFrRoHr 1918 sss9 9Hn NEWSPAPER ENTERPRISES
What are the objections to law which would
legitimize illegtimate children? What sort of cti
zen is he who objects? What are the arguments in
favor Of the present laws?
The most familiar remark of course, is that
which declares, 'Such things have always been and
such things must always be- You can't change
human nature"
We grant that such things have always been, but
we deny that they must always be, and we assert
that human nature changes day by day Some OF
these changes will seem foolish and reactionary, no
doubt but some of them will advance the race along
the road toward purity as well as power
1t Is argued that in many cases no judge could
determine the father of natural" child. This
argument does not seem to me to be sufficiently
strong to halt the reform The young mother whom
such law is designed to aid seldom has any question
in the matter, for she is at the age when she nor
mally has but one lover.
able men, men who are otherwise humane and hon
orable is that after girl has yielded her vir
tue she becomes the common property of lawless
males and that no responsibility or odium attaches
to the next man who succeeds in breaking down her
reserve. This is a relic Of the middle ages
1t has led to the monstrous Cadet system,
where young and good looking male devils hired
to win by guile by force recruits to the army of
lost girls Roues of experience and advancing years
are fastidious. They require young and tender vic
Tins. Five thousand required by the despoilers
in Chicago alone. 1t is probable that 10000 are
enrolled in New York city. Taking the country
over, the army of these sacrical creatures led to
the altar of lust becomes appalling in it's magnitude
It is well at this point to be very plain. Mans
theory is, II am entitled to my pleasure" and if
marriage is denied him. if he is too poor or too selfish
to support home, or if the companionship of his
wife does not satisfy him, he claims the right to
Illicit pleasure, even at the expense of young and
defenSeleSS girl.
Men are not naturally homogeneous. Fathers
often teach their sons that guilt attaches to the
enjoyment of maiden, provided they gain her con-
sent. Doctors tell the young man that license is
necessary for his health: The boy is convinced by
his own classmates, by the workmen with whom he
comes in contact by the friends of his father (who
caluminate women in his hearing) that "sowing
wild oats" is all kind of delightful joke, an expert
ence every should pass through before he is
really man. Only the mollycoddle is chaste before
marriage and faithful to wife thereafter.
And in all this instruction the woman is never
anything but quarry" She is fair game. She has
honor and charity aet her if you can1throw her
away when you please is still the open or silent
advice Of men to boys This is the spirit to be found
in the socalled "facetious" books of the past and
this is the spirit which circulates along the bars of
saloons and around the dining tables Of clubs Can
you wonder that many boys are hbertines at II and
burned out at 25
And yet there is constant gain. There is less
OF this than there was 80 years ago. just as there
is less whisky drinking and tobacco chewing and
splitting. Men are slowly crawling up the road from
the beast to man. AS John Burroughs has said tat
tooing comes before clothes We are gaining in
refinement, in essential Christianity without pro-
Tossing the creed Of Christ reaching higher
plane of self-respect.
TARIFFS ARE IMPORTANT RAILWAYS
ARE IMPORTANT, THE QUESTIONS OF
STATES RIGHTS THE PREVENTION OF
FLOODS, ARE IMPORTANT, BUT THE ESTAB-
LISHMENT OF JUSTICE BETWEEN MEN AND
WOMEN, THE RIGHTS OF CHILDREN, ARE
MORE IMPORTANT THAN ALL.
! am aware that the establishment of the mini
mum wage would be but palliation of the condition
which exists and am also aware that law legiti-