The Pensacola journal. (Pensacola, Fla.) 1898-1985, 1914-01-31
The Law of
The People.

i 49, - @0@A@s
/ During the past decade a great
I wave of moral reform has swept the
| country, and in it's wake it has car
| ried wreckage to many old and estab-
! lished sophistries, IL has battered down
some man-made laws, and tossed care
| fully built presidents to the winds, and
| the flotsam and jetsam that has been
| cast up may be gathered together to
| deck a garbage heap but can never
! again be combined to rear a wl1ited
sepulchre for the burial of the young
I manhood and womanhood OF America.
+ The first force of the wave spent
| itself In the vice Investigations in two
/ OF the greatest. cities Of the world
Chicago and New York. In the wake
of these Investigations have come
minor Investigations, and along with
these flood OF prurient fiction, writ
ten for the most part by men and wo-
men who want money for men and
women who want mud
There are minds that seeks the foul
the noisome, the impure, just as there
are minds that hunger for the light,
the good, the beautiful. And the trag-
edy OF it is that both are seeking the
truth. in their own way.
a recent editorial in the Southern
Medical journal, commenting on an
article by DR. s. r. Mallory Kennedy
of the State Board of Health, one of
series appearing in The Journal
contains the following:
The time has come to educate them
(the people, and for the medical pro-
fession and the public press to unite
in proclaiming the truth, which is
mighty and viii prevail"
This is the keynote of all reform-to
educate.
To reform means to inform. That is
one of the definitions given by the
highest authorities OF the English
speaking world. To reform-to inform
and TO inform is to bring QUITO edu
cate. Only through information can
reformation come about
Ignorance is at the root OF most
great evils Modern conditions have
brought about a false standard OF
living Men and women have met upon
a new ground, but not a common
ground. Untsught and unframed girls
have been sent into the world to make
their way carefully hlindfolded. Youths
have been thrown into the arena to
fight without weapons. And the pop
ulace have for too long turned down
their thumbs.
Whose fault is It:
Nine times out of ten the answer is
flung back: 1t is the fault OF the age.
And the answer. like most answers
given reckIessly, holds but little truth
It is not the fault of this age. 1t is
the fault OF other ages. Ages OF SUI
prostitution, ages given over TO mock
proprieties and false values
For too long have we shut our eyes
to evil, and because Of our shut eyes
declared it's non-existence. Too often
have we sent our young out 10 battle
with dragons, armed with butterfly
nets.
Innocence is a shield, but ignorance
is a pitfali And even when eyes are
lifted to the stars. children's feet may
stumble and trip in the pit that is dug
for them
The greatest sin of the age is ignor-
ance, because it is the most inexcus-
able. 1t is time the fathers OF Amer
lea were acknowledging their debt to
their children and to the age in which
they live.
1t is useless to say: do not approve.
It is futile TO cry: I will not permit.
1t is no longer a question of in
dividual approval or permission-of
your approval or my approval. It is
the recognition Of law that is demand
ed. The law OF the people.
The wave of reform that is sweeping
the country represents public senti-
ment. 1t makes no difference how YOU
look at it, or how I look at it. That
in not the question.
When the public mind begins to