The Leon reporter. (Leon, Iowa) 1887-1930, 1914-05-28
Are We Too Charitable?

into our town. They came from a
town not great ways from here. 1t
is said the authorities drove them
out. The same is said to have Deen
true OF other towns they lived in.
The lives they seem to have led
were of such nature that respectable
people did not care to have them in
their midst. They complained and
the authorities told them to move on.
The mother and some other men,
bers of the family seemed to have
| wanted to live a different kind of life
but amid the surroundings they were
compelled to live, it was hard for
them to do so. Last week the mother
seemed to have reached the limit of
human endurance and attempted to
take her own life. She did not see
anything further to live for. For
years she has struggled against diff
culties, which were getting more and
more burdensome all the time
Death, to her would be welcome
relief, even though eternity held only
faint hope for her.
Fortunately, the timely assistance
of medical aid and kind neighbors
gave her an opportunity to live again
/
herself for the coming of Him who
came to save that which was lost.
Now comes the worst of it all.
/ While she was lying there on her bed
of pain, her nerves torn almost to
shreds, her mind on the verge of in
sanity, some of those whom she had
every right to expect assistance from
were said to have been in a condition
that they needed assistance them
selves. Some of her own children
and other relatives were so drunk
that the officers of the town had to go
down there and assist in restoring
peace.
This is an awful condition of af-
fairs. A town situated as this one
is-in civilized country, surround
ed by the wealthiest farming COM
munity in great state, a town with
four churches, town with over half
the population protesting to be chris
tians and almost all the rest claim
ing to be honest, upright citizens, a
town with it's full quota of officers,
and we sit idly by and let such things
to be carried on right in our midst
We cannot plead ignorance. Our
citizens have known of these condi-
tions for months. Our officers have
known of them.
1t is not our intention to censure
the churches, the citizens or the offic-
ers. The same condition exists in
almost every town. There is no one
who likes to stir up trouble. We are
a law abiding and peace loving peo-
pie. We do not want trouble, neither
do we want to make trouble for other
people. Things of this nature are al
lowed to exist, hoping that it will i'm
prove, instead of getting worse.
But we wonder if it is the right
thing to do. Is it right to extend
charity to that extent? In this in
stance We do not believe it was.
Punishment is sometimes blessing.
There is also another viewpoint.
In a town of this size there is lots of
young people growing up. Examples
of this kind are bound to have more
or less influence on the minds of
young people. Many young people
are started on the road to destruc-
ton by just such examples as this.
But the point We wish to make is
this-that if this drunkenness and
debauchery had been stopped long
ago we would not have had so much
trouble and disgrace as is now the
case. Our people would not have had
to suffer the indignities that have
been heaped upon them by the recent
escapade.-Afton Star-Enterprise.