Daily capital journal. (Salem, Oregon) 1903-1919, 1914-05-05
Congressman Writes of Period Between
1910 and 1850 In Hbert
Hubbard Style.
DELvEs INTO SOCIOLOGICAL
QUESTIONS OF THE FUTURE
Says Sympathy for Unfortunate Glass
WIN Overcome Good Judgment
In Time.

fTOIeSSlOn, and Is written Dy hon.
Stanley E. Bowdle, member of Congress
from the First District of Ohio. The
story is framed as being ga Page
from a History Written in 1850" de-
picting "The Era Of the Great Sob"
The period between 1910 and 1925,
on its sociological side, was character
ized by vapidity, sentimentality, and
general gush, which vulgar persons
called "slush." " Societies, Leagues,
Clubs and Movements of every sort
were formed, each bustling about and
producing an appearance Of business
and each burdening the mail with its
literature, asking slms for its peculiar
aims. Each purposed to save society
from this or that evil due to society's
alleged misdeeds, but the cardinal
need of each was cash, and with each
year the cry for cash gew louder. The
theory of ,he government hel been
that a free man in free state. freely
instructed, would he immune TO old
world evils, and would care for his
own redemption, not only from ignor-
ance, but even from the results Of
original sin. these societies however
disdained that theory. They insisted
(imy.i;fvI that this ihes,v -Hs ~
error. They made much use of the
quotation, "Am 1 my brothers. keep
eri" which, though it was the un-
answered question Of Cain, murderer,
was treated by everybody as declar-
alton of principle. which it assuredly
was not. "Go, and sin no more,'
though a Scriptural cure for sin, was
deemed too harsh. The journals of the
day, in large part, found it profitable
10 support this m tuom sbint
Society's duty to Prostitutes was a
frequently recurring taeme. Of course
the essential holiness vt the missicn
of these societies wonld not permit Of
segregation. Nothing ,ho t .f cllmin-
alton would do. 1t was loudly asserte
that Society made prostitutes, though
large portion of Society in no wise
c0atribute,l to their delinquency
Nothing was said of personal mora
In the history of one single mnnc
ipality New York City,, segregation
and elimination werc alternately tried
age-old problemy and all without re
suits. Mankind seemed utterly unabl,
] to learn anything on the subject
though their shelves groaned witt
books telling of the experiences o
the past.
The loose thinking Of that period al
lowed any claim to pass muster, pro
vided it was made loud enough
! Though the age boasted of its culture
no one distinguished between condi
tion and cause: for man to mur
der me- I surely must be living; but
: certainly my life is not the cause o1
, my own death-as Burke has well put
; it. Society is a condition of prostitu
tion, but not a cause-at least two
persons of opposite sex being social!
$ necessary to that state. Such trit'
truths were not comprehended.
e The vapid spirit of the epoch coul'
not conceive of a woman becoming ;
! prostitute through sheer love of it, o
! through vanity, or Tziness.
! There was abroad in the land, a
part of the movement, theory tina
I all men were natively good; and tina
when bad, their badness was due II
environment. To be sure, in thei
T churches they prayed rather regularly
eve have erred and stayed from
Thy ways like lost sheep; we have
followed too much the devices and de
sires of our own hearts, ETC.; bu
the theory of this declaration, which
! sayored of deal of natural wickedness
was uniformly rejected. 1t was, &c
cordingly, not conceivable that prosti
! tuition was actually enjoyed by con
, siderable number Of women, for such {
conception would not serve journal
istic purposes. The purpose of all thi
: was to produce a sob over these women
and the sobbing was very general. Tn
i. papers end magazines sobbed. So
1 cieties sobbed. The feminine suffrag
movement sobbed, claiming that j
. would finally terminate prostitution
by its votes; but it was not termin
ated.
There was during the period l1915
1920) great wailing over the debto
class. The age was wasteful beyon
s imagination. Money WIS spent upo
: every conceivable comfort, REGARDLESS
r of the future. Emulation was on ever
: hand. The women were especiall
J. lavish in their expenditure upon thei
persons. Never in the history Of III
: race were women 80 adorned. Tn
I family credit was freely used Credi
was thrust at one in alluring adyel
a l.tisements. Thousands Of -nppaTentl
: weaithy men at the end Of the yea
had nothing to show but insuranc
J. premium receipts. All this brough
e into being huge debtor class. Whe
+ the bubble burst, the suffering wa
J. most acute. A great sobbing owe
debtors ensued; and there was n
effort to distinguish between the right
eous debtor, caught unawares b
z harsh circumstances, and the culpabl
debtor. The sobbing was genera
|. Certain political parties sobbed abou
L this condition, and each eied with tn
l. others in offering legislative scheme
f to make debt pleasant The Solomon
proverb that the borrower is servan
k to the lender" was shelved for timt
? while the political parties endeayore
a to make the lender servant to the boz
r rover.
3 While the age was greatly devote
|, to wealth-getting, and talked much o
J. the rights of property, yet 1t sobbe'
/. greatly over the criminals who vic
lated those rights; and it proceeded t
make imprisonment as pleasant a