The Detroit times. [volume] (Detroit, Mich.) 1903-1920, 1915-10-06
The StenOgrapher and the
Cage
BY DR.. FRANK CRANE
Copyright. 1915. by Frank Crane)

ANA now appears Boston lady who
proposes that lady stenographers in Of
fees be put in cages, locked against sus-
ceptible employers.
The proposition is beautiful example
of the short and simple ways in which
reformers and rescuers and savers of the
perishing go about to effectuate redemp-
ton while you wait.
Do naughty men drink rum? (By rum,
of course. we signify whiskey, beer, and
other plain and fancy booze-nobody
drinks rum except in temperance leaf
lets.) Answer: Destroy all the distiller-
les and breweries and lock up in the Gala
boose every gentleman whose hilarity
cannot be accounted for otherwise than
by interior irrigation. There you are.
No more drink evil.
Is there a social evil? Imprison every
lady whose department marks run below
.65 Country saved in one day.
Are there thieves in the investment
field and elsewhere? Call the police. Pass
n law. Jerk 'em up and fine EN-. No
more trouble.
And so on.
1t is the commonest kind of notion
that if anything is wrong all we have to
do is TO enact a law, send for an officer,
slap the culprit into cell, and go home
and continue our bridge game.
That is our theory Of society. 1t is
perfectly logical, perfectly intelligent,
and perfectly absurd.
We go on applying that sort of rem
edy. and the evils &C right on thriving
under it. 1t never bothers us, however.
We simply make more laws and hire
more policemen.
a certain statesman-farmer was elect
ed to the state legislature. He looked
about and decided he ought to do some
thing TO stop vice and crime. He had
read a good deal Of bigamy. So he de-
cided to abolish it. Whereupon he intro
duced bill as follows, to wit:
"Be il hereby resolved by this legisla-
ture that the crime of bigamy ought to
be and hereby is abolished.
Then he went home satisfied, and
looked after his fall blowing.
The fact of the matter is that, after
several duadrillion words said IN argu-
ment pro and con, the girl in the ONCE
is about as good as the girl anywhere
else, and about as bad.
If she is going to attend strictly to
business she doesn't need cage.
If she is going to wink her eye at the
head bookkeeper or go out TO lunch WIN
the boss unbeknownst to Mrs. Boss,
there's no use putting her in cage
You'll have to use the vault with the
time lock on it.
There may be exceptions, but the very
best thing as a rule to do with girls, or
BOYS either, is to let them alone. Some
of them will go to the devil, or expert
ment bit. Most of them will not.
But the one sure way to make them
break loose, rob hen roost, and burn a
hayrick. is to build some kind OF wall
about them so they CAN'T do wrong ana
HAVE to do right.
Virtue is the product OF intelligence,
not ignorance. 1t is secreted by Tree
dam, not by restriction.
1t comes from inside the heart, not
from the outside.
It is quality Of life, fibre OF soul,
character of personality. And II IT Is not
in person you cannot get II by pian'-
ing a hedge around him.
Virtue is self respect, high Ideals,
right views of life. II one has not THESE
things the only safe place is IN the DOT
tom of well -,
Health is everlasting menaced by bill
lions of germs. II is beyond human
power to keep one away from these
germs. Health is OUR POWER OF
RESISTANCE to all destructive
microbes. ;.
A perfectly good little woman Is
absolutely safe among Ats men,
A bad little woman-the cage that
will keep her out Of mischief Will nave 10
he even better than that of the Arkan-
sas farmer, "hog tight, horse high, ana
bull strong"