The Johnson City comet. (Johnson City, Tenn.) 1916-1917, 1916-02-03
THE BACKGROUND OF
CRIME.
An George =. Austin.l

(By George F, Austln.)
Every stringed instrument except a
certain harp has a sounding board.
The music from the exceptional harp
Is in the strings. 1t is the only mu-
steal instrument spoken of as being
in heaven. 1t is a symbol of youth,
| innocence, and beauty. Every other
stringed instrument has sounding
board. The sounding board gives
volume and tone to the music. If it
is properly made, the music is good.
The sounding board is a great back
ground
Childhood is the strings upon a
great harp. Society is the sounding
board. If society is good, childhood
will supply another generation of
the same character. Like parents,
| like children. If the fathers eat sour
grapes, the children's teeth will be
set on edge.
The sounding board or background
of criminality is the subject of this
article. There are certain things
which are the occasion of crime, and,
| if eliminated, the degree of crime will
be lessened; but the great underlying
cause, the background or source of
crime, is something else. For in
stance, if alcohol were eliminated,
drunkenness would largely go; if
prostitution were eliminated much
sexual degeneraey and disease would
go; if the dance hall were abolished
much prostitution would cease; if the
movies were converted to education
instead of being used merely for en-
| tertainment, as they are today, much
looseness of character and excitation
thereto would cease; if gaming
houses were abolished, much gamb-
ling would stop.
But none of these nor kindred
things constitute the cause of crime.
They are the products of the same
condition which produces malignant
crimes by the individual. One man
expresses an instinct in one way and
apother man in another way. One
man commits murder, another burg
larry another INDUCES in sensuality
and moral riot, and another runs the
gamut of pleasure and worldliness.
Crime is yielding in any degree to any
form of that which is sensual, devil
sh. We punish for the degree in
which it Injuries another. But all
men engage in it, though it is not
called crime unless it deserves pun
ishment. Laziness, softness, need
less indulgence come out of the
same background from which emerge
burglary and murder.
Types of Citizenship.
Every student knows the type of
citizenship of the first settlers of
America. The sturdy sires from the
hills OF Somersetshire, the plain pure
blood from the hamlets of Scotland
to London bridge found among the
pines and plains of the New World
a real retreat for the maintenance
of their peace, happiness and pros
perity. These men were of a distinct
race. Raciality is the deepest in
stinct of any people. Around it is
grouped all that is dearest, and from
it comes that which is most malig-
nant. 1t engenders wars and |
prompts benevolence. Rome did not |
fall because she was luxurious and
heathenish. other nations have been
the same and have not fallen. Rome |
fell because she became mongrel and |
hybrid. Her best men, her purest |
stock went to war and persisted. The |
weaklings, the degener-
ate and ignorant were left to repeo-
pie the nation. But such parentage |
could not produce an offspring of |
good soldiery and husbandry. Con-
sequently, weak and inferior, they
were overrun by the Ostrogoths,
Huns and others.
The status of raciality is upon
basis of morality and mentality. |
Those who stand today for the moral
ideals of the old Puritans and strive
for higher intellectual standard are
thethe conservators of the race. He
who advocates war consents to the
lowering of the racial standard of the
next generation, and for this reason
war at any cost" is unpatriotic. He
who puts material wealth above in