The Mankato free press., 1916-04-14

tunity if they are evil. 1t provides
an atmosphere in which base desires
are born and the glare, the entice-
ment, the suggestions of it all draw
them to , worse things afterward,
when the, ina aginationso of the even
ing bring forth fruit in shame in the
|acts of the night. -
MANY OF the young girls from our
city who ,are hiding their shame in
maternity hospitals can. trace their
ruin to the suggestions back of the
glaring footlights. We ought not to
indiscriminately condemn anything,
and yet there is lso much bad and SO
little good, it demands an immense
tax on patience to be asked to dis
criminate in the fair and judicial way
which the author of the first paper
has used in handling this subject.
The community that would conserve
underanged the child's instinct for
reality and truth and purity must
find some substitute for the excess
Isive use and abuse OF histrionic art.
The movies are much worse be-
cause cheaper and within the reach
of all. Seventy-fve per cent Of the
films should not be shown any day.
This business should not be per-
rlitted on Sunday. At this point at
least the state should limit the evil.
We do not urge this here on Christian
but on civic grounds. The civil Sab
bath was founded on certain princi-
pies and with q certain civic purpose.
First, men need rest. Fair play re-
qujres that when ones business is
required to close, another should not
take advantage of his closing to
make money out of it.
More and Retter Homes.
"a better Mankato morally means
more and better homes. In Mime
| sofa $4,000 men Of marriageable age
are unmarried leaving 224,000 women
| of marriageable age without a home.
1.-THE man who has wife and chill
dren and owns the house he lives in,
all things being equal, will take
greater interest in the moral welfare
Of the city than the transient, who
boasts that his home, is under his hat.
| Bat then If women with all their
| charms can not or will not induce
men to marry, what can be done
about it? l believe the one main
cause inhibiting their marital in
stinct is the cost of living and our
eXtravagant ideas of how we ought
to live
"Are there not enough of intelli-
gent, educated men in Mankato to
inaugurate movement for greater
| simplicity of living. Then, we ought
to employ married men in our busi-
ness and ipay them enough to keep
their wives and increase their sal
aries every time a baby is born
Mr.. Palmer incidentally observed
| that since he wrote his paper there
had been a moving picture prize
fight exhibition in Mankato. He
hoped this class of pictures would be
prohibited soon.
NJ. w. Deputy said something
should be done to provide wholesome
social opportunity for the Mankato
young people. The Social Science
club should take this matter up with
other clubs. He spoke Of the com
munity meeting that was to take
place at the normal school on Friday
night and he invited all the Social
Science club members TO attend.
w. D. Willard spoke of the need
OF physical director to direct the
play of the school children. In school
and colleges directors frequently
gave their time to the school teams,
and not to the physical welfare OF
the student body. Mr. Willard spoke
IOf 10 orlye, u
Fairgrounds were people could get at
them. He spoke of the recent heavy
increases in the school expenses, but
he said Mankato's school tax rate was
low compared with that of other
cities of Mankato's class.
Mankato Moral City, Says Preacher.
Rev. Edward Constant said Man
kato was on the whole more moral
icity than other cities OF Mankato's