The Rock Island Argus and daily union. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1920-1923, 1920-12-14

is a source Of perpetual ,s,o,,.,
ment to Europeans" he vrits Ua u,
no country in Europe, with n. "a
ception of Germany, is an ,,. ~. 9.
made to enforce standards - ~
duct which do not meet vim soa-
eral approval, or, at the hehs.ss gu.
what may be minority IN hi" U
particular code of behavior v;,ss;
the scope Of criminal ler,,l.., AVE-
With US, however, every .yes, .ss
its accretion to our sumptarv
1t suits the judgment Of soms ~,
the temper OF others to con,.s.
into crimes practices which NJ.
deem mischievous or uneh,ss'
They resort to law to SUNNY -.
deficiencies of other agepcis. w !,
social control. They attemn,
govern by means Of law th,,s.
which in their nature do not ADM,
OF objective treatment and exls,r
! al coercion. The views Of n,.
ticular groups Of people on ou0s
lions Of private conduct are m,s.
the legal requirements of the st,,s
We are surrounded by penal lay,
whose only purpose is to eniorr,
! by threat certain standards 4,
morality.
| Moral Laws
| Indeed, this presents Or q IA
strange anomalies Of Ameri,p
; life: with an intolerance NV
authority and an emphasis uua
individual rights more pronounced
perhaps, than in any other nation
/ We are, of all people. not even
excepting the Germans, Dr..
eminently addicted to the habit 0,
standardizing the lives and mora,
| Of our citizens. Nowhere in the
world is there SO great an anxiety
to place the regulation Of moral
affairs in the hands of the police
and nowhere are the police %
incapable OF carrying out such
regulations.
"Our concern, moreover. Is for
externals, for results that are
formal and apparent rather than
essential. We are less anxious
about preventing a man from Do.
ing wrong to others than in pre-.
venting him from doing what We
consider harm to himself. . We
attack symptoms, rather than
causes. and in doing so we create
a species of moralistic despotism
which overrides the private con-
science and destroys liberty where
liberty is most precious"
There is little anyone can add
to that paragraph, but Mr.. Fosdlck
q s on to describe some Of OUT
laws.
UnenfOrcible Laws.
"Often the laws are such 10 to
DEFY enforcement even if they bad
behind them a substantial body O
public opinion. Thus there Ea
laws against kissing, laws agaln;'
face powder and rouge, laws
against ear rings, laws regulating
the length of women's skirts, law
fixing the size Of hatpins. -. On'
would have to scan the ordinances
published by the Police Preslder
Of Berlin to find any paraned Y
the arbitrary regulations in resaf'
to private conduct with walel
American citizens are SURROUNDS
at is estimated that there q
on the average something like H.
900 statutes-Federal, state an
local-applicable to a given cl'y
To enforce them all -. Is =
course utterly impossible. VIII
1G times the number OF policsms
!, it could not be done"
i In a word, much of our law
the United States has become
. tissue OF absurdity, which grow
in both size and absurdity evu
wear. Personal liberty in lnI
country is impossible without Jaw
lessness. What we have produce
therefore, with all our laws Is "
. most lawless nation calling
, self civilized on earth.