The Bottineau courant., 1922-02-09

Bar association he said that
contempt for law and the present revolt against
the spirit Of authority make this age emnently
"one Of sham and counterfeit" He rejected the
easy theory that these symptoms of grave mall
ady are merely reaction of the World war ar
from causing the moral sickness of the age saws
the solicitor general, the World war in itself,
perhaps, but one Of its many symptoms Some of
the contrlbutory causes Of the worlds disorder are
reluctance to obey laws regarded as unreasonable
or vexatious, the laws delays and laxity in ad-
ministration which have bred spirit of contempt
and the rampant indvidualism which began In the
Eighteenth century, with its excessive emphasis
on the rights of and small stress on mans
duties In proof Of his contention, Mr.. Beck in
stances the records Of the criminal courts and
police dockets; violations of the sumptuary laws
which In the case of the prohibition statute have
resulted In fines aggregating an estimate of more
than $3OOOOO,OOO; and ian increase in nine wears
OF nearly 400 per cent in the comparative mar
row sphere Of the federal criminal jurisdiction"
in the greater sphere Of social life we find
the same revolt against the Institutions which
have the sanction Of the past" says Mr. Beck.
Laws which mark the decent restraints of nrint
speech and dress have in recent decades been in
creasingly disregarded The very foundations of
the great apd primitive institutions of mankind
like the family. the church and the state-have
been shaken Nature itself Is defed. Thus the
fundamental difference of sex is disregarded nv
social and political movements which ignore the
permanent differentiation of social function or
dafned by God himself"
Five plaques affecting humanity, said the
pope last year in public utterance before the
College of Cardinals. The first Mr. Beck recalls
is the unprecedented challenge to authority; Sec
ond, hatred between man and man. third, alb
normal aversion to work; fourth the excessive
thirst for pleasure; fifth gross materialism which
denies the reality Of the spiritual In human life
these charges Law
recent experience
1t is, however, to a widespread change in social
conditions rather than to any change of mans es-
sentfal nature that the solicitor general attributes
the malady OF our time 1t seems to him that
the morale Of our industrial civilization has been
shattered. Work for works sake, as the most
glorious privilege Of human faculties, has gone
both as an ideal and as potent spirit The con-
ception of work a degrading servitude to he
done with reluctance and grudgng inefficiency.
seems to be the ideal Of millions of men of all
classes and In all countries"
The great enigma then which this sttuat;on
propounds to us, and which, "like the riddle of
the Sphinx, will solve be DESTROYED" ia this.
Has the increase In the potential Of human DOW
er. through thermodynamics, been accomplished by
corresponding increase in the potential of human
characterT Then Mr.. Beck goes on to say:
"A mass morality has been substituted for IN
dividual morality and group morality generally in
tensifies the vices more than the virtues of man.
What was true of Germany was true-althoueh
In lesser degree-of all civilized nations In all
OF them, the individual had been submerged In
group formations, and the effect upon the charac-
ter OF man has not been beneficial
There are many palliatives for the evils which
I have discussed. To rekndle In men the love of
work for works sake and the spirit of discipline
which the lost sense of human solidarity once In
Spdred would do much to solve the problem for
work is the greatest moral force in the world.
K we of this generation only recognize that
the evil exists, then the situation is not past rem.
edy. S@a. e
8ss II have faith In the inextinguishable spark Of
the Divine which fs In the human soul and which
our complex mechanical civilization has not
tinguished. OF this the World war was In Itself
u proof All the horrible resources OF mecfan-
les and chemistry were utilized to coerce the
human soul, and all proved Intellectual"
As everyone knows, law-abiding citizens I'm q
nnmber OF big American cities have been driven
BY conditions to organize law-enforcement conn
mittees--a fact which would seem to corroborate
Mr. Beck Denver Is the latest city to feel the
cessity of such an organization. The Indictment
against the city administration Is mildly expressed
by Mrs Mabel Steams Noble. executive secretary
cf the Woman's Cooperative league. who puts II
1hus: y.
Drunkenness immortality and gambling are our