The Washington times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1902-1939, 1923-04-01

1890 1SAAAAVLSIO1As
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sent upon the street to discover
those bent upon evil.
"But in spite Of all this
resolute warfare upon it, hui
man iniquity persisted, to the
amazement of the young chief
of police. And his discomfi-
ture was increased by the fact
that thieves took advantage Of
his devotion to the cause Of
purity to ply their business I'M
molested while the policemen
were hunting vice. Citizens
protested through the news
papers, seeming grossly to care
more for their goods and money
than for the moral cause, But
the young iGealist perscvered
in the face Of all threat and
criticism with the awful cour-
age that springs from a simple
faith"
This spasm Of moral idealism
was more or less general over
the country about that time,
but nowhere else did 1t assume
the importance 1t did in Wash
ington. It was a spectacle to
move the gods to mirth, but it
was serious business in Wash
ington, and its sequelae still
1inger.
But If Mr.. Ferguson gets
excited over this manifestation
of the asininity Of moral reform,
he is at his very best de-
scribing the war hysteria. In
a few pages he gives us the
whole hideous spectacle Of this
great moral nation lashing it.
self to a fighting frenzy:
"All over the country men began
shouting from stages, pulpits,
rostrums, platforms. Every little
man who yearned to stand up
before his fellows and make a
noise had found his opportunity.
The voices of the four-minute
men resounded in a thousand
halls The newspapers and maya
zines took up the cry. The war
was on. For some, it was a great
moral crusade, suddenly making
murder holy in the light of a
beautiful dream. But for many
it was a sudden release. 1t filled
the air with an exotic excitement
all must feel. Men who had never
kicked a cat lusted for the feel Of
weapons in their hands. Quiet
citizens Of good repute began buy
ing bootleg liquor and seducing
their stenographers. Dignified
married ladies dashed away from
home and children to make the
boys in khaki happy. Careful,
proper little girls, who had eau
tiously hunted husbands for years
suddenly flung themselves into
the arms of soldiers. A million
living images of God were shat
tered, and in their places stood
million two-legged mammals Of
wandering. lusting, fighting breed!
For a million victims of the dull
and complicated bondage known
as civilization life had suddenly
become joyful, savage, hot and
hazardous.
Everybody was coming to
Washington. Big Business, which
had always been content to oper-
ate the Government by political
proxy, now came to operate it in
person. Society, which had always
shifted at Washington, came to
see that Big Business had a good
time. The intellectuals came to
lay their brains at the feet of
Government. Novelists, poets,
and humorists wrote propaganda.
Socialists suddenly saw war as
a way to the millennium. Paci-
fists preached murder as the price
Of peace. Ecclesiastics wept for
blood in the name OF Jesus,
Everyone seemed a little mad, and
all the maddest came to Washing
ton"
Amid all this excitement Dolan
waxed fat and prosperous. He
like many others, got a safe desk
lob lin his caaa with the PoS