Newspaper Page Text
It- 4 THE WESTERN WEEKLY
B THE WESTERN WEEKLY
Wm, , '"u'd b" TRUTH PUBUSHING CO.. 37-38.39-40 Commercial Block, Salt Lake City. Utah
IK J H GARRETT. Manager PARLEY P. JENSON, Editor
B . Entered June 19. 1903. at Salt Lake City. Utah, ai tecond-claii matter
IR MviB???nIPTION Pm.9. 1"olu1ne postapB n the United States. Canada and
Mmi tr1 ?iM?i2.iPernyc?ri .V-?0 f0.r,lx 'no-.:.. Subscriptions to all foreign coun-
K tries within tho Postal Union, $3.5" er year.
. Single Copies 6 cents.
K .i,.ni!.q.'is.58 of ""bscribers to nave their paper mailed to a new address, to se-
lli curo attention, must mentlo- former as woll as present address.
r Address all communications to
11 r o nox res Truth Publishi"S Company
Myti i . o. iiox l-fli Telephones: 4321 Dell, 10.M liul
IIL Editorial
l
1 - OUR MORAL CRUSADE.
II Jcss said, "Let he who is without siti cast the first stone."
II Victor Hugo said, "When you hear many people loudly and
II vigorously protesting against any certain crime in a community it
II is a indication that the many are guilty and arc trying to detract
H attention from themselves and concentrate it on someone else."
IS TIlc f'rst quotation is from the Divine Son of Man, the second
l ' is from a divinely inspired son of man.
II yti In Salt Lake City just now a moral wave is sweeping over the
I Iaml '" tllc so-called red light district is being purged ; the unfortunate
H antl falIcn women who inhabit that territory are being pursued and
k driven from their usual haunts. We try to keep ourselves fairly
well posted with all phases of modern society. There are some
things in the existing order of communities that are unjust, that
arc even iniquitous. We believe in virtue and morals but we some-
times have our doubts about the sincerity of certain reformers. In
our time we have vigorously protested against the professional re-
former; we have vehemently declared our opposition to the man who
posed and made a profession of being good, but in this 20th century
civilization of ours there are certain conditions existing that are per-
mittcd to prevail under the existing order of things that are-jiot sat-
' isfactory, in fact there are problems confronting the body politic
H today that eventually must be solved. It is customary with Ameri
m can poltical parties to steer clear of any social questions but sooner
or, Iatcr thcsc social questions are the issues that must be met and
H solved by men on earth.
During the last few days a crusade has been made against the
' unfortunate women of the city, and they have been arrested and
H jailed. Much space in the daily newspapers has been devoted to this
recent moral wave. For a number of years in this city, and from
i, t:'nes immemorial in the history of the evolution of man, this burden
i f solving the social evil has been an issue to which thinkers, stu
H dents, statesmen, (not politicians) have devoted much attention.
H ,." .th.ls City spasmodic efforts have been made to rid the town
H ol this iniquitous, degrading phase of society but it has been tolcrat
H cd, and this city has accepted revenue from the unfortunate, unhappy
H individuals who have inhabited the red light district. The accepting
H of this revenue has not been confined to any one party. The Repub
H beans, the Democrats, the Americans, all have been equally guilty
H in taking blood money from these poor creatures who have offered
M their bodies for sale on the streets of this city. We have wondered
M and we have marveled at the existence of this evil under the protec
M tion of the public servants and now that this latest moral wave pcr
H vades the atmosphere we have asked the question of politicians in
H all of the parties if there was a political significance to this latest
H frenzied moral out-pouring of fervid devotion to purity. The Rcpub
H licans have -ssurcd us that there is no political significance whatso
H ever to this matter; the Democrats have said, "So far as we arc con
H cerned we arc not interested politically at all," and the American
H party vigorously insists that they are not concerned in this crusade
H and we take it that all these parties arc absolutely right.
H There is no political significance or importance to be attached
H to this question because as long as men have kept history there is
H never one instance recorded of where any political party or set of
H men have gained prestige, place or position, by fighting that creation
H of cvihzation; that child of modern communities; that disgraceful
M fruit, born, fostered and bred by the selfish animal instincts of mod-
M em civilization, the harlot.
H " f.irst thought some shallow minded individuals may be cn-
H thused with the crusade against these unhappy, unfortunate:outcasts
H of society, whose lives .arc crowned with unhappincss and misery,
H whose cup of bitterness is filled to overflowing, b-it when' we reach
M our normal senses we arc not in sympathy with the superfluous, su-
M perficial, grandstand crusade against these poor hopeless creatures.
A large number of these unlucky females have been arte ici
during the last few days by strong men and made prisoners m ie
jails of this community. The records show that after their ai..,
hension and detention they were searched and some of them c ' i
the munificent sum of ten cents on their person as all their can.!) v
holdings, others had even less and few had more.
Now if there is to be a moral crusade, if there is to be a den .
ing out of this ulcerous, putrid sore on the body politic we pi
amen to it. But after Jesus Christ came to earth to represent i'u
Christian God and speak for him, and after the Mormons who claim
to be inspired of God to build a Zion in the Rocky Mountains sr
tied here let us at least be decent and civilized and clean and con
sistcnt in cleansing and purifying society of the social evil. Let us
not take the victims, the sufferers, the unhappy and unholy individ
uals who are at the bottom of the ladder and thrust them off the last
round. Let us rather act it in a Christian, brotherlikc manner, let 'us
help them, let us do something for them.
They arc not plying their unhappy trade because they enjoy it.
they are doing that thing because society is willing to pay them for
their bodies. Many of them arc doing it to keep from starvation. If
there is to be a mon-U crusade, if there is to be a purification here in
Zion let us start by jailing, arresting and fining and making public
examples of the selfish aggrandizing opulent property owners who
have waxed fat and prosperous by renting at outrageously high prices
their property, their hovels, their holes to these degenerates who have
been made so by prosperous, prominent civilized Christian men.
There are men whose names are written high on the scrolls of
the churches, there are men who occupy pews in the religious sanc
tuaries, that have religiously collected the blood money from the
prostitutes whom we arc now, in a frenzy of political madness, try
ing to thrust down to the furthermost depths of degradation
We do not justify the existence of this evil but we do think that
if it is to be cured, if it is to be remedied, if society is to be purged
of it we must start not with the effect of the condition, but we must
come to the cause of it, and the cause lies in that innate, inornate,
greedy desire for gain on the part of men
Let us punish the men who have profited.
The women have suffered enough.
These words of ours may avail nothing, but we will have had
the satisfaction of putting ourselves on record as against this hypoc
risy on the part of certain individual's who short-sightedly expect to
ride themselves into place and fame on the backs of the prostitutes.
Was a man or a woman ever made virtuous and moral by beinsr
thrust into jail?
Was society ever benefited by making a criminal out of an out
cast? This great social question must eventually be solved but it must
be solved in an enlightened and in a Christian-like manner for we'
have now before us but the result of the seeds society has sown.
TAKE YOUR CHOICE.
Some Democrats insist that the Mormon church owns and con
trols the Republican party and backs its candidates. Of course if
this were true it would be a crime, a constitutional crime, but other
Democrats think that this is merely an argument used by some -
Democrats to further the interests of the Republican party.
Ihc Republican party on the other hand insist that the Demo- 1
cratic party is owned and controlled and inspired by the anti-Mormons
or the American party. Then the American party again claims
that both the Democratic and Republican parties arc owned and
controlled and are subservient to the dominant church in this state.
We gather these impressions merely from reading the papers
of these various parties.
Now you can take your choice about this matter but rest as-"-sured
that whichever side you take, "You will be damned if you do
and you will be damned if you don't."
BOOSTING AS USUAL.
This community is probably pestered, cursed and burdened more
with quarreling, quibbling, blackmailing, backbiting blatherskites on
the editorial columns of the different daily newspapers than any other
city in the world. If one man ha- a quarrel with another man or,
it there is a disagreement in a family there is nothing more distress
ing or disgusting than to have this dissembling paraded before the
public, who have troubles of their own, and yet the papers of this
city think that their own, personal, petty, bigotcds narrowminded,
contrary, pigheaded ideas should be exploited day after day for thai
delectation of the weary, heartsick public. Society progresses slow
ly but some day we arc going to out-grow this thing and those in
dividuals who preach and quibble and quarrel and air their nauseat
ing ideas, the ideas of their masters, arc going to cease to exist and
the sooner they do the more thankful the community will be.
