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feflfS X&fyf&iA0i JjKM1' m DDES IT PAY TO PEACH ON. YOURSELF? Editor's Note. The experience of Councilman William Burke, of Philadelphia furnishes a striking example of the difficulty of a criminal getting back to the straight, and narrow path. He was elected to the council on a "reform ticket." After a period of faith ful public service and exemplary private life, he suddenly resigned his office last week and confessed to a long criminal career, includ ing a atvcu jrcaio icnu m wic luaaadcuuacua sicitc prisuu. jfxc was impoverished and driven to the revelation by pitiless blackmail on the part of a former convict, who threatened to expose him. Do we really feel as we think we feel when we Tead the story of the greatest character of all fiction Jean Valjean, the escaped convict in Victor Hugo's masterpiece, "Les Miserables?" It is said of Laurence Sterne he shed tears over 'a dead ass, but was callous to the sufferings of a living mother. Are we a nation of Sternes who shed tears over the sbrrows of an imaginary Jean Val jean, and send back to "hell, as he calls the outcast's life, a real1 jean Valjean in the person of Alderman William Burke of Phila delphia? ; ' Burke was, born a gutter-snipe 'and knew neither fathef nore mother. He became a thief, as you or I prpbably would have done under the circumstances. Because of his natural ability which would have made him a success in any other calling he became 'what the underworld calls "a goad thief." He was unvaringly sue-' cessful until he became a drug fiend, and then he was caught, be cause, as he says, a dope fiend "hasn't nerve enough to steal unless he has the stuff in him, and then he has no brains." He served seven yeaVs in state's jprison. He broke himself of the drug habit. Would you or I have done that? He thought out his life task and resolved to live a straight life when he got out. And he made good on his resolves. Would you or I have done that? He saved a 'little money while working at his trade of wood ' finisher after he left prison with a suit of clothes and five dollars. Would you or tfhave $6he that? ' He wqn the respect of his neighbors. He went info business and made some money. He married a respectable girl and has a . child. He was a good speaker and helped to carry Philadelphia for the reform ticket which broke th'e hold of the old gang on that town. And now, he has sent in his resignation, with a full statement of the tragic facts of his life, He took it for granted that he would tfe execrated as soon as the people found outhis secret. He intends jjgitthSitiifoj tfiiiifi iliiQi i a