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Show THE ARGUS. 2 The welfare of the city was imperiled, the reputation of the administration was at stake, excuses Zhc Hrgus. Issued Weekly by THE ARGUS PUBLISHING COnPANY. Entered at the Salt Lake City Postoffice as second-clas- s matter. SALT LAKE CITY, UTAH, APRIL 10, 1897. ...... TERTIS OP SUBSCRIPTION. the Ualted States, Canada or Mexico, one $1.50 year, postage paid England, Franca, Germany, and all countries embraced 2.00 in Universal Postal Union, one year, postage paid 2.00 . . Other Countries, one year, postage added . 2.00 By Carrier, or when not paid for m advance Postmasters sending subscriptions to The Akous may retain 25 per cent, of subscription price as commission. New Subscriptions may commence at any time during the year. Payment for The Abgcs, when sent by mail, should be made in a postoffice money order, bank draft, or an express money order. When neither of thebe can be procured, send the money in a registered letter. All postmasters are required to register letters whenever requested to do so. If the Paper is not desired beyond the date subscribed for the publishers should be notified by letter, two weeks or more before the term expires. Discontinuances Remember that the publishers must be notified by letter when a subscriber wishes his paper Btopped. All arrears must be paid. Requests of Subscribers to have their papers mailed to a new address, to secure attention, must mention former as well as present address. Address all communications to Any part of THE AROUS PUBLISHING COT1PANY, Salt Lake City, Utah. NOBLE WARRUM, - JR., - - Editor. The silver Democrats are sweep- ing the country in recent municipal Elections. elections. It looks like a warning to the administration. It shows that the silver cause is growing. McKinleys majority of twenty thousand in Cincinnati has been changed to a Democratic majority of about ten thousand. Ohio and Indiana towns and cities wheeled into the silver column with Democratic officials. Canton, McKinleys home city, went Democratic. Columbus, the capital of McKinleys State, elected a Democratic mayor against the heavy Republican majority of last November. In other places silver Republicans or silver Democrats were in the ascendancy. Carter H. Hariison, Democrat, was elected mayor of Chicago with a greater vote than that of his three opponents combined. The vote stood Harrison (Dem.), 147,278 ; Harlan (Citizens), G8, 203 ; Sears (Rep.), 59,005 ; Hesing (Iud.), 15,201. The Republicans failed to carry a single ward in the windy city. In St. Louis they won because of a division among the Democrats. These facts and figures are fraught with significance to party leaders and should not be overlooked by the present Th Recent Argus aii Right. Two weeks ago The Argus called attention to the indifferent manner in which the duties of the police depart- ment were being discharged during the temporary absence of Chief Paul. At that time the city was wide open, dens and dives were frequented by young boys, policy shops were gathering in the dimes and nickels of the passion for gambling was being nourished, seeds of im. morality were being sown in virgin soil, and the whole performance was going on right under the noses of policemen who could not or would not see the evil of it. The Argus demanded a reformation. Other journals directed public attention to the deplorable condition of municipal affairs, and in a very few days, after a stormy session of the Fire and Police Commission, it was announced that the department would undertake anew the discharge of its duties. Since then the policy shops have been closed and their stealing stopped . Minors are not permitted by the police to enter dens of infamy or gambling-hells- . And this was what The Argus asked. That it was complied with so promptly shows that the request was neither unreasonable nor untimely. A short, sharp turn was absolutely necessary for the good of all, except, possibly, ambitious reformers school-childre- n, for the existence of a reform league were being manufactured daily, and the police department was allowing troubles to accumulate for which it and the administration were bound in time to suffer. Instead of feeling offended at The Argus, the Mayor and every city official should feel grateful, as it has performed a service, not only to the public, but to them. Had it not been for this outcry pf the press the .present municipal government would hive felt t$e.fnll force of the 'xnoiaf'vvave which has been threatening to sweep - over the city like another Zuyder Zeeeying no trace or memory of those whose craft had-ndt.be-en launchedupbb it, For ages reformers, philanthropists and lawmakers have wrestled with vice. The gambler, the drunkard, the scarlet woman of the street, have furnished texts for a billion sermons. The reformation of these people has been one of the greatest problems of civilization. The extirpation of the evils they represent has been the cause of twenty thousand crusades and twenty centuries of earnest but misguided effort. Lives have been consecrated to the work ; millions of money and years of time have been given by individuals ; the rich mans portion and the widows mite have been laid upon the altar ; and abnegation have been the sweet of charity whose purity has lighted up the haunts of degradation and pointed out the pathway to a better, brighter, holier, happier life. But for all that the evils still exist. They have outgrown Pandoras box, and it is useless to try to crowd them back. Every city of importance has its open dramshops or its secret cellars, its gilded palaces of iniquity or its hidden houses of assignation, its attics. The gambling hells or its work of the reformer has invariably come to naught, not because humanity is altogether beyond redemption, but for the simple reason that reformers, as a rule, have been idealists and extremists who have undertaken at once to cleanse the river at its mouth, instead of carefully beginning at its source. They seemingly proceed upon the theory that profligacy and lewdness are temporary evils to be eradicated by the concerted action of those who constitute what is termed the better element in society and politics. But there is where they blunder. Abnormal appetites are often hereditary. The passion for gambling is an inherent weakness of man. Lust is a birthmark. The only way to destroy these propensities is to change the nature and disposition of the descendants of Adam. The only way to effect this change is to pay more attention to the children and waste less time in the slums. Reform, like charity, should begin at home, and its energy would best be expended there. It is the duty of fathers and mothers to keep their children from evil and contaminating influences it is too often the case that boys and girls wander from the path of rectitude because parents are absent washing some one elses soiled linen. Reforms of this kind are not accomplished by religious or political crusades, but by the watchful care, the patient training, and the moral education of children. Therefore The Argus contends that the only immediate way to meet the issue is by regulation and control, by concentration and restriction of those evils which are bound to exist in some form or other in a city the size of this. self-sacrifi- ce twin-sister- s well-know- n skin-gam- e miliar with darkest Salt Lake. But how can one become a real reformer without becoming thoroughly acquainted with the evils of which he complains? It was thought necessary for Farkhurst to take in Gotham by gaslight, and slumming has come to be regarded as one of the legitimate methods of a reformer. In a public speech delivered at the Fire and Police Board meeting the other night City Attorney McKay is reported to have said : Why, that big house on Commercial street was virtually opened under the auspices of this board. It never would have opened if there had not been some assurance that it 0 would have been allowed to remain. It cost to fix it up. It is running now, and is a burning disgrace to the city. I realize the fact that there are many houses of that character run, scattered about in various places. But to think that a place like that should be opened. I dont wonder that they have a municipal league. A short time ago the woman that keeps that place flooded the town with invitations to a grand opening ball. I happened to get one. I called the attention of this board to the matter. $15,-00- Rev. F. C. Lockwood, who made his debut in Salt Lake City as a municipal reformer some time ago, startled hia congregation again last Evidence comes from a Sunday by saying: most reliable quarter that when the famous and infamous palace upon Commercial street waa to be opened which according to the undisputed testimony of the City Attorney was furnished at an expense of $15,000, with the approval of the police officers five hundred invitations were is- sued, scores of these to boys under 18, requesting their presence from 8 in the evening to 4 in the morning. Rev. B. F. Clay devoted his sermon Sunday morning to an expose of the wickedness in Zion. In order to demonstrate clearly that he knew whereof he spake he asked the following pertinent questions : Who owns and runs this city? Do those six gambling-house- s that the police admit exist here? Do these saloons that so persist? ently violate the law against Does that hotel on Commercial street, that sent out its five hundred invitations to the young bloods of the city to come to its opening? That virtuous female at the head of this house when told that her business had been condemned by the ministers of the city, said : Let the preachers be damned ! I ask again, do these people own this city? or who do they own and control? Sunday-opening- high-tone- d 1 polit-Free- C j It is refreshing to hear preachers talk plainly and call things by their proper names. There is nothing to be gained by mysterious allusions to facts and conditions. Secrecy is not always the best policy. Prudery is not modesty, nor privacy the infallible evidence of refinement. If preachers desire to talk of social evils it is a suspicious circumstance to see them beating about the bush. But there is some excuse for newspa- pers printing the news when new preaching enters the channel of new journalism, and congrega- tions are enlightened of a Sabbath morning concerning the character and location of the principal brothels of the city. Those who endorse an active crusade from the pulpit against vice should never complain of newspaper publicity nor peti-tioeditors to cleanse their columns of objectionable news. The Argus is inclined to believe that these houses of actually exist, but what are the ministers going to do about it? This talk of closing them up and stamping out the iniquity is all rot. It cant be done. It never has been done in a city of this size and, until there is a de- outYn Meeting. well-know- n 1 n ill-fam- This discussion of social and ical evils and reforms has developed Advertising:. at some of our pious officjJ6 facfc ials and officious preachers are astonishingly fa j e ' i j ' ; i ; |