Show THE TENDENCY OF THE TIMES wic WB have made several references to the increase of crime in the united states during the past thirty years as disclosed by official reports of prisons and penitentiaries aries and commented upon by the press an article on this subject from the pen of mr george georg e B R stetson of massachusetts is receiving some attention and we make from it the following extract it appears from the census that in massachusetts the native criminal population lation has more than doubled in the thirty years from 1850 to 1880 in 1850 with a native population of there were native prisoners or one in each 1267 in 1880 in a native population of there were 2175 native prisoners or one in each in 1883 one person of each 29 of the population was arrested for crime or taking five to a family there was one arrest to every six aft families in hampden county where the population has increased IW per cent the criminal population lation of the house of pou correction has increased per percent cent in the period from 1863 to 1883 offenses against public order and decency are increasing very much faster than the population the ratio of divorced has increased Increase dif from rom 1 to in 1863 to I 1 in 1537 in 1880 the population increased in those years 37 per cent the ratio of divorced persons percent per cent from 1873 to 1882 the proportion of divorces tor for adultery and desertion was 79 per cent it is not found that easy divorce keeps related vices in check as convictions for crimes resulting from such aloes have greatly increased in the past 20 years in 1863 the ratio of divorces to marriages was I 1 to 52 5 in 1882 2 1 to 34 3 these figures are very significant they tell a a tale of moral decadence which badly for the boasted fountain of intelligence and christian civilization in a this country massachusetts chu claims to be at the head of the states for education patriotism and progress and boston to be the very nub hub of the wheel of culture and refinement there are no people who affect a greater horror of the social system of the mormons cormons Mor mons than the Peck sniffs of massachusetts ary any departure from the bt raight road of propriety ou on the part of a person person claiming to be a mormon is set down as an illustration of the effects of polygamy evils that are direct violations of the principles of our church are proclaimed as the natural result of its teachings if massachusetts were hudgdon judge Judg don I 1 its is own statistics by the rule adopted I 1 in relation to utah what a crushing blow would be given to its own system of faith and morality I 1 by their fruits ye shall hall know them is an excellent ru rule e by which to test the creeds of men but the corrupt acts of a few individuals in ia opposition to the spirit and letter of the creed which they profess Is no fair criterion of its merits yet this is the guage applied by the opponents of mor imor monism but utterly rejected when returned f for or home application if the improper acts of a very few persons are to be viewed as evidence of the tendency of a system what may not be justly inferred from the rapid increase of the ratio of crime in a state like massachusetts where all t the P powers and influences of modern christianity tty have ample sway the character of the criminal increase is worthy of grave consideration as well as its volume violations of public order and decency are common marital infidelity and sexual vices are among the principal moral disorders of the state which poses before the country as the ne plus ultra commonwealth bommon wealth with a standing virtual proclamation of 1 I am holler holier than thou it is the tendency of the times this is an evil and adulterous gerie generation ration its spirit is manifest in tile the inability of men and women to comprehend how plural marriage can be entered into by either sex with virtuous motives the 1 true sanctity of the marriage relation is grasped by but a lew few and is predicated as the mainspring and object of plural marriage because it lies at the very root of the prevailing ailin 9 custom society in other places besides massachusetts looks on complacently and has no word of censure tor for the man or woman who has cast off one spouse to marry another even if the spurious polygamous process has been several times time ae repeated P but would be startled into lirt virtuous uy hysterics hysterics at the very thought that one of its members had two wives ivvle and at the same time and yet plural marriage is biblical while putting away Is ia forbidden in scripture and the bible in ill theory ts s held up as aa the standard of faith and mor alsand money is spent by the hundreds of thousands to circulate it throughout the country and in nations afar off mr bletson adduces other evidence t to 0 substantiate the statement that whichever way we turn we find positive indications of an increasing laxity amity in public and private morals of we weakening of the moral sense and the decline in the habits of virtue candid men and women who have traveled and mingled with the world know and are ready to admit that this is no unfounded assertion A looseness of principle and a laxity of moral restraint are to be perceived by all who move among the people of this country with their eyes and their ears open these are partly the effects of the prevailing system of godless education the culture of the intellect without the development bof thel moral and spiritual faculties mere khow knowledge ledge is not an antidote 0 to o crime the heart must be cultivated as well as the brain the innermost feelings of the soul must be reached and the influences of pure religion which alone can touch the secret spring human action must have opportunity port unity for free exercise or the race will go down not perhaps into savagery ry and barbarism but to a selfish and immoral condition of individualism and aversion to control in which every man for himself will be the matto motto and the restraints of faith in divine retribution will be cast to the winds and ridiculed as superstition the statistics of crime in this country are fragments that show the trend of the tide in utah they demonstrate the fact that the anti mor imor mon minority furnish most of the criminal element that there are scions of mormon stock that go to the bad is true but it is a fact that the increase of thin feature of evil idour in our community is correlative with the influx of anti mormon population and largely due to its influence and example the IMor mormon moal system if left to carry out its own mission unimpeded would produce far better results than at present for it tea teaches hes a pure morality as martof part of its theological doctrine and discipline and contains within it a spirit and power which tend to the cultivation of the higher nature and to curb those impulses that lead to the evils that afflict the world and are inci increasing easing with an alarming ratio not only in massachusetts but in every part of boasting christendom the fhe spirit of the lord is being withdrawn from the nations and that which be the very means of their redemption demp tion they are turning upon with fury as though determined to obliterate it from tile the earth |