Many of us feel that crime is the striking feature of modern
life, that this century sits among the skulls of crime's victims,
and that Father Time, after all his ages of travel, sees no
improvement.
But those discouraged by modern crime misunderstand the meaning
of events and fail to make a just comparison between the past and
the present.
It is true that crime to-day is shocking in its frequency. Each
day we see spread out before us murders.
But first of all remember this:
We often mistake widespread NEWS of crime for increase in crime
itself. The newspapers are multiplied in number by tens of
thousands, and they all tell what happens. It seems as though
crime had increased, whereas in reality we have simply increased
facilities for letting all the people know what goes on among us.
----
We are shocked occasionally by crimes of poisoning. Go back a
few centuries and you find men and women making a regular
business of selling poison to those who want to commit murder.
The crimes that fill us with horror would not have been noticed
in those days.
We hear of a father killing his own child, and we declare that
humanity is going to destruction. Yet but a few centuries back
and THE LAW RECOGNIZED EVERY FATHER'S RIGHT TO KILL HIS CHILD IF
HE CHOSE.
We shudder when we hear that a mother has exposed a new-born
child on a doorstep or thrown it into an ash barrel. That is a
horrid and unbelievable crime.
But in Rome, before the days of Christianity, there were
appointed places where mothers might legally expose their
children to destruction. The wild beasts or dogs ate the
children thus exposed, and no one was shocked. Whoever might
care to take such an exposed child could keep that child for a
slave forever. That kind of crime we have outgrown certainly.
The Presbyterian teaching of infant damnation seems to us
horrible. We shudder at the statement that God would condemn a
helpless baby to eternal punishment simply because it had not
been baptized. The idea seems cruel now. But it was invented by
the well-meaning early Christians in order to make women give up
the legal practice of infanticide. The mother was made to
believe that her unbaptized child went to hell, and that she must
follow later on for not having had it baptized. Thus women were
afraid to expose their children secretly, and infanticide was
stamped out by a Christian doctrine which now seems so brutal.
----
And note one thing above all: Crime still lingers among us. But
it is now LABELED AS CRIME. We no longer have horrible crimes
sanctioned by law.
We read that a criminal has tortured some old man or woman for
money--and then murdered the victim. We can scarcely believe in
such atrocity. But only a little while ago--barely two
centuries-- IT WAS THE REGULAR LEGAL CUSTOM TO TORTURE OLD
PEOPLE AND YOUNG.
Poor old women, falsely accused of witchcraft, were burned alive
and ducked in this country, while clergymen and magistrates
looked on and applauded.
All over Europe innocent witnesses could be tortured to make them
give testimony at a trial.
Men accused of no crime whatever were tortured to make them give
testimony against others--often when they had no testimony to
give. They were hung up by the thumbs, the bones of their legs
were crushed in a boot of steel, the soles of the feet were
roasted over a brazier of red-hot coals--to make them help
convict another.
The noble leaders of the French Revolution abolished such torture
of witnesses in France, and they were criticised for doing so by
the respectabilities.
"How are you going to convict criminals if you do not torture
witnesses?" the respectable element asked. We have got beyond
that state of affairs. We hear of murders based on jealousy--
perverted affection. We hear of crimes based on envy--perverted
ambition. All of the best elements in man, when perverted and
thwarted, lead to crime.
And these perverted passions will continue to breed crime until
men shall have learned to regulate society on a basis that will
give full and natural play to the forces within us. But
organized murder on a really vast scale is practically done away
with.
Caesar, Alexander, Napoleon and others like them had great
ambition. To gratify their ambitions they forced millions of men
to die for them.
Human beings have protected themselves against the murderous
ambitions of their great leaders.
The Napoleon of to-day must get a Congress to give him his
soldiers.
Public opinion, the ballot and financial science have pulled the
teeth of the greatest instrument of crime--the conquering army of
ambition.
It is horrible to witness the assassination of a national leader.
The murder of McKinley or Carnot makes republican hopes seem
chimerical.
But it must be remembered that not so long ago the head of a
government who ESCAPED assassination was the exception. A few
centuries back, and murder was the natural end of the average
ruler. ----
Murder results first from control of the brain by animal
passions. Almost every animal is a murderer, and at stated times
murders its own kind. Primitive man is always murderous. Murder
results, in the second place, from misdirected forces within us.
Crime will diminish through education, as the mind takes control
of us, and through society better organized, which shall give men
a chance to develop normally. Thanks to education and to
improving social conditions, crime is disappearing, NOT
increasing. Even our despondency is comforting. It proves that
we have progressed so far as to be horrified at that which we
should have taken for granted a few centuries back.
THE VALUE OF POVERTY TO THE WORLD
ASK YOUR FRIEND WHAT HE WOULD DO IF HE HAD A MILLION
A majority of men long for a great deal of money.
Each man will tell you that he is struggling along in uncongenial
employment; that if he had his way his life would be arranged
very differently.
Put to any friend this question:
"What would you do if you had a million dollars?"
You will learn that, first of all, he would get rid of the useful
daily plodding that occupies him. Instead of living to work he
would live to enjoy himself.
A majority of men are usefully employed because they must work to
live.
If we all had our way we should do as we chose, and there would
be no progress. Fortunately, the wisdom of Providence keeps the
great majority of men poor and usefully busy. ----
This writer asked an able business man, who manages the material
success of a great newspaper, what he would do if he had a
million dollars. He replied without hesitation: "I would go
abroad and spend the rest of my life collecting artistic things
and enjoying them."
By his newspaper work, which helps to disseminate truth and to
fight privilege, this man renders the greatest possible service
to the world. He is head of the commissariat department of an
army of righteousness. How fortunate that he cannot abandon his
useful work to collect artistic trash that would only make him
useless and enrich a few unscrupulous dealers! ----
Joseph Jefferson as an actor has done great good for the world.
He has filled hundreds of thousands of young and old hearts with
kindly sympathy. He has set a good example to all the actors of
the world. He is truly a public benefactor.
If Joseph Jefferson had had a great fortune he would have spent
his life painting pictures, for he believes that he was meant to
be a painter.
He was not meant to be a painter; if his life had been devoted to
painting it would have been wasted.
How lucky that he was not rich enough to be able to waste his
life! ----
Often the world marvels that the sons of great and successful men
accomplish so little.
The world is foolish. It should marvel that the sons of the rich
accomplish anything at all.
For genius has truly been called the capacity to take infinite
pains. It is the splendid fruit that grows on the tree of HARD
WORK.
Infinite pains and hard work are distasteful to human beings.
They are avoided by those who can avoid them. It is lucky for
the world that the number of those who can shirk is limited.
----
Dryden tells you in four lines what the actual man would amount
to if he had his way.
"My next desire is, void of care and strife,
To lead a soft, secure, inglorious life.
A country cottage near a crystal flood,
A winding valley and a lofty wood."
Every man who could afford it would live for himself, to indulge
some useless little tenth-rate part of his brain activity. ----
The world progresses because the wisdom of the universe compels
every man to work directly or indirectly for every other man.
If we had our way, if hard necessity did not compel us to do the
disagreeable work for which we are fitted, we should all live for
ourselves; we should all be mere human sponges, absorbing
personal gratification--the progress of the human race would
stop.
Let this fact console you when you contemplate with bitterness
the few who accumulate great fortunes.
You are a disappointed drop in a great ocean of useful human
beings. The interest of the whole ocean demands that you and the
vast majority of all other drops should fail to get what you
crave--