Evening Republican, Volume 14, Number 99, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 26 April 1910 — EDITORIALS [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

EDITORIALS

Opinions of Great Papers on Important Subjects.

AS TO THE KIND 07 ▲ WIFE. PREACHER by the name of Coburn, holdA forth In a'Presbyterian church In Pittsburg, seems to be fathering a dangerous _____ doctrine when he says that “any kind of 3SB3E a wife for a young man is better than sSctiWV none.” Thoughtful would think twice before subscribing to it. Any kind of a wife is no kind of a wife if she is not a proper help-meet. It is the haste with which a great many young men go about getting “any kind of a wife” that leads so many of them into the divorce court. StUl the worthy man of cloth was not very far wrong on some other things he said of matrimony. Here is a partial report of his reply to the excuse of a young man that <he could n'ot afford to marry: No, you cannot afford a wife, but you can go to the theater and club. You are too selfish to make any woman happy, and no good woman can afford to be betrothed to you. The bachelors are not saving money, but a good wife pays her own way and they are the best bankß and the best police force, for no handcuffs can hold a young man like apron strings. Any kind of a wife is better than none, and a scarcity of weddings is one of the most dangerous signs of the times. Today 1,000,000 young women are filling clerical positions at low salaries, which were filled by men thirty years ago. Every young man ought to be compelled by law to get married or pay to the State annually what' it would Cost to keep'a wife. Annual forfeiture of the cost of keeping a wife may be all right, but how would the amount be fixed? The parson's idea might be amended, with advantage in many cases, by making the tax or forfeiture a sum equivalent to the annual cost of the bachelor’s drinks and cigars.—Sacramento Bee. THE CENSUS AND THE WITNESS. ■*■■■■■% HAT percentage of the census statistics will Wbe valueless because of the great American proneness to boast? We wish some one would figure this out and give us a formusv»yupr la which, when applied to the government reports, wi\l permit the student to arrive at exact facts. Consider some of these questions: How old are you? It is the custom to joke about the objection of women to stating their age. If the truth were known it would probably be found that most men will subtract a few years, particularly if they, themselves, are shifting Into luat period known as middle-aged. Are you single, or married? Old maids who have not ceased to struggle, as the Georgians express it, may let Imagination rule

them If the enumerators are strangers, and there are men who will ‘‘decline to answer on the advice of attorney.” What is your occupation? The temptation to let fancy sweep skyward will be great, indeed, to Americans. Are you employed or employer? That weakness for boasting will get the better of thousands at this point. Do you own or rent your home? Desire may give the answer. Any mortgage? It is unpleasant to talk about things of this sort. How easy to say no, lest the next question be, how much? —Toledo Blade. GRIME IS CRIME—NOT. DISEASE. HER million of population, the number of felonious homicides in 1909 was as follows: In Canada, 3; Germany, 6; England, 11; France, 13; Belgium, the moet criminal country in Europe, 15; in the United States, 129. Owing to lax enforcement of law, and the m:staken policy of giving the criminal too many chances for escaping the penalty of his crindc, only one out of seventy-four murderers in the United Stat*3 is convicted. Political and personal influence and the maudlin sentiment that regards crime as disease and a murderer as a sick man to be cured, instead of a dangerous beast to be exterminated, permit the average man killer in to escape with seven years in, prison. Crime is crime. The murderer is a murderer. The sooner Aipdrtcan prisons cease to be pleasant sanitariums for mental abnormals and become institutions, for punishment of, criminals by hard work and rigid discipline, the better for our national reputation.—Chicago Journal. FIGHT THE HOUSE FEY. HEN the common housefly begins to thrive Wf in the land it behooves every good housekeeper to make preparations to war on tmml^m these little pests. Typhoid and many g*lfjyggS other diseases are distributed by flies. which pick up large assortments of dangerous germs in dirty places.- and carry them into houses and stores, depositing them frequently upon food, by which they are taken into the human stomach. See that windows are properly screened. Provide a receptacle where bread, meat, milk and other foods are protected froip flies. See that filth does not -accumulate about your premises. Interest yourself in keeping alleys and streets clehn. You can thus perform valuable service, not only for your own family, but for the community.—Chicago Journal.