of both sexes, drinking with the greatest eagerness at this exhaustless river of conta mination. Such then is the evil, such the problem that confronts us. Concerning the remedy, of course, different minds will differ as to details. But as to the main point, no latitude exists for difference of opinion among well-disposed persons. Certain it is, that this court was never intended to supply the place of the Roman circus or the gladia torial shows. With little or no hesitation, therefore, the writer contends that all such tribunals should be closed to the public. Only those directly interested in the prisoner at bar should be admitted, and these only on the presentation of a ticket to be procured from the office of the State's Attorney, or from some reputable, responsible person. Having thus deprived this hydra of one of his many heads, we devote our attention to another, — the report of criminal proceed ings in the secular press. The detrimental influence upon the reader of these detailed statements of the most revolting offences can scarcely be calculated. Those dailies that offend in this particular attempt to jus tify their conduct on the ground, however, that these items make a paper spicy, and they further allege that people like a paper containing "newsy" articles of this descrip tion. That such assertion is partially true, cannot be successfully denied; that it is absolutely veracious, few will admit, for all right-thinking persons agree in expressing intense disgust and disapprobation when this vile stuff is spread before them as news. The press has been inhibited by law from publishing details of executions, and it seems that this prohibition might be extended in many other respects to the pronounced ad vantage of the populace. It is a matter of common notoriety that the reading of many persons is confined exclusively to the news paper. Its opinions, therefore, become their opinions. Their memories are simply store houses for its statements. And if the wel
fare of a state really depend upon the moral qualities of its citizens, then it surely be hooves the public authorities and lawmakers to be very careful what is spread before the public, for now, as always, ' as a man thinketh, so he is.' Reference is made at this time to papers usually styled reputable. For journals, papers, and magazines of the Police Gazette stamp, which contain nothing except unadulterated vileness, there seems to be no excuse whatever for tolerating either their existence or sale. On the other hand, rea sons, both valid and cogent, exist for their absolute suppression under suitable pen alties. Another count in the indictment against such publications is that they constitute an even more effective educator in crime than does the criminal tribunal itself. The num ber of persons who can crowd into a court room is, of course, restricted by the space available. But no such limitations are im posed upon the press. Newspapers find their way into thousands of homes, — the best in common with the most degraded. In the columns of such, the embryonic criminal often finds a competent instructor. Here he frequently reads of the commission of atrocious crimes. He instantly perceives what errors caused the detection of the cul prit. He sees also the weak points in the efforts of the perpetrator to escape the just punishment of his deed. When he is in a similar position, he determines, therefore, to avoid such fatal mistakes. At last, his time does come. Then the designs thus formed are carried into execution, and frequently, in consequence, the efforts of the police to apprehend the offender are utterly futile. A corrupt press and public criminal proceedings have produced their legitimate progeny, •— a race of criminals, a frustration of justice. And thus is fulfilled in our day and genera tion the saying that is written, " He that soweth to the wind shall for a harvest reap the whirlwind."
