The Supreme Crime Of The Church To-day

The Old Wanderlust Had Gotten Into His Blood, The Joy Of The Unbound Life, The Joy Of Seeking, Of Hoping Without Limit.

Into This Wild-beast Tangle These Men Had Been Born Without Their Consent, They Had Taken Part In It Because They Could Not Help It; That They Were In Jail Was No Disgrace To Them, For The Game Had Never Been Fair, The Dice Were Loaded. They Were Swindlers And Thieves Of Pennies And Dimes, And They Had Been Trapped And Put Out Of The Way By The Swindlers And Thieves Of Millions Of Dollars.

It Was All So Very Businesslike That One Watched It Fascinated. It Was Pork-making By Machinery, Pork-making By Applied Mathematics. And Yet Somehow The Most Matter-of-fact Person Could Not Help Thinking Of The Hogs; They Were So Innocent, They Came So Very Trustingly; And They Were So Very Human In Their Protests - And So Perfectly Within Their Rights! They Had Done Nothing To Deserve It; And It Was Adding Insult To Injury, As The Thing Was Done Here, Swinging Them Up In This Cold-blooded, Impersonal Way, Without Pretence At Apology, Without The Homage Of A Tear.

But The Devil Is A Subtle Worm; He Does Not Give Up At One Defeat, For He Knows Human Nature, And The Strength Of The Forces Which Battle For Him.

Can You Blame Me If I Am Pursued By The Thought Of How Much We Could Do To Remedy Social Evils, If Only We Had An Honest And Disinterested Press?