ng it from its sources under glittering chandeliers and in fonts of
crystal, we shall be able to say--"this is the real element which exists
and does its work, by public connivance and with the sanction of Law!"

If you ask me then, whether I think that a statute of absolute
prohibition would stop this flowing curse, I reply that at least it
would put the influence of authority on the right side. It would lend it
the force of consistent endeavor. As it is, it would be far better if
the public sanction had no expression; for now it only confirms and
guarantees the evil. Its power is exerted not in the right, but in the
wrong direction. It is an ally of the tempter. For the spirit of
everlasting Justice and Benevolence, speaking as it were by the mouth of
Jesus, says--"He that is not with me is against me."

But I observe, in the second place, that the forces of temptation in the
city are nourished by _public neglect_. In individual experience it will
be found, I think, that sins of _omission_ are more numerous and are
worse than sins of _commission_. If we examine our lives closely, we
shall discover that our moral indebtedness comes even less from what we
have done, than from what we ought to have done. And this individual
experience has a counterpart in social conditions. How many evils among
us grow up under the shadow of inoperative laws--laws which have a voice
and nothing else--nay, hardly a voice, so seldom are they heard even to
speak. They appear to have been enacted merely as a compliment to
decency, and they remain in the statute-book as "idle as painted ships
upon a painted ocean." The dens of debauch keep open doors night and
day; the saloons of profligacy send out their cards of invitation; the
gambler rattles his triumphant dice; but excursive policemen never see,
and vigilant magistrates never hear! Some provision of nature has
imparted a very singular quality to the optic powers of the one, and the
auditory nerves of the other. The laws against this vice, or that
custom, stand fixed and silent; and as for putting them in operation,
one would as soon think of pulling up so many grave-stones. They _are_
the grave-stones of a dead public sentiment--the stumbling-blocks of a
blind justice, that too often shakes hands with the very guilt which it
professes to condemn. I do not, by any means, believe that everything is
to be accomplished by law. I do not believe that the profoundest results
are to be accomplis