dge and
executioner, cutting their careers off at an average of five years,
which, without this interposition, would possibly be extended to 20 or
30. The certainty and celerity with which it ferrets out and destroys
these classes gives it strong advantages over the ordinary processes of
destruction.

It was exceedingly unfortunate for {31} the community that the leaders
of the James and Younger gangs were temperate men. Had it not been so,
their careers, instead of extending over 20 harassing years, would have
been cut short inside of five. Uncontrollable predilection for whisky,
and the society of strange women brought about the destruction of nearly
all of the band who from time to time were slain by each other's hands
or those of justice. Temperance and chastity in a rascal of any kind
mean an immense amount of mischief to the community. Fortunately
they are quite rare. {32} THE rapid spread of Prohibition is full
of suggestion. The grain fields of Kansas and Texas are periodically
devastated by the green bug. When the green bugs are at their worst a
parasite appears which sweeps them off, and the wheat growers have a
respite. Then, having destroyed their provender, the parasites starve,
and the green bugs have a chance to grow again until the parasites
overtake them in the hour of their triumph and power.

Will the suppression of the alcoholic scavenger allow the criminals and
quasi-criminals to multiply like the green bugs? {33}

------

DURING the ages of terrible oppression of the European peoples which
culminated in the French Revolution, the main amelioration of the
hardships endured was found in the vices of the oppressors. The sword of
the duelist, quarreling over women, the picturesque horrors of delirium
tremens, and the loathsome mal de Naples continually swept away
hecatombs of tyrant lordlings and frequently obliterated whole families.
In fact no aristocratic family ever withstood these adverse influences
very long. Extinction came as promptly and as certainly as the curculio
to the ripening plum. The student of French and English {34} history is
continually astonished at the brief time in which noble names remain in
view. They rise to dizzy eminence on one page, and on the next go down
to oblivion. One rarely finds the name of a century or two ago mentioned
in any of the European news of to-day. Mr. Freeman, the eminent English
historian, says, conclusively, that in spite of the