The Moral Leprosy of Our Times.
By Rabbi Jacobs
Is it not noticeable that there is a growing dissatisfaction with a sturdy simplicity of life—a dissatisfaction which is tempting men to seek success by extraordinary and hazardous methods? They cannot seemingly be made to believe that the straight road is the shortest and best whereby to reach the goal of prosperity, and that every deflection from integrity and plain dealing is not only a crime but a senseless blunder. Hence we read and hear so much of the shattered reputations of those who stood high in our community, but who could not resist the burning demand of the itching palm of corruption in offices of trust; of men placed in authority on whom public responsibilities rested who have basely yielded up integrity and principle; of men who stand charged before the world that they “contaminate their fingers with base bribes and sell the mighty space of their large honors for so much trash as might be grasped thus.” You ask why so many have trespassed. Look below the surface and find the reason. It is because there has grown up with the growth of our country a mania for riotous extravagance, a disposition to dazzle the eye with lavish expenditure, a love for meretricious display to be maintained at any and every cost. This is the corroding leprosy which is destroying principle and honesty. The public trust is thus made to minister to private greed, and office becomes a thing of personal traffic.—Rabbi Jacobs, New York.