For weeks and months the Chicago Press has stirred up the sickening and disgusting filth of the Rawson's divorce scandal. One of the blackest stains on the national character is the lewd, desire of the American Press and its readers for the details of such marital quarrels which are the result of sexual debaucheries. This particular trait is convincing evidence of the fact, that in the nature of the English speaking population of this country is to be found those Celtic-Gallic tendencies, which reach a full and horrible expression in the latest works of the French writer, E. Zola.

Undoubtedly, Rawson and his wife are both disgusting individuals... It was obvious that their marriage based on sensuality, on the one hand, and on greed for money on the other, could not be a happy one. But what has the public to do with it? Why did the newspaper stir up the filth? For what purpose were the most abominable mutual accusations of such a "cat and dog" marriage published, if not to undermine the morals of the people?

If the local press possessed a trace of the sense of decency and honor characteristic of the European press, this accused marriage would have been dissolved in all secrecy and the scandal not cast out as seed for the destruction of morals. But when the public surrounds both parties and takes an active interest in their fight, as they would in prizefighters, or in wild animal fights, encouraging and inciting them continually, what else but a serious crime could have been the result?

... The unrestricted publicity of court proceedings, considered as a "bulwark of liberty" and as such a blessing for the people, can become a curse for the nation. The Rawson scandal with its filth and crime ought to teach us one good lesson: To do away with publicity of court procedures relative to sexual crimes and divorce scandals.