A Just Judgment

The jury in the Baker-Adams breach of promise case at Grand Rapids gave Miss Adams a verdict of $30,000 and thereby performed an act of justice. The verdict was cheered to the echo and no effort was made by the court to restrain the applause of the spectators. Now, if the attorneys for the plaintiff will do as they say they will and see to it that every penny of the judgment is collected from Baker, he will have been taught a lesson which ought to be wholesome.

Of course the plaintiff in the case is not to be held guiltless and she is not. If she were guiltless and still had received at the hands of Baker the treatment she did receive, the judgment given her would be wholly inadequate. It cannot set her right as it is, but it is a measure of justice and should teach such men as Baker that it is a serious thing to trifle with the most sacred element of woman's nature and for the damnable purpose which seems to have actuated this man.

Indeed there is a lesson in this most lamentable affair for young people of both sexes and for parents as well. It speaks strongly for a more guarded relationship between young men and women both at college and at home and brings home to parents the duty to give closer heed to the intimacies of their sons and daughters. This unfortunate case is undoubtedly exceptional but it has a lesson for others, nevertheless.

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In the death of Mrs. Emma Booth-Tucker the Salvation Army has lost one of its really great leaders and the cause of better living and better lives a most earnest worker. She was a woman of great power, thoroughly devoted to her work and many lives have felt her regenerating touch and are better for her having lived. Her loss is a costly one to the Salvation Army and to humanity.