Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1882-10-09
GEHENNA.
Cry From the Pulpit for Reform
IN ia Politics. gs =
An Eloquent Exposition Of the Evil Of Par
q ties, and the DisgracefaI Doings
sR Of Our Leading Public
AN AMERICAN vAlLEYoF SLAUGHTER.
specia, 70 the Reosster.

NEW YORK, October 8.-Dr. Talmage
preached fin the Brooklyn Tabernacle this
morning as follows: i'
subject-.Degradatio or Modern Pol
80 ties" |ft
Text:-Jeremiah xix8--"This place shall
no more be called Tophet, nor the Valley OF
Hinnom, but the Valley Of Slaughter"
This was Gehenna, or the suburbs of Je-
rusalem, o place where the carcasses OF
beasts were cast, and the offal Of the city.
Perpetual fires were burning there to him
der it from breeding pestilence. II was q
God-forsaken spot and has BY religious
writer's and speakers of all ages been
used as symbol Of perdition. 1 shall use
ii as q symbol of modern politics. But
instead of being in the suburbs, this Gehen'
ma Is now in the centre of all our towns
city halls, and its fires siss and simmer and
crackle through the long night Of political
corruption, and those who have seen the
bodies, the minds and the, souls of men
going down under the pestiferous inhu-
ence can see that like the Valley of Hin
nom spoken of in the text 1t may we'll be
called the r,.irs-
ls Valley OF Slaughter. I !,
The present degradation of State and ma
tional politics is appalling. speak with
out any allegience to any political party.
have purposely kept myself aloft from
any party organization, that might as a
religious teacher be independent in moral
discussion Of each or both OF them. BY
that do not mean that sit on the fence
in matters of politics for have always
- - "a
through change of residence or necessitated
absence at the time of registration, when
had no right to vote. But l have never
voted the entire ticket of either party. A
man belittles himself in my estimation
when he says he always votes the entire
ticket. It is as though man bought
barrel of apples and boasted that he ate
them all, not only the good ones, but the
worm.eaten and the gnarled and the rotten.
We have had in the different States during
our remembrance the supremacy Of both
parties, and there has been gradual descent
into the
Lower Depths OF Corruption.
Ever and anon the party out Of power
promises, if 1t gets in, great reform. The
party out goes into power, and the only
difference Is new roll of officers. We hear
a great crash! What is the matter now?
Some Republican or Democratic machine
is broken. We say: THANK God for the
demoiitionp' But by the time the next
election arrives new machine has taken
its place, one of larger crank and stronger
wheel and wider hopper. We have been
killing bosses for the last fifteen years, and
we never had so many bosses as to-day.
There are many young men now starting
out for the performance Of their civic and
public duties and want them before they
enter the arena TO understand some OF the
wild beasts they will have to fight or, to come
back to the figure suggested by my text. !
want them TO come forth with shovel and
spade and plow to turn under the carcasses
OF the awful Gehenna of.modern politics.
give some illustrations OF tho present de-
basement, drawn mostly from the past
year.
The purity of American politics has
Never Been Anything to Roast Of
It has been long scene of scurrelty and
defamation. Aaron Burr, the debauchee.
came near being the President OF the Uni
ted States. He had as many votes as
Thomas Jefferson, the patriot. The vote
being tied, the election was thrown into
Congress, then Jefferson beat him by only
one vote. In 1898, in the great American
Congress, Lyon spat in Griswolds face;
then Griswold struck Lyon with hickory
n,
affair ended by the two combatants rolling
on the floor in the National legislature in
fight, in which other members had TO ex-
tricate them. On the Inauguration OF
Thomas Jefferson as President, the Centinel
of Boston published long obituary of the
American nation, saying, monumental
inscription: yesterday expired, deeply re-
GREETED by millions OF grateful Americans
and by all good men, the Federal admins
Al .,f I'm III nj fad
States: aged II years. As one tribute OF
gratitude in these times this monument 70
the talents and services Of the deceased is
raised by the Centinel.' President Martin
Van Buren, was always pictorialized Us a
rat. Horace Greedy was
MauIed Into HIS Grave.
The election campaign document against
Andrew Jackson was picture of ten or
twenty coffins, in allusiOn To the dcserters
whom he had ordered shot j. ,sl year peo'
ple seemed surprised at the spirit OF assIssi.
nation in high places. But it tried to shoot
President jackson on his way from the fn-
neral of Congressman, and would have
succeeded but for the fact that his assailant
was struck to the floor. Ii attempted TO
poison President Buchanan at the National
Hotel the day before his inauguration. so
that we ought not TO have been so'yery
muCn uL tHt SuCItSbiut uoooooAs1
ton of two of the following Chief Magis-
trates. In 1882 Hon. Mr.. Houston. OF
Texas, bludgeoned Hon. Mr. Stanbury. OF
Ohio. in Washington, for some derogatory
remarks, and the President OF the United
States approved of the assault by saying:
"After few more examples OF the same
kind members of Congress will, perhaps.
learn to keep civil tongues in their heads"
The two political parties OF thirty years
ago perished through corruption. Tae old
Whig party went out OF existence. IL com.
pounded with iniquity, and was
Hung by the Neck Until DeadL
The old Democratic party went out Of pow.
er, as the ableSt member OF the present
Democratic party in our oity said In an
editorial last Monday, because 1T happened
to the Democracy, as 10 all political l.organi'
nations, that long continuance in ONCE
bread abuses for which no cure could be
obtained short of turning the party out OF
Office II was the corruption OF these two
parties that killed them But the last
year. from October 1sSls.to October 1882,
seems TO me TO have been the blackest year
of American politics. give few illustra-
tions: Firsf--the yorktown caronsaL On
the 10Th OF October, 1854. the British forces
under Corvallis surrendered 70 washing
ton and the long agony, OF our revolution
aFy fathers was ended Last UctoDef tne
centennial was to be celebrated. The de.
scepdants OF eminent foreigners who had
assisted US in the achieving OF American
independence arrived rs oui guests. AR
propriate CEREMONIES were promised. arA
at the Quaint village of YorktoTn maay
people assembled. The Congress Of the
United States Lad voted moneys for the
proper observance. Many good people
went and came preserving their resPccta-
bility. With many Of our public saen 1t
Dsunken careusai.
They smoked and drank and insuteed mot.
tending men and women until thescene OF
f7si was ne. more glorious than the scene
of 1881 was infamous They sa,ntcd the
French fiag and the English flag and the
American flag. Bnt al the Gags OF all the
Nations then present could not csyer up
the shame of thas debanchesy. Look at
the wine bills and the whisky bills and the
cigar bills and then look into the columns
of yeur daily papers of last Octobcr and
read the story OF that occasion, gotten up
by politicians. ana controlled by politicians
asd eyeriaysingiy besnirched By Poiiti.
eiana a