Martinsburg independent. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1875-1900, 1883-07-14

| them fit subjects for felon's cells and
| huts Of poverty. These Bars are
surrounded by professional .'roughs,"
who travel from county to county du-
| ing the fair season, with their gaming
wheels to fleece the wicked or innocent
| people Of their substance.
! They have bought the right, for divi-
| dends and expenses must be paid, if
/ not by elevated methods, then by those
! that are foul and in defiance Of the law
| Hard by is the DERBY Day" with it's
| pools and excitements and demoraliza-
! tons. Legitimate trials of gait and
| usefulness are thinly sandwichad in to
J gull the farming patronage.
| Away over yOnder, thinly strung in
! humble pen o. stall, or III the burning
! field or wooden structure, almost lost
/ sight Of. IN the biazOnry of the chief
| features Of evil, are the neglected and
! scanty products Of agriculture and the
! arts,
! | demand, BIZ what moral or legal
! right Of God or man. is much If this car
/ lied on! 1t is not trar e that as far
| mers see more people made insanely
| drunk on exhibition days and excess Of
! disorder more than during all the year
| beside, they make this same inquiry.
| They charge these affairs With debasng
| youth; with undermining the morals
| of the people; with bringing dishonor on
| the good name of community.
All this, too, under the plea Of inn
! proving stock! encouraging agricul-
| turc and the arts! Does il MT bring
| to mind lagos confession to Cassius of
| his methods.
| Nv hen Devils will the blacklist SINS put
on,
They do fuggest, at first, with heavenly
shows"
| Such as this, is quite ON q par with
| Barnum, trying to get What he calls
| the Reverend Clergy 10 sanctify his
circus before the people b. getting
| them to take the best seats, through
free cards of admission. Yea, it is be-
| yond, for Barnum has the merit, Of late
years, of keeping down with the might
of his earnestneSs, the vices of drunk
enness and gaming and profanity.
1t is not worth while to mince words.
| These debasing methods of these mod
ern "fairs" are an insult to the COM
mon sense of a farming community, in
this land of newspapers, of secular and
religious intelligence, of an open Bible.
Better have inferior stock then to inn
prove its blood by debasing that Of the
people. Better 80 back to scythe and
fails than advance machinery at the
| have no willingness to reflect per-
sonally ON the stockholders of these as
sociations throughout our land. Many
of them are men of high public spirit,
of genuine virtue and uprightneSs in
private life. | must, however, chal-
lenge that forgetfulness of duty to God
and society, which permits the use of
their means and influence to advance
methods which are i'll violation of right,
and which upset moral foundations.
Alas. that, either with hope of increas-
ing wealth, or battered as public spirit
ed gentlemen, honorable men, in every
| community, who would no more engage
as individuals in some of the methods
Of the modern agricultural fair, than
they would engage in spreading yellow
fever, will lend their names and their
money to corporations, whose methods
| foster vice and break down both credit
and morality. Influence and means.
| These are great treasures committed to
| them for high and noble use. He who
| loaned them, once uttered words which
| ought to ring through their souls, ~
WiU come and reckOnW Better hear
it. Gods knife of moral surgery will
| 90 to the root of the cancer when the
| time comes.
What wcnder that these so-called
| Agricultural Associations fail! Amer
| lean farmers read and think. Their
comments are not complimentary to
these affairs.
1t is proposed to organize here a new
Association. We men of Berkeley put
| it ON IA sound moral basis! Then keep
moral faith with the people. Perhaps
| the financial ''pan-0ut" will be more
| CHEEKY. At least the moral sense will
not be outraged under the false cry of
''public spirit "The advancement of
agriculture and the arts"
Society to-day wants in its more pub
| lie affairs, men, with moral convictions
and courage to stand by them. There
is latent moral education enough, but
this wants leadership. Both in this
''fair" business and III regard to its 9TH
er corporations, it wants men like the
late princely VIM. L. Dodge, who loved
righteousness more than money, and,
who parted with valuable railroad in
| terests when his associates insisted on
robbing their employees of their right
| to a day of holy rest. 1t wants men
| like the President of the Louisville,
New Albany and Chicago Railway,
whose voice is yet ringing like Gods
| bugle thro' the land: "You will run no
| excursion trains of any kind on the
| Sabbath. No employee who has relig-
| ious convictions, shall be required to do
| any service ON the Sabbath. So far as
possible, let no trains be run, or work
| done on the Sabbath
1t wants men like some of the direc-
| tors of our own ''Potomac Isle EXcur-
sion Company" who, when asked, late
| ly, to run an excursion for-l am sorry
| to say it-a ''bush meetings" to be held
on their Isle, on the Sabbath, nobly re-
piled, 1--WE will not"
All honor to such men. May God
multiply them n thousandfold"