News and citizen. [volume] (Morrisville, Vt. ;) 1881-current, 1884-06-26
THE NATIONS PERILS.
A SEVERE OVER THE KNUCkLEs
OF UNCLE SAM.
Our Churches in DebI-The Curse of Monop-
blythe ONCE Hunter-The KUN ENh,
Etc. Etc.


Our Churches in DebI-The Curse of Monop- ,
blythe ONCE Hunter-The Rum EVIL
Etc, Etc.
Our nation is surrounded by perils,
said the Rev. Nathan Hubbeu, OF the
Methodist Church Sunday. They tug
at its heart and gnaw its vltals. In
only century old our ma
tional sins are alarming and porteutous
of disaster. One of the great perils is
universal extravaganza. Most of our
cities and villages and even our churches
are in debt because of extravaganza. To
find church out of debt is the excep-
ton. Pay as you go should be our rule,
but it is trampled upon. AS individuals
we are also in debt as a rule. There is
great yearning among us to appear much
richer than we really are. We want to
wear silks and broadcloth; to have fine
plate and diamonds and horses. 1t is the
love of display which saps our morals.
We must go to Nantasket Beach, Long
Branch and Saratoga, not because we
can afford it, but because our neighbors
will think tbs poor If we stay at nome.
The servant must dress as grandly as
as her mistress, no matter what Is sacrl-
feed. So in this blind struggle we go
beyond our means to keep up appear
ances. Then trust funds are ABSORBED
and forgeries are traced with the pen;
the panics come and the misery Woe
to the nation, which is extravagsHt, for
the poor must share the penalty with
the rich, the good with the bad 1ou
cannot pinch one cheek and make the
other cheek smile.
We have another great peril in mo-
nopoiy. 1t governs our railways, our
telegraph and all the great necessaries OF
| life. See how men get up corners 10
| grain and pork and oil. Why, they
would corner fresh water and air and
even salvation if they could. When
President Garfield was sick, and his
death was considered certainty, these
vuItures actually got up a corner i'll
mourning goods. Think of such a
thing in such an hour. Where will it
stop? That is a question for the nation
to study.
Office hunting is one of the worst
dangers that threaten us. What null
| titude of men have the Presidential bee
in their bonnets In ninety-two years
only twenty-one men have been Presi-
! dents, and yet a million or two of candi-
dates have struggled and sacrificed much
for it. Why did Carried die ? Because he
could not make a hundred thousand offices
supply five million men. Guiteau was
simply an insane and disappointed office
hunter. The result of this fever for office
shows itself i'll bribery, false voting and
political campaign abuses. There are so
many candidates that election expenses
are heavy, and they must come out of
| the people in one way or the other The
expenses of such public works as the
Brookly Bridge, the New York Court
House and the great star route frauds
show what this madness for office means.
America has a cancer eating at her
life. 1t is Mormonism. This, know,
is q we'll worn theme, but l speak of a
national shame. Mormonism is nation
within a natiOn-inaperiun in in1periO
and it has defied our laws and cor
rupted our morals for over thirty years.
A nation which cannot enforce its laws
deserves to die, and there will be few
mourners at its funeral.
The tendency to hold life cheaply is a
national peril. Look at our crazy
steamers and deadly tenements-argu-
ment is needless. Close to our own
doors are the burned st. Georges flats,
upon whose walls l myself saw a sign
proclaiming them to be freproof, and
yet they were as dangerous as powder
house. Death trap factories and con-
cealed weapons surfeit the newspapers
with stories of blood. The bulk of our
crime is the produce of deadly litera-
ture. We have stopped the sale of skim
milk because it is unhealthy; why can
we not stop the sale of this moral
| poison? Even some of our Christian
magazines advertise pistols and other
weapons for sale. The evil is national.
| InfideJity is promoted by Sunday pub
LEGATIONS and boat travel. They draw
the mind away from religion and empty
| the churches. Ignorant immigration
adds to the native evils, and we get a
great mass of vice and wretchedness sent
to us every year.
To cap the climax of our evils rum
| lifts its awful head among us. Il con-
trolls political parties and dominates both
at Washington and Albany. The corpor-
atoms which manufacture it have money
and find it easy to corrupt our legisla-
lures. Rum strikes the roots of our
prosperity everywhere. Why, even a
President of the nation took the oath of
office while drunk. Think of it The
well being of fifty millions of people in
the hands of drunkard
We have blessings in this Republic of
ours. We have free mines and free
| farms; we have acres enough for all who
come. But of what avail are all these
natural blessings if men are building up
| giant evils which will curse and blast
and destroy all our plans? There is but
one hope of our nation. Like the one
ship which survived the cyclone at
Gibraltar by anchoring to an old anchor
lost sight of, let us drop our anchor
though the waters of Christianity and
swing it against the rock of ages
Christ and His Gospel-and we may
brave any storm that comes.