Charlotte messenger. [volume] (Charlotte, Mecklenburg Co., N.C.) 1882-18??, 1888-11-24

anything else OF nm. lie sold you his work,
he did not sell you his political or religious
principles. But you know as well as l do
there is sometimes ON that sacred chest, the
I ark of the American covenant shadow cor
porate or monopolistic.
Another powerful foe of that sacred chest.
the ark Of the American covenant the ballot
box, is bribery.
Very often it is not money that brides, but
il is Office. you make me President and I'll
make you a Cabinet officer; you mike me
/ Governor and I'll make you Surveyor-Gen-
erai. You make me Mayor and I'll put you on
the Water Board; You give me position and
was given away three months befor the cleo
I ton Two long lines of worm fence, one
worm fence reaching to Albany and the other
to Washington, and there great many
citizens astride the fence, and they are
equally poised. and they are waiting to see
] ON which side there is most emolument, and
on this side they get down. But bribery
! kicks 10th ways. IL kicks the man that Of
fers it and the man that takes it. Bribery
~ give you position" That is the form Of
islne often and often in these great cities
! 10 not say it is in our city, but you know
! again and again throughout the land these
I have been the forms of bride offered SO it
! Is often the ease that bv the time man comes
! 10 an Office to which he has been elected he
| is from the crown of head to the sole of foot
DtlDtN,
| GOES to Albany or to Washington to get an
oINce is applying for some position which
5.day you will admit to be one Of the might
lest foes of the American ballot box.
Another great enemy of that sacred chest
! is defamation of character Can you find
/ out from the newspapers when two men are
running for office which is the best! How
often in the autumnal elections the good man
is denounced and the bad man applauded, so
I al NDll To r.cf
opinion as to who is the best man, and there
are hundreds and thousands of electors who
go mp 10 vote so utterly befogged they know
not what they do. Is not that fearful in
fuence TO be brought upon the ballot box of
this country! IL has been SO ever since the
foundation of this Government
! Defamation 1t is the curse Of the Ameri-
can ballot box. just as soon as in the great
cities man is put up for Office he is made
the target The fact that he is up is priina
facieevidenee that he must lie brought down.
His public life and his private life are scruti-
nized, and all the electric lights are turned
on. How often it is that men have gone
down under such things. In every autumnal
election the air is filled with carrion crows
seeming carcasses. Cawl Cav. Cawl There
are newspapers in the United States that in
! tho great autumnal elections take wild
license for liberty. They are filled with
calumy. The editorial columns of such
papers reek with it; their columns are
| stuffed with it. There are newspapers in
the United States which in the great popu-
lar elections breakfast and dine and sup on
! indccency. They wallow in it, Swine like
the mre, They give more for one quill full
of it than a whole hogshead of decent pro-
duct. There are in these great autumnal
| elections men sitting i'm editorial chairs who
write with a quill, not plucked from the stu
pid goose or the sublime eagle, but from
turkey buzzardl Ghoulsi Ghoulsl They
Zip the city sewer into their editorial ink
! stands. defamation o. character is one OF
the curses Of the American ballot box today
in your great presidential elections who can
tell from what he reads who is the man he
ought to vote fors Bad men sometimes APP
plaudei, good men denounced.
Another powerful foe of the sacred chest,
the ark of the American covenant, the bal
lot box. is the rowdy and drunken caucus
The ballot box does not give any choice to
a man when the nominations are made in the
back part of a GROCERY. When the elector
cones up he las to choose between two evils.
/ IN some of the cities men have come to the
ballot box to vote. and have found both
names such a scaly, greasy and stenchful
crew they had no choice, You say vote for
somebody outside. Thea they throw away
I their vote. Christian men of New York and
Brooklyn. honorable men, patriotic men, go
and take possession of the caucuses. First
I having saturated yonr pocket handkerchefs
| with cologne or some other disinfectant, go
/ down to the caucus and take posses
/ sion of it in the name of the Lord God
Almighty and the American people, though
4 after you come back you should have to
hang your hat and coat on "a line in the back
| yard for ventilation
Now, how are these things TO be remedieds
Some say by property qualification. They
say that after man gets "A certain amount
NJ ,,,e,,artv, carto,,, amount ~ ra,I o.tata
he is financially interested in good govern
ment, aud he becomes cautious and conserva-
tive. lreply, property qualification would
shut of from the ballot box great many of
/ the best men in the land. Literary men are
almost always poor A pen is a GOOD nipple.
Inent to make the world better, but it is a
very poor implement TO get livelihood ordi-
narily. have known scores of literary men
who never owned foot of ground and never
will own foot of ground until they get
under it. Professors of colleges, teachers of
schools, editors of newspapers, ministers of
religion, qualified in every possible way to
vote, yet no worldly success. There has been
many man who has not had house on
earth who viii have a mansion in heaven
There are many who through accidents OF
fortune lave come to great success while
they are profound in their stupidity, as pro-
found in their stupidity as man of large
fortune with whom was crossing the ocean.
who old ne he was going TO see this dykes Of
Scotland When a member of my family
asked a lady on her return from Europe ii
she had seen Mont Blanc. she replied: well,
really, ! don't know; is that in Europel"
Ignorance by the square foot Property
qualification will not do. The only way
these evils will be eradicated will be by
more thorough legal defense Of the ballot
box and a more thorough moralization
and Contamination of the people. That
ark of the covenant was carried
into captivity to Kirjath- jearim, but one
day the people hooked oxen TO cart, and
they put this ark on the cart, and the
cart was taken to Jerusalem the ark of
the covenant coming with the shouting and
thanksgiving Of the people. And though
the American ballot box, the ark Of the
American covenant. our sacred chest, has
been carried again and again into captivity
by fraud ANA ini1uity and spurious voting. |
believe it will be brought back yet by prayer
and by Christian conservation. and will be
set down in the midst OF the temple Of
Christian patriotism. Whose responsibility
Yours and mine.
Yon have not only a vote, you have
prayer The prayer may be mightier than
the vote, Oh as citizens of this beautiful
city, and OF this State aud Of this nation, let
US do our whole duty. We cannot live under
any other form Of government. than that
which God has given Us in this country The