Rock Island daily Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1886-1893, 1890-11-10

rev Cue preached On interesting and
eloquent sermon last night 70 his &C npree a.
ton In the First Methodist church, tax
lag for his texts Z.ch. ST.. behold
hying roll, and from James Ali, Speak
not evil one of another" The salien,
FEATURES of the discourse will he found
below:
We have the greatest, grande st coun>
Try IN the world. We can hardly appre-
ciate The Liberties We here emily. We
are the iessi governed OF any people on
earth. Our laws are made and we are
governed by our peers-those whom a
majority of our citizens select. At every
general election we are obliged to pass
through political revolution. This is
generally accomplished so peaceably and
quietly that we can hardly real re that
any change has taken place. Ii is sur
prising how much interest is taken in
our general elections. and how equally
We are divided on party lines. All this
interest and strife is healthy gn. for
II leads to study and investigation.
In government ruled By the people
there must be Intelligence and patriotism.
Through one of these political strifes
and partial revolutions we have lust
passed. The people have spoken, and
the voice OF the majority must be cheer
fully recognized. The great factor in
all our political campaigns of today is
The newspaper, and not the ora tors. as in
former days. In this country we have
fifteen thousand newspapers " hich issue
5000, 900, 900 copies 10 calculating the
influences that affect society and politics
you can no more afford to ignore the
newspaper than you can afford to ignore
tue light of day. The newspaper is the
greatest edScator of the nineteenth cen
fury. There is no force compared to IL.
II Is book, pulpit. platform, forum. all
In one. There is not an interest-relig.
ious, commercial, agricultural, mechan-
icsl or poltical-thst is BoJ within its
grasp. 1t is the winged sheet of proph-
ecy, the flying roll mentioned in nv first
tex. Every institution in this land feels
the quakiDg OF the printing press. Mr..
Fslmage says that 1.-The newspaper is to
be the grand agency by which the gospel
Is to be preached. ignorance ist out. OBJ
preston delhroned. crime extirpsted, the
world redeemed and God glorihed. There
are two kinds of newspapers-oneg good,
the other bal One is the EN- bodiment of
news, the ally of virtue, the foe of crime,
the mightiest agency on earth for making
the world better. The other is a brigaud
among moral forces 1t is a beslimer
OF reputation. 1t is the right arm of
death and hell Ii is the mightiest agency
in the universe for making the world
worse and battling the cause of God.
The one is the angel OF intelligence and
mercy, the other a friend of darkness.
THE CITY PAPERS
We have ia our city couple of news
papers, that are, as Il general thing. de-
voted to the cause of humanity. They
give us the correct news; they have gen.
orally been outspoken regarding the vices
that from time to time have been uu
earthed in our midst. They have been
free to rebuke sin and shame. and have
been equal to police force in staudiug
for the rights o. the people. They do
more grstuitoas work every year than
any other business in our CITY. They
have laid the clergy and the churches IN
der lasting obligations to them. They
have been exceedingly free from impur-
ity, and no citizen has been afraid TO
take them in his home to be read by wife
and daughter. But in this recent DO
litical campaign they so Tar forgot their
high standing and calling as to allow
themselves to stoop to mud fiinging and
character besliming. How accustomed
we have become of late to liar"
fraud, thief. ''uDscrlsulous meth
DDS, dude, "drone," another lie
nailed etc. The dead have been I'M
earthed, good citizens. and fair institu-
tons have been dragged into the con-
f1ict who should have been lett alone.
Hundreds of people have been disguised,
and many have expressed themselves as
feeling ashamed at the ourse pursued by
our papers. One person thought to JUS
tify one of the papers by saying the other
began it, but that was no il stification
for bar-room and billingste slang. Such
charges and such retorts would remind
one OF Five Points mission school for
ty years ago. Feelings have been hurt,
and sores have been made that will take
lifetime to heal
Who were our political candidates,
They were gentlemen. respected and
honored by thousands of good people
They were citizens of Rock Island, anc
have been known for years-men against
whose moral character not. one wore
could be truthfully spoken. They were
representative men. and If everyone
would lay aside his or her political pre-
iudices they could not help but admire
them
Our second text remind us that we art
not to speak evil one Of another. Tha
is SANDER. SANDER is the meanest sin o.
which man can he guilty.. View it al
you will it is inlrinsicslly. essentially an(
everlastiDgly mean. Under no circum
stances known to us can its preparation
be justified. There are many ways Of at
lacking a man and getting even with him
but the most cowardly and malicious wa,
is to attack him in the newspaper. Their,
he is deprived of d Tense, and if he re-
plies the probability is that many of thos,
who read the attack W ill not read the de
Tense. The most dan yerous foe to an,
community is newspaper that is un-
scrupnlous in its attacks upon the char