Mississippi leader. (Jackson, Miss.) 1892-1895, 1892-09-29
STRIPE NIAKER."
Rev J. Jones Calls GA the Clarion tn
Make Good it, Charge.

strife maker" Christ said. 81 cam.
not to send peace but a sword" So i,
i the business Of Christian ministers
to create strife strife that has for il
aim and end. the destruction Of All
evil, especially the nefariouS whisky
traffic. 1t was not expected that wills
/ ky men and those who favor their bus.
| mess would relish any effort whatever
| that looked to the disturbance Of Jack
sons liquor business. We didn't ~.
| pect the Clarion 10 take sides with IL
i'll an honest effort to arouse the con
science of the people and get it on the
side of Prohibition. no never The
Clarion is for peace if it costs the
city nine saloons with all their train Of
evils
But was the article. jackson in
bondage. gross misrepresentation Of
jackson. as charged by the Clarion:
To make charge Is one thing 10
prove it is quite another If my arti-
Gle was "a gross Misrepresentation"
why didn't the Clarion di~proye the
charge? Echo answers, why: II was
the impossible. 80 he couldn't \
theory can be reasoned away. but facts
are things that won't down. NoamOuut
of assertion or reasoning can change a
fact. 1t is a fact beyond any doubt
that Jackson has nine open saloons.
all doing a living business. If the
Clarion doubts that we will give him
an ocular demonstration. Now the
question naturally arises. how did these
nine saloons get to Jackson: Did the
saloon keepers come here and set up
their shops against the expressed
wishes Of the citizens of Jackson Ii
50. let some one produce the records of
that unprecedented event. No. sir :
they are here accors,iu. to law. Some
of them are here hy the voice Il ma
jority Of our registered voters. They
are here not against the earnest pro
test OF the people. Under the now law
there has been no protest against the
open saloon. We have established two
facts: LIST. jackson has nine saloons :
2nd. Jackson wants nine saloons.
As to whether the business men Of
Jackson are Indifferent to the prohibit
ton of the sale of whisky in Jackson.
come and see. One thing can he e>-
tablished the five pastors of this place
we're so discouraged by the lukewarm-
Hess of their people that they relin-
pushed their efforts to suppress the
liquor traffic. If the churches of Jack
son are not indifferent toward the
liquor question then Indifference j. an
impossibility.
If the Clarion wants to get 1t IL"
the bottom facts. let them make a man
to man canvass on the question and
see who will sign a petition for the re
mOval of the saloon. 1t was the most
discouraging. uphill business | had
ever tried. For further information.
| will refer any who desire more light.
to "One Prohibition Cub" of which
Rev W. c. Black is or was, President
We challenge any one to show where
in. jackson in bondage to the saloon
is n gross Misrepresentation of Jack
sons attitude to the saloon. We again
assert that the churches of Jackson
could. if they would. close every saloon
in the place. And 50 long as they run
their destructive business the churches
are responsible for it. So long as the
saloon exists in the absence of an ac-
tive. earnest protest of the church
against it, God counts the church on
the side of the saloon. Curse ye
Meroz saith the Angel of the Lord {:
curse we the inhabitants with bitter
curse. because they came not up to the
help of the Lord, TO the help of the
Lord against the mighty"
Why. what had they done: Had
they taken up arms against Jehovah !:
No. Had they taken up arms and
fought against the chosen people No.
What had they done: Nothing. Their
neutrality was their crime. SO the
crime of our churches is neutrality.
While we wait the work of death goes
on
II the brethren of my own confer
ence want to deny what | have written
| hope they will do it in an answearable
way and not by inSinuatiOnS.
Yours truly.
L. S. JONES.
The LEADER reaffims that Bro. Jones
did not state the case too strongly IN
his first article as to the moral and re-
ligious status of Jackson on the whis-
ky question, and unites with him in
his challenge to any reputable person
to disprove it, "Brer Hobbs" as the
Clarion sneeringly says, may be "a
privileged character such as the luna
ties are" but he is not a moral craven
nor "a whited sepulchre, and knows
the difference between fact and bald
assertion. condition and a theory.
The saloons have been voted out of
Sharkey. Yalobusha and Claiborne
counties this year. In Tupelo. Merid-
ian and Natchez- both of the last nam
ed places larger than Jackson liquor
licenses have been defeated by cOun-
ter petitions. If the moral and reli-
gious sentiment in jackson is so
healthy. elevating and salubriOus tas
the Clarion and other eminent author
tiles would have the outside public to
believer why is it no local option cleo
ton nor any counter petition has been
resorted to here to rid MiSSissippi's
capital of her nine high-license dram
shops? Why? Haven't the religious
leaders of Jackson who stand, physi-
clan like, with their fingers on the
moral and religious pulse of their con-
gregations, said within the last few