Mississippi leader. (Jackson, Miss.) 1892-1895, 1892-06-02
Is JACKSON MORALLY AND RELI-
CIouSIy RoTTENs

of JaCkSOn'S churches. q representative
of Millsaps College and three or four
laymen met to consult about taking
the necessary steps to prevent the is
suance of any more dramshop licenses
in this city. There was a free inter
change of views and numerous sug-
gestions as to how best to accomplish
this. Among other things it was pro-
posed by some one that the campaign
be begun against whisky by all the pas
tors of the city forming an agreement
to preach on the subject of Temper
ance in their respective churches on a
given Sabbath and have the fact pub
licly announced before hand. Mind
you, the proposition was to preach on
Temperance, not Prohibition. Surely
that was an appropriate and reasonable
thing to do. But it was soon put aside
as impracticable. 1t was held that
public sentiment here is such on the
drink evil and dram-shops that if the
Jackson pastors were to propose to do
such thing, that every one of them
would have to preach to empty benches.
1.-THE only way to manage it." said
one good brother, IF you preach in
jackson on Temperance. is to say moth
ing about it, and catch the people you
wish to reach unawareS."
DIR. J. b. Hawthorne, the great Allan
ia preacher. a man of national reputa-
ton as an orator. was to be at Clinton
in few days, and some one proposed
that he be invited te stop in Jackson
on his return to Atlanta and deliver a
public address on the subject of Prohibi-
ton and Temperance, with that force
full eloquence for which he is so cele-
brated; but that too was declared i'm
practicable, because, as it was said.
DR.. Hawthorne nor any other man
could draw an audience in jackson on
this subject.
The last local option election was
adverted to and the fact cited that
while the Prohibitionists only lost the
county in that election by 50 votes,
that only Sc jackson people, all told,
cast their votes for the home and
morality and against the dram
shop.
One layman spoke up and said the
members OF his church alone were
responsible for the return of the dram
shops to jackson. Enough professors
of religion i'll that one church, he said.
gave their votes and influence for the
dram-shops TO have changed the result.
several of the most prominent mem
bers being conspicuous advocates of
the dramshops. All present agreed
that if the voters of jackson, who are
members of some one of the various
churches, would now sign a counter
petition, or even refuse to sign petit
tions in favor of license, there would
be no more dramshop nuisance.
If the righteous and plain-spoken
Nazarene had been at that meeting of
preachers and laymen in human form
and heard these things about the Jack
son churches. He might have eXclaim-
ed as He once did to the respectable
church people of Jerusalem: "Woe I'M
to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypo-
critics for We are like unto whited
sepulchres, which indeed appear beau
tiful outward, but within are full of
dead mems bones and all unclean-
ness. Even so We also appear righteous
unto men, but within We are full of
hypocrisy and iniquity."
But the Goldman was not there, and
nobody said it.
These may be unpleasant facts to
publish to the world about Jackson
God knows it is unpleasant to write
them, the LEADER proposes to
deal in facts in exposing the insidious,
demOralizing and debauching influence
of this hell-born liquor traffic in all of
its varied ramifications, let the chips
fall where they may. Not long ago, the
Voice was censured from Maine to Cal
ifornia for saying there is IAN ungodly
league between the church and the sa-
LOOM" and yet the pastors of a MAORI
ty of the churches here in Mississippi's
capital virtually confess it, with bated
breath, and the proof is at hand!
Listen! The LEADER knows many
good citizens of Jackson are prejudiced
against Prohibition, who have no
special friendship for the dramshop,
because when Prohibition was nomi-
nally tried here the law was grossly
abused by the sale of alcohol, which
the old law permitted, and blind-tiger-
ism winked at by an administration
unfriendly to the law and which wished
to see it made odious. Others honest
ly believe that old thread bare lie in
vented by the devil and industriously
retailed since by his imps, that Prohi-
bition Injuries trade. No one who will
take the pains to look at Magnolia,
McComb City, Summit, Brookhaven.
Wesson, Hazlehurst, Crystal Springs,
Terry, Yazoo City, Winona and other
like fiourishing Prohibition towns of
Mississippi, and honestly compare
them with the ones where liquor is sold,
would ever credit for a moment the
socalled ''trade argument" again.