The progressive farmer. [volume] (Winston, N.C.) 1886-1904, 1892-12-06

Gu0 AOuSo ECCC1NSu 1EOm $O,UUU TO
SO, 600 each. The bank comptroller
received $4,000. Two hundred and
fifty thousand dollars were divided
among the lobbyists. You see, the
railroad company was very generous.
But all that was hidden, and only
through the severest scrutiny on the
part of the legislative committee was
this iniquity displayed. Now, political
bribery defies you, dares you, is AFRO
CANT, and will probably decide the
election next Tuesday.
Unless this diabolism ceases in this
country, Betholdis statue on Bedlow's
island, with uplifted torch to light
other nations into the harbors, had
better be changed, and the torch
dropped as symbol of universal incen-
diarism.
Unless this purchase and sale of
suffrage ehall cease the American Gov
ernment will expire, and you might as
we'll be getting ready this moment for
another dead nation, and let my text
alas for Babylon, that great city, that
mighty city, for in one hour is thy
judgment come" Ny friends, if you
have not noticed that political bribery
is one of the CHASTITY crimes of this day,
you have not kept your eyes open.
Another evil threatening the desruc,
| tion of American institutions is the
solidifying Of the sections against each
other. A solid North. A solid South.
If this goes on we shall, after awhile,
have a solid East against solid West;
we shall have solid middle States
against solid Northern States, we shall
have a solid New York against solid
Pennsylvania, and solid Ohio against
Kentucky. 1t is % years since the
war closed, and yet at every presiden-
tial election the old antagOnism is
aroused. When Garfield died, and all
the States gathered around his casket
in sympathy and in tears, and as
hearty kilograms of coincidence came
from New Orleans and from Charles
said to myself: q think sectionalism
is dead" But alas! no. The difficulty
will never be ended until each State of
the nation is split up into two or three
great political parties. This country
cannot exist unless it exists as one
body, the national capital the heart,
sending out through all the arteries of
communication warmth and life to
the very extremities. This nation
cannot exist unless it exists as one
family, and you might as well have
solid brothers against solid sisters, and
asolid bread tray against a solid cradle,
and a solid nursery against solid
dining room; and you might as well
have solid ears against solid eyes, and
solid head against foot. What Is the
interest of Georgia is the interest OF
Massachusetts; what is the interest of
New York is the interest of South
Carolina. Does the Ohio river change
its politics when it gets below Louis
ville7 1t is not possible for these sec
tional antagonisms to continue for
great many years without permanent
compound fracture.
Another evil threatening the destruc-
tion of our American institutions is the
low state of public morals.
What killed Babylon of my text9
What killed Phoenecia7 What killed
Rome9 Their own depravity; and the
fraud and the drunkenness and the
lechery which have destroyed other
nations will destroy ours unless a mer-
cituL God prevents. To show you the
low state of public morals, have to
call your attention to the fact that
many men nominated for offices In
different States at different times are
entirely unfit for the positions for
which they have been nominated.
They have no more qualification for
them than a wolf has qualification to
be professor of pastoral theology in a
flock of sheep, or a blind mole has
qualification to lecture class of eagles
on otics, or than vulture has quail
fication to chaperOne q dove. The
mere pronunciation of some of their
names makes a demand for carbolic
acid and fumigation! Yet Christian
men will follow right on under these
political standards.
have to tell you what you know
already-that American politics have
sunken to such a low depth that there
is nothing beneath. What we see in
some directions we see in nearly all
directions. The peculation and the
knavery hurled to the surface by the
explosion of banks and business firms