Evening capital journal. (Salem, Or.) 1888-1893, 1892-11-07
II. r. LEABO, Secretary

What killed Phnnicia? What killed
Rome? Their own depravity, and the
| fraud and the drunkenness, and the lech.
cry which have destroyed other nations
will destroy ours unless a merciful God
prevent. TO show you the low state Of
public morals, have to call your atten.
ton to the fact that many men nomi-
mated for offices in different states at diff
ferent times are entirely unfit for the
positions for which they have been nom.
mated.
DEGRADATIoNs OF POLITICS.
They have no more qualification for
them than wolf has qualification to be
professor Of pastoral theology in flock
of sheep, or blind mole has qualifica-
ton to lecture class of eagles on optics,
or than a vulture has qualification to
chaperon dove. The mere pronuncia-
ton of some of their names makes de-
mand for carbolic acid and fumigationl
| Yet Christian men will follow right on
under the political standards.
| have to tell you what you know
already, that American politics have
sunken to sue. 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 are only specimens OF
great Cotopaxis and Strombolis of wick
| edness that boil and roar and surge be-
meath, but have not yet regurgitated to
the surface. When the heaven descended
| 4 fa6 fhn Txran6 q
/ cality it seemed to eclipse everything;
but after awhile the heaven descended
Republican party outwitted pandemoni-
um with the star route infamy.
My friends, we have in this country
people who say the marriage institution
amounts to nothing. They scof at it.
We have people walking in polite par
| lors in our day who are not good enough
to be scavengers in Sodom! went over
to San Francisco ten or fifteen years ago
that beautiful city, that queen OF the
Pacific. May the blessings of God come
down upon her great churches and her
noble men and womenl When | gotinto
the city of San francisco the mayor of
the city and the president of the board
of health called on me and insisted that
| go and see the Chinese quarter, no
doubt so that ON my return to the At
lantic coast | might tell what dreadful
people the Chinese are.
But on the last night of my stay in
San Francisco, before thousands of peo-
pie in their great opera house, said,
"Would you like me to tell you just
what | think, plainly and honestly?"
They said, Eyes, yes, yes!' l said, do
you think you can stand it ALP They
said, eyes, yes, yes!' ''Then," said,
'smy opinion is that the curse Of San
Francisco is not your Chinese quarter,
but your millionaire libertines!"
And two of them sat right before pe
Felix and Drusilla. And so it is in all
the cities. Inever swear, but when see
man go unwhipped of justice, laugh
ing over his shame and calling his damna-
BILE deeds gallantry and peccadillo, am
tempted to hurl redhot anathema and
to conclude that if, according to some
peoples theology, there is no hell, there
ought to be!
THE WICKED, voLUPTUoUS CITY.
There is enough out and out licentious-
ness in American cities today to bring
down upon them the wrath of that God
who on the Gath of August, 49, buried
Herculaneuln and Pompeii SO deep in
the ashes that the eighteen hundred and
thirteen subsequent years have not been
able to complete the exhumation. There
are in some of the American cities to-
day whole blocks of houses which the
authorities know to be infamous, and
yet by purchase they are silenced-by
hush money--so that such places are as
much under the defense of government
as public libraries and asylums of mercy.
These ulcers on the body polite bleed
and gangrene away the life of the ma
tion, and public authority in many of
the cities looks the other way. You
cannot cure such wounds as these
with a silken bandage. You will
have to cure them by putting deep in
the lancet of moral surgery and burn
ing them out with the caustic of holy
wrath, and with most decisive amputa-
ton cutting off the scabrous and putre-
flying denominations. AS the Romans
were after the Celts, and as the Nor
mans were after the Britons, SO there
are evils after this nation which will at
tend it's obsequies unless we first attend
theirs.
Superstition tells of marine reptile
the cephaloptera--wh which enfolded and
crushed ship of war; but it is no super
stition when tell you that the history
of many of the dead nations proclaims
to us the fact that our ship of. state is in
danger of being crushed by the cepha-
loptera of national depravity. Where
is the Hercules to slay this hydra9 Is it
not time to speak by pen, by tongue, 10y
ballot box, by the rolling OF the prison
door, by hangman's halter. by earnest
prayer, by Sinaitio detonation2
A son of King Crosus is said to have
been dumb, and to have never uttered
word until he saw his father being put
to death. Then he broke the shackles
of his silence and cried out, Kill not
my father, Cresnsw When | see the
cheatery, and the wantonness, and the
manifold crime of this country attempt
ing TO commit patricide--yea, matricide
upon our institutions, it seems to me
that lips that heretofore have been dumb
ought TO break the silence with canorous
tones of fiery protest.
WE HAVE A GooDLy HERITAGE.
want 10 put all Of the matter before
you, SO that every honest man and wom-
an will know just how matters stand,
and what they ought to do il they vote,
and what they ought TO do IL they pray.
l. -. A l..