Mississippi leader. (Jackson, Miss.) 1892-1895, 1894-07-31
ON THE DANGER LINE
TIMELY UTTERANCE OF A
GREAT PATRIOT.
A Warming as Clear and Start
ling as a Fire Bell at
Night.
SubOrdinating Principle to Self
ish Greed and Party Spirit
the Cause of Our Nation
al Troubles.
1t Is Time for Patriots to Arouse
and Act if They Would Save
the Republic.


Or. y. b. GamDrell, III IeXaS baptist
Standard
Victor Hugo, the man who
came as near telling the truth
about France as any man who
ever wrote, in describing the con-
dition of things just before one
of those violent revolutions which
have occurred in France during
the present century, put it all in a
sentence which | want your 100, :
600 readers to look at and study
with me little while. Said the
great writer
"The contentious of the period were
about an aggregation of interests rath-
er than group of principles
Read that sentence over till
you catch its fine sense, and see
its mastcrful embrace of critical
period in nations history, a
situation which quickly changed
into revolution and bloodshed.
There were contentious. That is
nothing strange nor dangerous in
itself. Where there is much in
tellectual life, there will be much
debate. But what were these
contentious about Human rights!
No. The safeguards of a nation
No. Public Justice! No. Pur-
ity in public life! No. Great
problems involving the enlighten-
mcnt of the masses! No. What
were the contentious of the pc
riod about ! " An aggregation
of interests. The various class
es were contending for advantage,
for personal interests. The CON
tcntiOns waXed hotter and hotter
till some won and some lost.
Then talk ceased and shooting be-
gan. 1t was the natural, the GER
tain, the inevitable outcome of
such a situation. Human greed,
with reins in hand, is veritable
Jehu to drive a people to ruin.
Or, to state it another way, when
principle is put in the back
ground and greed in the front, as
the ruler of a nation, that nation
must speedily reverse the posi-
ton of the two or go to ruin.
What the French demonstrated in
our century, other nations had
demonstrated before, and other
nations still are likely to demon
strate it as time goes on.
Brother editor, l have been all
my life of an optimistic spirit
rather pessimistic optimist. l
am that yet, believing in the long
run of things pretty firmly, but
not much in the short run. l
must confess that the immediate
future of our country is not very
hopeful to me. If we are not
right on the danger line, then all
signs fail, and causes cease to pro-
duce results.
THE SITUATION IN AMERICA
is precisely what it was in France
when Victor Hugo described it
in the tcrse sentence quoted. We
are in a prolonged period of bit
ter contentious about an aggre-
CATION of interests" with scarcely
voice raised any where for prin-
ciples. For thirty years it has
been either sectional or CONNER
cial politics all the time. Mr..
Cleveland in his famous tariff
message, struck a high key of
principle which had been so long
mute that the nation was startled,
capital combined, and Cleveland
was defeated for reelection. La
ter the people rallied and elected
him and his party, putting them
into complete power. Since his
last inaugural not one high note
has been heard from Washington
by a member of the government.
The endless contentious are about
an aggregation of interests. We
have had that anomalous freak,
Coxey and the commonwealers.
What volumes of contempt have
been poured upon the thrifty
Coxeyl And yet who is he and
what is Coxeyisms Only anoth-