The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1895-11-27
Life is Too Cheap.

We would despair if We did not
know that God lives and will reign.
Terrible tidings come daily-shoot-
ings, cuttings, beatings, and long
catalogue of cruel misdeeds by man to
man. Men and women are shot down
by men, sometimes by women, men
and women are hacked to death by
men, men and women are mangled
and the life is beaten out of them by
men. Sometimes the slayer Of his
brother man or sister woman is aged
or in middle life, but for the most
part they are young. No race is e1-
empt. White and black, red and yell
low; all are victims and all furnish
man -slayers. No section can truth
fully deny that the bloody stain is on
it. North and South, East and West,
there is ready appeal to pistol, or
quick flashing of knife, or dull crash
ing of bludgeon. It is enough to
make one despair Of humankind, and
it would-but that God lives and must
rule.
And to make the matter worse, pun
ishment of criminals is not expected.
Few are convicted and fewer still
meet doom. We heard distinguish
ed lawyer state or quote an epigram
which sets out the difference in the
administration Of justice in England
and the United States. It was this:
"When a crime is committed in Eng
land, the question is Can the Grim
inal by any possibility escape? When
crime is committed in the United
States, the question is, Can the State
by any possibility secure his punish
ment." " The pity is that the epigram
is true. The fact is one reason that
the people sometimes take these mat
ters into their own hands and lynch
the INSIDERS. This is all wrong, and
will only make bad worse. But be-
yond doubt, it is one reason for the
lawlessness.
But another reason, life is held too
cheap in or nation-not in Southland
only, but all over it. A quarrel,
rumor, an insult, a wrong, great or
small, and the ready revolver or gilt
tering blade or heavy bludgeon. settles
it by taking life.
Life that costs so much: life which
can yield so much: life which fixes
eternal destiny-why it is of measure
less value! Life is the portal to
heaven or hell. Who ruthlessly ends
it, sends an immortal soul into the
presence of the Judge Of all men, de-
spatches an eternal spirit to everlasting
blessedness in heaven or everlasting
agony in hell. It is an awful respon-
sibility to have the blood Of fellow
man on ones hands, to have settled
the destiny of soul that can not but
live forever. But surely, men do not
realize it. If they did, there could
not be the ready yielding to passion
or the deliberate execution Of deadly
purpose.
Is il not time to be seeking a rem
edy2 God knows it is. Passing the
grief Of bereavement, passing the rob
bing of wife and children Of their
sometimes poor support and protec.
tion-looking into the larger result Of
a nation which will swing to that fear
full condition in which each man feels
that he only is protector of himself
and the infinite result Of destinies
fixed in moment for all eternity-it
is time to seek some remedy.
It is time for citizens to ask wise
men-if such be-for remedy. It is
time for them to demand it. Chaos
and anarchy loom up, if remedy be
not found. 1t is time for administra-
tors Of justice to seek q remedy.
Change Of law, change Of custom,
change of precedent-anything that
will enthrone right and shelter pre-
cious life. tits time for the press to
prove its power, and reveal it's wisdom,
by furnishing some clue to remedy
some just word that repeated over and
over like Cato's unceasing Carthage
must be destroyed" will take hold Of
men and guide them into safety. 1t
is time for the pulpit to proclaim the
sacredness Of life, the sin Of shedding
blood, the doom Of destroying the last
hope, whether men at first will hear
or not, and cry and continue to cry
until our nation wakes from this night
mare of blood and death and walks
out into the glorious day Of peaceful
living and living peace. "Blood de-
fileth the land" God shows US how
it may be purged and preserved for
ever from such deflement.-Southern
Christian Advocate.