The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1896-06-24
SAM JONES' TALKS.
Conscious independence and Conscious
Rectltude Make q Man lnylnclbIe.
atlanta Journal.

atlanta Journal.
"We have downed the gang" or
"We are going to down the gang
We frequently hear such expressions.
1 suppose it is true that We have ma.
tional' gabi municipal gangs, and
neck of woods gangs, political
gangs, social gangs, and religious
gangs, The common acceptance Of
the term gang means a crowd who are
or have been running the shebang. In
society they are called stop of the
pot;" in the political world they are
known as the GINS" in the church
world they are known as those having
authority and exercising it without
the fear Of God before their eyes. In
most of our towns and cities We have
the gangs. Some Of them have been
in for years and have grown rich, Ell
ther by bribery on the one hand or
having the "pull' on the other The
gangs in every phase Of life have much
brains and very little conscience.
Every shebang, like every set of track
hands along the railroad, has its boss
or sachem. Tammany hall is the best
organized gang, perhaps, in the Uni
ted States. They were ono in posi-
ton to dictate who We should have for
president and who should be governor
of New York, but DR.. Parkhurst and
the Lexow committee have paralyzed
that gang in New York to where
they can hardly dictate who shall be
bailif.
J. have been in some towns and
cities lately where ''the gang has been
overthrow. I believe it has been de-
monstrated in most places that when
we and wherever the good people of
the town try to down the gang
they will succeed. Right must
have a champion. Then it has a
a victory. The good element in com
munity is generally timid, but when
aroused is as courageous as a liar. The
bad element in a city consider them
selves brave, but when they see that
the good people are thoroughly arous-
ed they are as cowardly as a mob Of
10, 1000 men after one poor little help
less prisoner.
The gangs" in every department
Of life have two objects in view. The
first is personal gain, and the second
is to take a Of their friends and
punish their enemies. When we come
into the realm of the church we can
see rs plainly there as anywhere that
the gang runs the machinery. 1t is as
true in one church az another.
It is true from the general confer
n c of the NJ. E. Church down to q
little crossroads convention Of a little
Baptist church in the country. AS the
darby says, every church has ita most
leadinest members al well as its bench
members.
I suppose there never was a gang
who didn't start in al the beginning to
reform things and run them right.
But they soon find out that it pays
better to run things wrong. In other
words, that honest money is not so
easily made as dishonest money.
Wealth is not accumulated rapidly by
legitimate means and honest methods;
and when opportunities to make mon
ey rapidly present themselves the az
erage white man is where some ne
groes find themselves when standing
in another mans hen house after dark.
They find themselves tempted above
that which they are able to bear, and
there seems no way provided for their
escape.
As a rule gangs in politics are in
thorough sympathy with the saloon.
element. Whisky seems to pickle tho
gang and preserve them in good shape.
With vhiskey all in a fellow md all
around him he feels like a :, K put
up in alcohol-that all the influences
that could harm him are shut out COM
pletely. Of course, the gang in the
political world is the most corrupt and
Internal of all the gangs. In the
church world, hypocrisy, can't ar
false pretensions are the predomina
qualification. In the social world the
gangs have for their leading oharac-
teriasics, good clothes and fine enter
tainments, with their dry goods and
grocery merchants left in ahole. They
run a good deal on occult!sm, the.
osophy and the like fads-forfads they
are.
It is getting now where it is fash
ionable to be a fool and fools head the
procession on most lines. I saw
where some jackass said recently that
in a few years churches would be a
thing of the past, and so on. The
Christian world is building about ten
churches a day the year round. ! am
one Of those who are silly enough to
believe that the church Of Christ has
no Intention OF going out of business
in the next 10000 years. Really, it
you look at the latter day church edi"
fees going up in the cities it does
seem like the church has come to stay;
and the church will live on, broaden
ing in it's influences and elevating by
it's power the human race long after
the fools and fads have persisted from
the earth. While the church may de-
velop its cliques and rings, yet the
rank and file Of the church OF Jesus
Christ is as good and pure to-day as
ever in its history, and is marching
ON to the conquest of the world, re-
tarded frequently and only by the
gangs"
In the social world every communi-
ty has it's leaders, which are called
the gang" They have very little
respect for ne another, and they have
forfeited largely the respect of all who
do not move within their circle. De-
collette dresses for the women and
high collars for the men. | have Of
ten thought that both men and wo-
men ought to placard themselves
"Post No Bills" where the collar
ought to be on the women, and where
it is on the men. I have no respect
for the woman who buttons the collar
of her dress around her waist.
1t is a good thing that men differ,
and 1 thank God sometimes for the
difference. |. would hate for all men
to be like some men. The world would
be wrecked in a year if all women were
like some women. The gangs. them
selves are in a hopeless minority in