The Canton times. (Canton, Miss.) 1893-1906, 1896-07-10
Words of Wisdom.
THE GAMBLING QUESTION

of opiie.V OF licensing gam bin
le '"s come up more sharply before Ii
,s present legislature than ever befor,
i shd we are pleased to see # mat b,
. oroad' liberal and practica BILE spirit h
! '"e majority Of the legislature,
w nave already had sometime +,
1 say on this subject, and we think on
views are very well understood.
! we 40 not believe that this evil ga,
!, oe annihilated, and. hence we +h;,,
''iae wisdom and practical morality re.
4u'fe tnat u should be recognized, H.
cehssd and placed under police spr.
vrlllance It is certainly sound NOR.
ANY 70 reduce by legislation to 4
minimum those evils which long ex-
perlence has shown cannot be ex irnat-
eo' and which all attempts 10 extirnate
simply end in aggravating.
| Ihere are men, many tof them tr,,a
ana good men, who believe that a leeis.
iative edict possesses something Of
d'vlne power and that an act Of the
Legislature is all powerful. This is .
great faila.y. No law that does not
represent the will and wishes Of tb. I
community is worth the paper that IL
Is written upon No law which at
tempts to crush ont the instincts and
impulses Of human nature can ever h,
more than a farce True
pniiosophy, true craftsmanship. itrue
morality demands that those vices
winch cannot be eradcated shall he
p treated BY legislation 4as 70 rcdnte
iiem to a minimum: Under prohib;
ory legislation such vices flourish and
fiiict society. Under wise restriction
heV are reduced to minimum. and I
helr evil effects are restricted and
mited. Emerson, in one of his admir-. "
pie essays, well says:
Republics abound in young civilIi-
rs who believe that the laws mako 2
le city, that gave notifications of the 8
'ilcy and modes of living land imploy- d
ent OF the populations, that com 81
cree. education and religion may be 81
'ted IN or out; and that any measure. s.
ough 1T were absurd, may be impos &
on people. if only you can get suf- s
ent voices to make it law" But <r
ltlnues this wise ard Christian gen Sh
man, THE wise know that foolish 81
lslatlon is rope of sand, which Sce
ishes in the twisting" g.
would be well for those who are g
rnaily attempting to accomplish the &N
'osslble in morals; attempting to
rove on human nature as God Gre.
II and seeking to amend the work
he creator by their little legislative
and municipal regulations, would
der little the wise words of Emer- k
Inc vices OF men can be regulat- M
hey can be put under tribute and1 N
wills resulting from them reduced
minimum But until the laws of IE
are reversed and human nature -
lde something different from what M
" is, these vices cannot be extir. Eve
|. ~ ~
ne silly.headed moralizer, when ~
this argument is made, exclaims. Lare
wOri
!, neither can murder be extirpat. man
erefore, shall we license murder?' PUBI
folly These people seem to be
e to distinguish the very obvious
snce between vice and a crime Ne'
'iis "'nerence Is the whoie an orally
o this silly contention. Let any langui
common sense reflect moment when
'nsider which is vice and which auu u
ime, and the whole fool argu- has ~
is answered. One is an evil tai bill
ng himself and his own, the 9th act mo
uarp,on so.;a,, ca freeing
oo'er"'nent on II,
gulate the first, but it can never lion. n
2 the latter. Only Fl
highest wisdom in dealing with Drug !
estion is not to seek to extirpate
ice. ,h.. the Creator has i~- Wan
in human nature; but to seek Protect }
'ate their evil effects upon so ssss s,e va ~
and list 0