The herald., 1896-07-27
!" CHRISTIAN CITIZENSHIP .
Discussed by Rev. DR.. Carlos
Martyr of Chicago
MUNICIPAL GOVERNMENT
Has Proven a Conspicuous Failure Under
Cur System
Some Of the Evils Under Which We Labor
The Remedy Pointed Out-At the
Other Churches

Rev. DR.. Carlos Martyr, the eminent
lecturer, addressed a large meeting at
the Congregational church at the cor
ner of Sixth and Hill streets yesterday
afternoon at o'clock, on the subject of
Christian Citizenship. DR.. Martyr has
national reputation as q reform orator,
and his efforts in that direction have
gained for him the title Of 1.-The Park
hurst of Chicago" The meeting was
neld under the joint auspices Of the Y.
M. c. A, the Y. w. c. A., the Christian
Endeavorers and the Epworth league,
and was in the line of arousing interest
In securing better municipal government.
Thornton Fitzhugh presided and called
the meeting to order promptly at 8
o'clock, when Rev. George e. Dye of the
East Side Baptist church led in prayer
Music followed. a selection from The
Holy City being given, Mrs. M. e. Auer
leading the chorus.
DR.. Martyr was then introduced
After referring to the pleasure which 1t
gave him to appear before such a meet
Ing as he was addressing. he said that
1t was a cause for general congratula
tion that the young people had been
government for on them depended the
future of the country, as they would
represent the Christian citizen, new
thing under the sun. He referred to the
apathy into which the people had fallen,
and which had allowed abuses Of all
kinds to creep in and fasten themselves
upon the body polite. In a government
nke ours, where every citizen is a part
OF the government, the responsibilities
of citizenship are very great. The bal
lot Is as sacred as the church. and the
primary should receive as much atten-
tion as religion. and 1t Is the solemn duty
of every citizen to see that righteousness
prevails in all the land from the rising
to the setting of the sun.
Dr. Martyr then said that he desired
to present two pictures to his audience,
and pointed out the abnormal growth of
our cities. AS a matter of fact, he said,
there was no longer any country. Ev-
erywhere there were the habits, the Gus
toms and the cOnvenienceS of city life,
and, alas, city vices also prevail At the
beginning of our Republic we were prac-
tically without cities. only about 3.3 of
our population being urban, whereas
one-third of the whole population is
housed in cities. The speaker referred
to the history Of cities in the past, and
said that our own experience had dem
onstrated that the government Of cities
had been a conspicuous failure under
Republican rule, and under our system
the cities had become the storm centers
OF the republic, sores, running sores, on
the body polite. the moral sewers of the
country.
The speaker referred to the bolts in
the recent political conventions as indi-
eating the spirit of unrest in the people,
characterizing the present as "the age
Of bolts" and declared that the great
issues before the people were not free
silver or gold basis, the tariff or free
trade. but that the great and paramount
question was whether the cities should
be governed by decency or indecency
II it # ever possible to redeem America,
we must purify our great centers, which
were now under the government of
trinity of the devil, the first person of
which was the grogshop. the second the
gambling house. and the third person the
house where the scarlet woman lives.
The speaker then proceeded to analyze
this "diabolical trinity" beginning with
the grogshop. He referred to the inhe-
rent tendency of the people to drunken
ness. inherited from long line of hard
drinking ancestors, and said that 1t was
merely common prudence to minimize
the temptation. He said that the grog-
shops were responsible for four-f -fifths
Of all the crime, and that the licensing of
these hell holes" was an offense against
God and man. He declared on the au-
thority Of Carroll D. Wright, the statis-
tician, that it cost the community $50
for every 81 collected from the saloons,
and said that 1t was poor business pol
icy, to say nothing of the sin, to license
the sale of liquor.
DR.. Martyr was equally severe on
gambling, saying that it was the very
essence of dishonesty, besides which 1t
caused over-stimulation, burning out
the moral nature of man, and leaving
him like an extinct volcano. Americans,
above all people, do not need stimulation.
AS it is they cannot stay still; they are
suffering from that nervous disorder
which he designated as Americanitis, a
sort of modified st. Vitus dance. Ameri-
cans are born in hurry, live In hurry
and 60 to the cemetery on trot. Gamb-
ling, he said, was fruitful source OF
crime, and was responsible to great
extent, for the fact that in all this broad
land the penitentiaries were the only
institutions that were in q thorough
ly prosperous condition.
In regard to the third person of this
trinity, prostitution, the speaker said
there appeared to be q conspiracy of
silence to prevent its discussion. This
was all wrong 1t was not pleasant
subject to discuss. but 1t was absolutely
necessary. This sin was direct infrac-
tion of the seventh commandment; not
only this, but it is the only crime that in
wolves the murder of two souls, and con-
demns both to eternal despair. Then,
too, it Is an act of sacrlege. The body
is the temple Of the Holy Ghost, and to
turn the living temple of God into a
house of prostitution, is the greatest of
crimes. The speaker graphically por-
trayed the physical evils of this crime,
and said that 1t made q man look like
what he Is, sneak.
But how can these evils be remedied?
asked the speaker. BY rescuing our
cities from the domination Of harlots,
gamblers and grog sellers. Many eastern
cities are already beginning the work.
He referred to the great work of DR.
Parkhurst and Commissioner Roose-
welt in New York, where most encourage
ing results had been secured, with a
population SO per cent foreign, and also
to what had been accomplished in Chi
cago on a lesser scale, with a population
81 per cent foreign, and in which. as the
doctor remarked, "they had smote the |
gang hip and thigh"
DIR. Martyr also referred to the re-
suits obtained in Birmingham, England.
which he declared was the most orderly
and best governed city in the world.
owning it's own street car lines and wa
terworks. These results had been OBJ
tained by eliminating national politics
from municipal affairs and allowing Wo-
men to vote in municipal elections. AS
Joseph Chamberlain had said, there are
but two parties in Birmingham munici- \
pal politices-the party of decency and |
the other.
The doctor paid high tribute to wo- |
men, and said that their influence would |