The Columbia herald. [volume] (Columbia, Tenn.) 18??-1935, 1897-11-12
THE POLITICAL POT
IS TURBULENT.

church and state, and the utter ruin
and overthrow of liberty. The Great
Master saw this and told them "to rem
der unto Caesar the things that were
C@sar's, and to God the things that
were Gods" And for this because He
would not be King, He was crucifed.
And fear, fellow citizens, if He was
here to-day and said He preferred the
common people to the would be Re-
formers, and they had the power, some
of them would cruelty Him again, as
they now pervert and cruelty His doc.
trines with their hide-bound opinions
and doctrines.
For we do not find these doctrines of
prohibition in the teachings of the
Great Master. They are the outgrowth
of the age of fanaticism, and disposition
to interfere with the liberty and rights
of others. England has for ages been
trying to punch religion-as they the
English people claim-into the heather
with the bayonet; has she succeeded,
or only by force held her power? Does
any one doubt that she only seeks
power and wealth? She is the robber
nation of the world, and yet a great
deal is done in the name of christianity.
What is the matter with the church
at the present day? Why do we go
there for all the great defaulters and
despoilers of banks and general
wreckers of trusts? Is it because there
was error or wrongs in the teachings of
the Great Master? Mol A thousand
times no! 1t is because the various
churches do not allow their members
the right to individual thought, but they
must profess to believe what some
wiseacre of the old times ordered them
to believe, and what in this advance
age of thought they do not believe; and
hence when day after day they make
this profession of belief, they are sure
to know they are living the lives of
hypocrites, and they lose their own self
respect, and then goodbye to every
thing that man values; and man in
this state is fit for anything. So my
friends, after all it comes down to loss
of all true liberty of thought and action.
And this spirit, instead of being in CON
troll of the people, is daily advancing
and destroying all liberty.
There has already been an attempt to
bring all denominations of the church
together under the name / believe of
Christian Endeaverers. But God pity
/ the people when this is a success. The
money power of the world is always
alert and on the lookout for an ally.
! 1t does not make any difference wheth-
err it is the democratic party or the re-
publican, and that it ever can be fanati-
cism, is more dangerous still, for the
agents of the money power almost al
ways occupy front seats in the church
i and are ever ready for business, and a
coalition of these forces is not by any
means an impossibility; and when it is
done there is only one alternative
either goodbye to liberty or war
The money power has held us in its
iron grasp for years; and now the other
foe to liberty is rising and bids fair tC
overthrow all liberty. For there CAM
be more dangerous foe than fanati
cism, because it is welded unconciously
by those who are driven on by it. Some
of the men of the highest moral stand
ing and force are afflicted with it anC
don't know it, but think they are doing
Gods service when they interfere t.
control the thoughts and actions o.
others; and herein lies the great danger
What country can be developed with
out freedom? What state can be de
veloped without freedom? What mu
nicipality can be developed without thu
liberty of its citizen is respected? Wha
man, in the town where his rights ar
abridged? What child even, where b.
is pent up and has no liberty? Yes
even what dog, where he is always KEEP
tied?
This is an age of improvement and de
velopment and we don't propose tina
others shall think and act for us. Ii
the language of Robert A. Van Wyck
Mayor elect of New York: "The grea
essential for municipal progress is hom
rule, in the management of local con
Germs. Almost as necessary conse
quence will we then enjoy that mea:
ure of personal liberty which impose
and permits only such restraint as
necessary for the peace and protection
of all "
This is the true theory of government
That there must be lars, and all til
citizens be subject to them, no one denies
that they must be enforced, is the GER
price of liberty; for liberty is not Idu
LessaeSS, bit means the right to eUer
citizen to pursue the even tenor Of HI
o,cn Ddy, in all legitimate caLLingS, W
less he iRterJeres With the rights {
others. He may stretch his arm-so
speak--in any direction, so he does NJ
strike his neighbours nose.
Now then, here is the issue. The Re-
form Party-so-called-are in the habi
of calling the Peoples ticket the Whii
key partyi so it is plain they seek pro
: hibition, either directly or indirectly
! and they seek to make by indirectior
unlawful what the State has made law
full; and then when most of the peopl
Z engaged in sale of whiskey Il say mos
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