The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1898-01-07
Not An Answer.

Last Sunday Rev. DR.. Rainsford of st.
Georges Episcopal church, New York,
preached a very remarkable sermon on the
necessity for churches and the benefits
which flow from attending church service.
In the course of his remarks he said: "In
the recent municipal election I know, and
you know, that bribery was rampant. We
all know that the purchasing of our fell
low men is done in the legislature a AL
bany. But how are we going to meet and
crush out this great evil? I tell you that
we can stamp ii out only by association,
and that association is the church. We
must all join forces and fight"
The New York Sun undertook to throw
doubt upon DR.. Rainsford's statement rel
alive to bribery and corruption in New
York city politics by asserting that he
should go before the grand jury with his
information. The following is an extract
from the Suns comment:
He says that he knows that bribery
was rampant in the recent municipal cleo
ton He is a false citizen, then, il he
does nos impart that knowledge to the au-
thorities, so chat the bribers and the bribed
may be punished under the severe penal
should not fail to subpoena the Rev. DR..
Rainsford TO give his testimony as to the
knowledge he says publicly he has con-
corning an intolerabe crime. If he has no
such knowledge, he has spoken falsely"
The Suns comments do not in the least
lessen the force of what DR.. Rainsford
said. 1t is not his business to stand around
or near the polls and collect evidence that
the crime of bribery is being committed,
and go before the grand jury with the
Information thus obtained. 1t may be that
while he knows that voters were bribed
he cannot give the names of those who
were bribed or of those who did the brib-
ing. There are men in every city employ
ed to ferret out crime and arrest the Of
tenders While it sounds well to say that
it is the duty of every citizen to go before
the grand jury and endeavor to have those
he believes TO be violators of the laws
indicted. as matter of fact no citizen
does anything of the sort, unless he has a
direct personal interest in doing so.
Not long ago a minister in this city, in
one of his sermons, called attention to
violations of the laws, and an official re-
piled that as a good citizen the minister
ought to have the offenders indicted. 1t
is probable that the official had the same
information the minister had respecting
violations of the law. If he had not he
could easily have obtained it, and it was
much more his duty to have the offenders
indicted than 1t was the minister's. He
didn't take that course, however. He pre-
ferred, like the New York Sun, to dis
credit the minister's statement by refer
ring him to the grand jury. Whfesit is
true that it is the duty of every citizen to
assist in having the laws enforced by Civ
ing Information of violations of them, still
few if any citizens make it their business
to see that the laws are enforced. There
are officers to find out whether or not the
laws are being violated, and 1t is no an
swer to a charge. made by a minister or
anyone else, that the laws are being
broken, to say that the person making the
charge should go before the grand jury,
and that if he does not he has made a
false charge.