The Caucasian. (Clinton, N.C.) 188?-1913, 1901-06-27


the elections today must be laid II
the feet Of American citizenship and
no where else. That Clark and QUAY
are members OF our most dignifed
and honorable legislative body II
not 80 much . disgrace 10 that body
as II Is dark and shameful blot up
on the citizens Of Montana and
Pennsylvania.
Ii we are going 10 let the glare of
wealth blind Us 90 our duties as
citizens and seat its representatives
in our Legislative halls, we had bet
ter quit pretending 20 be free citizens
Of free republic and acknow ledge
that gold is our king and that wealth
and not honest and intelligent man-
hood Is the supreme ruler Of our
land. The fault lies with the cit
tizenship aud not with the wealth.
Every citizen should feel the heavy
responsibility which rests upo, him
and should know that IL he betrays
his trust for the greed of gain he Is
as much traitor as that seutinal
who sleeps npon his post Of duty
thus endangering the life and safety
Of q vast and sleeping army. Every
citizen is . seminal over his nations
welfare, yet many of them have
slept through long nights Of polit.
ical corruption and are sleeping still,
although the stars are gone In and
corruption and fraud stalk up and
down under the glare of the noon
day sun. How can an honest intelli-
gent man remain dead to his coun-
try and her problems? How can a
good and brave man remain indif-
ferent when there is evil to over
come and wrong to be vanquished?
Politics have been too long de-
graded by bad men; good men have
too long held themselves aloof for
fear of soiling their hands. They
forget that the welfare Of their
country is at stake and that "when
bad men combine the good must
associate; else they will fall one by
one an unpitied sacrifice in a con-
trmptable struggle"
It has been . long accepted law
that preachers should not enter the
dirty field Of politics. They must
keep their hands clean, must remain
neutral and pour the oil Of healing
upon a politically divided congrega.
tion. If the preacher happens to
touch upon political problem some
good brother of opposite views-in
the audience-becomes ruffled and
creates disturbance in the fold
In the name of common sense what
is Christianity and when must we
wear Godliness if it is too pure to be
carried into all the walks of lifei
God never performed great and
noble work by any man who was
afraid to soil his hands in the up
lifting of any phase of human life
A sensible preacher has views upon
all questions which concern the wei
fare Of his state, and If he is mar
of independence and action, and moi
an incubus on society he will express
those views when it becomes his
duty, if by so doing he drives every
member out of his church and ha
nothing left but empty pews t.
preach to, and those pews will Absorb
more of the real gospel of service
than a narrow and intolerant cOngre
cation. That preaching which i
mere thronging and not projection
of righteousness into every phase o
the life of people has deadenin,
influence upon civilization and dis
regards that duty which "demand
and requires of all good men tina
what is right should not only b
made known, but made prevelant
that what is evil should not only b.
detected, but defeated"
A great and good man who enter
into every detail of the life of hi
country and makes a practical ar
plication of his religion to our ms
tional problems is Dr. Lyman Abbott
"Where duty renders critical situs
tion a necessary one he keeps fire
, from the evils attendant upon II
but does not flee from the situatio
, ITSELF" In him we find q love fc
God, love for mankind, and Low
, for his country all combined int
| the unity of perfect manhood an
+ intelligent citizenship. He does nc
| hold office but his voice is one Of til
, most powerful in our nation and h
r words are words of wisdom and VI
derstanding.
81 Now, if good citizenship Is I
l mean anything, all good men WI
t believe in the same way upon th
i. great leading, general principals I
l government must act in union. A
f Burke says, "No men can act wit
q effect who do not act in concert; Z
j men can act in concert who do n
q act with confidence, and no men ca
2 act with confidence who are n
9 bound together by common opinion
t common affections and common /
FL terests." A man if he believes
i his own politics must put them in
Q effect, and this can be done on
: through parties. But the trout
r with too many men in America
! day Is, they allow their parties
d swallow them, mind, soul and bod
Q They are not democrats and repub
It cans from principles, but by birt
They allow politicians to do thu
It thinking for them and they had ju
II as well allow party bosses to do thu
l, voting for them. They have 3
,s graded the party from . high q
h noble means Of patriotic service in
n q huge and corrupt machine for t