The St. Louis Republic. [volume] (St. Louis, Mo.) 1888-1919, 1901-02-11

NS "
THE REV. W. ]. McKITTRICK. d. D.,
First Presbyterian Church.
it dies. We should have the applause and
cooperation Of the whole city.
"a community which admits that II can
not execute the laws which itself has en-
acted Is in a sorry plight as regards its
own self-respect- To set up a vast deal of
machinery to turn out a law and then let
the law that is turned out lie just where IL
drops unul 1t gets trampled over and Hat
tened out into a thin. little dry a this
sort of thing turns inside out the coat of
our civilization and exposes the rough
seams in its lining
81 have lived in this city for two years
and have not heard a single individual
speak of our city government with admira-
ton. I have not seen a single grain OF in
cense burned rnd before i; ! have seen gns smiles M;s.
messed several explosions of wrath about
II. but have. never met anybody. who, was
bubbling with joy or swelling with pride. or
trying to keep in check An oyerhilarious
rapture while speaking of 1t. And yet all
the blame cannot be put upon those who
administer the laws.
THE enforcement or nonenforcement Of
law will depend largely upon the high
water mark or the low-water mark of the
public sentiment in regard to 1t. Officials
represent the people In more than official
ways. 1t is not fair to send them of into
the wilderness as -scapegoats for our own
IIanSRTeSSlOuS
There are enough good people in st.
Louis to redeem the city. In this respect. IL
they would only arise In their might to the
task and get a strong enough movement on
their moral muscularity to make them go
out and accomplish ii.
what Governor Dockery told the anti
wineroom committee is true-that attention
to the elective power is just as important
as attention to the appofntfve power. We
ask the executive to turn bad officials out
without being wide-awake enough to not
Let the had n61C1a1Q oct in Wa W0llI0nH
have to groan ha.f as much II We worked
twice as much. II We would turn our signs
fIaS s eaelots . q do Soa nS t S,se sb PEngsa as 0V Woufd
rattle its bones together like castanets.
"A Committee Of Public Safety is being
OF eoOs. s IN tine ci repres Sc tau De m maae 1 IL
will stand between the parties and keep an
eye on both of them. 1t will throw its
dates and those who support them. Are
force?
are glittering g~eneraities. There are good
and faithful ofhcials in the city government
who viii welcome the work OF such a COM
question is. will the conscience Of the city
help It? Another question Is, II this COM
mittee should call a meeting for the con-
the siaer Sacabo Ss 'e Of our ma mersi AND and C Sh siss an
citizenship, would you walk out of your
front doors and down to the sidewalk and
Keep OH Oll u lual Hl6Sllnk uIll l0o
got theref The organization OF this move
ment Is not a rosy-tinted dream. The men
who are in 1t mean business from now to
"And the business which they mean sug-
gests the other question that faces this city
and all other cities. And that Is the divorce
The ground for this divorce is hat they
ought never to have married. and since
their foolish and unhappy wedding day
they have kept the house full of dust and
noise and the Mapping wings Of bats and
vultures.
National measures and policies should
the Constitution Of the United States with
the hiring OF q servant girl. Why a Mayor
or an Excise Commissioner should be elect
ed or appointed because he voted for Nc
Kinley or Mr.. Bryan is a question that cuts
a deep furrow through the ordinary human
mind. What concern have the passions of
partisanship with the making of streets or
the laying out of parks? The man who can
do a thing well Is the man who ought to be
selected to do it. and only the man who is
irrespective Of the political button he wears
proposition is laughed at by the
clan wants to lay his wires wherever he can
find holes to draw them through, and to
shoot his bird wherever It flies, anywhere
between Washington and the City Hall.
but, In spite of the practical politician
fact remains. and viii remain as long as
We RCAAAAAh - aA&N II IDJSCllOu q I
issues into our municipal government is a
curse to the young men growing up among
US, who. in turn. will be called upon to
dickering and bargaining which they must
pass through will put bushes on their
cheeks and mud on their fingers until they
get used to 1t, until the bushes have retired f.
snd the mud has hardened and dropped OF. |
and they have come to realize that in order
to get anywhere they must go with the
o this question: is hinged, to a great de-
gree, the destinies of our country The
great cities are towering over the land
The young, vigorous life of the
towns and villages is pouring into them like
q food. The last census was moral as well
as numerical. What shall these folks find
here when they arrive? In what direction
shall their citizenship be bent?
The tangie and clangor OF frenzied poll
ical passions. cliQues and circles of un-
'rtdled selfishness. the shameful spectacle
Il men running after offices, Instead of Of
fees running after men-is 1t this that shall
Hash before their eyes in a line of balefui
Ire! 1t depends upon the voters, upon the
man carrying a dinner pail to his work
nd the mar rolling a giit-streaked carriage
rom national politics is not going to be
right away. This will require
and a larger break Of light upon the
ocial consciousness.
But there are some things tina ought
hem is to do . great deal Of thinking be-
ween now and the spring elections. An
'ther Of them is to roll UT this thinking in
o an fron-backed determination. Straight
hought. clear vision. hot purpose. boiling
enthusiasm and a leap Of electric power
nto the arena where the struggle Is going
n are what Is needed to awaken the moral
fulk Of the community to a long pull. a
,trong. pull and a pull all together, toward
he righteous ambition to rub from the brow
( our beloved city its sinister reputation
9 one Of the wQst-governed and most
olitics-ridden municipalities between the
Ltlantic and the Pacific.
This cannot be done by following party
or by q shallow. unreasonable
eadiness to vote for a piece of paste or
or dirt. just because our political
saders tell us to do so. It must be done ,
y the civic conscience. by an amusement
{ civic patriotism. by a resurrection of civic
ride, by the treatment Of unfit or unclean
according to the ancient Donny-
policy Of hitting a head wherever
GU see it
This sermon is simply an appeal to hon.
st men, men who love their city. men who
an redeem II II they want to. men who
lay be sleeping now. or rolling over in their
to stand up and do their duty. to
axe the lions or dogs Of municipal corrup-
by the throat. under the dictation Of
and the imperial order Of Al
lightly God"