The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, 1902-05-26
SCORED The COURTS
CAUsTIC CRITICISMS MADE By REV
w. p. McCORkLE.
HE PREACHED ON POLITICS.
THE BALLOT THE AGENCY FOR So
CIETY'S PURIFICATION.

Are Insunicient-SOciaI EVIL Is No
| Observation-Disclosures Punishment
of Crime within the Province OF
Judges, Who Abuse the Discretion
RepOsed in Them, the Minister
HOIds-NeErO Gamblers in the City
COurt-Charge to the Grand Jury
| in the Superior COurt-Vice Must
Flourish That Officials May Derive
! Their Revenue.
Now. let us pray that God may
bless the election and shape its issue
so that it will rebound to His honor
and to His glory"
That is the way Rev. w. P. McCor-
kle closed his sermon at the First Pres
byterian Church last night. 1t was on
Politics." but the pastor found OPP
portunity to refer to incumbents of
some of the public offices of the city
and county in words so singing and
censure so deep that he felt prompted
! to declare that he stands not in the
! cloak of his cloth, but as man, and
as man to man, is ready and willing
to afford satisfaction to any who may
seek it at his hands.
Shall the throne of iniquity have
fellowship with thee that frameth mis-
chief by law?" That was the text of
the sermon, and a question, the min
lister said, that is applicable to all
Christian citizens.
A laxity that he has observed in the
laws relative to debt was deplored by
Mr.. McCorkle, who said that a just
debt is not regarded as it was before
the Civil War, when a man felt that
he was in honor bound and under the
deepest obligation to discharge his in
| debtedness. He deplored the fact that
technicality of law may sometimes
allow a man to escape the payment of
just debt, saying that the verdict of
a jury should be in favor of honesty,
rather than sustaining a technicality.
| Neither Bigoted Nor Rash.
81 am not so bigoted nor am I so
rash as to maintain" said the speaker,
that the sale of intoxicating liquors
should never be allowed, for there is a
| demand for such beverages among the
| best and most respectable citizens, but
the license of liquor shops and the un-
restricted disposal of drink are evils
| that should be suppressed. If men
will have the stuff, let them buy it as
they would any other commodity. Let
them not stink in through suffered
doors and stand behind blinds while
| reveling in all the pollution of places
dedicated to the god of drunkenness.
| The saloon is the worst factor in the
| decentralization of politics, and the So
cial clubs where bars are conducted
are dangers that beset the men who
are their members. 1 have been told
that clubs here where bars are open
and where facilities for card playing
| are offered have been the ruin of many
| young men, and names of unfortunates
who have suffered from the temptation
! put in their way have been repeated.
| 1t was but a short while since that
these clubs were defying the law of the
state by selling their liquor on Sun
days, spirit that is anarchy and
worse than anarchy"
Discussed the Social Evil.
The pastor discussed the social evil,
ridiculing the argument that it is nee
ossary and declaring that Christian or
urchristian men who claim this are
| at variance with the word of God. 1t
is agrued, he said, that the evil keeps
homes pure, but, if such be the case,
he holds with Rev. Mr.. Crittenton that
to every one of the fallen women who
| dies should be erected a monument
as she is a conserver of social purity.
| Il am glad that our President, in Ian
guage forceful and vigorous, denounc-
ed the statement of certain of the of
fcers of the army that the social evil
| is necessary for the men. This is not
| taught among athletes. Ask any base
| ball or football team, ask any members
| of athletic associations that work in
their gymnasiums and they will tell
you the contrary. 1t is this sentiment
| that is discovered in this statement
| of the officers that is responsible for
that condition of affairs in the Phil
| ippines that is disgusting the entire
| world"
Some laws, the pastor said, are good,
| but they do not go far enough 81
took up the Code of Georgia not long
since" he said, "to see under what sort
of laws l am living. I found that
the poor negro INDUCING in a game of
| craps is guilty of misdemeanor, but
| the man who bets $40, 900 on a horse
race is guiltless. How comes such a
state of affairs? 1t is through the in
| fluence upon the Legislatures of those
| gentlemen who engage in this practice
| of betting and swindlng at horse
| races. I am told that at the State Fair
held here last fall some of the most
! prominent men OF the community put
| up their money on races, and this was
| to the shame of the Fair Association.
| This horse racing is the most damna-
BILE method of swindling in vogue.
| do not believe there is anything wrong
| in a horse running as fast as he can
| and do not see any harm in the pro-
| motion of fine breeding in horses by
| Offering purses for races, but gam
bling and swindling incident to the
races are wrong, and they mean a de-
| feet in the laws.
Inadequacy of the Law.
Another defect in the law is its in
| adequate punishment for crimes. But
/ a few years ago there was an officer
! of the United States army convicted of
defrauding the government out of
three-quarters of million, and he was
given five years in the penitentiary as
punishment. But a few days ago 1
saw here a man, forced, probably, by
necessity. had stolen a spirit level,
valued at $40. He was sentenced to
serve three years yet the United States
| judge thought it enough to order that
| the man who stole three Cuarers of a
million should serve but five years.
| The state laws denominate certain
| crimes as miSdemeanors and say how
| they shall be punished. a fine or i'm
| prisonment being in the discretion of
| the Judge The law may give the
! judges discretion. but certainly their
| actions would not seem to show that
| they have any discretion.
| Some time ago the papers reported