The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1903-08-30

c appearance and re-aPpearance IN diff
rent forms of the argument that you
nnot reform people by law that you can
ot legislate righteousness into people.
he argument is generally used as pro-
st against interference with the whiskey
attic, even in its most revolving form.
course there is germ of truth in it.
ut there Is also fallacy that has been
anderlng around in unthinking minds
ng enough without correction. We mean
othing personal in using the Raleigh
est as an illustration. And a half dozen
apers In this State might have been
bosen, the names of which VIII occur
} their own readers.
Says the Post:
I'VE quote this from the Presby-
terrain Standard:
The New York Christian Advo-
cate asserts that at least four hun
dred children have died from injuries
received on the Foul al of July, the
most of them of the horrible malady
of lock-jaw. The fact ought to I'M
lock the jaws of some of our leglsla-
tors so that a stop could be put TO
this annual slaughter OF young Ameri-
cans.
While our friend is about It, can't
he insist on law that will prevent
any of us dying? Legislation is all
that is needed, we must be sure, to
stop death, either from injury o:
suicide or going to sleep near rail
road track
Says the Greensboro Record
While we are passing laws that
this thing and that thing shall not be
sold, why not pass one that money
shall not be left around in bank
where a man can get his hands on it?
He might be tempted to steal. And
it might also be good idea to pre-
vent the railways and other big cor
)oratIons from allowing their EN-
)loyes to handle any money at all
make them fix up kind of machine
where all money must go SO that it
cannot be taken out except by the
proper person. OF course, that prop
er person might steal also, but this
would reduce the number of stealers
at least. The doctrine now is to
keep temptation away from a man,
not to teach him to withstand tempta-
ton"
Whereupon the Charlotte Observer
That's the stuff Pass law. The
people are not properly coddled and
hedged about. 1t is not enough to
punish them after they have done
wrong-make laws under which it
will be impossible for them to do
wrong. The world is not governed
enough. Pass more laws"
We are of the opinion that four hun
lred children's lives, to say nothing OF
ne lives of adults, and the manning OF
more of both adults and chill
iren, are worth saving. In Charlotte nj
fireworks are permitted within the city
limits. There were therefore no accl
dents from fireworks in Charlotte. L
seems unquestionable that a similar or.
1inance could be enforced IN every city
large or small, in the United States
Fire works tell their own tale. Offend
nrs are easily caught. And the evil
which is a real evil if we count -four
hundred children as worth anything
easily prevented.
by our contemporary as not well taken
But as all roads lead to Rome, the
real objective point of this argument is {
defence of the saloon. We are not ques
tioning the sincerity of the arguers
There is In general pesslmistlc feeling
as to the evil of drunkenness. 1t seem:
such a hopeless thing to cure in the in.
dividuaI, and such constant temptation
to so many, that there Is tendency tC
fall back upon that atheistical law of tho
Jungle, the survival of the fittest, anC
say that law can throw no protection
around men against this evil. Let then
alone, and thus let those who will go t,
the devil go their own gait.
Let it be admitted that legislation alone
does not make men righteous There i,
only one power that can do that ant
that is a Higher Power. But Christ him
self declares that lit must needs be that
ofenses come"
AS long as there is sin in the worlt
there is going to be crime. But Chris
also says. Woe to that man by whom ths
offence cometh And he teaches us t
pray, Lead us not into temptation. Hi
own prayer for his disciples was, l pra,
not that thou shouldst take them on
of the world. but that thou shouldes
keep them from the evil.
Now in our time and in our favore,
lard. the religion of Christ is p predomi
mating force. The Kingdom OF God i
being established among men. And Thu
instruments for the establishment of tina
kingdom are men, with all the human
agencies that can be used to that end.
Take three of the evils which are NOR
or less the subject of legislation il all ou
cities, gambling, drunkenness and tn,
social evil. Does any one dare to sa.
these evils cannot be remedied in an!
degree by proper laws properly enforced
The saloon promotes drunkenness. i
tompts men to excessive and to habitua
drinking. Some reformers have laid 81
much stress on the evils of drinking, thai
they are met on their own ground witt
the original declaration that prohibition
does not prohibit: that it. it does no
prohibit drinking. 1t is said that me.
will drink at home, will drink at theil
clubs. and since the emphasis has beer
put, unwlsely as we think, upon the use
instead of the abuse of liquor, every in
stance of its use is quoted as a violation
of law and the old fallacy hobs UP that
you cannot make people good by law.
But law, In the very provision which il
makes Tor penalties, expects to be broken
Afpx-n fIax1Io