The gold leaf. [volume] (Henderson, N.C.) 1881-1911, 1903-03-26
THE REIGN OF VIOLENCE.
It Has Its Birth in Disordered Social
Conditions and the Lax Enforcement
of the Law Encourages It.
North Carolina Christian Advocate.

North Carolina Christian Advocate
Every thoughtful person will agree
that we are passing through an era
Of violence. The Tillman- Gonzales
tragedy in Columbia, SC; the Bishop
Wilson tragedy in Charlotte, and the
Haywood-Skinner tragedy in Raj
eigh, this State, besides many less
noted cases. all point to the preva-
lence OF mania for assassination,
such as this country never saw. We
Venture that in war times life was
scarcely less secure than at the
present time in this country. Men
fly to the pistol under the slightest
affront and shoot with deadly aim
and intent. The country is shamed
with the record of crime and vio-
lence.
The same thoughtful person will
see many things which account for
this state of things. 1t will be OBJ
served that much of it occurs in So
called high life. The observant per-
son knows that the reputed higher
circle of society," in this country is
reeking with the sins of Sodom and
GOmorrah. The sins of the race
proves that violence is the legitimate
offspring of the persistent violation
of Gods laws. Just and innocent
persons may be the victims and often
are; but the truth remains as saith
the proverb of the ancients: "Wick-
edness proceedeth from the wicked"
1t is proverbially true, moreover,
that the social sins which is the pre-
vailing evil Of the so-called higher
circles of society, is the sin which in
evitably bursts out in flames of vio-
lenee and bloodshed. Involving the
most imperious passions of the hu-
man nature, nurtured in secret, and
pampered by every condition calcu-
lated to mature the beast and de-
stroy the loftier sentiments ofhuman
nature, one can understand some
thing of the logical sequence of mur-
der and desperation when such
PERSONS plans are interfered with.
Society today in our fair land is full
of monstrosities of this sort, loaded
with pistols and precious (?) liquor,
and ready on slight pretext to use
the gun with deadly effect.
Where do they come from? Not
from the fields and shops; not from
the walks OF industry; not alone from
the slums, nor from the oppressed (?)
toilers and burden-bearers of life; but
from the parlors of homes, whose
heads are reputed to be leaders in
Church and State. Homes where
there has been too much of leisure
and too little OF useful employment,
and where, therefore, progressive
euchre and progressive games of
many sorts take the place of work
for a living. These things, in spite
ol the warning and protest of faithful
ministers of Jesus Christ. Homes
called Christian, yet devoted to So
ciety high-fying in general, with
wines and punch to give zest to the
whole. These are the places breeding
the violence of modern-day Christian
civilization, upon which the good
citizens of the land are looking with
amaZement.
Then the crowning cause OF our
trouble is the fact that every one of
these desperadoes know, by the re-
cord, of our courts, that he can go
scot free, ten chances to one. The
farce of a court that will allow one Of
these social desperadoes to invade a
quiet home at night, to blight a fair
daughter and ruthlessly shoot down
the father who justly protests, and
get off with a penalty of five years in
the penitentiary, will never deter any
one, especially when there is still
the hope of Executive clemency i'll
the form of a pardon after a few
months. We would not embarrass
those charged with the serious re-
sponsibility of the administration of
our laws. But the best element of
society in North Carolina is reason
ably alarmed at the recent evidences
of studied effort to fail in the con-
viction and punishment of crime. 1t
is a sad day when the character OF
an 18-year-old girl can be taken up
and mangled before the eyes of the
public to make a way OF escape for
an assassin.
We write this with the distinct un-
derstanding that there will be those
who will disapprove, even men in
high places. But we do it with the
conscience of one who would be a
faithful public servant. In many
ways we are sowing the wind in this
country, and the reaping OF the
whirlwind has already begun. The
elements of destruction are in the
social life of this country, and unless
the leaven of the Gospel can be made
to take hold OF the classes that rule
and secure to us wise laws, justly
and firmly enforced, the Republic vii
go the way of all it's predecessors
Wickedness in high places, a corrupt
administration of law, scandalOu:
social conditions, are the sure heri
tage of a nation that forgets God.