The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, 1904-05-16

Anthem TO His AdVantage-Run-
ming the Government with the
Lid OT"-A Play to Those in
Pover--The saloon and Gambling
Element.
The devil has control and he is not
going to let anybody stay i'm long at a
time who earnestly intends to keep on
the Hd,-Rev. A. NJ. Williams in SER
man at Trinity Church last night
From the subject The Ancient His
tory of Modern Politics, Rev. A. NJ
Williams preached a strong sermon
scoring the modern methods in political
arena, at Trinity Methodist Church last
night The entire system vas keenly
analyzed, the speaker beginning with
the boss and moving down by gradual
stages to the "dupe."
The claim was advanced time and
time again that 1.-THE devil tominates
modern politics" The sermon was
built on the text taken from Luke
4, and :, And the devil, taking
him up into high mountain, showed
him all the kingdoms of the world, in
a moment of time.
And the devil said unto him, All
this power will l give thee, and the
glory of them; for that is delivered
unto me; and to whomsoever 1 will I
give it,
If thou, therefore, wilt worship me,
all shall be thine
Among other things DR.. Williams
said;
Much of the power exercised in this
world belongs to the kind Obtained by
surrender to the devil In our text the
devil claims that all governmental
power has been delivered to him and is
delegated by him. There is much in
our modern political life that gives sig
nificance to this claim of the devil. 1t
is not extreme to say the devil domi-
mates our politics.
In municipal affairs his sway is al
most universal. IN state government,
without doubt he has a prodigious in
fiuence. In national politics the evil
dences Of his control are by no means
absent.
The present age is chaotic.
Through the surrender of the governed
the temporal earthly sovereignty has
been delivered to the devil. We have
had several persons running on the
Ten Commandments as a platform, and
they all got beat The devil has con-
troll and he is not going to let anybody
stay in long at a time who honestly
proposes to keep on the lid.
The Scripture on which ny teXt Is
based is ancient literature. Tile Invest
reporter, or the latest political writer,
cannot give more up-to-date diagno-
sis of present day politics than we have
here. 1t may we'll be called the an
cient history of modern politics.
Political power is to-day delegated
by the devil on conditions he dictates
He says in effect to the political aspi-
rant just what he said to Jesus: 'Wor-
ship ma and all shall be thine Our
politics are dominated by the devil.
The Political Boss.
"A review of the situation illustrates
this position. The center of our mod
ern political system is the boss. He is
a man of splendid organizing ability,
possessed of intellectual shrewdness, If
not ability. He enters the field of poll
tics to succeed at any cost. In other
words, he falls down and worships the
devil. He throws all moral scruples
10 the wind. He prepares to do any
thing the exigencies of American poll
tics demand. All sensitiveness is dis
carded and his hide is toughened.
He is powerful in proportion to his
ability to annihilate the finer sensibili-
ties. Sometimes he is called honest
and benevolent. These, however, are
cards that he plays along with the
others in the game he puts up. His
honesty is that which belongs to pol
icy, and is recognized among thieves.
His whole study is how to hold Of
flee to the best advantage The good
ne does is tribute doled out to the
public in order to hold his own The
modern boss is a new species of artist.
Even though of the Mephistophles or
der, that touches all the keys of the
great human organ, to bring out an
anthem to his own advantage. Every
interest of society is touched in order
to harmonic with his own base de-
signs.
II fear we must confess out country
Is ruled by a spirit opposite to that
of Christ The age is demoniacal in
politics rather than Christian.
The SpOilS system.
Next below the boss idea we find
this instrument of corruption, an ar
ticle of the demoniacal confession of
faith--"to the victors belong the
spoils." Around this battle cry all the
little slaves of the devil rally. The
bosses thus have placed in their hands
millions with which - run their ma
chimes. They may hold power on a
bare plurality, which has been secured
by dubious means, but they disfran-
chise the large minority and discipline
their forces for perpetuation.
Their mermydons all worship Satan.
These defend immoral practices, they
wink at iniquity, they are silent when
wrongs demand indignant utterance.
They belong to the great we too brig
ade, and their only divergence from
the main boss is their littleness.
The saloon Element.
"In direct altrance with these ele-
ments are crime breeding institutions
the saloon, the gambling hell. the
brothel and Sunday dissertation. These
parasites need the help of the political
piner, and in return pledge their in
fiuence to the bosses. The friends of
public veal see the evil of these in
situations and secure laws against
them.
EFFECTIVE execution is in the hands
of officers of the law. These under
the machine view are the creatures
of the boss. Result: Immunity from
detection in large number of cases.
Occasional detection, but ineffective
punishment.
The boss gets his votes from this
element in Jumps 1t furnishes him
r-eat 40