The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1905-04-23
Comments on Living Topics
BY ARCHIBALD JOHNSON.

BY ARCHIBALD JOHNSON.
The address of Governor Clean at
the unwilling of the AppomattoN
monument was in good taste and in
that splendid style which has made
him so popular as public speaker in
North Carolina. We note with pride
also that our Virginia brethren were
delighted with the address, and gave
it unstinted praise.
America vs.. ENGLAND.
The fight for religious liberty has
not been won in Great Britain as yet.
Figures show that in one week more
than 1880 persons were summoned
before magistrates for refusal to pay
the sectarian part of the education
tax. Up to the date when the statiS-
ties were collated 1922 persons had
declared themselves passive resisters.
More than $4,000 sales of household
goods had been held, and as many
as 107 persons had been committed
to jail.-Chicago Standard
We have our boodlers and corrup-
tionists, or bribe- takers and vote-sell-
ers. or shameful municipal misman-
agement and our official pilfering, but
these are the ulcers on the body polite
and not the body itself. Our people
are painfully quiescent and patient,
rises up and drives the thieves from
the temple, and he is applauded and
honored for his courage. Public SEN
timent in this country is right, and
the evil that men do is in violation of
the law and not in accord with it; but
here is a great government enacting
law under the domination of set OF
blind and bigoted persons that rohs
its own citizens of their rights of con-
4 .ie.fsn
against constituted authority How
long would such perversion of the
sacred principle of a free conscience
be tolerated in the United States? And
yet, strange to say, there be American
citizens who sigh for the freedom"
of the mother country.
Municipal Government.
The enforcement of the temperance
as we'll as other Saws affecting the
moral veal of the community will de-
pend upon the kind of officials that
are chosen by the people charged with
the government of the town. 1t is the
easiest matter in the world to allow
the town election to be run in the in
terest of the politicians, and then
Grumble about the way the laws are
executed. However, this is not the
proper thing to do. Ihe voice of the
people will only speak; but silence on
the part of the soVereigns will be con-
sent for those who are smart enough
to control the election to run the gov
eminent as they please. We have lit
tie sympathy with the croakerS who
complain of the bad management OF
public affairs, when they have never
lifted a finger to correct 1T. 1t is
tree country, and every citizen has a
-..-l@A 1,-I IN
public officials of a municipality; and
they will be heard and needed, too, T.
they will only assert their rights and
demand the nomination of suitable
men for the administration of the
town government Let those who are
in the habit of complaining and kick
ing turn out and do their utmost to
correct the evils of which they COM
plain. Unless they do that they have
no right to utter q word.
Tainted Money.
DR.. Washington GLADDEN. and those
who protested with him against the
by the Congregational Mis-
sion Board of the 100000 contribu-
ton from Mr.. John ID. Rockefeller,
are cternally right. The hair-splittinS
theory of the Beard, that refusal 10
accept the money would neceSsitate
men whose business methods are not
known to the recipients, is far-fetched
and fiimSy. The Standard Oil Com
pany is known all over the world as
gigantic commercial monster that
hrives on the wreck and ruin of
weaker competitors; that the methods
It employs in the conduct of its bust
ness are not legitimate, just or hon
est; that it strikes at the very fOunda-
Of i.,l inf
ing brute force rather than business
in developing it's great inter-
ests and that the very principle for
which the mission boards stand, JUS
ice, mercy and love to all men, is
violated at every point by this tre-
mendous organization. 1t is not Puri-
-anism to reject a gift from the Stand
ard Oil Company; it is the only way
% make an effective protest against
t. Mr.. Rockefeller may be a good
man personally. He is reputed to be,
md we have never heard aught against
MS private life, but that is not the
question. 1t is quite possible for a
nan of unblemished private. life to ac-
1uire money by methods that will not
Dear the light of day. Recently the
First Baptist church of Richmond de-
handed that certain of it's members
should quit the wholesale liquor BUSH
hess OF go OUT the CHu1Cll, IHcy
luit the business and are in full fell
owship, with not a scratch against
hem. They lived upright lives, albeit
heir business was disreputable. The
of Mr.. Rockefeller's money
s an endorsement of his business
and that is the core of this
whole matter. Mr.. Dukes gifts to
Trinity College have spiked Methodist
guns against the cigarette evil, and
along with that other guns are spiked
hat otherwise would be pouring hot
shot into this boy-destroying iniquity.
rhe fact that Mr. Rockefellef's law
,ers are out trying to explain away
he GLADDEN. protest shows that the
brethren who protested made center
shots. 1t is the first time Mr.. Rookie
teller has deigned to notice an assault
IN his methods. He thought his
was omnipotent and would
furnish him an impenetrablc shield. 1t
s a healthful sign of the times that
here are men among us brave and
strong enough to stand up against the
power of the richest man in the world
and rebuke him for his sins rather
han fawn upon him for his money.