Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1905-02-18

revived, Can man receive fire In
his bosom and not be burned?" Is 1t
possible for any community to violate
the evident laws of God and laws Of
nature and not receive the fearful
compensation? Not while fright is
right, since God is Cod" Not while
the seeds Of mortality are sown in
weak human nature. 1t Is time for
us to stop long enough to consider the
terrible judgment we are laying up
for ourselves whose visitation VIII not
wait our pleasure. Bear with me then
while point out some of the dire re-
suits that must follow such course
of public procedure.
1t cannot but corrupt our public life
and sink our city in rottenness most
destructive and deplorable. Before we
complacently license this sinful crea-
ture let us stop to observe the black
stream of death that follows in her
adulterous trail. History may be our
instructor All the way along the
course Of history the wrecks of her
base devices are seen. Israel went
astray under her leading. She COR
rupted lettered, cultured Greece. She
sank Rome in the foIlest depths of
corruption. The yellow sands Of the
deserts conceal many ancient powers
that she enticed from the throne of
their greatness till now only the
spade of the investigator can discover
i their locations. Modern nations are
sinking under her fearful SPELL Look
at the weakness of corrupt Russia
today Look at modern France daily
dying of this disease which blights
homes with barrenness and hearts
with hate, tearing the fair flower from
the brow of love. leaving blister
there. Sturdy Britain is not immune,
as one of her own poets has sung:
j "The harlot's cry from street to
4 street,
Shall weave old England's winding
l sheet"
True Of America.
j What is true of old England is only
too true Of New England and all
America. We may well pride our
selves on the honor of our marriage re-
Iations and the virtue of our homes In
the past. But a change is coming over
our modern life. Our President has
had the bravery to point it out and to
speak strong words in condemnation
of the race suicide that threatens
America. Let us realize that it is vi
tally connected with this very offense.
What will 1t avail us to be the richest
nation of the earth, to be the most in
tellectual age of all time, to be the
most highly cultured If at the same
time we SOW broadcast those seeds of
iniquity which cannot help but ripen
!: In harvest of furious deterioration
and death. Yet that is precisely what
\ we are doing. lift my strongest pro-
test against such all ubiquitous course
and cry out against our low moral
code that can find place for such an
ubiquitous concession.
i I protest against this condition in
the name of the young manhood of
our city. If there is no salvation for
the burnt-out old embers of manhood
where Gold upon the dead volcano,
sleeps the dream of dying day." for
Gods sake let us try to save the
young and innocent. But what are we
doing? Doing everything in our power
to make it easy for their feet to slip
down the precipices of ruin. Let me
illustrate what mean by painful re-
Vital uduS W lllS ny d OuTlSCldu S6I-
4 tleman of our city, the truth of which
cannot be questioned for one moment
He says that he came home on the
11:45 o'clock train one night and went
to barber shop over which is 10
Gated one Of these protected hells of
4 vice. Between 11:45 and 1915 O'Clock
he tells me he counted thirty young
men ascending the stairs to that
haunt of iniquity. most of them the
merest striplings.
i Think Of it. Shudder over it ii
you must, but do not deny it
If you want to know the eff
|, feet Of this terrible condition on the
health. to say nothing of the morals OF
the community, then consult any re
. putable physician Of our city, and he
will tell you with tears in his voice
that an alarming number of the mar
riageble young men of our midst are
already tainted with disease and utter.
Z, ly unfit to assume the sacred privileges
and holy obligations Of the married
state. 1 know it is an awful thing tc
have to recite these sickening facts
would that l might have been spared
the painful duty. but some one mus
lift a voice, some one must cry anG
spare not. some one must lay aside al
mock modesty and educate the com.
munity in this fearful matter. I be.
lieve our physicians are doing all they
> can in keeping with the holy reserve
that tradition properly laws upon theil
professional condolences. They canno
speak as they would wish Thew SAY