Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1905-02-11


Lest they might seem to err on the
side of tenderness they can send in
nocent Christian girls to Jail and shut
them up with colored prostitutes all
because they chose to stand on the
street corners calling sinners to re-
pentance.
But to seen an open saloon even
when an arc light was blazing inside
| is utterly impossible.
To find a gambling hell where our
innocent boys are receiving their les
sons in crime is quite beyond their
capacity.
To locate house of prostitution
where manhood is being debauched Is
not to be thought of.
Long Enough to Mulch Them.
Yes. excuse me- They can find those
place long enough to mulct them and
to wink at their outrages and pat evil
1 doors on the back or chuck them I'M
der the chin as the etiquette of their
several vocations may indicate. What
is more. nrize fight can be conducted
under their auspices with all the force
/ turned out to aid and abet with as
brazen effrontery as if Ottumwa were
the widest mining camp In Colorado
or the Klondike.
Light is Protection.
The psalmist speaks of those whom
God Hides in the light" Light Is the
protection of all virtue and honesty.
Let me illustrate There was a time
when merchant who had a window
IoG, IL 80 11,.~, 6 ~
necessary for him to safely guard it at
night. When the days business was
done and the store closed, we all re-
member who frequented country stores
how with great dignity and precision
the merchant went out and adjusted
the shutters and closed all the win
dows and doors with iron bars to keep
his valuables safe from the hand of the
spoiler.
Now go down the street of our great
cities by night and where are blinds
and the bars? You see none of them
but instead the window is exposed, and
as If that was not enough, the lights
are burning brightly in the store, in
whose brightness you may see Jewels
sparkle in the windows of a Peacock
or fine goods in the show cases Of some
great merchant.
Are they not exposed? Not at all
they are barred, and protected by the
most effective Of all barricades, that OF
light. No thief will dare expose him
, self to the glare Of those stores and
shops and as a result the things are
hidden in the light.
We Need the Light.
; So what we need is the light turned
on our city. We all know that the
; things we deplore could not endure ar
hour in the full publicity of the light
They are the things of darkness an6
they cannot resist the light
That is my excuse for this crusade
: Again to carry the illustration farther
we find that light is the healing an6
remedial agency of nature. When yor
have a fostering alley that breeds pes
, thence and disease, what is the bes
way to clean it up? Let on the light
The blazing sunshine will soon lick w
these disease germs and destroy thai
malarial poison.
: 1t is so with moral corruption
This cannot endure the light. Truth is
, destructive. Let the searchlight OF
truth be turned on the fostering places
in the social order and they will soor
: respond to it's remedial agency The
hush up policy may seem to be the
: most agreeable to our present tastes
; but it means simply to permit the So
cial corruption to work the deeper anG
, ir the end make it the harder to cor.
! rect. There is a wonderful cores.
. pondence between social and physica
,, disease. For instance the malaria
poison creeps stealthily, silently, with
/. no blare of trumpets. no tramp of al
armed host, but nevertheless it quietly
: does its poisonous work, and ere tn,
| patient knows it he is animated will
. the hectic flush that shows the dis
: ease has done its work.
~ xr,itH nrol rJl,o
! move on a communitv stealthily, quiet
t ly, by slow degrees, unannouncet
: unsupported till their deadly work ha
also been done. Pope expressed thi
v deadening influence in his lines:
, "Vice is monster of such hideou
That to be hated needs but to b
9 But seen too oft, familiar comes tn
g We first endure, then pity, then EN-
brace
1t would seem as If our city had al
most come to the condition that i
8 embraced vice, and took it to it
r bosom as the object of its familia
:. fellowship.
g Outline Of Series.
n You will permit me then to take
e moment In outlining what / propos
n in this series of addresses. Next Sun
!, day evening I shall discuss why it
gambling f1ourishes in our city Les
/ there be some who even doubt the fac
>. that it does flourish shall detail tn
several places that are running opefl.
fiagrantly, and above board.
I shall show that this vice is S
open, thoroughly recognized by tn
city authorities that there can be n
other conclusion on the part Of sensi
i BILE people than that it is In leagu
with the police authorities of the cit
and is doing business with a perfec
understanding with them.
, I shall next show the same conditio
| with reca ri tn the n1arac ne tho or