The Montgomery advertiser., 1906-09-02
THE HUmBUGGERs.

There is something singular about ehe ease with which human beings can be led If on absurd lines. We believe it was Barnum who declared That the American people liked to be humbugged. and he was about correct. The case Of Dowie Is a notable one and Is fresh in the minds of all who read. That he should have been able for years to completely dominate thou sands of people. body and soul. to deprive then of any volition or will of their own. and also te deprive them of most of their money is what out siders find 1t difficult to understand. His long and absolute ascendancy and supremacy show how easily It is for a man with the right kind of gifts" to control others.
 Recently we are told of one Sharp good name for him--who has rounded up a company of followers and is leading them to the Land of Eden, which he has made them believe is located somewhere on the Pacific coast. He started out with about fifty fol- lowers, but we have no doubt that other dupes will join him on the way If he is allowed to keep on. We don't know just what kind of fairy tales he Is telling the people. but presume he has pictured to them a veritable earth fy Paradise, such as our first parents occupied. where they can live on fruit, ewear fig leaves and pass their lives in one long sweet dream of perfect rest and happiness. How all this Is to come about he has probably explained 60 their satisfaction.
 But there is another view to be taken of this performance, as The Brooklyn Eagle views it. That paper argues that somebody ought to call the at 4ention of the authorities. if there are any on his line of march, to Mir. Sharp's requirement of marching for member ship. This may not be severe In the case of grown-ups, but 1t Is reported that little children are compelled to take part in the exhibit. and when they passed through Oklahoma City several of them had already walked eight miles, and were hardly able to drag themselves farther. The Douk- hobors did this sort of thing in Can ada. and the mounted police rounded them up and put them back on their reservation. The law hesitates to in terfere with religion, but In cases where religion interferes with the law 3t is just as well to place the head centers in safe keeping. or send them 10 those lands where the people do not take to religion, however fond they may be of missionaries"
 As The Eagle says, the laws of this country are very elastic. and the au- thorities are slow to interfere In any matter which is conn ected with the re- Jigious beliefs of any citizen or citi- Eens, but there are limits and excep- 4ions even In this. The law and those whose duty it is to execute it should not remain Tassive or indifferent when cruelty or inhumanity is practiced or allowed. whether it is being done in the name of religion or under any other title. The picture drawn by The Eagle of littls children being compelled to drag themselves along in the wake of this pretender and his gullible dupes is one that should appeal to the off, cers of the law aud to all the people along his route, and a stop should be put to it. There IS nothing in the re- ligion of Christ which requires or condones brutality, especially to the little ones who are at the mercy of their elders, There is no Christian re- aigion in the Sharp propaganda.