Atlanta semi-weekly journal. (Atlanta, Ga.) 1898-1920, 1909-01-15
New YOrk,s Carnival Of wine-Drink'
ing

ing
word comes TO us through the Assocl-
ated Press dispatches that New Aork
CITY celebrated the advent OF the year
Ia6s nv a bacchanalian spree, IN Which
one million dollars worth OF wine was
swallowed By the jewellers in the drink
ing resorts o. the city.
Nothing but champagne ana teTrA,
min the two very costly vianos OF
asoaern luxury and so. It was the rich
Jewellers and their satellites who SUNK m
= million dollars on January ist hs'
10 Riut their thirst and appeutes-
I NAV be- a pessimist but the newspaper
reporr sent a cold chill through me as
read Of the debaochery.
what l. II TO youT" 1 may oe asked
simnIv this: We are rushing on 70 an
,,ntnov-n future and tempting Providence
in more ways than one. as hauVh'
while there are now thousands upon
Thousands OF unburied cOrpses on the
shoras OF Sicily and many times more
nersons who are suffering pafgs Of hum
ger TO the extremity OF madness anu
who were as care-free and perhaps q
reckless in their habits and lives only
two days before this earniNai 2. ul, lsN
took pIace IN New York city on January
1st
While philanthropists are rushing
nancy To Italy 20 succor these earth
Quake stricken masses New York CITY
the 9reat metropolis OF the western hem
fsnhere Is sodden with drink without
regard or sympathy for italy 8 terrloie
calamity an the depths OF It's. Despair
sfrentv-three seconds covered the time
4, which the earthquake came and the
tidal wave was rushed upon them. and
New York city, resting also over an
island il 80 callous and selfish that such
q calamity has no effect on their hilaF-
itNr and craze for excitement except to
show mans inhumanity 70 man
sodom and Gomorrah had their feasts
and revelry They were eallous ana
selfish in their debasement OF mind ana
morals. they took no thought Tor the
morrow. Lot could barely escape the
awful holocaust that followed quake and
fame so completes was the overthrow
OF the cities OF the plain and so sud
den the calamity.
How this terror begun history is in
complete but the hand OF the Lord Tell
upon thin in the midst Of rioting and
revelry bosom Of destruction swept
them out OF sight and blorted these de-
bauchers from the face Of the earth
Abraham plead for the righteous in
the city and the Almighty agreed with
him that He would spare Sodom and
Gomorroh, II only ten righteous persons
could be produced in those two cities
where lust and luxury had absorbed the
population.
The ten we're not forth, ming and the
fiery food swept them out Of sight and
existence.
New York may not suffer as did Sodom
and Gomorrah. but II Is evident that an
earthquake would play havoc and these
quakes come Ike a thief in the night
when nobody expects them Remember
Charleston and San Francisco
I do not mean to say that the Almigh-
" has a reserve force in earthquakes
for al wicked cities but J. 40 mean to
say that wickedness win be punished.
and when a nation or a city forgets God
there VIII be something doing, such as
the Almighty alone can do. with hre
and water.
am sorry thst New York city sdvertis-
ed her own extravagance and frivolity.
II II a blur on the good name OF the
American nation. IL was not only silly
70 proclaim its debauchery. but dam
aging 70 exult in proiigacy. because q
good name Is valuable and worth pre-
serving with nations as with individ-
uals.
Belshazzar was permitted TO read the
handwriting OF the avenger on his mag
nificent palace walls. but not always
thus. for the stroke attends the shock
at the same instant and the work is
done in a second OF time.
AS I said before. Il chilled me to read
Of New York's prohigacy at time when
all Europe stands aghaSt at the de-
struction in Sicily and lower Italy. II I
may be allowed to say II. decency was
outraged when a great city made itself
conspicuous in its lack OF kind respect
20 the sorrows and desoIation OF other
great but stricken cities in their sore
extremity. Luxury goes hand IN hand
with danger and when wine overcomes
the human brain danger will evolve into
death an well as danger