The Montgomery advertiser., 1909-10-04
To the Editor of The Birmingham Age
 Herald:

ford. now Lord Beresford. referring to a possible conflict with Germany, says: T see red spots in the sky" If man sees red spots in the sky and does not speak out 1t is a sign either that he is dumb or that he Is poor patriot.
 Recreant is he. however insignificant,
 who in a season of public anxiety and alarm cooly draws a mask over his face
 or assumes an unmeaning and Sphypx- like silence. l see danger ahead--I deprecate lit cannot be averted. The cloud has been gathering too long. It Is as sure to come as Halley's comet. We cannot escape it. We can only stand and endure its pitiless peitinss. Consideration might have delayed 1t,
 but there was no consideration. Mod- eration might have softened it, but
 there was no moderation. It roars like
 last Sundays equinoctlal and death
 and bloodshed may follow in it's pas sage. Foreign perils may sometimes
 be predieted-even prevented Inter
 national differences can often be ad-
 justed by friendly intermediates or
 treaty stipulations. Some duma may
 wiring harmony out of the very jaws
 of discord. but when troubles are in
 testne-when friend arrays himself
 against friend. brother against brother
 guardian against ward, shepherd
 against sheep. when our very spiritual
 leaders, our constituted guides and
 peacemak ers-men who are debarred
 by their cloth. their vows and their traditions from even acting as umpfres in secular affairs. except on invitation, step down from their pedestals and run
 muck against members of their own
 flock. whom they accuse of being Tined
 up with thugs and boot-leggers"-he
 would be fool who did not see red
 spots In the sky.
 The prohibition movement that Is
 now shaking Alabama from center to
 circumference, Is no common earth .
 quake. The affair at San Franciscn
 jared down houses and uprooted for.
 ests, but this-if not resisted-may SOW
 enmities. bred animosities. sever friend
 ships, divide families and overturf
 churches. Any attempt-however re-
 mote-to ally church and State in
 America is madness-nay, 1t is Urea
 son. Born in ignorance, matched in
 fanaticism, 1t Is a hydia of an hundred
 heads, and every head an ill We al
 ready hear of the political parson,
 It is said in derision, and 1t means de-
 rision. The same man cannot be par
 son and a politician. If a politician ceases to be a politician he can only
 beome a Stiggina If parson ceases to be a parson he can only become u brawler or demagogue. The two com bined Is a Chang and Eng monstrosity,
 I have never before heard the name ap- piled to any human being except t. Parson Brownlow. and he was brown enough and low enough to soil any gen. tleman's lips. l am sure that none ot
 my Methodist brethren covet the az pellation. Adam left Eden somewhat
 under a cloud, but that cloud was am
 ber and gold compared with the one
 that hangs over the head of the 'polft
 ical parson." AS long as Alaoams | stands the stains upon the robes Of these ecclesiastical bolters will inhere and their unfortunate defection wil
 not only be an insult and mortified
 ton to their conse vative clerical
 brethren. but will forever be a stench
 in the nostrils of men.
 Bad and horrible as Is the curse of
 strong drink, there Is danger that your intolerance may be stronger still. |.
 Deadly as is the asp and adder in the
 cup, they will not bite like fanaticsm.
 They will not poison like bigotry. When reform rushes to persecution 1t does
 not mean reform; 1t means chains and
 slavery The excuses you tender are
 pretexts; your apologies, subterfuges.
 If prohibition has moral side, attack
 1t with moral weapons. Gluttony has a
 moral side, tobacco has a moral side. the cocaine habit has moral side every vice under heaven has a moral
 side. Are you going to stay in the
 lobby till you have suppressed them all? Do you not dread to be ciassed
 as an oficious intermeddler? Of course
 the politicians and candidates for Gov
 ernor will gladly use you and the poor
 women as baits and springs. Your
 presence may give them responsibility,
 but it will be at the expense of your own. They are only riding on your backs into office. You remember how
 the fox got out of the well in old Esop? Inwardly. they will regard you as tools and interlopers. The man who deserts higher cause for a lower
 is always looked upon as a renegade.
 They have only added another animal to the show The brass band in front.
 then the band wagon, then the candi-
 dates, then the women, then the chil- dren with little flags of tissue. often bearing devices that they cannot read. You have eaten "the insane root" you says q am my brothers keeper.
 The term that the first murderer Cain repudiated, you have taken up. Detest-
 able dogma! You do not believe In personal liberty; you believe in the scourage and the pillory. You cry ev- cry man is born free ana equal ana straightway you put him in the stocks. You keen him as Cain kept Abel. as Herod kent John as Darius kept Dan ial-in the Hons den. Get farther away. please. If you mean by being vour brother's "keeper" to keep him accordine 10 his wants and ideas. you are philanthropist; If, according to vour own. you are monster. As a free agent. as being responsible for nav own acts, I would be mortified to learn that even the Angel Gabriel was my keeper. ... A.. aae from the wrath to come It Is an altar +o whose horns even the sinner n,ov cItnp He is not only shielded From the entertainments of the world. hut largely from the wiles of the evil one. His preacher Is his shepherd' ms guardian. his friend. He Is ms oosoih- counsellor and advocate. Meantlme' his nolIttcaI views are not prled lhto- even his speculative views are not questioned. He Is free 10 interpret 'ne holy word for himsel: ana none to
 make him afraid. lie IS not peo'eu ,'t or raouIred to believe Ike anybody o, tha oraed only excepted. and to
 @ ,as e-iusn his adhesion. What.
 .na. .ls aidst of his fancied peace and
 II .tt,, 'm the nulpiteer should rise up
 ond cav "No goggle-eyed elder snail
 aiia ,iatoto to me" and proceed to attack tho ro,ttical views of half ms consre-
 a4,a,a do not ask If this phase be s1t,ta.ar,al I ask if 1t be decent? l
 raaLa ,,o charge; I only suppose q case.
 cav what if no goggle-eyed elder'
 Then m goggie-eyed bishop, no goggie- | a,,ed ,onYerence, no goggleeyed au- 1 thority whatever.
 TO Chose that have already taken