Los Angeles herald., 1909-02-15
PASTOR APPEALS FOR
PRACTICAL REFORMS
WORLD MOVING ONWARD TO
CIVIC RIGHTEOUSNESS
Adoption by Los Angeles of Charter
Amendments Has Struck Terror
to Hearts of Machine
Politicians

Rev. c. c. Pierce, pastor of the
Memorial Baptist church, preached on
civic righteousness yesterday morning,
taking for his text Nehemiah 6:15,
'And so the wall was finished" He
said, in part:
Nehemiah was what would be called
in our day a practical man. Jerusalem
was in bad way. The inhabitants
We're corrupt, there was conflict within
and contention without. Nehemiah was
that type of practical reformer who
believes in doing something tangible.
He had a vision OF better and clean
er city and came to the conclusion that
there were others who wanted the same
thing. He was one Of those men who
see that there is something that ought
to be done and then goes to work to do
it. The world would never go ahead
step were 1T not for men of this stamp.
Nehemiah found things in Jerusa-
lem in the worst possible condition.
All sorts of evil influences sapped the
moral, spiritual and material life and
weakened the manhood Of the people of
God. Every attempt at reform Nehe-
miah saw, at once, would be imme-
diately nullif1ed by existing conditions.
He went straight to the root of the
difficulty in a very materialistic sort
of a way.
He did not organize cottage prayer
meetings; he did not tell everybody
to get into the orthodox church and
flee from the wrath to come: he did
not start a series of missions in the
neglected portions of the city of Jeru-
salem; he did not organize classes for
the study of the books of Moses; he
did not say that the people needed
deeper work of grace in their hearts,
he did not follow the approved course
Of trying to get everybody converted
and attending the temple worship; but
he did the very mundane and material
istic thing of building wall.
Namby-Pamby Talk
There are other cities than Jerusa-
lem where the same things are needed.
There is a good deal Of namby-pamby
talk these days which aims at nothing,
hits nobody and accomplishes just what
it is intended to accomplish-nothing
The only way to reach some people is
with stone wall or club or its equiv
alent. We have no literal walls about
the modern, city, but we need some
thing that will accomplish the same
end. We need and will have good
charters, good courts of law, good clean
officials who are willing to enforce the
laws; good schools, energetic citizens,
patriotic, whole-souled and conscien-
tious men who are not afraid of the
curses Of the rabble or the mud of the
grafters, but who will go after the
wrong, drag it from its hiding place
and enthrone decency, honor and high
ideals.
"One week ago last Tuesday was the
greatest day Los Angeles ever saw. It
was day when the patriotic and lib
erty-loving inhabitants got together
and built a wall. 1t was a good strong
wall In the form of charter amends
ments. 1t fenced out certain things
forever and fenced in others which are
desirable. A horde of detractors, cor
rupt politicians, the grafters, the ma
chine men who run their machine for
the purpose of defeating the will Of
the people and robbing them and whose
stock in trade IS a corrupt form of gov
ernment, stood about, presented a weak
opposition to the will Of the patriotic
people and, almost with tears, saw
some things go down which they had
long cherished and others rise which
were monument to the end of their
corrupt desires.
What have we in so many of our
American cities today? Broken walls,
broken ideals of the noble old patriots
We have enemies within and without,
saloons, brothels. gambling dens and
all sorts Of evil influences, but on the
other hand we have noble company
coming to the front. The people, on
the whole, are desirous of the best
things. The people are having their
day and the time is not far distant
when about every city in our land will
be reared a wall more enduring than
granite, a noble, true-hearted citizen
ship which is the only thing that fur
nishes an adequate defense to any