The Cairo bulletin., 1909-12-06


, the strong men of the community.
! We also have a duty to the negro
He is needed as a laborer. He yield.
= to influences either good or bad. Like
| the chameleon, he is apt to become
like his surroundings. The white
man should not allow him to be drag
: ged down by any institution or con
: dition or man. We would not treat
a dog like that. We keep poison out
of the reach Of children, and we
should keep vice and crime out OF
the reach of our brother in black
His own good demands it. as well as
the welfare of the town. If criminals
hide in his midst, they should be
removed to make the colored man
better to himself and safer for the
! community at large.
| III. Our Business Men--Our great.
est weakness in tue past has been
the hesitancy of our men to come to
the rescue of the oppressed. The
criminals and the lawless have com
/ bined to use the Boycott" with
whitening effect Our men as class
stand in mortal fear of losing a dollar
of trade. They hear the cry of the
/ injured. and are afraid to go to the
rescue, lest they should offend the
trade of the criminal. They hug the
office while women and children are
murdered, Afraid it will hurt bust
ness.
! The weakness of our men is that
they have been seeking to get rid Of
the cross. Looking out for No
gives free rein to the destroyer of
human life. They have largely re-
pudiated the good old principal of self
denial for the sake of the weaker
brother. But some one must at the
last bear the cross of their neglect,
and sometimes it is an awful agony
for the community at large.
This self protection is like the
well dressed man in Cambridge,
Mass, who saw a child fall into the
poking around in the water to bring
the drowning child to shore. A post
man coming along glared Indignantly
on the dude, demanding why he had
not saved the child, and pushing
him numerically headIong into the
water, jumped in and carried the al
most dead child out to a place of
safety. The next day all the papers
Iof Boston rang with the praises of
the man who was not afraid to soil
his trousers for the sake of saving
"a child, That is the very trouble
with the business men of Cairo. They
have been afraid of soiling their
trousers. The people are drowning
in the pool of crime and iniquity,
while our business men sit comfort
ably in their officc-lest they lose a
dollar of the criminals trade There
lis something infinitely more valuable
than dollars, and that is human life
and honor. No matter if it does spoil
the croases in the trousers, jump in
and save the child
Before the civil war some mer
chants in the South sent petition
up to their merchant prince in Boston
asking him to cease his support of
abolition and incidentally threatening
him with the boycott. The noble
merchant counted the cost. and then
wrote to his customers, My goods
are for sale, but not my principles. 50
That man was patriot. He put the
Christian principles in action We
need more men like that in Cairo
The other day several of our most
prominent business men were invited
to join with minister in addressing
public meeting on Sunday closing.
They said that they were in favor of
it but that they coud not afford to
run the risk Of hurting business The
Christian principle contains tho
cross of self-denial for the good of
others.
Is it Graft" on is it Treason? Al
man 10 N'DtVl ~ mo community dlN
good citizenship demands that one
shall be loyal to this larger interest
To turn the community over to the
criminal classes and the lawless ele-
ments, is to play false to the higher
interests of the town. To do this for
the sake of the gain from the law
breakers, Is nothing less than n
species Of graft and it is to prove
a traitor TO the community at large
That is the sort of cpwardice that
stands in the shadow out from which
stalked the villain on that horrid
Monday night. The time HIS come
when men should know that he pro
fession of Christianity is farce
when they will put business before
the safety and welfare of the women
and children The Christian principle
Is self denial for the sake of the
weaker neighbor. And this is the IN
derlying principle of true gentle
man. Men have gone into war for
less than that VIII our business
men continue to play "copper-head, "
or will they join the ranks of those