Atlanta semi-weekly journal. (Atlanta, Ga.) 1898-1920, 1910-04-12
By Bishop
Warren .
A. Gambler

wealth. The same is true of our own
country today. Our virtue has not in
creased as our learning has advanced.
The insurance scandals in New York
few years ago showed university men
stealing money, bribing legislators, and
| defending the worst of criminals poth
| before the courts and at the bar of pub
lie opinion The crimes recently unearth-
ed at Pittsburgh and Albany were not
! the crimes of the ignorant, but the Of
| lenses of the educated and skillful.
J poultice of pedagogy will not eX-
| tract the virus of evil from the veins or
men. Education is not the sure preven-
| tive of crime. The cause of wrong-doing
lies deeper than mental infirmity or any
intellectual destitJtion or deficiency. 1t
| is in the heart; it is in the region of mo-
| tive. 1t is at that point some remedy
must be applied if crime is to be cured.
And no remedy has ever been found
outside of religious faith that is able to
penetrate and purify the motives of men.
| In proportion the sanctions of reli-
| gion are despised and the services OF
religion are neglected do men set civil
law at naught and wound the social sys-
| tenn. The prodigal who renOunces the d.
vine authority of the heavenly Father
and takes his life into his own hands
speedily wastes his substance in riotous
l HNllS 10 Iile INJURY VI LlilSCAA anu thS
damage OF others.
| OF course the civil government can not
undertake the task of making men reli-
gious. That has been tried in many
| lands, and the experiment has always
| turned out disastrously both for the
cause of religion and the welfare of the
state. Piety can not be implanted by
act of parliament nor constrained by a
constable. But the state can make I'M
| lawful enterprises that nourish immorali-
/ ty and propagate impiety.' For example,
| the state can outlaw the saloon-one of
the most fruitful breeding grounds of
| crime,-and it ought to do it. This con-
Iviction is growing in the modern mind,
especially in our own country. Many
plausible arguments have been brought
against this policy of prohibition; but it
is too clear for argument that 1t is an
immortality in the conduct of the state
itself when one citizen is given a COM
mercial interest in the moral overthrow
of his fellow-citizens. Any institution
whose profits are In proportion to its
pollutions can not be justly allowed by
Jaw And this is the case with the sa-
loon. Crime is produced whenever hui
man passion sets aside human reason
and conscience, and the use of intoxi-
cants as a beverage tends to raise pas.
sion to the highest point and to reduce
reason and conscience to the lowest.
| Herein is the source of vast deal of
crime in our land, the cost of which all
the people have to bear, whether they
approve the saloon or not. This source
of crime ought to be dried up. There is
more involved than is involved in all
the mines of Alaska. The groggeries of
the nation cost us more than the Guggen-
| helms.
| Enf in ~ oif
strange state of mind upon the part of
some citizens otherwise good and law
abiding there are men among us who
because they did not favour the adop-
ton of prohibition look with favour upon
tho violation of the law and are more
lrea5y to excuse the infraction of the law
THAI to defend its observance. They
know perfectly well, or if they do not
they may as we'll know, that the people
of Georgia are not going to allow again
the licensing of saloons in this state; yet
they take the position that liquor selling
Is not to be repressed in certain cities.
At bottom this means anarchy. No good
citizen, if he thinks seriously of the mat
ter, can justify for one moment any such
position.
Moreover, we can not justify this posi-
ton by the poor plea that the prohibition
law can not be enforced in the cities.
THE officers of the law have intended to
lenforce it, and by failure in its enforce
ment when they have not intended to en-
force it, we have demonstrated the
feasibility of the law. We have also
demonstrated the impracticability of
keeping certain men in Office, who after
swearing to enforce law wantonly wink
at its violation.
1t would be very unfortunate to have
inv in rlOli-
tics, but this will surely come to pass I'M
less every man charged with the en-
forcement of law will include this statute
with all the rest in his mind when he
takes the oath of office. The people of
Georgia will scarcely submit to be trifled
with about this important matter. 1t
makes nc difference what may be the
wishes or private opinions of any person
or persons; the people of this state have
decided that they can not conserve their
moral resources with the open saloon in
the state and by this conclusion they
are going to stand If they are driven
to the conclusion that they can not con-
serve their moral resources without 60
ing step further they will take that
step also. But let all concerned be well
assured that they intend to go forward
: In this highest work of conservation
: Gold mines, and copper mines, and tim
Iber. and water-powers, they regard as
l valuable; but men they regard as more
valuable 1.-THE common wealth is the
common people" and the resources found
lin the people themselves, especially the
T resources found in the youth of the coun-
, try, must be conserved at all cost.
The thoughtfuI people of the country
are growing very tired of paying for
; crime. The bill is a big one, and they
, get nothing for it when it is paid. 1t is
. money spent for something worse than
! nought.