Atlanta semi-weekly journal. (Atlanta, Ga.) 1898-1920, 1911-09-19
Fix These Things Before It Is Too Late to Fix Them

A. GAMBLER. sgs
open saloon and get rid of the observance
restraints to immortality while Increasing
the forces of immortality. They vairly
imagine that cites can not be made 9TH
erwise. This their way is their folly.
We do not need great cities so much
as we need great citizens, and we can
not have great citizens without nourish-
ing constantly the moral life 6f the peo-
pie, If it were proved. therefore, that
the Sabbath DISSERTATION and open saloons
were required to build up great cities, our
people should firmly refuse to pay the
ignobIe price required to obtain such
cities. But vice and the institutions that
promote vice are not necessary to make
cities. The Scriptures haves somewhat
to say upon that subject: Woe to him
that. buildeth a town with blood. and
establisheth a city by inquiry Behold
is II not OF the Lord of hosts that the
people shall labour In the very fire, and
the people shall weary themselves for
very vanity?" CHabakkuk ii:12-13). The
experiment has BEEN tried many times
and with such i'll success that some of
the greatest statesmen of thesswerld have
deprecated the existence of cities Thomas
jefferson wished there should be no great
cities III llc OnllcQ OldlCSp Dis
marck said cities were ulcers on the
body polite" which should be excoriat-
ed.
Certainly the cities are the points of
greatest strain upon Our civilization, and
they need protection against themselves.
A few of our cities in Georgia have set
at nought our prohibition laws. and
their leaders, are now offeting the an
archy which thus def1es law as the rea-
g.. A
er piece Of impotence can scarcely be
conceived. To all their specious pleading
our country people must say most firm-
ly, May e~do not need to weaken
our law, but to make; provision for its
enforcement In the cities which seek to
nullify 1t.
Savannah, Augusta. Brunswick. Ma
con, and Atlanta must not be permitted
to bring the saloons back to Georgia.
and. while raising revenue from liquor
shops dump disorder and disqualification
upon the whole commonwealth. Let
them talk about local self-government|
as they will. there is not an intelligent
man in the state who does not know
that open saloons in these cities make
local self-government in dry counties
impossible. For. these urban commune
ties to maintain open saloons means the
Generalization of labour throughout the
entire state and the daily exposure or,
helpless women and children in rural
communities to the brutal passions of
drink-inflamed' demons without the pro-
lection Of police. These cities ask far
too much when in the name of local
self-goverment" they demand that Geor-
gia shall be troJden under foot by an
oligarchy sof bar-keepers, brewers, and
distillers. In view of the race problem.
which is already with us. and the prob
lem of Immigration. which, rises SO ON
inously beore us, to make such a de
mand is little short of asking the state
to sacrifice allsits l1ighests and noblest
things upon the altar of the bisated. pa
gan god. Bacchus. ~ gss Tae
1t is the high duty of the yeomanry
of the rural districts to defend the COM
monwealth against any such base thing.
They can do 1t. and they ought to do it..
BY doing it they will save both them
selves and others.
And they can do much to preserve
the Sabbath from invasion. They can
bring up generation of people in their
families who will know the value of the
sacred institution and .scrupulously OBJ
serve it. They can also send to the
General Assembly men who will with
stand every effort made to modify or
repeal the laws which we now have for
the protection ofi,the day of rest and
WorshipsSsf1 a~&sHic sswacr Fs ~
But what is done must be done now
In a few years our day of opportunity
will have closed, and with open saloons
and Sabbathless section the South will
be no better land in which to live than
the blighted countries from which our
foreign immigrants are fleeing to our
shores. -.
Before it is too late these and other
important things must be fixed beyond
the power of any. one to unfix them.
Never before in our history was 1t
is so important to strengthen the NOR
al jefenses of our civilization. There
may be other matters of greater or less
Importance which call for attentions but
there are none so important as these
sacred things. The time has come when
on immoral man should be trusted TO
represent any constituency in the Cen
eral Assembly. For many reasons 1t Is
more important to have strong and pure
men in the Legislature than in the ed
eral Congress- State legislation more
vitality affects our highest and best in
terests; and our wisest and best men
should be willing, to give their services
unslintedly, without a thought of the
smallness Of the compensation or the
honour received, in return for their
toll. to protect our section from i'm.
pending gyms.