The Richmond Virginian. (Richmond, Va.) 1910-1920, 1912-04-18

CURATE NEWS
accomplishsd BY the sAnse crowd Ia the sastn,
which defeated the enabling act. The friends
Of saiocns gambling. fraudulent resistration,
turned TO the Senate for protection. and they
were never disappointed.
Who II Rcaponsible?
Who IL responsible for this disgraceful record
on all moral questions? II cannot be placed
upon the senators from the wet" cities alone
Nobody expected the senators from the wet
cities to stand for any Of these measures. II
p characteristic Of communities under the
domination OF the saloon to have gambling hells
and red-light districts and ballot-box stunning
and fraudulent registrations These rare the
natural the necessary. the ever.present product
OF the saloon 1t Ii the damnation Of the liquor
traffic. that II Is destructive Of all the noble
qualities OF manhood and womanhood, for al
cnhol eats out moral FIBRE >.sself. Senator's frou,
such Communities therefore cannot be expected
to stand Tor moral reforms They sent
70 the Senate to oppose such reforms. and.
u they do not obey the will Of their masters,
they will be politically destroyed. All this Is
understood. and worker for moral reform Ia
surprised at opposition from men who repre-
But the representatives of these cities are
not sufficiently numerous to defeat these moral
measures unaided. They must have the active
support OF many more before they can count
twenty-one, majority Of the Senate. And
they must get these from the country districts.
1t Is fact. therefore. which cannot be denied
or ignored that the recent disgracefui record Of
the Senate OF Virginia made by combina.
ton, led by senators from the cities with a
number OF senators from the. country districts
And the people should clearly understand that
this was not true simply concerning the enabling
act, but concerning all the moral issues men
toned above.
Why the Senate the graveyard for all
bills calling for moral reform by the good peo-
pie Of the State Of Virginia? Because a mum.
Der OF senators from country districts Joined in
the movement to throttle these bills In view
OF this record on other moral issues, it is not
astonishing that the Senate killed the enabling
u a a wa IL
great moral measure, and 1t killed the Others
without vote. There would never have been
any doubt as to what the Senate would have
done with the enabling act, had not the tre-
mendous unprecedented demand by the voters
raised the question whether the Senate wouIo
DC able to Withstand this pressure, and openly
KILL by recorded vote the enabling act an
they smothered without vote the other bills
on moral questions.
What About 1t?
And nowr-the practical question is-.What
are the people In the country districts going
to do about it? Do they agree that their
senators shall join in with the senator's from
wet cities to defeat all moral reforms Is II
not time to put some searching questions to
their senators. not only for their votes on the
enabling act. but for their failure to urge ana
TO work for the other reform measures which
wcr. defeated. Hal The $. majors from the wet
cities not stood by the crowd which elected
them, and worked against moral measures. they
would have been called to account and marked
FOR destruction. And no amount of explanation
or excuse would have been accepted Their
WIVES WouiU StanQ Tor themselves their Suft1-
Gent condemnation.
What Do Leaders Say:
The most dsgraceful record for twenty five
years was placed on the Journal of the Senate
OF 1912. The people should find out who is
responsible and what influences were everted
to bring about the result The Democratic party
is dominant in Virginia Is 1t willing as a
party to be held responsible for tie record
made by the Senate of 1912? Do the leaders
of that party propose to allow the vet cities
OF virginia to- defeat all moral legislation II
not, let the party and its leaders repudiate that
record II the leaders do not repudiate it,
then the moral sentiment OF Virginia will repu-
date the leaders. and il the party organization
as an organization, should stand for the record
OF 1917. then the moral sentiment OF Virginia
would repudiate that party organization. It
might well be understood now, at the open
grave Of the session of 1912, that any attempt
to make the record of the Senate Of 1912 the
record OF the Democracy Of Virginia will not
be tolerated by the people. They will not agree
That Democracy shall be made synonymous with
the protection of saloons. gambling, fraudulent
registration etc. The parting of the ways has
been reached in this matter. and IL the party
leaders and the party organizations do not
repudtate the record of 1912, then there are
many thousands of yoters who will certainly
repudiate both the leaders and the organization
and they will do SO for the good of the Demo-
cratic party and the State of Virginia. Moral
issues are supreme and party policy must
form 10 aroused moral sentiment, or the franz
ers OF the party policy will go down in defeat
and new men will be selected who will conform
the party policy to moral sentiment.
The disgraceful record OF the Senate of yir-
ginia for 1912 has been made The question
today Is. will the leaders Of the Democratic
party endorse or repudiate that record? And
let no man who aspires to be leader Of the
party think that the Christian citizenship OF
virginia will allow him to escape giving reply
TO that question. Do they approve 1t, or do
they repudiate It? Do they stand by the House
pf Delegates or by the Senate? Yes or no:
A New Note In Richmond.
On the Monday after the adjournment of the
General Assembly, the Ministerial Union of the
city OF Richmond Is reported in the daily
press ar discussing the relation OF the pulpit
TO questions Of the day. and the following reso-
luton was adopted by the practically unani-
nous vote Of the hfty-seven ministers present:
Whereas. some OF the newspapers Of our state
and some of our citizens seem to feel that the
minister should keep silent public question.
and preach what they call THE simple gospel'.
only; therefore. be II
Resolved That the Ministerial Union OF Rich
mond declares it to be their firm conviction
that the prophetic Office of the pulpit demands
not only the. preaching of the evangelical
truth as 1t IL In Jesus Christ. but also the appi
cation OF - truth 10 pls.sent day problems
confronting the city. the State and the nation
This action was taken In Richmond and
II SUCH action was taken there what is the SEN |
tment in other sections Of Virginia?