The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1913-06-06

At what point, tnen, is TINS approdcH
of danger to be expected? | answer,
if it ever reaches us, it must spring up
amongst us. 1t cannot come from
abroad IL destruction be our lot,
we ourselves must be its author
and finisher. AS nation of free
men, we must live through all time,
or die by suicide
Nov, there are many things
might speak of here. But l think
the tendency of our times to law I
lessness might be regarded as the
sum-total of all our danger, An Eng
lishman had been visiting an Amer
ican,. and the American asked him
what had struck him most forcibly
in our American life. He Immediately
replied: Your spirit of lawlessness.
Then he added, seeing the hosts
surprise: You yourself furnished
me an. illustration. You rode your
bicycle down the sidewalk when you
knew It was contrary to law Yes
said the American, but there was
( no sonc en- the sidewalk; If there
had been, would have gone into
the road But replied the Eng
lishman, there is no if in the law
And you and | know that the Eng
lishman was right.
i I'VE know that our national struc-
ture rests upon the moral law, or
Decalogue But this foundation
Nf oil
these days. The moral law says:
Thou shalt not Kill But what shall
We say of lynch law and mob VIC
; lence? What shall we say of race
riots? What shall we say of the
twilful refusal of employers to protect
the lives of their employees?
"The moral law says: Thou shalt
not steal. But what shall we say
of our gigantic system of speculation?
, What shall we say of our system of
J 1'Gornering' food-stuffs and the neces-
t sites of life? What shall we say of
i our immense system of graft?
1.-THE moral law says: Thou shalt
: not commit adultery. But what Shall
r we say of the divorce evil? What
/, shall we say of the social evil and
) the white slave traffic?
"The moral law says: Thou shalt
: mot bear falsewitness.' But what
/ shall we say of yellow journalism
! Just now Mr. Roosevelt is compelled
{ to protect his honor in the courts
9 against most vicious newspaper
:. SANDER of his character.
Y Snow, what are the causes fol
: this widespread spirit of lawless
V ness?
d The first, and most prolific cause
q is the liquor traffic. This is respon
n sible for from so to 70 per cent of al
/ convicted felons in our country. An
@ other cause is anarchistic newspaper:
with their inflaming editorial attack:
upon. the government. Cheap novels
il low lighthouses, and poolrooms al
:. so contribute their share. Bad homes
Q are also responsible. In the Elmira
q N. Y. reformatory 81 per cent of tn,
). inmates were from positive BAT
o homes. Good homes with poor dis
o Cipline are also to blame. We spent
e millions of money in the education O
4 our children between the ages of fiv
r and thirteen years. Then when tn
II child reaches the age of thirteen years
= the most dangerous and critical age
l. we give him the reins and allow hin
:. to drive straight to the devil.
=, And then together with all tn
= other causes, there is the deter
- mination of some people to remov
the Bible from our public schools
- With God and the Bible taken fror
q them, what sort of citizens will on
:, children become?
!, Nov the Bible is. not only tn
!, book of religion; it is also the boo
, of morals. No one wouI have an
70 use for school that did not teac
ia morals truth, honesty, purity. Bu
y where is our authority for these mo-
- ais? The Bible. Shall we then b
expected to teach morals while at tn
: same time we expel the only tex
- book of morals? 1t would be quit
! as logical to expect our schools t
~ teach arithmetic without the tex
- book, or literature without the cla
y sizes. To take the Bible out of on
q schools would be to make them Law
j, less as we'll as Goddess. Furthe
- more, there is no article against TIL
~ use of the Bible in our public school
so either in the constitution of the Uni
a ed States, or that of any of til
Of states. Indeed, it was clearly tn
an intention of the founders of tn
he country that the Bible should hay
mr. its rightful place in our public lif
& But this agitation against the us
m of the Bible is bound to result
ar good, 1t is already giving us an e
cd stimate of the Old Book that we neyt
MT had before; it is making us co
mr. scious of its benefits in our privat
III and public life; and it is crystal
nd ing real Christian sentiment as not
nd ing else could do. Recently the legi
h lature of Pennsylvania passed a la,
90 and the governor signed it making
oil compulsory. upon public school teac
oil ers to read 10 verses from the Bib
Teach day before the school,
OR I'm view of these conditions,
n think we shall all agree that new
tho call for oop,,ipa yo4,;o+;e