Brownsville herald. [volume] (Brownsville, Tex.) 1910-current, 1917-01-20
SATURDAY. JANUARY 20, 1917.
BEWARE OF BELSHAZZAR's FEAST
(El paSo IIerald.1

Not lnfrequently during the past months
ave students of history called attention
to the profligacv Of a certain class Of
Americans, and pointed out thar the richer
. nation grows the more indolent it be-
comes and the less vigilant of It's posi-
Ton IN the assembly of world states. The
subject is handled in q recent issue Of the
manufacturers Record, the article, among
other things, declaring that while this
country has been charged. and we are
afraid Justly 80, with being drunk with
unearncd prosperity. it i certainly pre-
emincntly true that ,ome Of the people who
oush TO he sober appear to be hopelessly
drunk and even sodden in their stupidity"
Continuing the article says:
This has been strikingly illustrated in a
number of foolishly expensive banquets
and Of wildly d~issipated affairs which have
been gwen recently in various parts of the
country.
I'VE do not know whether the story is
true that was recently sent out from ~
Louis. that At one social occasion the
guests were dressed as infants and were
fed whiskeys and wines through nursing
bottle. If 1t he true, the degree of intelli-
gence thus indicated was far less than
that OF the youngest baby born Of the poor
est negro in the south. For the sake Of
humanity We nave that the report i not
true.
But even almost n diSreputable and
extrayagant and ~banquets almost As fool
ish are being gwen where the cost has
run from S25 to 800 a plate. The people
who gave these banquets have boasted of
their cost instead Of bowling their heads IN
shame that IN this day Of Europe's awful
misery, with millions OF people dying of
starvation and of other millions in the tor
lures of the lost through gaping wourds on
the batilefields, they ave % little con
: Iteration 10 human suffering and sorrow
and poverty A. 10 be guilty Of such viii
ful, wastciul extravaganza: il is rotten
ness. Ii indicates a rottennsss of heart
which cndangers civilization. for il arouse~
the intenscst iu~tifiable bitterness Of the
poor and the suffering in this country who
lack for foodstuffs and clothes 10 keep soul
and body together. II j. also nm affront
to Europe, whose misery we should look
upon with sorrow and sympathy and whose
suffering We should seek 10 alleviate ~
gifts in proportion 10 the blessings we
enjoy.
MANY Americans. in their pity of the
suffering in Europe and their desire 10 al
levlnte a. much Of its a. possible. are Civ
ing themselves as nurses, and in many
eases men are volunteering a. soldiers,
hoping thereby TO show their desire. even at
the risk Of life, TO serve humanity. and in
serving humanity 10 serve God. Beside
such heroes a these extravaganza and
the wild waste of rottenness of these great
baaiuets and social occasions must awak-
en- the contempt OF even the devil himself.
Europeans are in prison, and as a peo-
pie We have visited them not; they are in
want, and rs a people we have not minis
tered unto them.
we have gone our way rejoicing in that
prosperity which has bloSsomed from the
.ear graves Of Europe's soldiers, q pros
pcrlty which has been watered by the
blood OF millions of the flower of Europe's
civilization, and yet we have lived within
ourselves and for ourselves, and dared 10
say that we are not our brothers keeper.
individuals and nations have done sim
liar things in the past and then have had
TO pay a fearful penalty therefor. Surely
we shall not escape a similar penalty un-
less we awaken 10 our responsibility, and
unless the decent men and women of this
contry ostracize. socially and in every
possible way. those who disgrace the coun-
try and humanity itself in the wilfulness Of
their riotous living, of which many evil
dences are constantly coming to the pub
lies attention. and doubtless there arr