Atlanta semi-weekly journal. (Atlanta, Ga.) 1898-1920, 1918-02-12
HON. HENRY WATTERSON' S
CHRISTMAS MESSAGE

w nat Mr.. NatterSon says SO WeIl
some of us preachers have been saying
in the best way we could for some time
past. l. is not more true when Mr.
Watterson says it than when we say it;
but perhaps as an utterance of the bril-
liant editor of the Louisville Courier
Journal, it will receive consideration by
some men who have the habit of preju-
dice which moves them to ignore or de-
preCiate anything which is uttered by a
clergyman. If they hear not the preach
ers, let US hope they will heed what
this able editor says.
MIR. Watterson is right. Democracy
is but 4 side issue. The paramount is
sue of democracy is the religion of
Christ and Him crufihed." Democracy
can not be safe for the world unless At
be inspired and controlled by the highest
morality and the deepest spirituality.
We hear much of 1.-The democratiza-
ton of the world" In truth. the cry
for the characterization of everything. is
beginning to be tiresome. 1t is the cant
of agitators and demagogues in every de.
partment of society Some would de-
mocratiZe the kingdom of heaven, elect a
half-divine president, and revise by vote
of a majority the ten commandments
and the Sermon on the Mount Multi
on any public occasion without declaim-
ing in a bombastic turgid style about
the "democratization" of something. Is
it not just possible that many men have
become obsessed with the Superstitious
notion that democracy is the sovereign
remedy for all the ills that the human
race is heir to? 1t would seem so.
But why should sane men delude
themselves with such a notion? Does
not history give US examples of democ-
racies which burst into spontaneous
combustion, and burned down in revolu-
tionary fires: If democracy were a pam
acea for all evils Russia ought to be well
off today.
The ruth is that in the absence of i'll
telligence and virtue among the people
a democracy is the least efficient and
most dangerous form of government.
The free governments of the United
States and Great Britain are stable be-
cause they stand on foundations of re-
ligion and morality among the peoples
vino support these governments, an
they have stability in exact proportion
to the bases of religious faith upon
which they rest. There is some reason
to fear that they are beginning to be
endangered by their freedom exceeding
the strength of the morality upon which
it depends. 1t is easy for a democratic
nation 10 have more votes than virtue
1t will rot be surprising if New York in
the next election should give large
support, if not majority vote, to the
dangerous doctrines of socialism.
The south at least ought to know that
the extension of the franchise does not
bring all forms of good. but may draw
after it the most grievous burdens.
While we cling to our democratic in
the fact which Mr.. Watterson has
pointed cut so clearly. namely, that tho
paramount issue underlying the issue OF
democracy is the religion of Christ"
Patriotism. as well as piety, calls for
revival of this religion among our
people and it's extension to all lands.
The men who resist this religion are the
foes of a stable and wholesome demOc-
racy. The men among us who say they
believe the religion of Christ, but who
never darken the door of a church, nor
bear their part in the Christian life and
work of the country, are "slackers" of
the worst type. if the strong words OF
Mr.. Watterson are true.
Mr.. Watterson draws attention to the
fact that the anti-Christian "KULTUR"
of Germany has been fostered and prop
agated in the educational institutions IF
that nation. He says most correctly
that Germanys college professors have
been obsessed with it. Her universities
have seethed with it, Let us be warned
by this fact against education which is
not permeated with religion. The
greatest experiment in state-secularized
education in the history of mankind has
issued in the most awful and destruc-
tive war that ever cursed our planet.
In the fellowship address delivered be-
fore the Sixth Convocation of the Amer
lean College of Surgeons, held at Chica-
go last October, Sir Henry Berkeley
Moynihan, of Leeds, England, pointed
out most clearly the connection between
German militariSm and the state-con-
trolled system of education in Germany.
That address deserves to be studied
most carefully by every one who is con-
cerned for the welfare OF our country.
The danger of militarism may not he
the peril which most besets the United
States, although some wise people fear
it, But a goddess industrialism does
threaten us very Immediately, and its
spirit permeates many of our education
al institutions. Capitalists and wage
carriers alike clamor for what they are
pleased to call practical education" or
vocational education" The capitalists
want skilled laborers for their service,
and the laborers covet the skill which
Neither seems to care a rap that the
moral and religious element is left out
of education. But what will be the re-
suit when they face one another in angry
strikes and strifes, both endued with
power and neither with conscience and