The independent. [volume] (Elizabeth City, N.C.) 1908-1936, 1919-02-07

left off the work of making new worlds
! He assures you that God almighty
crawled over to the parapets of heaven
and on his hands and knees looked down
on earth and hollered out, ''Hel1o Bill,
! is that you?" Whereupon Sunday says
he ho1lered back. ''Yes, God, this is me-
This so tickled God that he stuck his
hand down, reaching all the way from
Heaven to somewhere in Chicago, and
said, Here's my hand old top; put her
there" Z am quoting Billy Sunday yer
batin; giving his own version of his
conversion as he gave it in the auditor
Jim of the city of Raleigh Monday night
This is the kind of God Mr.. Sunday rep
resents. He calls this God Johnny on
the spot" Again L quote his own Ian
guage.
| And yet he goes about the country
! pulling this sort of stuff and is acclaimed
/ bowling success and the worlds great
est preacher. Why does he thrive? I'll
tell you; he thrives because humanity
desires entertainment and will pay for
it even at a sacrifice of its highest ideals
of religion. Rev. VIM. A. Sunday has
the greatest show on earth. Sunday
makes a caricature of God Almighty,
Jesus Christ as a hog knows about
Heaven; he is a screaming, bowling
dancing, dirty-mouthed, bullet headed
sneering, conceited, blating, arrogant
dollar chasing parody on the religion Of
Jesus Christ. The clergy generally sup
port him and employ him because the
! clergy are more anxious for bigger
churches than for better churches. Sun
day corrals lot of old men,~old women
and children into the church and pads
religious statistics to the liking of lazy
preachers who have found their mem
berships falling off.
CAPITAL PUNISHMENT STAYS
North Carolina will retain Capital
Punishment. The Senate finally killed
my bill Tuesday morning, even after the
bill had been terribly mutilated by
amendments in the House. I did not
expect more of the Senate. 1t seems to
me that majority of the Senators are
seekers after further political honors
nd they make a great show of worship
ping the old gods. They fear to do any
thing out of the ordinary, lest they alien
ate the votes of the reactionary consti-
tuents. It is well perhaps that my bill.
as amended, was killed. If North Caro-
lima is to retain capital punishment, let
it be retained in all it's hideousness. 1t
will be easier to get another hearing
for its total abolition later on.
J oeaI Ma+%ers
Your Representative received petit
tions this week to increase the salar-
les of the Register of Deeds, the Cicl k
. of the Court, the Auditor and the
Sheriff of Pasquotank county. I am
opposed to increases for all of these
officers with the exception of the Clerk
of the Court. All officers, excepting the
Clerk of the Court. got increases in
salary at the hands of the last General
3. Assembly. The Clerk of the Court did
not get an increase at that time be-
cause he was then on a fee system. He
now goes on a straight salary basis of
s1,S0O a year and that is hardly enough.
His is the most important Office in the
county and he can not support himself
and pay clerk hire out of 81, 800 a year.
I have introduced bill to increase the
salary of the Clerk of the Superior
Court to $4,000. The Highway Com
mission I understand, is going to pay
the County Auditor, Mr.. Carmine $400
on the side for his services to that
body. With his present salary that ad-
ditional compensation should take care
of him. The sheriff of the county al
of ho ic Io
Register of Deeds. by some queer twist
Of the law, also holds the Office of JUS
tice of the Peace and does a land Of
flee business marrying couples who OBJ
tain license at his office. His revenue
from this encroachment upon the pre-
rogative of the ministerial brethren, in
addition to his salary as Register of
Deeds, should take care Of him.
| Phil Sawyer Still Eager
! Phil Sawyer has again implored me
to make him Prosecuting Attorney of
Pasquotank and has sent me petitions
signed by a lot of folks who would
cuss me from now until the next war
/ if I complied with their petition. The
petition instead Of impressing me favor
ably, has nearly disgusted me with a
lot of Elizabeth City people who have
always pretended to be hostile to any
thing that had the Sawyer smell on it.
L am publishing a list Of the petitioners
You will note that the petition is pad
ded. It is not enough for T. T. Turner
& Co. to sign the petition; they sign
for the firm and then as individuals
It is not enough for r. E. Lewis, super
| intendent Of the public utilities cor
porations to sign; he signs up the
electric light company, the water COM
pany and the sewerage company. But
that isn't enough; somebody digs down
into an old drawer and finds a rubber
stamp of the Elizabeth City Electric
Light & Power Co. and puts that on
too. I wonder why Phil didn't go out
to Hollywood and copy some names
off the tombstones. But here are the
petitioners
s. G. Etheridge. c. B. Morrtsette, N
! Continued on page Ey
Z a