Edgefield advertiser. [volume] (Edgefield, S.C.) 1836-current, 1921-08-31

IHOIdlS Has USch iheuS AZ many ways
such as the obolition of the legalized
liquor traffic. 1t will require: some
years to strangle the struggling SER
pent, but any observant and sane
man is compelled to believe that
great progress toward ending the
wiggling of the tail is being made.
Public, vice and public gambling
either legalized or winked at, r al
most gone the way of slavery and Ii
quor. Giving to these items of prog
ress their full value there is still
much to pray and work for.
There is reason to believe thai
social gombling on a smaller or larger
scale is quite common even at the
tables of respectable people some of
whom are members of our churches.
This practice must surely prepare
the way, in some cases at least, for
rec of idleness and crime.
Again the relations of the sexes
is such as to give the gravest concern
to all people who love humanity and
the future welfare of the race. The
ever increasing freedom Which So
ciety is giving to women is exceed-
ingly dangerous unless men grow
better or women learn better how
to take care of themselves, Many
current amusements seem inevitably
to foster impurity. The moving pic
ture show has many erotic and sug-
gestive pictures which inflame pas
sions and leave an indelible blot up
on the minds of the young. New
York state has just put into opera
ton a censorship law which will
drive into other states the most OBJ
jectionable pictures with the popu-
larity which their rejection in New
York will give them. The modern
dance in, some of its forms is just as
Objectionable as any amusement can
be, judged from any standpoint of
decency and morals. And yet it is
tolerated if not cultivated by multi
tudes of Christian people. Their at
titude toward it is one of he great
est puzzle in the current morality
of the day.
The use of the automobile for
Joy rides at night is generally re-
garded by reformers as one Of the
most dangerous and difficult fea-
lures of the life of the young peo-
pie of to-day. One needs but to drive
out a few miles from any of our
cities and towns in the early even
ing to get an idea of what the auto
mobile means to the purity of the
rising generation. Nor can the com
mittee escape the conviction that
dress has an intimate relation to
prevalent immortality. The women
who make their living by immoral
conduct evidently think so whatever
respectable women may say. The Gu
rious feature of current thought a
bout dress is that men have revolted
against its frequent suggestiveness
far more vigorously than the women.
Is there ever to be enough moral en-
ergy and vigor in our Christian So
ciety to compel reforms in these re-
spects?
What are we to do in the midst of
these conditions? The committee
makes suggestions :(1) The morals Of
the world are committed to the home
first of all. 1t is therefore the SOL
emn duty of the home, of the par
ents, to conserve the morals of the
race, not only for the sake of their
own children but also for the sake of
society. 1t will require some courage
on the part of the parents and some
sacrifice on the part of the young
people, but both the courage and the
sacrifice will have their reward. (2)
The churches, it seems to the COM
mittee, are under the most solemn
obligation to assume more RESPONSE
bility for the morals of the commun-
ity in which they r located. Cor
ruptions of public morals always
calls forth a trade against the police.
Often, no doubt, this is entirely JUS
titled, but what is the duty OF the
churches evangelism, instruction,
discipline. (3) The press must more
and more be enlisted on the side OF