The West Virginian. [volume] (Fairmont, W. Va.) 1914-1974, 1921-09-03
LAWLEssNESs
Bv Baird Mitchell


I AM no alarnst always hope for the best. But
i think no one who looks things squaEely in the
face today can help feeling that our country IS IN
most critical condition The air is tu OF mallsn pos
sb;li6es. We emerged from War with great for
e;on nation. Happily we emerged in victory. But it
* one thing to fight foe who be located who can
be confined to definite spot; it is another thing to
FIGHT a foe who is everywhere, IN places where you
lea. suspect and who fights the fight of the coward
and tie assassin. And such a foe is attempting to
destroy the governments of the world today. Such
a foe is in our own land Its name Is LAWLESS-
NESS
If YOU want to know what will happen. look at
Russia and see the work of her radical a"less, lead
ers. Their crimes make the most desPohc Gar pale
into saint. The blood they have shed makes the
French Revolution shrink INTO single spot OF crimson
on the page Of histors. The destruction they have
wrought vies with the wreck0ge caused by earthquakes
and tomatoes and all the remorseess forces OF nature
from the beginning until now. he misery they have
wrought the hopes they havve blasted, the tears they
have caused to flow The lives they have dishonored
and ]efled exceed the tragedies wrought by the most
obscene and cruel savages Of history and the suffer
ings Of thousand hells And these men have their
apoIogists and apostles in America.
,awlessness-this is the new crusade against organ
lied government in America 1t is not confined to one
SSA.S"sSA
General lanes M. Beck at the recent meeting of the
American Bar Association boldly stated that we are
rapidly drifting towapRs a lawlesG world, and his
statements are fully subsantated. His word should
be read not ''unadvisedly or lightly but discretey.
soberly, and in the fear of God Witness the fagant
violation of law all about US Study the unprecedent-
ed statistics Of crime This tendency is not progress,
is reverson 1t is going back to chaos and destruc
ton. Eternal vigilance is the price of liberty. and
this vigilance we must exercise if wish to see the
work Of our Fathers preserved and to escape at last
the despohsm Of lawlessness.
It is the business of every patriotic American to
that the laws Of his country obeyed and respected,
and to hold up the hands Of the authorizes. If this
cannot be DONE we might as well pull down the flag
and stop. ! am talking to you and to myself as
American citizens. We have been preaching A1nen-
canizaton. | sometimes question whether It has ac-
complished very much, preaching in the main
has been directed to the foreign bonn. We should
preach that doctrine to our fellow Amencans-eyen
to ourselves. For we need it There is lawlessness-
a defiance of law even among the select and elect
of Observation-Disclosures accompanied by the music
Of laughter as though violation of law was joke
Defiance Of law is lawlessness wherever found-on
Water street in any oohSer section Of the city It
is this which sappng the strength Of the Republic.
He who knows conditions must agree with DR.. Beck
that we are rapidly drifting towards Iawless world.
Let US all get down to little sober thinking. What
would be the effect if this land was suddenly dropped
out Of history if we ourselves were banished never to
return7 Let those ask themselves who pirate about
despotsm and personal liberty here what would be
the effect, if some foreign form Of absolute monarchy
or the dictatorship of the proetariat should actually
prevail over us and establish itself on the tombs Of
Washington and Jefferson and Hamilton2 What
would be the effect, if through discomfort and dsa
lection, strife and violence, the fomen6ng Of class
haFed and lawlesness. this government and his peo
pie, should become finally weakened and disorgan
lied that they should no longer survve7 What would
be the effect7
Upon the heads of radical agitators and propasan-
dst and upon the heads of those who consider law as
joke would rest the guilt Of greater crime than that
which was perperated in Europe in 1914 the great
est crime since the creifixon on Calvary, when the
sky grew red with shame and the earth shook with
hor9rI We need revival Of obedience to law BY all
classes, And those who are leaders by virtue Of cdr
cation, wealth. business and church membership should
point the way It is an unvamished ruth, may hurt
our pride. but it is truth which must be followed if
our Republic shall be preserved.