Edgefield advertiser. [volume] (Edgefield, S.C.) 1836-current, 1921-07-06
Prize Fight as Nations Car
buncle.

Prize Fight as Nations Car
buncle.
By, Rev. John Roach Straton, D. D.,
Pastor of Calvary Baptist Church,
New York City.
SRingside, Jersey City, July e.
What then are an old-fashioned
preachers impressions Of this affair?
AS 1 sat in the ARENA great
xaucer covering acres of ground and
filled to the very brim with 10000
human beings-the impression that
came to me was that the Dempsey
Carpenter meet was a moral car
buncle.
It was more than mere ''boir'
on the body social. A boil has but
one head and one channel for the
discharge of corruption. But car
buncle has several. 1t is complex.
It gathers corruption from all over
the human body, finds the weakest
spot in the system, breaks down the
remaining healthy tissues there, gen.
crates its awful corruption until it
heads up in half dozen different
spots; and unless it is lanced and
drained and disinfected it will poison
the entire body and finally produce
death.
This prize fight was just that sort
of thing. 1t meant not simply the
presence of one class of our defec-
ives and moral degenerates, but it
gathered all the poison elements of
our modern society.
And Some Pastors.
The gamblers were there, the horse
racers, the touts, the eight houses"
the pimps and the prostitutes; the
home neglecters, the baby killers, the
Che pug-dog nursers; the buglars, the
pickpockets and the strong arm men,;
the promoters and plutocrats and
profteers; the liquorites, the Amale-
kites and the painted Amazons; the
double livers, the society Divorces
and the polygamous movie stars, the
vaudeville performers, the proprie-
tors of the degraded theatres and all
the other exploiters of women, and
above all, the Sabbath breakers. the
church scorners and the God defers-
all of those elements whose influences
are making for the overthrow of our
American ideals and customs-were
: on hand in full force.
The poison from all the land drain
ed to that huge amphitheatre. This
moral carbuncle naturally came to
head at The weakest spot in our body
politic-.the state of New Jersey, with
its pro-liquor, its anti-constitution,
.anti-Sabbath governor.
oh, yes, 1 know that there were
some of the other classes of people
there, but this was pre-eminently the
day of tough elements.
And Thousands of Women.
The saddest feature Of this whole
affair was the widely-heralded fact
that thousands of women attended.
World-famous society leaders were
there, giving their sanction and en-
dorsement to the whole thing.
The presence of Chistian women
at this disgraceful exhibition is the
elimination of that spirit of world
illness which started in card playing,
dancing, theatre-going and other
selfish indulgences.
Think of women, whose influence
is worldwide because of their wealth
and position-women who belong to
the church of Christ, who have put
Him on in baptism and remuneration
of the world, and who come to His
holy communion table-think of such
women, say, sitting at ringside
watching and applauding two prac-
tically naked men,. pounding and
bruising each other and struggling
in heat and blood until one was beat
en- down by cruel cunning and sheer
weight of superior brute force.
The Rebuke.
I take this opportunity by reason
of my position as minister of
Christ, to rebuke those church women
for their presence at this disgraceful
orgy of blood and bestiality.
in studying the psychology of the
crowd at the fight watched atten-
lively how great waves of emotion