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July 1924
T H E K I N G ’ S B U S I N E S S
If they would have their prayers answered let them petition for the grace to enable us to become a more jus tice-loving, law-abiding community. Miracles are not per formed in the material world about us, but in the human heart. Divine impulses come from within. If the American city becomes a terrestrial paradise it will not he as a celes tial city transplanted from above, with halos about its sanctuaries and divine fires glowing on its altars; it will be the material expression of the labor, the courage, the faith and the love of peace and justice of our citizens. There is a modicum of truth in the charge made by Europeans that America is money-mad. Nine-tenths of
A PATHETIC APPEAL FOR PRAYER FROM A SECULAR PAPER No one is better prepared to comment on conditions in civil affairs than the editor of a great daily news paper. His finger is on the pulse of the throbbing arteries of humanity. His cohorts know the ebb and flow of human passions as manifested in city af fairs, national affairs, in business affairs, in club life and in church life. He is entirely conscious of the tide of affairs in matters that relate to the politician or the pulpiteer
the crimes committed in this country last year were for the pur pose of plunder. The criminals were actu ated by the resolve to take from another his own. They lusted for pdssession, not caring whether that which they possessed was h o n e s t l y acquired.' Too many sought to live by their wits and too few by their in dustry. We speak of the Apaches of Paris. Yet they did not commit one crime last year for every twenty commit ted by similar lawless bands in the average American large city. Is the West still wild and woolly? Consider the evidence before you give a hasty and indignant a n s w e r . Does a higher code of honor prevail among the oil-stock gamblers in 1924 than prevailed among the card, rou lette and faro gam blers in 1854? Many among us sin cerely believed w e
and of the influence exerted by them on their fellows. While it is true that often- t i me s the news papers are guided by political preju dice and a desire for financial prosperity, yet it remains true that from the daily press comes more frequently than ever before the solemn words of warning concerning the ris ing tide of criminal tendencies in young and old, in black and white, in law makers a n d law breakers, in pulpit and pew, in learned and i g n o r a n t,— everywhere and all the time. While it is also true that the news papers often contri bute to the sowing of the seed which produces evil results yet they are cogni zant of the facts, and many of these publications a r e striving to help stem the tide of evil con
Whither Are We Driftingt l^O H r
- T O D A Y — J O I N T D E B A T E , FbwDA^EMTALISiTS VS • MODERNISTA. M ovin A P i ¿TORES TOMIÄHT P a wie we * t T oesmsay
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sequences which is resulting from the present depart ure from the old standards. We are glad when they sound the alarm as does the following editorial from the Los Angeles Times, one of the leading daily papers of the country, which we commend to our readers for their prayerful and thoughtful perusal. THE BETTER CITY “ Dismayed by the number of crimes of violence com mitted in Los Angeles last year, reported to have outnum bered those in the whole of France, many of our citizens pray piously to God for a better city. They ask it as a boon which shall descend to us from the skies. They would have a troop of angels with flaming swords come down from heaven at night to patrol the streets. Citizens of nearly all American cities are in a similar position.
were abolishing crime when we closed the saloons. Yet the number of hold-ups last year was double that of the years when the saloons were open. This is not offered as an argument against prohibition. We have no proof that, if the saloons had been open, the number would not have been greatly increased. It is simply offered as evidence that we have not yet found the root of the evil. During the last three or four years the spirit of specula tion has surpassed all reasonable limits. We cannot clear ourselves wholly of the charge that we are as a nation ad dicted to stock gambling and real-estate gambling. We lust for quick turnovers, for easy profits. Speculation has struck us since the war like a malady; and it has found more victims than did the influenza. It is much easier to heal a sick body than a fevered mind. We deplore the excesses of the rising generation; but it is not the fault of youth that it is victimized by evil
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