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The reign of lawlessness
Samuel Zane Batten
M.
THE REIGN OF
LAWLESSNESS
By SAMUEL ZANE BATTEN
THE SOCIAL EDUCATION DEPARTMENT
OF
THE AMERICAN BAPTIST
PUBLICATION SOCIETY
1701-1703 Chestnut Street, Philadelphia, Pa.
Printed in U. S. A.
THE
REIGN OF LAWLESSNESS
It is sometimes assumed that progress is in a
straight line moving along majestically to its goal.
But a little knowledge of history ought to dispel that
illusion. The way of history may be likened to the
flow of a great river. The main course of the Mis-
souri River is southeastward. But I have seen that
river flowing northward and westward. In social
progress there are backsets and windings, and some-
times we wonder whether it has lost the way.
The past century has been a wonderful time. It has
given to the world more great inventions than all the
previous centuries combined. It created more avail-
able wealth than in the previous two thousand years.
But we have not invented one new kind of evil.
Every kind of vice and evil has been worn threadbare
by centuries of practise. The world is bad enough,
God knows and we know; but it is not safe and wise
to paint it darker than it is or to assume that the
phenomena of history are all backward. That the
world as a whole is better or worse than the world
of a century ago, I would not undertake to prove.
There has been gain at some points, marked gain that
no one can deny.
And there have fallen from us as we traveled,
Many a burden of an ancient pain;
Many a tangled cord has been unraveled,
Never to bind our foolish hearts again.
[3]
This we know, however, that the world today is
disgraced and dishonored by monstrous forms of evil.
A civilization that contains within itself the possibil-
ities of such a disaster as the World War, cannot be
accepted as satisfactory or Christian. There is a sense
in which it may be said that the world is worse than
it has ever been. Sin and evil are to be measured by
the degree of light. There has been a general dissem-
ination of knowledge during the past decades, and we
are sinning in the broad light of day. Unless society
of today is better than society of the past, it is really
worse. We do not here discuss the question of prog-
ress as a whole. But many things show that at
present we are in a backset so far as the observance
of law is concerned.
I. THE REIGN OF LAWLESSNESS
It is admitted by all that there is a prevalent and
alarming amount of lawlessness in our land. Some
persons suppose that this is a recent development in
our life; but this is not the case. Any one who will
read McMaster's History will discover that there was
much of it a hundred years ago. In 1898 I was asked
to give an address before the New Jersey State Con-
vention on the subject of "The Indifference of the
Churches to the Lawlessness of the Times." But cer-
tain forms of lawlessness have been developed by so-
cial conditions. And the break-up during and after
the World War has disturbed conditions here and
throughout the world, and consequently has broken
the old restraints of life. This suggests the conclu-
sion that some of this lawlessness is due to the moral
overstrain during the war; but much of it is due to
[4]
causes that are deeper and more permanent, and can
be traced back to the spirit and temper of the times.
Whatever the amount or the cause, much lawless-
ness is here, and it has many modes of manifestation.
It shows itself in the social, in the industrial, and in
the political world; it reveals its presence in the home,
in the community, in the nation. It shows itself in the
amount of crime, especially crimes of violence, as in-
jury and murder. It cannot be charged up against any
one class in society nor can it be localized in any one
section. But we may be a little more explicit.
1. This spirit of lawlessness shows itself in the Gen-
eral Disregard of Laws and Standards. There is a
growing tendency to make Sunday a day of pleasure
and profit. Thousands of people have turned this day
into a time of self-gratification and lawlessness. And,
matching this, thousands are turning the day into a
day of profit and business. One by one the stores are
opening on this day; little by little the noise of the
world's business is encroaching upon the quiet of the
day; the railroads are more and more increasing the
number of trains on this day.
2. Opposition to the Prohibition Amendment. Our
nation in the past five years has adopted an Amend-
ment to the Constitution which forbids the manufac-
ture, sale, and traffic in intoxicating liquors. This
Amendment is now a part of the organic law of the
land; and as such it is entitled to the observance
and support of all right-thinking people. Many peo-
pie in our land believe that prohibition is tyrannical
and unfair; they ask that the law may be changed or
repealed. We may not agree with their judgment;
but they are entitled to a hearing. But this is a dif-
ferent case wholly from the general disregard of the
[5]
law. Some sneer at it; some treat it with contempt;
with some it has become the theme of jokes; many
think it smart to circumvent the enforcement official
and get liquors on the sly. And this, be it noted, is
not the practise of thugs and old topers only; but in
many instances it is the practise of prominent people
and even public officials.
3. This spirit of lawlessness appears in the Alarm-
ing Amount of Crime. As we know, crimes of all sorts
are all too common, crimes against man's person and
life, crimes against woman's virtue and name, crimes
against the institutions of society, crimes against the
government itself. According to the carefully pre-
pared volume by Raymond B. Fosdick in " American
Police Systems ":
Statistics show that crime is far more prevalent in American
cities than in the cities of England, France, or Germany. . . The
statistics furnish startling evidence. London, in 1916, with a
population of seven millions and a quarter, had nine premeditated
murders. Chicago, one-third the size of London, in the same
period had 105, nearly twelve times London's total. In the year
1916, indeed—and it was not an exceptional year—Chicago with
its 2,500,000 people had twenty more murders than the whole
of England and Wales put together, with their 38,000,000 people.
The Chicago murders during this year total one more than London
had during the five-year period from 1910-1914 inclusive. In
1917 Chicago had ten more murders than the whole of England
and Wales, and four more murders than all England, Wales, and
Scotland. In 1918, Chicago had fourteen more murders than
England and Wales, In 1919, the number of murders in Chicago
was almost exactly six times the number committed in London. . .
In the three-year period, 1916-1918 inclusive, Glasgow had thirty-
eight homicides; Philadelphia, which is only a trifle larger, had
during this same period 281. Liverpool and St Louis are approxi-
mately the same size; in 1915, St. Louis had eleven times the
number of homicides that Liverpool had, and in 1916, eight times
the number. Los Angeles, one-twentieth the size of London, had
[6]
two more homicides in 1916 than London had for the same period;
in 1917, she had ten more than London had. Cleveland, Ohio,
one-tenth the size of London, had more than three times the
number of homicides in 1917 and approximately twice the number
in 1918. (Chapter I.)
The world is shocked by the number of lynchings
in this country. Men are seized by an angry mob, and
tortured, burned, or hanged, while hundreds of people
look on with approval, and many gather souvenirs of
the occasion. Such scenes may be a little more fre-
quent in some parts of the South; but no one section
can boast itself over others. Lynching may almost
be called an American atrocity, for it is practically
unknown in European and Asiatic countries.
4. Closely related to this is the Serious Disregard
of Life in Our Land. In the cities, in the country,
many automobiles ride fast and furiously, with little
concern for the safety of themselves or the life of
others. It is true that there are speed laws and
other regulations; but these are everywhere disre-
garded. The result is a perfect epidemic of killing.
In 1921, 664 persons were killed in Cook County, Illi-
nois, by automobiles, an increase of 122 over the pre-
ceding year. Of these, 242 were children, 151 of
whom were killed in the middle of the block. Forty-
nine were under the age of five, and 139 were less than
ten. There were 213 children fifteen years of age and
under, left dependent by the death of a parent. Un-
fortunately Chicago is no exception in this respect, but
practically the same alarming reports come from other
cities. Every day the papers bring reports of killing
by reckless, lawless auto drivers.
5. In many parts of the country during recent
months there has been a Revival of the Ku Klux Klan.
[7]
It is not necessary to discuss the aims and methods
of this organization as a whole. But it must be evi-
dent that any organization that flies by night, that re-
sorts to secrecy, and appeals to mystery, is liable to
abuse. From all parts of the country come reports of
the lawless deeds of men robed in white. Persons sus-
pected of wrong-doing and bootlegging are taken
from their homes; in some cases they are tarred and
feathered; in many instances they are given a severe
beating. We may admit that some of these victims
have invited trouble by their kind of life. But loose
conduct on one side does not justify lawless action on
the other.
6. In the Industrial World we have a condition that
is little else than Civil War. Manufacturers are or-
ganized to resist the demands of laborers; laborers
are organized to resist the encroachments of employ-
ers. Workers accuse employers of issuing false finan-
cial reports, of watering stock, of buying legislation,
of securing the appointment of biased judges. They
point to the fact that employers deport undesirable
citizens in a most high-handed way, as in Arizona
and Idaho; that they control public officials, as in
Colorado and Pennsylvania; that they maintain a
black list and employ gunmen. And employers point
to the many instances where workers break their con-
tracts, beat and kill strike-breakers, and slug or shoot
mine guards.
It is possible to multiply illustrations endlessly; but
a few instances may be given. Some years ago an
effort was made to prohibit in Pennsylvania the sale of
newspapers on Sunday. The editor of one of the lead-
ing papers of Philadelphia, a paper calling itself a
guardian of the public morals and public safety, de-
[8]
clared that it mattered not what changes might be
made in the law, the publishers would continue to
print and sell their paper as heretofore. Now, that
was rebellion, pure and simple. Back of that editorial
was the same spirit that was back of the shot fired on
Fort Sumter, that hurled bombs in Chicago, or assas-
sinated mine bosses in the Mollie Maguire troubles,
or shot mine guards and strike-breakers in Herrin,
Illinois, or organized a march of miners in West
Virginia.
Again, the employees of a great trolley line go on
strike and endeavor to tie up the whole line. In this
attempt some deeds of violence are committed against
person and property. The world at once condemns
this conduct, and it merits the severest condemnation.
But that trolley company has been guilty of a prior
and worse lawlessness. It has flagrantly set at naught
the municipal ordinances; it has watered its stock; it
has defied the authorities where it has not bought
them; it has refused to comply with the law of the
state and provide safeguards to life; it has paid no
heed to law except so far as the law suited its con-
venience.
The mob is lawless when it breaks into jail, takes
out the trembling prisoner, and hangs him to the
nearest tree. But the grand jury is equally lawless
when it refuses to frame indictments against men in
face of the most indisputable evidence. The highway
robber is an outlaw when he waylays and robs belated
travelers; but so is the bootlegger who handles in-
toxicating liquors, and so are the people who buy and
use them. The boy is lawless when he sets at naught
his father's command; but so is the father when
he makes his politics a conscienceless scramble for
[9]
spoils. The strikers are lawless when they hinder
traffic and resort to violence; but so are the Con-
gressmen when in caucus to secure personal or
partisan ends they block legislation and force their
own decrees.
The term lawless is an exceedingly broad one and
includes a multitude of sins. That is a lawless spirit
which seeks to cast off restraints of whatever kind
and to make its own preferences and profits supreme.
That is a lawless spirit which resents the salutary
institutions of society. That is a lawless spirit which
despises the will of God as made known in his revela-
tion and his providences, and flagrantly disregards
the welfare of society and the safety of others. Law-
lessness may be defined as a contempt for those obliga-
tions and restraints imposed by society and by the
relations of life for the safety and welfare of the
people. Some men tell us that respect for law as
law is dying or dead in the mass of the people. Cer-
tainly we may say that there is all too much law-
lessness in our land and that it is a challenge to all
right-thinking people.
II. THE CAUSE OF LAWLESSNESS
There is little use in considering conditions unless
we go back to causes. Lawlessness has its causes as
real and as intimate as the yellow fever. Crime is as
much a social product as a panic. There is a science
of crime as there is a science of anthropology. It is
easy to make short shrift of this whole subject of law-
lessness, and say that everything is owing to the
innate depravity of the human race. This explanation,
while perhaps true in fact, is worthless as an explana-
[10]
tion. This innate depravity of which we have heard
so much, may furnish the soil in which the lawless
spirit grows, but it does not account for the particular
harvest that is grown. The particular harvest depends
upon the particular seed sown. We have to account
for this fact: why do the evil impulses in man mani-
fest themselves in this form of lawlessness rather than
in that?
The causes of this deplorable condition of modern
society are many and complex. Man is not a creature
of one motive, but of many. Across the field of his
inner life all kinds of passions and impulses clash and
conflict and contend for the mastery. But in a large
sense these causes may be classed in two great divi-
sions, causes of ideas and causes of condition. Some
are subjective, and some are objective; some are men-
tal, and others are social.
1. First of all is to be named the Erroneous Con-
ception of Liberty. Madam Roland's cry on the way
to the scaffold is well known, " O Liberty, what crimes
are committed in thy name! " Liberty is a great and
sacred word, but it is most shamefully and wofully
abused. With many people liberty means the privilege
of doing as one pleases. No mistake could be more
fatal or serious than this. All law goes on the assump-
tion that men are entirely free to choose only that
which is lawful and right. Liberty in the sense of
freedom from all restraint is a delusion and a snare,
and is utterly unknown in the order of nature. Ruskin
says in noble words:
There is no such thing in the universe. There never can be.
The stars have it not; the earth has it not; the sea has it not;
and we men have the mockery and semblance of it only for our
heaviest punishment.
[11]
Well might he say that the noblest word in our lan-
guage is loyalty. And another suggestive writer of
our times, Mr. William Dean Howells, has declared:
Liberty is never a good in itself, and is never final; it is a
means to something good and a way to the end, which its lovers
are really seeking. The dream of infinite and immeasurable
liberty is the hallucination of the anarchist; that is, of the in-
dividualist gone mad.
On all sides today we find men, in the name of liberty,
claiming the right to make their own desires the
source of all law and the reason of every act. Men
are lawless because they regard law as an infringe-
ment of their liberties.
2. Closely allied to this is an Unworthy Conception
of Law Itself. Today one of the most significant and
fateful movements of all the ages is in progress. We
do not take full note of this drift because we are a part
of it. This is the drift toward the democratic form
of government, that is, government of the people and
by the people. We have repudiated the idea of a law-
maker whose will is supreme; we have denied the old
fiction of the divine right of kings; we have cast off
all human headship over the State. The throne, the
scepter, the crown, have been swept away. Thus far
nothing supreme, nothing authoritative, has taken
their place. Woe to that people who have no infinite
standard of right! Woe to that people who regard law
as the mere will of the majority! Woe to that people
who see behind the officer of state no higher authority
than a written statute! Such a people are on the high
road to political corruption and tyranny; worse still,
they are on the high road to anarchy and chaos. A
law that is simply the will of the majority speaks
[12]
with no deep tone of authority and commands little
reverence.
We are reaping the baleful effects of the social con-
tract theory of government, or what may be called the
agnostic theory of the state. This theory teaches that
the individual is by nature free and independent; by
his own voluntary action he contracts himself out of
this condition of freedom into political relations. Gov-
ernment possesses no higher validity and authority
than this social compact; it exists for the sake of the
individuals, and they who create the government and
determine its laws, can unmake the state and change
its laws. And related to this we have the doctrine
of self-interest as the rule of action and the measure
of conduct. Every person is expected to be selfish
and look out for his own interests first of all. If we
are all selfish enough our individual selfishnesses will
add themselves up into the public welfare. These
theories have had their way and produced their natu-
ral fruitage. This theory of the social contract, it may
be said, has been utterly discounted by every political
thinker of note, and yet strangely enough is the work-
ing principle in the political life of many nations.
" For practical purposes," as Bluntschli has shown,
this doctrine is in the highest degree dangerous, since it makes
the state and its institutions the produce of individual caprice, and
declares it to be changeable according to the will of the individ-
uals then living. . . It is to be considered, therefore, a theory of
anarchy rather than a political doctrine.
For a hundred years the world has sat at the feet of
men, both Christian and agnostic, who have taught
the agnostic theory of the state. No wonder that the
harvest is about ripe; no wonder that having sown
the wind we are about to reap the whirlwind.
[13]
These doctrines of the contract theory of the state
and the principle of self-interest as the law of life, are
still dominant principles in political and social life.
A theory may live and work havoc long after its brains
have been taken out; and so it is here. As a result of
these theories and their common practise, behold the
lawlessness, almost anarchy in our political affairs.
Because of this unworthy conception of the state men
have a very low idea of the law of the land. They see
in the laws over them little else than the intrigues of
politicians and the interests of a class. Many men
have gone behind the scenes, and they know how
laws are framed in caucus and lobbied through the
legislature. We are living under a government of the
lobby, by the lobby, and for the lobby. It is difficult
to see how any men can respect laws made as most
of our laws are made. The political faith of our nation
teaches that what the majority wills is right; that
right and wrong are determined by counting ballots;
that each man is free to use government in whatever
way will best serve his own personal interests.
The idea of right as a great divine social principle
disappears, and we have in its place the wish of a
majority or a result of compromise. Right, it is super-
fluous to say, does not consist in the balancing of
expediencies or in a compromise of interests. No
amount of expediency can ever add itself up into a
right. A law that is simply the balancing of ex-
pediencies, the interests of a class, or the purchase of
a favored few, speaks with no divine authority and
commands little reverence. One great and ominous
cause of the lawlessness of our time is the low con-
ception of law which prevails. In a word, men are
indifferent to law because they have no respect for
[14]
law. And they have no respect for law because of
their false theories and more false practise.
3. Another reason why men have lost respect for
law is found in the Lax and Partial Enforcement of
Law. It is here that we touch a sore spot in our life;
and here we find the source of much lawlessness.
Every man of experience and observation knows that
in our land there are favored classes of lawbreak-
ers. For years in many sections it was impossible
to secure indictments from grand juries of saloon-
keepers and houses of ill fame even with the clearest
and most positive evidence. Today the same thing ap-
plies with reference to the bootlegger and the dope-
dealer. The reason is plain. In many States the
sheriff makes out the jury lists and men are selected
with a known bias. When by some favored circum-
stance an indictment is secured, the lawbreaker usu-
ally manages to escape through the meshes of the net
that are designedly wide to meet such emergencies.
Few intelligent, experienced citizens expect justice in
our courts of law, where the interests of liquor dealers
are concerned. In most of our States we have laws
with reference to liquor-selling and other vices, as
gambling, dope-selling, and houses of ill repute. In
addition we have a constitutional amendment now a
part of the fundamental law of the land. Yet in hun-
dreds of cities and a score of States campaigns are con-
ducted in the interests of an open town and a liberal
administration. In other words, the question of law
administration is left to the whims and chances of
political campaigns.
4. It is a matter of common belief that the Adminis-
tration of Law has Fallen under the Influence of Spe-
cial Interests. For years we have heard of " invisible
[15]
government"; and every man who knows anything of
public affairs knows that it has existed in the past and
that it is potent today. Working men believe that cor-
porate interests influence Congress and courts, and have
things pretty much their own way. They point to
the fact that the railroad managers can take an appeal
from an order of the Railroad Board; but when they
refuse to accept a wage award and go on strike, they
are tied down by a sweeping injunction and treated
as outlaws. Millions of people believe that even our
courts are made up of men with a bias and prejudice.
We all know the agreement that was used during the
last campaign in favor of the election of this man
rather than that, as President. It was said that there
would be at least four appointments made to the Su-
preme Bench; and corporate interests declared that
we must have safe men appointed. No one supposes
that these courts are open to even a suspicion of a
bribe; but men are wanted who have a confirmed
attitude and can be depended on to give decisions
favorable to certain interests. So long as one group of
men try to get their type of men appointed to the
bench, another group of men will regard the courts
with suspicion and will accuse them of bias. The re-
suit is from both sides, that the mass of the people
do not have any deep respect for law and for courts.
Let us be fair. There are many forms of lawlessness
in our land and many causes that destroy the people's
respect for law. The lawless striker is usually the
correlate of the lawless trust manager. We have seen
special interests obtain what legislation they sought
and crush out competition. We have seen great com-
binations set at defiance the laws of God and men and
do pretty much as they please. Do you want illustra-
[16]
tions? They are as numerous as the sands of the
seashore. Take the one matter of Sunday traffic. We
have laws on the statute-books with reference to Sun-
day traffic; but the railroads honor these laws in the
breach rather than in the observance. Many com-
panies advertise and offer special rates for Sunday
excursions, and thus try to encourage Sunday travel.
The man who waylays a lonely traveler at night and
robs him of ten dollars is sent to prison for ten years;
but a man may steal a million dollars from a bank or
from the State, make no restitution, show no signs of
repentance, and yet be pardoned in a year, if he does
not escape jail entirely.
The quality of men holding public office in America
bodes no good for the future of our nation. Public
officers pick and choose among the laws to be en-
forced. More and more they are going on the prin-
ciple—or lack of principle—that lawbreakers are to be
allowed to do pretty much as they please until some
one complains and enters charges. Lyman Beecher
once prayed:
O Lord, help us not to despise our rulers; and O Lord, help
them not to so act that we cannot help it.
5. Then the Present Methods of Administering Law
have done much to undermine respect for law. The
illustrations of this fact are numerous and of many
kinds. Take for instance, the administration of crim-
inal law. Chief Justice Taft has said: "The admin-
istration of criminal law in every State in the union is
a disgrace to our civilization." A very small propor-
tion of the murderers in our land ever come to the
gallows or are seriously punished. If a man has
money or political influence he can almost commit
[17]
murder with impunity. He may be called to account;
but by all kinds of technicalities and makeshifts trials
are postponed and delayed, new trials are secured,
and eventually the accused goes free. We deplore the
lynchings that disgrace our civilization; but do we
ever pause to ask what is the cause of these things?
Look deep enough, and you will see that the people
have become distrustful of the ordinary machinery
of our courts of justice, so they take the law into
their own hands, and another lynching disgraces the
country.
It has long been a matter of notoriety that the ad-
ministration of law is unfair so far as the poor are
concerned. Some three years ago the Carnegie Foun-
dation appointed a committee to make a careful study
of " The Denial of Justice to the Poor." The Report,
which is a careful and balanced piece of work, shows
that great abuses exist. The poor do not stand on
an equality with others before the courts. Thus the
Report says:
The administration of American justice is not impartial, the
rich and the poor do not stand on an equality before the law; the
traditional method of providing justice has operated to close the
doors of the courts to the poor and has caused a gross denial
of justice in all parts of the country to millions of persons.
The Report adds, " Sweeping as this indictment
is, it is substantiated by ample authority." We cannot
here give any extensive quotations; but some of the
results of the condition described may be noted.
The Report says:
The effects of this denial of justice are far-reaching. Nothing
rankles more in the human heart than the feeling of injustice. It
produces a sense of helplessness, then bitterness. It is brooded
[18]
over. It leads directly to contempt for law, disloyalty to the
government, and plants the seeds of anarchy. The conviction grows
that law is not justice, and challenges the belief that justice is best
secured when administered according to law. The poor come to
think of American justice as containing only laws that punish
and never laws that help. A persuasion spreads that there is one
law for the rich and another for the poor.
The effect on the immigrant is peculiarly unfortunate. He comes
to this country often from lands of injustice and oppression, with
high hopes, expecting to receive fair play and square dealing.
It is essential that he be assimilated and taught respect for our
institutions. Because of the strangeness of all his surroundings,
his ignorance of our language and our customs, often because of
his simple faith in the America of which he has heard, he becomes
an easy prey. When he finds himself wronged or betrayed, keen
disappointment is added to the sense of injustice. Through bitter
disillusionment he becomes easily subject to the influences of sedi-
tion and disorder.
Many men acquainted with the facts have given
warning on this question. Thus Chief Justice Olson,
in the Ninth Annual Report of the Chicago Municipal
Court, says:
When litigation is too costly, the result for many persons is a
denial of justice. Such denial or partial denial of justice en-
genders social and commercial friction. The sense of helplessness
thus caused incites citizens to take the law into their own hands.
It causes crimes of violence. It saps patriotism and destroys civic
pride. It arouses class jealousies and breeds contempt for law
and government.
And Lyman Abott has shown clearly the results that
follow:
If ever a time shall come when in this city only the rich man
can enjoy law as a doubtful luxury, when the poor who need it
most cannot have it, when only a golden key will unlock the door
to the court-room, the seeds of revolution will be sown, the fire-
brands of revolution will be lighted and put into the hands of
men, and they will almost be justified in the revolution which will
follow.
[19]
And the Report adds:
In that direction we have imperceptibly, unconsciously, and un-
intentionally drifted. The end of cuch a course is disclosed by
history.
In a recent editorial of the Journal of the American
Judication Society we have these strong words:
If there is anything which we as American citizens should be
ashamed of, it is our failure to administer criminal law ef-
ficiently. There is no other important nation in which life and
property are so unsafe from criminal depredations as in the United
States. Our murder-rate exceeds that of any other nation. In
robbery, burglary, and other crimes we are at the bottom of the
list of civilized peoples. With us criminal justice is nearly always
slow and frequently uncertain. Its steps are circuitous.
At a recent National Law Enforcement Convention
held in Washington, Guy D. Goff, Assistant to the
Attorney-General, " a gifted jurist and great Amer-
ican," spoke these words:
The perpetuity of this government depends upon the manner in
which our laws are carried out. Nearly every State has laws to
which no attention is paid, and they reap the fruits by having all
laws broken. I am not an alarmist when I say that if these
conditions be tolerated the republic itself will sooner or later fall
because of the weakening of the props of law on which it rests.
Americans are accustomed to regard a republican form of govern-
ment as a natural condition; that such a government is mortal
and can die, is a thought entirely foreign to our beliefs. Yet our
republic, though the best, is not the first nor the oldest. It has
lasted now 138 years. Venice had a republican form of govern-
ment for 1,100 years; Carthage, for 700; Athens, with various
intermissions, 900 years; Florence, 300 years; and Rome, 500
years. What caused the downfall of these governments? The
people began to disregard their own laws. The laws were all
right, but the hearts of the people were not right, and the laws
were not obeyed. When law ceased to reign, the governments
resting upon the foundation of law crumbled and fell.
[20]
It is not possible to note all of the factors that enter
into this condition. This denial of justice to the poor
is not due primarily to bribery and fraud, as the Re-
port shows. Our courts are quite above serious sus-
picion on this point. Much of it is due to our anti-
quated and complicated court procedure. There has
grown up a system whereby men with money can hire
shrewd lawyers and resort to all kinds of makeshifts
and subterfuges to postpone the trial and finally to go
free. Some of it, let it be said, is due to the kind of
men who are called to administer criminal law. In
our land as a rule we have given attention to the quality
of men who are selected for the higher courts. But
we have given almost no attention to the qualifications
of the men who administer law in lower courts, as
police judges and justices of the peace. In some of
our cities the administration of justice is most unfair,
and is under the control of political machinery. Thus
in some sections it is the custom for the ward boss to
look over the list of persons held for trial and then
to check off those who are to be handled gently.
Those who are poor, or belong to the opposite party
or are not in favor with the boss, must be dealt with
severely; and incidentally be taught " to be good " in
politics.
6. Other causes more personal and direct may be
named. Chief among these is the Neglect of Parental
Discipline. Family discipline in our land has sadly
relaxed and in many cases has completely disappeared.
Dr. Josiah Strong says that
in many families the rod, like Aaron's, has budded and has brought
forth sugar plums of all sorts. The father is the natural ruler
of the household—the prophet, priest, and king of the little home
circle. The father is the first, the divinely authorized teacher
[21]
and guide of the children. But today parental responsibility in
this direction is sadly, wofully, brutally neglected. The struggle
of life becomes intenser and the competition of life keener. Men
are consumed with a passion for business success; they are de-
termined to get on in the world; and getting on in the world
means getting rich. As a consequence, the home duties are slighted,
and the father is separated by a wide gulf from his children.
Ours is also an age of clubs and societies. Many men are mem-
bers of more clubs and societies than there are days in the week.
These clubs and societies may be good enough in their way, but
we must all confess that this society business is sadly overdone.
Any society, however good, which causes a man to neglect his
home duties, is a woe and a curse. This sin against the home is
not confined to any one class of society. The rich man is as guilty
as the working man. Boys are allowed to go without father's
counsel and care; girls grow up into womanhood without the
mother's watchcare and protection. What wonder that the boys
so often become lawless and the girls so often are led astray?
Much of the lawlessness of our times can be traced back to the
nursery and the cradle. Father is too busy with the store and
the club to fulfil his home duties; mother is much too occupied
with social claims and calls to do her duty to her children. The
nurse is irresponsible, and the children grow up without ever
having learned the first great lesson of life—obedience. The
seeds of lawlessness thus sown in the nursery bear a terrible
harvest out in society.
7. Other sources of lawlessness or rather groups
of causes may be noted, and these are the Crime-foster-
ing Agencies: vile literature, suggestive and unfit mov-
ing pictures, pool-rooms, and blind tigers. Vile literature
we know is at the bottom of many of the groups of
boy burglars and licentious practises of our land.
The boys read this blood-and-thunder trash till their
minds and passions are inflamed, and they are ready
for almost any deed of shame. Few persons not in-
formed have any idea of the methods used by human
ghouls for disseminating this vile literature. Back of
nine-tenths of the social impurity of our times you will
[22]
find vile literature and liquor. The open saloon has
gone from our land, and gone forever. But the vie-
tory for temperance is far from being won as yet. In
some parts of the land the evasion of the law has been
reduced to a science, and bootlegging is all too com-
mon. This is a fruitful source of crime, anarchy, and
lawlessness. Thousands of people are party to this
law-breaking. Many public officials connive at it and
do nothing. And in many places pool-rooms are the
devil's recruiting-stations. Do you doubt this ? Then
take the pains to inquire and you will find that the
half has not been told. So long as we tolerate by
form of law these hot-beds of evil, crime, anarchy, and
passion, we must not be surprised at the frightful
harvest grown.
III. THE REMEDIES PROPOSED
The causes of lawlessness, as we have seen, are
many and complex. This suggests the principle that
the remedies may be many and manifold. Beware of
the physician who offers to cure every disease by one
remedy. The social quack is no less common than the
medical quack, and he may be more dangerous. There
is no single and easy cure for a deep and complex
social condition. This suggests also that there must
be an understanding of the causes of social evils; and
it suggests that there must be work of various kinds
and by all kinds of social agencies. The remedies
noted here, in fact, all remedies, fall into two classes:
Those having to do with the sentiments, the standards,
the ideas, and the ideals of the people; and those hav-
ing to do with the methods of government and the
administration of justice. It is not possible in this
[23]
brief study to throw all of our suggestions into one
or the other of these classes. As a matter of fact
these two classes interblend; for the administration
of law, whether lax or adequate, depends in large part
upon active public opinion.
1. We Must Seek to Know the Causes of Lawless-
ness. As churches we have been too indifferent to the
things which foster the lawless spirit; we have been
too complacent in the face of well-known evils. We
have been eager to save men from results; we have
not always been as wise to abolish causes. It is all
very well to endeavor to save men from a hell in an-
other world; but it is quite as urgent that we abolish
the hells of this world and put out their fires forever.
It is all very well to dream of that city in the skies,
with its gates of pearl, its streets of gold, its security,
its peace, the city into which nothing enters that defiles
or makes a lie; but it is quite as urgent that we seek
to make these cities of earth more heavenly, and to
cast out of them all the things that offend, and what-
soever works abomination or makes a lie. We will
seek to reform the drunkard—that is Christian work.
But shall we do nothing to abolish the drunkard-
makers? We will care for the half dead traveler on
the Jericho Road—that is the neighborly thing to do.
But shall we do nothing to break up that gang of rob-
bers and cut-throats? We will nurse the fever-
stricken man—that is Christian charity. But shall we
not organize a crusade in behalf of pure water and
clean streets? We will work for the improvement of
society in many ways; but just when our efforts are
becoming fruitful shall we stop short lest we transcend
our sphere? To lament results while tolerating causes
is simply folly and Pharisaism.
[24]
I know well the objection that is raised here: " You
cannot make men good by law." Now, of all the
canting twaddle ever canted in this world of cant,
that is the worst. " You cannot make men good by
law." Then why in the name of all that is good did
God give men the Ten Commandments? Why in the
name of common sense do we have our governments
with their courts, their policemen, and their restraints?
Has the Fifteenth Amendment done nothing to es-
tablish equity and brotherhood in the earth? "You
cannot make men good by form of law." This is what
every man says who wants to find an excuse for his
indifference; that is what every man says, also, who is
trying to hinder the coming of the kingdom of God.
The fact is, as every worker among the poor knows,
the positive statute laws furnish millions of people
with nearly all their ideas of morality. Paul did not
think that law is valueless and magistrates useless.
Hear him say:
For rulers are the ministers [the deacons, mark that] of God
to thee for good. The ruler beareth not the sword in vain.
No one attempts to legislate men into the kingdom of
Heaven; but the citizens of that kingdom must affirm
that by form of law nothing shall exist which tends
to demoralize society, and that no class of men shall
be allowed by law to place a stumbling-block in the
way of their fellows. The government that is under
obligation to punish and restrain the criminal is under
equal obligation to remove the causes which make the
criminal. To affirm less than this is to put ourselves
to hopeless intellectual and political confusion.
2. We must seek by every means at our command
to Remove the Causes of Social and Industrial Un-
[25]
rest and Lawlessness. In 1867, the people of England
were horrified at the outrages committed at Sheffield.
Parliament was appealed to for help. There were
some wise men in that Parliament; so instead of send-
ing troops down to intimidate the law-breakers, they
inquired whether there were not some wrongs which
had provoked Englishmen to fall back on barbarous
practises of assassination. A careful and searching in-
vestigation was made; wrongs were discovered; by
appropriate legislation these wrongs were removed,
and the lawlessness ceased forever. When men are
restless and turbulent it is useless to cry " Peace,
peace," when there can be no peace. I know how it is;
we fear the results of wrong far more than we fear
wrong itself.
Some years ago in a great American city there was
a troublesome trolley strike, and some lawlessness
prevailed. In one of the pastors' conferences a com-
mittee was appointed to hear both sides, and to ascer-
tain the inside facts of the trouble. This committee
did its work, and found that this trolley company had
an actual stock capital of some nineteen million dol-
lars, but it had issued stock to the extent of some one
hundred and twenty million dollars, and was paying
dividends on this enormous sum. To do this the men
were scaled down to the lowest cent, and were not
given proper accommodations and protection. The
committee was not allowed to present this report of
simple facts to the conference. Why not? The prob-
able explanation is this: One of the most prominent
officials of that trolley company is a leading member
of one of the churches of his denomination. The
cause of the strike and the accompanying lawlessness
was not removed, and another strike with greater
[26]
lawlessness may occur at any time. Remove the
causes of social restlessness and discontent, and much
of the lawlessness of our time will disappear. We con-
demn the dwellers in the tenements with their schemes
of social plunder and their anarchistic organizations;
while all the time colossal fortunes are being made by
buying franchises, watering stock, wrecking railroads,
cornering breadstuffs, and gambling in the necessaries
of life. If one man may be an anarchist on a big scale,
it is difficult to see why another may not be an an-
archist on a small scale. Anarchy in the tenements is
the correlate of anarchy in Wall Street.
3. We must Testify against Every Form of Law-
lessness and must Seek to Have Justice Done to All
Men. It is an old saying that we need an applied
gospel. " Preach the gospel; that is your business,"
says the man to his pastor who has exposed and
criticized some of his tricks of trade, political prac-
tises, and questionable pleasures. To such a man
preaching the gospel means preaching sentimental
orations or theological doctrines which have no rela-
tion to the every-day sins of men. A gentleman, after-
ward a member of the Supreme Court of the United
States, said one day to a friend, a noted preacher:
You ministers are making a fatal mistake in not holding forth
before men as prominently as the previous generation did* the
retributive justice of God. You are fallen into a sentimental
style of rhapsodizing over the love of God, and you are not
appealing to that fear of future punishment which your Lord
and Master made such a prominent element in his preaching. And
we are seeing the effects of it in the wide-spread demoralization
of private virtue and corruption of the public conscience through-
out the land.
And Gladstone has spoken to the same effect:
[27]
One thing I have against the clergy both of the country and
in the towns. I think they are not severe enough upon their con-
gregations. They do not sufficiently lay upon the souls and con-
sciences of their hearers their moral obligation, and probe their
hearts and bring up their whole lives and actions before the bar
of conscience.
He goes on to say that the sermons which are most
needed today are of the class which offended Lord
Melbourne. This Lord went away from church one
day in a towering rage, saying to a friend:
It is too bad. I have always been a supporter of the church,
and I have always upheld the clergy. But it is really too bad
to have to listen to a sermon like that we had this morning.
Why, the preacher actually insisted on applying religion to a man's
private life.
4. We must know Who are the Real Law-breakers
and must call them to account. In our day we hear
much talk about the dangerous classes, and the as-
sumption is generally made that they are the poor
and working classes. This is as shallow as it is un-
fair. The danger centers are less the East side than
they are Fifth Avenue. There is much lamentation
over the number of men who sell their votes, who
barter their priceless American birthright for a mess
of pottage. There are many venal voters in Amer-
ica, no doubt. But who does the buying? We lament
the fact that aldermen sell franchises and give away
great public privileges. This may all be the case;
but who buys these franchises? Not the poor work-
ing man. We hear much criticism of the vices of the
people and the lawlessness of the working man; but
who hears any criticism of the vices and lawlessness
of the well-to-do? Says Bishop Thompson of Mis-
sissippi:
[28]
The luxuries, the vices, the family and social corruption which
reign in our great cities are not the sins of artisans and day
laborers. . . Playing cards for money is no worse in a beer shop
than in the Union Club house. To be tipsy there or at a corner
grocery amounts to about the same thing. This assumption that
sin lives in tenement houses and the moral virtues reside on the
avenue, and that the church must make special efforts to keep
bricklayers, carpenters, and blacksmiths in order, that these last
and their kind are the specially dangerous and sinful classes, is
nearly always present in the plan of religious people to reach
the masses. The assumption is worse than Pharisaism. It is
blind ignorance of life and fact, and anti-Christian as well as
senseless.
Those are brave words, and we must have more men
who will testify with the same certain and unequivocal
sound. We have been quite ready to testify against
the man who wins a dime in a low groggery; but who
hears any stern criticism of the men who win thou-
sands cornering the necessaries of life and speculating
in breadstuffs?
It has been said that two great dangers threaten
the Republic: mobocracy and plutocracy. Mobs are
dangerous and disgraceful things; but let us remember
the words of Wendell Phillips:
I have seen many mobs between the seaboard and the Missis-
sippi. I never saw or heard of any but well-dressed mobs, as-
sembled and countenanced, if not always led in person, by respecta-
bility and what called itself education.
Mobs take their beginnings in the wrongs, the vices,
the oppressions in the so-called upper and moneyed
classes. Men never tire of telling us of the horrors
of the Reign of Terror, and the crimes of the Parisian
mobs. But had there been no Ancient Regime there
had been no Reign of Terror. Today there is an
ominous discontent in the minds of the people. They
[29]
see great fortunes made by speculating in the neces-
saries of life, by crushing competition, by scaling
wages and cornering the markets. They see many of
these fortunes squandered on palaces and yachts, on
horses and carnivals, in hobnobbing with foreign
princes, and in trading American gold and girls for the
title of some penniless rake. On the other hand, they
see the struggle of life becoming increasingly harder
and more uncertain; they see themselves paying
tribute for the necessaries of life to some powerful
corporation; they see their children treated as
" hands " in a mill and reckoned as a piece of the ma-
chinery. This contrast of great wealth made by ques-
tionable means and spent in vulgar ostentation with
the hard labor and uncertain work of the many is
creating a dangerous and bitter spirit of discontent.
Some of this discontent may be evil, and may be in-
spired by selfishness and hate; but much of it is
most noble. The discontent of the people under such
circumstances is a sign that human nature is not
wholly servile. I should despair of poor humanity if
it could be complacent in the face of such things.
4. There must be some Great Changes in Court
Procedure and Methods. It is an old saying that when
respect for law dies it is the courts that kill it. In
King Edward's time highway robbery was quite com-
mon in England. The King did some first-hand in-
vestigating and located one cause; he hung several
judges, and highway robbery ceased. The case is not
so simple as that today; and we may not hang ill-
qualified judges. None the less there need to be
some searchings of heart on the part of judges and
attorneys; for they do much to cheapen law or to
make it respected.
[30]
This is certain: that there must be respect for law at
the top of society and by the more comfortable classes.
Nations begin to die at the top rather than at the
bottom. Regeneration and reform must begin first
of all at the top. On this subject we may well note
the following declaration of the Report of the Amer-
ican Bar Association:
The Judicial Section of the American Bar Association, ven-
turing to speak for all the judges, wishes to express this warning
to the American people:
Reverence for law and law enforcement depend mainly upon
the ideals and customs of those who occupy the vantage ground
of life in business and society. The people of the United States,
by solemn constitutional and statutory enactment, have under-
taken to suppress the age-long evil of the liquor traffic.
When, for the gratification of their appetites or the promotion
of their interests, lawyers, bankers, great merchants, and manu-
facturers, and social leaders, both men and women, disobey and
scoff at this law, or any other law, they are aiding the cause of
anarchy and promoting mob violence, robbery, and homicide; they
are sowing dragons' teeth, and they need not be surprised when
they find no judicial or police authority can save our country or
humanity from reaping the harvest.
6. We must see that there is a Fair and Impartial
Administration of All Law. It is here, as we have
seen, that we touch a sore spot in our American life;
and it is here that there must be brave and intelligent
thought and action. People are much inclined to pick
and choose among the laws they will respect; and
so public officials too often pick and choose among the
laws they will enforce. In many instances public
officials go on the theory that they will let things
slide; they will not enforce certain laws " unless there
is a demand for it." And usually it takes a moral
earthquake to make some of these officials realize that
[31]
there is a demand for their observance. Like people
like priests. We cannot shift the blame upon officials
and politicians. They are usually as good as the peo-
pie and are a fair register of the public sentiment.
The place to begin is with ourselves. We must re-
spect and obey the laws ourselves. We must expect
our officials to obey and enforce them. We must
know what our officials are doing and must call them
to account when derelict. We must expect officials to
do their duty and we must support them when doing
it. Unfortunately this is not the case today. Again
and again we have seen conscientious officials for-
gotten and deserted by the people who worked to
secure their election. We must get behind officials
who do their duty; and we must get after officials
who neglect their duty. Again and again we have
seen failure on this latter point. An official is called
to account and is found to be guilty of neglect and
flagrant dereliction. But he pleads ignorance; he says
that he is the victim of political persecution; and he
asks that he be reelected as a vindication. And again
we have seen this plea avail and have seen him given
a new lease of life. We must set our faces like flint
against all this. We must refuse to accept the excuse
of any man who is found derelict in office. We must
insist that every official respect his oath of office and
enforce the laws without partiality and without weak-
ness.
It is essential that lams be enforced and wrong-doers
be brought to book. Now and again we have seen a lax
administration of the law; and all kinds of crime have
abounded. Then there has come a reaction and the
laws are enforced with savage spirit and extreme
severity. This is, however, not the method we advo-
[32]
cate here or anywhere. We must insist that the laws
be fairly enforced and that wrong-doers be called to
account. It is not the severity of punishment that
deters evil-doers and creates regard for law; it is the
certainty of penalty and the knowledge that law is
immutable. Hear these solemn and striking words of
Mulford:
It is a day of evil for a people when it comes to regard the
punishment of crime only as the sequence in some legal formula,
or determined in some social contract, or some law of expediency,
and when its statesmen lose all consciousness of a divine obligation
that crime must be punished, and wicked men must meet the con-
sequences of their deeds.1
We may well note these words of Chief Justice Taft
spoken some years ago before the American Bar Asso-
ciation:
Of all the questions which are before the American people, I
regard no one as more important than the improvement of the
administration of justice. We must make it so that the poor man
will have as nearly as possible an equal opportunity in litigating
as the rich man, and under present conditions, ashamed as we may
be of it, this is not the fact.
IV. SUMMATION
What are some of the things that must be done to
change all this and bring about a higher respect for
law? There are some things that we can do as
churches; and many things that we can do as citizens.
1. As churches, We must be True to the Great
Single Landmarks of the Kingdom, Righteousness,
Brotherhood, and Peace. We must know no man
after the flesh, be he rich or poor, cultured or ignorant,
1 "The Nation," p. 319.
[33]
employer or working man. We must create in the
minds of men a great passion for justice, for fair
play, for brotherhood. And the disciples of Jesus
Christ must step between the ranks of men now mad-
dening and arraying themselves, and bid them in
the name of God put away their anger, do justly the
one with the other, and be at peace. The prophets of
the kingdom must show the house of Israel their sins
and must hold up before men the majestic, simple,
tremendous demands of God for justice and right-
eousness. " Where there is no vision the people
perish." The great characteristic sins of the world
today are done in the social and commercial world.
Men must be convicted of sin along the lines of their
characteristic sinning. It will be said that preaching
on these themes is hazardous. That may be; men
who have done this sort of preaching have not always
been able to keep their heads on their shoulders. But
hazardous to whom? Would to God that this preach-
ing were more hazardous to those who are guilty of
some of these monstrous and shameless political prac-
tises of our day and land. Hazardous to whom? To
the preacher? All the hazard to him grows out
of the fact that he is faithless to the souls of men,
and cries, " Peace, peace," when there is no peace.
Nothing but righteousness can bring peace in society.
Today, however, we are solemnly told that we must
not criticize our social conditions lest we stir up the
people to revolution. We are told that we must not
expose the venality of our legislators lest we cause the
people to lose respect for the law. We are solemnly
told that we must not denounce the merciless greed
of the great monopolies lest the working people be-
come dissatisfied with their wages and rise in revolt.
[34]
Men whose souls are one great flame of passion for
righteousness are denounced by their brethren as
troublers of the people. Let us remember just one
fact: Jesus Christ is first of all King of Righteousness
and after that also King of Peace. The throne of
God is the pledge to us that there shall be no peace
in the man or in the nation till righteousness is en-
throned there.
Again, We must Lay a Hand upon the Young and
Mold Them to Better Ways. Prevention is better
than cure. Preformation is better than reformation;
it is cheaper, more sensible, more certain, and more
Christian. Christianity is simply common sense raised
to the nth degree. A beautiful lily will grow in a foul
horse-pond; but we must not expect too much of poor
human nature. Some of us find it difficult to be as
pure and good as we are even in favoring conditions.
Sunday schools and mission halls for the lapsed
masses are good; but the kindergarten will reach
those whom the Sunday school cannot touch, and it
will hold them six days in the week. To reach the
young we must begin in the home, in the schoolroom,
and in the playground; we must consider the condi-
tions in which they live and the ideals they cherish.
Many good people are afraid to send their children
to the public school lest they be contaminated. Do
you know, this savors to me of Pharisaism ? Let these
same parents who know what sort of schools the
children need and who fear for the welfare of their
own little ones, have the same regard for the children
of the people and make sure that the schools are all
that they ought to be. The present condition is just
this: People of intelligence and means send their
children to private schools; the public schools are
[35]
neglected, and the result is just what might be ex-
pected. New York City has millions of dollars to
spend for a speedway for the rich; but it has been
compelled to turn twenty-five thousand children from
school for lack of accommodations. And the schools
of the rural districts are in about the same sad con-
dition. No man's boy is safe till all men's boys are
safe. The man who wants a good and safe school
for his boys and girls ought not to rest till he has
secured good and safe schools for all boys and girls.
Most beautiful and most true is that saying of the
Talmud, " The world is to be saved by the laughter
of school children."
We Must Save the Children; We Must Surround
Them with Better, Purer, Sweeter Influences; we must
train them for the kingdom of God and its righteous-
ness. The heresy has too long prevailed that it takes
a great sinner to make a great saint. So men have
almost come to feel that one is hardly fit for the king-
dom of God till he has become a great and notorious
sinner. Save the children of this generation to purer,
sweeter, more obedient lives, and the world of the
next generation will be purer, sweeter, and more law-
abiding. The generation now passing across the
world into the unseen is lost. All we can hope to do
in the nature of things is to snatch a brand here and
there from the eternal burnings. We all believe in
evangelism; but evangelism alone will never save this
world from shipwreck and death. What can we do?
The children are yet within our reach. Every pastor
knows that not one-tenth of the converts coming into
our churches are above thirty years of age. We must
save the children; we must save them to higher ideals,
to purer ways, to more obedient lives. There is no
[36]
confession of failure here; it is simply a question of
wise and Christian methods; it is only obeying the
word of Christ to feed and shepherd the lambs.
2. As citizens, We Must Seek to Create Higher
Ideals of Civic Life and Must Hold Up Those Ideals
Before all Men. A man's ideal is the most important
part of him; and the same is true of a nation. That
man was right who said, " Let me make the songs of
a people, and I care not who makes the laws." We
need higher ideals of civil law, higher ideals of public
office, higher ideals of success, higher ideals of liberty
and equality, higher ideals of social conduct and of
commercial ways. We need a revival of ethical ear-
nestness, of righteous aspiration, and of just relations.
Much of our modern Christianity is an utterly flabby
and sentimental thing. It has no great urgent passion
for righteousness; it has no consuming hunger for
perfection. We need a revival of downright, outright
righteousness all along the line. Our churches must
become a kind of incarnate conscience. They must
make and unmake laws, by making and molding the
conscience which lies back of all laws and statutes.
The churches have it in their power to become the
organized conscience of the community.
Along with this We Must Make Men See that the
State is Something More Than a Mere Contract for
Low Purposes and Aims, as protecting property and
making men rich. We must repudiate the agnostic
theory of the state, and come back to God's ideas as
revealed in the history of the Jews. We must build
our states upon the one foundation which God has
laid, being sure that other foundation can no man lay
for any state than that which is laid, which is Jesus
Christ. We must make our legislators see that they
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have no power to make any law; that their only busi-
ness is to interpret the writings of the Adamant
Tables, and to embody the will of God in civil statutes.
Any human law has validity and authority just so far
as it expresses and reflects the law of God which is
written into the deepest foundations of the universe.
The State can discover and apply law; but it can
neither create law nor give it authority; all the au-
thority it possesses is the authority of God himself.
For three generations the world has sat at the feet of
men who have propounded their agnostic theory of the
state. Now let all who believe in God and in his right
to rule, let all who accept Jesus Christ as king and
say that he is head over all, teach a worthier and more
Christian view of the state and of civil duty.
We Must Lay Upon People the Claims of Citizen-
ship and Must Expect All Citizens to Meet Those
Obligations. Few people take an active and intel-
ligent interest in public affairs. As a rule not more
than a small proportion of the citizens attend the pri-
maries and thereby secure the nomination of high-
grade men and the decision of public issues. In some
parts of the land not more than twenty-five per cent,
of the voters attend primary elections. Thus it is
that many good causes go by default.
We must meet our obligations as citizens all along the
line. Just now the jury system is under a cloud; and the
reason is not far to seek. Men of business, profes-
sional men, people with claims upon their time, have
been too busy to accept jury service. The consequence
is that in many instances professional jurymen, mere
hangers-on around the court house, are called for this
most important service. Judges are often to blame for
this condition of affairs. They should insist upon
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having a fair call of jurymen made; and they should
insist that business and professional men do their
share of jury work. Unless we can secure the atten-
dance of the most competent and trustworthy citizens
as jurors, we shall have to discard the jury system.
We must know what public officials are doing, and we
must support in every possible way those who are doing
their duty. We are ready enough to complain when some-
thing goes wrong. We seldom think to commend the
man who is doing his duty, often in the presence of
deep and subtle opposition. And we must call to
account men who are derelict and must refuse to ac-
cept any excuse or palliation. When an official has
been found faithless we must insist that he return to
private life and by brave and consistent living let him
prove that he is worthy of confidence.
We must secure the nomination and election of high-
grade men for public office. In the case of judges, for
example, we should insist that they be high-grade
and mature lawyers who have demonstrated their
worthiness and have won the respect of the bar in
the arena of trials. A Governor or President who
would pay political debts by appointing his friends
to any court, has forfeited forever the respect of all
fair-minded men.
As citizens we should cooperate with the various
agencies in our communities that are seeking to secure
the nomination and election of qualified men. The virtue
much needed in a democracy is team-work. The good
man standing alone can accomplish little; sometimes
in fact he is in the way. Team-work, organization,
method, are needed in this fight. And team-work, in-
telligent planning, the union of force, can accomplish
wonders.
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The cure for the lawlessness of our times is a co
plex one; the making of a world is a slow proce
But if we work in harmony with God's plan it is
absolutely sure process. Our one business is to he
up before men the great ideals of the kingdom, w
the calm confidence that those ideals will surely w
their way. Whatever is wrong cannot be eternal, a
whatever is right cannot be impossible. We may w
close with these memorable words from Preside
Lincoln:
Let every American, every lover of liberty, every well-wisl
to his posterity swear by the blood of the Revolution never
violate in the least particular the laws of the country, and ne
to tolerate their violation by others. As the patriots of Seven
six rallied to the support of the Declaration of Independence, so;
the support of the Constitution and laws let every Ameri
pledge his e, his property, and his sacred honor—let ev
man remember that to violate the law is to trample on the bl
of his fath. and to tear the charter of his own and his childre
liberty. Let reverence for the laws be breathed by every Am
ican mother to the lisping babe that prattles on her lap; let it
taught in schools, in seminaries, and in colleges; let it be writ
in primers, spelling-books, and in almanacs; let it be preac
from the pulpit, proclaimed in legislative halls, and enforced
courts of justice. And, in short, let it become the political relig'*
of the nation; and let the old and young, the rich and poor,
grave and the gay of all sexes and tongues and colors and c
ditions, sacrifice unceasingly upon its altars.
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