p. 6 | Note and Comment by L. A. S.

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Washington, D.C. · Dec 22, 1904

Note and Comment

By L. A. S.

Attorney-General Moody, at the instance of the president, has written a decision affirming the illegality of “guessing contests,” which are declared to be lotteries in disguise. Such enterprises are hereafter to be forbidden the use of the United States mail service. The popularity of such forms of gambling in this country is indicated by the fact that the “World’s Fair Contest Company,” which invited people to send in estimates of the whole attendance at the St. Louis Fair, at twenty-five cents per guess, received, according to the attorney-general’s estimate, replies from about one million people, bringing to the company $250,000, for which the company paid out in return, in prizes, $85,000.

The educational controversy in England is taking on a new phase, which is greatly to the disadvantage of those who have heretofore profited by the Education Act which precipitated the strife. Church-schools supported by public money are required by the act to have school buildings conforming to a certain standard of fitness for school uses, and failure to meet this requirement cuts off all claim upon the public treasury. It is stated that “the surveys now making in London indicate that about $750,000 will be required for this purpose from Anglican and Roman churchmen.” The Education Act gave the control of the public or Board schools to the ritualistic party in the established church, and non-conformist opponents have refused to support the schools on so unjust a basis, and have for their “passive resistance” to the act been penalized by fines and imprisonment. The London County Council, the majority in which are opposed to the act, are now turning the provisions of the measure against its

adherents, putting upon them what is considered “a grievous if not unbearable burden.” It was predicted some time ago that the resistance to this act would force its early repeal by Parliament, but the measure still continues to be a fruitful source of injustice and strife in English religious circles.

The important question whether, with the change in the nation’s political ideals indicated by the subjection to its will of a foreign people, there is to be a re-establishment of involuntary servitude at home, is now pending for a decision in the Supreme Court at Washington. The question comes up in connection with the peonage system which has been established in some parts of the South. The case now before the Supreme Court is that of a Georgia planter who, in 1902, was convicted in the federal courts of that State, and sentenced to four years’ imprisonment at hard labor, on the charge of having held two negro men in peonage on account of debt, in violation of section 5526 of the revised statutes. The constitutionality of these statutes has been several times affirmed in the federal courts, but it is stated that the government “is powerless to compel their enforcement or observance, even in the most typical and flagrant cases.”

In the brief filed in the case by the attorney-general, the latter says:—

We think we may truthfully say that upon the decision of this case hangs the liberty of thousands of persons, mostly colored, it is true, who are now being held in a condition of involuntary servitude, in many cases worse than slavery itself, by the unlawful acts of individuals, not only in violation of the thirteenth amendment to the Constitution, but in violation of the law which we have here under consideration.

The history of this and of similar cases shows that there is little or no sentiment against this peonage system in the localities where it has been set up, and only the federal courts stand between it and its would-be victims.

The present status of the Sunday-enforcement movement in Washington is indicated by this announcement in the Post of December 13:—

The Association of Christian Clergy of the various Protestant churches of the city met at a luncheon yesterday at Rauscher’s, and decided that the first Sunday in the coming year should be devoted to the discussion of the question of “Sabbath Observance” in the city of Washington. These sermons are to be expressly aimed at the governmental practise of making certain employees work on Sunday. A systematic campaign will be inaugurated to remedy this state of things.

The meeting, which was an adjourned one from the session of the Christian clergy held at the Ebbitt House last winter, was called for the purpose of promoting better fellowship and understanding among the ministers of the various Christian denominations represented in the city. The resolution for the sermons on the subject of “Sabbath Observance” came up as a minor consideration, but was so favorably received that it was decided that the day mentioned be chosen as the day for the beginning of the combined attack.

Every “attack” of this nature creates an opportunity for a campaign of education among the people which those bearing the last-day message of Sabbath reform should not be slow to improve.

The Italian government, it is reported from Rome, was greatly impressed with the ceremony at the recent unveiling in Washington of the statue of Frederick the Great, and is considering the advisability of following suit and presenting to the United States a statue of a great Italian warrior, for which her choice would be Julius Cæsar. Italy is prompted to this action by the understanding that it is the desire of the Washington government to erect at the entrance of the war college which has been established at the capital city, a group of the world’s greatest military figures, among which would be Alexander the Great, Hannibal, and Napoleon.

This glorification of war, which was a noticeable feature of the speeches made in connection with the unveiling of the statue of the Prussian monarch, is a sign of the times. The United States government did not rise to its present position of greatness through war and conquest, as did other great world powers, but by the peaceful methods of settlement and purchase. This nation has stood before the world not in a warlike attitude; it has represented power and greatness not achieved by the sword, but by the peaceful conquest of the spirit of liberty and progress. It has not held aloft the sword, but the torch of “Liberty enlightening the world.” Now, however, there is a change. The nation has become an empire, a “world power,” in the military sense of the term. There is talk of a strong standing army and a great navy. The inauguration of the president has become an imposing military spectacle.

Nothing else than this, however, was to be expected, because it is the spirit of strife, and not of peace, that rules this world, and will rule it until its kingdoms are swept aside and give place to the kingdom of the Prince of Peace, when wars shall be no more. Men now talk peace, but their actions show that the spirit of war is in the ascendancy, and that the final appeal in the settlement of international controversies will be to the sword. For this all nations are now preparing. L. A. S.