Social Conditions of This Time
By A. O. Tait
THIS is a time of high moral profession. Uprightness, integrity, honesty, and all the rest of the good adjectives are used to describe the ideals of what men think of themselves. The man who will stand for upright principle against the offers of bribes is cheered by the multitude anywhere. The profession of Christianity is by no means unpopular. Indeed, there are so many in this country who make a profession of Christianity that it is called a "Christian nation." And this same profession is made by the leading nations of the Old World as well. It is remarkable that, despite all this high profession, the great majority are, nevertheless, sadly lacking in the possessing of the things that are so strongly applauded. The owners and operating managers of all the great corporations are, as a general rule, well educated, and they can talk fluently of the good virtues that men should possess. Indeed, to hear the earnestness with which they talk on these themes one is impressed with the thought that the man must be truly good who can extol virtue and honesty so highly. In many instances these men who talk so fluently of righteousness hold their membership in some influential congregation of Christian professors. They attend divine worship regularly and make the outward show of piety. But these selfsame men are brought before courts of justice, and unimpeachable evidence shows that they have corrupted legislatures, bribed city and federal authorities, and otherwise followed the devious paths of genteel outlawry. But, notwithstanding this evidence of criminality that all will admit to be true, it is practically impossible to bring these men, or the interests that they represent, to suffer the punishment that justice demands. It is perfectly clear that the simple facts of the situation are these: The money power of the country has thrown out its lines so extensively that it has every city and important town under its control; this control is secured either by the direct use of bribes or else by obtaining positions for men that they covet more than money. This condition has obtained such a magnitude, and so many persons have come to be financially or socially interested that when justice is sought, influences are immediately brought to bear to have the prosecution dropped; the railroads, the coal mines, the oil wells, the steel and other manufacturing industries, the lumber business, and every other line of trade that involves large capital, have woven their interests together in trusts and combines until it is quite impossible to touch any great financial interest of the country without bringing to its aid every other company and corporation. Thus has the vast combined wealth of the country arrayed itself in one mighty combine and it is working so that it is a great engine of corruption. It is corrupting legislatures, and city and town councils, courts and juries, until the consciences of men are being educated to think that it is not so bad to be bribed or to bribe, especially if it can be done in some gentlemanly appearing way and not be found out. This boasted morality that men claim for themselves, while at the same time they are engaged in such iniquities, is making a vast army of hypocrites. And iniquity covered by hypocrisy is not the substantial material that will enable nations and peoples to endure. In this connection a very pertinent scripture may be quoted. It is a graphic description of social conditions that the apostle says will be seen at a particular period in the world's history, and it is well to think of it carefully as you read it. It is a text that is often quoted, but it is so comprehensive in its presentation of the social situation of this time that it should be studied more and more. It reads: "But know this, that in the last days grievous times shall come. For men shall be lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, haughty, railers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, without natural affection, implacable, slanderers, without self-control, fierce, no lovers of good, traitors, headstrong, puffed up, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God; holding a form of godliness, but having denied the power thereof; from these also turn away." 2 Tim. 3: 1-5. Notice particularly what an array the foregoing scripture gives. Men are "fierce," "traitors," "without self-control," "without natural affection," "railers," and so on thru the list; and permeating the whole catalog of evil attributes is self-love and the love of money. Such conditions of heart and mind are just what have always existed in the world among ungodly men. And there would be nothing particularly surprising to find the world's people doing such things at any time or place in the world's history. But this text is not talking about the out-and-out worldly person. It says that the people who are guilty of these sins are "holding a form of godliness." They belong to the church; they mingle in the singing of sacred song, and their voices may be uplifted in the house of God in prayer. But while making all this pretense, the text says that they are "no lovers of good;" they are "lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God." Their love of self and love of money make a splendid foundation for bribery, and everything connected with the whole grafting process. And the apostle plainly says that the "last days" shall be made "grievous" because of the prevalence of this mass of evils, masquerading in the revelries of pleasure, and seeking to hide the hypocritical conditions under a "form of godliness." When a person candidly studies the foregoing scripture, in connection with the conditions that actually exist in the world today, he must be impressed with the fact that the "last days" are surely here; for if the conditions of hypocritical sins that are now so plainly in the world are not fulfilling this prophetic utterance, pray what would be the depths of degradation to which the world must be plunged before the fulfillment is reached?6 There is another condition that has obtained very generally in all of the large cities, and most of the smaller ones as well, that has a significance that is worthy of careful thought and study. It is horrible to contemplate, but it is nevertheless true that vices and crimes of the very worst sort have been turned into regular business enterprises. In our large cities may be found men who move in "good society" and who live in palatial residences, who have made their money and who support themselves and families in high style by carrying on a regular traffic in the most degrading of vices. They create vast estates and roll up big bank accounts by deliberately cultivating unspeakable vices among men and women, and then by collecting a toll at the filthy gateways of debasing, degrading indulgence. Some time before the earthquake and fire in San Francisco, the writer of this article, in company with several other men, was passing along the open public sidewalk in one of the regularly charted streets of that city. The twilight of the sun that had just set was still spreading its light over the earth. This street on which we were passing was no more than two or three blocks from the great business arteries of the western metropolis. A side street branched off from the one on which we were walking, and seemed to end abruptly against a row of buildings a block away. On both sides of this short street were low buildings or rather what seemed to be one continuous building, the front steps of which was the sidewalk, and doors opening onto the sidewalk every eight or ten feet. A regularly uniformed policeman was standing at the corner in the attitude of one who was carefully guarding the interests of some large public meeting, and the little short street was alive with a multitude of men who could be seen to pass in and out of the rooms that lined its sides. The spectacle was so unusual that one of the party asked what was going on. A little questioning elicited the information from the officer that each room on both sides of the street contained a prostitute; the rent that each room paid the landlord was five dollars a day (not five dollars a week or five dollars a month, but five dollars a day); and furthermore the officer was kept there under the pay of the city to guard the infamous abode of sin. The question was asked the officer, How can it be possible for vice to be thus protected and fostered right in the heart of one of the foremost cities in this land of boasted Christianity? How is it that the mayor of this great metropolis of the Pacific can be induced to close his eyes to such a thing and allow it to flourish like this under the uniformed protection of an officer of his own appointment, and especially, How can this be when the mayor prides himself on his respectable and refined home life, and on the fact that he moves in the best society? Why does not a mayor, holding such a position, and making such lofty pretensions, swoop down upon such a sink of iniquity and drive it like a reptile from the face of the earth? With a sneering tone, the officer replied, "O, it is because there is too much money in this thing for the landlord, and thru his money he has too good a pull with the administration. The money received from this business is divided up, and we are paid to let it alone." In addition to the seemingly fabulous rent that the landlord received from his long rows of cheap, poorly built rooms, the keepers of these places had to pay a regular tax to the captain of police in the precinct, and this revenue from the most debasing and degrading of sins was divided among the government officials of the city. In the investigation that is now going on in San Francisco the majority of the city council have confessed under oath that they have been guilty of such crimes as these. And not only have they confessed that they have levied a tax upon the houses of ill-repute, but gambling-dens, which serve for the headquarters of thieves and pickpockets and all the rest of the family of rogues, are protected on the condition that a tribute is paid out of their illegitimate spoils. New York, Chicago, Philadelphia, St. Louis, Minneapolis, and practically all the rest of the cities of the whole of this country, as well as the cities of the Old World, have had investigations of their conditions from time to time which show that this corruption is general. And it is not only general all over the world, but it is highly organized into one of the most perfect systems for making money. The political boss, a character to be found in every city, is the general-in-chief of this great army of vice-laden criminals, gamblers, brothel-keepers, and the like, and his services are sought at a good price by the "princes of finance." The balance of power is being centered more and more strongly in the large cities, and the big interests that seek to place men in legislatures and on judicial benches, so that they can the more perfectly monopolize the wealth of the world, have only to pay the political boss his "price" and they can have their men elected. Men who heed the chiming of the church-bells, and who with a sanctified dignity go regularly to worship at the house of Him of whom it is said, "Thou art of purer eyes than to behold evil, and that canst not look on perverseness;" men who move in the most exclusive circles of the highest and most refined society; men who would shudder at the thought of being seen in the house of vice, or of taking their revolvers in hand to go out and "hold up" persons for their money, will deliberately employ the "political boss," when they know very well what he represents. In order for the big financiers to keep their men in office they must have the help of the political boss; and in order for the political boss to be able to "make good" he must have his army of gamblers, and all the accompanying class of vice-laden evildoers that lie at the bottom of society. Hence it must be apparent to any one who thinks candidly on the situation that the whole social fabric has drifted into a plan of operation that makes it an object for men in the so-called higher walks of life to pass by debauchery with a wink, while others who are ranked as lower down in the social scale are organized into a perfect system for extending and increasing vices and crimes. You may say that the foregoing is a very dark picture; but you must also say that the picture represents fact and not theory. And, furthermore, dark as the picture is, yet is there great light beyond if you understand the meaning of it. The Father who knoweth all things, He who reads the future with absolute accuracy has known all thru the ages just what course would be taken by sin and sinners. And He has revealed beforehand that these conditions would exist, and He has assured us that when we see them we may know that we are in the "last days." In the seventeenth chapter of Luke the Lord tells us that the conditions that prevailed in Noah's time and also in the days of Lot will curse the earth at the time when Christ is about to return. The days of Noah and Lot are set forth in the Bible as two of the most corrupt periods in the world's history. And when these iniquities reach the place again that corruption becomes so general and so deep-rooted that no more people can be saved out of it, then the Lord Jesus will come in person in the clouds of heaven and put an end to it. This coming of the Master is the glorious hope that is before us. It is the one event that should thrill every soul. And every one who is not lost in the maze of sin will sooner or later see that the coming of Christ in person is the solution of all our social problems. Every nation that has become grossly corrupt has fallen under the weight of its own corruption. This has been the universal history of nations. And when the iniquities of the whole world have reached the place where corruption and degradation are so strong that nothing but destruction can result, then the end of the world must come in the second coming of Christ. The day of Christ's coming is more to be desired than any event that the world can know. And our chiefest personal joy should be to be ready for it when it comes.