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AMONG THE WORKERS
The congregations of the Baptist Tabernacle are
now enjoying an unusual treat in having the services
during a part, at least, of Dr. Broughton’s absence,
of Rev. Dr. Samuel Chadwick, of Leeds, England.
Those of us who had the privilege of hearing his
cldar and deeply spiritual sermons during the Tab
ernacle Conference in 1006, will know what the Val
ue of this privilege is. Dr. Chadwick is first of all
a good speaker. He makes himself heard, and peo
ple who hear understand what he means to say.
His language is simple, his experience has been deep
and varied, his searching into the deep things of the
Word of life is penetrating and exceedingly fruitful.
He is never afraid of his logic. Therefore he does
not hesitate to state clearly what he understands
the Word to mean. If you should happen not to
agree with his conclusions, you will be greatly prof
ited and pleased by the fresh view of truth which
he presents to you in a style that is always charm
ing
te
The Long or Short of Life: Which is It?
A Correspondent invites us to consider the sub
ject of a long life or a short one from the mathe
matical side. The suggestion is a wholesome one.
Measured by the relative length of human life to
human history, it may be of great benefit to you
and me to consider the opportunities that we have
for doing a part in the world as we pass through it.
We give the suggestions as our correspondent puts
them:
THE PROHIBITION TIGHT
On Thursday of last week the House of Bep
reseiitatives passed an act putting a tax of two hun
dred dollars on the selling, and three hundred dol
lars on the manufacture, of all non-intoxicating imi
tations of beer. It is urgently hoped that the Sea
ate will pass this act. Besides the raising of addi
tional revenue, it will aid very greatly in bring
ing the courts to a uniform conclusion as to what
imitation beers are non-intoxicating. Heretofore
the prohibitionists, who are generally not in oitice,
have been the only ones interested in drawing the
line. The effect of the law just passed will be to
induce a more active administration of all the laws
on the subject, because the revenue department of
the State will be set to work on it. Counties and
cities will know how to get at the taxation of the
business. A clause in the bill distinctly provides
that the taxing act must not be construed as modi
fying in any way any existing prohibition law.
‘ The effect of the tax act and the prohibition act
will be this:
The prohibition act forbids the selling of all li
quors that can intoxicate.
The tax act proposes to collect a tax on the sell
ing of all imitation beers that do not intoxicate, as
well as on their manufacture.
If a beer sold under the tax act does actually
produce intoxication in any single case, the prohi
bition law provides that the seller shall be punished
as for a misdemeanor. The tax act goes further
and provides that the license shall be- canceled, the
taxes already paid shall be forfeited to the State,
and that the offender shall not again be granted a
license to sell the imitation beer m Geoigia.
The prohibition bill passed the House last year
by a vote of 136 to 39. This bill passed the same
House by a vote of 131 to 24. One of the thirty
nine got up when his name was called and admitted
that last year he voted with the thirty-nine against
the bill. This time he proposed to get on “the
water wagon,’’ so he voted aye.
Our appellate court has affirmed the case of the
State against Rose, from Bartow county. Rose of
Chattanooga was indicted in Bartow county for so
liciting liquor sales by letters and printed circulars.
The letters were written and mailed in Chattanooga,
Compiled by J. L. D. Hillyer
The Golden Age for August 13, 1908.
“We so often hear despairing wails about the
shortness of life. It is preached to us from infancy
and we preach it to others as if the idea carried a
great moral lesson; and, truly, when we consider
remote antiquity and the tedious evolution of life
and civilization through the long stretch of centu
ries before and after the birth of Christ, we do
indeed feel that one life is but a single grain upon
a vast and boundless shore. Eor a change from this
hopeless platitude we may get some encouragement
from this thought: It is possible for a human life
to continue through a whole century; twenty such
lives following each other in a continuous chain
would reach back to the time of Christ; sixty, to
the Garden of Eden. It is no small thing to have a
possible length of life one-twentieth of the Chris
tian era, and one-sixtieth of the whole known age
of man. When we view it in this light, the life
of a man is not exactly
11 ‘Like a snow-flake on the river,
A moment white, then melts forever.’ ”
The tendency to bewail the shortness of life is
concurrent with human history. It is doubtless
prompted by the consciousness that all busy, ener
getic men have in them that they cannot accom
plish anything like what they want to accomplish.
For them life is too short. Those who are indolent
and lacking in ambition become discouraged and
life becomes a burden.
but the crime was committed in Bartow county
where the letters were delivered.
Now comes The Macon Telegraph and raises its
hands in horror at the idea of such a ruling. The
Telegraph admits that, when murder, or cheating, or
swindling, or any crime, is committed by mail, the
place where the mail is delivered is the place where
the crime is consummated. But that paper is com
pletely astonished that liquor selling should be called
a crime. Does he not know that fifty years ago
liquor selling came so near to being a crime that it
had to obtain special license to go on, and when
not licensed, it was suppressed? For over forty
years nothing but government sanction has kept
it from outlawry. Then came the local prohibi
tion law, which declared it to be a crime to sell
it, or solicit trade for it, in any dry county in Geor
gia. Liquor selling is a crime. Many a legislature
has declared it to be so, and the courts are learn
ing how to deal with it as a crime. The appellate
court is right and if its ruling ever gets to the su
preme court of the United States, it will doubtless
be sustained in that high tribunal.
*
I am going to say a few words here that 1 wish
every friendly paper in the country would copy:
We prohibitionists must learn to follow our leaders.
We have been delayed in the winning of many a
victory because we would not hang together. I
try to keep informed. I have access to a huge pile
of papers every week. I am in constant touch with
the superintendent’s office of the Anti-saloon League
and I have been giving very close attention to this
work for many years. For these reasons I am
generally able to give out information that may be
valuable. Now hear me:
It has been contended all along that our prohi
bition bill needed some slight amendment. Up to
the time of the primary everybody seemed to think
so, but it is now as clear as can be that no amend
ment can be made at this time. The prohibition
ists of the State split in the primary and the mem
bers of the legislature feel it, and they take warning
and will add nothing to and take nothing from the
law until they hear from the people again. The
object I have in view here is to let the people know
what I know to be on the minds of our leaders.
There was a demand for legislation about near beer,
A bill has passed our Legislature taxing its manufac
ture and sale. Our law excludes from sale all
liquors that can intoxicate.
That is all we want. The courts have never
settled just what intoxicating liquors are. Some cases
will reach the appellate court before long that, will
call for the adjudication of that question and then
I think that we shall find that the law is g’ood
enough just about as it is. I have read with great
care the ruling of the courts in the Roberts case.
If is an exceedingly able decision. I am sure that
we can rely upon that court to so define our bill
as to make it so near what we all want that there
will be no nesessity for amendment. Then let all
level headed prohibitionists sit steady in the boat.
Stand together. If you do not understand things,
write to J. C. Solomon, or J. B. Richards, or Scab
Wright, of Judge Covington, or Dr. Hardeman, or
your personal representative, or to The Golden Age.
We keep pretty well posted up here and you can
find out what you want to know.
Let it be understood that our friends who are
leading this fight are thoroughly informed and they
are as loyal as you are. They will do< better work
if you will withhold criticism, give them words of
cheer, your smile, and your prayers, and possess
your own souls in patience.
* t?
Tabulum or Tribulum, Which?
When the Literary Digest “spelt” it “tho” and
“thru,” we lifted our hat and bowed. The Liter
ary Digest might take what liberties if may please
with our mother tongue. The English is a living
language and can take care of itself; but not so the
Latin. That is a dead language and must not be
disturbed. Tn a recent issue of the Digest is an
interesting article translated from the French; in it
occurs the word “tabulum,” when it was quite evi
dent that the thing described was “tribu
lum.’” The Digest says:
“A curious substitute for the flail or the more
modern threshing-machine is described by Joseph
Delsaux in La Nature (Paris, June 13). According
to this writer it is a survival of a method in use
among the ancient Romans, which has been pre
served in certain parts of Europe and Asia without
change. Says Mr. Delsaux:
“ ‘The Roman writer Varro somewhere describes
an ancient agricultural instrument which he calls
the tabulum, and which he represents as a plate of
wood covered with sharp stones or iron points; this
heavy implement was used after the harvesting of
the grain, when the sheaves were lying on the
ground, and it served, according to him, to separate
the grain from the straw. Instead of threshing the
grain as we do nowadays, horses were employed to
draw the tabulum over the sheaves as they lay on
the ground.’ ”
It is a wonderful thing to know that even now
the machine and process, described in this article,
are actually in use in at least one neighborhood on
earth, namely, “a village in Asia Minor called Bun
jurkli, between Soma and Magnesia. The tabu
lum here takes a form distinctly curved; it is
a large slab of wood, turned up at one end to en
able it to be easily drawn along, and having set in
its lower surface sharp pieces of quartz, whose as
pect, although they are quite modern, is that of
neolithic fragments.”
But still more wonderful is the fact that The Lit
erary Digest should call it “tabulum.” There is
no such word in the Latin language. The nearest
approach to it that we can find is “tabulam,” the
accusative singular of “tabula,” which means a lit
tle table or tablet. The word that was evidently the
one intended is “tribulum,” which means a thresh
ing instrument exactly such as the article in The
Digest describes. When we call to mind the fact
that this article is translated from a French period
ical of high scientific and literatry value and that the
article was written by a cultured contributor, we
find that the wonder grows. A glaring blunder of
the most elementary sort has occurred somewhere
along this line. Who is responsible for it?
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