Jasper County Democrat, Volume 11, Number 43, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 31 October 1908 — PREACHERS NOT ALL DANCING. [ARTICLE]

PREACHERS NOT ALL DANCING.

That there are some preachers In Indiana who are not dancing to the Republican-Anti-Saloon-League music is becoming more and more apparent as they see through the flimsy political scheme that the League is trying to work. The People’s Column of the Indianapolis News has contained several letters of late from preachers who have had their eyes opened, and we copy one of them from an Indianapolis preacher and one from the Christian minister of Brook, that none of our readers may be that none of our readers may be misled by this adjunct of the republican machine. The letters follow: Preacher Opposes Anti-Saloon League. To the Editor of The News: Sir:—The Anti-Saloon League has sent a letter to the preachers of the State asking them to preach next Sunday in favor of the election of Watson and the Republican ticket because of their passage of the ket because of their passage of the county local option law. My reply to Messrs. Shumaker, Minton, Barney et al., is that I can not conscientiously preach for Watson for the following reasons: 1. When I preach a sermon I take a text of Scripture on whifih to base my remarks. County option as well as township option, means granting the privilege of continuing saloons. I can not find any Scripture warrant for the continuance of a single saloon in Indiana or the United States. I can find many Scriptures against consenting to such a thing; so, if I preach on the subject at all, I must urge the people to have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness—not even in twelve counties of the State, nor one county.

2. I can not urge my people to support the Republican party in the State in its temperance program, since, under that program for thirteen years—from the enactment or the Nicholson law—the saloons of Indiana have increased nearly 2,000 in number. And since, furthermore, it was the Republican Senate that defeated the proposed prohibition amendment in the late session of the Legislature, and did it on the flimsiest excuse of a quibble over a technicality. 3. I can not advise my people to follow the lead of the Anti-Sa-loon League, when I saw with my own eyes their State superintendent and chief attorney pointing out to the leaders of t|ie Republican Senate the quibble o? a technicality whereby they might defeat the prohibition amendment for which the people of the State are anxious. CHAS. M. FILLMORE. P. S.—My text for that Sunday will be: “Come ye out from among them and be ye separate, saith the Lord.” * * *

.Anti-Saloon League and Churches. To the Editor of The News: Sir:—-In Saturday’s issue of The News was an article, “Plan for the Church to Unite for Temperance.” In it a Mr. Charles R. Mabee, of Detroit, Mich., says that “the AntiSaloon League is an Irresponsible organization, without moral or legal standing." This we know to be the fact, and we also know that it has no authority from the churches over the country, with the possible exception of the tacit sanction of a very few of them.

. Mr. Mabee further states that "of the >5,000,000 collected by the AntiSaloon League, from the churches, about $3,000,000 was paid to its officers in salaries. This is no surprise to most of us who have had experience with this self-created ana self-styled “Anti-Saloon League of Churches ’’ Neither would it surprise us much if Mr. Mabee were to tell us where the other $2,000,000 had gone. The money collected and contributed by churches should be regarded sacred and should be sacredly expended for the purposes for which it was given. This can be done only, so far as temperance work is concerned, by each church working through its own temperance board. These boards (or committees) are created by the church, under the control of the church, and are responsible to it For myself I have long since ceased to hpve any sympathy or fellowship with the Anti-Saloon League. And now, since the betrayal of the people’s interests and

sacrifice of their rights, in “the withdrawal of their support” from the proposed amendment to the constitution, the Anti-Saloon League can certainly with ill-grace expect the chArches to continue their support to it. Wherever I go my pulpit will not be available for the use of the Anti-Saloon League representatives. No one deplores more than I do the dissipation of power and energy resulting from divided forces. But the only way to unite the temperance forces and conserve their energies is for the churches to support, loyally, each denomination its own temperance board, and through these the general tempefance committee. To this policy I have committed myself and will strictly adhere. A. WALTER GEHRES, Christian Minister. Brook, Ind., October 21, 1908.