Rensselaer Republican, Volume 27, Number 47, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 25 July 1895 — PAN-AMERICAN CONGRESS. [ARTICLE]

PAN-AMERICAN CONGRESS.

Notable Religions Gathering in Toronto—Objects of the Meeting. Religion and education, the supreme forces of moral and intellectual progress, were the themes discussed before the Pan-American Congress of Religion and Education, which assembled at Toronto. This congress may be considered as the legitimate fruitage of the great parliament of religions of 1893, which set in motion and gave powerful impetus to those forces which make for unity among the people of the earth. The object of the Pan-American congress is to bring all who are interested in the spread of the true gospel into a closer association, one with another, and into sympathetic relationship in all the great educational, philanthropic and reform movements of modern Christianity. The inaugural sessjon of the congress opened at the Horticultural Pavilion in the presence of several thousand citizens and delegates. On the platform, which was handsomely decorated, sat Lieut. Gov. Kirkpatrick, the Rev. S. G. Smith of St. Paul, President of the congress; Mayor Kennedy, and many other distinguished persons. The chair was occu-

pied by W. B. McMurrieh, QfC.. of the Joint Local Committee. Appropriate addresses of welcome were delivered by the Lieutenant Governor, Mayor Kennedy, and the Rev. Dr. Thomas, after which the President of the congress and several other noted delegates made suitable replies. The Rev. Dr. Samuel G. Smith, President of the congress, returning thanks for the generous welcome Rendered them, referred in graceful terms to the way in which the British and American flags were intertwined in the decorations, and amid applause expressed his hope that not until the crack of doom would the two be rent asunder. The Rev. Father Ryan of Toronto delivered a short and able speech. Archbishop Walsh had commissioned him to express his welcome and tender, the hospitality of St. Michaels' palace to the delegates. Mrs. Charles Henrotin, of Chicago, President of the Federation of Women’s Clubs of America, then addressed the meeting. Kubbi Elzas spokeHm behalf of the Jewish delegates. The Rev. Dr. 11. W. Bennett, Akron, Ohio, spoke briefly. Mrs. Lydia von Finkelstein-Mount-ford, a native of Jerusalem, closed the speaking. At the evening session C. C. Bonney was the first speaker, his topic being “The New Movement for the Unity and reace of the World.”