Rensselaer Semi-Weekly Republican, Volume 41, Number 7, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 2 October 1908 — HIGHEST TYPE OF CHRISTIAN GENTLEMAN [ARTICLE]

HIGHEST TYPE OF CHRISTIAN GENTLEMAN

Churchmen Who Know Judge Taft Render Him This Sincere Tribute. The Attitude of the Republican Candidate Towards Religion and a Life Which Shows Adherence to the Best Ethics and Morals.

“Because he is the highest type of the Christian gentleman.*’ This is the way in which I heard the. pastor of a Methodist church to southern Illinois end an argument with a layman on the train coming to Cincinnati from St. Louis, writes a staff correspondent of the St Lonis GlobeDemocrat The layman, paying due respect to the doth of his opponent was trying to convince him that he should not support Mr. Taft for the presidency, and Instead should vote for his Democratic opponent. The churchman defended the principles of the Republican party, and, as indicated, defended the man for whom he said he expected to vote, from his personal standpoint of a churchman, ‘because he is the highest type of a Christian gentleman.” Bishop J. C. Hartzell of the Methodist Episcopal Church, discussing the religious beliefs of Bryan and Taft, after calling on the latter, said: “Which of these men I shall vote for will not be decided by their religious beliefs, but what they are as men, and by the principles and policies they stand for to the administration of the government I believe that in acting upon this yiew, as an American citizen, I am in harmony with the spirit and purpose of the founders of our republic, who put into the constitution that there should be too religious test as to qualifications to any office or public trust under the United States.’ My conviction is that the future safety of the nation depends very largely upon our people heeding that constitutional prohibition. Our nation owes much In moral character, statesmanship, literature, art and religion to those who have not been in strict harmony with some of the dogmas of the church. The days of the inquisition are past.” Remembering that Mrs. Taft is a Presbyterian, but that Miss Helen Taft was confirmed in the Episcopal Church in Washington last winter at the same time that Miss Ethel Roosevelt, daughter of the President, was confirmed, I wondered as to Mr. Taft’s church association. When I made the Inquiry here I was answered through the columns of the Northwestern Christian Advocate, the great Methodist publication. Just as it had given answer to hundreds of Inquiries from its Mehodist subscribers. It said:

Man of Broad Sympathies. “Mrs. Taft and children are Episcopalians, and the Secretary frequently accompanies them to St John’s Church, where, also, he has a pew., While Mr. Roosevelt goes to the German Reformed Church, his wife and family, who are Episcopalians, attend historic St. John’s Church, where they sit only one or two pews removed from Mrs. Taft and her children. Secretary Taft spends his vacation at Murray Bay, Canada, where there is a Union Church, attended by the summer colonists of all denominations. The Secretary- of War is one of the trustees of this summer colony church, where people of many faiths gather for worship.” This Methodist testimony indicated to me the broad and liberal view of Mr. Taft in religious matters. In looking through the file of this same publication —the Western Christian Advocate—l found a discussion of both nominees, In the course of which It was asserted: “The sympathies of both Mr. Taft and Mr. Bryan are very broad, and they worship easily and naturally with any Christian denomination. Whichever tnan.is elected, tbe country will have, therefore, a President of clean life, lofty principles and Christian convictions.”

Opinion of Ne*ro Clergymauk. On the same afternoon, when Bishop Hartzell called, Rev. James G. Robinson, pastor of the Eaker Street African Methodist Church of Dayton, Ohio, called at the headquarters in company with W. H. Jones, one of the leading colored lawyers of the same city. Mr. Jones was proud of the fact that he 1s president of the Colored Taft Club, the first one to be Incorporated in the United States,, and Rev. Mr. Robinson admitted that he is president of the Board of Directors of the same club. As he left Mr. Taft's office I asked him for his view of the candidate, both from hit standpoint as a’churchman and as a leader of his race. “I believe,” he said, "Judge Taft will be elected by a safe and comfortable majority, not simply because he is a Republican, nor am I speaking because I am a Republican. But Judge Taft represents all of the Ideals of the true Christian statesman.” n As to the attitude of his own race. Rev. Mr. Robinson said: "We can not afford to line up with the Democratic party, which has been antagonistic to our Interests always, and against the party beaded by such wlw* and Christian statesmen as la Judge Taft. He la a man whom we know in Ohio ia desirous that all man, without regard to

color, bo treated fairly before the courts.” Biahe* Fallovra” Tribute. In introducing Mr. Taft at Toledo Ohio, Bishop Samuel Fallows indorsed hftn unreservedly, and in tbe course of his remarks said: ■ \ “I can aver, without fear of successful contradiction, that no man ever came before the American people for { the highest honor in their gift so thoroughly prepared to meet its weighty responsibilities as Mr. Taft He is ripe in the knowledge of jurisprudence and dear and firm to judicial decisions. He has won, as an executive officer fa our Oriental possessions, the plaudit* of bls countrymen and of admiring nations. He has satisfactorily settled in those islands of the sea some of the most delicate and difficult subjects, Involving deep-seated racial and religious questions, ever brought up for adjudication. • ♦ • He is deeply religious without a trace of bigotry, fearing God and working righteousness, as did the two Adamses and Abraham Lincoln.” Taft’a Idea ot Character. Iff my effort to discover the qualities which led one to describe Mr. Taft as “the highest type of Christian gentleman” I learn that the candidate himself, within a month, has defined just what importance he attached to Christian character in the building of a successful career. The question had been put to him to develop his personal j views, and writing in response the Republican candidate said: “Your question suggests two others which must be answered 1» answering this: Flrot, what is a Christian character, and, second, what is a successful career? First, I consider a Christian character that of one who holds as bls ideal a compliance with the two commandments given by Jesus Christ, and who earnestly strives to live up to that ideal. SCfcond, I should define a successful career to be that career which brings more real happiness to those who happen to be within the operation of the influence of the person whose character is in question. “Coming now to answer your inquiry, I should say that a Christian character in the building of a successful career is Its most important part The longer one Ilves the more convinced he must become that every other incident and element of a career loses importance in comparison, and that when a man’s life work is done this is what stands out and whether the career is ope of profession, business or politics, the same thing is true.”

Wl»t an 014 Friend Sara. Mr. Aaron A. Ferris, a prominent Cincinnati lawyer, who has known Judge Taft for thirty years, said: “I have never had occasion to ask Judge Taft what his creed was in matters religious. I know that, when in Cincinnati, he has been quite regular in attendance at Christ Episcopal church, of which members of his famfly are communicants, and of which I am a vestryman. I know very well that no one in trouble or distress ever appealed to him without receiving a patient hearing and prompt and material aid, when in his power to give it If a man’s character is to be gauged by what he does, and not by mere profession ; if leading a clean and upright life is to be a guide, and doing righteous deeds is to be counted, ‘then l am confident that bis neighbors and fellow-citizens who have lived with him and know him well, without regard to creed, color or party association, would say that Taft has lived and acted in every station as a Christian gentleman.”