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March 9, 1910. THE PRESBYTERL
ADMINISTRATION IN OUR BENEFICENT
WORK.
We are publishing a paper by Dr. T. C. Johnson 011
the general subject of "Co-Ordination of Executive
Committees," as entitled in the Assembly's minutes.
This paper was prepared by request and is published
Dy request, it seems to us to embody, as a whole, an
admirable plan for the conduct of the beneficent work
of the Church. Its adoption would, of course, not entirely
eliminate difficulties or objections, as no plan
would, but we must believe that it would have the effect
of increasing the efficiency of the Church, promoting its
economy and expressing its unity in this great department
of our Master's service.
The plan suggests the appointment of an Executive
Commission that shall have charge of all the beneficent
causes, placing proper emphasis upon each, promoting
the welfare of each and bringing all into harmonious cooperation.
It is believed that the effect of such an arrangement
would be to simplify and unify the machinery of the
Church, an end much to be desired. Our people could
more readily understand the general plan. They could
be informed of the needs of the work in a more systematic
and better proportioned way. We would be less
dependent on spasmodic and haphazard giving, and
special agencies would be reduced to a minimum.
We are sometimes told that liberal gifts to one cause
do not unfavorably affect the offerings made to another.
The Executive Committees have not found that this
beautiful theory is sustained by practical tests. There
has consequently arisen some competition between the
various departments of beneficence, which competition
though it may stimulate effort does not tend to "realize
the unity of the Church," nor does it stress the highest
standards for all Christian activity. A commission entrusted
with all the departments of our work would see
each department from the best viewpoint and would
have a broader vision of the whole.
As to economy, the present plan is wasteful. Scattered
administrative agencies, each independent of all
others, each requiring a complete equipment within
itself do not constitute a plan that commends itself to
the best business sagacity. The expense accounts in
administering the various departments of our work are
large, and if assembled in one itemized statement would
be surprising to our people. It is apparent that a Commission
composed of capable ministers and laymen
would at once so adjust and simplify the work as to
immensely reduce the cost.
If we can offer to our people a more intelligible plan,
less complicated and better articulated, if we can adopt
a system that will adequately inform them at regular intervals
without conflict or confusion, if we can commend
a plan of conserving or economizing the resources
of the Church, which will appeal to their business iude
ment, and especially if we can adopt a system which will
more fully express the unity of the Church, which is
a primary concept of Preshyterianisin, we may reasonably
expect increased liberality in the support of our
beneficent causes and increased prosperity for the entire
Church, because of having conformed to historic precedents,
to fundamental principles and to the standards
of a sound business policy.
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\N THE SOUTH. 291
COL. THOMAS W. BULLITT.
Know ye not that a price in Israel is fallen. Col.
T. \Y. Bullitt, of Louisville, died on Thursday last, of
apoplexy, in a hospital in Baltimore.
Mr. Bullitt was reared in a delightful mansion some
eight miles east of Louisville. He belonged to a family
in the earliest settlers of the State, of which every
member has borne the esteem of his fellow men. In
his early years he served with John Morgan in the
Southern army, and was captured along with Morgan,
in 1863, at Blennerhassett's Island, on the Ohio
river. They were confined in the Ohio State penitentiary.
He assisted in digging'the tunnel under the
walls of the penitentiary at Columbus, through which
Morgan made his escape; and a few years ago he
showed us the worn remnant of the case knife which
was used (and was worn down almost to the handle)
in the work of excavating the tunnel. In order that
Morgan should get safely away, it was necessary for
some of his fellow prisoners to remain; and young
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vivvivvi I.V 1 viuaiu ill IUV, j/vinit ii iifti y ill lclltl
years lie entered on the practice of law and took foremost
rank as an attorney in Kentucky. In the later
sixties he conducted the delence in the s in between
the adherents of the Northern Presbyterian Synod,
and of the Southern Synod of Kentucky. The suit
has been commonly known as the Walnut Street
Church case. It was carried to the Supreme Court
of the United States. At a season of such deep political
and sectional excitement as prevailed in 1870,
a decision in favor of the Southern Church was hardly
to be expected. The Supreme Court gave the property
to the Northern Synod. But the principles and arguments
propounded by Mr. Bullitt have remained, and
the decisions in the questions connected with the divisions
in the Cumberland Presbyterian Church in
recent vears have hppn nlnno- mirli 1inp? nc Pnl Ttnl
litt maintained. In the contest of 1885, in which the
question of Evolution became uppermost. Col. Bullitt
delivered a speech that was reported in full in the
Courier Journal, and of such power that it will never
be forgotten. In the recent complaint to the General
Assembly over the transfer of Central University, Col.
Bullitt represented the Directors of the University
before the Assembly in a very effective way.
As a ruling elder, he made his mark. He belonged
to that peculiarly strong bench of elders in the Second
Presbyterian Church of Louisville, during all the
pastorates from Stuart Robinson onward. As such he
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tvas u cijihiui^ tdiicu iijjuh i)y uie courts ui me
Church to serve in positions of judgment and responsibility.
And no wonder, for his judgment was universally
recognized as peculiar for its clearness and
prudence. His forcefulness and boldness were equalled
only by his gentleness and Christian courtesy. His
influence availed far more than the world knows, in
repeated instances, in maintaining the purity, the
neace and the unitv of our Church.
To train up a child in the way he should go is not -y>y
the easiest thing in the world to be done, but has the
promise of a reward that is worth all it costs. The
best and worst things in human life are wrought in this
connection.
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