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THE ATLANTA GEORGIAN
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I Why Not Leave Religion
Out of Politics?
* ■! k>
Men of AU Religions, pnd of No Particular Religion. Make
Good Citizens. Ability, Hon sty. Good Citizenship—NOT
RELIGION—Are the Tests m THIS Country.
Governor Osborne, of Michigan, who thought he was an ardent
Roosevelt supporter until Roosevelt failed to get the presidential
nomination at Chicago, has come out for Mr. Wilson
The kind of man who is very friendly to an individual until the
individual meets with failure is not always the most desirable kind
of a friend.
Such a man also is af>t to he rather a poor adviser, politically
and otherwise.
Governor Osborne, who drops Mr. Roosevelt when the latter
fails in his first big struggle, says that he has come out for Mr. Wil
son because the latter is “a Christian and a scholar."
Just how Governor Osborne KNOWS that Woodrow Wilson is
a Christian, we DON’T know.
But we do know that it is a foolish thing to drag any religion or
any religious quality into politics in this country
This is a republic based upon a constitution which expressly
forbids government recognition of ANY religion and expressly
guarantees the equality of all citizens before the law. REGARD
LESS of religion.
Mr. Osborne, in his high praise of Woodrow Wilson’s Christian
ity. slaps at President Taft, calling President Taft the candidate of
Wall Street and Woodrow Wilson the candidate of Christianity.
Does Mr Osborne think that Taft is NOT h scholar and a
Christian?
Taft, it is true, has shown friendship and extended protection to
the .lews -BI T ONLY BECAUSE THEY WERE AMERICAN
CITIZENS AND DESERVING OE SYMPATHY.
Does Mr Osborne think it was an unchristian act on Taft's pari
to abolish the Russian treaty when Russia ill-treated American citi
zens of the .Jewish faith?
Would it have been more desirable, in Mr. Osborne’s opinion,
to wait until Russia stepped on the toes of some good PRESBY
TERIAN or Methodist before making a protest?
Mr. Taft’s action in the Russian matter his abrogation of the
treaty when Russia refused to treat the .lews justly may not have
been distinctly CHRISTIAN, inasmuch as the .lews are not Chris
tians. But Mr. Taft acted in defense id’ national dignity and uni
versal justice.
He insisted that ALL American citizens should be treated alike
by Russia regardless of religion And in this he merely followed the
Constitution of the United States, which insists that ALL citizens
be equal before the law, regardless of religious or other belief.
Mr. Taft, as it happens, is a Christian, and, as it happens, he is
also a scholar, inasmuch as his youth was devoted to study at one of
the best colleges, ami inasmuch as his mature years have been de
voted to reading and study and interpretation of the laws as a
judge.
But those that discuss American candidates or American offi
cials should discuss them AS MEN AND AS CITIZENS, not as
Christians or Jews or Buddhists or agnostics.
Thomas Jefferson was not a Christian, as everybody knows He
was not a believer in anv revealed religion But he was a good
enough man to write the Declaration of Independence and to make
one of our best presidents.
Benjamin Franklin was not a Christian or a believer in any re
vealed religion But he was’a good enough man to do some import
ant work for this nation of ours
Thomas A. Edison is not a believing Christian but it is lucky
for this country that he was born here Tip' many thousands of
Jews that bring good citizenship and hard work and knowledge
of affairs to ttiis country are not Christians Some of them are of
the faith older than Christianity which gave birth Io Christianity.
And many of them are agnostics
All of them and all citizens that do their duty at the polls and
in their dealings with their fellow citizens are alike respectable and
desirable inhabitants of this country ,
If Governor Osborne chooses to drop his friend Roosevelt on
the first excuse and hastily scramble mi tin wagon which Mr Wil
son is driving, let him say frankly that he does it because he be
lieves that Wilson will cross *hr line first and b. elected.
Let him not add to his treachery toward Roosevelt the unpleas
ant vice of hypocrisy and fill his statements w itb eant and insincere
eulogy of AVilson as a ” < 'hrist lan '
It is a short step from praising Mr Wilson A <'hristianity to
praising bis Protestantism, and then his special BRAND of Proles
tantism to the exclusion of all other religions and all other kinds of
Protestantism
Leave out religion, Governor Dsborne. when you talk politics.
Be guided bv Cardinal Gibbons, w ho has denounced as equally vi
emu- thus*- that drag polities into religion or drag religion into
polities
If a man is honest. SAY so.
. If he is able. SAY so
11 he has a record of public achievement and public service,
F
nijt his religion and his wife and bis children out of po
li’p-o ’.Jk That is the best plan tn America.
The Atlanta Georgian
WEDNESDAY, .ILLY 17, 1912.
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1 ■ 111 Bb I!
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’ Siife -’Yl' / J
DOROTHY DIX WRITES
OF-
Matrimony De Luxe
H OW big a hank account should
a young man have before he
asks the modern maiden to
marry him"
A millionaire Chicago lather
w hose daughter's marriage to a
pom young man has been broken j
off. has been expressing his views |
on the subject, and this is what li
If a young man expects to mat
ry the daughter of a well-to-do
family he should be prepared to j
furnish her with the comforts of
her father's home. She should have
the best food, clothes, amusements
and friends. and her husband
should have a sufficient reserve
fund for any sort of sickness or i
misfortune
"In other words, when a girl
leaves her father's home to go with |
a husband she should feel that there
has been little change in her life
either in her habits, ideals, hopes,
ambitions or material comfort. It
is the violent transitions that you
should avoid in marriage."
It is to be hoped that not many
fathers hoid such expansive views
of what a young man
able to give his wife when he mar
ries her as docs this Chicago fa
(her. Otherwise there Is likely to
bi a record - breaking crop of old
maids tn the country.
Singular Lack of Sense.
For what this father demands is
that the young husband shall begin
where the father leaves off. that the
young man just commencing his
career shall be able to supply a
young woman with a-,. many lux
uries as do. • her father, wbo has
had a lifetime in which to make a
fm tune.
No young man. unless he ha in
herited money. is able to support a
wife in the comfort and style to
w hich sim has been a< < Ufttomed as
the daughter of a successful father,
and tny man who exports that of
a son-in-law is asking th. impos
sible. am! also displaying a sin
gular lack of sense and judgment
’l'lt. young husband who an take
his bride to live in a fine bouse
with a host of serve nt w Ito . I n
give bet automobiles and trips t"
Europe. and the gowns and jewels
such as she has been used to, must
be the son of rich parents, accus
tomed to living on an allowance
himself, ami the commonest ob
seryation will show that not one
out of a hundred rich youths Is tit
for any woman to marrv As a
general thing they tr> idh «pol'-
<-d. worthle ' di--ipated with no
Everybody’s Out of Toavu
Bv HAL (’DEEMAN. —SOCIETY NOTE
By DOROTHY DLX.
I
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DOROTHY DIX.
knowledge of money save how to
spend It.
It is said that in America it is
but two generations from shirt
sleeves to shirt sleeves For a girl
it may be said w ith equal truth that
when she marrii s site may decide
whether she would prefer to be
rich when she's young and pool
when she's old. or poor when she's
young and rich when she's old.
That is about the way it goes. I'm
the woman who marries the son of
a rich father usually dresses in
silks w hen she's young and is glad
to get homespuns when she’s old.
while the girl who mat tied a poor
and ambitious young fellow and
pushed her own baby carriage w hen
she was young rides in her own
limousine when she is old.
Should Be Making Living.
.lust as a tinan.'ial
ami faking matrimony for the long
pull, as they say on W<i 11 Street, it
i a better iniestaio-nt for a girl to
marry a man who is getting 12.500
a war •> . > salary that lu is earn
ing him <df by his own ability than
one who has an income- of $25,00n
a war that he inherited, and that
represents somebody rise's intelli
gence and industry
I do not advocate the folly of
marriage on a shoe string. Before
any man asks a woman to be his
wife he should be making a decent
living, enough to provide them with
the ordinary comforts of life,
enough to keep the wolf reasonably
far from the doo’ but if he <*in
do this, and if he has shown that
h<- '» a rea l man who .an stand on
his own feet and • ike "are of T.’
| own. the girl's father should be sat
isfied. He should a’sk no more
money of the suitor.
Nor should the girl. Any woman
who does not love the man she
marries well enough to do without
some of the luxuries she has been
I accustomed to in her father’s house
for his sake has a pretty poor and
lukewarm brand of affection. If her
happiness depends on her having
as many clothes, anti going to as
many plays, and giving as fine din
ners as she has always done, the
man who misses getting her ought
to go down on his knees and thank
heaven for his escape.
She isn't a woman. She is a doll
1 baby. She hasn’t a heart. She is
stuffed with sawdust. She wouldn't
make a-man a helpmate. She
would be a millstone around his
neck to the longest day of his ex
istence.
It is, perhaps, natural that a fa
ther who has pampered his daugh
ter all of her life should desire that
she shofild always be kept in pink
cotton in a satin-lined box. but he
hasn't got any right to shunt this
burden on another man's shoulders
It is nothing more titan simple jus
tice that if he demands luxuries for
her he should supply them himself.
Dot System Is Good.
In this democratic country men
do not demand doweries with their
wives as they do on the continent,
but there is much to be said in fa
vor of the dot system. If a girl has
been raised up to be helpless, ex
travagant. with no knowledge of
how to cook or sew it is no more
than fair that her parents should
furnish the money to gratify her
tastes and hire -omebody els* to
do the work they have no| fitted
her to do. instead of demanding
that some poor young husband
shall slave himself to death to sup
port her.
The father who doesnot want bis
daughtei to marry any but a rich
man deprives the girl of the great
est happiness that can come to any
woman, and that is of helping the
man she loves; of being the com
rade who s ands shoulder to shoul
d< ’ with him while, he fights his
battle foi success, and who shares
with him every interest, every am
bition. and so becomes one with
him in a sense that no woman is
ever one with the rich man she
marries
That is the great American ro
mance. It begins in two rooms and
a cook stove, and ends in a palace:
whereas the marriage that begins
tn an automobile and a bridal tj?ur
to Europe onh too often ends In
•K< m>
THE HOME PAPER
Dr. Parkhurst’s Article
An Early Sermon of Mine
on Parsimony faaßfi
—and—
Progress That Lasts Is IMitfe
Slow d ~C
Written For The Georgian
Bv the Rev. Dr. C. H. Parkhurst
THE opinion that a man gains
of any moral quality by
reading about it or thinking
about it is very different from that
which he gains by practicing it.
This was very vividly illustrated
to me many years ago in the case
of a member, an esteemed mem
ber. of my little church In the
country. I had planned to preach
a sermon on parsimony. In prepar
ing a discourse of that kind it is
helpful and stimulating to have in
one’s mental eye some personal rep
resentative. some embodiment of
the quality’ that is to be expounded.
In my parish there was one that
suited my purpose and who was
easily available.
1 kept him imaginatively by the
side of my study table during the
entire week in which the sermon
was in course of preparation.
The pen picture, so drawn, cut
prettyxdose to the vitals, and when
if was finished 1 was startled, and
not only startled but alarmed, by
its resemblance to the original, and
hesitated about taking it with me
into the pulpit.
Eor he was a eenter-aisle man,
which means a good deal to an im
pecunious minister who depends for
hig meat and drink upon voluntary
contributions.
As Sunday drew on 1 trusted that
the day might prove rainy, thus se
curing the absence of my living ex
ample. But it was his habit to wor
ship rainy days as well as sunny
days, and he was there.
His Pew Was in Front,
So I Talked to Galleries.
His pew was well to the front,
and I took care to address myself
to the galleries rather than to the
auditorium propel'. But even so, I
was quite sure that the public serv
ice would be followed by an after
meeting of a more private nature.
Hardly had the benediction been
pronounced when my anticipation
was realized.
My friend stepped to the front,
his face lit up with a singular (and
to met bewildering kind of illumi
nation. He extended his hand with
an unusual warmth of hospitality,
which I shall never forget, and
greeted me with these words: “Mr.
Parkhurst. I thank you heartily for
that sermon, and I do hope that
those old fellows will put it on."
He had a very definite idea as to
what generosity was, but he had
never gotten an inside view of it
by practicing and working it.
• • •
WE were climbing one day in
the mountains over a
rock-arrete shaped like a
knife edge, not quite as sharp, but
almost, with *the ground falling off
on either side a couple of thousanct
feet and the possibility of fatal dis
aster. therefore, within easy reach,
when my guide addressed me in
words to this effect: "We are in no
danger and are going to get to the
top. All that is necessary Is that
you do this thing leisurely, avoid
making any movement that ig spas
modic, keep your head on your
shoulders and your legs moving in
dustriously. but steadily and quiet
ly.”
There was an entire volume of
philosophy in my rough guide's
THE FLAG
By MINNA IRVING
\ \J HEN of a shirt, a soldier's coat.
’ And strips of flannel made.
Upon the smoky battle breeze
The flag was first displayed,
Combining in its brave design
The midnight and the morn,
B°holtl! It barely covered then
A nation newlv born.
Rut since it pot the foe to rout
Its stars of glory bright
Have grown so fast that every land
Is guided by their light.
The dauntless stripes of white and red
Fort Stanwix saw unfurled
Above a few intrepid souls
Now shelters aT the world.
prescription, and it is as applicable
on flat land as on ground that i»
turned up on edge.
Os course, we arrived at the sum
mit whole and unworried, and re
turned in the same placid state of
mind and undisintegrated condi
tion of body. My mountaineer’s
view of the situation was of an
optimistic cast, but his optimism
was not of a silly order, but found
ed on reasonable conditions.
To be hopeful merely because one
is determined to be hopeful is child
ish and quite another thing from
being so because taking the steps
by which it is rational to believe
that one's hopes will be realized.
His Optimism Founded
i On Reasonable Conditions.
Os course, my guide made no
promise as to how much time v ould
be required to complete the ascent
That was left indefinite: has tn ba
left indefinite, in every man's pro
gram. It might have required all
day: might have required all day
and all night.
The only certain thing was that
we were going to get there because
we were going to pursue a policy
of quietness, persistency and self
control.
And that Is a picture of the way
in which results generally are ac
complished. if they are accom
plished. It is not done by revo
lution. hut by evolution: by takine
one step steadily and sanely on the
top of the preceding steps.
When things move wholesomely
and in such away that the ground
gone over does not have to be r«-
traced they move not by leaps and
hounds, nor by any short cut. but
by a progress that is conservative
that is to say, a progress that
shows a respect for the past as well
ns a zeal for the future. Revolu
tion may sometimes be necessary
Perhaps that was the case tn
Erance In 1793 We think it was in
our own case in 1776. But, in gen
eral. as Victor Hugo once said
"Revolutions are the BRUTALI
TIES of progress."
Even the Socialists have this m
their credit, that in the face of
Haywood's advocacy of revolution
ary methods, the Socialists jn con
vention at Indianapolis last mnn'h
voted by more than two to one to
adopt conservative, evolutions’”-
methods in terms of the following
resolution: “Any member of ths
party who opposes political action
or advocates crime, sabotage o
other methods of violence as a
weapon of the working class to
aid in its emancipation, shall b=
expelled from membership In the
party."
It Takes Time to
Retrace One's Steps.
Such action, especially when
taken by men socialistically in
elined, is a clear indication that, a*
a people, we are arrived at such a
condition of intelligence and re
spect for righteous authority that
no results can be regarded as per
manently achieved unless secured
by due process that is untainted by
lawlessness or blinded by passion.
Whatever is done otherwise will
have to be done over again. Re
tracing traversed ground cost
time, but there is no other com
modity of which there is such am
ple abundance.
