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2 distinction, the eloquent divine, the master of rhet oric, the gifted of speech and pen. the Doctor of Divinity, the man called to walk with God and to follow in the footsteps of the meek and gentle Son, who besought for his enemies, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do;” the man ordained and sent forth in the robes of a preceptor and an exemplar of brotherly love and all charitable ness and willing, if need be, to wear a crown of thorns to the end that coals of fire might be heaped upon the heads of his enemies through remorse; the man who reclines in the shade of immunity from physical accountability for offense given, cast over him from the church spire—when that man of infin ite capacity for teaching men to love one another and whose mission it is to spread that teaching, steps out from his proper field of usefulness when ever opportunity is afforded and becomes active in the breeding and spreading of strife and discord amongst his fellow men, through the hurling of bit ing invectives and burning obloquy at the heads of any and all of them who presume to non-concur in his beliefs with regard to the expediency of this or that method for accomplishing beneficient purposes? The Reason hasn’t the jury episode particularly in mind when it propounds the preceding question, to which it feels its incompentency to make reply, lest it violate the stern precept, “Judge not that ye be not judged.” A great deal is being said and written nowadays anent the waning in the influence of the church over the people of the land, increasingly apparent year by year through sparse attendance of all classes upon religious services, and a growing indifference to the pecuniary needs of the church on the part of the poor man and the man in moderate circumstances. Laxness in the matter of church going is said to give most concern, since donations come in greater amounts and with more frequency now than former ly from the rich. The augmentation in the produc tion of this field is thought to be due to the fact of there being now many more rich people than there used to be and the rich man of today is much richer than was the rich man of a decade ago. The weal thy are unquestionably wealthier, but whether they have increased in number may be doubted. Any way, it appears that with the access of opulence has come a magnified eagerness manifested by its bene ficiaries to part from their money to procure hoped for absolution on account of any “short cuts” they may have taken while en-route to affluence. There is a wide-reaching suspicion that dimin ished attendance upon church services is charge aide to so-called sensationalism in the pulpit which, it is asserted, begets cynicism, agnosticism and a lot of other ’cisms and 'isms baneful to the power of the pulpit. The average man learns enough during six days of the week of the frailties and the wickedness of his fellows; he knows authoritatively that there is cheating and swindling galore in the commercial and financial world and that politics and politicians revel in false pretense, graft and duplicity. All this he has at first hand and, perhaps, has, himself, to some degree participated in. Hence, if he goes to church on Sunday lie carries with him a yearning to hear something different—something of the good which is abroad plentifully and ought to be discov ered and disclosed by the pastor—that is, if the lis tener is not really a bad man. If the really bad man goes to church on Sunday he hopes there will come down from the pulpit gen- THE REASON tie words of hope and cheer for the sinner and prayers for his regeneration rather than invocations for his instant and everlasting destruction. Cynical man believes that when a preacher takes over "the offices of a politician, he becomes a poli tician, and he has no uncertain opinion of politicians in general, particularly if he, himself, is one. He feels that it would be in vain to go for guidance in life to the political preacher or to invoke the prayers of the latter for his soul’s salvation when he comes to die. Furthermore, deplorable and unjust as it assur edly is, the sins of the politico-religious, or religio political (as you please) ministers are visited upon others of the same calling not in sympathy with their methods. This anomaly is possible to exist because everybody now reads the newspapers and it is the sensational divine who takes up all the space in print, relegating the names of the good old-fash ioned guides to our spiritual progress to a lonely place in the official church notice once a week. Per haps this truth has a deterrent effeqt upon minister ial recruits who otherwise might enter this worthy, field. Wanted —A Little Information. We respectfullv ask of Mr. Edwards’ Official Organ, “The Statesboro News,” answers to the fol lowing questions: First—Why did Mr. Edwards introduce a bill for appropriations for public buildings at several towns in this district, when as a congressman, he was or should have been familiar with the rules of the com mittee, which deny appropriations to any town, with a population of less than 5.000. besides at places where there is business, other than postal? Second—Why did Mr. Edwards have printed and distributed all over the district copies of his speech on the restoration of the motto, “In God We Trust” on coins, having said speech interspersed with 22 applauses, when said speech was never act ually delivered, but permission was only granted for its insertion in the Congressional Record? Third—Why does Mr. Edwards claim to be a prohibitionist in some sections of the district, while in others he plays the local option racket? Fourth—Why has he sent as many as seven one gallon sacks of cotton seed to one farmer? Fifth—Why does Air. Edwards have his secre tary at Washington fill the District with letters call ing attention to the fact that he (Mr. Edwards), is at “his post of duty going after things for his dis trict” when as a matter of fact, Mr. Edwards is at the time making a thorough canvass of the country counties? Now, Brother Aliller, these are only a few of the many questions which we want light on. For these reasons if there were no more, we could not sup port your pet candidate. We have claimed that his stock in trade consisted in his ability to fool the peo ple, assisted by those who have come under the sway of his INFLUENCE. WHAT HAS MR. EDWARDS DONE BESIDES INTRODUCE A GREAT STRING OF BILLS. FILL THE DISTRICT WITH GOVERNMENT SEED AND KEEP UP AN INCESSANT FLOW OF VOTE CAI CHING LITERATURE?—The South Georgian.