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a . , .1. v i ''' The Comxttotier iit vox. 2030.10 I '.' m M ' r Christianity and American Politics $f us, AmorlcanB whoso "citizenship is in heaven" it must' Do said alao that we havo clti aonShlp in the most significant republic of ail history, Duties in each of tho half spheres in dicated above aro . compatible and relevant. All conceptions, that would break their identity, continuity, or universal control aro badly born and really stupid Citizenship in heaven corro- lates tenaciously with citizenship in tho great republic. It is tho expression of this heavenly ' citizenship alone that oan guarantee American continuity in a worth while national life. Let us come to contact with those vital principles until it Bhall be possible for God to turn his power upon us. ,Tho world was never as weary of the blight of statecraft without moral imperatives as It is just now. Wp are in the flux and flow of subtle evasions, selfish maneuverings, and- ravenous excesses, The fact that the American citizen ship conscience is getting more unprejudiced information, is rising to a better insight, and is increasingly powerful, Is sotting rays of radiant light to the" overhanging skids. To tho , un scrupulous, to those lusting for solffsh -powor, to autocrats and profiteers, this fact is increas ingly troublesome and unwelcome. Heroin, is the moral tug of war that is now and forever 6n. Never mind jthe Incidental confusion that grows out of the fact that conscience is ever more powerful and constructive. Do not become fidgety, complaining, pessimistic, or cowardly. This is the hour forv deliberate estimates, care fully chartered liberties, dispassionate survey, hearty and-patient contacts, well grounded firm ness, progressive policies, and expanding pro grams of constructive certainty. Our partisan organizationssare neither immacu late or infallible. They hive often embodied the good and the good is always . opportune It is difficult for them to fully represent the aver age in the rank and file of our citizenship be cause conventions and other expressions of po litical Action are exposed to the maneuvers of ' those who are below the average' but who are unusually aggressive. Like many other organi zations our partisan organizations are often un able to command thoir members with certainty. Recently both of our leading political parties have had the most unusual difficulty in control ing oven their national conventions, The temper of insurgency is everywhere. The reasons for this situation are not always in mind even by otherwise astute politicians. To be sure, insur gency has. varying degrees of merit but Btatesn man should ;be careful in, analysis and interpre tation of thesame, . Bjyjiry economic and political question is at bottom a moral question, and there are multi tuBM I?Ple Politics who We not discov Sr?Sl4W decisive fact. Because they are clouded Je W,4hy work endless confusion and dis harmony. One of these fine days we shall have ' a political leadership well seasoned with the' wisdom that promptly enthrones Christian morality in the control of political action and that wm be a, great day for the race. Far too much political conduct is based on the subtle musIoiL that mere divisive issues will answer in polities while moral principles are deliberately side stepped. All this arises from slovenly think ing. There are fixed equations in the pathway toward sooiar advancement and this is a good time to locate the controlling equations. ' An n,c,reaatng number of American citizens are thinking through in the matter of allegiance to party organization. They reach the solid con viction that their allegiance to a party may not fitly or logically bo as commanding . as their allegiance to Christan morality and the progres sive principles that arise therefrom. This brings political action to the acid test. This elevates moral principles above political expediency. This is really good politics in the deepest sense of the term. Insurgency is without significance and is even ridiculous unless butrossed In right eousness When the insurgency is thus based it is fundamentally tmchallengable. It comes to pass that men locate themselves by their allegiances and especially by the one which they hold as supreme, - . 'Under these fixed moral verities what was once essentially progressive in partisanship, may becom'o as conservative as tho, most reactionary could wish. Such insurgenfcy" as was -embodied in Theodore Roosevelt in 1912 probably does not exist in any political party at this time. 'At that tint certain powerful special and selfish interests were In Control of both political parties. The struggle to set within tho hands of tho people tho instruments of political action has al ways been resistod by special privilege. Special privilege has always been largely in control of our American economic life. Such control hero or elsewhere is not constructive. Just as the' liquor interests are putting up a final fight against the verdict of tho people, so the strangle hold of special privilege upon American eco nomic life is now especially intense, Roosevelt has fallen and there is a strong effort by a cer tain grade of politicians to discredit his surviv ing counterpart, William Jennings Bryan. Amer ica is under obligation to both of these great mon to a degree that will not be realized until tho future shall have dealt with them justly. It Jb difficult to secure as a candidate for the presidency, a man who is not of record ass an obedient tool of the special interests. It is affirmed of one of the nominees brought forward that ho wasytho enemy of Mr. Roosevelt and the friend of all or most of his prominent enemies. There has been a stupid reaction from Mr. Roosevelt's sturdy insurgency. It must be re membered that any insurgency to be effective must bo of notable persistence and incorruptible integrity. Programs of reform need to be well matured and well foundatlonod. Here is where a statesmanship of insight will tie up to Christian morality as the unchanging source of safo and sane political administration. We must not only work out a program, of adequate social justice and advance, but we must be keenly alive to surviving injustices. Our allegiance to Christ for their removal must be stronger than our allegiance to a "recreant partisanship. It is more worthy to be right than to be blindly partisan. erican cUiznBhlp must rise aSbve the in clination to surrender fixed progressive prin ciples at .very or any -call of political expdW ency. This rising int higher moral, attitude's shall go on until as citizens we are grounded in Inviolate moral principles. This improved-to standard moral character in our citizenship, will sterilize our evils until they will fade 41s- bygones from human memory, and tho hurt heart " of human happiness will leap with new joy, We 5xBti.??ro,p forgot uat a Iflwralfam tin lacks tho high impulse of moral persistence evapo rates Into the cheapest' sort of political otk portunism. This is social degeneracy ant from it may tho good Lord deliver us. , , ,: - M- M. BELL, Bishop. Ifcnna ResidGnC8' 1509 Stato st- Harrisburg, ewo vnsws or TH SAN FRANCISCO CONVENTION " JEST6 vlch t0 be 8aI( In Tor.'of the ucww V S,aa !"" convention and much that is unfavorable. That Governor Cox has many excellent qualities fitting him for the presidency, and will prove a strong oandidate! seems- to be generally admitted. He has a strong and pleasing personality and Wins men to him in public and private life. He il amS in manner, plausible in speech and Democratic in his ways; and a shrewd, sharp, far-seeing po it clan. He knows liow to play the game of politics and play it well. He has long been an outstanding figure in the Democratic party His distinction is that of a man who has been three times elected governou of his state, and as Mark Su ftvan says, ho comes to the end of the career with the Ohio voter and esteemed hy a laree nlVV?111 Iriend?? His administrathfn of the affairs of state have boon good in the sense of getting things done in a satisfactorv way to the business interests. He' is aft f de scribed as a man who has ever, been forward looking and .sympathetic to safo' progress 53 s and this but is not to be overlooked "My heart Is in the grave with our cause and I must pause until. it comes back to me" mm William Jennings Bryan, according ttho As sociatod Press, giving as a reason for not male ing a statement on the work of the Demo cratic national convention. wo : jit is barely possible that Mr. Bryan finds himself In such an embarrassing position .as to make it impossible support of the nominee if not the platform upon which he stands. That ttan defeat of hi dry fclank mad possible, if not n. certain, tho nominatioa of a wet candidate, goes without saying. It is generally -admitted, and had been charged before and during the agita tionof this subject that a dry plank, if adopted would eliminate all wet candidates. The con, vention did hot act Mindly. The wets knew what they woro doing as delegates from dry state know what they were doing when thev Voted against a dry plank. " The drys deliberately and with knowledge aforethought, pavod th way Xor- the wets to dominate the convention and nam the candi dates. The wets reqognleed it as a great victory for Cox, and encouraged them in their fight, not withstanding tho drys joined them In the fight against a dry plank, and the result Is just what had been predicted, and what Mr. Bryan knew, hence his -refusal to tajce further interest in the proceedings. VMy theory is that the people are much more .interested in tho platform upon which a matt stands than in -the section In which lie lives I don't object to telling the good points, whether fourteen orless, of any candidate," said Mr. Bryan, "but I refuse to share the responsibility for a man whom I consider unavailable. When t ?eleat0' shed to. me with a warning that if I did not help nominate Mr So-and-So, Mr. Blank would be nominated,. I said, Jl do not think it wise to do Wrong simply because some body else may do so. I am not responsible for anything except my vote or influence,, and that will be nsed for no one who, in my judgment, would be less than the most available man I know among those who are candidates."? It will be thus seen that he early washed hia hands of any responsibility in naming the can didate of the party and this, too, after being urged by his friends to point the ..way. He had evidently heetf threatened with COx if he did not go to one or the other leading candidates. Bttt he refused to choose between what he re garded as two evils." "I do not think it wise to do wrong simply because somebody else may Si ?' V Whatever may he Mr. Bryan's 1 LZn$l tottethor he can "consistently support a man' who would,1 he' belifeveVne in- flvcf mf al nbrlngJil& back th& W saloon, first through tho medium of lightwlnes and beer. ?nfeearSi? slTU?Sleon the part of prohibl tionists to bring about a realization of their 31 1V,S aeJia!nI5e wiU not P0 him but content himself with silence during the cam paign, except m congressional districts where the issue is "beins made by the wets to capture the next house, and thus make not only possible ?,T Ceit??inhe accomplishment of their purpose t0 jy the Eighteenth amendment. ' nt ?ey and braIn8 the wets-wlU " S?'V fv used t0 caPtur ooth branches of con gress, the senate and house. JNatural ly the wets are elated over their prospects both in the presi dential contest and in tho districts in the yari otjs states where they have a candidate, select ing Zl S611118 t0 -0PP dry Republicans tZ RePubcaiis to oppose dry Democrats, taking no chances, believing the candidate elect- ?i f11 he te Oox r Harding, 'will carry the districts with him. . vty n. ?Ul)t fGel that ihQy "! de pJ -S!r0 4ert?n lbeneflt from the ficcess of mro t?5? Harding, as for instance, in states SLL dian,a' where Poetically all the repre sentatives in congress are Republicans, they have in each district, where there is a dry Re publican candidate, a wet Democrat in the field. Such cpntests are raging already in ten of the thirteen districts of that state. The issue is clean-cut and lines aharply drawn,, -and prom ises, according to the. National Inquirer, to be ltitlng factordn that state. From the same ?? y 5S leai?that Henry S, Priest, of St. 2?St.SadSa!0 -for the Decratic nomination for United States senator, is conducting a cam paign which gives additional evidence of "a widespread, centrally directed and well financed movement now well under under way through out the country for the repeal of the ..Volstead act and the nullification of the Eighteenth amendment." . MQV ai' li Would 3PPear on the4 surface, that the Republicans in Chicago showednore tact and shrewdness and judgment in the selection of a candidate who tfould possibly' unite all elements of the party than &e Democrats in San Francisco. The Journal is Sorry to have to make. -this admission, because the 'party had 'f ''-..- .WJH.'.'yj,. j.,- ( J1 j 1j ----.K ,.BA,aiRA- su