Show III ion mfJQt rari tb uu bt A REVEREND PHARISEE fhCjSIf forms of alrconcclt perhaps the most monstrous la 1 that of trying to SIS oncs Sf In hc place or Chris and to decide offhand for the world just what his Infinite goodness ana wisdom wis-dom would dictate in all the affairs ot modern life Rev C M Sheldon au thor t of In His Stcps who Is now try Ing his hand at conducting a newspaper at Josus would conduct It seems to have his hands more than full at tho very outset of his enterprise A recent nospapcr dispatch from Topeka the scene of his experiment says that ho I spent the previous day In passing judgment Judg-ment on the advertisements submitted He IB I to have supreme authority during dur-ing the coming week and all contracts for advertising contain the proviso that the advertisement must bo accepted by him I himThe statement of the lines drawn by his censorship suggests that omniscience omnis-cience must be added to godliness to ac I compllsh what he has set out to do Some limitations he frankly recognizes 1 and admits All advertisements of pat I canceled not because ont medicines he has I but because he cause they are all bad f has not the time to sift out tho bad from tho good And Indeed if an editor I edi-tor personally tested all such wares his experiment in applied Christianity would bo brought to a sad and sudden ending But how about the vendors worthy npeclflcs lllvve they no reason to feel that they arc being punished unjustly un-justly for the sins of others Mr Sheldon Shel-don also rejects all advertisements of corsets because he disapproves of that article of attire If he were a Jaoger ito ho would doubtless feel constrained also to keep out all advertisements of underwear nonsanitary All advertisements of alcoholic drinks r and tobacco are oC course tabooed because be-cause Rev Mr Sheldon disapproves oC these articles Whether he includes tea and coffee In his diet Is not stated They arc probably at least as injurious as corsets But the reformer goes further fur-ther than to reject advertisements of articles which seem to him objectionable objectiona-ble He will not advertise a magazine which contains advertisements of 11 i quor or tobacco or which displays advertising ad-vertising pictures of which he dlsap I orovcs It will be seen that this branch t censorship Is enough to occupy one 1 mans time without the Incidental trifle of editing a newspaper Mr Sheldon 4 for Instancc disapproves of the theater r How can ho mcittton the name of a magazine which ventures to publish an article on the stage perhaps lllus tratcd horrible supposition with pictures pic-tures of pretty actresses The editors programme even transcends the field Qf morals He refuses for Instance to accept ac-cept advertisements from Kansas City retail houses because he thinks It is tho duty of a newspaper to stand by home merchants With equal Justice he might decline to receive advertisements from department stores because of the r detrimental effect there have upon tlm smaller dealers In fact when a man has the colossaT egotism to make himself Christs mouthpiece on subjects concerning 4 which Christ was silent there Is no limit to the absurdities involved The spectacle Is both ridiculous and repulsive repul-sive To prostitute the great truths oC Christianity to a weeks flamboyant selfadvertising a degradation of religion I re-ligion Springfield Republican |