Show t. t t t t M t I M M 11 t H I M III M M t. t M i. i M t M t m t t t M t t M M K KANSAS I I I I I I 4 I 4 4 t t 4 I I 4 4 I I t It hath come to pass that when one wants something particularly funny he gets his fool fool- killer gun and hunts for it in Kansas where such game is always ays plenty and there is never any close season We Ve are led to offer this remark on account of a des despatch from Topeka which informs us that the Ministerial Association of that that producing mirth town is considering the question of opposing the confirmation by the tile Senate enate of Eugene Ware Yare recently recently re re- re- re appointed Commissioner of Pensions vice Vice ice Evans E gotten rid of if with much din difficulty culty We Ve are ale to toUl U that it seriously is proposed by the aggregation of clerical talent and influence mentioned mentioned mentioned men men- to file the awful charge against the appointee appointee appointee ap ap- ap- ap that he is an Agnostic and hence is disqualified disqualified dis dis- dis qualified from holding any office of trust or profit under the tile United States Should this terrible intention intention intention in in- be carried out it is to be feared feat that the country would be agitated and have its insomnia insomnia insomnia nia aggravated by an investigation of the b bloodcurdling blood blood- oo l- l curdling denouncement Mr Roosevelt i is showing a merciless disposition toward the alleged h hydro dro torturers of t the le Philippines and possibly he might assume a like attitude toward Agnostics Such however is not our calm and matured opinion It s is js' smore more likely that the fact of Mr Wares Ware's liberal views in ill religious matters if it be would one not operate to his disadvantage in the matter of his confirmation on If we are tre pe permitted to to as assume me meg g od faith and patriotism on the part of the Senate in the premises we cannot believe that a a little mild and n not t actively pernicious Agnosticism in inthe inthe inthe the Presidents President's nominee would be regarded as vitall vitally vi vi- tall tally objectionable On the the- contrary it would se seem m that the peculiar intellectual attitude represented by the term ought rather to recommend him to the suffrages of the Conscript Fathers An Agnostic if we are not mistaken is one ODe who does not know but is always willing to find out We Ve could easily conceive therefore of a combination com coin among the pension at attorneys orneys to defeat the confirmation of an Agnostic for for- forthe the pension com com- Such a man if true to to- his philosophical phil phil- al ideas idas and concepts should be hard t to 10 work in the case of an extremely vermiform pension claim He would be apt to treat it agnostically that is he would not pretend to know whether it was just or 01 not not but would proceed d to ascertain If he lie did that where would be the advantage in 31 having had his predecessor removed But why the Topeka preachers should jump on Mr 1 Yare Ware is isa isa isa a nut rather hard for th the present generation to crack That they are strictly orthodox from their own point of view i is undoubted and we know that orthodoxy is conscientiously severe on les autres s The eminent theologian John Calvin founder of the cold storage religion of his day burned burned his disciple Michael Servetus at the stake because that amiable investigator differed from him hii on the abstraction of the Procession of the Holy Hoy Ghost But it is not absolutely ne necessary for Topeka divines divines divines di di- vines to follow folIo such a precedent in the ca case e of Mr Yare Ware There e is a milder one ope that they might st study dy with advantage Martin Martin Luther permitted his friend the Elector to fo have two wives one one each in ill inthe inthe the two principal towns of his dominion This was wasa a slight relaxation of the canon law but it was defended defended defended de de- de- de fended and possibly defensible on t the le ground of f the high cost of transportation in Pullman cars at ata ata ata a time wh when n the Elector was compelled to be in both botn places at once Perhaps if the Prince had ad been an an- Agnostic c instead of or as w well a as a polygamist that matter also could coul have been arranged as long as h he paid his pew rent subscribed liberally to the cause of foreign missions and ana drove a truck lo load d to the do donation donation do do- nation party We Wre do not venture to decide They did as queer qUer things in those days as they do now in Kansas LAll LAIl we will risk is the hope that th the clerics clerics cler clero ics may may sta stay their fateful hand and refrain refrain from driving an Agnostic who otherwise e is a decent citizen to despair or possibly to Buddhism m. m |