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Show • THE MIDVALE JOURNAL Page Two Friday, June 7, 1929 .... ~ 'Atheist Today Merely a Survival of Rebellion Against a Theology Now Gone • lA By REV. JOHN HAYNES HOLMES, New York Community Church • } n N THIS modern world, dominated by science, there is as little room for the atheist as for the fundamentalist. Witness Einstein, who haa just confessed his belief in God. I am not an atheist for three rea• sons: First, because the atheist in his attitude toward life is ~terly dogmatic; second, because atheism is utterly negative in its apptoach to life, and last, because atheism explains nothing and this universe d~ 1 mands an explanation. to I am as much opposed as anybody to the Christian myth, which H• plains the origin of the world and man in Genesis. But if this myth is not true, what is true? This world is a living world. What is tlfe, a. d where does it come from? This world is an orclered world. What is tnia order, and who established it? This world is a purposeful world-the evolutionary process is taking us somewhere. Where? And why? And ~w? ~ These are questions which have to be asked-and therefore have o be answered. And the atheise says nothing. Which makes him just a little mo.re contemptible than any other man of whom I can think, for I had rather have a man try to explain the world, however feebly or foolishly, than to refuse to explain it at all. The fact is, the atheist is a vestigial survival of earlier and much more primitive periods of human thought. He made his appearance when the untrue and immoral character of orthodox Christian theology was first discovered. He represents the historical rebellion against this the· ology. But this theology is now gone and atheism should go with it. Tht atheist in our days lags superflous upon the scene. Desire to Get Rich Quick Without Work Root· of Increase of Crime By RABBI STEPHEN S. WISE. :J:o • By ELMO SCOTT WATSON r;:;;::::::::::;::;) HE Republlcan party, familiarly known ~ ~ as the G. 0. P. (because its adherents, pointing with pride to Its achie\'ements, among them the fact that in eighteen Presidential elections since it was founded it has been victorious thirteen times, call It the "Grand Old Party"), celebrated its seventy-fifth birthday thl~ month. And thereby hangs "a tale of two cities" or ratl1er the tale of the rivalry of two cities !or the honor of being known as the "birthplace of the Republican party." The two cities are Ripon, Wis., and Jackson, Mich. In support of Its claim residents of Ripon will take you to a little white schoolhouse and sl10w you the tablet beside the door on which you may read, "In this schoolhouse March 20, 1854, was held the first mass meeting in this country that definitely and positively cut loose from old parties and advocated a new party under the name Republican." In celebration of that event there was lleld on the campus of Ripon college, centering about that historic schoolhouse, recently, a pageant depicting the grewth of the Republican party and a celebration of the diamond jubilee of the party. The principal speakers at tllis event were James W. Good, secretary of war In President Hoover's cabinet, an(J Walter J. Kohler, Republican governor of Wisconsin. Residents of Jackson, Mich., In support of their claim to the honor, will take you to a group of oaks standing at Second and Frankl!n streets and tell you that here the Republican party was born on July 6, 1854, when the name Republlcan was adopted by a convention of state delegates. Whethet the Republican paorty was born on March 20, or July 6, 1854, and whether Its birthplace was Ripon, Wis., or Jackson, Mich., is relatively unimportant, compared to the event Itself, the critical era lo our history uurlng which it t(lok place · and the slgnficant aftermath of tlmt event. The Republican party was born at a time ·when the dispute over slavery was at its height. It grew out of the growing opposition to slavery as an In· stltution especially in the states which had been formed from the old Northwest territory, In accordance with the famous ordinance of 1787 the Northwest territory was to have no slavery within Its boundaries after the year 1800. The ordinance gave to the owners of tng!tlve slaves the right to recover them even after the runaways bud escaped beyond the Ohio, but as a matter of fact the "undergrounds railroads" which aided escaping slaves to their freedom were active throughout this territory_ The northern part o! the territory was once known as Michigan and included the present states of Michigan, Wisconsin, Minnesota and a part of Dakota. Wisconsin became a state in 1848 and from its beginning as a commonwealth was dominated by arllent foes of slavery. Two years after Wisconsin became a state there came to the town of Ripon !rom New York a man who was to give Ripon its claim to the title of "birthplace of the RE'publican party." He was Alvan Earle Bovay, born in Jefferson county, New York, July 12, 1818, and a lawyer by profession. Bovay soon became a leading citizen In the little hamlet of Ripon and hls best friend was Jedediah Bowen, the principal merchant of the place. There were only about a hundred voters In Ripon at the time but they had a wine choice of parties for it was at a time !n American history when the lines which separated the traditional Whigs and Democrats were breaking down and new parties were constantly being formed. Bovay himself was a Whig and an eloquent and ardent one. He was not so partisan however but that he recognized his party was likely to crumble at any time from the discordant factors within it. The dispute over slavery was becoming .more acute all the time. The gteat leaders who had sought some way of reconciling the differences between the North and the South over the slavery question were In their graves and the threat of disunion and possible civil war was already looming over the horizon. It seems that In 1852 Bovay sugested that a strong antislavery party be formed to be caJied the Republican party. He broached the subject while on a visit to New York city tc Horaee Greeley, the famous editor of the New Yotk Tribune. But nothing came of the suggestion at that time. Two years later matters reached a crisis when on January 23, the famous Kansas-Nebraska bil\ was Introduced Into congress. Kansas and Ne · braska were to be admitted as territories witt power to do as they pleased about slavery, despite the fact that the Missouri Compromise of 1820 had torbldden slaves In any states or terrltoriea north o! the line 36 degrees 30 minutes. In its final form the bill dE'clared the Missouri Compromise, "inoperative and void" because it was "inconslst· ent with the principle of nonintervention by congress with sluvE'ry In the states and territories as recognized by the legislation of 1850." When the Kansas-Nebraska bill was Introduced, Bovay wrote to Greeley as follows: "Your paper Is now a power in the land. A<h'ocate calling together In every school'hou ~ e and church in the free states all the opponents of the Knnsas-Neraska bills, no matter what their party afliliations. Urge them to forget previous organizations and to be bound together un•ler the name suggested to you at Lo\ejoy's hotel m 18J2. I mean the name of Republlcan. It Is the only one which will serve all purposes, past and future-the only one that will li Ye and last." During February of that year Bovay called again and again to foes of slavery to rally under the banner of a new p:u·ty. Late In the month he gathered together In the Congregational church at Ripon a group of those who believeu as he did. On :March 20, a mass meeting was called in district schoolhouse 2, a small white frame building. Of the hundred or so voters In !Upon, Bovay was able to get fifty-three to his meeting. They were a varied lot so far liS political affiliation was concerned--Whigs, Democrats and l•'ree-Soilers. To them Bovay offered his resolution that a new party to be called Republican be organized at once, based on the opposition to slavery. As a result, his suggestion was adopted and the town committees appointed by the Free-Soil and Whig parties were dissolved. A committee on organization was appointed, consisting of three Whigs, one Free-Soiler and one Democrat. They were Bovny, his friend Jededinh Bowen, Amos Loper, A. Thomas, and J. Woodrutr. Considering the slow process which usually represents the evolution of a political party, the growth of the Republican party was swift. Under the leadership of Stephen A. Douglas, who was ambitious to be the Democratic Presidential nomInee In 1856, the Kansas-Nebraska bill was passed lu May, 1854. Immediately fierce opposition flamed up ln the North and during the summer it •continued to burn. It ts at this point that the claim of Jackson, Mich., to being the Republican cradle comes to the front. On July 6, 1834, there was held in an oak grove on the outskirts of Jackson a state-wide representative mass meeting, actIng as a state convention, assembled In response to a call signed by several thousand citizens ot ::O.!Ichigan inviting the co-operation of all who were opposed to the extension of slavery. The chairman of the committee of resolution, Jacob M. Howard, wrote and supported a platform of considerable length which was • unanimously adopted. fl. denounc·ed sla\·ery as a "relic of bar· barlsm, a great moral, social and politlc11l evil" and declared . that It was the purpose of the fa· thers of the Republic to prevent the spread of slavery. It also asserted that It was now the duty of congress to carry out this purpose by restoring the restriction on slavery laid down in the Missouri Compromise. The delegates also resolved "that postponing and suspending all differences In regard to political economy or administrative policy, we will co-operate and be known as Re· publicans until after the contest be determined." They also earnestly recommended that there be called a "general conYention of the free states and such ot the slave-holding states as may desire to be represented, with a view to the adoption of other more e."Xtended and effectual measures tn resistance to the encroachments of slavery." The name Republican was also used later ln a Wis.:onsin convention as well as at state gatherings In the East, held in New York, Massachusetts, Ver· went and Maine. The new party gained strength rluring the next two years as It drew to its standard various elements from other parties. The Whigs bad suffered a defeat in 1852 which had demoralil'ed them and had practically shattered that party. Then, also, there bad risen the American party or the All American party, commonly known as the Know Nothings because of the reply they made when asked about details of their organization and supposedly secret ritual. 'l.'hls strange body, founded on racial and religious prejudices, h11d suceeeded In electing governors in several states and had sent nearly a hundred representatives to the house of representatives. The Know Nothings were a conglomeration. Some of them favored the extelilslon of slavery, while others opposed. There were also the I•'ree Soilers committed to the abolition of slavery by political means. The Free Soil party had been eQJlllect"'d with th~ Liberty party, which bud mucb the same view, and also it had taken o>er a taction of the New York Democrats, called the Barn· burneJOS, because tlwlr extreme views were compared to the policy of a man who hurnell down his barn to get rid of the rats. The Free Soilers flung wide their motto, "Free Soil, Free Speech, Free Labor and Freemen." To the growing new party of the Republicans came many kinds of pQ!itical faiths who had the common bond of opposition to slavery-all "AntiNebraska or Kansas" men. Some had been Whigs, some Democrats. others had turne(J from such short-lived. organizations as the Free Sollers and the Know Nothings. An Informal convention, which might better be called an organizing committee, was held In Pittsburgh early In 1836, at which the name Republican as the title of a national party was firmly fixed. Among those present at this convention were Horace Greeley and Abraham Lincoln. Tile campaign of 1856, the first one In which the Hepuhlican party officlully participated and, Incidentally, suffei·f>d Its first defeat, Is described In tlle volume "Builders of the Republic" in the Yale University Press "Pageant of America" as follows: Meeting In convention In Philadelphia, fn February, 1856, the Know Nothings or the American party found sectionalism Intruding even Into their organization. Indeed, after angry debate, most of the antislavery delegates withdl"ew, leaving the southern wing In control. With a platform that at. tempted to divert attention from the slavery question by crying up the fore ign peril, the party went Into the campaign with Fillmore and Donalson as tts candidates. The Democrats trll'd hard to present an appearance o! harmony. Since the doctrine of popular sovereignty was to be their major planlt, It waP expected that either the "Little Giant," or Pierce would be the nominee. But the North so opposed the proceedings In Kansas that the leaders were passed over by a man less closel:y connected with re~nt domestic events. As minister to England. James Buchanan had been abroad during the most trying times. His availability was enhanced because his name was linked with that aggressive foreign policy which had been employed to distract the country !rom Internal troubles. Acceptable to the South, he could be supported also by the conservative elements of the North. The Whig party, practically defunct, contented Itself with Indorsing the candidates of the American party. There was thus need for a party which would stand four-square against the Democrats and the extension of slavery. This need was tilled by the Republican party which had grown with lOUr· prising rapidity since 1854. To It -had thronged a miscellany o! malcontents, a tact of which Its rivals made the most. In spite of Its heterogeneity, the party showed remarkable solidarity. Assem· bllng In Philadelphia on the anniversary of Bunker Hill, the delegates, passing over the more promInent leaders-such as Chase of Ohio, and Seward of New York-selected John C. Fremont of California, a young man little known in politks, but with a well-advertised record ~ts an explorer of the Far West. The platform vigorously denounced the proslavery and jingoistic activity of recent years. The Republicans launched a campaign that In vigor and spectacle resembled that of ll!tO. With "Bleeding Kansas" as their cry, they appealed, through the agency of newspaper editors, such as Horace Greeley, of the New York Tribune, James Gordon Bennett, of the N~w York Herald, Henry J. Raymond, of the New York Times, and Gen. J. Watson Webb, of the Courier and Enquirer of New York, to the Northerners' dread Jest the "Buchaneers" expand their domain of slavery. The opposition played upon the widespread dislike for the Abolitionists as a means of discrediting the Republicans. The eccentric personalities ot the reformers, their extravagant acts and still more extravagant words were a heavy burden for the new party to carry. As the campaign developed It appeared that the Republicans were too sectional in thelr appeal and not sufficiently organized to CRri'Y the country. Buchanan gain<'d many adherents who had become · alarmed by the apparent radicalism of the Fre· mont followers. Fillmore took occasion to announce that Fremont's election would endanger the Union . ln the South, it need J.ar<lly be said "black Republicanism" was identified by many with all the "isms" In the dictionary. The contest was rather close. Buchanan received 1 H electoral votes to 114 tor Fremont. while Fillmore received 8 trom Maryland. The Democrats had had a close call; and the size or the Republican vote gave the old line leaders cause to worry !or the !uture. These leaders had e>l'n more cau~e to wo1·ry four years later. I<'<•r In 18GO the Republican can· didate was Abraham Lincoln and the new party was swept Into power--a power which it was des· tinen to hold uninterruptedly for a quarter or a century until Grover Cleveland, a Demncrat, was elected In 1SS5. Clen•land was a:;ain elected in 1893, but at the end of his term of umee In lt>97 marked the beginning of another period of Itepublican domination until intel'l'upted hy Woodrow \Vilson's election In l!H~. And the seventy·fifth anniversary of the Republican purty's birth finds It still iD power. The stock speculation craze of the American people leads one wond€r why there is not more crime than there is. You can't expect a nation to be without crime which hat;~ a desire to get rich quick without work, without effort. I think this wretched, vulgar, gambling craze makes genuine legitimate business impossible. Nine-tenths of the men and w men who have been sucked into this hellish craze have no more right to the money they made last year than would a man who jumped up here and held a gun to my head for my purse. Those profits put a burden on industry that created injustices to the workers. We should have nothing but contempt and loathing for that cheap, vulgar mania. .. The home has lost its authoritativeness, schools have become voca· tiona} factories in which teachers are expected to be mental robots, and the church and synagogue are permitted to exist only as they keep them· selves remote from every problem of real life. The church in America does not really care, except for a few shining examples. It does not will to relate itself to real life. The trouble is that the criminal class .~ust taken for granted. The police don't catch criminals. They catCJIIIphysicians in birth-control clinics. I venture to suggest to the pohce department that there are more dangerous criminals footloose today than :Urs. Margaret Sanger. The whole majesty of the police was exhibited the other day whE!B a few fine women were arrested doing a great, serviceable work. Religion a Stream That Gathers Force With the Progress of Humanity By DR. PERCY DEARMER, King's College, Lon~on. The world is not yet good enough for Christ. It never h~s been; • few have really believed Him, though many have believed in Him. Nont> bas carried on His message untainted. Complete Christianity has seldom been taught, and never tried; it has been lilte a slender stream, trickling through a vast river bed, sometimes disappearing underground, but some• times rising and spreading to fertilize the country, as the waters gather in the hills. Could it have been otherwise? The greatness of Christ, His unapproached perfection, is but more clearly shown by the contrast between onrselves and Him. But the church is very young. It has lived a mere nineteen hundred years of human history; and the human race is a million years old, with many millions yet before it. We are only beginning; we still are the primitive church. And our hope is that we may now just be growing out of our petulant childhood. The religion of Christ is becoming more possible in the world because the veils that have hidden Him are melting away before the clean light of the knowledge whi<'h mankind has so laboriously acquired. From guesses and assumptions we have passed to an age of exact observationand intense devotion to truth. It may well be that the waters of that. truth will flood the gourse so divinely planned, till it becomes the river of life for all humanity. ( ).,, e Small Town to Play Large Part in the Development of American Industry . By ROBERTS. BINKERD, New York Stock Exchange. The small town is destined to play an increasingly impPrtant part in development of industry in the United States. The advantages of concentration in many cities are far outweighed by the costs of conges· tion. Anyone who looks with unprejudiced e}'eS at the country's l!n·gest cities must realize that they contain thousands of businesses which could be conducted with more profit in smaller communities. You tan ship a piano from Chicago to New York for about $14, but you can hardly haul it 20 blocks through New York city for that amount. It COStS tiearly twice as much to transport fresh fruits and vegetables through the city itself as it costs to produce them and transport them nearly ha.!fwny across the continent. Most communities put the cart before the horse in attempting to 11ttract industries. They frequently strive with concessions to .Jure new industry to the town. The right way to start is for the community to take what it has and try to make it more prosperous. The defeds of many small-town businesses are obvious-lack of knowledge of costs, lack of knowledge of possible markets, lac of merchandising skill and failure to keep up with the times are among the chief of them. But if those problems are intelligently met it will be the greatest selling argument for the inducement of other industries to lo- catt there. • t |