Show I 1 arr I 1 a m ORDER TU A C 11 U alc in W K W 11 JUDGE HOWELL DELIVERS interesting ADDRESS defines church in the broad sense glad that prejudice prevailed not against smoot judge J albert howell delivered an interesting address at tho the fourth F ward deett meeting ng house last night upon the subject if of the relation of law and order to the church and of 0 the church to law and order the church was packed with an appreciative audience and the learned jurists remarks were listened to with marked attention As a preface to his remarks judge howell stated that when ho he used us d the term church be he meant it in the extended sense as including all men and women bonded together for the worship of a common god and the amelioration of a common humanity and when ho be used the word state he said that he meant not only the beloved commonwealth in which ch we live but also the great nation of which this commonwealth forms a part formerly in our country punishments were prescribed for those people who did not attend worship and who entertained heretical opinions but later the immortal declaration of independence established religious freedom in all the colonies 1 I am proud to say to you that since the foundation of government we as a nation have fulfilled the promise of religious freedom made in the amend ment to our constitution and although now and again some attempts have been made to infringe on it the steady will of the majority has defeated it but recently we have had an example of an attempt throughout the nation to interfere with a mans religious belief lief in the conduct not only of his own affairs but in the affairs of the state from which he hailed I 1 refer to the case of senator smoot of this state an effort being made him from I 1 the high office of senator of this sov BOY crelin state and compel him to desist from a participation in public affairs not because oe tie was guilty of any practices violating the laws of the united states or of his own state on the contrary simply because of his religious beliefs and the important office held by him in his church but through a falso sentiment fanned by the fires of false information and biased bigotry was against him that great tribunal tho the senate of the united states sitting in a judicial capacity heeded not the popular outcry against this man but faithful to the trust imposed upon it to uphold the provisions of the constitution ution and the laws of the united sates it decided not only that a roans marls religious beliefs should not disqualify u afify him from performing the duties of a citizen but that his high office la in tho church did not prevent him from holding the high civil office of senator of the united states as tho the accredited representative of his native state I 1 thank god and so should you that the senate of tho united states thus demonstrated its ability to resist the clamor of the ignorant and the bigoted that chrtt it upheld uphold the constitution that it remained faithful to tho the traditions of the fathers because such action on its part in such a crisis augurs well for the perpetuity of our free institutions continuing judge howell concluded his speech as follows among the clouds which dim our political horizon none is fraught with more danger than the prevalence of corruption in office I 1 thank god that locally wo we have no such curse and I 1 speak advisedly mindful of the th lations which have been made against some of our public officers and of tile trials which I 1 have conducted upon those accusations but after hearing all the facts in relation to toi them reiterated time and again and viewing them as I 1 would any other cases unbiased by prejudice I 1 am still able to say with all assurance that not only la there no reason to believe that these men were guilty of grahl gr alting ng in any sense that the term Is used but that on the contrary there la Is overy every reason to bellevo they were not guilty of that ot of bense it Is true that they received more salary than the courts my own among them have said they were entitled to receive but that simply means that they did not correctly interpret the statutes or rather that they lute interpreted them differently from what the courts have since interpreted them but we must remember that hindsight la in easier than foresight and simply because these men made a mistake thoy are not on that account criminals es Dec lally when there is not only no evl evi lenco lenca that they were actuated by dishonest motives but all the testimony shows that they acted conscientiously believing themselves in the right there Is no reason why these men nien should hang their heads in shame among nong their neighbors because the roost most that can be honestly said of them Is that they erred in judgment tor for which error they the paid more dearly than a man inan ordinarily pays because on account of it they lost their offices a and it remains for those who have never made an error if any such live if 0 cast tho the farst stone at them these men inen I 1 am convinced are nie just as hon est as any that live among ua but almost lally we read in the newspapers of the dishonesty which taints our officials otTicia ls all over the country not simply of the mistakes they their have made wo we have but to read the tie story of grecco greece and rome to know that tho the canker warm worm of official corruption Is the most deadly enemy of the tho republic far more dangerous danger oun than the attack at tack of any foreign enemy there can be no good government that Is not an honest government and sooner or later public dishonesty will sap the nations life and la in the words ot of the immortal burke there never was long a corrupt government of a virtuous people it Is the fluty of the members of this church and every other church to use their best endeavors to help make this a virtuous people and our government a government characteristic of such a people may we not each ach and every one of us resolve tonight to root out corruption in office in this government wherever rever it may be found may not each apa every one of us resolve to lend lead a hand tp to maintain our institutions pure and ud defiled and sure in the knowledge that the nation cannot bo be destro destroyed bod from without gee see I 1 r that it 1 is 9 not crushed from within it Is a lam lamentable eu table fact that though I 1 we have as a nation developed materially and intellectually far beyond the hopes of any who lived in tae last or the preceding generations yet that evil doing the commission of crime is steadily increasing it used to be contended by many students of criminology that in education lay the hope go af pf f the prevention of crime there Is no doubt that vast quantity of vice Is due to ignorance a large quantity of crime which would be prevented it if the source of wrong should be rendered harmless at the outset but though you can cart thus remove S some me of the moral evils under which we suffer you cannot by so simple an operation remove them all nor even the greater part of them and as mr hadley the president of yale university well has said the root of lawlessness lies deeper than mere ignorance of consequences the chief source of crime Is moral perversity ver sity rather than mental deficiency it if you improve a mans intellectual capacity without correspondingly educating bis his moral and spiritual nature you are likely to change the direction in which his criminal instincts seek their outlet rather than to destroy these instincts themselves when you teach a man to write you make him less liable to commit larceny but you make him more liable to commit forgery when you teach a man law you lessen the temptations and opportunities of violence but you do not lessen those for acts of fraud it if education then is a failure as a complete preventative venta tive of crime what then is the true remedy it seems to me that it Is the church which can answer that question for if you dellop the child not only intellectually but moral morally and spiritually you then overcome the mor al perversity which leads to crime and you develop the child into a good citizen in my administration of criminal law I 1 have discovered that the man who commits a crime was a child who though he may have been properly educated was not given sufficient religious training I 1 venture the statement that nine men out of ten whom I 1 have sentenced to the penitentiary or other imprisonment for the commission of crimes are men who wore were without definite religious principles I 1 have also observed that nearly all of those whom I 1 find it necessary nece osary to commit to the state mental hospital on the ground of insanity answer the question wo we are required to ask them concerning their religious beliefs in a negative manner by some such phrase as 1 I much religion 1 so I 1 am satisfied from my experience that there I 1 IL nothing which will tend so to prevent men and women from becoming criminals as the inculcation in their minds and souls of true religious principles the duty then which the church has to perform towards tho the state in this regard is to supplement the public school to provide religious training which our public schools under our system are not permitted to give so that the child wll grow up to manhood or womanhood lot not only versed in tae ofle knowledge of the world but enlightened by the love of god and humanity another problem which it la is necessary sary for this nation to solve before it can progress Is the proper relationship of capital and jabor the settlement of the great question of wealth and poverty and a more nore difficult and complicated tei problem was never presented to the nation though many suggestions have bau bec amade made for its proper solution it seema to me that it can only be done through tho the churches and through other organizations which teach the great principle of the brotherhood of man if our country Is to develop if civilization Is to advance then the man who tolls ana and the man for whom he to tolls JIB M must le learn ar a to know that there are common alma alms and com mon hopes in all conditions of men tho man who labor labors must come to realize that the man for whom be lie works Is his brother and likewise and even more important la Is it that the man who ern employs ploys labor should realize that those who work tor for him are brothers with him the story of the good samaritan must be more often told and when the spirit of brotherly love therein illus orated Is spread throughout the country there will be no more strikes or other labor troubles the clash fe tween the man of wealth and the man of toll will be averted surely in a federation of states lilie ours thero there la is a fertile field for the affirmation of the truth of saint pauls saying we are all members one of another so if I 1 had thought it necessary that in speaking to you y au tonight I 1 should do dd as most men who preach think they have to do choose a text upon which to hinge hangi what I 1 have to say I 1 would have chosen that text wherein christ speaking to bis his people summarized the great commandments command menta which cefai ries before were given to man mankind kinry affy moses as tho the mouthpiece of god when he eald said thou love the lord the god with all thy heart and with all thy soul and with all thy mind this Is the first and great commandment and the second Is like unto it thou love thy neighbor aa as thyself on ou these two command commandments menta hang all tho the law and the prophets for such surely Is the duty of tho the church toward the state the duty not only to teach its members to love god with all their hearts with all their souls and with all their minds but to teach its members to love their neighbors as themselves As we go ro forth from this sacred edifice tonight may wo not nat all pledge ourselves that tha t we will not content conten ourselves ives merely with worshipping wor shipping god with expressing our love iove for him but we will seek also to follow the second commandment of christ which Is even more important in our intercourse with our fellow mon and disseminate tho the great principles of brotherly love until that principle n like a chain of gold shall encircle the globe and when it shall have done so wo will then have gone far not only toward settling the great problem which comes from the conflict among me men because of wealth or the lack of it but all the other problems which are necessary to solve in rhe the ad vanco of civilization and may the graco grace of god be with us all as we start upon this work not only this night but forevermore Is 1 my prayer in the name of christ amen |