The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1891-05-16

In recent letter to Zion's Advocate. Rev.
DR.. A. L. Dunn, of the Maine Baptist Con.
ventlon, calls attention to a matter that has
often been noticed In these columns. namely.
the lack of candidates for the profession of
the ministry in this state. The ministry is
the only profession in this day that cannot
be said to be.oyercrowded. DIR. Dunn speaks
for the Baptists alone but what he says in
relation to them could probably be said of
every other denomination In Maine, unless
the Methodists might be possible exception.
Speaking of the Baptist churches DIR. Dunn
says that their real need today is "a company
Of good, clean, faithful men, who know
enough to instruct the people in the word of
God, and have grace and grit enough to be
patient and true in pastoral work." BE
furthermore declares that for the Baptist
field alone in Maine he has a call for twenty
one young professional men of this kind
Yet the demand cannot be met, for within
the field of the Conventions resources there
are not enough men in training today to
meet the call. Were such a situation as
this to aIise in the profession of law or medi-
cine the lack would not be felt long. For
obvious reasons the profession of the minis
try is upon an entirely different footing.
The love of gain, the desire for dis
tinguished career, even the hope for a COM
Portable living are all motives that the sim
cere candidate for the ministry will strive to
eliminate from his ambition. And the men
who are ready to eliminate these motives
must necessarily be limited number. 1t is
related that Emperor William /, of Germany,
finding what he considered great laxity in
religion In Prussia. arbitrarily ordered GER
tain number Of his young subjects to enter
the ministry, as he would order others to en-
ter the army. But If the story is true, it has
not been recorded that the experiment was
successful from spiritual point of view.
Whether successful or not, the churches of
Maine have no such means at hand. It
is largely matter of individual influence
whether the ranks of this most honorable of
all professions shall be well filed in Maine.
1t is almost. If not quite, impossible to get
any news of the real condition of the re-
bellion In Chilli. 1t is known In general
way that the Congress party seem to be get
ting the better of President Balmaceda,
that there Is good deal of killing men,
women and children out of pure ferocity,
and that the suffering in the country is de-
plorable. Why all this trouble should have
been brought upon the country there is no
very clear idea. The accounts that come
from Chill are plainly one-sided. American
understanding of the situation is biased not
little by the reports received by New
York paper that boasts of having as its cor.
respondent Gillian of American birth, who
is member of the Gillian Congress. This
correspondent belongs to the rebel party,
and of course his reports do not give the
Balmaceda party any show whatever. A
series Of letters published in the Belfast.
(Me) Journal from a correspondent who
happens to be travelling in Chill just at this
time, gives an entirely different view Of the
causes OF the conflict, and view which, APP
parently. is just. OF course the Journals
correspondent, though an American, may be
SO situated as to hear only one side of the
controversy; but a foreigners report is of
greater value, under almost any circum-
stances, than the report of one of the rebels
The Journals correspondent takes sides
with President Balmaceda. "The sober
truth is" says this correspondent, shat
political clique desire to usurp the rights of
the Executive; and it extremely doubtful il
such a regime,-judging from their actions
during the last half year, which have cost
the country thousands of lives and millions
Of dollars-would be better for the people
than the longestablished order which had
made Chilli the most prosperous of South
American Republics. Nobody disputes that
Balmaceda was the fairly-elected choice of
the nation. or accuses him of having ever
gone beyond the rights accorded him in the
constitution. So far from aspiring to over
much authority, his first great mistake was
in holding the reins too loosely. The oppo-
sition were determined to find fault, on one
pretext or another-as shown in their per-
sistent objections to Balmaceda's Cabinet,
although he appointed three different sets Of
ministers in the vain effort to please them.
Considering that the present incumbents
term was so nearly over, If these patriots had
really had the interests of the country at
heart, they would have directed their efforts
toward electing man of their own ideas to
succeed him and to amending the constitu-
tion so as to limit what they call 'one man
power. The fact that Balmaceda's term
will expire in August shows that the rebels
could not have been oppressed to desper-
alton by his power. 1t is not at all i'm
probable that the perverseness of an unruly
faction in Congress Is largely responsible
for tha frnuh1o