The Jersey City news. (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1889-1906, 1893-01-18

Ills UUUGT 10 OtftOCf OOtO "S
and is Independent IN its 0teOs on at
local questions.
Professionalism and Prohibition-An
Amusing Episode.
Our highly esteemed fellow citizen,
ex-Judge Stephen B. Ransom, has
been running, for the past twelve
weeks, a little weekly paper, devoted
to the Prohibition cause, and it is a
bright and pleasant little sheet-for a
Prohibition n We presume Mr..
Ransom runs it "for conscience sake, ="
for there is certainly no money In 1t,
and we do not believe MI. Ransom is
a vain-seeker after glory.
But whatever his motive may be,
he has contrived to signalize the
opening of the new veal in his publ
cation by a very lively interchange of
devout acrimony with a well known
and highly regarded clergyman of this
city.
The Rev. W. Writ Mills is nothing
if not "Catholic"-not Roman Catho-
lie, you know, but just Catholic on
the broadest basis of stoles and sur
plices, of mathis and lauds, of bell,
book and candlelight, in short, OF
everything that the rubrics of the
Episcopal Communion and the for
bearance of the Bishop of New
ark will permit. He is the
assistant pastor perhaps we
should say the curate of ST.
Marks Overwhelmingly called
Protestant Episcopal Church on
Jersey Avenue, and he is the possessor
not only of a stalwart Guardianship,
but also of a playful and keen sense
of humor, of which he does not spare
to avail himself on proper occasions.
The antecedent history of the very
pretty misunderstanding which de-
velops between these two most ben
evolent and excellent meaning gentle
men in the current number of the
Mirror is only to be inferred from the
terms of the controversy, but we gather
that, for the past twelve weeks or so,
Mr.. A. L.. Graham, the publisher of the
sheet, has been sending it to Mr..
Mills, under the guise of sample
copies, in the hope of securing the
moral and financial support of the
reverend gentleman's subscription for
the term of the good new year, which
we are now all in the enjoyment of
thank Providence.
But the paper did not find favor in
the eyes of Mr.. Mills. In one direction,
it appears to have outraged every
principle in which he was most firmly
set, while in another, it seems to have
excited his sense of the humorous to
quite a %decorously frolicsome de-
gree. Accordingly, in response to
a New Years appeal to add his
name to the list of the elect who con-
tribute "to hold, as 'twere. the mirror
up to nature" he incontinently
penned the following consummately
keen and polished effort of his genius
for sarcasm
239 Montgomery street,
Jersey City. Jan. S, 1893.
DEAR MR GRAHAM:-Thank you for sending me
The Mirror to January 1. 1t has given me an
opportunity of observing its policy and of con-
Guiding that l do not want to subscribe for the
paper. Ny reasons are that the paper is evil
IDENTIFY run In the interests of Professionalism and
teetotalism. 1t is needless to say that l. as a
Priest, have no sympathy for Professionalism.
The only text / eau find in the Bible bearing on
Prohibition is 1st Timothy v. %: Drink no
longer water'-that is Prohi bition; "but use a
little wine for the stomach's sake"-that is tenn
perance.
Very faithfully yours,
VIM. WRIT MILLS.
Whether Mr.. Ransom enjoyed a
quiet little laugh over the above, in
the privacy of his editorial sanctum,
we do not know. As he is not a
S%cotchman, we presume he did. But
if he found any mirth in it in pri-
vate, he bravely overcame the emo
ton before he proceeded to deal with
it in print, and he is just as properly
shocked at it in his paper as we ever
knew a gentleman to be over the
audacitv of another gentleman who
ventured to disagree with him. In
deed. the fine Pindaric fire with
which he rushes to the attack
o his froward opponent reminds
us not a little of the frame of mind
which we are accustomed to cultivate
ourself when we undertake to express
in English prose our candid opinion
oil Mr.. Robert Davis, the Rev. DR..
Parkhurst, Mr.. Anthony Comstock or
other gentleman who has been I'M
happy enough to fall under the ban
of our displeasure. Here, for instance,
is a specimen of Mr.. Ransom's rheto-
ric:-
His objections to the paper are that it is run
in the interest of Professionalism and teetotalism.
Hesays sIt is needless to say that L as a Priest,
have no sympathy for Professionalism" What
does he mean by this? Is he a Roman Catholic
Priest. a Jesuit in disguise, officiating in a Pro-
testant Church?
The blood curdling possibilities
which these questions suggest do not