The Universalist. [volume] (Chicago [Ill.]) 1884-1897, 1895-02-09


great teacher of Northampton"
The contention Of our contemporary
favoring rational amusements and the
change which has come over the Chris
tian world with the softer milder geptler
view which has been unconsciously leav-
ening opinion" is undoubtedly beyond
the range of successful criticism, but
when it mentions Spurgeon and Talmage
in connection with "the Maurices and
the Robertsons" as factors in this pro-
gress. it is decidedly off its bearings.
Spurgeon was, and Talmage is, an ex-
ponent of the Calvinistic theology and
whatever influence they have exerted
has been favorable to the pei petuity of
the doctrine of Jonathan Edwards. The
Commercial has mixed things very badly
10 this paragraph. Spurgeon and Tai
mage are not TO be mentioned in the
same category with Robertson and
Maurice.
Proportional Rep DR.. Garfield. of St.
resentatlon' Paul's church in this
city gave the second in the Sc les of SER
mons on Municipal Reform which THE
UNIvERsALIsr mentioned last week, and
spoke of the necessity of confidence as
the basis of all true reform, suggesting
some particular reforms which will pro-
badly soon come to the front. Among
these is what is termed proportional
Representation" This, DR.. Garfield ex-
plains. as follows:
at has been supposed that the irres-
ponsible supremacy of majority is the
only possible basis of constitutional gov
ernments. That is by no means certain.
1t is not the rule of the people by the
people as whole, only of that portion
of them which, for the moment, has sue
ceeded in hoodwinking their associates.
The minority never has any real conf
dence in the majority no matter what
they may do; therefore the minority
should also have a representation. This
reform has already been adopted in the
cantons of Switzerland. rs applied to
our municipal legislation it will abolish
the district and ward system of electing
single representatives, placing all the
names on general ticket and assigning
the candidates not exclusively to the
mai ority, but to all parties in the field in
exact proportion to the popular vote of
those parties. All shades of opinion and
all varieties of purpose among the peo-
pie at large should be accurately repre-
sented as soon as they attain political
significance. AS it is. the real legislators
of America are those who stand behind
the scene and pull the strings which
control their puppets on the floors Of
legislative halls. This may be in
measure prevented by submitting all
important measures to direct popular
vote, in the same manner as is now done
with constitutional amendments"
"But after all" as DIR.
The Mainstay Of Garfield further said.
Uonndence' "the mainstay of pub.
lie confidence is the cultivation of moral
principle in citizenship. We must break
down the false distinction between So
called sacred and secular duties. All
duties are sacred. Hence municipal Of
than ordained clergymeh, and they
should be held to an equal moral ac-
countability. A filthy and overcrowded
population makes morals and piety diff
fcult. if not impossible. Drunkenness
and lust are inevitable attendants on a
poisoned air. Clean streets, abundance
of pure water, good drainage, open
squares, we'll lighted and we'll ventilated
tenant houses, economical conveyances
to the neighboring parks, innocent
amusements within the reach of all,
cheap bread-these are the only effective
means of grace to vast multitudes."
1--WE have heard evil
The Elbe Disaster. tidings; there is sor-
row on the sea and it cannot be quiet"
The terrible ocean disaster of last week,
ny WulCu OH liNO5 WOAO iO5b NuO 5iuh-
ng of the North German Lloyd Steamer
Elbe, is one of the most terrible events
that have occurred on the ocean in recent
years. The sta amer came into collision
with the British steamer Crathie bound
from Rotterdam, for Aberdeen. Scotland.
The dreadful accident occurred before
day light on the morning of January 80,
at point some thirty miles from the
Hook of Holland. The Elbe had cleared
from Bremen for New York and was in
the waters of the North Sea when the
disaster occurred. In twenty minutes
after the collision the Eibe sunk with
the above fearful loss of life. Only one
boat containing the Bird officer, Chief
Engineer. Purser, and nineteen of the
passengers-only one woman-were res
cued 1t was first hoped that the reports
OF the disaster had been exaggerated and
that most all the passengers and crew
had been rescued. But as time wore on,
it became apparent that the early reports
had minimized rather than exaggerated
the horrors of the disaster. The news
caused the greatest excitement in Ger
many, most of the officers and crew of
A. Ia o,,1 kha - the