The San Francisco call., 1896-02-10
DR.. CASE TALKS.
He Agrees With Rev. Davis on the
Governing Motives of News


Governing Motives of News
papers.
Rev. DIR. w. w. Case, the eminent Meth
odist preacher, yesterday afternoon in
formed the local papers by telephone that
he was going to make an attack upon them
in the evening at his church, and that he
was willing to have the public know his
attitude in the case relating to DIR. Brown.
He wanted to have the sermon get into
print.
Later he sent a verbal message that if
the papers should not print the sermon
they would prove themselves to be cow
ards.
The text which the preacher quoted in
the evening, after he had issued his decIa-
ration OF war on the newspapers, was as
follows:
Micah v, 8: "And what doth the Lord re-
quire of thee but to do justly, and to love
mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God?"
Then, when he had spoken of the re-
qulrement OF the love of mercy, Dr. Case
began the promised attack. He said:
DR.. Brown has been in hell for some time.
and it is evident there is no lack of devils to tor
ment him. would quite as soon be in Dr. B. s
place as in the shoes of his tormentors He
may be hypocrite-many of his pursuers
certainly are. They are the canting hypocrites
who ring all possible changes on the religion
OF the golden rule. They are the people who
go into ecstases over the doctrine OF the father
hood OF God and the brotherhood of man, and
who hate the creeds and profess to believe only
manifest itI 1t is Turkish love; the same sort
those benevolent Turks show TO the Arme-
MANS
We send money and missionaries to Turkey
and petition Congress to intercede tor the Ar
menlans. But who sends missionaries to us?
Who writes petitions for the wronged and per-
secuted who dwell among us? Who pleads for
drop OF the milk of human kindness in San
Francisco? Scarcely friendly word has been
publicly uttered for DIR. Brown. Talk about
doing TO others as you would that they should
do unto you! Who does it? Talk about the
rellg1on OF humanity as opposed TO Christian
ttyl Where shall we look for the exemplifca-
ton OF the religion of humanity?
All this seemed to the members of DIR.
Cases congregation, when the sermon was
delivered, to be an attack on Mrs. Sarah
B. Cooper, or the assemble people them
selves, and some OF the listeners began to
get irritable, but the peacher went on:
In what editorial sanctum in San Francisco
may we look for the manifestation of the spirit
OF brotherly kindness2- Where shall we look
Tor newspaper correspondents who have words
OF sympathy and help for the accused? What
ghouls are there like the newspaper reporters
who may be naturally kind, but who are com
PEELED TO be Ishmaelites in order to retain
their positions2 They must get what they call
''scoop' and get ahead of some other paper
at iii COST NJ IudLl6I VINO Suu6rS uD1QStly.
no matter whose home is broken up, no matter
who goes down in the swirling waters; inno-
cence, virtue, home, family and children,
these are nothing; hurl them all into the yor-
tex and let them go under for sensationalism
must be kept up.
Rev. Cader Edwards Davis of Oakland.
the preacher who won fame AMI distinc-
ton By dancing in his pulpit, has said the
same thing and Mr.. Davis knows because
he employs newspaper reporter as his
press representative and advance agent.
Still forgetting what he had quoted
about mercy and leaving the objects of his
assault entirely out of the "brotherhood'h
DR.. Case continued:
Those who talk of human brotherhood and
then rake up everything true or false, espe-
cially the false. that was ever hinted at or
suggested against man or woman are hypo-
critics of the worst kind and deserve a warm
place in limbo. Abraham could not have
stood such test as that, neither could Moses,
sin. Abraham and Jacob used deception
Moses slew the Egyptian and David broke the
decalogue all to pieces.
These things the preacher seemed to re-
gard as all right for Abraham and Jacob,
who used deception; and for Moses, who
slew the Egyptian; and for David, who
smashed the decalogue. His criticism was
aimed only at newspaper men-and what
ever else they may have done Abraham
and Jacob and Moses and David did not
work on newspapers.
Paul was prosecutor, and Peter a profane
man and q preyaricator, not to use a harsher
term.
This, also, the preacher uttered, reviv-
ing come more old scandals that the
papers would never have known about.
Then he explained:
But they repented and God forgaye them.
ana they became prominent in the world and
distinguished for goodness and greatness.
so aUc m fha nd Gcf, x,,i1
member your sins no more forever; l will
cast them into the depths of the sea-" But
modern journalism says, ''No matter where
and dragnet and Will fish them up" They
work bravely at their task If there are really
no black sins to fish up they are satisfied to
haul up lot of dead fish of species called
smelt, and all the better the more they smelt.
The latter remark, or joke, would or
dlnarlly have to undergo sort of surgical
operation before being permitted to appear
In print, but that is the form in which DIR.
Case submitted it. Recalling his attitude
IN the Durrant trials, before the murderer
of the two girls had been sentenced to be
hanged, the preacher said:
plead for suspension of Judgment until
the case shall have been tried. / plead in the
name of humanity, which in this affair has
been trodden into the dust. I plead in the
outraged 1 plead in the name of mercy whici.
being thrust aside, weeps over ssmafl's 1nhu.
manity to man." plead in the name of corr
mon law, which accords every citizen the right
of trial before his peers. plead in the sacred
name OF woman, whose just and noble cause
has been seriously imperiled by the unwoman-
illness and unchristlikeness OF some of her
distinguished representatives.
Here, of course, DR.. Case again departed
from his text. He also forgot to give the
women the privilege of trial by Jury, but
he was speaking only in the assumed in
terest of DIR. Brown.
take the same position 18th reference to
DR.. Brown that took in the Durrant case. l
said more than once from this platform, dur
ing Durrant's trial by newspapers, before the
trial by jury, that the men and women who
were declaring that they would like to see the
accused torn limb from limb were themselves
murderous in their spirit, ana very likely, in
the sight OF God, no better than the Imprisoned
suspect. took the position then that the ac-
cused ought to have the benefit of the doubt
until he should have been proven guilty.
/ demand the same fair treatment for Dr.
Brown. He is not accused of murder, treason
or highway robbery. No one sues him for
damages; no one accuses him of having done
persona injury. The matter involved in mis-