Marietta daily leader. (Marietta, Ohio) 1895-1906, 1896-10-01
BISHOP NEWMAN
One of the Great Leaders of the
M. E. Church.
HE TALKS ABOUT FREE SILVER.


Should Preach Honest Money, and So
Advises in His Charge.
The Rev. DR.. John P. Newman,
Methodist Episcopal bishop of San
clergymen of the country who believes
that in the present campaign clergymen
of all denominations, Protestant as well
as Catholic, have duty to perform that
is little less sacred and important than
that which confronted them during the
anti.slavery agitation. He believes that
the Christian ministers of the United
States should preach the doctrine Of
honest money from their pulpits with
as much fervor as their fathers preached
the abolition of the slaves. He believes
that clergymen should do this not for
politics sake, but for countrys sake. He
believes that the honor and the very
life of the nation are threatened by
those who advocate the free coinage of
silver, and with such crisis, with
honesty and right on the one side and
dishonesty and wrong on the other, he
believes that the Christian church, true
to its history and traditions, should pre-.
sent solid front against the assaults
upon the nations honor and the ma
tion's prestige.
Speaking recently of the political sit
uation and the duty of tho clergy to it,
Bishop Newman said:
In my opinion this country is pass
ing through crisis almost, if not quite
as grave as that which led up to the
revolution and rebellion. 1t is time for
patriots, not partisans, for heroes, not
demagogues. In such crisis the re-
sponsibility of the clergy is great and
their duty is plain. The duty of every
Christian minister is to preach the Ten
Commandments, particularly the one
which says: Thou shalt not steal
'For the present we must 60 back
from Christ to the Mosaic law, No, /
do not mean quite that, for Christ was
the defender and expounder of the
Mosaic law. Let me say rather, that
we should preach, over and over again,
the sermon on the Mount. Those who
have nothing to risk would assail the
rights of property There is no more
sacred right than the right to have, to
hold and to enjoy the product of the
brain or the muscle. The Ten Com
mandments surround property with the
imminent of law, and as the rights of
property are now threatened, let the
voice Of the pulpit, from ocean to ocean,
proclaim to the Populists and anarchists
and communists: Thou shalt not
steal.
"In the conferences committed to my
charge there are something over 1000
ministers. l shall call their attention
to what believe is the plain duty of
tho olorpx on1 cl,ol1
the Importance of using all the influence
they possess. in the pulpit and out,
against the danger which threatens our
country, against the possible triumph of
Bryan and Sewall and the election of
congress that is pledged to pass free
silver coinage measure. The pulpit was
a powerful agent in freeing the slaves
1t can be made powerful agent in re-
claiming those of our people who have
been led away from their notions of
honor and honesty by the false prophets
OF false doctrine. If such stand on
the part of the clergy causes dissension
in the churches, let dissension come.
Better dissension i'll the churches for
the sahe of the right than peace and
quiet while dishonor triumphs and the
sappers and miners of the national credit
, are enthroned in high places
1.-THE advocates Of free coinage say
that there is not enough money with
which to do business, and that the pass
age of a free coinage measure will double
the money in the country. Let us see
if that is true. It must be admitted, of
course, that before we can have more
silver dollars the silver ore must be
mined and then the bullion must be
coined into money. Now, the silver
ore is controlled by the comparatively
few men who own the mines They
will have the money. How are you and
to get it from them? Shall we sand
bag them, or shall we rob their treasure
houses, or how are we to get it? They
will not give 1t to us for nothing. Then
how will the circulating medium be in
creased? The silver can come from
only one source, and that is controlled
by few persons. They will be bene-
flied and we shall have a new set of
plutocrats, the basis of whose wealth is
silver. But you and l won't be bene-
flied.
There are great many idle men in
this country today who are ready and
willing to work, who are crying give us,
for Gods sake, bread for ourselves and
our families Many of these men be-
lieve that their condition will be better
ed if free coinage measure is passed.
That might be true if the men who own
the silver mines and who will have the
silver dollars, in the event of free
coinage measure, would guarantee that
they would spend their newly.acquired
wealth in opening up new industries
and in reopening old ones that have
been shut down. But we have no as
surance that such q disposition will be
made of the money. In fact, we have
no assurance of anything. All you can
get from silver man is I8 to L. and
that is the alpha and omega of his ar
gument
"And while we are adjusting ourselves
to the new conditions, if we ever can
adjust ourselves to them, there will be
panic and business failures and financial
ruin. What is the farmer and the la
borer going to do during that period
Sober thought will convince both.
believe that honesty is the best policy,
and to the inspired command of Moses,
/ -.