The daily morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven, Conn.) 1894-1907, 1896-03-04
HOME MISSION CAMPAIGN
PRESIDENT CLEVELdND FIRED
THE OPENING GUN.

e" was Ne'y TntnuslastiC ana inc
Various Speakers. Were Cheered to the
Echo-Address of President Cleveland.
New York, March 3.-The opening gun
of the big Home Mission campaign was
flred Tonight at Carnegie hall by the
board OF Home Missions of the Presby-
terian church. The announcement that
President Cleveland was to preside at
the meeting brought an immense audi
ence to the hall and every seat was fill
ed. The audience was very enthusiastic
and the remarks of the various speak
ers We're cheered to the echo. The OBJ
ject OF the rally was to stir UP the
public interest in the work of the Home
Missions and to raise funds for COM
pleting payments on the new building of
the society on Fifth avenue. The meet
ing tonight is the first of a series to
be held all over the United States.
Shortly after o'clock President Cleve-
land appeared upon the platform. The
audience rose and cheered wildly for
several minutes. The face of the presi-
edgements. The meeting was called to
order by the Rev. DR.. John Hall, who
was greeted with applause.
He said they We're assembled there
in the interest of a great work which
was meant to promote the highest good
of the nation by providing for the peo-
pie the means of grace and the benefits
of church institution. He introduced
President Cleveland as the presiding
officer of the meeting. President Cleve-
land then came forward and was re-
ceived very warmly. The president
spoke as follows:
II desire to express my appreciation
of the privilege of participating in this
conference and Of the opportunity thus
afforded me Of testifying to the value
and usefulness Of the work undertaken
by the Board Of Home Missions of the
Presbyterian church.
My interest in this subject and my
familiarity with home missionary eff
forts are not newly acquired. They
early came to me in the surroundings
of Christian Presbyterian home, and
were stimulated by a fathers faithful
labors in the cause.
'sIn these days the vanguard of oc-
cupation in a new settlement is never
without it's vicious and criminal ele-
ment Gambling houses and dram
shops are frequently among the first
establishments in a new community
1t must also be confessed that removal
from old homes and associations to a
new and more primitive home has a
tendency among honest and respecta-
BILE settlers to smother scruples and to
breed federation Of evil and Indifference
to Ch,istianizing and elevating agen
cies. These conditions if unchecked
and uncorrected fix upon the new COM
munity by their growth and expansion
a character and disposition which
while dangerous to peace and order
in the early stages of settlement, de-
velop into badly regulated municipah
ties corrupt and unsafe territories and
undesirable states. These are serious
considerations In a country where the
people, good or bad, and its rulers, be-
cause the conditions to which I have
referred would certainly menace, with
in a circle constantly enlarging, the
safety and welfare of the entire body
polite, il we could not hope that
churches and religious teachings would
from the first be on the ground to op
pose the evil influences that are apt to
pervade the beginning of organized
communities.
tThese churches and these religious
teachings were never more needed than
now on our distant frontiers. where
the process of framing new states is
going on so rapidly, and where new
comers who are to be the citizens of
the new states are so rapidly gather
ing together.
For those instrumentalities at the
outpost of our population, SO vitally
important in the view of the, Christian
men as we'll as patriotic citizens, We
must depend to a very great extent on
home missionary exertion. How can
we excuse ourselves if we permit this
exertion to languish for lack of proper
support?
eff we turn from these objects of
home missionary labor to the situation
of those actually toiling in distant
fields for God and humanity, and a
purer, better citizenship, our sympathy
ened and our sense of duty to them and
their cause actively stimulated. These
are the men and women who have left
home and the association of friends un-
der the direction of organized mission
boards to teach Christianity in sparsely
settled sections and to organize church
es where none exist, enduring discom-
fort, hardship, poverty and doing for
the sake of cause to which in very
comfortable and inexpensive way we
profess to be attached. These are our
soldiers at the front, fighting our bat
ties and we who stay at home cannot
escape the duty of providing for them
and reinforcing them in every way II
we are to continue them in our SER
vice.
Our hearts have recently been pro-
foundly stirred by the dangers that
threaten the devoted men and women
who have gone from among us to
preach and teach Christianity in for
eign land. Our sympathy with them
and those with whom they labor and
suffer is made more painful because the
arm of complete relief has not thus far
been able to reach them. Our mission
airy impulse should be large enough and
strong enough for both.
1T seems to me that if Christian peo-
pie of our land estimate at its real val