The islander. [volume] (Friday Harbor, Wash.) 1891-1899, 1896-06-04
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The Official Paper of San Juan County
THURSDAY, JUNE 4th, 1895.
sEaTTLE,S PROPHET OF EVIL.

Judging from MS Daccaidufedle SCI
mon to the graduating class OF the
state university, Rev. J. II. Acton, OF
Seattle, would make good recruiting
officer for Coxey army, preaching
discouragement and discomfort, inf1am-
ing the minds of the ignorant and the
reckless and melting to riot and revo-
luton. DR.. Acton is probably entitled
to and he may perhaps enjoy the dis
tinction of being the first minister OF
the gospel in this great republic WHO
has had the presumption to stand be-
hind a Christian pulpit and revile the
institutions and government of the
United States, scott at education as
remedy for the admitted evils of poll
tics and society, and preach an
archy and rebellion to young men and
women about to graduate from one
of the highest institutions of learning
est ablished and maintained by the peO-
pie of the nation which stand fore
most among all the nations of the
earth in its provisions for the educa-
ton and advancement Of all classes.
The sermon" was no more a sermon
in the Christian sense than were the
philippics of DemOsthenes against the
king of Macedon, and it was altogether
lacking in the merit of Justification be-
longing to the latter. 1T was an adj
dress of vehement denunciation
against government of the people, for
the people and by the people" as adj
ministered in the United States, in
stead of Wholesome sermon full of hope
and good cheer. The following ex-
tract will suffice to show its general
character:
ION the eve of her inglorious departure
from the historic record of nations, after
having OutStripped the world, Rome
could spend millions on her royal tables,
support the dignity of a single senator at
$50 900 year, empty the whole courts of
sycophants an tlatterers, impose taxes at
the pleasure of he ruler, declare any COM
plant treason, marry her daughters for
money and titles, employ nOtries to at
test the fairness of her banquet fowls, pun
ish a servants hardness with death, let
mild reproof, and make slaves of the pro-
fOundest philosophers. What less than
this is America doing today? Rome wor-
SHIPPED wealth.; so do we. Hers was an
arist0cracy of possession; so is ours. She
valued no office but for gain and glory;
nor do we. Trades and professions not
favorble TO rapid accumulation and
high social position fell into disrepute; so
have ours. The dancer and the buffoon
receivSd the homage which in the days OF
Pericles was bestowed only upon scholars,
artists and philosophers; it is SO with us.
Poverty was passport to neglect and
scorn. The great Augustine in Rome was
utterly ignored; it is true today. In eX-
act proportion to the sum of money a
man keeps in his chest says Juvenal, is
the credit given to his OATH So with us.
The rich thief goes free. The man who
can buy it gets office. Rome's moral pow
erty sealed her DOOM o, my country! is
it true of thee? The last appeal of an out
ragged nation is revolution. For America
now there is no other redress. 1t must
come"
Further on this apostle of disaster
admits that 1.-THE race has never ceased
to improve" And yet he stands be-
fore the graduating class of the highest
institution of learning in this young
state, open to the sons and daughters
of rich and poor alike, and tells them
that the existing conditions of govern
ment and society in this free and en-
lightened land today are no better than
they were in the Roman empire four
teen hundred years ago, in the time
of its greatest debauchery and grossest
misrule.
After anathematizing our foreign
population and declaring that "for the
most part its worst element fills our
city Offices, dominates our politics, in
timidates free speech, scorns our
churches and schools, defies the law,
and peoples our almshouses and peni-
tentiarles," this dangerous mentor of
hopeful youth says: Another gen.
Grafton of persistent educational infiu-
ence the most active the world has
ever seen would not suffice to change
this dangerous army into the ranks of
good citizenship, and especially with
the ever increasing multitude of ex-
travagant, dishonest, idolatrous, ava
flclous native American population as
constant tutors. BY no possibility can
the coming cataelysm be held off a
sufficient time for the success of this
process.
Such teaching, or preaching, ought
not to be tolerated in any Christian
pulpit i'll this broad land. 1t is the
sort of stuff that one might expect to
hear at socialist meeting, or in gath
erings where the red flag of anarchy
takes the place of the stars and stripes.
That there are defects in our system of
government no intelligent citizen pre-
snmes to question, but that they are
50 grave as to defy all peaceful remedi-
al agencies and justify an internecine
revolution, an uprising of the people
against themselves, is the sort of in
eendiary doctrine that minister of
the gospel should be expected to de-
nounce with all the eloquence and
rehmence at his command. AS one
of the remedies for the various ills he
complains of DR.. Acton suggests "the
explosion of expanding indignation. y
He doesn't explain what that is, but
If one may judge by the general tenor
OF his discourse il must be another
name for dynamite.
At the conclusion of his address DIR.
Acton observed that his task was fin