The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1897-06-23
THE TALE THAT IS ADORNED BY New
HUGH JOHNSTON.

"Rev. Hugh Johnston, or TINS cl.y'
was the acting chaplain. In the
course of his prayer he thanked COO
for the glorious era of prosperity
which was sweeping over the coun-
try. ..,.
Senator Jones, of Arkansas
whose head was reverently peht,
smiled as these words fell upon MS
ear He could not help it. Senator
Vest almost laughed out loud. All
the Democrats were visibly amused
nor was there sober face among
the Republicans.
at was quite evident that the SEN
ators regarded the clergyman's graft
tude as being a little premature.
Washington Post.
Unless this particular Rev. Johnston
be of the servile temperament, then he
must be fighty-which is better Or
course there is fun in this kind of a sklt,
but one cannot help feeling the danger
increasing of the ownership of the pull
pit by money, or worse, the trust-power.
One would think that the president or the
Chicago University would hesitate long
before he would lock horns with Rookie
Teller who owns that triumphant.
1t may be that Rev. Hugh Johnston
NAV have other than Rockefeller intiu-
ences clinging like tender vines about the
bean-pole of his soul, but one thing IS
sure, the Rev. Hugh Johnston may be
put down as a gentleman chiefly of en-
yironment. We don't know where he
breaches or to whom, but if the congre-
CATION be glanced over, we venture that
hundreds of thousands of dollars of EN-
yironment'' will be found in the pews.
This is no joking matter. The whole ten
dency is made up of a streak of menace
and a streak of cowardice-this tendency
of men in the pulpit in the name of God,
coming to the Senate floor or elsewhere
and making a bluff so big that no doubt
beyond the chuckle of Vest and the Re
publicans too, the smoker of angels might
have been heard as they bore the fake
message up toward the Throne. The pull
pit is no place for fools or fawners. If
this Rev. Johnston wants to register adj
vance bulletins (''scoops," SO to speak,,
in heaven of a prosperity here below In
America, that the other pulpit reporters
didn't get" he should at least read eco
nomic journals. If he had read, for
instance, the Financial Chronicle (the
leading authority of this week, he might
have stumbled across this sentence in the
course of an editorial on the Extreme
Fluctuations in Our Foreign Trade:
'It is the late continuance Of abnormal
shipments which is the conspicuous fsa-
ture. Why is this? The obvious reason
is that the present excess has been main
ly due to the fact that home consump-
ton was small, our people economizlng
severely in every way during the year;
us consequence prices of communities
in most departments fell to so low evcl
that buyers were found not only to take
the usual surplus but also considerable
portion of the ordinary allotment for
home wants of food and clothing,
WHICH THIS YEAR WE COULD
NOT AFFORD TO EAT OR WEAR"
The Rev. Johnston and some others
are not without hope on the basis perhaps
that the patient can't get any worse.
While it is tempting, it is not our pur-
pose TO make any note Of the main COM
mercial features of the week, yet let us
touch on just few unfavorable ones in
sentence. The New York banks made
gain for the week in movement of gold
and currency from the interior of nearly
100000; the net exports of gold for
April and May have been $16,000,000,
with an increase for May; it is quite prob
able that Austria has continued to take
large part of this export; the passing
Of the preferred dividend Of the "Big
Four" is one of the most significant fea-
lures Of the week, breaking as it does,
the record of the road; prices have struck
hard-pan, and that is the only cry Of
hope. We would not decry this cry. Let
the good times come; puny party or
man who holds back any hope where
there is hope. But we are stating facts,
nor are we stating them without feeling
that things may temporarily be a shade
better, if anything. But those pulpit
temperaments who find celery salads
and olives absolutely necessary to their
spiritual life, find it necessary to trot
with rich folks in order to get money to
| satisfy their tastes, and to be swell.
Thus is the pulpit even being touched"
by the trusts which hold obedience to be
the first virtue of its hirelings. The Rev.
Hugh Johnston has a gallus-button loose
somewhere-that is the most charitable
view to take Of him. Let him keep ON
praying. His humor breaks even the
Senate's dullness. His petitions in the
midst of tariff dreariness are as piquant
as red pepper pods in boarding house
soup.
RtcVct r E0tTIQN