Middlebury register. (Middlebury, Vt.) 1886-1937, 1898-04-15
ER1CAL DEADHEADISM.


Governor Pngrec's crusade against
railroad passes has raised "a curious issue
in Michigan and Illinois as to The moral
and legal rights and Obligations of cleri-
cal deadheads, or, to put it more exactly,
half-fare ministers. The railroads OF
these states have made tia practice to
issue to every clergyman i'm good stand
ing upon his application, permit which
entitled him to buy at any Of their Offices
a railroad ticket al ouc-half the price
charged other people, and this privilege
has been almost universally accepted by
the profession. The governor therefore
included the ministers in his list of
people who were subsidized debauched,
cnslavcd and silenced by the railroad
corporations, and read them lecture
upon their wickedncss, taking occasion
to point out to them that inasmuch as
the roads are taxed upon their gross re-
ceipts for the support of the public
schools every time a preacher buys "a
half fare ticket lac robs the school fund
and dcpriycs the children of the state of
some of thc educational advantages that
belong to- them.
Most of the clergy treated this with
silent contempt and continued to travel
at half price, but few made vigorous
replies. and one, the Rev. William Boiler
Walker, rector of Christ church at
Joliet. H., improves the occasion to de-
nouncc an outrage which he says has
been pcrpetratcd ON him by the railroads
i'm cutting of his half-farc privilege be-
cause, as he alleges, he published on the
first of January an appeal to the voters
to elect officials who would not be sub
sidiz by free passes, which he regards
as a most insidious form of corruption.
His position is that while it is altogether
wrong for railroad to transport an UNI
regeneTatr deadhead free, it is perfectly
right for one to tote a minister for moth
ing, or at reduced rates, because such a
concession is a "contributiOn to the
moral and religious work in which he is
engaged" which he can accept con-
scientiously and which he.is entitled to.
Furthermore he declares he twill not
meekly submit to the outrage" which
compels him to pay the same as his
parshiOners do, but will insist upon his
"rights of citizenship under the laws of
his government" which include "the le-
gal right to the reduced, rate made for
my (his) class of American citizens
In support of this he quotes interstate
commerce law, which declares it to be
= illegal for any railroad to receive for any
service less from one person than it
charges another person for like service,
under similar conditions, and proceeds
to argue that this means, not that all
persons shall be treated alike, but that
all persons shall be, and upon this issue
/ he ''appealS to the American people"
In selecting his tribunal he shows good
Judgment, for it may be that some
American people will vote that the rail
roads should piece out his salary by
transporting him at a low rate. while it
is certain that no court outside of Kansas
will ever accept his Interpretation of the
law, and the probability is that no church
will adopt his standard of clerical duty
which permits him to accept, in the
name Of morality and religion, what he
asserts Il layman cannot honestly take.
The trouble with brother Walker
seems to be that he is Il good deal more
] i!hc tllc 'IulhdlA 0lulcl IMAM lt - VIII
ing to admit. and has licensed himself to
do what does not benefit his calling,
upon theory which is absurd. one of
three things he should do: Walk, pay
his fare like a man, or accept what
favors the railroads give him and refrain
from describing others who do the same
as booders and mercenaries. The idea
that because he is engaged in saving
souls he has a right to levy contributions
for his own benefit upon soulless cOrpor-
atiOns is not cOuntenanced in the creed
or the statutes. Mirror and Farmer.
THE APRIL MAGAZINES.