Middletown transcript., 1899-12-30

. multitude of sinners Is distinctly
Christlike quality
When the meeting closed. there wa
no special interest shown. The peopl,
| rapidly melted away from the tent. and
the saloons, which had been experienc
ing dull season while the meetings
| progressed. again drove a thriving
trade. The Rectangle, as IL to make NJ
for lost time, started in with vigoT on
its usual night life of debauch Henry
Maxwell and his little party, including
Virginia, Rachel and Jasper Chase,
walked down past the row of saloons
and dens until they reached the corner
where the cars passed
'This is terrible spot, said Henry
Maxwell as they stood waiting for their
car. 81 never realized that Raymond
had such fostering sore. 1t does not
seem possible that this is city full Of
Christian disciples. .
He paused and then continued:
''Do you think any ope can ever re-
move this great curse q the saloon I
Why don't we all act together against
the traficf What would Jesus dot
Would he keep silentf Would he vote
to license these causes of crime and
death2"
Henry Maxwell was talking to him
self more than to the others He re-
membered that he had always voted for
license. and so had nearly all of his
church members What would Jesus
dot Could he answer that question: Z
Would Jesus preach and act against the
saloon If he lived todayH How would
he preach and act? Suppose it was not
popular to preach against license Sup
pose the Christian people Thought il
was all that could be done-to license
the evil, and so get revenue from a nee
essary sin. Orsuppose the church mem
bers owned property where the saloons
stood. What then He knew that these
were the facts in Raymond What
would Jesus doI
He went up into his study the next
morning with that question only partly
answered. He thought of it all day. He
was still thinking of it and reaching
certain real conclusions when The
Evening News came. His wife brought
it up and sat down few minutes while
he read it to her.
The Evening News was at present
the most sensational paper in Raymond
That is to say, it was being edited in
such remarkable fashion that its sub
scribers had never been SO excited over
newspaper before. First they had no
ticed the absence of the prizefght, and
gradually it began to dawn upon them
that The News no longer printed ac-
counts Of crime with detailed descrip-
tions or scandals in private life. Then
they noticed that the advertisements Of
liquor and tobacco were being dropped,
together with certain other advertise
ments of a questionable character. The
discontinuance of the Sunday paper
caused the greatest comment Of all, and
now the character of the editorials was
creating the greatest excitement. A
quotation from the Monday paper Of |
this week will show what Edward Nor
man was doing to keep his promise |
The editorial was headed:
HTHE MORAL SIDE oF POLITICAL CUES |
TIONs.
"The editor of The News has always
advocated the principles Of the great
political party at present in power and
has therefore discussed all political |
questions from standpoint of expedi-
ency or of belief in the party as opposed
TO other organizations Hereafter, to
be perfectly honest with all our read
ers, the editor will present and discuss
political questions from the standpoint
of right and wrong In other words,
the first question will not be, is 1t in
the interest Of our partyf' or is it &C
cording to the principles laid down by
the party 2 but the question first asked
viii be- lis this measure in accordance
with the spirit and teachings of Jesus
as the author Of the greatest standard
Of life known to menf' That is, to be
perfectly plain, the moral side Of every
political question will be considered, its
most important side. and the ground
will be distinctly taken that nations as
well as individuals are under the same
aw to do all things to the glory Of God
aS the nrSl rule OF aCtlon.
'sThe same principle will be observed
n this Office toward candidates for
places of responsibility and trust in the
'epublic Regardless of party politics,
he editor of The News will do all in
,is power to bring the best men into
,ower and will not knowingly help to
support for cfice any candidate who is
unworthy, however much he may be
ndorsed BY the party The first ques-
ions asked about the man, as about the
MEASURE, will be: Is he the right man
or the place7 Is he a good man with ,
Ibility =
There had been more of this, but we
ave quoted enough to show the char-
Icter of the editorials. Hundreds of
nen in Raymond had read it and rub
,ed their eyes in amazement a good ,
many of them had promptly written to !
Phe News. telling the editor to stop
heir paper. The paper etill came out, !
oweyer. and was eagerly read all over {
he city. At the end of tho week Ed I
Yard Norman knew very well that he 6
ad actually lost already large num- c
er Of valuable subscribers He faced t
he conditions calmly. although Clark, q
he managing editor, grimly anticipated !
ltimate bankruptcy, especially since I
1onday's editorial 9
Tonight as Henry Maxwell read to '
is wife he could see in almost every
olumn evidences of Norman s conscien- {
ious obedience to his promise There t
vas an absence of slangy. sensational y
care heads. The reading matter under '
he headlines was In perfect keeping il
nth them. He noticed in two columns Y
hat the reporters names appeared, !,
igned at the bottom. and there was e
istinct advance in the dignity and d
lyle of their contributions
$50 Norman is beginning 10 get his 3,
eporters to sign their work. He has p
alked with me about that. It is good t,
hing. It fixes responsibility for items
There it belongs and raises the standard gI
work done, good thing all around a
Or public and writers. q b
Henry Maxwell suddenly paused. His Il
rife looked mp from some work she
yas doing. He was reading something
I. Il. = r.