Ottumwa semi-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1899-1903, 1899-09-21
relieved. Then he spoke sadly, but
with great conviction:

believed. Then he spoke sadly, but
with great conviction:
Maxwell, you and I belong to q
class Of professional men who have al
ways avoided the duties of citizenship.
We have lived in o little world Of schol-
nrly seclusion, doing work we have en-
joyed and shrinking from the disagree
nble duties that belong to the life Of
the citizen. confess with shame that
| have purposely avoided the response
Dility that owe to this city personally.
l understand that our city officials are
. corrupt, unprincipled set of men,
controlled in large part by the whisky
element, and thoroughly selfish, SO far
as the affairs Of city government are
|. concerned. Yet all these years l. with
nearly every teacher in the college, have
been satisfied to let other men run the
municipality and have lived in little
world of my own, out of touch and
sympathy with the real world of the
people. What would Jesus dor I have
tried even to avoid an honest answer.
I can no longer do so. My plain duty is
to take personal part in this coming
election, go to the primaries, throw the
weight of my influence, whatever it is,
toward the nomination and election of
good men and plunge into the very
depths of this entire horrible whirlpool
of deceit, bribery. political trickery and
saloonism as it exists in Raymond to-
day. l would sooner walk up to the
mouth of cannon any time than do
this. 1 dread it because I hate the touch
of the whole matter.
81 would give almost anything to be
able to say, Il do not believe Jesus
would do anything of the sort but
am more and more persuaded that he
would This is where the suffering
comes to me. 1t would not hurt me
half so much to lose my position or my
home. / loathe the contact with this
municipal problem. I would much pre-
fer to remain quietly in my scholastic
life with my classes in ethics and phi
losophy, but the call has come SO plain
ly that cannot escape: Donald Marsh.
follow me. Do your duty as citizen of
Raymond at the point where your citi-
zenship will cost You something. Help
to cleanse this great municipal stable.
even if you do have to soil your aris-
tocratic feelings u little. Maxwell. this
is my cross. must take it up or deny
my Lord. l."
'You have spoken for me also. " re-
piled Maxwell. with sad smile why
should l, simply because am n clergy
man, shelter myself behind my refined
sensitive feelings and, like coward
refuse to touch, except in sermon pos
siSly, the duty of citizenship Lam I'M
used to the ways of the political life of
the cisy l have never taken an active
part in any nomination Of good men.
There are hundreds of ministers like
me. As class we do not practice in
the municipal life tho duties and privi-
leges we preach from the pulpit What
would Jesus dot am now ut u point
where, like you. l am driven to answer
the question one way. My duty is plain.
must suffer. All my parish work. all
my little trials or self sacrifices. are as
nothing to me compared with the break
ing into my scholarly. intellectual. self
contained habits of this open. coarse.
public fight for clean city life.
could go and live at the Rectangle the
rest of my days and work in the slums
for bare living. and could enjoy ii
more than the thought of plunging into
ia fight for the reform of this whisky
ridden city. It would cost mo less. But,
like you, have been unable to shake
off my responsibility The answer tc
the question, What would Jesus dor
in this case leaves me no peace. except
| when say. Jesus would have me act
the part of a Christian citizen Marsh.
as you say, we professional men. min
listers. professors, artists. literary men.
scholars, have almost invariably been
political towards. We have avoided the
sacred duties of citizenship either ig.
norantly or sel6shly. Certainly Jesus
in our age would not do that We car
do no less than take up this cross and
follow him."
| These two men walked on in silence
| for awhile Finally President Marsh
, said:
1--WE do not need to act alone in this
matter. With an the men who have
made the promise we certainly car
have companionship and strength ever
of numbers. Let US organize the Chris
tian forces of Raymond for tho battle
/ against rum and corruption. We GER
taialy ought to enter the primarie.
with force that will be able to d.
more than utter protest. It is fac
that the saloon element is cowardly ant
seasily frightened, in spite of its law
lessness and corruption Let us plan
campaign that will mean something be
cause it is organized righteousness
Jesus would use great wisdom in THU
matter. He would employ means Il,
would mako large plans. Let us do SO
If we bear this cross, let us do it brave
ly, like men.
They talked over the matter lorl
time and met again the nett day il
Henry Maxwell's study to develop
plans. The city primaries were called
for Friday. Rumors of strange and un
heard of events-to the average either
were current in political circles through
out Raynond The rrawford cystan, =,