El Paso daily herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1881-1901, 1899-12-02

of my subscribers are intensely ler-
tisan. l may as well tell you all frank
~ that if [ continue to pursue the plan
which l honestly believe Jesus would
; in the matter of political issues and
! their treatment from nonpartisan and
! moral standpoint The News viii not be
able to pay its operating expenses I'M
! less one factor in Raymond can be de-
pended on
He paused q moment, and the loom
was very quiet. Virginia seemed spe-
! cially interested Her face glowed with
! interest 1t was like the interest OF a
person who had been thinking hard of
the same thing Norman went on now
to mention.
t'That one factor is the Christian
element in Raymond Say The News
has lost heavily from the dropping off
of people who do not care for Chris
tian daily and from others who simply
look upon a newspaper as a purveyor
of all sorts of material to amuse and
interest them, are there enough genu-
inc Christian people in Raymond who
will rally to the support of a paper
such as Jesus would probably edit, or
are the habits of the people SO firmly
established in their demands for the
regular type of journalism that they
will not take a paper unless it is strip
ped largely of the Christian and moral
purpose? 1 may also say in this fellow
ship gathering that, owing to recent
complications in my business affair."
outside of my paper, I have been
obliged to lose a large part of my for
tune. have had to apply the same rule
of Jesus probable conduct to certain
transactions with other men who die
not apply it to their conduct, and The
result has been the loss of a great de-.
of money.
Gas I understand the promise W:
made. we were not to ask any question
about will it pay2' but all our -
ton was to be based on the one ques
ton, What would Jesus dor Actin:
on that rule of conduct. 1 have beer
obliged to lose nearly all the money !
have accumulated in my paper 1t il
not necessary for me to go into details
There is no question with me now. aft
er the three weeks experience l have
had. that a great many men would lose
vast sums of money under the present
system of business if this rule of Jesus
were honestly obeyed l mention my
loss here because 1 have the fullest faith
in the final success of a daily paper
conducted on the lines I have recently
laid down, and 1 had planned to put
into it my entire fortune in order to
win final success AS it is now, unless
as l said, the Christian people of Ray
mond, the church members and profess
ing disciples, will support the paper
with subscriptions and advertisements. l
cannot continue its publication on the
present basis 4"
Virginia asked question She had
followed Mr.. Norman's confession with
the most intense eagerness-
''Do you mean that Christian daily
ought to be endowed with a large sum,
like a Christian college, in order to
make it pay?''
-|That is exactly what 1 mean.
have laid out plans for putting into The
News such a variety of material, in
such strong and truly interesting
way, that it would more than make up
for whatever was absent from its col
umns in the way of un-Christian mat
ter, but myplans called for very large |
outlay of money. I am very confident |
that a Christian daily such as Jesus |
would approve, containing only what |
he would print, can be made to succeed |
if it is planned to the right. |
lines, but it will take a large sum of
money to work out the plans
Glow much do you think2" asked |
Virginia quietly.
Edward Norman looked at her keen
ly, and his face flushed a moment as an
idea of Virginia's purpose crossed his
mind He had known her when she was
a little girl in the Sunday school, and
he had been on intimate relations in
business with her father.
81 should say half million dollars
in town like Raymond could be well
spent in the establishment Of paper
such as we have in mind" he answered,
and his voice trembled a little. The
keen look on Edward Norman g grizzled
face flashed out with stern but thor
oughly Christian anticipation Of great
in the world of newspaper
life as it had opened up to him within
the last few seconds
''Then," said Virginia, speaking as
# the thought were fully considered.
II am ready to put that amount of
money into the paper on the one condi-
ton. of course, that it be carried on as
it has been begun.
''Thank Godr' exclaimed Henry
softly. Edward Norman was
pale The rest were looking at Virginia
She had more to say.
''Dear friends, she went on, and
here was sadness in her voice that
made an impression on the rest that
when they thought it over
tfterward, 81 do not want any of you
20 credit me with an act of great gen.
,rosity or philanthropy. I have come
20 know lately that the money which
lave called my own is not my own,
put Gods. If 1. as a steward of his, see