Alma record. (Alma, Mich.) 1878-1928, 1899-12-08

he paused moment. and the room
was very quiet Virginia seemed spe-
cially interested. Her face glowed with
interest. 1t was like the interest OF IA
person who had been thinking hard of
the same thing Norman went on now
to mention.
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 newspaper as a purveyor
of all sorts of material to amuse and
interest them, are there enough GEM
inc Christian people in Raymond who
will rally to the support of 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 may also say in this fellow
ship gathering that, owing to recent
complications in my business affairs
outside of my paper. l have been
obliged to lose large part Of my for
tune. l have had to apply the same rule
Of Jesus probable conduct TO certain
transactions with other men who did
not apply it to their conduct, and the
result has been the loss Of a great deal
Of money.
"As | understand the promise we
made, we were not TO ask any questions
about Will it pay?' but all our ac
ton was to be based on the one ques-
ton. What would Jesus do? Acting
on that rule OF conduct, | have been
obliged 20 lose nearly all the money |
have accumulated in my paper. 1t is
not necessary for me TO 20 into details
There is no question with me now. aft
er the three weeks experience | 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. | mention my
loss here because | have the fullest faith
in the final success Of daily paper
conducted on the lines | have recently
laid down, and | had planned TO put
into it my entire fortune in order to
win final success. As it is now. unless
as / said, the Christian people Of Ray
mond, the church mcmhcrs and profess
ing disciples, will support the paper
with subscriptions and advertisements,
cannot continue its publication on the
present basis
Virginia asked "A question. She had
followed Mr.. Norman ; confession with
the most intense eagerneSs.
"Do you mean that "A Christian daily
ought to be endowed with large sum,
like a Christian college, in order to
make it pay?'
THAT is exactly what | mean.
have laid ont plans for putting into The
News such a variety Of material in
such "A strong and truly interesting
way, that it would more than make up
for whatever was absent from its col
umns in the way Of unChristian mat
ter, but my plans called for a very large
outlay of money | ann very confident
that Christian daily such as Jesus
would approve, containing only what
he would print, can be made to succeed
financially II 1t Is planned 10 the rlght
lines, but it will take "a large sum OF
money TO work out the plans
How much do you Think asked
Virginia quietly.
Edward Norman looked at her keen
ly, and his face flushed IA moment as an
idea of Virginia 5 purpose crossed his
mind. He had known her when she was
little girl in the Sunday school, and
he had been on intimate relations in
business with her father.
II should say half million dollars
| in town like Raymond could be well
spent in the establishment of IA paper
| such as we have in mind, he answered,
and his voice tremblcd little. The
keen look on Edward Norman 5 grizzled
| face flashed ont with n stern but thor
| oughly Christian anticipation of great
achievements in the world Of newspaper
life as it had opened up to him within
| the last few seconds
fro pE CoNTTNr-Tn