Butler citizen. [volume] (Butler, Pa.) 1877-1922, 1900-01-25

basis Of What Is rightT never frOn
the basis of What is for the best inter
ests of this or that partyg' In othe
words, he would treat every politica
subject from the standpoint of the ad
vancement of the kingdom Of God ol
the earth 3"
Edward Norman looked up from tn
reading for a moment. "You under
stand that is my Interpretation of Jesus
probable action on political matters OF
other newspaper men who may have
different conception OF Jesus probabl,
action from mine l am simply tryinl
to answer honestly, What would Jesui
do as Edward Normang 2 and the answel
| find is what l have put down
80. The end and aim of daily pa
per conducted by Jesus would he to dc
the will of God. That is, his main pur
pose in carrying on a newspaper woulC
not be to make money or gain politica
influence. but his first and ruling pur
pose should be so to conduct his paper
that it would be evident to all his sub
scribers that he was trying to seek first
the kingdom Of God by means of hi.
paper. This purpose would be as dis
tinct and unquestioned as the purpose
of a minister or a missionary or any
other unselfish martyr in Christian
work anywhere.
~. All questionable advertisements
would be impossible.
''5. The relation of Jesus to the EN-
ployees on the paper would be of the
most loving character.
$50 far as | have gone, F" said Nor
man, again looking up, II am of the
opinion that Jesus would employ prac-
tically some form of cooperation that
would represent the idea of mutual in
terest in business where all were to
move together for the same great end.
am working out such q plan, and l am
confident it will be successful At any
rate, once introduce the element of per-
sonal love into business like this, take
out the selfish principle of doing it for
the sake of personal profits to a man or
company, and / do not see any way ex-
cept the most loving personal interest
between editor, reporters, pressmen and
all who contributed anything to the
life of the paper, and that interest
would be expressed not only in the per-
sonal love and sympathy, but in a shar
ing with the profits of the business
''6. AS editor of daily paper today
Jesus would give large space to the
work of the Christian world He would
devote a page possibly to the facts of
reform, of sociological problems, of in
stitutional church work and similar
movements.
~. He would do all in his power in
his paper to fight the saloon as an enemy
of the human race and an unnecessary
part of our present civilization. He
would do this regardless of public SEN
timent in the matter and, of course, al
ways regardless of its effect ON his sub
scription list. "
Again Edward Norman looked up
81 state my honest conviction on this
point. OF course l do not pass judgment
on the Christian men who are editing
other kinds of papers today, but as l
interpret Jesus 1 believe he would use
the influence of his paper to remove the
saloon entirely from the political and
social life of the nation.
''8. Jesus would not issue Sunday
edition
world that people ought to know.
Among the things that they do not need
to know and which would not be pub
ished would be brutal prizefghts, long
accounts of crimes, scandals in private
families or any other human events
which in any way would conflict with
the first point mentioned in this out
line.
40. If Jesus had the amount of
money to use ON paper which we have,
he would probably secure the best and
strongest Christian men and women
to cooperate with him in the matter Of
contributors. That will be my pur-
pose, as / shall be able to show You in
few days.
al Whatever the details as-tne pa
ner might demand The paper de-
vaIonad a1a,,-,-frs definite plan, the main
,,,;--efple that guided it would always
be the establishment of the kingdom of
God in the world. This large general
principle would necessarily shape all
the details.
Edward Norman finished reading his
plan. He was very thoughtful
81 have merely sketched a very faint
outline. | have a hundred ideas for
making the paper powerful that / have
not yet thought out fully. This is sim
ply suggestive l have talked it over
with other newspaper men, Some of
them say l viii have a weak, namby
pamby Sunday school sheet If l get
out something as good as Sunday
school. it will be pretty good. Why do
men when they want to characterize
something as particularly feeble always
use a Sunday school as a comparison
when they ought to know that the Sun
Gay school Is one OF the strongest, most
powerful influences in our civilization
in this country today. But the paper
will not necessarily be weak because
it is good. Good things are more pow
erful than bad. The question with me
is largely one of support from the Chris
tian people of Raymond. There are over
90, 600 church members here in the
city. If half of them will stand by The
News, its life is assured. What do you
think, Maxwell, is the probability of
such supportr''
81 don't know enough about 1t to
give an intelligent answer. l believe IN
the paper with all my heart. If it lives
n year, as Miss Virginia said, there Is
no telling what it can do. The great
thing will be to issue such a paper, as
near as we can judge, as Jesus probably
would and put into it all the elements
Of Christian brains, strength, intelli-
gence and sense and command respect
by the absence of bigotry, of fanati-
cism, narrowness and anything else that
is contrary to the spirit of Jesus. Such
a paper will call for the best that hu-
man thought ard action are capable of
giving. The greatest minds in the world
would have their powers taxed to the
utmost to issue Christian daily.
Eyes, Edward Norman spoke hum
bly,. Il shall make great mistakes, no
doubt. l need great deal of wisdom.
But l want to do as Jesus would
What would he do2 / have asked it
daily and shall continue to do so and
abide by results. "
II think we are beginning to under
stand, said Virginia. 1.-THE meaning of
that command, Grow in the grace and
knowledge of our Lord and Saviour
Jesus Christ am sure do not know
all that he would do in detail until |
know him better. "
THAT is very true, said Henry
Maxwell. Il am beginning to under
stand that cannot interpret the prob