The evening times., 1900-09-13
CONVERT FOR MR.. BRYAN
4 Prominent Delaware Pastor De-
s-rts the Republicans.
lie VIII Cast His First Democratic
Vote for the Nebrnskan-Giyes
Strong Reasons for Refusing tn
Support Mr. MckinIey-Great Dam
ger to the Country In Imperialism.

DOVER, Del, Sept. 1a--Rev. Joseph
Brown Turner, pastor of the Dover Pres
byterian Church, who has announced his
intention to forsake the Republican party
and support the Democratic ticket, said in
an interview here:
Il shall vote for Mr.. Bryan in November.
though l have never before voted Demo-
cratic ticket. While I am somewhat re-
luctant TO talk about my political rela-
tions, I see no reason why l should not
candidly state some of the reasons for my
personal convictions and my change of po-
litieal alignment at this time.
Concerning the ordinary issues upon
which the American people agree to differ
it is wise for the clergy to keep silence,
especially in the pulpit. Matters of taxa
tion, finance, and ordinary administration
should be left to those whose business 1t Is
to understand them and discuss them. But
We are clear outside of ordinary lines in
this campaign. The issues now pending
are vital and no political contest since
1860 has been so charged with veal or
woe to the Government under which we
live
TIE AK it laid at the root OF the tree
under whose shadow We have sat with
delight. 1t is time for every man uhS
loves free institutions and true democratic
principles to speak and keep on speaking.
No more precious legacy ever came to any
people than that bequeathed by our fore
fathers to ali succeeding generations of
Americans. This generation is i'll danger
of belittling that legacy and of casting 1t
wholly aside.
50 We have outgrown the principles of
our fathers We are told, and we may
safely discard them We cannot keep TO
In 4 n M -
cannot keep inside Of constitutional limi-
tations and be a world-power. Then we
had better not be a worldpower-
L am a constitutienalist. Until we
change cur Constitution in the orderly
way provided in the Constitution itself l
can see nothing but overwhelming disas-
ter in a refusal or a neglect to abide by
| its guarantees and restrictions. We have
gone outside of those restrictions ana
guarantees under the leadership or fhe
present Administration, and what the end
may be under such leadership 1t is not
difficult to foresee.
'Dangerous heresies, theoretical and
practfcaI-these have always been among
US. Professionalism in politics, the low
ering of moral standards in public life,
the peIversion OF parties, the corruption
of the ballot bribery. and official yenaIlty
these we have grown familiar with, ana
menacing they are indeed But with these
turning practical sanity in the country
| could and would sweep them away like
the chaf of the summer threshtns floor
Grayer far than these evils, more porten-
tous than any or all of them, is the fact
that free America IS forgetting its mis-
sion turning away from its glorious pfec-
edents. losing sight OF its ancient land
| marks and giving The lie to all that our
| fathers believed TO be politically and eter-
| nany true. We are learning to depend
| upon force rather than on justice; we are
| putting might before right Rock-bottom
| principles justice. liberty, and life
are at stake in the present contention,
| for these have all been asSailed.
| Under the impulse of new ard foreign
| conceptfons of duty we have transformed
| a righteous war for liberation in the West
| into an unhoIy strife for conquest IN The
| East \ war for humanity in one fair ISL
| and of the sea has been changed TO a war
| of inhumanity in another Soldiers re-
| cruited to fight for liberty iii Cuba are
! fighting against liberty in Luzon. \ weak
| and practically helpless people asked from
| US the right to govern themselves-this
and no more-and We have preferred TO
slaughter their best and most intelligent
! classes by thousands rather than grant
their request
They rallied in behalf of principles no
| other than those for which the embattled
! tdElNerE d
and Bunker Hill and We pursue them with
fire and sword. They have bravely dared
| to assert their inalienabIe right to life. lib
erty and the pursuit Of happiness. and Nj
| Mckinley presents TO them the alternatives
of submission or annihIation- We are re-
tanning under his fatuous policy, or lack OF
| policy. a territory TO which before God We
have no shadow o. right. and which we
promised soIemriy not to retain.
| We jntrlrdeT UD0O that territory even
| before the Paris Treaty was signed. The
President refused to give the people of that
| territory a hearing in their own behalf
and then made the plea that he had nc
| means of knowing their desires. It his
been a shameful record from its beginning
Our domineertng our inhdelity to taci,
pledges. provoked resentment, followed by
resistance Upon this resistance the Ad-
minfstration declared falsely that the peo-
pie were rebels-this in spite OF its assur-
| ance that the United States had no inten-
ton of asserting permanent sovereignty
over them.
''Then a greater force was sent to stamr
out the so-called rebellion. And now
having broken the arm of the existing
! government and spread blocdshed, confu-
sion and anarchy far and wide, Mr.. Nc
| Kiniey declares, with hands uplifted tc
| Heaven, that moral reasons force US te
stay, for if we were TO withdraw our ar
| mics the people would not be able to gov
| ern themselves. These are the vicious
stages by which we have been led by ar
ambitious leadership lusting for power
and hiding its purposes behind . wordy
fog OF pious and patriotic cant.
This is why I am willing to speak. This
| is why / shall cast my ballot for William
| j. Bryan as against William Mckinley.
They say that Mr.. Bryan is not a safe
| man. Possibly he is not But when I fine
one man engaged in breaking up the fur
niture of my house. while another is set
ting fire to the house itself. [ will attend
| to the irebug first. I do not believe
| though, that Mr.. Bryan is an unsafe man
| His utterances during the whole of this
campaign have been statesmanlike. and
| every word has rung true. His Indiana
polls speech is the noblest utterance this
! ration has heard since Lincoln spoke al
Gettysburg. II he is elected we will BIZ
spared the repetition CT the shamefu
| spectacle of an administration endeavor-
ing in an official capacity to perpetuatt
itself. He says he will not accept a see
ond nomination, and 1 believe him H.
speaks like an honest, straightforward
| God-fearing man
Sixteen to one, it is true, may be nor,
than an administration bugaboo, and hi
| mics say they are. | have my own opinion
But this do know: If a Republican Con
gress elected to safeguard the financial in
| terests Of the country according to Re
| publican theories could not or would no
pass an impeccab1e law during the fou
4 :