The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1901-01-10
BISHOP POTTER'S ADDRESS
Discusses Changes in Population in
United States

Philadelphia, Jan 10.-Bishop Potter. in
his address at the Academy 81 MUSIC las5
the history of this republic can be in
sensible to the enormous change IN the
relation Of the population OF this land 70
its great business centers- Two leaqlhs
cities of inferior size in the state IN Wnicn
ally lost In Populat ton ana the commune
ties surrounding them have lost still more
largely. The growth, on the other hand'
OF two or more large centers OF poPula-
ton of America is enormous There are
startling facts in our history. In other
and OF the youth OF the land for educa-
tional or other purposes IS increasingly 70
those great centers More tnan ever
they strike the note, more than ever they
set the pace
i want to speak to you about the re-
Iations Of such a factor this to COM
munities in our municipal and national
of these 1 believe to be the curious decay
in that life, whether it is national or mn-
Individual. The great political revolution
which began in France, which had for
for the emancipation of the older world,
for the freedom of the individual life and
There has ben at work during the last
twenty-five years In the United states
prominently, I think certain great tenden-
cies toward Capitalization of power. You
see it in the domination of capital. in hon
est aggregations of money, when make
in the back office of some bank. to create
in half an hour a CONFUSION In the finan-
You see it in the concentration and or
ganization of the great industrial enter
prises which have girdled the world, not
alone with their enterprises, but with their
genius and ability
organized forces that touch the individ-
ual life. They. are 50 great and so rich
v1duai to stand up against them IS some-
thing more than ordinary courage VIII
dencv of our modern life.
.'As the result Of it a. conviction has
come to pass, which exists widely, not
only IN such communities as yours and
mine, but all over this land, that there
does not exist a. man who is not a pur-
s'About a year ago there came into nv
study in New York someone whom I had
his card did not recognize ana whose
errand could not divine
such a part of the country In that part
of the country a fierce political campaign
is now in progress One of our clergy Qt
was in a territory and not in a city) is at
lacking from the pulpit the moral charac-
ter and moral standards Of a gentleman.
a candidate for a very high office, whom
I represent
4 said: I have not any clergymen out
in that part Of the world 7 have no more
juriIssdiction there than you have
you mean, but it is one of your men,
:. What do you want me to dog I said.
7 want you to stop it, said he and
am authorized by the distinguished gen
tleman whom ] represent to say that If
you win stop it he viii make it worth
II felt like saying. Tt win come high
! got up and walked to the door: I opened
it and stood there. He looked there a
moment in some perplexity. I said: Does
it not occur to you, sir. that this interview
is at endT He went out
Il mention that incident as a proof OF
the statement have made here. Here
was a person in a distant part of the
country a candidate for very high po-
sitiOn, who had not the smallest hesita-
ton in sending an emissary to me with an
intimation that if I were prepared to 81
lenee a speaker who was saying disagree
able things, that money would be put I'D
to make it worth my while.
THE appalling fact is that from the top
to the bottom Of our social structure-the
judge upon the bench. the legislator in the
halls of legislation. the magistrate in the
law courts and the policeman on his beat
are all believed by the great majority Of
the people to be purchasable men. That
such a suspicion should exist is itself a
dishonOr so deep and damning that no
community ought to be willing to rest in
it for an hour"