New-York tribune., 1902-01-17

FECTIONs OF sALOONKEEPERs.
The Christian Advocate" of which the Rev.
DIR. James NJ. Buckley is editor, contains an
article entitled "A Study of Bishop Henry C
Potter" which is a bitter attack on the bishop.
1t says:
At present Bishop Potter's intellectual status
is much discussed An author Of considerable
standing the other day met one of the best
known literary characters in the city and said
TO him. rs Bishop Potter profound man or a
superficial one?" The answer was, He Is
neither" We should not wish to have to decide
among those three views. 1t is question
whether II is not possible for man TO have the
capacity for profundity and not always take the
time to think, and thus speak specifically; or
whether he may not naturally be superficial, ana
occasionally catch a view of a subject which
uttered cathedra would lay the foundation
of a reputation for prOfundity.
Questions of inconsistency, haste and mac
curacy and errors growing out of arrogance or
superciliousness. may relate equally to the pro
found or the supercilious. The bearing or all
these observations is in their application.
In the year 1888 the Congregational Union or
this city and vicinity invited four speakers to
address 1t, the general theme being temper
arce." Those speakers were the Rev Henry C.
Potter. then rector of Grace Church, and the
most popular rector in the city; DIR. Leonard
Bacon jr.. Miss Frances L. Willard and the
writer hereof.
DR. Potter was the first and in manner and
matter do not recall more fitting address.
HumOr, wit, wisdom and moral power were all
displayed. Its elimination when he stated
wine, or that Christ or His apostles meant to
teach this. but that pastor of Grace Church
he saw those who could not resist temptation
to drink. and for their sakes, under the law OF
self-sacriice for others, and for the sake OF
young men. he practised total abstinence. The
applause which greeted this utterance was OF
the kind that showed the deepest respect for
the sentiment and the character of the speaker
A few weeks afterward. when some extremist
of our own denomination attacked Bishop Pot
ter, narrated this scene and condemned the
recognition of this truly Christian self-de-
-oio for 9th hot he substitution
episcopal for pastoral functions so modified his
views of responsibility as to lead him 10 partici-
pate in the drinking usages Of society, we nave
no means of knowing.
The article then quotes from Bishop Potter's
address chairman at meeting in Carnegie
Hall in 1895. when he said:
The saloons should be closed on the Lords
Day in this great Christian State.
The article then continues:
But where now is Bishop Potter? . He
stgmatizes prohibition as an impudent fraud
and an impudent failure" year or two since
he referred to 1t the grotesque hypocrisy of
prohibition from Maine to Kansas.
However, in the State of New-York a pro-
hibtory law is not now an issue. No one pro-
poses to enact IT; no one imagines that it would
pass 1t is not a living question here. The
question is, Shall the saloons be legally open
on Sunday" The influence of Bishop Potter
seems now to De exerted in favor of it,
How is his change to be accounted for? It is
not Tammany that proposes the change
but his particular friends and some of his CO.
religiOnists. such as Bishop Doane, the layman
Low. the presbyters Ransford Parker Morgan.
and others.
Could these changed situations account for
his change? Does he think majority OF his
fellow citizens sustain him in this attitude?
When he commended the law and Roosevelt for
enforcing 1t, did he forget. has he since
learned what he now claims that enforcing the
law makes hypocrites'?
If Bishop Potter a logician these would
be the questions to ask, and he would be
pected to saw l was wholly in error on all these
points. 1t is not right to have Sunday laws
Commissioner Roosevelt indeed, right in
enforcing the law, but | wrong in thinking
the results beneficial,
But If he he a rhetoriCian of high grade-nOt
a maker Of opinions, but follower of indepen-
cies-f his temperamental impulse is TO ex-
press everything strongly, then his change
can be as easily accounted for as the other
change, when (after speaking very strongly the
other way, just before the epidemic of expan-
sion swept the country he went to Manila
stayed few days (was it four?, was not able
TO get out of Manila, but was in the army at
mosphere, and changed his views completely.
His position is the highest attanable in his
order; personally he has nothing to gain by
scously seeking to please any class of his fellow
citizens; therefore such ViCissitudes these
must be explained by a temperament which
leads him to drift with the current Of his favor
sistencies are accounted for by the application
of his rhetorical gifts to the position in which
he finds himself at any given time
Meanwhile. he has only one rival in the affec-
tions Of saloonkeepers, and that is District At
tOrney Jerome Should Jerome attempt to
force the law it is that rivalry would cease.