The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1903-10-18
SUNDAY, OCT. 10, 1903.
AN EXTRAORDINARY CRUSADE.

The descent of Dowie's forces upon
nary than the whole career of this re-
markable leader. The incidents of his
life have been told so often now that
there is no need to recount them here
More wonderful than anything which
ne has done or may yet accomplish is
the light that it all throws upon t..
linn tless extent of human creduiity on
the one SIDE and the almost equally
unbounded power of a strong human
viii on the other to fashion this plastic
material into any shape it pleases.
There is nothing novel, nothing al
Turing, nothing which one would think
could persuade Intelligent men and
women in the pabulum that Dowie
offers to his followers. Personally he
demands their submission to a system
of absolutism as perfect as any known
to modern society. On the religious
side he advances pretensions that are
as old as humanity itself. He claims
to be miracle worker and divine heal
er, and to embody in his own person
the vital elements of the prophets of
the past. There is no limit to his as
sumptions, and no Encouragement in
the credence with which they have
been received to his browning them
by a declaration of his absolute per-
sonal divinity.
Now this man, whose prominently
discernible qualities are strong will
power, immense executive ability and
that intangible something which we
call personal magnetism, has been able
not only to draw about him a host of
disciples, but to found communities,
build up industries, establish an order
combining religious and Industrial ac-
tivities in which he is wholly supreme,
and to amass, by the surrender of the
personal property of his followers and
by his own sagacious financial opera
lions, a fortune that constitutes him
one of the rich men of his day.
Dowie is distinctly and thoroughly
modern. He knows, at any rate, the
value of advertising. He has prospered
largely because he has managed to
keep his personality and the progress
of his singular work constantly before
the public in some spectacular form.
Success or ia ilnra ,,arcoo,,4;o,, -, -.
fication, are all the same thing to him
If they enable him to appeal to the i'm
aginations of men that lead them cap
tive more frequently than their reason.
The sending of a restoration host
to New York city is part of this well
laid programme. The human units of
it are ardent and devout believers in
their mission. The originator and ex-
ecutor of the scheme senses it's value
for advertising purposes. Living in
luxury at one Of the best hotels of the
city and announcing In true theatrical
advertising fashion the theft of .valu-
able diamonds from his wife, DoWie
OiiOOoRNCQAS AAclS WlIn some
accuracy the number of converts and
the bags full of dollars that this bold
adventure will bring In.
Again We are wrought to utter
amazement not unmixed with pity by
the eternal weakness of human nature
upon its noblest side. There is moth
ing higher in man than his aspiration
toward the divine. and his strenuous
endeavor to grasp some element Of If
In this life and afterward to enjoy It
forever. This is the foundation of all
deep thought and the fountain OF all
Just and noble acts. The impulse lies
deeper than reason. below the opera
tons Of the senses, ineradicabiy plant