Waterbury evening Democrat., 1903-12-31

CneOCfaCy WlCQ DOWle1Sm. lie De- l moaned the fact that he was not now strong enough to control politics, but |, predicted the time would come when | he would be- and his crowd of followers 1 clapped their hands in pleasure at the contemplation. He is radical of the l radicals, seeing only the defects In that l which does not conform to his faith, 1 overlooking the good. and his large l church following, apparently to an out | Sider, put up their thumbs when he | says Thumbs up!' and down when he l says Thumbs down."
 To analyze his success and influence l one would have to spend more time and come into fuller knowledge and ac- | quaintance with the man. Ones i'm l precision would be-a man of consider able force, great worker, a fighter by nature, with the natural pugnacity and l stick-to-it-itiveness of a Scotchman, a | man of strong will. But his people are l intelligent. Many are bright, brainy
 men and women-people who would
 not be caught by rascal-and in our ] opinion Dowie is no mountebank, no rascal He believes in his work, and | it's moral side has the foundation for l its success.
 Just think of it! One man in few | years has established a new church, a l new faith; built a town of 10000 peo- l pie; attracted people from all parts of l the world; has missionaries in many countries making converts! From these
 he gets 10 per cent of their wages in tithes, and of those in Zion City all the
 
 has been transferred to Dowie. asked
 deacon what was an average collec- 1 tion. He replied he did not know; only l the overseer could tell There are sev- en overseers who divide all the busi- | ness and ecclesiastical responsibility, and Dowie is general overseer over all. 1 He has made will, and in this will
 all his possessions will be given to an ! other overseeT, who is named by him
 in the will. Many people have predict l ed that he is only feathering his nest l and when rich enough will leave his
 followers in the lurch. This sounds
 ridiculous. Here is a great life work,
 which in few years more will demon strate whether it is to be a success or l failure. It is wonderful business en- | I the pride of his life must be centered
 in his work. There is no more danger l of his running away from such an en- terprise than there is chance of per 1 petual motion being made a success. l It is not in the nature of things.
 l But will 1t be success? Two years l should demonstrate this. At the pres ent time the city cannot be self sup l porting Not enough labor is employed I in factories to bring the money from ! the outside world, and those there can l not continue to live on each other. | From a business standpoint the city I probably practices the greatest econ omy of any in the world One depart
 ment store supplies all wants. In an l average city of 10000 dozens of store rooms and hundreds of clerks are re ! quired. Here it is all done away with. 1 No money is spent in lll1uries. Yet Nithal,. it is only an experiment, and 1 undoubtedly it will take the tithes 1 from members in the outside world to l sustain it for some time to come. Mis- l sionaries are building up the faith in many countries. and the big organiza- l ton may break all past records and be l success. But will it? If it collapses. I those who have their money invested I will be in an extremely bad shape.
 A large share of the business is done I by coupon books of $5 and $10 value.
 These books are accepted the same as
 cash, as they are redeemable at the l bank in cash But lately, since the
 financial trouble, the bank has refused
 to redeem them until later. I asked flA
 intelligent boy if the people believe it
 would be a success. He replied that all who were not hypocrites did. One can
 easily imagine how unpleasant it
 would be in Zion City for a person
 who should lose faith. He would be
 classed as hypocrite, which would
 taboo him more than a scab would be
 in labor organization, for nothing is
 as strong as religious fanaticism.
 1 Zion City is an ideal location for a
 town site. Close to the lake, it gets l the cool breeze. Clean and clear is the atmosphere. It covers a territory of probably thirty miles square, large
 enough to make city of 100000 in
 habitants. With great financial shrewd-
 ness, he has sold in his 1000 year lease |
 inside is becoming more valuable every
 day If with the influx of people,
 bringing their savings, and the tithes
 of converts this town can be sustained
 for the next two years it may be on
 financial paying basis. If this should
 occur the movement would be 50 we'll
 organized it wouldn't stop, and new
 church and new faith will have. been established, and if carried to an ex- l treme an autocratic government would 1 be established in this country where the general oyerseer could dictate with as high hand and as great a power
 as the czar of Russia. And to the
 writer therein eventually lies its great
 est weakness. The people of this coun-
 try by principle and precept are edu-
 cated to do their own thinking and be
 their own dictators The principle is
 too deeply planted to be uprooted by f.,S+