Omaha daily bee., 1903-02-09
PULPIT VIEW OF POLITICS
Rev. Hatch Says the Righteous Should Be
0ampaigners.
CANDIDATES OUGHT TO GO ON RECORD
Believes in having voters Informed
Before They Cast Their Ballots
CrttIcises governmental Heads
of American cities.

Taking as his text the words from the
Epistle to- the Ephesians, For we are
neighbors one OF another" Rev. Frederick
A. Hatch, at Plymouth Congregational
church. preached a sermon on the duty OF
citizens and municipal government, In
which he said In part:
The cities are growing faster than the
country, and this tendency is not con-
nned to the United States, but is world
wide. While the cities OF Europe are
growing faster than the country. the in
habitants Of those cities are natives, prin-
cipally, while our city population Is made
up OF an increasing proportion OF persons
foreign TO this country, who understand
little II anything Of our method Of gov-
eminent.
The government OF our cities is a won
der to persons from other countries who
visit us. and they shrug their shoulders
when they see a system which places at
the head OF our municipal governments
not the best, but frequently the worst ele-
rents Of our population. It is different
even in Canada, as l know by experience,
and It lie the duty Of the people of the
United States to change this condition.
Homeless Glasses.
w have a large homeless class in our
population, not only the homeless poor,
who cannot own their homes, but homeless
rich. who, owning houses, travel from one
resort to another, one country to another,
seeking pleasure and recreation, having no
home life. 1t is a question as to which of
the two homeless classes is the greater
danger TO the country.
"In 1910 there was one Protestant church
to each 1000 Of the population of the
country. In 1900 there was one Protestant
church TO each 4,206. This either means
that Professionalism is not keeping pace with
the country or that we are not using our
opportunities as we DID. II is the Sean
d~inavian element in our immigration which
TO a degree saves us from the effect Of the
large immigration of the Latins, the Ma
gyar and the Slav, people who are not able
TO understand and appreciate our institu-
lions
THE man who sells his vote is not al
ways the poor man. There is a con-
soienceless trust in every city, a trust
whose emlssarles never forget-it is the
breweries and the saloons. There is a
trust in vice. How many saloons in this
city Are there which are not mortgaged
to or owned by a brewery? This is one
body which keeps alive it's interestS in
politics from January to December.
C~OrruptinE ~Innuences.
But there is one greater danger than
all. A young man comes from college and
enters business life. He soon comes to a
place where the interests of his firm OF
corporation would be advanced were some
city ordinance disregarded or repealed
Maybe the manager OF the company en-
ploys him to secure this object by under
handed methods. The man who pays the
bride is probably worse than the man who
accepts II, but the moral fiber which is
degenerated by this meals is worse for
the life Of the city than the degeneration
Of moral fiber through vicious association,
and the respectable lawbreaker is more
dangerous than the one we call a Grim
inaL
"The growth of high ideals in a country
must keep pace with its material develop
ment or the country is doomed. as Rome
and Greece testify. To save the city we
must abandon childish partisanship. TIL
opinion Of a man as to the doctrine Of ex-
pansion or tariff has no more to do with
the administration of city government thar
his opinion Of the Ave points OF Calvinism
IL the virtuous will not work as hard as
the vicious in city politics, they have M
reason to complain II they are defeated
1t is poor policy to see a man elected
without protest and then c%ritfcise him fol
doing what he might have been expected
to do. We must save the cities IL we are
to save the nation. and candidates fol
once in Omaha during the next two mohth.
must be placed on record as to their in.
tention II elected, and we should know
what we are voting for as we'll as WHIT
we are voting for. Education should b,
found in party platforms and in the pulpit.