Corvallis gazette. [volume] (Corvallis, Benton County, Or.) 1900-1909, 1904-10-14
Religion VS.. Morality and Justice.


The motives which appear TO inspire /
the actions of some religious bodies To-
day are certainly not such as TO ara"
toward them the seeker alter moraity /
and iustice. but rather to drive such Tar
away from them, and to drag down re-
,liyion AS a whole into the disfavor ana
ridicule OF every disinterested spectator.
This observation might be illustrated
by MANY events of church history. OF
which only two or three recent ones are
here to be noticed.
The case of the divided PRESBYTERIAN
church OF Scotland today, various fac
tions of which have been at law with
each other for years over church proper
tv. and when riotous and bitterly re-
yengeful acts toward one another had ID
some instances to be qneiled by the
government forces, is one instance in
point, Another instance is the woman
in Portland who willed her property to
the church and, trusting the latter TO
draw up the will, found herself dispos-
sessed in her old age and sickness by
her benefciaries and driven to chafH-
able institution penniless to die. And
third instance is the one recently de-
cided by the supreme court OF oregon
prosecuted by the First U. b. church OF
Eugene against J. l.. Aiken, as admins
traitor of the estate of Uncle Peter Ma
son, and Aiken's bondsmen, j. w. In
gle and J. @. Rogers.
Like the Portland woman, Mason was
i duced to will his property to said First
U. B. church of Eugene, and, like her.
trusting her benefciaries to draw up his
will, subsequently discovered that that
will was drawn so that he also could
have been dispossessed in his lifetime.
From this predicament, however, death
suddenly relieved him, and his friend,
DIR. J. L, Akin, was appointed his ad-
, ministrator. AS is customary IN the
. cases of minor officials. DR.. Akin s
neighbors, J. W. Ingle and J. Q. Rogers,
went on his bond-innocently and un-
suspectingly and as mere favor as all
bondsmen do in such cases. It hap
pened that DR.. Akin at the time OF his
:, appointment, owed the Masoc estate the
, sum of 1903, but being insolvent, this
, debt could not be collected of him and
: was therefore worthless to the estate.
5 However, on a mere technicality OF law
First U. B. church of Eugene discovered
that this debt could be made good by
collecting it of the bondsmen, and thl
they at once proceeded to do and finally
accomplished; so that the bondsmen
1 now stand to pay, on account OF lnnc'
= Gently favoring their friend by going or
j his bond a sum of about 1920 Of which
J. w. Ingle has already paid in $6lS25
which includes cost anu interest. He
> has for long years been "a liberal sup
:, porter of the U. b chur, b though a
the same time struggling to support
large family.
J. @. Rogers has had to place mort
gage upon his little home to raise hi
8 part which can only be redeemed D!
sci: sacrifice and denial and unless h
shall meet with most favorable condl
tions, he stands a chance to lose hi
r home and be turned into the world pen
e niless.
The animus of the prosecution is Wha
+ is most remarkable, The church peopl
u knew that Akin was inso1vent and tha
= his debt was no asset of the Maso'
e estate; but in their desperate greed 10
= the almighty dollar, they violated thel
is obligation to Almighty God, and sough
: to create money out of nothing by takin
II it away from parties whom they knew t
- be entirely innocent. Has the churc
- in this day and age descended to the re
,. 1i.ion of the highway robber and tn
It thug? The Eugene church no ooni
i breaches the gospel of Christian mere
lie from it's pulpit, but from its own pr"'
20 tice and dealings even with lis CIV
Sc chu'ch brethren, it appears to be brui
:, from which one is to expect as litt
IN mercy as milk from a male tiger
d Judge Wollverton, one of the supren7
ju iges, who finally tried the cas-
although forced by the strict technical
if ties of the law to assent to the decision
E. is said to have declared there vas r
Fe Justice or equity in it. Yet the Fir
70 U. B. church of Eugene, Oregon,
oi 'l prosecutor of daylight robbery in whic
40 jone of it's own brethren is its victim
n Surely nothing could be more ca.culate
so 10 bring religion down to contempt
ed every honest man and woman: al
en- lsurely the sooner such religion is blottt
sh from the face of. the earth, the better
- will be for civilization and the NOR
welfare of humanity. It is not to
understood that ALL churches nor Al
8. members Of any particular church wou
ne be guilty Of such gross fraud.