Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1905-02-25
Will BE Circulated For General
Distribution In His Church
Tomorrow
is PERSONAL IN HIS REPLY
to the T.-R., Made
Part of the Circular, Explains SEES
sonal Action On the dropped" List
-Dempster Talks of Situation In
An Interview.
An Interview.


Presbyterian church. is having printed
today in circular form, an open let
ter" to the public, in which he makes
reply to the article published in these
columns on Thursday. The pastor
"open" letter is a communication 70
the T.-R. portions of which We're deem
ed too personal for publication IN lhe
but which the pastor IS de-
termined shall be heard as his defense.
Dempster says:
Editor Times Republican: lnasmuch
as the affairs of the Presbyterian
church. relative to the revision OF the
church roll. appeared in Thursdays
paper. your readers, of course. VIII
naturally expect the other SIDE. ~
Chinese adage we'll says: Hear one
side and you will be prejudiced; near
both sides, and you may get niue
light'-"or darkness. as the case may
be. This article is for truth ana ilsht,
rather than sides" ! shall take the
editor and many readers into kindl!
and considerable confidence, asking you
to be my flock while l serve a little
plain, wholesome, pastoral provendef.
The session of the Presbyterian
church, the pastor being moderator, at
n meeting on February s, 1904, revis-
ed the church roll, placing nearly
eighty members on the absent, retired
and dropped list the elders present
at this meeting, Derby, Bishop, lse-
man. Barley and Bremner. After this
meeting, Clerk of Session Bremner, in
March, or early in April, sent the
yearly church report to the prespy-
terry, and thru the presbytery to the
general assembly minutes. In his re-
port seventy-five members were plac-
ed on the mon active" list, and these
seventy-five appear on the reserved
list on the general assembly minutes.
(Our national church report. see page
514. general assembly minutes, 1904)
The session also authorized and re-
quested the pastor to send "speclal
letter to all absentees, urging coop
GRAFTON in our work, and stating that
the action of session would be final
if not heard from in reasonable ana
stated length of time. The entlre
church membership knew of this Off
cial letter, because it was reproduced
in the calendar" May s. 1904. Some
of th~ absentees were resident MEM
beers. while others resided III different
states Some of the resident menu
bers had not attended the church ser
vices for years. neither had they sub
scribed anything to the board of trus-
tees. Many of these absentees and
nom supporters, resident and non-res-
ident have been carried on the roll
during the years of former pastors.
When the present pastor David Demp-
ster. came to the church, nearly two
years ago, officials and members COM
planned upon all sides about carrying
so many dead" limbs on the roll. one
lady stating, this week. that she re-
marked to my worthy predecessor
care you not going to clean house
before you go?" and he answered, MY
skirts will be clear from this job"
Hence the work of revision was TAX
EN- up by the session. Some of the
dropped names, however, very old ones,
do not appear on the manual, but are
marked in the session records. Three
members, during the present pastors
W,
ranks, and they, too,
received a copy of the seasonal noti-
fication, for the letter was for absent
members in the present, as we'll as past
administrations, not making fish OF
one and flesh of another" and not en-
couraging. in the present admlnlstra-
ton, what the session sought to rectify,
arising out of former administrations
A word, now, about the membership
manual 1t was on hand for a year
and cannot possibly be a hasty output
of "arbitrary feeling" neither a spite
affair."" as foolishly represented by
some talkative ruler in Israel" A
committee i'm charge of names and adj
dress for the manual was announced
in the church calendar April 10, 1904.
Members failed to report address
promptly to the committee, hence de-
lay in publication. There need be no
official clubbing about the authorize
ton of the manual. This. of itself, is
unimportant, but it is important in the
sense that ii is duplicate of the ses-
sional action taken. A few families
are reported in addition to the action
of q year ago. These, however, are
only absent, and will get their let
tiers when settled in new homes. Then
of course we have the three aforesaid
dropped by the-way members on the
absent list.
Now Mr.. Editor. and reader, you
have listened to me very patiently.
There is no necessity of urging the
application of this article upon think
ing minds You will have noticed
that nearly all the interviews in Thurs
days T.-R came from members and
persons on the dead"
list roll of membership for years before
Mr.. Denpster came to his present
charge. You will also have seen that
number of them never even met or
heard Mr.. Dempster. You will also
have engendered the thought that it is
unmitgated audacity. on the part of
the people, giving public expression to
lame notions, and lamer inconsistent
cies And. dear reader, you may also
have pitied the action of so-called
church members in trying to palm off
upon the public such a flimsy tex
ture of grievance. You will say that
the pruning hook has certainly a mis-
sion among such withered limbs. Truth
Will soon penetrate the bolstered sham
regarding the unfairness of the church
revision, and all veneered religious
bric-a-b rac will disappear. Surely no
ono will Ianu 40 o,.eat need nf Inns