Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1906-12-14
CHURCH AND POLITICS
Evangelical Clubs Will Fight for
Good Laws.
FIRST STEP Is TAKEN
Doubt of Success is Expressed by Two
of the Members.
CONFERENCE NOT DISCOURAGED
One Speaker Brings to Mind the
Time the Churches Upheld Presi-
dent Lincoln.
NOT DISCOURAGED

NEW YORK, December IA confedera-
ton Of evangelical church clubs is to be
formed for the purpose of taking an active
interest in political and civic issues; of adj
vancing Christian patriotism as against
partisanship and of sending representatives
to Albany and Washington when necessary
in the interests of what the confederation
may deem good legislation. Many denomi-
nations are to be included in the movement,
which was started at a meeting held last
night in Calvary Methodist Episcopal
Church, 7th avenue and 10th street.
About fifty representatives of various
churches in this borough and Brooklyn
were there in response to a call issued by
a committee which had been appointed to
inquire into the feasibility of getting the
church voters together with a view to
promoting righteousness and compelling the
observance of the laws of morality and
right living: 1t is the object also Ito advo-
cate and aid such new laws, ordinances and
observances as every Christian desires, and
to use the combined strength of the evan
gelical churches Of this city for overturn-
ing the present awful conditions and bet
tering them
The Age Of Graft.
L. o. Thayer, chairman Of the original
committee, presided. He said that this
was the age of graft in all sections of the
CouHlTy, tudl Tic grew anu Tic
poor poorer, that class hatred had to be
reckoned with in the future and that the
country was receiving daily hundreds of
immigrants who mistook liberty for license.
The men of the churches, he said, should
get together and be unified power"
The Rev. Charles L. Goodell said that
should be done to better conditions, and, in
his belief, the church people were the peo-
pie to do it. The history Of the country, he
said, showed that the church had always
been the cornerstone of each community.
He pointed out that a sister church had
formed a federation of mems clubs with
very successful results, and then said:
You who know the progress of things
in Washington will bear me witness that
never within the last hundred years has the
grip of that organization been strong as
it is now. The Professionals are face to face
with a serious situation, and they must
get together and do something. Every rum
seller has chance to send a man to AL
bany or Washington; is there any reason in
the world why the combined statement of a
thousand Christian men should not stand
for as much in those places as the state
ment Of thousand rum sellers?'
Doubt About Organization.
Frank Harvey Fields, president of the
Young Republican Club of Brooklyn, had
grave doubts as to the feasibility Of form
ing an organization that could do anything
in politics. He thought it would be better
to form an organization to get the men to
come into the church and then impress upon
them the necessity for Righteousness Sena-
tor Page, who had been specially invited to
give advice, agreed with Mr.. Fields. He
said the old standards of honesty and integ-
rity must be revived, and that in such d.
rection the federation might do lot of
good. But as an organization to deal with
general legislation he didn't think it would
be a success.
Ex-Police Commissioner Henry F. Abel
swung the feeling of the meeting of other
way. He recalled the time when the church
throughout the whole country took an ac-
tive interest in national affairs and upheld
President Lincoln. He said, too, that the
panic of 1857 might have been averted If
the people had got their righteousness be-
fore instead of afterward. He was in IA
of an organization which would deal
actively and theoretically with all public
questions.
who volunteered suggestions, and finally
a motion was made that Mr.. Thayer ap-
point committee of three for each denom-
nation that committee to formulate a
scheme of plan and scope for the confed-
Grafton This was carried unanimously.
Some Of the churches represented at the
meeting were Calvary Methodist Episcopal,
Lenox Avenue Collegiate, Mount Morris
Baptist, Church of the Strangers, Manhat-
tan Congregation, the Reformed Church
on the Heights, Centenary Methodist Epis-
copal, the Broadway Tabernacle, the Bap-
fist Church of Washington Avenue, Brook
Ign, and the Hanson Place Methodist Epis-
copal Church. The Federation of the Bap-
fist Mems Clubs was also represented, and
there were some representatives from other
churches who said that they did not direct
ly represent the mems club. 1t was explain
ed to them that what was done at the meet
ing was not binding upon the organiza tons
represented, but that organization would be
perfected later.