The morning journal-courier., 1908-01-15
A QUESTION OF METHOD.

A QUESTION OF METHOD.
 We have received one or two anony- nous communications taking The Journal-Courier to task for the man. ner in which it has reported the meetings held by the visiting evange- lists We regret they have been anony- | nous, because if there is one thing we | shrink from more than another it is a protest or complaint from which the name of the protestant is absent, not that we necessarily wish to print it but that it bears with it the earnest of good faith on the part of the writer The only way in which one can fairly question the judgment or method of another, and the right to question is admitted, is to do 1t responsibly and openly. We regret to say that the only complaints we have received with ref erence to our handling of the Chap man meetings have come from anony- nous sources. If we were sensitive we should doubt the interest of their writers in the religious movement, for when one is profoundly touched then follows the courage of one's convic- tions
 As matter of office record which has to do with the circulation depart ment we have abundant evidence that the accounts are read with the great est satisfaction and approval If we are wrong in attributing to our method of handling these meetings the steaGily increasing daily issue, then all we have to say is that the alleged misrepre sentation of them, which we deny. is not so fiercely resented that it has af- fected our growth. We prefer to be- : neve and do believe that the chsrac- ter of our Chapman reports has been such as to attract the attention of old and new readers and awaken in them an interest in the meetings themselves. That being so we claim that our news paper report is actually supplementinr the vigorous campaign being waeed under the effective leadership of pr Chapman. This is not a community to deal leniently with fiippant and ire ligious newspaper methods, nor IS The Journal-Courier the kind of newspaper to affront the sense of the community. Its business instinct would of itself save it from making that error of Judgment if it did not feel sympathy with the New Haven point of view. Just exactly what it is our anonymous friends wish us to do we do not know, their complaint is general in tone and If they will pardon us, preiudiced in spirit, since they unconsciously deny us a right which they approve when ex- ercised by the visiting evangelists, the right to employ original and effective n,etht Is in doing the things required of us
 Let us look for moment at ths Chapman method of awakening men and women to keener realization of their duty as Christians It is original in every sense of the term and has ob- viously been adopted and persisted in because it has proved itself to he eff. feotive. None of the located ministers of the city use it during the work oi the year. It will be remembered that we have in a previous issue com. mended the more conspicuous phases of the Chapman method of campaign. ing, especially in it's business connec. tions. But what concerns us at thi, time in the face of undeserved criti. cism is the iiberality of the Chapman method when it comes to search fo, faltering souls. Ii encourages the sim pie style of Dr. Chapman. the more emotional methods of Dr. Dawson snc the bizarre plan of MT Asher. Tn, defense of each is it's effectiveness anC hf1uence. Dr. Dawson would probabl, be ineffective should he undertake f, Initiate the style of Dr Chapman while it is inconceivable that Dr Chapman would undertake the meth ods Mir Asher is said to find so en couraging. Which of these is to b preferred is a matter of individua Judgment, but that the Chapmans US all three and perhaps still other meth ods and styles proves that in their ey perience they have found that the enr iustifies the different means used b them and their associates. They have
 distinct mission to perform. which the saving of erring souls and th stiffenine of the vertebrate column of the more reliable among weak mer and in undertaking to perform it the depart from conventional methods an use the unexpected and the unusual ] does not lie within our province [ criticise them so long as the result reached are good
 The newspaper also has its distinc
 mission 10 perform which. in the cas pf the Chapman campaign, is to hay