The Roswell daily record. [volume] (Roswell, N.M.) 1903-current, 1908-04-04
THE LEAGUE
NOT SECRET
CA Communication.

| Record and by individuals impel me
to make the following statements as
President of the Anti-Saloon League:
| 1. The Record reporter who inter
viewed me did not get the impression
which / Intended to make in regard
| to several matters. Of course he pub
lished the impressions which he re-
| ceived from our conversation. The
fault was mine in not making myself
understood.
2. The League is not secret org
anization. 1t mas not held secret
meetings, and does not intend to do
SO, as far as 1 know. There has been
no vote of the League prohibiting the
publication OF its proceedings. There
was an informal agreement, as l un-
derstand it, that we should not make
public any plans that have not yet
been matured and agreed upon, and
that we would not now publish the
interview the members, actual and
prospective, of the City Council. l
myself Withheld from the reporter the
names of the organizing committee
until 1 should have time to secure
their consent to the publication of
their names. l gave the reporter the
names of the officers and the main
items of business transacted. l shall
always deem it a pleasure as well as
a duty to give the press any informa-
ton which 1 deem it proper to pub
lish.
5. The editor of the. Record ans
some others have been under an i'm
preston that the League sent com
mittee to the members of the City
Council and the candidates for the
Council to influence their action con
trary to certain pledges made to
somebody by them. (Had the minis
ter been present he would have known
that the somebody referred to was
a mass convention of Democrats in
wide open session.-Ed.) This com
mittee was not appointed for this pur
pose and reported only upon the mat
ters of information which they were
appointed to obtain. l am glad to say
that the committee was received
,ourteously by nearly all the men and
hat the work of the committee was
entirely satisfactory to the League.
They got the information which they
sought.
A. l have been criticised by some
gentlemen, as 1 understand, for go
ing into this matter at this time.
These gentlemen are free Americans,
and 1 am glad they have the right to
crfticise me or anybody else with
whom they may not be in agreement.
accord the right to criticise me
freely to members of the congrega-
ton of which l am the pastor, and
others A man who becomes offended
when others differ from him and say
rncom plimentary things about him,
could never build meeting house
nor win a battle that has to be fought
! out on the field of public opinion.
shall probably be condemned by some
men for not sticking to my pulpit
and leaving this matter for the poll
ticians to settle. The politicians have
never settled this question right any
where until they had the influence
Of Christian men aid the assistance
of the Christian ministry against the
saloon When l came to Roswell
three years ago the first thing l heard
saloon man say was that the preach
ers had been meddling with politics
and had used their influence to raise
know me, and the language which
he used concerning preachers who go
into politics was not complimentary
and could not be properly used at
church.
Over twenty years ago two United
States senators in Texas took the
field against prohibition and won an
Overwhelming victory. The preach
ers were in that fight, too One of
these senators advised the people pub
| ilicly to cut off the preachers rations
and scourge them back into their pull
pits. The preachers lost temporarily,
but they continued the fight. and they
now have the victory almost won. as
even the saloon men admit WHAT be-
came of those United States senators
who stumped the state against prohi-
so great victory? They were retir-
ed in few years, and two men who