Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1908-05-28

DR. Goodell is a New York pastor,
and what he himself has said since
the fight on him was started may be
read appropriately:
81 am assured by those who have led
this move against me that there is no
reflection in it upon my moral char
acter.
"The only thing charged against me
is that 1 am a divorced man. That is
true. But the divorce was granted on
the statutory ground recognized by the
Bible. and understand that at the time
Of my second marriage my first wife
was dead. For twenty-five years l
have had the fullest confidence of the
Methodist Episcopal church and have
filled her greatest pulpits. My pres
ent church is the largest Methodist
Episcopal church in the world.
'"rhe bringing of this charge at the
moment when my election to the episS
copacy seemed possible I regard as a
political move which is below the dig
nifty of the average political conven-
ton. The fact that it was brought at
so late moment that could not meet
it and that / am now a member of the
general conference and SO have no
right to the floor will carry its own les
son to all right minded people, and
think that in the end 1T will prove a
boomerang in the camp of those who
have hurled it."
Before the shadow of his past pre-
dicament was brought across his path
he was making the most rapid strides
in the balloting for bishop of any man
in the list After the whispered tales
took wings and were "shooed" around
among the brethren so they could all
have a look. the vote for the metropolis
tan minister went down with even
greater facility than 1t had increased.
1t must be remem bered that Rev. Good
ell is well known to his fellow di-
vines up and down the country and
his worth as a pastor must stand ap-
proved or he would hardly have been
elevated to what he says is the largest
Methodist Episcopal church in the
world When his traits were advanced
in favor Of his promotion to the bis
hopric they were powerful factors in
his favor and caused the delegates to
look with exceptional favor on his am
bition.
The balloting according to the first
four counts for DR.. Goodell, went as
follows: 1914 233- 297- 392 This shows
that his strength more than doubled in
that short time. After the unfavorable
comment began to circulate the result
was shown in the next five ballots:
3ss- 1876 O7-174-152. In the first four Of
these he lost faster than he gained in
the other four.
The truth of the charge that Goodell
is a divorced man he himself admits,
but a detail which was not telegraphed
to the west is that in 1886, before he
was divorced, he was made a CO.
respondent in a Providence, r. l., di-
vorce case, and that shortly thereafter
his wife sued him for divorce but failed
to get it, the court saying: "The con-
duct of the petitioner has been such
that she is not entitled to It," Unfor-
tunately the press accounts do not say
whether the court commented as to
the conduct of the accused husband,
and the highly critical ones will nat
urally infer that the pastor may have
given his wife grounds for a separa-
ton, reading between the lines of the
short judicial observation.
But DR.. Goodell afterward succeeded
in getting a divorce on what he says
were just grounds. It is notable that he
dates the time of his enjoyment of the
fullest confidence of the church to just
about correspond with the period which
has elapsed since the Providence trou-
BILE. Unfortunately he says che under
stood" that at the time of his second
marriage his first wife was dead, but
he had no positive knowledge. 1t seems
certain that the Methodists made all
they could out of these points when
they went after DR.. GoodelPs scalp in
conference. Whether they did so out
of purity Of motives or merely to in
crease the chances of others whom
they wished to elect is debatable, but
the doctor charges politics.
The fact that such an eminent
clergyman's name should be allowed to
go before the convention of pastors as
a candidate seems to carry with it the
right on the part Of himself and friends
to assume that his stories two decades
old, no matter how true, would be
raised against him, especially after he
had lived and proselyted for over twen-
ty years, as he says, with the fullest
confidence of the mother church. In
practical politics, outside the church..
old stories are generally considered
fair weapons, but the divine's friends
claim the resurrection of the old scan
dals at such late date, especially after
the name was balloted on two or three
times, was uncharitable, unchristian,
and unbecoming men of the ministry
From a purely political side it looks
as tho some men had engineered the