The Detroit times., 1909-05-08
SAY FAkIRs HURT !.
sP|R|TUAL|sM
Michigan Convention Favors Plan
by Which Only Those Qualified
Will Be Ordained.

Believing that the cause of spiritual.
ism has suffered by the fakirs who
practice II, delegates to the Michigan
Spiritualistic convention. which open
ed In the hall at No 46 Grand River.
ave-. Friday morning. will make an
effort To have some sort OF an amend.
ment to the bylaws by which only
those qualified to act may be ordaln.
cd as mediums. Several of the dele.
gates feel that they have a grievance
against the public and the press Tor
not investigating spiritualism before
con6emning II.
DIR. w. Fish. OF Detroit In a talk
before the convention, said there Is a
distinction between mediumship and
fortune telling. and that spirituallsts
are often ridiculed by men and WON
en- who are not acquainted with the
philosophy of the cult
We want TO enlighten the public"
he said, Ito distinguish between
truth and falsehood; between fakes
and real mediums. 1t il a difficult
matter TO distinguish between the
faklr and the genuine. In a general
way. the laws governing mediumshIp
should set forth In plain terms what
the qualifications are. Il is not with
The idea OF making IL harder for-the
medium. who must meet many unfn-
yorable conditions. These delicate
laws are not properly understood and
mediums are subject TO abuse. Some.
o. ka
public"
James f. Walker. OF Grand Rapids.
president Of the association, declared
that In Detroit the mediums had been
abused by the public and especially
by the press. but declared that the as.
ISOLATION would stand by the mediums
The public must show us before
we turn down any OF our mediums"
said the president. I'VE who have
studied spiritualism know there are
many conditions to be taken into con.
sideration that those outside are ignor-
ant OF. You might as we'll tell an
engineer how to run his engine as TO
come to me and tell me all about
spiritualism. The people who write
mp spiritualism and seances know
nothing about these things The
time has come when we should dc.
mand OF the public the respect that is
our due. Spiritualism is a philosophy.
II is mathematical proposition. We
know what we are talking about. by
applying reason to laws and working
in accord with them We will de.
mand OF the public at least as much
as the public demands OF us or
course, we know there must be some
tares with the wheat, but all must not
suffer for that reason"
THE other cults and religions may
ask their followers to donate money
on faith and nothing else, but when
II comes TO us we must show the
goods" declared N. I. Whitney. OF Bat.
tie Creek ANY other religion gets
columns In the papers. they raise the
tsaiaries OF their ministers and are
getting the 'mazuma.' But when II
comes to the spiritualists. we are not
In their class. We must demonstrate
by actual results. laws Of which the
Dub1ic knows nothing. n some fakir
imita tes us. we must explain the de.
ception. think this organization Is
competent to Judge whether Its med
iums should be ordained. Just as
Methodists can Judge whether their
ministers are capable TO act. We
should back up our mediums In imam
cial and other ways. But II they are
rot worthy. do not give them support.
No one has a right to call me a fakir
simply because I happen to be this
particular sort OF worshipper. The
only trouble with the press Is II wants
sensationalism and nothing ofers so
much sensationalism as the occult. A
medium may be all right one day and
absolutely of on another day. We
understand that, but the public won't
understand II. It Is a matter OF IN
nate knowledge. this matter OF spirit
ualism."
One OF the women delegates object
ed 10 the term fortune teller" being
attached to spiritualism, and II was
also considered bad form to have the
title Madame" used by mediums.
The convention will be In session
until Sunday evening.