The Detroit times. [volume] (Detroit, Mich.) 1903-1920, 1909-04-16
MAYOR WH[4LOCk
|URgEsG0LDEMRULE
Application Of Principle VIII Get
Most Out Of Life, He Tells
Church Club.

tAFA tA4Gn oItlRfAn tA&0 FN"~f
borrow one Of Bishop Williams apt
illusions. the usual order was revers-
ID In the Y. ca Auditorium.
Thursday evening, when rs members
II the church club OF the diocese of
dichlgan (Episcopal), gathered tof the
,lub's monthly dinner. The man IN
the pulpit was Mayor Brand Whit
lock, of Toledo. Among the chuich-
men In his audience were Bishop Will
Jams, the Rev. John McCarroI, the
Rev. w. Warne Wilson and others
prominent in the religious life oil De
troit. ",rhe Golden Rule" was the
subject Of the sermon-it was Moth
Ing lsss--and rarely. II ever. has the
ancient precept received more FORCE
ful exposition.
Mayor Whitlock's address was. In
the main. an appeal for broader ap-
piication OF the Golden Rule In every
day life. with particular reference TO
society's attitude toward criminals
His talk led up to lively discussion,
participated In by members OF The club
generally.
The Golden Rule" SAID the mayor.
''is a deduction from law as old as
the world .lself, the law OF moral ac-
ton and reaction, and IL is a state
mont OF the way in which We ran get
the get out Of that law instead OF the
worst Of Il. IL was stated by Con
fucfus 500 years before Christ, II was
reiterated by Buddha in other terms,
but II remained for Jesus to state 1t In
Ia most beautiful form. and tins 1t
has ccme down to US through the ages.
Sam Jones. of Toledo. tried tho
rulo In Lis machine shop and found
that IL worked. When he was elected
mayor he carried IL into the oilico
with him. Then another Sam Jones
came along--Sam Jones, the eyange-
list. now In heaven. Evangelist Jones
used to say that the Golden Rule was
all right up to a certain point. but ar
ter that q man felt like taking shot
gun or a club. But whether we be-
lssve n or not, men are coming to live
according TO the Golden Rule every
minute Of their hves- II was meant
to be applied under all circumstances
and In all phases of life. and we get
the best out OF life only Insofar as
we apply Il TO our acts.
Life Is. sometimes spoken OF as be-
ing divided Into compartments. There
is one compartment called the relig.
ious life. usually very small one;
another called the social life: another
Is the businesse life. a fourth the po
litical life and so on. You often
heard II said of a man that he Is
pure In his private life and corrupt in
his public life, but that simply cannot
be. Might as well say that an egg IL
good 1t one end and bad at the other.
But some Of us have rather mar
row conception OF our religious duties.
We wear a long coat and gray gloves
on Sunday Then we go to church
carrying O. Bible. from which purple
ribbons with crosses attached dangle
In profusion. That's religious life.
And on Monday morning we lay 1t all
aside and leave Il out of our lives for
six days. The trouble is we are liv-
ing by precept rather than by ideals.
Jones used to tell me that he found
the rule wouldn't work very well some
times. but he didn't blame the rule. He
simply didn't know how TO work 1t,
that's all. I know that he carried IL
into his private life and It brought him
into wonderful and beautiful relation
with all kinds OF people. a relation
which caused him to cease making dis
tinctions I'm men. Since then I. too.
have found 1t Is difficult to speak OF
this class and that class. They are
all just folks to me. that's all. Some
Of us are little better than others,
perhaps. but there's no reason why we
should get stuck up about It,"
Mayor Whitlock commended tha
work OF the juvenile courts In various
cities, declaring that they were work
ipe On the right idea.
a. a
the law Of hate and learn 10 apply
tho law OF love-" he said. Il suppose
Il IL pretty hard to apply the Golden
Ru1e In all walks OF life. l. found IL
hard--Tm a lawyer, you know. But |
made up my mind long ago never to
prosecute another fellow being, and /
never will. / did send man to prison
once. poor fellow. I was a member of
q humane society-you know they pro-
mote humanity to animals By being
inhumane to men-and I said to my
self, now here's bad man and am
q good man. I'll inst take IL out OF
hiB hide. After a weeks trial we got
tho man In prison, and after he was
put away learned few things about
that mans life that caused me TO open
my eyes and gave me new insight into |
&YA<hAhSs Nnob lC OC hOb
Judged Real culture consists in pos |
session OF n cultivated imagination |
that enables one to put himself In an |
other fellows place
At .hs close OF his talk a member |
asked Mayor Whitlock what he would |
do IL he should find a burglar In his !
house.
II don't know what I'd do" he re- |
plied frankly * might want TO kill |
the fellow, but that wouldn't be the /
right way. To solve a question like |
that you've got to get right down TO /
the very bottom OF the economic |
problem and and out what made that |
man burglar. II city tolerates
slums and tenderloins II IS creating |
an atmosphere that makes criminals !
out OF men in spite OF themselves |
And our penitentiaries today are moth. |
Ing more than finishing schools, where I
they give postgraduate courses in |
crime.
Bishop Williams gave a brief talk
In which he attacked the theory of
heredity crime.
II do not believe any man Is born
q criminal" he said. "He Is made ono
by the conditions IN which Re finds
himself. and our greatest need today
IL tho prevention Of crime by remov-
g.