The Richmond palladium and sun-telegram. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1907-1939, 1909-03-02
FOULKE DEFENDS
TRUEBLOOO FROM
HIS PROSECUTORS
He States That II TruebIood
Was Compelled to Resign,
The Society Would Suffer
From the Effects.
He DENOUNCES ACTION
OF DUBLIN MEETING
Recalls the Fact That the
Friends Have Forgotten
That They Were Formerly a
Prosecuted Sect.

William Dudley Foulke. in speaking
TO representative Of the Palladium
expressed himself very forcibly on the
criticism of Prof. William N. True
blood. His remarks are all the more
Interesting. when it is remembered
that he not only is descended from 8
long line OF Quaker ancestors. but q
few years ago, declined the presidency
of Swarthmore college, one OF the
strongholds of the Society of Friends
In this country.
He denounced the action OF the Dub
lin Quarterly meeting as foreign to
the fundamental principles of the
Friends, and after sketching a histor.
teal background for his remarks, as
serted that not only VIM. Penn, but
Christ himself would have been perse.
cuted along the same lines of reason,
ing used by the adversaries Of VIM. N
Trueblood. In speaking of the past
history OF the Quakers he brought out
the point that Earlham and the Soci-
ETY. of Friends would lose their useful
ness II the action of the Dublin Meet
ing was needed. He said:
What Trueblood Thought.
Now. VIM. N. Trueblood is Qua
ker. No one can attack his character
or his sincerity In advocating his own
convictions. He thought It would be
better here in Wayne county to have
licensed saloons rather than blind tt
gers; that there would be less danger
to our youth to Dermit the sale OF liq-
uor under legal control than to have
1t sold surreptitiously in defiance Of
law and thereby promoting the con-
tempt for all law as well as the in
crease Of intoxication.
Perhaps he was right in this. per-
haps he was wrong, but his own con-
science had to be the guide of his &C
meeting nor any other human organi-
zation, has the moral right to control
his action nor to condemn him for the
exercise OF his plain right: least Of all
persecute him for exercising it,
History Quaker Persecution.
II there is anything for which the
Society OF Friends has stood more than
for another, 1t is for liberty of con-
science said Mr. Foulke. THE
whole basis of Quaker belief is that
each individual should mind the
light as he sees it. Quakerism in the
past has been essentially protest
against ecclesiastical authority, and
one of the most precious treasures OF
the Society Of Friends has been the
record Of the prosecutions to which its
members have been subjected and to
which they have offered no resistance.
The blood Of its martyrs has been to
them In an especial way, the seed OF
the church. and Friends have claimed
very justly, In historical point OF
view, that they have been one Of the
few religious bodies who have not per.
secuted others. The Roman pagans
persecuted the early Christians, and
consigned them to wild beasts Of the
ampitheatre, the Catholics prosecuted
the Jews and other heretics, tortured
them In the InQuisition and burned
them at the stake. The established
church In England prosecuted dissent.
ers and sent them to prison and the
gibbet.
Quaters Were FIogoed.
"The Puritans. who ! themselves
sought religious liberty in New Eng
land, took the Quakers, flogged them
at the cart tail. bored their tongues
with red hot iron. sold them as slaves,
cut off their ears, imprisoned them and
In some cases executed them. Qua
kerism through all this, stood for con
science and for free opinion, and 1t has
no right to exist unless 1t still stands
Tor the freedom Of every man to ..mind
the light rs he sees it.
Quaker lnconsistence.
THE Puritan. who cut off the
Ouakers ears because he did not be.
1ieve what he ought. is not half as
anconsistent as the Quaker who pro
poses to cut off the livlihood (much
more valuable in many cases than
ears gare) Of another Quaker who has
not the same opinion as he has in re
gard to securing temperance. Such
Quakerism would probably have de
manded the resignation Of William
Penn himself who. although he advo
Gated bill to prevent the sale Of rum
to the Indians did not try to prevent
such sale to his own colonists. Nay
more, this sort Of intolerance Nigh,
we'll have demanded the resignation
of Christ. himself, when he turned the
water Into wine at Cana"
a Manly Thing 20 20.
-The fact Is that temperance re.
UtTictions arc matters Of local propri
{osn1insed On. Pass ,EieAkI