The Richmond Virginian. (Richmond, Va.) 1910-1920, 1910-11-05
THE eHrRcus ~BusI>Ess."

In an editorial entitled, is Everything ne
D Church Business =. we ana the Chicago inter
Ocean taking tae old greaud that The Church
r--by that meaning not onle the particular o.,
xanEzations but ,he ministers personaly-owe
the duty 10 tbe public of letting lass their
natural Interests III everyday life for the sake
ssof a rariaed AMI etheriallzed preaehment OF
religious ethics
OF course The lnterOeean does nor say this II
10 many words. IL is usual vith this sort
OF thought. specieus and eyasive 1t is deeply
1 concerned that the men responsible As leaders Of
religious denominations should stick 20 their
hast OF saving souls /. suture life. without con
sideration OF the equa aty OF acting men
\ Id a manner calculate % prepare the souls OF
lei has no place in the settlement Of the pressing
\ questions of the day its ideas tend toward thai
careless and hypoeritical attitude toward re
h hgipn which would make of the church place
10 restfa that It would be covered with dust.
The church. considered the thought ami
&nlating its preachers and members lives
Exnore to itself alone than am man in the com
nsanity at large II touches life a, thousand
#&96ntx 1t can gain toward the higher life for
MAtch il stands only by placing lis spirit n.
rs practical service of the lower life for which
works
Eve concede. SAYS the inter-0cean, that all
lilly moral questions are in the field of the
nrch But how many of political Legislative
a industrial questions really moral ques
nqnx. What is there OF moral question in the
1sying OF taxes, for Instance The question
thinks Is to get money for the expenses OF
pscrnment To contribute of this money III
Eoportion TO their means is civic obligation
xn MI citizens The whole question is o.
xpediency as to how the money shall be dis
xbnted. This, in fact. thinks this Jealous adj
<$ocAte OF church far above the mundane as
ID - invisible excep, for its halo, is the basic
4e1tion underlying all reform movements i'll
a1ttcs. all labor disputes. all political and in
IT. PHILOSOPHY, Is ole of dollar. II the
Anrch is going TO make everything its bust
2ne. how is it going have anY time or
410ngth left To save souls?
S An ESSAY of this sort from this particular
purce Ii peculiarly unfortunate when the owner
IL chief OF the paper that writes it happens to
- that Senator Lorimer whose election as
Matted States Senator has resulted in of
9ne most odoriferous scandals OF two decades
r1r1ly there lurked somewhere under the story
The bath room boys an abuse which might
I'll have been softened at any rate by the par
G1pation OF men in politics animated with
EAt ~ well as political motives In larger
- the question ar to why're is the morality in
distribution OF the taxes, III labor controver-
oa In the tariff in the passage OF economic
~, Is being answered aihrmatiyely as lying
The very root Of hope for the application OF
r<ness and morality to government generally.
would be far from asserting that the place
ftta. But in common with thinking men of all
denominations, feel that the better thought
the country at this time distinctly holds that
64ff place is not within the church as eloister
7nd sanctuary for the small company OF the
11ctified That this is true is in reality at the
44On OF the countrywide movement of unrest
6ding expression in both old parties, in the
Itch . new. strange and powerful party may
80 born to do its work of national regenera-
Morals Is not an abstraction and religion.
- anything else must be based morals.
s4he same token the government concerned
;xke levying and distribution OF the public i
9D--in the spending of the peoples money
4hef through taxes direct indirect, or ap-
Nations To the popular benefit the spec.
fnterest--eannot avoid the moral test with
disaster 10 the business standard and re-
Government, politics~-vhether of the
fen. the State. or the city, it represents the
~1nr business cannot fail to affect for good
IN the public conscience, II is a poor phi I
~ that In the light Of this truth sees In the
Eened interest of the ministry in the moral
lnNnt OF economic questions only prying
npG 10 ply debasing trade Creeds are
they are made. This eountry's creed in
~ hfe II that OF the dollar. It cannot have
ekfng belief In higher system unless ii
anany apply the ethics OF It's religion 10
Gnctice Of its business
NEXT TUESbAY-AND BEYOND
~ eve Of q general election every surface
klpn points to subsurface sentiment OF