Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1910-02-09

The Rt. Rev. Earl Cranston, Bishop
of the Methodist Episcopal Church, who
presided over the greater portion OF
the conferences of that church in Eu-
rope during the past year and who at
times addressed congregations OF 1000
persons in Germany, Italy and other sec
tions OF the continent in an interview this
afternoon vigorously assailed certain
statements which Archbishop Ireland
| made In the press yesterday relative to the
work Of the Methodist Episcopal Church
in the Eternal city. He contradicted the
statements of the archbishop that the
methods Of the Methodists in Rome are
dishonorable and that they are taking adj
vantage of the poverty of the poor, and
declared that the Methodist Church does
not pose in Rome anywhere else as
the great American church, but declared:
1--WE are simply militant body trying to
do our part in the battle for right" He
challenges the archbishop to give specific
data as to the methods of the Methodsts.
Have you read what the archbishop
says of the Fairbanks incdent?'' Bishop
Cranston was asked.
Yes, 1 have he answered, "and the
archbishop is doubtless the best man
who could have been put forward to save
the pope's face in this country. He has
been regarded as the best American
among Roman ecclesiastics, and his
name is one for 'hard-pressed politicians
to conjure by If he had been pope at
Rome he would probably have managed
better than the present incumbent.
clustering Rush Eastward"
But the dust of the archbishop's bIus-
tering rush eastward to fight the Metho-
dists must not be allowed to. obscure the
real issue to which we have called punlic
attention. Mr.. Fairbanks is not on trial
before the world, nor is the Metho-
dist Episcopal Church to be put on the
defensive by accusers from Rome. Our
history is interviewer with the progress
of the nation. There is not hidden
page or secret chapter in it. Even the
archbishop testifes that what we are
doing in Rome is done openly. That is
our way. Can he say the same Tor
Rome's methods in America?
elm his attempt to square the behavior
Of the pontiff with American ideas of re-
Iigious tolerance the archbishop has a
hard task, but he ought to know that To
| say You're another and to start cas-
with doubled fists is not the disnified way
to go about it. 1t will not satisfy fair
minded Americans to say that Mr.. Falr-
banks was to address company of per-
niciouS hereticS Sunday, and, therefore,
could not be received by the pope Mon
day. for, the archbishop's word TO the
contrary notwithstanding, we have an
American congregation as well as an
Italian in Rome, and Mr.. Fairbanks was
to address company of Americans II
their own place of worship, both parties
having a standing which the pope did
not give and cannot take away. even
had they been diSreputabie lot to whom
Mr.. Fairbanks spoke, the precedents Of
the Vatican do not indicate that hiSn
moral tests are invariably applied to per-
sons who are granted audience at the
Vatican. Mr. Fairbanks both taught and
exemplified true catholicity.
Not an Endorsement
Nor will it do to say that for the pom
tiff to have received the distinguished
American, under the circumstances even
as they are narrated by the archbishop,
would have meant an Endorsement of the
'pernicious' propaganda of that 'Metho-
dist Association How many millions of
Americans there are who firmly believe
that the Roman hierarchy has used, not
merely perniciOus,' but cruel and pitileSs,
ways of making and holding proselytes-
but what American ever dreamed that
when a President of the republic received
an archbishop, a cardinal or even pa
pal legate in audience that he was there
by sanctioning the teaching or preach
ing or methods of the papal propaganda.
or giving countenance, say, to the claims
of the papacy. which conflict with the
kingdom of Italy, or to the pope's conten-
ton with France?
IF the archbishop's reasoning is valid.
diplomacy must at once exclude many
people who have been frequent callers at
the White House, lest offense be given to
friendly nations.
A New Explanation.
But 1 observe from the morning cable
grams from Rome that the Vatican sends
out a new explanation. The pope cannot
receive any one. however distinguished
who does not while in Rome behave as a
Catholic That is consistent, in words at
least, as Rome understands them. And
the pontiff is said to regret Mr.. Seth
Lows too early backsliding in speaking
to q Protestant assembly after being re-