The Detroit times., 1911-11-15
Liquor Folk and Val
Sn-eet Oppose Suffrage
REV. W. A. ATKINSON.

Before the SUNDAY SChool teachers
and members OF the Girls. FE lily
society OF the parish, Monday night.
the Rev William a Atkinson, rector
OF ST. Matthias Episcopal church,
made a vigorous plea for equal suf-
frage His topic was, Has Thy king
dom come, Thy will be done on
earth the prayer OF Christ-been
lealized?" He said:
Many think the kingdom referred
TO is some other world kingdom and
not the here and now. Had Christ
preached of the other world. the
priests and Pharisees would have
welcomed him gladly. Why were the
Christians thrown 10 wild beasts,
turned, bounded and tortured? Not
because theirs was a new religion.
Rome rather boasted that, In her
pantheon, there was a niche for every
god, she prided herself In her tolera-
ton OF many religions under her
eagles winds. But Rome became the
prosecutor OF the preaching OF the
gospel OF justice the gospel of equal
ity. a gospel that would make the here
and now a kingdom 1T for all God s
children. And when the tide grew so
high and overwhelming. the privileged
classes adopted and then perverted
the new faith 10 further their ends
and interests.
To-day great effort is being made
TO make possible more and more the
kingdom on earth by making more
religious our civil government, by
putting the governing function into
- he oil hA
pie. thus eliminating the influences
which are the cause OF corruption,
graft and our many-sided inequalities.
rs our economic system religious
when in the midst Of plenty, many
want through no fault OF their own?
ANY authentic account OF savagery
reads like a message from home.
when compared with the reports OF
cur sanitary commissions and the in
ouiries into the conditions OF our
lsboring poor. We are breeding a
pauper and criminal and ignorant
class. and have virtual slavery amid
political liberty. Capital and labor
are enemies. Wealth tends TO great
or aggregation and the poor grow
poorer. Our system breeds pertodi-
cal depression, which always brushes
the one least able TO bear IL. And all
of this and more because OF the short
sighted and selfish enactments of
man.
These enactments make possible
elaborate fallacies and misleading the
cries concerning an active, energetic
power, which writes laws and moulds
thought, the power Of vast and dom
inant money interest which murders
wholesale the principles of justice and
equal opportunity for all
There is only one way TO correct
this fault and mako possible the an
swer 10 Chrlsts prayer and that is to
put the function of government M e
and more into the hands OF the -
ple. all OF the people OF legal age, wo-
men as well as men
Chinese say China will never be-
come a great nation until their wo-
men are on par with their men. The
same is true OF this country. The
salvation OF the nation from our ap-
Mailing misfortunes is TO put the wo-
men on a par with the men by giving
them the franchise.
stop to think of the two dominant
interests which are opposed TO wo-
mans or equal suffrage! First. the
brewers and Wholesale liquor dealers
associations: second. Wall-st The
fact that the liquor interests and Wall
81. interests are threatened by the
rising tide OF woman's suffrage sought