The Caldwell tribune. [volume] (Caldwell, Idaho Territory [Idaho]) 1883-1928, 1911-08-25

tolerate it, because, as they say, 1t is
a necessary evil. Anything becomes
an evil when it is abused, and those
people may be honest in their cconvle-
ton when they take that ground. men
there is another camp IN Whlch inc
~cople claim that since there IS drink
in the land, since people have the ap-
petite for drink, since the people are
going to drink, that they had better
drink in moderation, and the churCh
better turn its efforts towards teach-
ing temperance. You Will ind these
four camps among the church; the
church is not a unit on the prohibition
question; the church is not unit on
the Local Option question; neither is
a unit on the question of toleratlon,
neither is it a unit on the question OF
moderation You may say the church
is divided necessarily so on this ques-
ton. Now there are two sides to
everv question; your side and my side.
The side on which there are dreams
and the side on which there are facts.
For wears | have realized that we nave
been dealing with this problem from
the standpoint of dreams and visions,
whereas we have to face the problem
and deal with it from the standpoint
of actual facts. Now friends | want
YOU for little while to look these
cold facts in the face You know
facts are stubborn things, facts are
cold-blooded things, sometimes they
are unpalatable, sometimes they are
unpleasant, but facts are facts lust
the same and you can't do away with
them. Now it is one thing to deal
with facts and it is another thing to
deal with visionary ideas and dreams,
so I think that we had better look
this thing straight in the face from
the standpoint of actual facts. Now l
want to say a word personally IN re
gard to these matters of fact. In 1871
on the 10Th day of August they put
me off at Buffalo. | will soon be 81
wears of age. When | was 7 years
of age my mother died in Saginaw,
Michigan. Two years later by father
contracted one of those unfortunate
marriages that you are told about anq
read about, and as result when l
was Il years of age l was thrown
out into the world on my own re-
sourses, and have padded my own
canoe ever since. When | was 10
wears of age | drifted in with the
church people and joined the church
and looked upon things from the
standpoint of the church, and took up
all the visionary ideas of the church
The church had the idea of heaven
here on earth. 1t was splendid idea
hit one of the hardest things in the
world to realize. | took up with the
idea of a saloonless nation, saloon
less state. a saloonless town. | took
nd with that idea and | stood tor II
and 1 worked for it and fought tor It
| When | was 10 years OF age. | lei
this country and went to India, anc
while in that country | had my eyes
opened and saw things from a differ
| ent viewpoint than | had seen before
| After four years | returned to tins
country as the result of a severe siege
of typhoid fever. When | came bach
| took up work in the pastorate, ant
shall never forget if | live to be
million years old the experiences
have had in the ministry. | went t(
A little town in Oklahoma, where
was pastor. | stood for what thu
church stood, but the members of m,
church did not and would not. en-
tered into a campaign to drive tn
saloons out, and the saloons wer
driven out, and as result, | wa
driven out too, by my own members
| was only getting at the time small
salary of 5000 a year and had to tur
nish my own house besides. | hat
to move, and you know that cost
money, and with no immediate pas
torate in view it went pretty hare
with a young fellow filled with con
victions and fighting the saloon &C
cording to the standard of the church
went back to Illinois and had a.
experience similar to that only littl
bit worse, | engaged in a campaigr
, against the saloons in the town i
which | lived and the saloons wer
driven out, and as a result was driV
! en- out myself. One man who was
: banker in that town paid $500 a yea
) on INV salary, and he called me int
: the bank one morning and with a
t oath on his tongue and pounding tn
desk with his fist said, What are yo
} doing here? We hired you to preac
} the Gospel and not to fight the 50
= Ions, and if you don't want to preac
D the Gospel get down and out; you wi