Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1911-12-30

/ ARTHUR H. Glea
| Right now a good old time revival Is
| surging thru the nation 1t is an old
I, fashioned fiery revival. but with TWEEN
tieth century methods and adaptations.
It's originator. leader. and spearhead is
| Fred B. Smith. He calls 1t the Men
and Religion Forward Movement. Soon
after this issue of Golfers reaches Its
readers. the evangelists will release
| their enthusiasm in New York, Port
| land. Providence. Springfield. Wor-
cester. and then Boston. Hartford and
Rochester will feel the palpitations. 1t
Is tackling seventy-six cities, and
eighteen hundred smaller communities
have begged for some OF its pentecostal
fire.
| THE Battalion Of Thirty'-thirty
speakers. each an expert in his own
| line all of them drilled for the revival
as carefully as a corps OF drummers-
are told off into three teams with the
new year there will be four teams).
They are proceeding south thru the
middle west, and by April will have
| reached most sections ot the United
States. Their desire is to bring 5000,
| 600 boys and men to a religious life
Their new evangelistic note is to ex-
press conviction" in terms Of good
works.
Smith is rudy. strongly built man
| who for twenty three years has been
Y. NJ. C. A. worker. "a great big he
man." is the way his friends describe
him. The phrase originated with
Smith He was once asked by re-
porter why he didn't leave church
work to the women. who already hat
a monopoly of it.
when a man Is drowning, You don'1
send a lady out to, rescue him. You
send a great big herman" said Smith
He is a middle westerner. sincere
human. fearless. with q clear. true eye
Men listen to him gladly. for he Ii
hearty and democratic. He believes II
giving men mans, Job TODD In church
work.
II found one church committee" HI
says. "of twenty-one men-men cap
ahla, 81 edeaaizingR han,fe- w3rRR y
buying a rug for the vestry noor. ",
expect to advertise Jesus Christ ant
the church as they were never adver'
tised before"
What he IS his battalion Of speaker.
are-bright. CHEEKY christians, burst
ing with vitality. alert Of eye. with g
vigorous handclasp. They are heart!
meat eaters, getting away with foul
meals day, the last after ten at night
when the days troubles are over They
live at what is almost training table
In the rigor and forcefulness Of thu
diet They have taken hold Of religion
and are boosting it with the fervol
and publicity skill which gang Of
statesmen would apply to soap thai
floats or suits that wear
i Smith Is swift like that-a strong
heady plunger into dangerous situa.
tons And he knows how to advertise
A man came to him the other day, say.
ing:
do you know that many Of the dis
orderly resorts in Chicago are owned
by respectable citizens Of the commu.
nifty. and that, in certain instances
these owners are church members
For reply. Smith telegraphed to Chi
cago to learn II any owners Of bad
resorts were backing the revival. and
If so to remove their names from the
list.
/ The king Of brewers. Adolphu.
Busch. was said to be one OF the pow.
erful men behind the movement. Smith
struck back hard. His message to the
Associated Press was:
"Adolphus Busch is not connected
with the Men and Religion Forward
movement in any shape. manner, OIL
form in ST. Louis or any place else. II
he was, I myself would resign, or else
he would
Don't think that he does not utilize
the old methods. He is a successful
revivalist. first Of all, wise in the
manipulation OF emotions. A few week,
ago at Grand Rapids, with quake,
singing soft music. he called his audi
ence to the test:
Now all you who can say: I have
personally accepted Christ and am
leading a christian life,' please rise
Fine. Glorious! Fine
But the revival Is lot more than
that. Before letting loose on the ma.
ton, Smith took his Battalion to e
big deserted summer hotel and made
each of them rehearse his speeches
Some of them were ffve-minute and
some seven-minute speeches. None o,
them could overlap-all Of them had
to move. He trained them into full
diversified, speedy program, just as q
/ vaudeville manager arranges his lady
bicyclists, singers. and cloggers, &c
as to give variety and motion to the
evening. And before he goes near q
city like st. Louis, where his forces
have Just been focusing their entirusi-
rasm, he finds out what sort Of place
he is getting mixed UP with.
His tactics are simple and startling
/. Getting the facts IL the first move. He
makes a study with twelve blanks and
twelve hundred questions. He creates
a local committee Of 100. The town
is pledged to reproduce the results OF
Hts change OF heart In surrounding cit
les and towns. At Cedar Rapids 11l
other towns were represented at the
meetings. A census IL taken by q
house-to-h house Canvass. In Detroit
tse-esa! thousand nnAn and women wefx
set to work to gather the statistics on
fchurch affiliations. In cities like Chi
cage ana Phfladslphia he has placed
between 10000 ana 10000 persons q
! .:-s.:.s ctr seHAee4rs S.es.
= On ono aftsrnoca = Chicago nsasa,