Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1912-05-31

Sums kh0s WiaA tiChSthCi TIC pLldkS
the affairs OF its faith. We are to a large
extent today defying the ordinances of
God. and the sooner we awaken to a real
izing sense OF our responsibility the bet
ter II will be for the spiritual elevation
Of the country"
Senator Rayner declared that the coun-
try is running mad with the lust of
wealth and power. and that IL takes
terrible warning to bring 1t back to its
moorings and senses.
he discusses the lessons taught by the
greatest marine disaster OF history. Is as
follows:
Lesson Of Religious Faith"
There is another lesson however, Mr.
President, that this disaster has taught
us. Of more importance than a change in
our admiralty and navigation laws. ami of
far greater and more overwhelming sig
nificance than the lesson of corporate
responsibility, and that is the lesson of
religious faith. Disasters like this. instead
of weakening, should strengthen the faith
Of the nation. There is no use of appeal
ing to reason or to philosophy in case of
this sort. The mind stands aghast and ap-
palled as these calamitieS come thick and
! fast We forget in our moments of sor-
row that 1t was never intended that the
intellect of man should reason out such
problem. Suffering and affiict on as
they come to the pure and innocent in a
hundred forms are inexplainaRle.
The commissions of nature alone that
have swept myriads Of human beings to an
untimely death cannot be reconcilei by
any process of human reasoning. When
the reason halts the Creator has implant-
ed in the soul another faculty, however
that gives US light in the hours of tr bu-
latiOn. 1t Is the light of faith, pillar
of fire in the night of our darkness and
despair. Throughout my life | have spent
Of 10 nd sill nx
and sleepless hours of the night in the
struggle for the light Of reason. but in
my advancing years the light that gives
me fOrtitude and courage is the sublime
and at the supreme moment when reason
vanishes breaks in upon US with all the
radiance of the morning sun. We can
reason out the negligence of man, but We
cannot reason out why, in the course of
nature. an iceberg from the Arctic Zone
should just at this very moment have
taken it's course upon the path of desola-
ton and of DEATH
Upon all th and kindred subjects the
most profound intellect of the greatest
ed the world Just about as much as the
credulity of the earliest races, who at
tributed every phenomenon of nature to
the interpos.t on of Divine Providence,
What tn nation needs are SO ne severe
lessons that Will strengthen the pill ars
and the affairs of its faith. We are to a
large extent today defyfng the ordinances
of God, and the sooner We awaken to a
real zing sense of our respons blity the
better 1t will be for the spiritual eleva-
ton Of the country.
mad With Lust Of Wealth."
1--WE are running mad with the lust of
wealth. and of power, and Of ambition.
We are separating society into castles. with
fabulous fortunes upon the one side and
restitution and poverty on the other. It
takes a terrible warning to bring us back
to our moorfngs and our senses. We are
abandoning the devout and simple Ives
of our ancestors, and the fabric of our
fires des is weaken g at the foundation.
If this disaster teaches no lesson or
points no mora, then let us pass 1t by
with stoical md ference, until the next
disaster comes. and in the meantime let
the carnival go on. May the heart-rend-
ing scenes upon this night of anguish
and of woe give us faith and lead US back
to the affairs Of our fathers. I VII not
rehearse the agon.es of this midn ght
sacrifice. l cannot afford to dwell upon
distract the mind and break the heart 1t
is the lesson and the moral that / am
searching for.
Il II say this, however. n closing.
The agonies OF separation at this scene,
that palsy the tongue when it attempts
to describe them, were worse than the
agonies of death. l knew well one of the
courageous passengers, who, with his
wife, yielded up their lives on this &C.
casion. The man was a splendd type of
American citizenship. / served with him
in the House Of Representatives, and he
was esteemed and beloved by all who
knew him. In private life he was a bene-
factor of the human race. In public life
he was an unpur chasaole tribune Of the
people. H heroic wife had the blood of
martyrs In her veins. and from the most
authentic account that can Obtain. the
account Of witness who was not exam
ined by the committee. because her testi-
mony was not necessary for the purposes
of the investigation, she went to her
death with the same spirit Of heroic forti-
tude with which her ancestors went to
the fagot and the flame.
"A harrow ng thought flashes across my
mind, and that is. 1t might possibly have
been unnecessary to have presented to
this devoted man and woman the terrible
m -ght have been possible that both of
them could have been rescued. I shall
dwell upon this incident no longer.
Il shall close my brief remarks with
this remembrance. AS the ship was sink
ing the strains Of music were waited over
the deck. 1t was not the note OF any
martial anthem that had in days gone by
led embattled legions to victory. 1t was
a more inspiring stanZa than IN S. 1t "
a loftier and holier melody amid the an
guish an. the sublime pathos Of that aw-
full hour that swept through the compcrt-
ments OF the sinking ship. 1t was q
rallying cry for the living and the dying.
to rally them. not for life. but to rally
them for their. awaiting death. Almost
face to face with their Creator, amid the
chaos of this supreme and solemn mo-
ment. In inspiring notes the unison re-
sounded through the ship. 1t told the vic
Tins Of the wreck that there was another
world beyond the seas free from the
agony of pain. AMI, though with somber
tones. 1t cheered them on to their I'M
timely fate. AS the sea closed Upon the
heroic dead, let us feel that the heavens
opened to the lives that were prepared to
enter.
Father Of the Universe. what an ad-
mon ton to the nation. The sounds of
that awe-inspiring requiem that vibrated
o err the ocean have been drowned In the
waters of the deep. the instruments that
gave them birth are s.lenced as the harps
were silenced on the willow tree, but If
the melody that was rehearsed could only
through the land Nearer, My
God, to Thee" and its echoes could be
heard in these halls of legislation. and
at every place where our rulers and rep
resentat yes pass judgment and enact and
administer laws, and at every home and
fires.de from the mansions of the rich to
the huts and novels of the poor, and III