The Richmond Virginian. (Richmond, Va.) 1910-1920, 1912-05-19
ANONYMOUS INDICTMENTS.

A&cNS MUS I&DkIIMENTS.
Preachers have no monopoly of the practice
e. loeee statement, hat the fact that they arc
not careful often serves TO make it appear that
they the chief sinners ia this respect.
Every consideration of their office and relation
to the public ought TO make the preachers
hold to the very letter OF accuracy. That they
DO not do so Is doubtees due TO a straining
after effect, But the average preacher would
ur surprised, indeed, 10 know tire effect TINT
his search for sensation actually creates
In the Southern Baptist Convention now in
seeston Ut Oklahoma City, the question under
discussion being Christian Education Dir.
+. 81 Poteat. of South Carolina a man whom
we know 70 be Of personal rectitudc and abil-
ity. permitted himself To say that
''He kneN nom Christian College WHERE poker
was the favorite pastine. whore the students Kept
ap The redelig5t district where the rnpus echoed
with profanity, aud where faculty meeting had
to lie called IF because the President vas too
dri1Dls to attend"
The vice OF this statement s shown in sew
eral ways the briefest consideration. In
the first place the anonymity OF the charge
tends Intentionally or unintentionallv. to Gre
ate false impression of the non -sectarian in
stitutioh OF learning in general In the next
place. the bare statement that such an insti-
tuition as that described in In existence is of
Itself worthless. because II promises nothing
in the way OF either remedy or warning In
the third place failure to specif, the inatttu-
ton condemned instantly subjects the speaker
to the criticism that he Ia talking loosely from
runnor rather than knowledge
II Or Poteat knows of such an institution.
af he say he knows of It. it il his manifest
duty as "a minister of the gospel TO attack 1t
with the Yigor with which Christ scoureed
tie money changers in the temple IT is true
that institutions OF learning are the temples
Of the youth 1t is by contacts there expert
enced that character, Ia large part, is developed
or vitiated. IT Is of the utmost Importance
that in every college and university, sectarian
or otherwise. the basis of Its moral influence
honld be the teachings of Christ That ia
what the public expects OF every institution TO
which IL entrusts Its youth In the most crucial
time or life. If DR.. Potent, therefore knows
college In which the emphasis IL toward de-
may mistakenly commit their children to it's
guidance is obvious. II he has only heard ru-
mors which he turns into substantive fact he
is doing the college In question no harm~-be-
cause he does not identity 1t; but he Is doing
harm to the cause of education in general
when he reflects upon it's general character.
As matter OF fact the average non-secta-
rian university compares favorably with the
sectarian institution in morals and religious
impulse. The question is largely one of the
and instruction. As a rule these men, who
have followed the unremunerative profession
Of teachers, have been Influenced to their
course by the same unseifsh desire for service
the great part. they are themselves Chris
tian' and exert a Christian influence. whe-
ther the institution they serve Is officially con-
necteai With u religious organization or not
Tire universal protest of members of as high a
profession as that followed by the men who
man the institutions of learning throughout
The country would speedily purge the offend
ing college OF its betrayers did DR.. poteat
prove his case, or even tell enough about 1t to
found an indictment for reasonable cause.
Having brought an anonymous charge which
reflects on every Southern college and univer
sity of non-sectarian character, he should
new proceed to Ale bill of particulars or
his accusation