The Washington herald., 1912-06-23
D JAMEs B. lIoRRoW.

men. have been asking that question
during the past six months. They havl
seen him come, almost with timidity, Il
the edge Of the platform-darl1-faced ant
shaved, hair as black as an unlit SKY
Of the night-and have heard him, in 4
low. manly voice, with fine artistry o.
words and in eloquence and real pas
sion, appeal for social justice. And they
have listened to his warnings. Another
jeremiah. some have said; new Pat
rick Henry, others have asserted.
Fragments of wonderful story found
currency in many large American cities
Once he was miner. He made for
tune in Alaska. Bad men and bad
women are his friends Also he is g
lawyer. All the tramps know him, and
60 to him when hungry. Capitalists
condemn him. and then take him by the
hand. Strikers are restrained by his
orders. why's as a climax Of surprise
and interest, he has even been a poll
tician- So the fragments passed among
audiences in New England and the West,
but the question, who is Raymond Rob-
ins?' remained unanswered. Chicago
knew, San Francisco knew, the Klon-
dixie knew, a host Of toilers and sinners
knew In a limited sense, but the rest of
Inc "OIAQ was CdAGE AOA AAAG AaNAA-
The One Great Discovery.
Raymond Robins was the one great
personal revelation Of the Men and Re
Iigion Forward Movement Like the
gold he found in Alaska, he existed, but
he had not been dug out and brought
to the surface for mighty national pur-
poses Yet he had been working for
eleven years, and saying that ''the
whole issue Of life and death rests in
the eternal relationships of men, upon
the way you deal with your fellow-man
and upon the way that you treat the
least Of US (the beggar or a Magdalene,
he might have said in terms OF our sim
pIest human 7eedE." That is his text.
That is his life. 1t is the Golden Rule
amplified. And he had been proclaiming
it and living it among millionaIres,
Workingmen, and vagrants ever since,
in the gloomy and benumbing silence
Of a Northern night, he saw the white
cross of the Galilean peasant-an opti-
cal fraud, he imagined, or the first
dreadful sign Of approaching madness
amid a wilderness Of snow and ice.
There is no better description, per-
haps, of Fred B. Smith than to call him
Americas ablest religious statesman
and propagandist He managed the
forward movement, calling Raymond
Robins into the work, though Robins
said: Some of the men who are sup
plying you with money have had strikes
in their factories and I have assisted
the strikers. They may be offended"
We'll try it, anyway" Smith answer
ed, and Robins Joined Team No. 3, trav-
eled 1852 miles, spoke in thirty-seven
cities, from New England to the States
on the Pacific, gave his services with
out price for seven months, and became
the oratoricaI discovery and sensation
OF the movement. He is not a Socialist,
hut he believes that property is in some
danger, and that social justice-ndus-
trial liberty, he terms it's bound to
follow religious and political justice. or
liberty, in the evolutionary processes Of
the human race. So he calls on Chris
tian captains of industry to heed and
help the revolution that is bound to
come.
Pays S16 a Month Rent.
Thus property can be saved. He lives
with his wife, who was Margaret
Chicago tenement and pays 81 a week
rent. While he was in charge of the
lodging house, he came into
personal contact with $4,000 homeless
men and boys, representing, as he
PAAAeASCo H. AAlC oOGAd4 anu lHuuSlEldl
human drift of our national life" But !
1 wanted his romantic story, rather |
than his preachments and opinions, |
and I write 1t down as ! caught 1t in |
the library of a club in this city. his |
head resting on the back of a leather |
chair and his eyes looking at the CELL |
ing.
Il am spoken Of as being a South |
srn man." he said, "and there may be |
ter Of fact, was born nearly thirty |
nine years ago on Staten Island. But |
went to Florida when a very small /
boy, going to some of my mothers kin
dred. My father, however, was an |
Ohio man and once lived at GAINESVILLE. |
And there in Florida I grew up, on |
sandy plantation containing an orchard /
Of uncertain orange trees. was igno-
rant, bsshful, and reticent.
Il went to school for nine months,
spread through three winters, and that |
Ny last teacher, a man from the |
North, taught me to think. Up to his |
coming among US, I had only acted |
and felt. My sister, Elizabeth Robins,
The novelist, lived elsewhere, and was
older than myself and while I did not /
see her during my childhood, ideal
zed her, and later lonEed to get out |
INTO the world, earn money. and buy
her dresses. jewelry, and books. When
was lonely, would think of her, and
20 lived until I was sixteen years of
age, working in the sand and heat and
helping to gather our lean crops.
Becomes a Coal Miner.
MY first work for wages was in the
ommissary, or general store, Of a COM
ANY operating a phosphate mine. Then
drifted upward into Tennessee and be-
ssn digging coal, working twelve hours
day mostly on my knees, tor IS a week
By Friday 1 was tired out. had no
and no cheer. My legs
we're stiff, my arms and back ached, my
ungs were full of coal dust, and my eyes
nfiamed by the smoke from my candle.
70 1t came to pass that on Fridays, after
ny work was done, I went to the miners
alOon quite regularly for a time. It
vas warm and light and men told
tories and talked. I learned the taste
4 beer, which I drank moderately, but
made me mentally torpid the day
.fter, dried up the moisture OF my mouth,
nd / cut It out Ny sister, Elizabeth,
anne into my head, the vision OF, one I
ruly loved, and, besides, I felt that
ONE time should leave the mine and
hat 1 needed all my faculties and
trength.
"A miner from Colorado informed me
hat men out there received 81 for eight
ours OF work. I thought he was lying,
ut / went to Colorado, riding on freight
rains, hoping that he might be telling
be truth. In that Western country, with
short day and four times my former
ages, / had opportunity for reading and