The Republican journal., 1913-02-13

for power and light. Stormy meetings
have been held in the Council Chamber.
Councilmen have been by acclaim called
upon to resign. At length it appears
probable that the company will be CON-
PEELED to yield to the popular demand
for one-third reduction of the proposed
rate from nine cents to six for lights and
corresponding reduction for power.
Some men in the Council, and some out
side, have fought hard and strong for
what they considered the best interests
of this city, while others have apparent
ly been ready to sacrifice the city's inter-
ests. The city's privileges, paved
streets, hydrant water, telephone SER
vice and electricity are certainly not to
be despised, but Zones pays the
freight" We have gloried here in the
fact of the paving of many of our prin-
cipal streets. but back of these improve
ments for the past year, has been the
expense of half a million dollars taken
out of the pockets of many whose
comes were not equal to the demands.
One street, two miles long, was paved
this last year and the tax bills have just
been issued against the abutting proper
ty. l see in today's papers, however,
that some people are taking steps to Sc
cure legal release from the obligation
to pay So there is likely to be a strong
legal contest over the effort to collect
the money. Well, everything makes
business. The work creates demand
for cement, crushed rock, and labor by
men and teams. And now, if the protest
is carried to the courts, it will mean bust
ness for the courts, jurors, lawyers,
sheriffs, constables and witnesses; but
here again, Zones pays the freight" If
one wins, the other loses. and the costs
of the courts fall upon the tax payers.
There are principles involved, however,
sometimes, when it is worth fighting to
the last ditch and the last man.
| see by The Journal that there is
stronger trend towards union among the
churches of Belfast than appeared to be
practicable thirty years ago. In the
West, as we'll as in the East, rapid
changes are taking place in favor of
broad Catholicity, particularly along
practical lines. In this city the protes-
tant churches are divided into approx
mately thirty congregations; many of
them numerically and financially weak.
The Catholic, on the other hand, with a
large population, has but three congrega-
tions, so located as to best serve the in
terests Of the people to whom they min
lister, and it is more than probable that
eight or ten protestant churches located
at strategic points and supplied with
able ministers would do as much, if not
more efficient, service than the thirty.
The larger the congregation the more
inspiration to the preacher, the more
people the less proportionate expense;
so all through the land, particularly in
the country towns, people are sacrificing
in a measure their UNCONVENTIONAL affili-
ations in favor of broader catholicity
and more efficient service against iniquity
in all its varied forms and the advance
ment of the kingdom of God in the earth
For nearly thirty years have been an
occasional contributor to The journal. l
have seldom written anything which |
esteemed of special interest except to
those who have read it for the writer's
sake. have often thought after writ
ing that the letter would find a more
fitting receptacle in the waste basket
than in the columns of The Journal.
Today as began to write, my guardian
angel asked me "What | had to write
about, as the weather was substantially
the same in Maine as in Missouri" Yet
that very same guardian angel who sits
at the table with me as l finish these
lines has persisted in her demand to read
each page as it is finished. One of my
Belfast friends, writing the other day,
requested another letter for The Journal,
as we'll as a personal letter, but | am
we'll aware that in each case it is a per-
sonal matter.
Several years ago l was once told that
the Rev. c. B. Dunn, who at that time
was pastor of the M. E. Church in the
town of Sebec, Me-, at social gathering
of his constituency told many witty
story and amusing incident, and near the
close he said to the people, 81 have said
many things to amuse you to night, and
now | am Dunn
Before finish, however, l want to say
a word in regard to The Republican Jour-
nal, which has so generously published
the numerous squibs which l have writ
ten. want to say, in all honesty, that
The Journal comes nearer to my ideal of
country weekly newspaper than any
other paper with which 1t has been my
privilege to be acquainted. This in part is
due probably to the fact that l have
read The Journal longer than have read
any similar publication; but it is also
dine in mart at least to the fact that the