The Republican journal., 1913-06-05
The Church as an Investment
Written for The Republican Journal


An apostatical Jewish gentleman,
man of substance and of digniied de-
pertinent, prominent in the business
life OF mis- city though overlooked socially
through racial prejudice, was once in
casual conversation with the writer.
when presently came an interruption
from the pealing of deep-toned bells, for
it was the evening of Sunday.
10 my mingled surprise and amuse-
ment the gentieman's manner instantly
underwent singular Transformation.
Fixing me with glazing eye, he exploded
in words which fairly sizzled with scorn
and spraying saliva.
IF | vas yong mans. same as you
vas, | wouldn't live in this cash BANKED
town one minutes Sixteen churches in
this dash BANKED little town T'ink Of
it ! Sixteen churches ~
With the eXuberant optimism of youth
laughed. And many times since then
the incident, serving as an anecdote, has
been found to retain its original visibility
for, though without skill as a racon-
teur, venture upon occasion TO mangle
a story in a manner all my own, and get
| away with it.
But in looking down a long vista of
years am deeply impressed with the
pregnant fact that a city of surely no
more than six thousand inhabitants
which could maintain sixteen church or
CARNATIONS was sui generis far beyond
| anything which | realized at the time.
And this fact time has proven in man
ner and to a degree which supplies the
| meditatively inclined with ample ma
terial for profitable rumination.
| Nowhere would one have been likely
to find city of finer moral tone or of
| loftier civic sentiment than that which
existed in this city of sixteen churches,
as | remember it. And the passing years
have witnessed most phenomenal
growth in population, wealth and bust
! ness enterprise, with fine public build
ings, library, hotels, and all of those
varied elements which go to approximate
the ideal in place of residence.
True enough, this city was exception
ally favored in the matter of location
and resources. But equally SO were
manv adjacent municipalities which have
failed of showing like advancement,
simply because they did not present like
inducements to capital and prospective
residents of the finer type.
So, then, this city may be offered in
evidence as a magnificent demonstration
of the value of religious Institutions as a
straight business proposition. Not claim
ing. of course, that the city achieved its
wonderful position solely because of the
existence of sixteen churches; but one
NAV safely bank on the basic fact that
the sort of people who have it in them to
do things really worth Whlle.people
who aspire to make the most of llfe-are
the sort of people who stand ready to
extend generous support to the churches.
And such people attract Others, even
those who hardly measure up to the
standard. In view of the tendency of
the times, the truth should appeal to
those who worship at the shrine of the
dollar. and to those who feel themselves
too ''practical' to deal with "sentl-
ment."
From nearly everywhere comes the
cry of the churches, lamentlng the alb
sence of interest, the paucity OF funds,
the empty pews, and that the burden of
keepinp up the work rests on the women
alone. Endless are the columns written
nv the almost disheartened clergy and
ssnctimonious laymen bemoaning the
situation-so endless that the printing
TYNE employed, collected as a cargo,
would put the "Olympic's" Plimsoll a
score Of inches under water. And late
" the professional literary opportunist
tho nimble word smith who yarns be-
ou;l;nolv of business achievement in a
manner which bears the same relation to
actr al conditions as the stories of Sher-
iock Holmes bear to real criminal de-
tection-has found it profitable to turn
his genius for specious treatment and
telling phrase to bear on the perplexing
situation.