The Washington herald., 1913-08-24

would ruin minister's reputation TO be
| caught smoking and in Louisville il ap-
| peared nobody was orthodox unless he
smoked. Even in the Baptist Southern
| Theological Seminary there theoIogues
were found indulging.
New York FusIOnistS Church Men.
Political fusionists of New York, Sc
lecting a candidate for Mayor to down
Tammany Hall. and drawing up a plat
form for him to stand on, put forward
three men who are active in three re-
! ligiOus bodies to which they belong, and
put into their platform several things
that the churches, through their social
service commissions, have been clamor-
| ing for. John Purroy Mitchell, whom
they selected for Mayoralty candidate.
is a Roman Catholic. District Attorney
Whitman is an officer in the University
Place Presbyterian Church, New York,
and has spoken many times in churches,
not upon semi-political and reform SUBJ
jects only, but on strictly Christian
topics. President McAneny, of Manhat-
tan, now candidate for president of the
Board of Aldermen, is an Episcopalian, a
supporter of work by laymen in that
church, and constantly a speaker from
Episcopal chanceIs.
The fusionists' platform calls for the
terminal market plan in each borough:
the throwing open of public schools and
grounds for athletic. recreational and
social purposes; the furnishing of lunch
cons to children at cost by the Board
of Education; a vast increase in voca-
tional instruction in the high schools, a
need now sought to be met in part by
the churches in their parish houses, and
the creation of a city amusement de-
partment that shall consider the needs
of children. especially of the lower East
Side, for Fairgrounds all the year and
better breathing spaces in summer.
While religion was not once mentioned,
and there are no traces of sectarian in
1uence, the programs of Christian and
Hebrew bodies are at the front as in
almost no campaign of recent years in
any city.
Several Of the largest religious bodies
ofSthis country are working on plans for
pensioning retired clergymen and are
gradually raising the funds, but 1t has
remained for the Joint commission on
the support Of the clergy of the Pro-
testant Episcopal church to make what
is probably the most thorough study of
the subject ever made by a church body.
The commission emerged from this study
with the conviction that it is possible
TO provide comprehensive pension sys-
TEN that will meet the varied needs of
not only the clergymen, but also of their
widows and orphans.
This commission, which has issued a
preliminary report, will present a more
complete one to the general convention
in October. The commission frankly ex-
presses the hope that the church is in
earnest in her determination that her
clergy shall receive adequate support,
both in action and in the retirement of
old age, and that their widows and
orphans shall not come to poverty
Under the inspiration of this hope the
subject Of the support of the clergy, in
cluding salaries, sustentatoin, insurance,
annulties, and pensions, binding all into
a comprehensive whole and accompanied
by carefully computed tables showing
how the system is expected to work
It Is on service this commission OF the
Episcopal church establishes its system
There appears no hint of charity, in the
meaning of the word, but Of
Justice and a recognition of service.
Charity is demoralizing," says the COM
mission. but pensions, IL administered
under definite rules, cannot be a source
of Generalization to the clergy, as they
cannot be to any other body of men when
granted for long continued service" II
is further: pointed out that "a pension is