Honolulu star-bulletin. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1912-2010, 1914-01-03
MI VOTE

throughout America peculiar sanctity is
1eginning to be associated with the idea of the
tItizens ballot 1t is the crown upon the brow
b the Americanking. 1t should not be granted
b aliens unframed IN our national ciyics. 1t
must not be withheld from any citizen for rea.
sons OF sex. 1t is the mark Of the free man. Its
possession implies the highest obligation which
man as a citizen has To be false to this obi
Eation, to make careless usesof his vote, is the
steatest civic sin. The time is coming when the
ley Of the first baliot VIZ ba'raade thdnccasion
o special civic rejoicing We may live to see
.ome public ceremonial recognition of the occa-
.ion comparable to the first communion in many
religious organizations N4
A few.months ago businessman being asked
Why he went to church replied that he considered
(hurch attendance to be a ballot publicly cast in
favor Of maintaining the church as a necessary
social institution. He was unwilling to live in a
IIurclless community. liz he wanted a church,
he must be man enough to vote for it, Every
time he passed Sunday without going to church
he was recording his vote against it as modern
Institution; every time he attended church he
vas casting his ballot unequiyocally in its favor
Is not the Christian who refuses to attend
church in the same class with the citizen who de-
fIines to vote on election day? Does not the man
Who believes in his heart that community
without a church is not fit place in which to
bring up his family, and yet who never attends
the public worship of God, belong in the same
tategorye Such man is shirk, willing to
shift his responsibility for the maintenance of a
most useful institution upon the shoulders of
more conscientious folk. 49,
BE is also ungrateful No man who believes
ID the existence of the church does so without
the conviction that he derives some benefit there
from. In earlier years his connection with it
may have helped him form his moral standard
OF the church BY insistenee upon ideals makes
society healthier, or the church by constantly
holding up God before men gives them the one
treat basis for rightliying, or by teaching the
Bible it popnlarizes humanity's noblest medium
fof trimming the conscience. A half-dozen con
victions of this order are held by everyone
brought mp in the church. Yet many man who
admits all this and who confesses that the church
helps make the world a far more 1ivable place
turns the cold shoulder upon it and will not
hand it even the thank-you of regular or occa
sional attendance.
Furthermore, the example of the non-church
gocr is strangely lacking in parental love. After
gaining substantial good from his earlier years
Of church going, to deny to his children the ex-
ample of attendance which in his own fathers
or mothers case meant so much to him is hardly
fhe4square deal" to the next generation The boys
and girls of today have right to expect from
their fathers and mothers the habit of public
Worship of God. Parents who refuse this are
denying their children a part of their very birth
right. Reverence is an attitude of mind of which
no parent ought to deprive his children. Every
boy and girl needs it in his character makeup