The Richmond Virginian. (Richmond, Va.) 1910-1920, 1914-06-27

An Open Letter DIR. Stuart Mcclure.
The following letter was sent to the Times
Dispatch but that paper declined to print It;
Or Stuar1 NcGuirc
Richmond, Va.
Ny Dear sir,-Some years ago It was my pri-
vlege to welcome the Tri-State Medical con-
vent3on 10 Greensboro, \. G., on behalf Of that
CITY On that occasion I had the honor to
meet YOU When I say honor, ! employ the
word with far profounder and more genuine
meaning than that Of convention usage. You
we're one of the bright particular stars Of a
profession in which achievement not only IL
illustrates human genius at its highest hut also
stands for human benevolence Mt its best You
bore name, too. which had been rendered
dear to every true southerner by the unsullied
ana brilliant career of your father name
peculiarly sacred me-, for J had been taught
that it was his matchess skill and personal
devotion that saved the life of my father,
srikan down by the enemy's bail. when ether
distinguished surgeons despaired. The heritage
Of such name rs holy trust, and multi
tude OF friends have contemplated Your pro-
fessional career with infinite satisfaction. In
the light of these sentiments, l trust may be
permitted to express poignant regret that, by
what seems 70 me to have been a mos, ursfor-
tunate deverance. You have been made to ap-
pea the champion Of a cause neither scient-
fc nor benevolent l bog YOU to observe that
say cause
I shall not be guiltv Of tho tmpropricty, If not
abSjFN lfA, or QHbtlnG mcdESit aNIHufi+tS TO
YOU. | am quite sure that YOU are not ignorant
Of the wide spread, almost universal reversal
If opinion among medical men of the highest
standing IN regard to the therapeutic value of all
cchol. and | unreServedy concede To You the
right to your opinion; but I strongly suspect
that YOU {and many others} have not duly con-
sidered the ethical and moral significance of a
movement, the most untqe and monnentoas in
history challenge the world to produce from
the records OF the race anything of the sort COM
NJ
lutionary rld-involving upheaval of sentiment
the drink evil 1t will not do 10 say that il is
the work Of fanaticism. Neither the facts nor
the profounder philosophy o. events Justify
that easy and cheap eoncluseN II there he
some who in the presence Of a situation ana
an opportunity 60 exttaordin mary transported
INTO a zeal that easily lends itself to ndiscre-
ton of statement and act. surely il is quite to
be expected upon the other hand there
not few who, awed by moral phenomena too
manifest be mistaken and too persistent to
he ignored, believe that divinity, tired of our
laundering and rough hewine, is fast shaping
ends iowa rds bettor things
Many centuries ago. wise old doctor of the
law, at a time Of great perpleXity and dietur-
hance Of the public mind, arose in the council
and quietly advised serious and personal re-
rardfulness of events Lest happy We be found
to he even fighting against Cod The wisdom
of Gamaliels advice has lost nothing IN the flight
Of the centuries. You may say that If God be
in this movement, He is suffering range ae-ta-
tions and fluctuations TO mar the current OF
events where His agencies are at work. Such il
the testimony Of both inspired and secular his
tory: but the purpose lost here and there IN
the maze Of human and sin works on
unul ultimately il sings its victor song" AZ
a scientesf, you may call this evolution-it Is
all the same II proceeds not by smooth and
regular advance, but along "A way Of antsgontsns
and seeming defeats it gathers force from un-
seen sources. until
Nv nd ny ritz hal 6afS
And down in one great roar of ruin crash
Watch-tower and citadel and battlements
When the red dust has cleared. the lonely
soldier
Stands with strange thoughts beneath the
friendly stars"
The nauor franc Y doonsd. ana he who A.