Honolulu star-bulletin. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1912-2010, 1915-06-25
BILLY sunday
f1FECONFOUNDS
honest ENEMIES
So Says F. M. Davenport In
Judicial Review of Evangel-
list in The Outlook


III Sundays LIE and labor, even up
Ia date. were examined critically from
the standpoint OF his social value, ]
am inclined TO think, from these and
many ether fragments OF evidence
which have come To me. that the con-
clusions would confopnd his foes as
well as his honest enemies" writes
Frederick NJ. Davenport in a recent
issue of The Outlook. Mr.. Davenport
has been contributing series o! ar
ticles 10 that magazine. dealing with
political and social conditions in the
Middle West So impressed WIS he
with the influence of Billy Sunday in
many places that his last article was
headed Tho National Value Of Billy
Sunday"
Says Mr. Davenport:
Just at noon one day when was
in the Capitol building at Des Moines
there came rolling up the stairway a
S4ume OF religious song. What
] Hard was new experience Tor me
in sucn surroundings. found, upon
inquiry and investigation, that there
was large noon meeting of officials
and department employees going on
several weeks after Billy Sunday had
been In town. talked with the mayor
and all sorts Of people who would
know. and there is no question that
Sunday profoundly stirred the whole
community.
Cautious observers informed me,
that, among other important influ-
ences, bis meetings had quickly ripen-
cd the prohibition issue, and that Des
Moines would soon be sdry. Only a
few weeks after / was in Iowa the
prophesies CT my friends, in Des
Moines were fulfilled, Des MONIES and
the Legislature going dry together, and
the latter repeating the. Mulct Law by
an overwhelming majority.
Helped 10 Colorado.
"In Colorado also | found evidence
OF a more intimate influence of Sun
day and his message upon certain pow
erful business personages than he
himself knows or than am at liberty
to relate Sunday was in that state
while the fight was pending last sum-
mer over the goyernorship and prohi-
bition. The effect of hts meetings on
both Of these issues was perhaps de-
termining. In Colorado Springs and
Denver, where he held meetings,
comparison of last falls vote upon the
prohibition issue with previous votes
on that same issue. indicates that the
fight was really wen there
The article continues to tell of the
remarkable way in which the Sunday
meetings cleaned up Fargo, N. D.,
which is characterized as one of the
most difficult places in which the
evangelist ever worked.
There Is no gainsaying Sundays
Influence upon community life, upon
the familyeand upon sobriety," states
Mr.. Davenport emphatically.
Entirely aside from that great and
important element of the recent immi-
grant in our population to which ]
have just referred, the average Am
erican Of the present day of nearly
every economic or social stratum has
very little lse for toploftiness or mere
dignity or diluted sweetness and light
or mealy-mouthedness He wants his
religion. just as he wants his base
ball human. vital, efficient, on the
square: a player called out ON first
when he Is out; the theory and the
rules of the game ineligible enough
so that he can comprehend them-a
part Of his actual life right here and
now. The simple moralities and reai-
tiles in both their temporal and their
abiding aspect awaken a, tremendous
response within him If they come to
him in hissown vernacular and on his
own level from somebody whom he
believes toebe absolutely genuine.
Helps Man In Street.
1T is from this angle, / take IL. that
the Judgment of Sunday should begin.
We have probably never had relig-
ious evangelist in this country who
came so powerfully close to the heart
and mind and conscience of the man
in the street as Sunday. As conse-
quence. locomotive engineers, CONNER
cial travellers, fraternal organizations
the great human groups of husky
Americaqs-ar devoted to him wher-
ever he goes.
IF Sundays life and labor even up
to date were examined critically from
the standpoint of his social value, !
am inclined to think. from these and
pany other fragments OF evidence that
have come to me. that the conclusions
would confound his foes as well as
his honest opponents. We must, re-
member that this is not the America
or the evangelist Moody's day.
The danger to masses Of men be.
cause of overwrought emotion and de
fusion and excess of fanaticism is very
slight with Sunday. He is the relig-
tpus evangelist of the as yet crude
but earnest and vital democracy OF
America at the beginning of the 10th
century. Sunday really understands
what a simple and intense nation We
are. after all, underneath. We are still
in that religious and political stage of
development where a man who puts
the cookies on the lower shelf wins
the heart and directs the will. Tho