The Richmond Virginian. (Richmond, Va.) 1910-1920, 1915-02-02

a month with sin or seven columns of space
each day. No newspaper or combination OF
newspapers would or could sustain a faker for
four weeks on end and show far greater pub
lie interest then at the beginning
Moreover sensational features. called, are
those promoted by n single journal. In this case
the subject matter is treated by all the news
papers from the same standpoint and with the
same apparent effort "a cover it thoroughly.
IF combination of clever sensatonalism and
newspaper publicity alone could produce such
tremendous effects, is I not likely that II would
have been made before? These elements have
been carefully studied by very adroit per-
sons, and IL nothing more We're needed to launch
and operate a great upheaVal of sentiment.
something approaching the present manifesto
lion would have beer accomplished long ago.
But it is insisted that Mr.. Sunday has had
excessive publicity ana that the employment of
a like degree of force behind any other man
would bring about equal results. Well, have
in philadelphia some hundreds of sincere. we'll
trained. eloquent ministers; will It be argued
that any one Of them. any ten of them, back
ed rs the newspaper work expended upon Mr..
Sunday. couI-A do what he has done? We have
the highest lard for their earnest and eff
fective labors, hut the question answers itself.
Again, IL Is suggested cynically that he
catches the crowd with novelty. Nothing
could be fantastic than this idea Mr..
Sundays strongest aversion. theologically. is
novelty. Ills message is rs old MS the Christian
era: he utterly rejects every tenet of philosophy
that does not square with the old fashioned con-
may let the two classes Of critics fight 1t out
those who ridieule the novelty OF his teach
ings and those who condemn them because they
primitive"
languase-~h fierce iuNective and vivid
metaphor? The other day we quoted passages
from the Bible that makes his phrases seem
cold Indeed, strong language has ever been
the mark Of the evangelist from the first Twelve
to the crusaders Of Professionalism and the zeal
oJs missionaries of Rome
Shall say that organizations is the magic
power behind him? Organization Gar more
efficient has been tried and failed: the Men auo
Religion Forward Movement was organized and
financed into a state Of coma in few weeks.
Is It curiosity that keeps vast throngs hanging
rapt upon his words. That might account for
one big audience, SIN a dozen; but he has
preached in Philadelphia more than fifty times,
and with each service he pressure Of the crowds
is stronger.
Let those who wouia explain his appeal by
"cGriosity' the 'pGbtc's love Of amusement"
try to imagine any entertainment, however
colossal and ma gnfcent. that would pack 200
% 10000 persons day into an ugly barn Of
building for four weeks end.
We not going 10 offer explanation OF
our own. however. We shall simply tell why
the newspapers have devoted such large space
TO MIR. Sundays activities.
The reason g, in word. that he is News
/ And il not the Philadelphia papers that
made him News; he News ,ong before he
came to this city.
Twenty years ago he was just az sincere Just
as devoted worker tor Christianity a now:
but he not News then. He has reached that
position by unremittng effort. by the steady
erection of his following, by the sheer force OF
! his achievements.
His message was first delivered in small
churches. and attracted only the slightest pub
licity. Then he called to larger churches.
When they overlooked he preached in tents
which grew bigger year by year bat always in
/ the end proved too small. So the ingenious
wooden TIA bernacle" was devised; and the skill
OF the builders has been taxed IN each town 10
make the structure large enough The largest
! OF all erected in Philadelphia but thou
sands turned away from It.
Each revival he conducted made him News
I 70 wider circle, His thousa nds Of converts
spread the story. II printed in the small
towns where he worked; larger papers sent
writer's TO describe MS operations, and finally
the metropolitan newspapers realized that th.s
/ man was force thai accom- shing i'm
portsnt results. and ne was introduced to mil
lions Of readers. so that today there is no man
( in the United States who is more authenticity
News than Billy Sunday.
Surely this is obvious. Here g a man who
/ has nothing to offer the people except 81 message
nineteen hundred years old. which has been told
and retold by unnumbered speakers and writer's
infinitely more scholarly than he through all
the centuries
Wherever he goes by the power OF his story
he breaks down the barriers of indifference
conQuers prejudice draws vast audiences To
. near MN ana causes thousands to change their
lives. In every community he visits the interest
Is more Intense at the end OF his stay than at
I tho beginning. If this is not News We need a
new definition of the term.
Many persons are astonshed however and
some are aggrieved. at the space given TO the
Z enterprise. In view OF the violation OF pre-
cedent their surprise is not unreasonable but il
is an indictment of the former habit OF the
newspapers
\ The secular press has chung to the theory that
! this question with which Billy Sunday deals
/ the most vital question in life TO millions Of
! human beings, a question which goes to the very
/ heart OF individual happiness and social we'll
! heing-is not one to he treated like other i'm
portant problems of life: that religious news
and discussion should be relegated to church
publications and theological journals; that a
I movement n this kind matter how large in
scope and effective in results, should be ignored
or dismissed with perfunctory attention
y The only really unusual feature about the
/ present campaign is that the newspapers have
| finally developed sense enough to realize that a
! force which stirs tens of thousands of men and
women and which leaves its mark deep upon
! every community where 1t is exerted is a lesiti-
4 mate and compelling subject of news big
sive journal,-Phiadelph North American