Honolulu star-bulletin. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1912-2010, 1915-06-26
BILLY sundays
LIFE COMPOUNDS
HONEST ENEMIES
So Says F. NJ. Davenport In
Judicial Review OF Evangel-
!. iSt in The Outlook

10 date. were examined critically from
the standpoint of his social value, J
am inclined to think. from these and
many other fragments Of evidence
which have come 10 me, that the con
illusions would confound 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 %. ar
ticles 10 that magazine dealing with
political and social conditions in the
Middle West So impressed was he
with the influence Of Billy Sunday in
many places that his last article was
headed 'The National Value of Billy
Sunday"
Says MI Davenport:
ss%Just at noon one day when I was
IN ahe Capitol building at Des MoineS
there came rolling up the stairway a
volume OF religious song What
] heard was new experience for me
In such surroundings. ] found, upon
inquiry and investigation, that there
was a 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. his meetings had quickly ripen.
ed the prohibition issue. and that Des
Moines would soon be dry. Only a
few weeks after ! was in Iowa the
prophesies OF my friends in Des
Moines were fulfilled, Des Mo.nes and
the legislature going dry together, and
the latter repeating the Mulct Law by
On overwhelming majority.
Helped insCoiorado. az,sy
In Colorado also found evidence
OF more intimate influence of Sun
day and his message upon certain pow
erful business personRges than he
himself knows or than am at liberty
to relate Sunday was i'm that state
while the fight was pending last sum
mer over the governorship and prohi-
bition. The effect of his meetings on
both of these issues was perhaps de-
termining. In Colorado Springs and
Denver, where he held meetings, a
comparison Of last falls vote upon the
prohibition Issue with previous votes
on that same issue, indicates that the
fight was really won there" 2
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 family and upon sobriety," states
Mr.. Davenport emphatically.
Entirely aside from that great and
important element of the recent immi-
grant In our population to which 4
have just referred, the average Am
erican OF the present day of nearly
every economic or social stratum has
very little use for toploftiness or mere
dignity or diluted sweetness and light
or Observation-Disclosures He wants his
religion just as he wants his base
ball, human, vital, efficient, on the
square; 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 real
tiles in both their temporal and their
abiding aspect awaken a tremendous
response within him IL they come to
him In his own vernacular and on his
own level from somebody whom he
believes to be absolutely genuine.
Helps Man In Street.
II is from this angle. / take ii, that
the judgment of Sunday should begin
We have probably never had a relig.
ious evangelist In this country VINO
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
Americans ARE 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. ii
ami inclined to think. from these and
many other fragments OF evidence that (!
have come to me. that the conclusions |
would confound his foes as well as
bis honest opponents. We must re-
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
|tsion and excess of fanaticism is very
slight with Sunday. He 1.-THE relig- |
lous evangelist of the as yet crude
but earnest and vital democracy of
America at the beginning of the 20th
century. Sunday really understands
what simple and intense nation we
are, after all. underneath We are still
In that religious and political stage of
development where man who pits
the cookies on the lower shelf wins
The heart and directs the will. The