The Washington herald., 1915-09-21
Freedom Of Speech.
By JOHN d. BARRY.

"A clergyman has been telling me something o
his experience before entering the ministry H,
began to preach comparatively late in life 81 hele
off for several years." he said, simply because
was afraid"
| What were you afraid of?"' asked.
He smiled. II was afraid 1 should be interferet
with in my opinions. had heard about prea
many cases where clergymen were not allowed tc
say what they really believed didn't like the idea
OF preaching the higher life and leading dis
honest life of my own. Finally l decided to 90 in
and take the consequences Well, haven't been
bothered at all. No has tried to interfere with
| me-"
Naturally, was interested in this statement II
did not coincide with some of the things l had
heard about the more progressive clergymen. Why
was this particular clergyman so fortunate?
! Perhaps one explanation might be found in the
tendency of the times. We are all growing more
liberal, that is, nearly all. We are beginning to
| see that interference is almost sure to lead to
| mischief, and that the best thing we can do is
| to try to give one another some measure of the
| freedom that we like for ourselves However. the
interfering spirit is by no means dead Every one
of us meets it.
| After time, l began to think about the situ-
alton of this clergyman. Though he was still fairly
young and though he very earnest, even ae-
gressive, he managed to keep in a sympathetic at
titude congregation that must contain at least a
few interferers. Here, surely, was feat. There
must be some other explanation
Then took into account some Of the personal
qualities in this clergyman. He was exceedingly
| courteous. He respected other peopIe's opinions.
Whenever he talked with people who disagreed
with him, he listened not merely with patience,
but with kindly look in his face He didn't
frown, as so many of would do under similar
circumstances and he didn't make clever ridiculing
remarks, and he didn't betray the slightest desire
10 silence or to reprove. To every about him
he gave more than fair chance In his position
II would have been so easy for him to take the ad-
vantage Instead, he was always giving it. Every
one he met liked him.
noticed, however that in spite of all his cour-
tesy, this clergyman was not afraid to exnr.ss him
self He was outspoken without being seIfasscrt
i've He made allowances He showed that he
realized he might be mistaken No wonder then
that there was trouble in this particular church
NO wonder this clergyman kept his place in the
hearts OF his congregation.
beliefs az II
they were important, really know better. We
quarrel over thcm and we express bitter feclno.
Dut we are inspired, not, we like to think bv
the love OF truth, but by the love of ourselves, bv
esotism and vanity, and by the tyranny that as
sumeS so many adroit disguiscs
~ nat young clergyman did love himself
and though he loved his opinions there was some
thing else that he loved even more the rights Of
others, indicating that he had genuine rcspcct
and esteem for others, greater than anv feeling
that he entertained for himself
There was man used to know in New YORK
very earnest Socialist. For several wears he
was at the head of OF the large settlement
houses. sustained mainly by the contributions of
"eli-to-do people, some OF them millionares. Like
SO many Socialists, he believed that it was his
duty to preach socialism in season and out of
season. and to despisc those people whose opin-
ions did not jibe with his particular brand of
socialism Any other kind Of Socialist he would
punish just as literally the most rcactionary
conservative. In a little paper that his settlement
published he used to print angry editorials, de-
nouncing the class that kept the settlement going.
Somewhat to my astonishrnent, the sustaine1s did
not seem to mind. They had good deal of re-
spect for the man. They knew that he was able
and sincere He was hard to get along with, how
ever, and | was not surpr ised one day when heard
that he had got into violent quarrel with his board
of directors, consisting mainly OF very amiablc
ladies', with plenty OF money. and had been asked
to resign.
At the time, the incident made sensation in the
newspapers 1t was reported that the man had
been driven out through prejudice, simply because
he Socialist. The truth was that his social
ism had nothing whatever to do with the matter
He had lost his position merely because his in
tellectual and moral concet had made him insup-
portable
There a very brilliant man of NV acuuaint-
ance who used to be successful preacher in Bos-
ton. In his early career he preached in fashion
able church. His success came too early. He was
not sufficiently developed to endure it. 1t gave
him too much confidence. He belonged to that
class of people whose love OF unconvcntionality
makes them say and do outrageous things. not for
the sake OF truth, but for the sake OF being out
ragcous. He would express from his pulpit ideas
that were true enough and that offended taste
His listeners objected to his taste. He thought
that they objected to his ideas. When he was
asked to resign. he was very bitter against his
board of trustees. He considered himself a
martyr to narrowness and prejudice. He was
really martyr to himself.
In New York there is Free Speech League
1t is doing great deal of good. 1t is protecting
many honest and thoughtful men from being per-
secuted for their opinions. 1t has, l believe an
even higher service to perform for the world, to |
protect humanity from the arrogance OF those
who, in the belief that they have great mes
A..