New Britain herald., 1916-02-09
WILL TRY TO DUST
 REV. M. s. ANDERSON
Some Members Of Peoples Church
 Dissatisfied With Pastor
ANNUAL MEETING TOMORROW

Vote Will Be Taken At Session TOmOr-
 row Night Either to Retain Him Or
 Ask Pastor Anderson To Rcsign-
 Petition Being Circulated.
 Upon the result of the voting which is to take place at the annual meet ing of the Peoples church of Christ tomorrow evening hinges whether the pastor, Rev. Milton s. Anderson, is to remain as pastor or is to be busted in favor of some other clergyman, ac- cording to information which leaked out today.
 It has been learned that there IS dissention in the ranks of the con- gregation and members of the Peo- ple's church concerning Pastor An derson and this feeling for and against him has grown to such an extent that it is coming to a show down at the annual meeting.
 None of the grievances which the Peoples church members claim to have against Rev. M. Anderson have to do with his integrity, his honesty or morals. He is regarded by all as a high type of manhood but his ways are not the ways of some of his peo- pie and they feel that it is for the best interests of their church to get a new man..
 Petition Opposing Pastor.
 During the past two months mat ters have been rapidly approaching climax at the church in regard to the pastor and a paper has been circulated among the members of the church asking whether or not they favor re- taining MT. Anderson. It is s&id that the ma jority of the old time members of the church have signed the petition as being in favor of asking for MT. Andersons resignation and securing a new leader. Gilbert Linton, one of the prominent members of the church, is heading that part of the ! m em bership which is fighting to oust i Pastor Anderson and he has ap- l preached many members with the 1 above mentioned petition, it is i claimed. On the other hand MT. and 1 Mrs Henry C. Capen are working ! hard and faithfully in the interest Of i retaining the pastor 1t is said that while the petition that MT Linton has circulated has been signed by the ma iority of the old time members and y tive members of the church. Pastor Anderson and his faithful followers are said to have been writing to out of town members of the church. It is said that letters have been written to these old mem bers, many of whom ! live so far away that the only inter- est they have in the church is the fact that they still hold membership here asking that either personally or by i proxy they give their vote at the an- nual meeting tomorrow night in favor of MT. Anderson. Both sides are lined up for the contest and each feels confident that their desires will be attained.
 Deny Unfair Methods.
 Although it is said that the dissen- tion has been increasing gradually for the past six or eight years, it was not until very short time ago that Pas tor Anderson learned of the attempt to oust him and it is said that he is determined to fight the issue to fin- ish and not resign. Some of Pastor Anderson's followers have made the statement that the opponents to the clergyman have been using unfair methods to oust him, but this charge is denied. The opponents to the pas
 
 tor say they have only. canvassed the church to obtain an opinion and find that the majority of the parishioners feel that a new pastor is for the best interests of the church.
 Pastor Anderson came to this city about fifteen or sixteen years ago, succeeding the late Rev. Hezekiah Davis. At that time there was a series of revival meetings being held in tent where the Southern New England Telephone company office now is and Rev. MT. Anderson was preaching there. Members Of the Peoples church found him to be good preacher and he was engaged Shortly after that he married the daughter of William Atkinson, one of the prominent members and treas urer of the church. When Pastor Anderson took charge of the church there were in the neighboorhood of 200 members and during the first fivc years of his administration he receiv- ed large number of new ones About six years ago however, it is said that many of the younger l members of the church began to drop out. Then some of the older ] members ceased attending until the present state of affairs has been reached. It is said that at present l the attendance at the church is un- usually small. Where in the past the 1 auditorium was full on Sunday morn 1 ings, at present it is more than half 1 empty. At the evening services the 1 congregation meets in a small prayer room and is attended by not more 1 than twenty-five and there are not old l members, whereas in the old days the 1 evening services sometimes had an l attendance of from 100 to 200