Arizona republican., 1917-12-15
FIGHTING PlARSON WILL SPEAK HERE
 SUNDAY AFTERNOON

I'd give half a million dollars If l were thirty years old right now-and l wouldn't go after any chaplain's job either. Not that I would disparage the good and brave men who are chaplalns in the army but every time : think about that Prussian bunch of rattle snakes 1 want to fight
 So spoke the reverend Dr. James A Francis the other day. He is the man who will address a patriotic mass meeting to be held at the high school auditorium at o'clock Sunday after noon. His subject will be "Mobilizing the Nation for War"
 The remark is characteristic of the man. for be it known that even before the entry of the United States in the war, pr. Francis was known in Cali lorna and up and down the coast as the fighting parson" of Los Angeles. I'm ashamed of that title" said the doctor of divinity when twitted of it at his hotel last night. I've never been in fight worth mentioning, aside of this one and when I even so much as think of Prussianism, it makes me so mad all the way through that want to put every ounce of energy in my system into fight"
 Dr. Francis gained considerable of a reputation for himself in the City of the Angels as a fighter against the devil. Many time he has found him self in the squared circle with the Prince of Evil as his adversary and it took him usually not over three rounds at the outside to deliver the K. O.. blow.
 But fighting the devil from the lofty vantage point of pulpit before fash ionable congregation palled on Dr. Francis when the war broke out.
 T want to fight" he told his congre- gation at the First Baptist church and then he turned in his resignation. He was given a leave of absence.
 q want to fight" Francis told the enlisting officer, find a place for me. :"
 You look voting, you act young but you've got gray hair; we can't take you mage limit, you know" was the answer.
 But I'm going to fight" persisted the man of the cloth and that's how he came to discard the clerical collar and the Prince Albert for the khaki of the Y. M. c. A. war service. Francis en- tered the fight for efficiency and mor- als in army life and he went where the fighting was thickest. From army post to army post he travelled, spreading
 
 big essential to prompt winning of the ! war.
 We've got the finest, cleanest cut most stalwart specimens of manhood ever massed in an army" declared Francis" Let's keep 'em that way and the triumph over Prussianism will bt certain" Since August 1 he has beer all over the western department of thu , army, during which time he has visited S2 cantonments and army posts, every where. to be greeted with greatest re spect and profound enthusiasm. There is something in the make III Of Dr. Francis that commands the re spect of every fighter. He has the ey, of a fighter he talks like fighter 7 with an earnestness that carries
 punch with every word. That's the req son. perhaps, that his work among tn , men and with the public generally ha
 been so wonderfully effective, especial ly in the big war drive of the Y. M C.. A.
 Then came the liberty loan cam 1, paign. The fighting parson saw big ger opportunity for fighting. He wa : released from Y. M. c. A. work tenn g porarily and jumped into the thickes | of the fray with the result that tn great southwest rolled up bigger to r tai for the liberty bonds than was eve ! dreamed possible.
 And now he is in the Y. W. C. A 1 drive. There is just as big an oppor
 tunity in this war for women fighter
 as there are for men fighters. believe . pr. Francis. These two splendid organ
 izations hold within themselves tn 7 force that is going to make the worl g safe for democracy, he says and the t should fight shoulder to shoulder in tn 1 great cause of freedom.
 f To give any more of the doctor n views along this line would be to stes d some of the oratorical dynamite whic y has been promised for the meeting a l, the high school Sunday afternoon. Sui l, flee 1t to say that Dr. Francis has 0 big message to deliver and he want
 every loyal American man and woma
 in Phoenix to hear it.
 Through the courtesy of Superir e tendent Brown of the United States Ir n dian school the services of the India boys band have been loaned an
 doubtless will contribute to the patr
 otic ardor of the occasion. No admis
 sion will be charged.