Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1917-02-16
COLEMAN AT MEMS FORUM.
Leader of Ford Hall Speaks to Interest
ed Audience Of 80-Shows Nee, ssity
of Cooperation.


Over so men, representative of al
most every denomination and creed in
Brattleboro, heard George w. Coleman
of Boston, chairman of the Ford Hall
Forum for the nine years of its exis.
tence and business man who has
abandoned his business to propagate
The Prime Necessity of Getting To
gethcr, talk for nearly two hours Tues
day night in the Unitarian parish house
on that subject. He was especially in
teresting and those in charge of the
local movement felt that the initial
meeting was decidedly worth while.
Frank II. Brasor, accompanied by
Frank NJ. Cram, sang two selections be-
fore Mr.. Coleman was introduced by
President f. b. Smith of the Brattle-
bor0 Men S Forum, recently organized.
Mr.. Coleman, after sketching rapid
ly his connection with religious inter
ests from early boyhood, said that if
any one association of his must stand
as his record i'll the hereafter he pre-
ferred his connection with the open
forum. H. said that % years ago the
cry was constant that the churches had
failed to reach the masses, but that
cry had died out now; the churches
have given it up as bad job. In
stead we hear the whisper: "What are
the masses going to do with us In
this so-called Christian country the
majority of the inhabitants are not
members of any church, yet it seems as
if there were enough varieties of re-
ligion for everyone to be able to make
u choice. This fact is one ingredient
of the powder that is lying around
waiting for a match to be dropped in
it.
Another is that one-tenth of the peo-
pie of the country own the combined
wealth and this situation is increasing
in intensity. This forms another clc-
ment.
The glass door separates the en-
ployer from the employed as it did not
years ago, which is still another ele-
ment leading to the unrest.
In normal years over one million i'm
migrants come to this country and an
other danger is in our attitude towards
them. The particular degree of muck
crism is dependent only upon the phase
of life represented by the individual
who considers himself superior to the
other. There is food fer thought in
the fact that at the last national cleo
ton, when there was every reason for
all voters to cast their ballots for one
or the other of the two great parties,
between 100000 and 100000 votes were
cast for the Socialist national ticket.
The system of caste in India is reflect
ed by present conditions in America.
We must have homogeneity of ideas
and ideals and the open forum is the
present solution The Ford Hall Forum
is conducted on the basis that nothing
intentionally offensive to any race,
class or creed shall be said from the
platform. Anyone is invited to speak
from the platform provided only that
they have done something worth while
and are capable of presenting their ideas
from public platform. The purpose
of the Forum is to bring divided in
terests together.
He pictured wildly. and sometimes
dramatically. occasions in Ford Hall,
where the seating capacity is 1900 and
where every Sunday evening in the
winter hundreds are turned away for
lack Of room. One in particular is IL
Illustrative.
Rev. George Hodges. dean of an
Episcopal seminary, spoke one evening
on What's the Matter With the
Church? and from the same platform
on the same evening Morrison l.,
Swift, New England s Coxev, SPOKE on
What's the Matter With the Man Out
side Of the Church?
As at all Ford Hall meetings, time
is given for questions after the adj
dresses, and his recital of some of the
questions and answers that were asked
and answered on not only that occa-
sion, but others, was not by any means
the least plcasurable part of the even
ing