Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1919-04-14
JOHNSON CALLS
SCHRIvER LIAR
AND A "QUACK"
Former Pastor of Central Presby-
terrain Church Challenges Can
didate's Statements.
SAYS HE STRADDLES A FENCE
With Sarcasm He Refers to Former
Executive as a ~CensOr of
the Pulpit"

rev DAVID A Johnson, VINO last
week left his charge at the Central
Presbyterian church in this city
to take up ministerial work in
Hartford, Conn, in a statement is
sued today through the Citizens
Civic association, calls H. NJ. Schri-
yer, candidate for mayor, a liar, a
quack attorney, a censor of the
pulpit"
In his statement, which is ap-
pended, he undertakes to answer
some of the charges which the for
mer mayor made in the present
campaign:
II have just read Mr. Schriver's
reference to me in his speech at
the Illinois theatre recently, and
l believe l owe the public a reply
to such villainous TRADE of SIAN
der. l leave the public to judge as
to the courage and fitness of a man
who waited until l left the city be-
fore he dared to call me a liar.
Il challenge Mr.. Schriver to tell
the citizens of Rock Island one
single instance where l have cir
culated false report regarding ex-
listing conditions. He does not dare
to attack the United States govern
ment for its interference in the af-
fairs of the city. No, because he
knows that the arrests and revela-
tions of government officials prove
every assertion l have made And
he knows, too, that if he is elected
mayor he will be compelled to work
under the direction of federal au-
thorities who will not consider the
city safe in the hands of such men
as Mr.. Schriver There are those
in Rock Island who know that 1 do
not guess when 1 make an asser-
ton. 1t would seem to me that
Rock Island has had enough of ex-
perimenting with candidates who
rupture themselves straddling
fences.
Questions Credentials.
"And l wonder what credentials
Mr.. Schriver possesses that will
prove his qualifications for defining
the ministers sphere of influence
and endeavor. ! saw him recently
in the shining robes of religious
sanctity as he stood before a jury
and pictured the sufferings of the
crucified Christ in the defense of a
murderer, and | heard words of re-
ligious piety from his lips in an
effort to produce sympathy, such as
would do credit to a preacher. The
message of the minister may quite
appropriately be used by the at
torney in pleading his case in courts
of law, but when the minister him
self tries to apply it to the life of
the community he must lose caste.
That is an argument which will do
credit to the devil. Is this your
contention, Mr. Schriver, because
you know that quack lawyers must
go out of business when the public
applies the preachers message of
justice?
1T would be interesting to know
what this censor of pulpit propriety
considers the minister's real func-
ton Such as he prates about the
preacher keeping his place, but
they always stop short of telling US
what our place is. | know what
you would say if you dared, Mr..
Schriver. You would have us tell
the broken-hearted wife that it is
Gods will she should suffer when
she sits the victim of poverty and
abuse at the hands of husband
made brutal by bootleg whisky.
You would have US comfort parents
with lies when vice eats out the
virtue of their daughters. You
would have US bid our congrega-
tons sing Thy will be DONE when
the youth of city are rotting with
social disease because such as you
wink at vice No one will accuse
me of STOPPING to such perfdy as
this.
At Foot of Hill.
when you offer such advice as
you do, Mr. Schriver, you make a |
classification of yourself |
This is the universal argument of |
brewers and distillers, of saloon |
keepers and bootleggers, Of gam |
blers and prof1teers thereof, of |
and trafffckers in vice, |
and those who follow in their train. |
And then, when you have tagged |
you have the audacity and |
brazen effrontery to say that you |
are the candidate of all the people |
and not of a class. You must think |
hat those who attend our churches
are fools, those who look with IA
Vor on church influence in the
are idiots, and that |
brains are confined to those who
nave burned out their stomachs
With bootleg whisky and poisoned
heir minds with immortality. My
guess is that April Is will find you
1t the foot OF the hill on the tobog-
gan you have built,
DAVID A. JOHNSON"