The Lamar register., 1919-07-16
WASHINGTON NOTES

DistAlk uiSheu IcAotc SOhASMo As"boe
Washington, July 15.-(Special cor
respondence)-The propagandists for
the league of nations approached the
wrong man when they asked Chancel-
lor Murray of the Diocese Of Hartford,
Connecticut, to sign q form letter to
the Senators from his State asking
them to vote for the league. The
Chancellor's reply to the suggestion
leaves nothing to be desired in the
way of fervent Americanism, and the
sentiments he expresses should be tax
en- to heart by every clergyman in the
United States. Indignantly declining
the invitation to lend the support of
his name in the attempt to coerce the
Connecticut Senators to support the
league covenant, the distinguished pre-
late said in part:
II have given all the moral support
in my power to Senators Knox, Bran
degee and Borah, begging them to pre-
serve for me and every citizen of the
United States the only country on the
face of the earth fit for me to live in
and die in. l want no supercountry
pnd | want no alliance between the
United States and any other country
in the world, be it France, England,
Ireland, Germany, Italy, Greece, Rus
sia, Poland, Egypt, Palestine, Turkey,
China or Japan.
"You ask me to sign letter to the
effect that the soldiers and scilors re-
turned from the world war support
your league. For every soldier and
sailor whom you cGn find in the State
Of Connecticut ready to subscribe to
such q league am willing to go out
and beg or borrow a dollar for fund
to educate them as to the egregious
error that would induce them to deliv-
er themselves and their country to the
slavery Of European intrigue, which is
now more insidious and more presist-
ent in itE selfish designs to swallow
the United States than ut any time in
history. You are asking me to de-
prive my country Of the place of hon
or which she has attained as model
and arbiter in the disputes of other
nations and manacle her to a vicious
circle Of political expediences after she
HIS acquired glory and independence
by her answering adherence to prin-
ciple.
AS a clergyman of my church | am
not permitted to publicly voice my per-
sonal views on any topic primarily
political. This matter, however, has
assumed for me the character Of a
deeply ethical problem concerning no.
OOO, 900 Of my fellow citizens and were
It possible I should concecrate myself
to the task Of speaking on every street
corner from Portland Maine. to Los
California, to proclaim my
rs to the dangers Of such
,s.gp. -re.
"For me the league Of nations is
,everal degrees more menacing, more
sinister and more insidious than either
he Prussian or Turkish empire ever
was in the days when each threatened
the destruction Of Christian civiliza- |
ton. Against those forces the Ameri- |
can people were always free to put
forth their magnificent and irresist-
ible power in the cause of justice, free
dom and righteousness. By the league
Of nations all that power is manacled
and bound to q ring wherein the pre-
influence may be either
Prussian or Turkish"
Probably the most truly represen-
tative organization Of farmers is the
National Grange, but that organiza-
ton seems to get relatively slight at
tention from the administration at
Washington. Wonder if that is be-
cause the Grange periodical published
an article which declared that From