New-York tribune., 1919-10-07
I DO NOT think that we are called upon
in these days to tie ourselves up with
4 any kind Of system as such. There have

n any kind Of system as such. There have
been on this floor since we began
yesterday morning sentences that at least
implied that the present system was the
system that should be defended. And
there have been other direct statements to
the effect that the present system must be
done away with and another system must
be put in its place. 1t is we'll for US to
remember that at the best all these sys-
TENS relative and there is no one sys-
tenn that has absolute authority and abso-
lutte right of obedience. The most that we
can say of systems is that one system is
better for given time than other sys-
TENS. In the final state of things all we
shall need of any kind of rule is just gen.
tleman's agreement; that is ALL Now you
can see that we couldn't put that into ef-
feet to-day for two reasons; first of ALL
we haven't enough gentlemen, and in the
second place they don't agree.
Now, let US think of some things. In
these days in all the churches we have
come to the place where the Church has
or is to have control of large sums of
money. In the Methodist Church, to take
two instances, the Board of Education has
announced recently that there have been
accumulated sums to the amount of twenty
millions of dollars to be invested in edu-
cational purposes. These are held as en-
dowment funds in the various colleges.
The centenary which has been so splen-
dldly successful will collect in the next
five years the sum of one hundred and
thirteen or fifteen millions of dollars The
Methodist Church had thirty five millions
more-is that right ?about fifty millions
more. The Presbyterian Church announces
that it is to have movement for the COL
lection of seventyfivc eighty millions
of dollars, and the Baptist convention at
Denver, which | had the pleasure of at
tending last June, said that it would want
one hundred millions Of dollars to meet
the needs, the Christian needs, of the de-
nomination in the next five or six years
Now, you can total those sums which will
pass over to this great interchurch move
mcnt that we are planning, and the least
figure have heard suggested is three hun
dred millions of dollars, and have heard
some of the people put it far beyond that
Don't misunderstood. Those that know me
best know that personally have been con-
nectcd with the centenary movement in our
own Church to the utmost of my ability,
and I am heart and soul in the inter
church movement and doing everything |
can possibly do for it. But there are GER
tain things we might just as we'll accept if
we are going to have the largest success
in this movement. We have got to recog-
nize that when you place hundreds of
millions of dollars in the hands of Church
you tie that Church up to an existing eco
nomic system, no matter what it may be.
There is no getting away from it.
Now, since that is true, there are certain
things that we have to lay down, it seems
to me, for our practice, and the first is
this: We have to think of the Church in
the first place a spendcr of money. If
that kind of sum, that amount of money,
is to come into the hands of the Church,
then certainly there should be utmost wis
dom in the spending of the money.
IL we arc going to get 100000, 900 or
moro there should be some guarantee,
some statement, some pledge, some prom
ise that this money, in part at least, is to
be used for a purpose the idea Of which is
to look out upon the world not merely
from the standpoint of the individualistic
relationship, but from the standpoint of
the larger social relationships; and, of
course, this meeting itself seems just that
But if We are going to have sums of
money Of that kind, men, it should have
exact scrutiny as to the way the money is
spent from the standpoint of the larger
social purpose.
Now, in the next place, let me say that
if we are going to have the sum of $780,
100000, that means that the Church is to
become an investor Of funds: and that La