Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1919-08-12
FRED b. FISHER.
BY HERBERT COREY.

FRED b. FISHER.
r by HERBERT COREY.
NEW YORK. August s.-The man
Wh6 gives one-tenth of his income to
good works must be in earnest. Men
may talk good works increasingly. but
when they begin to pay cash for good
wdrNs they mean business.
Very well. Two hundred and fifty
thousand of the 100000 members of
the Methodist Church in the United
States have already pledged themselves
in writing to give a certain stated share
Of their incomes for church purposes
hsfeafter. Those in charge Of the
''CAristian Stewards" movement believe
that Q round million Methodists will
sIseh that pledge before the canvassing
In ended No pledge is accepted for less
than q tithe-one-tenth.
sChurch purposes do not mean
what church purposes" meant five
years ago. Then q small salary for
tina minister and an occasional coat
of',paint for the church and nickel
for the heather were the church pur-
in.mind when he gave. Consequently
the church ran down hill. s. Earl
Taylor. who is a layman. but who
had the vision out of which this
great new thing the Methodist Church
IL Engaged upon has grown, said the
chnrch had failed.
I, The War and the Church.
III the church had been as efficient
everywhere as it should have BEEN"
he. II quoted as saying. I'VE could
have prevented the war. Or we could
haHe stopped the war after 1T was
statted."
Pred B. Fisher, who is rated as
minister. but who has the punch and
tina handgrip of particularly success
full superintendent of a rolling mill,
ana who is the executive of the new
mgsement. gave this reason for the
VT did not challenge the young man
ana woman" said he. TT was mild
ard lethargic. An ardent young man
WjaId say to himself:
HI had rather build bridges than
can on sick women"
The Methodist Church prepared hg-
ufiD proving convincingly that 1t
failed. All other evangelical churches
haye failed in like proportion, but the
MSthodist figures only are being con-
oAAvO aSAS.
i. What the Figures Show.
N q survey covering some years
ana which was conducted with the
mist cold blooded efficiency 1t was
shown that 40 per cent Of the Metho-
dist churches in the United States
deakended upon "supplies'-minister
called from other pulpits-and % per
cent Of the churches had no min
;stsr, It all OF the ministers sin In s ,hsn
$4eo year, including q parsonage.
Seventeen per cent received less than
S1.4oe annually. This further state
mSpt e made in the ofacial report of
The survey.
NThs genius Of Methodism has fail
ed; te adapt itself to new conditions:
Wherever there II q special
pnablsm to be solved. the church has
failed to solve that problem"
y 10 this church-this church that
had failed-that IL one Of the leaders
fn,r the most amazing program OF
world reconstruction that has ever
BEEN undertaken since the Crusades.
That statement is not exaggerated.
Tc.a.quote s. Earl Taylor again:
What the Church Proposes.
no king and no president would
evSf dare announce as policy the
purpose Of bringing about the in
tellectua1. physical. moral and reli-
gi6ts reconstruction of nations. There
IL but one Institution in the world that
has . program the purpose of which
10 ITO bring about these tremendous
Announce that program without CT
fense-that Is the church.
Money was called for. The most
that the Methodist Church has ever
aAA - 0fvv 10 In
past was $12.000.o00. spread over a
period of i've years. The five-year-
period plan is adhered to by the
Msthodists. by the way. 1t permits
gram. and the money comes as 1t
IL needed. The money-givers promise
to pay the amount of their pledges
affiliated intervals. Before the sur
vey was completed the pledges were
ehS&tsh. ''' ''''''''' 'A'' the
=. Gave by the Million.
No enc believed that $4,000. 900
wsul4 be given. bearing In mind that
$13,0ee.o0o total Of the past. But the
forty was given: Then the eurvey
So the Methodists gave the $50 0oo.-
900. Then the Methodist Church South
pledged itself to give $4,000 900 for
Its work In the Kongo and Mexico and
China and South America. Then Eu-
rope came in with a request for s25.-
100000 more. Immigrants who had
become partially Americanized ami
whSlly Methodised had returned to
thsr former homes.
We do not like the state church.
e0." they said. They are cold. W.
WaMt q live. warm. breathing religion
-aAd also we want the social center
sort Of q church. and the happy sort
OF church. and the young folks
sort Of q church that we saw in the
United States"
% the $4,000. 900 was promised to
Europe. That made $4,000. 900 that
the Methodist Church, North and
South. had pledged its 1000. 900 men,
befD to give. Instead Of $4,000. 900
the Methodist Church has pledged
S1e9 100000, and the giving has Just
started. for tho new Christian stew
ards movement is an outgrowth of
this campaign Of giving. ana it is de-
signed to be a permanent thing In the
life Of Methodism. The Methodist
leaders believe that in time to come
the $3o.oo0.o00 q year which il now
pledged for q period Of ave yeara will