The Birmingham age-herald., 1920-11-01
DR. EDMONDS TALKS. ON DUTY OF VOTERS

Political party affiliations Woodrow
 Wilson, the. League of Nations and the negro question were commented upon by
 pr. Henry M. Edmonds last night in
 sermon preached at the Lyric theatre before large congregation.
 In part he said:
 God, the maker of man, put into him the desire to serve Him best; and nothing
 but d free man can serve God as He
 must be served! The vote is~the very signature of freedom. Cast is as sac rament, realizing how long it, has been
 coming, how much 1t has cost Vote as an act of praise to Almighty God, real!z-
 ing that you are the recipient of the
 noblest privilege of the human race.
 ''rhe ballot is stilf an experiment. how
 ever, based on Gods confidence in men.
 Will we big enough will we be morally
 stern and stiff enough to get away with
 this experiment? Some things indicate
 that we are not sufficiently ready for it. we ought not to about party af- filiations when it comes to the election of our city officers. And in the case of primaries we could see to it that the right kind of a man is selected for the ticket. In other matters we should only ask if the man has sense enough to en- ploy labor, to maintain a police force, 1T
 ne .s honest enough .O naiiuae o-f pdb- lie money, if he is the right kind of q
 man.
 As for my Dart, l am going to vote for the man, regardless of his party uh hr. ie and rlpan
 and able to do the jobE' At this state ment the audience echoed Dr. Ed m onds' policy with loud applause. I'm not q republican nor demo crat I'm an independent. 1 want 70 say one word about the League of Nations don't care how many arr tscles there are ip it. don't care about Article x. only know that every democrat and every republican desires some sort of concerted agree ments among nations which will say that all wars shall cease In the fu- ture. And whether you vote Tor Hard ing or Cox, have in the back of yolr mind the determination that we shall yet secure some sort of understanding by which wars shall cease.
 ! Several years. ago when Theodore Roosevelt was living he was severely criticized by many people. l always sympathized with him. l always thought that he was man and tha- he had right to his convictions. Theodore Roosevelt is dead. But thers | is another man living today who 70 me Is one of the saddest casualties of the late WAT. He sits there tonight 'n 1 Washington. spent in body, broken. gray, never to be himself again. "Out of Anglo-saxon chivalry let's Dc ] fair to him and net kick him when he Is down. I ask no vote in his behalf. l l only ask this let's nave a brother.y 1 thought in our minds for Woodrow Will son; let's not make his last days life of darkness. we to be stung later by
 the thought that we were anything less | than kind in our hearts toward him.
 And now I approach "a difficult phase 1 of my subject. Let my people go that 1 they may serve me-that demand came out of Gods confidence in men. We are all made of one blood. That is, our 1 hearts and minds are made to answer to the same call. Regardless of whether
 we are black or white. rich or poor. we are all men,
 'I think that we ought to register the 1 negroes if they can present the constr tutionaI qualifications. I know that many good men disagree with me. They say that if we give them the ballot they 1 will soon want social equality and everything else They say that will bring bloodshed; that the negro will sell hts ballot, the polls will be corrupted, and that will bring on more bloodshed.
 ..I don't see how we can build a civili- south I was reared by them l have lived with thems I don't want to be \ fool just because ] am a preacher. Bu' as long as God. s laws exist. don't ses
 how we can build civilization that j1
 not built on justice "