Brownsville herald. [volume] (Brownsville, Tex.) 1910-current, 1928-10-11
CLAIM CHURCH
IS Being USED
BY POLITICIANS.
Sensational Charges
Made B. Sena o
Glass In Address at
Roanoke, Va.

ROANOKE, Va, Oct. ll.-Agencies
OF the Methodist church are being
used for ~"illicit political purposes
charged a statement read last night
by Senator Carter Glass at the big
democratic rally held at the city
auditorium. Senator Glass said that
ne had prepared the statement in
written form so that there would be
no danger of giving an impression
other than that intended.
The statement. one of the most sig
nificant sections of his address. is as
follows:
More than a hundred years ago
Edmund Burke declared that the re-
ligionist in politics. and the politician
in religion are equally a curse to hu-
mar society" Multiplied evidences
of this fact abound before our very
yes today.
virginia newspapers were recently
the recipients OF an article sent out
from Nashville by the Secular Press
Bureau of the Methodist Episcopal
church, South. b~roadcasting an auth
orized statement by Bishop James
Cannon, Jr., charging certain dis
tlnguished democratic senators and
me with betrayal of the prohibition
cause for the sake Of a purely par
tisan victory The imputation was
not sbsted By the accompanying as
sertion that Bishop cannon Every
highly respected Senator'S Robson,
Swanson, George and Glass and for
,mer Secretary Daniels. The two de-
clarations constitute a contradiction
in terms. No man Of sense or OF
sensibility could highly respect men
when had betrayed a moral cause for
an evil end.
This aside. the real significance of
the incident is in the fact that II
furnishes incontestable evidence OF
dragging the Methodist church into
partisan politics by using its agen-
cies for illicit political purposes
Upon the testimony Of a responsible
minister Of the church / learn that
this Secular Press Bureau is main
tanned by the funds Of the church
contributed by the membership gen
orally. II is here used 10 purvey &C.
clesiastical defamation of designated
members Of the Methodist church,
together with hundreds of thousands
of other loyal laymen, who, at the
ensuing election, will refuse to follow
Bishop Cannon's trek into the camp
Of a political party the shocking inn
moralities Of which but recently
startled the nation.
The literary agencies Of the Meth
odist church, Sustained By the IN
tributions Of its members. should no
more be used "a circulate the Vi
Imperative aspersions Of a bishop IN
politics than to convey kindred false
reproaches by laymen against q
bishop of the church. In either event
the pursuit would be disgraceful, as
10 distinctly is IN this case. II IS
giving currency to an accusation de-
void of every semblance Of the truth.
IL is prostitution Of 4 religious in
strumentality. II - a m%isappropri-
alton Of trust funds. II Is no whit
less than malfessance OF authority,
against which. as a moderate ron.
tributing member Of the Methodist
church and its Institutions. ! enter
protest IN my own right and IN the
of thousands of other laymen
Who do not intend TO be driven, by
bishop or prelste. into the support of
a political party that has hated and
oppressed our people and whose en-
DlIteFe0 NNNhf.DlrH hA AHAs NihNlcHA
are threatening, ii they elect Hoover,
20 r~eenfranchise millions Of negro
voters so as to insure for all time
republican supremacy.
Practically and in principle was a
prohibitionist long before these We
hement churchmen were ever heard
of in the cause and when il was not
a popular fight TO pursue. Never
IN my life have touched a drop of
intoxicating drink nor have | ever in
my life failed when occasion pre-
scented to vote for its extinction.
With this unimpeachable record
challenge the integrity Of any man
uho ssperses my fidelity to convic-
ton: and If he be p bishop Of my
church or any other, 50 much the
worse for him. He will have dis
carded the sscredotal nature Of his
office and descended to the level of
those CHEAP politicians who have de-
PRAYED this presidential campaign by
persistently bearing false witness
against their ~neighbors.