Milford chronicle., 1928-12-28
Senators And Congressmen A Sober Lot"
Says DR.. Clarence True Wilson
Defends Right of Church To Back Moral Issues At The Polls

"The temperance cause in the re-
cent elections waded thru colossal
Misrepresentation to a great vic
tory all along the line and the
problems of that victory now con-
front u.s." said Clarence True Will
son, General Secretary of the Board
of Temperance, Prohibition and
Public Morals of the Methodist
Episcopal Church, in presenting his
annual report to the Board of Man
ayers meeting, in annual session
December 4th, at the Methodist
Building, 100 Maryland avenue n.
e., Washington, ID. c.
Bishop William Fraser Mcdowell,
resident bishop of the Methodist
Episcopal Church and president of
the board, presided. DR.. Clarence
True Wilson is the general secre-
tary. Mr.. William T. Galliher, of
Washington, is treasurer.
Unusual interest attached to the
large number of laymen and minis
ters from many sections of the
country, who were in attendance.
In continuing his report, DR.. Will
son said in part, We have no apOl-
ogy to make to anyone because we
used all the energy at our command
in bringing about the election of
Herbert Hoover as President and
Charles Curtis as Vice-President.
The church has as much right to
speak on moral questions as any
corporation, big or little, has to
speak on questions of industry,
commerce and finance. The minis
ters of the church do not cease to
be citizens when they take their or
dination vows. Why had the dean
of a Methodist University or a pro-
fessor at Princeton, or for that mat
ter presidential candidate or vice
presidential candidate or political
manager a right to discuss the NOR
al issues of the recent campaign
which any Methodist preacher
standing in his pulpit did not pos
sess? A ministerial professor at a
great university denounced the As
slstant Attorney General of the
United States as a female firebrand
and made TRADE against his min
isterial brethren for doing exactly
what he was doing; taking the
stump for the things in which they
believed. The only difference was
that they were standing for prohi-
bitiOn law and political order, while
their critic was following the lead
ership of Tammany Hall.
at is a funny thing that these
men who want to take all the rights
themselves and restrict every other
mans right to free speech quote the
of the United States as
though that Constitution were de-
signed to restrict or regulate the
rights of the church. On the other
hand Article 1, of the first ten
of the Constitution
known as our Bill of Rights, says:
Congress shall make no law re-
specting an establishment of relig-
ion or prohibiting the free exercise
There is restriction
upon Congress and the government,
not upon any religious sect, nor is
prohibition against abridging the
freedom OF speech or Of the press or
Of the right of the people peaceably
to assemble and to petition the gov
for a redress Of grievance.
a restriction upon religion. 1t des-
ignates the rights of the churches
and of ministers and of other citi-
zens which the government Itself
cannot restrict or take away. That |
is exactly the power that we exer-
cised across the country without |
let or hindrance or without asking
he consent of Mr.. RaskOb, and |
when he intimated that if we did |
not cease he would stir up a move
nent that would make the infiuen-
ial laymen Withhold the salaries of |
he Baptist and Methodist churches
I'll throughout the South, he found
hat the response from those minis
ers indicated that they were not in
t for a salary.