fTftrii
The Commoner
VOL. 22, NO. 5
10
it
ko
n(. TVlWv urn not onlv 'icnorant of. but indif-
Sorcnt to, tho basis of rewards. Instead of ask
ing, How much can I rightfully draw from so
ciety? they inquire how much they can secure
nd by what means thoy can securo It. Their
thought Is not centered upon earning power,
but upon irower to absorb without regard to
fethics or equity.
t Tho first slon toward the establishment on
'earth of God's law of rewards is to restore faith
Sin God as a real personality as a living God
whoso love purposes all things, whose wisdom
plans all things, and whose power is able to en
fqrco His purposes and take away a belief in
pod and you destroy consciousness of responsi
bility, prayer, belief in immortality, and the tie
Ltof kinship that binds each to every other.' All
Jboliovers in God who believe in moral respon
sibility to God, petitions to Jehovah, hope of
heaven, and brotherhood, must be-equally inter
Jjbsted in guarding from attack belief in God as
.the one foundation upon plans. If religion had
& spokesman who stood before the divided and
estranged worshippers of God au Hezekiah stood
$eforo his own divided race, his call would be
jframed in tho same spirit and in much the same
language as Hezekiah employed. Back to God!
Ab atlll tho plea that is necessary. Back to God,
,who is just in His judgment and immeasurable
Jn His love and mercy.
f, BACK TO WHOLE-HEARTED BELIEF!
Those who differ in their applications of re
ligion to lifo can bo brought together only by so
intensifying faith mental and not differences of
the heart; but they can be brought together only
by so iutensfying faith in God and reverence for
Him as to dissolve their differences in a unity
of purpose and of faith. "By their fruit3 ye
flhall know them;" that form of religion that
interpretation of God is nearest to the truth
."Which brings man most humbly and completely
Into subjection to God's will and makes him
most earnest and most constant in seeking guid
ance each day.
A return to a whole-hearted, whole-souled,
ifwhole-minded belief in God must now, as in the
past, be the hope of those who would be true to
tho heavenly vision.
FACTS ABOUT PROHIBITION
Continued from Page G
'offenders. What other law can make as good
t , showing? It is said that not one-fifth of the
automobiles stolen were recovered, while the
enforcement of prohibition paid ten times what
it cost.
s Besides what the states did the federal of
ficials alono, for tho year ending June 30, 1921,
made 34,175 arrests, seized 413,987 gallons of
distilled spirits, 428,303 gallons of wine, cider,
etc., besides largo quantities of beer, totaling
a value of $10,906,687, in addition to the prop
erty confiscated which was valued at more than
$10,000,000 more.
THE RECORD OF TWO YEARS
Although national prohibition has been in ef
fect only a little more than two yedrs here are
ten definite results:
' 1 . The liquor traffic, which was formerly legal
ized and protected as a legitimate industry is now
an outlaw and those who attempt to ply the
, trade are prosecuted as enemies of their kind
and country. The whole attitude of the gov
ernment toward this evil is diametrically re
versed, and that of itself is a gain of great im
portance and significance.
2. The distillery, the brewery, the winery and
,the open saloon have disappeared. Treating has
.virtually ceased, drunkenness has decreased so
that an intoxicated man is rarely seen.
3. Jails, workhouses, prisons, and homes for
inebriates have diminished in number because
lthe necessity for them has decrease!.
' 4. Prohibition has made labor more efficent
reliable and thrifty.
5. According to life insurance companies, the
average of life has lengthened, and infant mor
tality especially has decreased.
G. The need of public charity, especially for
women and children, has greatly diminished
while domestic concord and welfare have in
creased. Bank savings have increased in num
ber and size with the result that, in spite of the
wave of unemployment, there is comparatively
little suffering. r
7. Whatever tho attitude .of the adult popula
tion, which is increasingly favorable, a genera
tion is being reared without the taste for liouor
or tho taint of alcohol in the blood
8. The Foderal Prohibition Commissioner la
xiuoted as saying that the liquor imported, h
less than one-half of one per cent of that con.
Burned under license, that tin n,,mi... "
ular drinkers has been reduced from 20,000,000
to 2,500,000 and that arrests for drunkenness
under prohibition have decreased GO per cent.
9. The number o'f 'moonshiners," "homo
brewers" and "bootleggers" is negligible as
compared with the 600 distillers, 1,300 brewers
and 177,000 saloon-keepers who formerly flour
ished and fattened on the weakness of man and
the suffering of women and children.
10. There is a widening and deepening con
viction that prohibition is beneficial morally, so
cially, industrially, financially and a growing,
determination to make it permanent.
-
Belief in God.
Miami, Florida, Marcli 23, 1922.
Editor, The Talmud Magazine, ' ',
33- Newbury Street, ' ;
Boston, Mass.
My dear Mr. Editor:
Responding to your invitation, I beg to submit
the following:
According to the Mosaic account of creation,
man was made in the image of God and placed
on earth for a purpose. He was given dominion
over all life and enjoyed communion with God.
The Old Testament, as well as the New, abounds
in evidence of the miraculous and the superna
tural. Frequent accounts are given of direct
communications from God to man through
chosen representatives.
The Old Testament is the basis of the New
Testament and is as precious to the Christian
as it is to the Jew as precious to the Catholic
as to the Protestant. Any assault upon it should,
therefore, be resisted with equal promptness by
all who believe in the Jehovah of the Bible.
However the Jew and the Gentile may differ
about Christ, they agree that belief in God is es
sential to religion and to civilization because be
cause belief in God is the basis of all the .con
trolling influences in life, principal among
which are; first, a sense, of responsibility to
God; second, prayer to God; third, belief in a
future life; fourth, belief in brotherhood. We
cannot believe ourselves morally responsible for
thought, word and deed unless there is a God
a living God who is concerned about man's
daily conduct. Wo will not pray or keep our
hearts open to divine suggestion unless we be
lieve in God. We will not believe in a future
life with its reward and punishments unless
there is a God to provide rules to be observed on
earth and a judgment day in the world beyond.
We will not believe in the relation of brother
hood unless there is a Father through whom we
can trace our kinship with each other.
Some sixty years ago Darwin put into scien
tific language an hypothesis a guess that had
been advanced by others and thus attached his
name to the doctrine that man, instead of be
ing created by the Almighty by separate act and
as a part of the divine plan, is a lineal descend
eut of the lower animals. The family tree
suggested by Darwin makes man a descendent
of a European branch of the ape family. Some
evolutionists have suggested that man branched
off from the "tree" before or after the ane
branch and is thus a COUSIN instead of a
GRANDCHILD of the simian tribe.
It matters little by what line man was de
veloped if it is admitted that he has in him the
blood of the brute instead of the breath of the
Almighty. The important question is whether the
Bible account of man's origin is true or false
it it is true, man, is inspired by the very fact
of royal lineage and quickened to the highest
endeavor by a sense of responsibility which the
brute cannot feel. If, on the contrary the
Bible is false and man is but a brute, developed
through measureless ages and refined by in
finite time, the whole philosophy of life i
changed. Instead, of contemplating the heirhts
he has yet to climb to reach the protection to
2?,,Cih a ave?!y Father beckons him he
ponders with pride upon the past and is puffed
up at the thought that he is an improvement
upon his ancestors. Instead of honorino li
father and his mother he regards them as wholly
inferior objects of derision instead of Tever
ence. Instead of going to the synagogue or to
the church to address the throne of God in Satl
tude or in supplication, he goea to a zoological
garden to measure the distance between himself
and his forebears. uib.u
i Uilt xbettrue that acceptance of Darwin'q
hypothesis changes man's conception of duty and
destiny, then its harmful effect upon civilizaHnn
cannot be doubted and can hardl? be exae
ated. Agnosticism is the natural attitude nf
those who follow Darwin, just as it was thl at
titude of Darwin himself in his old age and
agnosticism is usually but a cloak for atheism
Agnosticism is a confession of ignorance and an
honest agnostic, ' being professedly witnm.f
knowledge, does not affirm anything and shn.i !
be open to conviction. That was not DarwK
attitude. In the same letter, written just iln
for his death, in which he -called himself '
agnostic, ho said that he did not believe thorn
ever had been any revelation. e
If atheism is a menace to civilization becatmo
a menace to morals, and U agnosticism is i,,i
a way station on the- road from the house of
faith to the wilderness of unbelief, then thi
teaching of 'it cannot be a matter of indifferencp
to those wli6 believe in God and in the virtues
that rest upon a belief in God. In this country
we enjoy freedom of conscience and freedom of
speech; both are fundamental and both are es
sential, but a distinction must be drawn between
conscience and freedom of speech on one hand
and, one tho other hand, the right that some
claim to teach whatever they please REGARD.
LESS OF THE WISHES OF THOSE WHO EM
PLOY THEM. Those who believe in the OKI
Testament alone have a perfect right to estab
lish schools of their own and to teach their chil
dren that which they believe to be best for their
children in .matters of religion. Those who be
lieve in both the Old and New Testaments like
wise have the right to build schools and to in
struct their children in all of the principles of
their faith. Those who reject both the Old aud
New Testaments have just as much right t6
build their own schools and to teach their chil
dren that there is no God, no inspired Word
of God and no Christ: In matters of religion all
stand upon the same footing no matter what
they believe or whether they believe anything.
The question that is receiving increasing at
tention is whether atheists or agnostics have a
right to take possession of our public schools
and undermine the religions represented by the
students. We have some educational Brahmins
who worship the alphabet and demand that
others shall make obeisance to them (an ad
ditional bow for each additional degree) who
resent any suggestion from parents as to what
they shall teach. Of course, their attitude is
absurd and they will soon learn that the hand
that writes the pay check rules the school.
Governdr Nostos, of North Dakota, in a speech
recently delivered at the university of that state,
painted out the distinction between the right to
believe whatever one wished to believe and the
right to teach what the patrons of the .school
did not want taught. HO rightfully declared that
it was as unlawful for a public teacher to assail
any form of religious faith as it was to teach
the doctrines of any particular church or de
nomination. I am glad to avail myself of your invitation to
bring before your readers the real issue involved
in the discussion that hs been going' on in the
press. Truth is self-evident and travels on its
own authority. AU that is necessary is that the
truth shall be stated with clearness so that it
can be understood.
The first truth in this matter is that belief in
God is the foundation not only of religion but
of civilization, because civilization rests upon
morality, morality rests on religion, and religion
rests on belief in God. The second truth is that
belief in God being essential, any attacks upon it
should be answered by those interested in the
maintainance of civilization. Third, it is likewise
true a self evident truth that those who be
lieve in God and 'who think a belief in God es
sential to civilization have a right to determine
what shall be taught to their children by those
who draw salaries from the public treasury.
In the exercise of this right they must de
termine for themselves what is a menace, and
an overwhelming majority of those who believe
in God reject the ape line of descent. Whether
those who advocate Darwinism join the mate
rialistic evolutionists in banishing God" entirely
or join the atheistic evolutionists in imprisoning
Jehovah in an impenetrable past is a minor mat
ter both reject the God of the Old Testament as
He speaks through Moses. Here. Jew and Chris
tian can stand together and defend the words of
the great lawgiver, who., writing under inspira
tion, penned one sentence, viz., "In the begin
ning GOD," beyond which no mortal has been
able to go, and another, setting forth the LAW
OF REPRODUCTION ACCORDING TO KIND,
that contains more science than all of the so
called scientists combined have been able to in
clude in all the books which they constantly re
vise. Very truly yours, XT
W. J. BRYAN.
Possibly one reason. why it is rather difficult
believe that anv irreat amount of government
bonds and notes have been surreptitiously flpat-
u"uo uu uuiwh nave oeeu Burreiiwuu"".' . -ed
by dishonest employes of. the department o
engraving is that nothing else bearing the aa
miuistration stamp has been accepted generally.
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..,, ,W,tti&LiJ
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