XJho Hobrachcx. Independent
PAGE! 4
APRIL is, mi
HUSH MONEY
What May be RocUtellort's
NotiOes for Church
Contributions
From The Commoner, April 14, 1905
The following letter, written for the Horailetic
Review, in response to a request for an opinion
upon the subject,- is reproduced in The Commoner
because of the current interest in the matter dis
cussed. ' . .
Editor Homiletic Review, New York City:
Dear Sir: In response to your request for
an opinion on the subject of gifts, like that pro
posed by Mr. Rockefeller to the American Board
of Foreign Missions, I beg to say that the subject
is one of exceeding importance and one upon the
right decision of which much depends." Rev.
Washington Gladden of Columbus, Ohio, has very
forcefully presented several ol the objections
which may be urged to the acceptance of such a
gift, and Dr. Epiphanius Wilson has, so far as I
have seen, presented the most extreme view on the
other side. There are several distinctions to be
drawn in the consideration .of the subject
First We should distinguish between the ac
ceptance of money from a penitent wrong-doer
and the acceptance of money from one who is not
only not penitent but persistent in his course, and
to all appearances denies thathe is guilty of wrong
doing. We must also distinguish between the
acceptance of gifts from those who are dead, and
therefore no longer personally interested, and the
acceptance of gifts from those who are alive and
who may have a selfish purpose to serve. We may
also draw a distinction between contributions that
are made in such a way as to raise no obligation in
return, and those which place the receiver under
obligation to the donor. For instance, there would
scarcely be a dispute as to the wisdom of accept
ing a gift from one who brought it to the church as
a result of the working of his own conscience and
because It was impossible to return, the money to
the ones from whom he had taken it. In such a
case the gift would be accepted and applied to
some good use, but the minister accepting the
same would not only be free to condemn the meth
ods by which the money was accumulated, but
could use the incident as an argument against the
accumulation of money in such a way by others.
The acceptance of a bequest after the death of
the donor might be justified even though the
money' was acquired in a way that the church
would not be willing to defend, although in this
case there might be some doubt as to the wisdom
of accepting, because of the encouragement that
the church's action might give to others still liv
ing and engaged" in "accumulating money In the
sametway.'
If onM'aUending a church deposits money In
the contribution box, his identity being unknown,
flis contribution imposes no obligation upon the
church, and there would be no disposition to in
quire into the source from which it came. If,
however, the money came from one in regular at
tendance upon f the church and came in such an
amount as to make the minister hesitate about
condemning the, source from which it came or the
occupation by which it was accumulated, a ques
tion would be raised as to the wisdom of accepting
'it. .L " ' ,: . . -
Among the things to be considered in decid
ing this question are, first, the effect that the
acceptance of the gift would have upon the donor; ?
second, the effect that the acceptance of the gift
would have upon the donee; and, third, the effect
that the aceptance of the gift would have upon the
public.
We have a concrete case in the Rockefeller
gift, and this will serve as a better illustration
than any Imaginary gift , Here is a gift from a
man who is not only not penitent but on the con
trary, quite boastful of the benevolence of his
business methods. He does not come with con
science money but poses as a public benefactor
' and as a representative of an industrial system,
lie is not dead but very much alive, and his gift,
instead of being presented through the contribu
tion box as if from "an unknown friend" is offered
at the front of the stage before the footlights, and
with his name boldly written on a card, and the
card firmly attached to the bouquet. The accept
ance of his gift by a prominent religious associa
tion so. far from hastening repentence, would nat
urally strengthen him in his conviction that he
is doing the Lord's service not only in his methods
of distribution but in his methods of accumulation.
Can a church organization, dedicated to Christian
ity and teaching the doctrine of brotherhood and
brotherly love, afford to put itself in the position
of encouraging a corporation so unbrotherly and
so destitute of love, compassion and pity, as the
Standard Oil trust has shown.itself to be? If Mr.
Rockefeller were simply a stockholder who had
grown rich by the methods of the company, with
out personal responsibility for' Its management,
the question might present a little different aspect,
but even then we could not shut our eyes to the
responsibility of a man who would voluntarily and
continuously accept the benefits of wrong doing.
But even more important than the influence
exerted upon Mr. Rockefeller is the influence'
exerted upon the church. Can a church which
accepts money from Mr. Rockefeller take an
active part in condemning the methods employed
by Mr. Rockefeller? Whether the gift is intended
as "hush money" or not, does it not operate as
such? A man who was recently asked for an
opinion on the Rockefeller donation, hesitated
whether he should give it or-not, because some of
the benevolent enterprises with which he was
connected received substantial aid from an official
of a great trust He expressed himself as in doubt
whether he should express an opinion upon the
subject, and declared that it was the first time
that it had ever occured to him that the receipt
of money from such a source influenced his own
action. - And yet he admitted that he recognized
that to all intents and purposes gifts from an offi
cer of a trust had on him somewhat the effect of
hush money, because he did not feel free to
criticise the methods employed by the Standard
Oil company. '' . ."'
i If Christianity is going to do the work that,
the Master laid out for His church it must apply
christian principles to everyday life, and Christ's
gospel applied to everyday life is condensed into
the commandment "Thou shalt love thy neighbor
as thyself." The church cannot 'afford to proclaim
this doctrine to the world and then shrink from
the discussion of the violations of it Man's rela
tion to his God is a-personal relation and one
which the outsider ordinarily finds It difficult to
Investigate, but we have Bible authority for the
statement that man's conduct toward his brother
furnishes the surest test of man's relations with
his Maker, t In fact, the Bible speaks very posi
tively upon this subject and declares that a man
is , a liar if-he asserts that he loves his God and
yet hates his brother. The methods by which men
prove their hatred of their brother are many and
various, and probably no man of the present day
has shown his hatred of his brother In more ways
than Mr. Rockefeller. Is not the church likely to
be hindered in Its work of restoring justice ancl
inaugurating an era of brotherhood by reliance
upon gifts from men who have a large pecuniary,
interest in silencing the church's protest?
Neither can the church ignore the influence
which its action may have upon public opinion.
The church lives in the world and the world is
prone to judge Christianity by the conduct of those
who profess it If a church accepts money from
a notorious offender against morality, and if the.
church after accepting the money so acts as to
raise the suspicion that the receipt of the money
influences-he conduct of the church toward wrong
doing, will not many outside of the church doubt
the good faith of the church? Will it not be a
cause of offense to many? Is not a divergence
between profession and performance the most
severe charge that can be brought against either
individual or church?
Mr. Rogers, one of the controlling spirits of
the Standard Oil company, virtually admits that
the business was formerly aided by secret rebates,
and the government is now investigating charges
brought against the Standard Oil company for re
cent violations of the law. The anti-trust laws
passed by various states indicate the feeling that
there .is among the people. If the object of the
church is the regeneration of the world, and
through this regeneration the establishment of
love and peace in the place- of selfishness and con
flict, can it consistently form a partnership with
trust magnates? Until the church has some
maxim from higher authority it can afford to con
form to the doctrine expressed in the declaration
"if eating meat maketh my brother to offend, I
will eat no meat." .
It is hardly worth while to consider the ar
' gument that the church has no right to reject
money offered to it It would put the church In a
pitiful position if it were so helpless that it could
be made a partner In wrong doing without its
power to refuse. But if any preacher is afraid that
he will incur responsibility by refusing to accept
Mr. Rockefeller's gifts, let him devote himself to
Rockefeller, and he will not have any Rockefeller
the denunciation of the methods employed by Mr.
money offered to him. Let him preach the gospel
of the "One who, instead of attempting to absorb
the wealth of others, gave Himself to the world
and went about doing good, and he will never be
put to the testfor the men who make millions by
exploitation and then give a tithe of their plun
derings to church or charity are not likely to em
barrass with their gifts those who cry out and
spare not Elijah never" had to ponder whether
he should receive gifts from Ahab, for the truth
which he proclaimed made Ahab hid bitter enemy.
- From every standpoint, the acceptance of the
Rockefeller money would seem to be unwise, while
its refusal would bring to him, as he has never had
brought ; to him before, the consciousness of his
Iniquities. The rejection of the gift would also
leave the church free to preach a religion unadul
terated by commercialism, and would go far to
convince the public that the spirit of the meek.and t
lowly N'azarene inspires today those who at. the
communion table recall His broken body and His
blood. W, J. BRYAN.
For over sixty years Mrs. Winslow's
Soothing Srrup has been used by
mothera for their children while teeth
ing. Are you ' disturbed at night and
broken of your rest by a sick child
suffering and crying with pain of cut
ting teeth? If so. send at -once and
get a bottle of Mrs. Winslow's Sooth
ing Syrup for Children Teething. Its
value Is incalculable. It will relieve
the poor little sufferer immediately.
Depend upon It, mothers, there Is no
mistake about it. It cures diarrhoea,
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cures wind colic, softens the gums, re
duces inflammation, and gives tone
and energy to the whole system. Mrs.
Winslow's Soothing Syrup for chil
Iren' teething is pleasant to the taste
jid 'ls the prescription of one of the
jldest and b -st female physicians . and
jurses in the United State3, and is for
8ale by all druggists throughout . the
world. Price, 25 cents a bottle. Be
sure and ask for "Mrs. Winslow's
Soothing Syrup." , J .
THE FIFTH NIGHT CLUB
The Members Have a Hot Discussion
Over Populist Principles r r
That neat little populist magazine,
The Ohio Liberty Bell, "36 Garfield
Place, Cincinnati, Ohio, fifty cents a
year; is at hand again. It has what
purports " to be.1 the proceedings . of the
Fifth Night club. . The thing is bo
good The ' Independent prints 'it : In
fun. - ' y y ' ': r
March Meeting. Subject; National
Banks. In part, the paper asserted:
"National banks were not organized
upon the mature conclusions that their
workings would be a benefit to the
nation, but during the civil war the na
tion was in desperate need of funds,
and, In order that it : might borrow
the entire banking capital of the coun
try, the national banKs were created
with a preference in the matter of
taxation, which forced all banks then
existing to become national banks and
purchase government bonds as the
basis on which to do business prac
tically a forced loan by the govern
ment. As a salve to heal the hurt of
said forced loan, they were given
many privileges, and these have since
been greatly increased. Let us take a
bank with a million dollar capital and
see what are its profits and the sources
thereof: First, it invests its capital of
a million dollars in government bonds
which, we will say, pay two per cent,
and depositing these with the treasury
it gets a: million dollars in bank notes
which It lends to Its customers on
short time, taking out the Interest in
advance, so that at the end of the
year it amounts to at least ten per
cent on its capital total to date,
tt elve per cent then, also, it receives
deposits, and a bank with that capital
should have deposits of at least four
million dollars, . experience . . having
shown that a bank may -with safety
make short loans of at least 75 per
cent of its deposits, so it will have
three millions to lend and, lending In
the same way as Its own funds would
realize4 an amount which would be
thirty per cent on its capital of one
million dollars, total to date forty
two per cent." This, all will say, is a
very good profit, but. the finaicial vul
ture, sees other feed. The United
States government levies taxes, gen
erally, in excess of Its needs and when
the money produced by these taxes
has piled up until the government no
longer has storage room for it, it ser
lects favored national banks as gov-
Losses paid in 1904 $14,082.90
Since Organization 1214,994.90
- SEVENTH YEAR; -"
Why Don't You Insure Your Crops with The ; d
United Mutual Hail; Insurance Associatin. v
(Incorporated Jan. 4, 1899.) V V Q
Tor the small amount It costs, you cannot afford to take yonr own chances on your A
growing crops. A few dollars spent on Insurance may save you hundreds. The com- y
It pays no princely salaries at the
Now is the time to write Hall Insurance with this company '
I pany Insures yoa at the rate of six dollars per acre.
expense oi nonev com era. .now is tne time to wni
as there is a limit of 11,800 to each section. This is the oldest, best and most successful
company doing business in the state. It paid its losses for 1904 sixty days before they
were doe. Do not wait until it is too late to write your insurance in this company. No
one knows where the hall will strike. The company had a cash surplus of J617Z 42 on
January 1st "05 after all loss for 1904 had been paid in lulL
This company was reorganized under the laws passed by the legislature oi 1903 and
lis officers are now under (50,000 bonds to the state of Nebraska lor the faithful account
ing of every doUar paid in by its members. It now writes insurance for a fixed rate of
premium. (No assessments are made) Thus everyone knows just what he has to pay. ;
Write the Home Office for full particulars. Good agents wanted in every township
Home Office.' i i6 So. ioth.
P. O. Drawer 1442
LINCOLN, NEB,
1
k if
Will
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