T1IE TORCH OF REASON, SILVERTON, OREGON, THURSDAY, MARCH 4, 1897.
do more good by being able to or­ n<>t aware th at the one receiving
ganize Secular S unday schools th a n 'our “ little p ap e r’ was too young to
The
a great orator, for,out of one school begin studying the tru th .
The Only Secular Paper Published on the m ay coine more th a n one orator, writer m akes another m istake when
organizer and teacher. It is the she supposes th a t we never have
Pacific Coast.
difference between isolated one- felt that God was our Sav our. We
Published Weekly by the Oregon State
handed work and the work of a have felt ju st th a t wav, but we now
Secular Union.
harm onious family. It is the dif­ realize th a t we were victim s of a
ference between try in g to save the deceitful clergy, who tak in g ad v a n ­
J . E . H O S M E R ........................E d ito r.
victim s o f a shipwreck by widely tage of our youth, had forced upon
P. W . G E E R - - - B u sin e ss M a n a g e r.
separated fisherm en, and a well us this foolish su p ern a tu ral non­
drilled life-saving crew. It is the sense instead of teaching us to train
E n te red at th e postoffiee at Silverton,
difference between a few citizens our faculties and investigate for
Oregon, as second class m ail m atter.
try in g to put out a fire and a well ourselves.
S U B S C R IP T IO N R A TES.
We supposed at one time th a t we
equipped lire departm ent.
It is
( »ne Y ear, in advance..........
...........
Hix M onths, in ad v an ce....................................... •*> the difference between a few hush- felt God’s love in our hearts, but
T hree M onths, in a d v a n c e ..... .
................. -5
try in g
to capture a after discovering that the h eart is
In Glut»» of > <»r more one year, in «dvance. . 75 whackers
Money should be sent by registered le tte r or
stronghold and a well organized not the seat of the em otions we
m oney order.
. . .
,
Please send us the name« and addressee of Sec­
have concluded th a t it was “ all in
army.
u larists wno are not regular subscribers.
Let us then he up and doing. If our m inds.”
We now have the love of h u m a n ­
we can succeed w ith our U niver­
THURSDAY . . .MARCH, 4, E. M .297.
sity, and we are doing belter th a n ity instead of love or fear for m y th ­
we expected in so short a time, we ical beings, and this is th e reason
W ork V ersu s T alk.
will have quite a little arm y of we publish a paper of th is kind.
A new order of things is being young, stalw art soldiers who will We hope th a t the friends of Stcu-
in au g u rated in the work of liber­ become captains, lieutenants and larism will come to our aid and
atin g the m ental slaves from their generals in our future grand march help us lead our poor deceived
superstition. The old way has not to victory.
M any who are not brothers and sis‘ers to the light.
been as successful as some m ight located in Silverton can not realize Let us free them from the narrow ,
wish, anti we hail the new way with th a t we already have over tw enty- exclusive religion of hate. Let us
delight, for it has the appearance five young men and women tra in ­ teach them th a t the m um bling of
of being ju st w hat is needed.
ing th eir intellects here now in the useless prayers is a relic of our
Form erly, lecturers
who had Liberal U niversity for the great heathen ancestors and th a t a noble
more or less oratorical power and contest between tru th and error, character should he considered
more or less (often less) m oral c h a r­ between go(o)d and (d)cvil, be­ m an ’s highest ideal.
acter, have gone about howling tween science and superstition, be­
against the evils of orthodoxy p ar­ tween rig h t and wrong.
W h ich is th e H ost Im p o rta n t?
ticularly, and occasionally touching
If the S ecularists will now s *e to
on other evils.
Sometimes these it th a t their lecturers are men and
In the C hristian H erald of Feb.
lecturers have aroused great en th u ­ women who are w ithout reproach, 24 there is a long article appealing
siasm and been the m eans of rais­ if they will continue and j er-cvere for money to aid the natives of
ing large sum s of money for no in the organization of Secular S un­ India. The first p arag rap h of the
other purpose th an helping them ­ day schools and churches, if ‘hev article is as follows:
selves, or perhaps to defray the ex­ will place the L iberal U niversity in “ Recent reports from In d ia encour-
pense of a deh ite, a picnic, or an a position to do its best work, there a 'e t h e hope th a t if the people can
aim less, nonproductive convention. will he the greatest and best re­ b • carried over the next four m onths,
W e do not u n d e re stim a te the good vival th a t the world has ever seen t ie most terrible of the suffering
th a t some of these lone workers and the old false creeds will b e will he alleviated. Rain has fallen
have done, hut w edoery out against crushed ami th eir dam ning influ­ over th e g re a te r p art of the P unjaub,
the m ethod. It m ust he adm itted ence be felt no more forever.
and the prospects of crops in the
th a t some of th * lecturers have had
C entral Provinces, B ehar and th e
rath e r weak m oral characters and
North-west Provinces, is ‘fair to
A M istak en F rien d .
such people are not apt to cry out
good.’ How m any of the poor
against their own vices; therefore
The following letter from a Chris­ creatures will he alive to reap the
m any times th eir hue and cry tian lady shows how our work for crops in the la tte r p art of .June
ag ain st the church, supplem ented hum anity is viewed by those who depends on the people of C hristen­
b v a bad record and had habits, has have not yet come into the glad dom. They can he kept alive only
done our cause more harm than light of Secularism .
by liberal co n trib u tio n s reaching
good. We are satisfied th a t the
through th e m issionaries
L ennox , S. I)., Feb. IS, 1897.—To them
cause would have been m uch better the E ditor: We have been receiv­ who know th e ir extrem ity and
if some who have created great ing your little paper entitled whos* hearts are aching to give
enthusiasm at tim es .had never been “ T orch of R eason ” for some tim e. them food ”
born; for, alter this excitem ent has I earnestly request th a t it he dis­
The w riter of th is appeal then
died out it has left the work in a continued at once. The paper has gives several exam ples of those who
worse shape than before.
been com ing to Oral S hank.
I had given money to aid these poor
It is the same as religious excite­ th in k it a perfect sham e th a t such Hindoos.
Poor people who could
m ent and the orthodox people know a paper he sent to a child. I think not afford to give, gave in the
full well th a t som ething else is you m ust never have felt th a t God name of their saviour. A poor w ork­
needed.
T hat som ething else is was your S aviour and felt his love ing girl adds her m ite ($1,) and
the work of perfecting organizations. in your heart or you never could even th e home for the Incurables,
Now this work does not need publish a paper of this
kind. B rooklyn, N. Y. sent six dollars
very great oratorical powers, and, Hoping and p raying th a t you m ay “ with the prayer (which m ust enter
in order to he successful, we m ust be led to C hrist.
the heart of th e com passionate
have men and women who are or­
saviour), th a t god will stir up the
I am yours tru ly ,
ganizers instead of orators. Of
hearts of people to give of th eir
E lsie S hank .
course an organizer who is a good
In regard to the charge o f send­ abundance to the distressed n ation.”
sjieaker can do more good th an one ing our paper to a child, we plead
The article ends with an account
who is not, hut a plain ordinary ignorance.
Some friend of the of some little children who had
m an or woman, who has the right S hanks subscribed for the T orch saved $2. 87 to pay for an easter
principles and loves the cause, m ay and ordered it sent, and we were trea t but on hearing about the
Torch of Reason
poor starving people across the
ocean sent it to god’s servants to he
forw arded to the “ t a missi >na ies”
in In d ia who will, we suppose,
d istribute it where it will do the
m ost good.
T hese te n ini> -ioiiaries
received five thousand dollars last
week and this week’s H erald
published a list which shows th a t
the poor people of this co u n try have
sent a way two th o u san d six hundred
and thirteen dollars and sixty two
cents more and th a t there are
several hundred others whose gifts
have not yet been acknowledged.
in order to touch the feelings of
sym pathetic people the article is
illu strated with a picture showing
six of the nearly naked, starv in g
natives begging hv the road side.
The picture is a very sad one. The
long gaunt arm s are outstreatched
w ith the palm s open to re­
ceive help and one not stop­
ping to think would n a tu ra lly w ant
to drop any money he had handy
right into th a t bony palm , hut if
one stops to th in k a little he begins
to realize th a t the money goes into
fat palm s before it gets there and
th at there are m any bony ones this
side of Imlia.
W hen we th in k of the time, the
labor, the wealth th a t is sq u an ­
dered in sending bibles and p reach ­
ers to save (?) the souls (?) of these
natives of In d ia when we have with
us an am ount of vice an d crim e
th a t is perfectly app allin g and th a t
every cent taken out of this coun­
try by these m issionaries causes
our already suffering people to suf­
fer more, and when we realize th a t
according to th eir own doctrine
they could, if they had faith as a
grain of m u stard seed, remove all
th is m ountain o f suffering
by
p ra y e r, it m akes us feel as though
there is m uch to he done. How
long shall these self ap p o in ted
agents d rain our people of th e ir
substance and com pel us to su p ­
port jails, asylum s an d th e m any
other costly institutio n s th a t alw ays
follow in the wake of poverty?
We feel sorry th a t the poor hea­
then are starving, hut wc feel more
sorry th a t m any of our own people
are alm ost insane with a desire to
work and no work to be found.
We feel sorry th a t we are not able
to civilize the whole world, hut as
long as one little boy or girl of
America is hungry or being brought
up in ignorance and crim e, we
should be very careful how we rob
the poor w orking people of th is
country to save the heathen, in or­
der to get a chance to raise other
thousands to send bibles an d m is­
sionaries to save th eir im aginary
souls from an im aginary hell, and
as long as we haven’t better states­
men th a n the so-called law’ makers
of Oregon, we had better build
schools th a t our cou n try be not e n ­
tirely b an k ru p t and our own c iti­
zens he obliged t o sit by the ro ad ­
side and stretch a bony palm to­
ward an iusolveut governm ent.