Image provided by: Silverton Country Historical Society; Silverton, OR
About Torch of reason. (Silverton, Oregon) 1896-1903 | View Entire Issue (Nov. 8, 1900)
4 T H E TORCH OF REASON, S IL V E R T O N , OREGON, N O V EM B ER 8, E. M. 300 (1900.) doi.’t they speak for them selves?” Torch of Reason stop "ay- ttie 'or plan 7 ra “6 '- 8 o ” e w ay- ot growth by eating Do you ask? We answ er: w hat is holiday very much as we now have on C hristm as. The only law needed The Only Paper of Its Kind. each o th er op. I he first duty of everybody’s business is no body’s; about it, would be one m aking it a every Liberal is to subscribe for, and th a t is more th an doubly true general holiday, so th a t no m anu- P ublished W eekly by th e L iberal U n i and circu late L iberal literatu re, when Religious and Theologic dur- facturing or large em ploying husi- versity C om pany, in the In te re sts of C onstructive, M oral S ecularism . and this he can do best by club- ess, abuse and social ostracism etc., nest could be legally done_rnak- bing with readers and publishers, etc. falls, often in ruinous doses, ing it a “ dies n o n ” for all such T. B. W a k em an ................... Editor upon every single person who dares purposes, like New Y ear’s Day. If P. W. Geer..........................M anager to speak up for our Secular Repub- anybody interferred with the equal Liberal Work and Hope. lie, as against the grasping Gods right of others to keep the day as E n tered a t th e postoffice a t Silverton, Oregon, as second-class m ail m a tte r. and Churches and their zealot they preferred, they m ight be ar- W e referred in the The Torch, owners and slaves. O nly the few rested and fined for disorderly con- SUBSCRIPTION RATES. under date of October 24, to an im who are brave enough, and clear duct or m aking a nuisance of them One year, in a d v an c e ........................ $1 00 po rtan t editorial in the New York enough to be heroes dare to do that selves. T hus all of the “ Sabbath Six m o nths in a d v a n c e .................... 50 T ru th Seeker, which seemed to he 25 aloue. In so doing, they m ust law s” would disappear at once, and Three months, in advance.............. In clubs of five or m ore, one year, a sort of wet blanket for our C in stand together, while they stand the day would become a public hol 75 in arl v a n ce .......................................... cinnati Congress about to he. It for, and represent the whole repub iday for “ reading, rest and recrea Money should lie sent by registered seemed to show th a t the last tw en lic, and the silent masses who are tion.” le tte r or m oney order. ty-five years of Liberal work, cen really for it— hut who dare not or So with T hanksgiving Day, the tered in our congresses had not ac cannot speak! Notice! law m ight declare it to be the last com plished much. F or this gran d reason, let the Thursday of November, and a pub We replied by showing th a t the next Congress be sustained in a lic holiday, as above suggested for A h a n d pointing to th is notice denotes th a t your su b scrip tio n has e x p ire d . said L iberals had accom plished a way worthy of the great Secular S unday. 1 here would be no more You are e arn estly requested to re great deal by placing a dam across cause it represents. To do th a t new so th a t you m ay receive th e pa awful and h u m iliatin g proclam a per w ith o u t in te rru p tio n . We have d e the on-rushing stream of Theo will take tim e, money and some tions from political and religious cided th a t it is best for all concerned cratic aggression; and then d iv ert sacrifice, but these are the only th a t we do n o t send papers longer th a n hypocrites,— and w hat a relief th a t th e tim e paid for unless so ordered. ing its arrested and stagnating m eans by which an y th in g great would he to the honesty and moral T his will p rev en t any loss and we will waters into new and useful c h a n and good dhn be done for the Re know just w here we sta n d . sense of the C om m unity? Jeffer We request you to send us th e nam es nels and the irrigation of fruitful public and H u m an ity . They can son’s exam ple would thus become of Secularists who m ight becom e sub- deltas. be served in the only Secular Con a law and a relief. scriliers and we will m ail sam ple copies We are pleased to see th a t the gress as effectively as on th e b a t I hen those farces called ch ap T ru th Seeker of Oct. 23, en terta in s tle field! lains might go too, under a general T hursday , N ov . 8, E. M. 300. very much the sam e view after all. law, providing th a t the arm y and It says in substance th a t this Secular Transformation. navy regim ents and vessels should Unite The Liberal Press. winter the “ God in the C onstitu b e provided with sufficient advisory tion fellows” and the S abbatarian We have said th a t the great ser secretaries, or other officers to act There are few things more im Theocrats will be before Congiess vice of Liberalism in this co u n try as instructors, friends, advisors and p o rta n t th a n the presence of the and the state legislatures, for a has been not only in darning up letter writers, as the men might Liberal Press of every variety at revolution of our governm ent from and arresting the inflow of Theoc need or wish, so th at no real bene the C incinnati Liberal Congress. the “C onsent of the G overned” to racy, which would destroy the R e fit to the service would be lost. As Let it be there by its papers and their “God,” and “ His H oly D ay,” public, but also in the further benef to legislatures, as they exist “ by publications and by its editors or th a t is to them , and for all of the a p icent work of diverting its old m i the “ consent of the governed,” and some one to represent them and propriations of pelf, plunder and asm a breeding sloughs and pools for their will and benefit, a ch ap to speak for them . Some plan power they can get,— for they “ in into bayous and health y channels lain to inform them of the will of a should he devised and there pre herit the e a rth .” for navigation and irrigation. “ king’ somewhere, seems too great sented to have the Liberal papers The T ru th Seeker intim ates This great service of Liberalism an inconsistency and im pertinence become more co-operative and help rightly, th at all of these attem pts to the world was not alluded to to be continued. ful to each other. As it stands will he taken as unopposed and when the T ru th Seeker w’as show As to the In d ian s, let us entirely now they are like the S u lta n ’s chil argely consented to, unless there ing how little the L iberals had ac drop the farm ing of them out to dren. It is the interest of each to is a decided Liberal opposition, com plished; but it is included in C hristian Sectaries, and see th a t kill all the others, or to swallow representing the Secular spirit that its editorial of Oct. 27, on “ The they have practical S ecular ed u them alive. T heir real interest is founded the governm ent, and the God in the C onstitution Fellow s,” cation and supervision, so as to to enlarge the Liberal reading pub real wish of the masses of the peo where it says: “ We are sorry, ex m ake good civilized people of them lic, so as to have good p astu re and ple now. trem ely so, th a t th e prospects of or th eir children, as soon as possi support for all. Suppose the re The T ru th Seeker says th at this m aking a sim ple secular holiday , ble. duced price of subscription for more has been done by the Liberals con out of the religious H oly-day called As to the Bible, the only law ne than one paper he recognized and tinuously since 1876, and of late, S unday, is much dim m er than cessary is to keep it out of the extended to this effect. Books or especially by P resident P u tn am ; this T heocrat would have us be schools and public institutions. papers obtained or subscribed for and th a t now provision m ust he lieve.” Then it also says: “ There Then let it be discussed and ex through the Secretary of the A. S. m ade to have it continued, and of is fortu n ately a tendency to rele plored as a part of the past su p er 1 . should be at a discount anyw ay course, as effectively as possible. gate th e Bible to its place in litera stitions and poetic lite ratu re qf the aud th a t discount be increased in Now this is a very im portant ture as one of the m any express- world, and soon the old notion of proportion as more than one p ap e r'b u sin e ss affair, and " a practical ions of m an ’s superstitous nature; infallible inspiration etc., etc. will is subscribed for. Thus it would reason for m aking this congress to he the interest of the readers to be in fact, w hat it is theoretically, hut th a t is the principal gain the become too absurd for an y th in g subscribe for more than one paper, to-wit: a great representative body. world has m ade iu recent years j hut a pitying smile, As to the churches, they should «and to get up clubs to subscribe For however great or sm all it may along the lines the Theocrat fol- j pay th eir taxes like other property, for as m any as possible for com be, it is the only organized body i° WH’ We are glad to find these sen- or be used at least to some extent,’ mon reading. At the same tim e it th at stands up for the Secular would be the interest of all editors foundation upon which the Great fences in the T ru th Seeker, for for public and Secular purposes, and paper owner» to have other R epublic rest», and equarely op- they illu stra te w hat we m eant by like school aud other buildings. It the great progress of L ib e ra lism in is absurd to have the m any m illions paper» subscribed for and to sue- poses the efforts of the Gods and th e “ diverting or bleaching out, in- of dollars th u s invested in these c e e d . f o r i n so doing each would ' Devils and th eir “ m inisters” who share in the common benefit, by would underm ine and overthrow stead of the destructive and Icono- buildings untaxed, and yet stand- ing idle except for a few m um eries their own increased circulation, it. T his Congress th en , is the nu- clastic m ethods.” For instance let us apply this on one or two days in the week, Secietarv R eichw ald, at Chicago as cleus which represents the whole m ethod and Kel,g' Relig- Let Let U8 us h have law ^ th a a t t will will m m ake a center, and the Liberal p u b lis h -' American people as to th eir d Z V , to the Sabbath T a ™ a a law ers could certainly make this p la n ’est interest 1 /d m ost n r ^ i , a8 the T ru th ProP ^ y th at is held aw ay and in I effective. But if poeeible, . URg, . , . ■ — — - — • j U V e TV A ■ 1 I • .. T. ’ . ‘ 1 18 Seeker says, instead of the Hebrew disuse, and yet protected and un- better t,( < v to apeaT t o , 7 h X ^ - W h y h o rr° ^ 'b e public, put to some r uem. hj J would have a general aud a hum an public use.