VOL. XXXIX.
PORTLAND, OREGON, SUNDAY MORNING, NOVEMBER 21, 1920
NO. 47
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EBSTER calls a blejjop a epir
hum overseer, dui iaai aeiin
tlon falls far short of the ac
tuality today. Possibly In days of
not so long- ago the hih church dig
nitary's main efforts were bent to
the proper care of his religious flock"
by the. sole means of presiding and
direr' ng the sacred side of his
church's efforts. Today the secular
angle would seem to predominate, for
the modern church has expanded tre
mendously along with all other things
In this rapidly growing civilization
of ours, and manifold interests of the
many denominations call for an over
seer who not only has the qualifica
tions of being a religious leader but
of being a big business man as well.
Possibly in this section of America
there Is no better Illustration of this
than the case of' Bishop William O.
Shepard IL. r., D. .. newly. installed
head of the lethodist church for the
Portland area, which embraces Ore
gon. Washington, Alaska and part of
Idaho thousands of square miles of
territory. In which this denomination
has millions of dollars invested. The
Methodist church is one of the largest
business concerns in the northwest.
It is managed as efficiently, judging
from externals and financial reports,
as the majority of the great corpora
tions. Headquarters are in an office
block the Artisans' building in
which they occupy most of one floor,
and here are the superintendents and
corps of secretaries and stenogra
phers, just as would be found in the
offices of any great firm carrying
on the volume of business that this
one does.
Rellslou Is Business Today.
For It Is a great business, this mat
ter of saving and guarding souls to
day, a business that calls for the can
niest of management with its many
ramifications. In their area the
llethodists here have some 60,000 ac
tual members, while their constitu
ents will easily reach tbree times
that number. Each of these 60,000
church members must be treated as a
stockholder in the corporation, which'
is a wealthy one with its congrega
tion properties and the many assets
belonging to the different branches.
Then there is the Methodist Book
concern, the greatest religious book
publishers in th world, doing a busi
ness of more than $6,000,000 annu
ally from nine depositaries, with its
great branch in Portland started
three years ago. This publishing
bouse here is growing rapidly and
they have their agents throughout
the country, with the result that their
sales are increasing by leaps and
bounds, and yet they estimate that
they have but half of the available
business.
This book publishing company ia
just a concrete example of the Meth
odUt manner of serving those of their
faith, for it is a religious institution,
no- matter how much it may sound
like mere business. It must have
been in the far distant past when
one of the leaders of the church asked
himself why they should pay out their
hard earned money to some other
fellow for producing Bibles and many
other books that they found essential.
Result, the formation of the book
concern, on a real helpful basis, and
it Is one of the greatest assets of the
church today. Well managed, with a
full trained staff, they put their pub
lications in the field and compete
with anyone, until they reign supreme
at the present day. And alt of this
Is run at a profit. In 1918 they
cleared (400.000, every cent of which
went to the support of the widows
and orphans of the church. Here's
the real thing In religion.
And In this territory Bishop Shep
ard is the head of the book concern
among his other activities. Just one!
sample of what he has to do. Pos-1
sibly at the start of this article many
may ha gathered the impression
that the secular side of the bishop's
activities was getting the upper
hand, that he was devoting more of
hli time to business than to the re
ligious side of his work. The con
trary is .the case, for the many who
have had an opportunity of meeting
the bishop since tis arrival in Port
land unite in rendering him the
greatest tribute as a factor In re
ligious life. What Is emphasized Is
that manners of spreading the gospel
have changed. The viewpoint has
broadened, the church has not been
content to loiter while other move
ments were pushing ahead. Men who
had their souls in the work of sal
vation realized that they must be
progressive or fall out of the proces
sion. Result was the inception of
such activities that some few years
back would have been considered out-
bide the province of the church.
During 1918 Bishop Shepard made
an extended trip through the west
and presided at a number of confer
enees. - It was at this -time that the
men who lived in this big section of
the nation realized that they would
like to have this man from Texas
with . them. w hen he presided In
Montana one of the speakers at that
meeting paid him the following
tribute: -
"Can anyone imagine a president
who would better fit into this Mon
tana atmosphere than Bishop Shep
ard? Sweet-spirited, humble, devoted
to th,e interests of the men ana of.
Bishop Shepard, Methodist, Combines
Religious Leadership With Great
the church of Christ. His great
heart seemed to envelop the whole
conference and every man felt per
fectly at ease and liberty in his
presence. But w must not get me
impression from this that he s not
mans man. He is the more so
because of these qualities. Gentle,
yet firm; humble, but absolutely
fearless in the presence of wrong or
of his duties. His sermons and ad
dresses are strong, sympathetic.
eloquent The impression left is
that .he has a very exalted' Idea of
the Christian ministry and a love
for Christ and his children that will
brook any obstacle to serve them.
His administration of the conference
was very satisfying and he will be
welcomed any time he eomes to Mon
tana."
Bishop Gets Wide Experience.
Somewhat in the nature of an in
troduction it might be well here. to
look back and see how our new btehop
got his training, what has been his
experience to produce such a man as
has charge of ' this large and Im
portant field today. Bishop Shepard
was born in Whiteside county, Illi
nois, April 11. 1862. and was educated
at Jennings' Seminary, De Pauw,
Northwestern and Syracuse universi
ties and then was pastor of Elgin,
Rockford, Evanston and ' Chicago
churches. He then took charge of the
northern district of Chicago as su
perintendent and had charge of the
Rock river conference when elected
to the Episcopacy at Minneapolis in
1912. He took charge of the Wichita
area, consisting of the states of Kan
sas, Oklahoma and -Texas, and made
such a success here that he was re
tained for eight years, coming here
direct from the big. open south. - So
it can be seen that he has seen a,lmost
Executive Ability.
every phase of life, from the ' close
quartered existence In crowded cities
to the virile living in the great open.
During 1918 Bishop Shepard pre
sided at a number of northwest con
ferences, those of northern Montana,
Montana, Idaho, western Norwegian
Danish, Oregon and North Dakota. It
was cn this trip that he discovered
the west and he was delighted when
he was chosen last summer to take
charge of the Portland area. "I have
been here over five months and I feel
right at home," said- he last week.
"The country is my own, and I have
adopted It It feels right to me and
I like the people." -
Mntnal Esteem Revealed.
And from all Indications the gen
eral liking for the new head of the
Methodist movement in this section of
the country is not restricted to his
own denomination. Rev. C. C. Cline,
D. D., president of the Methodist His
torical society, in extending a greet
ing to the new chief explained that
the men who labored in this field
were good lovers, good eaters, fond
of butchers' meat and. sound sleep."
He told their new leader that they
were an unmuzzled , lot. free with
their opinions and generally expressed
what' they thought and were self
reliant And then Rev. Mr. Cline went
further and stated that the preach
ers were not the whole thing, but
that the churchwomen and the rest
of the congregations backed up their
partors to the utmost
One of the noted achievements of
the Methodists in America is their
centenary movement, destined for the
furtherance of church activities. In
this Immense fund, which was put
over in record time,- they call for
$115,000,000 from their constituents
during the next five years, or at the
rate of S23,000.p00 each year. All of
this money is meant for the further
ance of church work, both at home
and- abroad, for the development of
the foreign missionary field as well
as the home missions, and the notable
thing about this movement is that It
is an actuality, every cent of the lm
mense sum is pledged even in these
days when drives are usually falling
by the wayside. In this area it la
just one of Bishop Shepard's many
duties to care for the raising of their
quota and for the expenditure of the
allotment for Portland. There is lit
tle question' but that this sum will
Insure the future of the church and
that it will emerge a greater one at
the 'end of the next five years. Quot
ing from a recent ' address of the
bishop's, we find his principles well
set forth and can judge to some ex
tent what manner of man he is.
Character of Mas Revealed.
"I do not want narrow sectarian
ism," said Bishop Shepard. "I have no
secretarianism in my veins and I do
not want any there. But we must
have a sense of our denomination and
we must realize that we belong to
one church. We shall not get far If
we do not pull together. I earnestly
hope for a full understanding among
clergy and laity of our oneness in -the
great task we have to do."
"The problems are many and dif-
ifcult. They are too many and too
difficult for any one man. They are
far too big for all of us. But we must
strive to solve what we can. ' I have
come from a series of campaigns that
resulted in the building of four col
leges and two hospitals and in the
financial organization of seven con
ferences. Sometimes I have felt that
I should like -to go where no more
campaigns would be attempted for
a while. But on second thought I
do sot want to rest. I want to put
my shoulder to the wheel with you
people of the northwest and build
these institutions lastingly. I want
to see that this work goes straight
ahead to a splendid conclusion."
Of the Methodist centenary. Bishop
Shepard said: . "The centenary was
not and is not, a matter of raising
money. It is rather a matter of build
ing churches and institutions. When
we give money we are not paying for
things In Portland, but under our
principle of connectlonalism we are
putting money into a pool to build up
Methodism throughout our area."
La Tinea Set Pace. .
."The laymen have set the pace far
the pastors. In my eight years as a
bishop I have never asked for finan-
1 cial support for., a good work without
tt ' -'
.VV
getting as much money as I asked
for. The results were due in most
cases almost entirely to the work of
the laymen. .
"As- far as I am concerned I am In
favor of giving the laymen the right
to have everything to say about the
selection of their pastors. I am will
ing to leave to the church members
the choice of their minister, insofar
as tbey have knowledge which justi
fies that choice.
"While I shall he at the head of
this area there shall be no secret
cabinet meetings for the making of
! appointments or for transacting other
church affairs. - Everything shall be
open and above board.
"As I have said, we are eaders In
the Protestant . movement In this
country whether we like it or not We
have churches to build. .. We have
hospitals and institutions to estab
lish. Let us build them strong and
lasting and with it all let us have
them beautiful. Let us not have
churches unattractive to the extent
that they repel the young people we
wish to bring Into our neighborhood.
Let us make our churches as beau
tiful as our high schools. There is a
certain deterioration that the war has
brought to some of our young men.
That deterioration we must labor
to overcome with churches as attrac
tive as we can make them.
"I amlai to be in the northwest
and I hope to work here to the bet
terment of the church." ' '-
Natural Leadership Shown.
: Admittedly one of Bishop Shepard's
greatest assets is his unfailing tech
nique in making appointments. This
was a notable item In making his
great success for the past eight years
in the Wichita area and he has al
ready made this ability tell here. It
is not a far-fetched simile to try and
imagine him as a great general In an
army, for he is undoubtedly a natural
leader and no matter what walk in
life he might have been cast he would
have certainly made his force felt
The day by day routine of administra
tion that would pall on many men of
less grit holds no terrors for him and
he consumes immense quantities of
work with telling effect. Another of
his duties Is to lead In the evangelism
work in his area.
The educational phase of the Meth
odist church work must not be over
looked. They have three really fine
colleges in this area, Willamette uni
versity at Salem, the College of Pnget
Sound at Tacoma and the Kimball
School of Theology at Salem. These
also are under the direct supervision
of the bishop and it Is understood
that the church is contemplating the
establishment of a new college in the
near future. In addition to these,
major institutions they have many
smaller schools of lesser magnitude.
Area Takes to Bishop. '
The Pacific Christian Advocate Is
possibly the church paper with the
largest circulation in the northwest,
and this also is under the jurisdiction
of Bishop Shepard. It Is a news
weekly and has been published for
over a half century. In Portland
these is also a retail branch of the
Methodist Book concern that is in a
flourishing condition.
When the next general conference
meets, nearly four years hence, the
bishops will again be assigned terri
tories, and. though Bishop Shepard
has been with the Portland area but
a few months, they are already hop
lng that he may be returned to them
for at least four years more. Bishop
Shepard holds his rank and title
throughout the world, and not just
iu the Portland area, and, while he
has not committed himself, and there
may be a change of heart, it is pretty
well understood that the Methodist
church in the northwest has found
a leader to its liking, and that the
liking is mutual. All is set for a
flourishing reign of at least four
years, and possibly 8 or 12. '
Suicide of Renowned Paris
Singer Opportune.
While Body Awaits Police CaUer
Comes to Kent Flat.
PARIS, Nov. 20. One thousand
francs only remaining or her for
mer wealth, Madeleine Moreno, who
was a renowned singer in gay Paris
theaters before she married Joseph
O'Brien, a coachman for one of the
wealthiest residents of the Champs
Elysees, invited her husband out to
dinner a short time ago. 1
To one of the most expensive
restaurants in Paris, the scene of
Mademoiselle Moreno's former splen
dor, they went. They returned home
about 2 o'clock In the morning, minus
the 1000 francs. An hour later Mrs.
O'Brien cut her husband's throat with
a razor, then committed suicide.
The concierge, of the apartment,
where the couple occupied a hand
somely furnished flat in a street lead
ing from the Champs Elysees, report
ed the matter to the police and in a
few minutes a distinguished-looking
man called.
. He made many inquiries concerning
the affair. which the concierge
answered.
"Mr. Police Commissioner," she
ended, "please hurry and have the
bodies removed from the flat"
. "I am not the police commissioner,"
replied the visitor, "but you admit
the flat is. vacant, that the price is
So much; then I will rent the apart
ment. I have been looking for one
for over a year."
Habits of Teredo Studied.
SAN FRANCISCO. The teredo, a
worm which eats, into piles of
wharves and ship bottoms, is being
given a scientific study by repre
sentatives of the United States gov
ernment and others Interested in the
problem. Paul G. Redington, district
forester; C. L. Hill of the United
States forest service, and T. G. Town
send from the forest products lab
oratory at Madison, Wis., have been
making a study of the teredoes
arsiuid Saa fraacisco bay.