NOVEMBER 1, 1912 



709 



Temperance 



"THE TRUTH SHALL MAKE YOU FREE." 



So far as possible I earnestly request 

 that every reader of these Home papers 

 will at once secure a copy of the Christian 

 Endeavor World for Oct. 10, and read the 

 article entitled "Religion of Eugene W. 

 Chafin." After you have read that, read 

 the following which I have clipped from 

 his address at Kansas City, August 9, 1911. 

 Our older readers whose recollection reaches 

 back to 1850 will vividly recall all the 

 facts given; and I hope and pray that it 

 maj' prove to be such a "revelation" to 

 many, as it has been to myself. 



ONE STANDARD OF MORALS. 



Mr. Ciiairman, Ladies, and Gentlemen: — 

 Away back in the forties there was a 

 class of people in this country called Aboli- 

 tionists. The old abolitionist was the man 

 who said slavery was wrong, and, being 

 wrong, he said it was wrong in every town- 

 ship under the American flag. He was the 

 man who was absolutely right on that ques- 

 tion. On the other hand, there was the 

 slaveholder w'ho said it was right, and, 

 therefore, right everywhere. Then we had 

 the irrepressible conflict btween right and 

 wrong, and we have that in evei'y moral 

 battle. 



WHEN THE IRREPRESSIBLE CONFLICT WAS 

 FIRST DODGED BY CONGRESS. 



In 1850 this slavery question became 

 acute in American politics over the admis- 

 sion of California to the Union. When 

 California asked for admission the slave- 

 holders said they would not admit it unless 

 it was admitted as a slave State. The 

 Abolitionist came along then and said it 

 should not be admitted unless it was ad- 

 mitted as a free State. This put the whole 

 question up to Congress. They then had 

 to decide whether they would admit it as a 

 slave State or a free State. 



Now, if there is any thing a congress- 

 man hates next to being defeated for re- 

 election it is to have to vote upon a ques- 

 tion upon which the peoi3le are greatly 

 divided at home. 



There w^as one man in that Congress 

 who was in a Avorse fix than all the rest. 

 He was in a terrible fix, and that was Gen- 

 eral Lewis Cass, United States Senator 

 from Michigan. He had been the Demo- 

 cratic candidate for President in 1848, and 

 had been beaten by General Taylor, and 

 he wanted to try it again in 1852. 



"Xow," said General Cass to himself, 

 "if I vote with the North on this question 

 I lose the Southern vote and get licked; 



and if I vote with the South I lose the 

 Northern vote and get licked." 



So it was up to him to get licked, no 

 matter which side he voted on. What is a 

 poor statesman going to do in a condition 

 of that kind? 



THE ORIGIN OF "POPULAR SOVEREIGNTY."" 



But Cass was a resourceful statesman. 

 He hacl served his country more than forty 

 years in public office, and in January. 

 1850, he got up in the United States Sen- 

 ate and made a great speech, laying down 

 the doctrine known in American politics as 

 "Popular Sovereignty." 



He said, "Now, senators, this slavery 

 question is a moral question and has no 

 business in Congress." And they have 

 succeeded fairly w-ell in keeping morals out 

 of Congress ever since. "Now," he said, 

 "Senators, the way to settle this slavery 

 question is this: Just submit it to a vote 

 of the people over in California; and if 

 they want slavery let them have it, and 

 if they don't, they need not." 



("Popular Sovereignty," "local self-gov- 

 ernment," "Jeffersonian Democracy," "let 

 the people rule!") 



DOUGLAS ADOPTS "POPULAR SOVEREIGNTY" 

 NOTION. 



California got in under the compromise 

 measure of 1850, and that doctrine was put 

 aside until 1854. Then Senator Stephen 

 A. Douglas, of Illinois, introduced into the 

 Senate a bill which was known in history 

 as the Kansas-Nebraska Act, creating the 

 two territories of Kansas and Nebraska. 

 And you will remember that that great ex- 

 panse of country out here at that time ex- 

 tended clear to the British line. The slave- 

 holder came over and said, "Senator Doug- 

 las, you can't pass that bill unless you pro- 

 vide for slavery in Kansas and Nebraska." 

 The next day the Abolitionist came along 

 and said, "You can't pass that bill unless 

 you have free soil in Kansas and Nebras- 

 ka." 



The whole question was up to Congress 

 again, and Douglas in the same fix that 

 Cass was. He wanted to be President too. 

 "Now," he said, "I will just take this doe- 

 trine of Lewis Cass and I will put it into 

 the Kansas-Nebraska Act." ("Local self- 

 government," "popular sovereignty!'') And 

 so he did, and passed the bill. That re- 

 ]^ealed the Missouri compromise, and turned 

 these two territories of Kansas and Nebras- 

 ka over to local option. And that is all it 

 was. 



Popular sovereignty submitted it to a 

 vote of the people to let them settle the 



