DECEMBER 1, 1914 



that if Ohio goes dry all the saloonkeepers' 

 business will be destroyed. Let them also, 

 with their wives and children, throw away 

 their diamonds and jewelry, and keep 

 chickens and raise potatoes in the back 

 yard. 



Just now it occurs to me that I saw in 

 one of the papers that the Socialists or one 

 of the unions, one or both, as a body re- 

 iect-ed State-wide prohibition because a 

 great lot of men who belong to the union 

 are employed by brewers, and the union, out 

 of sympathy for these few, could not con- 

 sistently vote dry. 



In my Home talks so far, or so far as I 

 can recall, I have never advised nor even 

 discussed, unless it was very indirectly, the 

 principles of the different political parties. 

 I have held up prohibition first, last, and 

 always; but I have criticised the Prohibi- 

 tion party, perhaps more than any other 

 political party, because they did not seem 

 to show a Christian spirit toward other 

 temjDerance organizations. 



The em23hatic statement that a man can 

 not be strictly honest and yet become a 

 millionaire, seems to me is pretty severe. 

 If I am correct, our good friend Thomas A. 

 Edison is a millionaire, perhaps several 

 times over; but if any citizen of the United 

 States has ever, during his busy life, assail- 

 ed Edison's honesty and integrity, I have 

 never heard of it. Every great city, and 

 every town and village, and I might almost 

 say every home, is being blest just now by 

 Edison's discoveries and inventions. When 

 he comes to die I predict he will get the 

 thanks of the people in a way, perhaps, no 

 other one man has been remembered and 

 reverenced. Edison is one of the busiest 

 men the world has ever produced. He 

 hardly takes time to eat and sleep. Even 

 now, at the age of 67, he is giving em- 

 ployment to thousands of workmen; and I 

 thank the Lord that a man of such wealth 

 and intluence as Edison has had the courage 

 to come out against the cigarette habit and 

 put his decision in black and white on the 

 front of his factories. 



My good friend Boone (for I still wish 

 to call him friend, notwithstanding the 

 above letter) seems to intimate that I have 

 more wealth than I ought to have. Perhaps 

 the readers of this have a right to know 

 that The A. I. Root Co., composed of my- 

 self, two sons, and thi-ee sons-in-law, are all 

 together worth only about half a million 

 dollars. Divide this sum into six parts, and 

 consider that we give employment to nearly 

 300 hands, men and women, the year round ; 

 then can anybody say we have more than 

 our share when we are expected to carry 



969 



on and maintain an establishment like ours? 

 On the front of our main building, carved 

 in sandstone, is the motto, " In God we 

 trust." And another little motto that has 

 been in my heart for many a long year, 

 and I am sure it is the motto of every 

 member of our family, the good wives as 

 well, is, " Do good and lend, hoping for 

 nothing again." 



MISSIONARY WORK IN NEW MEXICO; ETC. 



In our issue for June 15, page 20 of the 

 advertising department, I made mention of 

 the missionary talk by a lady from New 

 Mexico, Mrs. Fiances N. Hawkenmeyer 

 (now of Hudson, N. H.). Our printers un- 

 tortunately got it " a few years ago " when 

 it should read " a few days ago." Now, 

 shortly after that journal came out two 

 persons protested, declaring no such thing 

 was going on in New Mexico, etc. The 

 letter was forwarded to the lady herself, and 

 >ihe replied at length, besides sending in a 

 large number of tracts (some of them dated 

 March, 1914) in regard to the mission work 

 in New Mexico. I should be exceedingly 

 glad to give her letter and extracts from 

 said tracts, but it would take too much 

 space. Briefly, there is going on at the 

 present time a sort of worship — I suppose 

 that is what they call it — by a class calling 

 themselves " Penitentes." This custom has 

 been going on for ages among these igno- 

 rant and superstitious people. Their idea 

 is that they can commit all the sins they 

 choose for a whole year, and at Christmas 

 time they not only confess their sins but 

 make an atonement, as they call it, by 

 scourging themselves with cactus thorns, 

 etc. After the blood has started they dip 

 their scourges in pails of salt water to 

 make the smart and pain more excruciat- 

 ing. They also bear huge wooden crosses, 

 I suppose in commemoration of the way 

 the Savior bore his cross. 



Now, some of you may call this all a "fish 

 story;" but my own brother, some years 

 ago, in a trip to New Mexico witnessed ex- 

 actly what I have described, and he asked 

 me what it all meant; and he wanted to 

 know if that could be classed among the 

 religions of the world. Well, now, these 

 tracts I have mentioned (there are over a 

 dozen of them) describe the change that is 

 being brought about by our missionaries. 

 The transition from superstition and sav- 

 agery is indeed wonderful; and the pictures 

 illustrating the change from savagery to the 

 gospel of Christ are indeed astonishing. 



May God speed the missionaries, and 

 abundantly bless the work that they are do- 



