Ministers Hit Ford and Bryan

Illinois, 1916

Kind of Citizenship Not Desired, Says Dr. Jenney

DEFEND UNCLE SAM

Decatur Pastors Think Force Should Be Used

Some of Decatur's leading ministers in sermons to their congregations Sunday declared that the United States is justified in its course of intervention in Mexico. They urged that Uncle Sam continue to use all the force necessary to secure a lasting peace in the country south of the Rio Grande.

Rev. C. E. Jenney, pastor of the First Presbyterian church, struck the climax when he attacked the stand of Henry Ford, who recently declared that any of his employees who joined the National Guard would be without jobs on their return. Mr. Jenney said he thought Mr. Ford's ideas should not be emulated by the people; that his kind of citizenship is not the kind of citizenship to be desired.

Rev. E. M. Antrim, pastor of the First Methodist church declared that a "Good Spanking" is what Mexico needs, and is the thing which will bring law and order out of chaos.

Rev. Frank Fox, pastor of the Congregational church, also took a rap at Bryan and Ford. "Impractical pacifists like those two men should go with their families and live on the border for a while. They would then learn by actual experience the terror of night raiding bandits."


PEACE ONLY ON RIGHTEOUS GROUNDS

The Mexican situation was discussed by Dr. T. Harley Marsh at the First Baptist church Sunday night. He used Matt. 10:34 as a text. Dr. Marsh spoke partly as follows:

"When nations come into the realm of righteousness there will be peace, but Christ says between that time and the present there is much to be hoped for, and prayed for.

"The advancement of the human race has been made largely by struggle, and peace of whatsoever description, industrial, political or social, has been purchased at the price of war. There is more talk of peace, and less peace, than the world has ever known since Jesus Christ left the earth. Some of the talk about peace has become hysterical in character. I am in favor of peace whenever peace can be obtained upon righteous grounds. Paul says, 'As much as lieth in you, live peaceably with all men.' The world is not yet ready to enter into a perfect and universal peace. The mistake we are making in these days is that peace is a matter of treaties, of legislation.

"Christianity carries a banner of peace, but behind it is the army of omnipotent power, and the conditions of peace, as far as wrong is concerned, are unconditional surrender.

"We have no selfish motives in our relation with Mexico. There can be no peace until the last bandit gang has been run to earth, and Christianity and education have taken the place of superstition and ignorance. As long as there is any hope of a nation saving itself, it ought to have the honor and privilege of doing it, but when there is not, the laws of humanity, the laws between nations, and the laws of God declare these conditions should cease. Whatever this country does for Mexico should not be done selfishly, but to bring the blessings of national health and national sanity, and honest rule and fair dealing to her. The world will never improve upon the method of the Cross. God save us from war, if possible, but above all things, keep us true to Him, and the ideals of our Nation."

—The Daily Review, Decatur, Illinois, June 26, 1916, p. 9.

Note: Pancho Villa and revolution were a major thing in 1916. At Wikipedia there's an article on Villa. And just a comment on Henry Ford, it's amazing when you look back how radical this guy was, and usually on the wrong side from what the mainstream would be and even common sense. Getting up into World War II, all the stuff with antisemitism, etc., he didn't seem to have much sense.