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Title
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Blake, Edgar
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extracted text
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BISHOP EDGAR BLAJ.:E
Pn:si din ~
Uishop
l\)32---1940
born
ld69---died
1943
Detroit Conference Archives & His tory
i•1ee ting June 6,7, 1978
by Ralph D. Harper
BISHOP EDGAR BLAKE
Edgar Blake was elected Bishop on May 18, 1920. Fourteen men
were elected at that General Conference, which met in Des Moines,
Iowa, May 1-27. Included were H. Lester Smith, at the time pastor
of Detroit Central, and Fred B. Fisher, who after his resignation
served as pastor a t Ann Arbor and Detroit Central. M. S. Rice
withdrew after the results of the first ballot were announc ed.
The Bishops elected were: in order of election:
Lauress J, Birney
Fred B. Fisher
E. L. Waldorf
Charles E. Locke
Ernest G. Richardson
Charles W. Burns
Anton Bast
Edgar Blake
George H. Bickley
Frederick T. Keeney
H. Lester Smith
Charles L.Meade
Robert E. Jones
Matthew W. Clair
Blake was elected on the 7th ballot. On the 1st ballot he ranked
s ixth, with 365 votes. Bishops Hughes and McConnell escorted him
to his seat on
~y
th~
platform among the bis hops . He was conse crated
Bishops Welch and Ni cholson. Assignment was to the Paris :
France Area. The Paris Area included: Fra nce Mission
Italy
Conferenc ~ ,
Confer®nc ~ ~
North Africa Mission Conference, Jugoslavia
Mis sion, Bulgaria Mission Conference , Spain Mis sion.
Bishop Blake was born in Gorham, Maine, on December 8, 1869.
His parents were Charles H. and Abigail
~lake .
Gorham is a s mall
town, west of Portland and ten miles from the ocean. The common
2.
s chools of Maine and Bos ton UniverR i ty e;ave him his educa tion .
He graduated from the Boston School of Theology in 1898 , and joined
the New Hampshire Conferenc e i n 1399· Nebraska Wes l eya n 5ave him
a D. D. in 1909 and Wesleyan University, Middleton , Conn . , in 1915.
Whil e Bi s hop of Indiana, DePauw honored hi m with the LL.D in
1929.
After ordination i n 1899, he s erved as a pa s tor i n
t ht~
Methodis t Episcopa l Church. His pas torates were ; Salem, N.H. a
student pas torate 1895-1899· Lebanon , N.H. 1899-1 90J . Manches ter ,
7LH.
1903-1908 . There f ollo•N ed ·i;welve years with. the Board of
Sunday Schools - - Assistant-Secretary 1908-12, and Corresponding
Secretary 1912-20. In 1921 he was a member of the Fifth Ecumenical
Methodist Conference in London. Death crune in Coral Gabl es,
Florida, on Il'lay 26,
l9L~J.
Burial was in Evanston, Illinois.
Blake was married to Charlotte Woodman , of Westbrook, Maine,
on February 4, 1891. She died on March 19, 1925. There wer e four
children: Edgar, Everett, I1lrs . Charlotte McConnell, a nd Mrs.
Rachel Hamilton.
On June 28, 19JO, he was married to
~ary
Hane Eaton, of
Circleville, Ohio. Her career ha d been one of distinction. She was
born in Circleville, Ohio. After finishing high s chool: s he t a uGht
in the gr ade s chools. She r eceived
·~he
B.S. in Education degree
from Ohio University, with a ma jor in art. After a time on the
faculty at Ohio Univers i ty, she became art supervisor i n t he
schools of Bluefield, W.V., where s he ma de a
s~a te -wid e
repu ta t i on .
The next s t ep was to head the a rt department at Fairmont State
Normal College. After a course in Social Servic e Methods at
J.
Ci ncinna ·tti. iVI isionary Training School , she went to the Institute
Internationa ls Crandon, a school conducted by the Woman's Forei gn
Ivlissionary Soci ety, i n Rome, Italy . She became Principal. In 1921
she took speclal studies ;.d: the University of London. The ivlont enegrin
governmen·t; awarded her the gold medal for work with childrP.n of
exiled Montenegrin famil ies. She b eca me the recipien t of tl1 e degr ee
of Doctor of Humane Letters from Taylor University. In 1929, she
returned to America , and the followine; year was marr i ed to Bishop
Blake, then of the Indianapolis Area .
The Minutes of the 1924 Genera l Conference report: "Bishop
Blake was granted the privileges of the f loor, and a nnounced
tha t the spea ke r ' s table and chair were the work of the boys i n
the Methodist School at Venice, Italy, and that t hey would be
auc tim1ed later in the Conference, and appealed f or lib eral bids
as the proceeds would go toward the s upport of the school . Iilrs .
Anne E . Kresge, of Detroit, h ought the tabl e and chair for $2,000.00.
During the 1924 Conference, Blake was in the hospi tal for a
fe w da ys . Two members of the Conferenc e were a ppointed to visit
him. His l e tter to them has the famous wit a nd c har1n.
Dear Doctors Lowe and King :
"The Hospital, Sunda y .
I am sorry my nurse di d not allow you t o s ee me when y ou
ca me up to the hospital yestel:"day. We have f a llen on evil times
when a ' mere ' woman can hol d up t he Genera l Conference . Hospital
government is pretty des potic . Nothing ge t s by a nurse when the
doctor ' s or ders are involved .
• • • • •
Affectionately yours,
Edgar Blake.
He was able to re t urn to the Camference and presided on his turn.
He was re- assigned to t he Paris Area.
4.
Blake's 1924 report of The Medi t erranean Area makes i n t eres ·ting
reading fi f ty-four years later . The work touched thre e civilizati ons :
Latin, Slavic, and Arabic . "It confronts threE:-! grea t and powerful
~eligious
systems -- the Roman Catholic: the Greek
l•iohammedanism,
Orthodox~
and
II
"We are working i n eleven l anguages: French, Italian , Spanis:Q.,
Portuguese , German, Humgaria n, Serbian, Arabic, Kabyle, Bulgarian,
and English." In addition to the churches : ther e were 14 schools:
12
orphanages , 5 dis pensa.r :i..;s , 8 s coial : an.d_ 6 i fldustria l c .nt e r s .
He saw the need for the Protestant Reformation ethics and moral
re~orm
in Roman Catholic South Europe and in
Mohamme~an
North
Africa. The Bishop wrote: ''Among the Moslems, indus trial education
must have a large plac e .
r~1o hammedan
commun i t i es nc-3ed carpenters :
rna sons, mecha nics, and farmers as well as evangelists." This was
said a genera tion before the Peac e Corps vmd the United Nations
began their work.
The 1928 General Conference assigned Blake to the Indianapolis
Area. He reported for b oth t he Copenha gen Area a nd the Paris Area.
He had s upervised the Copenhagen Area through the whole of the
1924- 28 Quadrennamum. It covered Denmark, Norway, and Sweden.
Bishop Anton Bast was a t the 1928 General Conference . He was
a llowed to ke ep his members hip and ministry in the M.E. Church, but
was s uspended from ·t;he f uncti ons of the Episcopal Of f ice and removed
f r om his duties on the Area.
The report on France, Italy, and North Africa was hopeful .
There were c enter s of wock in Spainz one a da y school with 650
pupils. But Spain was a difficult ffu eld, to o hard f or any one
5·
denominat ion. Thus, he called for a united Pro testant work i n
Spain .
Bishop G. Bromley Oxnam, i n his 1944 Lyman Be ec her Lec t ures ,
tel ls how i t f eel s to be a Bis hop . He says:
"From the c ollege presidency to the episcopacy is in many
ways a transition from i vory t ower to circus t ent. Of c ourse , no
c ol lege i s a n i vory tower , and t he epis c opacy is not entirel y a
c i r cus . But being a bishop does involve lion taming . Bishops are
called upon t o f ace the shi ni ne;
t e ~·t;h
and awf ul roa r s of lionlike
c ommitte es who i nsis t tha t t he n ew minister mus t ha ve t he
aoil i~y
of Harry Emerson Fosdick, must not b e over twenty-eig ht , and
s hould start at the s ubs t ant ial s urn o.f $ 1 200 a nd
h o1~se .
Then, of
cours e , t her e i s not a littl e of t ieht-rope walking. The balancing
stick s uppl ants the shepherd' s crook. It would b e wiser to c ome
d own upon on e s i de or t he other of a n i ssue t ather than to rema i n
al of t , as the
perf ~c t s ~n nbo l
o f balance .
:Bis hop mus t have the
A
a hil i.l~~' to manage the occasi onal clown , check u:p on the jugglers
and slei g ht-of-hand perfpr mers , and be certai n that t he s ide s hows
d o not outshine t he perfor manc e in the ma in t ent . The e_piscopa cy
l i 'rce t he c i.rc t.ts i s a n i tl ner-ant under t a king . There is mtw h settine;
up o f ten. ts a r1d 'noving fro m ·town to town . I must no I; f o-r'e;e t the
,, t e -r · r~~r-e;n-r · o u nd .
To s ound ing br.ass and tinkline; cy1nhal s , a bishop
cl ad in purpl e mounts his hors e , all too of t en ge t t i ng of f a t t he
spot where he mount ed, some times
worn as the wooden horses
rr' n 111 i;iv~ r!a ndld
r1.~s h
c 1 t~ t c h t ng
b J.
But it
is
not the
c i reu.s a~ oet"'! -1;
"'
,amera of a new bis hop.
"There ls a man who t hinks he ls a
a high-press ure,
t he gol d r i ng herot call y
h o i. ~tHroqR:
mt n ts t ~r
1)a.oK.-s l apping,
bqt hE' i s r.ea l lv
hand -s hakil1~
"'
s a l esman.
6.
He is a politician gone religious.
He i s
j ob- conscious~
..
There is the 'profess i onal'.
highly t rained, profes s i onal ,
"i
nHf:i-Ger o .f
,
.',
!l J .U. (tl ~ ! I.
lll ~'rt:i. 'l cl a !lcJ.r, J .
f el l ow~
r,:'he Gossip i s whisperille; : "Yes he' s a vwn d e r f nl
but he can ' i; rn.' e ::.t eh ' • "
--''Preaching I n A. Re v ol u tion.<-D 'Jr
'1
'' "~
I. )
I, - 9
, '-!'
In 19.32 Blake wa s a.ss ie;ned t o De t r oit . The front cover of
the "Michigan Christian Advocate" for June 2 had a pi c:lbure of t he
new Bishop and w1der i t :
"Two Welcome s
to Bis h op Ed5a r Blalce.
Welcome to India na , ·the n ew hal f of Detroit Area.
Vvelcow~
This was in the depres s ion. Churches did not like to pay
the Episcopal Fund. The Genera l Conference el ec ·i; ecl on ly J bishops :
one f o r 0o uth A:meri.ca a.r1cl
-~w o
l o -r' ·the Ut1.i.. Ct-!d. S tat es . Bishop .Bla ~ e ' s
Area e xtended from the Ohio River to Lake Superior; some
625 mi les
from the Beautif ul Ohio to the Sault Locks and 59.3 miles from
Detroit to Ironwood. There we r e n o j et planes o:r. expt'es s wa ys . .But
there wer e s till
lr'\('! e·i:-i.n ::;
-~rain::; .
Travel by rail was s till p os:-1ibl e .
of the Bronson Hospita l Board. He spoke his joy that it
was "a e;oing concern without a threatening debt" .
Editor Phelps
reports on the n ew Bishop' s first sess i on of the Michigan Conference
"Bishop Blake ca lls l.!.S to worship . How we do s :tng h ls l a v or- ·i. b -l hytnns :
7·
We like h is h1.uno:r. , h -is sanci;i.fie cl
.!_) ()\r., rer
, ,
•:>"'
;-_,
,~
'n e
"·e·t-.:.!
G
v~
'r'l
• . •=>.
'"'''' ' r'~•• 'J ( -l
o'! <;::oh")
0 ,
( ' ""•-'
•' '•,
sa:r' ct-i Si:l :
()•
"-'""
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i '"'--""'
·i-=>
.:;,-;~ 1-"' 0P ,,.
'-;, v ~
"v
c't..e ·-·i 11·i·- r >_;,·
"'\.,..)
(9/J.?./32 , p.5)
'l'he a '1nua.l Hleeting of t he Detroit Methodist Union, held at
Metropolitan Church, on Oc tob er 27, 1932, was t he r ec eption event
for Bishop and Mrs. Blake. 3 00 were exp ec t ed a t t h e hat1r1ue t$ but
375 attende d . Dr. Charles B. Allen was toas tioas t er . He reminisced
ab out the days when h e and Edgar Blake chummed and roomed together
Dr . J.M.M. Gray, Dr. Walter R. Fruit , and Howard Baldwin . In
his response Bl a ke s ::tid that his chief aim would be to help t he
IJeople of Michigan "to see God in the face of Jesus Christ'.
That fall he spoke at the a n:1ua l mee tir'lg of the Iv1 ichigar1
Counc i l of Church Women, on the s ubject: "Keeping rll ichigan Dry".
In the 1933 Detroit School of Religion the Bishop deal t with two
themes : 1. "What Jesus Mea nt By His Relie;ion". 2. "The Chris tian
Religion as a Way of Personal Living'. In January, 1933, he gave
fi v e n ights to an Evangel ism Missiofl i.n Linc oln Park . He led the
singing as well as bei ne preac h e r. Blake conducted ·the Michigan
Conference six times, and the s p e cial sess ion of The Methodist
Church, in 1939. He conducte d t h e Detroit Conference s .i.x
and -i:l1e 1111-ttlng
M~ tho di.s t
t.i.HH-1S :
Conf erenc e , h eld at Adr ian i n 1 939·
I n the "Advocate " report of the 1939 Michigan Conference,
Editor Phelps wro·te: "Thur sday Morning. We star t the da y with
three of th<-! c;eea ~ hy111n s . 'rh.e Bis hop s p ea.ks on · Th e Lost Trives
o:f t he House of YiethodisHl ". The 44,000 members who have fad ed out
8.
in 12 years are 'pla carded ' before us and it i s a sobering hour.
..
"The Bishop uses a cheerful mixture of i r ony ancl sar ca sm in
In that address t o the Conference, the Bishop asked the ques tion:
"What has becoHle of the t ens of thoHs a nus of people who
~lt:r·i ~ t
_l r' Oi f\
n:n.d.
-l; i).~
·i; hP. ,--; h ,rr' l: h, and how a nd why ha ve they
r:-olls ? '' Hi.s
Y.'~rtsons
f oe
tf-te
l u f'8
CH tC~
~ il (·mtJ. 1r
"
w i; oo cl
sJ.i, lned
..L. . ..
a r· ~ :
Lax methods i n r e c e j_vj_n~ rne,noers .
Spir itual declin.e i.n a ma t r~ f· i ,., I_ i_:-; etc! ~ge.
Fi nanc i a l demands without Stewardship Training and Commitment.
Overlapping and wasteful Church efforts .
Carel ess a ttention to Membership Records.
Careles s methods of Transferring Members.
Failure in as similiation of New Members.
Poor Pastoral Work.
The solution, as s tated i n Bl ake ' s wor ds:
"The chi ef concern. of the Church mus t be the deepeni ng n:f the
spiritual l i f fJ a. n.d the rt.pplica
lif~
~ic)(t
or the t;ruth of Chris t t o ·i;he
of ·r; oda:;·. I1 hat deepened s pir it ua l l ife mus t express its eJ.f
in individual, socia l, economic convers ion from old selfishness
that i s wrecking s oc i e ty t o a Christlikeness of clean livi ne; and
e thical vision , that p L-ltS t he e;oocl of all "bef ore tha t of any gro up
rnakj r'E· Spiritual l i f e t hat does less than t his is spiritual humbug ."
(Advocate. Sept. 28, 1933 · p.l3)
The "Adv oca te " on February 21 and 28 , 1935, carr i ed a two-pa r t
a rticle b:;· Blake on "Who Wants war? " In a survey of tnil i tary expenditures
in Europe , Eastern Asia , and the Uni t ed States, he saw the f acts
point ing to World War II. Twenty year s b ef ore
P~-
Eis enhower wa r ned
of t he Industrial-Military Combine, Blake saw the dangers . Dollar
figures are used to s how the power of n.rrnarn.en:t;
cannot l ive on pa t rio tisHt, Our s t ockholder s
c on tr~.c t:3.
i rtus "I; hav r~
"A corpora t ion
tl:i. v i d (:'!n.ds . This
was the war-ti1ne .Philos ophy of American business. It wanted
dividends and it eot them. • • War is the most effective means ever
devised by man for the trans fe r of t;h e money of t h e
m<'l.n~r
to t h e
-:.3 J.ak(?. t ot)k a.:n a. c·l::i. ve i nteres t i n the "rllichigan Ch:ri s tia.n A
.rl.voca te" .
I n thos e Depression years , su1mc:r i.p1:inn:=:
nP.cP.ssi_ l;y,
l'J o
w<~! · e
}1a :nl
·~o
c;e i; ,
In
on<~
or
·Je l. l - infor'ntHcl .'J letho cU st cart afi'urcl t o be witho t.rt; i_l; .
It is the on ly rnediu.Ht yo u h8.ve to iceelJ you a liv e l;o the doiiJ.gs of
the da y. "
Edi t or Phelps : in his report of the 1936 General Conference,
te lls of the World S ervice Report . Times were bad . The De pres s ion had
cut deeply into t h e income for miss to r1s . The repllt j'; was tragic in
black des pa ir . Phelps wrote: " Our Bishop has really saved the day
for this presentation."Using facts a nd f i gures the Bishop showed
that the 1930-36 yea rs had a rec or d of heroi c giving -- to local
churches
1
to tni.::>s i on~ : to hos pita l s a.nr:(hnmes : to c ollee;es . Hard fa cts
ra the r than colo:c ru.l. gener:::J.l tza. t i..ons Lflad e Bla k e a toue;h opponent for
his crit i cs. He was little is size, but rugged as a New England win t er.
On t h e assignment of Bishops i n 1936, Phelps wrote : "That means
that Bl RhO!) Edgar Blake will c ontinue a t Detroi t for anot her
We can hear a ppl ause f:r.om our tw o
c.l. c;;J.e~<-t~ln().8 ,
f o m~
years.
'' (Adv0ca t e : r·.l ay 28,1936)
10.
Blake was a puzzle to his critics. They were never abl e to
classif y hi s politi cs , hi s econ omics , or his theoloe-y. The
October 28 , l9J7 "Advoca t e ''
l w;,_d l.in.c~ :
pr i n i~ed
(-J.' t
H.r ·i; i L~ J.f.~
"Bi sho' Bl ake on the Cons ti. (;u U
o re ''.
i ;)u-~
IJ.r td r-! .r'
The Bis hop llegan :
"To keep t he r ecol' cl elear I wish to make a c onfession. I am
neither a communist, a fasci st, nor a socialist. Having been a
rllethodis t preac her for for t y years ' i
~
e;oes vd.thou, i~
:')<:t J.'Ut~ :
I am
not a capi talist.
"To tell the t rut h : the whole t ruth: and
tal ks about
.J:c e(-! d. oHls ,
no t hi rJ.~
t ht~
hut
fal~ t~ l'a i; r· i o ·i: i)~llt : a. rttl .:.>l alr l fl cotlE5~
:i.. ·t
washir1gton .
A spe ech a t Berea, Kentucky, i n 1936, shows the earthly
fo undations of hi s arc;uments. He was calli ng t o the Church to come
alive to the 20th Cen tury, abd said:
"In the home town of Mrs. Blake, in 18JJ, the school board
.
d..
d 9C 1 lne
~
·.._.
o
J l. OW 'Gne
.'
0. . ~
1188
0 1".
'"'
vr1e
' OtJ.
l
SCrl
,01~ .1• l • d- J..rl
. e;
.C'
J
Ol ,
_._,
t- 118
,
,
•
pH ~) I.lC
rl i_RC ilSsion or J:.' ail r.oads. It s a id that they were 11o t 1nentioned i n
t he Bible a nd that t he Bible never inte nded that people should
travel at a speed of f ifte en miles a n hour -- you must bot l augh ,
f or t hat l s wh.a t it did . As few as
:f or·ty
years
a~o
there was a
law in Great Britain that anyone ricU.ng a vec hil e upon t he
hie;hwa,~;·
(Advoca te, Mar. 24,1938)
A.t
the l9J 9
Uni tine;
Conference: i n Kansas City , Blake was
11.
chairman of the Committee on Ministry and Judicial Administration,
one of the eight commi ttee s whose tasl{ it was to draw up the new
discipline of The Methodist Church. In February, 1940, he wrote a n
emphatic article a gainst the appointment o.f Byron C. 'raylor as
Ambas sador t o the Vatican. His a rgument was based upon the history
of the project.
Shortly before his retirement in 1940, Blake wrote:
"He's old in looks,
he's old in years,
But in his heart is la u~hter.
He ' s f ound a spr i ng
that makes h i111 :=; ing,
And fi lls his so1.l l with rapture."
-- by Bishop Blake
'rhe June 20, 1940, "Michigan Christian Advocate" was a special
tribute number to Bishop Blake. Apprecia t i ons were wri t t en by
Dr . N. A. McCune, of East Lansing, the Editor: a nd several othe r s .
Also pr i n t ed were : 0 . W. Fifer's tribute given a t the retirement
s er vice at the Genera l Conference, and a pers onal word from Blake.
lVIcC un e said: "He was born and reared in Maine, and t hey say
t ha t any chi l cl t ha t 0u.rvive::-;
HOJ IW ~hin.e; Ur'l l-tS tla l
f;cnat o r.'
his
i.n
J.i
r c-! ,
•
•
But consi u e r ·i.n.e;
i: h P. h ack.~ron.nd
of
onc e twi tted Dan i el Webster a h out th(-:! r->Cl<:J hills Lde s of
r).n. t.i.VE:!
E d t ~ t) Y'
Ne w
Ha mpshi r (·~.
"What do you r alse
lJ.p
hh.<:!Y~ e : r~·l r .
Webs t er ,"
:1a r vi.n wro i;e;
" ?er hap~::;
·na:•
Ni
i:h a k i r.:i l y s pirit an.d a de ep de votio..-tal life. He was pious
-.LL.,, .
i n t h e best se ns e of tho.t te rm , a n d
uyon
a l·.vay~
.
acc UJ:hc ~; ;
the- conviction
l~!' t
_,
• ' , ,......_
,
• r·
: .l.t •::>
1?.5 Me thodist Bishops , and then added: "I have discovered not one
lnde s r.l~ih:-tbl t~ :
of them like Edgar Blake. He is U..Tli q u e , i ndefin abl e ,
1' ea l lfl o.f v.u if :. mi ty o.c t~ •1a r1i mi ty . The rulin g philos ophy of his
l ife has
c: l <::rk and '.vent aHa y t o s c!.uol
t o :t:repare fo r the Christian
Fort ;y - f ive years a g, o I r e c e ived my f irs t
s tud en t pa stor . One yea r l8ter I
app oi n tm e nt ~
o~
rp c eived
W8S
f 0~·
J.•
...
,,~\
.,~1
"\· ...
·,
1.. .J..
tr i~l
•• - •-, .
t.J ....
now cl osine; my t wen i,ie th year in the effeci::i v e
'' ;\, I l ook b a c k over rny f or t;_y·-s i.x: y ea· s i. r1.
88
a
1n t h e
T
··,· .-.-· :. _
.Aio.
<~ l) iscopacy .
t:h~
In i n i s tr~ .
-
•
Elght
G! rr' t w t:; i.ar1.
13.
grateful to God a nd to the Methodist Church beyond words to
express for the privilages tha t have been mine. Knowing what I do
of the past, and looking forward into ~% future f ull of perpl exities
and uncertain ties, i f I were young again , starting my life a new,
I would not hesitate a minute to give myself to God and the Church
for the Christian ministry a gain.
"Never was my spirit more bouyant and my hear t more hopeful
than at seventy. Not all the evil f orces of the powers of da rkness
can defeat the will of God . • • The mora l f orces of God are not
fighting a losing ba ttle. Nations rise and fall. Earthly kingdoms
come and go, but the plan of God moves on irres tstibly to its
destined end. This is the time fo r hope. "
In June, 1943, el even months before his dea th, Bishop Bl ake
del i vered a series of sermons and addresses at the Arkansas Pastor' s
Summer School at Hendrix College. A year later they were published
in a small book: "A Lost Passion". The book has eight chapt ers
a nd shows the Bi s hop in the last stage of his career .
This book reveals a numb er of interesting pers onality t r ai ts.
There is a crisp, simple prose s tyle , reminding one of his fellow
New Engl ander, Calvin Coolidge, who was three years younger.
Six to twelve word sentences ar e common. Words of Latin origin and
Latin s yntax are no t used. In talking a bout the parable of the Lost
Sheep: "The lost sheep was not a bad sheep. The trouble with the
lost sheep was tha t he wasn't where he belonged." (p . 13)
In the chapter which titles the book: "We are told t hat we
n eed more l ight and l ess heat. That is a half truth as most aphorisms
are . . .
A sun' s ray wil l blis ter yo u if you give it a chance. It
is the same with t r uth. It will scorch if properly applied." (p.lOl)
14.
Blake was not regarded as a great preacher, when compared
with Fosdick, Seckman, Tittle, and Rice. But these sermons do
give an effective witness to the Gospel Message. They are Biblical.
They deal with important and timely problems. Each ends with a call
for action -- some special work.
The sermon on "The Ric h Fool" ends with the call:
"The hour has come for the Church to gird her loins for battle,
The time is here for the Church to swing into action with all the
power at her command, to cry with all her might to a distraught
and dispairing people, 'this is the way, walk ye inX it.' 'Turn ye,
turn ye.
for why will ye die?'"
(p.50)
The book has quotations from or references to: Tolstoy,
Dante, Wendell Phillips, De Tocqueville, Macaulay, Franklin D.
Roosevelt, Alexander the Great, Caesar, Napoleon, Hitler, Phillips
Brooks, Mark Twain, Hilary Gobin, Rousseau, Sidney Lanier,
David $tra uss, Ernest Renan, Carlyl e , Bernard Shaw, Channing,
Garrison, Wilb erforce, Joa n of Arc, Herbert Hoover, M. S. Rice,
Charles E. Jefferson, William James, Daniel Webster, Thomas Wentworth
Higginson, Walter Lippmann, Wordswort h, E. Stanley J ones.
Noticeably absent are: Walter Rauschenbush, Karl Barth,
Reinhold Niebuhr, Harry F. ward, John Dewey. Blake's roots were not
in the economics, political science, philosophy' or theology of the
1920's and JO's. His protest is t ha t of a New England Puritan. There
are echoes of Daniel Webster : "It is, as I have s a i d , a s mall college:
and yp-t; there are those who l ove i t." And behi nd that the rugged
protests of John Milton. But the rock founda t i on is in the life a nd
t eachings of Jes us Chris t, as repor t ed by the Gospel writers.
Blake ac cepted the moral teachings of t he New Tes tament. "Thy
15.
authority.
After sketching t he spread of
Christiani t~
from the public
min is t ry of Jes us t o Europe and across the ci vili z.ed
all and through it all i s t he
worl d~
he
matchle ~ s
c:hT1s ·t:. Back of this onward a nd upwa r d movement of the rac e :
a Yl 1"1(·. : ·. : do!IJ oJ: .c.::.lisio:n . I !Jeli ev e L-t • c;o v crnrr.c :nt of the peopl e ,
by t h e peopl e : !'or the
peo1Jl E~
• . " (.p .107 ) Perhaps the Bi shop • s
· ·
o: iginality i :3harp pictures
; -.·
-.:.>
marked his style. He saw that which was diffe rent. He was
interesting. The Arkansas s ermons s how this.
"Are not two sparrows sold for a farthing? and one of them
shall not fall on the ground without your Fa ther . .
"
"I love a God like that, who, when a tiny sparrow falls to
the ground Elead, holds up a univers e while he attends the funeral
of a s parr ow." (p.J5)
In the chapter on "A Lost Passion " there is a call to certainty
in the
~essage
to people:
"A candidate for minister to Yugoslovia gave as her chief
qualification for the office tha t she was born and raised on a
16 .
diet of 'mush and mol asses ' -- an excel lent diet for a dipl omat,
but a desperatel y p oor one f or a preacher." (p. 100)
On "Eff ective Preaching " : "The preacher who cannot state a
truth in terms of suff icient clarity and simplicity f or his
hearers to gr asp i t has not grasped it himself.
..
"To change the f i gure, many preachers make their home on the
Grand Banks . Their thinking is enveloped in c onstant fog. The clear
searching sunlight never breaks through their thought. • •
"Fog i s good for l ima beans . They prosper i n the clammy
da mpness . But fo g has littl e to offer men. It has been determined
by sci enti f ic experiments that a 1Jank of fog three fe e t thick,
six fee t high, a nd one-hundred feet long contains les s than
one- seventh of a gl assful of water. One cannot slake his t hirst
with fog ; he cannot even bathe in it. There is only one thine; to
do with fog , and tha t is to kee p
ou. i: uf ii;. "
(p. 117)
The call to mission and evangelism is stated clearly :
"Great moral issuGR develop great men when t hey are accepted
in sincerity and followed without fe ar." (p. 1 03)
"Wait until you hear from God before you give up your hope
for the world . God has the final word . Listen to him before you
cry, "All is lost' . All is not lost. It will remain with us t o the
encl , a : .>
~.>,.rre
as God himself remains with us." (p . 77)
"' Show me thy foot , 0 Genius, a nd let me see if thou has t the
dust of earth on thy heal ,' said Victor Hugo. Whether one is a
genius or no t, if he is God ' s messenger he must have the dust of
earth on his heal. He must b e hurnan . His feet mus t be on the
(p. 119)
~ro ur1d."
"Seldom has there been a period when there was so fine a f ield
17.
a s n ow for a pr opheti c pr ea c her who is s ure of himsel f a nd sur e
of his message of
~ui danc e
and deliveranc e f or men. 'If with a ll
yo ur. hearts ye trul y seeJc me , "Jre shall
l~V er
s ur rely find me ; thus
s a ith our G-od ." ( p . l 28 )
Ern es t Fremon t Tittle in his tri hu.te t o Bishop Blake , called
him "a prophet of the livi ng God."
"He had a prophe t' s vi s i on .
"His, also, was the prophe t' s devoti on .
"And his was the prophe t' s c ourage.
"Bishop Blake, as truly as Amos or Isaiah, was a prophe t of
the li vine; God. Yet in one respect he was unl i k e rn<:tny a prophet
his tory has kn own. He had a mos t bles s ed sense of humor , whi ch
was, no doub t a manifes t a tion of s ome thing J eepe r; namely a
prof ound humil ity bef orP. God whi c h fm:-l)ad h.i m t o tak.e hiHlself t oo
s erious l y . A servant of God he r ejoiced to be, but he did not
s up pos e that he was called t o save t he worl d . He was ca lled, he
b el i eved., ·to pr.eac h the e;ospel t o the bes t of hi s ab i li t y a nd t hen
to lea ve t he i ss ue to God, who alone ca n save the world. MRre ov er,
he never lied to himsel f , made no cla im t o i nfa l libi..l -i.ty,
r ecognized hi s limitations as wel l as hi s powers, and s o gave
himself no airs but wa lked humbl y with God an d lovi ngly with men."
I n his Advocate Tr ibute t o Bi s hop Blake , Jo hn Marvin wrote:
(June 3 ,1943) "He might have be en calle d the li ttle man with a
mighty will. Hi s pas sion for s t a tis t ics was i nsa t iable. It seemed
a s though he wa s a l ways pulling out of his ves t pocket clippi ngs
us ua l ly cont a i ni ng s t ati s t ics t ha t gave hi m verba l anununition.
jlft'
"Mi chigan Methodism probably never knew Bi s hop Bl ake at his
1 8.
best. Ill heal th extendine; ove·c n.
l <Yri.G l l(:)·ron d
,) J'
time , sappe d his
energies and made it im1)os s ible for hi m t o a ttend to 1nany of the
details of his office . His mind hpwever, remained keen throughout
his admi nistrati on and made up :for some of his phys i ca l handica;Ps .
"There was another side to Bishop Bl alce that can eas ily be
f ore ot ten amid the s ensat ional incidents of his career. He was
int ensely devotional and deeply s piritnal and as llluch a t home
in his devotiona l a ddress es as he was in his s harp deba tes and
social uttera n.ces . Bishop Blalce was an a ll-round Christin.n . "
Peace
or
ar?
By Bishop Edgar Blake
T
HROUGH the generosit}' o[ a .Methodist layman interested in
W orld Peace this article b}' llishop Dlake as it appeared in
the Michigan Chris tian Advocate •is made a vailable in quantities
at the prices indicated on the outside back cover.
The Commwion on World Peace aJ¥1 the Board of Education
of The Methodist Bpitcopal Church
•
WHO WANTS WAR?
Edger Blake, Bishop of Detroit Area
s hang heavily over the wo rld. WhichW ,\ReYercloud
way we look, at home or ab road, Near E ast
or Far East, E urope, O rient, or America, w e s ee nations , nervous w ith t e nsion and anxious with fea r, preparing fo r war. T he m ad race fo r armamen ts is in
fu ll swing eYeryw here .
According t o data recently published by the L iterary
Digrst F ra nce has nea rly seven m illion men (6,952,213) ,
I 7r o o f its tota l population, ready fo r combat.
I n Italy every sixth person (6,495,535) is b eing
trained for batt le. Not sat isfied w ith s uch an army,
.Mussolin i has decreed that all male child re n six years
o f age a nd oye r sha ll be enrolled fo r compulsory m ilitary t raini ng to g ive t hem "a pass ion fo r military life."
T he legend of the Italian school-room seem s likely to
become, "Li t tle child re n kill one another."
Germany in spite of t he limitat ions pu t upon her
by the Treaty of Versailles has an army of 5,000,000
men and one of the largest military budgets, $550,000,000, o f any nation in E u rope. Even t he Germans a ppea r to haYe learned nothing from t he war. The spirit
of t he Ka iser has come back.
Russ ia has t he best trained stand ing army in t he
wo rld, with 15,000,000 m en to d raw on fo r t raining .
Great Britain is building her navy to the maximum
s tren gth allowed her by the W ashing ton Conference
a nd is creating an air fleet unsu rpassed in strength and
s triking power by any nation in E urope.
Japan has the largest military and naval budget in
her history. She has increased her fig h t ing force in the
air to more than 3,000 planes, ~tpplied larg ely by Am er- 3-
j
ican a nd British armament-makers with t he approval of
t heir governments . Her army is at the zenith of its
strength . She has overrun Northern China and made
Manchuria a vassal stat e. She aims to make herself
th e dictator of the Far East.
China is awaking. With the largest potential resources of any nation in the world, China is arming a s
rapidly as her finances will allow.
America Leading
T he United States is leading the procession in military expenditures. vVe have 700,000 men , the largest
number in our peace-time history, ready for immediate
mobilization. Our military expenditures for the current year, not including our naval b uilding program,
will approximate one billion dollars, the largest military
budget of any nation in the world . With the national
budget $15,000,000,000 in the red in the last five years
and no relief in sight, we are spending three million
dollars a day to eq uip ourselves fo r another war.
In addition to this enormous sum fo r military maintenance and equipment the government is spendi ng and
proposing to spend approximately $1,100,000,000 for
new naval b uilding. Our total expenditures for war
preparation this year will exceed the combined military budgets of Great Britain, Italy, and Japan. No
nation in the world's history has ever had so large a
military expenditure in peace times as the present military budget of the United States.
President Roosevelt recently stat ed in a message to
Congress, "The people are being taxed t o the poin t of
poverty and starvation in order to enable governments
t o engage in a mad race for armaments which, if permi tted to continue, may result in war." Yet in spite of
his prophecy of disaster the P resident has shown no
disposition to cut or curtail in any degree the present
enormous military expenditures of our own government. In fact in his latest message to Congress he
-4-
asked for a n increase of $180,000,000 for military purposes the com ing year.
Fifteen years have passed s ince the Treaty of Ve rsa illes was s ig ned, closing t he most terrible human
stri fe in h istory. Yet w ithin a decade and a half of
the s ig ning of the pact " to e nd wa r" forty million men,
twe lve million more than in 1913, are unde r arms p repared for a nothe r bloody struggle mo re te rri ble tha n
the las t one.
In a recen t address in London Lloyd George s aid:
"The world today is a jungle and the ~ tion s are
prowling through it, snarling at each other and baring
thei r teeth at each other. Any moment," said he, " a
mistaken g esture or a m is understood arra ngement may
make them spring again at each other's throats and
tea r and rend each other."
The w orld is sitting on a volcano t hat a ny moment
may burs t forth and engulf it in a holocaust of human
slaughter. U nless the militarists are curbed, unless the
people awake to their peril a nd make effective protest,
wha t yet remains of our civilization may be wiped out
in a w elter of fire a nd blood.
Why Armaments?
Why armaments? Our military leaders ans we r
that armaments are necessary for national security,
that a rmies and nav ies are the guarantors of peace.
T his answer is as false as it is futile. Every page
of histo ry s ta mps it a lie. "Wha tsoever a nation soweth
that shall it also reap." This is the law of nature and
the law of God. N ations that prepare for war reap
war. Mr. Coolidge, seve n years ago, solemnly said,
"The America n government and people are convinced
that competitive armaments constitute one o f the mo!:lt
dangerous and contributing ca uses of intern ationa l suspicion a nd discord and are calculated eventually to lead
to war." Addressing the Geneva Conference last November the official representa ti ve of the U nited States
- 5-
/
r
reiterated Mr. Coolidge's sentiments. "My government," said he, "firmly believes that without disarmament there is no sound basis of peace."
Europe spent forty billion dollars in forty years on
armaments, professedly in the interest of peace and
security. Every dollar spent on armaments weakened
the structure of peace. Every expenditure on armies
and navies undermined the foundations of security. In
191 4 the mad race culminated. The colossal structure
crumpled and collapsed, burying Europe under an
avalanche of destruction and despair. Ten million lives
were sacrificed on the battlefield. Twenty-five million
other lives were taken as the direct and indirect toll
of the terrible strife. More than $400,000,000,000, the
savings of centuries, were wiped out and wasted.
Nations came out of the war broken and bankrupt,
buried under a mountain of debt from which it is doubtful if they can ever dig out. Industry was disorganized, trade ruined, finances depleted to the vanishing
point. The chaos in which the whole world has been
weltering during the last five years, with no relief in
sight, is the outcome of the World War. Civilization
is threatened. The whole human kind is suffering from
wounds that ages will not heal.
The war that was to end war has proven only a
prelude to another. A greater war is in the offing.
The war that was to make the world safe for democracy
has resulted in dictatorships for two-thirds of mankind. Fas cis m, Nazism, and Sovietism are threatening
liberty and democracy everywhere. America is not
safe. Our country is endangered by the same destructive forces that are destroying human freedom everywhere . If our liberties are lost, if democracy in America is destroyed, its destruction will be directly traceable to the war of insanity that undermined the foundation s of freedom that the sacrifices of the centuries
had created for man's well-being. H ad there been no
armies and navies, no arm s and armaments, no propa-
ganda and preparation for w ar, the world would be at
peace today, prosperous and happy, instead of being
broken and cowed w ith fear of another and more te rrible calamity .
Who Wants War
Who wants war? Not the common people. The
folks who do the fighting, w ho face the slaughter,
who give their lives to pay the price of others'
greed and folly want peace. They have no quarrel
with their neighbors. They cherish no enmities. They
harbor no grudges. They have no wrongs that t hey
thirst to avenge. They want peace. The soldiers who
bear arms and fire shot and shell to kill their "enemies"
have no grievance against their opponents on the other
side. They are the dumb instruments of designing
politicians and statesmen. They are the innocent executioners of other men's greed.
President Roosevelt recently declared that 90% of
the people of America and of the nations of the world
want peace. It is a greedy and brutal minority who
want war-men with careers to realize, with ambitions
to appease, with lust for power and profits to satisfy,
who preach patriotism, God save the mark, who salute
the flag and sing the nationa l anthem and demand an
"adequate national defense." It is these who want wa r
and get it at the price of others' blood.
The Professional Militarists
Who wants war? The professional militarists- the
gentlemen who bedeck themselves with braid and
buttons, who puff and strut and receive salutes, in
whose presence others stand at attention-the gentlemen who do their fighting behind the lines, who issue
orders from safe places, who send others to death and
themselves gallop off the field in glory. These gentlemen applaud war and damn those who oppose it.
One of them recently denounced as "Judas Iscariots" Americans who are opposed to war. "Pacifism
and cowardice," said he, "are synonymous terms,
-6-
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/
the refore, one can read ily believe that the seed from
wh ich a pacifist was conceived was originally yellow
in color, for certai nly t he pacifist is yellow all th rough
in his attitude towa rds society ." "Pacifists approve the
signing the slacker's oath, the rape of religion, the subsidizing of the press, and the defeat of the Constitution
of the United States. They approve any method that
could destroy the Stars a nd Stripes a nd put the Red
Fl ag at the head of the mast."
O ne may be forgiven if he treats such witless sentiments as the s illy vaporings of a distempered mind.
One of our most distinguished Generals says, "A
military spirit, w hich alone can create and civilize a
st ate, is absolutely essential to national defense and
nationa l perpetuity . . .. the mo re warlike the spirit of
the people , the less need for a large standing army ...
e\·ery male b rought into existence," says he, "should
be taught from infancy that the military service of the
Republic carried with it honor and distinction, and his
very life should be permeated with the ideal that even
death itself may become a boon when a man dies that
a nat ion may live and fulfill its destiny ." The General
doe~ not make it clear whether milit ary training should
begin at six months or at six years as Signor Mussol ini
requi res. His reference to " infancy" would indicat e
the army's preference for babies. The "boon" of death
which some of our m ilitary leaders crave for othe rs
seems not to have endangered their own lives over
much during the world war w hen there was plenty of
kill ing w here so many of them we re not.
It has been sugges ted that the following "rules"
should be adopted for all future wars:
That all congressmen and senators vo ting for war
be g iYen the choice of enlisting in the shock troops or
being shot on the Capitol st eps.
That each battleship, cru iser, destroyer, and s ubmarine shall carry as excess baggage one or more stockholders in battleship concerns.
-8-
..
That all manufacturers of war su pplies be hanged
when their profits reach the million-dollar mark.
That all holy men who announce to their congregations that " God is fighting w ith us" be dispatched to
inte rview God pe rs onally on the subject and find ou t.
That Admirals and Generals, Presidents, Kings and
Emperors, cabinet officers and politicians who promote
war for profits and glory be placed in the first-line
trenches to begin the fighting.
The Munition Makers
O ne of the major reasons why fifteen yea rs have
passed since the "war to end war" was ended and
d isarmament has not come is the sinister influence and
act ivity of the munition-makers and armament inte rest s w ho have the b ig financial stake in war and who
s hape the policies of governments, determine the prog rams of W ar and Navy Departm ents, and mold public
opinion through a subsidized press.
In his message to Congress last May, President
Roosevelt very frankly charged the munition a nd armament in terests with the responsibility for the present
acute international situation that threatens the peace
of the world. "The private and uncontrolled manufacture of arms and munitions and the traffic in them ,"
said the President, "has become a serious source of
international discord and st rife... . This grave menace
to the peace of the w orld is d ue in no small measure to
the uncontrolled a ctivit ies of the manufacturers and
merchan ts of engines of destruction."
':!
~ 0 ,\ :;r'9t. ~ Henry Ford put the matter with his customary
c.. /;o-r ...f' bluntness when he said : "The people generally don't
want war, but it has been forced on them by scheminu
.."' • ~ -fr.
munition-makers looking for enormous profits through
rfl r. n
the sale of a rms. . . . If w e could get rid of the
"' ? approximately one hundred men responsible for wa rs
• • in the world the people would e njoy peace."
The "Merchants of Death" know no fatherland.
Their ramifications reach everywhe re. Their activities
s: :"'
j\frn~
1
- 9-
are carried on among a ll nations. They have no loya lties save t o their_ow n selfish interests. Wherever there
is a dollar t o be made there they are found with their
weapons of slaughter for sale.
During the World War British exporters shipped
nickel, glycerine, copper, and other supplies to the
Scandinavian countries for re-shipment to Germany to
be manufactured into munitions and used against t he
British troops on the Western Front. German industrialists shipped 150,000 tons of scrap iron, steel and
barbed wire n:.gnthly to Switze~n9 to be melted down
and delivered to France to be used by France against
the soldiers of Germany. French industrialists maintain ed contacts with German industrialists throughout
the war. Before the war American exporters shipped
supplies to Germany which were later used against
American troops.
In spite of the declaration of the State Departme;t'\
that "All importations of war material into Germany
are prohibited by the Versailles T reaty and such importations are a violation of Germany's Treaty w ith
the United States," the DuPonts in 1933 signed a contract with a famous international -spy to act as their
"exclusive agent" for the sale of "military propellants
and military explosives to the German government."
The patriots w ho "saved America from the grip of
Germany" at a profit of $255,000,000 to themselves
seem quite willing to re-arm our former enemy £~;
another attack upon its neighbors and their allies. _j
Arming Japan
We are being constantly told by our professional
m ilitarist s t hat Japan is America's potential enemy and
w arn ed that we must be prepared for a war in the
P acific in the near future. Yet in spite of the warning
American arms and munitions interests are actively
a ssisting the Japanese to arm against us.
Only a few months ago a United Press despatch
from T okyo reported that "Agents from the United
I
-
- tO-
I
States gove rn ment made representations to the DuPont
Company in connection w it h the compa ny's sale of improyed ammonium nitrate machinery to the Japanese
Mitsui interests." Ammonium nitrate is used in the
~1anu facture of munitions. The Mitsui Company is
subsidized by a nd under the control of the Tokyo War
Ministry . I t appears that the DuPonts not only sold
the n itrate machinery to the Japanese but sent their
own engineers to Japan to install t he machinery . The
despatch from Tokyo naively says that the "representat ions" of the American government's agents " were
w ithdrawn when the DuPont interests pointed out that
if they refused a sale, the Japanese could get similar
machinery from Germany." If Americans are to J;;j
slaughtered let it be done with American machiner->:/
that the profits may find their way into the pockets
American patriots.
In the month of December a United Press despatch
from Astoria, Oregon, stated that "obsolete shells from
the government arsenal at Fort Stevens were included
in a shipment of several thousand tons of steel rails,
donkey engines and other scrap iron outbound on the
British freighter Geddington Court" for Japan. One
week later an Associated Press despatch from Baltimore said, "A steady stream of scrap steel, iro n, tin
plate, and other metals-is pouring through this port
to the foundries of the F a r East, chiefly to Japan and
China."
A despatch from Philadelphia to the New York
Timo.G (Apr. 11, 1934) says, "Old navy vessels are being
broken up and put aboard Japanese freighters and carried to J apanese steel furnaces." The same despatch
says that "the Sun Shipbuilding and Drydock Company
of Chester obtained the United States Shipping Board
cont ract for scrapping twenty-one ships built during
the war, including cruisers a nd transports, and got
63,000 tons of scrap iron from t hem, of which more
than 40,000 tons were shipped to Yawata, J apan . ..
_j
-11-
where the Japanese goYernment turns out a rmo r plate,
rails and other materials " useful in war. On the same
date the Times report ed tha t " scrap s teel exports for
the first ten month s of the year ( 1934) were 1,422,627
tons . most of which has gone to Japan."
}'c.:~d
h 1rr-Jr
Senato r Borah declared on the floor of the Senate
tha t if war s hould break out between the United States
and Japan , "America n soldiers would be torn limb from
li mh . . . by munitions sold by their own compatriots
111 t he U nited States to the enemy."
p;r. 7! '--
Where Is the Money Going.?
The United States has spent more than $10,000,000.000 i.!Lthe last fifteen years on the mainter\ance and
equipment of its army a nd navy, an amount vastly
greater than that spent by a ny other na tion in the
wo rld for t he same purpose during the same period.
Y et General MacArthur, chief of staff, t ells us in his
latest report that our army ranks 16th among the
armies of the world ; that much of its equipment is out
of date; tha t all of its army tanks, except 12, "date
from the World W a r and are tota lly unfit for combat" ;
tha t our field units are armed with artillery of twenty
years ago; that our "stocks of material are inadequate
and are principally World 'vVar equipme nt"; tha t in
anti-airc raft weapons "we are woefull y behind the
ti mes." W e have a similar story of naval weakness
from our n.i'"val authorities. They tell us that we must
a;.ld 146 ships and 371,000 tonnage to our presen t Aeet
before our navy can comp are favorabl y w ith the navies
of other na tions.
If all this is true may we not ask what has become
o f th e $10,000,000,000 t hat has been spent on the a rm y
and navy in the last decade a nd a half? Where has th e
m oney gon e? Whose pockets have been enriched by
it ? To spend ten billion dollars and have only a "third
rate n avy" a nd army that ranks "16th" among the nations a rouses a justifiable su spicion of inexcu sable in-12-
com pet en ce, negligence and extra vagance on the pa r7l
of those who have supervised the expenditure of this
en or mous sum of the taxpayer's money and a further
sus pi ci on that· somebody has b een guilty of a graft unpa ralleled in the peace-time history of American military affairs . It seems as clear as can be that Unc~
Sam has been the victim of a gigantic racket-that he
has been mercilessly robbed in the house o f his
" fri ends." It is time the nation called a h a lt on these
expenditures until we know where a nd to w hom the
m on e~· is going and what we are receiving in return .
War Profits
Ninety-five per cent of all the w a r supplies used by
the United States' government are purchased from priva te firms. If the government has spent more than
$10,000,000,000 on the maintenance and equipment of
its army a nd navy in the last fi fteen years it sh ould be
rem <: mbe red that the government's purchases in peace
ti mes are a mere mite compared with its expenditures
in tim es of wa r.
According to the sta tement of the chief ordnance
o fficer of the War D epartme nt, "An a r my of 3,000,000
men \\'Ould req u ire ten times as many supplies as the
peace organization of the army now requires . ... There
would be a 47,000% increase in machine g un a mmunition n eeded and a 180,000% increase in artillery a mmun ition." The cost of ordnance akme t o equip an American a rmy of 5,000,000 men during the Vvorld W a r was
es timated a t more than $ 12,000,000,000. Such enormous expe nditures in war times affo rd a n unpara lleled
oppo r tu nity for g raft a nd profi ts fo r those who ha ve
a ccess to t he gO\·ernm ent purse.
T he wa r p ro fi ts of four A me rican munitions and
a rma ment corporations-United Sta tes Steel, the DuP on ts, Bethlehem Steel, a nd A na conda Coppe r- tota led
$1,523,000,000. The net ea rnings of United States Steel
reached the staggering tota l of $956,000,000. Bethle-13 -
hem Steel increased its profits more than seven times
during the four years of the war from $27,360,000 to
$197,708,000 over the preceding four years. The war
profits of the DuPonts were ten times greater than
their peace profits in the four years immediately preceding the war. Their net earnings were $255,500,000
during the war as compared with earnings of $24,368,000 in the preceding period. The Calumet & Hecla
Mining Company showed profits of 1100% in the two
years of America's participation in the World War.
But peace hath her "profits" no less renowned than
war for those who hold government contracts.
- In 1927 a large airplane corporation controlled by
the Morgan interests of New York made a profit of
73% on an army contract of $326,768 for airplane
engines and a profit of 60% on a contract of $564,000.
In 1930 the same company showed a profit of SO% on
a government contract of $10,000,000. In 1931 the
company's profits were 43% of its government business. In 1932 it made a profit of 909'o on a government
contract of $284,439. It is not difficult to understand
w hy certain of our armament interests are so deeply
concerned for the military security of the nation.
In 1926 a young man of 24 years, a son of an official
of one of the large airplane corporations heavily subsidized by the government, purchased 200 shares of
stock in a subsidiary company of the parent corporation at 20 cents a share. In seven years the young
investor realized a cash profit of $1,060,319 on his original investment of $40, and the shares that still remained in his possession had a market value of $450,000.
In the meantime the young speculator received $297,380
in salary, bonus, and fees for his services to the
company.
Another young man equally precocious and equally
well connected through an older brother, a high official
in one of the large New York banks, invested $253 in
the same airplane corporation. He made a cash profit
-14-
of $9,514,000 on his investment and still held in his
possession stocks having a market value of $2,100,000.
In addition to profits of $ 11,614,000 on his original investment of $253, he drew $1,585,514 in salary and
bonuses in seven years as an official of the corporation
in which his original investment was made. He is still
an official of the company.
Senator Black, chairman of the committee whose
investigations brought to light the foregoing facts,
said , "These huge expenditures ($1,143,000,000 s pent
by the government since 1925 for the development of
aviation ) have in great part, found their way into the
pockets of profiteers, stock manipulators, political and
powerful financial groups. . . . Huge trusts and combines composed of transport companies, engine-building companies, airplane companies and supply companies . .. with constant political activities and power
have sucked the taxpayer's money as by an irresistible
force into the pockets of profiteers and government
~~~ - "
~
J n the lig ht of such sordid and unsavory revelations 1
one must sympathize with the sentiments of Norman
H. Davis, President Roosevelt's ambassado r at large.
Mr. Davis said, "The American people are convinced
that by some means the production and traffic in
engines of death and the profits resulting therefrom
must be controlled or eliminated. Those who have a
sordid financial interest in fomenting international suspicion and discord, which in turn increase the demand
for what they have to sell, must be put in a position
in which they do not have the power or the incentive
to do so much evil."
_
Whom Have We to Fear?
The only possible excuse any reasonable patriot
can have for an army and navy beyond the requirements for the preservation of internal order is for defense against the invasion of our shores by a foreign
foe. Anything in excess of this is unjustifiable as a
j
-15-
na tiona! n ecess ity and a n un war ran ted burden up nn the
tax-payers.
What foreign foe h ave we to fear? What nation is
powerful enough to cross our frontiers or s uccessfully
invade our s hores? What enemy have we to justify
an expenditure of ten billion dollars on our army a nd
navy in fifteen years? Surely we have nothing to fear
from our neig hbor on the north. For more than one
hundred y ears no fo rt or barrack h as defaced our Canadian boundary. For a century and a quarter we have
lived at peace w ith our Canadian friends. Certainly
there is no contingency to warrant arming against them
now. As for Mexico, what have we to fear from her?
Nothing, absolutely nothing. The Mexicans haill
'e
neither the numbers, the wealth, or the disposition to
attack the United States. !!_ OJlr oil ipterests will keep
out of the picture, there is nothing to seriously disturb
our relation s with Mexico today or ever.
Nothing could be sillier than to line our Canadia11 and ',<_\C..• t't( •
0
M e.xican frontiers with a series of mtdergrozmd forts as
the chairman of the House Militar:,' Affai?'S Committee has
recently suggested.
On the east our s hores are guarded by the Atlantic
and on the wes t they are protected by the Pacific. Before an enemy could attack us from Europe or from
Asia they would have to transport their forces over
3,000 miles of sea separating their shores from ours.
To perform such a feat would require a navy g reater
than any a rmada ever dreamed of by a ny naval power.
Only five nations ha ve any navies at a ll-France, I taly ,
J a pan, England, and the United States . The navies of
France and Italy are only 40% of the strength of ours.
Even if they should combine their forces they could
h ave no possible hope of s u ccess against us.
Japan's naval strength is 60% of ours in the numb er of its ships and 75% in tonnage. While it is true
that Japan has g iven notice of h er withdrawal from
the Washington treaty and her desire for n a va l parity
-16-
with GreC!t Brita in a nd the U ni ted S ta tes, J apan has
declared her w illing ness to red u c~ her present naval
s t re ngth by one-ha lf and in doing so to abol is h a ll her
w~ rships. l a rg~r cruisers, a nd airplane carriers-eve ry th tng s~1e has 111 the way of s hips of offense-provid ing
the Umted States and Great Britain w ill join her in the
proposed red uction. vVhy not accep t J apan's proposal ?
I t wou ld immediately reduce our n aval budget by 70 % ,
would saYe the overburden ed American taxpayers millions of dollars a nd guarantee our western shores from
invasion from Asia forever. If security of our ownl
shores is what we seek, if peace is w hat we desire, we
have a n opportunity to get it without a single shot or
the exp endi ture of a dollar as far as the Japanese are 1
concerned.
T his leaves only E ngland to be reckoned with .
H er·s is the one navy th a t equals ours. To transport
a n ar my three thousand miles across the Atlan tic and
land h er soldiers safely on A merican shores is a feat
tha t. ~ot even the English navy with all its splendid
tracht1ons wo uld clare t o dream of. But why "fuss"
abou t onr E ngli sh cousins? What man among us is so
s tupid :J S to imagine for a moment that these two
E ng lish-speakin g p eoples would ever attack each other.
War between Great Britain and America would mean
the down-fall of both and the destruction of the civilization which they represent. The English and Amer- ·
icans may be dumb, but surely they are n ot ins ane.
T here is no nation a ny where in the world, East or
'Nest , E uropean or Asiatic, that could possibly land a n
armed force on A merica's shores. So far as our borde rs a re concerned , they are safe from successful invas ion by a foreig n foe. To spend billions of dollars on
g reat na vies and armies to meet a peril that does not
exist is a u seless and senseless waste of the nation's
resources.
W hy then all this "ballyh oo" about a big army and
a b ig navy? Why a ll this hysteria about national de-17 -
fense and national security when there is no one to
attack us? When our Hig h Command talk of national
insecurity they speak as "sounding brass." They bear
false witness against our neighbors. Let America resp~ct the righ_!s of others and America- has nothing to
fear from any one and no one has anything to fear from
America.
ji\O("o.\
'
)
Foreign I nvestments
I When our army and navy advocates speak truth! fully, when they reveal the real motive behind the deu
~)
mand for a big navy and .a big army, it is not the pro-
~~/; • tection of our home domain but the protection of our
interests abroad for which they are concerned. "The
causes of war are economic and commercial. The
~encies of war are armies and navies." In these clear
and succinct phrases General W. R. Naylor stated the
real reason for big armies and navies. One of our
American Admirals, speaking before the National Foreign Trade convention in New York in November, declared that the United States must be capable of exerti_!!g her sea-power if she is to maintain her foreign
markets and, he added, "We can do this only with an
adequate fleet fully manned and securely based in the
area of possible conflict-lacking adequate elements of
sea-power, the commerce of the Far East is not for us."
Mr. Coolidge put the matter even more baldly in
an article in one of our popular magazines. "Our commerce and commitments abroad," said he, "are so large
t-hat t hey need a navy for their protection." Here we
have t he real a nd only reason for our enormous military and naval expenditures.
,- America n big bus iness has a stake of twenty-five
billiofi dollars in foreign countries in loans, investments, and export markets. These powerful interests
demand protection for their huge stake ab road and are
getting it from the government. If one charts the volume of recent A merican investments in foreign coun-18-
t ries and also charts our military and naval expenditures he will discover that the two curves, foreign investments and military expendit ures, closely parallel
each other. As t he former have increased, the latter
have been added to. When our foreign inves tments
are at their peak our naval expenditures are at their
maxim um. This is not a coincidence. It is the new
national policy. In 1927 President Coolidge declared
tha t, "The person and property of a citizen are a part
of the general domain of the nation even when abroad."
The Senate supported the President's position by officially declaring that the President was justified in
using the armed forces of the nation to protect such
persons and property outside of the United States.
The presence of A~ican marines and warships in
N icaragua, Haiti, Cuba, and other countries of the
Caribbean is accounted for by the fact that American
investors have a stake of $2,000,000,000 among these
little neig hbors to the south of us. New York banking
interests alone have an investment of $800,000,000 in
Cuban sugar.- In fifteen years 143 lives of American
ma rines were sacrificed in Nicaragua protecting American loans and investments.
When Smyrna was sacked by the Turks in 1922,
the United States' Consulate was burned, the American
Y. M. C. A. building was burned, the main building
of the American Collegiate Institute for Girls was
burned, the American International Institute for Boys
was fired upon and partially looted, the houses of
American citizens with the American flag flying over
them were looted. The United States had four destroyers in the harbor of Smyrna at the time but not
a gun was fired nor a protest made against the destruction of these properties. But a cotnpany of marines wa'S
landed to st4rrOtmd the pla1tt of the S.ta11dard Oil Company
a1ld that was the 011ly American property w ithi?J a mile of
S.m·y rna that was saved,
..J
-19 -
An Ambassador's Cablegram
It has become exceedingly doubtful to many
thoughtful A merican minds if the United States would
have entered the World War had not the big financial
~nd industrial interests of the nation become so heavily
m vol vecl that t !!_e defeat of the allies would have
?ro ug ht ruin to many American banking and industrial
mterests. The following cablegram from Ambassador
Wal ter Hines Page to President Wilson on Ma rch 5
1917, has just come to light through the investigation~
of Senator Nyc's committee in W ashington :
" .. . (England) cannot continue her present
large purchases in the United States without shipment of gold to pay for them and she cannot maintain large shipments of gold. . . . The almost immediate danger, therefore, is that Franco-American
a nd Anglo-American exchange will be so disturbed
that orders by all the allied governments will be
reduced to the lowest minimum and there will be
almost a cessation of trans-Atlantic trade. This
will, of course, cause a panic in the United
States. . . . If we should go to war with Germany ... all the money would be kept in our country, tra de would be continued and enlarged until
the war ends, and after the war Eurbpe would continue to buy food and would buy from us also an
enormous supply of things to re-equip her peace
industries. We should thus reap the profit of an
uninterrupted, perhaps an enlarged trade, over a
number of years, and we should hold their securit ies in payment. . . . I think that the pressure of
this approaching crisis has gone beyond the ability
of the Morga n financial agency for the British and
French governments. The need is becoming too
g reat and urgent for any priva te agency to meet,
for every s uch agency has to encounter the jealousy
of rivals and of sections. Perhaps oHr going to war
-20 -
is the o11ly way in which our present preeminent trade
position cat~ be maintaitzed a11d a pat~ic averted."
W ithin a month's time after Page's cable was received t he United States entered the war on the allies'
side.
The whole thing has an increasingly sinister aspect.
After the United States had entered the war and had
granted certain credits to Great Britain and the other
allies it is reported that one of the first accounts presented to the United States Treasury for settlement
was a bill for $400,000,000 which the Morgan interests
had ad vanced to Great Britain before America entered
the war. The enthusiasm of American big business for
making the "world safe for democracy" was aroused
only when it became necessary to make the world safe
for American investments.
1t is time that notice was served on American investors that when they send their dollars abroad for
speculative purposes they must assume the risk of their
investments themselves and not ask the rest of us to
do it for them. It is time that Washington was given
to understand that we are done with wars and threats
of wa rs to protect the speculations of big bankers and
big business. Our sons are not for sale. We have no
lives t o sacrifice to save anybody's investments abroad.
Prosperity
"A corporation cannot live on patriotism . Our
stockholders must have dividends." This was the
war-time philosophy of American big business. It
wanted dividends and it got them.
The annual earnings of American corporations increased from $3,710,000,000 in 1914 to $10,730,000,000
in 1917, an increase of more than $7,000,000,000 in three
years. The profits of the United States Steel Corporation alone were $500,000,000 greater in the four years
of the World War than in the four years immediately
preceding.
-21-
It has been reported that more tha n 21,000 A me rican milliona ires were ma de by the war. The war
bonuses of the four Du Po_Ets amounted to more tb a-;;
$ 16,000,000. This was in a ddition to their sala ries a s
office rs of the corporation and a lso in add ition to their
share o( the corporation profits of $255,000,000. It is
sai d tha t J. P . l'vl organ , Junio r, ma de more money d urin g th e ·w orld \ Va r tha n his fath er, J. P. M or rra n,
Senio r, made in a life-time.
b _ _,
The records of the United States T reasury revea l
that 69,000 Americans increased their normal income
hy more than $3,000,000,000 from 1914 to 1918. The
men w h o stayed at home and grafted off the governm ent ma cle billions. The men who went to t he trenches
received $30 a month. Yet the former object to the
~ldiers' bon us as "unpatriotic."
Yfa; is the most effective means e ver d evised by
m an for the transfer of the money of the many to the
l_)O~kets of the few.
Based upon their former exper ience there arc not a few of o:tr big b1!sinrss brcthrc/1
n·ho 7c·oztld wrlromc anoihcr war as a11 eco11 omic blessing.
They wou ld look upon it as the surest m eans of
restoring prosperity to the "defenders of the Constitution" and as the safest solution of the social problems
' tha t have arisen dnring the depression.
War Costs
The \Vorld vVar undoubtedly created imm ense
w ealth for the favored few, but to the nation as a
whole it left a leg acy of bankruptcy tha t genera tions
cannot overcome. The actual cash outlay of the United
St at es from 19 17 to 1927 on accoun t of the war, according to Mr. M ellon, wa s $47,927,272,332. Mr. Coolidge
es timated that the cost s of the war would "run well
to wa rd $100,000,000,000" before the last bill w as paid.
The Carnegie Foundation estimated the total costs
o f the World War to the nations enga ged in it at $438,000,000,000. Had the costs of the w a r been devoted to
- 22 -
pence, they w ould haYe provided a $5,000 home, with
50 ac res of la nd, worth $50 an a c re, for every fa mily in
t ht: U nited Sta tes; a $ 100,000,000 uni versity for e,·e ry
st::< te in t he Union ; a $ 10,000,000 a rt center in e ,·en ·
A merican c ity of 100,000 population or more; a $3,000:000 hospita l and a $2,000,000 lil;rary fo r every commu n ity of 25,000 people or mo re; a nd there w ould
have rema ined after a ll these benefactions an unex p ended balance whic h if inves ted at So/o would have
yielded an a nnua l income sufficient to carry the presen t
Fede ral budget, ordinary and extraord inary, as lon ti"
as the Repub lic shall last, without a penny of t<tx u pon
any individ ual, institution, corporation, or busin ess.
The World War ben efited nobody b ut th e pri vile g-ed
few v:ho h ave made enormous for t un es out of the s u ffe rings of others. We have only to look at the wreckage around us, nations bankrupt, fo rtunes wa sted, mult itudes blighted wi th poverty, ciYilization in peril.
ch aos c,·erywhere-all the d irect aad i11 rl ircct outcome
of the \Vo rld \ Var-to see that war is the s ures t road
t o ruin and des pair.
P!_esiden t Ro9sevelt has recently appointed a commission to prepare a plan to t ake the " profit out of
wa r." A s tudy of its personnel, the c ircumstan ct>s
leading to its appointment, the atmosphere of secrecv
s urrounding its labors create mo re Sl!Spicion than cot;f·h le nce in its outcome. It has the appearance of a
com m ission to put profits in to wa r by mobilizin..,. th~
.
~
na ttO
na I resources for another war.
If the President really wants to take the profit out
of war, let him recommend to Cong ress tha t in th,,
eve nt of another wa r property as well as pe rsons s ha ll
be conscripted; that every dolla r of the na tion's wealth
shal l be dra fted ; that wages and incom es s ha ll be t he
same for everybody ; that the all owa nces of the sold iers
in the trenches s ha ll be the allowances of factory w or kers, ca ptains of industry, banke rs, admira ls, g enerals .
ca binet officers, and the Presiden t hims elf; that all liv-
1
-23-
.,
)
ing shall be upon the same level; tha t no luxuries or ·
superfluities shall be allowed to anybody; that complete
and absolute sacrifice be required of every one. If we
arc to hav e war, let it be everybody's w ar or nobody's
war. T.et all surrender, serve, and suffer alike.
Let us be done with the whole horrible horde of
profiteers, racketeers, and parasites who profit on human disaster. Let us be rid of armament makers,
munition merchants, leaders of industry, bankers and
financiers who feed and fatten on the misery of others,
w ho make fabulous fortunes out of the wholesale
slaug hter of their helpless fellows.
Let us be done with war. It is a curse, an absolute
and unqualified curse to mankind. It has no right to
be. Let it be wiped out, root and branch. Let it be
driven from the face of the earth . Let it no longer be
allowed to scourge humanity.
\rfr,- r
.' 7:<..:
~r
. -
r
illS pamphlet which has been made available thrOUIIh the gen·
T
erosity of a Methodi st la yman who does not wish his name to be
given publicity can be obtained at the following prices:
Single copy, postpaid, 10 cents.
In quantities, pos tpaid:
2 to 12 copies, 7 cents each.
13 to 24 copies, 6 cen t s eaclh
25 copies a nd over, 5 cent s each.
Post office money order or s tamps must accompany order.
Address: The Commission on \ Vorld Peace or The Board of Education
of the Methodist Episcopal Church, 740 Rush Street, Chicago, Illinois.
Residents in Michigan may obtain pamphlets a t prices quoted by
add ressing the Michigan Chri stian Advocate, 32 East E lizabeth Street,
Detroit, Michigan. Orders from outside of Michigan should be sent
to Chicago address a s above.
E'dgar Blake-Prophet of the Living God
Edgar Blake was a prophet o{ the Jiving God.
His was the pro phet's vision. He saw God working within history a s well
as beyond it, combating evil and promoting good, putting down the might-y
from their scats und exalting them of low d egree. He believed that the
presence of God us u moral orde r in the universe means that evil, whatever
its temporary triumphs, cannot p cmtancntly succeed; and that the grace of
God working in the minds and hearts of m e n m eans that good, whatever its
t empora ry defeats, will triwnph at the last.
His, also, was the prophet's d evotion. Ther e are those who take the world
as they find it, seeking only to get on in it as well as they can. There are those
who with cool d eliberation exploit the world in their own interest, having
no regard for its welfare but only for their own enrichment and aggrandize·
ment. But some there ure who look upon the world with a divine compassion .and who, under the direction of God, undertake to e ffect some
improvem ent in its social conditions. These J ast belo ng to the goodly f ellowship of the p rophe ts, a nd of their number was Bishop Blak e. H e b ecame
a spokesman for the poor a nd the Ollpressed. Be was steadfast in opposi·
tion to the liquor traffic, to a nti-Semitism , to race discrimination, to ex•
ploiting impe rialism. H e undertook to re m ed y social conditions that were
m akin g for inex cusable pove rty, for m ass unemployment, for economic
dis tress, for a second World War. There was no good cause that' failed to
secure his utmost support.
And his was the prop het's courage. Carlyle was probably right when be
said, "The ultima te ques tion which e very man bas to fa ce and answer for
himself is, Wilt tho u be a hero or a coward?" Bishop Blake was n ever a
coward. And as h e g rew older he becam e more and more ouiSI>Oken,
until he was h eard saying things at once so true and so daring that even
his opponents were won to admiration. The human mind, unless it is
under the control of something more r eliable than itself, can always find
plausible reasons for playing saf e ot no matte r what cost to others or to
causes that ought to prevail. The situation is quite different, however,
when 11 m a n puts himself under the control a nd direction of God. He cannot
then be intimiclnted. "We must obey God rather than m e n," he m aintains;
and d eep in his h eurt he adds, " If God is for u s, who is against u s?"
Bishop Bloke, as truly as Amos or Isaiah, was a prophet of the living
God. Ye t in one respect he was unlike DiaDy a p~het history hae known.
He had a most ble~sc d sense of humor, whfeh was, no doubt, a manifestation
of IIODie thing d eeper ; n am ely, o profound ~ility be fore God which forbade hlm to take himself too seriously. A senant of God he rejoiced to he,
but h e did no' suppose tha t he was called to save the world. He was called ,
he believed, to preach the gosp el to the best of his ability and then to leave
the lu ue with God, who alone can save the world. Moreover, he n ever lied
to himself, made no claim to infa llibiUt,., recognized his limitation• all
well as his power~, and so gave Wmself no airs but walked humbly with
God and loving ly with m en.-Ernel l Fremonl Tiltle.
Res i dent
J..Ji ~hdlp ,
1952- - -1940
Le tr;.> i t Ar ea
Blake, Edgar