The Chairman: We are now to hear from our business men, and as they always do things, and do them quickly, we can only give them about two minutes each. We will hear from Senator Oliver.

      Senator Oliver: As I understand it, this is an assemblage of men gathered from all avocations of life, who believe in the tenets and doctrines laid down by our Saviour and the apostles and embraced within the limits of the New Testament.

      And I have been asked to say a few words, as one of you, concerning the relation which we ought to bear in our daily conduct of the ordinary affairs with regard to the religion which we profess. We often hear it said in these latter days that Christianity and business do not mix. If this refers simply to the outward appearance of [86] Christianity, to the parading of our profession before our fellow-men, to the figurative enlarging the borders of our garments and making loud prayers in the market-places, I have no doubt that the saying is correct; but if it means that, in order to be successful in business, a man must resort to unfair processes and must fight chicane with chicane, then I say that no greater fallacy ever fell from the lips of man.

      I base this statement upon an experience of over forty years, rich in all the activities of life and combining the elements of both success and failure. In that incomparable chapter, the twelfth of Romans, the great apostle to the Gentiles lays down, among others, two precepts relating directly to business affairs. The first enjoins us to be "not slothful in business, fervent in spirit, serving the Lord." The second, "Provide things honest in the sight of all men." The first of these precepts inculcates diligence and energy; the second, integrity. And these two things, combined with a fair degree of business judgment, will bring success to any man. I am aware that great fortunes have been built up in direct violation of these precepts and these doctrines, and that these very fortunes constitute the greatest possible menace to modern society. [Applause.] I do not say that by following out these Christian precepts, a man will gather one of these great fortunes, but he will in all probability acquire that competence and contentment which, with godliness, is great gain. [Applause.] And he will further have the satisfaction, when he comes to the turning-point of life and looks back in his old age upon his record, of saying to himself, It is well done. [Applause.]

      The Chairman: The next speaker is J. H. Allen, of St. Louis, who has attended all of our National Conventions for many years, and you know what that means. [Applause.]

      Mr. Allen: I lived forty-five years of my life in Mississippi, Alabama and Louisiana, where our cause was very weak and is still weak. I heard we were strong in Missouri, and I wanted my children to have the advantages of the church of Christ where I thought we were stronger. I moved to Missouri, and soon after, sixteen years ago, I went up to Des Moines to a convention. I had never seen a respectable-looking church down South, you know, because we were not able to build them. But the new Central Church was just then built in Des Moines. Bro. Breeden was the preacher. At that convention I saw the women organized, and the Endeavor societies, but I saw very few business men there at that convention. Everybody was there, you know, except the men, the business men. You know we always used to class preachers and women and children; you know we did not count the men at all. [Laughter.] Men were not in it in the Lord's work, and I then had a vision at that convention that if we could just enlist the men, what a grand work could be done. And I, from that time forward, commenced trying to organize the men. At our Jubilee Convention over in Cincinnati, we had gotten General Drake, and we were having a men's meeting, and Bro. Atkinson dropped dead and it destroyed our meeting, and we never got the men together, but in St. Louis at our convention there we tried to organize. I had a vision, and that is about all I had. [Laughter.] I want that understood. [Laughter.] And until we got the right men--and we have got them now at the head of this institution--we made but little progress. We spent a good deal of money unwisely, trying to do things we could not do by advertising. But now we have got the right men in the right place, and I am confident this work is going on and going to become a great work. We had a meeting this morning, and we determined this in that meeting: that if we can not organize the men we are going to have the men withdraw and turn the whole thing over to the women and children. If they are not organized they can do nothing, and I hope and trust and pray that we will all help this campaign. It is not an easy work. We people that have tried it found that there are a great many difficulties, and if we do not come to their support they can do but little. Now, I hope every one will come to the support of these men with our assistance--our financial assistance, our prayer, and help them in every way [87] possible, because if we do not, this work can not be done. If we do, we are going to see such things in the second century as we never dreamed of. May God help us all to help them. [Applause.]

      The Chairman: We will now listen to the Hon. T. W. Phillips, of Pennsylvania. [Applause.]

      Hon. T. W. Phillips: It certainly affords me great pleasure to be before this large audience of men and speak a word in behalf of this men's movement. I have been interested in it for many years. I have been one of the first advocates of the men's movement amongst our people. We find this movement caning along all lines with all denominations. They are organizing men's missionary societies, men's Bible classes, and we now have come to the front with the men's organization, I am happy to say.

      Brethren, this is one of the most important steps that has been taken by our people in the last half-century. We can not succeed in spreading the gospel abroad and throughout the world without the organization of men, without man's work. Now, man has led the great armies of the world, he has established the kingdoms of the earth. It was the man Christ Jesus that established the church of Christ, and his apostles. Now, in these latter days, men has been lagging behind. As woman has received more and more liberty, she is coming to the front, and she is dominating along all lines that pertain to civil and social and religious liberty. Take the women from our church and where would it be to-day? Two-thirds of our congregations, I presume, and believe, are made up of women. The preachers have to call upon the women to do the drudgery of this great army of Christ that is marching on to the conquest of the world. Why should we then lag behind? I am glad to see men now coming to the front with a determination to have an interest in this great battle that they may march on for His glory, the glorious victory, in company with the women, in company with them, and not lagging behind and being camp-followers as they have too much been. When the church at Jerusalem was scattered abroad, they went everywhere preaching the Word. How would this congregation of men--excepting the preachers--if scattered abroad, how could they proclaim the gospel? How many men in our churches could proclaim the everlasting gospel if they were scattered abroad? Now, this great organization means two things: It means to study the word of God, and it means to send out men prepared to preach the word of God. [Applause.]

      The Chairman: The next man that will talk to you is recognized as the king-grower of oranges in all the world, and I am pleased to announce to you C. C. Chapman, of California. [Applause.]

      Mr. Chapman: I want to talk about the business man's attitude to the church. The attitude of the Christian business man should be firm and unquestioned loyalty to Christ's great kingdom. [Applause.] "Seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness," the Master said. Many of us are quite willing to make the kingdom the second thing in our life. That is, we want all the advantages for ourselves first.

      As business men connected with the church, we have been content to give a meager portion of our time and thought to our souls' interest and to the welfare of the church. We have been satisfied to attend services once or twice on Sunday, and to give a few other little attentions on behalf of the church, but we are not putting into it our lives. It is not first with us. If a few business men in any community, in any church, will give the affairs of the kingdom downright earnest attention and make them first, you would see a radical transformation in every phase of church life. We should try to make the church popular and influential. As business men we can contribute largely to this end, not alone by our personal service, but by our reputation, our position in the commercial world, our conduct and conversation--all should be used to add power and influence to the church. Following the ideal of seeking the kingdom and its welfare and glory, we will easily find we can do many things that will do this. There is liberal compensation for the faithful, loyal, devoted man who denies self to serve others, who loves the church and makes it first. Jesus is [88] a liberal and appreciative master. No gold bricks are handed out to those who trust him. He makes us clean, clear-headed, serene, humble and happy and honest and noble, to stand before God, conscious of our own dignity as his children. He enriches our souls with his presence and freely gives us all things.

      We are an intensely commercial people. We are prone to base our estimate of the value of men or things upon their producing or paying power. Thus, the value of money, and all that it will do, fills too completely our vision. Here is a great danger, especially to the business man. We are in the midst of the fray, and we should not glory in this. Let us lift our estimate of Christ and Christ's church high above every other thing. Let us do as Jesus told us to do: "Seek first his kingdom." [Applause.]

      The Chairman: It is my pleasure now to introduce the Hon. Lafayette Pence, of Oregon.

      Mr. Pence: I am so new a recruit in this church that I shall not undertake to march and keep step with these old veterans. I have been giving money for twenty-five years to the Pennsylvania Railroad eight times a year, and never did get the best of it until this trip. [Laughter and applause.]

      Did your preacher ever make you think of an engineer? Never say your prayer on the sleeping-car and forget the engineer. Never pray anywhere and forget your preacher.

      Yes, the Campbells, Thomas and Alexander, were both engineers on the road that brought me into this church. My grandfather was a pioneer member of this church; brought it from Virginia to Indiana. I had a letter from Champ Clark awhile ago, in which he says: "I was born a Democrat and a Campbellite, been both all my life, and, by the blessing of God, I am going to die in both communions." [Laughter and applause.] Now, Champ had the best of me on most all things, and he had me there also. And so again I have to trade a little and catch up with Champ. I have often remarked, so far as Jefferson was concerned, I started even with Champ on the Democracy all right. But not on the other. My mother's children all went with her into the Presbyterian Church, and Grandpa Pence had a hard time. And finally I got in here, and there is another trade. I had a younger brother who was a Presbyterian preacher in Detroit, and as soon as I tied up with Martin and understood this, I struck out for Ed in Detroit, and traded him just even his interest in Calvin for my interest in Campbell. [Applause and cheers.]

      The Chairman: Let us hear from Congressman Graham, of Pennsylvania. Congressman Graham: A celebrated writer has stated that all the world is divided into two classes--those who push and those who lean. Now, the Brotherhood is organized for the purpose of getting all the men to push. None of you are to hang back and lean on the rest; all of you should be pushers and workers. There are too many men that desire to be first-class passengers in this world.

      A friend of mine, traveling through England some years ago, was taking a stage-coach through Yorkshire, and he was asked what class he desired to travel by. Being an American, he said, "Why, first-class, of course." And he paid accordingly. When he arrived on the stage-coach he noticed the signs, but he could not find the division between first, second and third class, but when he arrived at one of those old, high Yorkshire hills, the guard called out: "First-class passengers, keep your seats; second-class passengers, get out and walk; third-class passengers, get out and push." [Laughter.] He found then that he was in the pushing class, although he paid to be in the first class. Now, we want all this audience to turn out to be pushers and help the good work along. I thank you for your attention. [Applause.]

      The Chairman: I am sure we would [89] all like to hear for a moment or two from E. E. Elliott, the assistant secretary, of whom I spoke in my address.

      Mr. Elliott:

      The Chairman: I am sure that we have not assembled in this Convention for the purpose of worshiping Alexander Campbell. At the same time, I know that there is a warm pulse-throb in the heart of every man assembled for this noble man, and it gives me wonderful pleasure to be able to introduce to you Mr. Robert M. Campbell, the grandson of Alexander Campbell.

      Mr. Campbell: There are times in our lives when we can not find words to express the deep emotion that stirs our hearts, and this is one of those times in my life, I can assure you, brethren, for I did not hope to have such an opportunity of looking into the faces of so many valiant defenders of the faith once for all delivered to the saints. [Applause.]

      Henry Clay, Kentucky's great Commoner, upon one occasion was crossing the Allegheny Mountains in a stagecoach. When they reached the summit of the mountain the stage-coach stopped, and he, with the other passengers alighting, walked to the summit of the mountain and viewed the beautiful scene that stretched out far before them. All at once, Mr. Clay put his hand to his ear and assumed the listening posture, and one of the company said, "Mr. Clay, to what are you listening?" And he said, "I hear the tramp of millions." And within one hundred years, my friends, the millions that he heard tramping, have come to this land. So our fathers took their stand upon God's word, and God's word alone, and they felt that they stood upon the mountain-top, and by faith they could put their hands to their ears and could hear the tramp of millions coming to take their stand upon the Bible, and the Bible alone, as our rule of faith. [Applause.] I know that you have granted me a short time, and I do not want to take your time, but I want to impress upon your minds one thing that I hope you will carry home with you, and that it may be an inspiration to you throughout all your life, that which characterized the life and labor of our fathers.

      They, like the apostles of old, were characterized by the purity of their doctrine, by the piety of their lives, and by their patience under suffering, whether for Christ or from Christ, and I pray God that every disciple in this land may remember them and that their doctrine may be pure, and that they may sow pure seed as our fathers sowed pure seed, and we can see the harvest to-day. And let us stand upon the Bible, on the mountain-top, and let us say to the multitudes, We fear not the whole universe, because we can stand here and feel secure, and as our fathers have said, feel the strength of mountains as they stood with the everlasting hills. I thank you. [Applause.]

[CCR 86-90]