The World's Christian Citizenship Conference
By Editor
In our issue of July 15, in referring to the welcome that was extended to the World's Christian Citizenship Conference at Portland by Judge C. E. Wolverton of the United States Court, representing this country, we ask: “Why did the Federal Government extend welcome to an organization which had its genesis in Pennsylvania, has been promoted in America, and is officered by American National Reformers?” It is not a world organization at all. The Portland Oregonian of July 8 discovers this after the great meeting is over. We are told that promises were made that there would be 20,000 delegates; “by actual count 670 came. Of these more than 500 were from Oregon and Washington, and were induced to come here through the efforts of the local committee, and not by the managers of the conference.” “The local committee was led to believe that organized delegations would come from foreign countries, and that the meeting would be a great cosmopolitan gathering, representing every Christian country on the face of the globe.” “Now as a matter of fact, there was a grand total of only 22 persons here from foreign countries, and nine of them came from Canada. The rest of them, it is understood, had their expenses paid to come here. Of course, many of them were ministers, and entitled to travel under reduced rates, and the expenses were not great.” The railway and hotel interests were led to expect great crowds, but the Oregonian tells us that the railways had an “aggregate haul from all sources, and over all lines, of a little more than 500 persons, a considerable portion of whom were ministers and others entitled to travel at reduced rates,” etc., etc., etc. Certainly the term “World's Conference” was a misnomer.