Standing for Principle.
By Editor
William J. Bryan was president of the Illinois College of Jacksonville, his Alma Mater, and the oldest educational institution west of the Alleghany Mountains. Mr. Bryan assisted it to the extent of $5,000 a few years ago, and was made president. The board wished to profit by Mr. Andrew Carnegie's gift to colleges, and Mr. Bryan felt that the accepting of such a gift would have the effect of blinding the eyes of the college directors to economic truth, and convert the college into an ally of plutocracy. He feels that the college can not serve God and mammon. After entering his protest unavailingly, he felt called upon to resign. Now the right or wrong of this we do not discuss, but we honor the man who will stand for principle, tho he may be unwittingly wrong. Better a Saul persecuting the church because he believed it to be his duty, than some weak-kneed politician who trims his sails for all winds. There is more hope for the former wrong than for the latter right. Lowell has well said: "I honor the man who is willing to sink
Half his present repute for his freedom to think;
And when he has thought, be his cause strong or weak,
Will risk t'other half for the freedom to speak."
The world needs honest, single-minded men. God can bring such men to his truth, and He will if it takes a sevenfold brightness to check their mad career, as it did that of Saul of Tarsus.