_Question_. What is your opinion of the position taken by the
United States in the Venezuelan dispute? How should the dispute
be settled?
_Answer_. I do not think that we have any interest in the dispute
between Venezuela and England. It was and is none of our business.
The Monroe doctrine was not and is not in any way involved. Mr.
Cleveland made a mistake and so did Congress.
_Question_. What should be the attitude of the church toward the
stage?
_Answer_. It should be, what it always has been, against it. If
the orthodox churches are right, then the stage is wrong. The
stage makes people forget hell; and this puts their souls in peril.
There will be forever a conflict between Shakespeare and the Bible.
_Question_. What do you think of the new woman?
_Answer_. I like her.
_Question_. Where rests the responsibility for the Armenian
atrocities?
_Answer_. Religion is the cause of the hatred and bloodshed.
_Question_. What do you think of international marriages, as
between titled foreigners and American heiresses?
_Answer_. My opinion is the same as is entertained by the American
girl after the marriages. It is a great mistake.
_Question_. What do you think of England's Poet Laureate, Alfred
Austin?
_Answer_. I have only read a few of his lines and they were not
poetic. The office of Poet Laureate should be abolished. Men
cannot write poems to order as they could deliver cabbages or beer.
By poems I do not mean jingles of words. I mean great thoughts
clothed in splendor.
_Question_. What is your estimate of Susan B. Anthony?
_Answer_. Miss Anthony is one of the most remarkable women in the
world. She has the enthusiasm of youth and spring, the courage
and sincerity of a martyr. She is as reliable as the attraction
of gravitation. She is absolutely true to her conviction,
intellectually honest, logical, candid and infinitely persistent.
No human being has done more for women than Miss Anthony. She has
won the respect and admiration of the best people on the earth.
And so I say: Good luck and long life to Susan B. Anthony.
_Question_. Which did more for his country, George Washington or
Abraham Lincoln?
_Answer_. In my judgment, Lincoln was the greatest man ever
President. I put him above Washington and Jefferson. He had the
genius of goodness; and he was one of the wisest and shrewdest of
men. Lincoln towers above them all.
_Question_. What gave rise to the report that you had been converted
--did you go to church somewhere?
_Answer_. I visited the "People's Church" in Kalamazoo, Michigan.
This church has no creed. The object is to make people happy in
this world. Miss Bartlett is the pastor. She is a remarkable
woman and is devoting her life to good work. I liked her church
and said so. This is all.
_Question_. Are there not some human natures so morally weak or
diseased that they cannot keep from sin without the aid of some
sort of religion?
_Answer_. I do not believe that the orthodox religion helps anybody
to be just, generous or honest. Superstition is not the soil in
which goodness grows. Falsehood is poor medicine.
_Question_. Would you consent to live in any but a Christian
community? If you would, please name one.
_Answer_. I would not live in a community where all were orthodox
Christians. I would rather dwell in Central Africa. If I could
have my choice I would rather live among people who were free, who
sought for truth and lived according to reason. Sometime there
will be such a community.
_Question_. Is the noun "United States" singular or plural, as
you use English?
_Answer_. I use it in the singular.
_Question_. Have you read Nordau's "Degeneracy"? If so, what do
you think of it?
_Answer_. I think it is substantially insane.
_Question_. What do you think of Bishop Doane's advocacy of free
rum as a solution of the liquor problem?
_Answer_. I am a believer in liberty. All the temperance legislation,
all the temperance societies, all the agitation, all these things
have done no good.
_Question_. Do you agree with Mr. Carnegie that a college education
is of little or no practical value to a man?
_Answer_. A man must have education. It makes no difference where
or how he gets it. To study the dead languages is time wasted so
far as success in business is concerned. Most of the colleges in
this country are poor because controlled by theologians.
_Question_. What suggestion would you make for the improvement of
the newspapers of this country?
_Answer_. Every article in a newspaper should be signed by the
writer. And all writers should do their best to tell the exact
facts.
_Question_. What do you think of Niagara Falls?
_Answer_. It is a dangerous place. Those great rushing waters--
there is nothing attractive to me in them. There is so much noise;
so much tumult. It is simply a mighty force of nature--one of
those tremendous powers that is to be feared for its danger. What
I like in nature is a cultivated field, where men can work in the
free open air, where there is quiet and repose--no turmoil, no
strife, no tumult, no fearful roar or struggle for mastery. I do
not like the crowded, stuffy workshop, where life is slavery and
drudgery. Give me the calm, cultivated land of waving grain, of
flowers, of happiness.
_Question_. What is worse than death?
_Answer_. Oh, a great many things. To be dishonored. To be
worthless. To feel that you are a failure. To be insane. To be
constantly afraid of the future. To lose the ones you love.
--_The Herald_, Rochester, New York, February 25, 1896.