Letters December 12, 1908 Issue

LETTERS TO OUR LEADER

with contributions from Charles Griffith Young, Wm. S. Campbell, Wentworth B. Winslow, Louise C. Benedict, Ida L. Baker, Evelyn Sylvester Knowles, Annie M. Childs, James J. Rome

New York, N. Y., Nov. 17, 1908. Mrs. Mary Baker G. Eddy, Brookline, Mass.

Beloved Leader:—I have been most favorably convinced of your great wisdom in authorizing The Christian Science Monitor for the dissemination of important truthful daily news, the universal need for which is clear to me in conclusions drawn from my experiences regarding the ordinary newspaper. Since coming into Christ Science, about eleven years ago, my business has taken me into nearly every country of the globe, often, at first, into places where Christian Science had not been heard of; but what a wonderful yet divinely natural growth has been accomplished, covering to-day practically the whole of the civilized world. And yet Christian Science has made only a beginning, measured by what it will mean to all mankind in the near future.

During some of these long trips I have been deprived of the customary newspaper for many months at a time, until by habit I had become quite contented with very meager cable bulletins of home news items. I was, however, often greatly disturbed and mortified to find that usually at every American consulate could be seen only copies of two of the most notorious of the "yellow journals." My embarrassment will be appreciated when it is known how the people of our good United States of America are actually judged and measured up by the flaming head-lines and record of practically only the horrible, criminal, and degenerate happenings and conditions printed by the ordinary newpaper. Many times I have been asked by foreigners, in their country, Why do not the better class and law-abiding people of the United States rise up and take control of things, so that it will be possible for a person to walk on Broadway or to cross the continent by train without being "held up," sandbagged, or murdered? Their belief that these conditions generally prevail, to the exclusion of personal safety, comes from the newspapers which are sent regularly to these countries. Such an immense amount of good could be accomplished in this direction by the Monitor, that if it is practicable to send copies regularly (say weekly) to every consulate throughout the world, I should be pleased to contribute to a fund to cover such expense.

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