WASHINGTON GLADDEN: FIRST CITIZEN OF COLUMBUS |
by C. GEORGE FRY The story is told that Washington Gladden was once a guest at a down- town businessmen's luncheon in Columbus.l A stranger was present and was introduced to Doctor Gladden. Assuming him to be a physician, he asked, "Sir, where do you practice?" Gladden smiled, and replied, "Oh, I don't practice. I just preach."2 Friends and admirers of Washington Gladden knew, however, that he did practice as well as preach in many areas. He was, beyond doubt, one of the most celebrated and distinguished citizens of Columbus, Ohio, in a century. He had a national reputation for many reasons. Together with Walter Rauschenbusch, he has been acclaimed by church historian William Warren Sweet as the father of the social gospel in American Protestant- ism.3 Generally remembered asF "a prophet of social justice,"4 he cham- pioned the rights of labor in an age of big business, and began to attack "the utter stupidity and absurdity of an industrial system based on [labor] war."5 In the realm of labor relations he was a "trail blazer" of the mod- erate approach.6 Concern for economic justice prompted him to initiate a petition which urged President Theodore Roosevelt to intervene in the anthracite coal strike of 1902.7 In his passion to apply Biblical principles NOTES ARE ON PAGES 130-131 |
WASHINGTON GLADDEN 91
to nineteenth-century capitalism he
became involved in a Hocking Valley
coal strike and in a "tainted
money" controversy with the powerful Rocke-
feller family. Because of Gladden's
actions in the field of industrial ethics,
he could easily be called "Mr.
Social Gospel," and a contemporary praised
him as "A Preacher and
Patriot."8 He espoused minority rights in an
era of prejudice and bias, was an early
advocate of Negro advancement,
fought anti-Semitism, and urged an end
to the discrimination against
Roman Catholics by the American
Protective Association. Washington
Gladden's patriotism was derived from
his conception of the civic responsi-
bility of the minister, for, he wrote,
"The greatest among us have been
preachers. Abraham Lincoln was, from
first to last, a preacher of right-
eousness. Theodore Roosevelt won his
power as a preacher. The greatest
preacher of this century is Woodrow
Wilson. I should like to be counted
worthy of their company."9
Undergirding his social and civic
consciousness was a commitment to
being a man of the Word. As a preacher
and lecturer he was well known
in America and Europe. His publisher and
lifelong friend Roswell Smith
commented upon this characteristic in a
letter of January 9, 1885: "You
are a teacher and preacher primarily . .
. and your power is due less to
your art than your ideas -- though your art
is admirable -- yet it is the
preacher's art."10 On the occasion
of his seventieth birthday, Outlook
magazine described the close correlation
between Gladden's social ethic
and his role as a speaker and minister:
"He has not been a preacher of
the gospel and a moral reformer; he has
been a preacher of the gospel
that is moral reform."11 As a
homilist and lecturer he spoke at many uni-
versities, including Ohio State,
Harvard, and Oxford. He proclaimed his
message with such power and conviction
that he was recognized as "A
Venerable American Preacher"12 and
as one of the greatest men of the
American pulpit since Jonathan
Edwards.13 His sermons and lectures
sought to reconcile faith and life,
religion and science. A contemporary
said of him:
The special distinction of the Rev. Dr.
Washington Gladden . . .
is that pre-eminently among American
clergymen, during this period
of disintegration of old beliefs and
reconstruction of new, he has
kept his eyes open to the new knowledge
of scientists, Biblical schol-
ars, and sociologists, and has
interpreted this new truth for the
spiritual, ethical, and political
guidance of his fellow-men, not only
in this country, but to some degree,
throughout the English-speaking
world.14
He saw his task as being that of an
interpreter of the insights of nine-
teenth-century theology for the
inquiring layman. As such, he was one
of the great moderates of American
Protestant liberalism.15
The Word was not only spoken, but was
also written. Gladden was a
noted author and editor. He found time
to compose over forty volumes
on religion, social problems, and
fiction. His topics ranged from discus-
92 OHIO HISTORY
sions of Present Day Theology and
Applied Christianity to Christmas
stories for children and Calendar
Verses for devotional use in the home.16
From 1871 to 1875 he was engaged in
journalism, serving as an editor of
the Independent. He also wrote a
classic of Protestant hymnology, "O
Master, Let Me Walk with Thee," and
assisted in the compilation of The
Pilgrim Hymnal.
Gladden was also active in church
administration. He studied parish
problems and edited a book on the
subject,17 prepared the way for the
Federal, later National, Council of
Churches, and participated in ecu-
menical activities. He was a forerunner
of Roman Catholic-Protestant dia-
logue, endorsed a World Parliament of
Religions in Chicago by his pres-
ence, and was a pioneer of the community
church movement. On the
denominational level he served as
moderator of the Congregational
Churches in the United States in the
years 1904-5.
To the end of his life Gladden led
causes of social, political, and religious
reform. He helped the settlement-house
movement get started and sup-
ported the social goals of the
progressive movement. He worked for civic
improvement by penning novels describing
ideal urban planning and ad-
ministration.18 His last great crusade
was the defense of pacifism in the
face of the World War in Europe in 1914.
Upon his death on July 2, 1918,
it could well be said that Gladden
"was one of those Americans whose
life, in the span it covered, in the
changes it witnessed, in the compass
and wealth of its achievement and the
measure of its productiveness, fills
one with admiration."19
If Gladden was a national leader of
significance, he was also a vital
force in the life of Columbus. His
reputation as a central figure in the social
gospel movement has often overshadowed
his role as "The First Citizen of
Columbus."20 This neglect of his
influence upon the religious, social, and
cultural development of Ohio's capital
city has been unfortunate, for
Gladden always considered himself
primarily the preacher of the First
Congregational Church and a citizen of
Columbus. Writing in his Recol-
lections in 1909 he said he hoped that his friends would always
remember
him as a preacher, for "I do not
want from them any other verdict."21
He was convinced that his major
responsibility was to be a good citizen
and parish pastor.22
It was almost by chance that Gladden
came to Columbus. Late in the
year 1882, he recalled in his Recollections,
he found himself "considerably
worn and jaded" following eight
years of service at Springfield, Massa-
chusetts. "One blue Monday
morning" a letter arrived from Ohio asking
if he would consider a call to the First
Congregational Church of Columbus.
Simultaneously he received a telegram
from his publisher and confidant,
Roswell Smith, saying that he was on his
way to Springfield. "The case was
before me, and the counselor was
coming." His opinion was "prompt and
positive. . . . I must go. . . . I
should find profit in transplanting myself
into that soil. The areas were larger,
and so were the opportunities. I
might want to come back to the East,
some day, but for the next ten years,
WASHINGTON GLADDEN 93
at least, that was the place for
me."23 Accepting the call, he arrived in
Columbus in time to be hailed by his new
parishioners as "our Christmas
present."24
Though Columbus was to be the most
permanent home Gladden ever
knew, he was not at once pleased with
the place. At first "the environment
was," he confessed,
"depressing." Yet his new neighbors warmly welcomed
him. Recalling in 1909 the reception he
had received in 1882, he tried to
characterize the city:
Commercially and industrially it has
always been rather conserva-
tive; it has not much resorted to booms;
its growth has been steady
and solid; its enterprise has not been
flighty. ... Its first settlers
came largely from Virginia and Kentucky;
quite a perceptible south-
ern flavor could be detected in its
social life a quarter of a century
ago. One sign of that was a hospitality
rather more cordial than one
would look for in a New England city, or
in a typical western city.
One early impression which bore
significance for future events was
Gladden's reaction to the political life
of Columbus. He found it, "like
every other capital city, pervaded by
the atmosphere of politics." From his
church on the capitol square he could
observe the " 'pernicious activity' "
of the politicians. Though he suspected
that the local "infatuation" with
politics had its "humorous
aspect," he "did not easily adjust [himself]
to it," often thinking his
"mugwumpery was a serious offense."25
By 1885 Gladden was ready to leave
Columbus. He considered either
entering the field of writing or
accepting a parish in Washington, D. C.
Roswell Smith argued strongly against
both and urged him to remain at
his post.26 Adhering to these suggestions, he
reconciled himself to resi-
dence in Columbus, and the same year he
was to say in a sermon:
Columbus is, in many respects, a goodly
city. Its situation is health-
ful, its streets are wide and fair, its
homes are comfortable, its
social life is without ostentation,
there is a great deal of neighborly
kindness and courtesy; there is a good
deal of cultivation.27
With this acceptance of Columbus and his
mission there, there began a
remarkable career as a civic leader.
The influence of Washington Gladden on
the religious, civic, and cul-
tural life of Columbus derived from
three sources: his powerful preaching
and personality, his prophetic insight
and achievements, and his record
of unselfish public service to the
community.
Gladden's pulpit was one of the most
important in the city. The First
Congregational Church was steadily
growing. Its membership increased
from less than three hundred
constituents in 1873 to over one thousand in
1918.28 Included were the leaders in the
educational, business, and profes-
sional circles of Columbus. In 1902
Professor J. B. Smith commented that
"of the instructional force of
one-hundred and thirty [at Ohio State Uni-
94 OHIO HISTORY
versity], thirty-two with their families
are either members or regular
attendants on the services of First
Church."29 Such Ohio State personali-
ties as President Edward Orton,
historian W. H. Siebert, electrical engineer
F. C. Caldwell, and chemist William
McPherson were members of the
parish. Business figures of Columbus,
like the Jeffreys, the Deshlers, and
Dr. S. B. Hartman and F. W. Schumacher
of Peruna fame, were in the con-
gregation.30 It had a membership which
was intellectually alert and aware
of a social mission. A "platform
church," it was located in the heart of the
town, with the motto, "Our parish
is city wide."31 It furthermore had a
heritage of protest and reform. As early
as 1839 its forerunners had sought
a "First Congregational
Church," but Dr. Lyman Beecher, then at Lane
Seminary, Cincinnati, urged caution,
stating that in the West "Congrega-
tionalism was not understood and was
synonymous with Unitarianism and
Universalism." The charter members
heeded his advice and became an
Independent Presbyterian Church.
Dissatisfaction with this "Presbyga-
tionalist" situation prompted
forty-two members of that society to estab-
lish the "Third Presbyterian Church
of Columbus, Ohio," on September
29, 1852, which on November 3, 1856,
finally became the First Congrega-
tional Church.32 The new congregation
endorsed emancipation in the era
of sectional controversy and became
known as "the abolition church" and
was "unpopular among the
masses."33 In the Civil War the church was a
"witness for loyalty and
liberty."34 By the time Gladden arrived, it was
ready for courageous and liberal
leadership.
Gladden was fit for the occasion. His
preaching and personality met the
challenge and made him the most
influential clergyman in the city. He
provided for the mental needs of his
parishioners out of his own searching
intellect. Even "his eighty-third
year found him discussing in his pulpit,
with a vigor which must have perpetually
astonished his congregation,
the truths and errors of H. G. Wells'
conception of God, Josiah Royce's
theory of interpretation, the merits and
defects of Sir Oliver Lodge's in-
vestigation of the phenomena of
spiritism, and other topics of the theo-
logical day."35 Believing that
"the preacher's province includes all truth,"36
his topics ranged from "Theodore
Roosevelt" to "Bad Men of the Bible,"
and from "A Tale of Two
Cities" to "The Relation of Public Service Com-
panies to City Governments."37 In
over three thousand Sunday morning
addresses and close to two thousand
evening lectures he maintained a
quality of freshness and depth. One
auditor recalled that "he gave one
something to think about."38 A
reader wrote: "One cannot read these ser-
mons without being impressed afresh by
the unfailing common sense, the
luminous sanity, and the wide sympathy
of the preacher. He keeps close
to the earth where men live. . . . He
does not offer us cake, but bread."39
Inspiring insight was coupled with
intellectual content. One man who
had been a child in his congregation
remarked: "He reminded me of a
reincarnation of an Old Testament
prophet."40 Glenn Atkins, a student
who heard Gladden preach for several
years, spoke of his ability to enrich
mind and heart through an honest and
direct approach: "He used words
|
with a grave reverence. Simplicity and clarity were aspects of his native strength. . . . He was economical with 'absolute' and like abstractions and meticulous about facts. His style always grew more simple."41 Humor and human interest added to his strength as a molder of opin- ion. In a eulogy of Samuel Galloway he said it was plain "that Mr. Galloway was not a perfect man; that he was not even a perfect politician; he lived at too early a date for this; the perfect politicians have all come to Colum- bus since his day!"42 On another occasion, speaking of joy, he startled his Sunday audience by asking, "Don't you suppose there will be playgrounds in heaven?" And he replied, "Surely, surely! No man or woman of this generation who ever was a child could conceive of a heaven without play- grounds."43 Behind his intellect, ability to inspire, and understanding of human nature, lay the real source of his power -- his personality and his im- pressive pulpit presence. This is best revealed in the recollections of audi- tors of his Sunday morning sermons in his last years.44 Gladden would stand as the sermon hymn was finishing, lay down his hymnal on the seat of his chair, and walk to the pulpit. He was not a tall man; his height was about five feet seven inches, yet standing behind the preaching desk he made a never-to-be-forgotten impression upon his congregation. His white beard and his high forehead reminded one of the aged St. John preaching |
96 OHIO HISTORY
at Ephesus.45 His eyes were dark and
deep and spoke of a fiery love of
life. The gravity of his character, his
staunch, erect posture, his perfect
sense of poise, his scholarly demeanor,
and gracious pulpit presence con-
veyed a sense of warmth and authority.
Adjusting his glasses, he looked
up at the congregation as they finished
the hymn. He seemed to notice
them for the first time. Clearing his throat,
he made the announcements
of the day. Then opening the worn,
leather packet in which he carried his
sermon manuscript, he stated his text
and theme. Placing the pouch to
the side of the pulpit stand, he
unfolded the sermon manuscript and read
the text, often translating directly
from the Greek. The first page turned,
he paused, looked at his audience, and
began to read the sermon slowly,
seriously, and with a soft voice.46
Though "he was not an eloquent preacher,
as the world judges oratory,"47 and
though he was "nothing spectacular
at all,"48 his pulpit work was
characterized by "definite conviction, great
earnestness, and the breadth and
simplicity of expression which . . . made
the common people listen to him
gladly."49 Hearing him speak at Harvard
in 1893 a listener said, "We knew
of a surety that it was good for us to be
there. His word was with power."50
Even more effective than his words were
his deeds. His preaching con-
veyed his principles to the public of
Columbus; his civic activities con-
firmed them.
One of the earliest occasions for
Gladden to manifest his social con-
science was in the Hocking Valley coal
strike of 1884. The general man-
ager of the mines was a member of
Gladden's parish. On a visit to him
in his office, Gladden was informed by
the businessman in "very emphatic
terms" that the company would
"kill that union if it costs us half a million
dollars."51 Gladden, nevertheless,
continued to champion the cause of the
laborers.
An equally famous example of Gladden's
role as a civic leader came in
1900. Early that year there was some
reason to believe that a ring had
been formed among the current members of
Columbus city council for
the purpose of entering into a corrupt
bargain with certain public-service
corporations. Fearing such a conspiracy,
Gladden, "without taking counsel
with any one," decided to seek a
seat on the council.52 In February he an-
nounced his candidacy for the seat
representing the seventh ward:
I have volunteered to serve the city as a
member of the council
from the seventh ward because I believe
I can be of service to the
city in that position. Very important
matters are to come before
council during the next year, matters to
which I have given much
thought and in the decision of which I
should hope to be able to give
intelligent assistance.
The people know me and know, I think,
the principles which will
guide my action in all these affairs. I
have no interests to serve,
but the interests of the public.
I have announced my willingness to take
this burden upon myself
and that ends the matter so far as I am
concerned.
WASHINGTON GLADDEN 97
I shall make no canvass, pay no
assessments, ask for no votes. If
the people want me to serve them, I will
do it.53
Gladden was elected as an Independent
and began his career as a Columbus
city councilman.
To this position he brought several
years of thought and experience
concerning the problems of municipal
government. He had published two
novels containing his philosophy of
metropolitan administration while
in Columbus. The first of these was The
Christian League of Connecticut,
published in 1883. Ten years later a
series appeared in Century Maga-
zine portraying a utopian urban situation. Published in book
form as
The Cosmopoliis City Club, it described how a group of visionary men
had met in an imaginary American town
and organized for the purpose
of exposing and curing the abuses of the
contemporary city.
Earlier, as an editor of the Independent,
he had attacked the "Tweed
Ring" of New York without mercy.
While in Columbus he had lectured
frequently on the problems of the
city,54 and had invited Seth Low, when
reform mayor of Brooklyn, to speak at
the Columbus University Club and
from the pulpit of the First
Congregational Church. Theodore Roosevelt,
as police commissioner of New York City,
had occupied that same pulpit
while visiting Columbus, and his
discussion of urban issues aroused con-
siderable excitement, which was
accelerated by Roosevelt's charm and
individuality. Gladden also had been
active in the establishing of the Na-
tional Municipal League in 1894 as a
federation of local civic organizations.
Similarly he assisted in the formation
of the City Club of New York and
the Civic Federation of Chicago.55 He
was impressed with the efficiency
of the administration of British
cities.56 As early as March 17, 1884, he
had advised Columbus citizens to vote an
independent ticket and to be
free of partisan partiality.57 On
another occasion he wrote in the Ohio
State Journal that "offices should be given to the men who will
enforce
the law, and keep the whole covenant
expressed or implied in the oath
when he takes the oath of
office."58 With these qualifications of practice
and principles, Pastor Gladden plunged
into the reality of Columbus
politics.
He sat on a council composed of lawyers,
retail businessmen, clerks,
accountants, and saloonkeepers.59 The
main problems confronting the body
were the street railway franchise and
rates, the need for increased mu-
nicipal electrical power, the price of
natural gas, and water and sewage
treatment.
To the question of a change in public
transit rates, Gladden brought
his immense concern for the
underprivileged. In his Recollections is re-
flected his passion to save the
"widow's mite" and his understanding of the
difference a penny could make in the
economy of the poor:
The saving of a cent and a half or two
cents on a street-railway
fare seems a small matter to contend
for; but it is such small matters
98 OHIO HISTORY
that make a difference to people of
small incomes, between health
and feebleness, between decency and
squalor, between hope and de-
spondency. Take the case of a
laboring-man with a family of five,
living at some distance from work and
market and school. It is a
safe calculation that a difference
between a five-cent fare and a
three-cent fare may make a difference to
this family of fifteen cents
a day, one dollar and five cents a week,
fifty-four dollars and sixty
cents a year. That may mean a
substantial addition to the amount
of nourishing food; it may mean a Sunday
suit for the man and a
decent gown for the woman, and clothes
and shoes for the children,--
items which have a great deal to do with
self-respect and content-
ment. It is out of these minute
exactions that great fortunes are built
up; a street-railway company which is
carrying fifty million passen-
gers in a year adds to its gains half a
million dollars by adding one cent
to its passenger rates. And it is
equally true, on the other side, that
it is by these small exactions that the
comfort and welfare of the
laboring-class is greatly reduced.60
Unregulated transit activities and
charges, said Gladden, could tend "to
undermine the foundations of our
democracy, to undermine the will and
needs of the people, to undermine the
public good."61
The transit question broiled through the
summer and autumn of 1900.
Finally, in early February 1901, a
satisfactory agreement was achieved.
The compromise was based on
recommendations similar to those made
by Gladden. Though he did not vote on
the issue, possibly fearing haste
and neglect of fundamental questions of
ownership and regulation, the
provisions which emerged were akin to
those he had proposed. A local
paper described the compromise as
"one of the best grants for the people
that has ever been accepted by a street
railway company in the United
States."62
After transportation, the next question
was municipal electric power.
In mid-summer 1900 the public power
plant had closed its doors. To
aggravate the situation, the city,
feeling that the Columbus electric com-
pany had been unfaithful to its contract
obligations, had withheld pay-
ment on several monthly bills.63 In this
emergency Gladden became an
advocate of municipal ownership and
operation of the power facilities.
On a fact-finding mission Gladden
visited Springfield and Dayton and
recommended that Columbus hire an expert
in the area of electric power.
He encouraged city council to pass a
resolution favoring the extension
of the publicly owned power plant.64 A
further resolution placed this fa-
cility under civil service to prevent it
from becoming a political plum.65
The Gladden experiment became a model
for much of the Midwest.
The intricate discussions concerning
transit fares and power rates,
coupled with the problems of the price
of natural gas and the dilemma
of river pollution proved
time-consuming. By April 1902, though Gladden
had rendered a real service to the city
of Columbus, and though he had
won some major victories for civic
advancement, he decided to resign.
WASHINGTON GLADDEN
99
He put his thoughts about his brief
tenure of office in his Recollections:
I took my leave of the Columbus city
council in April, 1902, with
a sincere regret. I had no consciousness
of having achieved great
things; but I had come into close
contact with the vital needs of my
city, and I had had some part in solving
some of its most pressing
problems. I laid the burden down because
it was not possible for me
to bear it any longer. The work of my
church was heavy and exacting,
it could not be delegated, I must resign
either my charge or my office.
The results of my experience were a
deepened sense of the serious-
ness of the business of municipal government.66
Resignation from city council did not
imply Gladden's departure from
the public life of Columbus. He
continued to render social and educational
services. He was instrumental in the
establishment of the Columbus School
for Girls, and his daughter Alice was
for many years a joint headmistress
of that institution.67 Mrs. Gladden was
long a teacher and counselor in
the Bethel Sunday School.68 When local
partisans of the American Pro-
tective Association manifested prejudice
and bias against the Roman
Catholic population of the city, Gladden
affirmed the principles of re-
ligious tolerance. For his defense of
the liberty of Roman Catholics to
follow their conscience, he was awarded
an honorary doctor of laws de-
gree from Notre Dame in 1905. Gladden
sought to meet the needs of the
poor by establishing what later became
known as the Gladden Community
House. Much interested in Ohio State
University, Gladden served it as a
visiting lecturer and as a pastor to
many of its professors and students.
On one occasion he was nearly elected
its president. As a counselor and
spiritual guide to the commercial
community of Columbus, he had an
influence for good which is impossible
to measure.69 On week ends his
office in the tower of the First
Congregational Church would often be
crowded with businessmen seeking advice
and assistance.
In the areas of human rights, social
work, education, and urban reform,
Gladden became "Mr. Columbus."
By 1914, however, he felt the time was
ripe for retirement. The death of his
wife on May 8, 1909, had left
him severely grieved. Alone in his old
age, he was burdened with a con-
dition of semi-paralysis, and was unable
to use his right arm. Though
pastor emeritus, his prophetic power had
not departed. His words still
roused the spirits of men, for "as
one heard them said they had the drive
of a piston--a piston which had enmeshed
lightning."70 Disease, loneli-
ness, and despair engendered by the
Great War took their toll. Gladden
died on July 2, 1918. In his final years
friends had realized "that he
was a great man doing a great thing very
simply and very naturally."71
THE AUTHOR: C. George Fry is the
minister of the Martin Luther Lutheran
Church of Columbus and a graduate stu-
dent at Ohio State University. His
article
is based on his master's thesis.
WASHINGTON GLADDEN: FIRST CITIZEN OF COLUMBUS |
by C. GEORGE FRY The story is told that Washington Gladden was once a guest at a down- town businessmen's luncheon in Columbus.l A stranger was present and was introduced to Doctor Gladden. Assuming him to be a physician, he asked, "Sir, where do you practice?" Gladden smiled, and replied, "Oh, I don't practice. I just preach."2 Friends and admirers of Washington Gladden knew, however, that he did practice as well as preach in many areas. He was, beyond doubt, one of the most celebrated and distinguished citizens of Columbus, Ohio, in a century. He had a national reputation for many reasons. Together with Walter Rauschenbusch, he has been acclaimed by church historian William Warren Sweet as the father of the social gospel in American Protestant- ism.3 Generally remembered asF "a prophet of social justice,"4 he cham- pioned the rights of labor in an age of big business, and began to attack "the utter stupidity and absurdity of an industrial system based on [labor] war."5 In the realm of labor relations he was a "trail blazer" of the mod- erate approach.6 Concern for economic justice prompted him to initiate a petition which urged President Theodore Roosevelt to intervene in the anthracite coal strike of 1902.7 In his passion to apply Biblical principles NOTES ARE ON PAGES 130-131 |