Ohio History Journal

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

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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-

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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,

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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-

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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

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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

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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.

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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

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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.

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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.

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