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| William Howard Taft |
... and President Taft!
One of the oddities of the United States, a nation of immigrants, is an aversion to immigrants --- or at least to those who are not white and Protestant. The current focus of the fearful is on people with brown skin, but at various times perceived threats presented by others have come to the fore, including Irish Catholics during the 19th century.
By the first decade of the 20th century, the Rev. Edward Reynolds Kelley, a Methodist preacher with ties to Chariton, was horrified by immigrants from the Austro-Hungarian empire and foresaw threats to his Christian brand from floods of godless Bohemians, too.
Politically, President William Howard Taft was his Barack Obama --- not because of skin color but because Taft was a Unitarian, as had been Presidents John Adams, John Quincy Adams and Millard Fillmore before him.
The Rev. Mr. Kelley was not shy about expressing his fears and did so in letters to Henry Gittinger, duly pubished in The Chariton Leader, and most likely vocally from whatever pulpits he was occupying at the time, too.
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The Rev. Mr. Kelley, born during 1864 and native to North Carolina, arrived in Lucas County shortly before 1900 as a traveling evangelist. He most likely was drawn here by the Rev. Oliver Fluke, of old Olmitz in Pleasant Township and increasingly influential in the Wesleyan holiness movement --- now in full flower as Pentecostalism --- then emerging among Methodists.
Oliver's sister, Viola Fluke, and the Rev. Mr. Kelley were married during July of 1900 at the parental David Fluke home in Chariton.
Soon thereafter, after being home-based in Chariton for a time, Kelley was licensed to preach by the Iowa Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church and accepted assignments in southwest Iowa.
He was pastor of the Methodist Church in Stanton (Montgomery County) when he outlined the dangers of Mr. Taft in a letter of The Leader dated July 25, 1908, which reads in part as follows:
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"By the way. I asked some of the brethren some few days since how they could conscientiously vote for a man (Taft) for the President of the United States, who is a Unitarian; denying the divinity of Jesus Christ. I am waiting, still, for the answer.
"Party is a good thing, when it is good; but I would prefer to surrender party any time in preference to principle; and I never will cast my vote for any man who denies the divinity of my Lord. Others may do as they please; so will I, and I will see to it that my vote is never cast for an infidel nor for a hater of my Savior, even if he should run on the Prohibition ticket."
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By 1909, the Rev. Mr. Kelley had been reassigned to the Methodist Church in Emerson, Mills County, when he shared his fears of Austro-Hungarians and Bohemians with the people of Lucas County via The Leader. This letter was dated April 15, 1909:
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"Will you and your good readers, Mr. Editor, bear with me if I pen you a few lines? It has been some time since I have written so I thought possibly you and others would, in all probability, be patient with me if I did write again.
"I received from Washington, D.C., some days ago a copy of 'Annual Report of the Commissioner General of Immigration.' In turning over the pages I came across some interesting statistics. I will give you some of them; and from them you can get some idea of how rapidly our population is increasing and from whence cometh this increase.
"During 1905 there came from other lands into our country 1,026,499 immigrants, representing more than thirty-six different nationalities. During 1906, we received 1,100,735; in 1907, 1,285,349; and in 1908, 782,870. Of those entering our ports, the Austria-Hungarian is in the ascendency; with Italy following a close second; and Russia a close third.
"And these people come into our country and in five years --- even less some time --- they become full fledged American (?) citizens. Are we surprised at existing conditions in some localities when we face these startling figures; and these figures telling us that there lies in these homes --- dormant it may be for the time being --- the seeds of Anarchy and Socialism which will spring up and bear fruit some of these days, if we are not careful; and the fruit bearing will not be very palatable to those of us who believe in enjoying American freedom and liberty.
"Think, if you will, of an army of nearly 20,000 a week marching upon an unprotected nation. At the head you see the motley crowds of Russia and Hungary and Romania. At the daily rate of 2,800 it would take this motley crew 166 days to pass in single file; while it would consume eighty days more for the Italians alone to pass from our view.
"Some one has said --- H. B. Grose --- that "the various peoples of Austria-Hungary would fill twenty-seven and one-half towns of 10,000 inhabitants east; or a single city early as large as Detroit."
"But they are here. What are we to do with them?
"In Chicago there are no less than ten Bohemian Sunday schools on the west side teaching --- not Agnosticism but rank infidelity. The catechisms being taught to these children deny the existence of God; refute the divinity of Jesus Christ (Mr. Taft should join them); deny the existence of heaven; say there is no hereafter, etc., etc. And this in Christian (?) America. We fear, it is these, Anarchy and its half-brother; but until the Gospel of Jesus Christ is carried to these people and instilled into their lives we can expect nothing else.
"Our work at Emerson is on the move. God has wonderfully owned our poor, feeble efforts and belssed His word. Some thirty odd have been added to the church since our coming."
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The Rev. Mr. Kelley continued to fill Methodist pulpits in Iowa, Nebraska, Missouri and, eventually, southern California, for the remainder of his life. He died during 1943 in Los Angeles.
His brother-in-law, The Rev. Oliver Fluke, left Methodism behind and became fully engaged as a Pentecostal preacher. When he died in Plainview, Texas, during 1940, his obituary characterized him as an "outstanding Christian" who "faithfully preached hell and damnation to the unrepentant sinner."
William Howard Taft served as president 1909-1913, but was defeated in his 1912 re-election bid by Woodrow Wilson after Teddy Roosevelt split the Repbulican vote by running as an independent. Appointed chief justice of the U.S. Supreme Court during 1921, he served until a few days before his death 1930 --- an unrepentant Unitarian until the end.
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