The state rights democrat. [volume] (Albany, Linn County, Oregon) 1865-1900, 1865-10-07
ny WILLIAM n. HOOPER.

The New York Observer has done, and
is doing an excellent work in showing the
danger to our institutions from the pres
ence of 50 large a body of Catholics in this
country. Bound together by the tic of a
common faith that allows political and re
~ligious headship in a foreign ~potentate,
all secrets developed through the comics
I%sional, without mental culture, they con-
stitute a unit to be worked by one string
in the hands of the p~riestly body. 1t has
been the misfortune of the Irish Catholics
to have been united, not only against Pro-
testantism, but against ell those ideas Of
freedom and equality that should be the
birthright of every American citizen.
They have, to a man, been in favor of
slavery; they are now united, to a man,
in their denial of suffrage to the blacks.
The danger is a growing one The
Catholic World informs us that in 1903
the Catholics were loo, 900 ina population
of six and a half millions, or one sixty
fifth of the whole: in 1860 they were
450, 900 in thirteen millions, or one TWEEN
ty-ninth of the whole while in 1860 they
were 4.400, 900 in 81 1000, 900, or one-
seventh of the total population. This
population will continue to grow for
Canada is pouring her legions into this
country faster than ever before, while
the termination of the war throws the
whole South and the magnificent West
open to foreign immigration. The mag
nitude of the danger cannot be overesti-
mated. But the Observer only tells us
of the danger; it points out no mode of
escape. 1t lifts up a voice of warming !;
it does not tell how to avoid the evil.
We propose to show a complete means Of
obviating the danger.
There are In the United States a large
body of men, their numbers increasing as
we move southwark, who are as ignorant
and unedueated as the Irish Catholics.
But they have no common religious faith,
nor does the confessional put them and
their secrets in the power of any man OF
any priesthood. There are four millions
of them almost the exact number that
there are of Catholics all black, all loyal,
and nearly all Protestant. Like the
Irish, they reason through their feelings;
unlike the Irish, they show a great desire
and aptitude for intellectual improvement,
Without any free school system whatever,
their children are counted in free schools
by tens of thousands. While in Wash
ington, Norfolk, Richmond, Newbern.
wherever Northern philanthropy is vii.
ling to teach. thousands of adult blacks
labor by day, study by night, They are
unlike the Catholic Irish. in being doeile
gentle and afEectionate. Their love Of
music, their willing obedience, their re
ligious aspirations are valuable character
%isties. In persistcncy of labor, for stern
and rugged work. the Irish are superior
for the more beautiful qualities of human
Eity. the blacks. But the Christian es
p~ecially notes the fact that the Irish ar,
all Catholic. all hostile to the Bible, al
haters of Professionalism, while the black.
have an intense desire to read the Wore
of God, are nearly all Protestant, and al
followers of Him who came to let the Op
pressed go free.
These two classes are the supplement
. | of each other. Each Is rich in the quail
titles lacking in the other. To one thu
franchise is granted from his birth, o
dlteE d feSAueHcS. 4He Otiie
must rise from poverty to be worth s25'
ibefore he can vote in New York. Ii
, States west and south of New York h
cannot vote at all. Now, if it is desira
bic to meet the positive Catholic elemen
; in politics or religion by one equally pos
, tive in another direction, We have but t
8 clothe the black with the same politiea
power We have already given the white
True, the black is uneultiyated and igno
= rant but so is the Irish. In all our pc
l~litical debates on this question, W re
4 member of no argument against a blael
, voter that is not equally adverse to al
a Irish e And the black voter he
s these advantages: his instincts are o.
|! the side of freedom and of Professionalism
, he is more susceptible of cultivation, an
i he is not the tool of priest or laymau
The gift of franchise to the black insure
4 the perpetnity of free education and re
$ ligion in our land. Give the black ma
, a vote, and every Southern State will b
: loyal, every Northern State true to free
dom. Refuse him the franchise, and tn
rebellion viii not be ended with the gen
| Grafton which gave it birth.
I