Arizona weekly miner., 1875-10-22
The Public School Question and the Pol
 iticians.

We do not hold that it is any part ot the duty of secular journals to meddie wlth re- I;gious or sectaIian. controversies. Discos- .ons of this kind can be carried on by the special organs of the various creeds and de- examinations. But occasions sometimes arse where matters directly within the scope ana, so to speak, the jurisdiction of the secular press become so involved with others of different character that they cannot be open Iv and frankly discussed without the risk of seeming to intermeddle with questions of nurely spirituaI and ecclesiasca! nature, ana thus wounding the morbidly sensitive feei- incs of one class or another of religious par tizans Tn such cases the timid journal will refrain from saving what it honestly believes ought to be said, lest it should expose Itsei to the charge of transcending its legitimate sphere and evincing sectarian oias. put no paper that feels strong enough to face the risk of being misunderstood or misrepresent- ed while acting from legitimate motives VIII be so restrained. And when in the course of political discussion it becomes necessary to allude to the attitude of sects, and their connection with current politics. no indepen- dent sclf-respecting journal will hesitate to assume the responsibility.
 The mechanically spectacle of conscience sac rificed for the sole purpose of securing party triumph has been often witnessed ID our politics. We presume no one doubts that it is the aim of the Roman Catholic hierarchy to de- stroy. oi at least to revolutionize, our exist- ing public school system. The Pope m ms syllabus distinctly declared that the Church ought to control the schools, and that secu- lar education could produce nothing but evil. In the alocution delivered at the Con sistory of the Vatican on the 18th of March last. he said {" In schools subject to the ciVii power there is education without faith ana without religion. according to oaneiui worldn If these are historical facts they may be stated without giving just onense to any. If they are correct we will unhesitat- inrly acknowledge such to be the case upon heinz shown our error But the facts can not be contradicted. Daring the pending campaign in Ohio, Bishop McQuald, after saving that every honest minded Christian should labor to bring the children into Chris tian schools" added, 'this means, unques- tionably the breaking down of the present system. But the blame must rest, not on us (the Catholics), but on the bigots and the ln- fidels whose mind would not see the rights of others. and whose hearts were steeled against justice" In similar strain the Catholic Telegraph, Cincinnati paper, says l: "It will be glorious day for Catholics Tn th's country when our school system shall be shivered." The Columbian, the organ of the Catholic Bishop at Columbus, Ohio, uses still stronger language, declaring that Catho- lie parents who send their children to the public schools fought not to be allowed the Sacraments." Finally archbishop Purcell oi Cincinnati and Bishop McQuaid Of New York have frankly declared that the issue be- tween the Church and the public schools must be brought into politics and settled at the ballot-boX. "The unbroken, solid vote of the Catholics eff the State," says the Tel egraph, twill be given to the Democracy at the Fall election" We do not wish to be understood as maintaining that Roman Cath olics are to be blamed for designing to over throw our common schools. They are no doubt sincere in regarding the system ot sec ular education, apart from religious teaching as pernicous. and therefore have right, Il
 possible, to destroy it. If they are acting according to conscientious conviction, wt may oppose, but we cannot blame them. Bu' there can be no mistake as to what the ec
 clesiastical leaders are aiming at. Indeed
 they make no disguise of their intentions and the contest is to be an open one.-lSar
 Francisco Chronicle.