The Findlay Jeffersonian. [volume] (Findlay, Hancock County, Ohio) 1870-1881, 1875-09-10

Y
Stiluti"i.:,i provision. which says ia,
No religious Or ,.i iI.g st..-! DE $50; s!I:i
eyer liav" ANY 'Xcli!siy'. right To, or "a:
control "f. any put al tlIr school fuii
Of fI.i- state Tlii: Lill, 80 fair uu
eluitahie "H lis Face, docs MT ask
control amy portion uf tn. school iunC
il only asks II Suprcrn" control of Ill
-.:iu"Is supP"rt.d Icy thr school fund
through tide power reserved to- appOiI
the irar!."r L. Instruct and carry O
sad schools" Does it require any al
gumcmt to prove that this Till was a deeI
lad -ehrnr to pervrrt the intention q
the fathers as to the independence q
our grand coInlnun school system lrOI
the inll Ience of all religious sectS!
On looking at the votes and spein
that every Democratic vote was givel
for the bill, Mr.. Young asks: Did tin
alliance bctweeu the Democratic leader
aud Roman Catholic leaders which ma
terialized in the year of grace 1875, ,exiS
in ISG7I'
Aud Mr.. Young continued as follows
"Now, fellow citizens, if this were the
only effort of this kind within oul
knowledge, we might regard it as acci
dental or exceptional, and attribute il
To the imprudent zesl of some zealot,
whose acts neither his party nor his
church should be held responsible for:
but this effort is not exceptional, for
find that last June my friend, Rev. T.. ii,
BrantZ, the Catholic priest of Paris, Ken
tUcky, made n similar proposition to the
School Board of that town, which is in
substance as follows:
The School Board to take charge of
the Catholic school, choose text books,
and otherwise take charge of the school,
provided tlie same teachers that have
had charge OF the schools be retained
and paid a reasonable compensation for
services. The School Board rejected the
proposition on the grounds that the law
made it binding Oh them to choose the
teachers, and they could not allow other
parties to select them"
The same, or substantially the same
btt-Il ll-ltlt anu t-NitSiDliS
attempted ia Connecticut and other
New England STATES, but fortunately
without success; and in all these efforts
to break down the civil power whose
protecting arms are thrown around the
free school system supported by common
taxation, we find that its enemies allied
with the Democracy as the political
power through whose instrumentality
their purposes shall be effected. Ifthey
obtain such political power that they
will dare to do it, they can put their
priestly school under the pay of the
school fund without the change of line
of the law and without furnishing any
thing for the law to take hold of. All
they are waiting for is an assurance that
that the Roman Catholic alliance has
got a firm hold on the State =
The Catholic newspapers all over the
State have openly declared their hostili
ty to our public schools, and the same
papers have pledged the support of the
Catholic vote to the Democratic party.
Taking these frc:s together, it looks like
an alliance for "A purpose, and | think
the Republican party was justified in de
claring their firm adherence to school
= SSttlll ~ AltstI ~ us stS a. Wlltu
it was threatened with danger in the fu-
ture.
But the Democratic -adrrs deny that
there was anything written or published
upon which to base sueh a presumption,
and raise the cry of religious intoler-
;lnce.
will quote as IL sample a very few
of the expressions Of the Catholic pa.
pers of Our State, which will satisGyany
reasonable man that something was said
to Justify the presumption, quote from
the Toledo Catholic RfGie1r:
'"TIIe Catholic vote should be east
solidly for the Democracy at the coming
election. Ii is the only possible hope TO
break down the school system.
This is bold and plain and outspoken,
and shows eXaetiy where the reliance OF
the enemies Of our free schools is placed,
and what IS expected of the Democracy
il they succeed.
The Catholic Telegraph, published in
CINCINNATI, speaking of our schools, said:
''It will be a glorious dag for Catholics
III this country when, under the laws of
iustior and morality, our school system
shall he shivered 10 pieces. Until then
modem paganism will triumph" p"
And this same paper which gave ut
ter;nee to this sentiment, said Il few
months ago:
''The unhrnkcH, solid vote Of The Cath
Ole citizens OF this State will be given to
the Democracy at the fall election"
Aud the same paper published only
last Thursday, August 26, in referringto
the very able and exhaustive speech of
JLdge Taft, at Cleveland, reiterates the
same sentiments IN more emphatic
terms. Being the organ of the Arch
bishop, it aSsum, to own the political
conscience of every layman within the
Catholic fold, ana speaks for them ac-
cCrdingly. The editor OF the Telegraph
does not say the Catholic vote ''StOHId
be east solidly for the Democracy at the
eomimg election" as does the Toledo
Rccjel0, but being the oracle, and speak
ing as one having authority and not as
the scrihes, say: '"TiIe unbroken, solid
vote of the catholic citizens 5CW he Civ
eli to the Democracy this fall"
On this plausible proposition which
seems so Iiberable on its face, the Gin
einnati GGzette says:
The donation" Of school houses
would be made to appear as great
stroke of liberaIity on the part of the
Roman Catholic Church. No other
Church had ever proposed anything of
the kind. Then The teachers would be
required to paSsan examination. Their
ability TO teach would thus be establish
ed. Thus the people would have school
houSes free ofcost-whereas each of our
school houses cost an average of fifty TO
seventy five thousand dollars and teach
ers competent to teach. The Archbsh-
on merely asked the privilege of ap-
pointing the teachers How liberal. how
fair. we wouid be told, and with a Dem
oeratie State government, and n Demo-
cratic Board of Education, the propo-
sition. we may be sure, wonld be adopt
ed
Suppnse that policy should be adopt-
ed? We would have sectarian schools
supported by general taxation: the very
thing the trainers of the Constitution
aimed to guard against. Methodists.
and Presbyterians, and Baptists. and
EpiseopaIians. might build school hous-
es. donate" them, nominally. and, ap-
pointing their own teachers, the whole
system would run into sectarian schools
and the State would have little to do