Belmont chronicle. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1855-1973, 1875-09-02
THE SCHOOL QUESTION.
Great Speech of Judge Taft at
Cleveland.

Great Speech of Judge TAFT a
Cleveland.
Judge Taft delivered, in Cleveland
on Monday night Of last week, care
fully prepared speech on the schoo
question, the Catholic Church, and tht
Democratic party. He begins with the
proposition that the Democrats, upor
assembling in Convention, feared the
school question, lin which they felt they
were compromised, and tried TO sup
press it; but, he says,
''The relation between the Democrat
ic party and the Catholic clergy, who
are opposed to the common-schOol sys'
tenn, was such that the issue could mo-
be evaded by platform, and the atti
tude of the Catholic clergy, as between
the parties, renders it impossible to ig'
more them in our present contest with
the Democrats"
Under the head "GrOunds of Appre
honsion," the Geghan Bill is consider.
ed, and the Judge mentions that the
pOllll IL lulStS ID lllIs.
"That the Catholic clergy claimed il
as an important measure to which Hea
Church was entitled, and demanded il
at the hands of the Democratic MAORI.
ty, as a consideration for the Catholic
vote in the past, and condition OF
their receiving it in the future. On the
same principle, if the Republicans
should promise to divide the school
fund, or to abandon the school system,
they might expect a pledge of the
Catholic vote from the clergy, unless
the Democrats should bid higher"
Again:
81 regret to see scctarianism intro
duced into politics. But the Democra-
cy have purchased the support of the
Catholic Chnrch by a sectarian consid-
Grafton, and are enjoying that support.
They have no right, therefore, to claim
exemption from the natural consequent
ces. Nor can the Church com plain,
when it identifies itself with a political
party, that itsIpolitical actions sho'd be
canvassed. They, the Democrats and
the Catholic clergy, have agreed to
combine against the Republicans. The
Catholic clergy are supposed to have
no other object in this coalition than 10
divide the school fund. or eestroy the
common school system. Is it right to
trust this vital interest of the Republic
to such a combinations"
The Democratic platform, the Judge
says, is mere presentation, and he
says
"The Democratic politicians seem to
concede that their relation to the Cath
olic opponents of the schools is suspi-
cious, and calls for explanation. 9th
erwise, why do they make such a
plank, when they reproach the Re-
publicans for doing the same thing, as
insulting to the people of Ohio? They
seem to have felt no apprehension that
the Democratic plank would come un-
der the same condemnation. 1t is for
the people of Ohio to say whether these
protestations can be relied upon or
trusted under the circumstances. The
interest is too vital to be left in any
doubt"
The Judge gives at length, with the
documents, the history of the negotia-
tions between the Archbishop of Gin
cinnati and the Board of Education in
1869, and shows that though the Board
made the schools secular, excluding
the Bible and religious teaching, still the
priesthood would not consent that
Catholic children should attend the
common schools
'And adopted at Cincinnati rule
that no Catholic child should be con-
firmed, unless he or she had attended
the parochial schools of the Church at
least two years-a rule which am ad-
vised had already been adopted in the
Cleveland diocese. The result has been
to keep large majority of the Catho
lie children out of the common schools,
which are undoubtedly much better
than the parochial, thus infiicting a
deep injury upon the education of such
children"
The root of the difficulty is in Rome.
The Encyclical and Syllabus are not
Republican documents. They do not
barmonize with the Constitution of
Ohio, or with Republican institutions,
and he quotes them to prove the fact.
The Protestant clergy were not at first
willing that the schools should be COM
pletely secularized, and opposed the
sweeping measure of the Board.
"But on the second sober thought,
they concluded that the law and the
Constitution, as eXpounded by the
Court, furnished the only solid ground
ON which the system could stand fast
and safe against all attacks from what
ever source"
As to goddess Schools" the Judge
says:
''If there is anything divine in
America, it is our republican form of
government. If there is anything di-
vine in the Republic, it is its system of
common schools. 1t is time that we
should all learn the infinite folly Of at
tempting to fasten upon any part of
Gods creation our puny condemnation,
by denouncing it as goddess The use
of the term in reference to the schools
implies an utter want of appreciation
of the relative position of the schools
and the Church, in this country"
And he adds that if the Church goes
nto politics, it will be treated as q pol
itician. He draws broad distinction
between the Catholic laity and clergy,
and remarks:
81 am glad to learn that the Arch
bishop of Cincinnati has disapproved of
the term goddess as applied
to the public schools, and at the
same time remarked that some of the
best teachers in the parochial schools
had been educated in the public schools
of Cincinnati. But as the Democratic
party is frantic for political power, and
are willing to ruin our currency in Or
der to get it, so some Of these priests
seem to be frantic for the mastery of
the schools. They want the children
under their unchecked control. In
school and out of school they must be