The St. Cloud journal. [volume] (St. Cloud, Minn.) 1866-1876, 1876-02-03

from two OF the residents of this city
aud the reply thereto bv the Hon. D
Burt, State Superintendent of Publ.
Instruction. The letter of Messrs
Robertson and Obermiller, who are
both old and respected citizens Of
this place, discaoses q condition Of
affairs in one Of the common schools
Of St. Cloud calculated to excite in.
tense indignation; it shows that thi.
school, which is supported at the pub
lie expense, Is under the control and
subject to the dictation Of the Catho-
lie priest of this parish, who make.
use Of a part Of the school hours Of
certain days Of each week to person,
ally teach the Catholic catechism to
the Catholic children, the Protestant
children being sent home against the
wishes Of their parents. This is not
only violation Of both the letter
and spirit of our common school law,
in being an attempt to impose sec.
tarianism upon these schools, but it is
a great wrong done to those children
who are deprived Of the full daily
school term-a violation Of the rights
Of all Catholic parents in the
district. And to this injustice there
is no limit when the right to turn
certain children out of the school
that certain other children may re-
ceive ,ligious instruction, is once ad-
mittsd. If one hour in two days Of
each week may be taken, then two
hours in three days may be taken,
and finally the entire sessions Of each
day. This encroachment once tolera-
ted, even in the slightest degree. and
our common schools become mere
parochial schools, the property Of
whatever sect may happen to be in
the majority in any particular locali-
ty.
The state of facts set forth by
Messrs. Obermiller and Robertson
shows that the anticipations as to
what was intended to be secured
through the creation of the new
school district last winter were. only
too correct. 1t shows what was
meant by Prot. Kaiser in his pub
lished statement that the old district
Comprising all Of the city, had been
divided 80 that the Catholics could
have their own schools" 1t shows
that the point to be gained was not
the education of the children but
their instruction in the religious ten
cts Of a particular church.
These gentlemen are not in error
in laying large share of the blame
at the door Of Prof: Kaiser, the Coun-
ty Superintendent of Schools. That
he is a Catholic is, in itself, matter
Of no consequence. His religion is
his own and he has perfect right to
it. 1t is no part Of our purpose to
call into question any mans religious
belief: But he must confne his re-
ligion to its own proper sphere and
must not permit it to control his &C.
ton in any official position. That
Prof. Kaiser has failed to do his du.
ty in this respect, and that he has
subordinated the interests Of the
common schools to the wishes of the
hierarchy of his church is q matter
beyond dispute. While holding the
Office of County Superintendent of
Schools and drawing a salary of from
81 1000 to 81 200 per year from the
county treasury, he is the avowed en-
envy Of the public schools, and by
hostility and neglect combined has
done much to impair their usefulness.
In the St. Cloud Nordste,n of March
18th, 1875, of which paper he is one
Of the editors, appeared an article in
which he declared it to he "a fact
that children in non-sectarian schools
are brought up like small hunting
dogs" that "the Catholics are
against the so-called free schools and
wou Id rather keep their children at
home than have them spoiled there ;"
and that while pupils in these schools
are taught reading, writing, arithme-
tic, etc., securing "a small amount of
muddy knowledge" they receive no
religious instruction. This denunci-
alton of the schools whose interests
he is paid to protect and advance.
vas continued in subsequent numbers
Of Prof: Kaiser's paper. There is no
doubt that if he were properly dis:
charging bis duty the abuses com.
planned of in District No. ! could
not exist.
That the Catholic priest should OBJ
trude himself upon the school to
teach the catechism Of his church or
interfere in any way with the instruc-
ton Of the pupils by the teachers in
their proper and regular studies, is an
which should not be tolerat-~ ]
ed. 1t would be no less an outrage
if the same thing should be done by
q Methodist, a Baptist, Presbyteri.
IN or Congregational preacher. No
sect has any right whatever to i'm
pose its religious instruction upon
the scholars in any public school.
The trustees of the district should be