, 1884-01-20

incorrect when the paragraph was
printed in the Sun some weeks ago.
The latest official data about education
in Spain were taken from the census of
lSS0and are given Ia this communication
as they appear in the late report of the
United States commissions of educa-
cation. Spain with its lO0,O 900 priests"
let US pause. Here are 100, 900 edu-
Gated men whose first duty Is to edu-
cate the masses. They are spread
through the cities and towns and rural
districts to reach the masses. How
well they acquit themselves Of their
duty we learn from q reliable witness:
Mr.. Marshall, In his christian Mis-
sion" t~estiies that ''every peasant child
in Spain Is familiar with the sacred
mysteries OF religion and revelation"
This is not so deplorable 3 condition of
affairs. 1t rather confirms than off,
sets the ''often made assertion. OF
course there are countries on earth rich
with the fruits of protestant clviliza-
ton, where such a condition of affairs
does not exist-for what at bottom Is
professionalism but a protest against
truth, mystery, authority, religion. rev.
e%lation, knowledge and educationI
Spain with Its population of TO-
1913 ,276 has II, 1878, 1853 persons who
can neither read nor write" In Spain
as in most other European countries, a
census ia taken every ten years. The
last census was taken in 1880. No ZEN
sus has since been made and therefore
| may presume no later official data has
reached the bureau of education. The
report before me, founded upon the
census of 1885, gives the population of
Spain at 16, 525, $50. Where the writer
of the little paragraph got his 16, $780,
276 is more than L care to say. They
are not the figures of the bureau of ed
ucation nor of the latest official data.
The IL, 97S, 1853 persons who can neither
read nor write are not referred to in
any authentic publication of the edu-
cation bureau which | have seen or
heard Of. For the present, then, L take
this number to represent the mutilated
gospel and f~ragmenting epistles receiv-
ed by the fruit dealers of London with
their Spanish imports after Barrow's
costly, but futile mission. 1 shall be
of this opinion until l am further in
formed.
Granting, however, that there are in
Spain eleven million persons who can
not read nor write. This does not of
set in any fair reasonable mind the
assertion that the Catholic church feels
a deep concern in the education of the
masses. The Cstholic church is a field
where weeds and flowers promiscious
shoot, where wheat and cookie grow
together, where good and bad, rich and
poor, learned and unlearned are mys-
~teriously commingled, she has ever
tried to educate and elevate the masses
but more liberty loving than the United
States Of Free America. She has al
ways recognized in this matter as in
every other the principle of individual
freedom, and has refused to make edu-
cation compulsory. Are there evil
doors in her communionp She would
rather see them good. Are there Hit
eratesr She would rather see them
learned. But God gave every man free
will, and the church of God refuses to
take it away from him, and when we
meet with so many in this country who
can read and write and yet know not
God; when we consider the mormon
disgrace, the frequent crimes against
nature and society, the murders and
suicides, the brutal assaults and daily
divorces in this country where the arts
OF reading and writing are cultivated
upon ''compulsion" Of statute law, we
begin to feel q preference for Spain
where these moral enormities are prac-
tically unknown, and ''where every
PEASANTS child 10 familiar with the sa-
cred mysteries of revelation"
Spain may be a century or so behind
the age. Her taste for the bull fight
may be indicate. Eleven millions OF
her population may be ignorant of arts
which all plants of a younger but less
Christian civilization prize. What has
this to do with the Catholic churchY
Her mission among men is not to teach
them to read and to write, but by her
living voice to teach, and through her
sacramental channels to give the "truth
and the grace'' which men need to at
tain their eternal destiny. She does
not despise other branches of knowl-
edge which ut men for the business of
this life. Witness the superhuman
efforts she has made and is still making
in America to make her children pro-
hcient in every branch of human sci
ence. Count the parochial schools and
academies and colleges which she has
built up upon the generosity of her peo-
pie, while unjust laws compelled them
to support a school system which they
could not approve, and which many
who are not Catholics heartily con-
denim. If her efforts aud vast organ
lied esources have been less successful
in America and in Spain than in France
and Ireland, then l will say thanks to
the bigotry of America and to the mis-
fortunes of Spain.
Here will end. II during the letter
| have made any false statement, l
shall willingly submit when shown my
error. Ny purpose was to speak tue