St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1890-07-14

portentious facts as these that Roman
Catholic prelates, when they would in
flueDce public opinion, must needs be-
gin by protesting their loyalty. No
Presbyterian or Episcopalian, or Con-
gregationalist or Methodist, or Baptist
minister is ever beard to protest his
loyalty or that of the church he repre-
sents. Why? Because no one doubts
it. The Roman Catholic opposition to
our public schools has been hitherto
based on the statement that they were
sectarian. That objection having been
taken away, by the removal of the Bible
against which the allegation was
aimed, 10 and behold, the Romanists.
with versatility worthy Of the most
fiourishing day of Jesuitry, are opposed
to the public schools because they are
Goddess" By this they mean that they
are secular. Do they object to their
daily bread because it has not Romish
tract in 1T? Do they insist on having
nothing to do with Catholics unless they
are allowed to inject Jesuitry into it?
If it be true, as the Roman Catholics
say, that they cannot support schools
which are not distinctively Catholic,
does it not follow that the government
cannot support it? Where shall we
draw the line of Roman Catholic loyalty
to American institutions? If drawn at
all, Leo XIII. must draw it. Our pub
lie schools are secular, and must ever
remain so if religious freedom is to
abide. Let the churches look to the
matter of religious education; we Pres
byterians will do our part of it, and we
ask no subsidy. Let the fathers and
mothers do their part; san ounce OF
mother is worth pound of priest"
And let the state attend to its own bust
ness in the nOn-Sectarian education OF
the children of the land. We are
growing weary of foreign interference
in our national affairs. Not long ago
MonsignOr O'Connell, of Rome, made a
canvass of our American educational in
situations, for the purpose. as was said,
of reporting to the pope on the proper
attitude of the church toward the pub
lie schools" Reporting to the pope,
torsooth! And who is this pope who
presumes to dictate to ten millions OF
our American people what their atti-
tude shall be toward our public schools?
Does not such impertinence make every
drop of American blood in our veins
boil with indignation? And this is the
foreign prince who has a special claim
on the regard Of the American people.
Objection is furthermore taken to our
public schools because they are alleged
to be ''hot-beds of vice and immoral
ity." If a contrast is invited between
the morals of the public and parOchial
schools we shall be glad to meet it.
Stand at the doors of the two schools
and watch the children as they issue
forth. ''Look on this picture and then
on that" And follow these children
into life. The statistics of the New
York department of charities and cor
rections for 1871-75 show that the pa
rochial schools of New York city for
that period furnished three and half
times as many criminals and paupers,
in proportion to numbers, as did
the public schools. In other
words. child trained up in
Roman Catholic school is three and
a half times as likely to go to prison or
the poOrhouSe as one trained in the
public schools. 1t is not pleasant to
adduce these facts, but the necessity is
forced upon US. What are we to do?
First-Tell the truth about the public
schools and their enemies; tell it with
out prejudice and without fear or favor;
tell it everywhere until the truth is
July kIlOWu. C6COIlu-aS OCOl &c
Washington said. "Put none but Amer
leans on guard" 1t is not safe to trust
any man to manage our government
the principles which underlie it. 1t
was this consideration that moved La
fayette to say, eff the liberties of the
American people are ever destroyed
they will fall by the hands of the Roman
Catholic clergy" Third-Beware Of
honeyed phrases. Beware of Jesuitry.
The policy of Rome has ever been to
hold a dagger in the right hand while
dropping treacle from her lips. We
are asked to compromise" and the
proposed compromise is the sectarian-
izing of our public schools, i. e., the
abandonment of the system. We are
not prepared to depart thus from the
sound principle of severance of church
and state at the dictation of Rome. We
are not prepared to open the pub
lie treasury to church that
took $6,5OO.0O0 from the city Of
New York in eleven years. We
are asked to look at Poughkeepsie.
Suppose we look at New York for mo-
ment. The Roman Catholics there,
paying less than one-tenth of the taxes,
draw from the treasury ten times as
IuuCU DIS oil lIl6 OUIlCl llO
great cathedral on the corner OF Fifth
avenue and Fifty-ninth street is great
monument to Doodle; every foot of
ground on which it stands and every
stone in it's superstructure is stained
with political shame and corruption. No.
we are not ready yet to open our public
eXchequer to the hands of the RomlSh
church. In answer to this same demand
for compromise" our good President
Garfield said, ut would be dangerous to
our institutions to appl y any portion of
the revenues of the nation or of the
state to the support of sectarian
schools" And Gen. Grant said in 1876,
"If we are to have another contest in
the near future of our national exist
ence l predict that the dividing line
will not be Mason's and Dixon's, but it
will be between patriotism and intelli-
gence on one side and superstition, am
bition and ignorance on the other. En-
courage free schools and resolve that
not one dollar appropriated to them
shall be applied to the support of any
sectarian school; resolve that any child
in the land may get common school
education, unmiXed with atheistic.
pagan OF sectarian teachings. Keep the
church and state fore yer separate"
w lltu MOuolS uOI CopOl was III tiiIS
country two or three years ago, he said:
IL am pursuing careful study of your
whole school system. The result is
there is going to be fight. There are
a good many Catholics in this country.
Your school system is inadequate for
them, and they are going to leave it.
Suppose the church should send out a
command to state leave schools in every
parish to establish and support parochial
schools, and send all Catholics to them.
1t can be done by the utterance of a
word as sharp as the click of trigger"
How do you like that admonition?
How do you, good citizens, relish that
word about "the click of a trigger"
We, as a nation.o owe nothing toa church
that deals in such phrases. We are not
going to have any conflict with Rome,
now or ever, because we are strong
enough to prevent 1t.
Long may our land 5e bright
With freedoms holy light;
Protect us by thy might
Great God, our king.
CRUEL, DISHONEST LIVES.
T.I1-z 49,