The Manitowoc pilot. [volume] (Manitowoc, Wis.) 1859-1932, 1890-10-02

alton therefor a pledge that the Bennett
law shall be repealed, and a goodly
share of the offices. This church, en-
tering the field as a thoroughly organ
lied and equipped political power, has
demanded and is demanding that the
state stultify itself and betray its trust by
basely conceding that it has neither the
right nor the power to demand that It's
children and future citizens receive a GER
tain limited amount of instruction In bran
ches purely secular, in the legal Ian
guage of this country.
This attempt on the part of church,
by the manipulation of party politics
aided by church-caucuses, to compel the
state to submit to ecclesiastical dctation
in matters relating only to secular edu-
cation, raises an issue of the greatest
importance, fraught with grave sugges-
tions of future danger, and its evil results,
if the enemies of English education and
state supremacy in secular affairs are
allowed to triumph at the polls, are in
calculable. There is no religious ques-
ton at issue, no right of the church at
stake, to justify this church interference.
The parochial schools may give their
religious instruction in German, may
give all their instruction in German,
without violating any requirement of
| the Bennett law That law does not
attempt to dictate to the parent where
he shall educate his child; it only says to
him you must give your child some edu-
cation and as a part of that education
you must cause him to be taught Eng
lish. Norris there here any legitimate
| question of encroachment on parental
rights. The state has not invaded the
domain of religions belief or of parental
authority. The warfare is made from
the other side. The German Rcpubli-
can Lutheran church is the agressor,
demanding that the state surrender one
of its undoubted prerogatives; that it
make a cowardly and dishonest dis
claimer of right and duty which all
free states possess and exercise. 1t is
notthe state attempting to abridge the
| liberties of its citizens, but the churches
| endeavorlng to enCroaCh on the func-
tions and power of the state, and the
issue thus forced upon people by the
arrogance of the German Lutheran
Republicans, is by far the gravest and
most vital question involved in the state
campaign. We have confined our re-
marks largely to the German Lutheran
Church, but we resent ecclesiastic inter-
ference in state affairs by any church,
as dangerous to the liberties of the
people, un-American and un-Democratic.
DEMOCRATIC PLATFORM
Unwise or unfaithful leaders of the
great and honorable Democratic party
have, by the platform framed by
them and adopted by the recent state
convention, pledged that party to the
championship of the alleged grievances
of the German Republican Lutherans
and their church; to the cause of church
against state on the question of secular
education; to the approval of this most
unwse, unholy and undemocratic ANAL
| gamatlon of church and state; to the
surrender by the state, under threat OF
| the ecclesiastical lash, of its undoubted
right to demand the education of its
| children in the legal language of the
state; to the unconditional repeal of the
Bennett law. The attitude into which
the party is thus sought to be forced is
essentially un-American, un-patriotc
and un-Democratic, and is hostile to the
| best interests of the state and of every
child within its borders.
| And all this shame has been brought
upon the party merely to gain, for this
one election, the votes of those who
| boast that they are not and will not be-
| come Democrats, but will return to the
Republican party as soon as (having
used the Democratic party as their
tool for that purpose) they shall have
| brought it to its knees. Such a course
is not only immoral and unprincipled
but, like all immortality, it is stupid
| blunder as we'll.
THE DUTY OF DEMOCRATS.
The question now confronting us is
| shall we, as Democrats, give our sane
ton to such base prostitution of the
party we love and revere. Shall we, as
Democrats, permit, even by inaction, the
| triumph of such shameful sacrifice of
principle and of the faith and honorable
traditions of our party, for the pitiful
purpose of securing the brief and dis
creditable support of the German Re-
publican Lutherans. 1t is time that
such unclean and laundering leadership
should be rebuked.
Mere inactive disapproval can accom-
plish nothing. The only way to free the
party from the domination of those who
sacrifice all principle, all patriotism
and all democracy to a vicious deter
mlnaton to gain votes at any cost, is to
vote against the state ticket nominated
on and pledged to that shameful plat
form. The election of that ticket will
not be democratic victory; it will mean
the degradation Of the Democratic party
and the triumph of the German Repub-
lican Lutherans. Defeat now will
strengthen and purify the party, not
weaken it, it will cleanse it from the
stain placed upon it by unscrupulous
bosses"
We who thus address you are Demo
Gratis, strong i'll love of the Democratic
party, in reverence for its historic gran
deur, and in its faith in its present integ-
rity and patriotism and lis future
triumph. We are not trying to organize
new party; we are seeking no personal
political advancement, nor are We be-
coming Republicans. We are neither
leaving nor asking others 70 leaye the