The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1893-02-16

as to whether new hospital is needed
at present. That is all there is of it.
REASONS AGAINST THE AMENDMENT.
Mr.. o. B. Clason, of Gardiner has set
forth the reasons why an amend
ment to the constitution forbidding
appropriations to sectarian schools
should not be submitted to the
people. They are in substance, because
the existing practice of voting State
money to all sorts of sectarian institu-
tons is seventy years old; because no
great harm has yet come from the prac-
tice; and because the evils which the
amendment is designed to prevent are
yet, perhaps, far off. If a practice is
bad in itself no amount of age relieves it
from it's iniquity. Now the practice of
appropriating the States money to secta-
rian schools is bad because it is unjust.
The States money comes from people
who belong to different sects and from
people who belong to no Sect To take
any part of this money and turn it over to
particular sect to support school I'M
der the control of that sect is to identify
the State with a sect, whereas one of the
fundamental principles of our govern
ment is that the State shall not identify
itself,with any sect. But it is said these
schools do not teach sectarian religion.
That may be true, but nevertheless there
is an atmosphere about the most of them
which tends to induce the student to
identify himself with the sect under
thermore all the more prominent of
these institutions are identified in the
public mind with some religious sect.
Colby University is known as Baptist
college, Bowdoin as a Congregationalist
college, Bates as a Freewill Baptist college
and Kent's Hill as a Methodist seminary.
When the public money is appropriated
for any of these institutions the public
looks upon the appropriation, and rightly
too, as an appropriation to sectarian
institution. The only reason no fuss is
made about them is because the appro-
priations are generally small and are not
severely felt. When, however, the
burden on the taxpayer happens to be
onerous, then the injustice of the thing
is felt, and an cutlery goes up. Thus
some years ago, when large amount of
property which had helped pay the
taxes in Pennington was suddenly put
beyond the reach of the taxgatherer by
the bequest of it to Bates college, the in
Justice of compelling the people to
contribute to the support of sectarian in
situations was quickly discovered. But
it is said the serious evils which may
flow from this practice are yet far off:
and it is best to wait until they are close
to us before taking preventive measures.
Such policy as that is entirely unwor-
thy of statesman. No American State
would ever have had constitution if
this advice had obtained. The very OBJ
ject of constitution is to place metes
and bounds beyond which the people
cannot go. A constitution is precau-
ton against inroads upon fundamental
rights. There are times in the history of
every State when, wrought up by ex-
citement over some pending gu es-
ton, or led estray by specious
reasoning there arises tendency to
encroach upon fundamental rights. A
constitution is a bulwark to resist
this tendency. American states are
rapidly filling up with population that
have been born and bred under differ
emit kind of government from ours.
Many of these people are ignorant and
therefore easily become the prey of the
demagogue. Everybody admits that
there are dangers ahead from this
population. In some of the states
some of these dangers have already
made their appearance. Mr.. Clason
himself admits that there may be
dangers even in Maine 80 years hence.
Now which is the wise thing to do, to
wait, as MIR. Clason suggests, until the
danger is actually upon US when the diff
culties of averting it will be greatly en-
HANGED, or to take measures now, when it
can be done with ease, to avert it? Last
year the state adopted an amendment
placing an educational qualification in
the constitution. Nobody claimed then
that the danger which this amendment
aimed at was upon us. Nobody pre-
4 IL. l. l.