Morning journal and courier., 1893-10-10

involved In 1t is suspended upon the vote of the msrest tyro who presents himself for the first time at the polls. The preser- vation of the State, therefore, requires that provision shall be made for the proper sd- ucstion of those into whose hands such great issues are to be placed. Its only safety Is in popular education, and by no other means ever yet devised, except pub no schools, has the education of the masses been attempted or possible. In fact, the free public school Is indispensable to the free State. An ecclesiastical power repre- senting less than one-sixth of our popula- ton today possess and hold nearly ninety per cent. of the municipal power of our country, and this power, we are satisfied, Is being used to the detriment of one of our most glorious institutions. l mean our public school system, of which we are all SO justly proud and deter mined to preserve In Its integrity. To illustrate, I will speak of one circum- stance which occurred 6 short time ago in Lewiston, Maine. Its school beard, com posed of eight Roman Catholics and six Protestants, recently adopted St. Joseph's to support from the public funds with its corps of eight teachers, sisters from Notle Dame. The taxpayers are thus compelled to support the public schools and the sep srate sectsrian schools of this body, and 1t should be known that these teachers do not get the money paid them for teaching. They are bound by their vows to give themselves to the service of the church, therefore this money goes directly to its support, and thus the state is made to support the Roman church. Similar circumstances we see all over the country. or the school affairs in our own city will not speak, as they are known to all of us, but we have at length awakened to the fact that concerted action on our part is needed to prevent further en- croachments. We have been stigmstizsd by the press as Nineteenth Century Big ots" because we have presumed to lift up our voices and ask for the privilege of home rule in our own land.
 As regards our numbers I am proud to tell you that we have to-day some two mil lions of members and that we are i'm creasing steadily st the rate of from seven to ten thousands weekly; and that We welcome into our ranks every man who can take the oath Of allegiance to these United States without 8 mental res ervatien to obey the msndates of a foreign pontiff, and this, too, irrespective of his place of birth. All we ask is that he shall be 8 good and true citizen. I deem it necessary to say this, as many of you doubtless have seen the statement made in the public papers that we are opposed to all citiz ans of foreign birth.
 The fisg of our republic is to-day a sym bol of liberty the world over. It repre- sents priceless toil and struggle in the past and unexampled power and splendor of to-day. We to day are charged with the sublime duty and entrusted with the lofty privilege of defending this ideal, of guarding our country from encroschments from any source whatever that would seek to take from 1t any one of the elements of its glory and its strength. These, my friends, are the principles of our associa- ton as interpreted by
 AN AMERICAN CITIZEN.