Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1894-03-23

tnan tnelr snare OF puoilc plumS, anu
are scheming to control the govern
ment. Therefore we must meet them
with similar measures. What is this'
We who have fought for 800 years for
the privilege Of worshipping God &C.
cording to the dictates OF our own con-
science, and of having our individual
freedom in the civil and alienable right
OF government, prescribe, boycott a
class OF Americankcitizens who pay
taxes and abide the laws, because they
worship God in prescribed form and
use their legal franchise in the inter
ests OF their own institutions. Do not
we do the same? Have we not fought
for the right to do the same? And if
they have become citizens under laws
OF Our own framing, and have used
more assiduously their citizen rights
than we have, and here and there have
become more numerous than we, shall
we disregard the constitutional right
of man, and the principles OF majority
government for which we contend, be-
cause here and there they have the
best of us? We, in the majority,
should countenance no principle OF
action which we would condemn in
others il the majority were theirs.
But we are told the Catholic has
sworn allegiance to the Pope and that
his religious views supersede his State
obligation. So do ours. "Shall we
not obey God rather than man?" is
Apostolic doctrine.
Is it not strange that this movement
has rapidly gained adherents among
our best people, for it appeals to the
deepest religious prejudice, and to
what we call patriotism? 1t works
upon our fears, and arouses ghosts of
ancestral prosecutions, but it adopts
the very measures that we have 80
justly complained of in other man and
other ages.
Another point ought to be made in
this connection, viz: Very much of
the literature being circulated as
Romanist literature is inaccurate and
even forged. The people who read it
are generally unable to test its authen-
ticity, and are liable to he misled by it.
1t quotes decisions OF the Vatican OF
80 years ago; it reports declarations
OF bishops which no Romish bishop
was ever fool enough to make. It
tells OF arming ana drilling, Of proposed
massacres and of alarms that stir the
hot blood to its fever heat; much
very much-is false, and the inferences
unhistoric and untrue.
The movement is either political
and, if so, is subject to the imminent
perils of any secret political organiza-
ton, and is un.Amcrican -or it is
based upon religious intolerance, and
IS such is both un-American and un-
Christian. The fundamental principle
of American civilization and of mod
ern Christianity is perfect religious
liberation, and its methods are not se-
cret oaths for disfranchisement and
the boycott, but free discussion on the
open area and free contests at the bal
lot box.
I would look carefully, fellow citi-
zens, before taking the leap into this
oath-bound ranks. Whatever you
think about the assumptions of the
Papacy and its ambitions in the United
States. and none can look upon such
with less complacency than 1, I do
believe that the policy of the A. P. A.
turns back the wheels Of civilization
800 years, introduces the un-American,
unconstitutional and un- Christian ele-
ment Of religious intolerance, and in
essence adopts the very methods OF
the foe against which We have so per-
tinaciously contended through the
late centuries. "They that take the
sword shall perish by the sword" 1t
is never wise or safe to do evil that
good may come.
"He that doeth the truth cometh to
the light" aud if there are battles to
fight, let us fight in open field, with
brain and heart-not in secret with
weapons already condemned by the
broad sentiment OF American tolera-
ton and fair play.
Finally, it must not be forgotten
that the surest way to bind in solid
ranks of bitter opposition the entire
Romanist forces and make them in
vincible is to adopt this course OF pro-
scription suggested by the A. P. A.
That is human nature.
Any people, suffering under sense OF
wrong, are driven to ferocity and re-
taliation, and will in time turn, as our
fathers turned, against the oppressor
and draw sword in desperate self-de-
tense. There is the gravest RESPONSE
bi!ity resting upon those who precip.
itate this bitter conflict by the adop-
tion of measures contrary to the ira
ditions and unworthy the spirit of our
free, American civilization. Go slowly,
my friend, and take long look ahead
before you SOW the seed of religious
intolerance for any pretext whatever.
Lords and the Lower Glasses.
New York World.
The staunchest adherents of the
House of Lords are the lower classes
throughout England, an anomaly the
American finds difficult to compre-
hend. One reason for this curious
strength lies in the public house or
saloon. All the faddists-temperance,
local option and the like-fnd a well
come in the liberal ranks, 30 the sa-
loonkeeper, for very safety, is forced