Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1895-07-19

{ 10y VI WI. w IA ~ ICl
the matter very much to necessitat,
the wrath of the Catholic, and to i'm
bitter him still more against our citi
zenship? Will unfairness make hin
more fair? and un-Americanism-f
return TO feudalism-make him more
American, more republican?
This growing animosity is the mos,
dangerous sign of our times. The
secular State is threatened no,
more by the papacy than by the we'll.
meant but most inconsiderate anti.
papacy. God grant that the issues ol
our American civilization may be
fought out on other grounds than the
religious. We have had confusion oi
Church and State too long. The is
sues OF too many nations have been
theological. There is great danger
that the coming issues OF America
shall be ecclesiastical rather than
economic or moral. What difference
is there whether the controversy is
between Christian and Turk or between
Catholic and anti-Catholic =? Is it not
a religious controversy Are not the
great parties ecclesiastical enemies
To the careful eye the situation is
dangerous. There is a balancing of
industrial parties. Each is seeking in
every way to enhance its power. Here
comes to the scene new issue. One
party will bid the Catholic vote,
another for the A. p. A. All industrial
issues are submerged in this balance of
power; and soon, unless the tide is
stayeyd, We shall drift into two great
political parties whose animus and
purpose will be to foster their own
ends. That would be Church and
State with a vengeance. No! Let
American citizenship awake to its
senses, and stop this class feeling be-
fore it is too late. Let our partisan
issues be moral and economic, not
theological or ecclesiastical. The
Catholic hierarchy is undoubtedly
treacherous. The ignorance of the
great Catholic population is dangerous.
But that is not the way to meet it.
While this kind of battle is being
fought, great world is being lost. A
wiser policy would be for Americans
and Protestants to strengthen and
purify the republican government, to
see that rascals and robbers are kept
out OF power, whether they be Catho-
lie or Protestant. A wiser method
would be to appoint good men for Of
fee. men competent to fill the places,
and men of worth, and thus dignity
the office. A wiser method would be
to curtail the party power by cutting
down the "spoils SYSTEM" so that, if
Patrick should happen to be elected
alderman, every street.cleaner and
contractor and jobber would not for
that term of Office be named pat"
Wiser far would it be to labor to base
all appointments on worth as a work.
er, not as q beer-drinker or church
attendant. While the anti-Catholic
may be having his nightmare dream
about Catholic gunpowder and papal
invasion, and while this country is
waiting with fear lest the whole Prot
ant population is to be massacred,
while this awful dream grows among
men, the real enemy advances apace.
Our street-cleaners are no greater rob-
bers than our railway magnates; and,
If the one is Celtic, the other is most
likely Anglo-Saxon. The Vatican be-
stirs itself no more vigorously than
the brewery at our election places !;
and it is not Rome that receives, it
is her subjects that largely pay. the
tribute of the dram. For one, can
not see great moral difference, either
in result or danger, between the COL
lege OF bishops planning to seize part
OF the school tax to teach their cate
chism with and q company of respect
able American citizens elected to q
school board because of their political
affiliations, and then using their posi-
tions, not for the welfare of the schools
or for the children who are to be
taught, but for their own private ends
by the method of patronage. There is
wide difference between patronage
and patriotism, and to work out that
issue is much more worthy and much
more imperative than to work up q
feud between Catholic and Protestant.
Instead of pouring energies into
anti.Catholic organizations, let the
earnest, conscientious, consecrated cit
izens form themselves into civic
leagues which shall be non-partisan,
non-religious, but whose work shall be
to see to it that corruption be checked,
and that government is in the hands
of wise representatives, and exercised
for the welfare of all the people.