The San Francisco call., 1896-07-21
The Catholic Champion Depre-
Gates Discrimination in
the Schools.
MAJOR SHERMAN UNDER FIRE.
Statements Alleged to Have Been
Maliciously Fabricated Denounced
aud Ri6iculed.

donough Theater was crowded tonight.
The announcement that Rev. P. G. Yorke,
editor of the Monitor, was to lecture on
'fribulations of the Truth" brought to-
gether large audience from all parts OF
the county. But for the local law prohib-
iting sitting in the aisles the audience
would have been much larger.
Rev. DR.. Friedlander of the First He
brew congregation was chairman of the
evening, and in brief speech he intro
duced the lecturer.
After a musical number Rev. P. G.
Yorke faced his hearers, who were as
closely seated in the balcony and gallery
as on the lower floor. The speaker referred
to the subject of the recent controversy
and said that there were controversialists
who were fair and some who were unfair
and some who were ignorant and some
who were intelligent. From the category
of the ignorant and the unfair he said he
wanted to exclude very clearly Rev. DR..
Wendte of the First Unitarian Church.
"Dr. Wendte has brains and courage"
said the lecturer, ''and although in the
heat of debate 1 may have made some
pointed statements about hi m, 1 must say
that respect him.
alt would take me more than one night
to recapitulate even the captions of the
tribuls tions that the truth has sustained
since Protestants commenced to reform
her. However, l can refer to a few that
are uppermost."
Father Yorke referred to the many
ph ases of The opposition to the Catholic
chur ch that had characterized the exist
ence OF the A. P. A. perhaps the worst
and mo st despicable was the so-called e0-
cyclicaI that was made public some
months ago, ana which declared, over the
forged signature of the Pope. that on GER
tain day all Catholics were to rise up and
slaughter Protestants.
This thing was sent out from Oakland
offices and coalyards and was believed by
thousands of people in this city. Even
forgery 1t was not denied in the Prot
estant press, and those in Oakland who
had been most active in circulating 1t had
not the decency to deny it.
"When st. Mary's College burned down
in Oakland there were some old muskets
found in the basement The college cadets
in their drill used them, and they would
be far more dangerous to the man at the
lock than the one before the muZzie. A
few days later Rev. Barton W. Perry of
San Leandro sent a letter to the Occident |
oS San Francisco, in which he stated that
the fact that 700 stands of arms were found |
in st. Mary's, and that if the fire had not |
providentially occurred all the Protestants |
in Oakland might have been murdered in |
their beds by the brothers and lads who |
were training at the college for battle. it is |
true, but thetgreat battle of life.
"Now / want to refer to an Oakland |
historian. envy you your clean streets |
and free air and the lovely hills surround |
ing your city, but | do not begrudge |
man who poses as a Mexican veteran, |
Major e. A. Sherman. Sherman has
posed as truthful exhorter of Mexican |
war history. L have sent to the War De- |
partment for some of the statistics that |
Sherman claims to have, and have here /
the answers that show clearly that no |
such records were kept"
Father Yorke then read some state
ments published by Major Sherman and |
also the answers from the War Depart
ment. Continuing he said:
wv ben asked to act as an arbIter in the |
affair that was before the public some |
months ago, and in which Protestant min
lister figured, Sherman plainly stated that
ne was not member OF the A. P. A. At |
that very time his name appeared as a
delegate from Oakland to the State Coun-
Gil, held in San Francisco, and so did that
OF his son. / then found that there were
two u. A. ShermAns and / congratulated
myself still more that l lived in San
Francisco.
Now, let us come right home to some
thing that occurred among your Board of
Education in Oakland. The fat went
forth from the a. P. A. councils that no
Catholic woman should be elected a
schoolteacher in the Oakland School De-
partment. The fact that the Catholics
pay their taxes cuts no figure at all Asa
result of the decree there are verv few of
the teachers of your schools to-day who
are Catholics.
II have here private report of the iudi-
clary committee of the State Council of
the A. Z. a. In it two of your School Di-
rectors, Charles G. Reed and ]. w. Evans.
Catholic LADY to the office of school,
teacher, and were ordered suspended
another School Director, Webb N.
fearce, was also tried, but as there was
not enough evidence against him he was
not punished. These are men known to
word OF honor that this document from
winch am reading is authentic.
some time ago statement appeared in
the examiner and the Argonaut purport-
ing to come out OF book called sThe Ger
man Soldier, which is in the Free Library
OF pan FRANCISCO 1t there stated that the
percentage OF Irish deserters during the
civil War was II per cent l looked at
every WORD OF that book from cover to
cover and such statement is not to be
found. 1t was lie made out of whole
ciotn, ana the men who published it in
tne examiner and Argonaut knew it to be
such. 1t was disproved by communica-
tons with the War Department., as was
MAJOR Sherman's falsehood that hundreds
OF Irish Catholic soldiers were found in q
convent IN Mexico that had deserted from
the United States army.
FRIENDS, these are only few of the
trIbulations to which the truth has been
exposed. l cannot recite titbe of the ON.
siaughts that have been made against it by
the A. 2. A. who are actually teaching as
doctrine their belief that the Pope is hiding
IN the chimney of the public schools ready
to come down as soon as the last patriot
has gone and elops with the school
marm."
rather forke then read copy of the
A. Z. A. oath which was in use in Anpust
1894, and concluded by saying that the
only way to subjugate such bigotry and
falsehood is to turn the searchiight on it.
Nothing can hurt it more than itself"
be said "let the people know its secrets.