The Irish standard. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn. ;) 1886-1920, 1899-09-23

! AAAAAStA akAOA d. TIC NluTCu NEWS. we
desire to draw the attention of our es-
teemed contemporary to the following
extract from letter by Corporal Patrick
S. Hynes, Company c, Third Infantry,
which was stationed at Fort Smelling,
near this city, before the war:
called to some soldiers and Cinnamon loot.
ing church. Arriving on the scene I
found five men Of the company and some
quarters, which they did. But the China
men did not want to give up such rich
mood to argue with church robbers,
knocked the first Chinaman down, and in
five minutes I had the church to myself.
assist me, and we collected the vestments
carry. turned them over to our chaplain,
h Father Hart He said they were the most
ever seen. He took them to Manila and
turned them over to the Bishop. l think
they cost at least $500. Since then I
nave turned over some more vestments
found with the men in the company"
Our Washington contemporary thinks
that no Catholic should object to the
occupation of the churches by the
American troops, "wfo are forced to
wade through water up to their knees,
without dry spot to sleep on, while
harrassed by brutal foe and threat
ened with malignant fever" Perhaps
Catholics would not object so much if
the soldiers refrained from demolish-
ing the statuary and Decorating the
sanctuary. A Boston bushes man who
has returned from the Philippines says
in an interview with the Springfield
Republican:
while I was there one soldier came
in with halo which he had torn from
above the head of the Virgin Mary in
one of the Filipino churches. Another
had crown of thorns which he had
torn from the head of the image of
Christ, while third had picture which
he had from one of the frames on the
wall. Churches are thus desecrated and
the effect is very bad upon the Filipino
mind, 1t seems as if our soldiers acted
like barbarians and the consequence is
to intensity the hostility felt for them
by the Filipinos"
The Church News must have seen
the frontispiece of Golfers Weekly
representing telegraph station of the
American army located on the altar of
a Caloocan church. The telegraph
operator is taking message; behind
him stands lieutenant, while in front is
a captain of the United States army,
holding cigarette between his fingers.
One OF the wires of the apparatus is
wrapped around the tabernacle; and the
telegraph instrument, its operator and
two officers are directly in front of the
altar. The picture is said by the pub
fishers to have been taken from photo
graph by correspondent in the Phil
ippines, and underneath the picture are
the words, Respectfully Referred to
the Secretary of War;
The St. Paul Globe, which is edi-
ted by non-Catholic, says that this
illustration in Golfers Weekly seems to
settle the controversy on the subject OF
the American soldiery in the Philip
pines having been guilty of conduct
which may be said to amount to desc
Grafton of the native places of worship.
and adds: "Was there no other place
available from which we could carry on
Geographic communication with our
troops without desecrating the altar Of
God? Was there no other available OBJ
ject to which we might attach Our tele-
graph wires but the one object of all
others which symbolizes in the minds of
these people the very sanctity OF the
Godhead?"
No wonder that Father Lambert in
the New York Freeman's Journal, calls
upon the Catholics of the United States
to protest against such outrages He
says that American Catholics ought not
to remain silent whilst their religion is
being thus insulted by uniformed A. P.
A. bigots in the pay OF the United
States, who are looting and desecrating
Catholic churches from pure hatred Of
the Spouse of Christ. These uniformed
rufIians are disgrace to the American
army, and it is right and proper that
the Catholic press OF the country con-
denim their sacri1egious acts and de-
mand that the administration conduct
a civilized warfare against Christian
people who are fighting for liberty and
independence. The Church News calls
them brutal foes," but the military
correspondent OF the Minneapolis
Times, Lieut.. Martin E. Tew, who is
certainly not friendly to their religion,
declares they are the very reverse, and
he has better opportunities OF knowing
than the Washington editor. He gives
instances Of the greatest brutality on
the part of American soldiers, which is
so heinous in its character that we can
not mention it in these columns without
scandalizing our readers. By all means,
let the Catholic press of the country
show up the vandalism and b1ackguard-
ism of McKin1ey's soldiers of slavery in
the Philippines until they cease using
the temples of God after the manner of
barbarians. The Church News stands
almost HcO1itarv ond o1oneo a,nono &c