The daily morning journal and courier., 1900-04-02
NOT ROBBED BY THE PRIESTS
BISHOP POTTER'S CHARGES ON
 PRA CTYCES IN PRILIPPINES.
Rev. Joseph M. OIaue Says They Are Wrong-Fccs for Marriage Certificates Not Exofb bitant-- T. rchbishOp Does Not FIX Charges Nor Does He Divide With the Clergy.

FIX Charges Nor Does He Divide With
 the Clergy.
 New York, April 1.-Rev. Joseph M Alaue, director of the observatory al
 Manila, who is now in Washington en- gagged in official business of the gov
 ernment, has issued a statement in re-
 ply to the Rt. Rev. Bishop Henry c. Potter and his secretary, Rev. Percy S. Grant, regarding affairs in the Phil
 ippines. Calling attention to the pub lished interviews in which the bishop
 and his secretary are quoted as having
 declared that the taxes and fees for
 priestly administrations in the Philip
 pines are excessive, the writer points
 out that the bishop and his secretary
 were then in the Philippines but very
 short time, not over three or four days;
 that it was impossible on account of
 the war for them to get information
 outside of Manila, and that the more
 serious Filipinos ignored their presence
 there.
 The bishop was quoted as saying
 that the religious organizations, except perhaps the Jesuits, have robbed the people, the writer says the Jesuits have missions In only southern islands and General Bates in a report of the 27th of last December stated that the people
 there had declared that the missiona- 1 erty. The writer asks the bishop to ex- plain his use of perhaps" Further quoting his interview he calls upon Bishop Potter for facts to prove such grave and serious charge"
 1 Now, the bishops main point" the statement continues, lis to prove that the religious orders have robbed the people. But if the people pay the neces- sary charges for these claims willingly how can it be called robbery? It is not clear from the bishops words whether the charge in each case be from $5 to $S for all the certificates together or for each certificate for each party, which would cause quite difference, from $40 to $60; nor is it clear whether the S5 to $S is estimated in Mexican money (the usual Manila standard) or our own. But it is worth while disputing the point because the facts are that the fees in the Philippines are not as high as he asserts. The fees for mar ,riage among native Indians or of In- dians without notice, amount to $1.75; among Mestizos, $325; among white people about $4. For poor people there is no tax at all as I can show by num- erous instances"
 The writer says it is not true that the archbishop fixes the charges and divides with the clergy, He declares the true taxes are divided among the lay servants of the church, the sacris- tan, altar boys, man who rings bell, etc" and if anything is left it goes to the church which he declares he found in his experience as a priest in Ermita parish of Manila during the blockade is rare indeed, as the laymen in charge of the church had to be fed by the par ish priest.
 That thousands of people live in practically concubinage' as charged by the bishop is denied although the writer acknowledges that some dc live that way. but asserts that it is true that there as everywhere are found few in- stances of this,
 That it was the church taxes which caused the people to revolt is emphatic ally denied. The writer says the cause of the revolt against the United States is like that against Spain, complicated, and ''Bishop Potter has no right to state that the cause of the outbreak amongst the natives against Spain was the taxation of the religious orders and friars in the administration of the sac raments.'
 In proof of this 1t is stated that many of the most important parishes in the archipelago are administered by the natives themselves as priests including the cathedral at Manila, Nataquina, San Roque, of Cavite and all the par ishes on the western coast of the island of Leyte; that in these parishes "the same ecclesiastical law as to taxes was enforced by these secular priests and it is a matter of history that nobody ob- iected to it. Therefore nobody can hon. estly state that the cause of the rebel lion of the natives against Spain was the requiring of the true taxes in the administration of the sacraments.' Referring to Bishop Potter's eulogy of Chaplain Pierce. whom he described as the pastor and servant of all sorts and conditions of men, organizing a congregat tion for the citizens of the United States and another for the Fili- pinos." the writer says MT. Pierce was mistaken by many of the natives for a Roman Catholic priest as he used to carry a crucifix In his uniform, used | candles and incense in his services and l also that he asked for fee in case of marriage. Now ordinary people can scarcely distinguished refined differ- ences of worship and religious doc trineS.
 The writer speaks of one Catholic | young man who went to MT. Pierce to | get married. Discovering that he was not a priest he excused himself on the | pretext of the fee and went to his, own | parsh priest The writer says this in | stance was, he understood, many times repeated.
 William Waldo Hyde Finally Accrpts.
 Hartford, April 1.-William Waldo , .1x