The Sunday globe., 1901-07-21
A RELIGIOUS TEST.
An A. P. A. Correspondent and the
General Land Office.

EuIruR GLOBE: The chief clerk of the
General Land Office left the Republi-
can party and the Protestant faith be-
tween the time of Cleveland's last cleo
tiOn and Inauguration, and, of course,
was retained during that Administra-
tion, and was the man who made out
the list of those soldiers who were pro-
nounced Republicans and who were to
be discharged also those who were
wish-a-Washy and who could be re-
tained.
This man the weak Commissioner
has appointed as his chief clerk, and,
among other things he has done
against the party and Administration
is to make two unsuccessful attempts
10 have his Catholic friend, O'Brien,
who is a watchman at the POstOace
Department, assigned to this General
Land Office as a clerk, both Of which
attempts failed with the Secretary,
even after passing through the Ap-
pointment Clerks hands.
Mr.. Wilmington is being watched
not by the Commissioner, whose duty
it is TO know what he is doing, but
by the A. p. A., a loyal organization
that never goes back on its Govern
ment.
You can rely on every word Of the
foregoing Y. Y. 4.
July 13, 1901
We publish the foregoing as an il
lustration Of the fact that there are
men connected with the public service
who believe religion to be one Of the
qualifications for Office. Our cOrre-
spondent says that the A. p, A. has
prevented and will prevent the ap-
pOintment Of OBrien because he is a
Catholic and reproaches the chief
clerk of the Land Office for his change
of faith. He also alleges that the A.
p. A. never goes back on the Gov
eminent"
We regret that this intelligent cor
respondent omitted TO state the times
and places when the Catholics went
back on the Government. Was it when
the ordinance of secession was passed
by the State legislatures Of the South i?
Was n when Lees heroes met
Meagher's men. on Malvern Hill and
Marys Heights? Was IL when Shields
was shot through the lungs by CethO-
lic MeXicans. or When Dunno fell at El
Caney shot by Catholic Spaniards. Or.
maybe, going further back, the signing
of the Declaration of Independence by
the richest member Of the Continental
Rebel Congress. Carroll Of CarrOllton.
was one of the Catholic acts of perfidy
against the Government?
II our intelligent correspondent, X.
Y. Z. will take a hurried glance
through the history Of the Government,
TO which be is so truly loyal as an
A. p A., be viii find, perhaps, that the
gentlemen i'm New England who decid-
cd 10 side with the mother country
in the War of 1872 were, unfortunate
ly not Catholics any more than Jeffer-
son Davis StOnewall Jackson and Rob
err T.. Lee FOR our correspondent 5
sake we regret being unable 10 ran
down any of the movements for the
destruction Of this Government 10
Catholics It appears all such enter
prices We're confined exclusively 10
Protestaurs.
Hence. after due consideration of the
facts of history we are forced TO the
conclusion that II "a Catholic or two
manages 10 land iu the Land Office the
Government viii De I'm no serious dan
ger of disruption. even though a loyal
4. p. a. fails 10 get there instead And
we are further of the opinion that any
man who advances his particular form
of religious belief as "a qualification FOR
office demonstrates his unttness for
any position under our present Con.
utution, which guarantees liberty Of
conscience 10 an. and that no religious
tests shall be- applied under our form
of government. Men who try TO use
their religion as a political machine
are as ignorant as they are foolish
the American public takes no stock in
them. whether they are Catholics or