Waterbury Democrat., 1901-05-15
EVENING DEMOCRAT "WEDNESDAY. MAY

\. MAY ID lJUI
 the principle of organization is recog-
 nzed as potent factor in modern life; if it be good for the trades, the arts
 and the sciences to unite their respec- I tive forces; if all other classes may have their federation without an out I cry being raised against them, should I we, as Catholics, as members of the oldest organization in Christendom, be l forbidden the privilege that is so free l ly accorded to others? I am free to ad-
 init that there are in every community Iindiyiduals who are makers, who cannot rise superior to the instincts Of bigotry and to whom the clamors of
 opposition are as the strains of sweet
 est music; but this class fiocks apart by
 itself and merits no consideration
 whatever. They are not representa-
 lives of the advanced thought of the
 day. Moreover, we must bear in mind
 an important fact that many of those
 antagonism Their conduct Tn private
 is often strikingly at variance with
 their utterances in public. and when
 asked to account for their inconsistency
 they take refuge under the thread-bare
 subterfuge, that the church is a poli- l tical organization aiming at the con-
 trol of our institutions, with the em-
 phasis on the "our." But some of this
 class have to adopt this course; there fore, I have little sympathy with the bugbear conjured up by some timid souls that Catholic federation will re- suit in organized effort against us. Should opposition be, directed against us, it would be, as it has ever been in l the past, the result of misrepresenta- tion. It will spring from an intention al distortion of our aims and purposes. In a word, such opposition will have 1 it's birth in the brains only of men l who are interruptions in the employment of means and whose antipathy to us can neither be increas- ed nor diminished by any action we may choose to take We have nothing to fear from the intellectual portion of the Protestant population of this corn- try. No people recognize more clearly than they the benefits that accrue from organization; and none put their belief
 into practice with greater success than they. Convince the educated portion
 of the Catholic community of the rectitude Of our motives and of the le- gitimacy of our aims: show them that
 our aspirations to become united are
 founded in reason and demanded by
 the exigencfes of the times: teach
 them that we have no n1terior political
 purpose in desiring federation, and
 that federation means nothing else
 than the conservation of our political
 and educational rights--a perfectly le-
 gitimate object-I am certain that we
 shall not only have, not their antagon-
 ism, but their cordial sympathy, if not
 their active support
 Catholic federation may be dream, as some say, but that it will be a grand
 living reality, vital with power and
 influence, is as certain as that the sun
 rises and sets. Itiss in the air. It will
 come, and the chief beneficiaries of
 Catholic federation will be the Catholic
 laity. Educational rights and political privileges will then be more secure than at present and our power and in-
 fiuence in the great issues of the day will not be held in the superb con- tempt in which they are now held. There are fourteen million Catholics in in the United States, according to high authority, and yet it is a question if a Catholic could be elected governor of a single state in the union Certainly, l no member of the ancient church need ever aspire, under existing conditions, to the chief magistracy of Connecticut; and, as to the presidency of the Unit ed States, I am of the conviction that it will take another half century of the most liberalizing education to make many of our non Catholic brethren suf- f1cient1y broad-minded as to even con sider the possibility of a Catholic presi- dential candidate.
 Let me give a few instances in which Catholic federation would re- dound to our religious and educational l welfare. Tn his dealings with our West Indian possessions and with those in l the Orient, all of whose inhabitants | are Catholic, if anything, the chief ex- ecutive has displayed an utter disre- l gard of the fact that there are Catholic statesmen in the United States, who | are as thoroughly competent to cope with the great questions that have aris- l Cl HI IllOSC iduQS, el1d " IOSC lAlCSIIly, patriotism, and honesty of purpose are every whit as pronounced, as the in tegrity and patriotism and honesty of the numerous gentlemen who have been honored by positions on the many commissions, which the president has sent to these islands. But the admin istration is we'll aware it can as effect ually ignore our claims with benev olent smile as it can glibly talk of be- nevolent assimilation; that it can force it's policy upon our distant co-religion- ists without fear of evil political conse- quences, as it knows that. whatever in- fuence prominent individuals may pos sess, we have no organized influence and that, consequently, We are in no position to inforce our claims to just and reasonable recognition. Further more, if Catholic federation were an accomplished fact, the national govern ment would not have broken faith with the Catholic Indian schools of the West. It would never have stained it's with this mark of dishonor. Our Indian schools that were built at great expense and at still greater sa-