The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1902-08-06
Unlike Archbishop Ireland, the Jer-
sey PreIate Thinks Religious Or
ders Have Been Ill Treated.
HE ASSAILS THE MILITARY
REPEATS CHARGES OF IMMORTALITY
AND STORIES OF CRUELTY,
And Says the Introduction of the Pub
lie school System should Cause
Alarm Among Catholics.

CHICAGO, Aug. 5.-The American Fed
Grafton of Catholic Societies met this after
noon and evening at the Young Mems
Christian Association Hall. Short addresses
were made by Bishops Messmer, Of Green
Bay, Wis, McFaul, of Trenton, n. j., and
by the president of the federation. 1t was
evident from the tenor of the remarks made
in the afternoon that the convention would
not regard the manifesto of Archbishop Ire
land warning them against discussion Of
the administrations methods in the Philip
pines.
AT the evening meeting Bishop McFaul
was the principal speaker and directed his
attention to the treatment of the friars and
the school question in the Philippines The
bishop said in part: The calm. intelligent
observer must admit that some of the
statements made in the public press regard
ing the situation in the Philippines were
either incorrect or exaggerated. There
was, nevertheless, a very substantial foun-
dation of truth in most of the reports,
which amply justified the structures made
upon those accountable for the abuse of
power No one is foolish enough to admit
that in affairs of so important a nature
mere denials are conclusive, particularly
when made by interested parties. We had
already been warned to be on our guard by
previous contradictions of reports which
were afterwards proved true and found
worse than at first suspected. When the
news arrived that the Catholic churches in
the Philippines were deSecrated and looted,
officers of high rank in the army attempted
to refute the charges, yet the Dissertation
and looting of those sacred edifceS are now
so certain that claims for damages TO &C.
clesiastical property will be accepted by
the government.
Reports, too, of the frightful spread of
drunkenness and immortality after the occu-
patton of Manila by the American army
were vigorously assailed. Is there now any
one who has the audacity to question their
truth? Since then we have all heard of the
water cure, and the murderous orders is
sued by an American general. The perpe-
tratiOn of these outrages were not known
for time; they were, however so Migrant
that it was impossible to keep them from
the knowledge of the public. The introduce
ton alone of the public school system was
just cause for alarm
The speaker then declared that the fed
Grafton is deeply interested in obtaining
just treatment for the friars in the Philip
pines, who had suffered, he declared, under
so many cruel calumnies. Bishop McFaul
charged that in selecting school teachers
for the Philippines discrimination had been
practiced against the Catholics. OF a total
of 967 teachers who he said, had been sent
to the islands but eighteen or nineteen were
Catholics. THE impression has gone
abroad, the bishop said, that America is
furns hing educational facilities to the Fill
pinos for the first time, and that the people
were in a state of dense ignorance. This is
another calumny. During centuries the
friarS dWelt with the tribes of the Philip
pines, and ii is to them that they are in
debted for whatever they possess of educa-
ton and religion. They are chaste and
pure people, unaware of many of the vices
of civilization until American soldiers occu-
MED their soil.