Deming graphic. (Deming, N.M.) 1903-1948, 1903-07-29

the United States our readers will re-
member. That single act Of restora.
tion interpreted and emphasized the
liberty Of speech and of opinion sacred
ly secured by the Pope to the priest
hood, so long as the priest remains
loyal to the supreme authority Of the
Church and its essential tenets.
A less important though a not less
striking and interesting illustration of
the POpe's desire to work in harmony
with the American Republic is afforded
by the cordial support he gave to Judge
Taft's proposal for the solution OF the
perplexing Friar land question in the
Philippines. In this case the reaction
ary spirit, which is not without infuen-
ce in the Vatican, would, IL it could,
have blocked the way toward the
purchase of the Friars' land by the
Philippine Government acting under
the advice of the government of the
United States; for the reactonary
spirit is hostile to that separation of
Church and State and religious freedom
in the State which is of the essence
Of American institutions. The Pope
by giving his cordial appreciation to the
purchase has given impulse to this plan
for solving what threatened to be a
most difficult problem, and largely de-
termined its success. II is TO be hop
ed that his death will be followed by
the election of successor who is in
sympathy with his spirit and will do
what he can to carry to a successful
issue his conciliatory policy.
Turning from the more ecclesiastical
aspects of the career of Pope Leo XIII
these two characteristics -uncomprising
adherence to principle and recognition
of and accommodation to human condi-
tions as they vary in different com.
munities and epochs-is nowhere more
strikingly illustrated than in his fam.
Gus encyclical on THE Condition OF
Labor" issued in June, 1901. In this
encyclical the Pope explicitly recogni.
zes the fact that some remedy must
be found, and quickly found, for the
misery and wretchesness which press
so heavily at this moment on the large
majority of the very poor" but he
equally explicitly condemns as spurious
remedies the anarchy which would
abolish all law and the socialism which
would abolish all private property
and he emphasizes as the only remedy
that spirit Of brotherhood which honors
all labor and condemns all idleness, is
like inconsistent with envy and pride,
and unites different classes, and we
might here add difference races, in the
bonds Of friendship and Of brotherly
love. We do not recall any single do
cument issued during the last quarter
of a century which deserves so much
to be regarded as a true statement
both Of our social disorder and of the
direction in which we are to look for {
remedy as this Encyclical Of Pope Leo
XIII. And the reader should remember
that when this Encyclical was issueC
the tendency Of the prosperous was Il
affirm that there was no disorder to b,
remedied, and even more than toda,
it was the tendency Of those VIII,
spoke for the unsprOsperOus to affirm
that the only remedy was a social re
volutiOn. Its hardly to much to sa,
that the choice generally offered wa
between Mr.. Carnegie's "Triumphan
Democracy" and Count Tolstoi's IN!
! Religion"
Pope Leo XIII. was elected to tn,
; Papacy in FEBRUARY, 1873. During tn,
/ twenty-five years Of his Office he hai
: proved himself a great statesman. H
| has recognized that humanistic an
: popular movement which during tn
nineteenth century has revolutionize
Europe, and which may be designate
) by the general term democracy, and h
l has so directed the life of the Catholi
{ church as to furnish to this movement
r full of peril as well as of promise t
: humanity, the restraining and reguls
e tive influence. not only in the spirit Q
5 religion, but also Of the traditions an
. institutions Of the most powerful @
} the Christian churches. His name is
leader Of democracy, though rather q
r a restraining than an inspiring leader
: deserves to take place with those 9