Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1905-01-18
HELD IN HIGH REGARD
Sorrow at the News Of Bishop
Spalding's Illness.
HIS PUBLIC SERVICES
EFFORTS TO BRING CAPITAL AND
LABOR TOGETHER.
Advanced Views on Education and the
Mental Training Of Women-old
Newspaper Files.
BY WILLIAM e. CURTIS.

Written for The Evening Star and the Chicago
Record Herald.
Nowhere outside of his own diocese is
Bishop Spalding of Peoria known so well or
loved SO well as in Washington, and no.
where has the news Of his illness been re-
eeived with such profound sorrow and SYM
pathy. He is respected and beloved by
Professionals as well as Catholics; he has the
confidence and esteem of the officials and
the public. President Roosevelt is one of
his warmest admirers and he has intimate
friends in both houses of Congress. Bishop
Spalding's public services outside of his do
cese have been in connection with labor
and educational movements. His relations
with the late Mark Hanna were intimate,
and he was frequently consulted by Presi-
dent Mckinley on important matters. Presi-
dent Cleveland and President Harrison val
ued his Judgment highly and often sought
his advice Bishop Spalding is by no means
po'itielan: and has never taken an active
part In political affairs; and If his sympa-
tines were With party or the other at
any Time Il was because he was Influenced
by other than political considerations.
1ou VIII recall that he was a member of
the commission that settled the coal strike
ana, next to Gen. Wilson, he took the most
actlve part in its proceedings He went
down into the mines to make personal ex-
I'M 'ioii VI CONDITIONS and methods He
mas peen prominent in the work of the Civic
Federation, and has been earnest and nm
ceaslns IN his efforts to bring about friendly
relations between capital and labor.
blshop SpaIding has spent great deal
OF time In Washington during the Iast
twenty years in connection with the Catho-
Tic University and, with the exception of
Archbishop keane, has given more time
thought and labor to the interests of that
institution than any other man. 1t was he
Col
Marquise MerinviIle de Monsters. to en-
COW 1t with part of her great fortune
and through his influence her sister made
II a liberal gift. He has been active in
looking after Its financial interests and has
been ambitious to raise it's standard of
education and make it one of the great In
situations of the world.
He was equally active in support of Trim
ny college, for the higher education of
Cathollc women, which was established in
the nefghborhood of the Catholic Univer-
slty two years ago, and an address which
he delivered upon the higher education of
women gave the movement which led to it's
foundation its greatest impulse. Since its
inception he has been its most active SUM-
porter and advocate among the clergy.
Belief of His Friends.
His friends here feel that his anxiety con-
corning the financial difficulties of the uni
versity and his grief at the unexplained
remuneration of her faith by the Marquise
MerinvilIe de Monsters are the direct
cause of his illness. The marquise is his
cousin; he was her legal guardian from in
fancy until she reached her majority, and
her spiritual adviser as long as she lived
In the United States His friends under
stand that she has never taken the trouble
TO explain to him the reasons for her
change of faith, and has never consulted
him upon the subject, as one would nat
urally expect she would do, because of the
fatherly interest he has taken in her well
fare since she was born. He had no notice
of her purpose. He knows of it only
through the newspapers. and the announce
ment that she had left the Catholic Church
and become a Protestant caused the great
est shock because the last message he had
received from her was a letter expressing
her sympathy and concern about the finaR-
cial troubles of the university
Bishop Spalding has the reputa ton of
being the most learned and scholarly MEM
Der of the American hierarchy, and has
taken position in educational matters
much farther advanced than that of any
other Catholic prelate. He is the only prom
inent member of the church who ever advo-
Gated co-education. He has never gone so
far as to approve the present system of
public schools without religious instruction
for he has held that religion and education
arc practically one and the same thing, and
that their union is vital to the general well
fare and to the correct development of So
ciety, and that the more learned men be-
come the better Christians they must be- He
has held that religious culture should dom
mate, direct and control the whole process
of education and that. as a person gained
deeper insight into science, literature and
art, his reverence and admiration for spir-
itual things must grow more profound and
more real. He has never admitted any
serious conflict between science and re-
ligion.
His last appearance on the platform was
at the congress of arts and sciences in st.
Louis, where he delivered an address on
THE Development of Education in the
United States and explained his theories
with great clearness and eloquence. He
argued that education was not only a safe
guard of society and of the state, but of
the church also. and that no man could
should be worshiped without cultivating
his mind and developing his intellect to a
thorough understanding of science, politics
and religion. The chief purpose of the
citizens and better Christians and any in
fluence that impaired the school, or the
home, or the state, or the church, would
undermine civilization
Higher Education of Women.
One of Bishop Spalding's hobbies has been
the higher education of women, which Is
not advocated by all Catholic prelates. He
based his theories upon the general principle
that women are quite as important to the
world as men, and that, as he often said.
faith in education is faith that reason and
conscience are the mightiest forces; it is
faith In Cod He said it was folly to ex-
pect that men would be WISE learned, patri-
otto and virtuous unless their mothers were
learned, patriotic. wise and virtuous, and,
If education is good thing, it's highest eff
fcacy should be shown in developing the
influence of women by giving them a wider
outlook upon the world of human achieve
ment and a f1rmer grasp on intellectual
truths. Opportunity should be given wo-
men to uphold their being" he said at ST
Louis ito become all that their endow-
ments permit, to do whatever thing is
worth doing. to make themselves not merely
wives and mothers, but individual souls
clothed with the liberty and the strength
of the children of God. In nothing is the
present age superior to all others more than
in the intelligence and influence of its wo-
men, and this distinction it owes to its
readiness to accept and apply educational
truth In its fulness, not giving heed to those
who doubt or deny or tremble for the safety
of a world In which all women are in
vited to acquaint themselves with the best
that is known and to take part in what
ever occurs that concerns human welfare
Papers Crumbling.
In the Congressional Library are pre-
car uaA