The Birmingham age-herald., 1905-02-04
MIR. ROOSEVELT
 IL INDICATED
(continue-a from First Paae)


 
 den to appropriate funds for that pur- 1 pose under pre-eXisting laws" It quot | ed the reports of the Commissioner of | Indian Affairs, MT. Morgan, in 1891, and | 1892 to show that the evil complained l of by the opponents of government aid | to sectarian schools was contrary to the | letter and spirit of the constitution of the United States and utterly rcpugnant | to our American institutions and our American history to take from the public moneys funds for the support of the sec | tartan institutions and that no moneys | from the public treasury should be de- | voted to sectarian or church institutions | It confirmed this idea that 1t was the | use of the public moneys for the Uni ted States or of the American people that
 was objected to by quoting the language ] of the Indian appropriation act of 1894 and a report of Secretary Hoke Smith, | of December 13, 1894 in which he said I agree fully with those who oppose the | use of public moneys for the support of sectarian schools It quoted the debates | in Congress to show that the intention | of Congress was to reduce the regular appropriation of public funds so as to | get rid of contract schools aided by that 1 appropriation money belonging to the American people. It further showed that in the case of the Osage schools and mis- sion schools on the Sac and Fox reserva- | tions in Oklahoma, Indian trust funds l continued to be used and the contract system applied to them, after the decla- ration of Congress.
 Secretary's Discretion Remained. "The argument of the memorandum briefly was that notwithstanding the declaration of congressional intent not to make appropriations in the future of pub 1 lie moneys of the American people for
 sectarian institutions the previous laws giving the secretary of the Interior dis cretion to use certain moneys of the In l dians, held in trust, in any way that he might see fit including assistance to sec tartan schools were not repealed, and consequently his discretion remained. This was the legal advice given to you | as your authority to continue the use of 1 interest on certain Indian trust funds. It
 appears in the discussion that some of
 the Indian tribes desired such use of
 their own moneys, and various reasons
 were given to show the advantage of con | tinuing to support certain existing sec
 tarian schools on account of their efficient
 work or special beneficial influence; but with these considerations the Department | of Justice was not especially concerned.
 Respectfully, w. II. MOODY, Attorney General The charge had been made that the | Catholic bureau, through Dr. E. L.. ! Scharf of this city had made promises of Catholic political support to the ad- | ministration in return for favors, and 1t
 was to answer this that Father Ketcham
 went before the committee today. He de- nied that pr. Scharf had any connection
 with the bureau or with any branch of the | CathOlfp mission work and declared that whatever Dr. Scharf did was on his own | initiative and without authority.
 Have Not Secured Aid, | It was denied by Father Ketcham that the bureau has endeavored to secure aid for mission schools. He said that for | years the bureau has been conducting schools on various reservations, notably the Osage and the government has been paying for the teaching of pupils the same | as in government schools. He submitted | statistics to show that the per capita | cost has been less in the Catholic schools 1 than the government schools.
 | The efforts to obtain the use of trust | funds were begun under the administra- l ton of President Mckinley, said Father | Ketcham, who explained that he laid the matter before the President and received | ruling that the proposition seemed fair.
 
 1 ter to the Secretary of the Interior, but ! no action was taken, and a year ago 1t l was taken up by the Catholic bureau with , President Roosevelt, who, according to 1 Father Ketcham, approved the proposi- | ton and said that if he wanted it to be | lawful he would agree to permit the con- | tracts to be made. It was then that the
 matter was referred to the cabinet and ! later to the department of justice for an opinion.
 Father Ketcham asserted that Bishop ] Hare of the Episcopal church knew a year | ago that the contracts were being made, | and at that time made an inquiry of the | commissioner of Indian affairs and had | explained to him the authorities for the l Bishop Hare was offered similar oppor- | tunities for his schools but declined to | accept them. If Bishop Hare had accepted l this In the same manner that the Luth- l eran synod accepted aid for their schools | in Wisconsin, then there would have been | no discussion of this matter, concluded | Father Ketcham. Reference was made | by him to the annual appropriations by 1 Congress to Hampton institute. Virginia, and other sectarian schools. He said that | what his bureau was getting was not | government aid, but payment for educa- | tion from a fund owned by the Indians. l and that the aid was by directions of the | Indians lawful guardians.
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