The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1906-12-10


which I was repeatedly expressing in
writing is not only an untruth. but an
absurd untruth; for would, OF course,
not say privately to anyone the opposite
| of what / was repeatedly writing to
that same person. Mr.. Storer asserts
that he has Mrs. Storer and various
other people after conversation with me.
put down memoranda as to what they
remembered had said If such action
was taken it was, OF course, simply us
/ honorab BILE No one of. them ever showed
me or would have Ventured to show me
any such memorandass and it is nonsense
! to expect to bind me by a memorandum
! the existence of which was concealed
from me. ~
THE Storers were my guests at the
time when, as they assert. they made
these memoranda OF private CONVERSE
! ton with me As a matter of fact the
statements they allege me to have made
were not made save in so far as what
! they allege me to have said agreed with
what before and after, I wrote to them
I In this connection I call your atten-
I ton to the following statement issued
/ from the White House on November 8,
1906, eleven days before the Storer pam
/ phlet was received by me or that had
any knowledge whatever. of it.
. For many years it has been the
invariable practice never to attempt to
4 quote a private conversation with the
president 1t has been found that as
matter of fact the man who quotes Such
I conversation usually nlSQuotcS II
whether consciously or unconsclouSiy;
and such an alleged conversation is I'M
der no circumstances to be held as cali
ing for explanation or denial by the
] president The president is responsible
for what he himself says In public; for
what he writes or for what he explicitly
authorizes the proper government Off
Gals to state in his behalf.
Mrs. Storer wrote me with great
freedom and sometimes 1t was dlfncuH
- 70 fn
Both she and Mr.. StOrer continually
made attacks uDon all sorts of people,
especially dignitaries Of her own
church At one time she wrote me
with great bitterness against the
Protestant missionaries who were be-
ing sent to the Philippines. at the
same time requesting me to champion
Archbishop Ireland because he had
been loyal to the United States during
the war with Spain. which she assert
ed was not true as to another Catholic
arch bishop whom she named While
1 was always reluctant to write in a
way that would hurt the feelings of
either Of the Ssorers. on this occasion
1 thought 1t necessary. to write just
what my position was, and according
" replied rs follows:
Letter to Mrs. Storer.
MAY II. 1900. My Dear Mrs.
StoreT=Your letter of the fourth has
just come to hand; also of the 9Th. I
am very, very fond of you, and that is
the reason that your letters put me in |
quandary. Do you want to do all |
kinds of things that I cannot possibly |
do, and that I ought not to do; and yet |
it makes me feel very hypOcritical if 1 |
Sc EN- to acCuiesce in them You must /
remember that there are many other |
people who feel about their religions |
just you feel about yours. They |
can no more unders and your turning I
Catholic than you can understand I
Catholics turning Protestant Some of |
!,
Protestarts who had originally been I
Catholics. I cannot stop, and I cannot I
urge the stopping of missionaries go
ing anywhere they choose. I en-
phatieally feel. as I have always told /
you. that the chance for lettering the |
Catholic inhabitants of the tropic |
islands lies by bringing them to the |
highest standard Of American Cath
q The worst thing that could hap
pen both of them and the Catholic |
church would be for the Catholic /
church to champion the iniquities that /
have undoubtedly been committed. not /
only by lay, but by clerical would-be
leaders in the Philippines and else
where. One incident which / actually /
can not put on paper came to my per- !
sonal knowledge in connection with
high Catholic ecclesiastic in Cuba,
which was of a character so revolving
and bestial that it made one feel that
the whole hierarchy of the island need
ed drastic renovation
Now, I very earnestly wish that
Archbishop Ireland and those who are
most advanced among our Catholic
priests-men like the Paullst Fathers,
for instance-should be given a free
hand in these islands and should be
advanced in every way But you must
rem mber how hampered am in
writing, from the fact that do not
like to see anyone admit for a moment
the right of a foreign pOtentate to in
terfere in American public policy For
hat,
angry with Archbishop Ireland for not
stopping the war with Spain. AS far
as I am concerned I would resent as
an impertinence any European, Wheth-
er pope, kaiser, car or prince, daring
to be angry with any American because
of his action or nefaction as regards
any question between American and
outside nations. No pretension of this
kind should be admitted for one mo-
ment. If any man, clerical or lay
bishop archbishop, priest or civilian,
was in any way guilty of reasonable
practices with Spain during our war,
he should be shot or hung, and it is an
outrage on justice that he should be
at large. But I can not write in a way
that will seem to defend a man for not
avoiding war with Spain, for can not
recognize for a single moment tn e right
of any European so much as to think
that there is need of defense or excuse
in such a case.
As you know l always treat Catho-
lie and Protestants exactly alike,a as do
Jew or gentle as do the man of native
German, Irish or any other
kind of parentage. Any discrimination
for or against man because of his creed
or nativity strikes me as an infamy.
Men like Bishop Keane, like the late
Father Cassidy, like Father Bedford,
the parish priest of my own town Of
Oyster Bay and like scores of other
priests whom could name, are entitled
to receive the same measure of affec-
tionate respect and loyal support that
have given to men like Phillips Brooks.
like Mr.. Devine and like SO very many
other Protestant clergymen whom I