Los Angeles herald., 1906-12-10

time when. as they assert. they made
these memoranda of private conversa-
tion 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 to have said before
and after I wrote to them,
Quoting Conversations
Before this in this connection, I call
your attention to the following state
ment issued from the White House.
Nov 3, 1906 eleven days before the
Storer pamphlet was received by me
or that l had any knowledge whatever
OF It:
For many years it has been the in
variable practice never to attempt TO
quote a private conversation with the
president. 1t has been found that as
n matter Of fact the man who quotes
such q conversation usually misquotes
II whether consciously or unconscious
ly, and such an alleged conversation
Is under no circumstances to be held
as calling for either explanation or de-
nial by the president. He is responsible
for what he himself says in public; for
what he writes or for what he eX-
plicitly authorizes the proper govern
ment officials to state In his behalf
Mrs. Storer wrote me with great
| freedom and sometimes 1t was difficult
to know quite how to answer her.
Both she and Mr.. Storer continually
made attacks upon all sorts of people,
especially dignitaries of her own
| church. At one time she wrote me
with great bitterness against the Prot
estant missionaries who were being
sent to the Philippines, at the same
time requesting me to champion Arch
| bishop ireland because he had been
| loyal to the United States during the
war with Spain, which she asserted
was not true as to another Catholic
archbishop, whom she named.
Necessary to Write
while 1 was always reluctant to
write in n way that would hurt the
| feelings of either of the Storers, on this
occasion l thought it necessary to write
just what my position was and ac-
cordingly l replied as follows:
May II, 19O0.-AIy Dear Mrs. Storer:
Your letter of the 4th has Just come to
hand; also Of the 9Th. am very, very
fond of you, and that is the reason that
your letters put me in a quandary. You
want me to do all kinds of things that
l cannot possibly do and that 1 ought
not to do, and you say things whicn 1
| do not want to contradict, and yet II
| makes me feel very hypocritical if l
seem to acquiesce in them.
You must remember that there are
many people who feel about their re-
| ligion just as you feel about yours.
They can no more understand your
turning Catholic than you can under
stand Catholics turning Protestant.
Some of the best people have ever
met were Protestants who had origin
| ally been Catholics. L cannot stop and
| cannot urge the stopping of mis-
sionaries going anywhere they choose.
1 emphatically feel, as 1 have always
aold you, that the chance for bettering
the Catholic inhabitants of the tropic
islands lies by bringing them to the
standard of American Catholicism.
Worst That Could Happen
"'The worst thing that could happen
both for them and the Catholic church
would be for the Catholic church ITO
champion the iniquities that have un-
doubtedly been committed, not only by
lay but by clerical would-be leader
| in the Philippines and elsewhere.
lone incident which I actually can
put on paper came to my personal
knowledge in connection with a Cath
olic ecclesiastic in Cuba, which was of
a character so revolving and bestial
that 1t made one feel feel that the
whole hierarchy in the island needed
drastic renovation. Now 1 very earn
estly wish that Archbishop Ireland,
and those who are most advanced
among our Catholic priests-men like
the Paulist fathers, for instance
should be given a free hand in these
islands, and should be advanced in
| every way but you must
remember how hampered I am in writ
ing, from the fact that do not like to
see any one admit for moment the
right of foreign potentate to inter-
fere in American public policy.
"'For instance, you speak of the
pope being angry with Archbishop Ire
land for stopping the war with Spain.
AS far as / am concerned l would re-
sent as an impertinence any European,
whether pope, kaiser, czar or prince,
daring to be angry with any American
because of his action or inaction as
regards any question between America
and outside nations. No pretension of
this kind should be admitted for one
moment.
Should Be Shot
eff any man, clerical or lay, bishop,
archbishop, priest or civilian, was in
any way guilty of reasonable prac-
tices with Spain during our war he
should be shot or hung, and it is an
outrage on justice that he should be at
that will seem to defend man for not
avoiding war with Spain, for cannot
recognize for a single moment the
right of any European to so much as
think that there is need of defense or
excuse in such a case.
LAS you know, 7 always treat
Catholic and Protestant exactly alike,
as do Jew or Gentle, as l do the man
of native American, German, Irish or
any other kind of parentage. Any dis
| elimination for or against a man be-
cause of his creed or nativity strikes
me as an infamy. Men like Bishop
Keane, like the late Father Casselly,
like Father Betford, 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 affectionate respect
and loyal support that 1 have given
men like Phillips Brooks, like Mr.. De-
vine and like so very many Protestant
clergymen whom l could name. More