The Birmingham age-herald., 1907-07-05

poration or establishment and that no appropriation shall be made from the pub pic treasury for the support of any ecclesiastical institutions.
 Tat this Ameican principle and this constitutional privision have been for years violated in Jefferson county seems unquestioned. For many years St. Vim cents hospital received from the county treasury $l00 monthly; expensive improve m ents in the way of grading, adorning and beautifying the hospital grounds. ha-e also been made, at the taxpayers expense, by the city of Birmingham.
 The orphanage at East Lake has re- ceved from the treasury of Jefferson county for years monthly sums aggre- gang thousands of dollars It still con tinues to receive $100 per month.
 10th of these are Roman Catholic in- stitutions, under the exclusive manage ment and control of that church. Other in tItutions such as the Mercy Home and the Hillman hospital were and are pubic beneficiaries. They were and are, however. non-sectarian establishments. The question at issue is not one of churches or denominations; it Is a legal qu ,ston; a moral issue. Presbyterian, Methodists, Baptists and others have their charitable institutions to which the neery of any faith are welcome. Any attempt on the part to get support from
 
 considered as civilly immoral and would be sterrly rebuked. Justice demands, however, that it be said that 1t is almost inconceivable that such bodies should consent to receive any such appropra- tion.
 For sufficient reasons, the Board of Revenue of Jefferson county cut off, one month ago, the appropriation to St. Vim cent. It continues to turn over, how ever, to the East Lake Orphanage, monthly, $100 of the taxes paid by lief fer5on county property holders. It is an open secret that efforts have recently been made to have these appropriations greatly enlarged, and this is an oppor- tune time in which to reassert and en- force tho practice of the good old Ameri- can prii ciple that not a red cent of the taxpayers money shall be diverted for the support of sectarian corporations
 Let this issue be kept clearly in mind. Any attempt to obscure it by appeal to prejudice Is to be depreciated. There is no disposition, whatever, to disparage or minimize the faithfulness of the em- ployes of St. Vincent Every generous heart delights to contemplate examples of devotion to duty, and to remember that there is no monopoly in the exer- cis1 of charity. Scores of doctors in this county are daily imperiling their lives in behalf of suffering humanity, and many of them give unsttntedly of time and talent, with no hope of pecuniary reward. Scores of lovely women, deli cately nurtured in homes of refinement and culture, after patient and laborious cultivation, are. as trained nursesA con- secrating their skill and lives to suffer- CTS in our midst. Scores of Jefferson county women-true sisters of charity are today to be found in the homes of the poorest of the poor. supplying dlrest needs, wetching with the sick and praying win the dying. All honor to every wom- an wh2 in the spirit of the Master deals kindly with His suffering children
 But the question before us is not w -ther the sisters" have or have not been faithful. It is this Will sectarian fnStrs be taken-and for all time to come -out of the treasury of Jefferson county ? Will appropriation of public funds for sec ta-ian institutions be summarily aban- doned and made impossible for the future ?
 The immense majority of taxpayers have been una ware of the facts, and would be glad to get some satisfactory assurance from the Board of Revenue as to it's future policy.
 H. P. MCCORMICK.