The Montgomery advertiser., 1907-12-15
FINAL BLOW
 FUR SCHOOLS
FRANCE PaEPAREs NEW PARLIA. yGcNTARY ATTACK TO PUT AN
 END TO CLERICAL EDUCA-
Hard Blow to Freeaom-CiviI Associa- tions Now Garry on the ConGre-
 gational Institutfons of For-
 mer Years.
Special Cable to The Philadelphia Rec

Special Cable to The Philadelphia Rec
 ord. s s5f sS s.i te
 Paris. Dec. 14--ciericai education in France Is on it's last legs, unless some Ingenious person can devise means for forestalling the blow which Parliament intends to strike soon Already the old struggle between Church and State has been renewed. With the present Parliament only few weeks old. the contest has been taken up by the Re- pubiicans with as great svigor as when 1t was a question of the separation of the Church and the country.
 The disposition of the ecclesiastical pEoperty of which the congregations were deprived under the partisan act of Parliament has for the time taken q place in the background. The. laws of 1901 and Isol took from the congre- gations their rights to q corporate ex- istence. and they have. therefore. no legal right to teach in France.
 The enactments of. Waldeck- Rous- seau and combes gave knock-down blows to the teachings of monks for the time. The religious education of the youth came to a standstill. There are ways of circumventing legislation in France. just as In other countries. and now the teaching has been resum- cd with as much enthusiasm as though there were no laws to prevent. In fact. toA all outward appearance there has never been any time when the monks have yielded to the power of the State. A certain change of ex- ternals has taken place. That Is all. There are scores of Christian schools that are entirely independent of the Government university system. The teachers are not garbed in the gown of the clerical. They dress as do other men. but they are monks and priests. just the same. f9g
 Civil associations or public school companies now carry on the old con gregational institutions. The gray or the black friar may no longer teach. but he can superintend the instruction. If he chooses to separate himself from his order there is no way to prevent his taking an active part In the work. their offices under his surveillance. . The country. then. faces the fact that 8 considerable proportion of the youth still receives it's education from stan of professors in tune with Catholicism. just as was the case before the famous Law of Associations created such con- sternation-
 Makes Republicans Jealous.
 The teaching is sound. It is modern in every respect. The scholars can secure no better instruction in the gov ernment institutions. It is this very fact that causes the Republican groups to regard the schools with jealous eye. They envy the success of these disguised clerical systems. They have sworn to unifys the education :. of the country, to wipe out the free or pri- |~vxf1 fHgfftutfof. TlSS <reat -T2lioux law of 1850. gave to aif the right 10 open schools The repeal of this priv ilege has often been advocated by the parliamentary anti-Cierical faction A.,4 tn. AA harAfhnad ha f0 face the storm that would be sure to break over the head of the man who moved to deprive the country of It's, at least, partial educational freedom.
 Even now, when the storm is hover ing over Parliament, the proposed bill does not directly repeal the Faiioux law. It does practically kill and rem der imperative, the old education law, but 1t does not do so in straightfor- ward manner. This product of M. Masse and his Committee on Private Secondary Education is a masterpiece of cunning. It Is move undertaken at the behest of the Ministerialists. It France has boasted In years when the Church and the State meant more than they do now.
 Naturally, the church is alarmed for it's colleges, noble groups of buildings, where the laymen are trained. and the finer seminaries. where the young priests receive their education. The new bill gives almost unlimited power to inspectors of schools. They may even force the doors of the private col leges to interrogate the pupils. They may condemn and recommend. They may even close the institution in case they conclude that 1t is teach ing cons trary to the law. The church feels that this is nothing short of tyranny. It Is a new sort of espionage that the colleges face. unless they are part of the Government system, which admit tedly has great faults.
 The teachers in the seffinaries have feet says they must, be laymen. The canonical prescriptions give the Bish- op of the diocese the sole power to ap- point instructors in the church col