The Intermountain Catholic. (Salt Lake City [Utah] ;) 1899-1920, 1907-12-21
Bishop of Salt Lake
JULES LAMOTHE AND AVE MARIA.

To the Editor
Sir:-May I trouble you to find space for the
enclosed clippings from the December number of
the Ave Maria and for a few questions [ wish to
ask touching these abstracts. The editor of the
Ave Maria writes: ''ln an exceptionally interest
ing communication appearing in recent issue
of the Independent Mr. A. L. Pitcher an Ameri-
school teacher, says:
Il went to the Philippines to help show the
natives something about American schools and to
teach them English. l was assigned to an inland
town of Pampanga, a province of Luzon The
people of this town were friendly and hospitable
when perfect stranger, came among them
saw that they were not savages, that they wore
cothes-scant, to be sure, but modest; that they
had profited to high degree from the civilizing
Influence of Spain. [ surprised to find in a
peasant community so high an intellectually
was admitted to their family life-an init
macy that proved to me their respect for old age;
their love for their chidren their reverence for
the family, accountable for monogamy, legitimate
children, and wholesome observance of marriage
found that in their relations one with the other
their conduct marked by dignified courtesy
and a constant good nature.
The low, worthless Americans let loose in the
archipelago are far from being the equals of
those they bully. The brutal coarseness with which
this class of officials administer American Justice
to a people still in medievalism is completely es-
tranging the Filipinos and perverting their ideas
of Americans Our nation is Judged by these
things and these persons; the natives receive
impressions which work for no good to the gov
eminent at large and which frequently drive
them to the hills to avenge themselves on a gov
eminent so represented 1t is thus largely ques-
ton of winning or antagonizing the Filipinos
though provincial officials.
On the same page of the Ave Maria we find
this abstract given as a statement made, some
where and at some time by Frances Z. Willard,
the philanthropist and great temperance advocate
Il a Protestant, but there is no blinking
this fact the Catholics are in this country and in
Ireland, ahead of us in social purity. You can take
a Protestant family into London slum and put
them into dirty the right-hand top of
the stairs and then put Catholic family on the
other side of the stairs, and you will find after
two, three four years, half of the girls of the
Protestant family have gone to the bad, and all
the members of the Catholic family have retained
their virtue. / was astonished when I went to
our own [ heard from Protestant and Catholic
Unionist and Home Ruler alike, that, although
they may be packed together you will find that
they are the most virtuous peasantry in the world
How is that? [ tell you it is because the priests
have preached sedulously and inocuIated in the
confessional and in families the duties of parents
to children and the duty of young people to each
other. In this matter the result is say frankly,
a moral miracle, before which we Protestants have
reason to bow our heads in shame"
Now these very strong admissions coming
from the opposition benches but when Protest
ant acquaintance, to whom L read them, challenged
me to substantiate these quotations, / could not
bring this charge against many of our Catholic
newspapers magazines and books that they are IN
excusably careless in emitting very important
item in their citations. Personally, have doubt