Los Angeles herald., 1908-11-09
PRESIDENT WRITES LONG AND
CAUSTIC LETTER
SCORES WHAT HE TERMS OUT
RAcEoUs BIooTRY
Whether He Is Unitarian, InfideI,
Catholic or Protestant, Says Roose-
welt, Is Mo Business of the
Public
[By Associates Press. ]


his own concern and not mat
ter for general discussion and political
discrimination" says President Roose-
velt in letter he made public tonight,
in which he answers numerous cores
pondents.
The president says he deferred the
publication of the letter until now to
avoid any agitation likely to influence
the election.
The letter follows:
November 6, 1908.
my Dear Sir: 1 have received your
letter running in part as follows:
While it is claimed almost uni
versally that religion should not enter
into politics, yet there is no denying
that it does, and the mass of the voters
that are not Catholics will not support
a man for any office, especially for
president of the United States who is
a Roman Catholic.
Since Taft has been nominated for
president by the Republican party, Ii is
being circulated and is constantly urged
as a reason for not voting for Taft that
he is an infidel (Unitarian) and his wife
and brother Roman Catholics.
If his feelings are in sympathy with
the Roman Catholic church on account
of his wife and brother being Catholics.
that would be Objectionable to suffi-
On the other hand, If he is an infidel
that would be sure to mean defeat
4 am writing this letter for the sole
purpose of giving Mr.. Taft an oppor-
tunity to let the world know what his
religious belief Is
Some of the Criticisms
81 received such letters as yours
during the campaign, expressing dis
satisfaction with Mr.. Taft on religious
grounds; some of them on the ground
that he was suspected to be in SYM
pathy with Catholics.
81 did not answer any of these let
ters during the campaign because
regarded it as an outrage even to agi-
tate such a question as a mans re-
ligious convictions with the purpose
of influencing a presidential election
''But now that the campaign is over,
when there is opportunity for men to
calmly consider whittier such PROPOSE
tions as those you make in your letter
would lead | wish to invite them 70
consider them and 1 have selected your
letter to answer because you ADVANCE
both the objections commonly urged
against Mr.. Taft, namely, that ne Is a
Unitarian and also that he is suspected
of svmpathy with the Catholics.
"You ask that Mr. Taft shall let the
world know what his religious be-
lief is
His Own Concern
"This is his own private concern and
il is a matter between him and ms
Maker, a matter for his own con
science, and to require 1t TO pe inaoe
public under penalty of political dis
erimination is to negative the first
principles of our government whlch
e1larantees complete religious HberlN
and the right to each man to act IN
religious affairs as his own conscience
dictates. Ia. 4,
the matter. but if he had asked it
should have emphatically advised him
against thus stating publicly his re-
ligious belief. = ,
"The demand for statement of
candidates religious belief can nave
no meaning except that there may be
discrimination for or against nun pc-
cause of that belief.
"The inevitable result of entering
upon such a practice would pe an
abandonment of our real freedom Oh
conscience and reVerslon 10 the ue-
cadal conditions of religious dissension
which in so many lands nave pnoxeu
fatal to true liberty and true refgloh
and fatal to advance in civilization.
Calls It an Outrage
"To discriminate against thorough
Iv upright citizen because he belongs
some Dd1Iltuldl CAlhASAAs - SNSN@N-7"P
like Abraham Lincoln, he has not
avowed his allegiance to any church,
is an outrage against that liberty OK
conscience which is one of the foun-
dations of American liberty.
"You are entitled to know whether
a man seeking your suffrage is man
Of clean and upright life, honorable
in ali his dealings with his fellows and
fit by qualification and purpose to do
we'll in the great Office for which no
is a candidate; but you are not ems
titled to know matters which lie pure
Iy between himself and his Maker.
'If it is proper or legitimate to OPP
pose a man for being Unitarian, as
was John Quincy Adams, for instance,
as is the Rev. Edward Everett Hale,
at the present moment chaplain of the
senate. and an American whose life
all good Americans are proud of, then
it would be equally proper to support
or oppose a man because Of views on
justification by faith, or the method
of administering the sacrament OF the
gospel of salvation by works. If you
once enter on such career there is
absolutely no limit at which you can
legitimately stop.
Wife Not Catholic
$50 much for your object.~~~ to Mr.
Taft. because he is Unitarian. Now
for your objections to him because you
think his wife and brother to be Ro-
man Catholics
GAS it happens, they are not; put II
they were, or if he were a Roman
Catholic hereafter, it ought not TO
AFFECT in the slightest degree any mans
supporting him for the position OF
"You say that the mass of voters
that are not Catholics win not support
a man for any office, especially Tor
president of the United States. who
| is "a Roman Catholic
IT believe that when you say this
vo,, foulIy slander your fellow coun-
trvnen. / do not for one moment be-
lieve that the mass Of our fellow cfti-
zens, or that any considerable num-
her Of our fellow citizens. can be In
fluenced by any such narrow bigotry
as 10 refuse to vote for any thoroughly