Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1908-11-10
NO HARKING BACK
TO DAYS OF BIGOTRY
THE QUALIFICATIONS NEcEs-
sARY FOR A PUBLIC OFFICIAL,
PRESIDENT HOLDS, ARE HON.
EsTY AND UPRIGHT LIVING.

his own private concern and not
matter for general discussion and pc
litical discrimination says Presiden
Roosevelt in letter he made public
last night in which he answers numer
our correspondents. The presiden
says he deferred the publication o
the letter Until now to avoid any agi
tation likely to influence the election
The letter follows:
November 6, 1908
''My Dear Sir. - / have received
your letter running in part as fol-
lows:
"'Whilo it is claimed almost
universally 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 man
for any office, especially for pres
ident of the United States, who is
Roman Catholic.
"tSince Taft has been nominat-
ed for president by the Republ-
can party, it is being circulated
and is constantly urged as a rea-
son for not voting for Taft that
he is an infdel (Unitarian) and
his wife and brother Roman Cath
olics =" 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 suf-
. ficient number Of voters to defeat
him. On the other hand. If he is
an inf1del, that would be sure to
mean defeat. I am writ
ing this letter for the sole purpose
of giving Mr.. Taft an opportunity
to let the world know what his
religious belief is.'
Waited Until Election Was over,
IT received many such letters as
yours during the campaign. expressing
dissatisfaction with Mr.. Taft on re
liglous grounds; some Of them on the
ground that he was a Unitarian, and
others on the ground that he was
TO be in sympathy with
Catholics did not answer any OF
these letters durinr the campaign be
cause I resarded it as an outrage
y
mans RELIGIOUS convictions, with the
purpose Of influencing political cleo
ton. But now that the campaign is
over, when there is opportunity for
men calmly to consider whittier such
as those you make In
your letter would lead | wish to in.
vite them to consider them. and !
have selected your letter to answer
because you advance both the obiec.
lions commonly urged against Mr.
Taft, namely: that he is a. Unitarian
and also that he is suspected Of sym.
,athy with the Catholics.
Taft's Religion own Business.
You ask that Mr.. Taft let the
world know what his religious belief
S. This IS purely his own private con-
Germ: and 1t is a matter between him
md his Maker, a matter for his own
and to require it to be
made public under penalty of political
is to negative the first
principles of our government, which
guarantee complete religious liberty
and the right to each man to act in
-eligious affairs as his own conscience
dictates. Mr.. Taft never asked NV
~ ~ ~ Siies tiittINSlr Dul IL lie nd q
asked it, ] should have emphaticaIly
advised him against thus stating pub
tcly his religious belief. The demand
or q statement of q candidates re-
igious belief can have no meaning ex-
'ept that there may be discrimination
or or against him because of that be-
ief. Discrimination against the hold
ID of one faith means retaliatory dis
elimination against men of other
aiths. The inevitable result of enter
ng upon such a practice would be an
of our real freedom Of
and a reversion to the
Dreadful conditions of religious dis
'ention which in so many lands have
proved fatal to true liberty and trne
and to all advance to ciyiliza-
ion.
TO discriminate against a thorough
y upright citizen because he belongs
Q some particular church, or because.
Ike Abraham Lincoln, he has not
vowed his al'egisnce to any church is
In outrage against that liberty of con-
science which is one of the foundations
# American life. You are entitled to
now whether a man seeking your SUI
RACES is a man of clean and upright
life. honorable in all his dealings with
lis fellows. and fit by qualification and
Continued on Page 10.