The Irish standard., 1908-07-11


ing up the home, corrupting morals.
desecrating the marriage tie, etc, but
this pamphlet convicts your church and
its representatives Of not only doing
these things. but Of violating every
moral and civil law known to man.
I'VE would refrain from dragging this
disgusting picture before the American
people. but you yourselves are re-
sponsible for the situation which
makes it necessary for us to defend
ourselves against your baseless at.
tacks.
Il subscribe myself
yours for Socialism,
Of. D. WARREN,
Editor Appeal to Reason"
The wonderful document which is to
extinguish the Catholic Church is
made up Of a series of doctored ex-
tracts taken from the testimony Civ
en- before the Taft Commission in the
Philippines. This testimony, as is evil
dent on the face of it, is all ex-parte,
and is given by natives who were as
bitterly opposed then to the Friars as
they are now to the Americans. No
record of cross examination appears
or of any attempt to get at the truth
OF the statements. The natives were
allowed to pour out everything they
pleased against the Friars. and any
one who knows the Malay can guess
what kind Of filth they emitted The
object Of the Commission was to justi-
fy the expulsion of the Friars, and
every accusation was welcome. The
only two Americans whose testimony is
given were compelled to admit that all
they had to go on was hearsay. A
study of the whole document, if it
were available, would show what every
one admits, that the Friars were hated
by the revolutionists because they were
Spaniards and that the failure of
a few of them to observe their religious
obligations was made the basis of uni
versal calumnies against the Orders
Every Catholic knows as much. The
clergy Of his church are not infallible
in politics or impeccable in morals.
They have been on the wrong side in
politics. that is. the losing side Some
Of them have failed to live up to the
high ideal of their sacred calling. This
is only saying that they are men,
But Catholics don't know, and
Catholics resent being told that their
priests are oppressors Of the poor by
their very profession and that they
are hypocrites by choice. Catholics
know their priests face to face. The
priests life is lived more openly than
the life Of any other professional man.
Their parishioners know their foibles
and failings to a e. and they know,
too. that, taking them all in all. there
are no men who lead such self
sacrificing working, clean, ah.
stemious lives as the Catholic priests
The only effect of the circulation
OF this nasty pamphlet will be to justi-
fy all that the opponents of Socialism
say of it. The Appeal to Reason has
always been dirty rag. and the asser-
tion of the Warren person that the
Socialists have maintained dignifed
silence in face of unjust attacks is
entirely untrue. 1t would be very hard
to find any issue of the appeal" in
which there is not some attack on the
church, and usually in the shape of
filth. Whoever Warren is, his mind is
a cesspool.
The fact Of the matter u.s. Socialism
is first and foremost religion and
then an economic school, and finally
political party. AS a religion it
represents the last evolution of Pro-
testantism and substitutes the wor-
ship of humanity for the worship Of
God. 1t denies the truth Of dogmatic
IL tSJcCIS Tie AHrlSCldn
organization Of the family and the
Christian code that governs the rela-
tions Of the sexes. Whether the doc
trinaire Socialists are any worse in
practice than many who are nominal
Christians is another question. The
point is that Socialism formally rejects
the Christian religion and the whole
scheme of Christian morals.
Why should the Catholic clergy be
accused OF injustice because they op-
pose such tenets as those? 1t is their
duty to warn their people against such
monstrous opinions and to fortify
their warnings with good arguments
The A. P. a. Tactics of the appeal
to Reason" shows that Socialism as
religion in America Is the same
narrow, blind. vindictive persecution
Of the church that it is in Europe.
AS to economic Socialism, there are