The Intermountain Catholic. (Salt Lake City [Utah] ;) 1899-1920, 1909-01-23
presidont-Eleot Praises Catholics,

President-elect Taft addressed the
Protestant ministers of Augusta recent
iy and expressed his views regard ng
the influence of the church upon civil
izatiou and its usefulness in aiding in
governmental development. Mr.. Taft
began by thanking them for their good
viii and their prayers, adding:
I'm carrying on tho burden of SOW
ernment which W tn its increasing
usefulness, necessarily entails = atsr
tasks. they who are charged with the
execution need every assistance and
sympathy
Mr.. Taft referred to the moral awak-
ening during the past four years as an
indication of the healthful state OF our
civilization The people had demanded
a moral reform, and In this. he said.
the clergy must take an important
part
lii his experiences in the north anf
south and in the Philippines. Mr.. Taft
said he had been able to study many
different phases of civilization. espe
cially in the mater Of church influence.
Leaving out the sectional distine-
TONS he continued 1.-The Indispensable
presence of church influence In the i'm
prOvement of our civilization no one
can be blind TO who has shared in the
slightest responsibility for government
and the responsibility for Improvement
n people. as l have been. That was
a responsibility in respect to race
that is now in a state of Christian tute
lage and must be uplifted, in my jude-
ment, by us and through our guidance,
before we shall have discharged the
obligation that Providence has thrust
upon US And in the study of the de-
hac do, tn
me the enormous influence that the
church must exercise in order to make
our progress there effective.
The Catholic church was there for
years and preserved that state of
Christianity tuteage to which I have
referred. Now the ban has been re-
moved from other denominations, and
they are all in there on an equality in
the spirit of Christian emulation. at
tempting to upl'ft those people, and we
'for the government, by system OF
secular education. are aiding in that
uplifting; but without the moral infiu-
ence of the churches there we could not
accomplish anything. 1t is that sort of
experience by which there is borne in
upon US the Importance of the main
tenance of a church and its influence at
all hazards.
II IL ullDCulI SOllltlllllCS 10 e%DidlI
to one who has been used to the close
union of church and state, such as was
preserved in Spain, such as is pre-
served in some other countries. the real
attitude of the American government
toward the church He assumes that
If we separate the church from the
state it means that the state does not
favor the church.
II had the honor to represent this
country in a transaction of a business
character with Leo XIII at the Vatican,
and there l pointed out to him. with all
the emphasis possible, that the separa-
ton of church and state was in the in
terest of the church, and that in Amer
fca he could count on the sustaining of
the rights of the church and it's en-
enlargement by every legitimate means
on the part of the people without it's
assuming any governmental function
pr having any governmental right, such
as it has in other countries"