The Plymouth tribune. (Plymouth, Ind.) 1901-1911, 1909-12-02
PRESIDENT TAFT.
He Believes Religious BiEotry Has
No Place i'm Civilization.

He Believes Religious BiEotry Has
No Place in Civilization.
In his address to the Catholic Sum-
mer School at Pittsburg. Pa, on Lake
Champlain, the other day, President
Taft said:
II am not a Catholic. but l have
had in the last ten years great deal
to do with the Catholic church. My
lot did not carry me into a part of
the world that made me as familiar
with the French explorers, the French
leaders of civilization like Champlain,
as it did into the regions of those
leaders that came from Spain-into
the Philippines where the same influ-
ence that carried Champlain here and
that same influence that controlled
him, controlled men equally brave and
in certain respects more successful.
'Iegaspi, who came out to the Phil
ippineS with five Augustinian monks,
converted to Christianity that entire
archipelago. now having some 7.000.-
900 or 100000 souls and then per-
haps 500, 000-the only community of
people in the entire Orient that to-
day as a people are Christians. There
is on the Luenta, the great public
square facing the ocean in Manila.
statue carved by the great Spanish
sculptor Querol on which there are two
figures, Legaspi, holding the standard
of Spain, but with his sword drawn,
and behind him ErdaEeta, a monk,
holding aloft behind all the cross, and
there is in that statue such movement,
such force, such courage, that l used
to like. even In the hot days Of Manila.
to stand in front of it and enjoy, as 1
thought / could, the spirit that the
sculptor had tried to put in there of
loyalty to country and faith in God.
II think we are reaching a point In
this country where we are very much
more tolerant of everything and every
body than in the past. and where we
are giving justice where justice ought
to be given. We are no longer cherish
ing these narrow prejudices that come
from denominational bigotry and We
are able to recognize in the past these
great heroes in religion and Christian
faith and appreciate the virtues that
they exhibited and follow the exam
pies that they set for us.
"It fell to my lot, and count 1t good
luck, that l was accredited to the
Vatican as the representative of the
United States to settle the disputes
arising out of our occupation of the
Philippine Islands. 1 was the first and
only official representative to the
Vatican from this government, and I
ceived as such by that distinguished
pontiff and statesman, Leo XIII.
Il am. gratified to say now that
every question between the church and
the state in the Philippine Islands
which were so closely united that it
seemed almost impossible to make
separation of the two, as it had to be
| made under our constitution, has been
settled fairly and justly to both sides,
and no bad taste or injustice exists on
either side with respect to those ques-
| tions Tolerance having supplanted
| bigotry, the negotiations between the
| Pope and our government were car
ried through with the. full concurrence
| CT all religious denominations, nom
| Catholics believing that the way to do
| things IS to do them directly. and
when a matter Is to be settled that 1t
should be settled with the head of the
church who has authority to act"