The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1910-01-02
.HUMBERT SCANDAL
WILL Be ECL|PSED
--.-----.-------------
Legal spoliation of Catholic
Church Forcing Attention
in France.
MILLIONS ARE STOLEN
Doubted if Facts Of "stcal" Can
Be Kept Covered by
Officials.
MILLIONS ARE STOLEN
Especial Cable to Tho Times Dispatch. I

Especial Cable to Tho Times DISPATCHED
PARIS, January lone of those
great financial scandals which marked
the history of tho Third French Re-
public is forcing It's way into public
attention. While 1t is not as big as
The Panama affair, 1t dwarfa the Hum.
pert scandal and others OF recent
years This Is the legal spollation of
the Catholic Church In France.
When. 9 few years ago, the property
or me religious orders was confiscated
by The government 1t was announced
o 6ne va value %. Of these, buildings was $780,
., Ihis made an excellent poll
huge sum. which represented hospi-
tails. schools and converts of various
rellglous orders. would BIO turned over
10 tne state and used to pay old-age
I'm, TINS property was sold or is now be-
he sold by various public officials.
Naturally the politician and poiiticai
laWyers are not idle. Their fees have
The MInistors o of part part OF the proceeds.
iished his third report, dealing with
, inc sales effected in 1905. Amazing
! FACTS are disclosed. Thus, out OF 1os
sates OF religious houses, forty-three
brought in absolutely not one penny.
everything went in costs" The fees
paid the lawyers have run IN into
IN, ,h hundreds of thousands. Among
.uose whose names figure in the on
ciai list Is Millerand, tho former So.
oialfst minister, with his Secretaries
ana the names of many other denu,ies
appear. La Libre Parole has nrinted
an article which 1t heads, "Theft OF
no9os OF the Church. while Leclnire
ana other papers demand to know
What has become of the vanished nil.
lions of the monks mn
a commission of inquest has hecn
amounted .LI which met the other day at
me inc senate, under the presidency OF
iar they have made no definite renortl
Al mat can DE known to day comes
- ON tnree annual reports. issued from
,hc Ministry of Justice and signed
1so the Guard OF the Seals. That OF
were erected They brought in lit
Tie over 100000. The total amount of
the sales so far approximates s5,0OO.00O.
Ihis pretty nearly covers property
which was estimated as being worth
s2oo,eo0.O00. The people are begin
ming to ask where the money has
gone Newspapers are making extra
ordinary statements, backed up by fig.
ures, of certain pieces of property
which were knocked down on single
bid. Other big properties were sofa
at ridiculous prices. La Lipre Parole
instances the sale of the historic Hotel
Diren. in Paris. which was formerly
monastery, with huge gardens of
immense value. which was bought in
81 nearly one-fourth It's value. 1t
declares similar deal is being made
for the property of the sacre Occur.
These facts are exciting keen public
interest. Two hundred million dollars
of church property seems to have van
ished into thin air The confiscated
property is going for song, but news
papers hesitate to state just where the
profits of these transactions are going. |
The only names given are those OF |
lawyers and administrators. who, of
course. have the right to charge ex-
actly what they please for their SER |
vices. One of the liquidators of the
conftscated property of the church |
brought In report in June 1909, show
ing that the cost of selling that par /
ticular piece of property was nearly
double the amount realized for tile |
sale. These facts are beginning TO
agitate public opinion in France In
well-informed circles it is Believed
that the scandal of the vanished mil
lions of the church. is impossible to
keep covered.