Pine Bluff daily graphic., 1910-04-10
ROOSEVELT WON
 FLYING C0L0RS Monsg. J. M. Lucey Declares That He Won in Roose- velt- Vatican Episode.
A RELIGIOUS TRICK
Says Object Was to Get Roosevelt to Place Himself on Record Against
 the MethOdists.

Monsignor J. M. Lucey, vicar gen. eral of the Catholic church in Ark ansas and pastor of St. Joseph's Catholic church in this city, has ad- , dressed the following letter to the Graphic, on the Roosevelt-Vatican episode:
 "ln compliance with the wishes of the Graphic for an expression Of my views on the Roosevelt-Vaticdn epi- sode, I will say that only one of the active participants in the affal lrs who came off with the flying colorf is, in my opinion, Theodore Roosevelt. Car Ginal Merry Del Val has forgotten more diplomatic art than Col Roose- velt ever knew, but the latter has a ' cold storage of common sense which the former does not possess. As com- mon sense is now getting to rule the world, it is easy to understand why it should triumph in this case.
 
 ticular incident before us, we might recall the old adage that everybody's hindsight is better than their fore sight. With all the circumstances of the case before us as they actually happened ordinary mortals may pass judgment where previously angels irh% hOVy Merry Del Val gave an answer to the expressed wish of Colonel Roosevelt for an audience on April with Pope Plus, he should not, according to American usage, gone beyond the terms of the Roosevelt communication and injected new factor into the cor respondence. In appearance this was done to get Colonel Roosevelt to place himself on record as siding with the Vatican against the Method- ists. The one thing which Roosevelt wished to avoid was taking any side of that or any other local question. Ev- el ything was lovely until then. But right there the Cardinal secretary hroke the molassus jug.
 "In attenuation it must be stated that the position of the Holy Father in Rome is one of the extreme deli- cacy and difficulty. It is natural that both the Pope and his secretary should be representative. In the time of Pope Plus TX, 1870, the head of the church and the Catholics of the whole world were robbed of their dominion of the States of the Church. to which their title was as clear as the title of the editor of the Graph ic is to his home, and the legal successor of the robber king now occupies the throne in Rome, while the Pope is virtual prisoner iii the five-acre plot of the Vatican grounds. It is not calculated to soften the feelings of the Vatican au- thorities to see this gigantic robbery reated as matter of course by vis- itors from all the countries of the world. The Popes have however suc- ceeded in allaying Catholic animosity towards the robbers of the patrimony of the church and a convenient modus yivendi has been established.
 Another thorn in the side of the Pope was the coming of rabid Protest ant missionaries to Rome. Of the fifteen hundred million of people in the world not more than five hundred millions are Christians. There is an ample vineyard of the Lord to work in and one Christian church should not vast energies in striving to break down another when there is such a vast field un- touched. Pope Plus has expressly declared that the Christian religion should not be built up at the ex- pense of charity and Catholics do not do SO. VA
 "The Pope has recognized the right os Protestant churches to establish missions in the city of Rome provid- cd 1t is not done at the expense of Christian charity. The Methodist -u.--ssprs--e~-S