The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1912-08-14
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IS THERE A CATHOLIC VOTE?
 (Catholic Transcript.)
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.
 Catholic Transcript.)
 There is no Catholic vote, If by Catholic vote we mean that there are some hundreds of thousands of Ara- erican citizens who. stand ready to cast their ballots Rome dictates. or as the hierarchy and the priest hood of the country may see fit to di- rect. The Pope does not interfere in American politics. Is there a man in the United States who can say hon. estly whether Pope Plus x. is q Dem- ocrat or a Republican, whether he prefers Taft to Wilson. or whether he has any sympathy whatever with the aims and purposes of the Bull Moose Party? Neither dares any man come forth and say what the pontiflcal mind is respecting the mer- its or demerits of the platform of either of the great parties The chan. been read at the Vatican. The irl-
 terest there taken in the pending campaign is purely academic. It is, however, an undeniable fact that many people outside of the Church attributes a mysterious polit-
 ieal power to the Catholic priesthood. Shrewd enough in other matters, these men are persuaded that Father So-and-so can, and will, give the word to the voters of his congregation and that the ballots will fall into the box which he sees fit to point out This notion is not peculiar to the pa- pahobist. It Is shared by men emin- ent in public life.
 When the candidate has said sorne- thing favorable to the Catholic
 Church he wants that fact known. He would like to have his words known also in order that they may proclaim
 the eminent fairness of the aspirant. | iofo he
 gy and win for him the Catholic vote.'' Thus when Mir. Taft was | nominated, four years ago, we were not long in learning that he had been sent on mission to the Vatican and that he had the grace and address to equal footing and to treat with them after the manner of wise and ac- 1 complishsd representative.
 1 Already we have begun to learn some of the good things which MT. Wilson has, in the course of his va of the Catholic Church. These pro- 1 nouncements are made current with ! the avowed purpose of assuring Cath olic voters that they have nothing l to fear from his elevation to the presidency of the United States.
 have the heart to vote for anyone 1 but the candidate who has said: "The l Roman Catholic Church, then as now, is a. great democracy. There I was no peasant so humble that he might not become priest and no become Pope of Christendorn. Ev- cry chancellery in Europe, every court in Europe, was ruled by these learn ed, tried and accomplished men, the priesthood of that great and then dominant Church. So, what kept Y l was the constant rise of sap. from the bottom, from the rank and file of the great body of the people to the
 open channels of the Roman Catho. lie priesthood"
 From the deyout meditation of this
 and kindred passages the Catholic Voter is expected to learn that Mir,
 Woodrow Wilson is fit to be President
 of the United States. As for Mr Roosevelt, he has shown by word and | act that he is broad-minded and nc Irespecter of creedS. Till he stepped on the banana peel and fell as he was climbing the steps of the Vatican cause why he should not be elected ad lib. And now that he did fall | awkwardly on the Pope's threshold
 there are very few Catholics who will be small enough to recall the inci- I dent on the morning of the election
 
 l him worthy of a third term precisely 1 because of the blusterous courage l which he displayed so incontinently | on that memorable occasion.
 There are also Individuals who are | persuading the unsophisticated that l the Curuia is plotting with dynamite, l that the Knights of Columbus are in
 training for the sub5ugation of the
 United States of America to the Vat I ican, and that the Pope of Rome will never be satisfied till the American eagle is supplanted by the tiara. Pos sibly some of these agitators and a | considerable per cent. of their dupes are honest. Others are dishonest l mess of setting citizen against citf-
 zen, for revenue only. Some are prompted by their native bigotry.
 These lean and hungry disturbers are so small at heart that they cannot refrain from making war upon every thing that is large and illustrious Driven by impotent rage they indulge their canine proclivities and smell along every dark way and nose about every foul corner in the hope of un- earthing some crime perpetrated by a subject of the Pope, in order to dis cover to the world the iniquities of the Catholic Church and it's title to
 be known and treated as the scarlet benefit of such as these, let it be said l that as soon as there is any proba- l bility of their coming into power there will be t'Catholic vote' and it will not wait to take it's cue from | Rome. It will exercise it's God -giv- en rights and bury them under an av- alancl1e of indignant ballots.