The Irish standard. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn. ;) 1886-1920, 1912-01-13
Protestant Writer Abhors the Sour
rilous Attacks Made on the
Catholic Religion.
Urges Ministers to Denounce From
Pulpit These Slanderous and
Filthy Allegations.

III the eQltOr strikes a note winch we
like to hear, and which we think the
average person, regardless of creed,
likes to hear. We commend it to the
attention of all who love fair dealing
The editorial follows:
The Rev. Lucian Johnston, Il priest
of Baltimore, son Of distinguished
citizen of Georgia, Richard Malcolm
Johnston, the scholar, author and edu-
Gator, makes an appeal to the Sense
of decency of southern Professionals"
which might as we'll be extended to
apply to all Professionals, everywhere,
for all are equally blameworthy in
their failure to publicly protest
against, denonunce and repudi-
ate the most scurrlous, indecent and
horrible attacks that are being made
upon the Catholic religion by certain
publications which must be sustained
by Protestant readers, otherwise they
would not exist
The Bellman is not a religious jour
nal; If the faith of it's editorial staff
must be considered in determining its
bias, then it is necessary to say that
1t is Protestant, rather than Catholic,
in it's personal character. He who
writes this is a Protestant, and as
such he is amazed and ashamed to
admit that the Indictment OF Father
Johnston, a gentleman as we'll as a
priest, is warranted by the facts.
One of these Infamous publications,
loathsome beyond the power of words,
this journal has already referred to in
language as plain as it is possible to
print. 1t is called The Menace, and
1t Is published in Aurora, Missouri.
The anonymous coward who sent The
Bellman the marked copies which pro-
voked the first reference to it, con-
tinues to send them occasionally. He
is afraid to put his name on the copies
lest he be called to account as a dis
seminator of indecent literature; he
is afraid to put the name of the pub
lication on the outside wrapper, lest
the filth contained in it's bestial pages
be consigned to the fire without closer
examination. There is no way, ap-
parcntly, Of preventing the receipt Of
this printed cesspool, but the anony-
nous sender is wasting his postage,
because. as soon as the name of the
paper is disclosed, the copy is prompt
ly burned, albeit a decent man feels
like taking bath and getting himself
fumigated after having touched it.
The other is the one to which Faith
err Johnston calls especial attention in
his appeal, entitled "The Shame of
It." This is Watsons Jeffersonan
Magazine, published monthly at Thorn
son, Georgia. The Bellman is thank
full that he has never seen a copy of
this disreputable publications; the
many extracts published in the pam
phlet are quite sufficient to justify the
description given Of 1t: that for vile
vituperation, lying misrepresentation
and indecent personal attack it leads
the many polemical sheets that dis
1t is charged that some of these vile
publications are actually issued with
the sanction of important Protestant
denominations: that they are sold at
a low price and distributed gratis and
find their way into hundreds of thou
sands of homes from British Columbia
to Texas. 1t seems incredible, i'm
possible. that men calling themselves
Christians, even teachers of Christs
word, would be so moved by hatred
and malice as to disseminate such out
rageous, beastly and altogether con-
temptible ISLANDERS against the reli-
gion Of their neighbors: that they
should seek by utterly false and vile
evidence to prejudice the minds of
the ignorant and debased( for no in
telligent person would even read such
horrible stuff against those who are
preaching the Catholic faith and liv-
ing according to Catholic standards.
The shame of it, indeed! The hor-
ror of charging crimes against the
sanity women who live devoted lives
as nuns, and the self-sacrficins and
sincere men who are doing their duty
rs priests! The Belman is Il secular
publication, but it would not pollute
Its pages with even a quotation from
the indecent and bestial libes pub
lished in the Jeffersonian Magazine
The insinuations made therein are a
GROSS insult, not alone to the Catholic
Z church, but to the millions of pure
and innocent women and honorable,
4 straightforward men who are it's
members.
These are our neighbors and our
friends; we have known and observed