The Irish standard. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn. ;) 1886-1920, 1912-12-21
CATHOLIC VOTE
No Such Thing Nor Can be While
America Remains America.

America.
The man who knows it all after the
election is over is rising here and there
to tell us that there is no such 4
thing as the Catholic vote"
1t is rather unnecessary piece of
information. We all knew that long
ago, says the Newark Monitor.
Catholics do not vote as Catholics;
they vote as American citizens. And
the Church does not exercise any pres
sure upon them as to how they shall
vote. In fact, there Is no religious
organization so delicate as the Catho-
lie Church in this regard. Not even bv
remote suggestion does the Church
seek to affect the votes Of her mem
bers. And there is no pulpit which so
widely and so zealously excludes all
politics as the pulpit of the Catholic
Church.
And we can only hope that the time
is long distant when the Church will
be forced to call upon all American
citizens, but especially upon her own
sons and daughters, for the vindica-
ton of the rights which she possesses
under the Constitution. In our opin-
Ion bigotry will never be SO strong
In this land of religious freedom as to
force from our citizens a contest upon
the fundamental rights of the citizens.
II 1t has happened in the past that
certain bigoted movements threatened
the rights and liberties of the Church.
1t has also happened that such move
ments were short-lived and were soon
driven into the darkness, where, lurk-
ing. they have Kissed out their rancor
and venom at intervals
There is no such thing as Cath
Ollie vote,' and there can never be such
whilst America remains America.
Nevertheless, Catholics, like all other
American citizens, are human. They
are just as liable as any one else to
recognize those who are friendly to
them and just as likely to retalate
upon their enemies. A minority is al
ways rather critical and prone to
exaggerate.
But these feelings of appreciation or
resentment come to them as American
citizens, and not as Catholics They
have rights TIE same as other citizens,
and If they notice individuals ready
to injure them in these rights they
naturally resent it-whilst if they
recognize in other individuals a spirit
of justice and fairness toward them.
they perforce recognize true American.
ism and seek to mark their apprecia-
ton thereof by their support. In this
they are better American citizens than
those who boastfully announce that
they take no coSnizance of such mat.
tiers.
AS we view it, the Catholic voters
generally in the last election came to
the determination that all three of the
leading candidates for the presidency
were men of high American ideals and
incapable at heart Of so unworthy a
sentiment as bigotry. If any thing in
the past suggested that one candidate
inclined to narrowness in his views,
later professions and deeds had effaced
this record All three stood on the
same level so far as the Catholic voter
was concerned.
Other considerations determined his
vote, considerations evidently SO dras-
tic as to sweep the whole country in
the same direction.
Nevertheless, every Catholic with
red blood in his veins must have
appreciated the constant attitude of
fairness and justice displayed toward
Catholics by the sterling American.
President Taft. We appreciated It.
and VIC appreciated 1t as American
citizens.
President Taft appointed Judge
White Chief Justice of the United
States, because, all in all, he was the
most fitted at the time for the high
honor. The president simply did not
allow any narrow and unworthy sentl-
ment to intervene between him and his
duty-the American way of doing
things. And a leading Democrat paper,
the New York World" in an editorial
the other day highly iappreciative of
Taft. said: He has given us the
greatest Supreme Court since the days