The Catholic bulletin. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1911-1995, 1913-01-18

The only man of national
prominence connected with it is
General Miles. When his name
appeared among the list Of or
ganizers he denied that the fun
damental plank of the organiza-
ton was opposition to Catholics
on account of their religion, and
since then he has not ceased to
protest that he knows nothing Of
the religious animus which
prompted the founding of the So
ciety 1t is charitable to believe
that General Miles is in his dotage
and does not realize how absurd
and ungrateful it is for one who
has been supported, as he has al
ways been, out of the public funds
contributed by Catholics as well
as non-Catholics, to try to brand
Catholics as unpatriotic. To be
consistent, he should refuse to take
at least a portion of his salary on
the ground that it is Catholic
money.
The doughty General who is
now the chief officer of the
"Guardians Of Liberty" would
brand as unpatriotic the descend
ants of the men who played a most
important part in securing for the
people of this Republic the
heritage of freedom which he, in
common with every other citizen,
enjoys. 1t is hard to escape the
conclusion that General Miles is
a bigot.
Those who were inclined to say
that the Guardians of Liberty
were not so black as they were
painted have been disabused of
the idea by the appearance of the
first issue of the official organ of
the Society which contains an
envenomed attack on the Catholic
Church. The leading article, says
the New York Sun of January 7,
is written by DR.. J. NJ. Buck of
Cincinnati, the Chief Counsellor
of the Order. 1t is entitled "What
Are We Americans To Guard 20
DR.. Buck answers the question by
declaring that all the liberties of
the American people are endan-
gered because Of the unpatriotic,
double faced and secret policies of
the Catholic Church. !" He charac-
terizes the Catholics Of this
country as "benighted dupes"
who, at the behest of Rome, would
"destroy our free institutions. y
This, he says, is colossal out
rage to civilization and to the
freedom we as Americans have so
generously extended to all the
world as a refuge from tyranny
and despotism everywhere. " This
quotation shows that the attitude
OF the Society at present is in
keeping with the purpose for
which it was Incorporated, namely,
to preserve our glorious in
heritance of freedom from the
plotting of foreign ecclesiastic-
ism" In other words, the object
of the Society is to exploit the
Catholic Church as a menace to
the American Republic.
How any man or group of men
can become obsessed with such an
idea is incomprehensible. They
must belong to the number of
those who will not see, since they
are apparently unable to read
Alright the history of the Ameri-
can Republic on whose bead-ro1l
of Immortality are inscribed the
names of the Catholic heroes and
statesmen who played important
parts in it's foundation and sub
sequent development. Do they
not know that Catholic prowess
on land and sea helped to wrench
this land from the grasp of an
alien power? Are they not aware
of the fact that Catholic swords
leaped from their scabbards on
many hard-fought battle field in
order that America might become
an independent nation? Is it not
true that Catholic patriots shed
their blood in copious streams in
order that freedom might flourish
on American soil, in order that the
Union might be preserved intact
when the demon Of civil war
threatened to disrupt it's bonds?
Is it not a fact that Catholic in
telligence labored to provide the
nascent Republic with Constitu-
ton worthy to be characterized by
the immortal Gladstone as "the
most wonderful work ever struck
off at given time by the brain
and purpose of man.? Did not
Catholic soldiers rise up by tens of
thousands at the call of liberty to
help preserve unsullied the folds
of that flag which now floats over
united nation instead of a sund-
cred people?
Aye, more than that. Go back
to the early days Of discovery and