The Irish standard. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn. ;) 1886-1920, 1913-08-02

human-all too human-to understand
anew and revere anew the superhum-
an grandeur of Christ"
Having declared II have little re.
spect for the strength of faith of
those members of my own creed who
fear the triumph Of another church
as result Of religious teaching in the
schools; and have less respect for
their judgment, for it is plain to me
that Catholicism can stand up against
state-supported educational sys-
TEN from which God is excluded, and
| equally plain that Professionalism can
not, and that the result of the public
policy so many Protestants now blind
~ support will be complete extinc-
ton Of their branch of Christianity
and division Of the world of opinion
between Catholicism on the one hand
and atheism on the other" Mr.. Coler
discusses the remedy
1T is proposed" he says, that If a
church furnish education sufficient to
enable child to pass a state exam
inatlon, chen the state shall pay that
church for the work done, whether
that church be Protestant or Catholic
or Hebrew. 1t is proposed to pay any
non-religious organization in the same
way and upon the same basis.
In these payments nothing what
ever Is to be allowed for the sectarian
or proselytizing instruction 1t is
merely, In the cases Of churches, the
hiring of God-believing forces to do
Secular work. 1t is allowing the plain
people to send their children to au-
thorttative moral schools If they SO
desire, by the state devoting that
part of their wages to the secular
support Of such schools which they
themselves would naturally employ
for that purpose were not their rev.
enue reduced by state school taxation.
1t is allowing the parents to bring up
their children in the faith Of their
fathers without compelling them to
submit to double school taxation as a
penalty for SO doing. 1t is allowing
the parents to direct the use, under
proper supervision, of that portion of
their earnings which is taken from
ha To 70 nr1,
poses. 1t Is compulsory state educa-
ton under the direction of the par
ent as to that part of it which is NOR
al. 1t is not the forcing upon chill.
dren, against the will of the parents,
of state socialistfc theories by teach
ers of faiths other than their own, or
of no faith at all.'
Mr.. Coler concludes his great book:
And, more than all, the faith in Cod
still holds in America, and it is
strongest and purest right on the bat
tle-line-in the very ranks of labor
from which this Socialism hopes to
draw its strength Democracy lives
here still, and her strength is undim.
inished.
"And justice-when we have made
America see what justice is-will al
low Religion to resume her inspiring
function in the education Of the child.
Labor shall not drink this cup that
Socialism holds to its lips and find
the dregs bitter with blasted hope.
But in our coming ordeal-and he
is blind who cannot see it coming
sanity and sobriety and the spirit of
justice must rule our councils as
they did in that other great ordeal
half century ago.
The peoples leaders must be, not
demagogues, not babblers, not new
idea -every- minute reformers, not
gusty mock Mirabeaus, but men of
courage and conscience and sanity and
sympathy and truth. Marx must not
become, but Lincoln continue to be,
our ideal statesman. Not rationalism,
but God, must be our guide.
"And as the hope of Lincoln will
come true, the dead of Gettysburg and
every other field where patriots fell
under the flag for which Socialism
would substitute it's banner Of blood,
shall not have died in vain-'govern-
ment Of the people, by the people, for
the people, shall not perish from the
EARTH but shall live. blessing more
and more with the fruit of justice a
nation under God" -'