The Jeffersonian. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1907-1917, 1913-10-09

zeal in seeking to real
ice that purpose. You shall also
see how, through the care1essness
and dishonorablenes Of those to
whom he committed his painfully
wrought out plan and his vast for
tune, that supreme life purpose has
as yet been largely thwarted. am
a native Or1eanian and I love my
city with all my strength; but the
telling of this tale always makes me
blush with shame. Through Won
derful Providence, which / VIII not
now stop to relate, it was given me
some eight or more years ago to dis
cover and proclaim some facts which
cannot be denied and yet whose eXis-
tence constitute a terrific Indictment
against the honesty and good name
of the largest city Of the South land.
John McDonogh evidently realized
the danger of Romanism to- his be-
loved country. He seems, however,
to have spent no time railing
against it; but went persistently to
work Oh plan which, if successful,
would have wiped ROmaniSm out Of
existence in it's then two mightiest
strongholds in the United States.
His plan though had in view even
more than the extirpation Of Roman
Catholicism in New Orleans and Bal
timore. 1t provided for the train
ing of the children of both these
cities Gin the knowledge of the
Lord
For a generation before his death,
John McDonogh had been a practi-
cal recIuse. AS has been intimated
above, he was greatly misunderstood
and terribly tradueed. When he
died in 1850, it was made plain by
his will that through obloquy and
suffering, he had cherished in a
heart of love a splendid purpose.
His will directed that for fifty years
from his death his vast estate was
to be carefully husbanded and in
creased. Then when the voice of
contemporary scandal had been
hushed, it was to be sold, some mi
nor requests paid, and half of the
remaining estate given to New Or
leans and the other half to Baltimore
for the erection and support of free
schools to which the children of the
poor were to be admitted. The SUI
pfeme condition of that will reads as
follows:
always understood and provided,
uOWGN01, CudC lA0 L1Oly b1OLC vi CAAO
Old and New Testament shall be at
all times and forever made use of
as one (and the principal one) of
the reading or class-books which
shall be used by the pupils therein,
as the first object of every school,
and of all teaching of the youth of
our country should be to implant in
their minds a knowledge of their
duty to God and the relation Of men
to their Divine Creator
AS soon as McDonogh died, his
will was attacked. 1t was fought
over in the courts for twenty years
and became one of the most cele-
brated cases in American jurispru-
dence. Finally, the Supreme Court
of the United States spoke, uphold
ing the will in all of it's essential
particulars, except that it's immedi-
ate execution was ordered. This
threw the McDonogh lands on the
market when they were at their low
est valuation because of the recent
Civil War. Nevertheless, these
lands brought more than a million
and a half dollars in 1870-"a
princely sum in those days for pub
lie education. New Orleans and
altimore each received about $780,
600. With her share, Baltimore
built one industrial school in which
the Bible has always been used.
In some strange manner, New