The Catholic bulletin. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1911-1995, 1915-10-02
PRESCRIBED.

& =
Mr.. Speaker,3I am surprised that
the gentleman from New York should
rise and oppose the increase in chap
lains., The son of a minister, as he
proclaims himself, / had thought he
would be one of the staunchest sup
porters of the movement to strength
en- the spiritual life of the men in our
army. Instead, he denounced it. He
said he believed there were sinister
influences behind it. He gave 1t as his
opinion that to increase the number
Of chaplains would be to increase the
danger of this country losing its lib
erty." Q9 Fl
| The House had reused ITSELF The
usual buzz and hum had quieted down
| to dead silence Absent members
were hurrying in from the cloak
rooms; in the gallery crowd was
gathering rapidly. The brilliant Will
man was on his feet and going to
1 answer Arnold!
'Mr. Speaker, I blush for shame!"
4 The voice rose in anger. Tall, 1.-the,
handsome, his eyes flashing fire, the
young member strobe down the aisle.
Before one of the front benches he
stopped.
81 blush for shame that this House
should hold member whose limit of
credulity is so wide that he can be-
lieve this country is in danger of
losing its liberty" He pointed an &C
cusing hand at a small, scrawny fig
ure on the bench before him.
The little man flushed holly and
jumped UP.
''Mr. Speaker"
Mr.. Speaker the other waved
him aside, 81 did not say that the
gentleman does believe it. I do not
think that he does. I said that he
can believe it. He can believe it for
the purpose of gaining the support of
a vile, underhand, unpatriotic organ
ization in his effort to perpetuate him.
self as disgrace upon this House"
i With snarl the little man leaped
at him. A dozen members interfered.
There was a wild turmoil, while the
Speaker pounded for order.
"Mr. Speaker, I have the floor. -
The voice of the young member was
calm; he stood his ground serenely.
The leader of the minority was on
his feet.
"Mr. Speaker, demand that the
gentleman be taken down.
81 apologize to the House for any
words of mine that may have seemed
discourteous," said the young mem
Der. Then to prevent further inter.
ruption he took step forward and
spoke quickly.
i "Mr. Speaker, it is about time the
attention of this House was called to
the devastating wave of religious
i bigotry that is sweeping across the
land. Of course, in private we are
all aware of it's existence, but officially
we seem absolutely to ignore it. Why
is this so? Are we afraid of it? l,
for one, am not. l, for one, believe
the people of these United States are
far beyond the stage where they will
allow Grass bigotry and Grass ignor-
ance to dominate them. The people
sent Know-nothingism to oblivion
sixty years ago.
i when one speaks of the people,
one means the majority of the people,
of course; and I realize that there is
a small minority in this country still
willing to believe the old tales. And
the question resolves itself into this I:
i Are we afraid of this minority or
not? Are we going to allow it to rule
Il us or not? So far, am sorry to
say, the answer seems to be in the af.
4 firmative. We have let this minority
go on in its vile campaign of SANDER.
ing pure lives, of stirring up rancor
of sowing broadcast a reasonable
doctrine We have allowed them to
!, hitch the very Government itself to
their filthy business; and every day
in the year the paid servants of al
the fair-minded people of the country
deliver hundreds Of thousands of pa
pers that cry aloud for vileness. The
white of the flag seems no longer
white"
;, Shaking his fist in fierce wrath
the young congressman walked back
and forth, up and down the aisle
The House hung breathless on his
words. Shocked at his boldness, none
of his colleagues applauded.
"The climax" he continued, "of this
business was reached to-day, when q
member of this House rose and with q
straight face declared he believed
that if we put more priests in the
army the country would be in danger
of losing it's liberty. know the
gentleman lives up State"
"Mr. Speaker"
Little Arnold was on his feet, rec
with anger.
Does the gentleman yield?"
81 would like to yield, Mr.. Speak
err" replied the young member, "bu
|, IT have not the time. The gentleman
refused to yield to me-"
"The gentleman refuses to yield
81 say, the gentleman lives III
State, and therefore much may be for
given him. But when the gentleman
, Iimpugns the patriotism of Catholics
he must answer to more than thu
people Of his district
J, HE must answer the voice of Jacl