The sun., 1916-10-26


his official jurisdiction. betrays his trn,
and violates the fundamental law ~
the American Constitution. lie ia ur.,
in every sense Of the word No Ca,h,r,
no true American. can. in corscien,s
ever again vote for him The issue her.
transcends party loyalty.
v.
In reply to my question WIN Va,
kindly give me the benefit -, our e,n,.
rience with the Catholic vote in ,o,.
city, county or state sp,rifyjns ;,
what extent or in what part Of the Stat.
| II is Democratic or Republican aud s,,o
how far IL Is controlled by poltlc,,
bosses or leaders, especially in tina
larger cities?" my correspondents ,,
| variabiy answered that. as far A. Il,
within their observation aud as far a,
they were able to ascertain. the Cs,ho,,
vote was generally divided between M.
litical parties. in some instance. ire.
ponderantly Democratic. IN other. pr..
ponderantly Republican. and that no po.
iitical leader to their knowledge .ye,
attempted to control IT, At the sam. tim.
they confessed 10 the difficulty Of est.
| mating the exact proportion of Catholic
voters In their respective communi,l.,
as well ss the utter impossibilitv n,
learning how that vote was numerlcalt
divided between the great political par.
| ties. My correspondents were clear as
to this fact. that Catholics. az sich
do not affiliate with either the Demo.
cratic or Republican party What's
ever may be their party allegiance. #
Is given from other than religious mo.
tives. The gist Of their replies 4. ,h,,
Catholics are Democrats or Republicans
| through racial or local or econo,rl,
associations or through some secular
affinity. howsoever II may come about
with the declared principles or platform,
OF either party \ source Of confusion
lies In identifying religious with rac,s
| lines. For instance. II is generally SUI.
posed that lrishmcn are Democrats 4.
| Irishmen are usually catholic II ls ,n
easy mistake on the par, OF carel.es Oh.
servers to confound the reasons o, ,h.ir
| political faith with those OF their "a.
ligious faith Nothing could ne mo.
inconclusive or further from the fact,
| az numerous instances show IN phil,.
delphia. for instance. the great ma jorv
. Of lrishmen are Republicans. ani ,her.
are other communities which wiines. 10
the same fact
An analysis OF the psrty Hfila'io-,
Of any body Of citizens would hc an al.
most insuperable task. for the Obvious
reason that the skein IL 80 tangled a.
n I.FN nnrAvalllng "a t,l
factor stands out most obviously ard
may be applied to the vast ma Jori,y o.
citizens. namely. that they are p.H 70.
Gratis or Republicans because they ha.s
inherited their political faith and -.
main in II out of sense Of LOYALTY "a
the political creed in which they We.
born and bred they are trsdi,"nal'v
| and by association what they arc pol.'i.
, cally. There are OF course temporary
shifts under the stress of new condition,
and novel issues. but Oh the WHOLE ,hs
bulk Of voters remain true to their po'i,..
cal upbringinS. \ second exception 81
number. and growing number ~
voters who are Of an independent mind
and temperament. Their influence and
weight are 20 mean factor IN dejsrn.u |:
results, especially when the issue eiihs'
has no party bearing or is al elem,r
!ndeterminable hy par.y principles, ~
as the present question % prcpa-cdnes'
whose advocacy by either par'y 8 qu's
| outside the lines of partisan pr,u.Ipe'
or politics y loyal Demo, o. 20 /.
! Republican may lie either TOT ~ agar"
! the issue without IN tho 'ods' pl.' tns
! jeopard, his par, san 'sj;h