The menace. [volume] (Aurora, Mo.) 1911-1920, 1916-08-19

der in the determined attempt OF
the subjects Of the pope TO forcibly
prevent freedom Of speech and rs.
sembly, one Of the most vital and
precious provisions Of our FEEDER.
AL CONSTITUTION.
On the other hand during all
this time The eighiy-fre million
noR-Romdn Catholics Of America
have made no attempt to lawlessly
prevent any Roman Catholic, priest,
or prelate, knight OF ancient
from freely criticising our non-sec.
tartan school system, OF the various
liberal principles and provisions Of
our Protestant democracy, though
The proroodtionS hare been rsr
great. Let ne repeat, during al
this time while Roman Catholics
were preventing General Miles from
speaking on American principles OF
i government, in ST. Louis, when
Jeremiah !. Crowley was being as
saulted and stricken TO the earth by
a Roman Catholic mob at Oclwein,
Iowa, when Rev. Otis l.. Spurgeon
was being dragged from his hotel
in Denver, and forcibly taken 10
the country by Roman Catholics,
there to be stripped, robbed, and
beaten almost TO death, while tho
high-minded and noble Christian
minister Rev. W. II. Boles was be-
ing felled TO the floor by a murder
Gus blow dealt by a Roman Catholic
while he was addressing an audience
in a public hall in Springfield, Illi-
nois; while Rev. William Black was
being murdered in his hotel at Mar
shall, Texas, by five Knights Of Co
lumbus, for refusing to surrender a
freeman's right 10 deliver his mes
sage to an audience which wished
TO hear him-while these and other
criminal acts were being po~Nctratcd
by loyal subjects Of the pU,.t in the
Roman Catholic war on our OR
GANlC LAW, not one instance has
been recorded where Roman Cath
clics, priests, knights OF other speak
ers have been assailed by the eighty
five million nOn-Roman Catholics
for freely criticising our public
schools, our democratic system Of
government, Professionalism, or other
things which are contrary to the
Roman Catholic system.
So, likewise, while Roman Cath
Ole mobs have been rioting and en-
gaging in mobocracy in their at
tempts to abridge freedom Of speech
and assembly in the interest Of
Rome, no mob Of Protestants or lib
eTal democrats have appeared to in
timidate or assault Roman Catholic
speakers or break up their meetings.
Time and again priests and other
representatives Of the Roman Cath
olic hierarchy have uttered things
utterly repugnant to all friends Of
free government and its liberal free
institutions, but the eighty-fve mil
lion non-Roman Catholics have
shown no disposition to defy the
FEDERAL CONSTITUTION OF
the laws Of the land. Thus, for ex-
ample when the late Father Phelan
delivered his notorious sermon
which he later published and scat
tered broadcast in his widely circu-
lated organ, The Western Watch
man, containing the expression, TO-
gether with other reasonable utter
ances, "To He'll with the Govern
ment," though the expressions and
teachings Of the priest were abhor-
rent to all true Americans, he was
not assaulted or mobbed, nor was
there any attempt to prevent him
freely expressing his views.
The Fruit of Two Systems
Now what is the explanation of
this significant and expressive fact
Simply this, the friends Of the dem
ocratic system of government agree
with the author Of the Declaration
Of Independence that:
''Reason and free inquiry are tie
only effectual agents against error.
They are the natural enemies of
error and Of error only"
With Jefferson, also, they cherish
these basic democratic principles,
freedom Of religion, perfect equal
ity Of secb before the law; freedom