The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1919-06-20

CHARGES LEAGUE
PLACES WORLD IN
CATHOLIC GRASP
viii Reunite Church and State,
Sherman Declares.
Vatican Nations Dominate in
League, He Asserts.
HOLD "a VOTES OUT OF 40
Says Pope Most Earnest Adj
vOcate of L. of N.
Charges President Is Tanning
Revolution in Italy.

washington, June 20.-A warning
that the league of nations may end
the separation of the church and state
and bring the civilized world under
domination of the Vatican, was given
| in the senate today by Senator Sher-
man, Republican, of Illinois, who de-.
1 clared the Roman Catholic church
| would be represented in the league
assembly by twenty-four votes out of
| forty-five.
From an early age" said the
Illinois senator, the occupants of the
Vatican have believed in the inherent
right of papal authority to adminis-
/ ter civil government. 1t is with the
utmost regret I fail to find recorded
in the course of papal claims of later
days any renunciation or disavowal
| of the doctrine. So far a layman
| can discover the Vatican still believes
it ought and would, If the power per-
mitted, assume to administer eccles-
| iastical and civil government as its
| joint, exclusive and paramount power.
! II am not of that happy variety
that care nothing for history. am
compelled by my habits of thought to
admit its value in the affairs of men.
| We can no more ignore proper pre-
cautions with impunity and survive
than the forgotten races of history
whose temples and affairs are covered
with the drifting dust of centuries.
Seventeen Catholic Charter Members.
''Of the original thirty-two member
nations signatories. to the proposed
league, twenty-eight are Christian ma
tions and four are of other faiths. OF
these twenty-eight Christian nations,
seventeen are Catholic nations, either
a majority or an overwhelming pre-
ponderance of the population being of
that religious faith and eleven are
Protestant. The Catholic members
are Belgium, Bolivia. Brazil, Cuba,
Ecuador. France, Guatemala, Haiti,
Honduras. Italy, Nicaragua. Panama,
Peru, Poland. Portugal Uruguay and
i Czcho-Siovakia. The seventeen ma
tions will be represented in the league
In all human probability by Catholic
delegates.
That church represents in its
membership either a ma jority or al
most an entirety OF the several popu-
lations. The sway over those peoples,
their implicit faith in the infallibllity
of the head of this great religious or
ganization is supreme. 1t is a power
for good. I cheerfully bear witness
to its support of stable government
and above all its steady opposition to
a socialistic state, disorder and Boil
shevism in its various forms and
manifestations. But the head Of the
church proclaims and teaches his in
fallibility. The separation of church
and state might continue. The peril
lies in the claim of papal power never
abjured. never disavowed.
Is Reactionary Power?
THE temptation to enforce that be-
) lief might break down every barrier
built up by centuries Of struggle and
sacrifice
Shall the United States commit IT.
self to the mercy of a power from
which our ancestors delivered us?
Shall we risk entangling ourselves and
our posterity in the tolls they have
escaped thru their wisdom and the
warnings they left to guide us in the
, duties and perils of our generation?
The covenant of the league of nations
bears within its folds reactionary
power more fatal and insidious than a
Prussian helmet, more dangerous than
future wars
Catholics Hold Sway.
= ''The states invited to accede to the
covenant of the league of nations are
D the Argentine republic. Chile. Colom-
bia, Denmark. Netherlands. Norway,
e Paraguay. Persia. Salvador. Spain.
Sweden. Switzerland and Venezuela.
e All are Christian races with the ex-
= ception of Persia. OF the twelve in
n vited Christian states. seven are Cath
y olic. viz: Argentina, Chile, Colombia,
a Paraguay. Salvador. Spain and Vene-
! zuela. Therefore twenty-four of the
forty equal votes of the Christian ma
tions members of the league. are spir-
itually dominated by the Vatican.
THE Vatican is most earnest ad-
r vocate of the covenant of the league
of nations On March Is, President
Wilson conferred with the Vatican at
i Rome. The pope. among other things.
o said.. referring to the league of ma
n tions:
e president Wilson put the matter
v so clearly that my doubts began to
/ melt and before our interview closed
/ agreed with him on the main lines
J. of his plan
Rap at the President.
IL Miraculous conversion or the deep
traditional wisdom of the Holy Sea.
= The great pontificaI dignitary gives
v no random interviews. Neither can
: we believe both the presidents visit
n and the interview were not for pre-
It conceived purpose.
THE controversy over Fiume and
the resulting troubles recall the be-
D lief among many Italians that the
Vatican is not in sympathy with the
N civil government of Italy on this sub
ject 1t is fair to infer that the pope
=. cordially approves of President Will
n sons stand against Orlando and the
II Italian civil authorities. While the
evidence is circumstantial, 1t all tends
:. to connect President Wilson with in
Is fluences unfriendiy to temporary
power of Italy and inimical to the fu-
ture welfare OF the United States"