The Catholic bulletin. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1911-1995, 1920-03-13
CASE OF NEW YORK SOCIALISTS

You may object that the bigoted
legislature would have to make some
show of proving that membership in
the Catholic Church is inimical to the
best interests of the state To be
sure; and the bigoted majority would
be able to bring forward alleged evil
dence that would fully satisfy their
bigoted constituents, just as the
Menace and other papers of that
character are able to satisfy their
thousands of ignorant readers on that
point
Autocracy Versus Law.
Again. let me repeat that the thing
at issue is not the merits of the doc
trines of Socialism, or of the adher-
ents thereto, but the question of autoc-
racy versus law. Last year Speaker
Sweet sentenced to death the eight
hour bill and the minimum wage bill
in the New York Assembly. He called
them 'bolshevistic" AS he is himself
manufacturer, and as he no doubt
regards any law imposing an incon-
Venience upon his class as "inimical
to the best interest of the State of
New York." he must have looked upon
the organizations that sponsor these
welfare measures as likewise inimical
to the states interests. Therefore, he
might some day ask for the suspension
of any person who might be elected to
the Assembly from one of these organ
izatiOns, on exactly the same ground
on which he asked for the suspension
of the Socialists. Perhaps he will try
that next year
Individual Liberty Jeopardized.
The times through which we are
passing are critical for individual
rights and individual liberty. Both are
gravely endangered by acts of official
autocracy and proposals of legislative
repression. Are you aware that few
days ago the attorney general of tho
United States appeared before a COM
mittee of the House of Representa-
tives to urge the enactment of bill
which would define as sedition, not
only acts of force with intent to over
llllo" lHc DuJ dlly dCL
of force with intent to delay the ex-
ecution of law, or to cause the
change of a law? The automobile
speeder who should cut the tire of
the motorcycle policeman to safeguard
himself from arrest, the maker Of
illicit whisky who should resist legal
search of his premises, would be liable
to a fine of ten thousand dollars and
Imprisonment for twenty years. And
the man who merely advised or ad-
vOcated the commission of such Of
fenses would be subject to the same
fine and to Imprisonment for ten years.
Yet this bill is less drastic than the
Sterling bill, which passed the Senate
without a roll call, The real danger
to our free institutions today is not
from Bolshevism, but from hysterical
and insidious schemes of repression.
The presence Of Socialists in our legis-
latures is obviously undesirable, but
the exclusion of them by such auto
cratic shortcuts as that perpetrated by
Speaker Sweet is not only unjust in
itself, but creates a most threatening
precedent for similar attacks upon the
fundamental rights of all minorities.
You have recalled the days of nearly
a quarter of a century ago, when we
were together as students in the st.
Paul Seminary. In that memory the
most vivid object that | now see is the
figure of your brilliant kinsman and
my lamented preceptOr, Father Judge.
Now | wish that he were still with
us, and still welding his powerful
pen. How he would see through
"shams and shows" into the heart Of
| the dangers now threatening constitu-
tional liberty in this country, and how
he would excoriate the hypocrites and
| hirelings who wrap themselves in the
| livery of zone hundred per cent patri-
| otism'' in order to serve with impunity
| the special interests of Mammon!
Sincerely yours,
| J0HN RYAN