The Catholic bulletin. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1911-1995, 1922-12-02
THE VOTE IN OREGON.

lie Nolc Ill OfeSOu OH TIE pro-
posed amendment to the State
Constitution compelling the at
tendance at public schools of all
children between the ages Of
eight and sixteen years is a mani
festation of something much
more serious than local bigotry
and intolerance.
1t is striking illustration of a
disregard for the ideals of those
who founded this country, which
is not peculiar to the State of
Oregon and is not confined to con-
sideration Of the question Of edu-
cation.
The Fathers of the United
States declared to the world why
it was necessary for the people of
this country, in the course Of
human events, to assume a sep
arate and equal station among the
Powers of the earth. First among
the reasons advanced was their
determination to exercise certain
inalienable rights with which
they had been endowed by their
Creator. This Declaration was
supplemented by Constitution
and in 1871 nine amendments de-
fning the rights of the individual
were adopted by the States. The
very first, of these prohibited in
reference with the free exercise
Of reli gion; the last of the nine,
having in mind the, inalienable
rights proclaimed to the world,
declared that the enumeration in
the Constitution Of certain rights
shall not be construed to deny or
disparage others retained by the
people.
That this Bill of Rights was
adopted fifteen years after the
Declaration of independence had
been made, is the strongest evil
dence that the feeling of the
original founders Of the Union of
States had intensified rather than
weakened concerning the all-im-
lportance Of those rights which
they had proclaimed to the world
as inalienable.' So insistent
were they upon this point that
they were jealous lest the Consti.
tuition itself, the work Of their
own hands, might furnish oppor.
tunity for the abridgement of any
of these rights and specifically
provided against such contin.
gency.
In vain shall one search the
history of the early days Of the
Republic to- discover a single
Iintimation that the men who
wrote the Constitution had the
slightest idea that that immortal
document should be used at any
| time for restrictive purposes IL
regard to any right of the individ
ual which did not impinge upor
1.-THE rights Of his fellow-citizens
But on the other hand, pronounce
ment after pronouncement may bt
| found in their correspondence
and state papers to show that the
inalienable rights Of the indi
lvidual were their most jealous
concern.
! Now, in these latter days,
tendency is shown to reverse com
pletely this reading of the Consti
tuition. Endeavor is made t,
interpret it as an instrumen
(which denies to American citizens
their 'inalienable rights. Tn
der the guise of 'Americanism
every effort is made to filch from
4, Americans rights which are inner
ent and fundamental.
One of the professed purpose
of the Fathers of the country il
drafting the Constitution was t
Safeguard the rights of minorities
, the evident purpose of present
J day changers of Constitutions j
to ignore minorities altogether
: to laugh at the very suggestios
: that all citizens, whether. of tn
{ majority or of the minority, hav
i lcertain rights which cannot b
5 Ialienated.
III This situation in Oregon is no
4 an isolated case. the question 0
> education is not the only on