The Monmouth inquirer. [volume] (Freehold, N.J.) 1865-1933, 1924-05-08
SILzER SAYS HALT
SECT SELECTIONS
Governor Condemns Religious
Discrimination in Naming
School Teachers.
ADVISOR SEES MlsDEMEAN0R
Survey Shows Need of New spiIlways
In Canal Drainaee-Bosrd to Begin
Construction Work Between
Phillipsburg and Wharton.

Trenton Religious discrimination
In appointment of school teachers is
excoriated by Governor Silzer in
communication to State Education
Commissioner John Enright, as head
of the public school system in New
Jersey. The Governor requests that
the Commissioner advise local boards
of education to desist from inquiring
the religious affiliations OF appli-
cants for positions.
Fortifying his communication, the
Governor enclosed an opinion of At
torney General Edward L. Katzen-
bach, in which the States chief legal
officer refers to the constitutional
guarantee of religious freedom, and
1920 statute, making it a misde-
meanor for a school official to inter
rogate an applicant as to his or her
religious belief
Communicating with the State Com
missioners, the Governor said:
81 have received several commu-
nications recently concerning discrim-
ination by district school boards
against the appointment of teachers
or the retention of teachers already
employed because of their religious
belief. | requested the Attorney Gen
eral to advise me with respect TO
the law on this subject He has writ
ten me as follows:
This matter is Of kind which
touches the very foundations upon
which our government was built
" The first amendment to the Fed
eraI Constitution provides:
Congress shall make no laws re-
specting an establishment of religion,
or prohibiting the free exercise there
Of"
" While this is prohibition to Con-
gress it shows the underlying spirit.
1.-The Constitution of the State of
New Jersey, Art. 1, Section 4, pro
vides:
@ There shall be no establishment
of one religious sect in preference to
another; no religious test shall be re-
quired as qualification for any Of
fee or public trust; and no person
shall be denied the enjoyment of any
civil right merely on account OF his
religious principles.
Whether the members or clerks
of District Boards of Education are
specifically sworn to support the
Constitution and laws of the United
States and of the State, they are by
x,;rt,,o of tbair oifiaanobiD Dauartl,s,
less, so bound, They are further pre-
sumed to know the law, and if they
act in violation thereof, they act at
their peril.
1.-The Office of a teacher is certain
ly an office or trust" and is certain
ly within the puryiew of the Constti-
tuition of the State.
No Inquiry Allowed
Further than that, l call your
Excellency's attention to Chapter 179
of the Laws of 1920, being a supple
ment to the Crimes Act. approved
and effective April IS, 1920. The pro-
visions of said act are as follows:
."'"1. No religious test shall be re-
Quired as qualification for member
ship in any board of education or for
any employee of any board of educa-
ton, or for any position in any way
connected with any school conducted
wholly or partly with any State funds.
"'"2 No inquiry of the applicant
shall be made by any member of the
State Board of Education, or by any
member of any board of education in
any school district of the State, or
by the Commissioner OF Education,
or any of his assistants, by any SUI
perintendent, principal, or any person
in any way connected with the school
system of the State, in regard to the
religion of any person proposed for
seeking employment as a teacher or
in any capacity in the public school
system of the State, or in any school
conducted wholly or partly with any
state funds.
cog. Any person who violates any
provision of this act shall be guilty
of a misdemeanor.
"'"4. This act shall take effect i'm
mediately.
"s"Approved April 10. 1920"
% This act prohibits an inquiry Of
the character referred to by you. Vic
lation of the provisions of this act
constitutes a misdemeanor.'
at is too obvious for discussion
that religious liberty was guaranteed
by the Constitution, and that it is
of most vital Importance that this
principle be kept alive. AS above
stated, our State has also made such
discrimination misdemeanor. This
being the law, it must be enforced.
II one community is allowed to dis
criminate against a Catholic, another
against a Jew, another against a
Protestant, it will not be long before
we will lose the cherished rights
guaranteed to US under our form of
government.
I'm order that the Constitution may
DE respected and the laws of the
State obeyed, am requested that you
advise all of those in authority in
these matters, and direct their at