The border vidette., 1928-05-19
WHAT Al SMITH BELIEVES

race for votes at the Democratic
national convention as to make
it appear, at this writing, as no
race at all, Alfred E. Smith,
governor of New York, now
serving his fourth term as such,
is apparently busy doing the job
of work the people of New York
gave him to do that be hasn't
time to perfect pre-convention
organization, or plans. 5 If he is
campaigning for the presidential
nomination, neither friend nor
foe has been able to discover any
activity on his part in his own
behalf.
AL Smith has two great princi
pies of life. One of them be
states as follows:
If you make promise, keepit
If you tell anything, tell the truth!
The other is a creed, which
can be summed up in one word,
Work" E aborated. it means
that AL Smith believes in doing
the job in hand. He states it
thus:
The man who would not have
an ambition for the presidency
of the United States would have
q dead heart. But the man who
would use one Office and neglect
! it in order to climb to a higher
one is not deserving of the one
be has,"
Which accounts for the fact
that Governor Al Smith is tend
ing strictly to the job-of Cover
nor of New York, while the
power of his personality, plus
the endeavor of his friends, is
sweeping him on, without per
| sonal effort in his own behalf, to
the presidency.
The fact that be is q Catholic.
in his religious views, counts for
no more than does the religious
afiliations of President Coolidge
| in the performance of his duties
as president, except in the minds
of the bigoted few. There is no
clash between a mans religious
affiliations and his citizenship.
Governor Smith himself states
this to be fact. in line with his
creed: IF you tell anything.
tell the truth"
/ He says:
| If there were a conflict be-
tween religious loyalty to the
Catholic faith and patriotic 10y.
atty to the United States, I. of
all men, could not have escaped
lit, because I have not been q
silent man, but q battler for so
cial and political reform. These
battles would, in their very IA
ture, would disclose this conflict,
if there were any"
Again, he says:
Il recognize no power in the
institutions of my church to in.
terfere with the operations OF
the constitution of the United
States or the enforcement of the
law of the land. I have never
known any conflict between my
official duties and my religious
belief"
Naturally be has not. for there
is no such conflict, as an actu
ality. Only the narrow-minded
would believe such conflict
exists.
Granted, for the sake of argu
ment. that a conflict did exist.
today. between church and state.
in this country, we believe that
to any man, Catholic. Protestant
or Jew, elected president of the
United States, bis country would
come first; that if there we're
such clash between the two,.
calling for a decision as to
whether be would obey the die
tates of his church or do his duty
to his country, that be would
forsake his church. Not his
religion. mind you. for there is
q vast difference between mans
religious beliefs and bis church
affiliations. His religious con,
victions come from God and his
conscience. His church is q
mortal organization of mortals,
set up by mortals. No man
owes religious obedience to any
mortal, though be may be called
upon to obey the rules and regu.
lations of his church orgoniza
ton, if he wishes to remain 8
mem Der, in good Standing" of
that particular organization.
But we don't believe any
church would ask. or exact, of a