Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1928-07-18
Politics at Large.
Nv G. Could Lincoln.

FALMOUTH, Mass. July lathe
national political campaign, now already
under way, Ia 10 he fought out without
reference 10 the religious issue" so far
MS the national campaign management
on both sides is concerned unless pres
ent plans are changed. In other words.
there Is 10 be no plea by the national
Republican organization that all Prot
estants vote for Herbert Hoover, Quaker,
and against Al Smith. Catholic. and
no plea by the national Democratic or
ganization that all Catholics vote for
| AL Smith, Catholic, and against Herbert
Hoover. Quaker. Under the constitu-
tional guarantees that no candidate for
public Office is tn be subjected TO any
| religious test the religious Issue prop
erly has no place In a political cam.
paign In this country. Whether IL VIII
or not Ia another matter.
Supporters of Gov. Smith have raised
| the cry that to vote against the New
| York governor because of his member
ship in the Catholic Church is mani
| festatton of intolerance and bigotry:
But there are Republican supporters OF
Mr.. Hoover who take the view that
vote cast for Smith by Catholic voters
| merely because he is member OF the
Catholic Church y no less manifesto
ton of intolerance and bigotry. There
seems considerable Justice In the con-
tentions OF both sides In this matter.
| **A
In many Of the States and cities 'he
majority OF the Catholic voters have
been found In the Democratic party
! for years. But there have been Catholic
voters who have aligned themselves
strongly with the Republican partJ-
How strongly will party lines hold In
| the coming election? How many Cath
Ole voters who have been voting the
Republican ticket will vote the q. o. P
ticket this year against Gov. SMITH
Already there are indications that party
| lines are to be disregarded by former
Republican Catholic voters. But 1t is
equally true that a considerable num-
Der of Protestant voters. who have SUP.
ported Democratic nominees In the
past. will line up with Mr.. Hoover and
| the Republicans this year. 1t Is no less
violation Of the spirit of the Consti-
tuition for Catholic voters to oppose
| Protestant and vote for a Catholic Se-
| cause of church afiliation than 1t Is
for Protestant voters to oppose Cath
Ollie and support a Protestant because
of their church membership.
Just how strongly the religious issue
| Is to enter the campaign Is not yet
entirely developed The campaign is
| still young. Gov. Smith was NOM
mated at Houston both In spite Of the
religious issue and because of it. The
strongly Protestant and Democratic
States OF the South voted against him
in the national convention, though here
and there delegates swung to Smith
when it was apparent that he was to
be nominated In any event. The
strongly Catholic Democracy OF the
| North and East voted for the New
Yorker He had the support OF the
delegations from the West, where IN
many instances the backbone OF the
party for years has been Irish Catholic.
| The Roman Catholic Church TO-DAY
! has the greatest number OF members OF
| any church In the United States. There
Is no other church which in reality ap-
proaches the Roman Catholic Church
| In point of numbers here. The United
States Census Bureau took a religious
| census of the country as of the year
| 1916 showing that the Roman Catholic
| Church had 1921 ,815 members in Con-
| tinental United States. The Methodist
bodies came second with some 1900 600
members. The Protestant Episcopal
| Church had 1902, s2i members. and the
/ Presbyterian bodies something over
| 2,000 900 members.
The Census Bureau was at pains to
| explain that It was difficult to find any
common ground on which to CLASSIFY
church members. Some OF the churcnes
| regard infants who have been baptized
| as members. and others do not admit
/ membership until there has been an
actual public acknowledgment OF MEM
| bership by a communicate. The btu
/ reau Is today completing another Gen.
/ sus of religious bodies, but the totals are
/ not yet available.
| While the Catholic Church has a
/ greater number of members IN this
country than any other single cnurcn.
/ II does not have a majority OF the
church members In America, according
| to the census bulletin. In 1915 the
! Catholic Church had ats per cent of
| ALI the church members listed In the
| religious census OF that year. and the
other churches combined CAS- per cent.
| Another compilation showing only
| members 10 years of age and over gave
! the Catholic Church only 32.3 per cent.
| as compared TO ST. per scent Tor all
other churches.
The total number of church men,
| bers listed in the census Of 1916 was
| Al, 926,854 The population OF CONT
| mental United States In those days was
| around 100. 900, 600. 1t Is clear that
| many millions of persons were not list
| ed as church members at all. The
| chances are that the new religious CEN
| sus when completed. will not show any
/ very great changes In the percentages
| held by the various denominations
| among the church members OF the
| country. immigration, which was un-
| restricted and particularly heavy until
! the World War and 1916. has been re-
stricted In the last decade.
| The religious census OF 1916 gave the
| church Affiliations in the various States.
| and In the larger cities, as well as for
| the entire country. For example. New
| York state Is shown In that census
| with a total of 4,3iS,404 church men,
| beers, and the Roman Catholic Church
had 636 per cent of these church men,
bers. In New Jersey the percentage of
Catholic Church members to the total
was sci. In Pennsylvania. however, the
percentage of Catholic Church members
to the total for the State was 44.S per
cent: In Ohio, 36,8: In Indiana. AL, in
Illinois, 464 Some of the Southern
States showed a particularly small per-
centage of Catholic voters as compared
to the other denominations Alabama
had only 81 per cent Catholics as COM
pared to the total church membership
and Mississippi only A. per cent. Ten
ncssee had only 81 per cent Catholics as
compared TO the entire church member
ship. In the New England States which
have usually been Republican. the per-
centage OF Catholic voters has been
high as shown by the 1915 census Mas
~ ite ala