Evening star., 1935-10-28
K. c. HEADS REBUKE
ROOSEVELT STAND
Pledge Declared Broken to
Voice U. S. View of Mex
lean Persecution.
Special Dispatch to The Star.

1
NEW YORK, October 28.-A sharply
worded letter to President Roosevelt
denouncing his continued silence on
religious persecution in Mexico and
charging that he personally had stifed
the Borah resolution was made public
yesterday by the supreme board OF
directors Of the Knights of Columbus.
The letter, signed by Martin H. Car
mody, supreme knight, and William
j. Mckinley, supreme secretary of the
order. offered the most biting rebuke
to the administration since the Cath
olic campaign for intervention began.
1t recalled that at a conference last
July, the President had promised TO
enunciate protest against the Mexi-
can governments attitude toward the
church. This promise, it was charged,
had not been kept.
Speech Declared Inadequate.
you advised our committee" said
the letter that in your opinion a
public statement by you, expressing
the attitude of our government con-
cernlng conditions in Mexico would
heIp 10 bring about change in those
conditions and thereupon YOU
assured our committee that you would
take advantage of your first public
address for that purpose. =.
1t has been suggested that the re-
marks made by you concerning rell-
gious intolerance during your address
at San Diego. October 2. we're in
tended as fulfillment Of the promise.
However, We are unwilling 10
accept them as such, because in your
conversation with our committee YOU
distinctly stated that you would make
public statement expressing the atti-
tude OF your government concerning
the persecution of religion in Mexico.
In your San Diego ipeech YOU
made no reference to Mexico, You
refralned from expressing anv svrn-
pathy for the weak and -trodden
people Of that oppressed land. You
SAID nothing that would discourage
the Mexican government from pur-
suing in the future its policy of ir-
religion, which you have indirectly
sanctioned through the public ex-
presslons Of the man Josephus Dam
lels. United States Ambassador to
Mexico, whom you appointed 10 rep
resent the American people in that
country"
Pledge Declared Broken.
The Nations 100000 Catholics
are completely at a loss to under
stand the apparent unconcern" OF
President Roosevelt toward the in
tolerable state of affairs IN Mexico"
the letter said. Denouncing the ad-
minlstrations failure to act on the
Borah resolution, which provided for
an investigation Of conditions in Mex
leo, it cootended that the resolution
was being held in the Committee on
Foreign Relations. and that this was
publicly recognized as being done at
your express direction"
In the opinion of the Knights of
Columbus directors, the Presidents
San Diego address was intended only
as small sop to the Catholics" and
continued:
Said to Turn Back,
If, standing on the Mexican bor-
der. you had pointed to the tragedy
being enacted daily, almost within
sound of your voice. by the abuse of
those human and divine rights that
all Americans hold dear, you would
have been keeping faith with our COM
mittee and the glorious traditions of
our country, but instead, standing
with your back to Mexico, you pointed
to the glorious concepts of our own
Government. At the same time you
must have known that those concepts
represent an ideal which is completely
unobtainable by the people of Mexico
under present conditions and against
which conditions you have at all times
refused TO demonstrate"
President Roosevelt's "good-neigh-
Dor policy" cannot be asserted as an
excuse for non-action. the letter pro-
tested. 1t closed with the following
admonition:
The responsibility for non-action in
the past has been your responsibility.
There Gao be no misunderstanding, on
our part or on yours, of the simple
facts involved. You cannot escape
responsibility for throttling the Borah
resolution. You cannot escape Tespon-
sibility for the Endorsement given to
the Mexican government and its
policies by your Ambassador to that
country. You cannot escape RESPONSE
bility for failure and refusal to fol-
low the long line Of precedents
founded upon established American
principles. You caruot escape re-
sponsibility for non-action on behalf
of bleeding and oppressed Mexico"