Evening star., 1945-12-03
Letters to The Star
Replies to Latin Catholic Letter
On Situation in Arfentina.

LCllCIc W i uC 0IdI
Replies to Latin Catholic Letter
On Situation in Ar6sntina.
TO the Editor Of 1ns ssar:
s Latin Catholic, writing In The Star
FOR November n. says that the word
Fascist" 10 "overworked" and that he ii
in no position to ray whether the Ar
gentine government ID Fascist or not
But there Is complete description Of
Argentine Fascism in the January, l945,
issue Of Harper's Magazine entitled
''The Gross and the Sword" written from
the Catholic standpoint by George
Doherty. The Argentine state, a. de-
scribed by Mr.. Doherty, ID identical with
Petain's France, Frances Spain, Musso-
lini's italy, and the Austria Of Dollfuss
and Schuschnigg. al Of which are gem
orally conceded to be Fascist. Mr.. Do
herty Acknowledges that Argentine
Fascisrn is Catholic In its roots, but he
continually implies that the Church IL
not responsible for what goes on In
Argentina. Against this implication
Americans should set the historical
facts concerning the Fascist states that
openly have been backed by the Roman
Church.
For example, Latin Catholic might
read not only Mr.. Doherty's article but
also the book (if he can find q copy)
entitled, Betrayal In Central Europe"
by G. E. r. Gedye. Latin Catholic will
f1nd there the fullest and most reliable
description in existence Of Fascism as
1t really is, written by former ACE cor
respondent for the London Daily Tele-
graph and chief Of stan Of the New
York Times Central and Southeastern
European Bureau at the very time Of
the rise Of Austrian Fascism and its
climax during the &nschluss.
Latin Catholic says "the inference
that the Catholic Church is in alliance
with Fascist governments has been
drawn before by enemies Of the church.
but surely no well-informed person
holds that view today" BY inference,
all well-informed persons are spoon-fed.
Mr.. Gedye's book contains the infor-
nation that all really "well. Informed"
people should have. It appeared In
1899 and disappeared almost Immediate
ly then reappeared unannounced after
some months in revised form and again
disappeared at once. The public should
question the reasons behind the disap-
pearance Of books like these and chal.
lenge any one who speaks As Latin Cath
olic does here. Let me quote for the
public the following passage from Mr..
Gedye, concerning Argentinas prede-
cessor. the Austrian Christian Fascist
State, as established by Dollfuss and
Schuschnigg after the Austrian Repub-
lie had been overthrown by putsch and
violence.
I'm May, 1885," says Mr.. Gedye.
"Schusnigg received the portfolio Of
education. With energy he flung him.
self into the task Of eradicating LIBERAL
Ism, socialism and free thought from
the schools and placing the molding OF
the mind of youth entirely in the hands
OF the priests. Religion Is each mans
private affair was the motto of the
Socialists) Dollfuss made 1t a
test for the right to earn livelihood.
In all directions the priests acquired
power to interfere with the private life
Of the citizens. . Most foolishly
economic and other pressure was adopt
ed to force lifelong agnostics to profess
. religion which meant nothing to
them. Birth control clinics were
closed down overnight. ssPofftacal
parades and demonstrations Of the goy-
eminent supporters had to be preceded
by military mass. The smallest piece Of
work undertaken by government Of mu-
nicipality required the solemn blessing
OF a priest. Pp. 1919, Betrayal in
Central EuropeD
Latin Catholic states that everybody
knows that the Argentine constitution
OF 1853 established catholicism a the
state religion and guaranteed to sup
port 1T and, under the circumstances, he
asks how could the church avoid 4 real
connection with the government? Then
he adds In the same paragraph that the
Catholic Church cannot tell the gov
eminent what to do in purely political
matters. Any one may bring himself up
to date as to what the Catholic authori-
ties really are doing in Argentina by
reading the newspapers or referring to
Time Magazine for December ), from
which quote: Cardinal Copello, Pri-
mate Of Argentina, last week gave
Catholic Argentines some advice on the
forthcoming rebruary) elections. No
Catholic. said the cardinal in pastoral
letter, should support parties or candi-
dates who would reverse Argentine law
by Cd separating the church from the
state, ca taking religious teaching out
OF the public schools, (3) legalixing civil
divorce. = The liberals, mostly
good Catholics themselves, think the
church too powerful, too meddlesome
too expensive. The church, which still
enjoys medieval prerogatives In Argen-
tina, u 10th to give m inch"
KATHERINE HAYDEN sALTTR.
No Third Party Involved
TO the uditor Of The star:
None would undertake to deny se.
riously that whole cannot be
subordinate to its parts, however I'M
portant functionally some Of the parts
may be. In this scene the American
public Is the whole because It com.