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About The American. (Omaha, Nebraska) 1891-1899 | View Entire Issue (Nov. 29, 1895)
THE AMERICAN f i i WHY I AM NOT AN A. I A. Continued fiuta Puf I nothing till Us l outrage to infur tied the cixd, tUid citizett of the ytrnker City , that they armed them m1tc and began a war of extermina tion. lis did not toll you that a raid on a Roman Catholic entire brougai to nir&t itoorv or nut- kc-U, which were appropriated and turned with deadly effect upon thei owner, lie to!d you not that (or yean th wit It lioiuna Catholic were tench in the nostril of Philadel phlac, and that it 1 only of recent years that they have, lika tfce flick amy, insinuating Jesuit, begun to ereep back into prominence. So. Ual the Protectant been the aggressors, what a wett-cented morsel he would hare found for you to roll under your tongue; but, alas, the side he champi ons to-day were the aggressors, and he te It over with the remark that "the movement spread to New Jersey and Philadelphia, and In the latter city led to great riots between natives and Irish citizens." ' Oa iae 12 he lays: "Let us see how the A. P. A.'s look in their own strong hold; let us see how they recruit their numbers and hold the Ignorant Swedes and Germans whom they gather to their ranks by promises of jobs, petty offices and pelf." Then, after assuring his (to be) audience that all the secret work of the order is known, and that he holds In his hand a part of the ritual of the order, he, on page 13 of his program, quotes this as the obliga tion administered by the chaplain, and designates It the Fourth Oath: "I do most lolemaly promise and swear that I will not allow anyone, member of the Roman Catholic Church to become a member of this order, I knowing him to be such; that I will use my influence to promoto the interests of all Protectants everywhere in the world; that I will not employ a lloman Catholic in any capaci'y if I can procure the services of a Protestant; that I will not aid In building or maintaining by my lesources aay Roman Catholic church or institution of their eoc tor creed whatsoever, but will do all in my power to retard and break down the power of the pope; that I will not enter Into a controversy with a Roman Cath olic upon the subject of this order, nor will I enter Into any agreement with Roman Catholic to strike or create a disturbance whereby the Roman Cath olic employes may undermine and sub stitute the Protestants. That in all grievances I will seek only Prototants and counsel with them, to the exclusion of all Roman Catholics, and will not make known to them anything of any nature matured at such conferences that I will not countenance the nomina tion of any caucus or convention of a Roman Catholic for any office in the gift of the American people, and that I will endeavor at all times to place the political positions of this Government in the hands of Protestants. "To all of which I do most solemnly swear, so help me God." Then, on page 14, he says: "This is the oath on which the opponents of the A. P. A. base their objections to the order, on the ground that it is a con' spiracy formed for the purpose of deny ing a certain class of citizens the right to office or powe r, and even to the right to labor. It is clearly and unmistak ably anti-Catholic, bigoted, bitter and unjust. It is altogether Protes tant. It has an unmistakable saffron color, a decided orange hue; Even the scroll which the applicant signs, and to which I hive already referred, pro vides blank places for the applicant to state to what Protestant church he be longs." So that Is all that is objectionable, is it? A man cannot have the privilege of declaring even of swearing that he will employ Protestants la prefer ence to Roman Catholics without being subjected to all manner of indignities without being branded as a bigot and as a traitor, even when he knows that the membership of the Roman church, under the direction of the hierarchy, are bound, under pain of eternal dam nation, to obey blindly and Implicitly every command of Rome; when they know that the Roman church holds and the laity believes that no oath is binding except when it conforms to the laws of the Roman church; when they know that the theology of the Roman church lays down the proposition that if a servant believes his services are worth more than he receives, he has a right to appropriate enough ot his em ployer's goods to bring his wages up to what he believes he is justly entitled to; when they know that servant-girls carry to the priest, through the confes sional, all that transpires beneath their roofs, and when they, know that for years Protestant workmen have been gradually dismissed from their positions and Romanists put in their pi aces. We say, while knowing all this and a thou sand times more, Protestants must not organize for their own protection and fight Rom6 with her own weapon ex cept under pain of being vilified and abused from the rostrum and through the columns of the subsidized daily press. But Mr. Speyer, we opine, let the cat ut of the bag when he said the A. P. A. "Is ALTOGETHER PROTESTANT-' and when he Italicized the word Prot- en tant. Ills U not a fight agalnat the A. P. A. becaue It 1 antl-ltomao, but becauae "it i$ altoytthtr I'roitttant," and we are cot opposed- to-the fight being made along that line. Mr. Speyer's program announces then that he will continue to expose the or der b? reciting the covered work, and assures his hearer (that are to be) that ''the covered work I the most savory feature of tb delectable institution, Inasmuch at a man, being "no longer an A. P. A., but" an "Ammor-een can make an affidavit that you are a member of no such order," mean ing the A. P. A. Speyer says the man Is no longer an A. P. A. but an Am mor-een. Then why should he not be permitted to sweir he Is not a mem ber of the A. P. A ? Then Mr. Speyer continues the ex posure by quoting what he Is pleased to characterise the altar service, wherein the pope, sitting at Rome or elsewhere, his priests and emissaries and the diabolical work of the Roman Catholic church are denounced, and where the candidate pledges himself to the cause of Protestantism, to the end that there may be no interference with the duties of citizenship. Then Mr. Speyer declares that he has "trkd, by Bhowing what they are, and the elements that compose them, to give you a few of his "reasons why" he docs "not and cannot, never will and never can belong to that selfish, ignor ant, b'gotcd, un-christian, un-American organization known as the A. P. A, We believe, without being acquainted with Mr. Speyer's antecedents, that we can give a better reason than be has yet given why he is not, cannot and never will be an A. P. A. It is because Romanists and Roman sympathizers are not eligible to membership. On page 16 our lecturer quotes what be says are the principles of the order. In a paragraph above we have called your attention to the fact that Mr. Speyer's fight is not against the A. P. A. because it is an anti-Roman order, but because it is a Protestant order, The last paragraph on page 18 justifies that conclusion. It reads as follows: ''The A. P. A. members are doing exactly what they condemn in others. They are trying day and night to Prot estantize our Government and public schools, and this Is as un-American as any alleged Roman Catholic opposition to tho public schools." But there is no "alleged" opposition. It is opposition pure and simple, and Speyer knows it as well as any one else. Page 17 contains nothing worthy of note, and 18 contains that hackneyed assertion about Lord Baltimore and Maryland. He starts off on page 19 with the dec laration that "the 'little red school house,' as a political slogan, is about fagged out. The utterances of such eminent and liberal prelates as Carci nal Gibbons of Baltimore and Arch bishop Ireland of St. Paul, not to men' tion the instructions of Papal Legate batolli, utterly dissipate and put to rout the absurd charge that the Catho lics are inimical to the public-school system of this country, or have any de signs on the school funds." All of whfch proves nothing. If the lecturer knows anything, he knows that but one man has power to define the position of the Roman church on any subject That one man is the rope. lie has spoken. He has condemned our pub lic-school tystem. That condemnation has never baen modified or withdrawn; therefore we state, without fear of suc cessful contradiction, that there is op position to the public-school system and that that opposition embodies a division of the public-school funds. The lecturer will then declare that the Methodists, Baptists, Presbyte rians and other Protestant churches have colleges and seminaries In all parts of this country, yet whoever claimed that they were a menace to the public-school system?" Of course no such claim has ever been made. Those uuiuucs rc practically inuigeaous to this country, the Roman church is I 1 l. . ofufi ,t v ...v. i 1 , ""uuiuk ia common with our cational forms or VUUUiO. Mr. Speyer will next charge that the f. a. nas sedulously tried to ex- 1,11 a oil RIlno nlat. ( ( f I MuiBuiotD iiuiu uubaiuiug or retaining positions as teachers in the public schools, no matter how deserv- ing they might be." This can be an- swered effectually by a question. If you knew a man desired your business ruined, so as to start In the same line on his own account, would you place his agent in full charge and let him run the business to suit himself? The Roman teachers are the popo's agents. ae wants the public-school system ruined. He desires to go In business himself. It is wise to keep Roman teachers out of the schools. But, screams Mr. Speyer, the Ro mans pay from 88,000 to $7,000 yearly in Kansas City, Kas., Into the school- fund. And they ought to. So do the old ; maids, the old bachelors, the childless married people, and the cor- porations. But do you ever hear them complain? Following that Mr. Speyer intends to tell about the Roman Catho- lies who were thinking of taking their children, 1,000 in. number, out of the parochial and putting them in the public schools, but found that through the mismanagement of an A. P. A. school board the funds had all been ex- hauUffd, and that If the HomaninU placed their children In the public schools the school year would have to be reduced from nice months to five months. "So the much-abused Catho lics have to pay for educating the Prot ectant children in the public schools and keep up their own parochial schools as will." We are not ao quainUd with the cn3ition tf the cLool-fund in Kansas City, Ka., and will tare no opportunity cf ascertain' ing before this artlc'e Is printed, but we know how very easy It Is to brand man or a set of nit n as incompetent, even though the facts do not warrant such a charge being lodged. A case la point comet to mind as we write. I was charged by a dishonest and dUhon orable pa(,er in Omaha, during the re cent campaign, that the present oltl cials were incompetent. The deputy county clerk made a comparative stat ment of the amounts on hand at the time the A. P. A. took charge of the affairs of that city and county and the amount on hand the first of July, 1SU5, kich effectually spiked the guns of the oppotition. la that statement it was shown that there was a deficit of $240,000, when the A. P. A. took hold but that the deficit had been paid and there as l,12.j,000 on hand at the time of making the statement,- or a differ ence of about half a million dollars Yet they were branded as a set of in compctents. A. P. A. men are not In competent as a rule, If the audience will just wait and not get In loo big a hurry Mr. Speyer will I take up the Scarrltt school difficulty when "John Bjnson Stone, and the members of his household, Including the servant-girl, petitioned the school board to appoint none but Protestant teachers in the public schools." He will laud President Yeager's attitude and his good sense and declare that there were but 30 Roman teachers out of a total of 349 In Kansas City, or less than 8 per cent. We have a very vivid recollection of that controversy, and have often wondered why It was that Rome had not appointed some one long ago to pour oil on the gaping wounds which covered President Yeager after that committee of ladies got through with him. But it will ba all right now; Speyer is going to rub on the balm. However, before we leave this phase of Mr. Speyer's address, let us ask why did not the board of education answer our question at the time this topic was under discussion? When the cbarsre was made that the Roman teachers were only about 8 per cent, tt the num be r employed, wo asked If 8 per cent, of the scholars in attendance were Ro mania's. Be that as it may, our posi tion as to the propriety of employing Uonun teachers in the public schools Is fairly set forth several paragraphs above, and need not be repeated here. We find nothing worthy of comment until we reach the 22nd nstre of his program. There we have sprung upon us that bewhiskered chestnut hoary and bent with age that the Roman church was the first to proclaim re ligious liberty In the United States, then the colonies. Bat that is a miser able and Inexcusable untruth. Later on, on page 31, Mr. Speyer will advise the A. P. A. to "read the his torian Bancroft." We won't advise that, but we will advise Mr. Speyer to read Bancroft's "History of tho United states,- voi. j, part l, cDap. to, page 154, before he delivers his lecture. It may save him some embarrassment. Bancroft there says of Roger Williams "Within two years others fled to this aaylum. The land which he occupied was within the territory of the Narra- gansetts. In March, 1638, an Indian deed fromCanonicus and Miantonomah made him the undisputed possessor of an extensive domain." "The principles which he fWilliamsl first sustained amid the bickerlncs of a colonial parish, next In the general court of Massachusetts, and then intro duced into the wilds of Narragansett Bay, he found occasion, in 1G44. to pub lish in England, and to defend as the baftfa nf thA rplfrrinna fraArinm rf man- .. .7 . "-". Kind. (la., page ZOO.) Hn Mtt, Tp1Mamtt ,, ci... r " J by, but does not want to leave this branch of his gullject wilhout pajiDf; VQ fVl IU., . J ncss and self-sacrificing devotion of that uwiwcuio w iuuio tu buu nuruv, ITOuU' noble sisterhood knowa the world over .1 f . . . .. .. as tne oisiers 01 unanty. we were going to say "Let it no at that." but just ae the thought vanished, the Dale. sad, face of a wronged girl, wronced probably by her father confessor, arose before us as If to protest against our even acquiescing In their praise while she was yet lying on a couch which had, oh, so recently, carried her safely through her travail, and we stop long enough to re'er you to a specimen of their goodness and self-sacrificing, as It appears from an article published In another column under the heading "Roman Charity." But even with that heinous charge against tbem we would not detract one iota from whatever fame they are justly entitled to. For their good works let us sing their praise, for their inhuman deeds let us censure them. According to his published Droeram on page 24, Mr. Soever will resolv himself Into an interrogation point for about ten or fifteen minutes, after which he will laud General Kh We doubt whether he can find anv man who will controvert a eood thlnr whloh he may say in Sherman's behalf. We cannot see, however, bv what niwi. of reaoning he arrives at the conclu tion that btxausi Tom Sherman it a Jesuit the A. P. A. would hurl dU honor on the soldier's grave. General Sherman was as loyal a soldier as he was a Protestant, and while it was cot his fault that fel son became a Jesuit, it was hi mUfjrtune to have to father a child that is a follower Im-toad of leader. All honor U General Sherman! Thy lustre can never be dimmed by any act of another. Nor would any hor e,t, lojal A. I A. say one word that would dim the well-earned fame of Phil Sheridan Roman Catholic though he was. We love bim, not .because nf his religion, butbeeauteof bis fidelity to his country la a less vehement ay every A. P. A would revere the name of Shields, De Kalb, Siegel and Rosecrans Tbelr ad miration would re Wt for them, not became their religious beliefs were more obnoxious than was that of Sber ldan, but because the services they rendered the country were less. We honor James G. Blulne. Ho was one of our nation s great men. And he was a Protestant. True, many in his family were Romanists. Copplnger was one of the number. But Coppln ger' questionable record cannot tar- nUh the fame of Blaine. "Who are these men who call them selves A. P. A.'s In Kansas City and Missouri?" vociferously jells Mr. Speyer, on page 27 of his printed pro gram, and then, before any one will have time to scramble to his foct and answer his question, he will thunder back, "They are mostly politicians who vainly sought to bring dishonor on the American flag, and by treason bring about a dismemberment of the Union, It is true the part they played was In significant, nay infinltesslmal. Stone carried a musket and ashlrtful of gray- backs for the confederacy, and yet for the sake of office he howls and shrieks for the honor of tho flag he once spat upon and trampled underfoot." We presume that Judge Stone and tho men who fought by his side for what they honestly thought was right are as sorry to-day as are the widows who lost their husbands, when duty called them to the front. We are one of those who believe the war is over. In a quiet country cemetery which overlooks the turbid, sluggish waters of the old Missouri river, a marble Blab marks silently the Anal resting place of him who called us boh; and were the history of that war, in which ho gave unselfishly four of the bust years of bis life, were its history chiseled on that slab it certainly would read, "They did their duty to the south; we did it by tho north. We saved the nation, made It one; they're part of us ho.ictforth." And wo say: Stilled be the tongue which dares now raise the question of their loyalty. The tongue which dares detract from thum can add no lustre to It) owner's fame, nor can It hope to win the plaudits of the crowd by stirring up sectional feeling-i. If the south had it to do over again we doubt oiuuh If it would not free the slaves and throw in the question of state's rights rather than meet their brothers upon the field of battle. On page 30 of Mr. Speyer's printed program we s e he is to get in a nlng at the Ole Olesone, and that later on he turns Into a regular braggart and toots his own horn. Page 31 will be given up to self lauda tion and justification, while page 32 Is minus a single point. Errors of Youth.! SUFFERERS FROM Ml? lawns DcmiitT, Yomuii Indiscretions. 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