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THE BULLETIN OF THE CATHOLIC LAYMEN’S ASSOCIATION OF GEORGIA
5
Death Closes Picturesque Career
of Baron Cochin, French Patriot
Loyal Catholic, Former Minister and Deputy, Assistant to
Pasteur, Philosopher, Statesman, Scientist and Man of
Letters, He Was Leader in French Life.
By M. Massiani.
(Paris Correspondent, N. C. W. C.
News Service).
Paris.—Ilaron Denys Cochin, ex-
minister, who has just died in
Paris, was not only one of the most
prominent figures .of the French
Catholic world, he was also one of
its most generous benefactors and
one of its most eloquent spokesmen.
Through the distinction of his
mind and the tireless activity of his
labor, his was the most astonishing
career of which a man can give
example. He was a soldier, doctor,
chemist, bacteriologist, philosopher,
jurist, man of letters, journalist, or
ator, librarian, art critic, edile of
his city, dejuty, minister, member
of the Academy. In short, he ex
celled in everything.
Favored by birth and fortune, he
endeavored from early youth to
make his life the model of the life
of the “good rich man,” and not
to leave unused any of the intellect
ual gifts which Providence has be
stowed upon him.
He interrupted his studies to fight
when his country was invaded in
1870 He was then 19 years of age.
He was twice wounoed, was cited
for bravery' and decortcd with the
Medaille Militaire.
After the war he went back to
work, and obtained in turn diplo
mas of liceneiate in law and licen-
ciate in science. He took the exam
ination of the French Ministry of
Foreign Affairs, passed, and was
sent to London as attache at the
Embassy there.
Having occasion to come back to
Paris, he found an opportunity to
work in the laboratory of a savant,
and being greatly attracted by scien
tific studies he abandoned diplo
macy (he returned to it, however),
when, as a deputy he revealed him
self as one of the greatest experts
on foreign policy). For five years
Denys Cochin had the honor to be
the assistant of the famous Pasteur.
He took part in the discussions be
tween the great scientist and the
philosopher Taine. Later he him
self published two works on phil
osophy in 1885 and 1895. These two
books were not the least of the
causes of his election to the French
Academy some years later.
MEMBER OF AN OLD FAMILY.
Denys Cochin belonger to the
oldest family of Parisians known.
One of his ancestors was an aider-
man of the capital under Saint
Louis; another was alderman in
1561, one of the principal hospitals
of Paris was founded by one of his
great-uncles, Jean Cochin, pastor of
a Paris parish in the eighteenth
century.
The descendant of such a family
could not refuse to serve his city
He became municipal councillor in
1881 and for forty years the elec
tors of the capital returned him
regularly to the town hall, then to
the Chamber.
In Parliament he fought with
moving eloquence the policy' of se
cularization and the Separation. He
made every effort to prevent the
rupture between the Republic and
the Holy See.
When the Separation was voted,
Cardinal Richard, Archbishop of
Paris, was dispossessed of the arch-
iepiscopal palace, which was taken
by the Government and used as the
Ministry of Labor. M. Cochin then
placed his magnificient residence in
the rue de Babylone at the disposi
tion of the Cardinal, who was es
corted to his new home by an im
mense crowd, as a protest against
his expulsion. The following morn
ing the deputy served the archbis
hop’s Mass
A few months later the ministry
was overthrown. The Minister of
Labor in turn was obliged to leave
the former Archiepiscopal residence
Deny’s Cochin went up to the ex-
minister and asked him smilingly:
"Will you too, come to me for shel
ter?”
The faultless urbanity of the dep
uty won for him the sympathy of
his colleagues of every party. When
ever he rose to explain a problem
of foreign policy there was a crowd
to hear him. The question of the
Near-East was the subject of a
special study, and he was more
familiar with it than any one else.
He was a warm advocate of the
Greeks and Armenians, and he
pleaded their cause everywhere, in
the Chamber, at meetings in the
faubourgs, and in the press. “The
'dest Parisian of Paris” was pro
claimed by' the Hellenes a “citizen
of Athens.”
SERVICES IN THE WAR.
When war started in 1914, the
members of Parliament elected from
the city of Paris, both socialists and
conservatives, placed him at their
head by unanimous choice. But he
was not content with directing their
work. When the Government moved
to Bordeaux, he remained behind.
He was a chemist, and remained in
the district of Paris to direct the
mobilization of the chemical indus
try.
Later, at the first change in the
Cabinet, when the ministry of na
tional union was formed, it was he
who was choosen to represent the
Catholics. Again it was he who
was chosen, in the absence of an
official envoy from France at the
Vatican, to negotiate personally
with the Holy See, where he found
ed the most benevolent welcome.
Thus was prepared the reconcilia
tion which has now been accom
plished.
The war brought him many sor
rows He lost his son-in-law and
his two eldest sons, one of whom
was already a distinguished bacter
iologist, while the younger son, Au
gustin, had early made a name for
himself as a historian by his works
on the French Revolution.
Denys Cochin bore his losses with
admirable resignation, and remained
steadfastly at his post as long as
the war lasted. After peace was
signed, when his electors wished to
re-elect him, he said: “No, thank
you, now I can go home; I am go
ing to weep for my sons.”
He now lies beside them. In a
modest hearse which was followed
by the great of Paris, his body was
carried to the chapel of the Cochin
hospital founded by his great-uncle.
The Achbishop of Paris and the
Nuncio of the Pope said the last
pray'er over the mortal remains of
the great citizen and proud Chris
tian who said one day' to his col
leagues in the Chamner: “I do not
believe. I see.”
IRELAND’S RELIGIOUS
REGAIN LOST ESTATES
Castle Where Plots Against
Catholics Were Hatched
Now Owned by Jesuits.
Dublin.—Catholics in Ireland are
rapidly acquiring possession of cas
tles and other great buildings from
which in former centuries their fore
fathers had been ejected.
In 1583 the lands of Viscount Gal-
tinglass, a Catholic, were attained.
At that time a band of violent anti-
Catholic adventurers were let loose
in Ireland. Amongst those was one
Adam Loftus, an apostate priest who
ultimately became Protestant Arch
bishop of Dublin. He secured the
estates of Viscount Galtinglass. Up
on the lands so acquired he built
Rathfarnham Castle. This man
adopted fiendish methods to force
Catholics to abandon their faith.
By his order Dermot Henley, Arch
bishop of Cashel, was tortured by
having his feet toasted against the
fire in hot boots. In a letter writ
ten from Rathfarnham Castle, a
year before his death, he proposed
a scheme for the persecution of the
Irish Catholic laity. In that letter,
he wrote:
“If this people be allowed to keep
in their houses seditious Jesuits and
Seminary priests which lull them
asleep in idolatry and superstition,
and deeply feed and possess their
hearts with foreign hopes, being
enemies to the State and known dan
gerous instruments to stir up all
kinds of mischief, I cannot conceive
how the wislicd-for effect can fol
low.” %
He died soon afterwards, leaving
the wished-for effect, the perversion
of the Irish from allegiance to the
faith* of their fathers, unachieved.
Today the castle which he built at
Rathfarnham, near Dublin, is in the
occupation of the “seditious Jesu
its.” Here the Jesuits have estab
lished a Retreat House for Catho
lic laymen Every week-end these
Retreats will be given.
TO EXEMPLIFY FOURTH
DEGREE AT COLUMBUS
Columbus, Ga.—Richard A.
Magill, Master of the Fourth
Degree Exemplification for North
and South Carolina, Georgia and
Florida, announces that the de
gree will be conferred on a class
of candidates at Columbus, at
2:30 p. m., Sunday afternoon,
May 7. Those eligible to take
the degree are invited to take
it at this time. Candidates
shall have been third degree
Knights of Columbus for at least
one year, shall have received
Holy Communion at least two
weeks previous to the date of
the initiation and present cer
tificates from their pastors or
other priests to that effect. Lo
cal Fourth Degree Assemblies or
the chair officers of the coun
cils must certify as to .the
eligibility of the candidates. To
take the degree it is necessary to
act at once. Fourth Degree
Assemblies, officers of councils
or Mr. Magill, Fourth Degree
Master, 35 N. Pryor Street, At
lanta, Ga., will furnish applica
tion blanks and further informa
tion.
Anti-Catholic Slanders
President and the Army
Ocean View, Va.—Members of the
of the Ku Iilux lilan and other bi
gots, male and female, called to
gether last Monday night to take
the law into their own hands in
connection with a sensational mur
der here, were regaled with gro
tesque calumnies against Catholics
from the mouth of Rev. Joe Harker,
of Richmond, who is a spellbinder
of the “Invisible Empire.”
Rev. Mr. Harker’s subject was
“America for Americans,” and his
stock in trade the antigue mendaci
ties with which anti-Catholic ora
tors are accustomed to arouse their
ignorant hearers.
“There is an army of 1,000,000
Catholics in the United States ready
for word from the Pope to attack
the government,” the Rev. Mr. Har
ker confided to the two of three
hundred auditors. “This army is
better trained, better drilled and
more eager to fight than the Amer
ican army,” he continued, disparag
ing Uncle Sam’s sailors and soldiers
in the attempt to libel the Catho
lics. “They drill secretly at night.”
“President Harding is in sympathy
with them,” (the members of the
so-called Catholic Army) the Rev.
Mr. Harker assured the bigots, ap
parently with no thought or appre
ciation of the implication that this
would be treason to the president’s
oath of office and to his country.
“He has appointed thousands of
Catholics to office,” the spellbinder
declared, and then to reveal the
president’s character in all its enor
mity, added, “and he doesn’t eat
meat on Friday.”
“The Catholics are trying to con
vert the negro to their faith under
the promise that they will put on
equality with the white man,” Rev.
Mr. Harker concluded, appealing in
one breath to the religious and ra
cial prejudices of his audience.
CHURCH MIT TARIFF
IGKMFOTMFR
Committee of Senate Would
Admit Gift Altars, Pulpits
and Other Items Free.
Washington.—Altars, pulpits, com
munion tables, baptismal fonts,
shrines and statuary, imported in
good faith for presentation, without
charge, to any church or religious
organization are admitted free of
duty under the new tariff bill, as
reported to the Senate Tuesday of
this week by the Finance Commit
tee, which has been engaged for
months in rewritting the measure
as it passed Ihc House.
The bill, under like restrictions,
also admits to free entry works of
art, including pictorial paintings on
glass and stained or painted glass
windows, providing the latter are
works of art and valued at $15 or
more per square foot. Stained glass
windows that do not meet the re
quirements as works of art which
have a square foot value less than
$15 are subject to a tax of GO per
cent ad valorem.
Rosaries, chaplets and similar ar
ticles of religious devotion, of what
ever material composed (except if
made in whole or in part of gold,
silver, gold plale, silver plate, prec
ious or imitation stones) are as
sessed a duty of 15 per cent of
valorem, if valued at not more than
$1.25 per dozen, and 30 per cent if
valued at more than $1.25 per dozen.
Any of the foregoing articles, if
made in whole or in part of gold,
silver or gold silver plating or of
precious or imitation precious
stones, are assessed a duty of 50
per cent ad valorem.
IMPORTANCE OF ALTARS PRO
VISION.
The provision In the tariff bill
admitting altars, statuary and like
marble adornments free of duty is
of particular importance by reason
of recent decision of the United
States Court of Customs Appeals
holding that altars imported from
abroad for presentation to houses
of worship were subject to an ad
valorem duty of 45 per cent on the
ground that they were not works of
art, but articles of utility.
Under the existing and previous
tariff laws, dating back many years,
imported altars and similar church
furnishings have been allowed to
come into the country free of duty,
if purchased for presentation to a
religious corporation or associatin,
providing they were works of art
and not solely articles, of utility.
Officials of the customs service
have invariably liberally interpreted
this provision of the law with the
result that most of the beautiful al
tars that now adorn many of, the
Catholic churches of the United
States have been permitted to come
in free of duty from Italy or other
foreign countries on tnelr artistic
merits The recent swceprng of de
cision of the United States Court of
Customs Appeals, however placed all
altars outside the category of works
of arts and subjected even those al
ready contracted for to the 45 per
cent duty.
CONFLICTS ON STAINED GLASS.
The Senate Finance Committee’s
restrictions in regard to stained
glass windows are not as favorable
as the provisions in the tariff bill
as it passed the House. The lower
branch included the stained glass
and stained glass windows among
the works of art entitled to free
entry wthout regards to value while
the Senate bill places a duty of 60
per cent on all art windows of the
cheaper variety, putting on the free
list only those staiued art windows
that have a value greater than $15
per square foot. The effect of the
Senate provision, it is said, may be
practically to prohibit the importa
tion of foreign made art windows
for church purposes. By reason of
the price limitation, one authority
maintains, a duty of practically 200
per cent would bc‘ required to get
the art windows through the cus
toms house.
The tariff bill probably will be de
bated for two or more months be
fore it is passed. It will then lie
sent to conference for agreement be
tween the representatives of the
two branches of Congress before it
is placed on its final passage. A
clash is predicted over the method
of valuing the imported articles.
The House leaders are standing for
American valuation, an innovation
while, the Senate Finance Committee
favors foreign valuation, the rule
hitherto thelforni mpor ted
heretofore followed.
Open New Headquarters
Of Knights of Columbus
New Haven, Conn.—What is re
garded as one of the finest head
quarters of any welfare or benev
olent organization in this coun
try is the new building just dedi
cated here as the home iof the
Knights of Columbus executive,
insurance department, hospitali
zation staff, educational corps
and printing establishment. The
dedicatory ceremonies took place
last Sunday, and were attended
by the chief representatives of
the organization and many
priests and public officials .
The building cost $500,000,
which was raised by a special
assessment on the members. The
structure was planned to afford
facilities for administering the
business of the order’s member
ship of 800,000.
Morrison-Sullivan Dry Goods Company
Dry Goods and Notions
23 BROUGHTON STREET, W.
SAVANNAH, GA.
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