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THE BULLETIN OF THE CATHOLIC LAYMEN’S ASSOCIATION OF GEORGIA
THE BULLETIN
The Official Organ of the Catholic Laymen’s Association
of Georgia.
RICHARD REID, Editor.
The Fight on Catholic Schools.
III.
The fight on Catholic schools in our country is
camouflaged with the claim that public schools alone
arc American and all other schools, if not positively
Dixie Musings
We have always been told that
half the world doesn’t know how
The Dixie Pr ^ss
WASHINGTON, GA., NEWS-
REPORTER
Published Semi-Monthly by the Publicity Department
409 Herald Building. Augusta, Georgia.
Subscription Trice, $2.00 Ter Year.
ASSOCIATION OFFICERS FOR 1921-1922.
T. H. Rice, K. S. G„ Augusta President
Col. P. H. Callahan, K.S.G., Louisville, Ky...Hon. Vice-Pres.
J. J. Haverty, Atlanta First Vice-President
•L B. MeCallum, Atlanta Secretary
Thomas S. Gray. Augusta treasurer
IJ-'chard Reid. Augusta Publicity Director
Miss Cecile C. Ferry, Augusta ...Assistant Publicity Director
VOL. III. OCTOBER 10, 1922. NO. 18
Entered as second class matter June 15, 1921. at the Lost
Office at Augusta, Ga., under Act of March, 1879. _ Accepted
for mailing at special rate of postage provided for in Section
1103, Act of October 3, 1917, authorised September 1, 1921.^
Citizens Who Do Not Vole.
A leading non-Catholic of Georgia spoke to us only
a few weeks ago on the charge that the Latholic
Church is constantly meddling in politics.
“I’ll give you an example of it,” he said. “I have
been interested in a certain movement in this city,
which was to he voted on by the people. I went to
every clergyman in the city and asked them to speak
for it from their pulpits. They all agreed, save one,
the Catholic priest.
” ‘You know I think the inovement a very good one,’
he told me, ‘hut we are not permitted to discuss poli
tical topics in our sermons.’ I guess that proves
something, hut not that your Church is meddling into
politics.”
And there you arc..
Some time ago, tlie Wesleyan Christian Advocate
of Atlanta published au editorial on Citizens Who Do
Not Vote. Now, even at the risk of having someone
say that The Bulletin is dabbling in politics, we are
going to quote the Wesleyan Christian Advocate.
“The voters who vote wrong are at least taking
some interest in the government. If the man who is
not loyal to his country in times of war is to be
dubbed a slacker or traitor, how ‘much better or how
much worse is the man who is not loyal to his gov
ernment in times of jxcace? It you raise a pious cant
that polities is so corrupt that you do not care to mix
with it, you are so goody-goody that you are not
fit for this world. If you arc so depraved as to care
nothing for your government, then the quicker you
pass to pass to some other world, the better it will be
for this world.”
It is not, of course, our intention to consign those
who do not vote to another world, hut we do endorse
the spirit which prompted the Christian Advocate edi
torial. The man who does not vote is at least a
slacker. Our forefathers watered with their blood
the soil of fields in every part of Europe fighting tor
the vote, or the rights that led up to it, and we do not
appreciate it enough to make use of it, although we
would go forth tomorrow to die fighting for this pre
cious right were some tyrant to attempt to take it
away from us 1
The Bulletin is not in politics. We intend that it
never shall lie. it is against our priciples. Ihc
Bulletin, however, does urge that its reader register
and exercise the right of franchise. Our people do
not need to be told how to vote. God gave them
free will and intellect; the use of these gifts from
Him will reveal to them the proper candidate.
But we say not only to every Catholic in Georgia
hut to every non-Catholic as well: You owe it to
your state to exercise your right of franchise to
register and to vote. If you do not avail yourself
of it, you are out of order when you criticize the evils,
whatever they may he, which beset Georgia today.
The Bulletin is convinced of the innate fairness
of the people of the state as a whole. The more people
who vote, the better the chances are of putting into
office men who will reflect this fairness. Those who
are constantly singing a hymn of hate against their
fellowmen who worship God in a way in whi :1T they
do not approve are never missing at tire polls. Why
should the fair-minded people, the best citizens, be?
Christopher Columbus.
We are assured that faith can move mountains. In
lhe case of Christopher Columbus it- did more than
that. It increased the inhabitable world by half, open
ed up new avenues of commercial development, accel
erated science and discovery, and made possible the
birth of the greatest republic the world has ever seen,
our own United States of America. For it was faith
that sent Christopher Columbus on his epoch-making
journey. He is recorded as having declared to his
friends that he felt God inspired him with a love of
geographical studies in his earliest years that he
might be His chosen instrument in giving a new con
tinent to the world. He believed that he was God’s
ambassador.
Neither greed for gold, nor ambition, nor fame in
spired Columbus to traverse unknown seas and brave
unknown dangers, hut his desire to open a way for
the Gospel over new lands and seas. He had the
bravery of a hero and the courage of a saint. The
great land h<? discovered lias assumed some of the
characteristics of its intrepid discorer. A proper use
of them will make it possible for America to guide na
tions to the new moral continent others are trying in
vain to reach
un-American, are at least out of line with the tradi
tions and ideals of America.
Many 7 persons, it seems, think that is true, and
others, without thinking, feel that there is “something
in it.” Even among Catholics are some who all hut
apologize for our Catholic schools. They may not go
so far as to endorse the movement to abolish them,
but they “can understand” the motive of those behind
the movement and they have “little sympathy” with
the thought that it is at bottom pagan and not Ameri-
the other ha f lives, and now comes
a pessimist of our acquaintance who
says that it isn’t the fault of most
of the people in his neighborhood.
The Coue formula for curing ail
ments is causing comment. It con
sists in repeating some such sen
tence as: “In every respect I feel
belter and better every day.” One
objection raised against it is that
after one has used it to cure a licad-
“The Veasey law is a waste of
time and money”, says the* grand
jury of Richmond county. Certain
ly, no news in that. It never was
anything hut an outlet for a lot of
politiaal hot air. But if that was
the only time and money the dema
gogues have wasted for Georgia, the
state would have been lucky.—Tifton
Gazette.
Judge Andrew J. Cobh of Athens,
can.
The public school as we have it in America was
not known for more than two hundred years after
Catholic schools were established here. Our Inde
pendence was won, our Republic established, our Con
stitution framed and adopted, long before the first
public school began. Washington was dead; Jeffer
son was dead; Adams was dead; and great John Mar
shall was dead, before the first public school began.
We had fought and won five wars, purchased Louisia
na, admitted Texas, before the first public school be
gan. For a hundred and fifty years before our
American Revolution, and for seventy-five years after,
no legislature, jurist, Governor, President, or other
public man in all America, had received his education
in the public school. Of all the hooks written; of all
the paper and periodicals printed; of all the judicial
decisions rendered; of all the sermons preached,
throughout America, from the first settlement till
three-quarters of a century after the Constitution was
framed, none was produced by a man educated in the
public school. What, then, is this talk about the pub
lic school alone being American?
The foundations of America were laid in Christian
teaching; her laws were imbued with a Christian
spirit; her institutions were molded on a Christian
pattern; her schools, from village class-room to Uni
versity hull, for two hundred years were Christian
through and through.
Then came the public ..school! If now the public
school alone is American, it must be because our
country lias lost her original imprint, has discarded
hei long cherished tradition and has substituted pa
gan standards for Christian ideals. If she has taken
the public school to her bosom with such whole affec
tion as to leave only contempt in her heart for the
Christian school, it can mean only that she has defi
nitely abandoned the lead of Christian civilization
and set her feet on the road that Julian the Apostate
trod.
It may be the fruit or it may be a sign only, but
when a nation turns paganward it strikes at the
Christian school.
Is that blow about to fall in Alnerica? Or is the
attack being made on Catholic schools merely a ges
ture? We do not know. Time after time the move
ment has been repulsed; and still it seems to grow.
But this much one can know now; the fruit, if it is
the fruit, is sure to ripen and fall; the sign, if it is a
sign only, is of unmistakable portent.
If America already is pagan, the nation has lost
its soul, and the movement against Catholic schools
can be expected to spread wider and wider, to rise
higher and higher, till it ovwlielms the national legis
lature and the supreme court and sweeps our country
from its constitutional mooring onto the hapless high
seas of passion, where turbulent waves wash the
wreckage of past empires. If America still is Chris
tian, let her take warning from the experience of other
nations and repudiate the attack on Catholic schools
before the gesture falls as a blow.
The loss of religion ia. the dry rot of nations. With
out belief in God no society can he upheld in happi
ness or honor; there is no answer to that cry of the
heart which nothing else can silence; no meaning to
that aspiration of soul which no created thing can
satisfy; no worthy or considerable purpose in human
life. Eliminate the influence of religion from the
page of history, and but for its record of wars aud
crimes that page would he a blank. Eliminate it
from law and that instrument of justice is at once
converted into an engine of oppression. Eliminate
it from society and family ties will he broken, peace
ful pursuits will he abandoned, order and law will
die, liberty will be crushed and civilization buried
by tlie onsweep of passionate and unrestrained bar
barities.
For when we have put away religion, power has
lost its authority, law its efficacy and both their sanc
tion; society like a rudderless and dismantled ship
in the night will drift on its course unguided, now
drawn by an unknown instinct, now driven by an
unknown destiny, ever moving into deeper and more
impenetrable darkness. “Religion,” said Daniel
Webster on one occasion, “is the tie that connects
man with his Creator. If that tie is sundered or
broken, man floats away a worthless atom in the uni
verse, with proper attractions all gone, with destiny
thwarted, and with tlie future nothing but darkness,
desolation and death. If the people of this country
do not remain religious, I do not know what is to be
come of us as a nation.’'
ache the vocal chords require at
tention. The effectiveness of the
Coue formula is a matter of dis
pute, but we take with several grains
of salt the assertion that a man who.
adopted it to rid himself of how-
legs was so successful that he is now
knock-kneed.
The theatrical season is again
opening in Georgia- The Brooklyn
Tablet lists as among the clean and
entertaining plays, Blossom Time,
Captain Applejack, Kempy, The Cat
and the Canary, Whispering Wires,
Partners Again and Six Cylinder
Love. Six-Cylinder Love has for its
plot the consuming desire of a fam
ily for a high-powered automobile.
Georgia friends of Rev. Bernard S.
Conaty, of Pittsfield, Mass., will be
pleased to learn of his appointment
as vicar-general of the Diocese of
Springfield. Father Conaty is a
brother of the late Bishop Conaty
of Los Angeles, Cal., and uncle of
Rev. Charles C. Conaty, whose sto
ries have delighted the readers of
The Bulletin.
There is a Georgia garageman who
sent out circulars to Catholics, in
which he says: “Being a Catholic,
I should greatly appreciate any busi
ness you can give the garage.” He
explains that he is a large stockhold
er in the business. “Very poor
taste,” is the comment a prominent
Catholic wrote on a copy of the let
ter he received, before forwarding
it to The Bulletin. The goods or
the service of a business man who
relies on his religion to get busi
ness arouse our suspicions.
We started off this column with a
proverb, so another one may not he
out of order. Here it is: “Every
cloud has a silver lining,” and its
quotation is prompted by the fight
the 100 per cent Americans of the
Northwest are making on parochial
schools. The silver lining is the
fact that the 100 per centers have
been so successful in their efforts
that five new Catholic schools are
now being erected in the city of
Seattle alone.
There is another side to the story
of stage life than the one featured
in the magazine sections of sensa
tional Sunday newspapers, hut the
readers of such papers are not suf
ficiently interested int it to make
its publication profitable. So it
just naturally isn’t published. The
Baltimore Catholic Review holds up
as an example Madame de Navarro,
“Our Mary,” who, as Mary Ander
son, brought happiness to many in
sorrow and honor to the slate. “She
served her Divine Master while she
was acting the same as she is serv
ing Him today in her home across
the seas,” says The Review. Then
there is Maude Adams, a Protest
ant, who loves to retire behind con
vent walls from time to time for
spiritual strength and consolation. A
chorus girl in New York is among
the daily communicants of a certain
church; her life is a model of piety
and she is a credit to tlie sttige and
a refining influence as well.
Thomas Mepglian, probably the
most prominent’Catholic in motion
pictures, is another refutation to
the indiscriminate charges hurled
against his profession. He is per
haps John McCormack’s closest
friend, and one of Mr. Meighan’s
recent pictures, “Tlie Proxy Daddy,”
owes its inspiration to the adoption
by Mr. McCormack of his brother-
in-law’s children after their father
had been lost at sea in the war.
Tommy Meighan’s father was one of
tlie founders of the Knights of Co
lumbus in Pennsylvania and still
lives in Pittsburg.
We have discovered another flaw
in the vision of Ihe Ku-Iiluxers.
They are color-blind. Although tlie
membership is limited to “American
born white Christians, who owe no
allegiance of any kind to any for
eign nation, government, institution,
sect, people, ruler or person,” we
find a Red Man, Dr. White Eagle,
organizing a Ulan in Marietta.
R. R.
in a letter to The Journal on current
issues, has this to say about Judge
Powell’s address some weeks ago
before the Georgia Bar Association:
There is, however, one portion
of Judge Powell’s address tlijit
has escaped public attention.
It is where he deplored religious
intolerance. The gem in his ad
dress should not he lost in the
confusion resulting from other
portions. All fair-minded per
sons will approve his utterance
on the’subject. No person should
he prescribed on account of his
views on religious subjects. The,
law does not,permit it. But an
unhealthy public sentiment may
accomplish it. We acquired re
ligious freedom at tlie cost of
blood and treasure. We should
not permit it to be destroyed.
Each of us asserts the right to
think for ourselves on this sub
ject. We must accord the same
right to others. It Is most im
portant now to lay emphasis on
religious freedom when intoler
ance is parading over the coun
try under tlie masque of Amer
icanism.
SPARTA, GA., TRIBUNE
Fighting is still going on over in
Ireland, and will he going oil Until
England is made to accord to the
Irish their natural rights. England
has persecuted Ireland as no other
family of people has ever been per
secuted. One oi tiie primary ob
jects of the league of nations is to
see that Ireland shall never he free.
England has never forgiven the Irish
for the part their countrymen played
in the success of the Revolutionary
War.
McDonough, ga., advertiser
Is there ail anti-Catholic political
organization in Atlanta? Do most
of the city officials belong to it?
WJiy were a lot of councilmen turn
ed" out of the “12-20” Club? If you
enjoy good vaudeville it will pay
you to keep your eye on the “12-20”
Club.
ATLANTA GEORGIAN
The Tifton Gazette has a view
as to law and order—as to lynch-
ings, religious intolerance and pure
“cussedness” of one sort and an
other, which admittedly in the
minds of law-abiding citizens is far
more rampant in Georgia today than
ever before—that is interesting, and
in respect of which The Gazette
says:
The recent lynching of a Holi
ness preacher in Mitchell county
for preashing doctrine which
some people did not want to
hoar opens up big possibilities.
When we begin lynching folks
because we do not agree with
them on religious matters, there
will he something doing in this
grand old state of shining
patriotism and respect for law.
When the Baptists begin to
lynch Methodists, and the Meth
odists begin to lynch Baptists;
and the Presbyterians organize
whipping bees to handle objec
tionable Episcopalians; Catho
lics lynch Jews and Jews lynch
Catholics, then we shall have a
merry-go-round sure enough.
Yet there is where we have been
drifting to for the past few years
with the anti-Catholic and anti-
Jewisli propaganda political
demagogues have spread for
selfish reasons. When a man
gets such an exedss supply of re
ligious (?) enthusiasm that he
feels he must organize a mob
and heat up somebody — being
too cowardly to attempt the job
himself—or start a lynching
party, he ought to he put in jail.
A paper which claims to be al
ways first with the news records a
statement which it attributes to
Pope Pius XII. I trust that it will
prove to he several years in advance
of its sluggish hut more accurate
contemporaries with this particular
piece of early information.