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JUNE 25, 1949
THE BULLETIN OF THE CATHOLIC LAYMEN’S ASSOCIATION OF GEORGIA
FIVE
WITH OTHER EDITORS
DEAR MR. CONGRESSMAN '
Persons with the welfare of the
nation’s children at heart and who
keep themselves informed on all
legislative proposals affecting the
young folks, were startled last
week by the news that the House
Subcommittee on Education and
Labor had approved Representa
tive Graham Barden’s “Public
School Assistance Act of 1949” and
referred it to the full Committee.
A more discriminatory piece of
legislation has seldom been offered
much less approved, by any group
of elected officials in the history
of this democratic country.
When the Barden Bill was first
submitted a few weeks ago, news
reports describing it gave ample
reason for the belief that it was
merely a bit of ill-tempered bigotry
and would be laughed out of the
Subcommittee. That it has receiv
ed any serious consideration, that
it has made such alarming progress,
is indeed a tribute to the energy
and persistence of the pressure
groups backing it. These groups
are willing to follow the totali
tarian pattern of government mo
nopoly of education, rather than
give parochial school children the
non-religious benefits for which
their parents pay equal taxes with
the rest of the community. Even
those among them who admit the
inherent right of parents to send
their children to the school of their
choice, are willing to penalize the
exercise of this right.
Truly, the blindness of the bigot
is a fearsome thing. In their un
reasoning prejudice, the propone % ,
of the Barden Bill have even made
sure that no health benefits may
be given to parochial school chil
dren. This shameful precaution
betrays a blinding hatred more
fanatic than that of the tyrants
who plunged the world into the
last horrbile conflict. The knowl
edge that disease germs are no
respecters of persons deterred even
the Axis dictators from using bac
teriological weapons. Perhaps the
backers of the Barden Bill believe
that epidemic disease germs are
“Catholic bigots” and will not enter
a public school. Perhaps, like the
evil character whose tactics they
emulate, they plan to breed their
own race of “superchildren.” The
more we probe the reasoning be
hind this denial of health services,
the more should we fear for the
future of the Christian Democracy
we love, when such a proposal can
command the consideration of
elected officials and the support
of groups claiming to be Christian
men.
Besides specifically denying paro
chial school youngsters any aid
from the giant $300,000,000 Federal
grant proposed, the Barden Bill
adds insult to injury by eounlipg
them in for the purpose of allocat
ing funds, while counting them out
when the benefits are distributed.
Parochial school children are not
second class citizens and it would
be cowardice, not meekness, to yield
before any attempt to relegate
them to a secondary civil status.
On the contrary, their training in
the teachings of Christ fits them to
become better citizens than their
friends in the public schools who
cannot receive such training. The
founding fathers who wrote and
signed our cherished Declaration
of Independence, recognizing the
Creator Who endowed all men
with inalienable rights, knew that
Democracy could have no meaning
unless all men respected the rights
of their brothers in the human
family, because God, the Father ot
that family iiad bestowed them
equally on all. They knew that
Democracy can fiave no logical
basis except in the laws ot God
Who created all men and in the
doctrines of His Divine Son Who
died to redeem them. These pro
found truths are impressed tirmly
in the minds of all parochial school
children, while the Supreme Court
has forbidden the public schools to
give similar training. On this point
alone we can leave to any impartial
judge the worth of our proud claim
that “a good Catholic Cannot help
being a good Amerioan.”
All the above points are of
greatest concern to Catholic
parents who would be cheated in
the payment of taxes to sup
port a Federal aid to education
program unbelievably discrimina
tory and unjust, a program having
the mere “color of legality.” Bet
ter no Federal aid than such an un
fair, discriminatory law!
In addition to the afore-mention
ed provisions prejudicial to the wel
fare of Catholic children, the Bar
den Bill contains within its pages
other inequities which should bring
a storm of protest from all tax
payers, especially those In the
Southern States, despite the fact
that its author is a North Caro
lina Democrat.
The exclusively beneficial effect
of Federal aid to education is by
no means a closed subject and this
impudent proposal warrants a re
examination of the whole question,
keeping foremost in mind that no
Federal aid at all is better than
discrimination and Injustice—-the
price of aid under the Barden Bill.
Ten years of depression, four
more of war and four more of post
war unrest, with the nation in a
constant lather of emergencies,
have developed in too many people
the habit of looking to the Federal
treasury as the bottomless source
of wealth with which to solve all
our problems. There can be little
quarrel with the theory that in
order to govern themselves justly
and efficiently, the people of a
democracy must attain a higher
level of education than those living
under some other form of govern
ment.
Proponents of Federal aid main
tain that the richer areas of the
country should contribute to the
support of schools in the less
wealthy districts. If we grant that
the more money spent, the better
the schools, we can also admit this
argument. But the Barden Bill
makes no such provision for aid to
the areas of greatest need. It
would grant a minimum of $5 per
child between the ages of 5 and
17 years, regardless of need or
locality, thus placing a huge slush
fund in the hands of education
department officials in the richer
stales to do with as they please,
provided they do not use any of it
to help non-public schools. Except
that it may not be used for health
or transportation services, no other
restrictions are placed on this Fed
eral money which will be derived
from taxes ostensibly levied to aid
children in the poorer districts of
the nation.
The Barden Bill explicitly denies
states the right to decide for them
selves whether Federal funds may
be used to help non-public schools
—this from a legislator elected by
people who hold States’ Rights
sacred!
There need be no haste in es
tablishing Federal aid to education,
certainly not to the point of ac
cepting such a piece of plotting as
the Barden Bill, which is, in the
final analysis, taxation without jus
tification. Great progress has al
ready been made by several of the
Southern States in improving their
educational systems. They have
gone ahead with their own pro
grams, tapping new sources of
revenue, improving working condi
tions and raising teachers’ salaries,
carefully and judiciously adjusting
many discriminatory situations—all
without the slightest help from the
Federal government. They have
a right to be proud of their ac-
Bill to the full House Committee
is no less a sad reflection upon the
apathy of American Catholics in
the face of a challenge to their
rights and privileges as citizens.
In the present session of Con
gress several measures for Federal
aid to schools have been proposed.
The Senate passed a bill flagrantly
discriminatory against children in
non-public schools, but loopholes
permitted funds for some services
at the discretion of the various
States. Rep. Graham A. Barden,
of North Carolina, took over the
questionable assignment of plug
ging up those loopholes in a House
measure which completely elimi
nated any child in a Catholic school
from benefitting from Federal
funds. The measure was sent to
the House subcommittee of which
none other than the North Caro
lina gentleman is chairman. Only
a limited number of persons were
heard and Mr. Barden closed the
hearings. The subcommittee then
approved two amendments guaran
teeing the expenditure of more
Federal, or taxpayers’, money and
rejected one proposal to restrict
Federal largesse to needy States
and two which might have permit
ted a stray dollar to provide health,
bus or some other service to a boy
or girl attending a non-public
school.
The organization formed a few
month ago to isolate Catholics from
their fellow-citizens. “Protestants
and Other Americans United for
Separation of Church and State”
(hereafter referred to as POAU),
has spearheaded the drive against
children in Catholic schools. After
Mr. Barden's successful strategy
in the subcommittee, POAU took
full credit and now boasts that it
“has won to date a significant bat
tle.” It confidently predicts that
the Barden Bill “is almost certain
to become law” and calls upon all
who support its anti-Catholic pro
gram “TO WRITE now to your
congressman urging that no bill
be passed which provides public
funds for private and sectarian
schools.” . . .
The hour is late, but not at all
too late, lor Catholics throughout
the United States to ACT to defeat
the forces of division and hate be
hind the Barden Bill. We do not
share the confidence of POAU that
the Bill “is almost certain to be
come law.” We are confident that
the Bill will be’defeated and that
it will be defeated by the funda
mentally sound Americanism of the
Congress under the leadership of
American Protestants, Jews and
Catholics alike. Many, many times
in the past the interests of Cath
olic Americans have been fought
for and protected by Protestant and
Jewish members of the Senate and
House of Representatives. Our
confidence in them is not lessened,
but we do call upon our Catholic
mothers and fathers to support and
Bishop of Charleston
complishments and they have , ■ ., . ... ... ,,
right to be disgusted with the “ a Jf g 1 ™* the,r “* M *
footless tactics of Congress ' aeicai u. J(. 4043.
We must not let the "emergency
mentality” influence us to accept
Federal aid to education at any
price. There is no true emerg
ency in the'question of Federal aid
In time, the states can solve their
own school problems, whether or
not the Federal government comes
to their assistance.
There is. however, a very real
emergency in the case of the Bar
den Bill. Such an unjust and dis
criminatory measure must be stop
ped before it goes any further.
The way to slop it is to write your
Congressman and Senators and ask
your friends to write to them,
making plain your undying opposi
tion to establishing the bigoted and
dangerous procedents contained in
this nefarious scheme. Make it
plain that you will not accept the
theory that parochial school chil
dren are second class citizens. Re
mind them that you and your
friends and all the members of
your local organizations have first
class votes. Remind them also that
parochial children will themselves,
soon have equally precious first
class votes. Tell them that money
appropriated for all children must
help all children. Tell them you
want Federal aid for all—or none
at all. . . . (The Florida Catholic).
LEGALIZING DISCRIMINATION
The approval of the Barden Bill
(H. R. 4643), providing a quarter
of a billion dollars of taxpayers'
money for public schools, regard
less of need, by the subcommittee
of the House Committee on Educa
tion and Labor has been proclaim
ed a victory by the forces which
are single-minded and tirelessly
aggressive in their anti-American
campaign to isolate Catholics, and
particularly little children in Cath
olic schools, from their fellow-
Americans. The referral of the
Every Catholic parent must
WRITE AT ONCE to his or her
Congressman insisting that the
Barden Bill be defeated; every
Catholic affiliated with a non-sec
tarian organization, whether it be
a labor union or a Chamber of
Commerce, should insist that that
organization PUBLICLY OPPOSE
the Barden Bill—if not to prevent
an act of legalized discrimination
and bigotry, at least to stop tax
funds from being wasted as they
will be in this irresponsible Bill—,
and no Catholic should rest until
H. R. 46J3 is consigned to the Con
gressional wastebasket.
The evils of the Barden Bill, as
well as those of a similar Bill (S.
246) adopted by the Senate, have
been enumerated and exposed in
THE TABLET over the past
months. Here are a few of them,
in summary:
The accomplishment of a tre
mendous stride toward complete
Federal control of education and a
consequent limitation of local con
trol; in other words, a big step
toward a Socalisl America.
The almost explicit denial of the
natural right of American mothers
and fathers to educate their chil
dren according to their convictions
and the adoption of the totalitarian
and anti-democratic concept that
the only school meriting recogni
tion is that which is controlled by
the State and from which religion
and morality are excluded.
The calculation of Federal funds
needed for the education of ALL
children in ALL schools and then
distribution only to public schools,
giving no help at all to children
in Catholic and other non-public
schools. . . .
The emphasis on handing out
Federal tax monies to schools and
no emphasis at all on helping chil
dren attending the schools.
The indiscriminate allocation of
MOST REVEREND EMMET M. WALSH, D. D.
It was on June 20. 1927, that His Holiness Pope Pius XI appointed
Father Emmet M. Walsh, then pastor of the Immaculate Conception
Church in Atlanta, to succeed the late Most Reverend William T.
Russell as Bishop of Charleston, and his consecration to the Episco
pacy by the Most Reverend Michael J. Keyes, S. M. D. D., then
Bishop of Savannah, took place three months later. Bishop Walsh,
who was born in Beijjifort, South Caftilina, moved to Savannah in
his boyhood, and on January 15, 1916, was ordained as a priest
of the Diocese of Savannah. The same priestly zeal and admin
istrative ability which were so evident in the years during which
Bishop Walsh served on the missions in Southwest Georgia and
in Atlanta have made his twenty-two years in the Episcopacy an
era of great progress for the Diocese of Charleston.
A scene from “COME TO THE STABLE,” a 20th Century-
Fox Production, starring Loretta Young and Celeste Holm,
from an original story by Clare Boollie Luce. L to R: Henri
Lctondal as Father Barraud, Elsa Lanchester as Miss Potts
mid Loretta Young as Sister Margaret.
TWELVE GRADUATES AT
ST. PETER’S, COLUMBIA
Federal funds to any and every 1
public school, with no distinction
between schools in wealthy States
and communities and those in poor
sections where assistance is urgent
ly needed; here it may be noted
that the slogans adopted by ad
vocates of Federal aid do not apply
to the many Catholic mission
schools—many of which have pre
dominantly Protestant enrollments
—, \jmd the latter will still be
obliged to appeal to the charity of
Catholics whose taxes will be in
creased further to finance schools
under Federal control.
To slop these evils and others in
the Barden Bill from being imposed
upon America, we uige our read
ers TO ACT and TO ACT NOW
by writing to their Congress
men whose names can be learn
ed from the - neighborhood po
litical club, from the World
Almanac and other convenient
sources—-and insisting that he not
only make public his stand against
the Barden Bill but that he speak
out strongly and emphatically
against it when, and if, it is brought sent by the POAU to bigots and
up for debate in the House of | anti-Cat holies all over the eoun
Representatives and that he vole try: “It is highly important that wt
againstf. To quote from a message ACT NOW!”—(The Tablet).
COLUMBIA, S. C.—The annual
breakfast for the eighth grade
graduates of St. Peter's Parochial
School and their parents was held
on June 2 at the parish hall.
Miss Patricial Wainscott, daugh
ter of Mr. and Mrs. James Wain-
scotts, gave the welcoming address,
after which Monsignor Martin C.
Murphy, V. F.. pastor o' St. Pet
er’s Church, addressed the gradu
ates and presented them with
their certificates of graduation
The class included Anita Abdal-
la, Ann Carnaggio, Jo Ann Lee,
Joan Lanier, Barbara Hendon.
Sylvia Johnson, Rossonna Sch
wartz. Ann Watts, Lucy Winston,
Patricia Wainscott. Bobby Blaze,
Patrick Callahan, Daniel Caine,
Franklin Earnest, John Helms,
Elsmer Kelly, Bobby Mack. David
McElveen. Joseph Nemle, Gary
Pearce, Paul Senn and Sonny
Serio.