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Vol. 37 Father Tobin Bitterly Denies the Dark Ages. Gradually we are learning that profane his¬ tory was badly written, and that the priests must shoulder the task of doing it all over again. Father Tobin enters the held, eager to do his bit, and he serenely tills the Dark and Middle Ages with the glory of his Church. He says, in eii'ect, that the Roman church and the literature of classic Greece and Rome were amiably living at peace with one another, when, “about the 5tli century after Christ, the Goths, Vandals and Huns broke into Europe and began to tear in pieces the Roman Empire.” At this crisis, the Roman Church stepped in and saved civilization, according to Father Tobin. What are the historic factsf On page 312, of his great work, “The Intel¬ lectual Development of Europe,” Dr. Draper shows that the policy adopted by Constantine the Great had opened the way to power, privilege and wealth for ambitious prelates, who, having reached such lofty stations, “were tempted to set up their own notions as final and unimpeachable truth, and to denounce as magic, or the sinful pur¬ suit of vain trifling, all learning that stood in the way. Ill this the hand of the civil power assisted. It was intended to cut off every philosopher. Every manuscript that could be seized was forthwith burned'. Throughout the East, men in terror burned their libraries, for fear that some unfortunate sentence contained in any of the books should in¬ volve them and their families in destruction.” Such M'ere conditions in the fourth century, when no Goth, no Hun, no Vandal had profaned the soil of the Empire. Religious persecutions began under the SllC cessors of Constantine the Great; and, by Theodo¬ sius the Great, they were pushed to the extremes of death, on the demands of the clergy. Any sub¬ ject who refused to become an orthodox Athana sian Christian, was denounced as a heretic and deprived of civil rights: any Christian celebrating Easter on the same day with the Jews, was put to death—in less than 400 years after Jesus Christ Juid^criebi-i. fed Easter on the day observed by the Theodosius 'was ar: {ignorant, bigoted, pruel Spaniard, who not only hated learning and rigor¬ ously enforced religious conformity by civil law, but he set up Inquisitors of faith, and these men became at once spies, witnesses and judges. Here, then, was a portentious development of Intolerance, based on pride, power, ignorance and superstition. From such a beginning, the- Dark Ages came. Long before Alaric had led his Goths to the seige and sack of Rome, the ignorant, fanatical monks had destroyed the immense collection of invaluable manuscripts which had been given to Cleopatra by Mark Antony, after the Ptolemeian library had been accidentally destroyed during Julius Caesars attacks an the city. The Egyptian monks not only destroyed the heathen literature of Greece, but they brutally as¬ saulted and tore to pieces the beautiful intellectual Grecian girl, Hypatia, who was then, teaching the same Creek classics that are taught in all the \ colleges today! rio far as I have been able to learn, the hor¬ rible murder of this Grecian lady was the “first blood” of monkish fanaticism. A. D. 415. The Jews were cruel enough when thpy stoned Stephen, but Stephen died a merciful death compared (lie to that of Hypatia, stripped haked in street, and literally torn limb from limb, by the dirty monks of the Thebiad. To show that this promiscuous destruction of books was not a sporadic case, we have only to remember the Roman bishop, now galled lYp Leo the Great, who set fire to the Imperial Library at Rome and thus inflicted irreparable injury upon the literature of the world. In his “Intellectual Development of Europe,” Dr. Draper says— “Participating in the ecclesiastical hatred of human learning, and insisting on the maxim that ‘‘Ignorance is the mother of Devotion,' he (Greg¬ ory the Great) expelled from Rome all mathema¬ tical studies, and burned the -Palatine library founded by Augustus Caesar/ He forbade the study of the classics, mutilated statues, and des¬ troyed temples.” Dr. Draper states that this Pope was so suc¬ cessful in destroying classical literature in Italy, that when Pope Paul I. sent to Pepin of France what books lie could find, they were three, only, a grammar, an antiphonal, and the work of Diony sins the Areopagite. (See Draper, Vol. 1. pp. 857 and 358.) Now, Father Tobin knows that Leo the Great was not elected Pope until the year 590. the end of the 6th century: what, then, does he mean by saying that the Goths, Vandals and Huns des¬ troyed literature “about the 5th century?” Alaric, the Goth, captured and pillaged Rome in the year 440, but he did not burn any libraries: (Continued on Page 3) .libr^y fllwulm §ejrfind 9 h ghoho^; 1 J I : i ti Price $2,00 Per Year EDITORIALS By THOS. E. WATSON. AMERICAN INDEPENDENCE—IS IT WORTII MAINTAINING ? In a short while, the people of these States will be celebrating the anniversary of our Declaration of Independence. On the Fourth of July, business will suspend its activities, and patriotism will exalt the heroic virtues, of the Fathers who made so long and so hard a figh to establish our national sovereignty. For seven years, Americans struggled to free themselves from foreign control, and we have ever since been boasting about it. This year is a bad time for spread-eagle ora¬ tory. This year we are expected to enthuse over the surrender of what our Revolutionary forefathers won. In 1776, the Thirteen Colonies could no longer endure the bondage of Great Britain: in 1919, we must run joyfully into the bondage of Siam, Japan, Liberia, Hedjaz, Ecuador, Honduras, Peru, Aus¬ tralia, Spain and England. When the Fourth-of-July orator steps for¬ ward this year, what can he say? If he chants the praises of the Fathers 'who won Independence, he will be casting reflections upon the Sons who are about to lose it. If George Washington is exalted to the skies for having compelled England to acknowledge our Independence, what’s to be said of Woodrow Wil son who usurps the authority to barter away that blood-bought freedom? President Wilson appointed himself andjf House to go to Europe, and make a new Con.,.i lion which overrides the Constitution made' 0 V Washington, Madison, Randolph, Rutledge and Franklin. President Wilson and Col. House go to Europe and form a Federation of the World which com¬ pels those United States to vacate their proud position as a Sovereign Power, and to occupy a lower place, as the equal of the small Mohamme¬ dan state of Hedjaz, the small Negro state of Lib¬ eria, and the small Catholic state of Spain. Can the 4th of July speaker go into rhapsodies over that unauthorized surrender of the absolute freedom and independence of this Republic? Since July 4th, 1776, no political issue more important than the proposed League of Nations has presented itself; and the manner in which that issue conies upon the country is supremely insult - ing to a self-respecting, self-governing democracy. The people were given no hint of the inten tion of President Wilson and Col. House to us to a foreign domination. _ The guilty secret was well kept. The had conspiracy been against our form of gfiked ^ mant, concerted in the dark, while conspirators themselves were loudly proclaims their devotion to American “ideals,” the can “mission,” and the American principle of “self-determination.” Such Republicans as Taft and McCumbcv were let into the secret of the conspiracy, but such democrats as Harvey, Vardeman and Reed were kept out. /Since when, did Mr. Taft become a good democrat, solicitious for the interests of the plain people ? Since when, did he cease to be the little fat brother of the Big Rich? The very mention of liis name .suggests the Morgan Money Trust, the Guggenheim Smelter Trust, the Sugar Trust, the General Electric Pow¬ er-site Trust, the Standard Oil Trust, and every other price-fixing despotism of Big Business. “ Sei.e-detekmin ation ! ” • Every people, however small, were to be giv¬ en the democratic right to decide for themselves what sort of government they should have in the fuure. Does the Constitution of the League recognise that democratic principle? A re the people of these United States to be allowed to say whether they are Mulling to enter into a political partnership with foreign Kings, aristocracies, ana inferior races? No! This’great people, 110,000,000 strong, are not allowed to exercise the democratic right of self-determination. Arbitrarily, their Supreme Law is subordinat¬ ed to another and higher law, made by four old men secretly incubating behind locked doors. Arbitrarily, President Wilson and Col. House surrender us to a foreign federation whose fetters they put upon us, before we dreamed that such If you wish to read a brief but complete exposure of THE ROMAN CATHOLIC SYSTEM, so that you can fully understand the campaign now being fought out, between ROMANISM AND AMERICANISM, order THE ROMAN CATHOLIC HIERARCHY, priced elsewhere in this paper. Harlem, Ha., Friday, dune 20, 1919. fetters were being forged. Isn’t it a marvellous thing, that those who charmed the ears of “mankind ’ bv proclaiming democracy should secretly plot to dethrone it? Isn t it a wonderful piece of legerdemain, that those who fixec^ our eyes upon self-determination for Poland, Silesia, and Alsace-Lorraine, should successfully divert our attention from our own loss of self-determinationf \\ hile warning us against Germany’s designs on our freedom, the tricksters have fastened upon us the irons of the League of Nations, 11 hile admonishing us to beware of the Ger¬ man robbers, the Angle)-American plotters PICKED our pockets! Our Constitution is displaced by a new one, made secretly abroad: our Sovereignty of the People abdicates in favor of a Sovereignty of Foreign Powers: our democracy is crushed and silenced, by the despotic autocracy created for the benefit of Great Britain, the Trusts, the Papacy, and Japan! What kind of July oration can Mr. Taft make? What is to become of the. Independence for - }\ r \ u Revolutionary soldier fought „ the In whose tnum P h has been onr proudest l\ ?feS' al herita afn K e? a 5' ette c0 me ov " to lend his services ify’ 1v ’ , ucb , tbe , ,lu would dominate P® fleip'i*'/ ai " 116 Americans, . ' Steuben come from Prussia, Kosciusko i-dm . Poland, and Pulaski from Hungary to fight for a League that would level the Colonies down¬ ward to the plane of desert Arabs? “All just governments derive their powers from the consent of the governed.” Who are the people that have given their consent to a government of nine men, chosen nobody knows how or wiry? Have the people of France been consulted about this new government? No! Have the English been asked to give their consent? No! Have the people of America been given any chance to express themselves concerning this revo¬ lutionary subversion of their federal government? No! President Wilson scorns and flouts, the pen nle, asking from them nothing but slavish submis f ^x-President jailor-made speeches Taft runs around, doping out for the League, not dor¬ V’?D let the people vote on it. ;/ They impudently demand that Senator James resign, and take the issue before the peo p] e 0 f Missouri. Will Senator John Sharp Williams resign and take the League-issue before the people of Mississippi? Will Senator William J. Harris resign and take the issue before the people of Georgia? O that he would! Will President Wilson resign, and take the is¬ sue to the people of the United States? ■O that he would! Yes. (he glorious Fourth draws nigh. Prepare to illuminate the statue of Liberty lighting the World! It wilt he the last. time. Let the orator drink deep from the founts of Patrick llenrv, Daniel Webster, Sergeant Pren¬ tiss, and John Adams: the speech this year, will be the swan song. Play Dixie, and the Star Spangled Banner, and America, and Auld lang Syne, and the Long Metre Doxology: there won’t be any Independence left when Taft and Wilson and House get through. When Congress gave the President one hund¬ red million dollars to use secretly, all sane men ex¬ pected queer things to happen, but nobody sus¬ pected that our form of government was to he overthrown and a foreign despotism put on our necks. And it is so pleasant to think that this secret betrayal of our independence was the work of men who formulated such divinely perfect deduc¬ tions in favor of freedom, democracy, enthroned conscience, moral forces, altruistic ideals and all the rest of the Wilsonian beattitudes, platitudes, and sanctimonious hvpocricies. Issued! Weekly ^ ie Frank Case, Polish Mass acres, and a Lawyer of Atlanta. Ii\ the favor of Senator Iloke Smith, the of iire of l . S. District Attorney in Atlanta is held by an eccentric individual, named Hooper Alex¬ ander, nominally a lawyer, and by habit the 1 over of lime-light, footlights, and die glare of pitiless publicity. 'When nobody else invites him to it, lie ores of his own inspiration. Some years ago, there was a murder case in (ieoigia which attracted national attention, because the leading attorney for the defense made a race out of it. Instond ot trying the man on the merits of the case, and leaving him to take what was com ing to him, as the legitimate result of the legal this leading attorney thrust into the the fact that the defendant was a Jew. Whenever a lawyer makes an appeal for or is race-prejudice, he dot's so as a last resort: the tactics of professional desperation. Mr. Hooper Alexander never had a big case court, and never was leading counsel for a man of attempted rape and murder, hence, I am saying is Sanscrit to him. There was a pencil factory in Atlanta, which ployed a considerable number of young girls wages often amounted to as much as six J°!! ars contact " week with ’ and the these Southern Leo girls Frank, came who in down manager, come from New York to work under uncles, the owners of the business. Leo Frank was a married man—childless— slightly under the middle age: at the trial, girls testifid to liis lascivious characer, and indecent conduct of his, in his office. One of those white-girl witnesses gave evi¬ which is unfit to print, and she offered to it, by exhibiting physical marks on person. More than a dozen white girls and men were witnesses against Leo Frank, and they were not impeached. Only one negro gave material evidence against the accused, and even without his testimony, the case against Frank was complete. I his negro is of low character, has continued to live in Atlanta, and has even been sentenced for violation of law; but nobody has ever produced a scintilla of evidence against him, in the matter of the murder of Mary Pliagan, the little girl whose lifeless body was found in the basement of the factory of Leo Frank’s uncles. After the conviction and execution of Leo the mother of Mary Phagin entered suit for damages against the owners of the factory, al¬ that her minor child had been killed in the by the manager, whom the owners had put her; and that, therefore, these owners legally responsible for the crime of their These uncles of Leo Frank—defendants in this case— settled the case out of court , pac¬ to the bereaved mother a sum of money which was satisfied to accept. In other words, Leo Frank's uncles virtually that, he had murdered the girl, and they for the damages thus inflicted upon the So much by way of preface: now, where does Smith's District Attorney comr inf Ho comes in, when least expected' or desired, a public meeting held in Atlanta, the purpose which was, to protest, against Catholic mas¬ or Jews, in Roland. One would naturally suppose that, a public of that sort could be made, without un¬ disturbance, almost anywhere in Georgia, of course, in those immediate precincts Catholic priests censor public meetings and utterances. You could hardly expect Father Potbelly and Flannelinouth to sanction a denunciation Polish Jew-killing, since Jew-killing is one of ancient pastimes of Popes, Cardinals. Bishops, Jesuits, and Dominicans. But we were not aware of the fact—if it is a Senator Smith’s District Attorney is a Catholic; and, consequently, disinclined hear an Atlanta meeting condemn Polish The Catholics are slaughtering the Jews in per ancient custom—and the people of assemble to protest against the slaugh¬ and Mr. Hooper Alexander invites himself to meeting, to protest against the protest! Not only comes there, to speak against the but fetches a paper to read to the helpless And why does Senator Smith’s protege ob¬ to a protest against Cathholic battues of Is¬ Why does he virtually contend, orally and in that there must be no” Atlanta protest Catholic massacres in Poland? Th,is comically eccentric District Attorney (Continued on Page 21 ho. 39.