PAM. N. AMES. Roman Catholics and Indian Education. An Address by Hon. T. J. Morgan, Ex-Commissloner of Indian Affairs, delivered In Music Hall, Boston, Mass., Sunday, April 16, 1893. (revised.) Gen. Thomas J. Morgan, by special request, spoke in Music Hall on Sunday, April i6, to an audience of more than three thou- sand people, who received him with a warmth and enthusiasm that left no room for doubt as to the esteem and honor in which he is held by the Christian patriots of Boston and vicinity. Rev. E. S. Wheeler presided and conducted the religious exercises, after which Rev. Dr. Miner, in a few well-chosen sentences, introduced the speak- er, the audience rising en masse and receiving him with tumultuous applause that lasted some minutes. After quiet was restored, Gen. Morgan spoke for more than an hour, holding the close attention of his great audience till the end, and receiving every mark of interest, sympathy, and frequently very hearty applause. There has been such a call for the address in a permanent form, that it is here repro- duced as revised by the speaker. I ; e said : — Patriotism is evidently still a dominant force in our lives. I am here to speak to you as a patriot, not to make a political speech ; and whatever reference I shall make to parties will therefore be incidental, and only so far as is absolutely necessary in connection with the un- folding of the theme which I shall set before you. It makes no dif- ference so far as this discussion is concerned, whether free trade or protection is the better policy for us as a people. I do not care to make any comparison between the leaders of the two great parties, or between the parties themselves, or between their platforms and policies. I am only concerned with politics so far as it is necessary to show the plottings of the Roman Catholics to ally themselves with one political party, in order to secure the defeat of another, so that the church might profit by the change of administration. It was an effort to use the machinery of popular elections to compass secta- rian ends. I regret that my address on a Sunday should even seem to take on a political hue, but it does so only because I am tracing the action of a church which descended from its legitimate plane to enter the arena 2 ROMAN CATHOLICS of partisan politics, and in the name of religion sought to secure an ecclesiastical advantage that threatens the very existence of religious libel ty. No Attack Upon Catholicism. I am not here to denounce Roman Catholicism as a system of re- ligious belief. I have my own theological views, but this is not the place to express them. The Roman Catholics have their creed, and as religionists they are entitled to fair treatment. With their theol- ogy I have now nothing to do. I cordially recognize the good there is in the Catholic church, and I accord to Roman Catholics, as fellow- citizens, all the civil rights and privileges claimed by ourselves. I am not here to criticise or challenge their devotion to their church, their missionary zeal, or the use of any legitimate means to extend their influence or win converts. The great struggle between Protestantism and Roman Catholicism that now divides the world is a contest of ideas, of systems, and must be determined by an appeal to history, to reason, and to the Bible. What the final outcome of that great struggle is to be I have no doubt : truth will triumph, and if Protest- antism cannot stand the supreme test, it will fail. But it will not fail. The Plea of Patriotism. I am here as a patriot to plead for America, for the Republic, for our most cherished and characteristic institutions, free thought, free speech, a free press, free schools, free ballots, and for freedom of con- science. A Dangerous Attitude. The Roman Catholics have assumed an attitude on the Indian School question that is un-American, unpatriotic, and a menace to our liberties. I challenge the course they have pursued, as that of a corrupt ecclesiastico-political machine masquerading as a church, a course that has been without precedent, and is without justification. Its spirit has been that of the Inquisition, its methods those of the disreputable politician, and its agencies, intrigue, secrecy, conspiracy, falsehood and slander. These are very grave charges, but they are justified by the facts, and some of the most eminent, godly and in- telligent men among them have not hesitated to condemn the acts that I shall criticise and denounce. The Question Stated. There are in the United States about 250,000 Indians. We found them when we landed on these shores ; they have confronted us all the way that we have advanced in extending our civilization from the AND INDIAN EDUCATION. 3 Atlantic to the Pacific; and the question of theireducation, Chrisiian- Lzation, and assimilation with us as a people, has awakened a lively interest in all religious bodies, and in the breasts of all patriots. Roger Williams, John Eliot, Jonathan Edwards, and others, preached to them in the early days ; other apostles and missionaries have followed them into the wilderness and to the reservations, and mis- sionary and educational work has been attempted in sporadic wa>s and unsystematic methods, more or less during all the passing years. The Roman -Catholics have done their part of this work, and in so far as it has been zealous, self-sacrificing and wise, we recognize their service, and give them their meed of praise. In 1877 the government of the United States entered upon the work of providing for the education of the Indians by the appropria- tion of $20,000 out of the public treasury. This appropriation was increased from year to year, until 18S6, when it was $600,000, and when I entered upon the duties of Commissioner of Indian Affairs it had reached the sum of $1,300,000. Four years later, when I left the office, it had been increased to a little more than $2,300,000. The Bureau of Catholic India.n Missio.ns. When the Catholics saw that government was appropriating public money for this purpose, they reached out their hands to lay hold of and control it. There was established in the City of Washington what was known as the Bureau of Catholic Indian Missions, an organization designed to influence legislation, to secure appointments to the Indian service and appropriations for their schools, and to establish and maintain among the Indians, educational institutions to be supported chiefly out of the public treasury. It was a carefully thought-out, thoroughly organized scheme for the accomplishment of its purpose, and the Bureau was well equipped with officers and clerks. It had a president, vice-president, director, and secretary. It was active, bold, and aggressive. It had money, zeal, and influ- ence. It was from the beginning an impertinence and a menace. The Protestants had no such central organization. It sought to secure the absolute control of all Roman Catholic Indian schools, and to handle all the vast sums of money to be obtained for them from the government. While receiving hundreds of thousands of dollars from the public treasury, it rendered no itemized account of expenditures, refused to have its schools conform to the government standard of classification, grading, course of study and text-bocks, and bitterly resented government inspection. It bent all its tireless energies to the one purpose of promoting Catholicism among the Indians — at public expense. Whether the cost of maintaining the 4 ROMAN CATHOLICS Bureau was paid out of public money I cannot say.* It rendered no public account of the expenditure of the millions received from the public treasury. The Roman Catholics attempted to secure as large a number as possible of Indian agents and subordinate officers and employees in the Indian service. They secured, in the last adminis- tration, the appointment of the Superintendent of Indian Schools and the clerk who had the management of all the details of educa- tion in the office of the Commissioner, and who was the ready servant of this Catholic Bureau. His principal assistant, and also one of his most valuable clerks, were Roman Catholics, and they were apparently entirely subservient to his wishes. The officers of the Catholic Bureau were said to be in almost daily consultation with him, and probably had more influence with him than the officers of the Indian Bureau itself. He was a zealot, and seems to have used his position to promote Roman Catholicism. Very serious complaints have been made of the discourteous treatment given by the officials of the Indian Bureau during this time to eminent Protestant clergymen who had business there relative to the schools carried on by their people under contract with the government. The government Indian schools, meantime, were grossly neglected, buildings went to decay, suitable equipments were not supplied, incompetent, and even immoral teachers and employees, were appointed. There was no proper system or supervision of the work. The Indian office seemed largely indifferent to their welfare, and the Roman Catholics boasted of the superiority of their schools. A Flattered and Flattering Sen.ator. In 1882 a Senator visited a Roman Catholic Indian School, and on his return to the Senate made a speech in praise of the Jesuits, and declared that they were doing more than all others for Indian civilization. Rome is an adept in fawning and flattery, and knows when to use them. The Bureau of Catholic Indian Missions passed resolutions praising the Senator for his “ bold, manly, eloquent utter- ances,” a copy of which was sent to him and to all archbishops and bish- ops. They reprinted and widely circulated his speech, and from that time on he has been their defender and champion, and his little speech is always on call. Ignoring the radical revolutions and great advance in government schools, while the Catholic schools practically stood still, he still insists on the superiority of the Catholic schools, basing his testimony upon his “ experience and personal knowledge, ’ which consisted almost entirely of one visit to a Catholic school a dozen *See opinion of Judge Perkins cited in article from Evening Post, printed in ap- pendix. AND INDIAN EDUCATION. S years ago, and no knowledge whatever of recent work done in government schools. Roman Catholics in the Indian Service. The Roman Catholics secured the appointment in the Indian schools of the government of as large a number as possible of Catholics,* simply because they were Catholics. They introduced into these schools the Roman Catholic Catechism, and made that the chief basis of instruction, rendering the schools as completely parochial mission schools as though they had been controlled and paid for absolutely out of mission funds contributed for the propa- gation of Catholicism. On one of the government schools a cross was erected, and the Indian pupils were forced to attend mass (see report on file in Indian office). Several government schools estab- lished under such a system are still in operation. They are support- ed out of the public treasury from money belonging alike to all our people, but they are Roman Catholic schools, taught by Roman Catholic teachers who daily drill into the minds of the little Indians the assertion of the catechism that the only true church is the Ro- man Catholic Church. Roman Catholic Contract Schools. The Roman Catholics also established schools of their own and secured appropriations from the public treasury for their mainte- nance, in 1886 $118,000, the next year $194,000, then $221,000, and when I took charge of the Indian office the appropriation had in- creased to $347,000. They applied to me for a renewal of their con- tracts for the year 1890. They asked for more than $400,000, and indicated that when their plans were completed they should require still larger sums. In eight years, from 1886 to 1893, inclusive, they secured $2,366,416 out of the public treasury for the support of these institutions, which were distinctively church schools, mission schools, narrow sectarian schools. More than two and a quarter million dol- lars out of the public treasury to teach the Indian that the only true church is the Roman Catholic Church ! They doubtless are honest in teaching this, and they have a right to teach it, but not at public expense. One of these schools, at Devil’s Lake, N. D., was taught by Grey Nuns, imported from Montreal, in a building costing over $40,000, that was built by the government out of public money. The Catholic church adjoining the school was said to be heated 6 ROMAN CATHOLICS by coal purchased by public money (see correspondence on file in Indian office). Protestant Contract Schools. In the meantime various Protestant denominations received public money for their schools ; among them, the Presbyterians, Methodists, Episcopalians, and Congregationalists. My own denomination, the Baptists, refused to accept any. Out of a total of $3,767,000 paid to all contract schools in eight years, $2,366,416 went to the Roman Catholics. (See table, page 12.) A New Policy Annou.nceu. I took office on the first day of July, 1889 One of the first things that presented itself was the awarding of the contracts for the Indian schools for the year to come. I was waited upon by repre- sentatives of the Catholic Church, and asked if I would renew the contracts. I said. Yes, but that I did not believe in the principle ; that the whole system of taking public money for the support of sectarian schools was wrong, and ought not to be, but, inasmuch as the system had grown up, and had had the sanction of the govern- ment for years, and these various sects had built houses and established schools, it was not my purpose to suddenly rev'olutionize the system, or interfere with the vested rights of these various religious bodies. I made no distinction. I said I did not purpose to extend the system by authorizing the establishment of new institu- tions, whether by Roman Catholics, Methodists, Presbyterians, or Episcopalians. The Beginning of Warf.are. They took alarm at this statement, and immediately took steps to thwart the efforts of the office to carry the new policy into execution. A formidable committee of representative Roman Catholic ecclesi- astics w'aited upon President Harrison, and asked him to withdraw my name. They stated their reasons, and when they were done he said : “ Gentlemen, the reasons you state for the withdraw'al of the name of the Indian Commissioner, are chiefly the reasons that prompted me to send in his name.” They then attempted to destroy my reputation, charged me with falsehood, attempted to blacken my military record, accused me of bigotry, and demanded my removal trom the office, as a man unfit for the performance of its solemn and difficult responsibilities.* They did not succeed. Then they attempted to defeat my confirmation. They brought to bear upon Congress every conceivable force that could be secured, summoning to Wash- See pamphlets filed by J. A Stephan with Senate Committee. AND INDIAN EDUCATION. 7 ington their most eminent and influential men, archbishops, bishops, and priests. General Sherman’s son was there. Letters were written to senators. Two formidable pamphlets*\\'ere printed by the Senate as a private document, — I hold it in my hand, — full of falsehoods, and designed to crush me. But it contains, also, my reply to their slanders. They attempted to array the Democratic party solidly against me, but some Democratic senators, after carefully investigat- ing all the charges, pronounced them false and frivolous, and voted for my-confirmation. Pliable Republican Senators. They attempted to array against me Republican senators who were displeased with my civil service ideas, or who lived in States where the Roman Catholic vote was an important factor. They succeeded in gaining Senators Plumb and Ingalls, of Kansas, Pierce of North Dakota, and Davis of Minnesota. The plot was carefully planned, and pushed with tireless zeal. How near it succeeded let him say who was its chief instigator. Mr. Stephan, the director of the Catholic Bureau, says in his secret report, July 27th, 1892, page 3 (I hold the report in my hand), “ There never had been a battle in the Senate that appeared more promising, and never was one lost more signally.” “ The late Senator Plumb called at our office and said he would assist us in our fight on Morgan, and Senator Ingalls gave me the same assurance. Senator Manderson, it is assumed, would lead the old soldier fight against him.f Everything seemed to favor the defeat of his confirmation, when certain elements — I was told, the President — entered into the contest, which changed the whole situation. Morgan, adroitly raising the religious issue, said there was a Romish conspiracy to defeat him, and that the Jesuits wanted him punished for his public school system views ; and, through the aid of the American League and kindred societies, he succeeded in uniting in his support a sufficient number to confirm him. He had the whole power of the administration, from the President down, at his back, and the vast patronage of his own office. Still, I think, he would have been defeated, if the religious issue could have been kept out of the fight, but this was impossible.” A Bitter and Hu.miliating Defeat. I think no such bold, sectarian assault upon a government official was ever made. Its audacity and wickedness attracted the attention of the entire country, and aroused and combined the Protestant and anti-Catholic sentiment to an extraordinary degree. The Roman • Prepared by the Roman Catholic Bureau. t Senator Manderson, a soldier with an enviable record, defended me, and urged my confirmation. 8 ROMAN CATHOLICS Catholics felt that it was a crisis for them. They left nothing undone to succeed. All their elaborate efforts, their adroit scheming, their secret plot- ting, their infamous lying, failed. They were defeated ; I was con- firmed. The Committee of One Hundred had an honorable part in this great struggle. Having signally failed to remove me from office by defeating my confirmation, they then sought to cripple my admin- istration. They appealed to the President to overrule me. President Harrison. Now Benjamin Harrison is one of the truest, grandest men that ever adorned the presidential office. Soldier, statesman, jurist, Chris- tian, patriot, he gave to the Republic a clean, able, efficient, just ad- ministration. Liberal in his views, judicial in temperament, con- scientious in the performance of public duty, painstaking in his in- vestigations, impartial in his judgments, he carefully considered the charges made by the Roman Catholics against the administration of the Indian office and sustained me in all the essential elements of my policy. Improvement of the Indian Service.* By his support, I was able to improve the whole Indian service and to lift the government Indian schools up onto a high plane of efficiency. During the four years of my official term, more than one million dollars were put into buildings and equipments. The num- ber of schools was largely increased. A uniform course of study was adopted, and a series of text-books selected. A very careful sys- tem of competent supervision was put into operation. The enroll- ment of Indian pupils was increased from 16,000 to 20,000. A mil- lion dollars a year was added to the annual appropriation from the public treasury for Indian education. All superintendents, teachers, matrons and physicians were brought under the operation of the civil service rules, thus practically taking the Indian school service out of politics. Reasons for Roman Catholic Opposition. In the meantime, I continued to award contracts to the Roman Catholic schools, even largely increasing the allowance to them. During the four years preceding my administration, the total amount awarded to the Roman Catholics was $&Si,Sig, and during the four years of my administration they received ^i, 484.597. Why, then, were the Roman Catholics so bitter against me ? For several reasons : First, because I dismissed incompetent persons * See opinions of the press, in appendix. AND INDIAN EDUCATION. 9 from the Indian school service tvho were Roman Catholics. They were dismissed not because they were Catholics, as was falsely charged, but because they were incompetent. Second, because I stoutly opposed the principle of giving public money to sectarian schools (see my letter to Archbishop Salpointe, found in report of the Commissioner of Indian Affairs, 1892, p. 161). Third, because I in- sisted that the Roman Catholics should not oppose the government schools (see report of Commissioner of Indian Affairs, 1S92, pp. 150 to 170, and pp. I/O to 175). Fourth, because I pushed the govern- ment schools to the front, increasing both their number and efficiency. Fifth, and largely, because I refused absolutely to hold any offi- cial communication whatever with the insolent and infamous Bureau of Catholic Indian Missions that had treated me so outrageously (see official correspondence with Cardinal Gibbons and others, pub- lished in the Report of the Commissioner of Indian Affairs, 1891, pp. 161-170). (See appendix.) Having failed miserably to secure my removal, defeat my confir- mation, or to overrule my administration, they turned their attention to Congress and succeeded by disreputable lobby methods (see ap- pendix, article from Lutheran Observer) in securing special appropria- tions for Catholic schools. They had a strange power over Congress, especially over the Senate, owing partly to the pernicious law of “ Sen- atorial courtesy,” partly to the even balance of power in that body, and largely to the persistency with which they urged their cause. There is much to be desired in the constitution of legislative bodies in America. A Relentless Warfare. In the meantime, the most relentless warfare was kept up against the policy of the Indian Office. Before I entered upon its duties, there had been established at Albuquerque and Santa Fe, New Mex- ico, two government schools that had been secured through the ef- forts of the Roman Catholic delegate from that Territory, which already had several Roman Catholic schools supported out of public funds. When I took charge of the office, I began to carry out the intention of the government in completing, filling and operating these new schools, while still allowing the Roman Catholic schools alluded to, to go on with their work. This effort of the office to execute the law of Congress for the ed- ucation of some of the Pueblo Indians of New Mexico in govern- ment schools, was characterized as an invasion of Catholic territory and an unwarranted effort to proselyte Roman Catholic Indians. I was met by resistance at every point. (See correspondence w'ith lo ROMAN CATHOLICS Archbishop Salpointe. Report of Commissioner of Indian Affairs, 1892, pages 158-166.) A Silly Charge. The policy of limiting the extension of the contract system was declared to be a purpose to hinder Roman Catholic mission work among the Indians. Stephan says, “The policy would have kept us from the Navajoes and the Moquis. It would prevent us from ad- vancing one inch further with our work of civilizing and Christianiz- ing the Indians ” (secret pamphlet, p. 29). This is a silly charge to make, utterly devoid both of truth and of reason. Nothing was far- ther from the thought of the Commissioner, and in all legitimate missionary work the Catholics had the help of the Indian Office. They were assisted in securing land and material for erection of churches and schools, were allowed the use of the government saw- mill in the production of lumber for the erection of these buildings, and were told that in all their mission work they would receive the same treatment that was accorded to other religious bodies seeking the uplifting of the Indians. The way for legitimate missionary work among Indians was, and still is, as wide open for Roman Catholics as for any other body of people who are willing to propagate their religious creed, not at public expense, but at their own charges, and to say that they cannot do this without government aid, is a pitiful con- fession of weakness. State Prohibition of Sectarian Appropriations. Stephan says, “ It would prevent our asking a contract for St. George’s. . . . Would prevent us asking for aid for St. Andrew’s.’’ Yes, it must be admitted that the policy would prevent their receiving public money to establish any more Indian schools. In many of the States of the Union there are constitutional prohibitions against appropriating public money to any sectarian institutions or uses whatsoever. This is no special hardship on the Roman Catholics. It applies to all denominations alike, and is simply a local and wise application of the great principle of the separation of Church and State. The policy adopted by the Indian office was in harmony with this great fundamental principle, and was a simple endeavor to apply it to the Indian school service. If there is any one great principle written large in the history of the centuries of the past, it is that union of church and state is hurtful alike to both. A free church in a free state is one of the great characteristics of the civilization of our age, and one of the distinctive marks of the American Republic, which has entered upon a career of experiment, and of advance in human government. AND INDIAN EDUCATION. II A New and Improved Generation of Catholics. The Catholics do not sympathize with this idea. They of to-day are probably unable to appreciate its great significance as an element in human progress. But their children, reared on American soil, trained in American schools, participating in American liberty, will approve what the fathers reject. Already multitudes of young Catholics begin to see the wide divergence of the spirit of the hierarchy from the genius of the Republic, and are preparing for either a schism in the church, or a reformation of its policy, or both. Dr. McGlynn is not alone in sowing the seeds of a coming revolution. This matter under discussion pertains to the welfare of coming generations rather than to ours. Great changes do not occur in a day. The attack on Sumter was fifty years in preparation. The Spanish Inquisition was centuries old when it was born. The Revo- lution of 1776, that gave us our liberties, came over in the Mayflower in 1620. Let us now fight the battles of 1950. The children of those who hate us to-day will erect monuments to our memory to-morrow. A Revolution i.n Public Sentiment. The principle for which I contend has made great progress in four years. In 1889, not only the Catholics, but (as I have already said) many other of the religious bodies, received money from the public treasury for the carrying on of Indian education. It is a most sig- nificant fact that of late the Presbyterians, Congregationalists, Episcopalians, and Methodists have all voted to refuse to accept government aid for their Indian school work. (For detailed report of the official action of these bodies see Report of Commissioner of Indian Affairs, 1892, p. 177.) * • The views of the Baptists on this question of separation of church and state are well known. An impressive statement was made in a memorial that was unanimous- ly adopted by the .American Baptist Home Mission Society at its anniversary, held in Philadelphia in .May, 1S91. The following is an extract : — “ History is proof that the meddling of ecclesiastics with civil government has embittered political dissensions, has added religious fanaticism to partisan rancor, has divided societies, has engendered civil and international wars, has made princes the tools of prelates, and has engendered the very existence of the state. We urge our plea in the name of religion. History is proof that the state is no fitting instru- ment for the propagation of religion. The true weapons of religion are spiritual, not carnal ; truth, not the sword ; persuasion, not force. The hand of the state on reli- gion has induced hypocrisv, formality, a church palsied and corrupt. The clamor by the church for a share in tVie public purse has diverted in many wrong directions the very energy which the church has needed for her legitimate spiritual enterprise. Our own .American experience has clearly shown that religion is never so prosperous, so aggressive in her proper fields, so filled with that self-reliance and self-sacrifice, which is the very genius of her true life, as when, freed from all the temptation and de- mands of an entangling alliance with the state, under the protection of equal and defended liberty for all, she is let alone to work out her own career. “ Because we believe that the state will best secure the needed influence of reli- Contract Schools. ROMAN CATHOLICS be Jd •S S C C CL BO (/) o >> •£ s ° O X. E g rt si o ^ T3 w c CJ •- Co s ^ S3 k § ^ O s D rt >> ^ sO O c*© oo <^ 0 00 eo — wise C^ in» t^oC^ tC O - »o tN. O O 0|v0 o* tCocT o o o 30 O^ ^ 0~ fO O ‘‘ - c ^ t^ r O 00 r r> »o • oo f o'ooo^oaoo O O OO O 0"0 o ■-I lOO »r>*-o 1 O O O O i > — 0^ *> tN. O' ^ ' O'O •«•■“' 00 00 I ^ W5 *2 — O fc£'<- rt • r '2 3 £ . — u S p 2 s E $ o J! oca<; li ;;; Wm (/) 4 * c rt o ’O o ' •-•- -s.* O g c - •? 2 « 5 ti: b« Q -o s Jk .5 a"” i c c < ' c. o ■> c. - < Protestants versus Roman Catholics. The spectacle is thus presented of the great Protestant churches standing side by side in the advocacy of a great principle, and the gion in the character of its citizens, and in ethical principles embodied in legislation, when the state leaves religion wholly free, we memorialize you to set further and sufficient barriers against any ecclesiastical interference with the affairs of state. “ Because we believe, in the language of President Washington, addressed to those who complained of the omission of God from the Constitution, that * religion is a matter which belongs to the churches and not to the state,’ we urge you to set these further and sufficient barriers against any attempted propagation of religion by the state.” AND INDIAN EDUCATION. 13 earnest endorsement of the policy of the Indian office. On the other hand, stand the Roman Catholics almost alone, demanding from the public treasury millions of dollars for their church mission work among the Indians. The gravity of this matter does not at all consist in the amount of money involved. That, although large in the aggregate, is relatively insignificant. It is the principle at stake that gives great signifi- cance to the controversy. The Roman Catholics, in demanding from the United States Treasury millions of dollars to enable them to establish and maintain missions among the Indians, are demanding what they have no right to ask, and what the government has no right to grant. If the demand be granted in this case, there is abso- lutely no limit to their future demands. If they can claim as their right public money to maintain Indian missions, they can with equal reason, claim public money for Mexican missions. Indeed, in one of the Roman Catholic Indian schools in New Mexico supported by government, a large number of the pupils were not Indians at all, but Mexicans who were reported to the government as Indians, for whose support money was drawn. (Official report on file in Indian office.) * The Division ok the Public School Fund. Besides this, if it is right and expedient to divide the public money of the government for Indian education, why not also divide the public school money in the states, and support Roman Catholic parochial schools by public taxation ? There is no difference in principle, and the Roman Catholics were swift to see the important bearing of this controversy about public money for Catholic Indian schools, on the far larger question of public money for Roman Cath- olic parochial schools. If the camel can get his nose into the tent, he will enter in due time. The .\merican public has not yet appar- ently awakened to the real nature of the struggle. The battle I fought was a battle for the integrity of the American public school *The Ckriitian Advocate of New York prints the following item in its Washing- ton letter : — “ The Commissioner of Indian -Affairs has annulled the contract between his de- partment and the Bernalillo (N. Mex.) school, in charge of the Catholic Sisters of Lorette. Suspicion was roused in regard to the school, and it was found that of the seventy pupils reported as Indians, and supported as such in the school by the gov- ernment, there were but twenty-eight Indians, including half-breeds, while the other forty-two were Mexicans without any Indian blood. In addition, while the govern- ment inspector was making investigations, the girls were prompted in their answers by the sisters, and at their instigation rave evidence in regard to their race and places of residence which was found by the personal investigations of the inspector to be entirely false. The government examiner also says that in the oral examina- tion which he conducted in arithmetic, the sister in charge prompted the pupils by holding up her fingers, counting off her beads, and so on. It is impossible that the bishop of the see should be in ignorance of this dishonesty and inefficiency.” 14 ROMAN CATHOLICS system, and to surrender my position would have been treason to the cause of free education. Roman C.atholic Opposition to Ocr Public Schools. The Roman Catholics have used the same tactics in assailing the government Indian schools that they use in assaulting the public schools of the country. One of the pamphlets filed with the Senate Committee to defeat my confirmation — I hold it in my hand — consisted largely in bitter assaults upon the government Indian schools. These schools were called “pagan schools. ” They went further. They said that government schools were immoral. Stephan says that they are not fit places for the Indian fathers to send their daughters. When one of our agents in Montana was securing pupils for the government school in Pennsylvania, the children were taken out of the wagon by the advice of a Roman Catholic priest, and the parents w'ere told that if they went to that school, they would surely go to perdition. This influence was felt all through the Indian service, and, while drawing millions of dollars for their own schools, they have inculcated in the minds of the Indians the erroneous belief that the government is their enemy, seeking to destroy their faith, to ruin their daughters, and the prospect of success for their sons. (See Report of Commissioner of Indian Affairs, 1892, p. 170). They objected to the use of the Bible in the government schools. Dr. O’Gorman, of the Catholic University of Washington, who is a fair-minded man, representing the American element in the Roman church to-day, said to me that he saw no reason why the Roman Catholic schools should not have the same course of study that was in use in the government schools. Stephan says : “ Surely if Dr. O’Gorman knew that the Protestant Bible and the Protestant Gospel Hymns are found in every government school, he would not adopt the government course of study throughout the Catholic Indian schools of the country.’’ (Stephan’s Secret Pamphlet, p. 31-2). They claim that their schools are superior to the government schools ; whereas in all essential particulars, in equipment, organiza- tion, discipline, spirit and the personnel of the employes, the govern- ment schools as far excel the Roman Catholic Indian schools as the best public schools excel the parochial schools (see Report of Com- missioner of Indian Affairs, 1891, p. 70-1). (See Appendix.) Hon. Daniel Dorchester, Superintendent of Indian Schools, 2ifter nearly four years’ continuous labor of inspection of schools of all kinds, made a careful judicial statement that is found on pages 127 to 130 of the proceedings of the Board of Indian Commissioners, 1892. AND INDIAN EDUCATION. IS Failure of Roman C.atholic Mission Schools. The Roman Catholic schools are mission schools, parochial schools, church schools, whose chief and almost only aim is to make con- verts to Catholicism, and to train their pupils to be good Catholics. The basis of all their work is the Roman Catholic Catechism. Many of the teachers know little of American life, and apparently care less, speaking very imperfect English. Many others are ine.xperi- enced nuns, and few, if any of them, are trained teachers. Catholic education of Indians has never been successful, and they can point to no leading Indians as a result of their efforts. An eminent Ro- man Catholic said to me recently that there never had been an Indian Roman Catholic priest. The subtle influence of their schools has been to awaken in the minds of the Indians suspicion and distrust, and they have bred disloyalty and incited resistance to the govern- ment. Superiority of Govern.ment Schools. On the other hand, the great government schools, like those at Carlisle, Lawrence, Chilocco, Genoa and Albuquerque, are industrial training schools, which fit their pupils for the duties, responsibilities and privileges of American citizenship. In view of what I have learned in the last four years, I do not think it extravagant to say that the government school at Carlisle, Pa., has done more to pro- mote the true civilization of the Indians than all the Roman Catholic Indian schools put together. These schools are public schools, maintained by government, supervised and directed by government agents. The great thought that underlies them is to take the savage of the forest and fit him for American citizenship.* We have recently, by the allotment of lands, conferred citizenship upon thousands of these Indians. It is said that the election in North Dakota turned upon the Indian vote, and it is not impossible that the next Presiden- tial election may be determined by the Indian vote in three or four Western States. The work of these schools is to teach these Indians the principles of law and government, and to fit them to bear the responsibilities of citizenship, so that if they are to decide, or help to decide these great questions of finance and labor which are before us to-day, they may do so understandingly. My effort as Commissioner of Indian Affairs was to purify, elevate and render more efficient the entire Indian service — the work of im- proving the educational system was only one part of it. This had, however, the attention which its importance demanded. * .See course of study for Indian Schools. Report of Commissioner of Indian Affairs, 1890, p. CLVi. i6 ROMAN CATHOLICS Not a Personal Quarrel. Those who assailed my administration were actuated partly by a spirit of personal revenge, largely by sectarian prejudice, but also by political motives. I have very high Roman Catholic authority for saying that the assaults upon me were for political effect, and that religion was used only as a pretence. The real inward history of this singular contest can hardly be stated in a public address. It is not necessary that it should be. The great American public are not con- cerned with it as a personal quarrel. I certainly have neither the right nor the desire to obtrude my personality upon you except in so far as it is absolutely necessary, in order to set in clear light before you the contest that has become national and historical. A General Assault. The Roman Catholic newspapers throughout the country gener- ally took up the charges of the Catholic Bureau against the Indian office and the policy of the Commissioner, charging him with bigot- ry, injustice and cruelty; and their readers, no doubt, came to accept as true their base calumnies, and to regard him as a veritable mon- ster, bent upon destroying the Indian schools. Spies were sent to learn what guests he entertained, and interviewers invaded his home to detail gossip and silly stories about his family life. This assault ivas aided by an obscure partisan newspaper, edited by a scandal- monger, professing to be a gentleman, who had once held important positions of public trust. Two or three honorable Catholic new’s- papers had a just word to say for the Commissioner, but the tide of abuse w'as all against him, and the prejudices of the Catholics were thoroughly aroused ; the entire priesthood were embittered, and were ready for anything that could overthrow him. One priest published letters charging upon him the responsibOity for the Sioux outbreak and the loss of life that ensued ; * another a letter charging him with brutality, and with plotting to create an insurrection among a certain tribe of Indians, in order that he might have an excuse for exter- minating them so as to give their land to the white people.! An ♦ See Appendix. tMORE OF MORGAN’S WORK. New Whatcom, Wash., July 5, 1892. Editor of the Catholic News: — The Lummi Indians, whom I visit every six weeks or so, have a large day school, averaging more than eight boys and girls, and taught by a capable Catholic teacher. An inspector visited said school last week, and said that in July, 15 of the largest pupils of this school would be taken away and sent to an Oregon Indian industrial training school, which is far from being in the odor of sanctity. Morals are said to be very low in that school ; too much freedom among the sexes and followed by many breaches against chastity. Graduates of this school are generally proud, haughty — polished heathens. The Lummi Indians, being all good practical Catho- AND INDIAN EDUCATION. 17 archbishop accused him of lying. (See Report of Commissioner of Indian Affairs, 1892, p. 159 and 161.) A priest published a pamphlet attacking his theory of Indian education, and a tool of the Catholics wrote articles bitterly assailing the character of the government Indian schools, and charging, gross incompetency upon the Commis- sioner* Catholic papers reproduced these silly charges with sensa- tional headlines. Indians were incited, if not forced to appeal to the courts to take their children out of a government school. (Report of Commissioner of Indian Affairs, 1892, page 161-2.) False stories were widely circulated that the Commissioner was taking Catholic Indian children from reservations and placing them in government schools, for the purpose of proselyting them. (See Report of Com- missioner of Indian Affairs, 1892, pages 167-170.) Everything, appar- ently, that Jesuitical cunning could suggest, was done to create a work- ing sentiment against the Commissioner, and against the administra- tion that sustained him. The Republican Convention. When the Republican convention met in Minneapolis in June, 1892, to nominate a candidate for President, the Roman Catholics attempted to defeat the renomination of Harrison because of his Indian policy. One Western Senator told me that the private lies, are not willing to let their children go to their inevitable perdition. They are threatened with force to take their children away, and they do not know what to do. I think the government, or rather Preacher .Morgan, wants to excite these peaceful and industrious Indians to resistance in order to have a pretext to open this much- coveted reservation to the surrounding greedy whiles. I>ast fall a drunken white man was supposed to be killed by an Indian from his reservation. The Indian was tried, but could not be convicted. When the Indian was allowed his freedom the whites tried to kill him, and he had to leave his home to save his life. He tried to come home lately, but he was again hunted by the whites and had again to flee for life. In the meantime, I understand that a numer- ously-signed petition was sent to the Indian authorities in Washington, D. C., to either prevent the Indians from leaving their reservation, or to drive them away from it. So if Morgan can manage to have the Indians resist this brutal order of taking away the children by force from their parents, it will be a plausible pretext to either exile or exterminate these good, peaceable Indians. I cannot see how any power on earth can have a right to take away children from their parents when they nave a good school where they can be made to become good Christians and useful members of society. But I suppose these poor Indians have no rights that Morgan should respect. He has might and brute force on his side, and that is all he re- quires. Consequently I do not see how consistent Catholics can so stultify themselves as to cast their votes to continue Morgan’s brutal, bigoted rule for four years more. If the rascals are not ignominiously tunied out from power this fall, there will not be an Indian child left in a Catholic school four years hence. Then, Mr. Editor, agitate the Indian school question in season and out of sea- son in your able paper, till every Catholic is obliged for very shame to cast out the incubus represented by Morgan and hisclique. Write one of your forcible editorials on the above subject and urgently request all Catholic papers to spread it broadcast over the land (before the November elections). Yours, most respectfully. Rev. J. B. Boulet. • See my letter to Cardinal Gibbons. Appendix. iS ROMAN CATHOLICS secretary of a Roman Catholic bishop came to him and urged him to oppose Harrison’s renomination for that reason. A Senator from another Western State, where it was known the vote would be close, told me that the Catholics urged him also for the same reason to op- pose Harrison’s renomination. All their efforts, however,were in vain ; the President was renominated. Roman Catholics then determined to defeat his re-election, and they entered the campaign and waged a relentless warfare against him to the end. A prominent Roman Catholic paper advised all Romanists to concentrate their efforts to defeat Harrison, and thus overthrow Morgan. A Secret Pamphlet. The Roman Catholic Bureau published a secret pamphlet of 32 pages — I hold a copy in my hand - bitterly assailing the Indian office and President Harrison. It was prepared by Stephan, con- tained a restatement of the charges and slanders against me, and was full of misrepresentation.* It was widely circulated among the Catholic clergy, and was well calculated to stir up their antago- nism. I suppose it is true, that the Roman Catholic clergy in America, as a class, are far inferior in culture and character to the Protestant clergymen. They are largely foreigners, have little sympathy with our American institutions, and are not in touch at all with the best forces operative in American life. They are blindly obedient to the church, know absolutely nothing of independence of thought or action, are not well informed in American history, and take no intelli- gent interest in American politics. Roman Catholics in Local Politics. In local elections they can, I suppose, be generally counted on to throw their influence in favor of the candidates that will render the greatest service to their church. During the last administration it w'as determined, for good reasons, to remove an Indian agent who was a Roman Catholic. The Bishop in that district wrote to his Congressman — who came to me with the letter — and demanded that he should secure the appointment of another Roman Catholic as Indian agent, and threatened that if this were not done, he would oppose his re-election. A Catholic was not appointed, and the Congressman was defeated. Last fall, one of the ablest, most upright men in this country, an * Stephan’s cowardly attack upon my military record was as base as it was calum- nious. I have a military record of which any man might be proud. There is not one page of it I would blot out. AND INDIAN EDUCATION. 19 ex-Senator, who was running for governor of a Western State, told me that a Roman Catholic priest said to him : “ The Roman Catholics are all opposing you in this campaign because you supported the confirmation of the Commissioner of Indian Affairs.” My good friend replied : “ When that question was up I investigated it care- fully, satisfied myself that he ought to be confirmed, and supported his confirmation. I have no apologies to mike. I would like to be governor of this State ; I would like the support of the Romanists, but if I cannot have that without sacrificing my sense of public duty, then I prefer defeat to election.” He was defeated. A distinguished clergyman in New York told me that he knew personally of Irish Republicans who were forced by their priests to vote for Cleveland, although they preferred to vote for Harrison. A public official in Western New York told me that a foreign priest threatened to withhold the communion from his members if they voted for Harrison. A Western Senator told me that a consid- erable number of voters in -Milwaukee trained with the Republicans until the Sunday before election, when they received orders from their priest to vote for Cleveland, and they reluctantly obeyed. Rome Co.mbines to Defeat Harrison. The evidence is well-nigh conclusive that almost the whole power of the Catholic priesthood was concentrated upon the defeat of Harrison. Stephan’s political pamphlet charged the President with bigotry and with lending the weight of his office against the Catholics. The charge was absurd, but it did its wprk as effectively as if it had been true.* I think you will all agree w'ith me, whatever your politics are, that Benjamin Harrison is a patriot — of along line of patriots, — and • Bigotry or Patriotis.m ? Let us see in what the bigotry consists. It tells of an interview with Presi- dent Harrison in which the President said he wanted the Indian children educated in government schools. Then it quotes from the President's .Message, in which he says the schools have been very successful, and should be so organized and conduct- ed as to facilitate the transfer of the schools to the States and Territories in which they are located. That is the bigotry. The term bigot, in these days of free thought and independent investigation, is an epithet of opprobrium and disgrace. Webster says in his International Dic- tionary that a bigot is “ a person w ho regards his own faith and views in matters of religion as unquestionably right, and any belief or opinion opposed to or differing from them as unreasonable or wicked. In an extended sense, a person who is in- tolerant of opinions which conflict with his own, as in politics or morals ; one obsti- nately and blindly devoted to his own church, party or opinion.” President Harri- son was a bigot because he believed that the public schools were better than the parochUl schools. With Webster’s definition of bigotry, and this teaching of the 20 ROMAN CATHOLICS that by word and deed, in private and in public, as citizen, soldier, and President, he has fostered a love of country, ai}d has helped to bring about what he himself well calls “ a renaissance of patriotism.” He loves American institutions for their beneficent influence upon the foreigners that come to make their homes with us. His loyalty is to the flag of the republic. His bigotry is of that noble type that sees in our American institutions the hope of humanity. President Harrison is a broad-minded statesman, and a Christian of liberal views. To accuse him of bigotry is like charging George Washington with treason. Another lying circular was scattered among the French Catholics in Connecticut to excite religious prejudices against President Harrison. What effect these and similar influences had on the result of the campaign, it is impossible for any one to tell. A great many elements, which I need not stop to enumerate, en- tered into the campaign and complicated the struggle. What actually brought about the defeat of the Republican party is still an open question among the most astute politicians, and calls for no discus- sion here. Priests Plunging Into Partisan Politics for Public Plunder. The point I make is simply this : That the Roman Catho- lics attempted to overthrow the Republican party, not in the interest of good government, but in the interest of their church. Catechism, it is a legitimate conclusion that the Roman Catholic Church is organized bigotry. No honest Roman Catholic can be an>'thing else than a bigot. For a Roman Catholic to charge a Protestant with bigotry is arrant nonsense and imper- tinence. I hold in my hand a “ Catechism of Christian Doctrine, prepared and enjoined by order of the third Plenary Council of Baltimore, and indorsed by Cardinal Gib- bons.” On page 6 it says : — Ques. — How shall we know the things which we are to believe ? Ans. — We shall know the things which we are to believe from the Catholic Church, through which God speaks to us. On page 20 it says : — Ques. — What is the church ? Ans. — The church is the congregation of those who profess the faith of Christ, partake of the same sacraments, and are governed by their la\\Tul pastors under one visible head. Ques. — Who is the visible head of the church ? Ans. — Our holy father the Pope, the bishop of Rome, is the vicar of Christ on earth and the risible head of the church. Ques. — What do you mean by the infallibility of the church ? Ans. — By the infallibility of the church I mean that the church cannot err when it teaches a doctrine of faith or morals. Ques. — Has the church any marks by which it may be known ? _ Ans. — The church has four marks by which it may be known : It is one ; it is holy ; it is Catholic ; it is apostolic. Ques. — In which church are these attributes and marks found? Ans. — These attributes are found in the holy Roman Catholic Church alone. AND INDIAN EDUCATION. 21 They claim to have succeeded in their effort, boast of their achieve- ment, and will, undoubtedly, be emboldened to undertake still more daring plans. (See citations from Catholic papers given in Appendix. These are simply samples.) They represent themselves as a priest- hood, plunging into politics for public plunder. Whether this repre- sentation is to be accepted as true or not, we do well to ponder. A Betr.ayal of the Republic. Now if it be true, as is claimed by Roman Catholic newspapers, that Roman Catholics who were Republicans and believed that the theory of the Republican party regarding our great national indus- tries, and regarding other public questions, were correct, and that the success of the Republican party was essential to the continued prosperity of the nation, nevertheless, in opposition to their convic- tions on political questions, and their personal preferences, they did, in obedience to the command of their priests, abandon the Republican party, and vote for the Democratic party in order to defeat flarrison, get rid of his Commissioner of Indian Affairs, and overturn his Indian policy in order to secure for the Roman Cath- olic Church, under Democratic administration, what it could not get under Republican vote, then is it not true that they deliberately betrayed the republic, and committed a crime against liberty ? Even if it should be true that the claim of the Roman Catholics as to the significance of their vote in the last presidential election is grossly exaggerated, and even if it were true that their action really did not have any appreciable effect in determining the result of the election, the great fact remains, that they attempted the overthrow of the Republican party, and a policy which many of them believed to be sound, in order to promote the interest of the Roman Catholic Church. Whatever may be true as to the effect of the Roman Cath- olic political conspiracy, here are matters worthy of attention. SO.ME SiGNIEICA.NT AND AD.MITTED FaCTS. 1. There were very grave issues at stake in the presidential elec- tion, the entire industrial and fiscal policy of the government being involved. 2. It was universally recognized that the contest was to be a very stubborn one, with the chances rather in favor of the continuance of the Republican party in power. 3. The Roman Catholics had been thoroughly imbued with the false idea that the President was hostile to them and to their religion, and should be overthrown. 4. The priests, apparently, stood ready to combine to use their 22 ROMAN CATHOLICS tyrannical power over the conscience to coerce their blind followers to vote solidly for a change of administration, if they could thereby punish Harrison, and get rid of his Commissioner of Indian Affairs. 5. The Chairman of the Democratic National Committee was a Roman Catholic, and was quick to see the use that could be made of this engine of sectarian prejudice among ignorant masses of voters, who could be misled by politicians and their priests. 6. The Chairman of the Republican National Committee was also a Roman Catholic. This singular coincidence was, of course, purely accidental and undesigned, save as a part of the general plan of the Roman Cath- olics in this country to push iheir men to the front in all places of influence. If this particular combination had been planned by the College of the Propaganda at Rome, it could not have been more acceptable to the Vatican. Far be it from me, even by implication, to impugn the party fealty of any man. I realize the very delicate position of the Chairman of the Republican National Committee. He was a true son of the Church, was a recognized leader in a Western State where the Cath- olics held the balance of power. Prominent ecclesiastics were his personal and political friends, and he had special reason for knowing their antipathy to the policy of the Indian Office. He was an aspirant for further political honors and promotions, and knew the indispensableness of their good will and help. Whether he was at all influenced by these considerations I do not know. I note here some seemingly significant incidents of the campaign, while others, apparently even more significant, could be given. I do not attempt to interpret them. I offered to furnish a reply to Stephan’s pamphlet, but it was not called for. A character sketch of Harrison, written by me, and in type as a campaign document, was suppressed — as I have reason to believe — because I wTote it. An official telegram, sent from the Indian office to a Roman Cath- olic Indian agent inquiring about a turbulent Catholic priest, was answered through the National Republican headquarters. A Western Senator expressed to me the opinion that if Stephan’s scurrilous pamphlet had been made the occasion for an appeal to the American sentiment of this country, there would have been a mag- nificent epoch-making response. It was not done. 7. Harrison was defeated. 8. Roman Catholic newspapers claimed his defeat as their victory. Bells were rung in some Catholic churches in honor of the event. According to the Roman Catholic newspapers the conspiracy had AND INDIAN EDUCATION. 23 succeeded ; the 8th of November was another Saint Bartholomew’s day. Ballots had done the work of bullets. It is not conceded that their claim is correct. The misrepresenta- tions of the McKinley bill and the force bill, the labor troubles, the populist uprising, the Blaine episode, the sickness in the President’s family, and other causes, are sufficient to explain the defeat of Harrison. The generalship of Whitney was superb. The point I make is, that the Catholics combined to carry the presidential elec- tion, and claim to have succeeded. The effort and the claim reveal the danger that threatens us. The spirit of political revolution for papal advantage is manifest. Politicians stand ready to pander to this spirit. 9. One of the last acts of the next Democratic House of Repre- sentatives, after the election, was to pass the new Indian bill, with a clause establishing a new Roman Catholic contract Indian school at Umatilla, Oregon, for Indians who are citizens of the United States, where a good government school was already in operation, and where no other school was needed. 10. In the reorganization of the United States Senate, made pos- sible by the election, the Chairman of the Committee on Indian Affairs is the man who championed the Catholic Bureau in all its efforts, and led the fight against my confirmation. 11. Hon. R. V. Belt — a soldier of honorable record, a man of integ- rity, ability, and of wide experience in office, having served through one Democratic administration, an expert in Indian matters, — is removed from the office of .-Vssistant Commissioner of Indian Affairs, and his place is filled by a Roman Catholic. 12. The chief of the Education division in the Indian office has been removed, and a policy injurious to the Government Indian schools has been inaugurated. 13. One of the first Indian agents appointed by the new adminis- tration has, it is said, only one qualification for the place — he is a Roman Catholic Wii.AT Does it Mean ? Now what is the real meaning of all this ? Does it mean that the Roman Catholic Church — an ecclesiastical imperialism modeled after the Roman Empire — organized for conquest, and with an insatiable greed of power, arrogating to itself the divine right of sovereignty over temporal government, an alien transplanted from the Tiber, out of sympathy with American institutions, and hating our public schools as her deadly foes, recruiting her ranks by myriads from the slums of Europe, flushed with victory in local politics, finding herself hold- ing the balance of power between the two great political parties con- 24 ROMAN CATHOLICS tending for national supremacy, recognizes her opportunity, and utter- ly ignoring the political issues of the campaign, hurls her cohorts secretly but overwhelmingly into the conflict, in those strategic points, the cities, where she has massed her forces, and thus realizes her long-coveted desire of dictating her own terms to those in charge of the national government ? Do you say that this is incredible ? Perhaps so ; but read the political history of New York. Tammany is the Roman Catholic Church engaged in municipal politics; em- blem, a tiger - satiated. Does it bode ill to the republic ? A Tam- many boss is the modern Duke of Alva. Fellow citizens, I will not pursue the topic further. I have tried to make a plain statement of some facts that have come under my observation, and I leave you to draw your own inferences. I am not a politician. I left an important position in civil life to accept the difficult office of Commissioner of Indian Affairs at the personal request of my friend and old commander. General Harrison. I served nearly four years to the best of my ability, winning the hearty approval of the whole country, except the Roman Catholics. I left public life without regrets, and have no desire to return to it. Our Possible Nation.\l Destiny. I am profoundly interested, however, in the success of our great experiment of “ a government of the people, for the people, and by the people.” This young Republic, latest-born of nations, is rapidly- becoming one of the richest, strongest, most enlightened people on the globe. Its possible greatness dazzles the most brilliant imagina- tion. We are unfolding a new civilization, and the welfare of man- kind is wrapped up in our destiny. We have borrowed whatever is good from all nations, — religion from the Jews, culture from the Greeks, organization and law from the Romans, scholarship from the Germans, hardihood from the Scandinavians, thrift from the French, liberty from the Dutch, and power of self-government from the Anglo-Saxons. But these great elements of a mighty civilization we have blended in our own way. Our constitution is the product of American statesmen. Universal suffrage is our experiment. Free schools are American. Separation of church and state is our con- tribution to the practical statesmanship that is improving the condi- tion of mankind. • I look with a patriot’s dislike upon any men or body of men that directly or indirectly seek to antagonize our Ameri- can institutions, or to hinder the free working of the great idea of liberty of conscience, and the unrestrained exercise of the freeman’s right of suffrage. The same spirit that prompted me to give nearly four years to the service of my country as a soldier, four years as a AND INDIAN EDUCATION. 25 public officer, more than twenty years as a public teacher, training youth for citizenship, prompts me now to resist an insidious assault upon the very citadel of Republican institutions. Our liberties are menaced. Let us as true patriots come to the rescue. *' With malice toward none, with charity for all, and with love for the right as God gives us to see the right,” let us manfully meet the crisis that is upon us, and stand for God and our republican institutions. We have received our liberty, through our fathers, as a sacred trust to enjoy and transmit, unimpaired to the next generation. Ex-President Hayes. The late ex- President Hayes, one of America’s noblest sons, said to me at Mohonk in October last that if Harrison should be defeat- ed in the approaching election, an unprecedented tide of .-American- ism would sweep the country. Was he a prophet? He believed, apparently, that the .-Americanism born amid the throes of revolution, and consecrated by the blood of the patriots of ’61, was worth pre- serving and defending. “ Eternal vigilance is the price of liberty.” AATiat of the Future? At times, when I see how engrossed our American people are in the pursuit of wealth ; how apathetic, apparently, to the dangers that threaten us ; how indifferent often our own best citizens are to the responsibilities of citizenship ; how eagerly the base and the in- competent clamor for office; how persistently and cunningly the bosses plan and plot and labor to seize upon power, and how tenaciously they cling to it ; how venal voters often are; how perni- cious and far-reaching is the corrupt and corrupting spoils system, and with what consummate and resourceful skill this great enemy of our free institutions lays her plans to subjugate and rule, I long to hear the voice of a James Otis, a Samuel Adams, a Patrick Henry, lifted in defense of those liberties our fathers died to gain. But when I remember Concord and Bunker Hill, Washington and Jeffer- son, Gettysburg and .-Appomattox, Sumner, and Lincoln, and Grant, I am encouraged to believe that when the real test comes, our young men — patriots true of many races — will respond to the call of country, and with peaceful measures, not warlike, with ballots, not bullets, arguments, not armies, will preserve and hand down to posterity, untarnished, the priceless heritage they have received from the fathers, — a republic under whose starry flag there shall be civil liberty, religious freedom, suffrage for all, universal education, sweet peace, abounding plenty, and continuous progress toward the highest national greatness, power, and influence. 26 ROMAN CATHOLICS APPENDIX. The Public Estimate of General Morgan's Administra- tion of the Indian Bureau is indicated by a few extracts from the comments of leading exponents of public opinion. “ In no branch of the public service, under the Harrison adminis- tration, has improvement in method and result been more marked and interesting than in the affairs of the Indian Bureau. The particular credit that attaches to the Commissioner that has just retired from service, relates mainly to the zeal, intelligence, and good judgment he has displayed in the execution of the reform.” — New York Tribune. “ The Bureau of Indian Affairs is one of the most difficult and perplexing offices of the government. It has the oversight of 250,000 Indians, it disburses annually millions of dollars, and yet in all its complex work the department has a record for singular impartiality, justice, and honesty.” — The Mail and Express. “ One of the brightest chapters in the Administration has been its conduct of Indian Affairs. Mr. Harrison selected for Indian Com- missioner, a thoroughly qualified expert in education, and General Morgan has systematized the management of the Indian schools, so that the attendance has largely increased, and the efficiency of the system more than doubled. Meanwhile, the process of breaking up the reservations, and guiding the Indians to the high position of citizens, has made such progress, that if not interfered with, their civilization and incorporation with the nation is only a matter of a few years. — The Indepe 7 ident. “ It will be with much regret that the friends of Indian education learn that Gen. Thomas J. Morgan has made arrangements to go into other work before the new administration comes in. He has been a wise, judicious, and far-seeing administrator of the educational and citizenship policy of the nation, and it will be difficult to fill his place.” — The Sprin^eld RepiiblicaJi. “ General T. J. Morgan has resigned his position as Commissioner of Indian Affairs, and last week left that office to become Secretary of the Baptist Home Missionary Society in New York. In accepting his resignation. President Harrison expressed his hearty approval of General Morgan’s work, which, we believe, has done more to secure the advancement of the Indians toward civilization, and to bring them to citizenship, than has been done under any other administra- tion. He has been persistently attacked by the Roman Catholic Indian Bureau at Washington, and by the Catholic press, but he has treated that sect fairly, and has so far perfected a system of public AND INDIAN EDUCATION. 27 education for Indians, that it is not likely that the policy he inaugurated will be reversed.” — The Congregationalist. “ General Morgan has made for himself a permanent and most worthy place in the history of the country, in connection with difficult and important duties at a very critical time. The fruit of his clear vision and persistent fidelity will be increasingly apparent as the years go by. The ablest of our secular journals and the religious press agree in saying that he has shown himself the best Commissioner of Indian Affairs the nation has ever had. He comes now to a still greater work, and will receive everywhere a very hearty welcome.” — The Ensign. “ General Thomas J. Morgan, as Indian Commissioner under President Harrison, had precisely that ideal fitness for his post that Judge Lochren possesses for the headship of the Pension Bureau. It was a critical time in the history of our dealings with the Indians. General Morgan appreciated it, and reached the highest point of valuable service ever attained by a man in that office .” — Review of Reviews. COMMISSIONER MORGANS STAND. [Telegram to New York Evening Post.] Washingto.n, July 23, 1891. — Letters are pouring in upon the Commissioner of Indian Affairs from educators, and philanthropists, and public men in all parts of the Union, congratulating him upon the stand he has taken with regard to the Bureau of Catholic Missions. E.\-representative Perkins, of Kansas, who was chairman of the committee. on Indian Affairs in the last House, and who, in conversa- tion with your correspondent and others, in the past, has been often disposed to criticise the present administration of the Indian Office for what he considered its too great independence of partisan control, writes to Gen. Morgan : “ The appropriations in support of Indian education have annually increased, and with this increase in the appropriations, you have each year increased the amount set apart and given to the Catholic schools, and have thus encouraged and strengthened them in their e.xcellent work. Notwithstanding this, you have been the subject of most violent and unstinted abuse, every motive being impugned, and have been charged with almost every crime known in the catalogue of crimes. Vour recent stand in opposition to the Catholic Bureau in this city is not only person- ally right, but right on principle. The bureau performs no useful purpose, and has no place in our system of educational work. It must have been organized for lobby purposes, and its paid and retained employees have, in the committee-rooms of Congress, and elsewhere, by their representations and importunities, strengthened this conclusion. “ Why a bureau of this character should be maintained I do not comprehend. It necessarily consumes and exhausts a portion of the money appropriated for the support of the schools, and thus indirectly asks Congress to appropriate public moneys to support a sectarian bureau at the nation’s capital to solicit appropriations for sectarian ROMAN CATHOLICS Judge Perkins’s suggestion, that the bureau supports itself by levy- ing tribute on the fund supposed to be_ devoted entirely to the support of the schools themselves, will probably be borne out by ample testimony, if the next Congress has courage enough to probe this scandal to the botcom. Facts have turned up within the last few days which throw a striking light on the business the bureau has been carrying on ; and it is not unlikely that if the present arrange- ment is continued, by which the Indian Office makes its contracts with the schools themselves, instead of through the bureau, the increased amount of money which actually succeeds in getting as far as the schools, will make the school managers protest against even going back to the old brokerage system. It is not wonderful that the bureau is making a hard fight, for if the new method gets a full foothold the bureau will be, like Senator Ingalls, “out of a job.” Bishop Kain, of Wheeling, is one of the irreconcilables. He is reported to be out in print with a denunciation of Commissioner Morgan, as an anti-Catholic bigot, and threatens the Republican administration with the withdrawal of Catholic votes in 1892. The most noteworthy part of the letter, as appears from the abstract published here, is its charge, that Commissioner Morgan showed his hatred of Catholicism by appointing a Protestant minister. Dr. Dorchester, to be an inspector of the Indian schools, and that the doctor’s first official act was to turn out a lot of Catholic teachers because of their religion. If he had taken the trouble to look up his facts before attempting to state them, the bishop would have dis- covered that Dr. Dorchester’s appointment as Superintendent of Indian Schools was made by the President on the 26th of April, 1889, before Gen. Morgan had even been spoken to about the commission- ership of Indian Affairs. Gen. Morgan’s own appointment as Commissioner was not made until the loth of June, 1889. As a fact. Commissioner Morgan approved the removal of less than a dozen Catholics and of several dozen Protestants, so that the Protestants have much more reason to complain of these decapita- tions than the Roman Catholics. ROMAN CATHOLIC LOBBIES. [Lutheran Observer.] It is a singular and notable fact, that the Mormon and Roman Catholic Churches are the only ones that have ever maintained lobbies at Washington to influence legislation in Congress favorable to their sectarian interests. For many years the Mormon Church had a powerful lobby at the National Capital, and some of the ablest lawyers in the country were employed by them to advocate their cause before committees of both the House and the Senate, to prevent the enactment of any laws that would interfere with the free exercises of polygamy, which they regarded as the chief corner-stone of their religion. For years they succeeded in delaying or defeating the passage of such laws in one or the other House of Congress, and their success to this extent was a shameful national scandal. But the late trouble of Indian Commissioner Morgan with the AND INDIAN EDUCATION. 29 “ Catholic Bureau ” at AVashington, in regard to their Indian school, has attracted public attention to tl^e fact that the so-called “ Catholic Bureau ” there, is nothing else than a Catholic lobby maintained foi a purpose similar to that of the Mormon lobby. Although General Morgan has made known his determination to deal hereafter, not with the Catholic Bureau, but directly with the superintendents of the Catholic Indian schools, just as he does with the Indian schools of other denominations, yet Archbishop Ireland has announced that the Catholic Bureau will “ retain its organization,” and remain at Washington, “ to watch legislation, and to act as attorney for the Indian schools before Congress.” Archbishop Ireland is probably the most liberal and advanced Catholic prelate in this country. He has often uttered sentiments and views that are thoroughly American and patriotic ; and yet, he desires to have a Catholic lobby at Washington; as he says, “ to watch legislation, and to act as attorney for the Indian schools before Congress.” This places the Roman Catholic Church in the same attitude before the government and country, as that in which the Mormon Church has been for years ; and it is a significant fact, that well deserves the serious consideration of all patriotic Americans. President Harrison is a Presbyterian ; but if the Presbyterian Church were to appoint a so-called “Bureau” at Washington, to lobby before Congress to secure or prevent some special legislation, it would be denounced as contravening its appropriate sphere, and as violating, in spirit at least, the fundamental American idea of an entire separation of Church and State. The same would be the case if the Methodist, Lutheran, or Baptist Church were to maintain a similar bureau or lobby at Washington, for a similar purpose. They would be justly denounced for attempting to intrude sectarian interests into politics, contrary to the genius of American institutions and government. It is no less reprehensible for the Roman Catholic Church to maintain a bureau or lobby at Washington to influence national legislation, than it would be for any Protestant Church to do the same. In view of this sectarian intrusion of the Catholic Church into Congress, it seems evident that the time has come for changing our national policy in respect to Indian schools. Instead of appropriat- ing to the Catholic and Protestant churches pro rata amounts according to the number of schools and pupils among the Indians which they respectively conduct and support, all Indian schools supported wholly or in part by the Government, should be placed on the same unsectarian basis of instruction, and then let all religious denominations that have missions and schools among the Indians, support and conduct their own schools in their own way. This is the plan proposed by the National Association for the Preservation of American Institutions, and, if carried out, it would relieve the government of its present practice of supporting sectarian schools among the Indians, through the denominations that have charge of them, which is a departure in principle and in practice from the American idea in regard to schools. 3 ° ROMAN CATHOLICS [Press Dispatch.] Baltimore, Md., July 31, 1891. — Cardinal Gibbons said last night to a reporter : — “ Undue importance, I am now satisfied, has been attached to the recent controversy between the Commissioner of Indian Affairs, T. J. Morgan, and the bureau of Catholic Indian Missions. Mr. Morgan has thought it advisable for the more effective expediting of business in his department, to have contracts for schools signed by the several superintendents of such schools, rather than by the directory of the Catholic bureau, as heretofore practised. I do not see how this change can in any manner affect the real interests of the Indians, and therefore it is a point which should not disturb us. “ At my request, and in obedience to his own hearty sympathy for the Indians, the archbishop of St. Paul yesterday paid a visit to Mr. Morgan. The commissioner received him most kindly, and gave him ample and positive assurances of his disposition to treat the Catholic Indian schools with equity and generosity. “Archbishop Ireland is personally satisfied that Mr. Morgan’s assurances will be carried out, and is delighted with the result of his interview. “ I have every reason to believe that the President and the Sec- retary of the Interior are benevolently disposed toward the Catholic schools. Indeed, on this point, I speak advisedly.” A PIOUS FRAUD. [Boston Traveller, Jan. 31, tSgs.] There is a Catholic boarding-school for Indian girls at Bernalillo, New Mexico, conducted by the Sisters of Loretto. It is known as a contract school; that is, while it is carried on by the nuns as a mission school to train young Indian girls to be Catholics, its expenses are paid by the general government out of the public treasury. The contract made by the government with the Sisters of Loretto is for the education of Indian girls. The government does not attempt to educate Mexicans. It has been known for some time at the Indian office that the reports of attendance were untrustworthy, and in order to ascertain the exact facts, a government Indian school supervisor was sent to inspect the school, and to learn the true character of the attendance. This officer made a visit to the school, and saw that a considerable number of the pupils seemed to be Mexicans. He questioned the teachers, and they insisted that they were Indians. He then visited the homes of the parents, and made careful inquiry, which resulted in establishing the fact, that out of a total of seventy enrolled as Indians, forty-two were Mexicans, with no trace of Indian blood. In order to cover up the deception, the pupils were credited to various Indian Tribes. Five were enrolled as Apaches, and reported as from San Carlos, Arizona, but not one was an Apache, or had ever seen San Carlos. Others were reported as Navajos, and others as Pueblo Indians. Some pupils that lived in the immediate vicinity of the school were enrolled as living in distant puebloes. One of AND INDIAN EDUCATION. 31 them, when questioned in the presence of her teachers as to her residence, would not answer until prompted by her teacher to say San Filepe, and then insisted that that was her home, a statement that both she and her teacher knew to be false. This scheme, it seems, has been carried out for some time, and considerable money has thus been obtained from the public treasury under false pretences. The Commissioner of Indian Affairs, on learning the fact, promptly annulled the contract. This school was formerly under the care of the Bureau of Cath- olic Indian Missions. Fr. Stephan, the director of that machine, in his secret circular, complained of the school supervisors as spies, appointed for the purpose of injuring the Catholic schools. It seems he had good reason to fear the presence of these officers. The Roman Catholics have had a great deal to say about “ godless public schools,” and about the need of “ religious ” instruction, such as is furnished in their church schools. We think the time has come for the government of the United States to stop using public money to pay for such “ religious ” teaching as this. It has paid out in this way during the last eight years more than two and a quarter million dollars. ROMAN CATHOLIC NEWSPAPERS ON THE PRESIDEN- TIAL ELECTION. The Catholic Herald said Oct. 6th, 1892 : “ Bigotry must be rebuked. When a national administration deliberately sets to work to destroy Catholic Indian schools, that administration must reckon with the Catholic discontent which necessarily follows such a policy.” The Catholic Revie-w, published in New York City, one of their most conservative journals, and claiming to be absolutely “ non- partisan,” said, editorially, on June nth : “ In self-defense Catholics must become independent, and vote for those only who will not deny them their rights as citizens because of their religion. The rights of conscience are more important than protection or free trade.” The same journal, after the election, said editorially, Nov. 26th, 1892 : “Catholics do not like to draw religious lines in politics, but when an official like Hon. Thomas J. .Morgan declares war on them, they must defend themselves ; and that their votes count, the result of the election proves. Good-by, Morgan.’ [N. Y. Independent, Nov. 24 , 1S92.] Sever.al of our Roman Catholic papers are singing Te Deums over the victory of Mr. Cleveland. They call it the deathblow of Know-nothingism and bigotry. The Catholic Herald, of this city, a little more virulent than most of its contemporaries, says: — “ The Republican Party, led by bigots, invaded the sanctuary of the home, usurped parental rights, and robbed Catholic Indians of their only treasure, their faith ; but the people, true to the best traditions of .America, hurled it from power. Cleveland’s victory was, in truth, the defeat of bigotri-.” 32 INDIAN EDUCATION. One of the chief glories of the Harrison Administration is its noble Indian policy, as conceived and carried out by General Morgan, who has dealt with Catholic Indian schools with friendly impartiality. The American people know full well that bigotry is not the special vice of Protestantism. Before many years have passed they will understand how and why it is introduced into politics. [Copy ] Indian Office, Washington, / August 26, 1892. ( J. Cardin.AL Gibbons, Cardinal's Residence, Baltimore, Maryland. My De.ar Sir: — I beg to ask your attention to the enclosed newspaper clipping, which came to me to-day from Alabama. A similar one was received from Minnesota. The article, which bears plainly the marks of emanating from the same source which has been so prolific in such matters heretofore, appears to have been printed in a Catholic paper of Louisville, Ky., and scattered broad- cast over the country. From what you have already said to me, I know that you do not approve of such newspaper assaults upon personal character. I hardly need to say to you that the article is in substance false and slanderous ; but is calculated, I believe, not to harm me, but those in whose name it is issued. I do not object to fair criticism, but this style of warfare is heathenish, and I am sure is not counte- nanced by high-minded Catholics, like yourself. With assurances of my personal respect, believe me. Yours very sincerely, T. J. Morgan, Commissioner. Issued by The America.^ Citizen Lo., ^ Bromfied Street, Boston.