knowing what we know today, we marvel that it was possible for germany to prepare through so many years for her assault on civilization, and for england to have slept through it all. in exactly the same way, the historian of a generation from now will marvel that america should have slept, while the new inquisition was planning to strangle her. for we are told with the utmost explicitness precisely what is to be done. we are to see wiped out these gains of civilization for which our race has bled and agonized for many centuries; the very gains are to serve as the means of their own destruction! have we not heard pope leo tell his faithful how to take advantage of what they find in america—our easy-going trust, our quiet certainty of liberty, our open-handed and open-homed and hail-fellow-well-met democracy?
we see the army being organized and drilled under our eyes; and we can read upon its banners its purpose proclaimed. just as the prussian military caste had its slogan "deutschland ueber alles!" so the knights of slavery have their slogan: "make america catholic!"
their attitude to democratic institutions is attested by the fact that none of their conventions ever fails in its resolutions to "deeply deplore the loss of the temporal power of our father, the pope." their subjection to priestly domination is indicated by such resolutions as this, bearing date of may 13th, 1914:
the knights of columbus of texas in annual convention assembled, prostrate at the feet of your holiness, present filial regards with assurances of loyalty and obedience to the holy see and request the papal blessing.
on june 10th, 1912, one t. j. carey of palestine, texas, wrote to archbishop bonzano, the apostolic delegate: "must i, as a catholic, surrender my political freedom to the church? and by this i mean the right to vote for the democratic, socialist, or republican parties when and where i please?" the answer was: "you should submit to the decisions of the church, even at the cost of sacrificing political principles." and to the same effect mgr. preston, in new york city, jan. 1, 1888: "the man who says, 'i will take my faith from peter, but i will not take my politics from peter,' is not a true catholic."
such is the papal machine; and not a day passes that it does not discover some new scheme to advance the papal glory; a "catholic battle-ship" in the united states navy; catholic chaplains on all ships of the navy; catholic holidays—-such as columbus day—to be celebrated by all protestants in america; thirty million dollars worth of church property exempted from taxation in new york city; mission bells to be set up at the expense of the state of california; state support for parish schools—or, if this cannot be had, exemption of catholics from taxation for school purposes. so on through the list which might continue for pages.
more than anything else, of course, the papal machine is concerned with education, or rather, with the preventing of education. it was in its childish days that the race fell under the spell of the priestly lie; it is in his childish days that the individual can be most safely snared. suffer little children to come unto the catholic priest, and he will make upon their sensitive minds an impression which nothing in after life can eradicate. so the mainstay of the new inquisition is the parish-school, and its deadliest enemy is the american school system. listen to the rev. james conway, of the society of jesus, in his book, "the rights of our little ones":
catholic parents cannot, in conscience send their children to american public schools, except for very grave reasons approved by the ecclesiastical authorities.
while state education removes illiteracy and puts a limited amount of knowledge within the reach of all, it cannot be said to have a beneficial influence on civilization in general.
the state cannot justly enforce compulsory education, even in case of utter illiteracy, so long as the essential physical and moral education are sufficiently provided for.
and so, at all times and in all places, the catholic church is fighting the public school. eternal vigilance is necessary; as "america", the organ of the jesuits, explains:
sometimes it is a new building code, or an attempt at taxing the school buildings, which creates hardships to the parochial and other private schools. now it is the free text book law that puts a double burden on the catholics. then again it is the unwise extension of the compulsory school age that forces children to be in school until they are 16 to 18 years old.
and if you wish to know the purpose of the catholic schools, hear archbishop quigley of chicago, speaking before the children of the mary sodality in the holy name parish-school:
within twenty years this country is going to rule the world. kings and emperors will pass away, and the democracy of the united states will take their place. the west will dominate the country, and what i have seen of the western parochial schools has proved that the generation which follows us will be exclusively catholic. when the united states rules the world the catholic church will rule the world.
