Communications

...There is no good in his position, nor any evil in ours...

...It is undoubtedly calculated to create a very false impression of the principality in the minds of those who have not had occasion to visit it in person...

...I merely wish to offer for consideration three facts, which may be taken as causes—natural and potent causes—for the lack of a more generous participation in the life of our nation...

...Any judgment upon the Constitution of 1917 which leaves out of account these and other excellent provisions, is not only incomplete and unfair, but prevents the mind from intelligently or comprehensively estimating the issues at stake in the Mexican conflict and the strength of the position occupied by the present Mexican government...

...The presence of a casino where public gambling is indulged in is in no sense an unusual feature of European resorts...

...There are two aspects of the matter concerning which, in my opinion, an increasing number of Catholic Americans are adopting a mistaken or erroneous attitude...

...There are, of course, many municipal casinos in France, and in a number of them the play is higher than at the casino of Monaco...

...Allowing for a statistical exaggeration, still I think we can accept the government's figures in the main as fairly accurate...

...At the same time, however, Catholic Americans should set a strict watch over their speech and action in respect of Mexico lest they make a very bad situation even worse...

...Rev...

...The difference pertains entirely to policy, and even there it seems to reduce itself to a qu«tion of emphasis...

...I refer to prejudice against Catholics...

...For what will be the results...

...Recent government statistics state that 51,000,000 of our fellow Americans are of English, Welsh, Scotch, and Scotch-Irish birth or descent...

...The third fact offered for consideration is so obvious that there is little need to expatiate on it...

...Catholic Americans can give strength to an American and to an international conscience, a conscience which is horrified by religious intolerance, and a conscience of which even Mexican anti-clericals stand in awe...

...Many of them bear a striking resemblance to paragraphs in the encyclical of Pope Leo XIII on the Condition of Labor...

...According to my understanding of the latter, there is no difference of principle between your position and that of Dr...

...A negative answer must follow a glance into the Who's Who of our multi-fold national life...

...We Catholic Americans should face the fact that alongside of the great Christianizing and civilizing work which for centuries the Catholic Church performed in Mexico there developed grave abuses...

...Devine...

...And all Catholics can unite in prayer...

...With possibly two or three exceptions, these provisions are humane and just...

...The Oceanographic Museum is unique in the world both as to the perfection of the building itself and as to the rare and beautiful specimens which it contains...

...Devine's letter...

...TO the Editor:—In the closing lines of a recent communication to The Commonweal, Mr...

...On the other hand, the Catholic forces, being human, have not always been entirely without fault...

...Both as liberty-loving Americans and as loyal children of the Christian church they must obviously detest the illiberal and tyrannical anti-clerical legislation which is now being enforced in Mexico, and they must pray that the denial of freedom of religion and of education may come to a speedy end...

...They are here offered not as a sop to the apathetic, but to stay a hasty and perhaps unjust condemnation...

...Article 123 of the Mexican Constitution of 1917 contains thirty sections concerning labor and social welfare...

...Gastaud, Jardinier—chef de Monaco, is an experience which no student of botany will ever forget...

...Edward T. Devine's letter and your reply thereto...

...Little wonder, then, that when the revolt against Spain broke out in Mexico, a considerable number of parish priests became the leaders of the native Mexicans, while the hierarchy, with the Inquisition, arrayed themselves on the side af Spain and reaction...

...First of all, those who framed our government, gave it its language, customs, social life, and laws, and later on settled the frontiers, were, in great measure, of English, Scotch, Scotch-Irish origin...

...MEXICO AND LABOR Washington, D. C. TO the Editor:—May I attempt as briefly as I can to clarify the situation raised in your issue of April 21 by Dr...

...Moreover, the Salles de jeu is only one feature of the casino at Monte Carlo...

...Consider our attitude toward the German people during the recent war...

...This tendency is bound to irritate anyone who is at all versed in Mexican history and to distract attention from the contemporary situation...

...CIVIC PROMINENCE AND CATHOLICS St...

...Did not Pope Leo XIII feel obliged to write a letter to the French Catholics urging them to accept the republic and discontinue their support of the project to restore the monarchy...

...Let us try to be specific on both these points...

...Louis, Mo...

...Neither the friends nor the opponents of the present Mexican government bring forward anything satisfactory in the shape of specific facts...

...But it will not be hastened nor improved by a method of resistance and opposition which exemplifies the "diabolism theory...

...John A. Ryan...

...Indeed, one of the most distressing features of the whole controversy is the lack of specific data on this question...

...I am unable to find this thought expressed, or even implied, in Dr...

...It was a distressing sign of the times that the archbishop of Mexico City then enjoyed a personal revenue of 130,000 pesos while there were pastors of Indian villages in his archdiocese whose yearly income did not exceed 125 pesos...

...Similar situations have arisen in other countries of Europe...

...General and sweeping assertions are met by equally general and sweeping denials...

...From books like Parker T. Moon's Labor and the Catholic Social Movement in France, we learn that more than one persecution of the Church in that country in the nineteenth century was due in part to the opposition of French churchmen to current social and political movements...

...Carlton J. H. Hayes...

...The famous Hanging Gardens contain, I believe, the most complete collection of exotic plants to be found anywhere in the world, and a visit to this beautiful garden, particularly accompanied by Mr...

...What a pity...

...Much the same can be said of Father Hidalgo as has been said of Father Morelos, and I commend to all readers of The Commonweal the scathing arraignment of the Spanish Inquisition in Mexico which they will find in the article on Morelos in the Catholic Encyclopedia...

...In other words, unless we are careful, we shall defeat the very end we have in view...

...Thomas F. Woodlock, competent but Catholic, as a member of the Inter-State Commerce Commission plainly indicates...

...That explanation is entirely too simple to fit the complex facts of any social and political disturbance or upheaval...

...Will time remove the ingrained bias against us...

...It is because some of my coreligionists in this country have not set such a watch that I have been moved to write this letter...

...Faced by this lack of specific knowledge, I can only fall back upon general experience...

...New York, N. Y. the Editor:—What should be the attitude of Catholic A Americans toward the present situation in Mexico...

...The hospital which was founded in 1902 is recognized by physicians and philanthropists as one of the most perfect institutions of its kind in Europe...

...The outcome is with God and with the Mexicans...

...It has one of the most beautiful theatres in Europe, and it has been well known in the musical world as the sponsor of much that has been best in the history of modern music But, quite aside from the casino, "the climate, and the cathedral," there are many other institutions to attract the visitor who is interested in things other than roulette and chemin de fer...

...Again, and even more seriously, this attitude of ours will react against the Church in Mexico...

...For example, Section 6 declares: "The minimum wage to be received by workmen shall be that considered sufficient, according to the conditions prevailing in the respective region of the country, to satisfy the normal needs of the life of the workman, his education and his lawful pleasures, considering him as the head of a family...

...Truth and fairness, then, suggest that we should reject what I may call the "diabolism theory" of the Mexican antireligious persecution, as well as of similar persecutions elsewhere...

...In the field of national politics, in judicial and diplomatic circles, in the literary and educational world, our representation is woefully small...

...The Archives du Palais contains a priceless collection of original historical documents of great scientific value, particularly relating to the history of France...

...To my way of thinking, it is far better to oppose the existing anti-clerical legislation on the solid ground that it is illiberal and tyrannical than on the debatable ground that Mexican revolutionaries have always been wicked and perverse and Mexican ecclesiastics always good and enlightened...

...Natural though this sort of attitude is, even in controversies and conflicts which do not involve actual war, it is, I submit, neither wise nor just nor charitable...

...Paul Fuller, Jr...

...The enemy is not wholly actuated by diabolical motives...

...We shall be accused, with some justice, of attempting to "play politics" as an organized body and to bend the foreign policy of the United States to the service of our international organization...

...While not wishing to overemphasize this phase of our national existence, still the stubborn fact remains, as the recent incident connected with the appointment of Mr...

...Individual Catholics in this country, by advice and counsel, can aid their coreligionists in Mexico to organize themselves and to conduct an effective opposition...

...Charles B. Largan, SJ...

...Our numbers came later and, note this especially, they come largely as strangers, while the British Isles group was, in great measure, right at home...

...Something of the same kind may well have happened in Mexico...

...Need I declare their religious affiliations...

...But in fairness to ourselves, let the above patent facts be pondered over thoughtfully...

...What could be more natural, considering priority of occupation and present numerical predominance...

...If the hierarchy had been closer to the masses they would themselves have been real leaders of a truly popular movement, and of a movement which, under the actual leadership of Fathers Hidalgo, Morelos, Torres, and dozens of other Mexican priests, was as Christian and Catholic as it was patriotic...

...and second, that the errors committed by Mexican churchmen with regard to political and social movements in that country should be kept in mind as a partial explanation of the present religious persecution...

...The condition of Europe would be vastly less deplorable today if, during the war, the Allies had taken a more judicial attitude toward the merits of the conflict...

...Of course, I realize the difficulty of keeping such facts in mind and of taking the judicial position which they suggest in a conflict such as that now in motion in Mexico...

...It is, of course, quite true, that to the average American visitor the Tir au Pigeons and the Salles de jeu are more alluring than either the Oceanographic Museum or the cathedral, but the work of the late Prince Albert and his contributions to science have been recognized by practically all of the scientific societies in the United States...

...Beyond these acts we should not go...

...Devine the msw "that the Catholic voice should always strike up a harmonious duet with liberalMay 5, 1926 THE COMMONWEAL 721 ism...

...Secondly, in so far as Catholic Americans assume an attitude of endeavoring to make the present welfare of the Catholic Church in Mexico a special object of solicitude on the part of the United States government, they are adopting, I believe, a most mistaken and short-sighted policy...

...These facts may be offered in turn as causes why the 51,000,000 should stand out and why, partially at least, we Catholics should not stand out...

...The temptation is great to consider the situation as one of warfare, and in war the enemy is counted wholly bad...

...It will do less harm to true history...

...In due time an understanding, a tolerable adjustment, will be reached between Catholic interests in Mexico and the government of that country...

...And the causes...

...You attribute to Dr...

...As I interpret him, all that he asks is: first, a recognition of the element of good in the Mexican revolutionary program...

...Under the Spanish regime, the union of Church and state, the enormous accumulation of wealth, the great landed estates, tithes, and princely salaries of certain bishops, the preferment of sons of the Spanish upper classes for the highest offices in the Church, all operated in Mexico, as analogous tendencies operated in pre-revolutionary France, to identify the hierarchy with the established government, with aristocracy, with wealth, and with the army...

...By no means should we make any appeal to our government...

...With regard to the provocation which the social and political attitudes of Mexican churchmen may have created in the past, chiefly in the somewhat distant past, for the present persecution, I have not enough knowledge to warrant a definite opinion or conclusion...

...Non-Catholics came in on the ground floor, ascended the stairs in course of time, and today pretty comfortably occupy the national house...

...Affairs are different today, and I do not wish to be understood as saying or implying that the present Catholic hierarchy* in Mexico are lacking in popular sympathy or social visionOn the other hand, I do wish to protest against such whitewashing of the hierarchy of a hundred years ago and such blackening of Father Hidalgo as appeared in The Commonweal in its issue of April 21 in answer to the interesting and sensible letter of Mr...

...First, it will react against the Church in this country...

...Again need we ask if there are many Catholics in this predominating group...

...THE NOBLER BEAUTIES OF MONACO New York, N. Y. TO the Editor:—I have read with some surprise your editorial in The Commonweal of April 21 on the principality of Monaco...

...Time and natural increase will remedy our first-named handicap...

...For there can be little doubt that threats from the United States will intensify greatly and prolong indefinitely the present tyrannical regime in Mexico...

...Indeed, the great majority of the provisions of Article 123 constitute an industrial code which we might well desire to see embodied in our own federal and state constitutions...

...There is also the Museum of Anthropology, the importance of whose collection is recognized throughout Europe...

...The subsequent history of independent Mexico might have been better and happier...

...Scientists from all the capitals of Europe and America are familiar with its contents and are unstinted in their praise of the great work accomplished by the late Prince Albert I, and of his considerable contributions to science...

...The first is the tendency, evidenced in ever so many of our Catholic journals —The Commonweal included—to apologize for everything which has ever been done by the hierarchy in Mexico, just as though the Mexican hierarchy were eternally endowed with infallibility and even impeccability...

...W. F. Sands asks the brief question: "Do we [Catholics] stand out...

...The Commonweal invites its readers to send in communications expressing individual views on all topics that are of public interest regardless of whether or not such topics have been previously discussed in its columns.—The Editors...

...We devoutly hope so...

...The glories of the Church in Mexico were really to be found, toward the end of the eighteenth century, less in the archbishops and bishops, than in the poverty-stricken and devoted priests (some of whom were of Indian blood) who knew their people and labored among them...

...Edward T. Devine...

...now and then organized and profit-bearing, always traditional and ancestral...

...Such a policy is likewise contrary to justice, and its lack of harmony with charity is obvious...

...Those professional anti-clericals down there want nothing better than to have the issue squarely joined between Mexican patriots, steeped in anticlericalism, on the one hand, and Mexican Catholics, backed by foreigners, on the other hand...

...Undoubtedly, there are other reasons why we Catholics do not share more generously in all fields of endeavor, be they social, cultural, or political...

...That is a remote cause which, however, is closely allied to a second, proximate cause of non-Catholic participation in national affairs in the United States...

...They are numerous and it is not my present intention to discuss all of them...

...besides, despite our declaration that we do not wish armed intervention in Mexico, the hullabaloo which we may succeed in raising in this country can hardly fail to give at least indirect encouragement and support to those fellow-citizens of ours who for economic, rather than for religious, reasons are already itching for American armed intervention...