The People to a Queen
9z THE COMMONWEAL December I, t926 standards rigidly. Mr. Mooney believed in the power of the daily journal as a moulder of public opinion, and the code of civic ethics to which he adhered honor-...
...Briefly, the memorial to the Queen of Roumania, now signed by sixty representative Americans, includ- ing Cardinal O'ConneU of Boston, and which follows on the next page of this issue of The Commonweal, is concerned with the treatment of religious minorities in King Carol's kingdom...
...He was, of course, a sincere Catholic and gave much of his time and thought to matters in which religion and citizenship meet...
...THE PEOPLE TO A QUEEN R OYAL publicity agents, as a contemporary innova- tion, doubtless have something to be said in their favor or they would not be brightening our prosaic streets and imposing new problems on worried traffic authorities...
...But the more frankly it is recognized the more will the reproach that attaches to international finance be in a fair way to removal...
...ment would have risen to the occasion and seized the opportunity to put through a measure of toleration called for by the inclusion of 4,ooo,ooo souls within her boundaries who owned allegiance to other than the Greek Orthodox Church...
...Years ago, in the brave days of insurgency, there was much talk about big money "tainted" at its source...
...So menacing, in fact, did the Foreign Minis- ter consider the situation, that he took what at first sight seems the strange step of requesting the help of the commission to better matters...
...The position which this country has attained as the world's banker may have its disadvantages...
...A brief summary of conditions printed and distributed by The Independent of Boston, which has acted as publicity medium for the petition that has been signed, tells us that "several commissions which have gone into Roumania in the past seven years--in t919, t922, and 1924--have reported even more specifically of the persistent wrongs, especially the commission of t924, which has been widely read and commended for its accuracy and restraint...
...But he remained outspoken in expressing convictions which did not coincide with those held by the majority, and was well known, for instance, as an ardent supporter of prohibition...
...9z THE COMMONWEAL December I, t926 standards rigidly...
...The good will which they aim to build up remains dependent upon the nature of the collateral behind it...
...There is too much evidence, however, that Rou-mania's government is neither enlightened nor wise and that the effect of finding her proportion of non-Roumanian subjects raised from 4 to 25 percent has only been to accentuate a condition which permits the New York Natior~, with some excuse, to describe the country as "one of the plague spots . . . of Europe...
...We may add here that no American editor was more deeply interested in the work of The Commonweal or co6perated with it more regularly...
...Naturally, the petition which was presented to the Queen of Roumania just before her departure from America used more moderate language...
...But they have the disadvantage that the publicity they create is not completely within their own control...
...As a man, he possessed that lovable firmness of character, that loyalty to friends and convictions, which seem characteristic of the South at its very best...
...One of the objects of Queen Marie's visit to our shores has admittedly been to solicit financial aid through American financiers for the development of Roumanian internal resources...
...That money can be tainted at its destination is a newer discovery...
...But the evidence behind it was quite strong enough to pierce through the courtly phrases usual on such occasions...
...But it undoubtedly gives our people a remarkable opportunity to bring their ideas on decency and tolerance to bear when there is occa- sion for examining the security with which any loan is to be backed, and which it is useless to pretend be- gins and ends with material resources...
...One result, at least, of Queen Marie's progress through our Union has been to attract em-barrassing attention to conditions in the country of which her husband is king, and to give an opportunity for a good deal of resentment that has been gather- ing here for years to find its expression, over names that cannot be ignored, for they represent many cate- gories and many communions...
...In asking Roumania's popular queen, who has, on the whole, earned her title as "Mother of the Bal-kans," to use her great influence to secure legislative measures which will do away with the discrimination exercised against 4,ooo,ooo Roumanian subjects who are racially Magyars, Saxons and Hebrews, and relig- iously Baptists, Jews, Lutherans, Presbyterians, Ro-man Catholics, and Unitarians, the petition draws attention to dangers that not only threaten Roumania's domestic peace, but through her, and in view of the attitude of unreconciled Russia over the loss of Bes- sarabia, to the peace of Europe...
...Louis C. Cornish and the Honorable G. Duca, Roumanian Minister of Foreign Affairs, re-ported by The Independent, the startling admission was made that, should war break out, the racial min- ority, comprising, as has been stated, a quarter of the population, stands ready to rebel and would join the enemy...
...In a conversation between Dr...
...From the professional point of view, he was highly successful and grew naturally into a great many positions of trust...
...The grievance is an old one, but it was accentuated when, after Roumania's tardy and futile entry into the great war on behalf of the Allies, her shift of policy was rewarded by large grants of territory, including Bessarabia and Transylvania, the latter a positive crazy-quih of diverse tongues, races, and religions...
...Mooney believed in the power of the daily journal as a moulder of public opinion, and the code of civic ethics to which he adhered honor- ably was consistently reflected in all he wrote and dealt with...
...A wise and enlightened govern...
...His memory is virile and instructive even if darkened now by sorrow at his going...
Vol. 5 • December 1926 • No. 4
