Communications
July 3 I, x9z 9 T H E C O M M O N W E A L 337 COMMUNICATIONS THE FIRST DECLARATION Washington, D. C. O the Editor :--In the issue of The Commonweal of July Io, Mr. Thomas J. Malone, m...
...O the Editor :--In your number of June I2, there is a letter from Los Angeles, signed by W. A. Bixel, and it seems to me that the gentleman thinks everyone in the American Catholic Church is a fool, except himself...
...Jefferson never, I believe, maintained that the tables of the Declaration were handed down to him by Jupiter Tonans or Minerva...
...When asked his advice Child would reply: "As ambassador I can't say what I think you Fascisti should do, but if you ask me what in similar circumstances Roosevelt would have done I can answer that...
...AGGRESSIVE DEFENSE Los Angeles, Cahf...
...The latter are wonderful Catholics, as long as they remain among the humbler classes, but all over this country, we can find people from good Irish homes, bearing Irish names who, having become wealthy and been imbued with social ambitions, are completely carried away with the things of this world...
...BOOKS Parliaments and Fascism The Writing on the Hall, by Richard Washburn Child...
...Thomas J. Malone, m an article entitled The First Declaration, presents what he m pleased to call a "declaration of independence," adopted by the inhabitants of Harford County, Maryland, March 22, 1775, "the first to he made by a representative group in America, antedating that of the Continental Congress by more than fifteen months and by at least four weeks that attributed to the people of Mecklenbmg County, North Carolina...
...his language might be taken to mean that any government enjoying the consent of the governed was therefore democratic...
...As for the noble language, "we . . . solemnly pledge ourselves . . . at the risque of our lives and fortunes," language which Mr...
...He might have done well to remind us that much of the democratic theory is akin to Christian morals and therefore congruous to the minds of men of European stock...
...Or, for the matter of that, than the Irish...
...As ambassador to Italy he had the unique experience of the Fascist march on Rome...
...WISDOM FOR EDUCATORS New York, N. Y. the Editor :--In an editorial appearing in The Com-O monweal of July I% you remark that Dean Fitzpatrick mentioned among the problems of the schools that should find a speedy solution, " 'the formulation of a Catholic educational and social literature permeated with the Cathohc viewpoint.' " Permit me to add that the Dean does not merely talk, but is at present actively engaged in formulating that kind of literature...
...I live in a city, which makes Los Angeles look distinctly rural, when it comes to the matter of nationalities and the melting pot...
...Bixel dislikes the Mexicans, from a superficial acquaintance with the driftwood which has gone to Los Angeles...
...Instead of wondering why such words as democracy are in themselves attractive he might have quoted from Louis XIV's memoirs: "Man being naturally ambitious and proud finds within himself no reason why another should command him until his own need shows him the necessity...
...a good many other communities had preceded them...
...Moreover he has continued to grow...
...July 3 I, x9z 9 T H E C O M M O N W E A L 337 COMMUNICATIONS THE FIRST DECLARATION Washington, D. C. O the Editor :--In the issue of The Commonweal of July Io, Mr...
...If Mr...
...I am a Republican, and voted for Hoover, but I don't think Mr...
...The treatment is not unlformly admirable...
...I saw it filled even on week-days...
...These lines were penned simply and solely that the facts may be known, and prevent Mr...
...REv...
...O the Editor :--Please, Je vous en prie, I beg of you to allow me to correct a misstatement which appeared in your issue of June I2...
...If he had inclined to ascmbe his inspiration to any one of that crowd it would probably have been to Clio, who had supplied him with literally thousands of expressions of the sentiments and purposes of the people of the colonies...
...From epigrams that sting and crackle with truth the reader is now and then let down by an ill-punctuated or ill-formed sentence...
...for there was presented to the Virginia convention which met in Richmond, March 20, I775, a convention of which Jefferson was a member, an address from one of the counties setting forth the "grand principles" and "inestimable privileges" which "'we will maintain at the risk of our lives and fortunes...
...but resolutions of approval and pledges of support began to be registered not many days after the Association was promulgated...
...Evidently, Mr...
...Its argument may be summarized thus: the chief faults of parliamentary government are: first, too much legislation, second, too much fool legislation, and third, too much interference...
...Is it possible that a resident of Los Angeles should be ignorant of the existence of the old Mission Church of Nuestra Sefiora de los Angeles (familiarly called la Placita) which gave its name to our city...
...EDMUND C. BURNETT...
...MARIE LESLIE SEYMOUR...
...When, however, we read what the citizens of Harford County so boldly and solemnly declare, we search in vain for the faintest suggestion of independence...
...Does Mr...
...If the correspondent read our excellent diocesan paper the Tidings, he would have learned that the Mexican priests and laity presented a chalice of exquisite Mexican workmanship to our beloved bishop, as a token of apprecmtion for the great interest he has displayed by erecting churches, temporary chapels and convents for the Mexicans...
...Nor does the author always seem clear as to the meaning of the term "democracy...
...How about Santo Turibio, a church established only two years ago and already too small...
...What, in fact, the meeting of Harford citizens was doing was simply what scores of other communities through the length and breadth of the thirteen colonies were doing, namely, approving certain resolves of the Continental Congress and particularly the "Association...
...And there is Our Lady de la Soledad, a Church holding 800 people filled three times on Sundays...
...As for priority, the inhabitants of Harford County were by no means the first to adopt such resolutions...
...Incidentally he might learn something about my own work too...
...Bixel's last query about the intellectuality of the American priest: what could be more absurd...
...Bixel condemns any one who thinks as a militarist, but does a pacifist think any more clearly...
...In any case he did not have need to go to Harford County for a suggestion of the words "our lives, our fortunes, and our sacred honor...
...In addition to these churches there are relief chapels, e.g., La Purissima, La Immaculada, etc., all of them for the benefit of Mexicans and they make good use of them too...
...Bixel know that on the feast of Corpus Christi, a procession in honor of the Blessed Sacrament wended its way f.rom Guadeloupe Church to Our Lady of Soledad, and that over twenty thousand took part in it...
...It would be hard to imagine a position more delicate or more difficult than that of an ambassador in time of revolution...
...He must help to shape the course of his home government and in so doing he cannot rid himself of his influence over the country to which he is sent...
...Here we can see a good-sized congregation crowding the church at several Sunday Masses...
...It seems to me that the life of the average American parish priest is an attempt to combine the mysticism of Saint Thomas, the financial genius of Pierpont Morgan, and the all-embracing work of a clergyman...
...Nevertheless the book is a fine one because it states with great vigor and flawless lucidity a whole bundle of important and sometimes neglected truths...
...Students of diplomacy have long admired the finesse of Vergennes as French ambassador to Sweden during the revolution of 1772 which transferred power in that country from a corrupt Parliament to the king, and thereby strengthened Sweden--France's ally...
...The people correspond nobly to the efforts of the bishop by filling the places of worship provided as fast as they are erected...
...He is editing The Marquette Monographs on Education, three of which have already appeared, and several others are either in the press or m preparation (Mdwaukee: Bruce Publishing Company...
...338 THE COMMONWEAL July 31, 1929 Detroit, Mich...
...Many, many bodies of citizens had, before ever the Continental Congress assembled, advocated such an association, these same inhabitants of Harford County among them (see the resolutions of June II, I774, in Force, American Archives, fourth series, chapter I, page 402...
...Rather, should he compliment them on their remarkable restraint toward the contemptible attitude of our government toward the Mexican situation...
...However, are the Mexicans any more indifferent to their religion than, for instance, Italians and Spaniards, who come to this country, with their wonderful background of centuries in the very heart of Catholicity...
...Bixel from joining the ranks of those belittling everything Mexican...
...The American ambassador became the friend of Mussolini, and even in some sort the latter's adviser...
...But if this historic church is unknown to him, we could scarcely expect him ever to have heard of the Church of Our Lady of Guadeloupe, of Santa Martha, Santa Teresita, Our Lady Help of Christians, etc...
...KII.I,I~ J. HENNRIeH, O. M. Cap...
...Between them they are said to have devised a formula...
...I am sure that those who are interested in Catholic educational and social hterature will not be disappointed if they undertake the perusal of any of the volumes of this series...
...For this we have the testimony of Jefferson himself, and of John Adams as well...
...92.00...
...Bixel should refer to a body of men hke the Knights of Columbus, as insane...
...As for Mr...
...I minister to the colored...
...Bixel really wants to know more about the spiritual side of the Mexican problem in Los Angeles, let him call on me with a car no matter how humble and of whatever vintage, and I will spare a few hours from my work and show him the Mexican parishes, all of them if he wishes...
...Exactly which of them was first in expressing approval of the Association I have not taken the trouble to ferret out...
...New York: J. H. 8ears and Company, Incorporated...
...The picture of T. R.'s ghost led out against the Italian subversives as the dead Cid was led out against the Saracens must have made the old Rough Rider grin from his grave...
...EDMUND J. SCHLECHT, L.A.M...
...Bixel lives and moves on the west side of our fair city, and is totally ignorant of conditions prevailing on the east side and the northern part...
...CHARD WASHBURN CHILD early made his mark in American journalism and politics...
...A correspondent signing himself W. A. Bixel, writing Against Aggressive Defense, says among other things: "The Mexicans are all Catholics, but here there are not enough of them to go to Church to make a good congregation...
...but beginning his letter, as he does, with a translation of his school-boy French, shows that he at least lacks one of the requisites of greatness, which is a sense of humor...
...We have a large population of Mexicans, who are as good Catholics as the average, and are certainly not among our criminal class...
...Malone seems to think that Jefferson probably picked up on his way through Harford County and later embodied (with some modification) in the Declaration of Independence, it is quite probable that the Harford resolutions did in due time fall under the eye of Jefferson, as did other such resolutions and pledges, and it is certain that the combined influence of these and many other expressions in the language of the Declaration was very great...
...Expressions of this sort were quite the common thing in pledges, the Association itself containing language that is similar: "the sacred ties of virtue, honor and love of our country...
...To pass over entirely the wonderful work they are doing in the teaching field, did Christ send His Apostles to write theses to the Greeks, or to preach His simple doctrine to the whole world...
...who send their children to fashionable Protestant schools, marry Protestants for social reasons and are soon among the also-rans, as far as their religion is concerned...
...I must assume that Mr...
...Thus he was the friend of Roosevelt with whom he bull-moosed in 1912, but he has now progressed beyond that ill-advised and ill-fated Progressive movement: on pages 145 to 147 the reader will find Rooseveh's 1912 platform recanted to the full satisfaction of the reviewer...
...The author might have taken for his motto Pope's solid and finished couplet : "For forms of government let fools contest That which is best administered is best...
...Quite interesting...
...The objection runs solely against investing these resolutions with the character of a declaration of independence which they are not, and against claiming for them a priority of thought which they do not possess...
...The theme of the book is the decay of parliamentary government in Europe, the appearance in America of symptoms llke those which preceded that decay, and the new European machinery of government designed to fill the gap...
...The future foreign minister of Louis XVI and second father of American independence would have understood Child's difficulties and applauded his success...
...One analagous expression, to mention no others, Jefferson must have seen before he could have heard of the Harford resolutions, possibly even before the Harford cit,zens had assembled...
...It is not the purpose in these remarks to belittle the importance of the Harford County declaration, or to derogate from the honor due those citizens for their noble resolves...
Vol. 10 • July 1929 • No. 13
