St Ignatius College - Ignatian Yearbook (San Francisco, CA)

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THE SMITH-TOIVNER BILL 25 abolish the Constitution, reject it entirely and place some llismark in control at VVashington. As Americans, then, we must be vigilant. llut the time has come when as Christians we must be more than vigilant. W'e must be active. Tye must open wide our eyes that we may witness the fury with which atheism stalks abroad in the land, hurling its challenge to our powers, scofhng at our sensibilities, contemning our intel- ligence, menacing our institutions. It is high time that we take cognizance of such legislation as the Smith-Toxvner Bill, the ultimate effect of which will be to wound unto the death the splendid cause of private education. Such has been the tendency, such has been the inevitable conse- quence in every nation where nationalization of the schools has been attempted. But why should We be so solicitous for the cause of private education? Vllhat is the place of the private school in America? Of all the dispositions and habits which lead to political prosperity, religion and 1ll0l'Ul'il l' are indispen- sable supportsf' These are no words of mine. They are the parting words of George lYashington in his farewell address. Religion! Morality! ls public education today sup- plying these indispensable supports? Unfortunately but by force of circumstances our educational system may not make even a pretense to a sound system of morality. For they have banished religion from the school. The chilfl goes forth from the home into the schoolroom, its eyes searching the heavens for God, its child beat craving instinctively for the spiritual. The lambs look up and are not fed. For all that the public school can offer is a blank and barren secularism. This is the place of private education in America. lfVe are not ashamed to say that there are still institutions of every Christian sect and creed that recognize God's

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22 THE IGNAI TIA N theory was the Prussian educational monopoly. A Kultus- minister at Berlin, a heirarchy of educational officials tainted the German mind with vile materialism: dulled and moulded the German intellect: inculcated the doc- trines of Kultur. The purpose of it all was the aggran- rlizement of the German State. The sad consequences of it all were: first, the development of a narrow, belligerent nationalism-than a red tide surging back and forth across the fairest harvests of Europe-barricades, massacres and revolution,-abdication, political collapse-and finally a once powerful nation prostrate and groaning beneath the crushing burden of its own autocratic past. For this were the German people educated! XYe have no Prussian political theory in America to facilitate the process of our mental eanslavement. VVhat is the American theory of government? Read it in the Declaration of Independence: All governments derive their just powers from the consent of the governed. Yet there are those in America who would make the Capitol at Wlashington the spring and fountain of Ameri- can thought, that it might be poisoned, adulterated, Fed- eralizecl at its source upon the whim and caprice of every irresponsible Secretary of Education. How odious to men who love the vigor and freshness of original thought is this modern conspiracy to deliver American intelli- gence into the hands of politics, to thrust American moral- ity to the mercies of bigotry: yes-to entrust American public opinion to the very government which that public opinion should rightfully influence and control. lf the proponents of such legislation as the Smith- Towner Bill must ultimately triumph, let them at least dignify their efforts with consistency. Let them 110t undermine, evade, nullify and degrade with insult a ven- erable charter of American liberty, Rather let them rele- gate it to the shades of a past that loved libertv: let them

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24 THE IGN!! TIAN place and the need of C1od's wisdom in the direction of human affairs. As Catholics we have our convents where the veiled nun teaches the child to clasp its hands in prayer. XVe have our colleges where robed priests sacri- fice their lives, that they may ground American youth in the fundamentals of Christian morality and ethics, XYill you, then, tolerate the triumph of a despicable minority with the Smith-'l'owner llill, the initial Step in a campaign which must ultimately result in the destruc- tion of the last strongholds of religion and morality in America? Will you not by your protests impress upon the proponents of this measure that we have still in America men and women whose hearts are as rich in genuine patriotism as our valleys are rich in the bounteous fruits of nature: that we have still in America men and women whose minds are as high and noble in Christian sentiment as our mountains are grand and lofty in their cloud-swept regions. And if courageously you rise to the occasion, if with loyal hearts flaming with the ardor of a righteous indig- nation, you firmly stand in defense of traditional principles of both your government and your faith, you may rest assured that the Constitution will be respected, the flag will remain secure, and the holy light which issues from the cross on Calvary's hallowed hill will case its saving beams of benediction on our country. Uhr ihrrmifa iKnzarg ln the quiet of vesper he muses On the joys of the days that are dead, As with bowed head he slowly peruses The R0S'ry of years that have sped.