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

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16 THE IGNATIAN was directed primarily against the parochial schools, the Americanism of Catholics as a whole Was called into question. The charge of disloyalty, however, was easily disproved by the record of Catholics in the recent war When, without being drafted, thirty-five per cent of the volunteers in the Army, forty per cent in the Navy, and fifty per cent in the Marines were Catholic, while the ratio of Catholics to the population is only seventeen per cent. Though the authors of the bill professed at the start that there was no religious issue at stake, the mask was soon thrown off, and an attack of vilili- cation and abuse was launched at the Catholic Church. This, While its first purpose was to enlist religious animosity in favor of the bill, also clouded the issue so that the underlying principle of the law was not perceived by a great number of the voters. That this is a bold attack at the system of parochial schools is evident at first glance, that it is a successful move on the part of the un-American promoters of bigotry and intolerance is also clear, but it is more than this. It is a direct assault against the sovereignty of parent over child, an endeavor to establish the supremacy of the State over the rights of the family. By it the parent is denied any voice in the training of his children, for the State, like ancient Sparta, seizes them from the tender care of the home and establishes a dictatorship over their training. However, it is not an unexpected development of State absolutism and the bureau- cratic tendency of centralization, for campaigners have long been agitating the complete control of the child by the State. Others in their craze for paternalism have made us the most law-ridden country in the world-and the least observant of laws- 5 While the tendency is towards still greater powers for the Federal and State authorities, until we shall soon have, not a government, but a keeper. That the real foundation of the law may be more clearly perceived and understood, We may examine the principles

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Parent Or State? George E. Devine, '23 HEN our American govermnent was established, one hundred and fifty years ago, its founders took par- ticular care to set forth plainly and unmistakably the rights of the people. They had fought for many years for an opportunity to exercise these rights, and it was of the great- est importance to them that the prerogatives of the citizens of this country should be clearly defined and strictly respected. By a Constitution which has been pronounced to be one of the world's most equitable doctrines, the people were guaranteed the free exercise of their natural rightsg and by a government whose purpose it was to safeguard these rights, they have rested secure in their enjoyment. Lately, however, the more observant among our statesmen and citizens have realized that there has come a dangerous change in the current of our na- tional life. The old ideals of the Constitution, and the first principles of our government are not respected orheld in- violate to-day as they have been in the past. V There have been many instances of this divergence from our former traditions, but none, perhaps, so striking as that we have but recently witnessed. In our sister state to the North, an act Was passed at the last general election which is of the greatest importance to all fair-minded, clear-thinking people, and to Americans, and Catholic Americans in particu- lar, The provisions of the Oregon School Law have become so well known that it is not necessary to set them forth in detail, it will be sufficient to state that it compels all children between the ages of eight and sixteen to attend the public schools. i After one of the most bitterly contested campaigns in the political history of our country, the act was passed by a majority of fourteen thousand votes. The first issue raised in the campaign was that of Americanism, and as the attack

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I , I L R3 U5 3. nes on nil! at hi. Ns y in fins ar of whial move f and I is a chili er the rice in pam, Jlishes mt an DMU' 5 long Stata v most mt of owen won earl! iples if SENIOR LAW Fitzpatrick, E. McDermott. J Kilroy. J. Barry, J. McKnew. J. Cummings, B. Scott. W. White. R.