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Rome's Triple Alliance

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Review and Herald Publishing Association · Washington, D. C. · Aug 31, 1905

FromReview and Herald, Vol. 82, No. 35.

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Rome's Triple Alliance

By GEO. W. SPIES

GEO. W. SPIES
The remarkable reception given the President of the United States by more than two hundred thousand enthusiastic visitors and residents of Wilkesbarre, Pa., on Thursday, August 10, was in some respects unprecedented. In character, significance, and spirit, if not in extent, this august gathering was one of the greatest demonstrations the State has ever witnessed. A leading daily says of it: “Not in this State alone, not in this nation alone, was the attention of thinking men attracted. This was an event which the whole world might watch with interest.” And this was true.
The distinctive feature of this assembly is thus referred to in the following quotation: “It is this triple character of the demonstration scheduled for to-morrow that makes it unique among those in which Theodore Roosevelt has participated. It is doubtful if any president ever was accorded a welcome and an audience in which were assembled so many diversified interests as will make to-morrow’s affair notable. Morality, labor, and patriotism must, perforce, be the dominant note to-morrow, and Wilkesbarre is proud of the privilege that has been granted her as a hostess.”
Seated together upon the same platform were President Roosevelt, representing America’s citizenship of eighty million; Cardinal Gibbons, representing America’s Catholicity of ten million; and John Mitchell, representing one of the important organizations of America’s sons of toil, the United Mine Workers of America. Mayor Kirkendall, of Wilkesbarre, was also present. Rome, with characteristic diplomacy, made known upon every suitable occasion the fact that she had been the means of bringing together this remarkable trio,—these representatives of dominant magistracy, religion, and labor.
On the eve of the president’s arrival, when the mining metropolis was filled to overflowing with an expectant multitude, Rome turned the occasion to good account for herself. Marshaling her adherents under the banner of temperance, she drew to herself, through the public press, the eyes of the nation and of a large portion of the world.
Pope Pius X, in a communication to the convention, bestowed “his apostolic benediction on this convention, and renewed for the members of the Catholic Total Abstinence Union of America all the indulgences, spiritual favors, and words of encouragement which were granted by his illustrious predecessors, total to the Pope Pius IX and Pope Leo XIII.” This message from the “Most Holy Father” and “Vicar of Christ,” was duly acknowledged by the union by a message of thanks, which also communicated the intelligence that “more than eighty thousand members” were represented at the convention, and that they were “honored by the presence of his Eminence Cardinal Gibbons and of President Roosevelt.”
In describing the cordial reception tendered the American cardinal, a daily says: “Cardinal Gibbons received the homage due his station.” “The sidewalks were crowded with men and women, who uncovered and bowed as the cardinal, riding without his hat, passed.” “Advancing, the waiting clergymen, bowing low, kissed the ring upon the cardinal’s right hand.”
Later in the day, in his speech to the convention, the cardinal urged strongly the importance of practising religion. He said, among other things: “I would wish to impress this thought upon you, that without religion the social edifice can not be constructed, and if constructed, can not remain long standing. . . . Let me, then, impress upon you the necessity and importance of practising religion. Not even temperance can avail unless sanctified by the blessings of religion.”
Mayor Kirkendall, of Wilkesbarre, eulogized the union in the following language: “Our city is honored by having you with us, and doubly honored by the success of your efforts in bringing to our home that most distinguished American citizen, President Roosevelt.” “Your organization is a credit to our country. . . . The men who . . . laid the foundations for such a benefactor as your organization is to-day, are deserving of the thanks of every American citizen. . . . The amount of good done our country can not be measured.”
How this national Romanist union of nearly one hundred thousand members will influence our country, is shown more clearly in the following statement of its principles by its president, Right Rev. Regis Canavan, Bishop of Pittsburg: “There is with us a mingling of religion and politics, because for the true Christian, for the members of the C. T. A. U., politics means the application of the gospel of Christ . . . to public affairs. The law which obliges man to love his neighbor as himself is the very fundamental principle of our patriotism and good government.”
No clearer statement of Rome’s church-and-state theory could be made than is affirmed in the preceding quotation. “The amount of good” that they will do America, however, can be read in the history of the now decadent, priest-ridden countries with which Rome has had to do.
In connection with the quotations given above, the following resolution, which was adopted among others by the convention, will be of interest to the reader: “As right living is made less difficult by salutary laws, all friends of total abstinence should initiate and support legislation for the promotion of temperance, and when possible, co-operate with non-Catholic organizations to secure and enforce such legislation.”
This is an interesting resolution. It contains a comment between the lines. Rome well knows that “non-Catholic organizations” have inseparably associated enforced Sunday observance with enforced temperance; and the resolution just quoted, means that Catholics will co-operate with apostate Protestantism, or any other organization, in establishing an image to herself, and in the enforcement of her mark, in the United States. With characteristic intrigue, Rome has ingeniously utilized the Wilkesbarre demonstration to strengthen her hold upon the labor unions and the American government.