DEPARTURE FROM PRINCIPLE.
By G.
In giving instructions to Civil Governor Taft, of the Philippines, regarding negotiations for the purchase of the lands held by Roman Catholic religious orders, Secretary of War Root lays down the following principle as one to be borne in mind:— One of the controlling principles of our government is the complete separation of Church and State, with the entire freedom of each from any control or interference by the other. The principle is imperative wherever American jurisdiction extends, and no modification or shading thereof can be a subject of discussion. This is a concise statement of the theory of the relation of Church and State in the Government of the United States. Then what meaneth the maintenance of a specially religious Bureau of Reforms at Washington, whose sole purpose is to influence legislation by Congress? How is it that the manager, recognized as a minister of the Gospel, can boast of having sufficient influence in Congress to carry certain measures championed by the bureau? How can such a bureau have the support of professed Protestant churches, when Protestantism, as well as the United States Government, stands for absolute separation of Church and State? How is it that the manager of this bureau can claim the full sympathy of the chief executive of the government in its manipulation of Congressional action? How could the government assume to declare officially that the Sabbath of the fourth commandment is the first day of the week, when the commandment itself says, “The seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God”? How is it that nearly all the States have laws enforcing a church institution (Sunday), and these laws have been sustained by the Federal Supreme Court? It must be that the answers to these questions would develop quite a departure from the fundamental principles enunciated by the Secretary of War in behalf of the administration. G.