Life — May 4, 1911 — page 16: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

*>LIFE: water. In the more Protestant countries—England, Germany and the United States—there it is thriving best. Dear sir, you ought to subsidize the Protestant missions, just as a means of insuring protection and comfort for your venerable church. An Easy Matter I* these days being without the means of subsistence is merely a matter of choice. While you may not be able to live in affluence, there is really no excuse for having to carn a living. All you need to do is to apply for a pension, Please understand that the fact that you have never been to a war is of no consequence. Glance at our pension list compared with the actual soldiers left. Just go up and demand a pension from the nearest pen- sion agent on general principles. If he refuses you, go to your Congressman or Senator. Tell him you need the money. Don't labor under the delusion that you are doing some- thing wrong. It is eminently right that this great country should take care of those who stand ready at any moment to THLE LANGUAGE OF FLOWERS defend it. Must Have Been Misreported HE papers quote Archbishop Glennon as saying to a large congregation in St. Louis on March 20: The world to-day is practically divided into two camps. On one side is the Catholic Church, standing for the religious training of little children; on the other side the rest of the world, practically united in opposition to the Catholic Church and consequently in op- position to all religious instruction and consequently against religion itself, It is the kingdom of Satan against the kingdom of Christ. Possibly the Archbishop has not been accurately quoted. If not, docsn’t he take too gloomy a view of religious in- struction in this world at this time? Take this country alone. The almanac says there are about 35,000,000 communicants of various churches here, of which over 12,000,000 are Roman Catholic, The rest are Protestants of one breed or another—say, 22,000,000 of them; all, by the Archbishop's description (as quoted) united against religion, against relig- ious instruction, and against the Roman Catholic Church. Dear sir, some evil person has misled you. These Prot- estants have not got the religious instruction of their young as well organized as your church has. They go about it dif- ferently, and besides, just now they are a little in the dol- drums in the matter. The Sunday-schools seem not to be so strong as they were a generation ago, and the public schools are more secular. They have to be, for you know some of your people are very jealous about allowing any re- ligious instruction whatever in the public schools supported by taxation; standing in in that particular with persons who object to all religion whatever. But still, some millions of Protestant children do get instructed. Why, dear sir, look around! Are the Protestant churches doing no business at all? You must have been misreported, that’s all. ‘And as to the rest of the world being practically united against the Catholic Church—perhaps you didn't say that cither. Anyhow, there is no such united opposition to your church in this country. There is a strong sentiment in favor of keeping the public school system free of denominational teaching, and: that will endure; there is more or less rivalry betweey Catholics and Protestants, but of opposition to the Catholic Church there is lithe. What there is is fanatical and unimportant. In the countries—Spain, Italy, France—where the Protes- “OUR SALARY IS SIX WEEKS BEMEND, THE SHOW'S GoING TO tants long ago were most successfully extirpated and your BUST, I'VE GOT THE HAY FEVER, MY GIRL AIN'T SPEAKE church got things all its own way, there it is now in hot AN’ I'VE GOT TO GO OUT AN’ MAKE THE PEOPLE LAUGH. Ccomicbooks.com