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Show .... ' "1 THE INTERMOUNTAIN CATHOLIC 36 EDITORIALS Mexico In the republic to the south of us we have at the present time a persecution of the Catholic Church by the president of the country. It is a modem attempt to Herod and Napoleon, to Satan. It will not succeeed. The to Church will emerge from the struggle stronger than ever. The Mexican difficulty is not a disagreement between a ruling power of the State and a Catholic Bishop or several or all of the Bishops, or all the Bishops and clergy; it is a battle between the whole people of Mexico and a man (and his men) who by force happens to hold the rule over all, and the battle is for a right, given to each and every man which no one may take from him the right to worship God according to his own consciso-call- ed out-Napole- on out-Hero- d out-Sata- n ence. We are forcefully reminded of a cartoon depicting Napoleon, with a rope tied to a Church, trying to pull down the Church, and the Prince of Evil approaching and saying Nato him, What are you trying to do? poleon answers, I am going to pull down the Church, to which Satan replies, Indeed ! YOU are going to pull down the Church. And how long do you think it will take you? NaThe poleon says, Oh, three or four years. Devil answers, I have been at that job now for nineteen hundred years and I cant seem to succeed. If you do it in three or four years, Ill resign in your favor. All we have to do is draw another picture and put Calles in Napoleons place. Bigotry at Home Before Americans use up all their adjectives in condemnation of the movement in Mexico it might be well for them to look a bit closer at the interplay of politics and religion in their own country. That it is impossible to get through the nooks and crannies of some mens minds and anti-Cathol- ic ; - remove the cobwebs that festoon their adult brains is evident by a speech made recently by a Methodist uplifter, Bishop Adna W. Leonard of the Methodist-EpiscopChurch n and President of the League, and by interviews given by two politicians who wear the senatorial toga, namely, Thomas Heflin, United States Senator from Alabama, and Thaddeus Caraway, Senator from Arkansas. The declaration of Bishop Leonard at Round Lake, New York, recently that No governor can kiss a Papal ring and ever get within gun-shof the White House drew from Nicholas Murray Butler a stinging al Anti-Saloo- $ ot re-pl- y. President Butler styled Bishop Leonards and speech as intemperate, and said: un-Christi- an un-Americ- an Here is a man in a high office in a Christian Church and proclaiming himself to be one hundred who, in this carefully studied per cent Anglo-Saxo- n public utterance, contradicts nearly all of Christs precepts of conduct and proceeds to declare open war on that fundamental principle of American life which establishes absolute freedom of religious belief and religious worship and the complete separation of Church and State. Men and women of New York and of the nation should read and ponder this speech of Bishop Leonard. It is a violent attack upon almost everything American and Christian holds a straight-thinkin- g most dear. Heywood Broun, columnist for the New York World, thus writes on Bishop Leonards speech : Bishop Leonards proposals are not to be taken lightly, for he is the President of the Anti-Saloo- n League and presiding Bishop of the western and northern New York conference of the Methodist Church. His irritation at the custom of kissing the Papal ring may arise from the fact that it seems to him disloyal since the usual ritual imposed upon American executives is that they should lick the boots of the local league representative. anti-saloo- n A vehement condemnation of Bishop Leonard was made by Senator William L. Love, of Brooklyn. His statement was as |