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Show A LIE ON ITS TRAVELS. A man named Ballard recently wrote a letter to the New York Sun, in which he made the statement that in the course of 400 years of occupation and possession in Porto Rico. Spain had not erected a single school house. In reply re-ply to this the Catholic Standard and T'mes copied from the report of the United States commissioner of education educa-tion for 1899-1900 a statement made by General Eaton, who had been sent to the island especially to study the educational question for the government. govern-ment. General Eaton declared officially I that he found more than 500 schools in operation. Indeed, he went further, and gave an excellent character to the method of teaching. Yet, notwithstanding notwithstand-ing that this official report is on file at Washington, and being a public document, doc-ument, is accessible to the people, ministers, min-isters, politicians and agitators continue con-tinue to report Ballard's lie in the Sun and to comment upon a condition which never existed. This is a style of controversy quite 'common with our Protestant friends. A lie once started against the Catholic Church, no matter how absurd, no matter mat-ter who its author, no matter how often o rhow effectually it has been refuted, never stops on its travels. It goes on from generation to generation without reference to its origin or its absurdity. In time it becomes, in the minds of its disseminators, an historic fact, the denial de-nial of which they view with impatience. impa-tience. All the weird tales and yarns and romances which the tribe of "escapes" "es-capes" deal in today have been exploded., explod-ed., dissipated and utterly disproven dozens of times, but that does not stop their circulation or check belief in them by gullible and ignorant Protestants. Protest-ants. Boston Republic. |