Newspaper Page Text
ONE MAM'S OPINIONS
BY N. D. COCHRAN.
The Anti-Catholic Movement.
Anticipating some discussion in these
columns of the religious war now on
all over this country, a reader of The
Day Book writes me as follows:
Dear Friend: Knowing that you
soon will write on political fights be
tween Protestants and Catholics, I
take pleasure in sending you the en
closed article by Fred Warren, think
ing that it may be of so'me value to
you. I am anxiously awaiting your
' opinion on the above topic, as. I have
benefited greatly by your writing all
along. Thanking you for' past
straightforward news, I remain,
Yours very truly,
P. M. Harris, 1307 S. Peoria st.
Warren's article, in ,the Appeal to
Reason, dealt with the election in
Toledo last fall, and as I am familiar
with that fight and was on the
ground, the truth may help some to
see the effect of a religious war on
labor.
Warren gave the following figures
to show how the Socialist vote had
grown in Toledo from 1909 to 1911:
Soc. Rep. Dem. Ind.
1909.. 741 10,582 491 15,642
1911.. 5,197 8,531 2,902 11,590
Warren then goes on to say:
"Then something happened. Anti-Catholicism
was injected into the
field of politics. The crowd went
wild. Thousands of dollars were
spent for anti-Catholic literature.
The campaign was conducted on
strict anti-Catholic lines. There was
no other, issue in the city election of
1913. It was Prdtestant candidate
against Catholic candidate, both be
ing Republicans. The result, told in
the election returns, was as follows
for 1913:
Anti-Catholic candidate. 16,814
Catholic candidate..;...1 9,479
Socialist candidate 2,431
And Warren concludes: "In the
Toledo election, what did the work
ing class gain? Nothing absolutely
nothing. The present administration
in Toledo will just as quickly order
the militia, to bayonet working men
as any administration Toledo has
ever had. Every move the present
i administration has made so far is in
the interest of the capitalist class."
The conclusion air. Warren makes
is correct, but his figures and prem
ises are wrong.
There was no Catholic candidate,
and there were four candidates in
stead of three. Carl Keller was the
Republican candidate, and the can
didate of the Guardians of Liberty;
-Cornell Schreiber, who was city solic
itor under Brand Whitlock, was the
Independent candidate, and Judge
Chittenden was the candidate of
what was known as the Toledo
ticket. Then there was a Socialist
candidate.
Chittenden, who received over 9,
000 votes, "was not a Catholic. He
was a 32-degree Mason. Schreiber,
who received about 4,000 votes, was
a Jew. Nobody knows just how the
Catholic vote was divide, although
there was a split between politicians
who happened .to be Catholics, some
of them supporting Chittenden and
others Schreiber.
The Socialists who did not vote
their own ticket supported Keller on
the anti-Catholic issue.
Tfie workers were split wide open.
For years they had been.quite solid
an support of Golden Rule Jones and
after him Brand Whitlock. But in
1913 the great majority of them evi
dently swung to Keller, the Republi
can, on the religious issue.
Where Warren's premises are
wrong is in designating Chittenden
as the Catholic candidate. Judge
Chittenden happens to belong "to the
Masons, Knights of Pythias, Odd Fel
lows, Elks, and the Unitarian Church.
He openly advocated municipal own
ership of street railways m the To
ledo franchise fight and in last year's
campaign as a non-partisan candi
date for mayor.
In national-politics both Chittenden '
