of the
Supreme Court and his wife.

And understand that the church makes no secret of its purpose in
conducting such public exhibitions. Here is the pious Pope Leo XIII
again, in his Encyclical of Nov. 1, 1885:

All Catholics must make themselves felt as active elements
in daily political life in the countries where they live.
They must penetrate, wherever possible, in the
administration of civil affairs; must constantly exert the
utmost vigilance and energy to prevent the usages of liberty
from going beyond the limits fixed by God's law. All
Catholics should do all in their power to cause the
constitutions of states and legislation to be modeled on the
principles of the true Church.

And following these instructions, the Catholics are organized for
political work. There are the various Catholic Societies, such as the
Knights of Columbus, secret, oath-bound organizations, the military
arm of the Papal Power. These societies boast some three million
members, and control not less than that many votes. The one thing that
you can be certain about these votes is that on every public question,
of whatever nature, they will be cast on the side of ignorance and
reaction. Thus, it was the influence of the Catholic Societies which
put upon our national statute books the infamous law providing five
years imprisonment and five thousand dollars fine for the sending
through the mail of information about the prevention of conception. It
is their influence which keeps upon the statute-books of New York
state the infamous law which permits divorce only for infidelity, and
makes it "collusion" if both parties desire the divorce. It is these
societies which, in every city and town in America, are pushing and
plotting to get Catholics upon library boards, so that the public may
not have a chance to read scientific books; to get Catholics into the
public schools and on school-boards, so that children may not hear
about Galileo, Bruno, and Ferrer; to have Catholics in control of
police and on magistrates benches, so that priests who are caught in
brothels may not be exposed or punished.

You are shocked at this, you think it a vulgar jest, perhaps; but
during a period of "vice raids" in New York I was told by a captain of
police, himself a Catholic, that it was a common thing for them to get
priests in their net. "Of course," the official added, good-naturedly,
"we let them slip out." I unde