NATIONAL LEAGUE FOR PROTECTION OP AMERICAN INSTITUTIONS. 579 



Origin of Electro-Magnetic Waves," by Amos E. 

 Dolbear. During the year the Academy has lost 

 two of its members by death. These are John 

 H. C. Coffin and Christian H. F. Peters. Sketch- 

 es of their lives appear elsewhere in this volume. 



At this session five new members were elected, 

 including Prof. Lewis Boss, Prof. Charles S. 

 Hastings, Dr. Charles A. White, Prof. Sereno 

 Watson, Prof. Arthur Michaels. This makes 

 the list of membership number exactly 100, the 

 first time in the history of the Academy that this 

 number, which the unwritten law of the Academy 

 fixes as a maximum limit, has been reached. 



NATIONAL LEAGUE FOR THE PRO- 

 TECTION OF AMERICAN INSTITUTIONS, 

 an organization incorporated by the State of 

 New York, Dec. 24, 1889. The objects of the 

 League are to secure constitutional and legisla- 

 tive safeguards for the protection of the com- 

 mon-school system and other American institu- 

 tions; to promote public instruction in har- 

 mony with such institutions ; and to prevent 

 all sectarian or denominational appropriations 

 of public funds. It is claimed by, the League 

 that the leading political parties in the United 

 States have already committed themselves, in 

 their platforms, to the objects of the League ; 

 and it is proposed to add an amendment to the 

 Constitution of the United States providing that 

 " No State shall pass any law respecting an es- 

 tablishment of religion, or prohibiting the free 

 exercise thereof, or use its property or credit, or 

 any money raised by taxation, or authorize either 

 to be used, for the" purpose of founding, main- 

 taining, or aiding, by appropriation, payment for 

 services, expenses, or otherwise, any church, re- 

 ligious denomination, or religious society, or any 

 institution, society, or undertaking which is 

 wholly or in part under sectarian or ecclesias- 

 tical control." Several of the States already con- 

 tain provision against the violation of religious 

 freedom and the sectarian appropriation of the 

 public moneys ; but only a national provision, it 

 is claimed, can set the question at rest. There- 

 fore the foregoing proposed amendment to the 

 Constitution is submitted by the League for the 

 approval of statesmen, jurists, lawyers, publi- 

 cists, clergymen, college presidents, superintend- 

 ents of public instruction, and others engaged in 

 educational work in all States of the Union. In 

 proposing to resist assaults upon American in- 

 stitutions, upon the supremacy of the American 

 people, and the authority of American law, by 

 whomsoever made and under whatsoever pre- 

 tense of liberty of conscience, the Constitution 

 of the State of New York supplies this simple 

 rule : " But the liberty of conscience hereby se- 

 cured shall not be so construed as to excuse acts 

 of licentiousness or justify practices inconsistent 

 with the peace or safety of the State," a rule rec- 

 ognized by the Supreme Court of the United 

 States when it adjudged that " Crime is not ex- 

 cused because sanctioned by any partisan sect 

 which may designate it as religion." The adop- 

 tion of this amendment, the League believes, will 

 accomplish the end it has in view to prevent the 

 use of the money or credit of the United States 

 by any State for sectarian or ecclesiastical pur- 

 poses. It was not deemed advisable to make pro- 

 vision in the amendment in reference to local 

 municipalities within the States, as these are gov- 



erned by the organic law or the statutes of the 

 several States creating them; and the amend- 

 ment as proposed gives a rule which in its proper 

 exercise should prevent the application, in any 

 way and in any State, of public moneys to the 

 particular purposes prohibited. The League calls 

 attention to the fact that in 1875 James G. Blaine 

 introduced a similar amendment to the Consti- 

 tution, proposed by President Grant, in the 

 House of Representatives, and that it passed 

 that body by a vote of 180 to 7. But the amend- 

 ment was lost in the Senate by a vote of 28 to 

 16 riot the requisite two thirds. On June 15, 

 1876, the Republican National Convention at 

 Cincinnati declared : " The public-school system 

 of the United States is the bulwark of the Amer- 

 ican republic, and, with a .view to its security and 

 permanence, we recommend an amendment to the 

 Constitution of the United States, forbidding the 

 application of any public funds or property for 

 the benefit of any schools or institutions under 

 sectarian control." The Democratic national 

 platform adopted at St. Louis, June 28, 1876, de- 

 clared : " We do here reaffirm . . . our faith in 

 the total separation of Church and state, for the 

 sake alike of civil and religious freedom," and re- 

 ferred to " the public schools . . . which the 

 Democratic party has cherished from their foun- 

 dation, and is resolved to maintain, without 

 prejudice or reference for any class, sect, or creed, 

 and without largesses from the treasury to any." 

 The League's plan of action embraces the or- 

 ganization of auxiliary leagues throughout the 

 country, without regard to creed or party, and 

 the appointment of local committees to 'select 

 the best-equipped persons as school trustees and 

 superintendents, to decide upon the fitness of 

 school-houses and appliances and the personal 

 character and qualifications of teachers. These 

 committees' should scrutinize text-books to see 

 that they contain nothing of a sectarian charac- 

 ter likely to violate the American principle of a 

 complete separation of Church and state. They 

 also see that no public moneys are appropriated 

 for sectarian purposes, and that the inmates of 

 public institutions are subjected to no foreign or 

 sectarian teaching. They remind party leaders, 

 caucuses, and conventions of the pledges of their 

 respective parties for the protection of American 

 institutions ; and they question all candidates for 

 public office as to their standing on these funda- 

 mental principles. It is announced that the first 

 business of the auxiliary or local leagues is the 

 arousing of public attention to the subject of free 

 public-school education, by inducing public-spir- 

 ited men and women to consider this national 

 question and to supervise at the same time their 

 own local schools. An inspection of the latter 

 may lead to the appointment of committees to 

 examine and report to the auxiliary or local 

 leagues what reforms are needed, and what steps 

 should be taken to secure them. Consultations 

 of this sort throughout the country, it is asserted, 

 would lead to the development of effective plans 

 for removing the public schools from party con- 

 trol. The League offers no opposition to private 

 or parochial schools which do not attempt to 

 draw their support from public funds or subject 

 their pupils to un-American teachings ; and, 

 while disapproving of the predominant influence 

 of any particular denomination in the public- 



