STRETCHING THE CONSTITUTION 265 



prohibited by it to the states, are reserved to the states re- 

 spectively, or to the people." These are the fundamentals 

 upon which the action of Congress and of the United States 

 in regard to religion is founded. There are enough examples 

 in the books to show that the action of Commissioner Valen- 

 tine in making such an order was officious and arbitrary. It 

 was not even founded upon any necessity or any complaint, 

 but merely upon his idea "as applied by me" as to what the 

 relations between Church and State should be in his depart- 

 ment. 



Although the Catholic Church is not mentioned by name in 

 the order, yet it is a fact that no other denomination has in 

 the Indian schools any of its members who are consecrated 

 to the religious life and who wear any clothing or insignia 

 which indicate that they are so consecrated to a holy life 

 of devotion. In other words, the Catholic teachers in the In- 

 dian schools are the only ones who wear a religious garb, and 

 hence the order is meant solely for Catholics, although tht 

 name Catholic is not therein mentioned. As well might an 

 official in the War Department make an order that Catholic 

 Sisters of Charity should not wear their habit when minister- 

 ing to the sick and wounded, as to say that a Catholic teacher 

 shall not wear her or his habit in teaching arithmetic or di- 

 recting play on the grounds. What the government needs and 

 requires are results ; and until a complaint is made that teach- 

 ers wearing a religious garb are lax in teaching or discipline, 

 there is no more justification for Commissioner Valentine's 

 order than there would be for one directing what color of a 

 coat and cravat he himself shall wear when on duty. 



It is well that the Chief Executive of the United States is at 

 present a man of wide knowledge and experience, who has had 

 an extended career upon the bench as a Federal judge and 

 in actual government as a cabinet officer, and who is apt to 

 weigh carefully and advisedly matters purporting to be an 

 interpretation of the Constitution and existing laws. He is 

 not apt to take things "as applied by me," but following his 

 judicial training desires to hear all sides before deciding. 

 When, therefore, President Taft learned of this extraordinary 

 and uncalled-for order, he promptly revoked it in the following 

 letter : 



