If the Roman Catholic system would clean up from within, there would be no need for the ecclesiastical authorities to "hope and pray" that any of the sisters who left any of their institutions "would tell anything that would cause any scandal."
It was ever so, dear reader, and it will always be. The same rottenness will always exist in the Church of Rome that has always existed. It was because of this rottenness and corruption that practically all of the ex-priests have left Romanism, and because of the wrongs perpetrated that practically all of the ex-nuns have left.
The conditions I have written about, as I have lived them, not only exist in the convents of the Pacific Northwest, but in other Roman Catholic convents and monasteries, as the teachings and practices here come from other convents and of necessity they must be the same. "Like father, like son." There may be a few exceptions, where there is convent inspection, or some other law governing them, but as a general thing they are as I have explained, and in a great many, the practices are rigorous to the extreme.
So, the great question arises, "How are we going to better conditions?" I could answer this question in a few words, and it would be the most logical answer, "Abolish all the convents and monasteries." Institutions of darkness and ignorance and evil are surely not necessary for the salvation of the souls of the women of this country, or of any other country. Christ did not institute any such specifications when He was on earth, or did He leave them in written form in His Holy Word. The secluding of girls and women is a man-made institution, and not for the saving of the souls of the poor girls, but for the profit of their work to the church. Is this Christianity?
How long will the American people be blind to this "religious cloak" for graft—school graft, hospital graft, laundry graft, and various other sweat-shop grafts? It is very convenient for the owners of the profitable "religious" institutions to operate them with sister service without paying either the wages or taxes required by the owners of legitimate industries. Think how it must affect competition and the wages of free workers.
Slavery of any degree is a curse to society as well as to the enslaved. I beg every American to look into this question seriously before it is too late. If you continue your sleepy indifference you may some day wake up to find that you have over-slept, to find that your own flesh and blood are being tricked and exploited into these "holy" institutions.
Under no condition should any institution, private or public, be permitted to immure girls and young women and keep them in servitude, hidden from their parents and friends and denied the common justice due every citizen. The laws of this country are made "by the people and for the people," and therefore, it is for the people of every state to see that there is a law on the statute books calling for the inspection of every institution where girls and women are incarcerated; the doors opened, that the truth may be obtained from every inmate and redress granted to all without intimidation.
As the convent system is now in vogue there is no redress, as I have shown you, nor is there any protection from the convent crimes, as they are absolutely under the government of the Roman Catholic hierarchy. From behind the convent walls the heartbroken cries of the victims cannot be heard by the deceived world, and therefore, there is no appeal for justice.
Open the doors of every convent and monastery and let the deluded victims return to the world and live useful lives if they so choose! Let them be free to come and go at will, like any other citizen, and grant them the liberty guaranteed by the Constitution to all within our borders.