Unconstitutional

The Oregon School law, directed in the first instance against Roman Catholics, has been declared unconstitutional by the Federal Court in Portland. The court enjoined certain state officials from enforcing the law.

The school law was originally sponsored by the Scottish Rite Masons. In 1922, the Ku Klux Klan took it up, made it the chief issue of the elections, and put it on the statute books of the state by a vote of 106,996 to 93,349. The law required parents or guardians after Sept. 1, 1926, to send all children over 8 and under 16 to public schools for the entire school year. It was a blow direct at the Catholic parochial private school system.

The law was attacked in the courts on two grounds: 1) it would deprive parents of constitutional rights; 2) it would destroy the property of the schools "without due process of law." The court upheld these contentions.

Governor Walter M. Pierce, elected on the Ku Klux Klan platform, said the case would be appealed to the Supreme Court.