Twenty-Four Reasons is a pamphlet prepared by Dudley Wooten and the Catholic Civil Rights Association of Oregon. More than 500,000 copies of this pamphlet circulated in Oregon before the school bill vote. Below is an excerpt with five of the reasons given in the pamphlet to vote against the bill. Unlike some more narrowly focused writings, the audience of this pamphlet included both Catholics and non-Catholics.

Questions

• According to the author the bill was "misnamed." Explain why the name given to it by the author was chosen.
• What do you think are the "obvious reasons" for which "religion is not now taught in the public schools and cannot be?"
• What is Americanism? How is it "completely overturned by this proposed legislation?"
• If you were asked to write "Twenty-Four Reasons" against the Compulsory Education Bill, what would you include? Using the same format as this document, make at least two statements supporting the bill and explain them in a short paragraph.