in Portland. In 1921 he became pastor of St. Mary's at Eugene, meanwhile being active in the organization of movements of national significance, particularly the Rural Life Bureau, which he directed from 1920 to 1930. He was the first chairman of the Oregon Industrial Welfare Commission, was a volunteer chaplain of the United States Army in France and was a member of the board of directors of the American Country Life Association. He has been Bishop of Great Falls, Montana, since 1930. He is the author of two books: Pioneer Catholic History of Oregon, 1911, 1916, 1925, and The Church and the Country Community, 1927.
Two Prejudicial Incidents
From Pioneer Catholic History of Oregon, 1911
Two days before the consecration of Bishop Demers, a catastrophe occurred in Eastern Oregon which brought the Catholic missions in Oregon to the brink of ruin. We refer to the savage massacre of Dr. Whitman and his wife at the Waiilatpu Mission. . . . Mr. Spalding . . . began a systematic vilification of Bishop Blanchet and Father Brouillet. For getting all sentiments of gratitude, he accused the Bishop and his clergy of instigating the horrible massacre. So out rageous were these accusations that they aroused the deep est and intensest prejudice against the Bishop and the Catholic Church generally, and the excitement became so great that the American volunteers in leaving the Willamette Valley in pursuit of the Indians said that their first shots would be for the Bishop and his priests.
The excitement due to the murder of Dr. Whitman and the subsequent Cayuse War had subsided and the public mind was restored quiet when a new incident arose, in July, 1848, which aroused the prejudice against the Catholics to a higher pitch than before. This was the interception at The Dalles by Lieutenant Rodgers of ammunition which was be ing taken to the Rocky Mountain missions conducted by the Jesuit Fathers. Those missions were dependent largely on hunting, and each summer the Fathers in charge imported a stock of powder and balls for the winter's use. Lieutenant Rodgers reported that these arms and ammunition were to
