Catholic v. Protestant

Bibles may be imported into the U. S. without payment of customs duties. Other books are taxed at the rate of 15%. In 1924 Lincoln MacVeagh, president of the Dial Press, brought one copy of the Apocrypha of the Nonesuch Bible to the U. S. from England and was taxed thereon 15%. Saying that the books of the Apocrypha were parts of the Bible, Mr. MacVeagh sued the U. S. to get back his money.

Last week the court refused to give this to Mr. MacVeagh. The reasons for the refusal were based upon the nature of the Apocrypha, or lost books, of the Bible. Certain of these, incorporated into the Old Testament by errant Hebrews and written down in the Greek Septuagint which is otherwise merely a translation of the Hebrew Old Testament, were included by St. Jerome in his Latin Vulgate. Theologians in the middle ages questioned the authenticity of the Apocrypha which St. Jerome had accepted. The Council of Trent (1545-63) established their repute, since which time they have remained in the Vulgate, the official Catholic Bible, and in all translations of the Vulgate, such as the Douai or the Rheims Versions.

Protestants, however, soon cut the Apocrypha out of their Bibles, retaining only one little bit, the "Song of the Three Children," in the prayer book of sects which have prayer books. Recently, a U. S. court admitted tax-free a cargo of Douai Bibles. These, however, included the Apocryphal book which Mr. MacVeagh had imported separately. The court's ruling made it clear that for legal purposes the Apocrypha is part of the Bible only when it is bound with the other universally recognized books.