, 1877-09-30

suit IN this country will yield the Same re,
suits as in Ireland, that is, condition oil
life from which they have fed with the
hope OF improvement. As consequence,
they settle down in the lower strata o1
metropolitan existence. Usually ignorant
Of trade and without special training
for any of the skilled pursuits Of city life,
the men become day-lnborers on the
streets, hod~carriers, or menials, and earn
a nero pittance. The women, equally avoid
ing the hartlships Of agricultural life as they
have known it at home, become house-serv-
ants if single, or, if married, huddle their
families into the poor novels of the sub
urbs, and help their husbands eke out q
scanty subsistence by the hard labor
OF washing, scrubbing, and house-clean-
ing Every class Of work which these
people, as rule, are prepared to undertake,
is poorly paid and uncertain. And no mat
ter how hard they work or carefully save,
| they can make little headway, while there is
! constant temptation to fall into intemper-
ance and its balefu1 consequences.
The Catholic Church, for period, encour-
aged this tendency of the Irish immigrants.
Thirty years ago Bishop HUGHES, Of New
York, publicly warned the immigrants not to
so out into the West and beyond the reach
of their churches. There is reason to be-
ieve that he subsequently regretted having
given this advice. It is pretty certain, how
ever, that this sentiment for some years
prompted the Church authorities to exert
their influence in retaining the Catholics in
populous centres where there We're ample
church facilities. Bute1perience has taught
that the physical and moral influences
of That phase of city life into which
they drift are SO baneful that the direct
religious influences of the Church fail to
compensate for them. Of late years, now
that the Church has extended it's branches
through the country, it no longer interferes
directly to keep the Irish Catholics in the
cities, but even yet there can hardly be said
to be an active influence in persuading them
to take up farm-life. Yet it is evident that
the Church authorities, with the Cardinal at
the head, md the cooperation Of the clergy,
could in no way do their people SO much
good as by advocating and encouraging their
settling on public and railroad lands in the
West and South. This may be done in
colonies, after the St. Louis fashion, which
Shall enable each colony to support church
and clergyman. That process will
assure to the Catholics the religious influence
which the Church authorities are SO anxious
shnuA
reasonable objection to this kind of
colonization. The Catholics have the |
sazne right to the free and unrestrained !
enjoyment Of their dogtnatc belief and |
practices that is possessed By all other sects:
there is no doubt that strict conformation to
the rules of their Church and the precepts
of their religious guides will make them
good citizens; their colonies may become rs
thrifty and well-to-do as Protestant colonies
and their lives will bo far happier and more
prosperous than in the orercrowded cities.
We have said that some change has been
noticed within the last few years in this
matter. It has been remarked that as the
native New Englanders have abandoned the
work of tilling the rocky aud comparatively
sterile land Of their section of the country.
md have sought the more fruitful soil of tie
Vest, Northwest, and Southwest, their |
places have been taken largely by the Irish,
md it would not be surprising if a couple of
generations would see the New England farm
rs largely of Irish descent, instead of finding
mong them the blue blood of Puritan an
estry. But this New England movement is
onfned mostly to the new arrivals, and, as
has fallen off more than one
;slf within the last four years, more good
an be done by organizing colonies among
be Irish Catholics who are now residents of {
be cities. If the Church were to take m {
ctive interest in promoting and encouraging {
be voluntary associations for settling new {
arming communities in the West and South. {
o agency wonld be so efficient in reducing t
le surplus population of cities and freeing
lem of the very class that fare the worst and | I
ontribute the least good in the rush and tur I
loil Of city life. We are satisfied that the 7
ergy could do nothing that would be so ben
icial to the immortal souls or the mortal
odies Of masses Of their people as by giving =
lese movements the assistance of active
hurch influence