Daily globe. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1878-1884, 1878-06-30
a WORTHY CAUSE.

The SUNDAY GLOBE cannot forbear to cal
the attention of the pubic at large, and the
advocates of sumptuary laws especially, tc
the wonderful wirk in the cause of temper.
ance wrought within the past few years in
Minnesota through the agency of Rt. Rev
Bishop Ireland. St. Paul last week wit
ne sed the annual convention Ct the Irish
Catholic Temperance Union of the State, and
it is not too much to say that it was dem
onstration Of which every one ought to be
proud.
Contrast the condition of the Irish people
of Minnesota ten years ago with what it ia
to-day. Thrift has taken the place OF
shiftlessness, comfort that of squalor, and
women and children are clearly, well-be-
haved and every way exemplary in appear
ance and manner. Husbands, instead of
wasting their time and money in grog-shops,
frequent the library, the social gathering
where culture is the only recommendation
for preferment, or gather their families
around cheerful hearthstone and instruct
them in the duties they owe to society and
the State. It is safe to say that Minnesota
to-day has no more industrious, frugal, law
abiding citizens than majority of the
Irish population who have been banded to-
gether in the various Catholic total abstin-
ence societies, or fraternize with them.
These societies have wrought transforms
ton in the Irish character which, ten years
ago, would have been thought impossible.
Liquor has been the curse of the nationality;
the emancipation from its thrall dom has
created a new nation, developed faculties
that make of the Irish the best of American
citizens.
This great revolution has taken place
quietly. Its promoters have not appealed to
the law for assistance; the church has exer-
cised only moral influence, for it's creed
nowhere commands abstinence. It has been
moral revolution wholly. Disdaining the
assistance of sumptuary laws in fact oppos-
ing their enactment-Bishop Ireland and
his co-laborers have added millions to the
productive wealth of the State, and removed
from society large class of men who other
wise would have been constant menace to
it's peace and welfare. Drink makes an Irish
man curse to neighborhood; abstinence
enables him to develop the generosity an
thrift with which nature has endowed him.
His value as citizen is increased hundred
fold, and he becomes every inch man for
whose friendship all might strive.
1t gives US pleasure to commend both the
work accomplished by Bishop Ireland and
the means employed to bring it about.
He has demonstrated the fact that sumptu-
airy laws are not necessary to the
growth of the temperance cause, and has
given lesson that it will be we'll fol
all temperance workers to initiate. "A viola.
ton of the pledge does not subject the of
fender to public disgrace; it is simply a
voluntary surrender of his membership, and
every member is bound to exercise his moral
influence to reclaim the erring one. No
penalties are incurred, but each person is
surrounded with a strong moral force which
restraints him from violating his obligations
and certainly draws him back in case he
falls. The movement is every way com.
mendable, and its value to the community
and the State is beyond estimati