The daily morning journal and courier., 1901-08-07
TEMPERANCE WORKERS.

bers. The Rev. A. P. Doyle, of New York, general secretary of the Catholic Total Abstinence Union of America, in view of the national gathering of delegates in Hartford this week, sends this statement of the condition and nature of the temperance work in his church: The organized movement for total abstinence in the Catholic church has grown from the few thousands of thir- 1 ty years ago to a well disciplined army | of S1 .497 of to-day. These S1,437 mem-
 bers are all total abstainers pledged
 Ito abstain from intoxicating drinks Tn any form, and to prevent as much as { possible, by advice and example, the l sin of intemperance in others, ana to | discountenance the drinking customs of society," They are admitted into
 the various societies and preserve thelr
 good standing therein only on the con-
 dition that they take and keep this pledge The societies, numbering | 107S, are organized on various models;
 sometimes they are religious sodalltles
 meeting in the church with little or no
 voice in the regulation of their 1nternal affairs, or they are clubs managing
 clubhouse with gymnasiums and libra
 ries, and preserving in their own hands the disposition of their own moneys. The Catholic Total Abstinence Union
 of America. which is the national or ganizatioi. allows the fullest liberty to individual societies to conduct thelr own affairs as they please, insisting that they be- first of all, Catholic by
 complying with the yearly duty of all
 Catholics, and secondly, that they be
 total abstaners. The organization IS
 exceedingly compact and well disci-
 plined, and readily cuts away from it's
 rolls of membership any societies or in-
 dividuas who do not come up to its
 standards.
 While the bald statement of S1,437
 members is, the measure of the organ ized movement in the Catholic church, it does not by any means represent the
 extent of it's influence. The best work
 of the organization has been that of
 leaven. A few generations ago there
 was verr little of the total abstinence
 sentiment among Catholics. Many of
 them came to this country from the
 wine-drinking countries of Europe,
 where total abstinence as well as | QruIKeIlHeSS Ndo dlihiiSN'i,
 them the idea of abstaining entirely
 from intoxicating drinks was unheard
 of. If was fifty years ago when Father Mathew made his memorable trip
 through the States, and pledged over , five hundred thousand in all the large cities from Boston to New orleans
 Our movement to-day is the out . growth of his work. Fearing that ms , labors would be but an ephemeral et- fort, his disciples created the organiza : 7 ton which now bears the total abstl- , hence banner. We count among our I active members many of the hierarchy, , notably Archbishop Ireland of St. Paul, , Archbishop Ryan of Philadelphia' , Archbishop Williams of Boston, Arch- f bishop Elder of Cincinnati, a great number of the bishops and thousand or more of the priests, while the bulk of the organization is made up of peo- nle in all ranks of society. There IS a society known as the Amethyst club in
 Chicago composed exclusively of law
 vers and another in Ohio whose mem-
 bership is confined entirely to priests.
 The growth during the last few years
 has been phenomenal. In 1892 we num-
 bered but 49,OO0, in 1900 we are Sl,437, and now we are reaching out for the :. one hundred thousand mark. Besides the nrofessed members there are many thousands who feel the influence Of our : work in their homes, through the ban i that has been put on the social glass :, There are other organizations, py z means of the public sentiment that IS :, the result of our work, which nave fel' themselves strengthened to refuse to
 allow liuuor sellers to become mem-
 hers. and 1t is not an unusual thing
 now to find large gatherings at ban- ouets during which no wine is served.
 Another great good the national or
 oanization has done is to preserve the temperance movement among Catho- 2 ,ics wholesome and well within the y lines of conservative orthodoxy. Ihe
 value of this statement becomes more apparent when we consider the raol- | [ cal principles of unguided movements To have preserved a movement rom being invaded by the crank or by the
 fanatic is a great gain in itself me y truths that we stand for do not lnclude
 the statement that the use of lntoXlca
 tine drinks is an evil in itself, but It IS J. ra tber the abuse that we condemn
 We are leagued against the vice or Tn r tenperance, and our opposition IS re
 served for all that encourages ana 1os
 ters drunkenness we are agalnst th' y ,,raeu1ated saloon. We have refuSeC o constantly to allay ourselves with th' ~ nrohibitionists, and have stood only to :. inc greatness of all prohibltlonar! U measures-that of personal total abstl ~ rarce We do not assert that liquor Il i. ;. ralun1 in SC or even that the use or is wrong; but we do affirm that owinl :, to the tyranny of drinking customs :" very often obliging man to drlni
 more than is good for his head, or m v stomach, or his purse, it is better TO s hin, to abandon the use of drink alto
 oether. While we do not say that ev
 arv one is bound to total abstinence ! still we applaud the man who can an
 will abstain; and if he does so from ,s hipher motive, we say that he ma
 serve God and his fellow man better le We favor the statutory law regulat1n ,e the saloon, and if necessary abolishln T. inc saloon; not that we think ma ,+ can he made moral by law, but " know that every law that shields tn rs citizen from danger, that protects hl 4 l home and himself from the allurement n of vice. is blessing to society and [ IT. citizenship. While we do not aff1ri III that total abstinence Is form to [