Waterbury evening Democrat., 1904-11-21
INTERESTING DISCOURSE
Delivered at Sacred Heart Church by
 Rev !. !. Fitzgerald.

L1cuIC CuuEcu ySSleIudy. L1lS iSHlaiha
 were mainly on the presidents Thanks
 giving proclamation. He spoke in part
 as follows:
 Setting politics entirely aside the
 fact that we have a Christian gentle
 man at the head of our government
 and the fact that had the other great
 political party been successful, at the
 polls, there would step into the presi-
 dency on March 4 another gentleman
 of deep religious sentiments, ought to
 be source of qualification and thanksgiving for all Americans who love religion and their country. Be
 sides this nation Is now at peace and
 this appears the greater blessing when
 we read the accounts of the struggle between the two rival nations in the
 far east struggle which, Plus x says,
 lis no longer war, but butchery." Our
 nation is also in strong contrast with
 France i'll religious tolerance, for while
 men of infidel principles rule the state in France men of religious principles rule the state in America; while men Of infidel principles are trying to destroy Christianity i'll France, men of relig- ious principles are fostering the teach ings of Christ i'll America, and while France is expelling her citizens and even defenseless women, American soil affords those exiles a home, for here all have the right guaranteed them by the constitution to worship according to their own conscience, and here the Catholic church, often persecuted since the time of the Caesars, presents the spectacle of the most astonishing growth within the last century known to modern history, for while at the time of our revolutionary struggle there were one bishop, few priests and few thousands of people, we cssfl now count one cardinal, 15 archbish- ops, S3 bishops, 13,O00 priests and from F to 14 millions of Catholic people. while 1, ,137, GOO children are receiving Christian education 1h parochiai schools.
 Taking as the standard of poverty that "that family is in poverty whose total earnings are insufficient to obtam the minimum necessities for the main tpnincc of merely physical efflciency,f,s thn ccrdition of the people at large fl th's e tuntry contrasts favorably With that of the people of Europe, for ac- ccl ding to the estimate of man who las devoted considers ble time to the study of this question about one-fourtn of the population of Great Britain do nog pc ssess the necessaries for phy si- cal efficiency and thert fore do not live. only exist
 Tic president ia his Thanksgiving proclamation says those wf.o work, whether with hand or brain, are pros D, ing greatly.''l Whether this be so. I will not assume the province of de- termining, but this I know, that thou sands of workingmen and their famil- ira fnd thousands Of young men could greatly improve their condition by avoiding foolish and extravagant ex- penditures of money on the great evil of drink. We hear much about corpor- ations of wealth trying to crush the en- ergies of the poor. But, believe me. greater than all the combinations of wealth against the workingman is the evil of drink. For as with Knowledge, so with money. Knowledge gives an increase of power for good or evil, and so money gives an increase. of power for good or evil. And as an increase of knowledge makes a bad man more subtle villain and therefore a greater force for evil in the community, so an increase of wages sometimes gives drinking man more opportunity to drink and therefore brings greater ruin to himself and family For of what benefit is 1t to a man to receive alf increase Of wages if that increase brings greater injury to his familyy Again, mans condition is improved not so much by what he makes as by what he saves, and therefore the heads of families and young men and women should always live helow their incnne and from time to time place little money in the bank, for little added to little in time makes a large amount on interest, and money placed at inter- est earns wages while we sleep. And this I say, not in a spirit of reproach, but because I want to see our young men rise to wealth and position in this country; because I want to see the working classes better their condition and because I want to see the moral and physical ills of life minimized as much as possible. especially when these ills are brought upon many indi- viduals through their own fault, through extravaganza, through improv- idence and through excessive drink.
 6ub WAIlC WE ICJVICC li lAC UlCSSluES of this free country we must not forget that there are two evils which more than all others are liable tO undermine the foundations of this nation. I mean education without religion, and di- vorce. This is Christian nation. Our forefathers crossed the seas and found ed this state through deep veneratlon for the Christian religion. They based their system of government on the principles of religion and morality. Moral habits, they believed, cannot be safely trusted to any other foundation than religion, and no government is se- cure unless it~rests on morality. What ever makes men good Christians makes them good citizens, and such great statesmen as Webster advocated the cherishing of such sentiments in the full conviction that that society is the happiest which partakes in the highest degree of the mild and peaceful spirit of Christianity But when by a system of education you develop the