The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1906-07-19
TOTAL ABSTINENCE.
ONLY SAFE REMEDY FOR EVILS OF
INTEMPERANCE.

Drunkenness.
Total abstinence is not in itself the
gospel nor is it all religion; neither is
moderate drinking Of Intoxicating liq-
uors the gospel and all religion, but
Catholic total abstinence is a safe pre-
ventive and an efTicacious remedy for
a deplorable evil, as we'll as salutary
discipline of will and appetite, and
when coupled with supernatural mo-
tlves, prayer and the sacraments
noble form of Christian virtue and
helpful example to the weak and
| tempted. There is in the nervous tenn
permanent and physical composition of
large numbers of Americans, as we'll as
in their social customs and economic
conditions, proclivity to strong stimu-
lants and a susceptibility to the insidi-
Gus craving produced by alcohol which
| make total abstinence safer and easier
to practice than moderation in the use
Of intoxicating beverages. And this is
true not only of whisky, beer and wine,
but also of nearly all 50 called tonicS
which are making alcoholics and
| drunkards of 50 many women.
Moderate drinking of intoxicants il
any form arouses and incites the ap-
| petite, and indulgence of appetite soon
| forms the habit which enslaves its
victim in the bondage of drunkenness.
No safer or better discipline of drink
in the education of youth and 10 surer
remedy for habitual drunkenness has
| ever been tried or even suggested by
our cautious friends who follow the
standard Of total abstinence afar off
and kindly admonish us to beware of
| LereSy and fanaticiSm.
When the heart of the pastor is filled
with compassion for the multitudes
which surround him in the manufac-
| turing or mining districts or in the
densely populated portions of our
| towns and cities; when he sees prisons
crammed with Catholics, the boys Of
his parish growing up to crowd the sa-
! looms and add squad after squad to the
army Of sOtS and lOafers; when he sees
| children, unwashed, unfed and IN
taught, deprived of home and school
training; when he sees the girls untidy,
coarse and unWomauly by the mex
Orable force of environment; when he
sees his labors frustrated and Gods
grace in souls supplanted by vice and
crime and, willing or unwilling, he is
forced to admit that much of the havoc
is caused by Intoxicating liquors, he
must not be charged WITH hereSy or
fanaticlsm if he leaves the subtle ques-
ton of Manichaesm, NAHUM in Sc,
scientific drinking and lcit inebriety
to WranglerS and astute critics with
more leisure and academic skill to de
tect flaws and point out shortcomings
in methods than actual knowledge of
social conditions and experience in
building up the church. preserving
youth in virtue and training souls to
shun danger and resist temptation or
! in rescuing the victims Of ignorance.
error and vice.
Great moral leaders like Father
Mathew in Ireland, Cardinal Manning
anu -Niol -Nb-NLt III l@llS NHDloI-
Op Elder and Il long array of bishops
ana priests and earnest workers of the
laity in the United States, who have
labored with zeal for weak and fallen
humanity, have demonstrated by the
test of years and results that the prin-
ciplc of total abstinence is the only
safe and certain remedy for the evils
of intemperance Such examples teach
us not to be narrow or men of one
idea. Ever ready to work for temper
ance, we must be ever ready to work
and strive for every cause of truth
and virtue, of God and humanity.
When we consider the sobriety, dig
nifty, self respect, noble ideals, in
creased ability to earn wages and en-
joy the fruits of labor and preference
in positions of responsibility which to-
tai abstinence inSureS to men and the
aid of supernatural strength and purity
which a Catholic total abstinence sOci-
| ETY. affords them, when we consider
that this union has removed reproach
and Won respect for our holy religion
wherever its societies have been fos-
tered, when We consider the blessings
which it has brought to countless
homes and lives, we are ready to listen
with patience to the most ardent en-
thusiast who with fiery speech obeys
the fathers of the third plenary coun-
ell Of Baltimore, eXhorting all "by the
love of God and country to bend every
energy to the eXtirpation of this bale
full evil
We stand before the world as the
pledged opponents of whatever con-
duCes to the making of drunkards-the
custom of treating in barrooms, of it,
legal liquor selling, Of selling adulter-
ated liquors, of admitting women into
saloons, to the promiscuous mingling
of young drinkers and old drunkards
in such places, to all the ribald, pro
fame and indecent language and all
other un-Christian conduct and infu-
ence of the Incorporate men and wo-
men who frequent the saloon. 1t is
enough for us that all these things tend
to ruin the spiritual life of men and
destroy the work of the church. Wher-
ever the saloon fourishes intemperance
| prevails, crime increases, manhood is
debased and the church suffers loss