Waterbury evening Democrat., 1907-10-03
RACE SUICIDE
Local Doctor Takes a Hand in
 the Argument.
Editor Evening Democrat:

forceful arguments to prove that
 race suicide" exists to an appalling
 extent in America to-dsy.
 We have no doubt that he has
 studied the subject in all it's different
 aspects, citing few appropriate
 cases. and has arrived at probably
 correct conclusion. To all serious minded people, to economists cspec-
 ially. the situation is alarming and is attracting a great deal of comment,
 But it becomes also of interest to consider the problem from the Oppo- site side. Should we not consider also that the great mass of the American people to-day are composed of many foreigners, who have come to our shores imbued with principles entirely opposed to race suicide" and are not likely to become contaminated even by the example of some of the well to do'' in this country.
 Take the Irish race, together with other foreign Catholics who have been in this country for a generation or more. You see very little or no evil dence of race suicide among them. They acquire a competence, they rear large families and are content to bring up their children in the fear of God and according to the precepts of the church.
 Mir Brooks seems to think that no amount of preaching against. this ap- palling crime will ever do any good in checking it. He makes a grave mis- take. Take, for instance, all nations where the Catholic church is supreme and where they adhere firmly to its precepts and you will find race sui cide' rare, if not unknown.
 France is the only country where the Catholic church fiourishes in which you will find many cases of intentional trace suicide" Several economic reasons exist in France to explain this condition. Mir Brooks points to not few, but seems to forget the greatest factor of them all, viz: the gradual influence of modern ism and the consequent loss of faith and regard for the church. Witness the recent creation by the ministry of certain laws to abolish the monastic orders, the expulsion of the clergy, the confiscation of church properties and the limitation in the liberty here tofore enjoyed by the church at large All this indicates clearly that France is slowly drifting toward atheism. All other Catholic races, especially the Irish, who are well distributed throughout America, have adhered faithfully to the precepts of the church and have holy regard for it's ministers. They ignore the false precepts of modernism: they can be proud that the false philosophy of the last half of the nineteenth century has not shaken their faith in the least. The evolutionary theories of Lamark, Goethe, Darwin, Spencer, etc, the monistic philosophy of Spin oza, Romanes, Haechel, etc, have not shaken their dualistic belief in mans nature. All the materialistic creeds concerning the origin and nature of the soul, enunciated by so many scicn- lists and false philosophers of the present day, find no sympathy among the Irish and other Catholics, rich or poor. If the theories of the Cosmos, now so prevalent among certain class of scientists, find no believers among the Irish or other Catholics of America, we can thank the increasing efforts of our clergy.
 So it is with this much discussed question of race suicide" You do not find it prevalent among Catholics because they find it opposed to the precepts of God and the church and they have a wholesome respect and fear for both. You will find it only among those who have lost their faith, among the sceptics, among the admirers and advocates of modern ism, among those who have little or no respect for laws, human or divine, who scoff at the existence of God and the immortality of the soul.
 No. So long as the Irish and other Catholic races in the land obey the pre- cepts of their church, so long as modernism and its false monistic philosophy finds no responsive chord in their hearts, no fear need he en- tertained that race slreide" shall become a national evil in America. With nearly twenty millions of Catholics in this country, who make Up it's bones and sinews, and fifty per cent of its intellect, who have the fear of God in their hearts, who be- lieve in the sacredness of the par riage VOW and understand its Obliga- tions. race suicide" cannot exist in America to the extent some alarm ists would have us believe.
 Mir Brooks has. certainly elicidated the question very carefully. espac- ially from the point of view of the The increased cost of liv- ing at the present day. together with the social ambition of the parent tO emulate his richer neighbor. have been great factors in bringing about the condition of things found to-day among the greater half of our popula- tiOn. It is indeed a certain kind of struggle for existence, trampling under foot all principle and honor to attain to a certain social caste. It is q return to the habit found in some of our prototypes even to-day, like the natives of Australia Patagonia, the Fiji islands and many African tribes who brutally kill their girl babies if they find that it will impose upon themselves too many cares. It is only the egotist and the coward who may he guilty of such a crime.
 However, until such time comes that economic conditions as fouuii to-