Kentucky Irish American. (Louisville, Ky.) 1898-1968, 1910-12-03
Father Phelan States Position
the Catholic Church
Occupies.
Right That Can Not BE Abol-
ished by Church or
State.
THE fUTIuTY OF DRY LAWS

nv ohlu8A ACPOll vi tue OuiAIcu
States Commissioner of Internal
Revenue furnishes some interesting
reading. 1t say that, regardless of
prohibition laws, the production of
distilled spirits greatly increased
during the. past fiscal year. The
futillty of dry" laws is clearly dem
onstrated by the figures gathered by
the Government. The Commissioner
says that while the enactment of
Statewide prohibi DRY laws in some
States and OF local option in other
States has greatly reduced the num-
Der of distilleries of the smaller
classes, and in some districts has re-
duced the number of rectifiers and
wholesale and retail liquor dealers,
production and withdrawal for con-
sumption of distilled spirits has
greatly increased during the past
fiscal year. The Commissioner also
points out that there was an increase
of more than 700 in the number of
violations of the law as compared
with the year previous and adds:
"All of the agents force available
for raiding has been used during the
year in detecting Illicit Disabling,
which practice has increased stead
lily, especially in those States where
Statewide prohibitory laws have
been enacted"
Commenting on the Prohibition
lists and their work in Missouri,
where they met with overwhelming
defeat, the Rev. Father Phelan thus
states in the Western Waterman the
position of the Catholic church:
The Prohibitionists have opened a
Catholic department and placed it in
charge of one of those Chicago foxes
who have left their tails in Windy
City traps. On the eve OF election
he flooded our parishes with cir
culars TO prove that the Catholic
church is the mother of prohibition.
He cites twenty-eight prohibitions of
the church, running from eating
meat to Friday to coveting the
make it $500 or $4,000 We can not
say; for the church prohibits every
wrong that the human heart is in
clined to. Why God is left out of
the Prohibition camp is also unex-
planned. The Ten Commandments
are so many "don'ts," and each
don't Is a prohibition. But he does
not show us that either God or the
church ever prohibited the exercise
of a natural right. God said: Thou
shalt not kill" He did not prevent
the State from taking life or man
defending his own life. The prohibit
ton is not absolute; the right to
live is regulated. He said: Thou
shalt not commit adultery" He did
not say: Thou shalt not marry"
Procreation is not prohibited abso-
lutely, but only regulated.
The church says: Thou shalt not
eat or drink between midnight and
communion. She does not say:
Thou shalt not eat or drink at all.'
She does not prohibit eating and
drinking absolutely. She simply
regulates 1t. She says Thou shalt
not eat meat on Friday" She does
not say: Thou shalt not eat meat
at ALL" She does not prohibit the
eating of meat absolutely; she only
regulates it. The church says:
Thou shalt not drink wine before
communion or to excess at any
time" She does not prohibit the
drinking of wine absolutely; she
only regulates 1t.
The question arises: Can the
church prohibit absolutely the
drinking of wine? We say NO"
The right of man to drink wine in
moderation is a right of nature, and
can not be abolished by Church or
State. But could God, by a positive
enactment, forbid absolutely the
drinking of wine in moderation? We
can answer that question best by
saying that God can not contradict
himself. He can not deny, by posi-
tive enactment, what he has af-
firmed by natural law. The right
to drink wine is as wholly founded
in nature as the right to drink
water; and what power can forbid
a mans drinking water? Only
things that are wrong in themselves
can be absolutely prohibited. In
times of cholera the selling or eat
ing of certain vegetables may be
prohibited, but no law can make the
inhibition of the sale or c0nsump-
ton absolute. The PriscilIianists
were the first Prohibitionists. They
prohibited marriage under any and
all circumstances, claiming 1t to be
essentially evil. The church con-
demned and communicated the
heretics; as she would condemn
and excommunicate the Prohibition
lists of today, "Auld Clootie is the
father OF lies, and a soalawag gen.
lerally; but he never took a drink
in his life"