The Catholic bulletin. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1911-1995, 1914-01-24
DOMAIN OF TEMPERANCE.
THE DRINK EVIL.

The question of intoxicating liq-
uors, said Archbishop Glennon of st.
Louis in recent sermon, lis matter
OF grave Importance, and it has much
to do with our economic, social, civic
and religious welfare. First of all, the
cause of total abstinence can be, and
has been, very much injured by an
incorrect statement of principles, and
by an Incorporate advocacy of tenn
perance. If temperance be a virtue,
it should apply to the treatment of the
temperance question as well as all
others. One error has been the
illogical moral basis on which it is
put-that the making, the selling, the
taking, or the drinking of intoxicating
liquors is in itself criminal There is
no theology for such a statement
They are not. Neither the making,
nor the selling, nor the drinking, in
themselves are criminal habits. They
may become criminal by association,
by abuse, by the various conditions
subsequent to the taking.
"The other extravagant misstate-
ment is that total abstinence means
the elevation and salvation of society
that it has a monopoly in the field,
that it is the only virtue, that if you
are total abstainer you must neces-
sarily be perfect human being Some
of the greatest sinners, some of the
worst members of society, are total
abstainers. Total abstinence, or tenn
perance, is not the only virtue, just as
drunkenness is not the only vice. Nor
will the abstaining from intoxicating
liquors be the sole salvation of a ma
tion
There are other causes that make
for the downfall of nations which are
much more predominant and much
more effective than the use or the
abuse even of intoxicating liquors. I'M
morality leading to the LIBERALIZATION
of nation has been, as history tells
us, the cause of the decline and fall
of most of the nations that history
has recorded. To say that temperance
| is the only virtue, and drunkenness
the only vice, is to adopt a very mar
row platform, and to base the propa-
ganda on a very narrow issue, and
very false principles.
"But when I have stated these two
extravagances, do not mean to say
that enthusiasm, honest, every day eff
fort, even life concentration to the
cause of temperance and total absti-
nence is not worthy mission. On the
contrary, it is most Christian and a
most ennobling one. Not only should
our purpose as Catholics be to oppose
drunkenness, which is crime and a
sin, but also the drinking habit
"As Catholics we have taught and
teach that drunkenness is sin, NOR
ally offensive to Almighty God, often
sive in ITSELF and doubly, trebly, many
fold offensive by the additional sins
that follow in it's wake. Whether it
be blasphemy, or murder, or immoral
ity, or whatever follows in the wake
of this sin, the man is morally re-
sponsible, for he has committed the
first act and in doing so is liable to
all the other acts that follow through
that.
Drunkenness is a species of menace
that is particularly offensive to the
Christian faith, because drunkenness
dethrones the reason. The definition
of man is that he is a thinking, a
rational animal. 1t is reason that diff
ferentiates him from the brute Drunk
enness takes away the distinguishing
quality whereby he is a man.
1--WE are opposed to the drinking
habit, because drink very often leads
to drunkenness. A drunkard does not
simply in a moment of enthusiasm or
forgetfulness get drunk. He is led to
it, step by step. First he is drinking
man, then he is a drunkard. Drinking
is what might be called in many cases
the occasion of sin. In the very broad
field of social life, national welfare,
the welfare of the people, drinking is
to be avoided, because over against it
is long roll of crime that degrades
and destroys our civilization.
'The records of our institutions
show that with drink is bound up in
sanity. The bars behind which the
poor unfortunates are held, these iron
bars represent the other bars that
were made by the drink habit We are
nervous people, and drinking adds
to nervousness. Drink leads to early
graves, and generally to dishonorable
graves. 1t is the drinking nations that
are prone to tuberculosis.
$50 many of our charitable institu-
tions which have to deal with the
weaker, the poorer, the friendless and
the homeless have to cater to larger
and still larger clientele because of
the ravaging results of drink.
eve do not need arguments to con-
vince our reason. What we do need
are motives, impulses, influences to
stimulate our wills. 1t is not that we
have not all come to the conclusion,
that we should not. But can we reach
the sequence, we will not? It is the
will that needs support This can be
avoided, first by avoiding those who
do drink.
1--WE have long since set the seal of
disapproval or condemnation on the
drunkard. He has no place in the bust
ness world, in the civic world, in the
public world. In avoiding those who
drink, you can include everything,
from the dive down town to the fash
ionable club. To drink with the veneer
of responsibility, and the glamour of