The Catholic bulletin. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1911-1995, 1916-03-11

But beyond and beneath these fac
tors, which it must be said have been
greatly overstressed, there are other
fundamental considerations viii C h
play a great part in our modern life
in the weakening of the moral fiber
of our youths and maidens. Perhaps
the most important one of all is the
lessened feeling of responsibility on
the part of parents. THE age of
obedient parents" has our time been
called. The age Of neglectful parents,
it might likewise well be named. Our
people in great numbers seek today
to avoid the obligations of parenthood
in the first place by the limitation Of
offspring, and then by paying but
slight attention to the training OF
those children which are theirs. To
shirk responsibility is the predomi-
nant Characteristic of the time.
AS strikingly illustrative of this i'm
portant fact, the testimony of a keep
er of public dance hall before the
Illinois Senate Vice Committee is de-
serving of quotation. 1t appears on
pCloO GOV VI IA1dI CO11h14IICO 1CpO1l
The Chairman of the Committee put
to the witness the following question:
''Is it your opinion that low wages
have anything to do with the vice
problem?" His answer was: eyes,
sure, think so, but that isn't all.
The trouble is that it is the folks at
home that ought to keep that girl un-
der supervision until she is at least
eighteen years old. But the trouble
is nowadays that it is the high living
that so per cent Of the people want.
They want something that is just a
little bit spicy. They don't probably
allow, q lot Of them don't want very
much, but they want to see it. A lot
of these girls if they got new dress,
they feel that they can go little bit
further than they used to go with
their small wages"
And then the important point is en-
phasized. and" he continued, there
is another line; it is a great deal
of trouble to cater in hall to girls
that have been brought up in the
wrong light. You take today, look at
the young girls that associate with
boys that are wiser than they we're in
my time when I went to school,"
'There is one thing we ought to do
in this country: to have some means
of inducing families to take care of
children"
That is an eloquent statement: that
what we need is "some means of in
ducing families to take care of chill
dren." 1t strikes the important point
very emphatically and effectively.
Parents must realize the duty which
is theirs to watch over their children
conduct and to carefully supervise the
choice of their children's companions.
That this can be carried to an unrea-
sonable extreme will of course readily
be granted. But there is very little
danger of the existence of this ex-
| IRENE in our country at the present
day. The danger, a most important
one, lies entirely in the opposite way:
that our parents, by their own selfish
ness and love of inordinate pleasure,
by the ease with which they dissolve
the family tie, and by their utter neg
lect of their offspring, prepare the
way for that offsprings moral ruina-
| ton.
Surely it is time that something be
done in this regard. Surely it is time
that our men in public. life should en-
phasize the necessity of return to
a sense of responsibility. And the
basic fact which will lead to this
phenomenon is the return of religion
to the people. Without it they are
drifting into perilous ways. With ii
they will be able to meet in the proper
manner the complex problems of our
modern life, not the least of which is
the problem of widespread vice.
C. B. of C. V.
/