The Catholic bulletin. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1911-1995, 1919-04-05


the bankrupt lands of Russia and
Germany These nations, in fit of
madness, made bonfire of the hoard
ings of years. Truly, it is not unnat-
ural that in such nations there should
be uprisings on the part of bad and
disgruntled spirits. appeals to an
achy, and all the terrible woes that
follow upon such national disturb
anceS.
Church and Principle.
Now, society is an organism, it is a
living thing. No part OF this organ
ism may suffer but at the same time
all the parts must suffer. The ideals
now prevalent in Russia are not so
far removed from certain spirits here
but that its thoughts and its ambitions
may yet capture few vagrant minds
in this country War and the things
of war usually are controlled by pas
sion; the calm light of reason is eX
tinguished, and nations rush forward
blindly drawn on by anger. Times
like these just passed tend to eXtin-
guish reason that shows it's allegiance
to principle.
The Catholic Church has always
stood for principle, for the funda-
mental laws of morality, and for God
who established order The Catholic
Church has ever fixed its allegiance
to certain determined principles. 1t
is a strange madness Of the hour to
endeavor to belittle the value of fixed
principles. This madness seems to
be taking root not only among certain
classes of people at large, but also in
the halls Of learning in our universe
ties. | do not wish TO minimize the
academic freedom of the professor,
his willingness to challenge phenome
ma, his earnest desire to delve deep
into genuine research. But if you
have no fixed principles of morality,
then truly is man but an animal. If
you have no firm standard, then every
thing in the world is fluid, depending
upon the emotions of the moment: in
a word, man becomes but puppet,
the subject Of caprice and Of unrea-
soning whims.
Some time ago a Catholic yOung
lady told me that while she was in
attendance at one of our universities
the professor in a certain class spoke
to the pupils on this very subject.
He ridiculed the it.ea of fixed princi-
pies Of morality. He then asked the
class how many of them really be-
lieved that morality depended upon
MED their belief in any such deter
mined principles of morality, while
three or four timidly asserted that
they did believe in these principles.
This young lady then asked the pro-
fessor: DO you mean to say that
kill, is not a fixed principle?" The
professor lamely answered, We'll, of
course, that all depends upon circum-
stances" This incident is but typical
Of what is going on around us today.
ToIstoi and Peasants.
A certain French paper sent a cor
respondent 10 Russia charging him to
visit the home of Tolstoi Now. one
reason for the revolt in Russia was
desire of the peasants to break up
the large estates. They claimed, as
has been done in other countries, that
these enormous estates should be di-
vided and used in some way for the
benefit OF the people. The peasants
took the matter in their own hands
and the estates were divided. This
was done by tearing down the houses
Of capitalism and expelling the own
ers. This correspondent visited one
house that had been spared in that
part CT the country; it was the home
of the Countess Tolstoi. There he
found the daughter of the Russian
philosopher. She had been and still
was the embodiment of all that Toll
stoi stood for. Like her father, she
maintained and defended the rights
of the peasants. She had taught the
women various useful arts OF indus
try. In a word she had been their
best friend. But when the revolt be-
women, whom she had so much bene-
fitted, turned her out, burned her
house. and laid waste her posses
siOns.
1t may be said that affairs in Rus
STA are the result of disorder and
anarchy At the same time, it is not
impossible that the same things may
happen here: for the same cause usu-
ally produces the same effect For
this reason every citizen Of whatso-
ever class must stand for good gov
eminent. 1t has always been my first
thought and most earnest desire to
impress upon Catholics the value of
their citizenship; to impress upon the
immigrant here the need to drop his
old country ideas and to embOdy in
himself the ideas and the ideals of
this country, and to make these ideals
an integral part of his life.
World Friendship.
President Wilson has given us an
arresting phrase: 81 am laboring to
organize the friendship of the world
Some there are who would say that
the world cannot be organized. But |
SympathiZe with those who would
strive TO organize the friendship of
the world God knows, the hatred of
the world is we'll organized, and we
must overcome evil by good. If the