The Catholic bulletin. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1911-1995, 1919-05-10
DOMAIN OF TEMPERANCE
ARCHBISHOP DOUGHERTY ON
THE RAVAcES OF DRUNKEN
NESS.

referred to statement recently pub
lished in the newspapers, in which a
statistician at Washington was quoted
as having computed that there have
been 100000 men killed in the late
war. This number of casualties does
not include the wounded nor those
soldiers who succumbed to fevers and
other sicknesses contracted through
| the war, nor does it comprise all
| those who met their death indirectly
because of the war, by famine and
pestilence.
us there anything" he asked, that
can be conceived more horrible than
this destruction? | dare say that
such a ravage resulting from one war
will be considered as not only I'M
surpassed, but indispensable. Never
theless | venture to say that the raw
ages of the late war are not to be
compared with the ravages that have
resulted from drink.
How many bright young boy,
who was the hope of his father and
mother, and who looked forward to
a brilliant career, has finished his life
in the gutter because of drink? How
many a decent young girl is ashamed
to show herself on the street because
of drunken father or drunken
brother at home? How many
mother has gone down to an early
grave with broken heart because of
a drunken husband or a drunken
child? And if there is in this world
anything more disgusting than a
drunken man it is a drunken woman"
Greatest Curse That Ever scourged
the Human Race.
Hence | say that drink is the
greatest curse that has ever scourged
the human race.
Those who have made study of
the question tell us that the great
majority of those who fill our jails
and our lunatic asylums are there
because of drink; either drink in
themselves or in their forefathers;
because from tainted stock they in
herited a nature inclined to vice and
corruption.
"a doctor goes into a sick room
: and finds a man dying. At a glance
he knows what is the matter. But,
!. of course, he is too polite, too tact
full to say: My good man, you are
paying the penalty of drink He will
=. not say to him: You have been COM
| hitting suicide by inches Neverthe-
Z less, it is true. Instead he will use
Latin or Greek scientific terms: You
e are suffering from cirrhosis of the
| of
S liver is swollen and has become like
/ a sponge because of your indulging
I in alcohol He will not say to him:
| This poison of alcohol has hardened
q your arteries but he will tell the pa
tient that he is suffering from ar
S terO-sclerosis Again the physician
d will say, You have Inflammation Of
l. the mucous membrane whereas he
t might have told him that the lining
of his stomach had been burnt away
with Whiskey.
Would to God that this was the
only evil effect of drink. Would to
God that the only evil effect Of drink
was that it left the little children
at home without bread, without shoes
S and without clothes. Would to God
T that its only effect was that it i'm
} poverished the family and disgraced
them. For God alone knows how
many crimes, how many sins have
been caused by drink; even the old
!, pagans said: 'Bacchus and Venus are
. friends:' drink and impurity go hand
= in hand and the majority of our di
vorce courts also tell the sad story
of the abuse of Intoxicating drink
1t has been said, the Archbishop
: then remarked. that drink has its
good side: that it is stimulating, gives
u energy and fits person for perilous
|. tasks. He also told of news items
u in the papers relating that during the
war drink was given to soldiers in
= order that they might fling them
II selves into the danger of death. II
Il is true, he added, that it stimulates
Z nerve action for a moment, but al
Z the same time it robs men of their
~ judgment and OF their efficiency.
= Lose All Sense of Decency.
n "You find men who once were hon
f orable and truthful and as soon as
RI | G00y become NlCll1uS VI III Blh tlit,|
# become liars. They lose all sense OIL
O dccency. In other words they be
J. come degenerates. This is the result
If of the poison called alcohol. In the
r. long run it decreases strength. ski!
@ and muscular action; it interfere
# with judgment. reason, will poWCl
il, and logical thinking. Alcohol is {
a great destroyer of physical, menta
o and moral efficiency, and that is tn
o reason that if young man goes tt
. bank or to the president OF a raj
II road for a position one of the frs
+ questions he is asked is this do
you drink If the young man al
G swers. Yes, | do drink the reply vii
Il be: There is no place open here 10
If you; we need men whose brains arr
.. always clear who will be out to Wor9
n in the morning, instead of sleeping OF
+ drunk, men whose will power vii
always remain 100 per cent, so tina
- they will not forge checks or stea
v money to make up for their debauch
~ cries Therefore, intemperance al
g ways has been and still is the grea
~ curse OF the human race; it has al
ways been the endeavor of the Cath
CbnpcI IN If ont of exist