New-York tribune., 1921-03-25

......... s
i part in the election of Pope, casting
his ballot for Plus x
Throughout all his career Cardinal
Gibbons took a keen and active inter-
est in social and politiQel affairs. He
| seldom ,hesitated to express himself
with force and directness upon mat
ters Of consequence affecting the well
fare OF the nation and of its citizens.
He declared himself personally opposed
to woman Suffrage, although he depre-
Gated the belief that the Roman Cath
olic Church was committed to either
side of the question,
He was an advocate of temperance,
and IN the local option election of 1914
| in Charles County, Md, he issued a
public statement strongly urging "no
license" He did not believe, however,
| that the enforcement of national pro-
hibition law would be possible. Against
divorce and against 'race suicide" he
thundered as violations of the laws of
nature, of man and of God, and he
strongly disapproved the extreme
| "eugenics" law enacted in Wisconsin.
| In the recurrent controversies in the
relations of capital and labor he took
great interest, urging mutual consid
Grafton and forbearance. He attributed
social unrest and the high cost Of liv-
ing largely to the lack of ecopomy and
thrift, and prescribed Christian prin-
ciples and common sense as the cure.
Opposed Radical Proposals
Socialism, government ownership Of
public utilities, the referendum and the
recall of judges he condemned, saying:
Don't disturb political landmarks Of
the republic"
"Religion," he said a few years ago,
els the nnly solid basis for society.
Religion IS to society what cement is
parts compact and coherent. The
teachings of Christ have been the basis
of all Christian legislation for nearly
two thousand years and continue to be
the light and guide for hundrcds of
millions of souls. Neither Solon nor
I.vcurgus nor Justinia nor Napoleon
nor any other framer of laws ever ex-
erted 1.-THE of the influence wh1cg
the gospel of Christ exercises on the
human races"
Notwithstanding his high office. Car
dinal Gibbons was democratic in his
habits and iife. In his last years he
was picturesque figure on the streets
of Baltimore He took frequent
sometimes daily-walks about the city,
receiving the respectful salutations of
persons Of all faiths, responding with
a genial smile, whether to policeman
From 1886 until the consistory of
1911, period Of more than twenty
five years, Cardinal Gibbons was the
only American Cardinal. 1t was widely
believed that upon his elevation to the
Cardinalate the Pope told him that so
long as he lived he should enjoy that
sole distinction. For many years he
acquiesced in that arrangement. but in
E191, realizing his own advancing years
and the enormously increased interests
Of the Roman Catholic Church in Amer
lea, he regarded it as desirable that
Plus X should set aside the promise
or the intention of his predecessor and
/ create additional American princes of
the Church. Certainly none could have
heen more cordial than he in welcoming
Archbishops Farley and O'Connell into
the Sacred College, as we'll as Monsig
nor Falconio. who, although an Italian
| by birth, was an American by adoption.
Saw Menace in Divorce
"We are confronted" said Cardinal
Gibbons in one of his many interviews,
''by at least three great evils They
are polygamy and divorce; imperfect
education, and the tendency Of women
to become like men and less womanly.
Woman occupies the throne in the
| home. She should not take another
one. That has been proved time and
again in history, and that is why l am
| opposed to woman suffrage
The late prelate throughout the most
of has career was too busy with other
work to write many books. Notwith-
standing, he was the author of three
we'll known works, "The Faith of Our
| ~ L 4
"The Ambassador of Christ" the first
named of which has had an enormous
circulation. In 1916. when ne was
cighty-two years old, he completed a
| six-volume series of his "reminiscences
entitled "A Retrospect of Fifty Years. ,
I Cardinal Gibbons, Immediately upon
the entry Of the United States into the
great war, in 1917, threw the whole
weight CT his great authority and in
fluence into the struggle against Prus-
sianism. In scores Of sermons and ad-
dresses and papers he called upon all
/ Catholics, as we'll as Americans of
every creed, to support their country
to the limit. With an undertaking fdel-
ity to the ideals of Americanism, he
proclaimed complete loyalty as the
| highest duty of every American, and
his mastery cxpositions Of the issues
of. the war cannot but have had tre-
! lnttiO0QSiy PS4GHI cISGI III StlU.UlHLlItH,
and maintaining undivided loyalty
among all who came under their in
fuence. After the war he advocated
the entry&of the United States into the
] League Of Nations.
The war, additionally, brought into
strong relief the real proportions of
! what may have been the greatest pub
lie service of Cardinal Gibbons a SER
vice performed more than score of
| years ago. That was his long fight
for "Americanism" in the organization
of the Roman Catholic Church in this
| country Persons who recall the strug-
gle in the SOS and early '90's assert
that it was due to him perhaps more
than to any other one man that the
United States went to war with so
great degree of solidarity
/ Nation Owes Much to Him
At that time champions of the So
called "Cahensly movement"-a direct
outgrowth of an-Germanism-ha de-
manded that all the foreigners within
the fold Of the Catholic Church in the
United Statese in 1880 and all who
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