The Catholic bulletin. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1911-1995, 1921-01-15

present by such authors as Balch, in
Our Slavic Brethren" Steiner and
many others who have been stimulat-
ed to write books by the voluminous
Roosevelt report of immigration.
1.-The most widely accepted special
lists on education, those most consulted
by the trainers of the law, are men
who have no sympathy with Christian,
or especially with Catholic education
We sometimes cast up interesting and
impressive calculations of the amount
of money our schools save the various
communities in which they are stu
ated. But what do specialists on ed
ucation care about saving the peo-
pies money? Of all men they have
never given the subject thought.
Now materialism has the instinct of
doing everywhere what it does first in
the country where it is least hamper
ed by criticism and opposition France
is an instance of country whose
government in recent years yielded it.
self most willingly and most complete
ly to the voice of the Tempter, and as
consequence annulled the liberty of
teaching. In the older days when ir-
religious men prosecuted the Church,
they erected scaffold at the cross
ways and made glorious martyrs of
the confessors of the faith. Today,
with the refinement of cruelty, they
stifie its power of organization by re-
vising the laws of association and de-
nying the right to establish schools.
Let us not. like the Catholics of
France, be blind to these impending
dangers, drugging ourselves into the
comfortable illusion that such things
are impossible in this country and
| therefore not to be feared. They are
| indeed both possible and full of dan
ger to us if we remain much longer
in our present state of disorganization
and parochialism. Only a determined
effort to infltrate public opinion with
| Catholic thought, only a systematic
| and broad visioned searching of heart
| in quest of our deficiencies, only an
enthusiastic comprehension Of the
| strength program our faith provides,
will prepare us for the days in which
| we must do battle for our ideals and
| for our principles with adversaries
| who shall be hard indeed to meet if
| we allow them now to intrench them
selves in the stronghold of the state.
At Parting of Ways.
ssyxTo oro oe J,o,,o ,o;5 ~ 49, ,,r+
ing of the ways, our chances now are
even. All governments are becoming
more centralized and through the gen.
ial influence of democracies more hui
| maniZed. They attempt to do things
that governments never before at
tempted and they attempt to do them
| on a grandiose scale. 1t was first the
| Reformation which, issuing an indi-
vidualistic religious movement, made
| acute and dishonorable the problems
of the poor. In the old Christian or
| der, the poor were never outcast The
Reformation, as Toulmin Smith was
| the first to show, made necessary the
| establishment of poor houses. Till
then, the primary care of the Church
had been education and works of char
| ity. For these two public services, she
| received endowments and honors. She
it was who kept up that spirit of char
| ity which relieved the state of the ne
| cessity of raising taxes for the poor.
But first the Reformation changed the
status of the problem and next the
French Revolution secularized it.
States everywhere nowadays are con-
| fronting the problem of poverty and
| it's causes from new angles. They
treat it as a disease whose germs they
seek to isolate and to destroy. Once
| governments welcomed the assistance
| of voluntary benevOlence Today, it
may be correctly said that govern
/ ments barely tolerate it. There is a
feeling, encouraged by the socialistic
thought of the day, that the problem
of poverty is too big to be dealt with
by private charity which is more often
a hindrance than a help towards it's
solution. With wide open hands all
our States lavish money on the work
of public benevolence. But here diff
Guilty arises. The State possesses
uniquely the material means to deal
with the rehabilitation of the delin-
quent, the reformation of the fallen,
the care of the deficient But has it
the spiritual means which must play
their part in all this inspiring serv-
ice? Has it code of morals efficient
enough to build up the shattered char.
Iacter of many of it's charges? Has it
a grasp of fundamental principles firm
and complete enough to insure its
right handling of the delicate prob.
lens of correction and relief?
i 81 am no jaundiced critic of the
great works done in the name of char
iity during the last five and twenty
years all over the world. On the con
trary,I think them admirable in their
courage and frequently most praise
worthy in their methods. They go at
the problem scientifically as they say
case by case in the confident hope OF
abolishing poverty as you would q
pest. The splendid audacity of the
proposition has aroused an enthusiasm
beyond all expectation. Enthusiasts
look for quick results and the special
list is at hand in most unexpected
; places to show them how to get what
they desire. Our Catholic specialist is
frequently some devoted nun or warm
hearted Christian who, mixing up thi:
4 problem with the world old enc Of