The Waterbury Democrat., 1938-03-18

has never been a Catholic on the board of pardons. There are two in- stances when I saw that a Catholic was placed, because even a Catholic sometimes gets in prison and wanted to see that he got fair break"
 AS a prelude to 8 tribute to Thomas Jefferson for his forming of the Virginia resolution in 1774 which led to the inclusion of a clause calling for tolerance in the Constitution, Governor Cross, de- nying that he was making a politi- cal speech, remarkeda
 Thankful
 "We all ought to feel little hap pinesS at this time to think that we are not as badly off as the residents of some other countries We ought to be thankful that we have perfect religious freedom here in this country. We owe it to Thomas Jefferson, founder of the Democra- tic party.
 Here in this country there are, at times, social frictions," he con- tinued. "But they amount to very little. We are all patriots and none more so than the Irish Americans" i"
 The governor concluded his ad- dress with a reference to St. Patrick as the only man who ever truly conquered Ireland and this aspect as explained to mean that the pa- tron saint of the Irish had spent his life in converting the Irish, to edu- cation of the people and the spread ing of his learning over the isle.
 "Now Ireland has as large de- gree of freedom, probably, as any part of the world" he said.
 Scholars of Ireland
 Commissioner of Public Works Robert A. Hurley, lauded the schol- ars of Ireland, attributing to the learned men of ancient times the basis on which Irish culture, humor and song have remained alive through the years when foreign rul- CTS held the land in thrall
 Tt has been only recently that historians have been able to piece together the history of Ireland but we have known the history of Ire- land all the time through the leg ends and songs passed down to us" Commissioner Hurley declared.
 The relations of Ireland to the Catholic church and the sacrifices made by the >ople who were forced to worship in hiding constituted the general theme of Father McCon- villes talk.
 "The men and women of Ireland have always believed that the best way to keep the Catholic faith was to give it away" he declared. Tt was the contributions of Irish working girls which built St. Patrick's Cath edral on ethereal Fifth Avenue"
 He pointed out that more than 50 per cent of the men serving in the armies of the American Revolution were Irish. And many of these, he said, died for liberty.
 Ireland
 Ireland of the present and Ireland of the future, going forward to take a prominent place in the world, was discussed briefly by Congressman J.. Joseph Smith who said: "It's the worlds loss that Irishmen no longer are forced to leave their native land but it's Ireland's gain."
 Senator George T. Culhane was given an ovation when he was in- troduced from the floor and others who were accorded laudatory intro.- auctions but who did not speak were High Sheriff J. Edward Slavin of New Haven County; Senator John Lynch, and Rev. Roger B. T Anderson, rector of Trinity Episco- pal church.
 Prominent in arrangements for the affair, which included a recep- tion in the Colonial room before the dinner, entertainment by Eddie DoWling's Irish Minstrels who play ed for Irish dances afterwards, mu- sic by Eugene T. Oviatt at the or gan, and solos by Mrs. Mildred Le- zotte and Dr. Joseph Reynolds, were chairmen of committees, MT. Ryan, the banquet; William Boyle, Irish dancing; Jeremiah Mccormack, seating; and Mortimer J. Calvin tickets.