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VOL. IIL
JANUARY, 1919.
No. 1.
THE CATHOLIC CHARITIES
REVIEW
Caritas Pattens
J
Some RadicalProgrammes of Reconstruction
Editorial
Old and New in Catholic Charity
Rev. Wm. J. Kerby, Ph. D.
The Child and the War
Rev. Frederick Siedenburg, S. J.
I
Catholic Settlement Work
Margaret Tucker
Reports of the Society of St^ Vincent de Paul
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VOL. III.
Contents for January, 1919
No. I.
EDITORIALS 3
Some Radical Programmes of Reconstruction. — The Doctrines of the Non-Partisan League.
PRINCIPLES AND METHODS .8
Old and New in Catholic Charity. Rev. Wm. J. Kerby, Ph.D.— New Probation Laws in New York. — A New School of Social Service.
SOCIAL QUESTIONS 14
The Child and the War. Rev. Frederick Siedenburg, S.J. — Records Wanted of Catholic Activities. — Social Services of the Religious Orders.
SOCIETIES AND INSTITUTIONS 18
Catholic Settlement Work — An Analysis. Margaret Tucker. — Dis- tribution of Income Taxes.
THE SOCIETY OF ST. VINCENT DE PAUL 22
Reports of Councils and Conferences.
BOOK REVIEWS 30
A Theology for the Social Gospel. By Walter Rauschenbusch.
THE CATHOLIC CHARITIES REVIEW
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An Irish Quarteriy Review of Letters, Philosophy and Science
Vol. VII., No. 28 CONTENTS December, 1918
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The Exile Katharine Tynan
Strife and Sweetness , George O'Neil
Shakespeare M. Bodkin
At Moment of Victory John Bunker
To THE Moon K. M. Murphy
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THE
CATHOLIC CHARITIES REVIEW
Vol. Ill
JANUARY, 1919
No.
SOME RADICAL PROGRAMMES OF RECONSTRUCTION.
HE statement of the British Labor Party, entitled, "Labor and the New Social Order," has received considerable publicity in the United States. It is very radical in its immediate pro- posals, and it explicitly points to So- cialism as the ultimate form of social and industrial organization. Many of us have been led to believe that this docu- ment represents the deliberate and set- tled convictions of the majority of the organized workers of Great Britain. However, Mr. G. H. D. Cole declares {The Dial, Nov. 30, 1918) that while it has received "the official endorsement of the Labor Party Conference, it is essentially something accepted by Labor, and not something devised and believed in by Labor. It is in effect a series of resolutions drafted and proposed by Mr. Sidney Webb, and accepted in default of an alternative programme. But such an acceptance does not go deep; and it is safe to say that even to the majority of Labor candidates, it means and counts for very little."
Whatever may be the authority of this British programme, it has no counterpart in the labor movement of the United States. The American Federation of Labor has issued no such comprehensive and radical statement of the social and industrial changes that are to be sought
after the war. Consequently we cannot speak definitely concerning the recon- struction programme of American labor. There is no such thing.
Nevertheless, a few state and city or- ganizations of labor have formulated specific statements. They are the Fed- erations of Labor of California and Ohio, and the Federation of Chicago. All three of these bodies demand the legal minimum wage, very heavy taxa- tion of incomes and inheritances, and government ownership, of public utilities, specifically of railroads, water powers, and shipping. Two of them favor governmental colonization of land, state insurance against accidents, illness, in- validity, unemployment and old age, and taxation of land values sufficient to bring idle land into use. One of them declares for the establishment of co- operative stores and markets, and gov- ernment life insurance for all men and women. The Chicago Federation of Labor would have the State appropriate all inheritances in excess of $100,000.00, while the State Federation of Ohio de- clares for a government guarantee of 6 per cent as the maximum return on ac- tual capital, any surplus to be diverted to the wage fund. The California Federation of Labor desires a " scientific reorganization of the nation's industry, on the basis of a common ownership of
THE CATHOLIC CHARITIES REVIEW
the means of production;" the Ohio Federation demands government pur- chase of coal mines and gas wells; and the Chicago Federation calls for the " nationalization and development of basic natural resources, water power, and unused land, with the repatriation of large holdings."
Some of these proposals and demands are reasonable, even though they may strike many persons as radical. A min- imum wage established by law ; social insurance against sickness, accidents, and other unfavorable experiences ; heavy in- come and inheritance taxes ; public ownership of railroads, telegraphs and telephones ; government colonization of land; and cooperative stores and markets, — are projects which have largely lost their power to frighten. Probably the majority of the American people are ready to endorse them all, provided that they can be shown to be socially and politically feasible. The amount of merely doctrinaire opposition to any of these measures is no longer considerable. The average man cares very little whether the legal minimum wage or state ownership of railroads, for example, is or is not contrary to some traditional theory of the proper functions of government. What in- terests him is whether these and the other measures noted above are likely to promote public and individual wel- fare. Did the labor programmes that we are considering contain nothing more radical than these proposals they would deserve no special notice.
Most of the other demands and dec- larations are more or less disquieting. Government purchase of all kinds of mines, of oil wells and natural gas wells, and the taxation of land values to force idle land into use, might or might not be just and socially beneficial. The majority of competent and disinterested students of the subject now believe that the government should retain the owner- ship of all mineral, metal, oil and gas lands that have not yet been alienated, but that these lands should be operated by private persons and companies on a system of leases. This is the arrange- ment now in force in the Alaska coal fields. Whether the government should
go further, and purchase all such mineral resources now in private ownership, is a question that cannot be confidently answered off hand.
The proposal to tax vacant land into use, has a plausible ring, but the execu- tion of it could easily cause grave in- justice to private owners. If a very high tax were applied to all vacant land it would amount to confiscation of the greater part of such areas ; for it would compel the owners to relinquish their titles to the State. The majority of pro- prietors of vacant land could neither af- ford to improve it nor find purchasers for it at reasonable prices. Only a small portion of such land is now in demand. Moreover, the state would lose through the confiscation progress, since it would be deprived of the taxes formerly re- ceived. Nevertheless, there are large areas of both urban and agricultural land which would be immediately utilized if they were not deliberately held by the owners for future increases in value. The proprietors of such land refuse to sell it at the current valuation. They retain it for speculative purposes to the detriment of the community. If a specially- heavy tax could be so devised as to affect only this land it would un- doubtedly increase the opportunities for productive labor, and tend to lower the cost of living.
The demand that inherited sums in excess of $100,000.00, be taken by the government to pay off the national debt, is made by the Chicago Federation of Labor. This organization has a large proportion of Catholics among its mem- bers and officers. While we cannot prove that this action would never be justified by extreme public necessity, it is practically certain that no such critical situation exists at this time. We admit that the great majority of persons would be better off morally and spiritually if they were not permitted to inherit more than $100,000.00, and that very few men would be deterred from giving forth their best efforts by the consciousness that they could not bequeath a large amount to any one person; but other things must be considered besides the effects upon present testators and heirs. There is the danger that, once the State
THE CATHOLIC CHARITIES REVIEW
put an absolute limitation to the amount of wealth that could be inherited, it would be strongly tempted to lower the limit, either suddenly or gradually, until the restriction would operate as a posi- tive injury to the spirit of enterprise and to individual and social welfare. All the legitimate ends of inheritance taxa- tion can be attained by progressive rates which stop long before one hundred per cent is reached on any portion of the sum inherited.
Six per cent guaranteed by the govern- ment on capital, would undoubtedly prove sufficiently attractive to the great majority of capitalists. However, the proposal suffers from two fatal defects : first, the assurance of such a rate would lead many business men to conduct their enterprises in such inefficient fashion that the government would frequently be called upon to supplement earnings; second, the consciousness that they could not obtain more than six per cent would prevent the exceptionally able directors of industry from doing their best work, and the community would suffer through the reduced product. If the government ever attempts to limit the rate of interest or profit on active capital, it cannot wisely go further than to take a part of the excess, leaving the business man a sufficent portion to induce his most efficent activity. This is the principle that is exemplified in the excess profits tax.
The proposal that the government should extend to all men and women the general life insurance which it has dur- ing the war accorded to soldiers and sailors, is worthy of consideration. If such a scheme were ever put in opera- tion it should be conducted on business principles. That is, the premiums col- lected should be ample to cover all sums paid out on policies and all the expenses of the enterprise. There should be no levies made upon the general revenues of the country.
If the phrase, " basic natural re- sources," in the demand of the Chicago Federation for nationalization refers only to specially valuable lands such as those containing metals, minerals, gas, oil and water power, the proposal may be passed over as one that is extremely
radical, but not necessarily irrational. If it means all kinds of land, the schem^ must be rejected as socially and indi- vidually harmful. In any case, the authors of the Chicago pragramme did not show a proper sense of responsibility when they disposed of such an important subject in such loose language.
The most radical of the demands is that of the California Federation of Labor : *' scientific reorganization of the nation's industry, on the basis of com- mon ownership of the means of produc- tion." This is Socialism. As such, it is obviously unacceptable to Catholics and to at least nineteen twentieths of the American people. Inasmuch as the Federation did not amplify or emphasize the proposal, we may hope that it was not intended to be taken seriously.
Taken as a whole, the declarations that we have been considering are not only radical in themselves, but significant of a new movement and spirit in the ranks or organized labor. They indicate that many of the trade unionists are no longer content with the traditional policy of merely seeking higher wages, shorter hours, and other improvements of their condition as wage earners. Like their brethren in Europe, very many members of our American labor organizations are beginning to think seriously of funda- mental changes in our industrial struc- ture and relations. It is a movement that cannot safely be ignored.
►!« + Hh
Speaking of industrial readjustment not long ago, Archbishop Redwood said :
" The first step required is to establish minimum wage boards. Under State control these boards fix the just minimum of remuneration according to time and place. Such legislation, how- ever, is only the beginning of economic readjustments. The ultimate object must not be to keep the workers in permanent dependence upon a capitalist class. The aim that every Christian man and woman ought to keep steadily in view is to en- able the workers themselves to share as far as possible in the ownership of the land which they till and of the industry in which they toil. This is not So- cialism, but the very opposite."
THE CATHOLIC CHARITIES REVIEW
THE DOCTRINES OF THE NON-PARTISN LEAGUE.
In an editorial, entitled, Radicalism Among the Farmers, in the November, 1917, issue of the Review, we made brief mention of the political success of the Non- Partisan League in the State of North Dakota, and discussed at some length its platform. Since then it has grown with astonishing rapidity in sev- eral other States of the Northwest, but its principles have been slightly modi- fied. At the recent election the Non- partisan candidates were victorious in the contests for State offices, for the legislature, and for members of Con- gress in North Dakota, while in Minne- sota, Montana, and Idaho, they polled a very large proportion of the total vote. If the leadership and the principles of the League are as dangerous as they are represented to be by their political opponents, its rapid growth and vic- tories are extremely disquieting.
The founder of this remarkable politi- cal organization was formerly an organ- izer for the Socialist party. According to some of his opponents, he still ac- cepts the principles of Socialism, and misses no opportunity to insinuate them into the association of farmers that be now seems to dominate. In support of this accusation, they point to certain radical planks in the platform of the new party. They are to be found in the declarations drawn up by the State con- ventions held last March in Minnesota and North Dakota.
Under the head of " marketing and fi- nancing " may be grouped the demands of the League for continued control of the grain markets after the war by the United States Government, " to keep them open and free from the oppressive practices of monopoly;" for State hail insurance; for State rural credit banks, and for State loans to farmers on the se- curity of the crops.
By no honest and precise use of lan- guage can any of these proposals be stigmatized as socialistic. Nor is any of them necessarily unsound. Surely it is quite as much the function and the duty of government to prevent monopo-
listic grain dealers from compelling the farmers to accept unjustly low prices as to protect the consumers against the exorbitant prices imposed by monopo- listic manufacturers. To give the farm- ers the benefit of State insurance and State banks, is no worse than to insure the wage earners against accidents, or to confer upon manufacturers the advan- tage of a protective tariff. To be sure, the State should be protected against loss in all these activities, and the cost thereof should be borne by the farming class, not by the general body of tax- payers; but the members of the new party are quite willing to accept these provisions.
Under the head of " taxation," we find the Minnesota convention demanding " the exemption of farm improvements from taxation," while in North Dakota the party has circulated an initiative petition that the legislature be given " the right to exempt all personal prop- erty from taxation."
While these demands have a sugges- tion of the Single Tax, they fall far short of that fiscal doctrine. Neither of them proposes that all taxes be levied upon land. The first merely asks for the abolition of taxes on farm improve- ments, without specifying where they shall be placed. They might be distrib- uted over other forms of personal prop- erty, land, money and credits, corpora- tions, incomes, and inheritances. There is no reason why the change could not be made in such a way that the tax bur- den of no property owner would be ap- preciably increased. On the other hand, the measure would probably tend to en- courage the construction of farm im- provements, and discourage the practice of holding land out of use for purposes of speculation.
The North Dakota tax exemption proposal applies not only to farm im- provements, but to all forms of personal property. However, it is not a demand for a law to this effect; it is merely a petition that the State Constitution be amended so as to empower the legisla- ture to enact such legislation. Even
THE CATHOLIC CHARITIES REVIEW
though the lawmaking body of the State should fully utilize this power, the re- moved taxes need not all fall upon land. They could be spread over incomes and inheritances, corporations, money and credits and business transactions. More- over, in a purely agricultural State, such as North Dakota, the amount of taxes derived from personal property is not large ; consequently the increase caused by diverting these taxes to other forms of property would inflict serious hard- ship upon very few persons. And what- ever slight inconvenience were thus created would probably be more than offset by the beneficent social effects.
On the whole, then, it cannot be dem- onstrated that the taxation program of the League is revolutionary or con- fiscatory. Indeed, it is considerably milder than the one put forth by the or- ganization at its St. Paul meeting last September. Perhaps this indicates that the League is following the way of all radical parties, and becoming more con- servative with age, and with a larger conception of its responsibilities.
Under the head of State operation of industries should be enumerated the de- mands of both the Minnesota and the North Dakota conventions for State- owned terminal elevators, warehouses, flour mills, stock yards, packing houses, creameries, and cold storage plants. If the farmers have been injured and cheated to anything like the extent that they assert by the private owners and managers of these enterprises. State ownership and operation may be reason- able and necessary. Moreover, the League does not demand that the State should haye a monopoly. It might per- mit private competition in any or all of these industries, thus acting as a check upon monopolistic greed. Indeed, it is a serious question whether State compe- tition with private enterprise in some industries may not be the most effective means of preventing monopolistic in- justice upon consumers as well as upon producers.
In North Dakota the League demands that the national Government buy, sell, and distribute through the parcels post " important essentials of life." Probably
this general and vague proposal was not
intended by its authors to be taken se- riously. The initiative petition circu- lated by the organization in the same State asks that the Constitution be so amended that the State, or any of its counties or muncipalities, could make internal improvements and conduct in- dustrial operations generally. Just how far the Non-Partisan League would go in the exercise of such powers if they were obtained, and if the League were in full control, is a question about which speculation would now be fruitless. One statement is quite safe : the programme would stop short of State operation of agriculture ; for the members of the League are mainly farmers, and they believe in individual ownership and management of farm land and farm bus- iness. Inasmuch as there is very little manufacturing in North Dakota, the proposed amendment to the State Con- stitution would be important only for the operation of mercantile and banking enterprises, over and above those enu- merated in the last paragraph.
Surveying the economic programme of the League as a whole, we may properly call it radical ; if we like to mix descrip- tion and denunciation we can stigmatize it as " socialistic." Nevertheless it is not Socialism. Whether it is too radical for social safety, whether it would put upon the State a burden of industrial control and management that is unsound and unwise, are questions about which men may honestly differ. Those who do not believe in the demands and propos- als of the new oraganization need not be very fearful ; for by the time that its members have removed the constitu- tional obstacles that confront them, they will probably be in a mood to pro- ceed slowly and to test carefully each .s^radual step in their radical programme. No body of American farmers, the ma- jority of whom are farm owners, is go- ing to make a revolution.
On the other hand, the doctrines and the history of the Non-Partisan League are a very important "sign of the times." That the most conservative class in our society should have produced an organ- ization and a programme of this sort, is a phenomenon that is well worth serious and fair consideration.
THE CATHOLIC CHARITIES REVIEW
NEW AND OLD IN CATHOLIC CHARITY.
BY REV. WM. J. KERBY, PH.D.
E of this generation have in- herited noble traditions in social service. The organized activities of the Church in the interest of the helpless classes form a conspicious part of her historical and actual life. The prestige of the Church in respect of charity is very great. We have inherited equipment and method with that prestige. An in- heritance, however, honors the ancestor rather than the descendant. It represents achievement in the former and good luck in the latter. It is well to be proud of the past, but the present has a duty other than this. The future asks of us with insistence to make our own dis- tinctive contribution to the inheritance that we shall pass on. If we add noth- ing to it or if we make a serious mistake in what we attempt to add, the next generation will pay the penalty. May not our contribution consist in bringing about timely adjustment of the new and the old? May it not be our task to maintain the essential elements of belief and spirit in relief work and reenforce these by everything wholesome in modern scholarship, method and litera- ture. Shall we not profit by the clearer modern view of complicated human rights, and of the new understanding of the function of the State, and of the possibility of large preventive measures in dealing with poverty?
The modern social conscience is aroused in a new way. The passion for social justice is strong. The determina- tion to rearrange the elements of the social order in the search for justice is universal. Society is resolved to pro- tect the weaker classes, to modify educa- tion, industrial relations and property rights in order to secure economic op-
portunity for those who are of good will. Catholic charities cannot remain remote from those processes nor indififerent to them. The new is not always wrong. The old is not always the last expres- sion of wisdom. The adjustment of the old and the new is a challenge to our zeal, intelligence and faith. I know no single recent expression which more happily summarizes this thought than that of Archbishop Blenk uttered at the first meeting of the National Conference of Catholic Charities in 1910. " Charity is science ending in love." It is not science alone. It is not love alone. It is the happy combination of the two.
I.
Throughout the range of social rela- tions old and new are antagonistic in temperament and in interest, in outlook and in talent. Conservatism and radical- ism behave in the field of charity as they do in politics, science or art. We might expect more patience, open-mind- edness and understanding in the field of charity than elsewhere, but we do not as a rule find it. Conservatism has its great function in life because we are in danger of changing too rapidly. Radi- calism has an equally important func- tion because we are in danger of chang- ing too slowly. Conservatism errs when it has too low standards of work and is too easily contented. An organization that aims at nothing but relief may do its work well, but it will con- tribute practically nothing to the con- quest of dependency. Its self-satisfac- tion will put it beyond hope of improve- ment.
No Catholic worker should mistake his temperament for a Catholic doctrine,
THE CATHOLIC CHARITIES REVIEW
nor should he convert his hmitations into Cathohc principles. One who by tem- perament is conservative, whose con- servatism represents no thinking what- ever, should not resist all changes by alleging that they are. opposed to Cath- olic doctrine. By doing this he con- founds doctrine with temperament. If one is incapable of keeping adequate re- cords in relief work one should not hold that records are useless. If one is unable to prepare a creditable paper for a charities conference, one should not de- clare on principle that conferences are worthless. If an organization cannot af- ford to pay a social worker, it should not hold on pfinciple that no social worker should receive a salary. One who ex- presses belief in an abstract principle should not block every effort to put it into practice. Frequently the old and the new will agr'ee in the statement of an abstract principle but the former will shrink from every step to reduce the principle to practice. In this way con- servatism may deceive itself and con- sider itself progressive. If one holds the principle of cooperation in relief work, one should be prepared to adopt every reasonable measure that will make cooperation possible. One should give and take. One should surrender pref- erences and be patient and tolerant. One should treat others in a spirit of re- spect and trust. Short of this no co- operation is possible. One may accept the principle that a normaj^ orphan can be best provided for in a family home rather than in an orphan asylum. This belief should stimulate one to do every- thing possible to find homes for orphans rather than take the easier way of send- ing them to an asylum. One should be willing to study the problem carefully in order to find homes, to place suitable children in them and supervise them faithfully after placement. If suitable homes cannot be found ; if the cost of placing orphans cannot be met, this should be understood. Energy should be directed towards these problems, while belief in the principle should be stoutly maintained.
Conservatism is much inclined toward a sense of superiority. It is common- place among social students that con-
servatism is always good form, and in- novation is bad form. The former is in possession. The duty of proving the case always rests upon the radical. The wisest step that conservatism can take is to search out everything that is whole- some in what is new and take it over with genuine pleasure. Political parties maintain their stability by this principle. When they neglect to follow it they go down to ruin. Radicalism utilizes the expert much more readily than does con- servatism. The latter does not neglect the expert entirely, but he is much slower in recognizing the role of train- ing, and the need of wide and varied knowledge in dealing with social changes. The conservative does not enjoy discus- sion or debate, while the radical thrives on it. Hence in times of marked social change the latter seeks occasion for dis- cussion, while the former avoids it.
Certain assumptions succeed in es- tablishing themselves in the process of social change by which the conservative is occasionally misled to the detriment of the cause that he serves. One may as- sume, for instance, that in the field of relief the volunteer is nobler than the paid worker. Whether or not this is true in any particular case, depends solely on the worker. Salary does not vitiate the quality of social work any more than it vitiates the quality of the work of a priest who is on a salary. High salary is not inconsistent with high sanctity. One sometimes hears volun- teers speak disparagingly of paid workers. Neither religion, nor charity, nor common sense, nor the facts of life support that attitude. To work for pay alone is not noble. But to assume that pay vitiates noble work and high motive is false to facts and harmful in a very real way.
Relief work is not without its own pathos. The volunteer worker of long experience and recognized standing finds it difficult sometimes to be kind to the paid trained worker just entering the field, and adding to the power of de- votion the strength of information and the directness of well tried method. When the latter comes to the rostrum with a new vocabulary on adequate re- lief, family budgets, case work, record
10
THE CATHOLIC CHARITIES REVIEW
forms, social diagnosis and the like, it is not surprising that the veteran shakes his head and turns away saddened and unconvinced. At this point the new meets the old. Only too often neither is wise enough for the situation. We might, however, find it easier to pardon the enthusiasm of the new than the in- tolerance of the old.
In dealings between Catholic and secular organizations in relief work we should not readily assume that bigotry inspires the measures with which we dis- agree. Bigotry is a convenient explana- tion. It is frequently plausible and it is sometimes true. But it would be well if we followed the law of charity and waited for positive evidence before per- mitting our explanation to violate the first virtue of the Christian life.
A cause is always identified with its leaders. These should be eager always in every walk of life to be equal to their responsibility and to disassociate with scrupluous care self-interest, standing, temperament, limitations and preferences from the cause whose interests are com- mitted to them. Leaders must be willing to submit to every current test of leader- ship whatever it be. Whether it be in wealth of information or power of or- ganization; in skill in debate or defense of standards; whether it be in the measured results of work or in public conference, leaders should be willing to be measured by accepted standards be- cause they can in no other way maintain their prestige or set forth with dignity the cause that they represent.
II.
There is much that is new in present day charity. A large number of care- fully trained workers devote themselves now in theoretical and practical lines to poverty and relief. Some of the highest types of modern scholars devote their energies entirely to this field. Many of them are attached to our great uni- versities. Some of them are identified with schools of philanthropy. In both types of institution, young men and young women are being trained along theoretical and practical lines. The re- sult has been the creation of a literature and a profession. Through these, new
standards have been set up, new under- standing of social processes and of poverty and the prevention of it has been established. Methods have to a great extent been revolutionized. All of this has reacted upon civil authorities, and has affected legislation and public administration of relief. The literature and the profession of social work are in a general way radical. A disposition is found widely to under-rate the old and over-estimate the new. Excessive ideal- ism is found. Utopian hopes mislead many good men and women. This is true but it is not distinctive. It is true in every field of thought and leadership in the world where the process of change occurs.
The literature of investigation pro- duced by modern scholarship has the highest value. The measurement of the extent of our problems of poverty is the first step in any intelligent effort to deal with it. Astounding revelations have been brought to attention concerning every feature of poverty. The interpre- tation of the causes of social conditions has kept pace with investigation. Modern sociological scholarship insists on finding the processes that are back of social conditions and on applying remedies to the causes, as far as this is humanly possible. Out of this im- pulse the literature of direction has re- sulted which sets forth with elaborate detail methods to be followed in every type of relief work. Finally, there is what may be called the literature of in- spiration, the discussion of larger ideals and motives from which all social work derives its worth in the final summing up of life.^
Catholic effort has not followed this development as rapidly as we might have wished. It is true that we are developing specialists in many fields. We are either training them in our own schools for social service which have been started recently, or sending them to schools of philanthropy for that pur- pose. We have practically no distinctive literature of investigation concerning even distinct Catholic problems in relief. We sometimes claim that we take care
^See Catholic World, Oct. of Relief.
igi2. Literature
THE CATHOLIC CHARITIES REVIEW
II
of our own poor but we fail often to do so. The impression is widespread in some cities that we can not and do not do it. Lacking as we do the literature of investigation, we lack a literature of interpretation. Our literature of in- spiration is adequate because it is the interpretation of the Gospel itself.
Scholarly literature, the trained worker, action upon the course of legis- lation and public administration in re- lief work, farsighted interpretations of social processes, higher standards of so- cial justice and the arousing and sus- taining of the modern conscience to the point of demanding effective reforms con- stitute in large measure the contribution of the present generation toward the mastery of poverty. This is an achieve- ment not an inheritance. Perhaps it is our mission to re-state the Gospel principles of Christian charity, to vindi- cate the substantial historical policies of the Church in the face of modern scholarship and to take over everything that is wholesome in science to reen- force the supernatural love that we bring to the work. It may be our mis- sion to verify that statement of Arch- bishop Blenk, "Charity is science end- ing in love."
One of the most capable and pro- gressive Catholic women who have ap- peared in the field of social service for many years attained to a position of real power in public office in her own state. She possesses the equipment that training, talent and consecration can give. She has entered a religious community in the belief that it may be one of the greatest agencies of the world for furthering the impulse toward social service. One of the ablest of our younger priests whose reputation is already national recently spent a greater part of a year investigating public in- stitutions of a certain state for a State Commission. He remarked at the end of his study that his confidence in the work of Catholic institutions had been greatly strengthened, while his faith in the efficiency of public charity separate from religion had been weakened to a marked degree. Both these students are scientific, modern. Both of them are trained and scholarlv. Both of them
have found the secret of combining the old and the new in such a way as to verify the principle stated, " Charity is science ending in love." This merging of new and old is more widespread than we imagine.
III.
The Sisterhoods and Brotherhoods are the most conservative elements in Cath- olic charity. Their work, their rever- ence for traditions and the circum- stances in which their social service is performed slow down the action of the elements which make for change. This tendency is in itself fortunate for both the old and the new, although the danger of making a mistake by chang- ing too slowly and by misunderstanding innovation is always present. There is at present no method by which all Sisterhoods engaged in particular lines of work might get together to study methods, compare results and pass judgment collectively on the new ele- ments of thought and method concern- ing the problems with which they deal. Lawyers, physicians, manufacturers of every kind, social workers, scholars and educators of every kind, governors, mayors and other administrative officers find the greatest possible advantage in meeting regularly for conferences to discuss problems, to compare views and to pass judgment on results. The teaching Sisterhoods and those engaged in hospital work as well, have estab- lished conferences of the same kind. If general human experience may be trusted, conferences among Sisterhoods engaged in every kind of social service would accomplish equal results. We have not such conferences, but ap- proaches to them are not lacking. In one of our large cities over one hundred sisters representing a number of Sister- hoods engaged in social service meet for weekly conferences under the direc- tion of one of our most capable leaders and organizers. In another city courses of the same kind have been conducted. Preparations for such courses elsewhere are now under way. In the majority of our larger dioceses there are Directors of Charity who are in touch with the
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THE CATHOLIC CHARITIES REVIEW
work of Sisterhoods on one hand and with the whole movement of modern philanthropy on the other. Although the Sisterhoods have not been active in the biennial meetings of the National Conference of Catholic Charities, their sympathy with its aims and methods is outspoken. Steps of the kind indicated lead directly to the merging of old and new; to improvement of methods, ex- amination of results, and to literary in- terpretation of the vast work of the Sisterhoods and its presentation to the world in authoritative form.
The Society of St. Vincent de Paul includes among its members about six- teen thousand men in the United States. While members of the Society are in touch with every type of problem and every kind of relief agency, the Society as a whole might be called conservative. Its Manual is a marvel of simplicity. It stands in the way of no reasonable pro- gress whatsoever. In fact the principle of the Society with which we are most familiar is that no form of charitable work whatsoever is foreign to it. How- ever, the unit of the Society is the parish conference. Care of the poor in their homes is its aim. Parish problems engage attention predominantly. There is in every large city a Particular Council which rep- resents all of the parish conferences and busies itself with city as distinct from parish problems. Although some of the most progressive workers that we have are faithful members of the So- ciety, on the whole it makes the impres- sion of being conservative. It has not produced an extensive literature. Its published reports give no adequate im- pression of the extent of its works and the spirit of their accomplishment. Its insistence on personal service is very marked. A review of works undertaken by it recently published in the Review shows an immense range of action. New and old meet with varying results in the membership of the society. The fundamental reorganization com- pleted Under the direction of the late lamented Thomas M. Mulry indicated that the process of change is operating here, and that far-reaching progress is not to be long delayed. Perhaps the chief obstacle to a more rapid development is
the fact that all of the members of the Society are men who are otherwise busy. They have little leisure for thinking, writing or reading, although they are fairly active in attending conferences of every kind, and in coming into personal contact with the representatives of what is new in modern philanthropy.
New and old in Catholic charity meet again in our organizations of women. These are of relatively recent origin. They are to a great extent local. Whether local or national, they make the impression of being ideally progressive. The pressure of tradition is not heavy. Organization is elastic. Their members have leisure and they work with direct- ness and zeal. They are prompt in en- gaging thoroughly trained social workers. They are found in numbers at every kind of conference. They have the secret of sustained enthusiasm and joy in their work. One of the most remarkable traits found among them is that of loyalty to the Sisterhoods and apprecia- tion of their work.
New and old meet finally in the in- creasing number of individuals, priests, lay men and lay women, who are trained in the field of social service and have become, or are in the way of becoming, experts. They have acquired the habit of literary form. They write well. They are capable of interpreting their experience and presenting it in a form that lacks no charm of style and no element of force. Many of these have been trained in the school of experience alone. Many of them are graduates of schools of philanthropy or of universi- ties in which they have been trained for social work. We find them on state and city administrative boards of every kind that deals with dependency, on commis- sions appointed to investigate problems or revise laws. They are active in civic and social organizations. They bring with them into these fields the full vigor of the supernatural and intelligent sympathy with everything that is whole- some in modern philanthropic efforts. Among them too we find that " Charity is science ending in love."
There are many among us who are too impatient of the new. There are many who are too impatient of the old.
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13
If some complain that we change too slowly and that we neglect modern standards too much, it would be well to study the signs of progress that may be seen. When they are studied as a whole and as indications of the process of change in our relief work, it is evident that old and new are meeting without ex- cessive friction, that the new is gaining and the old is surrendering, as is the uni- versal law of the world.
As one of the speakers said at the National Conference of Catholic Chari- ties, September, 1918: "In relief work
there is nothing static but the motive." ^ jjf ^
NEW PROBATION LAWS IN NEW YORK.
Three bills extending and regulating the power of the courts to use the sus- pended sentence and probation have been passed into law in the State of New York. They were drafted by the State Probation Commission after consulting with many judges and attorneys, in order to make the various sections of the laws relating to these subjects consistent and to improve the procedure in using pro- bation throughout the State.
These principal charges will be ef- fected by the new laws :
The old limitation in the law that de- fendants may not be given a suspended sentence or a chance to reform under probation when convicted of a felony for which they might be sent to prison for more than ten years, or when convicted of any felony a second time, is done away with. Instead, it is provided that courts may suspend sentence and place on probation any defendant unless con- victed of a crime punishable by death or life imprisonment. The only crimes so punished in this State are murder, treason and a fourth conviction of fel- ony. Under the new provisions also, the courts may suspend sentence in any case either before or after imposing a sen- tence, and place the defendant in charge of a probation officer. As long as the defendant remains on probation the court may enforce the conditions thereof and may bring the offender back for violat- ing the conditions of probation and im- pose any sentence it might have imposed in the first place. This power is a most
necessary one to make the probation system effective.
Longer terms of probation are pro- vided in some cases. Under these bjlls any adult convicted of a felony may be kept on probation for five years; any adult convicted of a misdemeanor or lesser offense may be kept on probation for two years; any child found delin- quent may be kept under supervision until he is eighteen.
+ 4- +
A NEW SCHOOL OF SOCIAL SERVICE.
The Notre Dame Ladies' College in Montreal has added to its curriculum. a course of studies in social service for the training of social workers. It in- cludes economics, ethics, social and eco- nomic history, apologetics, hygiene, domestic science, field work and inves- tigation, English and French composi- tion, and special lectures on social topics. One group of subjects covers two years and leads to a diploma, while the shorter group can be completed in one year. The new school is affiliated with the Loyola School of Sociology, and enjoys the special patronage of the Most Rev- erend Archbishop of Montreal. ►ih Hh 4"
Of the 6,033,218 farmers of the United States only a little more than 14,000 have paid income taxes. More than six million indirectly declare that their net profit is less than $2,000.00. This must be a surprise to -those who assumed that because of the unusually high prices of foodstuffs many farmers were waxing rich. While some farmers subject to the tax escaped, it is not likely that their number is large, as the Government went over the field quite thoroughly and rounded up many tax slackers. Hence, we have in the fore- going figures another indication that dealers in foodstuffs have been profiteer- ing in this war emergency. * + Hh
Total subscriptions to the United States War Work Campaign were $32,679,038.00 in excess of the amount originally asked by the seven war re- lief organizations for their work during demobilization.
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THE CATHOLIC CHARITIES REVIEW
THE CHILD AND THE WAR.
BY REV. FREDERIC SIDENBURG, S. J.
HE subject, " The Child and the War," seems at first sight a paradox, for what common ground can there be between appealing childhood and re- pulsive war? A child suggests all that is tender and beautiful in life; war pred- icates strife, brutality and destruction. Although nations make wars and men fight battles, still the chief victims of war have ever been the woman and the child. The fate of children living and unborn is determined by wars made, and by battles won. Children are neglected, hungry and orphaned because war cripples and murders men, bereaves and overburdens women.
The man goes to the front and the martial spirit makes him not only forget fear but even rejoice in danger. His every want is supplied from the full commissary of the state. He is clothed and fed while the woman and the child at home are often cold and hungry. The tears and loneliness of the forsaken fireside are only emphasized by the laughter and companionship of camp. If the man is killed or dies at the front, his sacrifice is over; if he returns sound or disabled he is always a hero and often a prisoner; but the fight of the woman and the child even far behind the lines ; the fight against want and sorrow and lineliness continues and is an inglorious as it is heroic.
The very absence from the household of father or son places a heavy burden on the mother or wife. Alone she must meet the responsibilities of life, for sud- denly she has become the bread winner, the protector and the guide of the family. She must meet with a shrunken income,
the rising cost of living and often with- out experience a changed condition of labor, and what is more important, she must meet these conditions alone. " It is not only the work I have to do," said a woman deprived of her husband, " but there is nobody that comes home at night."
Now the home is the heart of the na- tion and the family life the register of its glory; war makes its worst assault upon the family and unless we realize this danger our home life will suffer and with it the nation. The child is the pro- duct of the home and to safeguard the home we must safeguard the essential standards of living in education, in health, employment, and in the ideals of self-help and self-reliance. This is most difficult in war times. Extraordinary measures must be taken and the chief effort must be centred on the children of the family.
The child is paramount in war more than in peace because the child of to- day is the man of tomorrow and if man- kind is to make progress we must begin with the child. A great educator has said : " Whoever has the child, has the future." Now war is abnormal and changes the whole current of our lives and these changes may readily, yes al- most naturally, do irreparable harm to our children. Millions who in time of peace were producers, have suddenly by war become consumers and we are told that it requires five producers at home to support one soldier at the front. This demands a gigantic output and in the confusion we may without thought or check send our women and children from the school and the home to the-
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15
field and factory ; and under the guise of economy and necessity assault the nation in its most vital element: its childhood. For when we assault the home and the mother, we also assault the child.
Our biggest battles therefore are not to be fought in Europe but in America. Democracy will not be made safe be- cause our children will not be safe until all patriotically look above the dollar sign and self-interest and realize that the welfare of the masses alone will guar- antee the welfare of the individual. None of us can live alone and even while we work for the welfare of the stranger-child, we will be working for our own welfare, working for better citizens among whom we must later live and on account of whom our lives will be safer, healthier and happier. War always spells change and often chaos. Unless we realize this truth a victorious war may mean a ruined nation.
The patriotism of the army and navy that is making America safe for de- mocracy will be in vain if we who are at home do not keep fast to the highest social ideals of peace. Our homes and our schools are the second line of de- fense and if we falter and fail to pro- tect them, democracy will not be safe for America. While the army and navy is protecting the nation from foreign foes we must not let folly and greed conquer us at home. We must fight off every proposition that will tend to demoralize our social life. We must entrench our- selves in the highest standards of the past and above all tighten our lines of defense whenever an assault is made upon our children.
The first assault of war upon the child is on its education. Throughout Europe, school buildings were changed to arsenals and barracks, teachers en- listed and school appropriations were al- most eliminated. The school age was changed so that millions of the future citizens of the world will be handicapped for the rest of their lives to their detri- ment and to the detriment of their country. In England alone 300,000 of the youngest children were sent home and over 150,000 between 11 and 13 years were sent into the factories. Sir James Yoxall recently said in Parlia-
ment, " Much of our elementary school system is in ruins, I will not say as deso- late as the ruins of Louvain but to some extent a likeness." And Sydney Webb confirms this by predicting that " peace will involve the remaking of England's educational machinery." What is true of England is true in equal degree of Germany and France and to a greater degree of Russia, Serbia, Bulgaria and the weaker nations. In our own beloved America a million men have answered the call of the flag, but the call to you and to me of the school, especially the elementary school, is equally important. An elementary education is a dire neces- sity for the individual and higher educa- tion a dire necessity for the state. The future needs educated and trained men and women and these are impossible without education. A Canadian states- man (Sir Baden Powell) says that "the war will be decided in 1935, because the true victory will not lie so much in the gains on the battlefields today as in the quality of the men who have to carry on the work of the country after the war."
War kills off the best of a nation's manhood; therefore in self-defense the nation must take care to educate for the next generation. The world's work must go on; the war will have robbed us of many of our leaders in industry and commerce, yea of art and learning and there must be other leaders to take their places. If not, the war and its victories will be as Dead Sea ashes in . our hands. New physicians must safe- guard our public and private health ; new engineers must build our highways and restore our ruined cities; new statesmen must lead us to a newer freedom and a greater democracy, and new priests must preach a purer gospel of the brotherhood of man and the Fatherhood of God.
The second assault of war upon the child is on its health. With school standards broken, the laws governing labor naturally follow. In Europe nearly a million children were at work in the factories and munition plants, some working twelve hours a day or at night. In the city of Budapest alone there were 3,000 registered munition workers under twelve years of age. In Russia and Hungary, child labor was almost the
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THE CATHOLIC CHARITIES REVIEW
universal rule, and in the latter country ^"^male labor was increased from i6 to 80 per cent leaving children unguarded and practically breaking up all home life. Even Great Britain let down the bars of her child labor laws but soon realized that it meant weakened children, inefficient work and lessened production, A National Commission pronounced this course a crime against childhood, and so it is. It is well known that child mortality mounts higher as the war goes on. Tuberculosis has spread in every war country and has fast become in very deed a white plague. Contagious and venereal diseases find their way from the army camp into the sanctuary of the home and bring in their train increased mortality and illegitimacy. Physical and mental health is undermined; insanity increases ; industrial accidents and oc- cupational diseases are multiplied. These are the consequences of war and all those demand that we not only keep our recognized standards of health but even advance in a counter campaign.
The last and most dangerous assault upon the child is the assault upon its morality. With the disorganization of the home, the child and often the mother in the factory, it is evident that the moral influence of the home can be soon re- duced to the vanishing point. Our best thought and effort here cannot entirely remedy the evil, but being forewarned, we are also forearmed. Another prob- lem enters around the adolescent boy and girl. The war deprives them of their natural guardians and sends them from the school to the shop and from the playground to the public resort. This lessened restraint and new environment has led to increased juvenile delinquency in every belligerent country, and it is al- ready true in this country as some recent statistics prove. In Europe it has be- come a national menace. In Berlin in 191 5 there were twice as many crimes committed by children as in 1914, while in Munich the number of juvenile de- linquents in the first three months of 191 5 equalled the total of 1914. In Eng- land the danger was foreseen and ef- forts were made to stem this tide of juvenile crime, and yet it has increased 34 per cent and thefts 50 per cent since
the war began. Manchester shows an increase of 56 per cent, Edinburgh 46 per cent and so on. In Russia, Serbia and Turkey there is a veritable wave of juvenile crime and no remedy in sight.
To safeguard the moral integrity of the child and to guarantee the stability of our republic, we must cling fast to our standards of child welfare. We have made progress in the holy cause of childhood and we cannot afford to re- trace a single step. We must not, as I have said, let children fight this war ; we who are at home must fight it in terms of the next generation and hence it is the patriotic duty of all to support our local and national agencies, yea even en- large them to meet the new and vaster problems of the war. Settlements, rec- reation centres, juvenile protective as- sociations, child welfare organizations, mothers' pensions are now more impera- tive than ever. The Government can and will give money, but it cannot give the human touch of neighborly counsel and cheer.
We must above all with might and main keep inviolate our national family life. The pages of history and the ex- perience of every social agency tell us that the family is the bulwark of so- ciety. From it as from its natural source comes forth culture, citizenship and civilization. Our very thoughts of the family and of marriage w^hich binds it and makes it sacred, must be ennobled. With must hedge in the family with more stringent laws and we must have fewer divorces. We must in a practical way make marriage more revered and childhood more sacred, and then the rights of marriage and of childhood will be more respected. Then will there be less race-suicide and the propaganda of so-called birth control will cease. There will be an end to these immoral prin- ciples and practices that strike at the very life of childhood.
Hence in spite of war and an ex- hausted treasury, we must keep our national family life as nearly normal as possible; keep it linked with school and church and state, so that all working to- gether may make a worthy childhood to- day and a worthier citizenship tomorrow. Then will we serve in these days when
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all the world is at war, not only hu- manity but the Great Master of hu- manity Who said two thousand years ago, when all the world was at peace : "Suffer the little children to come unto Me and forbid them not, for such is the King- dom of God." (Mark x. )
Loyala University, Chicago. * Hh * RECORDS WANTED OF CATHOLIC WAR ACTIVITIES.
The National Committee on Catholic War Records has been directed by the Administrative Committee of Bishops to use every means possible for the pur- pose of securing an accurate and com- plete record of all Catholic American activities in the present war. This as- pect of the National Catholic War Council can not be too strongly em- phasized. Unless we make provision for the history of Catholic patriotism and effort in this war we shall be guilty of a neglect which can never be remedied and of a mistake which can never be re- trieved. If we fail to establish authentic records of our civic and religious activi- ties, and if we fail to record all the noble work being done by American Catholics, we are robbing the Church of the future of inspiration, of example and of inter- pretation. History cannot be written on the day on which it is made, and the object of the National Committee on Historical Records is to collect for care- ful preservation every record and docu- ment which tell the story of Catholic activity.
The Committee is desirous of obtain- ing letters from the parents and rela- tives of soldiers, photographs of all those connected with local war activities, clippings from the local newspapers, ac- counts of meetings held for war pur- poses in which Catholics have taken a part, and all other material information which will one day be of value in fur- nishing the historian of the war the document which will tell of the noble efforts of the Catholic Church in the United States. Every bit of help in compiling the National Catholic War Records will count for the honor of Church and country, and for the glory of the men who are offering their life's blood and of the women who, in their
husbands, sons and brothers, are giving of their heart's blood for God and the right.
All communications should be ad- dressed to the Secretary, Rev. Doctor Guilday, 932 14th St., N.W., Washing- ton, D. C.
+ + +
SOCIAL SERVICES OF THE RELIGIOUS ORDERS.
By their systematic undertakings for the material improvement of the vicinity in which they were located, many of the great religious orders merited the grati- tude of their contemporaries and of future generations. Dr. Thompson rec- ognies this fact in his book The Church and the Wage-Earners. He admits that the religious orders acted as the bridge-builders and road-con- structors of many districts in the Middle Ages. They drained the swamps and improved the fertility of large wastes and tracts of arid lands.
But this work has continued to our own day. Missionaries of religious orders became the instructors of the tribes not only in religion but in agri- culture. The " Jesuit Reductions " of Paraguay are a telling example. In other cases the monks and religious, acted not only as preachers of the Gospel but as social apostles. The Salesians are today carrying on fine so- cial work, in the spirit of their founder Dom Bosco, not only in Italy but also in South America. The Fathers of the Society of the Divine Word have been laboring successfully in Togoland in Africa, teaching their black children the Christian religion and the arts of life. The sons of St. Francis have brought the light of faith and material pros- perity to the Navajos of Arizona, fol- lowing in this the example of their il- lustrious brethren, Junipero Serra and Salvatierre. The Oblates are working successfully for the spiritual and social uplift of the Denes of British Columbia. Men like De Smet, Fr. Morice, O.M.I. , Bishop Marty, who labored among the Sioux, were not only missionaries of the " good tidings " but apostles of charity and promoters of social peace and happi- ness.
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THE CATHOLIC CHARITIES REVIEW
CATHOLIC SETTLEMENT WORK— AN ANALYSIS.
BY MARGARET TUCKER.
{Concluded.)
HILE many of the difficulties now hampering CathoHc set- tlement work and the work of other Catholic charitable agencies, would undoubtedly be overcome through the employment of an ample force of salaried, trained work- ers, yet, even in event of this desirable progress, a just estimate of its effect upon the work must note certain limita- tions in result. These limitations follow from the nature of the work, and the fact that in work of such character self- supporting laywomen, from whose ranks the staff of workers (with few excep- tions) must necessarily be recruited, are by force of circumstance working under a handicap. There are many influences in the life of the average self-supporting woman which pull against highest achievement in a work which must min- ister positively, if not primarily, to spirit- ual needs ; which is at the same time arduous ; which must, not even though it happen to afford it, be considered merely as a means to self-support. At the same time there are necessary qualifications for leadership or position of power in a work which involves great spiritual re- sponsibility which even handsome salaries, of themselves, cannot secure.
The life of the average self-support- ing woman in the world is rather a hardening process. Though contempor- ary opinion in general is that women have but come into their own in the opportunity to achieve " economic in- dependence " ( a term which users never define), let us not overlook the fact that the woman trying to achieve this de-
lightful goal by her own efforts is in a dangerous and unnatural position. Phy- sically, by instinct, tradition, and often educationally, she is inadequately equip- ped for her lone struggle. She must learn to fight a man's game with a man's weapons, or without them, and when all is said upon the subject, she is really not a man. She may learn, however, to maintain her position very successfully, and manage for herself a felicitous career, but does she not in the process lose much of her fineness, and often her sense of certain ethical values in her work? Her policy in her work must be based upon consideration of her own interests and ambitions. Who is there to look after such interests and ambitions but herself? What would be the out- come should she dare to forget such in- terests? Her campaign must be one of assertive or covert self-advertisement. She has as an ever-present disturbing consideration with her, which only youth, health or transcendent spirituality can calm or keep in abeyance, that is, the necessity of providing for her own future.
Naturally her business reputation must be maintained both as a contrib- utory cause and effect of her success. This reputation will depend largely upon the number of figures in the salary she can command, and the amount of re- sponsibility she may appear to be carry- ing. Even though her living expenses may be juggled to come within the com- pass of a small salary in a willingness or desire for self-sacrifice, the fact that by so doing her standing in the business
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world would be lowered remains an ob- stacle between the self-supporting woman and such Utopian ideals. It is an amusing paradox that many of those employers whose policy would be to pinch salaries, usually rate a woman's ability by her recompense in money. The life of the self-supporting woman is usually a very lonely one, and loneliness is a force which grows more pressing and acute with advancing years. Many women who have appeared steady and reliable in character, often break out to- wards middle age into amazing actions, beliefs, or habits of thought, under stress of this and other vital unrests. That some women do^manage to keep their poise and sanity and perform conscien- tious self-forgetting work seems little short of a miracle. Perhaps it is a miracle unless there exists a strong force in their lives which makes for mental balance and spiritual poise — a force which is furthered rather than hindered by the circumstances of daily routine.
It should not be necessary to state that executives and workers in a Catholic work, which must always endeavor to set a moral as well as a social standard, should be women of personal dignity, unimpeachable reputation, and inspiring Catholic practise ; that besides the train- ing in scientific method and organiza- tion, there should also be training of spirit and motive. In the arduous life of the social worker any but the essen- tials in Catholic practise are nearly im- possible, yet who needs close contact with her Church to a greater extent than she for inspiration in her task of guiding and shaping the destinies of her innum- erable " cases ? " It is pertinent and in- teresting to observe how few of the busy workers in attendance at Conference or Convention, devotedly attending Com- mittee meetings, can add to their daily task the extra effort of getting out to early Mass.
We have really a very complex situa- tion to meet in the efifort to carry on, develop to the required extent, and main- tain a proper standard of work in Cath- olic charitable agencies. To what group shall we turn to recruit workers able, willing and in a position to undertake or to extend activities dealing with old
problems rendered acute by delay in solution, or meeting new ones caused by further complications in our social order? It would be only a makeshift measure which would turn such activities- over to orders of religious founded for other purposes, untrained for this work,, who must necessarily take it up as a secondary consideration; who would be further handicapped by a conspicuous and hampering dress from freely engag- ing in that part of the work which would take them into the homes of the poor and from attendance at public meetings,, which are an essential part of the social workers routine.
Is it only the mental eye of a visionary which sees in the future Catholic social work in bureaux, centres^and some other agencies being performed by communi- ties of women specially organized for and consecrated to it ? Such communities of purposeful women banded together under a discipline, and steadied by a rule which would safeguard their reli- gious motive and practise and steer them past disrupting jealousies and ambi- tions— such women would have had a religious as well as a scientific training; would be bound to their work by a stronger tie than a mere business con- tract, _ but need not by their dress be marked as conspicuously apart from other women workers in the field (ex- cept in so far as good judgment and fitness to their occupation might tend to do so).
It is interesting to note that at dif- ferent times in the history of the Cath- olic Church, a need for similar societies of women has been met. The most famous example is in the organization of Sisters of Charity of St. Vincent de Paul. When St. Vincent de Paul gathered together these women, to per- form a very necessary missionary work, he had no intention of founding an en- closed order like those in existence at that time. He appreciated the need for a dififerent type and wished to revive the order of unenclosed Deaconesses of the ancient Church. In doing so he was thought to be starting a very radical movement. Of his new order he said that their cell would be their room wherever it might be; their monastery
20
THE CATHOLIC CHARITIES REVIEW
the homes of the sick ; their chapel, the parish Church ; their veil, " holy mod- esty." Their work was to take them from the parish conference into the homes of the poor. He did not recom- mend that for this work there should be adopted the dress of other days and fashions, but that of a certain class of humble women of that day. As he said, it was the glaring need for such a so- ciety, as much as he himself, that founded it. His ** little snowball," as he called it, increased with amazinsf rapidity, and proved its worth and necessity. While its activity has grown more formal and institutional in character with the passing year, we can point to it with pride as one of our greatest. It has been an epoch-making society in the field of charities, from any point of view.
A society of women, banded together to meet the exigencies of Catholic so- cial work of today would have obvi- ously no class fashions as a guide. They would not even have at their command a style which suggests maturity, since nowadays grandmother and miss have the same mode of dress. They might be guided in any regulation as to dress simply by economy in outlay, utility as to character, appropriateness to their occupation, or they might in this age of uniformed women adapt one of the many styles which the military organi- zations of women have caused to be designed. Such an organization could afford to give their service at a min- imum rate, since their cooperative liv- ing would enable them to live under healthful, cheerful conditions at a min- imum of expense ; their organization would eliminate many worrying details and responsibilities from the lives of the individual members, would distribute the burden of daily economies, and at the same time make for efficiency, by mak- ing possible proper quarters and nour- ishing food necessary to maintain physical well-being, so often taxed in this arduous, engrossing work.
It is a safe prophecy that such a so- ciety would have a broad appeal among Catholic women. An inspired and in- spiring director would find quite a num- ber of capable, eligible women ready to respond to his call for such service.
Such recruits would manifestly be women of maturity of thought and ex- perience, beyond the age of those who would join an enclosed order. They might be business women glad to give their lives to a cause whose need they appreciate, stimulated to their decision by the knowledge that after a supremely useful life they could look forward to an honorable old age; from among the ranks of Catholic social workers, those who really love their work and would be able and glad to devote their lives to it ; from among women of leisure and wealth also. A more serious interest in modern Catholic needs would be awakened in the minds and hearts of many women by the knowledge that these needs are grave enough to com- mand the consecration of lives to their betterment. A clientele of devoted volunteers would also become attached to such a community, since motives would be unassailable and great de- mands could be made of volunteer ser- vice without suspicion of personal gain therein. Such a movement as that of the *' big sister " to the wayward or isolated girl, which is at present a mere catchword, might become a reality at last.
The work of financing such a society would have to be met as such societies have met their financial . obligations heretofore, — by appeals to individuals for voluntary contributions, by contri- butions from members who would be able to do so, or by salaries paid from diocesan funds to this staff of workers as part of the diocesan machinery of charity. Such a group, with the strength of organization to give them courage and importance, might have the opportunity to awake an occasional, un- observant bishop to the latter day needs in the unorganized charities of his diocese.
Nor would the lives of the individual members of this very modern and American community be so unnatural, abnormal, or narrowing- as a first con- sideration might suggest. The life of the average social worker is unnatural and abnormal, since she has often by ex- cluding social pleasures outside her working hours, to recruit her strength
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21
for the coming toil. To some social workers working as a member of such a society would be labor under ideal working conditions; it might amount to merely making a virtue of necessity, i. e., the taking of a deliberate vow to lead a certain kind of life which cir- cumstance had before this time made a fact.
There is a great deal being said pro and con as to the possibility of raising social work to the dignity of a rec- ognized profession, but what can be said of the possibility of making it a vocation? In the field of Catholic social work (by which term is meant those forms of organized activity usu- ally grouped under this technical head- ing) will certain activities ever be un- dertaken, or will substantial results ever be accomplished by some of our agencies, until the work is available as a vocation to a staff of women, who animated by high motive, appreciative of the need for technical training, are willing also to sacrifice themselves to their work?
Ridley Park, Pa.
DISTRIBUTION OF INCOME TAXES.
Direct taxes fell heavilv on corpora- tion and on persons having- large in- comes and lightly on the great' majority of persons earning less than $3,000.00 a year, as was shown by the annual re- port of Internal Revenue Commissioner Daniel G. Roper for the vear ending- June 30.
Although 2,319,000 persons with in- comes of $3,000.00 or less in 1917 filed returns, including many heads of fami- lies having incomes ranging between $1,000.00 and $2,000.00 which were re- portable but not taxable, they were as- sessed only $22,395,000.00 in the aggre- gate, or less than $10.00 each. On the other hand, 665,000 individuals with in- comes of more than $3,000.00 were as- sessed $592,613,000.00.
The year 1918 marked the beginning of a new era of taxation, commented Mr. Roper, because the bulk came from in- come and profits taxes rather than from liquor as in previous years.
The People's Conference Evenings conducted by the Catholic Federation of Toledo, will comprise four meetings in each of the months, November, January, February and March. All four meetings are held on the same eveninsr in dif- ferent sections of the city, and each of the four speakers appears in each of the four sections once during: the course. The speakers and their subjects are: Rt. Rev. Monsignor J. T. O'Connell, " European Policies and Ideals Before the War;" Mr. Charles P. Carroll, "The War and the United States;" Rev. Dr. F. E. Malone, " Economic and Social Life of Europe Before the War;" Mr. Erwin R. Effler, " Reconstruction After the War." This method of utiliz- ing the same speaker and the same speech several times in the same city is well worthy of adoption everywhere.
T *r T There are now 32 States in the "dry" column. The recent elections have given over to prohibition the States of Florida, Ohio, Nevada, and Wyoming. The States already with "dry laws in effect are: Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, Colo- rado, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Maine, Michigan, Mississippi, Nebraska, New Mexico, North Carolina, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Oregon, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tenn- essee, Virginia, Washington, West Vir- ginia.
*b ^ ^
The investigation into the coal situ- ation by the Senate Committee on Manufactures revealed that the Pro- vinces of Quebec and Ontario, Canada, by order of President Wilson, were furnished anthracite coal last year as if they' were a part of the United States. The war brought out many other ex- amples of international helpfulness.
Hh + +
Plans for the erection of a Catholic hospital in Nampa, Idaho, at a cost of $60,000.00 have been fully consummated. All the money has been secured except $7,000.00, and this sum is in sight. The citizens of the city were asked to raise $30,000.00 of the sum held necessary for the construction and furnishing of the hospital.
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THE CATHOLIC CHARITIES REVIEW
REPORTS OF COUNCILS AND CONFERENCES.
E are very grateful to the of- ficers of the Councils and Conferences who so promptly complied with our request for an early report of their work for the year ending September 30, 1918.
Thus far we have complete returns from three provinces, San Francisco, St. Paul and Milwaukee. If space in this issue should limit the use of all of the reports received we feel confident the postponement of the presentation of the excess copy to the February number will be understood and appreciated by the members concerned.
We owe an apology to the Conference of St. Mary Magdalen of Salt Lake City, Utah, for the erroneous use of the name " Immaculate Conception " in con- nection with the report of S.t. Mary Magdalen Conference for the year end- ing September 30, 191 8, published in the December issue. We suppose the " printers devil " must have had some hand in the matter for we did our best to secure a correction of the error when the copy was still in the " galley proof " stage but it remained there despite all efifort on our part.
The reports received, which will be published in the order of their arrival, follow :
Particular Council of San Francisco. — Number of Conferences reporting, 18 ; active members, 211 ; honorary members, 6; subscribers 411; families assisted, 687 ; persons in families, 2,040 ; visits to families, 2,673 5 visits to hospitals and institutions, 305 ; situations procured, 176; medical aid and hospital care secured for 171 ; persons assisted to re- turn to homes or friends, 23; receipts, $11,492.86; expenditures, $11,362.39. Particular Council of Milwaukee. —
One would suppose that on account of the war our work amongst the poor and sick would have greatly increased during this past year. But such has not been our experience, and we account for this, as follows :
First, on account of the great pros- perity all over the country, there has been an abundance of work in most lines of business, especially among manufac- turers making war supplies. This gave everyone able to work an opportunity to earn a living and thereby reduced the demands on charity organizations.
Second, such families who have mem- bers in United States service naturally fell under the care and supervision of the American Red Cross especially through its Home Service and this fact necessarily reduced the number of families usually aided by charitable or- ganizations, but nevertheless, we took care of our usual number of patients, which speaks well for our members and our organization.
During the year two Conferences were organized, one in the Immaculate Con- ception parish and the other in Pio None College, St. Francis. While the mem- bers of the Holy Family Conference of Pio Nono College and of the St. Francis de Sales Conference, St. Francis Sem- inary do not perform some of the or- dinary duties expected of every Con- ference, namely, the visiting of the poor, yet the results we expect from these Con- ferences are not so much for the present but we feel it is planting the seed for the harvest in the future when these present students will become leaders in our work as priests or teachers.
Under the head of new activities I wish to state that the St. Bernard's Home for Workingmen has been re- organized during the year and is now
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23
one of the special works of the Particular Council and stands on a parity with the Clothing Depot and Child's Welfare Bureau. Further reference to this will be found in the printed annual report under the heading of St. Bernard's Home.
About fifteen of our active Vincen- tians entered the service of the United States and Brother Jos. P. Callan of St. Patrick's Conference gave the supreme tribute of his life in defense of the honor of his country. Two suc- ceeding presidents and the treasurer of St. Lawrence Conference were called into service, one active member died, and yet by sheer pluck this Conference is carry- ing on an exceptionally great amount of work. Major M. D. Imhoff, the former president of the Particular Council now with the 107th Am. Tr. Am. E. F., who has seen some very active service in France, has the reputation of having organized the first and only St. Vincent de Paul Conference in the American army " Over There." The majority of our active Vincentians have been actively engaged in one capacity or another in the various activities connected with the war, be it as Four Minute Men, Bond Boosters or War Fund Campaigners. Some of our members served on various committees of the Milwaukee County Council of Defense. At our store and office we generously gave over our windows to the advertising of the various campaigns, which were held to gather war funds or to educate our peo- ple to certain needs and problems arising from efforts used for the successful prosecution of the war.
The Special Committees of the Particular Council : Child Welfare Bureau, House of Correction, County Institutions, including the Alms- house, County Hospital, Hospital for the Insane, Detention Home, Home for Children and Tuberculosis Sanitoria, present most interesting reports of their activities during the year and show that our poor dependents who become inmates of public institutions are not neglected by their co-religionists. The general statistics of the report of the Council follow:
Conferences reporting, 30; active
members, 365 ; honorary members, 708 ; families assisted, 243; persons in fami- lies, 1,103; visits to families, 3,544; situations procured, 106; receipts, $11,947.45; expenditures, $10,805.39.
Conference of St. Mary, Menasha, Wis. — Active members, 1 1 ; honorary members, 35 ; subscribers, 20 ; families assisted, 9 ; persons in families, 54 ; visits to families, 125 ; receipts $420.39 ; ex- penditures, $277.93.
Particular Council of Philadelphia. — The many works of Christian charity carried out by the members of the So- ciety of St. Vincent de Paul in the last twelve months were reviewed at a largely attended meeting of that body held on Sunday, December 8, in the assembly hall of Our Lady of Mercy Church.
The statistics furnished for the year showed gratifying evidence of the ac- tivity which has characterized the works of the various conferences in their dealings with all kinds of dis- tress. Relief was accorded 2,305 fam- ilies, composed of 8,257 persons. The members made 6,475 visits to relieve the poor and spent $41,971.77 in supplying food, clothing, shoes, medicines for the sick and burying the dead. The receipts for the same period amounted to $42,699.80. The members busied them- selves also in finding employment for the breadwinners of poor families and in procuring hospital treatment for the sick and convalescent, care for the weak and delicate of both sexes, teaching Christian doctrine, etc.
Supplementing the activities of the Conferences the central office carried out relief work principally in parishes where the society is not organized. From this source thirty-two families were relieved and 156 visits made, the amount ex- pended being $250.00. Six persons were enabled to reach their homes or friends in various parts of the country, while no homeless poor received aid and direction in their efforts to become self- supporting. More than two hundred Christian burial cases were handled.
The work of the sailors' committee for the year consisted of 225 visits to the ships in port and bringing 300 men to Mass, 173 to the sacramen,ts and
THE CATHOLIC CHARITIES REVIEW
fifty-eight to the annual retreat of the society. The distribution of CathoHc literature was made up of 1,200 copies of The Catholic Standard and Times, numerous copies of Catholic magazines, 1,250 prayer books, 2,880 pairs of beads, 1,500 scapulars, 2,500 scapular medals, 732 Sacred Heart badges, 105 comfort bags and 535 books written in the Italian, Spanish and French languages. Clothing was supplied to fifty men and shoes to twenty-five. This committee took part in the camp work of the Knights of Columbus at League Island and the efforts of the members were very effective in getting men to ap- proach the sacraments.
Perhaps the most interesting report read to the meeting was that of the waste collection bureau, an industrial activity founded a few years ago in connection with the other special com- mittees. Through the collection and sale of newspapers and other waste material the bureau has been able to donate sums of money to the fund for the outings of poor children during the summer and to buy religious articles for the sailors and the poor in the Philadeliphia General Hospital. The charitable endeavor of this department does not stop at that. More than 1,900 garments were directly given to the poor in the twelve months with which the report dealt. Homes of many in need received furniture; children were clothed for their First Holy Commu- nion; men picked up by the sailors' committee were fitted out to attend church and in a hundred other ways the bureau has rendered signal service in helping the unfortunate through dif- ferent branches of Catholic charity.
The efforts of the members compos- ing the Almshouse Committee, as shown by their report, brought many edifying results in conversions, bap- tisms and reformations during the year. As pointed out by the chaplain on sev- eral occasions the real spiritual good derived by the inmates as a result of the visits of Vincentians was known only to God. Cases were mentioned where men were brought to the sacra- ments who had neglected the practice of their religious duties for many years.
To those engaged in the spiritual uplift of this numerous class of neglected and dejected men the cheering thought of the inestimable good effected by the number of confessions and enrollments in the scapulars is further heightened by these conversions. More than 170 baptisms were recorded for the year and 745 visits were made to 5,619 inmates. The committee procured situations for ten men and homes for eight others. More than 5,000 articles of devotion and books were given out. Clothing and shoes were supplied to forty-five in- mates. The members also distributed tobacco, fruit, stamps, postals and other articles.
One of the works carried out in con- nection with the summer home at Port Kennedy, which accommodated more than 1,200 poor children, was the or- ganization of a mission in the district with a chaplain, who will look after the religious welfare of the Catholic res- idents.
The Metropolitan Central Council of St, Paul, Minn. — I have the honor to submit the report of the Metropolitan Central Council of St. Paul for the year ending September 30, A. D. 1918. The tables, hereto appended, will show in figures the result of charitable efforts on the part of all Conferences within our jurisdiction.
Although the jurisdiction of the Council extends throughout the Eccles- iastical Province of St. Paul — the Province including the States of Minn- esota, North Dakota, South Dakota and Montana — only two Particular Councils have, so far, been established. Earnest efforts have been made to form Con- ferences in various places outside the cities of St. Paul and Minneapolis and we cherish the hope that, in many in- stances, proper foundations have been laid.
We are happy to state that the work of the Conferences now existing has been faithfully and zealously performed. It is no trifling result to note in the annals of charity that two hundred and ninety families, containing twelve hundred and fifty-four persons, have been relieved during the year and that the Society of St. Vincent de Paul has
THE CATHOLIC CHARITIES REVIEW
been entrusted with $7,354.18 by its members and friends, of which $5,572.36 have been expended for the benefit of God's poor.
We are happy to state that poverty appears to be diminishing rather than increasing and that the spirit of charity is more active than ever before.
Herewith, I have the honor to send the Special Reports of the two Partic- ular Councils of this jurisdiction.
Particular Council of St. Paul. — Con- ferences reporting, 10; active members, 296; families assisted, 170; persons in families, 681; visits to families, 1,136; situations procured, 10; receipts, $3,389.16; expenditures, $2,832.28.
Particular Council of Minneapolis. — Conferences reporting, 9; active mem- bers, 147; families assisted, 120; persons in families, 573; visits to families, 809; situations procured, 7 ; receipts $3,965.02 ; expenditures, $2,740.08.
Particular Council of New York, N. Y. City. — The general meeting of the society was held at St. Stephen's School Hall at 4 p. m., December 8. James F. Boyle, presided. The names of sixteen new members were announced, and those present were welcomed into the society by President Boyle, who advised regular attendance at all the meetings, so as to gain plenary indulgences, a reading of the rules frequently, and never to let the poor suflFer by lack of attention. He congratulated them on their mission and hoped they would remain steadfast to the end.
The secretary read the following re- port: Conferences reporting, 51; mem- bers on roll, 645 ; average attendance, 413 ; families relieved during the year, 5,475 ; number of persons in families, 21,771; number of visits made, 25,383; families on roll September 30, 1918, 403 ; situations procured, 524; total receipts, $66.693 ; total expenditures, $62,268.
The Particular Council treasurer's re- port showed that the receipts during the year amounted to $49,984.68. Of this amount $33,000.00 was received from the finance committee; $11,000.00 from bequests to the special works o-f the society; $3,736.30 from bequests to Con- ferences. Some of the larger items of expenditures were the maintenance of
the fresh air work and Convalescent Home at Spring Valley, N. Y., which amounted to $23,669.70; $5,000.00 to the Catholic Home Bureau; $4,000.00 to the Preventive Relief Work, for re- habilitating families ; $4,350.00 to forty- six conferences to assist in their relief work ; $1,000.00 to the society in Halifax, Canada, for victims of the harbor dis- aster. The total expenditure of ad- ministration was $5,695.93.
The Catholic Home Bureau showed that 357 applications were received and 99 children, between the ages of two and sixteen, were placed in good Cath- olic homes ; 2.422 visits were made to children Under supervision; 1,596 chil- dren under supervision on September 30, 1918. The report also showed that 138 Bureau wards were engaged in war service, 4 died in the service, 6 were in- jured in service, and i was a prisoner in Germany.
The fresh air work at Spring Valley, N. Y., opened on June 13, and closed on September 30. The first batch consisted of tiny nursery children, in many in- stances so helpless as to be unable to establish their identity ; they followed the five school children outings, who cer- tainly appreciated and immensely en- joyed their stay at the farm ; 2,327 children received a two weeks outing.
Seventy boys and girls, between the ages of eight and twelve, were prepared for first confession; 124,200 meals were served to the children during the season. The Ladies' Auxiliary, as usual, were most generous supplying clothing, shoes, games, etc., for the comfort and pleasure of the children.
St. Elizabeth Home for Convalescents, Spring Valley, for women and girls, har- bored 1,698 persons. Of this number 391 were married women, 86 married women with children, and 1,221 un- married women; 998 confessions were heard, and 7,820 Communions received during the year. The Ladies' Auxiliary has contributed largely to brighten the life of the convalescents with many use- ful articles. Entertainments and little plays were staged for the inmates from time to time, and it is gratifying to see what delight and great interest each person takes in the success of the per-
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THE CATHOLIC CHARITIES REVIEW
formance. A grotto in memory of Mgr. Denis J. McMahon, D.D., has been erected on the grounds to commemorate the zealous and energetic work carried on by him among the poor and suffering. The shrine is well attended by the con- valescents as well as the other mem- bers of the farm's household, which at times numbers over 400 persons.
The Wardrobe and Literature Bureau received 174 packages of clothing, eight trunks, and two barrels of clothing, and eight bundles of uniforms, and two boxes of shoes for men, women and children, and fifty-two packages of literature.
The visiting committees look after the Metropolitan Hospital, Bellevue Hospi- tal, City Home, City Hospital, New York County Penitentiary, Randall's Is- land, Harlem Hospital and the Tombs. Each committee has a little band of zealous workers who, regardless of weather conditions, faithfully attend to the visitation of these particular places every Sunday. Thousands of pieces of literature, religious articles, fruits, candies and tobacco are distributed at intervals and regularly at Christmas time to the patients and prisoners ; writ- ing paper, envelopes and stamps are furnished. The religious side of the patient is looked into, and in many in- stances through the kindness of the visitor he is brought back to a practical Christian life. In short, the work of these committees is apostolic and cannot be commended too highly; as to the re- sults obtained, it is impossible to tabu- late them.
The preventive relief work, conducted at the office for the rehabilitation of families, reports that 472 cases were re- ferred, 1,857 children being involved in these cases ; 106 cases were directed to the care of Conferences ; 331 families were assisted with clothing of every description; 2,173 visits were made in connection with the work; 21 homes were reestablished, and 16 children were baptized. The total amount expended was $3,840.50.
Particular Council of Upper Man- hattan, N. Y. City.— Particular Council of Upper Manhattan of the Society of St. Vincent de Paul held its annual meet- ing on Sunday, December .15, in the
clubhouse of the St. Aloysius Catholic Club. Frank P. Cunnion, the president, presided, and Monsignor Wall, the spiritual director; the Rev. William F. Hughes, D. D., the Rev. P. J. Minogue, rector of St. Aloysius'; the Rev. Father Larkin and a large number of Vincen- tians were present.
During the meeting several new mem- bers were introduced and welcomed into the ranks by the president. Annual re- ports of the Conferences, including the reports of the secretary and treasurer and of the Council visitor, were read, and showed good and earnest work per- formed by the members during the past year.
At the conclusion of the regular busi- ness the president introduced the speaker of the day, the Rev. William F. Hughes, D. D., rector of St. Gregory's Church, who spoke in words of praise for the work done for the poor, as evidenced by the several reports. He suggested many good points to follow in the performance of our duties as Vincentians, and dwelt on the importance of instilling into the minds of growing boys and young men the virtue of self-respect, which would enable them to become a credit to the Church and the country. He paid a tribute to the soldier boys and asked the society to look after their welfare in every possible way.
Father Minogue spoke of the good im- pression the society had made in the par- ish during the retreat, and said he hoped the next annual meeting of the society would also be held at St. Aloysius', as it was a great benefit to the parish.
Monsignor Wall concluding the meet- ing said that he hoped the Conferences would use every effort to improve their work in helping God's poor, and that dur- ing the coming year all the churches with- in the circumscription who had not as yet organized Conferences would do so.
The triduum in honor of the feast of the Immaculate Conception, under the auspices of the Particular Council of Upper Manhattan, was held in St. Aloysius' Church on December 11, 12 and 13. The Rev. James Cronin, C.S.P., conducted the triduum and preached eloquently on the duties of Vincentians. The members received Holy Communion
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27
in a body at the 8 o'clock Mass on Sun- day, all the Conferences being- repre- sented.
During the year the council relieved 856 families, in which there were 3,208 persons. The members made 6,907 visits to the homes of the poor and secured employment for 293 persons.
The society spent $10,159.90 for food and fuel; $1,359.98 for clothing and shoes, and $4,288.85 for various other purposes, including cash grants, rent, lodging, care of the blind and crippled, etc. The total expenditures were $16,- 299.39, which amount was received from the following sources: Collections at meetings, $1,967.73; collections from poor boxes in the churches, $6,383.68; collections in churches, $698.06; dona- tions, including one from Particular Council of New York City, $4,907.36; bequest and bazaar, $1,188.35.
Particular Council of the Bronx, N. Y. City. — The annual meeting and com- munion services of the St. Vincent de Paul Society of the Bronx was held Sunday, December 15, at the Church of St. John Chrysostom. The members re- ceived Communion at the 8 o'clock Mass. After breakfast, the meeting was held in the School Hall, President James J. Reid presiding. President Edward J. Reilly, of St. John's Conference, wel- comed 26 new members into the society.
The Bronx society consists of 390 members and has Conferences in 27 parishes, a gain of three during the past year. The report for the year read by the secretary shows : members on roll, 390; average attendance, 213; families relieved, 976; persons in faniilies, 4,024; number of visits made during the year, 6,607; situations procured, 159; total receipts, $15,616.33; total expenditures, $13,354-68.
Vice-president Murphy, of the general hospital committee, reported that 95 members wre on his committee and visited Fordham, Lincoln and Lebanon Hospitals, Montefiore Home, Home for Incurables, House of Calvary, Riverside Hospital on North Brother's Island, and U. S. A. Base Hospital No. i, Gun Hill Road.
Visits are made every Sunday and
periodically during the week. Over 12,- 900 patients were seen during the year, Reading matter and tobacco and other comforts are distributed regularly by the committee. The society provided four entertainments for the patients at River- side Hospital during the year.
This evidence of interest in their wel- fare is appreciated by the patients very much, as well as by the officials and nurses of the institution. The new chapel on the island was furnished by the society, the gilding of the altar of same being done by a member of the society without charge of any kind after his own day's labor was done.
Mass is being celebrated every Sun- day at the Base Hospital by the chaplain. Rev. A. A. Dore. The society furnishes a breakfast after this Mass to all com- municants. This is appreciated very much by the soldiers, who otherwise would have to fast until noon mess. A branch of this Base Hospital has been established in the Messiah Home and there are 1,116 patients at the present time in both hospitals.
As the boys in both places are from all sections of the country, the members are able to do a number of little favors for them. Michael A. Downs, president of St. Mary's Conference, is chairman of this committee. He is also^ K. of C. secretary and combines the work of the two societies. As K. of C. secretary he is present every day attending to the wants of the patients.
A report of the number of Bronx members of the Society in the U. S. service shows that over 10 per cent are in both branches of the service, a large majority being overseas. Several of these were wounded in action, but, so far, the present reports received* show none have been killed. The society is cooperating with the Red Cross Society in the care of families whose bread- winners are in the service.
At the present time there are 11,400 families on the Red Cross rolls in New York City, three-fifths of whom are Catholics. It is expected there will be considerable after-care necessary for a number of these families, and the society expects to do its part along these lines in cooperating with the Red Cross.
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THE CATHOLIC CHARITIES REVIEW
Rev. Father Brady, pastor of St. John's, addressed the meeting and spoke of the early work of the society in the Bronx and the part he had taken with the late James E. Dougherty, first presi- dent of the Bronx Council. He spoke of the zeal displayed by the members in their work, which was exemplified by the large number who had come from all sections of the Bronx at such an early hour in such inclement weather.
A report of the work of the Society in the United States was read by Ed- mond J. Butler, Secretary of the Superior Council. This report showed that there are i,ioo Conferences in the United States, in which there are some 16,000 members, who made 206,000 visits and expended three-quarters of a million dollars in relief during the year.
Particular Cotincil of Brooklyn, N. Y. City. — The Conferences of the St. Vincent de Paul Society in the Diocese of Brooklyn attended a course of spiritual exercises or Retreat, in prep- aration for the feast of the Immaculate Conception at the Pro-Cathedral. The retreat was conducted this year by the Rev. Joseph A. Mulry, S. J., Presi- dent of Fordham University, and the younger brother of the late Thomas M. Mulry whose name is so intimately identified with the history of the St. Vincent de Paul Society in the United States. The retreat closed on Sunday morning, December 8, with a general Communion in the Pro-Cathedral and the General Meeting was held in the even- ing at eight o'clock.
A summary of the reports of the Conferences presented by the Secretary showed that there were 57 Conferences within the jurisdiction of the Particular Council of Brooklyn and 53 of the Con- ferences had sent in their reports. It was noted that due to war conditions only 40 new members had been added to the Society's rolls during the year, which left the membership at somewhat below 1,000 in all. 4,000 families were relieved during the year consisting of 13,000 persons, and the number of visits made was recorded as 26,911. The number of families on the Relief Roll at the end of the fiscal year, September 30, was 450, a considerable reduction
from the year previous. This reduction it was stated was due to the fact that 1 employment during the year was readily obtained so that the great majority of applicants, during the year, for relief were persons unable to work an account .of sickness. The income of the Con- ferences was also considerably above the average amount, about $60,000.00, in all. As usual about 70 per cent had been re- ceived from Poor Boxes and St. An- thony's Bread. In addition the Brooklyn Benevolent Society, (the Heany Estate), gave its annual contribution of $10,000.00 in fuel and clothing to the poor in the territory included in the original city of Brooklyn. Much the greater part of the income of the Conferences was expended in the purchase of groceries, fuel and clothing. Towards the support of the special work of the Particular Council the Conferences donated $3,000.00 and to other charities, Little Sisters of the Poor, Hospitals, etc., $2,200.00. In addi- tion the Particular Council received about $9,000.00 from donations and be- quests, which with the contributions from the Conferences gave the Council an income of something over $12,000.00. The expenses of the Central Office were paid from the fund of the Particular Council and about $3,000.00 was dis- tributed in cases of urgent distress from the public departments, the Department of Charities, the Department of Health and Education Department. Unfortu- nately as the report noted there are districts in Brooklyn in which no Con- ference of the Society exists, and this is especially true of districts in which Eng- lish speaking people are few. The Council makes every effort to relieve families in distress in these districts where its at- tention is called to them, and endeavors to enlist the interest of the members of the nearest Conference to the family.
Speaking on this point the report said, ** The Society of St. Vincent de Paul was never merely a relief giving organization, its object being to bring moral as well as material relief to the families visited, and it cannot rest sat- isfied by merely paying a month's rent or providing shoes for the children with- out at the same time making every effort to induce the parents to practice their
THE CATHOLIC CHARITIES REVIEW
29
religious duties and, provide ^religious instruction for their children."
Many of the Conferences are at particular pains to see that the children of their clients attend religious instruc- tion, if possible a Catholic school. Some Conferences distribute literature and strongly urge the extension of this prac- tice as a powerful medium of religious instruction. One Conference suggests a careful supervision of the moving picture theatres in the neighborhood with the view of safeguarding the morals of the children who attend them, as the parents of the children from all appearances ex- ercise no supervision over their chil- dren's amusements at all. Speaking of the laxity of parents in this and other particulars, one of the judges of the Children's Court is quoted as saying, " that if the parents would only do their duty and provide religious instructions for their children, the number of chil- dren appearing before the court would be reduced one half." The report also noted the activity of some Conferences whose members acted as Big Brothers and kept a watchful eye upon the boys released from reformatory institutions, so that these lads might not get into evil ways again.
The cordial cooperation which existed between the Conferences and the Home Service Section of the Red Cross was also mentioned with approval and its development was strongly encouraged. Since the end of the fiscal year on Sep- tember 30, the epidemic of influenza has been raging throughout Brooklyn and has caused an immense amount of suffering, especially in families where there were young children. It was not unusual to find families in which there were five or six young children left destitute by the death of a father or mother or both, and as it was not aUvays possible to provide immediate institu- tional care for these children the Society strove to support them until definite pro- vision could be made for their care. Where the bread-winner's life was spared but he was unable to work for a time, the Society endeavored to maintain the home until the sufferer's health was restored, and in this task we had the co- operation of groups of Catholic women
who provided clothing and bedding for the afflicted families. The epidemic has brought into striking relief the absolute need of a convalescent home for women and children in Brooklyn, and the Coun- cil has taken up in earnest the task of fitting the Summer Home at Freeport with a heating plant which will make the buildings habitable during the entire year.
At the conclusion of the reports the members had the pleasure of listening to a very earnest address by one of the younger clergy, Rev. Edward J. Donovan of St. Peter's Church. One of the largest hospitals of the city, the Long Island College Hospital, is located in this parish and Father Donovan has had occasion to visit this hospital almost daily for a dozen years, and had become convinced himself of the need of so- cial service work for the Catholic pati- ents in this and similar institutions. He urged the members of the Society to make a feature of preventive work, mak- ing several definite suggestions, for in- stance, to encourage Catholic children to remain in school and complete the elementary school course and a high school course also if possible so that the higher paid occupations in the busi- ness world and in public positions might show a larger proportion of Catholics than at present. He also urged the mem- bers to insist upon cleanliness in the households they visited and to promote sobriety in every possible way. The distribution of religious literature amongst the families visited was strongly urged. ^
Statistical Reports of Conferences. — Number of Conferences, 57 ; Conferences reporting, '53; active members, 945; honorary members, 90 ; families assisted, 4,090; persons in families, 12,942; visits to families, 26,911; total receipts, $65,063.77; total expenditures, $64,- 710.53-
T T T
The Archbishop of San Francisco has formed a new organization, called " The Boys Welfare Society of California," with the cooperation of influential lay- men of San Francisco, and for the wel- fare of boys and young men.
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THE CATHOLIC CHARITIES REVIEW
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A THEOLOGY FOR THE SOCIAL GOSPEL. By Walter Rauschen- busch. New York: The Macmillan Company, 1918. Pp.279. Price, $1.50. Rauschenbusch's latest work is an ef- fort to create a theological substratum for Socialism. In view of the fact that many Socialists — the majority of them according to William English Walling — " find it difficult, if not impossible, to reconcile their general philosophic views with the doctrines and practices of dog- matic religious creeds " (Socialism: Promise or Menace f p. 204) the kind of treatise here under consideration arouses more than passing interest.
The first part of the book deals with the necessity and the possibility of a readjustment and expansion of theology that will adequately support the social gospel. Social groups that look to the future crave " for a social interpreta- tion and application of Christianity." The advent of world-wide democracy calls for a working partnership of the Christian spirit with " real social and psychological science." The " old mes- sage " gave us the concept of individual- istic, but not of solidaristic, sinfulness and salv^ion. It is quite apparent that from the Catholic standpoint we cannot admit a solidaristic conception of Christ's Gospel. Sin and salvation con- tain the inalienable element of individual volition. It has never entered the mind of any court to fix the responsibility but on individuals. Even now the Socialist groups of Berlin are seeking to fix the responsibility for the war on some individual culprits.
The second part of the book (Chapter IV. to end) offers concrete sus^gestions " how some of the most important sec- /tions of doctrinal theology may be ex- panded and readjusted to make room
for the religious conventions summed up in the social gospel."
The consciousness of sin should be expanded from the realization of indi- vidual sins to that of social sins by con- centrating " attention on questions of public morality, on wrongs done by whole classes or professions of men, on sins which enervate and submerge en- tire mill towns or agricultural states." The author realizes the danger of plac- ing the emphasis on environment and on the contributory guilt of the com- munity. Human nature is quick to seize the chance of unloading responsi- bility. But the old theology, he claims, had its equivalents for environment. " Men unloaded on original sin, on the devil, and on the decrees of God." Shifting the blame " seems to be one of the clearest and most universal ef- fects of sin." The new theology would shift the emphasis, not the responsi- bility, and assign a new valuation to different classes of sin. " A fatal failure in past teaching was side-stepping " the sins of classes and professions. The " past teaching," we would point out, has termed the oppression of the poor, of widows and of orphans, depriving the laborers of their just wages, sins that cry to heaven for vengeance. Chapters of the old theology treat thoroughly of " peccata aliena." The treatises on sins against charity have well covered the field gone over by the author in his chapter on the nature of sin.
The new social theology would con- sider original sin as passing down the generations not only by biological prop- agation, but also by social assimilation. What benefit would accrue to the treat- ment of social sins as an appendage to original sin is not apparent. The state-
THE CATHOLIC CHARITIES REVIEW
31
ment that " the theological doctrine of original sin is an important effort to see sin in its totality and to explain its unbroken transmission and perpetua- tion" would not have been made after a glimpse at Catholic theology on this point.
The social gospel insists on the pos- sibility and need of redeeming the his- torical life of humanity from the social wrongs. " Yet the salvation of the in- dividual is, of course, an essential part of salvation." " Voluntary socializing of the soul," is the author's definition of salvation. Faith he defines as " an energetic act of the will, affirming our fellowship with God and man, declaring our solidarity with the Kingdom of God, and repudiating social isolation." Sanc- tification is increased " followship with God and man," which fellowship is made possible by " useful labor." "The saint of the future will need not only a theocentric but an anthropocentric mysticism." Mysticism that renders labor less noble, is dangerous religion."
The new theology must give the doc- trine of the Kingdom of God " a central place, and revise all other doctrines so that they will articulate organically v/ith it." In this chapter the idea of the Church is quite distorted. "The Church is primarily a fellowship for worship; the Kingdom is a fellowship of right- eousness." "Theology, by its theoretical discussions, did its best to stimulate sacramental actions and priestly impor- tance."
Baptism should be theologically so reconstructed as to mean " the solemn dedication to the tasks of the Kingdom of God,' and the acceptance of the rights of children of God within that Kingdom." As to the Eucharist, the author leaves it open to any minister to emphasize the Lord's Meal as an act of fraternity and as a social hope of the Kingdom of God. He states in the fore- word that he is " not a doctrinal theo- logian either by professional training or by personal habits of mind."
The author's attacks on priests are uncalled for and unwarranted. The fol- lowing quotations will not commend themselves to the fair-minded. " As history invariably contradicts his [the
priest's] claims [as to the institution of his order jure divino] he frequently tampers with history by Deuteronomic codes or Pseudo-Isidorian Decretals, in order to secure precedents and the weight of antiquity." "He is opposed to free historical investigation." " Un- derneath all is the selfish interest of his class, which exploits religion,"
The following passage would have brought forth quite readable comment from Atzberger and his fellow-eschatol- ogists : " Theology has allowed it [the Kingdom of God] to lead a decrepit, bed-ridden and senile existence in that museum of antiquities which we call eschatology."
Philologists would like a tilt with the author after reading this remark: " Theological professors used to lecture and write in Latin. There is perhaps no other language in which one can utter platitudes so sonorously and euphoni- ously."
The following excerpts are more amusing than instructive. " The con- ception of Satan has paled. He has be- come a theological devil, and that is an attenuated and precarious mode of ex- istence." " Men enriched the Church enormously with gifts of land as in- surance premiums that God would not do anything horrible to them." "The first duty of the laymen was to believe with all their hearts what they could not possibly understand with all their heads." " When we die, we join — what? A throng of souls, an unor- ganized crowd of saints, who each carry a harp and have not even organized an orchestra."
The tone of the book would not be fairly indicated without calling atten- tion to such passages as these : " To- day there is no such world-wide power of oppression as the Roman Empire or the mediaeval ^.^pacy." " They [the Reformers] denied the doctrine of the Eucharist because the Mass was the chief monopoly right from which the Church drew material income and spiritual reverence." " It [the Catholic conception] gives an unquestioned status to some corrupt, venal, or ignorant bishop in Southern Italy; makes the ecclesiastical validity of the
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entire Anglican clergy dubious; and denies all standing to Chalmers, Spur- geon, or Asbury."
After placing the preceding and the following quotations side by side the reader can sit in judgment.
" The most persistent force which pushed Jesus toward death, the earliest on the field and the latest on the watch, was religious big^otry." " Innumerable individuals contribute their little quota to make up this collective evil."
" Religious bigotry has been one of the permanent evils of mankind, the cause of untold social division, bitter- ness, persecution, and religious wars. It is always a social sin."
Washington, D. C.
4" + Hh
Seattle, Wash., has a cooperative market based on the Rochdale plan that is reported to be a pronounced success after seven months' operation. It was financed with a paid-up capital of $41,000.00 and has done a business of $500,000.00, with a net profit of $20,- 000.00 above all expenses.
T* T* T
The War Council of the American Red Cross has made an appropriation of $131,600.00 for the establishment and maintenance of work-rooms and training schools for interned soldiers in Switzer- land, and a bureau is to be organized for the purpose of undertaking the sale of the articles made there. This work was designed originally to provide employ- ment that would keep the men from mental collapse; but manufacturing has developed until the output now amounts to about $45,000.00 in value per annum. + + +
The annual report of the American Red Cross shows a membership of 20,648,103 in 3,854 chapters throughout the United States. The Junior Red Cross has 8,000,000 young people mem- bers. About $325,000,000 has been pledged or already paid in to the funds of the organization. It is now giving aid to the wounded, the sick and the destitute in ten nations. + * +
One hundred and eighty-five New York State children, according to the Children's Bureau, who were implicated
in some sort of wrong-doing and who came from 144 different families were carefully studied, and their family sur- roundings were scanned in an effort to discover what had led them astray. Most of the children were of normal men- tality, although about one-fourteenth were noticeably deficient. But lack of opportunity for moral and mental train- ing, for recreation, and lack of variety of interesting occupations with promis- ing futures led these children of normal mental power into delinquency. All these conditions were found to be accentuated in the subnormal child who, in addition to the opportunities of a normal child, needs to be provided with some adequate means of diagnosis and appropriate treatment.
4" 4< +
The completion of the first year of the War Insurance shows that nearly $35,000,000,000.00 insurance has been written for the United States soldiers and sailors, or approximately as much as the ordinary life insurance in the world at the beginning of the war. Dur- ing the war the bureau has distributed in allotments and allowances $200,000,- 000.00. This largest of all insurance companies occupies thirteen buildings at Washington and has 13,000 employees. Hh * *
Emporia, Kansas, is attempting to eliminate charity by putting its poor on a self-supporting basis. All vacant land in the city was leased by a central wel- fare bureau, which assigned to each family receiving assistance the winter before enough land to provide vegetables for the coming winter. Wood and coal yards have been established where men can work, receiving part pay in fuel and part in cash. The experiment is watched with interest by neighboring towns.
T *r T J
Here is what 5,000,000 volunteer ^ women workers have done for their country and the Red Cross in the_Jast 17 months: Surgical dressings, 231,- 302,022; knitted articles, 10,123,374; hospital garments, 10,637,201 ; refugee garments, 1,106,877; hospital supplies, 8,203,120. A tot!al production of 261,372,594 articles from the figures of these untiring patriots.
VOL. ni. No. 2.
J Contents for February, 1919
EDITORIALS 35
The Problem of the Railroads. — A Few Samples of Bolshevism. — Prohibitionist Tyranny. — Agrarian Selfishness. — Land Colonization in England.
PRINCIPLES AND METHODS .43
The Apostle of Reconstruction. Rev. John J. Lynch, S.T.L. — Recon- struction from the Catholic Viewpoint. Catherine Quinlan. — Mr. Schwab on Labor.
SOCIAL QUESTIONS 48
Charitable Activities After the War. Richard M. Reilly. — Economic Serfdom and Social Propaganda. P. F. F. — Lloyd George on Recon- struction.— Every Disabled Soldier and Sailor Should Know. — Per- manent K. of C. Building at Westminster Cathedral.
SOCIETIES AND INSTITUTIONS 54
Family Care for Dependent Children. — A Catholic Survey of Buf- falo.— Public and Private Institutions.
THE SOCIETY OF ST. VINCENT DE PAUL 59
Superior Council of the Society in the United States. — The New York State Conference of Charities. — Reports from Councils and Con- ferences.— Notes and Personals.
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STUDIES
An Irish Quarteriy Review of Letters, Philosophy and Science
Vol. VIL, No. 28 CONTENTS December, 1918
I. The Argument From Irish History Dun Cairin
11. The World Policy of President Wilson John J. Hogan
III. Democracy, Parliament and Cromwell Alfred Rahilly
IV. Marshal Petain Charles Baussan
V. Prohibition in the United States Frank O'Hara
VI. Catholic Renascence in France Virginia M. Crawford
VIL Unpublished Irish Poems — No. 4 Osborn Bergin
VIII. Poetry — The Tirlough at Derryhoyle M. de V. S.
The Exile Katharine Tynan
Strife and Sweetness George O'Neil
Shakespeare M. Bodkin
At Moment of Victory John Bunker
To THE Moon K. M. Murphy
IX. Irish Vital Statistics in America Austin O^Malley
X. A Fragment of Irish Industrial History E. J, Riordan
XL Bohemia and its Ulster Question P. J. Gannon
XII. Chronicle — I. The Influenza Epidemic William M. Crofton
11. Irish Fiction for Boys Stephen J. Brown
XIIL Review of Books.
It may be said without boast or exaggeration that Studies holds a foremost place today amongst the Quarterlies issued in the English language and is far ahead of most of them in the high-class nature of its contents and in the academic standing and scholar- ship of its distinguished contributors.
The Evening News, December 31, 1917.
This Irish Quarterly, originally started by some Professors of the National University, has won a good position, and that this is well deserved is proved by the singular variety and ability of its September issue.
The Times Literary Supplement, September 20, iQi?-
Altogether Studies is an admirable review, which should not fail to take its place among the good reviews of the day.
C.K.S. in The Sphere, June 23, 1917.
STUDIES is issued early in March, June, September and December. The Editorial Offices are at No. 35 Lower Leeson Street, Dublin.
Price, Single Copies, 75 cents net; Annual Subscription, $3.00, post free.
Dublin: THE EDUCATIONAL COMPANY OF IRELAND, Limited London and St. Louis: B. Herder Melbourne: William P. Linehan
THE
CATHOLIC CHARITIES REVIEW
Vol. Ill
FEBRUARY, 1919
No. 2
THE PROBLEM OF THE RAILROADS.
HREE choices are open to Congress as regards the rail- roads : they may be returned to their corporate owners without any change in their legal conditions ; they may be contmued under federal control until Congress shall have enacted new and improved regula- tions concerning their relation to the gov- ernment; or they may be retained per- manently under government operation. The first of these solutions is apparently not desired by any important group of persons, either among owners, legislators, or the general public. It may, therefore, be dismissed from consideration, with one rather important series of observa- tions. The opponents of government ownership sometimes assert and some- times merely insinuate that the railroad owners are unwilling to take back their property in its present condition and legal status simply because the Federal Railroad Administration has somehow made that course physically and financi- ally impossible. This is not true. The Railroad Administration has done noth- ing to the physical structure and relations of the roads which cannot be undone. The common use of terminals, rolling stock and ticket offices, and all the other changes that have been introduced into the operation of the roads, could be dis-
continued, and the separate control and use of its property and facilities by each road could be fully resumed within a few weeks.
Nor has government operation during the war imposed upon the railroads any real financial burdens. The additional cost of conducting them will all be met out of the increased rates, or should these finally prove to be insufficient, from the general revenues of the country. The money loaned to many of the companies for repairs and improvements was nec- essary to protect the property against dis- astrous depreciation, and has, therefore, been of permanent benefit. On ordinary business principles the roads can well af- ford to assume this debt. The vastly in- creased wage charges can be ended by the owners when they resume operation by the simple device of reducing wages to the old levels. If the objection be raised that this legal possibility is im- possible practically, the answer is that the owners of the roads will then have a convincing case to put before the In- terstate Commerce Commission as an argument for the continuation of the increased freight and passenger rates established by the Federal Railroad Ad- ministration. In every respect, therefore, the present condition and relations of the railroads are such that they could be
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THE CATHOLIC CHARITIES REVIEW
immediately returned to their owners without leaving the latter in a worse financial position that the one that they occupied at the end of 19 17.
The main reason why the owners de- sire changes in railway legislation before they take back their property is that they want to continue and extend the economies of operation introduced by the Federal Railroad Administration. The common use of terminals, rolling stock, ticket offices, the elimination of merely competitive train service, the abolition of freight and passenger solicitors, and all the other advantages of unified opera- tion, appeal to the railroad owners, as to all other persons of common sense, as highly desirable. Hence they ask that Congress enact laws empowering them to continue and extend these superior methods. They want reasonable co- operation among the roads instead of the old programme of wastful competition.
Federal management has, therefore, performed at least this important service : it has convinced all classes of the people that the railroads should be operated as a unit, not as a multitude of competing concerns. The only important differ- ence of opinion is on the question of the proper agency to conduct this operation. Should it be a combination of the owners? or the Federal Government?
The advocates of the former plan maintain that it has two distinct advant- ages : competition in service, and the higher efficiency and lower cost of private management.
Competition in service would un- doubtedly be of considerable benefit to passengers and shippers, but it does not seem likely to be maintained under the plan of unified private operation. All the advocates of this plan assume that it would permit pooling the revenues and profits. That is, the net profits of all the roads would be placed in a common fund, and distributed among the various lines according to some definite scale of proportionate importance. It is difficult to see what inducement any railroad would have to increase its business by providing better service if its share of the joint profits were fixed beforehand. Con- trariwise, if the share were capable of increase through a showing of increased
business, relatively to that of the other roads, it is difficult to see why a more powerful road would be wilhng to go into a pooling arrangement which would compel it to allow weaker roads the use of its terminals, rolling stock, etc., there- by enabling competitors to increase their proportional share of the profits. The difficulty seems to take this form: unified operation requires common use of all railway equipment; such common use supposes pooling of revenues and profits ; but this arrangement leaves no incentive to the individual roads to take business away from one another by im- provements in service.
The second advantage is likewise sub- ject to^certain qualifications. As a rule, private seems to be more economical and efficient than public management of busi- ness concerns, owing to the incentive of increased profits. It is necessary, there- fore, to provide such a hope in ordv'r to induce this superiority from the railroad corporations. Yet in practically all the suggestions that have been made concern- ing the proposed scheme of private opera- tion under increased government super- vision, it is assumed that the rate of profits, or dividends, will be limited by law to a fixed rate, and that this rate will be guaranteed to the companies. Now if the private managers are certain of getting, say, seven per cent on the stipulated value of their property, and are prevented by law from getting more, what inducement have they to emphasize economy or efficiency in the operation of the roads?
There is, indeed, one way of creating such an inducement. It is to allow more than the fixed per cent of profit to all roads that are able to show a decrease in operation expenses per unit of busi- ness, but on condition that such gains be shared equally with the government. For example : if a given road has lowered its cost of operation sufficiently to pro- duce an extra dividend of two per cent, it could be allowed to retain one per cent, the government taking an equal amount. By this arrangement both the railroad company and the public would get the benefit of improvements and economies in operation.
The third solution of the railroad
THE CATHOLIC CHARITIES REVIEW
37
problem is continued and permanent operation by the Federal Government, and consequently government ownership. All objections to this plan which have been based on the experience of 19 18 are either crudely fallacious or incon- clusive. The one most frequently al- leged is the greatly enchanced cost of operation. When we analyze this situa- tion, we find that the entire advance in expenditures was due to increased wages, increased cost of materials, and the abnormal outlay required to untangle the freight congestion which the private managers had left as a legacy to the Federal Railroad Administration. The critics should admit that the price of materials would have been just as great under private management. Do they think that the companies would not or should not have raised the wages of the railway employees? Those who realize that the great majority of the workers were considerably underpaid until Mr. McAdoo took charge of the roads, will probably not care to urge the increased wage outlay as a defect of government operation. As to those critics — and they are numerous — who think that wages should have been kept at or near the old unjust levels, all that we care to say is that their objection to government opera- tion constitutes a distinct reason why it should be continued. Their main interest is not in cheap railway service for the public, but in large dividends for railway capitalists.
A curious feature of the criticisms directed against the Federal Railroad Administration on account of increased cost of operation, is that few if any of them make any reference to the parallel situation in privately managed street railways. The action of the former in raising passenger and freight charges is stigmatized as a characteristic example of government inefficiency, but the in- creases and attempted increases in street railway fares by the private companies are passed over in silence. Yet in many of the cities the cost of riding in the street cars has been raised to six or seven cents. In Boston the present fare is eight cents, and the companies in New York declare that if they do not get the benefit of that rate they must go into
bankruptcy. And it is worthy of note that none of the afflicted street railway companies has increased its cost of opera- tion in the same proportion as the Federal Railroad Administration in the matter of wages. It is also interesting to observe that six-sevenths of such city- owned and managed public utilities as gas, water and electrical light, have not found it necessary to raise the charges for their services.
Some persons are afraid that under government ownership the immense body of railroad employees would be powerful enough to dictate indefinitely increasing wages through political pres- sure. That such a large number of voters would have considerable political influence and would be prone to use it for their own advantage, is beyond ques- tion. Nevertheless, they would not con- stitute a majority of all electors. At the most, they could control only the balance of power in some close electoral contest. And there are other large and compact political and economic groups whose in- terests would frequently lie in the op- posite direction; for example, the farmers.
Im any case, the political influence of the railway employees on the govern- ment cannot be avoided ; for the owners of the railroads now ask that when private management is resumed, wages and other conditions of labor should be fixed by the same government authority, say, the Interstate Commerce Commis- sion, that regulate rates. They wish the government-determined wages to be taken as one of the definite costs for which the public authority would make allowance when it fixes charges. There- fore, they need not care how high wages would rise, or how short might become the working hours. Hence the govern- ment would still be the object of appeal, and attack, and political pressure by the workers.
The sum of the matter seems to be that the problem of railroad manage- ment takes the form of a dilemma: If the advantages of private operation are to be obtained the roads must be con- ducted on the principles of (Competition; if they are thus conducted it will mean a return to the old situation which satisfied
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THE CATHOLIC CHARITIES REVIEW
nobody. Or, to put the matter in cor- relative terms : if the advantages of uni- fied operation are to be obtained under private management, they will be quali- fied by substantially all the supposed disadvantages of government opera- tion.
In the interest of wider knowledge and
more enlightening experience, it would seem that Mr. McAdoo's proposal for a five year extension of the existing ar- rangement ought to be adopted. That would provide what we have not yet had, a fair test of government operation, and would not increase the difficulty of re- turning the roads to their owners.
A FEW SAMPLES OF BOLSHEVISM.
The Nation has rendered an important service to the American public by pub- lishing (Dec. 28) the Declaration of Rights by the Bolshevist Government of Russia, and a week later the new Russian Constitution. Inasmuch as Bolshevism is merely Marxian Socialism in its most logical and extreme form, we should expect a body of organic law made by it to be the last word in reckless radicalism. Our expectations are fully realized in these two documents, which have been formally adopted as the fun- damental law of the Russian Socialist Federated Soviet Republic.
In chapter two of the Constitution, ** all private property in land is abolished, and the entire land is declared to be national property and is to be appor- tioned among husbandmen without any compensation to former owners, in the measure of each one's ability to till it."
Taken as a whole, this is sheer robbery. Let us make all due allowance for the injustice that vitiated a large proportion of the titles to Russian, as to English and Irish land in the past; let us admit that possibly the majority of the present owners have inherited it from men or purchased it from the heirs of men, who took it by force and conquest; still we must t-emember that most of them have as good a right to their land as have the great majority of owners of any kind of property. In the long period that has elapsed since the original acts of spoliation, the titles of the Russian landowners have become morally valid through prescription and other circum- stances. Why have these factors made the claims of the present owners legiti- mate? Simply because this is on the whole a reasonable arrangement for hu- man welfare, individual and social. From the viewpoint of human welfare, pre-
scription is as reasonable a title as pur- chase, or gift, or inheritance. If the new government with the long name wishes to transwer the ownership of the land of Russia to itself, it can honestly do so only through compensation to the present owners. In those cases in which the title of the present proprietors is vitiated by fraud or any other form of injustice, compensation would properly be lessened accordingly; but the device of universal confiscation means that all property titles will be put in jeopardy. Indeed, that is exactly what these ultralogical Socialists of Russia desire to accomplih.
The same chapter of the Constitution annuls and repudiates all loans obtained by the government of the Czar, and also those made by landowners and business men. The millions of persons, both within and without the country, who in- vested in the bonds of the Russian Em- pire, as well as all persons who lent money to a land owner or a director of industry, are at a stroke of the pen deprived of any hope of getting back their money during the life of the Rus- sian Socialist Federated Soviet Republic. The immediate effect of this measure is, of course, to relieve the tax-payers and the private borrowers of the burdens im- posed by these debts, but its effect upon the persons who have provided the money is quite different. Apparently their wel- fare is not of equal importance with the welfare of the debtors. It is a very simple theory and it is not new in human practice, but it has never before been deliberately adopted by a political gov- ernment.
The Declaration of Rights includes this decree : *' Inheritance, whether by law or by will, is abolished. After the death of an owner, the property which belonged to him, whether movable or im-
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movable [italics ours] becomes the property of the government of the Russian SociaHst Federated Soviet Re- pubHc." When a man dies, therefore, the Government takes possession not only of his house, his factory, or his store, but of his household furniture, his watch and his trousers.
The two documents under considera- tion contain many other curiosities of systematic plunder in the name of law, but their general trend and spirit are sufficiently . indicated by the foregoing examples.
Turning from the economic to the political sphere, we find the Constitution declaring that there shall be " universal military training;" that "all toilers be armed, . . . and the propertied class disarmed;" that "a dictatorship of the urban and rural proletariat be established in the present transition period;" that only "the toiling masses can hold a position in any branch of the Soviet Government;" and that right to vote or be voted for shall not be exercised by: " persons who employ hired labor in order to obtain from it an increase in profits; persons who have an income without doing any work, such as interest from capital, receipts from property, etc. ; private merchants, trade and commerical brokers; monks and clergy of all de- nominations " (chapter two, four, five and thirteen). This is all orthodox and logical Socialism. The owners of private capital or business of any kind must, by all efifective means, be dislodged from this position and converted into govern- ment wage earners. When that process has been completed, they may have all the political rights of the great body of the proletariat. When the last of the private capitalists and exploiters has been thus regenerated, it may be safe to dis- pense with universal military training and to decide political issues by a majority vote. Until that condition is securely established the government must be that of a "dictatorship," and the demo- cratic theory of government by the majority cannot be suffered to operate. We all know that the Bolshevists were only a minority of the Russian Constitu- tional Assembly, and that they overthrew the Kerensky Government merely be-
cause they had the requisite physical power. One of their English apologists, Mr. Arthur Ransome, admitted this a few months ago in the New Republic, and defended it on the ground that the Bolshevists were the more active and vital element of the Assembly. Lenine himself is quite frank and explicit on this point : " Just as 150,000 lordly land- owners under Czarism dominated the 130,000,000 of Russian peasants, so 200,000 members of the Bolshevik Party are imposing their proletarian will on the mass, but this time in the interest of the latter."
Obviously this is the principle of pure autocracy. The man who denies the democratic principle of majority rule always assumes that the minority, whether a faction, a select few, or an in- dividual, possesses certain superior qualifications, or harbors certain benevo- lent intentions, which give the minority a moral right to override the majority. The late German Kaiser, and every other monarchial autocrat in history, de- fended his position and his despotism on precisely this principle. Whatever else the present Russian government may be, it is certainly not democratic. It is aristocratic and autocratic.
The scientific formula concerning the equality of action and reaction is curi- ously illustrated in the section on qualifi- cations for the franchise. For centuries the nobility and the propertied classes denied the right of political suffrage to the workers. Today the proletarian rulers of Russia retaliate by imposing a like disability upon the dislodged dom- inant classes. In so doing they have not " bettered the instruction " received from their late masters ; they have kept strictly within its limits. If the makers of the new Russian Constitution had a sense of humor, which we know they have not, they should derive considerable amuse- ment from this franchise restriction.
The frequent assertion of Socialists, that their doctrine and system are not hostile to religion or the family, receives a rather damaging interpretation in the Bolshevist Declaration of Rights. While freedom of religious profession and worship is promised, the church is separated from the state, and the school
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from the church. While " citizens may teach and study rehgion privately," they may not impart religious instruction " in either public or private educational in- stitutions in which general subjects are taught." No church may compel its members by any sort of penalty to con- tribute to its support, nor own property, nor have the rights of a juridical per- son. Only civil marriages are recognized by law, and " mariage is annulled by the petition of both parties, or even one of them." Comment would be super- fluous.
Fantastic and unjust as are the economic and political provisions con- sidered above, they are the inevitable reaction from the oppressive rule of Russian autocracy during many cen- turies. This, however, is an explanation, not a justification. The principles of the Bolshevik government show that it is quite as anti-democratic, quite as auto- cratic, as ever was the government of
the Hohenzollerns. Did it seriously threaten to attack, whether by arms or by propaganda, the social and political systems of other countries, the demo- cratic nations of the world would have exactly the same right and duty forcibly to abolish it that they had to put an end to the autocracy of Prussia. The only previous question to be decided would be that of expediency. As things are, the use of force by the other nations does not seem to be expedient. Leaving aside the dangerous probability that the soldiers of the Allied armies would re- fuse to enter upon such an enterprise, we can take refuge in the practical cer- tainty that the resources of a sane and democratic diplomacy, combined with the latent common sense of the masses of Russia and the inherent folly and stupidity of their present masters, will within a few months bring about the downfall of the monstrous political edi- •fice of Bolshevism.
PROHIBITIONIST TYRANNY.
Persons who use their intellects rather than their emotions for the business of thinking, know that legal prohibition of the liquor traffic can be justified only on the ground that it is a necessary means of destroying an evil social institution. Whether it is an efficacious means will be determined by the Federal prohibitory enactment which will go into effect less than a year hence. We do not intend to take up the readers' or our own time with a futile discussion of this problem. We prefer to " wait and see." Whether the evils attending the drink traffic have been actually so great as to warrant the in- terference with individual liberty in- volved in prohibitory legislation, is like- wise a question that is without present practical importance. The law is established. What we wish to do is to call attention to a grave menace to in- dividual rights which the active champions of prohibition will try to have embodied in the provisions for the en- forcement of the law.
These men, specifically, the officers of the Anti-Saloon League and kindred or- ganizations, apparently do not accept the principle laid down in the first sentence
of this editorial. They seem to think that a state has the right to prohibit not merely the liquor traffic, but the consump- tion of intoxicants by the individual. Hence they propose the enactment of statutes which would render illegal the manufacture and possession of intoxicat- ing liquor by the individual for his own use, and which would authorize the officials charged with the enforcement of the law to enter any private house, or other premises, whenever the presence of liquor or liquor making implements is suspected. In the State of Oregon, which has had prohibition for several years, there are thousands of families that make beer for their own consumption. If the designs of the prohibition le.aders are carried out such families will be subject to arbitary search, and to arrest and im- prisonment.
Fanatics who believe that it is a sin to take a single drink of intoxicating liquor probably think that there is a rational justification for this assault upon the rights of the individual. From the right which the State undoubtedly has to prevent a man from taking jiis own life they may draw the unsound in-
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ference that the public authority is also within its proper sphere when it takes from him his glass of beer or whiskey. However, we do not think that this fallacy, this genuine mental aberration, is cherished by more than a small mi- nority of the supporters of the pro- hibition movement. If prohibitory legis- lation had depended upon the votes or desires of those persons who imagine that all liquor drinking is wrong; if it had depended upon the members of the Anti-Saloon League and similar sec- tarian extremists, it would not have been enacted in a single State. The members of this and similar organiza- tions, no matter how large has been the noise emitted by the leaders, have never included more than a small minority of the voters. Whenever the popular vote of a State has established or sanctioned prohibition (and we must bear in mind that few if any States have enacted this legislation without a previously obtained popular vote) the great majority of those favoring it have been moved by the simple fact that the liquor traffic had become a grave public nuisance. Whether they were right or wrong in their assumption that the evil was suf- ficiently detrimental to society to war- rant the interference with individual liberty involved in statutory prohibition, does not now concern us. The important fact is that they made no false assump- tion in the realm of principle. They assumed that the State has a right to abolish a social institution which is not essential to human welfare and which has become a grave social evil.
It is overwhelmingly probable that the majority of the rank and file who have caused prohibitory laws to be put on the statute books do not go beyond this position. They do not believe that the State has either the duty or the right to attempt to safeguard the morals of the individual by restricting his liberty in a matter that affects himself alone. They realize that when a man manu- factures, possesses, or consumes intoxi- cating liquor on his own premises he is, from the social viewpoint, in an essenti- ally different position from the person who conducts a liquor-manufacturing or liquor-selling institution. They realize
that the evil influence of the latter ac- tion upon society may be very great, while the social consequences of the former are negligible, or at any rate, quite insufficient to justify the State in curtailing the liberty of the individual in the manner proposed by the ex- tremists. We have great confidence that this rational attitude of the majority of the supporters of prohibitory legislation can be utilized to prevent the enactment of inquisitional and tyrannical measures of enforcement. Nevertheless, it be- hooves all friends of genuine and rational liberty to be on their guard against this menace. Without the activity of the prohibition societies, legislation of this sort could never have been enacted. Without organization and active prop- aganda, no important law is ever passed, even though it may be favored by a considerable majority of the citi- zens. Conversely, a powerful associa- tion can place a measure on the statute books, despite the opposition of the majority, if the latter are unorganized. What is immediately needed, therefore, is organization and leadership to com- bat at every step the purpose and machinations of these fanatical societies. Moreover, it is not merely the right of the citizens to make and drink liquor that is at stake, but the whole structure of individual liberties. The sectarian leaders of such organizations as the Anti-Saloon League believe that other innocent practices as well as liquor drinking are essentially wrong. Nor is this all. As already intimated, they be- lieve that they and the State have a right to restrict the liberty of the in- dividual, whenever they conceive such restriction to be for the individual's good. They think that they have an unlimited right to do things for people. The sooner this pernicious mixture of im- pertinent paternalism and State omnip- otence is grappled with and rooted out of our social and political life, the better will it be for genuine morality as well as for individual rights and liberties.
AGRARIAN SELFISHNESS.
At its recent annual convention, in Syracuse, the National Grange passed a resolution opposing Secretary Lane's
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project of placing discharged soldiers and sailors on new lands. This is the oldest farmers' organization in the country, and it comprises the most sub- stantial and prosperous element of those who cultivate the soil. Yet they are unwilling to have the food supply of other people increased for fear it would bring about a cheapening of the pro- ducts that they have to sell. They de- clared themselves to be in favor of government provision of farms for soldiers, but they demanded that these should be farms already under cultiva- tion. Notwithstanding that the popula- tion is increasing much faster than the food supply, with the resulting con- tinuous rise in food prices, they are op- posed to any extension of the farming area. They desire that food should be- come relatively scarcer and scarcer, and that the masses should be compelled to buy it at higher and higher prices.
The unfavorable attitude of the Na- tional Grange toward the generally ap- proved scheme to colonize arid, swamp, and cut-over timber lands, shows that agrarian human nature is not perceptibly superior to any other kind. A few weeks ago the National Chamber of Commerce adopted a " reconstruction " programme which contained a maximum of selfish and a minimum of disinterested proposals. The sixteen demands in the so-called " bill of rights " drawn up by the National Grange are equally con- spicuous for single-minded devotion to the interests of the class that formulated them.
LAND COLONIZATION IN ENG- LAND.
Their experience in the war has led the people of Great Britain to consider seriously the problem of producing a larger proportion of their food supply. In 1 89 1, there were in that country 800,000 agricultural laborers, but in 191 1 the number had fallen to 580,000; in 1872 the arable land numbered 13,800,000 acres, but in 19 13 it amounted to only 10,200,000 acres.
The committee appointed by Parlia- ment to deal with this problem in con- nection with the returning soldiers con-
sidered two distinct plans: the settle- ment of men on the land, whether as owners or tenants, and the employment of men on the holdings of operating far- mers. In the first plan the Board of Agriculture will purchase and provide land for small holdings in colonies of at least one hundred families, and will also furnish houses and adequate training in agriculture and the methods of business administration. The colonists are to be tenants of the State, not owners. Despite the reasons given by the com- mittee for this arrangement it seems to be condemned by experience. Possibly the experience to be obtained under the new scheme will cause a revision of the general and traditional judgment on this point. In all the colonies cooperation in purchasing and marketing, in the use of costly machinery, and in many other activities, is to be powerfully encouraged.
In order to carry out the plan three estates have been purchased in England and one in Wales. The settler is re- quired to work as an ordinary wage earner for the first year, which would be treated as being a period of probation. At the end of that he is either ofifered a holding or allowed to share in the profits. There are two kinds of colonies: "Small Holding System" and the "Profit Sharing System." Under the first sys- tem mentioned the applicants are em- ployed as workers at a rate of wages for a period of probation of one year, and at the end of that period any approved ap- plicant will be alloted, at an economic rate, an area of land.
Under the " Profit Sharing System " the settlers are employed by the direc- tor-manager of the colony at the cur- rent wages, but receive in addition a share of any profits arising out of the farming operations.
No more permits for the importation of Mexican and West Indian labor will be granted, the Department of Labor has announced, and the permits already granted are void after January 10. Aliens permitted to enter temporarily for war work will be repatriated gradu- ally, without interference with agri- cultural or other work now in progress.
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THE APOSTLE OF RECONSTRUCTION.
BY REV. JOHN J. LYNCH^ S.T.L.
ITH the ending of the greatest war in history, Europe is fac- ing the gigantic task of re- construction. We are apt to think of this task as histori- cally unparalleled in magnitude. But it is not so. Turn back the pages of his- tory, and you will find that men once faced a greater task of reconstruction and succeeded in building on the ruins of the old a new and better Europe. The story of that achievement has a message for the world today, a message of in- spiration, hope, and confidence.
The fifth and sixth centuries of our era saw the complete overthrow of the Great Roman Empire of the west. They were the centuries of the Barbarian in- vasion, one of the darkest periods in the history of civilization. Led on by some unknown force, the barbarous hordes of the north swept down over the face of Europe and hurled themselves upon decaying Rome. Not all at once did they come, but one after another. Blow after blow fell upon the weakened Empire and crushed it to the earth. Cities were destroyed ; the military stations of the Empire broken up; the land devastated. While some places were depopulated by the sword, others were laid waste by pestilence, others tormented by famine, others destroyed by earthquakes. Civilization with its arts and sciences, its architecture and agriculture, its authority, law and order, all but disappeared from the earth. When the sixth century came to its close, all was confusion and chaos.
Yet, all was not lost in the general havoc. The Church still remained. Upheld ever by the all-powerful hand of
her divine founder, she had passed safely through the storm and now stood forth as the only agency ready to un- dertake the great work of reconstruction and restoration. But where were her instruments? Who was to subdue the savage lands to the plough and their intractable conquerors to a life not wholly warfare? Who was to go down into the very life of the Barbarian and undertake to civilize, convert and ennoble him? Who was to prepare him for the Christian life by teaching him the life of civilized man?
In the providence of God there was raised up a great saint through whom, under God, these questions were to be answered. " While Europe was en- shrouded in universal darkness," says Montalembert, ** a single solitary in the fastnesses of the Apennines was about to form there a center of spiritual virtue, and to light it up with a splendor destined to shine over regenerated Europe for ten centuries to come." The work of reclaiming Europe and of civilizing and Christianizing the Bar- barians was to be the work mainly of St. Benedict and his legions of disciples.
Benedict, the son of a Roman patrician and the last scion of the noble house of the Anicii, was born in the year 480 in the ancient Sabine town of Nursia, just beyond the Tiber and close by Spoleto. The details of his life are given us by St, Gregory the Great in the second book of his Dialogues. In the beginning, St. Gregory shows us Bene- dict as a boy in Rome where he was placed at school by his parents to learn the liberal arts. We find him in early youth offended and disgusted by the
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dissipation of the young Romans, his school-fellows. Not yet twenty years of age, he determined to renounce for- ever family, fortune and the world, and to seek some spot where, as St. Gregory says, he might serve God alone. He set out from Rome on foot, taking the road toward the Tiburtine Hills and then walking for some miles along the Sim- bruini Mountains until he came to a place called Sublaco or Subiaco, distant about forty miles from Rome. It was a wild and picturesque spot which had in earlier times attracted the attention of the Emperor Nero, who had con- structed here artificial lakes and baths and a magnificent villa. When Bene- dict came upon the scene, silence, soli- tude and ruins had long replaced the im- perial orgies. He took up his abode in a narrow cave set in the face of the rocky heights which overhang the swift- flowing Annio. A monk of the neigh- borhood named Romanus fed him from his own scanty fare.
For three years the young Benedict lived here, maturing in mind and charac- ter, in knowledge of himself and God. But his solitude did not remain un- broken, for the people of the neighbor- hood soon discovered him, and recogniz- ing his character and virtues, sought from him instruction and advice. Gradu- ally disciples gathered about him in con- stantly increasing numbers. Clerics and laymen, Romans and Barbarians, at- tracted by his growing fame, came to Subiaco. For their accommodation, Bene- dict founded eventually twelve monas- teries in the neighborhood of Subiaco, and in these made his first attempt to realize his conception of the monastic life. He was destined, however, to found a still greater center of monastic life.
After thirty-five years at Subiaco, he left his foundation there, and with a few disciples, went southward, travel- ling along the Abruzzi Mountains until he arrived at a scene very different from that of Subiaco but of no less grandeur and majesty. Seventy miles south of Rome, in the center of a large basin, half-surrounded by abrupt and pictur- esque heights, rises an isolated hill, the vast and overhanging summit of which
looks down on the river Liris. This is Monte Cassino. Upon this height Bene- dict found an ancient temple of Apollo where the peasants of the neighborhood still sacrificed to pagan deities. He won these poor folk to the faith of Christ, and then founded on the sight of their temple what was to be the great capital of monasticism in Europe.
The last fourteen years of his life were spent here. Hither flocked multi- tudes of disciples and pupils, drawn by the fame of his virtues. Here at Monte Cassino, as at Subiaco, we find no soli- taries, no hermits, but men living to- gether in an organized community, do- ing such work as came to their hands, — carrying water up the steep mountain- side, working at masonry as well as at household tasks, clearing and tilling the soil, teaching the young, — in a word, all the work which in old Roman days had been the portion of the slave. Besides, they preached to the country people, studied, read, and prayed. They also ex- tended hospitality to the poor and to the stranger.
Though Benedict was not a priest, he was, no doubt, in orders, and his life at Monte Cassino was not unlike that of a missionary or apostle. It was during these years that he undertook his great- est and most lasting work, the writing of the famous Benedictine rule. In this more than anything else we can trace his remarkable character. It is true, indeed, that his deeds and miracles, as handed down to us, reveal in him a wide and gentle human sympathy and a great love for his fellow-men. His rule, how- ever, reveals him to us in a new light, as the great legislator of the monks of the west ; the man of strict discipline and yet of Christ-like moderation; the head and ruler of a great community and, at the same time, the gentle, dignified monk who by his charity drew all hearts to himself. It is a rule of self-sacrifice and of service, of prayer and labor. Labor are est orare: this is its funda- mental idea. Bosset called it " an epi- tome of Christianity, a learned and mysterious abridgement of the whole doctrine of the Gospels, of all the in- situations of the Fathers, of all the counsels of perfection." To-day it still
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lives, the undying" code of thousands of communities in the Catholic Church.
Benedict died at Monte Cassino. Shortly before his death, he asked to be carried into the chapel of St. John the Baptist. There at the foot of the altar, standing" but supported by his disciples, he received the Holy Viaticum, and with hands extended to Heaven, he died, — " died standing," says Montalembert, "a worthy death for a great soldier of God."
This is, briefly, the life of St. Bene- dict. But in reality it is only one side of his life and the least important side. " The real life of St. Benedict," says Tosti, " is all in his order, so that the legend of St. Gregory is amplified and developed into a real epic." In the beginning we noted the condition to which Europe had been reduced by the Barbarians. Into this world Benedict was born; and out into this world went the multitudes of disciples who had gathered around him at Subiaco and Monte Cassino. They went forth to spread " peace and faith, freedom and charity, knowledge and art, the word of God and the genius of man," over the devastated and despairing Empire and even over the barbarous regions of the north whence the destruction has come. " The disciples of St. Benedict," says Michelet, " now gave to the world worn out by slavery, the first example of labor done by the hands of the free." In a single century the conquests of barbarism had been all but won back; ;iay, new conquests had been made, new peoples had been won to civilization and Christianity. Barbarians who had come down upon Rome with arms in their hands, as the destroyers of the old civilization, now, clothed in the garb of monks, returned to the land of their birth, as promoters of the civilization of Christ.
For eight hundred years the rule of St. Benedict held sway alone in Euro- pean monasticism. At the height of their spread the Benedictine monasteries num- bered nearly forty thousand. They were, it may be said, everything in the Middle Ages, — the hotels and hospitals, the centers of industry and agriculture, the training schools of saints and scholars.
the homes of learning, art and literature.
It is not too much to say that we see the perfection of the work of St. Benedict in the thirteenth century. To have brought the world from the state of the fifth century to that of the thirteenth, is surely one of the greatest achievements in history ; and the credit for this achievement is due mainly to St. Benedict and his disciples. Dr. Barry in his Papal Monarchy is guilty of no exaggeration when he says: "The monks of St. Benedict can lay just claim to all that is admirable in the Middle Ages, and the mighty figure of their hermit-founder stands aloft over modern civilization, as its author, if not its ideal."
St. John's Seminary, Brighton, Mass.
RECONSTRUCTION FROM THE CATHOLIC VIEWPOINT.
BY CATHERINE QUINLAN.
We have all become familiar with the words " social justice," " reconstruc- tion," " morale," etc. ; they are words that fittingly express the requirements of our times, but perhaps to many of us they are mere words.
Take the word reconstruction for ex- ample : it literally means to " rebuild," to " renew." What are we to rebuild ? We are told that the social system, the framework of society, needs reconstruc- tion.
That there is a social question no one doubts ; how that question is to be solved is a matter on which a great difference of opinion exists. The Socialist tells us that the one and only means of solving the social problem is public ownership, state collectivism, communism, or what- ever name they call their universal panacea, which is, as we know, opposed to all the tenets of Christianity. Our separated brethren, having run through the gamut of low church and high church, private interpretation of the Bible, etc., have tired of the product of their own unstable minds, and the teach ings of would-be prophets, and in the ma- jority of cases have come to find their only spiritual outlet in humanitarianism. They tell us we need reconstruction.
In the Catholic philosophy " recon-
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struction " has a deeper meaning. When we were little children we learned from our catechism that man is composed of body and soul, that this soul is made to the image and likeness of God, and that our ultimate destiny is to enjoy God forever. If, in conformity with the teachings of our Divine Master, we place more value on the soul than on the ma- terial things of the world, it does not mean that we should be indifferent to the conditions under which we live. We see all around us the injustice done to the working classes, the exploitation of women, child labor, neglect of the aged and infirm, the atrocities that have been built up by our heathenish system of in- dividualism and economic liberalism for the past one hundred years. We need reconstruction.
Some knownothings would have us believe that there is no charity in the Catholic Church ; if they would only read history and learn the record of the Church! Since the so-called Reforma- tion, when the property of the Church was annexed and despoiled, comparative- ly little could be done in the way of char- ity; still, wherever the Church exists to- day it brings, as in the past, its message of charity, justice and humanity. In our great United States of America, the im- migrants who came to seek fortune in the land of opportunity, built churches and schools, and at great self-sacrifice preserved to us the glorious heritage of our faith. Today the Catholic Church in America holds a prominent place, and our Catholic citizens form a large percentage of the population; therefore, it behooves us to take a part in the re- construction of society and to impress upon it our Catholic ideals and principles. As a free people we have the right to elect our representatives by popular vote. How have we exercised that right? Have we turned over to a party machine or political system the rights we are willing to fight and die for? Why have we so* few Catholics in the House of Representatives or the Senate? Why do our educated laity turn aside and re- fuse to soil their hands with politics? We admit that politics has ruined and be- smirched good names innumerable, that the selfish and spineless find it hard to
resist the lucre, power or patronage of capitalists; but that is all the more rea- son why we should show to the world what Catholic ideals are. Perhaps fifty years ago we had reasonable excuse for refraining from politics,; our people then may not have had the higher education necessary for filling high positions ; but such is not the case today. Suppose our theological students were to reason thus : '* The life of the priesthood is too hard, it has too many responsibilities, I can be a good man, live in the world and save my soul; I do not care whether I have a vocation or not." We should reply, "What will become of the Church?" Per- haps, too, there is such a thing as a vo- cation to public service. Can we doubt it when we consider the work of the great O'Connell who emancipated the Catholic people of Ireland through his sterling qualities and inspired leadership. We must have Catholic leaders and Catholic statesmen if we are to have re- construction.
Some people tell us that social service is one of the most important features in the reconstruction movements of the day. That it does fill an important place no one can deny. Of late years our separated brethren have come to the be- lief that good works are everything, and have thrown themselves, heart, soul and pocketbook into charitable endeavors, and the country has been overrun with " organized charity bureaus," ** founda- tions," etc. To this no one can object; but to the methods of the individuals in charge of some of these organizations ^ we do object and protest with all our might, namely, the proselytizing of our Catholic poor. In New York City there is an organization operating a series of day nurseries, which will admit children only when the parents attend the services held in their church. Need I say that these services are Protestant, and the nurseries in Catholic neighborhood ? Un- fortunately there are no Catholic day nur- series where our children can be placed; so these poor people are sometimes im- pelled to place their children in the only nursery available and attend the services. One Italian woman has said, *' It won't hurt me to go to that church and sing la la." No, perhaps it won't hurt her;
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she may have enough Catholic tradition to save her soul, but what of her Amer- icanized children? In the city of St. Louis, there is a Y. W. C. A. which has a very large membership, among which are eight hundred and fifty Catholic girls. The writer happened to be in the clerical employment bureau operated by that concern one morning, when an invita- tion to attend services was given ; it was explained that services were for every- one. Catholics included. Some half dozen Catholic girls refused to go to the services, and were told that there was no position open for them.
Among the distinctively Catholic organizations operating for human wel- fare, we are proud to recall the work of the Knights of Columbus during the war, and sincerely trust that they will con- tinue their work along constructive lines. In nearly every Catholic parish we have a conference of St. Vincent de Paul, and whatever difference of opinion may ex- ist as to the application of their rules to present day problems, we must admire the personnel of the Vincentians, the noblest, most charitable and self-sacri- ficing body of men the world has ever known. Then too, in every parish we have women's societies who are a silent but powerful factor for good. What we need is more co5peration and coordina- tion among our societies. If instead of working as units, we had a federation of societies in every city, a central bureau, an outlet for Catholic psycliology and charity, how much more good could be done? True, in many cities we have 'such a bureau, but we should have one in every town and hamlet, if we are all to work together for reconstruction.
To make this work effective we must have trained social workers. For some reason or other, we Catholics are rather prejudiced about the " paid " social worker, the services of whom have be- come, like other innovations of our day, a necessity. If a person devotes him- self or herself to works of charity, it is necessary to eat and drink and wear de- cent clothing as in any other occupation, and the salaries offered by some Catho- lic organizations certainly do not attract the best class of men or women.
To sum up : If we are to have a place
in the sun we must fight for it, as our forefathers fought against worse odds to keep the faith. Looked at in this light, the little sacrifices demanded of us in the way of service and financial assistance to our poorer brethren are small, indeed, and the reward " exceeding great." The cornmand, " love ye one another," is as insistent today as it was two thousand years ago ; it might be well for us to re- flect a little on the Bible story of the buried talent. This applies to each and every one of us, for there is no one who cannot serve, or use his " talent " in some way for the common good. We should also remember this: if we do not take care of our orphans and our immigrants, our separated brethren will, and some one will have to answer for the souls that are lost. Think it over, are you doing your bit for reconstruction? Washington, D. C.
MR SCHWAB ON LABOR.
" A wonderful change has taken place in American ideals. The big man of the future in America will be he who gives the greatest service to his fellows. Social rank, inherited wealth, acquired wealth that is wholly selfish, the polish of a superficial education will pale into insignificance when compared with the honor that will come to the man that succeeds and serves.
" I doubt whether in the past labor has gotten its just share. The time has come when this must be rectified. This great war has taught us that we must concede things to labor even though some unjust demands may be made. Autocracy in labor and in capital is dead. This is the day of democracies, the day of tolerations and adjustment and readjustment."
4" 4* 4*
A new minimum wage scale of $6.oo a day, a flat increase of $i.oo a day for approximately 28,000 employes through- out the country, has been announced by the Ford Motor Company. Employes of the Ford tractor interests are included in the increase. Twenty-three thousand other employes of the Ford interests al- ready receive $6.00 or more a day.
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CHARITABLE ACTIVITIES AFTER THE WAR.
BY RICHARD M. REILLY.
HOUGHTFUL people are asking what has been the general effect of war welfare work upon Catholic charit- able activities, and what will be the outlook for this kind of work in the period of reconstruction when peace conditions prevail ? The war has unmis- takably brought the message of personal service to the people of America and it is preeminently true that there has been a profound stirring of the conscience of the so-called comfortable classes. If the full record of the work done for the welfare, physical and moral, of the fight- ing forces of the country could be fully presented, it would be an amazing story of important labor done with intelligent and wholehearted efficiency.
A striking feature of this great and necessary undertaking has been the fine spirit of harmony that prevailed sub- stantially everywhere throughout the country. Catholic and Protestant, Jew and infidel, for the time being laid aside their preferences to work with their own people, and united in a common service for the common cause. This was finely illustrated in the result of the United War Work Campaign, which in the be- ginning was looked upon with misgiv- ings by many influential leaders in the allied organizations. Nothing but the audacity of President Wilson who com- manded that there should be but one cam- paign for war welfare brought about the concentration of forces which were to work together so happily and accomplish such satisfactory results. Those who were most douljtful about the practi- cability of the plan became its most en- thusiastic advocates. So soon as the ice
of timidity was broken, and it was re- alized that all were embarked on the same great adventure, it was felt that whatever storms might lie in wait, the staunch craft freighted with so much for humanity's good must be brought safely into port.
We can, therefore, predicate the fact that never perhaps in the history of any country is there to be found such com- plete harmony of view in respect to social service. Those who have cooperated in the work of the American Red Cross, the State Councils of National Defense, and all the related activities of war welfare have shown a disposition to sink their personalities in order that the work in hand might be accomplished. It was the same thought which pervaded the ranks of the Allies in Europe under the menace of the invading Hun. It was the spirit of all for 'one and one for all. Human nature took on a new dignity when this wave of idealism swept over the coun- try. It caused the busy man of affairs to drop the golf engagements and become in- tensive in humanitarian work, while milady plunged into the making of sur- gical bandages, and social calls came un- der the ban.
Now that we are coming slowly back to a restoration of normal conditions, what will be the effect of this intermin- gling of forces which played so impor- tant a part in the year and half during which our country was at war? Will the units that joined so harmoniously together for a common purpose drift apart, now that the common danger is passed? If such be the case, will the separate units retain some of the virility and aptitude gained by association in a
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common endeavor? Will the leaven of social service inspire the separate groups so as to give them a larger effectiveness in the work that remains to be done? These are questions that are knocking at our door and will need to be answered.
We are entering upon an era of the very greatest importance for the future of the world. Democracy has assailed autocracy in its most powerful citadel and has won a complete triumph. Its success, however, should have a sobering efifect upon those who believe that the re- publican form of government offers the best scope for the exercise of human rights and the development of the liber- ties of mankind. Republics are no better than the human beings that compose them, and if we are to hold and preserve the fruits of the war there must be com- mon agreement to arouse the vision of the individual citizen. When our sol- diers and sailors return from overseas, it will be found that they have imbibed many of the Socialistic views prevalent in certain European centres, and it will be needful to counteract influence that would be baneful if permitted free growth here at home.
It would seem that a great work lies just ahead for the conferences of the St. Vincent de Paul Society, the Knights of Columbus and other excellent Catho- lic Organizations that come into close contact with the people, to arrest any movement that leads from solid Chris- tian principles and seeks for its ultimate expression in the so-called perfect state. We shall need strong men with sane views who can clearly enunciate Catho- lic doctrine and who can effectively as well as tactfully give a reason for the faith that is in them. It is very regret- able that our leading professional men, lawyers and physicians, merchants and manufacturers, are so weakly represent- ed in the social service work of the Church. Some of these have come out from their hiding places during the stress of war, and it is to be hoped that they will not return to the old position which implies that the mere payment of pew rent and a fairly good compliance with the precepts of the Church will ex- cuse them from further interest in their fellows. If men and women of this
calibre who possess the intellectual gifts and can command the leisure which the work requires, would throw themselves into the breach at the present time, it would go far toward solving properly many of the important problems that must be met in the aftermath of the war.
On the whole, it may be safely asserted that the mingling of all the various churched and unchurched in the com- mon endeavor represented by war wel- fare work has been a good thing all around. It has enabled the Catholic and non-Catholic to view each other at close range and each has found that some- thing of advantage could be learned from the other. It has made for a bet- ter understanding among those who were unhappily clashing when in pursuit of a good thing, because they did not under- stand one another. In the work where- in they may be associated in the future, as in the Red Cross service, which asks support from all classes of peoples, there will be no need for the Catholic to mini- mize in any way his view that soul wel- fare after all is the paramount consider- ation. His non-Catholic colleague will not find himself so easily shocked by the image of the Crucifix which has been rendered so familiar by the stories that come from the battle-scarred fields of Belgium and Northern France. In other words, the spirit of religion is in the air now, and perhaps there never was a period in human history where the ground was so fertile for sowing the seeds of good will and cooperation in every form of charitable endeavor. Catholics who do not offer themselves to help in the secular agencies for the bet- terment of human life are making a seri- ous mistake. They should banish timidity which is often found to be an- other name for laziness, and enter boldly into the field where awaits them a real welcome from their separated brethren.
This is the time for allied work on the part of the Catholic men and women with gifts of speech and pen to enter the ranks of social service to stay the march of So- cialism and what if unchecked it will surely lead to — Bolshevism. The call is imperative and insistent and none may refuse it to heed it.
Lancaster, Pa.
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ECONOMIC SERFDOM AND SO- CIAL PROPAGANDA.
The Rev. Philip H. Burkett, S. J., warns against propaganda on the labor question : " it has this evil effect, among many, if be not properly carried on, that it foments Socialistic discontent among the whole laboring class."
But the fact of the matter seems to be that the legitimate claims of the American workingman today cannot be got into print anywhere except in the Socialist papers. If a workingman wants to finci the facts about the labor situa- tion, he simply has to read these publica- tions. Look at the utterly shameless way in which the press of the country has dealt with the Mooney scandal in San Francisco. Apart from the Socialist papers, The Irish World alone has printed the facts from the start. Most Americans, most American Catholics, seem to regard Mooney as an assassin, an anarchist, simply because that is what the daily press says about him. The man in the street does not stop to consider that the " interests " that want Mooney to be hanged, own the daily press of the country and a good deal of political influence too. The same daily press suppressed or garbled the results of government investigations into con- ditions in mines, factories, lurnber camps and packing plants. Even President Wilson's public utterances on such mat- ters are distorted, cut down, falsified by cunning scareheads. If the American public khew the facts of the labor situa- tion there would be an honest attempt to mend matters. But the policy of sup- pression and distortion in the daily press simply drives the workers to the Socia- list papers.
Why don't all Catholic papers adopt the bold honest policy of The Irish World on the labor question? Are they afraid of the employers ? Our numerous Catholic weeklies have been called " weaklies " for this, among other rea- sons, that they have no robust policy on this labor question. Of course they have no nation-wide News-Collecting Agencies, and must take what they find in the daily press which is uniformly hostile to the American workingman.
This is one reason for the absence of the diocesan weekly from the homes of many Catholic toilers. And it is an explanation, if not an excuse, for the presence of Socialist prints in the same homes.
Two main factors make Socialists : first, injustice of employers ; second, sup- pression of the facts of the labor situa- tion in the daily press, and venomous hostility to the just claims of labor in the same quarter unless political con- siderations compel the able editors to " let up " a little till election is over. If the workingman is not treated right by employers and newspapers he is simply driven into the arms of the So- cialists.
If our Catholic Press were to expound the social doctrines of Leo XIII. and then to criticize American industrial con- ditions in the light of those doctrines, they would insure a larger circulation for themselves ; they would find an entry into many homes where the Socialists are having pretty much their own way now; they would dissipate the growing prejudice against the Church among the workers, who are told by the Socialists that the Church is a tool of capitalism; and they would also help to propagate sound Christian ideas among the masses that are drifting.
The Catholic workingman has no use for Socialism; but he has just as little use for a daily or weekly press that calls him a Socialist, a Bolshevik, an I. W. W., an Anarchist, merely because he asks what Leo XIII. said he is entitled to — a living wage. Let our Catholic papers tell him and keep on telling him that he is right and that Leo XIII. was right, and that the enemies of the living wage, Catholic or non-Catholic, are wrong. Not only are they wrong in theory, but they are a serious danger and nuisance. P. A. F.
The King of Italy the other day re- called to the President's mind that there were more Italians in New York than in any Italian city, and cited the fact that New York's Italian population was 800,000.
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LLOYD GEORGE ON RECONSTRUCTION.^
We have acts running into hundreds and hundreds of sections. We have had regulations which would fill a library. We have had the most attractive pic- tures of model dwellings and endless authorities. But you cannot plow the waste land with forms. You cannot sweep away slums with paper, and you cannot cope with the wants of the peo- ple with red tape. That is the first thing that has to be dealt with.
What more have we to do to improve the country? We see that wages dur- ing the war have been raised, and we must see in the future that labor is re- warded with wages that will sustain life in full vigor, the life of the worker and the life of his children, and it is the great part of the State to bring them up to take their part. I am glad to see that in agricultural labor wages have gone up. Fourteen shillings a week was a monstrous wage. There must be healthier conditions in the workshops. Many of them are admirable, many of them are tolerable and many are not tolerable. Bad health for the nation is bad business for all. What is the next lesson of the war? We must pay more attention to the schools. The most formidable institution we have had to fight in Germany was not the arsenals of Krupp or the yards in which they turned out submarines, but the schools of Germany. They were our most for- midable competitors in business and our most terrible opponents in war. An educated man is a better worker, a more formidable warrior and a better citizen. That was only half comprehended be- fore the war here. I am glad that since then we have had Mr. Fisher's great bill. That is a great step forward toward redressing the blunders of the past.
Comfort is the surest preventive of anarchy, but comfort involves plenty. You can insure plenty by insuring the best conditions for production. If abundance is not there you cannot dis- tribute it.
We must approach these problems with
* From a recent address in Manchester.
judgment undeterred by past prejudices and predilections, and, may I say, past appeals. We are really not infallible, and when you are in earnest, and when you have the great experience of this war, when you see the firmament illumined through the whole earth, you must see tilings you never saw before; otherwise it is time for you to go to an oculist. If men decline to take the best course because it is inconsistent with something they said or thought before, they will never achieve anything but controversy. For heaven's sake, don't let us plant new lands with barren fig trees. I ask no man to scrap his principles. I only ask that new facts, revealed by the war, should be considered with an open, un- prejudiced mind, enriched by the un- paralleled experience gained in this war. It is idle to pretend that this vast con- vulsion has taught us nothing. Men who learn nothing are fitted for noth- ing, and they certainly ought not to be employed in the settlement of after-war problems, because they are dangerous men.
All classes must be invited to assist, to cooperate, to devise, to work out the problems. The fatal vice of Bolshevism is that it left to one class to the ex- clusion of all others the management of the trade, commerce and industry of the whole nation. What has been the re- sult? Bad management; and no class suffered more than the class that was supposed to be in supreme control. There are men with hundreds of rubles who cannot buy food. All who have any knowledge or experience or capac- ity to contribute ought to be called on. I have been at the head of four depart- ments of state since this war began, and there I have come into contact with every section of the community. The workmen of this country contributed by their industry and skill to the winning of the war. The business men of the community I found assisting me at the Exchequer to save the country from a financial panic, which would have de- stroyed confidence and made it impos- sible to win the war. It was the same
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at the War Office. Great engineers, great contractors, managers and others engaged in transportation came to help. Their work has been invahiable.
We want neither reaction nor revolu- tion, but a sane, well-advised steadiness of bold reconstruction. There is a great deal of talk about preparing for war in time of peace, but it is equally important to prepare for peace during war. Delay will be disastrous. In a world so highly strung, a world whose nerves have been strained for years, there is peril in an appearance of procrastination. The men in the trenches, brought face to face with the actuality of the conflict, are, I am sure, thinking, thinking hard, thinking deeply, about the kind of home- land they will return to when this struggle is over. Let us see it is one that is worthier of their heroism. There are disturbing symptoms all over Eu- rope which we at home would be wise to take note of and provide against. I have been scanning the horizon and I can see flashes on the sky which indi- cate to me that there are grave atmos- pheric disturbances in the social and economic world. In the natural world you cannot avert the storm by thinking. In the more artificial world of human society you can, if you take things in time, avert the hurricane. I have one word of advice to my countrymen, and I say it solemnly to them: Take heed in time, and if you do we shall enjoy settled weather for the great harvest which is coming when the fierce heat of summer which is beating upon us in this great war will be over and past.
EVERY DISABLED SOLDIER AND SAILOR SHOULD KNOW
That the government is resolved to do its best to restore him to health, strength and self-supporting activity.
That until his discharge from hospital care the medical and surgical treatment necessary to restore him to health and strength is under the jurisdiction of the Military and Naval authorities.
That the vocational training which may be afterwards necessary to restore his self-supporting activity is under the jurisdiction of the Federal Board for Vocational Eucation.
That if he needs an artificial limb or other orthopedic or mechanical appli- ance, the government supplies it free upon his discharge and renews it when considered necessary.
That if, after his discharge, he again needs medical treatment on account of his disability the government supplies it free.
That any man whose disability entitles him to compensation under the War- Risk Insurance Act may be provided by the Federal Board with a course of vocational training for a new occupation.
That the government strongly re- commends each man who needs it to undertake vocational training and put himself under the care of the Federal Board, but the decision to do so is opti- onal with each man.
That if his disability does prevent him from returning to employment without training and he elects to follow a course of vocational training provided by the Federal Board, the course will be fur- nished free of cost, and he will also be paid, as long as the training lasts, a monthly compensation equal to the sum to which he is entitled under the War- Risk Insurance Act, or a sum equal to the pay of his last month of active ser- vice, whichever is the greater; but in no case will a single man, or a man re- quired by his course of instruction to live apart from his dependents, receive less than $65 per month, exclusive of the sum paid dependents ; nor will a man living with his dependents receive less than $75 per month, inclusive of sum paid to dependents.
That if his disability does not pre- vent him from returning to employment without training and he elects to follow a course of vocational training provided by the Federal Board, the course will be furnished free of cost to him, and the consequence provided by the War-Risk Insurance Act be paid to him, but no allowance will be paid to his family.
That in addition to the above, the family or dependents of each disabled man will receive from the government during his period of training the same monthly allotment and allowance as that paid prior to his discharge from the xA.rmy or the Navy.
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That upon completion of his course of training, he will continue to receive the compensation prescribed by the War- Risk Insurance Act, so long as his dis- ability continues.
That in nearly every case, by follow- ing the advice and suggestions of the Federal Board, he can either get rid of the handicap caused by his disability, or acquire new powers to replace any that may have been lost.
That if he is willing to learn and take advantage of these opportunities to in- crease his skill offered him by the Fed- eral Board, he can usually get a better position than he had before entering the service.
That if he fails to take advantage of these opportunities he will find himself badly handicapped when he is obliged to compete with the able-bodied men who come back to work after the war.
That the Federal Board, through its vocational experts, will study his partic- ular disability and advise him as to the proper course to pursue, and give him free training for the occupation best suited to him.
That on the satisfactory completion of his training the Federal Board, through its employment service, will as- sist him to secure a position.
That public authorities and other large employers will in many cases, at least, give disabled soldiers and sailors preference when filling vacant positions, provided they possess the training neces- sary to fill them.
All disabled soldiers, whether in or out of the hospital, should address their com- munications either to the Federal Board for Vocational Education, Washington, D. C. or to the district in which he is located.
PERMANENT K. OF C. BUILDING AT WESTMINSTER CATHEDRAL.
A Knights of Columbus building, just completed at Westminster cathedral, will remain as a permanent structure. There had been some delay in constructing this building because of governmental need of new materials but the superintendent of army contracts finally removed all obstacles. American troops, homeward
bound, will use the building until after demobilization. It will then stand as a memorial, evidence of the great work rendered by the Knights of Columbus to the Allied soldiers and