this land. There have been many of the noblest of bishops and priests in this land. There are thousands of Catholics whose sober lives are evidence of God's abiding grace, but the majority do nothing towards making their neighbor sober. They are strangely lacking in interest in the temperance cause as an organized force.

I am interested in the temperance question in all its phases. I am profoundly interested in the effects of alcohol drinking upon the human system. I am interested in the effects of alcohol drinking upon the social life of any people. I am interested in the effects of alcohol drinking upon the moral calibre of the race. I am interested in the effects of alcohol drinking upon this nation.

Above all else I am interested in the alcohol question as it affects the honor of the Catholic Church in America.

There are so many phases of the alcohol question that one who has studied it deeply can hardly be patient with men who discuss it as their fathers discussed it. Truth is a living thing. The things of yesterday are no more. The dead past should bury its dead. The temperance question of to-day is quite a different thing from the temperance question of twenty or even ten years ago. The Catholic Total Abstinence Union of yesterday is not the Catholic Total Abstinence Union of today. Though it seems to grow slowly, it is helping to mould the mind and conscience of the present and the coming generation. And in doing this it grows with the generation it helps to form.

Nearly half a century ago some earnest Catholic souls gathered together in Baltimore and said: "It behooves us to be busy about what destroys men's souls. It behooves us as bishops and priests of God's church and as Christians to be concerned about that which causes the ruin of so many

of the children of God." They realized that wishing away an evil was not God's way nor the Church's way of dealing with an evil.

They started this union. As the years went by the Church drew this union into closer and closer relationship with itself. It was born of God and inspired by the mind of the Church. It has continued thinking with the Church's last thoughts on temperance. In the last four or five years it has become a part of the International Federation of the Catholic AntiAlcohol Leagues. A year ago last Easter the president of our international organization went at the head of a pilgrimage of members of the international federation to the chair of Peter. Pope Pius X, who was then reigning Pontiff, graciously said to the members of the league: "It is your duty as Catholics to be in the very van of the anti-alcohol movement." The Catholic Church as the Church of the living God not only brings forth ancient truth in all its beauty and strength, but truth in its latest dress. There can be no modernism so genuinely modern as the modernism of the ancient Church of God. In this movement against alcohol drinking the latest blessing of the Church of God is upon those who are in the very van of it.

There are some whose interest in the cause of temperance is paralyzed by fear. They put very cautious limits to their interest. The Kingdom of God ought to penetrate into every thoroughfare of life, and he that would hedge it about has not yet grasped the thought of the Master that He came to bring fire upon the earth, and He would that it be enkindled. Fire will spread if there is material to burn. That is not fire which does not make even the original spot to glow. Too many of us, half-hearted in the service, have not had faith in the truth we have professed. We have asked: "Who is with

us and who against us?" Too many have been cowards that might be willing to run with the crowd, but who have not been willing to stand alone or to stand with the few. In spite of much cowardice the Catholic Total Abstinence Union has stood through all these years a tribute to the courage of its upholders and a glory to the Church of America. It has grown with the times, but it will never forget its ancient charter.

The Catholic Total Abstinence Union has long since forgotten the ancient notion that the first purpose of a temperance society is the saving of drunkards. Our first interest is not the saving of drunkards. We desire, of course, to save any soul in danger of perdition if we can do so. But saving drunkards is usually so hopeless a task or so difficult an undertaking that such energies as we can give to the work must be devoted primarily to the saving of those in danger of drunkenness. The medical profession has long since discarded the theory that in the practice of medicine the healing of the sick must be its first concern. It aims, above all, to make and to keep the nation or the race well. We are, in like manner, supremely interested in the saving of the rising generation.

What can we do to save the race from the curse of alcoholism? What share are we Catholics going to have in the eradicating of the monster evil of these days? Catholics should be foremost in this altruistic crusade for the physical, moral, and religious salvation of the race. The individualism which sees in the temperance question merely an attack on personal liberty shows small indication of a Christian spirit. A Christian spirit feels that if one member is sick the whole body is sick. How many of us do really suffer because of the thousands that are drunkards? How many of us are asking what are the causes of drunkenness? Who cares? Do

you? Does every man and woman here trouble himself or herself as to whether any Catholic is in danger of perdition because of the sin of drunkenness? Are you concerned about the dangers which will beset the path of the rising generation? Are you anxious to save every man that can be saved, and especially anxious to preserve those that are yet uncontaminated in order that the Kingdom of God may be peopled for time and for eternity?

In all our great cities it has often been said that there are too few Catholics, especially among the rich, who are sensible of the principle of social responsibility. I have known many men and women outside the Catholic Church who have been captivated merely by the beauty of virtue, who have realized better than even the average Catholic of intelligence that they are their brother's keeper. They spend their dollars to help the weak; they use what power within them lies to make others better. You and I are not doing our best. When we begin to do our best, we shall make not only Catholics in America sober, but we shall make the nation sober.

THE CATHOLIC TOTAL ABSTINENCE

MOVEMENT

ADDRESS BY THE REV. THOMAS HUGH BRYSON, A.M.

THE Catholic Total Abstinence Union represents an organized effort to bring about sobriety. It is Catholic, because its principles are based upon the teaching of the Church, and because it bears the stamp of approval of the Chief Pastor of the Flock. This body does not come to us with a new evangel born of the seething times. It does not claim to teach a gospel beyond and above the saving Gospel of eternal truth. It does not bring a revelation that was not vouchsafed to the early teachers of the Faith. No, my friends, this union is one of the forces of righteousness within the Church, guided by wise leaders in the Church, and at all times subserving the great mission of the Church, which is the promotion of God's honor and the salvation of immortal souls.

A work that is not grounded on right principles is doomed to failure in the end. It may succeed for a little while, or even for a long time, but if its starting point is wrong, no power can save it from an ultimate dissolution. The Catholic Total Abstinence Union rests its argument upon the teaching of Our Blessed Lord and of His Holy Church. The members of this body know that God created them for Heaven; and they know that self-denial is the means by which they gain their end. Self-denial is an axiom of our Holy Faith. Our Saviour, Jesus Christ, did not preach comfort and convenience as the end for which man was made. No, He spoke in solemn terms about the Cross, and He said most clearly that no man could