Race-Suicide Follies

New Zealand Tablet, 15 October 1908, Page 9

Race-Suicide Follies

Horse-feasts, dog-birth-day parties, and other-such follies dfthe American wealthy' lower orders have been easily surpassed by the following disgusting^ details of the lying-in-state and funeral of the canine pet of a couple in Wilmington (Delaware). We quote from the S.H. Review : ' The night the animal died an undertaker was sent for and a chestnut casket with a silver plate bearing the words " Our Darling " was made. - The body was

laid out in the sitting-room of the- 1 home the- next day, where it was viewed' by many neighbors.; 7H"" rested on ,a silk blanket, and was surrounded with flowers.'

. Sterne weeping over the carcase of a dead donkey was sublime compared rwtth :-this „ folly of- dog-worship. Herei n "New" Zealand "we have- not- yet touched this degree, of t insanity. But,, given this combination : starved maternal instinct, and wealth, without a • sense of its responsibilities," and. "New- Zealand may: witness within its borders as fantastic tricks before high heaven as the great republic that flies the Stars and" Stripes-, The! latest report of our Department of.-Health contains no grain ofcomfort for those who love their country and- regard the moral law. Dr. Mason, "writing in connection ,;-with this grave question of race-suicide, says : ' Commissioners have sat in various parts of the world, and . have "discussed "• the subject in all its phases. Voluminous reports have been written, but it 'has all, been as a beating of the wind. To my mind the remedy is not to be found in reports, but in a national awakening and an increase in patriotism. All sorts of cures have been advocated, such as grants of land to parents having over- a certain number in the family, but I have little faith in such remedies.'

The disease is mainly a moral one, and- is no more to be cured by such means than leprosy is to be^ cured by reciting the multiplication table. The radical remedy is a return to Catholic, teaching in regard to the sacred obligations and responsibilities of wedded life.