Current Topics

New Zealand Tablet, 14 October 1909, Page 1609

Current Topics

The Congress Time Limit ' One of the greatest difficulties which confronted the recent Congress — as it confronts- most congresses — was how to find time to overtake the huge programme of work that had been mapped out. In order to make it even approxi- v inately possible a time-limit was imposed, and the rigor with which the regulation was enforced gave rise at times to situations that were decidedly entertaining — at least to the onlookers. The president was absolutely relentless — even if a speaker were in the very middle of a burst of eloquence he was ruthlessly cut down. The Sydney Daily Telegraph records the following closure incidents, all of which happened on the opening day of the Congress deliberations. • # ' The time-limit is rigorously enforced at the Roman Catholic Congress; in fact, it is essential" if the business is to be got through in a week, and 'no closure in any Parliament is so inflexible in its operation. The mandate of the president, as the Cardinal declared yesterday, is as - unalterable as the laAvs of. the -Medes and the Persians. This when he had cut short Monsignor O'Brien, rector of St. John's College, in a historical sketch of that institution, and the members of the Congress were applauding vigorously to indicate that they wished him to continue. ' The Monsignor was not the only speaker thus interrupted in the course of .a brisk day's work. When Father Barry had got through five pages of Mr. J. E. Redmond's paper, which ran into 16 pages in "type, his Eminence announced that as the hour for adjournment had arrived the rest of I the paper must be taken as read. Mr. John Meagher, • I M.L.C., who entered upon a catalogue of the wrongs of I Ireland under the tithe te.x in the days of his ancestors, I was relating, amid amusement, that even the ducks and I hens had been appropriated in order, as he said, "to. feed I the parson," when the Cardinal rose, with a humorous I twinkle in his eye. " I'm afraid the speaker's time is I up," he drily announced, and the narrative abruptly ended I amid great laughter. Dr. Cleary's paper on education, •at I the afternoon session, had to be curtailed, so that, maniI festly with the fear of the time-limit before his eyes, Mr. I J. M. Taylor, when his turn came, started off to read his I paper at a great pace. So extremely rapid was ,he that I at first he could not be understood. But even his voluI bility could not save him, for the blow fell at length, with I a large section of his paper unread.' ■ The Prospects of Home Rule I In a Congress ninety per cent, of whose members were ( I either Irish or of Irish descent it was natural and fitting I that Ireland and its affairs should have an honored place; I and Mr. John Redmond, in his paper on 'Ireland's HunI dred Years' Battle for Faith and Fatherland,' and the H Cardinal, in his address on ' Ireland, the Island of Saints,' H both waxed eloquent on what was for each so congenial a H theme. It is interesting to notice that, in spite of the H disappointments and set-backs in the past, Mr. Redmond H is very sanguine and hopeful as to Ireland's prospect of H getting justice in the by no means distant future. I * H 'In 1906,' he says, ' the Liberals, with the largest on record, proposed to establish a sort of modified Indian Council in Ireland, but the measure was contemptuMously rejected by the Irish people. During the present' a Home Rule motion, affirming the Irish dein full, has been accepted by the Government, and passed in the House of Commons, by a purely British ma- - for the first time since the Union. The Liberals are pledged, to Home Rule, and the Premier has stated at the next general election they will ask for a free to deal with the Irish question. And thus Home stands to-day. Its prospects never were brighter. the last twenty years 'the main arguments against Bills have been swept away by legislation such the Local Government Acts, the .Land Acts, and the TJniAct. This year the annual indictment of Ireland the Tories, as ' a land seething with crime, absolutely down, and the campaign of hate and calumny waged Ireland in England appears to have utterly spent force. The example of the effects of Home Rule in Africa, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand has impressed the British nation, and the fact that the self-governing colonies are in favor of Home Rule Ireland has compelled recognition- lite influence of the race in America, Australia, and England also counts much with Ireland's rulers, for it is to their generous that the continued existence of the Irish Party

in all its strength and efficiency is largely due. The position of parties in England is unstable; but the Irish Party suffers no diminution in strength, ' aiid is ready to" take advantage of every opportunity to press the national claim! The overwhelming majority- of the Liberals and the whole of the Labor Party are united with the Irish Party in favor of Home Rule. Even the Tory " non-possumus " is only political tactics.' ' . - * ' The Irish Party is absolutely ' independent. ■ In Ire--^ land itself the oj>position to Home Rule _in .Ulster is kept alive with the greatest difficulty^ The more reasonable and resppnsible of the Unionists there regard it as inevitable, and desire only that when it comes it should be , genorous and. complete. Every fresh concession to Ireland ' but strengthens her power and her determination to compel Homo Rule. It is bound to come: that -is inevitable; but .it is dependent, first and last, on the continued unity and solidarity of the Irish themselves. Given these conditions, ' and a continuation of the support of the Irish Party by' our race and nation, victory is only" a matter of time, and most probably a very short time. It will be a fitting ter.- ' mination to Ireland's hundred-years' battle for faith and fatherland. The nation that could survive such a struggle, and emerge from it victorious, must possess great qualities; and- is destined to a great future.' A Challenge to Mr. Joseph Hocking Tho Rev. Joseph Hocking is one of those unhappy ,. individuals who have got 'Rome' on the brain. If he. writes a story, anti-Catholic feeling forms the woof and weft of it; if he makes a speech, it is a shriek at convents or at "the increasing dominance of ' Rome ' ; if he preaches, it is about the Scarlet Woman and the Mother of* Abomi- . nations. In one of his late ebullitions he has been pulled up short by a Catholic paper in a way which may make"even a hardened slanderer like the Rev. Joseph hide his diminished head for a time. At a drawing-room meeting held lately at 39 Upper Grosvenor street', London, attended by Miss* Madge Moult, who lately left the Benedictine Convent, at East Bergholt, Suffolk, the Rev. Joseph Hocking presided, and was reported to have said, among other things : " ' In spite of protests both inside and outside of Parliament, monasteries were increasing very rapidly in " this country. In 1851 there were 70 in Great Britain, whilst in 1908 there were 1131, and 813 of these were institutions for women. The history of monastic institutions was of the blackest, yet we as a Protestant country gave a home to those whom Roman Catholic countries sent out. Crime, cruelty, and outrage obtained, and the public had a right to know what was going on in them.' * Upon which a London Catholic paper issues to the Rev. Joseph the following challenge: 'Mr. Hocking pro- . bably deems himself safe in using such-Vords, because he uses them in a general and not in a particular sense. It is a moot question for lawyers to decide whether the use ■ of such language on such an- occasion does not come within the four corners of the law of libel. However, if Mr. Hocking has any manliness, if he has the least spark of pluck, we publicly and particularly invite him to say whether his words apply to the Catholic convent, at East Bergholt, Suffolk. He says that "crime, cruelty, and outrage obtain" in Catholic convents and monasteries. Well, in what Catholic convent or monastery does Mr. Hocking know or say that " crime, cruelty and outrage obtain " ? We invite him to become specific — to use his words or apply them to some one Catholic convent or monastery, so that the 'truth of the words can be tested. Heis-talk-ing of Catholic convents and colleges in Great Britain. "In 1908 there were" 1131 (conventual institutions in Great Britain), and 813 of these were institutions for women." He is talking of- Great Britain, to-day. To what Catholic convent in Great Britain do his words apply? We invite him" definitely and specifically to say. We have not the least hope that Mr. Hocking will do so. If he should do so, he would be acting a manly part. It would be possible at least to respect his courage, "whatever we might think of his ignorance. But if lie does -not do 50,,, he .must stand . branded as a cowardly calumniator, willing to wound but afraid to strike; hiding himself behind dastardly generalities that leave his skin and his pocket safe ; willing to imply what, he fears to assert.' " ' It is many weeks now since this challenge was issued, but, needless -to say, Mr. Hocking has not so far had the courage and manliness to even attempt to ' make good.' The French Birth-rate Dr. J. Bertillon, head of the Paris Municipal Statistias Office, has just published some significant and ominous figures in regard to the birth-rate in "the French capital.

According to - a summary of these figures given by the Paris correspondent of the Morning „ Post, Dr. Bertillon finds that 445 prominent married men in Paris have a total of 575 children. These 445 men he divides into three categorics — artistic, literary, and political. The persons in- the first category — 94 in number — have 104 children. Included in it are 35 artistic persons who have no children at all. The second category— litterateurs, 133 in number — have 127 children, and included in the class are 65 writers who have no children/ In the third category fall 111 politicians, who ' have in all 193 children. Exactly one-third of the political group are childless. Finally there are 23 merchants and "manufacturers- with 39 children, 33 military men and functionaries with 54 children, and 51 other notabilities with 56 . children. ' France,' says Dr." Bertillon in conclusion, 'is marching rapidly to her ruin, -because she follows the example of those very people whose duty it is to instruct and advise her.' * This is, of course, no new scare and no new warning for Frenchmen. Long ago von Moltke declared that Germany need never go to war again with France, for France loses a battle every day without any fighting. Matters have gone from bad to worse since von Moltke's time, and at the last congress of Social Economy M. Foville, the president, who compared the birth-rates of the different European countries, remarked of France : 'If this condition of things continues, in twenty years there will be two Germans for every Frenchman, if indeed France survives so long as a nation.' The following figures were quoted in support of this contention. In the sixty years from 1846 to 1905, the population of Great Britain and Ireland increased 52 per cent. ; that of "Germany 59 • per cent. ; that of Austria 49 per cent. ; that of Italy 36 per cent. ; that of Russia 81 per cent. ; that ot France 14 per cent. ; finally in 1907 the French population had decreased 20,000. To put the position in another form : Since the twentieth century began the French decline has continued at the following alarming rate : Excess of births over deaths, 1902, 74,000; 1903, 73,000;, 1904, 57,000; 1905, 37,000; 1906, 27,000, while in 1907, zero was reached and passed. For the first time in history, and in France alone among nations, the deaths exceeded the. births. The deaths numbered 794,000 as against 774,000 births, a difference to the credit of deaths of 20,000. * The situation is one which can no longer be ignored, and French papers and politicians appear to be genuinely alarmed. A Bill has been placed on the table of the French Chamber making it a punishable offence to refuse to accept or to send away tenants from dwellings because of their having children, and late Home files intimate that in the autumn session the French Parliament will be asked to legislate comprehensively in connection with certain proposals now being put forward to increase the population.. These proposals cover a very wide range and the squalid list of suggested remedies includes that of a premium on even illegitimate births. The two schemes that are described as having the best chance of being adopted are those drawn up by Professor Richet, of the Academy of Medicine, and by M. Paul Leroy Beaulieu, the eminent economist. M. Richet proposes ihat the State shall pay bonuses on every baby except the firstborn. A second child would bring a payment of £20, and every succeeding one . a bonus of £40. M. Richet believes that under this system the number of births, which is now 750,000 per annum, would increase to one million. This would cost the State about £12,000,000 a year. The professor proposes to raise the .money by imposing a heavy death duty of 50 per cent on all collateral inheritances and on' all estates left by parents to an only child. M. Beaulieu suggests that no civil servant or ! municipal official should be definitely appointed to his office until he is the parent of three children, this stipulation to apply to the women officials as well as to the men. *M. Beaulieu also advocates an annual reduction of the salaries of bachelor and spinster officials. • ..« * The adoption of these -proposals may effect some slight improvement, but they obviously touch only the outermost fringe of the evil.- The real source of the trouble, as has been over and over again pointed out, is the decay of the religious sentiment and the neglect of religious 'duty; and so long French statesmen continue their _policy of . doing all they can to sap the religious idea .so long will they keep their country in the path that leads to national ruin. The Ministers of the Republic who are now called upon to face so grave " a problem are only reaping what, they have sown. They have been so busy ' putting' out the lights of heaven '—to use M. Briands boastful phrase — that they have f aiied to notice that the process is involving not only- the decline but possibly even the extinction of the nation.