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Show CARDINAL LOGUE ON DIVORCE. Cardinal Logue, the kindly, charming little man who represented Ireland at the Eucharistic Congress Con-gress in Montreal, has tarried in the United States long enough "to take part in the laying of the cornerstone cor-nerstone of the new St. Patrick's cathedral in Philadelphia Phil-adelphia and in the consecration of the magnificent magnifi-cent cathedral of the same name in New York City, says the Minneapolis Irish Standard. During his stay in this country the Irish cardinal has by his delightful manner won the affection of thousands of people. He is deeply interested in America anil never tires of expressing his gratitude for the kindness shown him. He has many words of praise for Americans but, though loath to say it, he fears for our future if an effective fight is not waged against divorce, the cauker worm that is eating away the vitals of society. A deep interest attaches to Cardinal Loguc's words because his is not harsh criticism, but the warning of one who is heartily in sympathy with us. He comes from a country where divorce is unknown, and the deplorable conditions resulting from the commercial basis on which marriage is placed in this country is so unusual to him that his mind revolts at the very idea. lie says the lax-ness lax-ness of our divorce laws is a disgrace to our country. coun-try. We have reduced marriage to an experiment and left access to separation so easy that home life, in the best sense of the word, is no longer possible. pos-sible. ''The only difference between the polygamy of the Mormons and the polygamy of divorce." says the Cardinal, "is that one is simultaneous polygamy while the other i3 successive polygamy' And not only is divorce destroying the' home, but it is reducing womanhood to the lowest degradation. degrada-tion. Such are a few of the Cardinal's ideas of the effects of divorce, gained by his many years of observation. Divorce is not known in Ireland nd England today to the extent that it is known in the United States. The reason for this. Cardinal Logue points out, is the difference in the divorce laws in the two countries. In England the expense connected with conducting a suit for divorce costs so much that only the rich can resort to the courts for an an-nullment an-nullment of marriage. The result is marriag"e is, . kept on a.higher level.. Men and .women, do.xint enter the wedded state under the impression that they can dissolve the union whenever they choose. Here in America we have tolerated the divorco evil until it threatens to be our undoing. Lax divorce di-vorce laws have made the most sacred union on earth a sham. Trivial and often ridiculous causes are sufficient for the legal dissolution of that bond against the breaking of which our Divine Lord gave explicit warning. Nothing is being done to check this the most threatening of our social evils, The tide of morality is fast ebbing in this coun-trv. coun-trv. Divorce is destroying the home, the fundamental funda-mental unit or society, and when the home is no longer safe and manhood and womanhood are degraded de-graded by loose morals, the state and nation are no longer secure. We are hearing much about bribery and frauds practiced by leading politicians. These things are harmful but infinitely worse is the alarming increase in-crease in' legalized vice. We do not believe in the practicability of a Catholic political party, but we do think that it is high time that a country-wide agitation were set on foot demanding a quick change in our disgraceful disgrace-ful divorce laws. Make it a political issue if need be, but make it an unmistakable demand for uniform uni-form and rigid laws that will check our national practice of vice. As Catholics we are too self-complacent. We know that divorce is a threatening evil, but Ave are secured from its ravages by the protection of the Church. We should, however, realize that our duty to our country requires that we oppose this evil with all the force we can command. |