6 MARCH 1926, Page 13

In the opposite camp are to be found the two

American CardinalsSardinal Hayes, Archbishop of New York, and Cardinal O'Connell, of Boston, who• since: the death of Cardinal Gibbon, of Baltimore—one of the most charming old men I have ever met—is regarded as the head of the Roman Catholic Church in the United States. Cardinal O'Connell says : " From the days when St. Paul warned the Ephesians not to be drunk with -wine, the Church's pastors have dealt faithfully with this ugly vice, but —and here is the real principle—Abuses non tollit usum (The abuse of a thing does not destroy its use). Ale, wine and their like are not in themselves evil. They have their lawful uses. But compulsory universal Prohibition is a different thing. For compulsory Pro- hibition in general is flatly opposed to Holy Scripture and to Catholic tradition. Moreover, it is grossly untrue to say that pathology and dietetics have brought in a verdict of guilty against the immemorial beverages of the Old World. Although it has been made clear a thousand times that we will work with our separated brethren as temperance men, but not as the tools of those whose confessed policy is world-wide Prohibition by instalments, disloyal attempts are still being made to entangle us."

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