follow the trend of the times, if you study the character of legislation, it would look as if all their lines were set against the one and the other.

The world of to-day does not appear to care for the home. Its stability is imperilled because its foundation-stone, namely the sacrament of marriage, is cast aside. Marriage to-day is no longer regarded as a sacrament; hence no longer has it stability,, no longer are its bonds indissoluble. The divorce laws decree it may be broken for the flimsiest of causes. A liberty which is akin to libertinism is preached as the privilege of the married couple, a reward for their infidelity, and in their escape to this broader liberty there are left behind only a home that is ruined and children that are orphaned.

Indeed, in the extravagant views of our social reformers and philosophers the home should give way altogether to the broader idea of independent, individualized citizenship where instead of father and mother and children forming the entity known as the home, they will all become State wards, by the State directed and sustained-think of it-an institution to care for the children, separated from parents, who in turn claim neither a sacrament for their temporary union, nor the title of legitimacy for their unfortunate offspring.

Now, the first school, where truth and the whole truth was taught, was the school of Nazareth, and the first college, where a similar curriculum obtained, was the College of the Apostles. And along these lines, whether by the altars of the Catacombs or in the groves of Rome or the arena of the Coliseum, the crosscrowned school drew to it those who would learn of Him because He was "meek and humble of heart," attracted there by His own anxious call, "Suffer the little children to come to me and forbid them not."

Then came the later days when Christian schools and scholars made illustrious the nations of Christendom, making the torch of science blaze in the same steady flame then as now, as the torch of truth. Whatever there be of value, meaning, helpfulness, solidity in all our modern systems of education commenced there. There is nothing in to-day's curriculum whether of Kindergarten or University that, in principle at least, did not obtain

then. Science may have broadened; invention and research may have added in later days new names and new facts, but the principles of knowledge which the Christian schools of the Middle Ages offered are still the same, as broad as our faith, as deep as the needs of humanity.

Is it not a time for action; for fathers and mothers, for priests and people, for all those who will stand by and for established order, for the defense of our common civilization, to rise up, and with the courage of our knightly forbears to swear that the homes that we love shall remain sacred; that no sacrilegious hand shall be laid on them, that no enemy shall force his way unless it be over the dead bodies of those who defend them? The enemies of the Christian home are invariably the enemies of the Christian school as well. I would not have time to recount the long history of the warfare made on religious education. Every nation has its own chapter to furnish. In some the attack is more bitter, the opposition to religious schools more intense than in others. It is to be noted that the nation that leads all others in opposition to Christian schools, where religious education is altogether suppressed, is also the nation which to-day leads in the race to ruin. Unhappy France cannot hide the dry rot of decay that everywhere breaks out from beneath the tinsel and veneer, the paint and powder wherewith she seeks to hide her shame.

With us, I fear, what with the bitterness of creeds, the unwholesome prejudices, the appeal to jingoism, the the Christian school has a hard road to travel. I have to weigh my words, for in this matter I can easily be misunderstood. I have no desire to add to the bitterness, nor to alienate from our cause the many thousands, millions who, in spite of prejudice and misunderstanding in their hearts, are in sympathy with us and wish and hope and pray that somehow or other a better order may obtain, and Christ come to His own.

But while I would not inject a single element of bitterness, yet I cannot help but feel deeply and express these feelings with what force I may. It is hard to be silent, not to protest when you see everywhere the remnants of homes once happy, now ruined; when you see disorder and crime everywhere on the increase; when you see the entire social structure breaking up

as the ice pack in the river in the April time. Silence under such conditions, in the face of possible catastrophe, were a crime.

Have ve not a right to invite, to appeal to the friends of law, of justice, of civilization, of the Christ, to face with us this problem of the proper training of the young, and for the children's sake, and our country's sake, to seek in all humility and sincerity to solve it?

Here Is Our Program.

I. The Catholic wants no State church. He is opposed to it. 2. The Catholic does not build his schools to oppose Protestantism. He has no fight with the people of other faiths.

3. The Catholic has never asked and never will demand one cent from the State to help in Catholic propaganda or as a recompense for teaching Catholic doctrine.

4. But the Catholic expects that for secular teaching, the State, if it pays for one should pay for all; that as it collects taxes from all indiscriminately, it shall in equity distribute these taxes for the training of the children of all the taxpayers.

It may be there are difficulties in the way of making this last effective; it may be that prejudices are deep; that misunderstandings are many; but so it has been in the working out of all great problems of justice and right. A nation cannot long remain indifferent where the rights of millions of her people are neglected or cast aside. The Catholics of America are many, the Christian people are many more, the lovers of justice add to the swelling ranks-it is to these we appeal for even-handed justice, for the square deal. We do so in the name of the homes that we love, in the name of the children that God has given; a trust from Him, a treasure to us; in the name of a country we love, which we feign would see grow in greatness, founded on peace and justice; in the name of the God of nations, the Ruler of their destinies and our lives,

TION TO THE CIVIL AUTHORITY

THE HONORABLE MR. JUSTICE ANGLIN, OF THE SUPREME COURT OF CANADA.

I am deeply sensible of the honor conferred upon me by the invitation to address this great gathering of the friends of Catholic education in America. I feel that I owe a debt of gratitude to the Catholic Educational Association of the United States, and to Rt. Rev. Mgr. Shahan, who conveyed to me its invitation, which has afforded me the opportunity of meeting so many men. and women interested in a noble and patriotic cause.

The nobility of that cause is based upon the fact that its promotion is vital to the interests of Catholicity, which for us is the embodiment of, and is therefore synonymous with Truth itself; its patriotism rests upon another fact, equally certain though not always recognized, that its success is of importance to the welfare, if not to the very safety, of your great republic and its democratic institutions. This fact is fully appreciated by men alive to the dangers of ignorance, infidelity and materialism and of their legitimate offspring, socialism and anarchism. To these evils Catholic education furnishes the surest antidote.

I realize that I would engage in a veritable work of supererogation, should I labor with this audience to demonstrate the excellences of the system for the training of her youth, which the Catholic Church advocates the world over, and upon which she insists wherever she has the power and the means to carry out her views and wishes. The sacrifices made for it by American Catholics testify to the sincerity of their devotion to the cause. of Catholic education. Thirty-six million dollars spent last year in educating 1,257,000 pupils in parochial schools affords unmistakable evidence of a complete acceptance of the teaching of the Church in condemnation of purely secular education-of education divorced entirely from religion; it proves that American Catholics understand that, if they would make of their sons

and daughters staunch and sincere Catholics, it is indispensable that they should be given a sound Catholic education. But these sacrifices have another significance. The loyalty of Catholic citizens to the government and to the political institutions of the United States has never been questioned. It admits neither of dispute nor of doubt. Their devotion to the cause of Catholic education therefore proclaims their belief that in this republican country, as in countries where the monarchical system of government prevails, the constant inculcation by the Catholic Church of respect for duly constituted authority, her insistence upon the obedience of her subjects to the laws of the land and her condemnation of every school which propagates doctrines subversive of sound principles of civil government, and of the rights of property and of true liberty of conscience, make immeasurably for the well-being of the state, and establish the truth of the adage, "The better the Catholic, the better the citizen."

While I should esteem myself not merely lacking in that courtesy which as their guest, I owe to the Catholic Educational Association, but derelict to the duty of paying a tribute of honor where honor is due, had I failed to say a word or two in recognition of the great work which has been, and is being accomplished in this country in the cause of Catholic educationnot merely through your parochial schools, but also in the many colleges and convents throughout the Republic, and in that crowning glory of the entire system, the great Catholic University at Washington-I must not, in the enthusiasm of my admiration, forget that a eulogy of your educational institutions and of their achievements is not the purpose of my presence with you to-night. Rather do you expect from me some account of the position of Catholic educational affairs in my own country, and some information as to the progress we have made and as to the conditions which now obtain in Canada.

Like the United States, Canada is a country of vast extent. Our population, now estimated at between seven and eight millions, is spread from the Atlantic to the Pacific. In some places as in the older parts of Ontario and Quebec-where pioneer conditions have passed away, the population is comparatively dense; in others, it is sparse and scattered. The Catholics