Week by Week

...The present writer may adduce here his astonishment at finding, during a visit to a fertile middle-western district after an absence of some few years, that the small tributaries to the Mississippi were' at once much smaller and muddier, even In a dry season, than they had been...

...Upon this rock I build My Church" are words the firmness of which cannot corrodej CjUITE recently The Commonweal had occasion to refer to the strange case of a government school in one of our western states, whose incumbent had found herself left without a single scholar on her hands, and to mention parallel cases in France, where pioneer conditions could not be offered as an explanation...

...Hixon who bought that original box of matches used the very first of them to light his pipe...

...Only one of these books in a thousand is even sincere...

...ONE continuous costly catastrophe, the Mississippi flood, has concentrated attention upon what can be done in the future...

...A HUNDRED years ago, on April 7, 1827, John Walker of Stockton-on-Tees recorded in his day-book the first sale of what came to be known as "frictionmatches," in contradistinction to the kind of match which was caused to spring into flame by being dipped into a bottle containing a chemical which stimulated the action...

...According to them, the whole blame cannot be thrown upon economic conditions, peculiar and desperate though these are...

...The Christian Social party has lost seven parliamentary mandates, four of which have passed to one of the more conservative parties...

...Nevertheless, it will forever remain impossible that within the pale of necessarily dogmatic religion any spirit of fraternizing should dissipate objective realities...

...Each country chooses the forms of humbug to which Its genius leads It, and all that can be charged against our own is a certain good-humored lenity when phraseology that belongs to more or less lofty thought Is applied to the great purpose of turning a more or less groveling dollar...

...It also proposes a "general reduction of soil erosion to prevent rapid run-off and the clogging of streams," pointing to the fact that in many places rivers have actually been filled in, during a short period of time...

...But on the whole the variations in pornography and allied themes have progressed until one can safely say that even the child mind has received from them a new orientation...

...It is easy to see, therefore, that the summer in Milwaukee will testify to important and fruitful advancement in hospital service...

...One now feels an earnest respect for public opinion in countries like Germany, Ireland, and Italy, where public opinion is actually legislating against immorality with a frank determination to root out literary prostitution...

...and that debates have been conducted with reference to the censorship of books and magazines...

...They were men who had borne the tricolor aloft on dazzling flights that seemed almost like symbols of victory, and their attempt to cross the ocean at one stride held as much of venturesome daring as a human exploit could...

...VILE print, apparently engendered in enormous quantities by the war, has as yet given Americans only relatively little concern...

...that here and there police action has been taken against obscenity...

...Statistics, which have just been extracted from the French government by persistent questioning in the Chamber, point to a state of things for which a better word than Gilbertian has yet to be found...

...Regard not our sins but the faith of Thy Church and grant her the peace and unity which is agreeable to Thy will" has, indeed, been the prayer of Catholic saints and faithful throughout the ages...

...If we fail, we will have neglected our work...

...Ways part not only to right and left, but before and behind...

...The career of Monsignor Jean Marie Marcel Rodie, priest of the diocese of Frejus, who has just been called to the see of Ajaccio, merits a passing tribute...

...and the rhythms of achievement, o^ desperate battles against the siege of nature, rouse our people as the antique bards did their crowds...

...Let us hope, too, that the recent recommendations of the Sacred Congregation on this subject will find an echo In all American religious hearts...

...and then, dabbling freely in rumors and falsifications of news, Paris journals of the tabloid variety announced a victory...

...They and their plane are, as yet, adrift in the unknown through which popular emotion is following and searching with great dramatic intensity...

...But one realizes how few are the portents of victory and how firm is the likelihood of ultimate disaster...

...A feeling exists that Monsignor Seipel has placed so much stress upon business and financial rehabilitation that the "firm endeavor" to uphold the country's prestige in the face of the world has totally disintegrated...

...Socialism in Austria is the spawn of desperate conditions...

...The Department of Agriculture therefore suggests "largely increased programs for public forests on tributary headwaters, both by the federal and the state governments...

...Simultaneously there will also be held the Third Annual Convention of the International Catholic Guild of Nurses, whose director, Reverend E. F. Garesche, S.J., announces that the Guild now has members in more than two hundred cities of the United States and that it is well established in Canada...

...Perhaps the vast northern wilderness will never surrender its story...

...Meantime It is comforting to think that in no other country In the world does so rich an armory of terse words and phrases exist ("blah," "bunk," "hot air," "wise-crack," etc., etc...

...Naturally, the government, in furnishing these figures, refrained from mentioning one contributory cause that will occur to many who know France and the French countryside...

...In view of what the country has been obliged to endure, it is no wonder that many should have found the task too burdensome...

...Perhaps they might have done more, but one is inclined to doubt that the system of prevention they tried to organize could be carried much nearer perfection...

...Suffice it to say that this particular Johnny Walker—"no relative, it may be presumed, to the other and neighboring Johnny Walker after whom the celebrated whiskey is named"—produced and sold the first matches which "struck," on the box or elsewhere...

...And it Is in the form of a plea for return that Bishop Leonard chooses to voice his appeal to his brethren...

...In protesting especially against the vogue of a kind of "lecherous mysticism," Cardinal Merry del Val spoke a forceful word for public decency...

...If social stability is threatened, the luminous harmony of many Individual souls is even more endangered...

...Malcolm MacEachern, who have done so much to improve hospital conditions throughout the country, announce the meeting of the Clinical Congress of North America in Milwaukee during the four days following June 20 of this year...

...It is a conjecture that we offer Bishop Leonard whether possibly the "waning Interest" he sees in the spiritual message his church has to deliver, may not have some connection with the form which, for a decade at least, its governors have chosen to give it...

...and for the birthplace of the greatest soldier of modern times, an incumbent peculiarly fitted to fill it seems to have been chosen...

...B I S H O P M A N N I N G ' S charge to Ws diocese that prayer be offered throughout Christendom for the success of the Lausanne Conference on faith and order will find an echo' in every religious heart...

...If more remains to be accomplished, surely the record of past achievement is the best of auguries...

...Wisdom comes and goes, but Imbecility remains a constant...

...V U L G A R I T I E S of thought and diction which are barely tolerable In the home atmosphere gain an added distastefulness when they are voIce4 abroad...

...We can well believe, with the Paris correspondent of I'Osservatore Romano, that the story has "excited lively comment" in all the journals which have picked it up as a news item...

...But It has no warrant for hinting that such rant Is a peculiarly American product, and wisely does not try very hard, beyond a sly suggestion that the country which has invented the comprehensive term "bunk" to cover all such exorbitancies shows no sign of reducing its output...

...But the news that in certain communes the extreme course has had to be taken of refusing subsidies to those who send their children to schools in which religion is still part of the curriculum will sufllciently indicate it...

...Immature or not, should revel in what some popular panderer manages to dish up out of a perverse blend of sexuality and religious feeling...

...It Is true that a great many anxious people have expressed themselves upon the subject...

...Thus the factor "dissatisfaction" is hard at work within the hard-pressed old sanctuary of the empire...

...Nature, the English scientific journal, gives a detailed account of his discovery, which need not be particularized here...

...During a generation engineers have devoted their skill and such funds as were available to the construction of a series of levees...

...Students of history hardly need to be reminded that the associations of the new bishop's see are not pacific ones...

...H O L D I N G stubbornly to the belief that sanctity and self-sacrifice are the two prophylactics most dearly indicated for the ills of the contemporary world, and that heroism is a common ground upon which all sorts and conditions of men meet most easily and happily...

...It may be that engineers will have to devise something like huge reservoirs, artificial lakes, into which the surplus of flood times can be drained...

...Roget and the Standard Dictionary lie upon the desks of the just and unjust...

...Between August, 1914, and the day of the Armistice, this soldierpriest saw continuous service on the Somme, at Chemin des Dames, and the defense of Rheims, earning not only the Legion of Honor, but the Croix de Guerre with three citations...

...Walker, though trained and qualified as a surgeon, had developed "an invincible horror to surgical operations...

...The Bishop points out that though the Catholic Church has declined to send delegates, it views the meeting with th^ fullest charity and will support it with daily petition...

...But in all reality, the common people of the larger United States cities were following the magnificent aerial adventure with hope of the most enthusiastic kind...

...One must doubt, of course, that these remedies can prove effective In anything like the immediate future...

...It was natural that the pride of France should have been lavished upon them so freely...

...Briefly, the records show that at the present moment 1,182 government schools exist in France, equipped with every facility for conveying instruction untainted with religion to little republicans, but that not a single little republican, boy or girl, is sent to take advantage of them, and that, in addition, 1,476 are listed where the facilities are exploited for the benefit of less than six pupils...

...Today,^" he tells them (presumably speaking for his own body of belief and practice) "there is a waning Interest in religion...

...On the evening of their great day hope and anxiety were fearfully mingled...

...Coming to the fore after days when cheap gossip had been the major news, the White Bird's cruise stirred the nation...

...with which to pierce the pasteboard armor of bombast at need...

...If only because they afford jaunty critics, never neglectful of such opportunities, a chance to peck blithely at spots where they deem American culture to be thinly laid on...

...The time is filled with deeds of unbelief and disorder...

...This religious invasion of state affairs is accomplished by dark-lantern deals unknown to the people...

...ANOTHER addition has been made to that long list of specialized degrees which so frequently makes an old-fashioned observer of academia wonder what the world is coming to...

...T H E S E are words that no believing Christian, within or without the connection of Wesley, will have a moment's hesitation in endorsing...

...Vienna will be governed very much as before, which means a determined effort to secularize the city's educational and religious institutions in so far as that is possible under the prevailing laws...

...Smokers will like to think that a Mr...

...Movements tending to pervert some purpose of Christianity are now so numerous that no one can count them all or gauge their collective influence...

...This congress, to be held under the auspices of Marquette University, Is a new variety of hospital convention, and will offer direct professional and expert technical demonstration of the various hospital depart ments...

...When this report was denied, crowds in the most volatile and theatrical of cities burst into vehement denunciations of "America," out of which untruth had come and which therefore seemed utterly callous...

...The newcomer is "Bachelor of Science in Hospital Administration," and designates proficiency in the administration of hospital business, organization and education...

...OUR recent comment upon the Austrian elections needs supplementing with a reference to circumstances brought to light since then...

...To accomplish the great work that is before us we must return to that passionate Methodism, that firm belief that Jesus Christ is the one and only Redeemer of the world...

...Why is it, various editors ask, that Austria alone of all the western nations has not thrown off the incubus of Marxism...

...It is pointed out that forests tend to retard sudden accumulation of rain water and to safeguard that vegetative top-soil which is so retentive of moisture...

...In this sense the present flood Is a lesson to the effect that neglect of the soil and the forests is not merely economic waste of a gross sort, but also the Introduction to calamity...

...In hearkening what he terms a "challenge" to the Methodist body to resume its "fullest life as a missionary church," Bishop Leonard need not close his ears to other challenges, nearer home, which call loudly and urgently for the plain answer that has never yet been vouchsafed them...

...It is also stated in conservative circles that the value of historical tradition as a bulwark of the national morale has been sacrificed...

...There is no spot on the stralghtest road where the traveler, doubtful whether the direction he has chosen is that which shall lead him toward his goal, is not at liberty at least to retrace his steps...

...But in all truth one Is tempted to lose hope, particularly In view of that scurrilous press which has used criminal trials and theatre scandals as pegs upon which to have every kind of odorous display...

...And again he says: "If we accept this challenge we shall find ourselves greatly strengthened...

...He switched instead to the minor branch of pharmacy, having always been fond of chemistry and of experimenting...

...A letter written a few days ago to the New York World upon the subject of Methodist activities at Washington may be an ex-parte statement...

...The simile might be stretched further to Include every misgiving felt by an individual or corporate body on effort that has become a part of the past...

...In telling the Buffalo Methodist Union that Methodism in America stands at a "parting of the ways," Bishop Adna W. Leonard is only uttering a truth that is apparent to critics as well as to friends of the body for which he speaks...

...Reverend C. B. Mouliner, S.J., and Dr...

...If in this our day we see clearly and deplore from our hearts the dissensions, the bitternesses, which have set so many souls in Christendom in opposition to one another, it is well there should be a world-wide resolution of charity and of submission to the Divine desire...

...EVERY conversion is a sentence," wrote the great thinker Pascal, quoted by Paul Claudel In the "Correspondence" which we review in another part of this issue...

...These results are viewed by many as ominous...

...In our time poetry lies, perhaps, in action...

...From a distance one is able to see better, perhaps, than could those close at hand how very much has been done to draw the nation out of an economic and moral abyss...

...At any rate, our experience has been enriched by the daring of these French argonauts out on a cruise for glory...

...An artillery officer before his ordination, and of sufficient merit in his profession to...

...We have^ believed that, reckoning with the temper of the American people, matters would sooner or later rectify themselves, granted that something like a strong effort were made to develop a literature of decency...

...There is no reason why any mind...

...But the Department of Agriculture wisely looks far Into the future...

...And yet one great hope has been given us—the fire of profound charity that has been enkindled so greatly in our time, revealing our common destiny and the meanness of much strife, stirring in us all the desire for a reign of peace and benevolence...

...The final electoral count revealed a plurality of about 450,000 votes for the combined anti-socialistic parties, which is regarded as indicating a serious increase in the radical strength...

...Charity is the virtue in which there is most of life...

...In introducing the courses preliminary to this degree, Marquette University has arranged an unusual program of welcome...

...It is still not too late to hope for some good news, and the action of the New York Times in authorizing the president of the Legislative Council of Newfoundland to investigate all clews is particularly commendable...

...The Manchester Guardian Is quite entitled to all the fun It extracts from the recent request made by an American "expert" In film production, to, the Home Secretary In London, to find him some young Englishman of transcendental type who can be offered in his forthcoming production as "the real representative of the spiritual forces of his country," an "artistic ambassador" for all that is "cherished and encouraged by Its leaders...

...The trouble with them is that, in so far as the Methodist body is concerned, they tell only a part of the truth...

...France needs to be told of the little crowds which formed instantly wherever a vendor deposited a fresh bundle of papers —crowds from offices and stores whose disappointment was more keen and sympathetic as the bulletins became more vague and disquieting...

...be sent on a special mission to the Far East, Monsignor Rodie had only been four years a priest when he was recalled to his old life by the harsh necessities of war...

...but Nungesser and Coli have written theirs in terms of immortal heroism against terrible odds...

...No doubt the number of persons interested will be sufficiently large to make the congress a decided success...

...Students of the problem are now emphasizing once more those aids which nature herself offers for the control of rebellious torrents...

...The Commonweal admits to a peculiar pleasure when called upon to chronicle the activities of any fellowChristians within or without its communion who are members of the Church-militant in a very special sense...

...Written with an eye toward "gate receipts," they Insult the Intelligence of man even while undermining that resistance to degrading passions upon which every worthily lived life must be built...

...Representing less than 20 percent of the country's population, they dominate Congress, dictate the appointment of judges and public officials, relegate able public men who refuse to obey their mandates to private life, and subordinate all rights and important affairs of state to their mania as to what constitutes morals...

...But as an expression of how Methodist and Baptist activities are striking a portion of ouii citizenry it deserves quotation...