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THE BULLETIN OF THE CATHOLIC LAYMEN’S ASSOCIATION OF GEORGIA
Cannabalism and Other Hideous
Evils Enthral Blighted Russia
Rev. Dr. Walsh, Back from Europe, Graphically Describes
Ghastly Conditions in Interior—Narrates Sublime Ins
tances of Faith in Nightmare of Suffering.
Washington, D. C.—Blended with
accounts of cannibalism in the
famine-blighted regions of Russia—
with testimony of parents devouring
the bodies of their children—are
stories of the finest examples of
religions faith among the starving
and dying thousands as reported by
Rev. Dr. Edmund A. Walsh, S. J.,
who is the representative of the
National Catholic Welfare Council
in the distribution of food, cloth
ing and medicines in the great Vol
ga Valley.
Father Walsh has just returned
to the United States after having
spent several months and traveled
two thousand miles in the interior
of Russia, including the great dis
trict swept by famine and disease.
On his arrival in Washington Fa
ther Walsh had a conference with
President Harding.
Ten Thousand Bodies.
“It is impossible to estimate ac
curately the number of persons who
succumbed to starvation and sick
ness during the past winter,” said
Father Walsh. “One item, however,
may give a faint indication of the
horror of the famine and its ac
companiment of disease. When the
Volga thawed within the last eight
weeks and the broken ice began to
move towards the Caspian Sea, there
were exposed at one place—I think
it was Tzaritzin—about 10,000 or
11,000 bodies. These were lodged
in a turn in the river, where they
had been caught and held when the
water froze. They were the bodies
of men, women and children who
had died along the banks and which
were afterwards cast into the river.
“Cannibalism was perhaps the
most ghastly feature of a condition
that was in every respect hideous.
The relief distributed by the Amer
ican Relief administration has, for
tunately, eliminated that terrible
phase of the situation, which exist
ed principally during the depth of
last winter. Numerous murders
were committed by starving people
to insure themselves a supply of
food, the bodies of their victims.
One couple, for example, killed their
child, a son slew his parents; hus
bands did their wives to death with
the one object of saving themselves
from the death that menaced all.
From many hovels the remnants of
human bodies—very often of little
children—were carried away by the
authorities after the surviving mem
bers of families had gnawed on
these remains.
Sublime Faith.
“In the midst of this nightmare
of human suffering and brutishness
there were flashes of sublime re
ligious faith. In hundreds and per-
liape tlibusands of cases, old per
sons foreseeing their death, crawled
to churchyards and cemeteries to
throw themselves over the crosses
and there breathe their last.
“It is this deep religious element
in the Russian people in which one
must seek the explanation of their
resistance to the ‘requisitioning’ of
i their churches and convents and sa
cred vessels by the soviet author!
ties.
“It is thought by many that this
religious element is the rock on
which the whole system of commun
ism in Russia will be wrecked. At
heart the Russian masses are deeply
religious, and even in the last four
years of their wretchedness they
have clung to their faith. It is point
ed out that never has any attempt
to dc-Christianize a whole people
succeeded and it is felt that the pres
ent government of Russia will give
another verification of that state
ment.
“Although the Russian communists
declare that freedom of religious
worship is guaranteed, twelve priests
have been condemned to death at
a trial in Moscow for taking part
in a meeting called to protest
against the confiscation of property
belonging to the churches, includ
ing gold and silver ornaments.
These Orthodox priests were among
fifty-seven persons tried and con
demned for a show of objection to
the soviet program of ‘requisition
ing’ ecclesiastical imoperties.
“At Mamara I met the wife of the
famous Russian diagnostician, Bode,
who was in his lifetime one of Eu
rope’s leading specialists. This bril
liant woman was on the verge of
starvation. An oil painting of her
husband a few articles of furniture
and a small quantity of flour were
her only possessions. I arranged to
have a food-package delivered to
her the night before Easter.
“One of the persons who called
on me during my stay in Moscow
was the daughter of Mendeleieff,
discoverer of the law for arriving
at atomic weights of the basic ele
ments. Although Madame Mendele-
ief was wealthy a few years ago,
she is now in dire want.
Will Return to Russia.
“The agonies which the inhabi
tants of the Volga Valley have en
dured was impressed upon my mind,
at one point where the American
Relief Administration was to dis
tribute supplies. In a great public
square the people—men and women
and little children—were kneeling in
a great mass, praying and weeping
at the prospect of food and help.
“Some ten millions of people will
have been furnished with food by
the time the American Relief Ad
ministration has finished its task.
To a large extent the worst of the
famine in the Volga Valley is past,
but now come reports of starvation
among the inhabitants of the Cau
casus. The famine in the Volga
district was due in part to a nat
ural drought and in part to the
‘requisitioning’ of the people’s food
stuffs by the soviet government.”
Father Walsh intefids to return to
Russia as the representative of the
National Catholic Welfare Council
and the American Relief Adminis
tration and continue his work. The
date of his return has not been
fixed.
Sacred Heart Academy
Exercises at Selma, Ala.
Selma, Ala.—The pupils of the
Sacred Heart Academy gave a party
for the junior division of the school
on May 31st. Games were played
and refreshments served.
On the evening of June 1st the
senior division gave a play which
was well rendered and highly ap
plauded by a large audience. A ban
quet followed for the parents and
friends of the Academy.
TEMPERANCE WORKER DEAD.
Rockland, Mass.—Edwin Mulready,
nationally known among Catholic
temperance workers, was laid at rest
here, after a solemn requiem mass
in the Church of the Holy Family.
State and county officials were hon
orary pallbearers.
Mr. Mulready was a former vice-
president of the National C. T. A. U.
a former president of the Boston C.
T. A. U.„ secretary of the national
union for two years, secretary of
the National Temperance Union So
ciety of America, and nine years
ogo was one of the five men appoint
ed by President Wilson to repre
sent the United States at the Inter
national Congress on Alcoholism, in
Italy.
SIXTY-EIGHT CHAPLAINS
IN FRENCH ARMY. KILLED
Paris.—In answer to a question
asked by the Catholic Senator Lc
Roux, of Vendee, the Minister of
War has reported that 555 Catholic
chaplains were mobilized during the
war, 68 of whom died on the field
of honor.
One hundred and twelve Protest
ant pastors were mobilixed; six of
them were killed in the war.
Of 33 Israelites mobilizer, 3 died
orf the field of honor.
Only two Mussluman' Chaplains
were mobilized. Neither was kill
ed. In addition to the priests mob
ilized as chaplains there were thou
sands of others who served as
stretcher bearers or fought in the
ranks.
Toronto- Priest Shows They
Have Lower Rate of Crime
Than Sister Countries.
DEMAND PAROCHIAL SCHOOLS
Munich, Bavaria.—At a recent
meeting of the Evangelical Luthe
ran Church Council of Bavaria, a
pronouncement in favor of religious
education , for the young was adop
ted with practical unanimity.
“The Protestant Church must de
mand that all children belonging to
its confession shall be educated in
schools of their own faith,” said
this declaration. The action of the
Council has been published in all
the Protestant church of Bavaria.
Toronto, Ont.—One of the most
interesting addresses delivered be
fore the Catholic Truth Society here
was that of Dr. Thomas O’Hagan on
“The Civilization and Culture of the
Latin Nations of Europe”
“There is,” said Mr. O’Hagan, “so
much misrepresentation brickling
through the English secular press
concerning the character of the ci
vilization and culture of the Latin
races of Europe, that we should be
armed with the facts to meet and
refute these false statements. The
propoganda is mose insidious and
disingenuous.
“First then, civilization in its high
est and best and truly determing
sense does not depend upon budgets
nor high rates of exchange nor num
ber of dreadnoughts nor miles of
railway nor the issue of journals
but rather in the knighthood of
citizenship which witnesses to a
moral life befitting the knighthood
of earth and the Knighthood of heav
en.
TESTS OF CIVILIZATION
“The moral lest of a civilization is
chiefly dependent upon the follow
ing: birth-rate, number of illegiti
mate children, divorces, suicides and
crime. The highest birth rates in
Europe are found in the three Catho
lic countries; Spain, Austria and
Italy, which represent respectively
in every 1,000 of the inhabitants, 38,
30, and 33. Among the Latin nations
the birthrate in France has been low
—now only 21—since 1885 when it
was 31, The year following the close
of the war the birthrate in England
was little more than the dcathrate
while in the same year in England
12,000 cases of bigamy had been be
fore the courts. The birthrate in
England is put down today at 29
while here in Ontario it is 22 and in
Quebec, 37.
“As to illigimate births the lowest
number in Europe is found in Ire
land and Greece, almost all those in
the former being found in Ulster.
Ranking next to Ireland and Greece
in the small number of illigitimate
children are Russia, Holland and
Canada. The countries leading Eu
rope in the number of illigitimate
births are Austria Denmark, Sweden
and Scotland.
“The two Latin nations of Spain
and Italy have no divorce; the latter,
out of 235,000 marriages having to
its credit a record of only GOO separ
ations. The Unites States with the
exception of Japan has the largest
number of divorces. Since then they
have increased from 1.65 to 8.43 in
1.000. Turning to suicide Spain has
practically none while Saxony in
Germany heads the list with 365 in
every million of its people. England
has twice as many as Italy and Den
mark six times as many as Italy.
CRIME IN UNITED STATES.
“As to crime the United States
leads with 12 murders IA every 100,-
000 inhabitants and England has the
fewest murders, only 50 in every
100.000, but the latter has the high
est record for attacks on property,
London, England, being the Alma-
Mater of the pickpocket.
“Turning to Education, Spain has
one pupil in school for every eight
of its inhabitants and England has
one pupil in school Tor every 7.43 of
its people. As to the universities
there are eleven in Spain, eleven in
England and Wales, twenty-one in
Italy and sixteen in France. In Spain
there is one student in the univer
sity for every 890 of the inhabitants,
in Italy, one student for every 1067
of its people, in England one student
for every 1159 and in France, one
student for every 1333.
As regards to the number of cler
gy in England and Spain—which
proves amply that Spain is not
priestridden—in the former there is
one Catholic priest to every 484 of
the Catholic population, while in the
latter there is but one Catholic priest
to every 600 of its peaple.
“It might be well to keep some of
the above facts in memory where
misrepresentation has been widely
sown.”
CATHOLIC ALUMNAE TO
MEET AT LOUISVILLE
bATIIOLIC CHAPLAIN BURIED.
Dublin.—The remains of Rev. Pat
rick J. Gallagher, who met his death
in France while serving with the
Knights of Columbus in the Ameri
can Army, were buried in Mayo, his
native county. His brother was the
chief mourner and the funeral was
attended by twenty-four cousins of
the deceased.
Moline, III.—The fifth biennial
convention of the International Fed
eration of Catholic Alumnae will be
held in Louisville, Ky., at the Seel-
bach Hotel, October 26 to November
2. The formal announcement of
plans for the occasion has been
issued by Mr. John McEniry, of this
city, President of the Federation,
who has returned from Louisville
after making arrangements for the
convention.
CENTRAL HIGH SCHOOLS.
New Yorke.—Central Catholic high
schools for girls will be built in
Manhattan and the Bronx, accord
ing to an announcement made by
the Most Rev. Patrick J. Hayes, Arch
bishop of New York in an address
before the twentieth annual confer-
HATS
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Augusta, Ga.
encc of the Ladies of Charity
Catholic Charities of the Arcbdio.l
of New York. The Manhattan sell
according to Archbishop Hayes,
be started next year. He also ri
lined plans for the establishm)
of parocial schools.
H. J. Markwalter
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