The Saint Paul Globe

GIBBONS OPTIMISTIC.

No Disaster Will Follow, Whatever the Election Result.

BALTIMORE, Nov. 1.—Cardinal Gibbons, in his sermon at the cathedral this morning took occasion to touch lightly and in a thoroughly impartial way upon the approaching presidential election and its results. He spoke in highest terms of the many good qualities of the American people, such as their fundamental belief in religion, their love of fair play, their intelligence and their courage. He then went on to say:

"We are on the eve of a presidential election, both great parties contending for the mastery. They are leaving no stone unturned in order to be successful. A foreigner looking on and witnessing the violent denunciation that one party is uttering against the other, and the terrible predictions in regard to the future of the country if the other party were to win, would think that we were on the verge of a dread revolution.

"On next Wednesday morning he will find that it was but a bloodless revolution, one effected not by bullets but by ballots. A man is to be chosen to the highest position in the gift of his fellows, and important issues are at stake. Yet on next Wednesday morning the minority will bow gracefully to the will of the majority. The country will survive and the nation will flourish and be perpetuated. Is this not good evidence that we are subject to the law? And the people that bow so to the civil law are not the kind to reject divine law.

"The Catholic church adapts itself to all kinds of men and all systems of government, but she is most at home with us. She exists under the most absolute sway, but she blooms like the rose under the tree of liberty. Nowhere is she so free as here. She holds in her hands the scale of even-handed justice between capital and labor, the employer and employe. While she is in sympathy with the toiling masses, she knows how to curb their prejudices. In all times of political excitement her power for good is potent, and she says to all 'Peace, be still.'"