WARNING VOICES ON IRELAND

WHshould John Desmond SIYIeridan (July 11) want to share my fears if, as he and Eoin O'Keeffe seem to believe, everything is for the hest in this most blest of all possible islands? One cannot very well exploit grievances unless griev
ances are there to he exploited; but one has a positive duty to point them out to those who could meet and grapple with them before the exploiters themselves move in.
In my letter (June 27), which was not intended to denigrate the progress accomplished at governmental and other levels. I quoted a select number of warning voices all of which Mr. O'Keefe and J.D.S. have seen fit to ignore.
I now quote another. "The display of affluence," said Cardinal Conway, in addressing the annual meeting of the St. Vincent de Paul Society last month, "apart from being essentially vulgar, can be a powerful disruptive force in contemporary Western society and I think that this is a lessun which is relevant to the Ireland of today."
He is by no means alone in thinking this. It is hardly likely that J.D.S., even if he sees fit to accuse others, will accuse His Eminence of "exploiting" Ireland's grievances. One need not be a student of de Tocquevine to realise that democracy, for all its excellences, is not a system without blemish; nor need one go very far in Tawney to realise that ate acquisitive society is one which leans dangerously near disruption.
Governments cannot per form miracles though most of their subjects expect them to: but committed Christians can. However, the latter are not formed by placid assumptions that all is well within the Commonwealth, and that those who think otherwise should be silenced or accused of being supporters Of disruption.
Gabriel Fallon