My Father's Art Work---Page 2

My Father's Art Work---Page 1

A Catholic View of Capitalism in US Economy

DENOUNCING CAPITALISM

NOT COMPATIBLE WITH HUMAN RIGHTS

“The economic downturn of 2008 unleashed a furious attack on free enterprise, one that has only gained momentum in 2009 with the ascension of Barack Obama to the Presidency. 

           " The moralizing against capitalism is both deserved and not.  On the one hand, the activities of the commercial class have never been morally pure in all respects.  There are crooks and criminals in all trading sectors, and this is a fact that should not surprise anyone who understands human nature.

            “On the other hand, it is complete foolishness to believe we can do without a strong commercial sector.  It is commerce and entrepreneurship that brings society the blessings of prosperity:  food on the table, medicine for the sick, transportation, and extra income for charitable giving, education, and the funding for religious institutions.  If government could provide in this respect, totalitarian societies would have been the most prosperous instead of the poorest.

            “It is extremely dangerous for any national leader to rail against commercial society, especially during an economic downturn.  If the US economy is to recover, it will be the work of enterprise, not members of Congress and bureaucracies.  Loose talk of expropriation frightens capital and stirs up reticence about the future security of profits.

              "What’s more, the whole model of ‘stimulus' presumes a market that doesn’t work.  But the reality is that the market is working, even in a downturn, as a response to the excesses created by follies from the Federal Reserve and the government’s own lending institutions. 

            “There is always a moral problem to consider.  Denouncing ‘capitalism’ is another way of denouncing the freedom to invent, trade, contract, and grow wealth.  This is not a prescription for recovery, nor is it compatible with human rights.  Your support of our work has never been more important than it is in these times.”   

                                       --Rev. Robert A. Sirico, President Acton Institute.   

A slogan  of the Acton Institute:  "Power corrupts. Absolute power corrupts absolutely."  -- Lord Acton

For More information about  the Catholic position on this and other issues go to  the website of

The Acton Institute  website  http://blog.acton.org/archives/18505-distributism-is-not-free-market.html

Also at that website, checkout The Power Blog,   http://blog.acton.org/archives/18505-distributism-is-not-free-market.html

The importance of this issue justifies its posting in this blog and the other one.

Our 60th wedding anniversary is three weeks away

We have been blessed.  We have good memories of  the huge party our children gave us  ten years ago on our 50th wedding anniversary.  However, this year, we both wish to have a quiet, simple celebration. We are most  grateful to the Lord that He has permitted us to actually see our 60th anniversary. Although the actual anniversary date is Thursday, Sept.  23, we chose Saturday,  Sept. 25 to have a small, informal gathering.

St. Mary Catholic Church, Wimberley

To teach us wisdom.  There is a passage in Sacred Scripture that tells us that God our loving Father even adds years to our lives to teach us wisdom.  So I am listening carefully and paying attention. There is another Scripture passage that I recall to teach me humility, and so I pray:  Remember not the sins of my youth and my stupidity.  So as I grow older, I pray to grow in wisdom as well; that is why I attend daily Mass. After all, God in His loving kindness has allowed us to live to celebrate our 60th anniversary.

Therefore our 60th celebration consists simply of attending the 9:00 am weekday Mass on Saturday morning Sept. 25 at St Mary Catholic Church, 14711 Ranch Road 12, in Wimberley.  We would like to renew our marriage vows in the church during or after Mass.  Then we would like to  invite our family and friends that may be there --  and  all the other people attending  that Mass --  to join us in the parish hall (next to  the church) for coffee and doughnuts.

Our ongoing celebration through the weekend will be having the company of our children and relatives, some of whom will be traveling  long distances to be with us. No gifts, please.  At this time in our lives, just your presence (if you can be there) is a priceless gift to us.

Our 50th wedding anniversary was celebrated Sept. 23, 2000

We celebrated our 50th wedding anniversary by renewing our marriage vows at Holy Mass at St. Sebastian Catholic Church, Sebastopol, California. The pastor, Msgr. William Hynes presided.  Our children  held an outdoor reception for family and friends at the home of son Larry Jr. and wife Susan. in Santa Rosa, California.

We were married 60 years ago Sept. 23, 1950

Larry Poirier an Mary Jane Herden were married September 23, 1950 at St. Gerard Catholic Church, San Antonio Texas.  The maid of honor was her sister Aggie Beth.  Best man was her cousin Adolph.

A Look at Edmunds Street 1930-1945

Edmunds Street Looks Better Today

Looking south  on Edmunds Street --2009

You could probably live in North Cambridge for years – even for a lifetime –  without ever visiting Edmunds Street.   Most people probably never heard of it, and wouldn’t know where it is.  A very small, dead-end side street off Massachusetts Avenue,  Edmunds Street was like a tiny residential  island with only four houses.  It was surrounded on all sides  by  active  business and busy commercial properties, including the Boston and Maine Railroad. All four of its houses faced Massachusetts Avenue to the east.

            Families who lived on Edmunds Street all greeted each other politely, but none seemed  very close socially.  The Callahan family lived in the first house.  The second house was occupied by two generations of the Larson family, one family on the first floor, the other on the second floor.  The younger generation had a son about my age, Jack Larson, and we were childhood friends while he lived on the street.

The third house—next door-- was occupied by the Cassidy family, who lived on the second floor.  Sometime around 1938 the Bettini family lived on the first floor.  In our house, the two generations of the Poirier  family lived on the second floor, and the Baldwin family lived on the first floor.  Some  other families lived  on Edmunds Street during the 1930s  or early 1940s, but  I can’t remember the names.

Edmunda St. Looking north - 2009

            
The view to the east faced busy Massachusetts Avenue.   All four homes on Edmunds Street faced the sights and sounds of the constant flow of traffic, including electric streetcars, on Massachusetts Avenue. A Socony-Mobil gasoline station stood on the northwest corner of the street, and in the 1930s a Sunoco gasoline station was built on the other side, the southwest corner of Edmunds Street.  Adding to the sounds of autos and trucks, you could hear the grinding whine of the electric streetcars.  Especially from the second-floor porch of each house, you could see all the traffic activity on Massachusetts Avenue.  There were no trees, no foliage to block your view on Edmunds Street..  The only tree I can remember on the street was a big cherry tree in back of our house, and even that one was blown over in one of the hurricanes--possibly the great hurricane of 1938.

Electric Streetcars had a spring-loaded arm with a wheel at the end that  reached up to  contact  the high-voltage wires that were suspended  openly,  about 15 to 20 feet above the roadway on Massachusetts Avenue..  These wires would often make a clicking sound as streetcars traveled back and forth from the end of the line at Arlington to the subway station at Harvard Square.    All four houses had a porch on the first floor and another on the second floor. We lived upstairs on the second and third floors, so we enjoyed the view from the open porch on the second-floor.

South side--2d floor large  kitchen window

Looking out our second-floor kitchen window toward the south we saw the Clark coal yard, and on the other side of it, the Boston and Main Railroad tracks.  The railroad tracks may have been about 150 feet from the house, close enough to hear the roar of the steam engine and feel the house shake when a long freight train came by.   The six-foot wooden fence that encircled the Clark Coal Company closed off the end of Edmunds Street.   Looking out across the railroad tracks we could see the old, three-story brick building that once was the Catholic “French school” attended by my father.  Next to it was the old, wooden “French church” as it was called in North Cambridge.  Both of these old buildings had been sold to local  businesses when the new Catholic church and school buildings were built at Rindge Avenue.

The view from the second-floor dining room window, facing north, was the side of the Cassidy family’s house.  Houses were built fairly close together on Edmunds

Street, with about 10 feet of space between them.

Looking westward,   the view was from the back bedroom on the third floor.  This was our Grandfather’s bedroom while he lived with us.  From there you could look down over the Metropolitan Ice Company’s plant covering around a half acre.  You could see the office building and the large, wooden barn-like buildings built along the railroad tracks.  They held old electric ice delivery trucks – retired years ago -- and equipment.  Ice delivery trucks were coming in and out of their plant during business hours. 

It was a cool place to work.  On the west side of  the Metropolitan Ice plant there was a large refrigerated warehouse-like freezing plant that produced large  “bars” of ice overnight, and pre-scored them for cutting with an ice pick.  One of the marvels of the day was a drive-up, coin-operated ice-dispensing unit where you could get a 15-pound block of ice or a bag of crushed ice.   

In those years, many homes had iceboxes.  Few had electric refrigerators until around the 1940s, I believe.  Our family bought its first refrigerator around 1940 when my sisters both had jobs and could help our parents buy it.  Later on, during my first year of high school, I worked as a part-time helper on an ice delivery truck—Crystal Ice-- that served a good part of North Cambridge.  

The ice truck was  a 1938 Dodge one-ton, dual,  flat bed with a red cab and solid sides, designed so that a heavy canvas could slide over the ice on board to shield it from the sun and dust.    It also had a fuel oil tank installed behind the cab, and was equipped with a metered pump and long hose reel.  This enabled the owner to deliver heating oil to  families along the route during the winter.  The business owner printed square cards, with large numbers on all four edges.  The customers would place the card in a window with the desired number at the top,  signifying a delivery needed for  a  25-pound, 50-pound or 100-pound block of ice  to be placed in  their icebox.  Some customers lived on the third floor, and that was a workout with a heavy block of ice.

There was a big, old cherry tree in the back yard between our house and the Metropolitan Ice Company.  It was blown over by one of the hurricanes.  In those summer seasons when it was still standing, the foliage blocked  most of the view of the commercial scene below.

There was another industrial building nearby.  Cottage Park Avenue was another tiny dead-end street off Massachusetts Avenue, the next street north of Edmunds Street.  Cottage Park Avenue curved around until it reached the entrance of the Metropolitan Ice Company.  Adjacent to the Ice company was another industrial site,  The Emerson Respirator Company.  This three-story brick building could be seen from our house, too.   

            Although Edmunds Street ended  at that time at the coal company fence,  local young people  had -- for years – walked through  the back yard of our house as a short cut  to cross the railroad tracks and get to Harvey Street on the other side.  They would pass through a hole in the short section of wooden railroad fence.  It was only about 20 feet wide, closing a gap between the coal company and Metropolitan Ice Company’s sheds next to the tracks.  Somehow, there always seemed to be one board missing.  So we were resigned  to  not knowing  who may come walking through our back yard from one day to the next.  In the years of the Great Depression, we didn’t complain about small stuff, because we were thankful for the roof over our heads and the food on our table.  We still feel that way today.

I believe this may explain how Edmunds Street was truly a tiny residential island, its four houses almost surrounded by business and commercial property and activities including the Boston and Maine Railroad.  .  This was the neighborhood setting I lived in for 17 years.  I really loved to get a change of scenery now and then when the family went on “Sunday drives” through the farms and countryside or to the Atlantic beaches.  As a child, I really looked forward to these drives, especially because there was usually a stop along the way for a treat -- a big ice cream cone or some delicious fried clams. These were the good family memories that I still treasure.

I admired the great family  neighborhoods surrounding me in North Cambridge where kids had a lot of other kids on the same block to play with.  I visited friends who lived in other neighborhoods.  I  played stick ball with a broom stick and an old tennis ball on Harvey Street.  Occasionally I could join in a spontaneous baseball game at Rindge Park.  So in spite of living  isolated in a kind of  small island,  I nevertheless experienced the good family neighborhoods  that were typical of North Cambridge in those years.