St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1886-01-31
HOT SHOT.
Another Minneapolis Correspondent
Upon the Position OF the Church.

Another Minneapolis Correspondents
Upon the Position OF the Church.
To the Editor of the Globe:
By invitation of a member of the l. c. b.
o.. l attended the installation ceremony of
the society Jan. %. Ienjoyed the program
very much until Father McGolrick. in his
response 10 Catholic Societies, touched on
the labor question, when l felt like "speakin'
right out in meetin'." think he went out
of his way good deal TO hit us.
After paying his compliments to the an
archists of New York, Chicago and other
places. he turned his attention to Minneap-
oils. and said, substantially: Even here
in Minneapolis there are men who will stand
up and talk on the relations of capital and
labor who never studied political economy.
and who have given scarcely any thought
to the subject. One man." said he, left
the Catholic church because it was not for
the poor, another said there was no God,
and another said the capitalists must go.
Such men are mountebanks. They de-
Jude and lead astray the wOrkingman.
Whenever these men talk the poor ground
lings clap their hands and cheer. The
Protestant church says it cannot solve this
question, and it is right. Neither can the
state, by its laws, settle the differences be-
tween capital and labor.
The poor must be taught what they owe
to the rich, and the rich their duty to the
poor. There must be a live. spiritual activ-
ity in all. The church only can do this"
We may not have read everything bearing
on this question, but we have learned
enough from experience, observation and a
little reading to know that we are the great
est producers, and that we do not enjoy the
the fruits of our labor. We have learned
that if all capital was wiped out tomorrow
we could create more by our own intelli-
gence and muscle. We have learned that
the most important concessions gained from
the captains of industry" were gained by
our own exertions, and without the aid of
the church. We know that the
EMANCIPATION OF THE WORKING CLASSES
must be achieved by the working classes
themselves. We know that by our in
dustry others, clergymen, lawyers, bankers
and editors for instance are enabled To live
without performing manual labor. We
know that Father McGolrick and others
who have the time do not give this question
the thoughts they should. we would like
to study political economy. but have not
the time nor the money for books, but what
is the use of US studying anything if the
church can settle the differences between
capital and labor by sermOniZing alone?
1t would be waste of time. The good
father seems to entertain the same idea
that one of the colonies in the late war who
told one of the soldiers that ''he had no
business to think there were men paid to
do his thinking" We prefer to do our
thinking and will. We would like To have
the sympathy and aid of all good men, but
if it cannot be had except at the price of
our freedom of thought we do not want it.
am intimately acquainted with nearly
all those who have been bold enough to adj
dress the "grOundlings" on the labor ques-
ton without asking permission of Father
McGolrick and cannot say that l know
more than one mountebank in the lot.
THE CHURCH HAS ITS MoUNTEBANKs
as well as labor organizations and their in
| iuenee is about the same.
/ think Father McGolrich means well,
but he pays too much attention to stol les
carried to him by men who have axes to
| grind: men whose interest il is to have la
Dor divided. Election is soon coming again
and they fear that labor unions may inter
fere with their schemes. and if they can eff
feet division in the ranks of labor, they
can continue to prey on us six days in the
week and pray to God on the seventh.
Father McGolrick allowed himself to be
used as cats-paw to pull political chest
nuts out of the fire for Others at the last
election, let him take care or he will be
used thus again by his story-carrying friends.
We do not want offices for ourselves or fol
our brother members. Anarchists are on
the increase in the United States, and |
think that the Indifference shown BY
churchmen to the demands of labor is the
chief cause of it too. The church does a
great deal in the way of alternating distress
among the poor by almsgiving. The neces.
sity for almsgiving is what'we want done
away with. We want justice If it is