Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1891-07-06
THINGS IN GENERAL.
The Churches and the Wrongs and Rights
ofLabor-The Pope's Encyclical ON the
Subject Should Be Read-A Remark
From Professor Ely,

WQOm Cney see Uu6 flCoSerenC OF the au
thority and fatherhood of God, repeatin,
that sublime cry of the Apostles to thei
Divine Master: Lord, save us, we perishr'
That was in October, 1885, in the Hall o
Canonisation at Rome. A company O
French workingmen had come on pilgrimag,
to "see Rome" to say their prayers at thu
sacred shrines, and to make petition to thu
Pope. There were four matters, especially
in which they desired the Pope's assistance
They wanted ~ a better limitation of the
years and conditions of children's labor, q
deliverance of women from unwomanly
occupations, (3) Christian working week
and ~ shorter hours. They implored the
holy father to stir up the consciences of al
decent people that these reasonable ends
might be attained.
Religion the Only Solace.
The Pope read them q sympathetic answer
He said nothing directly about the pro
gramme which they had suggested to him
but he told them that they had done well In
coming to him. Only in religion-which he
spelled with capital letter-could they find
consolation in their weariness and misery
Religion alone could better their condition
This he said over and over in various com.
| monplace but gracious ways. He took occa.
sion to warn them against the pernicious
error of those who desired the abolition OF
private property, declaring that they were
trying to lay low that which is the very
essence of civil and political life.
And ne advised q reorganization Of the
| medieval fraternities as q help toward the
improvement of industrial conditions
"What we demand" he said, sis the revival
in all their essentials, in their various prac-
| t1cal virtues, and in whatever forms the
| times allow, of those industrial guilds
which, Of old, stepped in Christian thought
| and inspired by the maternal solitude of
the Church, provided for the religious and
material needs of the workmen, eased their
| toll, guarded their savings, defended their
| rights, and insisted, in righteous measure
| upon their legitimate complaints" After
| which the holy father dismissed them with
his apostolic benediction.
After Two Years Preparation.
That was nearly two years ago; and we are
told that the Pope has been at work for the
last two years preparing his letter on the
labor question. Perhaps the Frenchmen
started it, Perhaps the encyolical is an an
swer to that Lord, save US, we perisht'
which they cried in his ears in the Hall of
Canonisation. Anyhow, it is the endeavor
Of the holy father to answer just that sort of
cry which for now these many years and in
unnumbered places has been trying to get
the ear and the heart of all the good and
wise men in the world. And the Pope's
speech then and the Pope's letter now are
singularly alike. The encyclical is little
more than the address written out at large
The subject is the Condition of Labor"
''The momentous seriousness of the present
state of things just now fills every mind"
the Pope says, with painful apprehension;
wise men discuss it; practical men propose
schemes; popular meetings, Legislatures
rnr-f,, oil
1t, and there is nothing which has deeper
hold on public attention" "All agree" he
says again, "and there can be no question
whatever, that some remedy must be found
and quickly found, for the misery and
wretchedness which press so heavily at this
moment on the large majority of the very
poor.
"Workingmen have been given over,
isolated and defenceless, to the callousness
of employers and the greed of unrestrained
competition. The evil has been increased
by rapacious usury, which, although more
than once condemned by the Church, is,
nevertheless, under a different form but
with the same guilt, still practiced by
avaricious and grasping men. And to this
must be added the custom of working by
contract, and the concentration of so many
branches of trade in the hands of few in
diViduals, so that small number of yery
rich men have been able to lay upon the.
masses of the poor yoke little better than
slavery ITSELF"
A Remedy in a Dozen Pages.
Now, for all this the most eminent Christian
minister In the Christian world proposes a.
remedy, and here it is in the dozen pages of
this notable document. And who has read
itF How many people in Pittsburg have
read the Pope's encyclical9
have just been studying Prof EIy's book
on the "Social Aspects of Christianity" He
has good deal to say in it about Christian
Indifference. He accuses US of knowing the
existence of these miserable conditions at
which the Pope hints, and of not caring.
The well-to-do simply don't love the poor.
Very few clergvmen are able to give an in
telligent statement of the position of labor
in its controversy with capital. There is
enough said and preached about the rights
of property, but hardly anything about its
duties. The attitude of the average Chris
tian gentleman toward all propositions
looking to the uplifting of the lower classes |
is one of criticism and negation. We are all |
eager, Prof. Ely says, to find flaws in the !
proposals of reform. We are more pleased |
at the discovery of error than of truth in the |
plans Of Henry George. We are against all |
uplifters. We are suspicious of all advocates
of the cause of labor.
1 was taking TO q friend the other day
about the organization of a branch of the
Christian Social Union, and the possibility
of getting some prominent employers of
labor into it to study the economic problem
from the moral point of view; and he said:
"You can't do 1t; to Mr.. A. it will mean the
of his mill bya committee. and
Mr.. b. will expect to have his house burned
down."
An Idea From Professor EIv.
Professor Ely remarks that when the
clergy of one denomination in Pittsburp
learned that gentleman had given money
for public conservatories on condition that
they should be kept open on Sunday they
denounced the man, and passed formal reso-
lutions against the acceptance of the gift.
And he naturally wonders what effect such
notion must produce upon the workingmen
of Pittsburg who have never received aid
from these clergymen in attempts to abolish
Sunday work.
The point is that we are not really inter-
ested in the uplifting OF labor Our only in
terest even in strike is due to the incon-
venience to which it puts us personally. We
Ire perfectly willing that the workingmen
should lose even the most just demand if
We can thereby get our work done quicker.
At least, it seems so. And here, to empha
size the statement, is the Pope's encyclical.
passing by with hardly word of comment.
nobody's attention.
The Weekly Register, Roman Catholic
paper published in London, which my friend
Father Lambing has kindly sent me, attrib
ties this lack of interest to an unfortunate
The Pope had the bad luck to
;ry to get the worlds ear on the very week
when we were all crowding into the Police |
Nnr1,. TO- tnI, tt,ea1 1of fast lol |