Barbour County index., 1904-01-27
CARDINAL GIBBONS AND THE woRklNGMAN

/
sermon at st. Peters Church. Wash
ingtcn. d. c., Nov. Is. 1903. Cardinal
| Gibbons is reported as saying:
"Our democratic government gives
! Us the idea that all men are equal; it is
| a leyeling process. But this idea is not
q good one, for if there is anything
striking in our life, it is that men are
unequal. There is inequality. not
equality. God has not made us equal.
Some must be captains. some
subordinates, and you must learn this
lesson. respect those who are above
you. There is not enough respect from
the child to the parent TO-DAY, not
enough respect from the laborer to the
employer. This is one great fault
with us. and impress it on you that
you must pay respect where respect is
DUE"
It is not surprising to hear an utter
ance laying emphasis on authority
from representative of church which
perhaps demanded unquestioning and
even self sacrificing obedience to the
powers that be, and whose command
ing influence in the world today is
largely due to the universal respect of
its members for those in authority.
But it is rather strange that gentle
man of Cardinal Gibbons intelligence
and AmericanIsm should so misunder.
stand the dlvinely ordered constitution
basic principles of our own govern
ment, as foreshadowed in the Dec'ara-
tion Of Independence. That Deciara-
tion was but new expression of the
divine plan, recognition of the su
preme fact that there is one God and
that all men are brothers. The Fathers
of the Republic knew as we'll as any
aristocrat in Europe that, in any
government whatsoever. some must
be captains and some subOrdinates.
They distinctly provided for such cap
taincy and snbordination in the re-
public of their own organization. But
they also took pains, at the same time,
to lodge in the sovereign people the
constitutional prerogative to alter
public policies and to retire from tenn
porary authority their public servants.
The Cardinal should know
that the equality" Of the great
Declaration had no reference to legis-
lative, executive, or judicial authority,
but rather to the equality Of all men
in their right to protection by the
Government with respect to life liberty.
reputation, and property-tho great
natural rights, which man has as man,
which be possesses by the law of nature
independent of all government, and
which government does not create but
only recognizes and enfOrces.
Again, when the Cardinal says that
there sis not enough respect from the
child to the parent to-day" he states
what all must recognize as a lament
able fact. But, when he goes on to say
that there is mot enough respect from
the laborer to the employer" the
statement is at least questionable, and
IT he intends to compare the labOrer
with the child and the employer with
the parent, his analogy is certainly
false.
The Cardinal does not specify where
in the alleged disrespect of the laborer
to the employer consists. The writer
is free to admit that, among house.
hold servants, especially colored SER
wants at the north. there is lack of
recognition OF moral obligation, result.
Ing often in gross dlsrespect on house
holders rights. 1t has been noticed,
however, that, when the colored SER
want for instance has hPpn treated
not as 'nigger" or dog, but as a
human being, equal with the white
man in all those great rights recogniz-
ed by the Declaration of Independence,
and as entitled to that respect
WHICH human beings owe to one
another, as children Of the same
Father, irrespective Of race and con,
dition, the housekeeper has had much
less reason to complain of disrespect or
INSTRUMENTATION. There is something
in the universal human soul that ever
responds to jus tice.
It is likely, however, that the
Cardinals reference to laborer regards
those more extensive associations of
men outside the household. And here.
! also, the writer must dissent from the
Cardinals opinion. The undersigned
| las seen no evidence of the disrespect
alleged. If the Cardinal means the
strikes and general dissatisfaction
| with the relative remuneration and
relative conditions of labor and capital,
| in these halcyOn days of sO.called