The Irish standard. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn. ;) 1886-1920, 1904-02-20
The Most Fervid Advocates of Property
Rights are the Bribers of Legis-
.latures and Cities.
Our Great Cities arc the Centers If tho
Nations Greatest Corruption and
lnhumantieS.

Bishop Spalding, OF Peoria, under
the patronage OF the Municipal Lee
turc association. recently delivered be-
fore 4 Chicago audience the follow
ing scatlling arrangement Of the evils
OF our times:
"ln the social as in the natural body
all is bound together in organic unity,
and hence it can be we'll neither with
individuals nor with societies unless
the inner source of life is ccasclcssIy
refreshed and purified When men
love money more than justice, have
more faith in steam and electricity
than i'll God and goodness, no cffcc-
tual remedy can be applied to the ills
from which they suffer. He who lacks
wisdom and virtue is degraded by
wealth and leisure, and prosperity is a
peoples curse-if it causes them to fall
away from religion and righteousness.
1t is folly to proclaim the sacrcdncss
OF property where the sacrcdncss Of
human life is ignored or condemned.
Institutions cannot cmancipatc those
whom dishonesty and greed cnslavc.
Opportunity given to the blind and
reckless but widcns the way that leads
them to ruin The environment is I'M
proved to little purpose for those who
feel within themselves but the STRINGS
of animal impulse, and the wits arc
sharpcncd only the better to do evil il
conscience be not strengthened. II
our national welfare cease to rest on a
foundation Of religion and morality it
will vanish.
"Whcn there is question Of methods
and means by which social improve
mcnt may be brought about we need
not consider anarclism, which is an
insanity whose only issue is crime. and
in America there is nothing more Ger
tain than that wherever it attempts to
reduce its theories to practice it will
be crushed.
Socialism is not or at the least need
not be anarcllic It's aim is the trans
formation Of private and competing
capital into a united collective capital.
As set forth by Marx and its other
able opponents it rests on basis Of
matcrialism and atheism and is the foe
not merely of the fundamental ccoio-
mic institutions, but of the monogarnic
family and the Christian church as
well.
"Thc heroic strivings OF the bravcst
and most loving for thousands of years
have not made earth paradise, but
they have awakened in innumcrablc
minds such a conception Of the worth
Of liberty, religion, culture and privi-
lcgc TO take TIP whatever work or call
ing ones cndowmcnts impcl him to,
that no paradise OF comfort and plenty
could compensate them for the loss
OF these spiritual treasures. Socialism
has failed even in small isolated COM
ihuIIliSS anu iio oSli ittCiiipt " III
troducc and establish it as a general
scheme can be made so long as the
men who mold opinion continue to be-
licvc in the paramount worth of the
life of the spirit; and should the world
lose this faith it will be driven to ac-
ccpt the autocracy OF dcspots, not the
tyranny of collcctivism.
"Shall we then rest content will,
things as they are? This is as i'm
possible as the realization of the
theories of collcctivisn. No wise or
good man can contemplate with salts
faction the actual political, social, edit
cational or religious conditions. Our
politics arc notoriously corrupt and in
spite of sporadic rcactic rs the tcnden
cy is to still greater corruption. The
public conscience is ready to condone
successful crime, whether committed
by private individuals or by officers
of the government. The most fervid
advocates of the sacredncss of prop
crty rights are those who have made
fortunes by bribing legislatures and
municipalities or by crushing competi-
tors. In our cities laws are enacted
which those who pass them as we'll
=, .:-lad ~ 800 &t,,k