The Intermountain Catholic. (Salt Lake City [Utah] ;) 1899-1920, 1904-12-24

trust bitterness and strike SO long as our life is
chiefly of greed greed still persuade its victims that
they have not yet enough. Hence, they are cease
lessly urged to conquest which can be made only
at the expense of their fellows. AS a result cap
italss are arrayed against capitalists and the poor
against the rich. The tactics of trusts and syndi
Gates have their counterpart in the violent and
lawless deeds of the strike. SO long as life is
chiefly scramble for money, so long shall 1t be
found impossible to establish a permanent indus
trial peace to convert the Struggle for riches into
cooperation to improve not merely human con
ditions, but human life. There other and high
or interests than increase of population, enlarge
ment of territory and spread of commerce, and
when they abandoned made secondary, the
quantity of peoples goods may be augmented but
the quality of its life deteriorates.
The strength of the position of those who would
overthrow the present social and econonmis system
does not lie much in the feasibility of any
scheme they may have to offer, i'll their criticism
of actual conditions and more especially of pres
ent methods of production and distribution. The
wastes of unrestricted competition inconcelv-
ably great and the ruin it has wrought lies too deep
for words involving as it does not only financial
panics and the destruction of incalcuable
amount of wealth. but the bghtipg of hope and
love and JOY i'll tens of thousands OF homes. The
losses in single industrial crisis amount to hun
dreds of millions of dollars and bring misery to
millions of human beings
production to falling market and consequent stag
naton and So in this industrial age it easily hap
pens that poverty is born of plenty. In such sys
TEN human worth comes to be less considered than
material possessions the value Of man less than
that OF the things which minister to him Justice
and fairness in the relations of employers and en-
ployed give place to greed, distrrst and hate The
captains of industry, unlike the captains of war,
feel no pride in the men whose courage and endur-
enable them to win the victory, and the men,
unlike soldiers, take no delight in their leaders,
but look on them rather with envy and suspicion.
When such is the spirit Of indltstralism it ceases
to be Il school of moral cooperation and becomes
breeding ground and nursery of anti-social senti-
ments and intrgues. This is an evil that cannot
be healed by laws, the multiplication of which is
symptom of decadeuce. The general conscience
must be awakened, there must be return to the
principles from which civilization has sprung,
and by which alone it can be maintained. We must
again begin to believe that the soul of man is
precious than a universe of matter If we cannot
think all men equal we can at least hold them to be
brothers, whose highest privilege and duty it should
be to go to the aid of the weaker and more heavily
laden members of the one common family, that the
inequalities which nature and the course of human
events have wrought may be felt by them as little
possible To this end we should seek to provide
1Or the young opportunities for a happy childhood
and sufficient education; should surround the
home with the safeguards of religion and morality;
we should honor and defend her from doing
unsuitable underpaid work and from aboring in
surroundings harmful to the sacredness of he,
character and mission. We should, in word, be
ready to go III every feasible way to the relief OF
all whose lot imposes ON them lifes heavier bur
dens. SO, and only, shall become able to show
TO all the world that i'll true democracy, private
ownership is not incompatible with the welfare of
any part of the people