The Irish standard. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn. ;) 1886-1920, 1904-02-20

ableneSS are OF higher worth and
potency. The lack OF these make pos
sible all the wrongs and perfdies which
are the cause OF misery to millions,
and are the opprobrium OF the civil
lied world. Until the spirit OF which
Christendom is born shall prevail not
only in the home and the church, but
in civil affairs, in politics, industry and
commerce, it can never be we'll with
mankind, and our doubts and misgiv-
ings concerning the future arise from
the fact that there is little faith in this
truth and less desire to make it the
controlling principle OF social as OF in
dividual life. In the capital and labor
struggle and. strife, the cause OF so
much disturbance, disorder and suffer-
ing, there is small hope OF permanent
improvement SO long as genuine good
will and conciliatory disposition are
lacking.
"If capital and organized labor will
but learn to act i'll harmony, no harm
will happen to any class, for employ
crS and wage earncrs can live in peace
only when they are influenced and con-
trolled by sentiments OF justice and
humanity, and by concern for the
good OF all.
Laws and contrivances cannot COM
pose the strife between capital and
labor, for the causes from which it
springs are elemental and as deep as
human nature, and only what raises the
mind and touches the heart can reach
the fountain head of the evil
Our industralism and machinery
have wrought marvels, but they have
not made it wise or more unselhsh
On the contrary they have promoted
the formation OF vast centers OF popu-
lation, in which life, physical and
moral, degenerates, and, consequently,
they are i menace to the highest in
!" tercsts OF humanity.
ut is i'll those Babylons that politi-
cal thevery and robbery, prostitution
drunkenness, gambling and every form
OF perversity and depravity are en-
dcmic AMI will continue to lay waste
despite attempts at reform and moral
sanitation. III the test OF peoples
worth is the quality OF its manhood
and womanfool the great cities of
whose marvellous growth we love to
boast are curse and a calamity. To
them are drawn criminals, Adventures,
ldlers--those who have failed in small
er places, those who crave for the
license OF Indulgence which is given
where one sinks like raindrop into
the seething waters OF turbulent
ocean. Here is every provocation OF
passion, every promise OF immunity.
Here, as in vast whispering gal
lery, the murmurs OF all the horrors,
atrocities, murders, suicides and in
humanities circulate ccaselessly to be
caught up from hour to hour and
borne OH the wings of the press to
countless homes where only innocence,
peace and love should be known
But why insist? These centcrs ex-
list. TheI population is increasing
and will continue to increase, and since
the law of contrast runs through all
things in them is all the sin and misery
and woe and Indebtedness, there is
found also the truest wisdom and the
most genuine virtue. They furnish
opportunity not to the incompetent
and the vicious alone, but to the cap
able, the good and the loving as we'll.
Real good cannot be accomplished
by inllcting penalties on workingmen
who are law breakers SO long as the
rascalities OF bride givers and promot-
ers OF fraudulent schemes and corrup-
tons OF public morals are ignored or
tolerated. The pre- dominant passion
OF democracy is to bring about equality
I. before the law, and whenever class
is able by whatever means to disregard
the law or violate it with impunity
spirit OF lawlessness is diffuscd
throughout the land. They who are
able to see things as they arc recog-
nize that organization OF labor and
capital are simply results OF the indus
trial and commercial evolution which
gives to our age its distinctive charac-
teristics. Neither will disappear while
the present era continues. Inevitably
there will be conflicts between the
trades unions and the capitalists who
are employers.
Nov, what can be done to make
them less frequent and less disastrous
In the first place, both parties should
recognize that their existence is the
outcome of social law and that
neither can hurt or destroy the one
without hurting and destroying the
other. 1t is to the interest of each that
opposition and contention cease.
'The obstacles to be overcome are
the restlessness, discomfort and hatred
Of employers which the socialist mem
bers OF the unions foster among work
ingmen, and the irritation and resent
ment aroused in employers by the de-
mands OF the men, which are often ar
bitrary, excessive and unreasonable,
made largely under the mood and tenn
per created by the socialist proDapan-