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

ated the most favorable conditions for the estab-
lishment of board of arbitration and Cancellation
which have averted many and great evils, and WHICH,
it Is believed can furnish the only permanent meth
cd Of settling disputes between the employed and
their employers.
On the other hand, the union has been, at times,
cause of disturbance. 1t has, occasions famed
the spirit of suspicion and dstrust it has lost sight
of the common interests of owners and workers, has
emphasized their conflicting claims embittered the
struggle and precipitated strikes The strike Is lis
one weapon, q weapon as dangerous TO those who
WELD it. and to the public and the prosperity of
the nation to the employers against whom it Is
drawn. 1t is chance whether the strikers win or
lose but whether they win lose, they and their
families suffer serious physical hardship and moral
injury. The strike is not appeal to reason and
justice but to strength and endurance and hence it
easily issues III acts of lawlessness and violence, 1t
is at the best a hazard and when it is associated
with crime it does harm to the cause of labor by
alternating public sympathy.
1t is difficult to conduct a strike successfully
without infringing the rights of Others particu
larry the right to work. which is fundamental Il
is probable that as labor becomes more thoroughly
organized. the evil of unionism will grow less, and
its benefcent action will become greater. When
based on right principles and maintained without
resort to criminal measures a trade union scarcely
differs from any other legitimate Joint stock assoc-
alton. 1t is in fact partnership III which men who
combine to make their labor sufficiently remuner-
alive to enable them and their families to live as
civilized human beings should live
The question of fair wage and of the American
standard of living is complex and difficult involving
it does divers conditions, subject to many vara
tions. The decent existence of the laborcr and of
those dependent on him should be considered first
charge on the property or on the owners income II
should be possible for him. therefore. to found
home and to rear and educate his children in a way
BETTING free men and Christians. He should be en-
abled, in measure, to secure himself and those de-
pendent on him against the risks of sickness, indus
trial accident and the heplessneSs and hardshps of
old age, while opportunity should be afforded him to
partake in the general advance IN knowledge and
culture of the country in which be lives. Work Is
the primary and universal means of education, and
an enlightened people cannot rest content so long
as any part of the population are condemned to
labor under conditions which degrade or render in
teectua and moral growth impossible.
The right of private property is exclusive, but
not absolute. Property is an outgrowth of the So
cal environment and is secured TO its possessors b.
society It must therefore, be made to contribute
to the general welfare, and especially to the
welfare of those who are most Immediately con-
cemed in its production The rich, consequently,
are recreant the most sacred duties which their
wealth imposes. when they fail to make it an
agency for the improvement of those by the aid of
whose toll it has been acquired Laborers also have
duties well as rights, and one of their first du-
rios is to respect the rights of man in all men,
whether capitalists or not. The trade unions, as
they become stronger, must strive in all earnest
ness. not merely TO secure to their members a liv
ing wage and to protect them from wrong, but to
educate and make them agents of moral, not less
than of material, progress.
As the professions aim to exclude at least to
put mark of Reproduction on their unworthy mem
hers. so organized labor. we,may hope will gain in
sight into the fact that the true welfare of working
men, as of all men and peoples, depends chiefly on
the irmness with which they hold to principle and
the success with which they upbuild character The
only prosperity is that which ennobles man and the
best wealth is right life. A nations greatness in
the present age certainly depends largely on its
power to produce material goods, bet the exagger-
ated estimate which we place upon such values is
the great source of most of the evils from which we
suffer Mercantilism. the belief that money may
be made the universal equivalent of human worth is
the bane of our life. When in economic relations
humane conditions are lost sight of and the ex-
elusive preoccupation is to get more and more, dis