The Irish standard. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn. ;) 1886-1920, 1904-07-16
THE ENEMY OF CIVILIZATION

valley Of tears; Christianity, which
has consecrated poverty and repro
bated wealth, which it brands as the
root of all evils Crim. vi:1O); Christian
ity, which commands submission to
higher powers for conscience sake
For there is no power but from God,
and they that resist, purchase unto
themselves damnation.' Rom. kill
1OD Wealth, boundess wealth, for all
is the last word of Socialism. 1t says:
We will all be wealthy, and riches
having become universal will be the
solution of the social problem
THE RUSH FOR WEALTH.
at cannot be denied that this mad
rush in the pusuit Of wealth is the
characteristic mark of the American
people, and that there is not another
nation on the globe with chances for
making money equal to our own. Our
enterprise and industries lead the
world; our manufactures and pro-
duets compete successfully in all the
markets of the world; our laborers are
getting better wages and live more
comfortably than in any other civil
lied country; as n nation we infinitely
surpass any other nation in wealth
and the luNuries of life. Are we, there
fore, a happier people? If it is true.
as Socialism proclaims, that it is
wealth that creates happiness, then
we ought to be the happiest people on
earth.
"Is this the condition of the Amer
lean people? We know it is not.
Notwithstanding all our opportunities
for wealth. and all the comforts it can
procure, we are not happy nation.
For, strange to say, nowhere else do
the two main arteries of wealth, labor
and capital develop such n bitter an
tagonism as in the United States.
Every year, all over this land, and
with an alarming frequency of rccur-
renee, the two come to deadly con-
flict wherein millions are lost in wages
and profits by the two contestants.
And the reason is that the more
money either party makes, the more
they want The capitalist, with mil
lion to his credit. is not satisfied; he
wants two or ten millions; the laborcr,
with fair living wage, is clamoring
for more, and at an inverse rate would
increase his earnings by diminution
of his hours Of labor. Both are the
dupcs of their own hearts, which
nothing finite can fill. The millionaire
is dupcd by the hollowncss of wealth,
his path. leaves his heart empty and
saturated with the gall Of disappoint
mcnt; the poor laborcr is dupcd by
| the hallowncss of his desires, which
never matcralize. If, by n sudden
vccring of fortune, they were to eX
change roles, they would both con-
tinuc to be as unhappy as before.
A MYSTERY WHICH is SOLVED.
"lIcrc is Il mystery which religion
alone can and does solve. The human
heart is an abyss; it was created for
the infinite and nothing less than the
infinite can fill and satiatc it's bound
less capacity. God has made that
heart for himself, and has reserved it's
fullncss for Himself to fill, and thus
placed upon it the seal Of the infinite;
but, having lost Him by it's infidelity,
it can now only regain possession Of
Him by faith, hope and charity. By
faith it bcholds Him as in n mirror;
by hope it possesses Him in anticpa-
ton, and in love is actually enjoys
Him as in virtual possession and
finds therein the complement Of its
happiness here Oh earth. This eX-
plains the happiness Of truly God
fearing Christian heart, even in the
midst of poverty, want, misery and
} suffering. These privations are the
price it pays here on earth for the
perfect happiness that awaits it in
heaven.
"Now, Socialism, by it's denial of
God, it's forfeiture of heaven, with it's
substitute of an earthly paradise
which it cannot give, robs the human
heart of the infinite, and therefore
creates therein an unfathomable void
which nothing finite can fill. Earthly
pleasures, as experience shows, far
from satisfying the heart, serve only
to infame it by arousing new desires
and creating new wants, calling for
new pleasures. Happiness is content
mcnt, with it's sweet calm and genuine
fruition. 1t consists in the cquilib-
rum between the desires of the soul
and the realities of life; the balancing
between the wants created by nature
and the resources supplied by labor.
Thus man of ordinary means, with
few wants, which are easily satisfied,
is. by the very nature of his condition
in life, happier man than the multi
millionaire with boundless wants
which he can never fully satisfy. 1t
is this very unrestraincd hankering
for wealth which more than anything
disturbes the equilibrium between the
souls desires and the actualites Of
life, and therefore. repels true happi-