New-York tribune., 1908-07-26
.AGR4RIANISN IN ITALY.

The letter which has been addressed to the
Catholic people of Parma and other districts
in the north of Italy by cardinal, four arch
bishops and fourteen bishops of the Church of
Rome is probably unique in ecclesiastical his
tory We can recall no other instance of such
ecclesiastical interference in economic contro-
verses. The signers of the letter indeed, ap-
peared to appreciate the fact that they had
done an unprecedented thing for they made
quasi-apology for their action on the ground
that the circumstances which provoked it were
so exceptional as to justify and demand
exceptional measures. With this estimate there
will probably be pretty general agreement.
The land owners of Parma appear 10 be en-
lightened and progressive men, who have ex-
pended capital freely in improvements on their
estates and in developing the best modern
methods of agriculture, with the result that
theirs has become one Of the most prosperous
agricultural regions in the kingdom. In that
prosperity all classes Of the population have
shared, and for time all were well contented-
In former years agricultural laborers received a
part of their pay in a share of the produce. but
with the changes of late years that custom
generally abandoned AID they received all their
pay in money. 10 their greater satisfaction. So
cialist agitators. however deemed Parma
promising field for their operations and few
years ago began making trouble. the more so
since there were two antagonistic factions of
them. One faction. the Reformers, We're mod
crate in their aims while the other, the Sinda-
calists. Were extreme The latter, hoping thus
TO gain advantage over the former. raised the
cry of The land for the people," and persuaded
their followers that instead Of working for
wages or for part Of the produce they should
receive all the produce and own the land 10
boot Such indictments last year led TO strike
Of agricultural laborers, which amounted to
little and was settled in Il "concordat" which
left everything much as ii had been before. This
year another strike was organized, against the
''concordat," which resulted in much violence
and the final defeat of the strikers through mill
tary Intervention.
There is, we told, no real i'll feeling be-
tween the laborers and the landlords nor any
important issues in dispute between them. The
whole trouble stirred up by one socialist
leader and his comrades. in the hope of thus
gaining prestige for themselves and dscrediting
ter that the ecclesiastical letter is chiefly ad-
dressed The right of men TO seek their own
welfare. and even to organize strikes to that
end is recognized by the prelates But the
stirring I'D OF social hatreds is vigorously CON
demned, and such a strike for such purpose
as this years is denounced as war not against
abuses and oppression, but against order and
religion The letter will probably fncite greater
enmitv among those socialists who are already
opposed 10 the Christian Church, but it vii!
commend itself 70 most thoughtful people and
will not be without important effect upon the
people of Italy As practical demonstration
Of the Indispensable support which the Church