The Irish standard. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn. ;) 1886-1920, 1908-03-28

society" Glib. p. 1s). The socialist, he
tells us in another place, Cannot
think of a community as only a crowd
of individuals, each tself-centered,
each pursuing his own ends, each en-
dowed with natural and nviolable
rights. The communal life is as real
to him as tho life of an organism
built up of many living cells" Glib. p,
13D. No wonder that a recent writer
has spoken of socialism as the deiflca-
ton Of the state.
The Catholic is, indeed, familiar
with the truth that society is an or
gaism. He has learnt from st. Paul
and from the Catechism that he must
attain salvation as a member Of the
Catholic church, which is a visible
and living organism, the body even
and the Spouse of Christ. According
to Catholic teaching, we regard our
selves as not isolated units answer
able only to God for our actions, but
as members of an organized society
founded by God to look after our spirit
ual welfare. In our capacity OF citi-
zens, too, we know that we are be-
longing to another organized society
trlne about the state, however, is very
different from that Of the socialists.
The state, indeed, is necessary for
mans complete development; human
nature cannot attain to its full and
proper perfection outside human so
ciety, or in other words, outside the
limits OF the state: But in Catholic
thought it is the man that matters,
not the state. Man has an immortal
enters into the abode of his eternity.
The ultimate end Of his being is not
reached on earth, he was created for
life eternal His highest duty Is
ever to strive toward that end, duty
imposed on him by his Creator He
has received from God the right as
we'll as the obligation of ordering his
life toward the attainment Of his end,
and he has received from God the
right to all the means that are neces-
sary for that end. Man himself, and
tho family in which he is born and
reared, are antecedent to the state in
nature and in time. The function Of
the state is to aid man in his earthly
career, it supplies his deficiencies and
assists his weakness. The state was
instituted to defend and 10 protect
those rights which has from nature
and from God. The state exists for
man, not man for the state. The state
has no soul, mortal or immortal;
it has no life nor existence apart from
the individuals who compose 1t. II we
admit that it is an organism, we are
conscious that we are using the term
in a. sense only analogous to, not
Identical with, that in which it is used
Of an animal or of plant. There is
no vital principle in the state which
subordinates to itself and to its own
end the men and women who COM
pose it, as the vital principle in our
bodies subordinates to itself the cells
OF which the body is made up. II the
state attempted to do anything Of
the sort, it would be guilty OF tyranny
and injustice. 1t has power indeed
to order the lives OF its subjects in .
reasonable manner as far as private
and public good require it. 1t can
exact contributions in the form OF
taxes from the property Of its subjects
in a reasonable manner as far as pri-
| vate and public good require. 1t can
| exact contributions in the form OF
taxes from the property OF its sub
jects according to the rules OF justice
and equity as far as public neces-
sity requires it.
But 1t has no authority to Interfere
further with the natural rights OF its
subjects. 1t was instituted to protect
those rights, and IL it infringes them
it acts tyrannically and unjustly. Pri-
vate property is one of the rights
which the state was instituted to de-
fend. AS Leo XIII said: The right
to possess private property is derived
from nature. not from man: and the
state has the right to control its use
in the interests Of the public good
alone, but by no means to absorb 1t
altogether The state would, there
fore, be unjust and cruel If under the
name Of taxation it were to deprive the
private owner Of more than is fitting
Evangelical on the condition Of the
working classes).
Here therefore, the Catholic dH-
fers radically from the socialist. The
state of the socialist arrogates to isell
the power to take into it's hands the
ownership and management Of all the
means Of production, distribution anc