The labor world. [volume] (Duluth, Minn.) 1896-current, 1908-09-26
Professor of Economics in the st.
Paul's Catholic. College,
st. Paul, MINI.
SOCIAL JUSTICE IS LAW
OF THE CATHOLIC CHURCH
Labor's Compensation Should
Conform 10 Best Social Esti-
mate of Fairness.

The plea for the universal living
wage was the theme Of a. stirring lee
ture delivered in the Brooklyn Labor
Lyceum by the Rev. DR.. John A. Ryan,
Professor Of Economics Of st. Pauls
Catholic College, st. Paul, MINI. The
address was under the auspices OF the
Central Labor Union and was deliv-
cred at the close Of the regular week.
ly meeting Of the body. The audience
was large and appreciative. DR.. Ryan
said:
1.-THE clergyman who takes a stand
on the labor question Is apt to hnd
himself between two hres. Represent
atives OF capital will tell him that he
ought to remain silent and represent
atives Of labor will tell him that the
chunch has no genuine sympathy with
the toiler. Both Of these criticisms are
mistaken. On the one hand the min
lister Of religion is obliged to apply
the principles Of Christian morality to
the industrial as well as to other sides
Of life; on the other hand his mission
is primarily spiritual, and the church
Is not obliged to do more than lay
down and apply general principles
which, If followed, would obtain for
the woringk classes the largest attain
able measure of social justice.
Catholic Church and Labor.
To-day, as always, the Catholic
church Il have no right to speak for
any other) does expound these prin-
ciples. And her teaching in the pres
ent continues and develops her his
torical position concerning the rights
of the individual and the claims Of the
lowly. 1t was her doctrine on the
sacredness Of the human person and
the dignity of labor that transformed
the slave into the serf, and out Of
serfdom developed class Of free art
isans in the towns Of medieval Eu-
rope. From the very beginning she
taught that the rights Of man were
superior to the rights of property, and
that the man who should take his:
neighbor's goods in order to save his
own like would not be guilty of theft:
Yet when Cardinal Manning publicly
reasserted this ancient doctrine few
years ago, he was denounced as an
anarchist.
All through the middle ages the
church insisted that the price Of goods
and of labor should not be regulated
exclusively by supply and demand, but
should be fixed in accordance with the
best social estimate of justice and
fairness. Under the influence of this
teaching sprang up those agencies for
the regulation of prices and wages,
which made medieval town industry
the embodiment of the nearest ap-
proach to industrial justice that the
world has ever seen. Chief among
these agencies were, of course, the
guilds, and the guilds enforced the
policy Of the closed or union shop.
According to such competent histor-
ians as Rogers, Ashley, Cunningham
and Gibbon, the workers of that per-
iod received a larger share Of the
wealth then produced than present
workers receive of the wealth produced
today.
Life of Comfort For Workers.
THE facts indicate what the social
teachings of the church might now &C
complish If it were accepted to the
same extent as in the middle ages.
The greatest evil from which the
working classes still suffer Is the
policy of unlimited freedom of con-
c~AA>A ~ PSSASAOAA.
Is as contrary to the teaching Of the
Catholic church as it is to the pro-
gram Of the labor unions. Against it
Pope Leo XIII enunciated the doc
trine Of a living wage, when he de-
clared that, while in general matters
and men should determine wages by
free contract there is dictate of ma
ture more ancient and more honorable
than any bargain between man and
man; that is, that the remuneration of
the worker should always be suffci-
ent to maintain him In reasonable
and frugal comfort
The same pope urged workingmen
to organize and recommended concili-
alton and arbitration for the settle
ment Of industrial disputes. More
over, Catholic theology teaches that
men have right to fair or moderate
rate OF interest on their capital, not to
all the profit that they can gather in
through the extortionate devices Of the
monopoly and the trust.
Solution of Labor Problem.
Nov, If these three principles were
adopted into industry, the labor prob
lem and the industrial problem would
ere long solve themselves. If the mill
lions of American workingen who even
In the most prosperous times obtain
less than living wage, had their re-
muneration raised to that level, they
would themselves be able to better
their condition still further. For. be
1t remembered. the church does not
say that men have right to merely
the minimum living wage. Undoubt-
edly the man who turns out a larger
product, makes greater sacrifices ex-
pends greater efforts, or exercises
greater skill, should receive larger
compensation than the man who
achieves less in any of these respects:
but how much greater? And which of