The Irish standard., 1909-10-09

with fertility the soil that now sup
ports millions of human beings. But
we are not living in the past, with it's
simple agricultural problems. We are
hurrying to eternity amid the din Sf
modern machinery, and the problems
that confront us are as complex as the
delicate machinery that so we'll SYM
bolizes the twentieth century. Where
does the Church stand today? HIS
she a remedy for the ills that aff1ict So
ciety whose basis is industrial activ-
ity? The same paradox is presented to
us now that bewildered, no doubt, some
of the more ardent spirits of the early
Church. She is still preaching poverty,
humility and obedience, and is uncom-
promisingly firm on the right of priv
ate property. She seems to buttress
up all the evils that flow from a capl-
talistic method Of production. But
there is another side to the medal. The
dignity of man is just as real, and his
rights are superior to that OF property.
Did you ever place side by side the
encyclical of Leo Kill on The Condi-
tion of the Laboring Glass and the
programme of the Socialist party?
They are startlingly, alike BY de-
grees,' says the Pope, 1T has come to
pass that workingmen have been sur
rendered, all isolated and helpless, to
the hardheartedness of employers and
the greed of unchecked competition.
The mischief has been increased by
rapacious usury * still pra.-
ticed under different guise of covet-
Gus and grasping men,: To this must
be added the custom of working l.y
contract and the concentration of 50
many branches of trade in the hands
OF a few individuals, SO that small
number of very rich men have been
able to lay upon the teeming masses of
the laboring poor a yoke little better
than that of slavery. on the one side
there is the party which holds power
because it holds wealth; which has in
it's grasp the whole Of labor and trade;
which manipulates or.its own, benefit
own PURPOSES a the s sources -, II
of suppl SID which tds5 ssen repre-
sented in the councils OF the State it.
self. On the other side there is the
needy and powerless multitude, broken
down and suffering, and ever ready for
disturbance This reads like a page
from the notebook of a radical, but it
is the thoughtful and carefully ex-
pressed judgment of one whose gaze
swept the world, the watchman in the
tower of Israel. His remedy is reform
and not destruction of the present in
dustrial system. Evils there are in it.
but we do not root out the wheat -
get at the tares. No system that is
built on hatred can be lasting. Work.
ingmen should learn that. Organized
labor has an important role to play in
the future. 1t has done splendid wo.'k
in the past, but it must be true to tho
principles of the Gospel; and in striv-
ing to obtain for labor it's Just reward
it will have the help Of Gods Church.
The Church, indeed, is not a charity
organization society or a social reform
club; it must preach the Gospel of
Jesus Christ. The primary reforrnati IN
that it works to bring about is an inte-
rior one. The kingdom of God is
within us. If every man listened 10
her voice there would be no social
problem. But she takes things as she
finds them. She faces facts and deals
with them. We must seek the kingdom
of God and His justice, and then work
the reform of society,""