The Irish standard., 1911-01-21
SOCIALISM OPPOSED
TO CHRISTIANITY
To Indict Present Day Conditions is
one Thing, to Offer Remedy
is Another.
Socialists do the Indicting, but Fail
When it Comes to Offer
ing the Remedy.
That the Church Understands the Lot
of the Workingman is Proven
by History.

The past century has witnessed a
revolution in the methods of produc-
ing wealth, though the responsible
ties are not accepted and the duties
of those who own and control the
means of production are not dis
discharged upon the authority of
Christian truth, writes David Gold
stein in the Providence Visitor.
So the old question of master and
man in new form confronts us. Con-
ditions of labor are intolerable, and
the wages are insufficient. In the
words of Leo XIII, some remedy
must be found, and quickly found, for
the misery and wretchedness which
press so heavily at this moment upon
the large majority of the very poor"
Few deny that the lot of the work
ingmen and their families is hard,
especially for those VINO live and
work in our large cities and also in
the mill and mining towns of our
country. In dealing with the labor
problems separation must be made
| between the city and the country
workmen. The conditions of the city
are harder than those of the country
Not alone are wages low when COM
pared with the cost of living, but they
are low as compared with the value
of the earnings of their employers.
Accidents are frequent, while the dan
ger OF life and limb in our great man
ufacturing and transportation indus
tries are increasingly great. One may
reasonably conclude from the stats-
tical reports issued by our govern
ment that the dangers of modern en-
poyment keep pace with our remark
able industrial progress. Though
progress should have regard to man
as we'll as to wealth.
After low wages and hard condi-
| tons, the insecurity of employment
is a prolific cause of dread, Of unhap-
piness. The wage worker lives from
hand to mouth, ever on the brink OF
want. He knows that few weeks
without work will leave him helpless
and his family penniless. When out
OF work the city wage Garner is abso-
lute1y idle. He has not a garden to
cultivate, no repairing about the
house, which is his own to do, moth
ing with which he may employ his
time when not at work in the shop.
| Idleness is harder work than any sort
of job, for he who is out of work
has nothing to do but the dreariness
of looking for work.
While man is young the spring
of life gives him hope. But often, af-
ter years of hard and monOtOnous Ia
! Dor, many wage Garner and his wife
find themselves in their declining
years dependent upon relatives and
! friends for the physical necessities OF
| life. This is the hardest lot of all,
for hope is gone. Life is too hard
under these conditions. 1t is not
made so by Gods providence, but by
the inhumanity of man to man. The
Church says "a remedy must be
found" We, her faithful children,
must do the work.
To bring an Indictment against
present day conditions is one thing.
The enemies of our faith can do that,
but they cannot give a cure for the
evils they point out. Workingmen
must be guarded against the crafty
agitator, those men who have an axe
TO grind; those who arraign the con.
ditions of the day in order to fur.
Tier seditious principles, to take part
in the overthrow of the state.
These men of words would lead the
working class to believe that the evils
CT today find their roots in the teach.
ings of the Catholic Church; that
Christianity makes men weak and ser.
vile; that, If men would be free, they
must get rid of religion; if they
would be rich they must get rid OF
authority. These crafty agitators tell
us that all vices come from poverty
! and that the Church keeps the many