The Catholic bulletin. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1911-1995, 1912-01-27

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incompatible with the safe, orderly
and peaceful management of indus
try is the false Communism, whose
heir is the Socialism OF today. He
contrasted with 1t the true Christian
Communism, by which the rich are
taught the salutary lesson that to God
alone, and not to them, belongs the
absolute possession Of the goods which
are entrusted to them. They were
the stewards of the Lord charged with
serious duties towards the laborer
and the poor.
Unlike the false leaders, whose pop
ularity depends upon flattering the
vanity and pandering to the passions
of the multitude, in strong but gentle
language he reproved the faults of the
poor themselves. The expression
Poverty is theft" he denounced as a
monstrous lie, but admitted that it
contained terrible truth. I'VE must
labor entirely to destroy the truth in
it," he said, that it may once more
become totally a lie." The purpose
of God in permitting inequality of
earthly goods was that charity and
all the virtues of the social life might
be practiced.
ketteler and Marx.
It was in the year 184S, few weeks
he he Tr N1rr%s +f~o&
Marx flung upon the labor world the
Communist manifesto, that contains
in principle all subsequent Socialist
developments. The contrast between
the founders of the two opposing So
cial movements, the Socialistic and
the Catholic, presents a picture of
absorbing interest.
Both were working simultaneously,
Independently, and from different
points of view, at the solution of the
same problem. Both were born lead
ers of most remarkable gifts, of orig
inality in thought, of boundiess capa-
city for work, of fiery temperament,
of utter fearlessness in the enuncia-
ton of their principles. Each was
supreme in his field. MARX stood
higher, saw farther, took a wider,
clearer, quicker survey than all of
us" said Engels, his co-laborer;
Marx was genius; we others were,
at best, men of talent" Ketteler, on
the other hand, was no less unques-
tionably the greatest prelate in the
social sphere. Marx, inspired with the
hatred of the lost archangel, casting
off all religion and belief in God, full
minated his thunders against the en-
tire state of existing society. Confus-
ing abuses with inherent evils, he
strove, under cover of materialistic
evolution, to set class against class
in deadly conflict, lifting up the bat
tie cry which was to arouse every
latent passion of envy, greed and
hatred in the hearts of his followers.
"Expropriate the expropriators!" was
his summons to the people. Ketteler,
on the contrary, urged on by the Spirit
of God, came to bring peace and
blessing to the world With all the
power of his high Office, his majestic
presence and his stirring eloquence
he fearlessly set his face against the
oppression of the poor, the injustice
of the law, the godlessness Of the
schools, and the usurpation of the
authority of the Church by the State
To these last two causes he rightly
attributed in largest measure the alb
ject poverty of the masses. He came
to minister spiritually and temporarily
to the wants of the poor and to reor.
ganize the working classes. That
many of the conditions he describes
no longer exist is due to his initia-
tive, and the development both of in
dustry and of organization, which he
clearly foretold, has introduced mighty
changes in the social problem.
According to MARKHAM philosophy,
the root of all the worlds evil, of
vice as well as of poverty, is purely
economic, and therefore state of
prosperity and universal virtue can
be effected only by economic causes.
This is the essential doctrine of the
MARKHAM theory; for il men remain
such as they are the Socialistic COM
monwealth must clearly be impossi-
BILE. The Socialists themselves con-
fess 1t. Ketteler's mind saw further.
He, too, recognized the economic
causes and pointed them out; but be
meath them all, in the soil untouched
by Marx and Engels, he found the
real root of all disorder, original sin.
How is it possible" he asked, "that
on the one hand we see rich men, In
the face of the most elementary laws
of nature and without a qualm OF
| conscience, wasting their substance
riotOuSly while the moor are starving