The Catholic bulletin. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1911-1995, 1913-09-13

comes necessary to wrest from an IN
reasonable employer just compensa-
ton for his labor or to mitigate I'M
bearable conditions imposed upon
him.
But rights connote duties, and the
first duty of the laborer is conscien-
tious service to his employer "A la !
borer who will wantonly shirk his
task, waste his time or suffer injury
to be done to the interests entrusted
to him commits sin against justice
as truly as does the thief or the rob-
Der. He is guilty of taking wages I'M
der false pretenses.
Rights and Duties of Employers.
The employer, too, has his rights,
one of which is a just share in the
profits, but only just share Were
he to force upon the laborer beg
carly pittance to enable himself and
his to roll in lavish luxury, he would
be more guilty in the sight of heaven
than the outlawed brigand who
grasps the defenseless wayfarer by
the throat and demands his money.
But when the employer pays an equit-
able wage to the employee he has a
right to expect from him faithful
service.
The duties of the employer, aside
from that of paying living wage,
are to treat his laborers with hui
mainly and fraternal consideration, to
h.
tons of their place of toll and to use
all reasonable means to promote the
material and moral well-being of those
whose toll coins the wealth that flows.
into his Golfers. The man of wealth
should consider himself as Gods
steward, to Whom he must one day
render an account of the wealth en-
trusted to him, not to be wasted in
luxurious living, but expended for the
welfare of his needy fellowmen, Gods
beloved poor.
The criminal generosity of capital
lists who, having wrung their fabulous
wealth out of the sweat and blood of
ill-fed toilers, build to their guilty
pride monumental libraries and col
leges and peace palaces, is crime
that cries to heaven for a vengeance
as terrible and as sure as that which
branded the fratricidal Cain, who
hoped to benefit by his brothers
blood.
These principles, eloquently voiced
by the late Leo XIII, have been
taught by the Catholic Church for
nineteen hundred years, and through
them she has emancipated the toiler
from the bonds of pagan slavery and
elevated him to position of honor,
self-respect and contentment. Were
the employer and employee to follow
these principles today, their. warfare
soon would cease, and hand in hand
they would be found collaborating for
their mutual welfare.
The Church Holds the Solution.
There is and can be no other solu-
ton of the problem that agitates Ia
Dor and capital today than the moral
law and Christian equity established
by the Founder of Christian society,
Jesus Christ All man-devised RENE
dies can serve only to aggravate the
| present evils.
1t is most remarkable, but true, that
in all remedies suggested either by
the so-called friends of labor, the
Socialists, Industrial Workers of the
World and kindred organizations or
by the defenders of capital, the pre-
| dominant note is class hatred. But
hatred has never solved any social
question, much less can it solve that
all-vital problem of right relation be-
tween labor and capital. 1t was only
the love of God that could restore
man to peaceful union with his Crea-
tor; it is only the love of man for
fellow-men that can weave the golden
bond of fraternal peace around the
capitalist and the toiler.
The motto of both should be:
Back to Him who is the supreme
Capitalist of the Universe and the
divine Toiler of Nazareth-Jesus
! Christ"
Let them, moreover, remember that
their quarrel is not only matter of
dollars and cents, not only question
of the capitalist adding to his pie
thoric purse or the laborer securing
a little more bodily comfort. 1t is a
question of vastly broader and deeper
import, a question of the success or
failure of this national temple of
democracy which rests upon that
Christ-laid foundation of equal rights
and equal duties, cemented by fra
ternal love.
1t is more. It is question whose
import reaches as high as heaven and
as low as hell, as it concerns the
eternal veal or woe of those two chief
stewards of God-the capitalist with
his wealth and talent, the laborer
with his health and Drawn, all splen-
did gifts, the abuse or use of which
will deserve hell or win a princely
kingdom.