The Catholic bulletin. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1911-1995, 1913-11-29

I'm the first six months of the year
1912, S7,5O0,000 days were lost in
England alone through strikes and for
the last 20 years the actual loss never
came lower than 100000 days. This
should not continue and while the
wealthy are indulging in luxuries they
are largely responsible for the grow
ing tastes for exaggerated comfort
that are never to be satisfied.
Conditions Improving.
Il stated and l repeat that condi-
tions are improving. Theorists are
effecting economic changes which will
lead to skill and energy and devoted
ness in the hope of large reward
which will continue to incite men to
put forth their very best efforts to
make the best practical use of the
tremendous resources of this earth,
but while they must be left these in
elements and rewards the family and
society must not be allowed to dis
integrate and the poor who are de-
serving should not suffer want.
81 am satisfied that you could put
forth, everyone among you, many
schemes for the amelioration of So
ciety. l will not name them, l simply
say that they might meet passing
want for the problems of society are
like the phases of the moon, they
change and the expedients which meet
the actual needs of this generation
might fail to satisfy the demands of
the next. Is there then any perma-
nent cure for human ills? Yes. The
source of our trouble is within our
selves. 1t is uncontrolled appetite and
selfishness which means the exclusion
of our fellowmen from even the ordi-
nary comforts of life. And what is
the remedy for that radical evil?
'This tempts me to refer to an al
most forgotten day and to bring be-
fore you in very few words brief
history of another social difficulty 1t
was in the days of Augustus Caesar.
Industry and agriculture were at a
standstill and labor was in degrade
ton A few possessed wealth and
the majority were slaves. They had
no rights, no ambitions. A mans
greatest misfortune is to lose the
esteem of his fellows and to feel con-
scious of his loss. A great injury to
him is his own loss of esteem for him
self. A man is apt to become what
he is taken for. Call him bad names
long enough and he will be true to
the character you have thrust upon
him.
"a man is not a slave for wearing
chains. He is slave when his spirit
is broken, when his ambition has
gone, and his hope is gone, and the
people of those days had no spirit, no
ambition and no hope. Enfeebled by
vice and crushed by conditions they
accepted the inevitable. That condi-
ton was established in law, it was
supported by the most powerful insti-
tuition the world knew, it was sane
toned by the forces that created pub
lie opinion and the situation looked
absolutely impossible until One looked
He would make that world free, re-
storing to the individual his liberty,
to society it's energy and to the world
it's lost peace. He was not revolu-
zionist, He was not a theorist. What
were the instruments of His accom-
plishment? Every effort to better
conditions were written in His day in
letters large-failure.
Revolution Failed.
Revolution had failed and substi-
tuted philosophy had failed. What
was to be done? He was not primari-
ly an economist. He came to reveal
and establish on this earth the re-
ligion of the future. A mans proudest
boast was-I am Roman citizen, but
it came to be, 1 am citizen of the
eternal Heaven, my desire is to live
here so as to merit life of ever
lasting ecstasy in the consciousness
of eternal life in the life to come.
He saw his own worth because he
came to realize his relationship with
the infinite and seeing his own worth
he respected his fellowmen. And in
the light of that revelation the chains
of the slave began to melt and dis
appear, for He was not revolution
list, and the human race despised the
institution of slavery.
Family life was based not upon
love but on the service of the woman
who was regarded as an inferior be-
ing without any rights and no dignity.
He saw the impossibility of establish
ing a social order until He cured the
ills and evils of domestic life and He
associated Himself and the Redemp-
ton and Incarnation, the woman.
They took the Amazon from the ped
estal and placed thereon the image
of the Mother of God and generations
have hailed her as queen. Queen of
the Kingdom of God and queen of the
world. She took her place as mans
equal, completing his life and having
her own rounded out to perfection by
the restoration of equitable relation
ship between man and wife.
There grew out of the principle of
domestic authority, the patriarchal
home, which seems to be passing
away.
The Great Healer.
Friends, the Samaritan who tied
up the wounds of the race is still with
~, Nth boo1iusr in He hands He ic