The Catholic bulletin. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1911-1995, 1913-03-01
IN CIVIL WAR.
Killed and Wounded.

LlOnS, the insecurity or employment
is prolific cause of dread, of un-
happiness. The wage worker lives
from hand to mouth, ever on the
brink of want. He knows that a few
weeks without work will leave him
helpless and his family penniless.
When out of work the city wage
Garner is absolutely idle He has not
a garden to cultivate, no repairing
about the house, which is his own to
do, nothing with which he may en-
ploy his time when not at work in
the shop. Idleness is harder work
than any sort of a 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, after
years of hard and monotonous labor,
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 It 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.
ITO bring an indictment against
present day conditions is one thing.
The enemies of our faith can do that,
but they cannot give cure for the
evils they point out. Workmen must
be guarded against the crafty agita-
tor, those men who have an ak to
grind; those who arraign the condi-
lions of the day in order to further
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 of today find their roots in the
teachings of the Catholic Church !;
that Christianity makes men weak
and servile; 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 pow
erty, and that the Church keeps the
many poor that the few may be rich.
Poverty Not Sole Cause.
Poverty is declared to be the
cause of intemperance. Poverty is
the cause of that sin of sins, prostitu-
ton. All the ills of the age are at
tributed to poverty. These are most
pernicious teachings. They lead the
mind to a false theory and to evil
acts. They are an insult to the poor
If poverty were the true cause of the
drunkard and the prostitute, these
would be found only in the ranks OF
the wage earners, while the temper
ate and those who obey the holy laws
of purity would be found only among
those who possess an abundance OF
this worlds goods.
"Workmen who follow these false
teachings are led into danger Their
commonsense is bewildered; they
blame others when they should blame
themselves; they throw of moral re
straint and deny their moral respon
sibility. Free will is thrown to the
dogs, while environment is made tc
take the blame that belongs to the
individual. God has endowed mer
with the power to learn what is right
And to Catholics He has given the
grace. to overcome the temptation o.
the devil, if they so will.
Catholic workmen cannot trust the
enemies of their faith--the enemies
of their religion-to tell them the
cause of the evil conditions for which
remedy must be found or the nation
perish. The economic evils which
press heavily upon the poor is on
thing-the cause of the evils is an
other. The cause is not religion, bu
irreligion, greed for gain, lust TO
power.
Condemns sociaIistic Theories.
, "Of all the false theories that which
: is of an economic character is tn
most plausible. 1t sets the best tra]
i for Catholic workmen, for it leads t.
grave moral disaster, to loss of tn,
, faith. One of these economic theor
les is that workmen produce all value
) This doctrine is becoming more AM
. more popular. Adam Smith starte'
men on the wrong track, and the radi
I Gals of today are carrying it to it
; logical conclusion.
7 They argue that since labor pre-
duces all value, therefore labor i
i entitled to all the wealth produced
stand here to show that labor doe
| not produce all value. The workmel
are not entitled to all the wealth pre-
duced. But 1 stand here to claim tina
workmen are entitled to demand tn
full product of their toll. Moreover
l stand here to pay homage to tn
t Catholic Church on this question.
r LEO XIII. in his great encyclical
: The Condition of Labor declare
7 that it is right that the fruit of labo
l should belong to him who labors' T.
: claim all that belongs to him is tn
+ workman's right; but it is unjust TO
workmen to claim all the wealth Pre-
duced upon the field of commerce, be
cause labor is but one of the prim
factors in producing wealth.
"The source of value lies in natura
sources, in the ability necessary TO
the organization of a productive pre-
cess, in the material means for pre-
ducing commodities and in the labo
exercised by the employees. Hence