The Catholic bulletin. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1911-1995, 1914-03-28

luXuries; but such an amount as would
enable the honest laborer to live the
life OF a man, and with ordinary fru-
gality maintain the dignity Of his not
too high social standing.
For more than century capital and
labor peacefully fioated along on the
stream of prosperity in this new and
yet undeveloped country, mutually
helpful to each other when capital was
limited and laborers few. Today when
thousands are seeking profitable in
vestment for their millions and a
vastly increased multitude of laborers
are looking for work, the increased
freightage of the Ship Of State makes
the rocks in that stream, hitherto a
negligible quantity, threatening
danger. Safe sailing is imperative, if
we would anchor in the port of pros
perity. Laws must be enacted clearly
defining the relation of capital and
labor, the responsibility of corpora
lions, and, above all, the obligation
of great industrial institutions to safe
guard the life and health of those
upon whose ability to work the sue
cess of the industry depends.
Industrial Conditions.
We easily understand. that the null
tiplication of laws is not grateful to
liberty-loving people. However, resi-
dents of towns and villages might well
require some guarantee of good inten-
tions and ability to fulfill their pledges,
from the promoters of industrial en-
terprises. Nothing is more fatal to
the prosperity of place than the
temporary establishment Of an in
dustry which, either from dishonesty
or inability, fails to fulfill its promises.
Empty buildings and idle factories
are decidedly less inviting than vacant
lots because they are the unequivocal
marks of failure, the unmistakable
evidence of what is known in the West
as dead town. Sufficient Importance
is not attached to the bringing in of
men who take the place of strikers.
Captains of industry resort to this as
means of ready relief from the stag
nation which the strike has imposed
upon business. Strikers consider the
coming of such men to place an
event Of little Importance.
The far-reaching consequences for
evil, that may, and generally do,
follow their advent, the permanent in
jury to the material prosperity of the
place to which they come, are hardly
ever adverted to. That sudden impor-
tation of an impecunious horde, while
it increases the population, is no ad-
vantage to any place, no benefit to a
people. Strike-breakers are nearly
always untrustworthy, irresponsible
and incompetent workmen, and when
the stress they are brought to relieve
and the difficulty between employer
and employee adjusted, they lose their
positions, and must depend on the
charity of the community for main
tenance. The objectionable and cry
ing injustice of this is not borne by
those who brought them to the place,
but by those whose interest they came
to oppose.
been, blind to the gathering storm that
threatens to blight the fair fruits of
centuries of civilization when the pent-
up wrath of discontinued labor is
loosed, when the brawny sons of toll
WELD the sword of retribution against
those who have crushed their hopes.
Relation of Labor to Capital.
Pope Leo XIII, whose Encyclical has
been translated into nearly every
language of Europe, dealt with the
moral side of this question. His
Encyclical is more than an expression
of sympathy with the hewers of wood
and carriers of water. In it he clearly
defines the relation of man to his
fellow man, irrespective of wealth or
poverty, and the responsibility of both
to God. By severest condemnation of
the lawless acts of strikers, and of
unemployed or poorly paid artisans,
he strives to reform the conduct of
those who, against every principle of
moral teaching, seek redress for their
own wrongs by inflicting injury upon
others. Like a true mediator, he
pleads the cause of the weak, by ap-
pealing from the unstable and artificial
standard of supply and demand, to the
more ancient and higher law of ma
ture, which confers on every man the
indefeasible right to live the life of a
man. Recent legislation establishing
minimum wage in many states, de-
rives it's inspiration from this En-
cyclical, and is a hopeful sign that
the government, at last, has come tic
recognize the working mans rights
We are pleased to see legislative &C
tivity in this direction, and we rightly
regard this as an evidence that they
who guide the nations destiny are
becoming convinced that the land
which the great De Tocqueville more
than century ago truthfully de
scribed as the most magnificent dwell
ing place God had yet prepared fol
mans abode. affords decent living
for every Industrious inhabitant. Be
lief in the urgent need for chang
in our industrial system, which will
make it more conformable to thu
requirements of our time, is not con
fined to any class or country
The many remedies suggested b,
both capitalists and laborers, as cur
for the trouble that seriously effect
the welfare of both are evidence O