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

Privileges we may refuse, or accept;
natural rights we cannot morally
Withhold from another, or refuse to
accept for ourselves. BY the term, A
Living Wage, we do not mean a fixed
amount of money expressed in dollars
and cents, pounds or pence, liras,
francs or hellers, but a just and equi-
table compensation for labor. These
terms are but arbitrary denominations
for money, the medium which civilized
nations have adopted as a means of
exchange for necessities, comforts, or
Injuries, and common consent has con-
ferred upon this convenient medium a
purchasing power.
The Highest Standard.
Money has, in itself, no quality that
can satisfy any of mans natural
wants; it's value is necessarily limited
by the worth of the thing it can be ex-
changed for. It remains forever an
instrument, or means, and can never
be an end, except in the distorted
mind of the miserable miser who wor-
ships his gold for it's own sake.
We must, therefore, find another
and more worthy object than mere
money, for an intelligent mans per-
sistent pursuit-something that min
listers to the wants and aspirations of
his dual nature.
Every creature" says st. Paul, lis
subject to the law" imposed upon it
by the Creator. Among inanimate
things we easily recognize and better
understand this law, both because of
it's simplicity, and because in these
things the law is eternally constant
and unvarying. No great mental effort
is required to understand how the
mists condense and fall to earth in
the form of rain which runs down
ward to swell the swollen stream. In
higher nature, and especially in man,
the highest form of visible creation,
this law, which is always present, is
not always so evident. Free will which
confers upon man the power of choice
not infrequently so, conceals this law
that it is hidden from the eyes of the
superficial observer. Many Of mans
poorly understood, and consequently
so little appreciated that we fail to
estimate their Importance in directing
his actions or their influence in shap-
ing his conduct. MAN know thyself, ~
was not, with the Greeks, an empty
phrase, but an imperative call to the
most useful and sublime study.
Mans True Aim in Life.
The study of himself naturally
teaches man his true relation to ma.
terial things, and the correlation of all
things to their Author So long as
human nature remains what the
Creator made it-an image and like
ness of Himself-it must retain some
small trace of Gods every attribute;
for is not this the substance that con
stitutes that image and likeness
Mans ambitions, hopes and aspira
tions are manifestations of the law OF
his nature. His tireless effort to alb
tain comforts for those who depend
upon him, shadows forth Gods bounty
to those who trust in Him. The
fathers anxiety for the future welfare
of his offspring symbolizes in it's own
feeble way the providence of God, our
common Father, for all His children
Gladly will father endure indescrib
able hardships to build a home and
secure for himself or his children
better conditions. No labor is too ex.
hausting, no hours too long, if only
the lamp of hope lights the way. Dis
content and despair are the workman
lot who sees no brighter prospects be-
fore him than that his son shall take
up the tools of toll just where they
have fallen from his own weary hands
Lincoln wisely said: "This country
could not longer endure half slave
and half free" We venture another
prophecy. This country can never
attain the position which the Creator
destined it to hold among the nations
of the earth, while the great majority
of it's people remain hired men and
women.
The system that permits the for.
tunate few who live in luxury, to hold
in perpetual poverty and degradation
the vast multitude whose constant
effort yields them less than the com
mon comforts of life, is doomed. Be
cause of it's refusal to recognize these
facts our industrial system is tottering
to it's ruin, and will fall before the
united protests of disconnected labor
ers, as fell the wall of Jericho, before
the united shout of Israel; for they
INSTRUCTED the passage of the children
of God to the land of promised plenty
The workman will no longer carry
labor's heavy cross upon his bleeding
shoulders without murmuring, unles!
sustained by the hope that he is toll
ing onward and upward to better con
ditions for himself and his children.
Profit-Sharing.
When profits are great, justice re
| quires that they should be divide'
among the people who create them
between the man who furnishes tn
capital and the men who do the work
otherwise the laborer feels he derive
no advantage from favorable CONNER
cial conditions. He correctly argue
that he is being unjustly deprived of
share in the material prosperity @
the country in which he is, in som
sense, a stakeholder, inasmuch as h
lis a citizen. Profit-sharing, so success