The labor journal. [volume] (Everett, Wash.) 1909-1976, 1917-01-19

Of his wages cries out to heaven for
vengeance, according to the gospel, ,"
declared the Rev. John II. O'Rourke,
Jesuit Father, Director of the
Apostleship Of Prayer, in an inter
view given to Dante Barton, of the
Committee on Inductrial Relations.
Preaching the Christmas sermon in
the vast st. PatricIl's Cathedral in
New York City, a day or two before
he received his visitor, Father o.
Rourke had commented scathingly on
many phases of the treatment of the
poor by the rich. He had condemned
the practices of those who profit bv
labor to keep the worker out of the
just recompense of his toll and then
throw sops of small restitution to
keep the oppressed poor quiet. He
had spoken of the willingness of hard
employers now to compromise by ar
bitration since labor had grown strong
enough to resist the older cruelties
and injustices.
Leaning towards his visitor, the
studious priest and teacher said:
"This Christmas season has been
made the occasion for many bonuses
by employers to employees. 1t has
been signalized by many apparently
voluntary increases in salaries and
wages. But we should examine close
ly these bonuses and increases lest
that great sin of defrauding the
worker of his wages go unrebuked
and even unnoticed and persist more
strongly fortified than ever"
"a bonus to employees" he declared
earnestly, that is attained with the
blood and tears of women and child
rem and underpaid, overworked, and
many times, mangled men, is not even
charity. Such a bonus at its best is
but a small tithe of restitution. At
its worst it is calculated, shrewd bus
mess investmtnt, designed to content
them with dependence upon others
instead of requiring that which is
theirs-a just share of the profits to
which they have a right"
Father ORourke's kindly face
showed no sign of hate as he spoke
of these evils of modern industry, as
he talked intently of the duty to ex-
pose the sins of hypocrisy and cruelty,
the Unsuitable greed of predatory
wealth and the dreadful and awful
sufferings of the poor. An occasional
smile of understanding and pity light
ed the face over the black robe.
1--WE must examine these increases
in pay to see whether they do not
mean only bribes either to keep men
from munition factories where the
pay is high, or temporarily to make
them forget of the old wage coditions
which will be theirs when the com
petition and prosperity incident upon
the war shall have ceased We must
consider such gifts in almost the
same class as the libraries and nomi-
nally philanthropic schools and in
stitutions built mainly from moneys
which belong to the puddlers of Pit
tsburgh and other underpaid workers
like them"
The interviewer expressed his be-
lief in the great influence for good
of the dissemination of the ideas
from altars and pulpits such as had
been preached in st. Patrick's on
Christmas Day. The opinion was eX-
pressed that what the priest had said
to the vast modern congregation in
large modern Cathedral had in it
the soul of st. Augustine's saying;
"Thou gavest bread to the poor; but
better were it that none hungered
and thou hadst none to give him. -
Quickly the answer came as Father
O'Rourke leaned forward.
"The logical, natural place and
sympathy of the priest are with the
poor. Read the letter of Leo XITI on
the condition of the workingmen.
There you have the attitude of our
Church on the relation of the employ
er and employee. No man can con-
demn more strongly the injustice and
cruelty of capitalism and the greed
for money than does the Holy Father
in that immortal document. Some
times the attitude of the Catholic
priest is supposed to be antagonistic
to the workingman. This impression
arises from the clergy's opposition tc
Socialism. We need not fear Social
ism Socialism is the child of cruel.
ties of capitalism. If we can ameli.
crate and cure these, Socialism will
lie q natural death.
"The priests are anti-socialist, but