The Catholic bulletin. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1911-1995, 1919-06-07

rights which man mas to earthly
goods or possessions, to those things
acquired, as we have mentioned above,
chiefly by his own industry or labor,
or by inheritance; that we shall treat
in connection with the Seventh and
the Tenth Commandments. The in
tention of these two precepts is to
insure that just dealings between man
and man which the Creator, the Foun-
tain of all justice, has the right to
command And the violation of these
quences that may ensue, must newt
ably result in reckoning before the
tribunal of Him Who is jealous of the
rights of His creatures, and will never
be satisfied until full justice is rem
dered them for every act of injustice
they may have suffered.
Once a man has justly acquired any
of those goods necessary to this sub
sistence, such as money, food, cloth
ing, merchandise, a home, ETC., they
are his, and his they remain until he
relinquishes his claim on them. Such
possessions, wherever any other may
unjustly take them, continue to be-
long to their rightful owner and are
said to appeal to him as their mas
ter. Their removal, without the con-
sent of the rightful owner, by what
ever means it may be accomplished,
will result in violation of the Sew
enth Commandment, and will come
under the general head of stealing.
Unjust Acquisition.
There are various ways of unjustly
acquiring another mans property. It
may be effected by out-and-out vio-
lence, with the aid of blackjack or
loaded revolver. Then it gets the
name of burglary or highway robbery.
The purloining may be done secretly
and slyly, and be called common theft.
If methods of gross deception or false
pretences are used, the transaction is
labeled swindling; all of which terms
are more or less odious, and are wont
to be applied only to the less desir-
able element of our citizenry. But
they do not fully exhaust the cata-
logue of offenders against the Seventh
Commandment.
Outside of prison walls there are
any number of individuals who owe
their freedom to the elasticity of
human laws over the law of God. I'm
just transactions in council chambers
and legislative Hobbies have given
them the name of politicians; they
buy and sell stocks that exist only on
paper or on water, and are called
| financiers; they confiscate and appro-
pirate the property and possessions
of whole communities, and go down
| in history as statesmen. Or they fall
| sify weights and measures, adulterate
fOOdstuffs, drive their petty competi-
tors into poverty, and become what
the world calls successful merchants
| By whatever name they may be
known, however, they are properly
| labeled in the records of heaven, and
stand amenable to Gods justice for
any and every smallest act by which
| they have caused human justice to
suffer
Our distinction between the Seventh
and the Tenth Commandments makes
| it clear that what is forbidden by the
former act, is forbidden by the lat.
ter in desire. Unless, however, in
"coveting" the goods of my neighbor
| desire at the same time that he be
deprived of what | would thereby
have, I am not coveting sinfully. A
man travelling by Shank's mare,
| might daily express the wish that
he could travel home in a limou.
Sine similar to his employers. If he
had no ambition to deprive the latter
of his comfort, but only to initiate
him in the enjoyment of it, he might
have to reproach himself with not
patiently bearing the ills of life" but
he would not be violating the Tenth
Commandment.