Newark leader. ([Newark, Ohio]) 1917-1946, 1922-08-04
PRIEST TALKS
SCABBING CALLS TO HEAVEN
FOR VENGEANCE
Rev. Delehanty, of Bay City. Mich,
Says the Church Ranks Strike
Breaking With Murder
Flags the Open Shop
as Tyrannical


call them by the euphonious name OF
'strikebreakers,' but we all know their
proper name is 'scab.' And just as
Almighty God put brand on Cam,
so society puts brand on these abet-
tors of oppression. They can never
wipe it out. Even those who employ
them despise them"
These were the concluding words OF
the Rev. Father Delehanty in st.
Mary's Church here, in which the shop
mems strike on the railroads through
out the country was made the theme
of one of the most plain-spoken ser
mons ever delivered having to do with
industrial controversies. :.
"The duty of the Catholic priest, .
he said, "is to instruct his people not
only in the Catholic faith, but also in
Christian morality The Catholic
Church teaches always and every
where, in season and out of season,
that a dishonorable act is always to
be condemned and never to be ap-
proved.
"But to take the place of men strik-
ing for bread is more than dishOnOr-
able act. 1t is against reason and
religion, and hence no Catholic should
ever be tempted to do such detest-
able thing.
81 say no Catholic because | am
now speaking only to Catholics, but
no Protestant nor Jew nor anyone else
who wants to be an upright man will
ever in the face of his fellows DEGRADE
himself thus. For the same reasons
which forbid the Catholic apply to all.
There are four sins which cry out ia
Heaven for vengeance:
81. Willful murder-the blood o.
the victim deliberately struck down
creis to Heaven for vengeance.
"2. The sins of Sodom-bad sins OF
impurity against the sixth command
ment.
"3. Oppression of the poor, and
"a. Defrauding laborers of their
just wages.
'This is the teaching of the Catholic
Church. Oppression of the poor, then,
is linked together with the worst of
crimes and cries to Heaven for ven
geance.
"Be no partner in any way in this
oppression, for it seems, indeed, that
the day is at hand when living wage
is denied at least to some. This
church is not against labor unions.
In fact, it is about the only way work
ing men have to protect their rights.
But say the kings of industry,
we also believe in unions, but not in
the "union boss."' They say, we be-
leive in running our own business to
suit ourselves, and we don't want a
o1 70 fD tnn hnxrv
should conduct our industrial affairs
with our men. We believe in indi-
vidual shop unions
"This puts me in mind of the story
told in ancient history of the king who
sent his son, the crown prince, to the
tyrant of Syracuse to learn how to
govern as the tyrant did, for he had
the reputation of being able to keep
his subjects in abject submission.
Come with me- said the tyrant
to the prince, and he took him into a
large field of wheat. Whenever the
tyrant saw an ear Of wheat growing
little above the rest he took his
staff and clipped it off. Several ears
were thus clipped off during the
journey, but not a word was spoken.
The young prince had learned his
lesson.
$50, no doubt, it would be with an
individual shop union AS soon as a
brave and honest man would ask for
a living wage-that is, more bread for
his children-in his own name and in
the names of his fellow laborers, the
tyrant of Syracuse or some other
tyrant would be on hand to clip off
his head by discharge.
Every wisely, then, the members of
labor unions have elected men and
pay their wages and expenses to 'ok
after their interests, and when the
workers have complaint to make
that their children are underfed on
account of the breadwinner not re-
ceiving living wage, or that work
ing conditions are not satisfactory,
then The representative of labor cones
to examine the case.
"Only the tyrant of Syracuse could
object to such method"