THE WORLD PROBLEM 
 
 CAPITAL, LABOR, AND 
 THE CHURCH
 
 THE 
 
 WORLD PROBLEM 
 
 CAPITAL, LABOR, AND 
 THE CHURCH 
 
 BY 
 
 REV. JOSEPH HUSSLEIN, SJ. 
 
 ASSOCIATE EDITOR OF " AMERICA," LECTURER FORDHAM 
 
 UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF SOCIOLOGY, AUTHOR OF 
 
 "THE CATHOLIC'S WORK IN THE WORLD," 
 
 "THE CHURCH AND POLITICS," ETC. 
 
 " The desire of money is the root of all evils" I Tim. vi: 10 
 
 NEW YORK 
 P. J. KENEDY & SONS 
 
 1918
 
 Jmprtmi Jpotrat : 
 
 JOSEPHUS H. ROCKWELL, SJ. 
 Pr&positus Prov. Marylandice Neo-Eboracensis 
 
 ibil flDfastat: 
 
 ARTHURUS T. SCANLAN, S.T.D. 
 
 Censor Librorum 
 
 Imprimatur : 
 
 JOSEPHUS F. MOONEY 
 
 Administrator 
 NEO-EBORACI 
 
 die 21, Septembris, 1918 
 
 COPYRIGHT, IQl8, BY P. J. KENEDY & SONS
 
 CONTENTS 
 
 CHAPTER PAGE 
 
 PREFACE MESSAGE OF CARDINAL BOURNE . . vii 
 
 I. SUPPRESSED CATHOLICISM OF LABOR . 3 
 
 II. OUR SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC PROBLEMS 13 
 
 III. THE SUBSTANCE OF SOCIALISM ... 24 
 
 IV. RATIONALISTIC CAPITALISM .... 35 
 V. ETHICS OF JUST PRICES 44 
 
 VI. MORALITY OF MONOPOLISTIC PRICES . 53 
 
 VII. PROBLEM OF THE MIDDLEMAN ... 65 
 
 VIII. THE STATE AND LABOR 75 
 
 IX. THE STATE AND WAGES 87 
 
 X. DUTIES OF LABOR AND CAPITAL . . 99 
 
 XI. STRIKES AND TRADE AGREEMENTS. . in 
 
 XII. THE SYMPATHETIC STRIKE .... 123 
 
 XIII. PROBLEM OF UNEMPLOYMENT . . . 130 
 
 XIV. Is THERE WORK FOR ALL? .... 145 
 XV. THE GREAT FARM PROBLEM .... 154 
 
 XVI. CHURCH AND LABOR ORGANIZATIONS . 171 
 
 XVII. SOCIAL LEGISLATION 185 
 
 XVIII. DEMOCRATIC CONTROL OF INDUSTRIES . 201 
 
 XIX. METHODS OF COOPERATION . . . . 211 
 
 .XX. POSSIBILITIES OF COOPERATION . 220
 
 VI CONTENTS 
 
 XXI. THE STATE AND PROPERTY .... 232 
 
 XXII. THE WOMAN WORKER 241 
 
 XXIII. THE WOMAN LABOR PROBLEM . . . 251 
 
 XXIV. WELFARE OF THE WOMAN LABORER . 261 
 XXV. CHRISTIAN DEMOCRACY 272 
 
 OUR SOCIAL AIMS IN BRIEF . . . . 285
 
 PREFACE 
 
 MESSAGE OF CARDINAL BOURNE 
 
 The social message of the Catholic Church is of 
 interest to all mankind. She alone succeeded in 
 solving the greatest of social problems in the past, 
 and her lessons are of equal importance in the 
 present time. Hence it is to all alike that this 
 book is addressed. In its plain exposition of 
 Catholic morality and its application of historic 
 facts there is no animosity or ill will towards any 
 person, whether capitalist or laborer, Catholic or 
 Protestant, Jew or unbeliever, but a burning desire 
 to be of service to all. 
 
 Though issued in time of war and serving as a 
 preparation for the return of peace, the book is 
 not restricted in its purpose to any particular 
 period. It deals with the fundamental problems 
 of modern life and with the unchanging principles 
 of social justice and Christian charity as studied 
 from the Catholic point of view. It is a work, 
 therefore, equally necessary in all seasons. 
 
 In place of personally setting forth the peculiar 
 vii
 
 Vlll PREFACE 
 
 nature and importance of his theme, the author 
 is happy to avail himself of the opportunity of 
 having for his spokesman no less an authority than 
 the eloquent Cardinal Archbishop of Westminster, 
 whose stirring pastoral on " Catholics and Social 
 Reform " was published just as the following chap- 
 ters were practically completed. The words of 
 the illustrious prelate contain in brief the same mes- 
 sage that the writer has sought to convey in greater 
 detail. 
 
 The world, as the Cardinal says, is looking for- 
 ward to a new order of things, new social condi- 
 tions, and new relations between the different 
 sections of society. In this transformation the 
 Catholic Church is best prepared to take a leading 
 part, as she has so gloriously done in no less criti- 
 cal periods of history. The new social order that 
 she proposes is the renewal of all things in Christ. 
 Her present task is to preserve whatever is true 
 and noble in modern civilization, and to direct, 
 with her wisdom of twenty centuries, the rightful 
 development of all just democratic ideals which 
 nowhere find a more profound response than 
 within her breast. 
 
 Her principles of social reform cannot fail to 
 recommend themselves to the millions of men and
 
 PREFACE IX 
 
 women, not in one country only, but over all the 
 earth. Says Cardinal Bourne: 
 
 " There are certain leading features of the 
 modern labor unrest which, though their expres- 
 sions may be crude and exaggerated, we recognize 
 as the true lineaments of the Christian spirit. Its 
 passion for fair treatment and for liberty; its re- 
 sentment at bureaucratic interferences with family 
 life; its desire for self-realization and opportuni- 
 ties of education; above all, its conviction that per- 
 sons are of more value than property these 
 surely give us points of contact and promise a 
 sympathetic welcome to our message. 
 
 " We have only to show what is involved in 
 these excellent ideals, for which we ourselves have 
 labored and suffered how there can be no rights 
 without duties, how liberty implies responsibility, 
 how suicidal is class war, how the Commandments 
 of God are not only an obligation but a protection 
 for man. 
 
 " If we review the main principles of Catholic 
 social teaching we shall observe how many of the 
 utterances of * modern unrest ' are merely exag- 
 gerated or confused statements of those very prin- 
 ciples; and since, as has been truly said, 'the
 
 X PREFACE 
 
 Catholic Church is not afraid of enthusiasm,' we 
 should not find it hard to put before the most 
 ardent their own ideals, in a more coherent and 
 satisfying form than they could do it for them- 
 selves. 
 
 " If they take their stand upon the dignity of 
 man, whether rich or poor, we can show them how 
 every human being, created by God and redeemed 
 by Christ, has a much greater dignity than they 
 had dreamt of. If they claim for every human 
 being a right to a share in the fruits of the earth, a 
 right to live a life worthy of man, we endorse that 
 claim with Divine sanctions. If they protest 
 against industrial insecurity and the concentration 
 of capital in a few hands, we point out how they 
 are suffering from the blow aimed at the Catholic 
 Church in the sixteenth century. If they have had 
 a hard fight to establish the right of association in 
 trades unions, it was because the Catholic voice 
 had been silenced in the land. If their instinct for 
 education and self-realization has been stirred, it 
 is but the awakening of an instinct developed 
 among the people in Catholic days before our uni- 
 versities ancfsecondary schools were diverted from 
 their original purpose. 
 
 " When once people come to see that we share
 
 PREFACE XI 
 
 their aspirations they will be more ready to listen 
 when we show them what those aspirations involve. 
 They will learn to distrust false prophets and 
 specious theorists. They will understand how 
 might is not right; how society is not a conglomera- 
 tion of warring atoms, but a brotherhood; how the 
 family, which is the bulwark of liberty, would be 
 injured by the introduction of divorce or the weak- 
 ening of parental authority; how property has its 
 rights, however much those rights may have been 
 exaggerated; that cordial cooperation among all 
 classes of society is necessary if their ideals are to 
 be realized. 
 
 " Understanding all these truths as parts of one 
 Christian scheme of life, may we not hope that the 
 people of this country will come to have a new con- 
 ception of what Christianity means? Finding a 
 guide whom they can trust in the complex social 
 problems of today, will they not examine the claims 
 of the Catholic Church to guide them in those re- 
 ligious perplexities which, under the pressure of 
 war, they are beginning to feel? 
 
 " If, then, it be true that there are many ears 
 open to receive our voice, should we Catholics re- 
 main apathetic at this critical moment? The op- 
 portunity may never come again. If we stand
 
 Xll PREFACE 
 
 aside from the social movements of the day, they 
 will go forward without us, and our message may 
 never be delivered. * Civil society, no less than 
 religion, is imperiled; it is the sacred duty of every 
 right-minded man to be up in defense of both the 
 one and the other.' (The Condition of the 
 Working Classes.} 
 
 " In earnest prayer, in the frequentation of the 
 Sacraments, and in the example of a good Catholic 
 life we place our chief confidence. But with these 
 we must combine a real understanding both of 
 present social conditions and tendencies, and of the 
 principles which will enable us to deal with them 
 aright." 
 
 It should be stated in conclusion that the object 
 of the author, in the present volume, has not been 
 to forecast future developments, but to interpret, 
 as best he could, the mind of the church on prac- 
 tically all the actual issues of Capital and Labor.
 
 THE WORLD PROBLEM
 
 THE WORLD PROBLEM 
 
 CAPITAL, LABOR, AND THE CHURCH 
 
 CHAPTER I 
 
 SUPPRESSED CATHOLICISM OF LABOR 
 
 IT seems to me," wrote Father Plater, " that 
 the working classes of this country are suf- 
 fering from suppressed Catholicism. The 
 old pre-Reformation instincts for freedom and se- 
 curity have broken the husk of an un-Christian 
 economic theory and practice." What is said of 
 England is true of the entire world. Suppressed 
 Catholicism is at the heart of the labor move- 
 ment. Suppressed Catholicism is at the center 
 of the great social unrest. Suppressed Catholi- 
 cism is the spirit struggling for liberation beneath 
 the crackling, breaking, bursting shell of an un- 
 natural and un-Christian social order. It is the 
 pre-Reformation spirit of social freedom, which 
 the Church alone can prevent from degenerating 
 into lawlessness or injustice once it has achieved 
 
 its liberation. 
 
 3
 
 4 THE WORLD PROBLEM 
 
 The Church does not make common cause 
 with Socialism in its opposition to private capi- 
 tal, nor would the labor movement ever do so, 
 unless deceived or betrayed by false leaders. 
 But the Church is opposed in the most unquali- 
 fied way to the selfish spirit of rationalistic capital- 
 ism that sprang into being after the Reformation 
 and continued in its development until the great 
 world war. There is no possible defense of a 
 system which permitted the accumulation of 
 mountainous fortunes by a few clever and often 
 highly unscrupulous financiers who held in their 
 hands the fate of millions of their fellow-men, 
 and had in their grasp the power of the press 
 by which they formed the opinions of the very 
 people who helplessly looked to them for their 
 dole of daily bread. 
 
 Shortly before the outbreak of the Great War 
 it was calculated that four per cent of the popu- 
 lation of England held ninety per cent of all the 
 wealth of the country. In the United States 
 sixty per cent of the wealth was owned by two 
 per cent of the people, while at the other extreme 
 of the social scale sixty-five per cent of the popu- 
 lation representing the labor element, the main 
 factor in the production of wealth, possessed no
 
 SUPPRESSED CATHOLICISM OF LABOR 5 
 
 more than five per cent of the total riches of the 
 land. Need we wonder that the Church calls 
 upon us all to aid in bringing about a more rea- 
 sonable and universal distribution of private own- 
 ership by means of an equitable social legislation? 
 
 Pass through the fashionable streets of New 
 York during almost any month, from the first 
 pleasant days of spring to the fall of the last 
 leaves in autumn, and you will see the blinds of 
 the houses closed and the doors boarded: no one 
 at home, except perhaps a few servants in care 
 of the forsaken premises on which a fortune was 
 expended. While some members of these house- 
 holds are doubtless engaged in providing for their 
 business interests, others are mere parasites of so- 
 ciety, motoring through the land in search of 
 pleasure and excitement or living lavishly in sea- 
 side villas and hotels, surrounded, it may be, with 
 a retinue of servants. Then pass through the 
 congested streets, into which a few steps will lead 
 you, and see the poverty, squalor and human mis- 
 ery on every hand. 
 
 Such excess of wealth is dangerous for the pos- 
 sessor, since we have the Divine assurance that it 
 will be as difficult for him to enter into Heaven 
 as for the camel to pass through the eye of the
 
 6 THE WORLD PROBLEM 
 
 needle. It is possible, Christ tells us; but only 
 by the grace of God and on condition that all seri- 
 ously inordinate affection for his wealth is cast 
 aside and that the money be used in the true spirit 
 of Christian stewardship. 
 
 Not such is the doctrine of that capitalism 
 which sprang up after the rejection of the Catholic 
 religion. Its main tenet was that each man might 
 use his wealth as he pleased and its main purpose 
 was to accumulate still greater riches and to ac- 
 quire more exclusive control of the gigantic mod- 
 ern industries and commercial enterprises. 
 
 Such excess of wealth is equally dangerous for 
 the poor who behold the toppling fortunes of the 
 rich growing ever more portentous and eye 
 askance the idle lives of so many of our dames 
 of wealth, whose sole concept of their purpose in 
 life appears to be little more than personal com- 
 fort and social pleasure. No matter that the 
 workers themselves may be drawing larger wages, 
 they see the stupendous contrast between them- 
 selves and so many of the selfish or idle rich, whose 
 wealth in countless instances has been accumu- 
 lated by methods socially and religiously unsound 
 and unjustifiable. 
 
 The Church does not, like Socialism, cultivate
 
 SUPPRESSED CATHOLICISM OF LABOR 7 
 
 that constantly growing spirit of enmity, jealousy 
 and hatred which threatens to submerge the en- 
 tire world in the tremendous cataclysm of univer- 
 sal social revolution. It is not in these passions 
 that the suppressed Catholicism consists, which is 
 at the heart of the labor movement. They are 
 only the excesses to which the movement itself will 
 doubtless lead if not controlled by the principles 
 of Christianity as interpreted by the one Church 
 which Christ has founded. She alone comes down 
 from Him through all the centuries to bring His 
 message to the laborer of our day. At the pres- 
 ent moment of social reconstruction it is more 
 important than ever before that this message be 
 placed before the world in all its strength and 
 clearness. Capital and labor alike must heed it 
 if they would avert the threatened catastrophe. 
 
 The assumption is not made by the Church, nor 
 does labor itself make it, that all employers and 
 capitalists are in harmony with the spirit of selfish, 
 post-Reformation capitalism which the Church 
 condemns in words as severe as any that have yet 
 been spoken, though they are uttered by her in a 
 spirit of Christian restraint and charity. Sincere 
 Christian employers and capitalists are them- 
 selves eager to be freed from a system which they
 
 8 THE WORLD PROBLEM 
 
 know to be false and unacceptable, but with which 
 they are obliged to compete if they would not be 
 submerged in the stream against which they are 
 struggling. They, too, are suffering from that 
 suppressed Catholicism which is at the heart of 
 the masses who have not as yet been totally per- 
 verted by a hopeless atheistic radicalism. 
 
 The Church does not join in the Socialistic hue 
 and cry against private capital in itself. The 
 Church strictly condemns the Socialist doctrine of 
 an essential class struggle between capital and 
 labor, but insists upon the possibility as well as 
 the duty of a friendly cooperation. In the last 
 of his regulations on Christian Democracy, Pope 
 Pius X particularly admonishes Catholic writers 
 that, in taking up the cause of the poorer classes, 
 they may not use language that might arouse hos- 
 tility in the heart of the people, nor speak of 
 claims of justice where there is question of the 
 obligations of charity: " Let them remember 
 that Jesus Christ desires to unite all men in the 
 bond of mutual charity, which is the perfection of 
 justice and binds us all to strive for the good 
 of one another" (Christian Popular Action). 
 There is no need of a class war. All that is re- 
 quired is social legislation along Catholic lines,
 
 SUPPRESSED CATHOLICISM OF LABOR 9 
 
 which will secure the welfare, not of a favored 
 few, but of the entire community. Such, too, is 
 the sentiment of the more reasonable labor 
 element. 
 
 It is an entirely false notion that the enormous 
 fortunes of our day are an economic necessity, and 
 that social legislation which would curb them in 
 future and give as many as possible a share in 
 productive ownership is detrimental to the large 
 scale industries required in our time. It is now 
 commonly admitted, in the first place, that such 
 enterprises can readily reach a stage of develop- 
 ment when, because of their vastness, they cease 
 to be economic, and when smaller competitive 
 enterprises would be more productive and less 
 wasteful. 
 
 Moreover it is not impossible to conduct ex- 
 tensive undertakings, and at the same time im- 
 pose such conditions that the greatest number can 
 share in the ownership and control of the indus- 
 try. The abomination of watered stocks and all 
 similar methods must be abolished. By such cun- 
 ning and selfish devices a few have been able to 
 skim the cream of the entire wealth produced so 
 as to leave merely the bluish remnant to be di- 
 vided among the uninitiated holders of shares,
 
 IO THE WORLD PROBLEM 
 
 who were deceived in common with the general 
 public. 
 
 However radical labor may seek to pervert the 
 popular mind, and however organized labor may 
 at times fall under the spell of radical principles 
 and allow itself to be deceived into accepting 
 them, yet the great demand at the heart of honest 
 labor is that all privilege should be swept away, 
 which leads to abuse and to inordinate profits, 
 and that the common welfare should be consulted 
 in all things. Here is precisely what we under- 
 stand by the suppressed Catholicism of labor. 
 It is this which the Church likewise demands with 
 the utmost insistence. 
 
 In the days of the Catholic gilds large for- 
 tunes by industrial profits were rendered impos- 
 sible by the restrictions placed upon employers, 
 in regard to the purchase of the raw material, 
 the number of journeymen and apprentices they 
 might engage in their workshops and so on. 
 The object was to prevent any single man or 
 group of men from controlling the labor market 
 or monopolizing a local trade. Every man was 
 enabled to gain an honest livelihood, and no man 
 was permitted to grow enormously rich through 
 the labor of others. No man might ply tw r o
 
 SUPPRESSED CATHOLICISM OF LABOR II 
 
 trades. Times have changed, but there is no 
 reason why the underlying principles cannot be 
 applied again through legislation that is adapted 
 to our own economic era. 
 
 It is suppressed Catholicism, the newly awak- 
 ened spirit of pre-Reformation Christianity, and 
 not Socialism that is at the heart of the laboring 
 man. The Catholic principles of the widest dif- 
 fusion of ownership would be gladly accepted by 
 him rather than the Socialist ideal of the destruc- 
 tion of all economic freedom and the impossi- 
 bility of ever acquiring a personal title to pro- 
 ductive ownership an ideal which Socialists 
 have been constrained to modify. He has seen 
 enough of political chicanery and should have 
 learned to pause before entrusting his whole fu- 
 ture fate and fortune to the tyranny of Socialist 
 politicians in power. Yet the danger of Social- 
 ism lies not in its positive constructive program, 
 but in the fact that it appeals to the laborer as the 
 one political party specially designed for him and 
 for his interests, the only party that is wholly de- 
 voted to him alone. Under such specious pre- 
 texts the Socialist canvasser may gain the laborer's 
 vote. 
 
 The lesson is obvious. Catholics must clearly
 
 12 THE WORLD PROBLEM 
 
 and succinctly propose their own principles, which 
 labor will not fail to welcome. Capital, too, 
 which is not consumed with the one purpose of 
 enriching itself at the expense of workmen, will 
 understand the Christian spirit of our program. 
 As for the radicals of labor and of capital alike, 
 we can hope nothing from them but war to the 
 bitter end. We shall have with us the great body 
 of the workers in our honest fight against these 
 vultures of society with whom we can make no 
 truce and from whom we expect no concessions. 
 
 Finally it is true that false notions upon many 
 vital questions have taken possession of the popu- 
 lar mind. Here is the supreme difficulty we are 
 facing in our work of social reconstruction. If 
 all the world were Catholic we could appeal to it 
 in a language intelligible to all. As things now 
 are there is no power to restrain the passions of 
 men or to overrule their prejudices. There can 
 be no greater social work than that which con- 
 sists in bringing men back once more into the one 
 true Fold.
 
 CHAPTER II 
 
 OUR SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC 
 PROBLEMS 
 
 BRIEFLY to summarize the varied and per- 
 plexing problems of our modern life is no 
 slight task. Volumes would not suffice to 
 deal with them exhaustively. Libraries have been 
 written upon them without attaining to a final 
 solution. Yet it will not be impossible to offer 
 at least a general view of the social and economic 
 field, and to present in a comprehensive panorama 
 the manifold issues which today are so mightily 
 whirling up the dust upon our little planet. 
 
 We must bear in mind that the picture here 
 given is not typical of the entire social order. Its 
 sole aim is to acquaint the reader with the exist- 
 ing difficulties and with the prevalent abuses that 
 call for a remedy. Hence we speak of them as 
 " problems." To confine ourselves exclusively to 
 a portrayal of these extreme evils in our indus- 
 trial conditions, and thence to generalize, as is too 
 
 13
 
 14 THE WORLD PROBLEM 
 
 often done, would be no less unjust than revolu- 
 tionary. There is no reason for despair, but 
 there is every reason for strong and earnest Chris- 
 tian endeavor to bring about the establishment of 
 a true Christian order of society. For this pur- 
 pose we must squarely face the existing vices and 
 abuses without permitting ourselves to fall into 
 Socialistic exaggeration. So only shall we be able 
 to cooperate intelligently and zealously for the 
 common welfare. 
 
 The picture given is not that of the world of 
 industry in the throes of war, when employment 
 is plentiful and laborers are few, but of the eco- 
 nomic and social problems as they arise in the 
 days of peace. For war-time conditions abnor- 
 mal legislation is required; and the spirit of 
 patriotism is stronger than any sanction that law 
 can enact. But far more difficult is the work of 
 social reform when the sword is again turned into 
 the plowshare and the cannons are forged into 
 anvil and hammer. 
 
 Many and complex are the forms assumed by 
 the great social question. We meet with it, in the 
 first place, upon the land wherever the railway 
 or the middleman absorb the profit of the small 
 farmer; wherever through the iniquitous extor-
 
 SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC PROBLEMS 15 
 
 tion practised upon him his fruits are left to rot 
 in the fields, and his cattle are excluded from the 
 market, while in the large cities men are starving; 
 wherever, in fine, changed conditions call for new 
 adjustments or cooperation, and where the land is 
 left unfilled while towns are overcrowded with 
 laborers; this we call the " Agrarian Problem." 
 
 We meet with it next in the industrial world, 
 wherever labor is exploited by the wealthy em- 
 ployer, and its service is procured at the lowest 
 wages, for the longest hours and amid the hard- 
 est conditions which competition and unemploy- 
 ment can force the toiler to accept. Or else the 
 tables are turned, and labor, through the radical 
 influences exerted upon it, becomes equally unrea- 
 sonable in its demands. This we call the " Labor 
 Problem." 
 
 We face it, again, in the large number of willing 
 and able-bodied men who, from time to time, may 
 be observed wandering about through the city 
 streets with hopeless looks and sinking hearts in 
 search for work where none is to be found. 
 Everywhere the tragic sign, " No Help Needed ! " 
 To those who have eyes to see and hearts to feel 
 it tells the tale of many a heart-breaking scene of 
 despondency and perhaps of despair, of bare
 
 1 6 THE WORLD PROBLEM 
 
 homes and weeping women and children clamor- 
 ing for bread. This we call the " Problem of the 
 Unemployed." 
 
 We have had it daily thrust upon our notice 
 in the strikes and lockouts ; the sabotage, violence 
 and labor litigations; the unfair advantages at 
 times taken by labor, as well as by capital, ac- 
 cordingly as the scale inclined one way or an- 
 other. Socialists call this the " Class Struggle." 
 They claim it is essential to our present order. 
 But we know that it is not ultimately the outcome 
 of economic conditions. It is the result of mod- 
 ern irreligion in which the social evils that afflict 
 us have bred like maggots in a decaying body. 
 The theories of Socialism carried into effect would 
 leave society in an even worse state than before. 
 
 We see it staring at us in the congested, squalid, 
 malodorous quarters where the poorest of the 
 poor are hoveled, happy that unlike so many 
 others they have at least a " home." We see it 
 in the dingy tenement and cabin, where at times 
 an entire family possesses only a single room, 
 where human beings live in stifling apartments 
 that have not even a window looking out upon 
 God's free heaven, but only doors that open into 
 still other apartments. This we call the " Hous-
 
 SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC PROBLEMS 17 
 
 ing Problem." Greater perhaps than we may 
 have ever imagined for ourselves is the army of 
 those whose whole existence is described in the 
 modern poet's words: 
 
 All life moving to one measure 
 
 Daily bread, daily bread 
 
 Bread of life, and bread of labor, 
 
 Bread of bitterness and sorrow, 
 
 Hand-to-mouth and no tomorrow, 
 
 Dearth for house-mate, dearth for neighbor, 
 
 Yet when all the babes are fed, 
 
 Love, are there no crumbs to treasure? 
 
 How appalling in size this army still remains 
 in normal times, in spite of great improvement 
 in labor conditions, becomes apparent with almost 
 every strike. Frequently, no doubt, the reason 
 for these untoward conditions is to be found in 
 the absence of thrift on the part of the laborer 
 and in unnecessary spending above his daily in- 
 come. Here again we are only face to face with 
 another problem of our times. But genuine pov- 
 erty is plentiful enough, and with this too often 
 is combined the absence of that religion which 
 might remove so much bitterness and make pov- 
 erty itself meritorious for heaven while giving 
 men courage to struggle for better conditions. 
 Who, moreover, can tell the story of the poor
 
 1 8 THE WORLD PROBLEM 
 
 girls and women who too often in the past have 
 barely been able to sustain life upon their paltry 
 earnings, yet have striven perhaps to support with 
 it a little sister or brother, a mother or a bed- 
 ridden father. We are here in close touch with 
 the most trying phase of the " Problem of the 
 High Cost of Living." 
 
 Side by side with this must be placed that fore- 
 most problem of our day, called into being by 
 our modern paganism and its inordinate desire 
 for luxury and pleasure. We refer to the sense- 
 less extravagance practised on the part of labor 
 as well as of wealth, which is fittingly designated, 
 in contrast with the former, as the " Problem of 
 the Cost of High Living." Men and women are 
 not content with living according to their state of 
 life and within the limits of their income, even 
 when adequate and generous, but extravagant ex- 
 penses are looked upon as a necessity. Thrift is 
 scorned. Socialism seeks for its own ends to pro- 
 mote this spirit to the utmost among the labor 
 population, in order to foment discontent and feed 
 the fires of revolution. 
 
 There is no need of describing in detail the prob- 
 lem of the unnecessary Sunday labor, carried on 
 in many of our industries; the seven-day labor
 
 SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC PROBLEMS 19 
 
 where shifts of men could readily be used; the 
 long hours which often through sheer fatigue end 
 in industrial accidents; and the dreadful occupa- 
 tional diseases which could be lessened or avoided 
 at the cost of a little reduction of unholy divi- 
 dends. Above all there are the child and woman 
 problems in the industry of our day, with their 
 endless complications and the frequent abuses they 
 suggest; and lastly, to proceed no further, there 
 remains the all-important problem of social legis- 
 lation. The abuses in our system of trusts and 
 the abominations of selfish monopolies will fall 
 under this last heading. 
 
 Another menace of our times, both of a social 
 and economic nature, are the lives of the idle rich 
 who are wasting their existence in a round of 
 vapid pleasures and vulgar display, expending on 
 their pampered lapdogs and even more unworthy 
 objects the time that should be devoted to charity, 
 prayer and good works. They are rotting in lux- 
 ury and ease, while poor starved creatures in dark 
 attics are perhaps working at the finery that is to 
 deck their sinful bodies. They too are feeding 
 the fires of revolution in the hearts of the masses, 
 and are heaping up for themselves a fearful retri- 
 bution in proportion to the opportunities which
 
 2O THE WORLD PROBLEM 
 
 were given them for aiding their neighbor. Ter- 
 rible is the warning of our Divine Lord : 
 
 Then shall He say to them also that shall be on His left 
 hand: Depart from Me you cursed, into everlasting fire which 
 was prepared for the devil and his angels. For I was hungry, 
 and you gave Me not to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave Me 
 not to drink. I was a stranger and you took Me not in; naked, 
 and you covered Me not; sick and in prison, and you did not 
 visit Me. . . . Amen I say to you, as long as you did it not to one 
 of these least, neither did you do it to Me. (Matth. xxv, 41 
 sqq.) 
 
 There are in fine the many economic phases of 
 the great woman problem. Some of these are 
 intimately connected with the evils already enu- 
 merated. Others are due to a false idea of equal- 
 ity and independence. If woman sets aside her 
 modesty, as many openly advocate ; if woman loses 
 her domestic affection, her religious instincts and 
 devotion, her womanliness; if she no longer recog- 
 nizes her true ideal in the Mother of God, whose 
 soul was wrapped in her Child and Saviour, and 
 whose heart was obedient to Joseph her husband, 
 then paganism has returned and the deluge is upon 
 us. We may mention here in passing, though not 
 directly connected with the subject of this volume, 
 the problem of vice and the abominations of the 
 sex questions into which modern rationalism has 
 plunged the world. And, not the least subversive
 
 SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC PROBLEMS 21 
 
 to morality, religion, and the common welfare, 
 there is the problem of the social " uplifter," the 
 pest of our present-day civilization, who would re- 
 form the world without God. 
 
 We have pictured exclusively the dark side of 
 existing conditions. It would be pessimistic, as 
 we have stated in the beginning, to hint that such 
 is the entire existing order. 
 
 In the labor world particularly, with which we 
 are concerned in the present volume, a decided 
 improvement has doubtless taken place- in regard 
 to remuneration and working conditions. Bal- 
 ancing the increase in prices during normal pe- 
 riods with the increase of wages, we can readily 
 admit that the position of the workingman today 
 is better than was that of his predecessor. Many 
 even of the most radical writers have rejected the 
 Marxian theory of an absolute deterioration in 
 the conditions of labor and content themselves 
 with proclaiming and defending only a relative 
 deterioration. They admit that the remuneration 
 received by the workingman has indeed increased, 
 but see in this no reason for satisfaction, since the 
 profits of the capitalist, they argue, have aug- 
 mented still more. The earnings of the laborer, 
 they hold, have not kept pace with the gains of
 
 22 THE WORLD PROBLEM 
 
 the employer. Both classes have bettered their 
 condition, but the progress of capital has been 
 greater than that of the working classes. This 
 statement is made the starting point for new social 
 agitation. The sins of the modern profiteer, that 
 cry to heaven, are as oil cast into the flame of a 
 mighty discontent. 
 
 That profits have often been utterly unreason- 
 able and unjust no one can deny. Small competi- 
 tors have been deliberately pushed to the wall in 
 order that large enterprises might arbitrarily dic- 
 tate their excessive prices. Pools, trusts and mo- 
 nopolies have not been the only offenders. Big 
 business, even under open competition, has often 
 successfully created and maintained exaggerated 
 prices. 
 
 Labor, moreover, has had many just grievances 
 in industries where conditions were far from ideal 
 and wages often pitifully low. Capital on the 
 other hand is often making honest efforts, not only 
 to do justice towards its employees, but to deal 
 with them in a Christian way. Men of high char- 
 acter are plentiful on both sides. Too frequently, 
 however, they have not the safe guidance of the 
 true Faith to point out to them the principles they 
 should follow, or they have been borne along
 
 SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC PROBLEMS 23 
 
 blindly upon the current of the times. It is im- 
 possible to conceive rightly of the great question 
 of wages and profits without keeping in sight the 
 end for which man was created. With this lost 
 to view, there is no hope of any final solution of 
 our social problems. 
 
 Could wages and profits themselves be abol- 
 ished for a short space the ancient evil would still 
 return under other forms. It is old as the serpent 
 in Paradise. It is seated deep in the unregener- 
 ated heart of man. For this reason Christ was 
 born in a stable and cradled in a manger that men 
 might know that there are higher things and 
 nobler aims than gain and pleasure. So the rich 
 should learn to be liberal and humble and the 
 poor to refrain from envy. From the Crib of 
 Bethlehem streams the light in which alone can be 
 rightly judged the great economic issues of the 
 day.
 
 CHAPTER III 
 
 THE SUBSTANCE OF SOCIALISM 
 
 FREQUENT reference is made to Socialism 
 in the present volume. That objection 
 may not be taken to the views expressed 
 upon this subject, it is important to state that there 
 is question throughout of orthodox Socialism, pure 
 and undiluted. The reason for this will at once 
 become apparent. 
 
 The economic doctrine of Socialism is all cen- 
 tralized in the common Socialist ownership of the 
 means of production and distribution. Such own- 
 ership may evidently be more or less complete. 
 Hence the various forms of Socialism, on its eco- 
 nomic side, may vary endlessly according to the 
 proposed degree of this Socialist ownership. To 
 the same degree, also, will the general criticism 
 of Socialism apply to any particular form of it. 
 
 Socialism, in its complete acceptance, postulates 
 in the first place the absolute public ownership o<f 
 the land. Small farmers may be permitted to cul- 
 
 24
 
 THE SUBSTANCE OF SOCIALISM 25 
 
 tivate their former holdings, but on the under- 
 standing that the absolute ownership is not vested 
 in them, but in the Socialist commonwealth. Such 
 was the doctrine expressly included in a former 
 plank of the American Socialist platform. As re- 
 gards all other means of production and distribu- 
 tion, classical Socialism in general permitted the 
 private ownership of such means only as are pri- 
 vately used. Where a larger freedom was ex- 
 tended the limits were to be strictly drawn as soon 
 as any private ownership implied the use of wage- 
 labor. Together with the destruction of the 
 wage-system, orthodox Socialism proposed the 
 complete abolition of all profit, rent and interest. 
 This may be taken as a moderate statement of 
 the doctrine of genuine Socialism, as it can be gath- 
 ered from the literature promulgated by the So- 
 cialist parties throughout the world. Proceeding 
 from this as the central starting point we meet 
 with every possible variety of view, accordingly as 
 each individual Socialist proposes for his ideal a 
 more or less complete " socialization " of the 
 means of production and distribution, until we 
 arrive at the very periphery of Socialism in the 
 doctrine which contents itself with " Applying pub- 
 lic ownership and democratic direction only to
 
 26 THE WORLD PROBLEM 
 
 those things which are essentially collectivistic in 
 their nature." A little straining of this definition 
 and we fly loose from Socialism altogether. 
 
 This very vagueness has greatly helped in the 
 political promotion of Socialism. The points 
 most earnestly insisted upon by party politicians 
 and in party platforms were often those least con- 
 nected with Socialism. Men, merely incensed at 
 the abuses existing under the capitalistic system 
 and eager to establish a more equitable distribu- 
 tion of ownership and a sounder social legislation, 
 which would make impossible the exploitation of 
 unskilled labor and the open robbery of the long- 
 suffering public by a few unconscionable capital- 
 ists, straightway imagined themselves to be Social- 
 ists. It was in reality the fire of Catholicism that 
 was burning at their heart, and they mistook it for 
 Socialism. Faith alone was wanting. 
 
 Even the extension of Government ownership 
 to public service utilities and to certain natural or 
 " artificial " monopolies is spoken of as " State 
 Socialism," although within proper limits and un- 
 der reasonable conditions, when such measures are 
 demanded by the common good, it may fully meet 
 with all the requirements of Christian Democracy 
 as championed by the Church. Orthodox Social-
 
 THE SUBSTANCE OF SOCIALISM 27 
 
 ists admit no such confusion of ideas: " Let us 
 clear things up," says the New York Call, " by 
 stating that we know ' State Socialism ' is not So 
 cialism." (Jan. 5, 1918.) But they regard it 
 as a stepping stone in the way that leads to Social- 
 ism and quote to this effect the words of Engels, 
 who with Marx is the common founder of modern 
 Socialism : 
 
 Whilst the capitalist mode of production more and more 
 completely transforms the great majority of the population into 
 proletarians, it creates the power which, under penalty of its 
 own destruction, is forced to accomplish this revolution. 
 Whilst it necessitates more and more the transformation of the 
 vast means of production, already socialized, into State prop- 
 erty, it shows itself the way to accomplish this revolution. The 
 proletariat seizes political power and turns the means of pro- 
 duction into State property. 
 
 That is, into Socialist State property. For there 
 is then to be neither class nor State, according 
 to Engels and the Call, but only Socialism. On 
 definite details no Socialists can agree. 
 
 Thus the " modern State " will be abolished 
 and give way to Socialism in the opinion of or- 
 thodox Socialists, and the first step towards this 
 is considered to be the State ownership of the pro- 
 ductive forces. The statement is true in so far as 
 it points out the danger of the modern tendency 
 towards public ownership when unregulated by
 
 28 THE WORLD PROBLEM 
 
 Christian motives and principles. The results, 
 under such conditions, can fruitfully be studied in 
 all instances where genuine Socialism achieved a 
 temporary supremacy. A real state of Social- 
 ism would be as durable as a Utopia built in the 
 clouds. 
 
 The attitude of the Church towards property is 
 one of impartial justice. She defends the posses- 
 sion of private productive property, but only to the 
 extent that it does not interfere with the common 
 good. The attitude of Socialism is the very op- 
 posite. It will merely tolerate such possession to 
 the extent that it does not interfere with its own 
 ideal of public ownership. It will obviously not 
 be possible nor necessary to take into considera- 
 tion every variety of Socialist opinion. But the 
 strictures passed upon orthodox Socialism, as we 
 have said, will hold true to a greater or less ex- 
 tent of every form of Socialism, accordingly as it 
 more or less closely approximates to the genuine 
 Socialist ideal, which would simply make " land 
 and capital " the common possession of the Social- 
 istically controlled community. 
 
 The greatest danger of Socialism lies in its ma- 
 terialistic philosophy. This, we are repeatedly 
 told by its political advocates, is non-essential.
 
 THE SUBSTANCE OF SOCIALISM 29 
 
 The truth, however, is that the literature of Social- 
 ism, both its " classics " and its current journalism, 
 is hopelessly permeated with a spirit of intolerant 
 rationalism and materialism. The hostility of 
 Socialism towards the Church of Christ in every 
 country of the earth is a matter of history. The 
 Socialist press of today is no less filled with venom 
 and animosity than in any period of the past. All 
 the social vices of the day, from laxity of the mar- 
 riage bond to birth control, find there an open 
 forum. Modern civilization is far more imper- 
 iled by the philosophy of Socialism than by all its 
 economic errors. 
 
 The attitude of the Church towards Socialists 
 themselves, at least those who have been misled 
 to follow its will-o'-the-wisp, is one of sorrow and 
 not of anger. The situation was analyzed with 
 admirable skill in the Pastoral Address of the 
 Archbishops and Bishops of Ireland, assembled in 
 special meeting at Maynooth, February n, 1914, 
 when they thus explained the motives that 
 too often led men into a mistaken acceptance of 
 Socialism : 
 
 The desire of ownership which, within due bounds, is natural 
 and legitimate in man and may be highly commendable, springs 
 from the laudable purpose of providing a stable way for him- 
 self and those depending upon him. The real explanation why
 
 30 THE WORLD PROBLEM 
 
 multitudes of men, otherwise as good as their neighbors, have 
 swelled the ranks of Socialism seems to be, not that they hated 
 private property on principle, but that by nature and in fact 
 they loved to have it, and saw no avenue leading to participa- 
 tion in it except the fantastic way that opens on the dismal 
 swamp where there is to be State ownership of the instruments 
 of production and distribution, and State intrusion everywhere. 
 It is, indeed, the duty of the State to see that the natural 
 resources are turned to good account for the support and wel- 
 fare of all the people; and, consequently, the State or munici- 
 pality should acquire, always for compensation, those agencies 
 of production, and those agencies only, in which the public 
 interest demands that public property rather than private 
 ownership should exist 
 
 Here then is the Catholic point of view both of 
 Socialism and of that State ownership, of which 
 we shall have more to say in future chapters. 
 Voluntary communism of any kind, which does not 
 wish to impose its methods upon others, is quite 
 another matter. 
 
 It is far more important, we are tempted to say, 
 to make clear what is not Socialism than to define 
 Socialism itself. " Every Socialist propagandist," 
 says Spargo, " has had the experience of advocat- 
 ing the Socialist program without using the label, 
 and finding his auditors in agreement so long as 
 the label was not applied, while the moment the 
 word ' Socialism ' was attached the very persons 
 who had approved the program were shocked into 
 solemn opposition." There is good reason for
 
 THE SUBSTANCE OF SOCIALISM 3! 
 
 such an attitude. The measures proposed were 
 in every probability, aside from Socialist exagger- 
 ations, as remote from Socialism as the Church 
 itself. The ulterior purpose was probably not 
 disclosed until the word itself was used. 
 
 The essentially Catholic social reforms, though 
 generally proposed in a distorted way and with 
 the spirit of class antagonism, are the main at- 
 tractions Socialist politicians use. They are a 
 simple application of the doctrines of the Church 
 which were put into practice in the best days of 
 the Catholic gilds and which are no less strongly 
 proclaimed in our day. " Most of what Socialists 
 aim at," Kropotkin honestly confesses, " existed 
 in the medieval city." All that is profoundly true 
 in the doctrine of human brotherhood; in the theo- 
 ries of cooperation, public ownership or control; in 
 the opposition to every form of exploitation and 
 oppression; in the desire for a wider and more 
 real liberty and self-development, and the deter- 
 mination to sweep from the face of the earth for- 
 ever the spirit of Mammonism with its Molloch 
 sacrifices of human lives and human happiness, is 
 purely Catholic and ancient as the Church. 
 Again and again she alone has succeeded in bring- 
 ing back justice and charity to earth, in propor-
 
 32 THE WORLD PROBLEM 
 
 tion as her teachings were faithfully observed; and 
 again and again tyranny and economic oppression 
 have been the result of every temporary weaken- 
 ing of her influence. The latest example is that 
 of the Reformation against whose social and eco- 
 nomic effects Socialism is no less a protest than 
 is the Catholic Church herself. But what Social- 
 ism can never achieve, the teachings and ideals 
 of the Church will be able to accomplish. 
 
 In contrast to the enforced collectivism of So- 
 cialism, based on false ethical principles that invert 
 the social order, the Church offers full liberty for 
 every measure of public ownership that the com- 
 mon good requires but no more and for 
 those fraternal systems of cooperation where own- 
 ership is vested, not in the public, but in the indi- 
 vidual workingman. She teaches that man is not 
 made for the State, but the State for man, even as 
 her Divine Lord was obliged to insist with His 
 Pharisaic critics that man was not made for the 
 Sabbath, but the Sabbath for man. God is Lord 
 both of man and the Sabbath, as He is Lord of 
 both the individual and the State, who alike must 
 obey His commandment. Hence there can hardly 
 be a worse heresy to be imagined than the Socialist 
 catchword that " Religion is a private matter."
 
 THE SUBSTANCE OF SOCIALISM 33 
 
 The Church is not instituted as a teacher ot eco- 
 nomics, but the principles of the Gospel must reg- 
 ulate our social, economic, public and even interna- 
 tional relations. The voice of the Church of 
 Christ may not be ignored in the social issues of 
 the day, except at the general peril. 
 
 To the Socialist abolition of classes the Church 
 opposes the unity of all members of the common- 
 wealth in one Christian solidarity, where the inter- 
 ests of each are the interests of all, and the inter- 
 ests of all are the interests of each. 
 
 The fantastic doctrine of equality, in defiance of 
 nature and nature's God, has largely given way in 
 Socialist circles to the demand for an equality of 
 opportunity. But where has there ever been such 
 equality of opportunity as within the Church her- 
 self, where the most despised slave might attain 
 to the honors of the chair of Peter, and more 
 than once had actually done so in the past, while 
 men from every rank and class have in modern 
 times governed the Church of God? There is no 
 measure of equality of opportunity, within right 
 reason and the law of God, that the Catholic 
 Church will not gladly bless and approve. What 
 more can we desire? 
 
 The equality that Socialism would promote can
 
 34 THE WORLD PROBLEM 
 
 be tested by the intolerance that everywhere is ac- 
 tive within its ranks, an intolerance which, through 
 all its history, has reached titanic proportions 
 wherever the interests of the Church were at stake. 
 
 Yet the Church, we repeat, has no animosity 
 towards the person of the Socialist. Whatever is 
 good in Socialism, as it is popularly proposed, is 
 essentially her own without exaggeration, class- 
 bitterness or hatred. For countless earnest and 
 sincere Socialist followers the step to the Catholic 
 Church should be exceedingly easy and simple. 
 
 The great protagonist of Catholic truth in the 
 United States, Orestes Brownson, had first been 
 a radical Socialist. Many of her most active, 
 alert and zealous lay champions today had once 
 been Socialists. With nothing but good will to- 
 wards all, she stands with arms extended to give 
 welcome to all who from the errors of Socialism 
 would arise to the heights of her own ideals of 
 Christian Democracy.
 
 CHAPTER IV 
 
 RATIONALISTIC CAPITALISM 
 
 THERE is a vast difference between the 
 system of rationalistic capitalism, by 
 which we here understand the modern 
 commercialism as it arose after the Reformation, 
 and the mere fact of private ownership in the 
 means of production. The former is antagonis- 
 tic to the entire spirit of Christianity, the latter, in 
 its broadest sense, has always existed and always 
 will continue to exist, despite Socialism and its 
 exaggerated theories. By obliterating this dis- 
 tinction radicalism has gained its hold upon many 
 earnest minds. 
 
 " It is ordained by nature," wrote Pope Leo 
 XIII in reference to the forces of capital and 
 labor, " that these two classes should dwell in 
 harmony and agreement, and should, as it were, 
 groove into each other, so as to maintain the bal- 
 ance of the body politic." Such is the teaching 
 of the Church, and such is the ideal of all labor 
 
 35
 
 36 THE WORLD PROBLEM 
 
 unionism which has not been perverted by radical 
 influences, as it is likewise the ideal of all truly 
 Christian employers. But the harmony and bal- 
 ance here described were violently disturbed by 
 the system of economics which came with the in- 
 vention of machinery, the passing of the gilds, and 
 the growing influence of the Reformation upon 
 industrial life. 
 
 Be it clearly understood, therefore, that we 
 heartily desire not a lessening but an increase of 
 private ownership. We would extend its benefits, 
 so far as possible, to every one. For this very 
 reason we condemn with firm determination the 
 system here described. Unfortunately it attained 
 to sufficient prevalence before the Great War to 
 throw discredit upon other uses of private capi- 
 tal that are not merely legitimate but highly de- 
 sirable, and which should be promoted by every 
 just means. It is the system of capitalism, as 
 identical with the post-Reformation abuses, that 
 we are here combating. 
 
 The two essential elements of this system are 
 the domination of capital, particularly " money- 
 capital," over the entire economic field, and sec- 
 ondly the subordination of all the interests con- 
 nected with production to the one consideration of
 
 RATIONALISTIC CAPITALISM 3? 
 
 personal gain. It has therefore been properly 
 defined as " economic rationalism." The gospel 
 rule of charity, the laws of justice and the sanc- 
 tions of religion were all obliged to yield to the 
 overmastering considerations of profit, rent and 
 interest; in a word, to the one absorbing idea of 
 personal gain. This became the sole motor 
 power of the entire system as the idea of religion 
 was eliminated from its business transactions. 
 
 It may perhaps be objected that the inordinate 
 amassing of riches was not unknown in the Mid- 
 dle Ages, which immediately preceded the capi- 
 talistic system, and that then as now me(i might be 
 found who were ready to sacrifice charity, justice 
 and religion itself for the sake of gain. This is 
 perfectly true. But the essential point of distinc- 
 tion is that there was then no system of economics 
 which sought to justify such a course, or which, 
 like the pagan capitalism we have described, did 
 not even deem a justification necessary. Its law 
 was summed up in the materialistic motto: 
 " Business is business," which means that the con- 
 siderations of humanity and religion may have 
 their proper time and place, but must not be al- 
 lowed to interfere with the interests of personal 
 gain. A man might grind and crush the poor,
 
 38 THE WORLD PROBLEM 
 
 pay starvation wages to labor and exact starvation 
 prices for his products, and yet stand justified by 
 the principles of this system. He might even, if 
 he chose, be crowned as a philanthropist and pub- 
 lic benefactor, to satisfy his craving for publicity. 
 Such a code of morality was impossible in the Mid- 
 dle Ages. It could never be tolerated while the 
 Church exercised her power over the people. 
 For men like these she had but one word, and that 
 was the word of St. James in the Holy Scriptures : 
 
 Go to now, ye rich men, weep and howl in your miseries, 
 which shall come upon you. 
 
 Your riches are corrupted and your garments are motheaten. 
 
 Your gold and silver is cankered, and the rust of them shall 
 be for a testimony against you, and shall eat your flesh like fire. 
 You have stored up to yourselves wrath against the last day. 
 
 Behold the hire of the laborers who have reaped your fields, 
 which by fraud hath been kept back by you, crieth: and the cry 
 of them hath entered into the ears of the Lord of sabaoth. 
 (St. James v, 1-4.) 
 
 Supreme consideration for the common good al- 
 ways remained the ideal of the Middle Ages, 
 however much men might offend in practice. 
 Egoism was the sole ideal of the new economic 
 liberalism that followed upon them. It was an 
 economic system, with no interest save such as 
 might eventually augment personal gain. There 
 was no limit to be set to this. There was no deli-
 
 RATIONALISTIC CAPITALISM 39 
 
 cacy to be observed in the choice of means for 
 accumulating it. 
 
 The oppression of labor, the exploitation of 
 women and children, the destruction of family life, 
 were all normal methods that never caused the 
 lifting of an eyebrow. There was to be absolute 
 freedom of competition and absolute liberty of 
 personal contact between employer and employee, 
 in order that the weaker competitor might be re- 
 lentlessly crushed to the wall and the laborer 
 might be hopelesly enslaved by the powerful 
 employer. Yet the men who practised these 
 enormities were not considered criminals, but 
 gentlemen. 
 
 A rational and perfect system of large-scale pro- 
 duction would have been possible under the in- 
 fluence of the Church; not so the system of ra- 
 tionalistic capitalism. The spirit of the Church's 
 laws, directed against usury, would not have pre- 
 vented the taking of reasonable interest or profit 
 in modern industrial life, and so the upbuilding of 
 a sound and prosperous economic system, but it 
 would have rendered impossible the usurious 
 profits exacted under the reign of commercialism. 
 
 Again, the spirit of organization, which the 
 Church communicated to her gild system, would
 
 4O THE WORLD PROBLEM 
 
 have helped to bring about the widest diffusion 
 of private ownership, but would not have allowed 
 the paralysis and destruction of labor organiza- 
 tion which now took place, consistently with the 
 principles of a ruthless, relentless and unscrupu- 
 lous struggle for gain. 
 
 The Reformation, without any doubt, is mainly 
 accountable for the form of capitalism here out- 
 lined. In making this statement we are fully 
 aware of the apparently conflicting theory put 
 forth by Werner Sombart, attributing its origin to 
 the Jews. The following is his own summary of 
 the five factors which he believes contributed to 
 help towards the development of the system of 
 unrestrained capitalism described by him as some- 
 what restricted by Christian customs and morals 
 in its earlier period, but later entirely unembar- 
 rassed by any restraints of Christian morality and 
 Christian traditions : 
 
 (i) Natural science, born of the Germanic Romance spirit, 
 which was the mother of modern inventions. (2) Speculation, 
 born of the Jewish spirit. Modern technical progress allied 
 with modern speculation provided the necessary forms for the 
 limitless efforts of capitalist enterprise. The process was still 
 more accelerated by (3) the general Jewish influence which since 
 the seventeenth century has made itself felt in the economic 
 life of Europe. From its very nature this influence could not 
 but strive to extend its economic activities without let or
 
 RATIONALISTIC CAPITALISM 4 1 
 
 hindrance, regardless of considerations; and its religion far 
 from restraining it, gave it free rein. The Jews were the 
 catalytic substance in the rise of modern capitalism. (4) As 
 religious feelings became weaker and weaker among the Chris- 
 tian peoples, the old bonds of morality and tradition that had 
 held capitalism in check in its earliest stages gave way, until 
 (5) they were completely removed when through emigration the 
 most capable business types settled in new lands. And so capi- 
 talism grew and grew and grew. Today it is like a mighty 
 giant striding through the land, treading down all that stands 
 in its path. ("The Quintessence of Capitalism," p. 357.) 
 
 Were we to admit this entire analysis the fact 
 would still remain that it was the Reformation 
 which made the acceptance of this system possible 
 after it had been originated by the Jews; for Som- 
 bart admits that non-Jews in course of time 
 equaled their instructors. Never could the 
 Church have tolerated its introduction. It does 
 not reflect the spirit of the Old Testament, but 
 is the economic expression of liberalism and ra- 
 tionalism, and therefore of modern paganism pure 
 and simple, whether practised by Jew or Gentile. 
 
 The new system of capitalism began by disre- 
 garding the sacred rights of the laborer to a rea- 
 sonable family wage. It continued its work by 
 the warfare of unrestricted competition in which 
 all means were fair that might crush a weaker 
 rival. It completed its task with the concentra- 
 tion of enormous fortunes in the hands of single
 
 42 THE WORLD PROBLEM 
 
 individuals and the coalition of mighty interests 
 that swept everything before them. It ended in 
 the establishment of gigantic foundations to carry 
 its domination from the economic sphere into 
 every other field of human activity, seeking to con- 
 trol and monopolize charities, schools and munici- 
 pal and national governments themselves. For 
 this purpose it became the custom for leading capi- 
 talists to purchase or otherwise control their own 
 papers that they might the more surely, though 
 covertly, influence and control public opinion, elec- 
 tions, civic or national movements and enterprises, 
 and so the entire life of the people. 
 
 Such is the system in question. Catholic con- 
 demnation of it must be no less severe than that of 
 the Socialist could be. To convince ourselves of 
 this fact we need but read the social Encyclicals 
 of Pope Leo XIII. But we differ sharply from 
 the Socialist agitator in that we do not condemn 
 capital itself, but the rationalism which thus mis- 
 used it. There is no moral evil in the ax where- 
 with a murder is committed, but in the evil heart 
 which gave the evil counsel. Under Christian di- 
 rection capital, like other things in themselves in- 
 different, can be used for the economic and even 
 the moral and spiritual welfare of the world. So
 
 RATIONALISTIC CAPITALISM 43 
 
 it would be used, and so it has been used even at 
 the present day under the direction of the Church 
 and the guidance of the principles which she lays 
 down. It is the task of every citizen to combat 
 the spirit of rationalistic capitalism and to see that 
 it is supplanted, not by a compulsory and equally 
 dangerous and destructive communism, but by the 
 widest and most equitable distribution of private 
 ownership ; not by Socialism, but by Christian De- 
 mocracy as taught in the great Encyclicals of the 
 Sovereign Pontiffs.
 
 CHAPTER V 
 
 ETHICS OF JUST PRICES 
 
 THE question of prices, raised in the pre- 
 ceding chapter, is of universal interest. 
 For the poor it is a matter of daily and 
 often of anxious consideration. Just prices and 
 fair wages are two hinges on which revolves the 
 economic welfare of the world. On the proper 
 solution of these two cardinal problems depends 
 far more than the mere material prosperity of a 
 nation, for extortionate prices and unfair wages 
 form together one of the most serious social and 
 moral perils of our age. They are not indeed the 
 fatalistic cause of radicalism and vice, as non- 
 Catholic sociologists often teach, but they are the 
 fruitful occasion of these evils. 
 
 The ethics of modern " commercialism " are 
 familiar to us all. " Demand for your product 
 the highest returns you can prudently hope to 
 gain," is the pithy counsel of the worldly-wise. 
 
 44
 
 ETHICS OF JUST PRICES 45 
 
 " Eliminate competition by all expedient means 
 that you may safely increase your demands. 
 There is no Decalogue in trade. Keep within the 
 bounds of the law, wherever it is effective, and do 
 not exasperate the people to the danger point; but 
 multiply your profits in the surest way you can. 
 This is the golden rule." 
 
 When the President of the American Sugar 
 Refining Company was asked before the Indus- 
 trial Commission in 1900 whether he considered 
 it ethically justifiable to make consumers pay divi- 
 dends on an over-capitalization of $25,000,000, 
 he did not scruple to make the blunt reply: " I 
 think it is fair to get out of the consumer all you 
 can, consistent with the business proposition. . . . 
 I do not care two cents for your ethics. I do not 
 know enough of them to apply them." (Report 
 of Industrial Commission, Vol. I, p. 118.) 
 
 Far other are the principles of the Church. 
 They permit a margin of profits which will en- 
 able commerce to flourish in a healthy state, but- 
 at the same time they provide that the life-blood 
 of trade may circulate freely through the veins 
 and arteries of the social body for the common 
 good. They forbid excessive charges, a source 
 of wealth to a few, a cause of hunger and misery
 
 46 THE WORLD PROBLEM 
 
 to many. They neither allow the cancer of cap- 
 italistic selfishness to fasten itself upon the social 
 body, nor suffer the paralysis of Socialism to af- 
 flict society. The principle of just prices is thus 
 expressed by the greatest of theologians, St. 
 Thomas : 
 
 Buying and selling were introduced for the common benefit 
 of both purchaser and vender, since each stands in need of 
 what belongs to the other. The exchange, however, intended 
 for the common benefit of both, ought not to impose a greater 
 hardship upon one than upon the other party to the contract, 
 which should be objectively equal (secundum aequalitatem rei). 
 But the worth of the article applied to human use is measured 
 by the price paid for it, and for this purpose money was invented. 
 Wherefore the equality of justice is destroyed if either the price 
 exceeds the complete value of the article, or the article exceeds 
 the price in value. Whence it follows that to sell an article 
 at a higher, or to buy it at a lower price than its worth is in 
 itself unjust and illicit. (Sum. Theol., 2, 2, 9, 77, a. i.) 
 
 There is consequently an obligation in con- 
 science of neither selling above the just price, 
 which represents the value of an article at a given 
 time and place, nor forcing a sale beneath it. But 
 how is this just price to be determined? Is it 
 mathematically defined for any period and local- 
 ity, or is it sufficiently elastic to expand and con- 
 tract within fixed limits? 
 
 From what has already been said it is clear that 
 the Church will not admit as a general principle
 
 ETHICS OF JUST PRICES 47 
 
 that a price is just simply because it has been 
 agreed upon between seller and buyer. So like- 
 wise she will not admit that wages are just simply 
 because they were determined by a " free " con- 
 tract between employer and employed. On this 
 principle the stronger in wealth or the more cun- 
 ning in wit could always take advantage of his 
 weaker and more innocent brother. Such is the 
 theory of liberalism and modern commercialism, 
 but such is not the doctrine of the Church of 
 Christ. 
 
 Yet neither is she extreme in any of her views, 
 and her teachers readily concede that in excep- 
 tional instances, where no other standard can be 
 applied, prices must be based upon free agreement 
 between purchaser arid seller. Such is the case 
 where there is question of curios, rarities, master- 
 pieces of art or other articles of extraordinary 
 value, or objects whose real worth neither party is 
 able rightly to appraise. Such is the case like- 
 wise where articles are sold that have already 
 been wcrn by use. The price then determined 
 by free agreement is technically known as the 
 " conventional " price. So, too, the price at an 
 auction sale is that which an article can bring ac- 
 cording to honest bidding.
 
 48 THE WORLD PROBLEM 
 
 Aside from such rare exceptions, however, the 
 just price will be either the " legal " or the " com- 
 mon " price. The former is the price definitely 
 prescribed by the law, where such exists. Thus 
 in the Middle Ages the prices of the principal 
 commodities were determined by the gilds, and 
 strict adherence to these rulings was enforced by 
 the gild officials supported by the civic authorities. 
 Legal prices are always binding in conscience, un- 
 less obviously unjust. It was a wise principle 
 that neither the actual buyer nor the actual seller 
 are the best judges of the price at which an article 
 should be sold, that so the common good might 
 always be kept in view. Hence the universal 
 principle of price-fixing on the part of the gilds. 
 
 Where legal regulations do not exist, there re- 
 mains but one way in which the just price can ordi- 
 narily be determined, and that is by the common 
 estimation of men setting the value of any article 
 in a given time and place. This is known as the 
 " common " or " natural " price. 
 
 The common price, as we can readily under- 
 stand, is not to be determined, like the legal price, 
 with mathematical precision. Catholic moralists, 
 therefore, acknowledge a highest, a lowest, and an 
 average or mean common price, all of which re-
 
 ETHICS OF JUST PRICES 49 
 
 main within the strict limits of justice, according 
 to the popular estimation of men. They indicate 
 respectively the highest price at which truly hon- 
 est men would try to sell an article, the lowest at 
 which they might try to purchase it from others, 
 and the average at which it would be ordinarily 
 sold by such bargainers. The margin between 
 the highest and lowest just price is greatest in 
 commodities that minister to mere pleasure and 
 luxury, and least in those that pertain to the ne- 
 cessities of life. 
 
 St. Alphonsus has laid down a rule which is ac- 
 cepted as applicable in the sale of ordinary arti- 
 cles. Thus if the mean just price is five, he says, 
 then the highest price might rise to six, and the 
 lowest fall to four; if the mean common price is 
 ten, the extremes will be eight and eleven; if the 
 mean is 100, the extremes may be 95 and 105. 
 Others admit that these prices might reach to 90 
 and no without injustice. The proportion natu- 
 rally cannot remain the same as when the sum is 
 small. 
 
 In determining the just price there is question 
 not of an individual judgment, but of a social 
 judgment formed by the great body of buyers and 
 sellers, who together sufficiently take into account
 
 50 THE WORLD PROBLEM 
 
 all the factors that can reasonably enter into the 
 process of production, transportation and sale. 
 The estimate to be followed is the common esti- 
 mate of the place in which the sale is made even 
 though this should differ widely from that obtain- 
 ing in other lands. 
 
 While the highest as well as the lowest common 
 prices are just, yet an injustice is committed when- 
 ever either the highest or lowest just prices are 
 secured in place of a less favorable just price by 
 real fraud. We can readily understand there- 
 fore how criminally unjust it is to raise or depress 
 by unrighteous means the common or natural 
 market price, which may be said to coincide with 
 the common or natural price of moral theologians. 
 We thus see how practical is the teaching of the 
 Church upon this as upon all other questions. 
 
 Accidentally, however, the price may be raised 
 above the normal value of the article, according 
 to St. Thomas, when the person who sells it suf- 
 fers some special loss by parting with it. This 
 principle is further developed by Catholic moral- 
 ists who mention various exceptional instances in 
 which the highest common just price may be ex- 
 ceeded, as when the seller has a particular affec- 
 tion for the article which, for example, might
 
 ETHICS OF JUST PRICES 5 1 
 
 be an heirloom in his family; or when he sacrifices 
 opportunities of future gains by parting with it at 
 a certain time. Similarly an article may be 
 bought below the lowest common just price when 
 the seller comes of his own accord in order to 
 dispose of it. Even here, however, no undue ad- 
 vantage may be taken when poverty or necessity 
 urge such a step. 
 
 St. Thomas, and so likewise St. Alphonsus, 
 would not permit any article to be sold above the 
 highest common just price because of any special 
 value it might have for the purchaser. " If any 
 one," writes the Angelic Doctor, " derives great 
 advantage from what he buys, but he who sells 
 the article suffers no loss by parting with it, then 
 the latter may not sell it at a higher price (than 
 the highest common price). The reason is be- 
 cause the special advantage which the object pos- 
 sesses for the purchaser does not arise from the 
 seller, but solely from the condition of the buyer. 
 But no one may sell to another what is not his 
 own." It is, however, considered quite proper 
 that the purchaser should freely give a donation 
 over and above the just price which he pays. 
 
 Father Noldin, with some other modern moral- 
 ists, is of opinion that there is nevertheless reason
 
 52 THE WORLD PROBLEM 
 
 for charging above the highest common just price 
 in such a case, but he would not, of course, permit 
 this charge to become exorbitant. In common 
 with all other theologians he moreover expressly 
 states that such an exception can apply only where 
 the purchaser has in view his own convenience and 
 pleasure. All Catholic moralists agree, with per- 
 fect unanimity, that it would be an injustice to 
 charge more than the normally just price because 
 another stands in real need of any object: ' The 
 mere want and necessity which force a person to 
 buy are not ratable at a price." 
 
 How vastly different this from the doctrine and 
 practice of the unjust commercialism of our day!
 
 CHAPTER VI 
 
 MORALITY OF MONOPOLISTIC 
 PRICES 
 
 WE are living in an age of corporations, 
 trusts, and monopolies. As a con- 
 sequence the vexed problem of prices 
 cannot be considered without direct reference to 
 them. In fact this problem is intimately con- 
 nected with the question of exacting justice from 
 the powerful interests which, if unregulated, can 
 control the wealth, the industry, and the resources 
 of the world. 
 
 That gigantic organizations, once they have as- 
 sumed the proportions of actual or virtual monopo- 
 lies, are in reality a condition for obtaining the 
 greatest efficiency, and hence for reducing prices 
 in spite of enormous profits, is a contention often 
 made in the past. Competition can no doubt be- 
 come excessive, but the conviction is growing that 
 corporations can reach a magnitude at which they 
 become economically wasteful. There is no evi- 
 
 53
 
 54 THE WORLD PROBLEM 
 
 dence to prove that efficiency increases in propor- 
 tion to the vastness of a monopolistic enterprise. 
 In the opinion of competent judges the same, or 
 even a higher degree of efficiency, can be attained 
 under a competitive system which combines the ad- 
 vantages of moderately large-scale production 
 with the benefits of competitive prices. 
 
 The huge profits accumulated by some of our 
 monopolistic business ventures are therefore likely 
 to be due, not to superior efficiency, but to the 
 power of inflicting extravagant prices upon the 
 people. Declarations of dividends which seem 
 to justify the prices charged for products are not 
 necessarily a safe index of conditions. The cost 
 of production can be raised, actually or fictitiously, 
 to the great personal aggrandizement of the initi- 
 ated, while the consumer is made to pay the entire 
 false surplus gain, where it is not taken out of the 
 wages of the laborers and the dividends of the 
 petty shareholders. 
 
 As an example, rich contracts, resulting in a 
 needless increase in the cost of production, can be 
 given out to firms in which the directors of the 
 monopoly have large vested interests, unless gov- 
 ernment restrictions prevent this form of robbery. 
 Or the familiar device of stock-watering may be
 
 MORALITY OF MONOPOLISTIC PRICES 55 
 
 resorted to, which affects the consumers' prices as 
 well as the dividends of the small stock owners. 
 Profits can in this way be drawn by the inner circle 
 upon a presumed capitalization of $1,000,000 
 where only $500,000 were actually invested. 
 The published figures, based upon this fictitious 
 capital, may delude purchasers into paying an en- 
 tirely unwarranted price, while minor sharehold- 
 ers receive precisely one-half of the dividends that 
 would otherwise fall to them. 
 
 The public, we are told, was not able, in times 
 past, to trace the connection between the bank- 
 ruptcy of a once prosperous railroad and the 
 bloated fortune of a syndicate that " financed " it. 
 Thus the parties " financing " a road might au- 
 thorize the purchase of bankrupt properties, as 
 such deals are said to have been transacted, and 
 at the same time conduct a short-term loan in 
 which millions of dollars would be invested by the 
 public in short-term notes. No one, but those 
 within the inner circle, could know of the " dis- 
 counts, banking commissions and interests " that 
 absorbed all the surplus gains, while the road 
 appeared to prosper. The bankrupt properties 
 themselves, in the meantime, would create increas- 
 ing deficits, and the short-term loan could not be
 
 56 THE WORLD PROBLEM 
 
 met any more. Before long the grim revelation 
 of a funded debt of hundreds of millions of dol- 
 lars would startle the public. The total obliga- 
 tions had risen into incredible sums. Bankruptcy 
 would follow and the short-term loans remain for- 
 ever unpaid. The men who skilfully " financed " 
 the soundly prosperous railroad to its ruin would 
 probably vanish from the scene before the great 
 catastrophe. An unsophisticated public might 
 readily believe that the railroad rates had been 
 inadequate. 
 
 Although the day of the small tradesman is 
 past, yet the laws of justice have not changed, and 
 can be applied as perfectly in our age of giant cor- 
 porations as in the period of the medieval gilds. 
 It is the perfection of the Church that her teaching 
 is adaptable, without any alteration of principle, 
 to every economic, social and civic development 
 that time may bring, for she was founded by Christ 
 for all time. Her laws do not interfere with any 
 phase of rightful industrial development, but they 
 defend under all circumstances the just claims of 
 the poor, the helpless or the weak. 
 
 A monopoly may, in the first place, be legal and 
 public in its nature, established and conducted by
 
 MORALITY OF MONOPOLISTIC PRICES 57 
 
 the Government itself as in the case of the postal 
 system. Kept within proper limits such monopo- 
 lies are entirely licit and may be made a source of 
 public revenue. The reason is because they are 
 intended solely for the common good. Even 
 should prices be raised above normal competitive 
 rates in order to secure larger incomes, such an 
 increase would be merely another form of indirect 
 taxation, and is to be judged upon that basis. 
 But public authority may also, for the common 
 good, give certain monopolistic rights and privi- 
 leges to private individuals, as in the case of pat- 
 ents which are granted to encourage inventions, 
 on the principle that such encouragement will bene- 
 fit the community. Although the holders of legal 
 monopolies can commit injustice by excessive 
 prices, moralists admit that it is difficult to set defi- 
 nite limits, particularly where new inventions are 
 placed upon the market. Such a monopoly is not 
 granted in commodities necessary for life. 
 
 The great suffering of the people, due to high 
 prices, is not caused by these forms of monopoly. 
 We are mainly concerned therefore with purely 
 private monopolies, and with all large enterprises 
 or combinations which become powerful enough
 
 58 THE WORLD PROBLEM 
 
 to control market prices or influence them suffi- 
 ciently to exceed the competitive rate which else 
 would have existed. Under this head come like- 
 wise the agreements among merchants not to sell 
 an article below a set price, and particularly the 
 practice of buying up commodities of any kind 
 with the purpose of creating a " corner." 
 
 Before determining the rules which must govern 
 the regulation of just prices under these various 
 conditions it is well to premise that justice is not 
 violated where surplus gains are due to special 
 efficiency without any undue raising of prices. 
 Neither is it wrong for merchants to combine in 
 order that they may more readily procure their 
 own benefits. Independent firms may further- 
 more agree, one with the other, upon a price, pro- 
 vided it violates neither justice nor charity. This 
 is particularly the case when its purpose is to en- 
 able them to pay fitting wages to their employees. 
 Experience, however, has taught that " rings " are 
 likely to end in seeking to extort excessive prices 
 from the helpless public. 
 
 We thus come to the general laws which are laid 
 down for private monopolies and for all other 
 private enterprises that gain control of the market. 
 These rules are not spun out of the brain of any
 
 MORALITY OF MONOPOLISTIC PRICES 59 
 
 individual writer, but are the common teaching of 
 Catholic moralists at the present day. They can 
 be briefly stated as follows: 
 
 1 i ) The prices established by private monopo- 
 lies, " rings," and similar business ventures are 
 just, if they do not exceed the highest common 
 price which an article would bring if these under- 
 takings did not exist and the market was left open 
 to fair competition. It is supposed, however, that 
 just wages are paid to labor under both systems. 
 
 (2) Prices which in themselves are not exorbi- 
 tant, because they do not exceed the highest com- 
 mon price which would have obtained had these 
 monopolistic conditions not been created, may 
 nevertheless be seriously sinful when they impose 
 a notable hardship upon the poor. They then 
 constitute an offense, not indeed against justice, but 
 against the great and vital law of Christian charity. 
 This takes place when the poor, in consequence of 
 such conditions, are constrained to buy the neces- 
 saries of life at the highest common just price, 
 whereas otherwise they might have bought them at 
 the mean or lowest competitive price, and are thus 
 made to suffer seriously. 
 
 (3) The same strict laws are not to be laid 
 down where an article merely ministers to pleasure.
 
 6O THE WORLD PROBLEM 
 
 The reason is because purchasers can simply refuse 
 to buy it. In such cases even the highest common 
 price may more readily be exceeded. 
 
 The technical term frequently used here, " the 
 highest common price," was defined in our previ- 
 ous chapter. It is in practice the highest market 
 price for any commodity, determined by free com- 
 petition for any given time and place, if the mar- 
 ket is not tampered with. Theoretically it repre- 
 sents the just cost of production and sale, including 
 the honest profit of employer and merchant, no 
 less than the fair wages paid to labor. Finally 
 it also includes the surplus gain which may come 
 to any individual or corporation because of su- 
 perior efficiency. 
 
 There is another phase of monopolistic prices. 
 This results from the effort to undersell an op- 
 ponent. It was one of the most common methods 
 employed by the trusts. If a firm can perman- 
 ently dispose of an article at a lower price than 
 any of its competitors, because of greater efficiency, 
 there is at least no injustice committed. But such 
 is not the purpose of modern underselling. The 
 prices of a commodity are ruinously depressed in 
 a certain locality or for a certain period, until the
 
 MORALITY OF MONOPOLISTIC PRICES 6l 
 
 competitor has been crushed to the earth. They 
 are then likely to be systematically raised above the 
 former competitive rate. By this method injus- 
 tice has been done to the man ruined in business, 
 since trade has been taken from him under false 
 pretenses, while an added injustice is inflicted on 
 the consumer who has been led into a snare and 
 is now forced to pay extortionate prices. 
 
 Crimes against justice and charity have thus 
 too frequently been committed that cry to Heaven. 
 Prices have been arbitrarily fixed and supply regu- 
 lated according to whim. The weaker were 
 driven to the wall and the poor made to starve in 
 order that a few might hoard up unjust profits. 
 The welfare of the consumer was entirely disre- 
 garded. True principles were lost to sight be- 
 cause there was no one to declare them with pre- 
 cision and authority, except the Church of Christ 
 whose voice was raised but not heeded. 
 
 At the conclusion of these chapters, dealing 
 with the question of prices and the abuses of un- 
 restrained capitalism, it will be useful to quote 
 a passage from the tentative program of the 
 British Labor Party drawn up during the course 
 of the Great War. The words, cited here at
 
 62 THE WORLD PROBLEM 
 
 length, are deserving of careful consideration on 
 our part: 
 
 The people will be extremely foolish if they ever allow their 
 indispensable industries (that is to say, those which affect the 
 supply of the prime necessaries of life) to slip back into the un- 
 fettered control of private capitalists, who are, actually at the 
 instance of the Government, now rapidly combining trade by 
 trade into monopolist trusts which may presently become as 
 ruthless in their extortion as the worst American examples. . . . 
 
 The Labor Party would think twice before it sanctioned any 
 abandonment of the present profitable (system of) centraliza- 
 tion of the purchase of raw material; of the present carefully 
 organized " rationing," by joint committees of the trades con- 
 cerned, of the several establishments with the materials which 
 they require; of the present elaborate system of "costing" and 
 public audit of manufacturers' accounts; ... of the present 
 salutary publicity of manufacturing processes and expenses 
 thereby ensured; and, on the information thus obtained, of the 
 present rigid fixing, for standardized products, of maximum 
 prices at the factory, at the warehouse of the wholesale trader, 
 and at the retail shop. . . . 
 
 It is so, the Labor Party holds, just as much the function of 
 Government ... to safeguard the interests of the community 
 as a whole, and those of all grades and sections of private 
 consumers, in the matter of prices, as it is, by the Factory and 
 Trade Boards Acts to protect the rights of the wage-earning 
 producers in the matter of wages, hours of labor, and sanitation. 
 
 The last principle, defining the function of Gov- 
 ernment in the matter of prices, is absolutely and 
 incontrovertibly true. The methods suggested in 
 the preceding section are also deserving of hearty 
 approval wherever it is found that they will pro- 
 mote the general welfare. The entire passage, as
 
 MORALITY OF MONOPOLISTIC PRICES 63 
 
 reprinted above, was quoted in the English Jesuit 
 publication, the Month, with the following words 
 of comment: 
 
 This is, of course, neither more nor less than re-affirmation, 
 in modern terminology, of those ethical principles concerning 
 the public control of commercial finance, or in other words, 
 concerning the fixing of a fair price for necessary commodities, 
 which were generally recognized throughout the Middle Ages, 
 but which it had long been the fashion to deride as unenlight- 
 ened and deservedly obsolete. (March, 1918.) 
 
 The writer, the Rev. Herbert Lucas, S.J., then 
 adds that as a matter of abstract theory the State 
 or municipality might with perfect justice fix the 
 price of all commodities if this were both expedi- 
 ent and feasible. He believes however that if 
 once the price of the prime necessaries of life were 
 wisely regulated, it would be both possible and 
 sufficient to limit, by means of taxation, the profits 
 arising from the production and sale of " what 
 may be called secondary articles and still more of 
 articles of luxury." Here, as elsewhere, we are 
 to be guided by the Catholic principle that the 
 State should interfere only in so far as the com- 
 mon good requires its just and prudent interven- 
 tion. Prices are not to be fixed by it where they 
 can of themselves find their rightful level. 
 
 Alluding to the same passage, commented upon
 
 64 THE WORLD PROBLEM 
 
 with such approval by the English Jesuit publica- 
 tion, the Irish Theological Quarterly, edited by 
 members of the Maynooth faculty of theology, 
 thus expresses its agreement: 
 
 Quite right, we should say, unless one means to abolish the 
 Seventh Commandment and hold a brief for the profiteers. 
 " It is just as much the function of Government to safeguard 
 the interests of the community as a whole ... in the matter of 
 prices, as it is by the Factory and Trade Boards Acts to pro- 
 tect the rights of the wage-earning producers in the matter of 
 wages, hours of labor, and sanitation." Have we come back 
 to Catholic England? Or are we reading a Middle-Age theo- 
 logian who wrote before the individualism of Luther or the 
 laissez-faire of Manchester dawned upon the world? (April, 
 1918.) 
 
 These strong approvals of the passage previ- 
 ously quoted from the tentative document drawn 
 up as the first draught of its program by the 
 British Labor Party, did not of course imply an 
 acceptance of the entire document itself, without 
 discrimination. We may hope, however, that 
 once the thin veil of Socialist fallacies has been 
 torn asunder labor in general cannot fail to see 
 the correctness of our entire position. A wider 
 distribution of private ownership and not its total 
 abolition is the goal to be ever kept in view.
 
 CHAPTER VII 
 
 PROBLEM OF THE MIDDLEMAN 
 
 WRITING on the food problem in the 
 New York American, Herbert Kauf- 
 man found that if the regulation of 
 mercantile transactions, the fixing of prices and 
 profits, and the limiting of sales and purchases in 
 the Middle Ages acted as a restraint upon compe- 
 tition, yet the cost of living was successfully kept 
 proportionate to the community income. " Man- 
 ipulators had no chance to corner crops and create 
 shortage in needables, as any citizen of this free 
 and enlightened Republic may do at will." 
 
 In these few words the author has touched upon 
 one of the most notable features of the gilds : the 
 account taken by them of the rights of the con- 
 sumer. Not only was adequate provision made 
 for strict food-inspection, fair prices, honest 
 weights and measures, but even the possibility of a 
 " corner " was absolutely removed. Thus to pre- 
 serve intact the principle of brotherhood and to 
 
 65
 
 66 THE WORLD PROBLEM 
 
 prevent excessive private purchases, merchant-gild 
 statutes to which we shall here confine ourselves 
 obliged the buyer to share his larger purchases, 
 at the original cost, with any gildsman who desired 
 it. This desire, however, was to be manifested 
 before the commodity had actually been delivered. 
 The following two statutes of the Southampton 
 gild may be taken as typical of an entire class of 
 gild legislation : 
 
 (24) Any one of the merchant gild shall share in all mer- 
 chandise which another gildsman, or any other person shall buy, 
 if he comes and demands part, and is on the spot where the 
 merchandise is bought, so that he satisfy the seller and give se- 
 curity for his own part. 
 
 (61) If any one of the town buys a shipload of wine, or corn 
 in the gross, and a burgess of the town desires to have a tun 
 of wine, or two or three quarters of corn for his own use, he 
 shall have it at the price for which it was bought any time, while 
 the purchased goods remain in the seller's hands. 
 
 The Scotch merchant gild of Berwick-upon- 
 Tweed acquaints us with the definite limits set by 
 it to such sharing, and with the amount of profit 
 to be paid the purchaser if the sharing still re- 
 mained obligatory, after the merchandise had been 
 delivered. 
 
 From this it must not be imagined that large 
 quantities could readily be bought by any gilds- 
 man before others had been given an opportu-
 
 PROBLEM OF THE MIDDLEMAN 67 
 
 nity to make a purchase upon the same terms. 
 Shiploads or cartloads of articles brought into the 
 city could not be sold except at a given place and 
 at a definite time, if there was reason for such 
 measures. The violation of these provisions was 
 known as the crime of " forestalling " the market, 
 and was likely to end in a fine, besides the certain 
 confiscation of the merchandise thus illegally 
 procured. 
 
 Strict limits were set to the purchase of raw 
 material for manufacturing purposes, so that no 
 tradesman might bring about even the semblance 
 of a monopoly; thus all were given a chance to 
 make an honest livelihood. Very often even the 
 lending of money was carefully restricted to pre- 
 serve, as far as possible, a full equality of oppor- 
 tunities for all gildsmem Such regulations, it 
 must be remembered, were not imposed by a 
 paternalistic government, as Socialism would im- 
 pose itself upon a nation, but were willingly ac- 
 cepted by the gildsmen as a body and through cen- 
 turies carried into execution by their own officials. 
 
 It need hardly be said that the illustrations here 
 drawn from the Middle Ages are not meant to 
 be applied literally to our own times. Attention 
 is merely called to the spirit that prompted them,
 
 68 THE WORLD PROBLEM 
 
 the principles they exemplify, and the end they 
 achieved. Nor would we wish to stand sponsor 
 for every gild regulation. 
 
 One of the greatest economic problems of our 
 day, and of any day, is the elimination of the mid- 
 dleman wherever he is not reasonably needed. It 
 is therefore exceedingly interesting to compare our 
 own system, while unaffected by intelligent coop- 
 eration, with that put into effect by the merchant 
 gilds. The wasteful methods to which we sub- 
 mitted were thus described in the American Re- 
 view of Reviews: 
 
 Agents or drummers go to the country to solicit the shipments 
 for a particular dealer. He has heavy expense and usually a 
 good salary. This comes out of the food. The produce is 
 largely shipped in small lots at double the freight rates of car- 
 load shipments. When it reaches the city the commission dealer 
 often buys it for his own account, or for the account of some 
 company in which he is interested. As a trustee of the pro- 
 ducer he deals with himself. It then goes through the hands of 
 several wholesalers and jobbers, frequently as many as seven in 
 all, before it reaches the retailer. With it all is a duplication of 
 cartage charges, first from the dock to the commission dealer, 
 and then from one to another of the wholesalers and jobbers 
 who speculate in it. When the housewife buys her supply she 
 pays her portion of the accumulated cost of wastes, commissions, 
 extravagance and profits. 
 
 There are still other and very serious items of 
 expense which could be mentioned. They all tend
 
 PROBLEM OF THE MIDDLEMAN 69 
 
 to discourage the producer and impoverish the 
 consumer, since upon these two falls the burden 
 even of railroad trusts and of the watering of 
 stocks. Contrast with this senseless procedure 
 the following two statutes of the Southampton 
 merchant gild which again are typical of many 
 others that might be mentioned: 
 
 (64) It is provided by common consent of the gild that no one 
 shall sell any fresh fish, either in the market or street, but the 
 person who has caught it in the water, or shall have brought it 
 without Calshot. And those who bring fish in or about shall 
 bring it all to the market at once ; and if they conceal any part 
 of the fish in their boat, they shall lose it all; and if the fisher- 
 man deliver any part of the fish for sale by another than him- 
 self, he shall lose all; and if any huxter woman buy fish to sell 
 it again, she shall lose all. 
 
 (68) Every person who brings bread in a cart to sell, shall 
 sell that bread by his own hand and by no other; and if any 
 such bread be put in the hand of others, it shall be lost. 
 
 Similarly the statutes of the Andover gild, 
 drawn up in the year 1279, provided that no car- 
 penter may buy timber in the town, with the pur- 
 pose of selling it at a profit, under pain of losing 
 his entire merchandise. 
 
 The aid of the middleman, regratarius, who 
 bought to sell at a profit, was not excluded, but 
 was restricted to the utmost; a principle which 
 can be applied as well in our day. Thus by the 
 statutes of the last-mentioned gild no regratarius
 
 70 THE WORLD PROBLEM 
 
 was permitted to buy chickens, eggs, capons, geese, 
 meat, and fish until the goodmen of the town and 
 country had made their purchases at first hand. 
 If he violated the law, he was to fall into the inex- 
 orable custody of the bailiffs before the clock had 
 struck six in the morning: Capietur in mantis 
 balliuorum ante primam. Nor could this law be 
 circumvented, for it was furthermore enacted that 
 no purchase could be made through another per- 
 son. A special regulation is likewise preserved 
 which prevents the making of large purchases in 
 the vicinity of the town, before they reach the 
 market. Thus all might enjoy the advantages of 
 wholesale prices on the daily necessities of life. 
 
 In determining such prices care was taken that 
 those interested in any particular industry might 
 not exercise an undue influence. Thus the Wor- 
 cester merchant gild stresses the necessity of pre- 
 venting the " great enquest " which decided upon 
 the price of ale, from being made up " to the half 
 partye or more " of brewers. Similarly two " ale 
 conners of sadd and discrete persones " were to 
 be appointed on election day to test the ale's qual- 
 ity. Even its quantity, as we find elsewhere, was 
 restricted to prevent over-production. This law 
 obtained in other industries as well.
 
 PROBLEM OF THE MIDDLEMAN 7! 
 
 In the first merchant-gild statute quoted in the 
 present article an omission was made which shall 
 now be supplied. It reads: " But no man who 
 is not of the gild can or ought to claim share with 
 a gildsman against his will." Similar discrimina- 
 tion was elsewhere frequently exercised against 
 strangers and other non-gildsmen. The charges 
 made upon this score overlook the fact that in 
 the first place the merchant gilds were not, in their 
 origin, exclusive organizations, though they were 
 not immune against human failings, which mani- 
 fested themselves particularly in the days of their 
 decline. In the second place it is to be remem- 
 bered that upon them fell the burden of taxation, 
 royal levies, public improvements, works of char- 
 ity and benevolence, and in fine the entire burden 
 of the little commonwealth. It was from the 
 merchant gild and not from the town, that the king 
 exacted the money requisitioned for governmental 
 purposes. Non-gildsmen of the town shared in 
 the general advantages procured them by the gild, 
 but were free from all its responsibilities. 
 
 Some of the merchant gild statutes will doubt- 
 less appear to us excessive in their restrictions. 
 So, too, they were at times. This became true 
 particularly in the day of their decline. But the
 
 72 THE WORLD PROBLEM 
 
 principle of providing for the common welfare was 
 never lost to sight as long as the gilds remained 
 instinct with the true Catholic spirit. Here is the 
 prime lesson they have to teach us. For this rea- 
 son they provided that the interference of a mid- 
 dleman, and therefore the raising of prices for the 
 citizens, should be prevented where necessity did 
 not strictly demand it. 
 
 Were our own more prosperous citizens, both 
 capitalists and skilled laborers, to unite for the 
 common good; were they to seek first and fore- 
 most to secure for all alike fair prices and the 
 elimination of exorbitant profits or of wages in- 
 consistent with the general welfare; were they to 
 bring about as general a distribution of ownership 
 as possible; were they to act in political, economic 
 and social unity; were they, finally, voluntarily to 
 take upon themselves the burden of our civic im- 
 provements and under the direction of the Church 
 supplement her Religious Orders in carrying on 
 the temporal works of mercy, like one great Vin- 
 centian brotherhood, then the ideal of the mer- 
 chant gild at its highest perfection would be re- 
 established in our modern cities. But this would 
 be possible only on condition that the Catholic 
 Church herself should once more win for Christ
 
 PROBLEM OF THE MIDDLEMAN 73 
 
 the love and homage of all hearts in a lasting 
 spiritual union of faith and good works. 
 
 We have given the above illustration, contained 
 in the preceding paragraph, merely by way of 
 parallel. But we must insist upon the spirit of co- 
 operation between all classes which it implies, and 
 the need of religion as the central motive making 
 this possible. There is no other means effectively 
 to remind the strong of their duties to the weak, 
 the rich of their obligations to the poor, the men 
 who have been given power, talent, and opportun- 
 ity of their great responsibilities towards their 
 neighbor and of the solemn account they shall have 
 to render unto God of all their stewardship. 
 
 One of the most important and successful move- 
 ments towards a partial elimination of the middle- 
 man is that of the cooperative store, described in 
 the chapters on cooperation in the present volume. 
 The gains of the small dealer, however, are not 
 large, and in so far, at least, the profit of the co- 
 operatives may result mainly through savings in 
 distribution, where this is skilfully conducted. 
 Of the movement in America E. Harris says : 
 
 American people have demonstrated through building and 
 loan undertaking, cooperative shipping, cooperative creameries, 
 cooperative insurance and in other ways, that they can work
 
 74 THE WORLD PROBLEM 
 
 together for common ends as they would be required to do to 
 make cooperative buying successful. It is only necessary that 
 people get the same intelligent grasp of the cooperative buy- 
 ing idea. (" Cooperation.") 
 
 Before the outbreak of the world war the coop- 
 erative idea had already made wonderful progress 
 in Europe, while its growth in America had been 
 comparatively slow. But it was none the less 
 constant during the last years before the great 
 crisis. It is the consumer's own solution of the 
 problem of the middleman, and reflects at least 
 something of that spirit of fraternal cooperation 
 which was the soul of all social and economic life 
 in the Middle Ages.
 
 CHAPTER VIII 
 
 THE STATE AND LABOR 
 
 BEFORE the advent of the Church the duty 
 of the State towards labor was almost en- 
 tirely ignored. Even among the Jews 
 the conditions of labor were far from ideal, al- 
 though the hardships of the bought or hired serv- 
 ant were greatly reduced by the divinely-given 
 legislation. 
 
 Religion has ever been the main defense of the 
 workingman. Paganism in its most complete ma- 
 terial development despised labor under every 
 form. The history of labor in the ancient pagan 
 world is mainly the history of slavery, and slaves 
 were the merest chattel in the eyes of the pagan 
 State. According to the wording of the Roman 
 law, they were to be regarded : " Pro nullis, pro 
 mortals, -pro quadrupedibus " ; " As nothing, as 
 dead things, as four-footed beasts." That, in 
 brief, was their legal status. They could not 
 
 75
 
 76 THE WORLD PROBLEM 
 
 even contract a marriage which the law would 
 recognize. 
 
 The same conditions returned when Christian- 
 ity was swept away by the barbarian hordes before 
 the new dawn of the Ages of Faith. The slave 
 was the master's property. Even with returning 
 civilization his testimony could not be received in 
 court except under torture. Such were the rights 
 of labor in the eyes of the State, except where 
 Christianity had been able to bring relief. 
 
 After the lapse of centuries, the Church suc- 
 ceeded in impressing upon the public administra- 
 tion a new concept of the rights and dignity of the 
 laborer, which the State was bound to safeguard 
 under the Christian dispensation. By her doc- 
 trine of brotherly love and the example of the 
 God-man, she brought about the abolition of slav- 
 ery and gradually ameliorated the lot of the serf, 
 until the day of his complete emancipation dawned. 
 But long before that period she had been active in 
 inspiring and directing social legislation in favor 
 of the workingman. 
 
 The laborer, as viewed by the Church, is an 
 integral part of the living organism of society. 
 He has therefore social rights that must be pro- 
 tected and defended by the State. Numerically,
 
 THE STATE AND LABOR 77 
 
 he represents by far the greatest element within 
 the commonwealth. Industrially, the prosperity 
 of the entire community is inseparably connected 
 with his daily toil. " It may be truly said that it 
 is only by the labor of the workingman that States 
 grow rich," wrote Pope Leo XIII. Hence the 
 public administration is under an obligation, not 
 merely of charity, but of strict justice, to provide 
 for the welfare of its laboring classes, and it is the 
 duty of every government to see that " They who 
 contribute so largely to the advantage of the com- 
 munity may share in the benefits they create." 
 ("The Condition of Labor.") 
 
 But the obligation of the State is based upon 
 even higher considerations. Transcending the 
 purely material order, this duty of safeguarding 
 all the just interests of the working population is 
 founded upon the end of society itself, which, in 
 the words of the Holy Father, is " to make men 
 better." Economic conditions, as we need hardly 
 repeat here, can exercise the most vital and far- 
 reaching influence upon the moral and religious 
 life of the people. 
 
 " In all well-constituted States," says the great 
 Pope of the workingmen, " it is a matter of no 
 slight importance to provide those bodily and ex-
 
 78 THE WORLD PROBLEM 
 
 ternal commodities the use of which is necessary 
 to virtuous action." It is possible, indeed, for 
 men to save their souls under the most distressing 
 economic conditions, but in general such circum- 
 stances will constitute a serious obstacle to moral- 
 ity and religion. Hence their removal is practi- 
 cally " necessary " if virtue is to thrive in any 
 community. So the duty of the State to protect 
 the rights of the working classes and to provide 
 for their material well-being is lifted into the 
 higher sphere of true, noble and virtuous living. 
 
 From this, as an important corollary, follow the 
 right and the duty of the Church to insist that the 
 State shall faithfully discharge its duties towards 
 the laboring man and the poor. Catholics may 
 not be indifferent to the social question, nor may 
 priests and bishops ignore it. The Supreme 
 Pontiffs have here set the noble example which all 
 are to imitate according to their ability. From 
 whatever aspect or angle we may view the social 
 question, it will always remain a religious as well 
 as an economic, political, and legislative problem. 
 Such it was in the days of Isaias, when he ex- 
 horted the Jews: " Learn to do well: seek judg- 
 ment, relieve the oppressed, judge for the father- 
 less, defend the widow." Such it is today.
 
 THE STATE AND LABOR 79 
 
 It is through the State, as a last resort, that we 
 seek judgment, bring relief to the oppressed and 
 secure justice for the fatherless and the widow, as 
 witness the Workmen's Compensation Act and the 
 Mothers' Pension Law. Hence the duty of gov- 
 ernments is thus splendidly defined by Pope Leo 
 XIII: 
 
 Justice, therefore, demands that the interests of the poorer 
 population be carefully watched over by the Administration, 
 so that they who contribute so largely to the advantage of the 
 community may themselves share in the benefits they create: 
 that being housed, clothed, and enable to support life, they 
 may find their existence less hard and more endurable. It fol- 
 lows that whatever shall appear to be conducive to the well- 
 being of those who work, should receive favorable considera- 
 tion. Let it not be feared that solicitude of this kind will in- 
 jure any interest; on the contrary it will be to the advantage 
 of all; for it cannot but be good for the commonwealth to se- 
 cure from misery those on whom it so largely depends. 
 
 No defense can be offered for the post-Reforma- 
 tion principle of laissez faire, or non-interference 
 on the part of the State. Under this policy col- 
 lective bargaining was forbidden to the laborer 
 and only the fulfilment of contracts was safe- 
 guarded by the public authorities. It was the 
 theory under which the demoralizing form of un- 
 controlled capitalism came into existence and grew 
 into a menace to civilization. 
 
 Yet it was universally upheld by the economic
 
 8O THE WORLD PROBLEM 
 
 schools of the day and accepted as a practical 
 working principle of the new Protestant statecraft. 
 The inevitable reaction against it gave birth to 
 anarchism, Socialism and all the various forms of 
 modern radicalism. The principle of individual 
 bargaining, based upon it, was the economic source 
 of an endless train of evils, as the principle of the 
 individual interpretation of the Bible had been 
 their religious origin. 
 
 The laissez-faire policy could obviously have no 
 other effect than the destruction of the economi- 
 cally weaker party and his complete oppression, 
 without any hope of redress or assistance from the 
 State. To imagine that the rights of capital and 
 of labor would balance themselves, without any 
 superior control, was no less palpable a deception 
 than to fancy that man's nature could develop most 
 perfectly by granting full license to all its senses 
 and faculties. Yet this logical transference of 
 the principle of laissez faire, from the economic to 
 the moral order, has actually been made in our 
 modern plays and novels, and in the philosophical 
 and educational literature of the day. 
 
 When the need of State interference in economic 
 life was finally admitted, the fatal superstition still 
 lingered on that the first object to be safeguarded
 
 THE STATE AND LABOR 8 1 
 
 at all hazards by the State was the industrial pros- 
 perity of the country, meaning the interests of 
 large fortunes, rather than the economic welfare 
 of the masses. Catholic State action in favor of 
 the people is even today confused with Socialism, 
 to the great gain of the latter, whose borrowed 
 plumage hides its real nature. Socialism is not 
 identical with a reasonable State protection, but 
 with State tyranny and State absolutism. What- 
 ever popularity Socialism may possess is entirely 
 attributable to its camouflage Catholicism. 
 
 The principle of State interference can thus be 
 briefly summarized: The State is called upon to 
 act wherever the general welfare of the commun- 
 ity or the just interest of any particular class is 
 imperiled. State interference is a last resort, to 
 be invoked when private means are inadequate. 
 Under every form of society such action will at 
 times be necessary to secure the rights of the 
 weaker party. 
 
 But the principle of turning over all power and 
 initiative to the State is a fatal delusion upon which 
 Socialism is founded. It finds no authorization in 
 Catholic teaching. We shall briefly indicate here 
 four aspects under which the welfare of the 
 laborer may be guarded by intelligent legislation.
 
 82 THE WORLD PROBLEM 
 
 It should be noted that we are concerned here 
 merely with the rights and not with the obliga- 
 tions of labor, which must similarly be enforced 
 by the State where the public welfare requires it. 
 Many of the points, merely suggested in the fol- 
 lowing outline, shall be fully developed in other 
 chapters of this book. 
 
 Religiously it is the first duty of the State to 
 secure for the laborer his Sunday rest. This im- 
 plies a cessation of work consecrated by religion. 
 The Sunday rest was instituted that it might pre- 
 serve the human dignity of man made to the image 
 and likeness of God, enable him for a time to for- 
 get the business of his daily life and freely lift up 
 his thoughts in worship to his Almighty Creator 
 and to afford him the necessary leisure for the out- 
 ward practices of religion. 
 
 No man may outrage with impunity that human dignity 
 which God Himself treats with reverence, nor stand in the way 
 of that higher life which is the preparation for the eternal life 
 of Heaven. Nay, more; a man has here no power over him- 
 self. To consent to any treatment which is calculated to de- 
 feat the end and purpose of his being is beyond his right; he 
 cannot give up his soul to servitude; for it is not man's own 
 rights which are here in question, but the rights of God, most 
 sacred and inviolable. ("The Condition of Labor.") 
 
 Morally it is the duty of the State to alter con- 
 ditions of labor which threaten to prove detri-
 
 THE STATE AND LABOR 83 
 
 mental to virtue. Thus the employment of chil- 
 dren by night and as messengers sent into ques- 
 tionable surroundings, the temptations to which 
 women are frequently exposed under certain con- 
 ditions, and the various circumstances that lead 
 to vice among the laborers in factories and else- 
 where, are instances which call for prompt and 
 strict legislation wherever due provisions are not 
 made by the employers. 
 
 Physically there arise the problems of sanita- 
 tion, of the prevention of industrial accidents and 
 of all the many regulations that can secure for the 
 worker such surroundings and conditions of labor 
 as are consonant with his human dignity. 
 
 " Women," as Pope Leo XIII warns us, " are 
 not suited for certain occupations; for a woman is 
 by nature fitted for home work, and it is that which 
 is best adapted at once to preserve her modesty, 
 and to promote the good bringing up of children 
 and the well-being of the family." Conditions 
 which drive the mother from the home into the 
 factory, likewise expose the children to every form 
 of vice and irrelegion. It is the duty of the State, 
 furthermore, to prevent the employment of women 
 in occupations detrimental either to their physical 
 or their moral well-being or the well-being of the
 
 84 THE WORLD PROBLEM 
 
 children to be born of them. The good of society 
 requires this. 
 
 In the same manner children may not be placed 
 in workshops and factories " until their bodies and 
 minds are sufficiently mature." For just as rough 
 weather destroys the buds of spring, so too early 
 an experience of life's hard work blights the young 
 promise of a child's powers and makes any real 
 education impossible. 
 
 So, too, the hours of labor must not be ex- 
 cessive: " As a general principle, it may be laid 
 down, that a workman ought to have leisure and 
 rest in proportion to the wear and tear of his 
 strength; for the waste of strength must be re- 
 paired by the cessation of work." ("The Con- 
 dition of Labor.") We are furthermore told 
 that it is the duty of the State to remove the causes 
 from which labor troubles are bred. 
 
 Socially the State must remember that normally 
 a family depends upon the wages of the working- 
 man. Hence it is not only necessary that his 
 wages be adequate to support a home in Christian 
 decency, but also that provision be made for the 
 possibilities of unemployment, sickness, accidents 
 and other circumstances, including death itself, 
 which may remove the bread-winner from his daily
 
 THE STATE AND LABOR 85 
 
 task while the family at home is deprived of his 
 support. Hence the many insurance provisions, 
 the workmen's compensation laws, the old-age 
 and the mothers' pensions, and similar enactments. 
 
 Here again the general principle must be laid 
 down that self-help rather than State-help should 
 be aimed at in such legislation. Where it can 
 equitably be done it is better that insurance laws 
 should not be based upon State support. This, 
 however, supposes an adequate wage, a question 
 which calls for special discussion. It likewise 
 supposes a wider economic education of both capi- 
 tal and labor. In the meantime there can be no 
 objection to any measure of State help that exist- 
 ing circumstances may reasonably require in the 
 matter of pension and insurance. 
 
 As a summary of all that has here been said, 
 we quote the words of Pope Leo XIII: 
 
 If by a strike, or other combination of workmen, there should 
 be imminent danger of disturbance of the public peace; or if 
 circumstances were such that among the laboring population the 
 ties of family life were relaxed ; if religion were found to suffer 
 through the workmen not having time and opportunity to prac- 
 tice it; if in workshops and factories there were danger to 
 morals through the mixing of the sexes or from any occasion 
 of evil; or if the employers laid burdens upon the workmen 
 which were unjust, or degraded them with conditions that were 
 repugnant to their dignity as human beings; finally if health
 
 86 THE WORLD PROBLEM 
 
 were endangered by excessive labor, or by work unsuited to sex 
 or age in these cases there can be no question that, within cer- 
 tain limits, it would be right to call in the help and authority of 
 the law. ("The Condition of Labor.") 
 
 The limits referred to here are defined by the 
 extent of the evil itself or of the danger that is to 
 be removed. So far, and no further, should the 
 State intervene in the conditions of labor.
 
 CHAPTER IX 
 
 THE STATE AND WAGES 
 
 THE masses of the people are aroused. 
 They demand an adequate share in the 
 prosperity which they help to create. 
 Radicalism is in the air, but the voice of impartial 
 justice is likewise heard and will not be silenced 
 again. The choice for the nations lies between 
 anarchy and the social teachings of the Church. 
 Happily sane economic opinion daily converges 
 more and more towards Catholic tradition and 
 Catholic doctrine. In the van of all progress, at 
 the very height of the social movement of our day, 
 stands the Church. 
 
 The appeal of the laborer for justice comes 
 close to her heart. It is above all a demand for 
 an equitable wage. Any just and reasonable 
 method that will enable us to secure for him this 
 inalienable right must meet with her hearty ap- 
 proval. But there is one way only by which we 
 can attain this end, and that is by legal measures. 
 
 It is as vain to hope for the conversion of a 
 87
 
 05 THE WORLD PROBLEM 
 
 dominant class of selfish capitalists as to depend 
 upon the method of social revolutionists who would 
 overturn the pillars of authority and plunge the 
 world into hopeless anarchy. Human nature, 
 even at its best, is never to be trusted too far, 
 where gain and profits are in question. The most 
 fair-minded employers best realize, moreover, 
 how difficult it is to carry out their lofty Christian 
 ideals while forced into competition with uncon- 
 scionable rivals, uncontrolled by any curb of law. 
 What of the labor unions? Cannot the fight 
 for justice be confidently committed to them? 
 They have accomplished much. But there is ques- 
 tion mainly of fair wage for the unskilled workers. 
 It is the great mass of the labor population which 
 stands in greatest need of our assistance. These 
 have not been successfully reached by trade unions. 
 Organization has made little progress among 
 them, except where they have been momently swept 
 into some revolutionary movement, a peril which 
 is always imminent. It was this class that the 
 I. W. W. sought to mobilize. Skilled labor, on 
 the other hand, can sooner or later exact justice 
 for itself where it has not already attained this 
 end. There is danger rather that such labor may 
 in turn become tyrannical and abuse its power to
 
 THE STATE AND WAGES 89 
 
 the detriment both of the consumer and the un- 
 skilled operator. Of this too we have had exam- 
 ples in the past. 
 
 Labor unions, based upon Christian princi- 
 ples, are perhaps the greatest economic necessity 
 of the day. But even when animated by the most 
 altruistic motives they will find it difficult to come 
 to the assistance of the vast mass of the labor 
 population, except by promoting intelligent 
 legislation. This brings us back to the very 
 point from which we started, the need of State 
 legislation. 
 
 The case of unskilled labor has been summed up 
 in a paradox, or what may appear to be a vicious 
 circle. Yet the statement expresses the exact truth 
 of the matter: the masses are unorganized be- 
 cause of their low wages, and their wages are low 
 because they remain unorganized. Organization, 
 in other words, is not likely to be successful while 
 unreasonably low wages destroy initiative, energy, 
 and intelligence on the part of the worker. Yet 
 without organization wages can never be raised 
 by the workingmen themselves. Extraordinary 
 conditions may for the time create a scarcity of 
 labor, but the period of unemployment, which is 
 certain to follow, will immediately depress wages
 
 90 THE WORLD PROBLEM 
 
 to their former level. There can consequently 
 be no hope for a decent living wage, to be enjoyed 
 by all the workers at all times, except through 
 legislation. 
 
 Wage legislation is a tradition in the Church. 
 Minute regulations for such legislation were drawn 
 up by the Catholic gildsmen. State sanction was 
 given to these regulations, and gild officials were 
 authorized to inflict summary punishment upon all 
 offenders. The difference of remuneration be- 
 tween employer and employee was often very 
 slight, and the benefit of the consumer was never 
 lost to view in determining the wage-scale. It was 
 not a question of securing the highest wages the 
 union could enforce, but of deciding upon the 
 wages that would be fairest for all. No work, no 
 pay, was the rule set down for employer as well 
 as for employee. No employer could draw profits 
 without actually engaging in the occupations of his 
 single trade. These rules, we should note, were 
 drawn up by the Christian employers themselves. 
 
 The special wage legislation required for our 
 own day is clear. The principle of a living wage 
 has been laid down by the Holy See. It can be 
 made practical only when enforced by law. The 
 conclusion is obvious. Rhetorical effusions upon
 
 THE STATE AND WAGES 91 
 
 the doctrines of the Papal encyclicals, from the 
 pulpit or the platform, will never solve the social 
 problem. The masses will rightly ignore them if 
 no practical application is made. That applica- 
 tion depends upon us and must be adapted to the 
 changing conditions of place and time. 
 
 In the question of wages the nature of this ap- 
 plication seems now beyond dispute. Past ex- 
 perience enables us to proceed without hesitation. 
 There is apparently but one course open, as a 
 logical beginning, and that is to unite solidly upon 
 a minimum wage legislation. It was a Catholic 
 priest be it said to the glory of the Church 
 the Rev. John A. Ryan, D.D., who first effectively 
 championed the minimum wage legislation in the 
 United States, and it is another Catholic priest, 
 the Rev. Edwin V. O'Hara, whose name, as Dr. 
 Ryan himself remarks, " is written in the annals 
 of the United States Supreme Court as the official 
 upholder of the first minimum wage law." 
 
 The principle itself is plain. Every toiler has 
 the right to a living wage, a right which takes 
 precedence over every other consideration, except- 
 ing only the right which the employer himself has 
 to a remuneration which will enable him and his 
 family to live in reasonable and moderate comfort
 
 9* THE WORLD PROBLEM 
 
 according to their position in life. It is important 
 moreover for both employer and employee that 
 the continuance and welfare of the industry itself 
 be wisely consulted. Beyond this there can be no 
 question of any profits until the living wage has 
 been paid to the employees. 
 
 Yet, according to statistics drawn up before the 
 war by social workers and economists, the major 
 part of the adult male laborers of the United 
 States were not receiving a living wage. Since 
 only an impossibility can excuse the employer from 
 paying a living wage, and since millions of dollars 
 were at the same time garnered in profits, it fol- 
 lows that there existed a condition of social in- 
 justice which urgently clamored for State inter- 
 ference and correction. 
 
 What then is a living wage? In general it is 
 defined by Pope Leo XIII as a remuneration 
 " sufficient to support the wage-earner in reason- 
 able and frugal comfort." For the adult male 
 worker, according to the spirit of the Encyclical, 
 it is a wage " sufficient to enable him to maintain 
 himself, his wife and his children in reasonable 
 comfort." For the adult woman worker it is a 
 wage whereby she can reasonably and decently 
 support herself away from home. There is ques-
 
 THE STATE AND WAGES 93 
 
 tion now, however, of that wage only which is 
 the very least that in the sight of God and man 
 the employer should give. The worker, more- 
 over, should be able, when all expenses have been 
 paid for family or personal maintenance, " to 
 put by some little savings and thus secure a small 
 income." Both he and his family must be pro- 
 vided against the day of dearth, of sickness or un- 
 employment. 
 
 The question has been discussed by Catholic 
 moralists whether the obligation of the employer 
 to pay a wage that will not merely support the 
 adult male worker himself, but likewise his wife 
 and children in a reasonable manner, is an obliga- 
 tion of justice or of charity. In either case the 
 obligation would be equally imperative, whatever 
 distinctions may be drawn. An obligation in char- 
 ity is no less binding than an obligation in justice. 
 According to the letter Pope Leo refers only to 
 the obligation of supporting the laborer himself, 
 but leading Catholic social authorities hold that he 
 implies likewise the support of wife and children. 
 
 The plea made by certain Chicago packers, in a 
 local court, that the cost of maintaining a family 
 should not be considered in determining wages 
 ignored the dignity of the worker as a human
 
 94 THE WORLD PROBLEM 
 
 being. A " fair " wage, according to the stand- 
 ard proposed by them and generally recognized 
 by the capitalistic system of the past, must be 
 ascertained by the market rate of labor in the 
 community. If therefore wages were below the 
 living line in other industries, the packers claimed 
 the right to employ their workers under the same 
 conditions. They fail to understand that a wrong 
 cannot be justified because it is likewise practised 
 by others. Such principles can evidently be com- 
 bated in no other way than by Christian legisla- 
 tion. It is the absolute duty of the State to pro- 
 tect its workers under such conditions. The prin- 
 ciples enunciated by these men are the strongest 
 argument for the need of setting a legal minimum 
 wage. It would be necessary, if for no other rea- 
 son than to protect Christian-minded employers in 
 their competition with criminal profiteers. 
 
 " But what," the reader may naturally ask, " is 
 the minimum of reasonable comfort which we 
 have a right to demand for a family, that it may 
 live in accordance with its Christian dignity? " 
 In answer a single detail may suffice. The very 
 least requirement for a suitable home may be said 
 to be about four wholesome rooms together with 
 the modern arrangements for cleanliness and
 
 THE STATE AND WAGES 95 
 
 decency. Food, clothing, furniture, and oppor- 
 tunities for recreation should all at least measure 
 up to the same standard of self-respect. This 
 surely is a moderate demand to make for any 
 family that would lead a true Christian home life. 
 
 Yet to bring about even this much it may be 
 necessary for the State, besides setting a minimum 
 wage, to regulate also the housing problem. It 
 is not just that the entire burden of expense should 
 fall upon the employer and consumer, while the 
 landlord raises his rents wherever the need is 
 greatest, because workmen are obliged to accept 
 his terms. This is a question too extensive to con- 
 sider here. In radically destroying the abuses 
 arising from the unearned increment it may be 
 necessary to offer compensation to present owners. 
 
 The objections to the minimum wage need not 
 be discussed at present. Experience has suffi- 
 ciently disproved them. Women, as a rule, have 
 not been thrown out of employment, wages were 
 not depressed to the level of the legal minimum 
 and prices did not soar appreciably as a result of 
 such legislation. The accidental hardships that 
 fell upon some are far outweighed by the good re- 
 sults. As for workers who are not considered 
 capable of earning the full minimum wage, special
 
 96 THE WORLD PROBLEM 
 
 permits have been devised, authorizing them to 
 work for less. Similarly, where the payment of a 
 proper minimum wage is impossible for a time in 
 any industry, wise allowance can readily be made 
 for the sake of both employers and employed. 
 
 Thus in the minimum wage law for women em- 
 ployed in professional and general offices, which 
 became effective in San Francisco, July 13, 1918, 
 it was provided that permission for the payment 
 of a wage lower than the fixed minimum could be 
 obtained in cases of physical disability. Applica- 
 tion for this purpose was to be made to the State 
 Industrial Welfare Commission, which was then 
 to fix the wage of the individual in question. 
 Since the legal minimum was to be paid after a 
 year's employment, and a somewhat lower mini- 
 mum was set respectively for each of the two pre- 
 ceding half-year periods, it was moreover pro- 
 vided that the number of beginners permissible 
 was not to be less than twenty-five per cent of the 
 total number of employees. 
 
 The first step taken is the establishment of 
 minimum wage boards, such as have now become 
 sufficiently common. Under State control these 
 boards decide upon the just minimum of remunera- 
 tion according to time and place. Such legislation,
 
 THE STATE AND WAGES 97 
 
 however, will prove to be only the beginning of 
 economic readjustments. Its ultimate object must 
 not be to keep the workers in permanent depend- 
 ence upon a small capitalist class. The aim to be 
 kept steadily in view by every Christian man and 
 woman is to enable the workers themselves to 
 share, so far as possible, in the ownership of the 
 land they till and of the industry in which they toil. 
 This is not Socialism, but its very opposite. 
 
 The Church would not abolish the relations be- 
 tween capital and labor but place them upon a more 
 Christian basis. Labor should receive not merely 
 a minimum wage, but a suitable remuneration cor- 
 responding to its particular service and not con- 
 flicting with the common good, while profits, or 
 the interest on invested capital, should be reduced 
 to a reasonable minimum, which conflicts neither 
 with private initiative nor with the general wel- 
 fare. Thus will the nearest economic approach 
 towards social reconstruction be made. 
 
 Over the doors of every State Legislature, over 
 the Hall of Congress and the Senate Chamber, 
 over the august tribunal of the Supreme Court of 
 the land, over every council-room in which the 
 people's representatives assemble, should be writ- 
 ten in letters of gold the epoch-making message of
 
 98 THE WORLD PROBLEM 
 
 Pope Leo XIII, the most important legislative 
 principle ever promulgated for the promotion of 
 justice and good will throughout the earth : " Let 
 the law favor ownership, and let its policy be to 
 induce as many as possible of the laboring classes 
 to become owners." Here is the only solution, 
 the bridging-over of " the gulf between vast 
 wealth and sheer poverty," the reconciliation with 
 one another of all classes of society, the social 
 basis of lasting concord and Christian charity.
 
 CHAPTER X 
 
 DUTIES OF LABOR AND CAPITAL 
 
 IT must not be thought that in insisting upon 
 the obligations of the employer we are over- 
 looking the duties of the laborer. If we de- 
 mand for the latter a just and reasonable wage 
 we must equally demand a just and reasonable 
 service in return. The laborer is not merely 
 bound to abstain from all acts of violence and all 
 injury to the employer's property, but also, in the 
 words of Pope Pius X, " to perform wholly and 
 faithfully the work which has been freely and 
 equitably agreed upon." (" Christian Social 
 Action.") 
 
 A system of labor retardation has been adopted 
 both in theory and in practice within certain labor 
 groups. This may not be wrong. To keep pace 
 with modern machinery, at its top speed, often 
 requires an intensity of effort which undermines 
 the strength of the worker and shortens his life. 
 Under such circumstances it is well that labor 
 
 99
 
 IOO THE WORLD PROBLEM 
 
 unions should protect their members against these 
 inhuman demands. So too it is right to forbid 
 that a pace-maker, of exceptional strength, be set 
 over the men to work them to excess. On the 
 other hand, honest work demands that a normally 
 reasonable amount of labor be rendered, under all 
 circumstances, within the compass of the average 
 laborer. " Loafing on the job " is as much an 
 injustice as denying a living wage. 
 
 As an instance of excessive self-imposed restric- 
 tion the English economist, Sir Hugh Bell, quotes 
 a pertinent case from the English war investiga- 
 tions. A skilled operator engaged in copper-band 
 cutting in a Glasgow engineering shop had cut on 
 an average seventy-five bands a day. " Under 
 the dilution system his daughter was taken on and 
 put in his place, receiving such training as was 
 necessary from her father. It was not long till 
 she was cutting 137 bands a day." Examples of 
 shirking work or " loafing on the job," as it is tech- 
 nically called, are sufficiently familiar to us all. 
 It came into prominence even during the nation's 
 greatest crisis, in its most important labor, the 
 ship-building industry, at the very entrance of the 
 United States into the war. 
 
 The unscrupulousness of immoral capital in
 
 DUTIES OF LABOR AND CAPITAL IOI 
 
 over-reaching the laborer by forcing upon him less 
 than a living wage, was certain in the course of 
 human nature to find its corollary in the denial 
 by labor of its full service. Two other reasons 
 for labor shirking are pointed out by the Editor 
 of the Catholic Charities Review. The first is 
 the indisposition of the present generation to do 
 any real work. " The young men and women of 
 this generation of working people are distinctly 
 less efficient, are less willing to engage in honest 
 toil than were their parents and grandparents." 
 Our educational systems themselves have often 
 been to blame and men are wanting in character 
 and power to " stick to a job." There is, more- 
 over, too often, a pagan dread and disdain of labor 
 such as existed in the heathenism of the past. 
 
 The second reason deserves to be quoted in its 
 entirety, since there is a great and popular delu- 
 sion upon this point. 
 
 A final explanation of labor loafing is the assumption that the 
 natural and artificial resources of our country are practically 
 unlimited. A large proportion of the working classes are under 
 the impression that if the product were only more equitably 
 distributed, there would be enough to provide all with abundance 
 through a working day of four or five hours. The present in- 
 dustrial order is regarded as unjust not merely because it 
 makes a bad distribution, but because it imposes an excessively 
 long working day. Hence the conclusion that if a man does
 
 102 THE WORLD PROBLEM 
 
 half a day's work, he makes a reasonable contribution to the 
 product. All these assumptions are utterly unwarranted. As 
 Professor W. I. King shows in his work on " The Wealth and 
 Income of the People of the United States," the total product 
 of the country in 1910, divided equally among the whole popu- 
 lation, would have given each person only $332.00. Evidently 
 no possible rearrangement of distribution would enable the 
 masses to live in comfort if the present working day were cut 
 in two. (Catholic Charities Review, March, 1918.) 
 
 Could Socialism be introduced it would not in- 
 crease but limit the output still further, as it would 
 lengthen considerably the hours of work required. 
 The common lack of enterprise and the general 
 labor-slacking that would follow were men con- 
 demned to toil under Socialist politicians, without 
 even the power of striking to better their condi- 
 tion, would far exceed any similar evils existing 
 today when private enterprise is ever seeking to 
 promote production to the utmost, however far it 
 may fall short of its purpose. Socialist State 
 tyranny would not advance, but lessen the laborer's 
 wage and would end, as all its abortive efforts 
 have ended, in chaos and ruin. 
 
 For capital and labor alike there is truly re- 
 quired a new philosophy of life. The Church 
 alone can offer this in her doctrine and her prin- 
 ciples. It is with no slight satisfaction, therefore, 
 that we behold men returning again, even though
 
 DUTIES OF LABOR AND CAPITAL 103 
 
 unconsciously, to her views and teachings: " So- 
 cial reformers of every school," as Cardinal 
 Bourne rightly says, " are turning more and more 
 to Catholic tradition; and even in the aspirations 
 and demands of extremists we may often discern 
 that belief in the value of human personality, that 
 insistence upon human rights, that sense of human 
 brotherhood, and that enthusiasm for liberty which 
 are marked features of Catholic social doctrine." 
 
 Her liberty is not license, but insists upon duties 
 as well as rights, and her brotherhood is all inclu- 
 sive, embracing both capital and labor, employer 
 and employed' in one bond of Christian charity. 
 
 " It is no easy matter," wrote Pope Leo XIII, 
 " to define the relative rights and mutual duties of 
 the rich and of the poor, of Capital and of Labor. 
 And the danger lies in this, that crafty agitators 
 are intent on making use of these differences of 
 opinion to pervert men's judgments and to stir up 
 the people to revolt. 
 
 " But all agree, and there can be no question 
 whatever, that some remedy must be found, and 
 found quickly, for the misery and wretchedness 
 pressing so heavily and unjustly at this moment 
 on the vast majority of the working classes." 
 ("The Condition of Labor.")
 
 104 THE WORLD PROBLEM 
 
 Since these lines were penned great progress 
 had in many ways been made before the outbreak 
 of the Great War in promoting the interests of 
 labor; but much remained to be desired in the con- 
 ditions of large portions of our labor population, 
 especially of the women and children, for whom 
 Pope Leo pleaded with a special tenderness in the 
 words we have already quoted. Referring to the 
 laborer himself the Holy Father wrote: "The 
 first concern of all is to save the poor workers 
 from the cruelty of greedy speculators, who use 
 human beings as mere instruments for money- 
 making. It is neither just nor human so to grind 
 men down with excessive labor as to stupefy their 
 minds and wear out their bodies. Man's powers, 
 like his general nature, are limited, and beyond 
 these limits he cannot go. His strength is de- 
 veloped and increased by use and exercise, but 
 only on condition of due intermission and proper 
 rest. Daily labor, therefore, should be so regu- 
 lated as not to be protracted over longer hours 
 than strength admits." (Ibid.) 
 
 Again, however, there is the strongest contrast 
 between the doctrine of the Holy Father and the 
 agitation carried on by Socialism. The latter is 
 inspired by the spirit of strife and hatred and
 
 DUTIES OF LABOR AND CAPITAL 105 
 
 lives by kindling into flame the passions of men. 
 The very foundation upon which its entire system 
 rests is essentially pagan and in deadliest opposi- 
 tion to Christian principles. Pope Leo again 
 writes : 
 
 " The great mistake made in regard to the mat- 
 ter now under consideration is to take up with the 
 notion that class is naturally hostile to class, and 
 that the wealthy and the workingmen are intended 
 by nature to live in mutual conflict. So irrational 
 and so false is this view that the direct contrary 
 is the truth. Each needs the other; capital cannot 
 do without labor, nor labor without capital. 
 Mutual agreement results in pleasantness of life 
 and the beauty of good order; while perpetual con- 
 flict necessarily produces confusion and savage 
 barbarity. Now, in preventing such strife as this, 
 and in uprooting it, the efficacy of Christian in- 
 stitutions is marvelous and manifold. First of all, 
 there is no intermediary more powerful than re- 
 ligion, whereof the Church is the interpreter and 
 guardian, in drawing the rich and the poor to- 
 gether, by reminding each class of its duties to the 
 other, and especially of the obligations of justice." 
 (Ibid.) 
 
 Labor has, therefore, duties as well as rights,
 
 106 THE WORLD PROBLEM 
 
 and the Socialist tenet that the worker can never 
 be wrong is the merest rant of demagogy, which 
 all true Christian labor will indignantly resent. 
 It is the principle of Socialism to urge the worker 
 to continue in his warfare with the employer, no 
 matter what concessions may have already been 
 wrung from him, regardless of justice as of char- 
 ity, and even of natural prudence. These are but 
 the natural conclusions of the Socialist first prin- 
 ciple of the essential class struggle, making all 
 agreements between employer and employed noth- 
 ing more than a temporary truce in the course of a 
 battle which must be waged even to annihilation. 
 
 The institution of cooperative industrial enter- 
 prises on the part of labor, remaining purely vol- 
 untary, as advocated years ago by Bishop Ketteler, 
 is entirely different from the Socialist plan and 
 without injustice to any one. The real Socialist 
 revolution, on the other hand, as Marx foretold, 
 cannot come except in violence and blood, leaving 
 the country in desolation and destroying its re- 
 sources. Socialism has not been opposed to force 
 upon any other ground than that of expediency. 
 Very different is the doctrine of the Church as ex- 
 pressed by the Sovereign Pontiff :
 
 DUTIES OF LABOR AND CAPITAL 107 
 
 " Religion teaches the laboring man and the 
 artisan to carry out honestly and fairly all equit- 
 able agreements freely entered into; never to 
 injure the property nor to outrage the person of 
 an employer; never to resort to violence in defend- 
 ing their own cause, nor to engage in riot or dis- 
 order ; and to have nothing to do with men of evil 
 principles, who work upon the people with artful 
 promises, and excite foolish hopes which usually 
 end in useless regrets and the loss of all they 
 possess." (Ibid.) 
 
 No less clear and emphatic are the admonitions 
 addressed to the employing classes : 
 
 " Religion teaches the wealthy owner and the 
 employer that their work-people are not to be ac- 
 counted their slaves ; that in every man they must 
 respect his dignity and worth as a man and as a 
 Christian; that labor is not a thing to be ashamed 
 of, if we lend ear to right reason and to Christian 
 philosophy, but is an honorable calling, enabling a 
 man to sustain his life in a way upright and credit- 
 able ; and that it is shameful and inhuman to treat 
 men like chattels to make money by, or to look 
 upon them merely as so much muscle or physical 
 power.
 
 IO8 THE WORLD PROBLEM 
 
 " Furthermore, the employer must never tax his 
 
 work-people beyond their strength, or employ them 
 
 i 
 
 in work unsuited to their sex or age. 
 
 " His great and principal duty is to give every 
 one a fair wage. Doubtless before deciding 
 whether wages are adequate many things have to 
 be considered; but wealthy owners and all masters 
 of labor should be mindful of this, that to exercise 
 pressure upon the indigent and the destitute for 
 the sake of gain, and to gather one's profits out of 
 the need of another, is condemned by all laws, 
 human and divine. To defraud any one of wages 
 that are his due is a crime which cries to the 
 avenging anger of Heaven. ' Behold, the hire 
 of the laborers . . . which by fraud hath been 
 kept back by you, crieth aloud; and the cry of them 
 hath entered into the ears of the Lord of 
 Sabaoth.' " (Ibid.) 
 
 The developments of the future no man can 
 foretell. But one fact is certain. There will be 
 no peace until a more adequate distribution of 
 ownership can be made. This, as we constantly 
 repeat, is the key to the situation, and upon this 
 Pope Leo has insisted in dealing with the question 
 of the ownership of land. The laborer should not 
 merely live from hand to mouth, but so far as pos-
 
 DUTIES OF LABOR AND CAPITAL 
 
 sible, should have capital of his own from which 
 he can draw his interest or dividend. 
 
 But even then it will be an illusion to hope for a 
 final settlement and a mutual understanding and 
 good will between all classes except through the in- 
 fluence of religion, the influence of that Church 
 which has withstood the tempests, political, eco- 
 nomic and military, of twenty centuries. 
 
 The Church has conquered every obstacle, and 
 she who subdued the lascivious Greek and haughty 
 Roman, who converted the hordes of the northern 
 barbarians, and rolled back the tides of the 
 Moslem invasion, who entered under the tent of 
 the Iroquois and planted the cross in a thousand 
 wildernesses, will likewise be able to renew our 
 modern world in the spirit of Christ. " There is 
 only one answer to this question," were the words 
 of a great prelate. " If the Church is powerless 
 here, we must despair of ever arriving at a peace- 
 ful settlement of the social question." 
 
 But the Church is not powerless. Her religion 
 is not merely passive, as her enemies pretend. It 
 is an active, energizing faith, whose influence today 
 is most strongly felt even where it has not as yet 
 been expressed in direct social action. That the 
 time has come for her to enter more completely
 
 110 THE WORLD PROBLEM 
 
 into this field of social activity no one can for a 
 moment doubt. This she has already begun to do 
 in the heroic efforts made by many of her priests 
 and laity who are answering the call of the Su- 
 preme Pontiff to carry on her social apostolate 
 in the spirit of Christ. She has made modern 
 civilization, giving to it all that is best and noblest 
 in its possession today. She alone can remake it 
 after the model shown her upon the mount, now 
 that it has been so sadly defaced by capitalistic 
 greed and Socialistic hate. Armed with the 
 power of love and invested with the Divine Com- 
 mission from on high, she is sent to restore all 
 things in Christ.
 
 CHAPTER XI 
 
 STRIKES AND TRADE AGREEMENTS 
 
 ASKED before witnesses whether he thought 
 that ten dollars a week was enough for a 
 longshoreman, J. P. Morgan replied that 
 he believed it was, if that was all he could get and 
 took it. The principle here laid down is clear: 
 " Sufficient wages," as the New York Socialist Call 
 has briefly summed it up, " are all. that the work- 
 ing class can get." Radical capitalism applies this 
 principle at one end of the scale, and radical So- 
 cialism, with the same consistency, applies it at the 
 other. " If the formula is good for a longshore- 
 man, it is good for the entire labor class," writes 
 the Socialist organ. "All they can get! And 
 that is only limited by what they produce." 
 
 Here then is a clear and concise statement of a 
 radical principle to which neither Catholic capi- 
 talist nor Catholic laborer can ever subscribe. It 
 gives in a nutshell the entire kernel of the labor 
 
 in
 
 112 THE WORLD PROBLEM 
 
 and strike problems in as far as they have become 
 a menace to the world. 
 
 In the mind of the radical capitalist this prin- 
 ciple means that the laborer need be given no 
 higher wage or better conditions of work than 
 economic necessity, fear or prudence dictates: 
 " All he can get." In the mind of the radical 
 workingman it means that there is no limit to what 
 he may demand, short, perhaps, of killing the 
 goose that lays the golden eggs, though Socialism 
 would not hesitate at that. 
 
 The labor problem thus narrows down on both 
 sides to a question of superior force. Strike will 
 follow strike on the part of the laborer as long as 
 there is any hope of another penny to be gained by 
 him: " All he can get." Radical capitalism has 
 long ago set the example and what is sauce for the 
 goose is sauce for the gander. " This really great 
 man," the Socialist organ says ironically of J. P. 
 Morgan, " is of opinion that a wage worker is 
 justified in taking all he can get, and that, when he 
 takes it, it constitutes sufficient wages. And we 
 are decidedly of that same opinion also." 
 
 What happens to the common people is matter 
 of no concern either to liberalism or to Socialism. 
 The principle of radical capitalism is not merely to
 
 STRIKES AND TRADE AGREEMENTS I 13 
 
 keep its wages within the minimum of economic 
 expediency or necessity but likewise to raise its 
 prices to the maximum of economic expediency 
 or possibility. A sufficient profit for the radical 
 capitalist as well as a sufficient wage for the radi- 
 cal laborer is defined by the brief formula : " All 
 he can get." Public sentiment cannot entirely be 
 ignored, but that is included in the philosophy of 
 expediency, fundamental with both parties, though 
 often they may overleap their mark! Beyond 
 this, however, the public good is not consulted 
 either in amassing profits by watered stocks and 
 exorbitant prices or in screwing up wages by 
 strikes and intimidation. 
 
 It would be pessimistic and unwarranted to say 
 that the picture here given describes the entire sit- 
 uation. It is the writer's conviction, however, 
 that it accurately portrays those elements, on the 
 part of capitalism as well as of labor, which are 
 the real menace in the great social unrest of our 
 day. There are many degrees of radicalism, and 
 those who consider themselves safely removed 
 from either liberalism or Socialism are often more 
 or less deeply tinged with their unholy principles. 
 
 In contrast with the views of radicalism, the 
 Catholic social doctrine of Christian Democracy,
 
 114 THE WORLD PROBLEM 
 
 gives liberty without license to both capital and 
 labor and so, if adhered to, will remove at least 
 all unwarranted labor troubles, though it would 
 not necessarily abolish strikes altogether. They 
 were not unknown in the Middle Ages when the 
 labor problem had at length arisen with the grow- 
 ing complexities of civilization, and the journey- 
 men's gilds had sprung into existence. Many 
 such strikes were doubtless due to the violation of 
 Catholic principles by Catholic subjects, but it is 
 in nowise impossible that both parties to a strike 
 may have been fully justified, objectively as well 
 as subjectively. 
 
 A sufficient wage, according to the Catholic 
 ideal, as we have seen, is not " all a man can get," 
 provided he takes it; nor all a man can take, pro- 
 vided he gets it, as the Socialist version might 
 read; but a wage which can decently maintain the 
 laborer in frugal comfort, enabling him to sup- 
 port his family in as far as they rightly depend 
 upon his labors, and making it possible for him 
 to actualize the conception of a true Christian 
 home. 
 
 If with ten dollars a week a longshoreman can 
 realize this ideal, then ten dollars a week is suf- 
 ficient wage; if not, then ten dollars a week is
 
 STRIKES AND TRADE AGREEMENTS 115 
 
 insufficient, whether he takes it or not. There 
 may be conditions, it is true, making it impossible, 
 under circumstances, to pay this wage. To these 
 conditions labor and capital must then adapt them- 
 selves to the best of their power, according to the 
 law of Christian charity which bids us to do unto 
 others as we would have them do unto us. 
 
 But between the minimum wage, which the la- 
 borer will rightly seek to obtain even at the cost 
 of a strike, when other reasons are not in the 
 way, and the highly variable maximum of a just 
 wage to which he may aspire, there lie, we 
 admit, the possibilities of strikes that may be 
 fully justified on the part of labor, yet to which 
 capital is not in justice obliged to yield. The 
 laborer who is not defrauded of his hire may 
 demand a wage more in proportion with the value 
 of his labor or the value of his production. 
 
 Similarly he may seek a reasonable reduction 
 of working hours, though not actually employed 
 under oppressive conditions of labor. These de- 
 mands may not unjustly be enforced by him, pro- 
 vided that neither the rights of others nor the 
 demands of charity are violated; but in all cases 
 conciliation and arbitration are, so far as possible, 
 to be used. A strike should be the last resort.
 
 Il6 THE WORLD PROBLEM 
 
 Thus, by the sound ethics of Christian Democ- 
 racy, full justice is provided within the Church 
 for both labor and capital while ample liberty is 
 accorded to both, yet of neither is it simply true 
 that they may have " all they can get." The 
 adoption of this principle by capitalistic liberalism 
 no less than by Socialism is the main cause of 
 our vast social discontent and has girded the earth 
 with labor wars to which there is no end. " All 
 we can get " is the legend written alike upon the 
 banners of both these belligerent armies, and the 
 interests of neutrals are of no concern to them. 
 Godlessness is at the heart of all such demands, 
 godlessness which means anarchy in the moral 
 order, and this same anarchy is bound soon to 
 spread into the social and economic world as well. 
 
 But what if the interruption of work, brought 
 about by a strike, seriously interferes with the 
 public good as in the strikes of railroad employees 
 or of those entrusted with the necessary provision- 
 ing of a city? Clearly it is then the duty of the 
 State to do what lies in its power to avert the dis- 
 aster, for it has the obligation as well as the au- 
 thority to safeguard the common good. Indeed it 
 is the duty of the State in all circumstances to seek 
 to remove occasions that may lead to strikes. On
 
 STRIKES AND TRADE AGREEMENTS II? 
 
 this subject Pope Leo XIII wrote in his Encyclical 
 on " The Condition of Labor " : 
 
 When work-people have recourse to a strike, it is frequently 
 because the hours of labor are too long, or the work is too hard, 
 or because they consider their wages insufficient. The grave in- 
 convenience of this not uncommon occurrence should be obvi- 
 ated by public remedial measures; for such paralyzing of labor 
 not only affects the masters and their work-people alike, but it 
 is extremely injurious to trade and to the general interests of the 
 public. Moreover on such occasions violence and disorder are 
 generally not far distant, and thus it frequently happens that 
 the public peace is imperiled. The laws should forestall and 
 prevent such troubles from arising, they should lend their in- 
 fluence and authority to the removal in good time of the causes 
 which lead to conflicts between employers and employed. 
 
 The Church does not encourage strikes, but per- 
 mits them in a just cause when no other solution 
 can be found and justice and charity are duly pre- 
 served. Conciliation and arbitration are the 
 natural means to be suggested in their stead. 
 Boards for this purpose may be freely appointed 
 by capital and labor, or may be constituted of rep- 
 resentatives of capital, labor and the State. In 
 cases where the common welfare is seriously 
 threatened, moral coercion should at first be used, 
 and if this is unavailing legal coercion may become 
 a necessity. 
 
 The laborer's right to organize, and his right 
 to strike when circumstances justify such action,
 
 Il8 THE WORLD PROBLEM 
 
 and there is reasonable hope of success, are not 
 to be questioned. At the same time we must 
 remember that there are likewise undoubted rights 
 that belong to the public at large, and which 
 may not be wantonly infringed upon by either 
 capital or labor. Both parties, therefore, must 
 be given opportunities of obtaining justice with- 
 out imperiling the rights and lives of citizens. 
 Where these opportunities are not accepted by 
 either capital or labor, public necessity may de- 
 mand that legal action be taken to enforce a set- 
 tlement. Recourse to the barbaric method of 
 throttling and starving the public in order to ob- 
 tain a private end must be banished forever from 
 civilized and Christian life, and other methods of 
 securing impartial justice be applied. Yet justice 
 must be secured to the laborer with the same care 
 that the rights of property are safeguarded. 
 
 The authority ot the State is finally to be in- 
 voked to restrain all disturbers of the public peace. 
 Freedom of speech does not guarantee the right 
 of preaching sedition and revolution. Freedom 
 of the press does not signify the right of teaching 
 confiscation or inciting men to tumult and violence. 
 We must learn to distinguish between liberty and 
 license.
 
 STRIKES AND TRADE AGREEMENTS 119 
 
 The rights of all parties, therefore, must be 
 duly protected and defended by the State, without 
 discrimination of person. But where private 
 rights conflict with the common good, the latter 
 must be given precedence. Capital and labor, 
 if animated by the true spirit of Christian Democ- 
 racy, will of their own accord hold to this prin- 
 ciple, as did the gilds of the Ages of Faith. It 
 was the sign of their decline when they promoted 
 their own interests at the cost of the general wel- 
 fare or sought it at the price of injustice to any 
 man or even at the forfeit of that Christian charity 
 which alone can maintain the structure of society 
 in all its beauty and perfection. 
 
 A strong argument for the possibility of a 
 sound industrial peace is found in the almost uni- 
 versal favor with which the peace plans, estab- 
 lished at the instance of the United States Gov- 
 ernment between the representatives of capital, 
 labor and the public for the duration of the world 
 war, met on every hand. " No one, not fanati- 
 cally irreconcilable," said the Bricklayers', Masons' 
 and Plasterers' Journal, in commenting on the 
 work of the labor board, " can find fault with it. 
 Under its terms neither capital nor labor can 
 claim any advantage in the principles and policies
 
 120 THE WORLD PROBLEM 
 
 laid down by it." The existing standards of all 
 parties were protected: 
 
 " Although labor foregoes its right to strike, its right to organ- 
 ize and treat collectively is affirmed, and where union conditions 
 exist there is no modification of them. The right of all workers 
 to a wage insuring the subsistence of themselves and their fam- 
 ilies in health and reasonable comfort is declared, and there is 
 no sex-distinction as to wages. The public, the third great 
 party to the agreement, is assured of a maximum production 
 of all war necessities, both on the part of employers and em- 
 ployees, without artificial increase of cost." 
 
 The agreement did not imply the end of indus- 
 trial disputes, as the journal remarks; but it estab- 
 lished a means of at once progressing towards 
 their peaceful settlement through mediation. 
 Should such methods fail the agreement further 
 provided that the final decision was to be made by 
 an umpire chosen by lot from a list of ten names 
 selected by President Wilson. Why should not 
 similar methods be successful in time of peace to 
 the lasting exclusion of strikes and lockouts, to- 
 gether with all the bitterness they generate, the un- 
 happiness and misery they cause, the harm they 
 inflict upon production, and the suffering they bring 
 upon the innocent public? 
 
 That the possibility of a durable industrial peace 
 through similar means is no idle Utopian dream 
 can readily be demonstrated by the success of the
 
 STRIKES AND TRADE AGREEMENTS 121 
 
 voluntary arbitration plan in the stove-molding 
 industry. The trade-agreement drawn up in good 
 faith by the representatives of the union and of 
 the employers' Defense Association, during a 
 period of industrial conflict, was each year read- 
 justed in a joint conference of three union men and 
 three delegates of the employers' association. 
 The lasting peace thus established had continued 
 unbroken for more than twenty-five years at the 
 outbreak of the war. Why, then, could not simi- 
 lar plans be followed in all industries, not forget- 
 ting the interests of the general public? The 
 tendency towards trade-agreements is the new and 
 hopeful spirit in the labor movement. All the 
 best powers of Christian laborers and employers 
 should be devoted to its future development. 
 
 A new era of cooperation between the State, the 
 trade union and the employers' organizations is 
 opening. But we must not forget that religion 
 is no less indispensable in the relationship between 
 trade unions and employers' associations, than in 
 the dealings between individual employers and 
 workers. Nor can the intervention of any State 
 authority or works committee insure industrial 
 peace and the reign of justice and charity, in 
 which the interests of the public likewise will be
 
 122 THE WORLD PROBLEM 
 
 safely guarded, unless religion is the guiding prin- 
 ciple not merely of individuals but of trade unions 
 and employers' associations, and of the State it- 
 self, which seeks to hold the even balance of jus- 
 tice. Religion alone can surely bring about the 
 reign of universal brotherhood.
 
 CHAPTER XII 
 
 THE SYMPATHETIC STRIKE 
 
 MODERN labor troubles, when of un- 
 usual extension, have often brought 
 the sympathetic strike into prominence. 
 The term itself is sufficiently descriptive and 
 hardly calls for any definition. A sympathetic 
 strike is declared when laborers, without personal 
 cause against their employer, suspend work in ap- 
 proval and support of other workers who are 
 striking. The fact that no personal grievance 
 exists, naturally prompts us to ask in how far 
 such a strike can be justified. The answer can 
 best be given by means of a few practical illus- 
 trations. 
 
 A strike, we shall suppose, has been declared in 
 one of the various branches of labor controlled 
 by a single large firm. It is a strike waged in 
 self-defense against real and not against fancied 
 injustice on the part of the employers. The men 
 are needlessly overburdened, or they are compelled 
 
 123
 
 124 THE WORLD PROBLEM 
 
 to labor on the Lord's Day without strict neces- 
 sity, or they have arbitrarily been refused a wage 
 sufficient to support themselves and their families 
 as far as right reason demands. In this instance 
 there is no question of mere betterment of condi- 
 tions which are reasonably good, or of a farther 
 increase in wages that are already adequate, under 
 circumstances when both parties might be right in 
 maintaining their positions, the laborers in de- 
 manding a fuller, though not excessive, share in 
 the profits, and the employers in contenting them- 
 selves with fulfilling strict obligations. Such a 
 strike might be entirely justified. However, we 
 are not concerned with such conditions, but rather 
 with a strike in simple defense. The laborers, we 
 suppose, have tried all other means of redress in 
 vain, and industrial war has been declared as the 
 last resort, with reasonable hopes of success. 
 
 Clearly these men are deserving of all possible 
 support that can rightfully be given them. They 
 have failed to receive justice at the hands of their 
 employers, the State has equally failed to come 
 to their assistance or has been impotent to aid 
 them, nothing therefore remains but the weapon 
 of the strike. As the strike proceeds appeal is 
 made by the workmen to their fellow-laborers in
 
 THE SYMPATHETIC STRIKE 125 
 
 other departments of the same firm. Though 
 justly treated, these employees are not indifferent 
 to the struggle of their less fortunate fellows. 
 Representations are made by them to the firm, but 
 without effect, and a sympathetic strike is at last 
 declared against the common employers. Is the 
 strike justified? 
 
 No personal grievance is alleged by these latter 
 artisans, but their continuance at work would help 
 the firm to pursue its course of injustice towards 
 the oppressed section of employees. Clearly 
 there are no obligations arising from the nature of 
 the case to bind those who entered upon the sym- 
 pathetic strike to labor under the stated conditions. 
 Their interference on the side of their weaker 
 brethren is entirely reasonable and their sym- 
 pathetic strike is justified. The firm has equiva- 
 lently made itself the unjust aggressor by enslav- 
 ing a section of its men, forced by poverty to ac- 
 cept a contract which in itself is null and void, and 
 the sympathetic strikers have come to the rescue. 
 It is on this same principle that all righteous in- 
 terference in the cause of the oppressed is justified. 
 
 In the preceding case the sympathetic strike was 
 against the offending firm against which the orig- 
 inal strike had been declared. A new supposition
 
 126 THE WORLD PROBLEM 
 
 must now be made in which the oppressed workers 
 appeal for help, not to the men in different 
 branches of the same firm, but to laborers under 
 an entirely different employer. The latter has 
 been just to his men but is unintentionally assist- 
 ing the unjust firm in its oppressive methods 
 by continuing to extend his patronage to them 
 after the strike has been declared. Are his em- 
 ployees justified in declaring a sympathetic strike 
 against him, unless these business relations are 
 interrupted? 
 
 The answer is that ordinarily workmen are not 
 justified in such a course. They cannot oblige 
 their employer to discontinue his purchases, which 
 he finds suitable and advantageous, in order that 
 he may help to bring about the defeat of the un- 
 just firm. Yet circumstances can arise which may 
 make such a strike righteous. But it is impossible 
 to lay down one principle that would cover all cir- 
 cumstances. Each case must be investigated and 
 judged on its merits. 
 
 If justification can rarely be found for the lat- 
 ter form of the sympathetic strike, it will be far 
 more difficult to find it for the extreme case in 
 which a sympathetic strike is forced against em- 
 ployers who are in nowise connected with the un-
 
 THE SYMPATHETIC STRIKE 127 
 
 just firm. Such a course would inflict the greatest 
 loss and hardship upon entirely innocent em- 
 ployers who have no means of conciliating their 
 men since the latter are suffering no wrongs. The 
 unoffending public suffers equally with the em- 
 ployers and the strikers' families bear perhaps the 
 heaviest burden of the misery and woe entailed. 
 
 The harm thus inflicted upon countless helpless 
 and innocent sufferers is likely to be out of all pro- 
 portion to the good that can be gained. Nor may 
 we overlook the moral evils that are certain to 
 follow and the radicalism that runs riot on such 
 occasions and embitters the hearts of men for 
 years to come, and perhaps throughout a lifetime. 
 When such a strike is general, as in principle it 
 must always be to a greater or less extent, since 
 the reason of striking against one innocent em- 
 ployer holds good for all, we are then faced with 
 one of the most extreme issues that can develop 
 in labor conflicts. 
 
 It may be well to quote authorities upon this 
 subject. Dr. John A. Ryan, dealing with the 
 question in the various aspects considered here, 
 says of the general sympathetic strike : " While 
 we cannot be certain that a general strike is never 
 justified, we can safely say that there is against it
 
 128 THE WORLD PROBLEM 
 
 an overwhelming presumption." Father Henry 
 Koch, S.J., a leading economic authority in Ger- 
 many, expressed himself in even stronger terms, 
 though the strike he evidently has in mind is the 
 political and not the sympathetic strike. " Be- 
 cause of the great danger," he says, " which in a 
 general strike threatens the entire people as well 
 as the State itself, this form of strike appears to 
 be altogether objectionable from the standpoint of 
 morality." 
 
 If we recall with what deep concern Pope Leo 
 XIII spoke of the dangers attending even the or- 
 dinary strike, we shall not hurriedly justify so 
 terrible a state of internecine war as the general 
 strike, an industrial conflict destructive of the 
 spiritual no less than of the temporal welfare of 
 men. 
 
 The evil to be feared in a general strike is there- 
 fore beyond calculation and the good to be ob- 
 tained would have to be no less great in propor- 
 tion. Yet, nevertheless, many would doubtless 
 hesitate to say that a justification can never, under 
 any circumstances, be found for the general sym- 
 pathetic strike. Naturally, the less serious the 
 foreseen consequences, the less grave likewise
 
 THE SYMPATHETIC STRIKE 129 
 
 would be the objections against it, but these can 
 never be treated lightly. 
 
 The most menacing danger of our day is that 
 men do not weigh moral reasons, but only the 
 chances of success. To the liberalistic view suf- 
 ficiently common in the capitalism of our day, 
 correspond the deep strains of radicalism prom- 
 inent in the labor movement. The State must 
 therefore do what lies in its power to prevent the 
 calamity of a general strike by seeking to secure 
 justice for labor and capital alike. There is one 
 power which can bring order out of chaos, and 
 that is the Church. It is the duty of the State 
 therefore to cooperate to the best of its ability 
 with her efforts for mankind. Here is the true 
 solution of the difficulties that beset us.
 
 CHAPTER XIII 
 
 THE PROBLEM OF UNEMPLOYMENT 
 
 AS lack of laborers is one of the great 
 problems of war, so unemployment has 
 been the constantly recurring difficulty 
 in times of peace. Congresses, legislatures, and 
 popular conventions of every kind have been en- 
 gaged with it. Mass meetings, organized parades 
 and monster demonstrations have, from time to 
 time, given public expression to the dissatisfaction 
 of the multitudes of the unemployed. Neither 
 have revolutionists failed to avail themselves of 
 the opportunities thus offered to arouse still further 
 discontent. But deepest of all, perhaps, was the 
 distress of those who bore their misery in silence. 
 The problem of unemployment is not to be 
 solved in a day. Nor can it be met by the simple 
 erection of labor bureaus, municipal or otherwise. 
 It has been amply studied and discussed in Europe 
 for decades of years and still remains a " prob- 
 
 130
 
 THE PROBLEM OF UNEMPLOYMENT 
 
 lem." The most varied measures of relief and 
 prevention have long been tried in Belgium, Ger- 
 many, Great Britain, France, Norway, Denmark, 
 Switzerland, Austria, Hungary, Holland, Sweden, 
 and other lands. 
 
 Before attempting a solution it is necessary to 
 distinguish carefully between the various classes 
 of the unemployed. The confusion existing in 
 much of our literature upon this subject is largely 
 due to a neglect of this precaution. There are in 
 the first place the old, infirm or defective, who, 
 though perhaps seeking work to avoid public char- 
 ity or to ward off starvation, should be separately 
 classed and separately provided for. There are, 
 secondly, the professional vagrants, who must be 
 forced to work by public authority, if this be neces- 
 sary for the common good. There are next the 
 revolutionary agitators who shirk all labor by pro- 
 claiming that they will accept it only upon their 
 own terms or else proclaim war upon society. 
 Farm labor or snow shoveling, the I. W. W. 
 church-stormers of New York declared, were be- 
 neath their dignity at any wage. They would 
 fight for their bread rather than earn it in such 
 wise. Municipal relief they equally refused 
 to accept. This class can be of interest only to
 
 I3 2 THE WORLD PROBLEM 
 
 the criminologist and the police. The economist 
 is not concerned with them. 
 
 There are, finally, those who are able and will- 
 ing to accept work, but seek for it in vain. Their 
 number is often very great and their misery ex- 
 treme. With them alone we are concerned. 
 Statistics can be obtained only with the greatest 
 difficulty. Even in Germany before the war, with 
 all its systematic precision in such matters, unem- 
 ployment statistics were still so imperfect that no 
 safe deductions could be made. The condition 
 of the skilled craftsmen, who are best organized 
 and best salaried, is easily learned; but it is not 
 so easy to learn the needs of the vast and con- 
 stantly shifting army of unskilled laborers. 
 
 The first and apparently most obvious solution 
 of the problem of unemployment is that of public 
 relief work. The theory regarding it has seldom 
 been more perfectly developed than by Dr. Treub, 
 Dutch Minister of Industry and Commerce, in his 
 report to the First International Unemployment 
 Congress, held at Ghent, in September, 1913. 
 We give the summary of his recommendations: 
 
 1. That public bodies should as far as possible defer their 
 undertakings to slack seasons or years of depression. 
 
 2. That reserve funds be maintained for this purpose.
 
 THE PROBLEM OF UNEMPLOYMENT 133 
 
 3. That permanent commissions be created in every State to 
 study economic crises and to advise public bodies as to the 
 probable recurrence of dull seasons. 
 
 4. That public bodies undertake more frequently than is now 
 the case, the draining of marshes, the reclamation of desert 
 lands, afforestation, the improvement of roads, etc., with a view 
 to furnishing employment that might carry the unemployed 
 through periods of depression. (Survey, Feb. 28, 1914.) 
 
 The plan thus presented in its most feasible 
 form has much to recommend it. Nevertheless, 
 the entire system of relief work was greatly dis- 
 credited in certain circles, owing to the failure of 
 the Public Works Act in England. The argu- 
 ments against it, as drawn from the English ex- 
 periment, were thus urged by the English dele- 
 gates to the same congress : 
 
 Their experience under the Public Works Act, they said in 
 substance, had been most discouraging. The opening of arti- 
 ficial relief works had been very costly to the public and has 
 actually increased the number of the unemployed. Public of- 
 ficials had been prone to curry popular favor by starting such 
 enterprises, and men were attracted from legitimate employ- 
 ment, such as agriculture, for example, and congregated in these 
 demoralizing centers. (Ibid.) 
 
 These objections deserve careful consideration. 
 They must not, however, be taken as a final 
 condemnation of the entire system in every re- 
 spect. " Not in a day," writes the Outlook, " can 
 the problem be solved that Pericles tried to meet 
 in Athens of old by the plan of public works
 
 134 THE WORLD PROBLEM 
 
 that ancient plan that has failed down the cen- 
 turies whenever tried." Such a condemnation is 
 too sweeping. The Dutch and Belgian delegates 
 wisely pleaded for patience. The system of re- 
 lief works alone is not sufficient. But it may be 
 of service in conjunction with other methods, pro- 
 vided it is applied prudently. At all events the 
 final word has not yet been spoken. 
 
 A somewhat similar plan was favorably re- 
 ceived by the Third German Christian Working- 
 men's Congress.. They, moreover, stressed in 
 this connection the duty of employers' organiza- 
 tions and federations to do everything in their 
 power to give greater steadiness to the labor 
 market. This last idea was, likewise, vaguely 
 contained in the recommendations drawn up by 
 our own National Cooper Union Conference. It 
 sought in particular to direct public attention and 
 action towards " Regularization of industry 
 seasonal industries, dovetailing of industries, ad- 
 justment of large contracts to run long periods, 
 casual labor, civil service methods." 
 
 The great danger in public relief work is the 
 injection of politics. This last reason may like- 
 wise account for the high wages which are often 
 paid and which consequently withdraw men from
 
 THE PROBLEM OF UNEMPLOYMENT 135 
 
 regular industries and seriously overcrowd a given 
 locality. An experiment recently made in our 
 own country so deluged the city which offered 
 work that a new and very serious problem pre- 
 sented itself. It was met by reducing wages on 
 the public works. We must be both kind and 
 prudent. Unfortunately the altruism required for 
 such an attitude often lies far beyond the horizon 
 of the local politician. 
 
 Besides the system of public relief works, two 
 other methods are to-day receiving the most care- 
 ful attention : the systems of labor bureaus and of 
 unemployment insurance. 
 
 Labor bureaus were conducted successfully in 
 the Middle Ages. In the fifteenth century they 
 received a scientific development when the modern 
 labor question first arose in a serious way, al- 
 though under conditions very different from the 
 present. With the passing away of the gilds and 
 the progress of the Reformation the public con- 
 science became heedless of the interests of the 
 constantly increasing population of wage-earners. 
 During recent years the system of labor exchanges 
 has been revived in various ways. 
 
 The danger of irresponsible agencies, without 
 any supervision, conducted for purely commercial
 
 136 THE WORLD PROBLEM 
 
 reasons, is evident even to the merest novice in 
 social science. Profit is naturally the sole rea- 
 son for their existence. They can be made the 
 means of exploitation and even lend themselves 
 to worse abuses. Immigrant girls have been cun- 
 ningly enticed into houses of evil fame under pre- 
 tense of obtaining a respectable position. Immi- 
 grants in general readily fall a prey, in this as 
 in other ways, to the harpies who lie in wait for 
 them to snatch away their meager savings. An 
 indiscriminate condemnation of private labor 
 bureaus and similar agencies is not intended here, 
 but the duty of vigilance should be brought home. 
 
 Free municipal and state employment ex- 
 changes, when not under political control, may 
 often be a great blessing. In this, as in other 
 things, however, the State should not take upon 
 itself more than is necessary. It should not at- 
 tempt to exercise a monopoly. Self-help is the first 
 principle to be insisted upon, in contradiction to 
 modern socialistic tendencies. Only where the 
 citizen cannot help himself must the State come to 
 his assistance. Even here the purpose should 
 wisely be " to help others to help themselves." 
 
 Free public labor bureaus can readily be abused 
 by being made a mere political machine. On the
 
 1HE PROBLEM OF UNEMPLOYMENT 137 
 
 other hand, they have failed at times because in- 
 sufficiently supplied with means. Properly con- 
 ducted they have the great advantage of procur- 
 ing labor for the men who stand most in need of 
 it, the penniless wage-workers. Free bureaus 
 under the auspices of charitable associations serve 
 the same useful purpose. Labor unions, on the 
 other hand, naturally restrict themselves to pro- 
 curing work for their own members. At all 
 events, we must not attribute to the State an ex- 
 clusive right in the question of unemployment. 
 
 Private institutions, however, are inadequate to 
 cope satisfactorily with the question of unemploy- 
 ment when it becomes nation-wide in times of 
 public distress. To handle intelligently this great 
 problem it is necessary to have a national survey 
 of the labor situation. Many desire to proceed 
 farther and nationalize the entire system of em- 
 ployment bureaus. The following was the recom- 
 mendation made by two prominent experts at the 
 First International Unemployment Congress: 
 
 That this method of preventing unemployment [i. e., by em- 
 ployment bureaus] be organized on a national scale, by towns 
 and provinces, so that employers needing laborers and workmen 
 out of employment might be brought together with the least pos- 
 sible waste of time and money; that men be assisted to move 
 to the neighborhoods where their labor was in demand.
 
 138 THE WORLD PROBLEM 
 
 As a somewhat free application of this principle 
 to American conditions the National Unemploy- 
 ment Conference passed the resolution of utiliz- 
 ing for this purpose the Federal Department of 
 Labor. 
 
 Resolved, That this Conference urge the establishment in the 
 Federal Department of Labor of a Bureau of Distribution, with 
 power to establish employment exchanges throughout the country 
 to supplement the work now being done by State and municipal 
 bureaus, to act as a clearing house of information and further 
 the distribution of labor throughout the country; when such dis- 
 tribution will not make for the deterioration of the present stand- 
 ards of wages, conditions, and hours of employment of Amer- 
 ican workers, or the impairment of their efforts to improve them. 
 
 These recommendations and resolutions indi- 
 cate at least the modern trend of thought. Evi- 
 dently there may be danger of exaggeration and 
 unnecessary accumulation of national expenses in 
 such movements, yet an intelligent cooperation of 
 the national labor department with the State, 
 municipal, and private bureaus is in itself highly 
 desirable. 
 
 The need of national bureaus of information 
 in the harbor cities in order wisely to direct the 
 vast numbers of immigrants streaming through 
 our gates seems to be especially urgent. An ex- 
 ceedingly great proportion of these new arrivals 
 come to America from the farmlands of Europe.
 
 THE PROBLEM OF UNEMPLOYMENT 139 
 
 Instead of spreading over the broad areas of 
 arable soil, which the country has to offer, they 
 huddle together in the large cities. Thus, whereas 
 they might bring with them a blessing to civiliza- 
 tion, they often become a burden, and at times 
 even a curse. This is especially true when they 
 fall under the influence of radical agitators con- 
 stantly seeking to make of them the nucleus of 
 their projected revolution. The main object of 
 national information bureaus would be to aid in 
 distributing such immigrants most advantageously 
 over our great and often poorly cultivated farm- 
 lands. Their transportation will, of course, af- 
 ford a new problem. 
 
 The Catholic Church herself has a serious duty 
 here. It is necessary, as far as possible, to direct 
 these men to localities where the benefit of spir- 
 itual guidance and the blessing of the sacraments 
 may be accorded to them. This is particularly 
 the case where immigrants are directed to settle 
 upon the land. In such cases churches are often 
 rare. Yet unless some provision is made for 
 them they will be lost to the Faith in great num- 
 bers. This has been the bitter experience of the 
 past. Fortunately this, serious problem has not 
 been overlooked, and it is to be hoped that every
 
 I4<> THE WORLD PROBLEM 
 
 assistance will be given to the men engaged in 
 the important work of aiding Catholic farm immi- 
 grants to settle in localities provided with Catholic 
 churches. Protestant denominations are at times 
 exceedingly active among these foreign elements, 
 and even employ a corps of paid agents proficient 
 in many languages, so that direct guidance can be 
 given to every stranger in his own tongue. 
 
 Every immigrant who comes to our coast must 
 be numbered among the unemployed. It is evi- 
 dent, therefore, how in this problem, as in every 
 other, the question of religion cannot be disre- 
 garded. Even among native laborers there would 
 be great possibilities of abuses in this matter. 
 Therefore, the problem of a national system of 
 labor bureaus must likewise be viewed from its 
 religious side. 
 
 The following recommendations for labor dis- 
 tribution were drawn up by the United States in 
 the early period of the war : 
 
 For the purpose of mobilizing the labor supply, with a view 
 to its rapid and effective distribution, a permanent list of the 
 number of skilled and other workers available in different parts 
 of the nation shall be kept on file by the Department of Labor, 
 the information to be constantly furnished: (i) by the trade 
 unions, (2) by State employment bureaus and federal agencies 
 of like character, (3) by the managers and operators of in- 
 dustrial establishments throughout the country. These agencies
 
 THE PROBLEM OF UNEMPLOYMENT I4 1 
 
 should be given opportunity to aid in the distribution of labor, 
 as necessity demands. 
 
 The plan is conceived on a most comprehensive 
 scale, though there is no mention of the numerous 
 charitable agencies. Even more elaborate was 
 the plan for the mobilization of the unskilled 
 workers of the land, and their distribution through 
 the agencies centralized in the United States Em- 
 ployment Service. But the object in view here 
 was the supply of labor for war work. There 
 was question of a dearth and not of a surplus of 
 workers. 
 
 The supreme difficulty in the establishment of 
 public employment exchanges will present itself 
 during times of strike. Evidently such institu- 
 tions must be perfectly neutral, favoring neither 
 labor nor capital. Wherever a strike has been 
 declared employers will clamor for assistance, 
 while the unions will be inclined to demand that 
 it be refused. There is only one course open to 
 a free public labor bureau. It must declare the 
 existence of the strike, while at the same time ad- 
 vertising the fact of an open employment. Some 
 provisions, however, might be made to secure fair 
 treatment of labor as a condition of giving recog- 
 nition to any firm.
 
 142 THE WORLD PROBLEM 
 
 In spite, however, of all precautions and facili- 
 ties a certain amount of unemployment must often 
 occur. To prevent unnecessary hardship during 
 this time an unemployment insurance is widely 
 advocated. It exists at present to a limited ex- 
 tent in some of our own trade unions. In Europe 
 it has been adopted as a civic measure by various 
 communities. The city or government offers a 
 subvention and the remaining portion of the un- 
 employment fund is made up of regular contribu- 
 tions. Only such as faithfully pay their monthly 
 tax can enjoy the benefit of the unemployment 
 insurance. 
 
 In view of the various experiments already 
 made, the conclusion must be drawn that practi- 
 cally the only class of workingmen who avail them- 
 selves of this privilege are the members of labor 
 organizations. The unskilled and unorganized 
 laborer cannot be induced to contribute to such a 
 fund, unless the obligation is legally forced upon 
 him, and the money is actually deducted from his 
 wages. Those, therefore, enjoy the public liber- 
 ality who stand least in need of it. Exception, of 
 course, must be made for countries in which or- 
 ganization is very general. 
 
 It seems that unemployment insurance as a
 
 THE PROBLEM OF UNEMPLOYMENT 143 
 
 civic measure, if deemed advisable, cannot be in- 
 troduced except as a compulsory law. 
 
 The following is the view expressed by the 
 Archbishop of Melbourne, in dealing with the 
 important question of unemployment, as reported 
 in the Catholic Times for March 8, 1918: 
 
 To my mind, governments are bound to provide against un- 
 employment so far as they may, and then to provide for the un- 
 employed. It is very poor consolation to tell a man that when 
 employed he has a right to a living wage, if at the same time he 
 is starving for want of work. If, as Pope Leo says, the inherent 
 dignity of man's nature entitles him to a living wage when he 
 is at work, the same requirement of his nature should impera- 
 tively demand for him a decent sustenance when he is willing to 
 undertake, but, through no fault of his own, is unable to find, 
 work. If the right to work and the right to support during un- 
 employment were recognized, as I think they ought to be rec- 
 ognized, I promise you that governments and capitalists would 
 try to find work for all. I know that people will say that I 
 am playing fast and loose with property. Of course, I am put- 
 ting upon the State, and upon society, duties which they are 
 naturally reluctant to undertake. 
 
 He believes this to be a wider application of 
 the doctrine of the living wage as maintained by 
 Pope Leo XIII. As for those who stand aghast 
 at the financial difficulties of such a plan, he points 
 to the willingness with which untold millions 
 were contributed for the great European conflict. 
 " Heaven and earth would have been moved and 
 all the devices of Parliament exhausted before an
 
 144 THE WORLD PROBLEM 
 
 hundredth part of that expenditure would have 
 gone to improve the lot of the poor man who 
 labors for a living." Yet this surely is no less 
 a duty of democracy.
 
 CHAPTER XIV 
 
 IS THERE WORK FOR ALL? 
 
 THE constantly recurring evil of unem- 
 ployment naturally suggests the perti- 
 nent question, " Is it possible to provide 
 all men with opportunities for work?" Guided 
 by the light of faith we need not hesitate in giving 
 our answer. 
 
 God has imposed upon mankind the necessity 
 of labor. He consequently desires that in the 
 ordinary course of events all should have the pos- 
 sibility of fulfilling this obligation. A civilization 
 in which frequent unemployment on the part of a 
 multitude of men, able and willing to work, is a 
 normal condition, has failed to use its natural or 
 supernatural provisions. Probably both. 
 
 There is, furthermore, no contradiction be- 
 tween the Divine decree of labor and the primal 
 blessing given to mankind: " Increase and mul- 
 tiply." Faith and reason tell us this. God can- 
 not contradict Himself. The preaching of race 
 suicide by Socialists in the name of labor is but 
 
 145
 
 146 THE WORLD PROBLEM 
 
 another logical expression of their rebellion 
 against Divine as well as human laws. We must 
 add, however, that only when all the command- 
 ments of God and His Church are in force can 
 we be certain that His wise provisions for the hu- 
 man race will not be frustrated. Over-population 
 will not exhaust the earth and the fullness thereof. 
 
 Doubtless there exists the closest connection 
 even between the highest spiritual counsels and the 
 general economic welfare of humanity. No in- 
 tegral element, such for instance as religious voca- 
 tions, can be taken from God's plan of the world 
 without entailing serious consequences. 
 
 On the other hand, the added violations of 
 God's laws must constantly increase the general 
 chaos and those unnecessary miseries which are 
 attributable only to man's ill-ordered affections. 
 Suffering, of course, is never to be banished from 
 man's earthly existence. It is his greatest source 
 of supernatural merit. Temporary unemploy- 
 ment may, therefore, exist from time to time as 
 one of those sufferings to which man is heir in his 
 fallen state, as one of the means of penance and 
 sanctification. Such, however, is not the prob- 
 lem which confronts us so frequently in modern 
 civilization.
 
 IS THERE WORK FOR ALL? 147 
 
 Neither can this problem be solved by dimin- 
 ishing the work day to a fanciful minimum of 
 hours while increasing the wages in an inverse pro- 
 portion, and establishing the Socialist " right to 
 loaf." As the idle rich are a scandal, so the 
 idle poor, whether in voluntary or enforced un- 
 employment, are a disgrace to our civilization. 
 
 What, then, is wrong with the world? Much, 
 very much! Yet all may be summed up in one 
 word: estrangement from Christ and His Church. 
 If her teaching regarding the education and safe- 
 guarding of the child were duly observed; if 
 woman regained her natural place in society and 
 the household and the dignity which Christianity 
 conferred upon her; if the modern evils which 
 prevent or delay marriage, sever domestic ties and 
 destroy the sanctity of home, were swept away; 
 if just wages were paid to the workingman, to 
 the exclusion of all radical demands, so that every 
 father of a family could with honest thrift rea- 
 sonably support both wife and children; if, in fine, 
 a more fair distribution of profits were enforced, 
 then the first step had been taken towards the ul- 
 timate solution of the problem of unemployment. 
 In office, factory and shop countless positions 
 would at once be left vacant for men to fill, nor
 
 148 THE WORLD PROBLEM 
 
 would women be prevented from earning their 
 daily bread in their various and befitting occupa- 
 tions where not claimed by household duties and 
 the care of little ones. We clearly understand 
 the position of women in industry and commerce, 
 we fully realize the stern necessity which places 
 its compulsion upon them and we deeply sympa- 
 thize with all their difficulties. Only with the re- 
 turn of true and practical Christianity will woman 
 ever come into her own. 
 
 There was no little truth in the following indict- 
 ment of the capitalistic system as it developed af- 
 ter the Reformation. The words quoted are 
 taken from an issue of the Iternational Socialist 
 Review published shortly before the outbreak of 
 the war: 
 
 Every day we see homes being broken up all around us. The 
 homes of thousands of workers are broken up every day. 
 Fathers are forced to leave their families and go to distant 
 states to get a job; mothers are compelled to leave their babies 
 and earn money in factories or mills to support them. Little 
 children, who ought to be in school, have to go to work to keep 
 the wolf from the door. 
 
 Low wages, uncertain jobs and the profit system are breaking 
 up the homes of working people faster and faster every day. 
 (Oct., 1913.) 
 
 The solution to such a condition, wherever it 
 may exist, is not a new enslavement under Social-
 
 IS THERE WORK FOR ALL? 149 
 
 ism, but a system of Christian Democracy. Men 
 are not all to be leveled down to the same condi- 
 tion of misery, as would inevitably be the case un- 
 der a bureaucratic Socialist absolutism, paralyzing 
 the energy and initiative that come from private 
 enterprise. They should be lifted up instead to 
 the fullest participation possible in the possession 
 of productive property. The only reasonable aim 
 of society is a wider distribution, and not a destruc- 
 tion of private capital. Differences of wealth and 
 of classes are in conformity with the differences in 
 nature itself, but these do not militate against a 
 more equitable distribution of the goods of the 
 earth which God has created for all. 
 
 The country, too, must be restored to its 
 due honors, and just laws provided to secure for 
 the husbandman the fruits of his labor, if starva- 
 tion is not to be added to unemployment. All 
 these conditions may seem Utopian. Yet they are 
 no more Utopian than Christianity itself. They 
 are only its economic expression. 
 
 The fault, therefore, lies not with modern ma- 
 chinery or any other modern inventions. Neither 
 the disruption of the home nor want of labor is 
 due to these. They are merely factors calling 
 for social readjustments, such as have at various
 
 150 THE WORLD PROBLEM 
 
 times taken place in the past. With the influ- 
 ence of Catholic teaching paramount these read- 
 justments could again be successfully brought 
 about The morality of the home, the decree of 
 labor, the Divine benediction, " Increase and 
 multiply," are not for one period, but for all time. 
 No economic evolutions can ever alter them. 
 
 Justice and charity are compatible with every 
 stage of industrial progress. Were the Sunday 
 rest of the church observed religiously, were her 
 holidays of obligation in force as during the ages 
 of Faith, were the home preserved in its integrity 
 and not replaced to such an extent by factory and 
 shop, were senseless excesses and expenditures 
 avoided and the law of brotherhood and Chris- 
 tian solidarity obeyed in the spirit of her teaching, 
 there would be work and bread for all today. 
 Charity would supply in the love of Christ for 
 whatever might still be wanting in times of private 
 or public distress. There would be less display, 
 there would be fewer fortunes made, but the hap- 
 piness of the people would increase a thousand- 
 fold. There would be place neither for Liberal- 
 ism nor Socialism in such a world. 
 
 But we must take conditions as we find them.
 
 IS THERE WORK FOR ALL? 
 
 Ideal they can never be. Original sin is a fact 
 which the world may try to ignore, but whose con- 
 sequences it must always feel. As Christians 
 every social problem is of interest to us, and the 
 problem of unemployment not least of all. Our 
 Lord Himself, we may well suppose, had suffered 
 bitterly from it. 
 
 What Christian does not feel the gentle touch 
 of grateful pity when he contemplates the Flight 
 into Egypt? How the heart of Joseph sank as 
 with Mother and Child he hastened in the night, 
 through the silent moon-lit streets of Bethlehem, 
 at the angel's warning! He looked to God's 
 Providence alone to find a living for those most 
 dear to him. 
 
 But it was not in the ruling of that Providence 
 to remove the suffering which was to be so meri- 
 torious for him and in which Christ and Mary 
 were to have so large a part. We can picture him, 
 humbled and abashed, perhaps penniless and 
 breadless, as he asks for work in a pagan city from 
 people speaking an alien tongue. Yet there was 
 no pang of that royal, faithful heart in which 
 Christ and Mary did not bear their happy part. 
 They were winning even then the special graces of
 
 152 THE WORLD PROBLEM 
 
 patience and of sanctification for the multitudes 
 of the unemployed through all the ages who were 
 to suffer in union with them. 
 
 While therefore resignation to God's will is the 
 spirit of Christ, yet it does not free us from the 
 duty of relieving to the utmost in our power the 
 human miseries of the present life. But we may 
 not forget at the same time that only one final solu- 
 tion can ever be found. It is the same for all the 
 problems of our age. No purely material remedy 
 can cure its distempers. It is the soul which is 
 sick. Only the Divine Physician has power to heal 
 it. Only the Church can restore the beauty and 
 joy and peace and strength which have been lost 
 in spite of all material progress. More can be 
 accomplished by the pure preaching of the Gospel 
 than by all the wisdom of our social experts. The 
 Church does not repudiate their labors, she en- 
 courages her children to aid in this work to the 
 utmost of their power wherever it is conducted on 
 righteous and charitable principles. But she 
 would have us contribute more than mere material 
 assistance. The power of the word of God, of 
 penance, prayer and the sacraments must not be 
 forgotten as the foremost remedy for the evils of 
 every age. A Saint Francis of Assisi is of more
 
 IS THERE WORK FOR ALL? 153 
 
 avail for the true regeneration of mankind than 
 a host of sociologists, and a Carmel of Saint 
 Teresa than a hundred social institutes. The 
 world needs Christianity, and Christianity in its 
 fulness is Catholicism. 
 
 It is not to discredit social work, but to motive 
 it aright, that these lines have been written. By 
 our true, active, Christian interest in the poor and 
 afflicted of every kind we prove ourselves to be 
 followers of Christ. Yet we must not forget that 
 the poverty and sickness of soul in which our gen- 
 eration languishes is inexpressibly greater than 
 any merely material want or suffering. The 
 worst of all symptoms is that men are able to rec- 
 ognize only the physical malady. To cure this 
 blindness must be the first and greatest of all our 
 social work. "Rabboni, that I may see."
 
 CHAPTER XV 
 
 THE GREAT FARM PROBLEM 
 
 i HE one essential class of workers, as an 
 editorial writer in a New York daily re- 
 cently remarked, are the farmers. Civ- 
 ilization can exist without bankers, brokers, and 
 lawyers. It is even possible without minutely 
 specialized trades and organized schools. A civ- 
 ilization of no mean pretensions existed in the 
 early manorial days when each family-group pro- 
 duced all that it consumed, constructed the roof 
 under which it dwelled, and spun from the wool 
 of its flocks the garments that it wore. Even in 
 our own time all human subsistence, as Pope Leo 
 XIII wisely said, " is derived either from labor 
 on one's own land, or from some industry which is 
 paid for either in the produce of the land itself or 
 in that which is exchanged for what the land brings 
 forth." 
 
 Self-preservation, therefore, if no other reason, 
 should urge a nation to consider first and foremost 
 
 154
 
 THE GREAT FARM PROBLEM 155 
 
 the interest of its farming population. This be- 
 comes more imperative, the more a nation increases 
 in the development of its cities and the expansion 
 of its industries. We are all familiar with the 
 famous " Hooverism " that " Food will win the 
 war." 
 
 But the farming problem is far more than a 
 war question. It looms equally large in times of 
 peace. It is only the clatter of machinery, the 
 endless whir of the revolving wheels, the cry of 
 poverty and distress within the city streets and the 
 constant stirrings of social unrest that can cause 
 the city-bred economist to overlook the larger 
 issues to be worked out upon the land. 
 
 The class of small farmers is the strength and 
 support of the nation. Here we can still find that 
 economic independence of which industrialism has 
 deprived so large a proportion of the city popula- 
 tion. But to protect this class organized assist- 
 ance must be given and organized protection ex- 
 tended. Above all we must teach the farmers 
 themselves to organize if they would secure their 
 rights and have their interests duly consulted in 
 our legislatures. Nothing is truer than the state- 
 ment shrewdly made in a Hearst paper, that there 
 are just two things that operate decisively upon the
 
 156 THE WORLD PROBLEM 
 
 intelligence and the conduct of the average politi- 
 cian: " One is the secret whisper of the cunning 
 corporation agent. The other is the power of a 
 majority of the voters, massed in active organi- 
 zation, resolutely bent upon having their will 
 performed." 
 
 But organization of our farmers is equally neces- 
 sary for direct economic purposes. The invention 
 of machinery has made cooperation among farm- 
 ers imperative. " The factory type of estate will 
 dominate in agricultural production, unless signs 
 fail," was the forecast made by a writer in the 
 American Journal of Sociology. We should not 
 permit this to come about. The independence of 
 the small farmer must be preserved and can be 
 preserved. He is not to be absorbed into a sys- 
 tem which will reproduce upon the farm the con- 
 ditions existing in factory life. Yet there is but 
 one means to prevent such a catastrophe and 
 that is organization on the part of our farmers, 
 not merely to obtain that political representation 
 to which they are entitled, but likewise to enable 
 them to work cooperatively. It is thus alone that 
 they can avail themselves, equally with the large 
 capitalist, of the enormous and expensive agricul- 
 tural machinery with its time-saving and man-
 
 THE GREAT FARM PROBLEM 157 
 
 saving devices. Buying, stock-shipping, conduct- 
 ing of warehouses and elevators, and countless 
 other branches of business can then too be carried 
 on through independent farmers' unions. Coop- 
 eration through organization is the economic solu- 
 tion, if not of all, at least of many of our farming 
 problems. This question will again be treated 
 in the chapters on cooperation. 
 
 Attention, too, must be given to the farm-labor 
 problem. The story of a " farmhand " is told 
 who worked from dawn until night, completing his 
 chores by lantern light. At the end of the month 
 he came to the farmer : 
 
 " I'm going to quit," he said. " You promised 
 me a steady job." 
 
 "Well, haven't you one?" was the astonished 
 reply. 
 
 " No," came the answer. " There are some 
 three or four hours every night I haven't anything 
 to do except to fool away my time with sleeping." 
 
 Discussing this problem in the American Labor 
 Legislation Review, E. V. Wilcox, of the United 
 States Office of Farm Management, says that the 
 problem of farm labor is not a new one and has 
 always existed. The farmer complains of the 
 inefficiency of his laborer, and the latter no less
 
 158 THE WORLD PROBLEM 
 
 persistently blames the farmer for poor housing 
 conditions, poor food, and bad treatment. 
 
 The laborer has complained more bitterly perhaps of irregu- 
 larity in hours than of the length of the day's work on the farm. 
 He has also resented the fact that in many instances his social 
 status is wholly anomalous and indefinable, since he appears to 
 be neither a member of the family nor of any other recognized 
 status. In fact, he seems to feel that from the viewpoint of the 
 farmer he is neither flesh, fowl nor good red herring. 
 
 It is plainly necessary, Mr. Wilcox argues in 
 conclusion, that the two parties should strive to 
 reach an agreement with each other. " Each must 
 meet the other's reasonable requirements." 
 
 The need of providing for the interests of both 
 
 
 
 the farmer and the farm laborer is obvious to all. 
 " Back to the land! " was the warning cry of all 
 modern economists long before the outbreak of the 
 Great War. They could not fail to realize the 
 serious danger arising from the steady influx of 
 the country population into the towns. 
 
 In America a scarcity of food was seriously 
 brought home to the nation for the first time at the 
 outbreak of the Great War. It was due in no 
 slight measure to the almost criminal neglect of 
 the farming population of the States. Men had 
 been paying extravagant prices for farm products, 
 but too often little more than an infinitesimal por-
 
 THE GREAT FARM PROBLEM 159 
 
 tion of the profit had gone to the farmer. Dr. 
 Frederic C. Howe points out that the lettuce on 
 the table had sometimes cost 2,900 per cent, 
 of what the farmer received for it. This, of 
 course, though true, is an extreme example, yet 
 the fact remains, that the farmer has often re- 
 ceived the merest pittance for his labor, while his 
 produce was sold at enormous prices in the cities. 
 Others reaped the benefit, his was the toil and the 
 worry. 
 
 There were many causes which conspired to 
 bring about these results. One was the natural 
 tendency of the railways to favor the longer hauls. 
 Thus we are told of conditions that existed while 
 this railroad absolutism lasted: 
 
 Apples, which the farmers of New York are ready and eager 
 to sell for $2.50 a barrel, rotted on the ground fifty or a hundred 
 miles from the city, while carloads of Western apples are sold 
 at prices prohibitive to the poor. Peaches, pears and other 
 fruits find the city markets closed against them, while Florida, 
 Maryland and distant producers secure cars and buyers in 
 abundance. (Howe, "The High Cost of Living.") 
 
 While farmers were driven from their farms in 
 the East, the transportation agencies held the same 
 power of life or death over the more distant culti- 
 vators, not to mention the grievance of the con- 
 sumer and the intense suffering caused to the poor.
 
 160 THE WORLD PROBLEM 
 
 Favoritism likewise could be shown by side-track- 
 ing cars, or neglecting entire sections of farming 
 lands. 
 
 Many of these evils have been remedied, and all, 
 it would seem, could be set aside by an ideal Gov- 
 ernment control or even Government ownership 
 of the railroads. The danger, however, always 
 remains that such control and ownership may be 
 far from ideal. No one can question its wonder- 
 ful success in Germany before the war, nor its 
 absolute failure in other instances that might read- 
 ily be quoted. Yet Government supervision of 
 some kind there certainly must be. Simply to 
 leave the farmer to his fate is to leave the country 
 to destruction. 
 
 The writer previously quoted is probably not 
 far wrong when he attributes Germany's economic 
 strength during the war to her organization for 
 food distribution. Her railroads, as he says, 
 were operated to help industry and to build up 
 agriculture. " No one, least of all the railway 
 officials, would listen for a moment to the sugges- 
 tion that farm produce from Hamburg, on the 
 North Sea, should be brought to East Prussia 
 bejause it would benefit the railroads." One of
 
 THE GREAT FARM PROBLEM l6l 
 
 the main objects of the latter must be to benefit 
 both producer and consumer. 
 
 We have to some extent met the abuses of rail- 
 roads, storage combines, and middlemen which 
 threatened to make of farming, in some portions 
 of the country, an almost impossible means of 
 livelihood. Much still remains to be done in 
 these regards, but we must likewise offer positive 
 encouragement and assistance to the farmer if we 
 wish to consult not his advantage alone, but the 
 welfare of the entire community. Thus Denmark 
 and Australia have set an example by lending 
 money to him at reasonable rates. 
 
 Had America done this in the case of the great 
 immigrant population that has yearly entered her 
 ports, while not neglecting to secure for its farm 
 produce the proper transportation and distribution, 
 there would never have been a food scarcity to be 
 dreaded. Laudable efforts have been made in this 
 direction, but the States were very late to enter 
 upon the way of progress, while Reiffeisen banks 
 and excellent credit systems, so essential to agri- 
 cultural development, had been long ago estab- 
 lished in other countries. 
 
 The inadequate provision made for the farm-
 
 1 62 THE WORLD PROBLEM 
 
 ing population of the United States helped to 
 augment the yearly emigration of thousands of 
 them to the neighboring Canadian farm lands. 
 
 For a long time the fear of insufficient returns 
 from their labors deterred men from seeking to 
 make arable the untilled lands of the United 
 States. To remedy this condition within its own 
 territory the State of California set itself the task 
 of preparing a number of farms, erecting . the 
 necessary buildings and constructing upon each a 
 modest modern dwelling house. When completed 
 the entire estate was to be offered at cost price. 
 Nothing more was asked in cash payment than an 
 instalment of one-third of the outlay. The re- 
 maining two-thirds could be paid after twenty-five 
 and thirty-six years, respectively. 
 
 If, together with such opportunities, an adequate 
 credit system is developed, a deserving immigrant, 
 who has come to America from the farm lands 
 of Europe, endowed with skill, strength, and indus- 
 try, but without material means, can be offered a 
 pleasant and comfortable home. In place of add- 
 ing to the industrial confusion and swelling, it may 
 be, the ranks of malcontents and revolutionaries, 
 he will have a chance to become of the highest 
 service to the commonwealth.
 
 THE GREAT FARM PROBLEM 163 
 
 Few indeed realize how intimately the economic 
 questions of the day are connected with the Agra- 
 rian problem and fewer still understand the nature 
 of the tremendous issues at stake upon the land 
 itself. Not merely the loan shark, the middle- 
 man, the railway, and the capitalistic speculator 
 are to be taken into consideration, but the great 
 struggle between Socialism and Christianity is here 
 likewise persistently fought. Socialism in fact 
 has made concessions of every kind to gain the vote 
 of the farmer without whom it despairs of com- 
 passing its end. The interests of religion, above 
 all, are to be safeguarded here. A glance at 
 Pierre L'Ermite's novel, " The Mighty Friend " 
 will give us a closer insight into this question. 
 
 The agricultural problem in Europe naturally 
 presents certain phases that are not to be found in 
 America. Thus that intensity of affection for 
 every acre of inherited land which fills the hearts 
 of the inhabitants of the Old World is obviously 
 not to be looked for in the newer countries. It 
 requires the slow growth of centuries and the 
 static conditions of European ownership, such as 
 existed before the great world war, to bring about 
 the conditions described by Pierre L'Ermite, to 
 whom the soil is still a sacred trust, a thing " com-
 
 164 THE WORLD PROBLEM 
 
 pact of the dust, the remembrances and the toil 
 of our ancestors." It is thus nothing less than 
 " The Mighty Friend," who is loved with an af- 
 fection strong as life itself. 
 
 However different agricultural conditions in the 
 New World may be from those of rural Europe, 
 yet the physical and moral arguments in favor of 
 the land against the factory hold equally true to- 
 day for every country. The main object of Pierre 
 L'Ermite, in his novel, " The Mighty Friend," 
 was to combat the idea gaining ground everywhere, 
 that life on the land " no longer makes for great- 
 ness, whatever it may have done in the past." A 
 petty weakness of the farmer is to belittle the re- 
 sults of his work without seriously believing his 
 own words. The factory agents in Pierre L'Er- 
 mite's story cleverly fall in with this mood to coax 
 him from the land into the newly erected piles of 
 masonry, with their smoke-stacks already darken- 
 ing the sky, their waste polluting the stream, and 
 their noisome odors poisoning the pure country 
 air. 
 
 " After taking any amount of trouble with the 
 ground," they argue with the country folk, " the 
 ungrateful thing will do no more than give you, at 
 the end of the day's work, the hope of a harvest
 
 THE GREAT FARM PROBLEM 165 
 
 that perhaps will never materialize. You take 
 every precaution, you provide yourself with all 
 sorts of guarantees, and you choose your seed well, 
 but who can assure you that you are not going to 
 be frozen out, hailed out, scorched out, swamped 
 out? Now, the factory-hand hasn't any of these 
 worries. It does not matter to him what weather 
 it is. Every night of his life the white pieces are 
 clinking in his hand, full weight, three francs, four 
 francs, five francs, as the case may be, and some- 
 times up to six francs and more." 
 
 Similar thoughts suggest themselves to the 
 farmer of their own accord, particularly after a 
 failure in crops or other mishaps and difficulties. 
 The reverse of the picture is too frequently 
 ignored. 
 
 Graphically the author depicts for us, in con- 
 trast to the former happy country life, the familiar 
 abominations of a factory system such as that con- 
 ducted by the firm of his story, representing all the 
 worst vices of rationalistic capitalism. The ut- 
 most personal gain is the only object in view. The 
 dignity of labor is degraded and its value rated 
 beneath the very beasts of burden, whose loss or 
 disability implies at least a financial consideration 
 for their owner, while labor is plentiful upon the
 
 1 66 THE WORLD PROBLEM 
 
 market. Religion is utterly ignored, and immor- 
 ality and Socialism are consequently bred like mag- 
 gots in the social corruption of workshop and slum. 
 The murderous activity of the hired agitator, who 
 finds in such surroundings the ideal conditions for 
 his criminal purposes, is certain to follow. We 
 behold, too, in the story the smug intervention of 
 a professional syndicalist labor council whose 
 equivalent in the United States were the I. W. W. 
 
 between the men and their employers, and the 
 use of all those modern methods of agitation, 
 which we have already had sufficient opportunity 
 to study in Europe and America, and by which 
 thousands of men are lashed into senseless fury, 
 until they are finally goaded on to acts of destruc- 
 tion, violence, and bloodshed. 
 
 City life, with its sordid, malodorous quarters 
 where the poor are huddled together, its large de- 
 partment stores with their armies of anemic shop 
 girls, its bewildering wharves and stations, and its 
 sooty, grimy factories, is to the author's imagina- 
 tion little better than existence in a prison house. 
 A perceptible thrill of horror runs through his 
 frame as he recalls " some Satanic kitchen at work 
 
 gigantic furnaces, colossal steel engines and the 
 like, amid which ran to and fro certain murky or
 
 THE GREAT FARM PROBLEM 167 
 
 khaki-colored pigmies, who on second glance had 
 something human about them." Even the very 
 rows of urban dwellings, put up probably by the 
 factory owners themselves and seen through a 
 heavy dust-laden atmosphere, " reeking with the 
 mephitic stench of chemical products," cast a 
 gloom over his spirit, which we ourselves have un- 
 doubtedly often experienced: "Everywhere the 
 same gloomy tone of the same commercial brick- 
 work that looked as though it might have been 
 kneaded in the claypits from the very heart's blood 
 of all the world's tedium and wretchedness." 
 
 That factories are a necessity of our age no one 
 is likely to dispute. The very implements of a 
 progressive agriculture, upon which the author so 
 greatly insists, require them. Many, moreover, 
 f as he freely admits, are conducted on Christian, or 
 at least on humanitarian principles, which are often 
 found to be even economically the most satis- 
 factory. 
 
 Yet the truth is that even with the worst of 
 existing conditions men will flock from country 
 to city, so that economically all the danger is upon 
 one side. The temptations to evil, especially for 
 the young, whether boys or girls, in our modern 
 factories, are daily growing more appalling. No
 
 1 68 THE WORLD PROBLEM 
 
 matter, however, how disillusioned the poor 
 worker may be after a short experience in factory 
 life, there is little hope that he will ever return to 
 the land which he has left. His little farm has 
 been sold. His old ties have all been severed and 
 new habits have been formed. Even should he 
 still possess the means and the inclination to return, 
 his children are unaccustomed to the toil of the 
 fields, which they consider inferior, while the city 
 has securely meshed them about with its thousand 
 lures. 
 
 The country, too, it is true, is daily invaded by a 
 godless press, and Socialist agitation reaches into 
 every quiet nook and corner. The small land- 
 holder, the tenant farmer and the farm laborer 
 must alike be solicited if Socialism is to be success- 
 ful. We therefore behold a vast campaign, cun- 
 ningly planned and carried out, to flood every re- 
 motest country district with a poisonous literature, 
 which artfully combines exaggeration and skilful 
 sophistry with cleverly manipulated statistics or 
 deceptive conclusions drawn from a one-sided pre- 
 sentation of official investigations, while at the 
 same time attacking the Church, her clergy, and 
 the principles of Christianity. Nor is this the 
 only danger, for the vices of city life, or their
 
 THE GREAT FARM PROBLEM 169 
 
 equivalents, are often no less pronounced upon the 
 land. 
 
 It is necessary, therefore, for every influential 
 agriculturist, and for every pastor of souls, wher- 
 ever the country spire lifts up its cross above the 
 waving tree tops and the sound of the angelus 
 floats over the golden fields, to second the efficacy 
 of prayer and the Sacraments by the systematic 
 introduction of Catholic literature into every 
 home. A specific agrarian Catholic literature is 
 a need of our day, which we know has not been 
 entirely overlooked. Papers, moreover, with a 
 large agrarian subscription should be keen to 
 weed out all the errors, social, economic, and re- 
 ligious, which the enemy is sowing, while the right- 
 ful owner is perhaps fast asleep. If Catholic 
 literature does not reach the farmer, Socialistic and 
 other objectionable literature certainly will. 
 
 It is interesting, therefore, to note that Pierre 
 L'Ermite has not forgotten to record among the 
 resolutions of his Catholic country squire one which 
 is perhaps the most important of all : " I want to 
 have well-edited, up-to-date local papers, all 
 Catholic in tone, and all keenly devoted to agri- 
 cultural interests." How such papers can be 
 edited, with a central organ to which local addi-
 
 170 THE WORLD PROBLEM 
 
 tions can be made by local editors, Socialists have 
 taught us in their successful newspaper methods. 
 It was likewise by a capitalistic press, instantly 
 established, that the heartless factory owners in 
 Pierre L'Ermite's novel dominated popular opin- 
 ion among the farmers and sought to instil hatred 
 against the Church, which is always combated 
 alike by godless wealth and materialistic Socialism. 
 Another question of great moment in our own 
 country is the systematic direction of Catholic 
 immigrants into localities where spiritual ministra- 
 tion to them is possible, a work to which attention 
 has already been given. The scattering of Cath- 
 olic families throughout vast country districts, 
 where even Catholic fellowship is wanting, was re- 
 sponsible for many losses in the early history of the 
 Church in America. Nothing therefore could be 
 of greater importance than that we cooperate in 
 every way possible with our Catholic colonization 
 societies, which fortunately have taken in hand the 
 solution of this most vital question.
 
 C H AFTER XVI 
 
 CHURCH AND LABOR 
 ORGANIZATIONS 
 
 PARTICULAR stress is laid in the Papal 
 Encyclicals upon the benefit to be derived 
 from social organizations permeated with 
 the spirit of Christianity. In the Middle Ages, 
 when the power of the Church was universally ac- 
 knowledged, we find her everywhere encouraging 
 and developing the system of Catholic trade 
 unionism as it then existed in her gilds. Like an 
 immense network, they overspread the entire 
 Christian world. Each gild constituted, according 
 to the mind of the Church, one great family. 
 Spiritual as well as temporal benefits were sought 
 by the members during life, and masses were of- 
 fered for their souls after death. Apprentices, 
 journeymen and masters were still united by iden- 
 tical interests. Poverty, as it exists in our day, 
 was practically unknown. Though need and suf- 
 fering were never wanting, yet the great monas- 
 
 171
 
 172 THE WORLD PROBLEM 
 
 teries of the land were ever open to alleviate dis- 
 tress. Their wealth was ever the patrimony of 
 the poor. 
 
 In France, in England, in Germany, in Italy, 
 and wherever the Catholic Church flourished, 
 there likewise sprang up, like flowers from a single 
 seed, the same strongly organized Catholic gilds, 
 lasting unimpaired through centuries and securing 
 temporal and spiritual benefits for all. No mod- 
 ern reformer can suggest conditions superior to 
 those indicated in the statutes of the mining gilds 
 of Bohemia and Saxony. " Hygienic conditions 
 in the mines, ventilation of the pits, precautions 
 against accident, bathing houses, time of labor 
 (eight hours daily and sometimes less), supply of 
 the necessaries of life at fair prices, scale of wages, 
 care of the sick and disabled, etc., no detail 
 seems to have been lost sight of." (" Gilds," 
 Catholic Encyclopedia.) 
 
 Nor were the legitimate methods of trade 
 unionism questioned as in the post-Reformation 
 days. Thus the principle of the closed shop was 
 universally acknowledged. Unless a man was 
 willing to bear the burdens which trade organiza- 
 tion implied, and to abide by the just standards it 
 prescribed, he was not permitted to share in its
 
 CHURCH AND LABOR ORGANIZATIONS 1 73 
 
 privileges or even to practise the trade as a mas- 
 ter workman. To make this just it was neces- 
 sary, however, that no reasonable difficulty 
 should exist in gaining admission to a gild, and 
 that the trade union should be as careful of the 
 consumer as of its own membership. Such was 
 the attitude of the gilds, where in the first place a 
 moderate income was assured to everyone, and in 
 the second place the welfare of the consumer was 
 not one whit less jealously guarded by the estab- 
 lishment of fixed just prices and by securing for 
 him fair measure and perfect quality in all the 
 goods produced. 
 
 The policy of the closed shop, however, be- 
 comes immoral when admission into the union is 
 made difficult for non-members, so that all quali- 
 fied workers can no longer gain admittance on 
 reasonable terms. The same holds true when no 
 sufficient reason for this policy exists, as when the 
 inconvenience caused to non-unionists is out of 
 proportion to the good accomplished. 
 
 The training of apprentices, too, was most 
 strictly provided for by the gilds. When an op- 
 pressive limitation of apprentices was in many 
 instances at length introduced the gilds were al- 
 ready in their religious as well as economic de-
 
 174 THE WORLD PROBLEM 
 
 cline. Such a limitation clearly becomes unjust 
 when the policy is dictated by selfishness, so that 
 skilled workers are so few that they can command 
 abnormally high wages. This is an injustice to 
 the men excluded and to the consumer who must 
 bear the final inconvenience. No such abuse ex- 
 isted in the halcyon days of Catholicity when 
 apprentices received the most careful technical, 
 moral and religious training from their masters. 
 
 A new factor now appeared in the industrial 
 world. It was the Reformation. The effect of 
 the new individualism, transferred from religion 
 to economics, was highly disastrous, as has been 
 shown. It necessarily resulted in the concentra- 
 tion of enormous wealth in the hands of a few and 
 the general oppression and exploitation of the 
 many. 
 
 Upon the destruction of the monasteries, which 
 had always supported the suffering and the needy, 
 there followed also the deterioration of the craft 
 gilds, which had been the strength and protection 
 of labor and might in better times have suc- 
 cessfully met the changed conditions in the eco- 
 nomic order. But oppressive industrial legisla- 
 tions now succeeded one another, until stripped 
 of all his most precious rights and shackled in all
 
 CHURCH AND LABOR ORGANIZATIONS 175 
 
 his essential liberties, the worker was relentlessly 
 delivered over to the mercy of a rapacious em- 
 ployer, free to interpret the Gospel according to 
 his own preconceived and selfish notions. Labor 
 organizations came to be regarded as crime and 
 conspiracy. Authority in religion had been de- 
 stroyed wherever the new doctrines were accepted 
 so that no one was authorized to decide in matters 
 of justice and morality. This was the function 
 which Christ had given to His divinely-established 
 Church. In rejecting her it was obvious that eco- 
 nomic anarchy would likewise follow the anarchy 
 introduced into religion. 
 
 We are all familiar with the great material 
 changes which now took place in the world of in- 
 dustry. But the oppression of labor and the ex- 
 ploitation of helplessness and poverty such as de- 
 veloped after the time of the Reformation and 
 had been prepared for by previous religious indif- 
 ference, were not necessitated by the invention of 
 machinery and the subsequent industrial expansion. 
 They were due to the rejection of the morality 
 of the Church and the consequently economic in- 
 dividualism, together with the enforcement of 
 individual bargaining. 
 
 It is therefore no exaggeration to say that the
 
 176 THE WORLD PROBLEM 
 
 present strained condition between capital and 
 labor, which Socialism is striving to aggravate, is 
 merely the result of the apostasy from the Church, 
 and with it of the loss of all religious authority, 
 of all certainty in faith, of all sure and safe guid- 
 ance in the path of morality and of all that strength 
 of the Sacraments so sadly needed to support both 
 capital and labor in their temptations to selfishness 
 and greed. Only in proportion, as men shall once 
 more acknowledge those great truths and princi- 
 ples which the Church has sacredly guarded 
 through all the centuries can any lasting solution 
 of the labor problem be possible. Without this 
 precaution organized labor itself will but degen- 
 erate into a tyranny of godlessness to replace the 
 old despotism of individualistic capital. For one 
 evil spirit that is driven out seven others will re- 
 turn, and the latter state of society will be worse 
 than the former. 
 
 Socialism, or its revolutionary principles where 
 Socialism itself is not adopted, can have no other 
 outcome. Professedly it takes no account of re- 
 ligion; in practice it has upon every opportunity 
 and in every country shown itself a bitter opponent 
 of Christianity. Its most famous leaders were 
 not merely atheistic, as individuals of any party
 
 CHURCH AND LABOR ORGANIZATIONS 177 
 
 may be, but many openly held that Socialism itself 
 is incompatible with Christianity. 
 
 Socialism, in a word, has been the disorganizing 
 force in labor unionism. It prevented the hearty 
 cooperation of all labor elements within the same 
 trade unions, by insisting upon principles and 
 methods to which Christian laborers could not 
 subscribe, and by seeking to spread among them 
 an irreligious and immoral literature. Hence the 
 necessity, before the war, of founding everywhere 
 throughout Europe the splendidly organized 
 Christian or Catholic trade unions. Such unions 
 might, under normal circumstances, likewise have 
 been founded, but could then have become an in- 
 tegral part of the local trade union movement, 
 giving only the greater assistance because of their 
 staunch adherence to Catholic training and Cath- 
 olic principles. Every effort was made by Social- 
 ists to slander these unions, so that entirely false 
 reports were spread in their regard. 
 
 The condition to which a vast proportion of the 
 labor organizations in Europe was reduced 
 through Socialistic influence is thus described by 
 Pope Leo : 
 
 Associations of every kind, and especially those of workingmen, 
 are now far more common than heretofore. As regards many of 
 these there is no need at present to inquire whence they spring,
 
 178 4 . THE WORLD PROBLEM 
 
 what are their objects, or what the means they employ. There 
 is a good deal of evidence, however, which goes to prove that 
 many of these societies are in the hands of secret leaders, and 
 are managed on principles ill-according with Christianity and 
 the public well-being; and that they do their utmost to get within 
 their grasp the whole field of labor, and force workingmcn 
 either to join them or to starve. Under these circumstances Chris- 
 tian workingmen must do one of two things: either join associa- 
 tions in which their religion will be exposed to peril, or form as- 
 sociations among themselves unite their forces and shake off 
 courageously the yoke of so unrighteous and intolerable an op- 
 pression. No one who does not wish to expose man's chief good 
 to extreme risk will for a moment hesitate to say that the second 
 alternative should by all means be adopted. (" The Condition 
 of Labor.") 
 
 Labor organizations based upon the teaching 
 of Christ, founded upon the universal Brotherhood 
 of man and Fatherhood of God, repudiating all 
 doctrine of hatred and class antagonism, whether 
 in principle or practice, standing for equal justice 
 for employer and employed, have ever found in 
 the Church their foremost champion. 
 
 It was the Church which in her earliest period 
 emancipated labor from the servile condition to 
 which paganism had reduced it. It was the 
 Church which in the age of the great Fathers and 
 Doctors used in labor's defense language so strong 
 and emphatic that one who has studied their writ- 
 ings in disconnected passages and apart from their 
 historic setting, might imagine that he can find in
 
 CHURCH AND LABOR ORGANIZATIONS 179 
 
 them a warrant for revolutionary doctrine. The 
 revolution which the Fathers preached and which 
 the Church insists upon is the revolution of the 
 heart. If this takes place there will be no need 
 of any other; but if this is not carried out all others 
 will be vain. 
 
 Today the Catholic Church strongly encourages 
 all labor organizations whose principles are in ac- 
 cordance with the Gospel of Christ. Catholic 
 laborers in particular are exhorted to stand by 
 each other. We cannot, furthermore, too heart- 
 ily endorse the movement on foot to establish 
 Catholic social study centers in every city. These 
 may be erected in various convenient localities so 
 as to embrace every parish of the city. Speakers 
 can then pass in rotation from one center to the 
 other, as was planned in Toledo. We must act 
 in a corporate manner, not as politicians after So- 
 cialist methods, but as Christians safeguarding our 
 own brethren from destruction. We mean to 
 cause no faction in the labor camp, as Socialism 
 was doing, but to help all truly Christian and re- 
 ligious labor activities. Organization for the 
 laborer is a necessity of our times, but it must not 
 be permitted to overleap the bounds of justice and 
 of charity. Here is the danger in our day.
 
 180 THE WORLD PROBLEM 
 
 Over against the immense concentration of 
 capital, organized on the scale of a continent, as 
 it has well been said, have arisen labor organiza- 
 tions developed on the same gigantic plans and 
 equally portentous. " It is quite as possible," 
 remarked Dr. Gladden in an address delivered to 
 Protestant theological students, " for labor organ- 
 izations as for organizations of capital to become 
 ' drunk with power,' and to push their claims and 
 demands beyond all the limits of reason and jus- 
 tice." This is only too true, and we are express- 
 ing no antagonism to labor unionism when we 
 earnestly warn it against these dangers. 
 
 The principles which must guide trade unionists 
 in the matter of strikes and trade agreements we 
 have already sufficiently explained. A special 
 chapter has been devoted to the sympathetic 
 strike. An additional word must here be said 
 concerning that other weapon at times used by 
 trade unionists, the boycott. 
 
 The primary boycott, directed against the of- 
 fending employer, is not unjust if there is question 
 of a serious injustice against the laborers and no 
 gentler method will prove effective. This is ob- 
 vious since there is then question of just self- 
 defense. The secondary boycott, which is directed
 
 CHURCH AND LABOR ORGANIZATIONS l8l 
 
 against an " innocent third party " for refusing to 
 assist the primary boycott, is similar in nature to 
 the sympathetic strike. It is obvious, therefore, 
 that the secondary boycott must in general be con- 
 sidered immoral and can be permitted in extreme 
 cases only. The frequency of abuses in the use 
 of this weapon have induced many to wish for its 
 legal prohibition. It usually, moreover, demands 
 sacrifices from the " innocent third party " which 
 are out of proportion to the claims the boycotters 
 may have to his support. Yet it may be justified 
 where there is question of securing more human 
 conditions for sweated labor. In no boycott may 
 the ordinary signs of chanty be discontinued 
 which the law of God requires. 
 
 As regards the practice of picketing during 
 strikes, no objection can be taken so long as physi- 
 cal violence is not implied or threatened, and only 
 reasonable methods of moral persuasion are ap- 
 plied. In all these cases abuses, as we all know, 
 have been frequent, and no one should more 
 strongly censure and oppose them than the trade 
 unionists themselves. 
 
 We must always remember that in encouraging 
 labor unions Pope Leo XIII had in mind the truly 
 Catholic associations and under no circumstances
 
 1 82 THE WORLD PROBLEM 
 
 Socialistic or radical unions which ignore those 
 sound Christian principles that alone can save so- 
 ciety, dignify labor, and glorify God, for whom 
 alone labor and capital and society exist. Listen 
 to Pope Leo's description of the ideal union : 
 
 We may lay it down as a general and lasting law that work- 
 ingmen's associations should be so organized and governed as to 
 furnish the best and most suitable means for attaining what is 
 aimed at, that is to say, for helping each individual member to 
 better hi condition to the utmost in body, mind and property. 
 It is clear that they must pay special and chief attention to the 
 duties of religion and morality, and that their internal discipline 
 must be guided very strictly by these weighty considerations; 
 otherwise they would lose wholly their special character and end 
 by becoming little better than those societies which take no ac- 
 count whatever of Religion. 
 
 What advantage can it be to a workingman to obtain by means 
 of a society all that he requires and to endanger his soul for 
 lack of spiritual food ? " What doth it profit a man if he gain 
 the whole world and suffer the loss of his own soul ? " This, 
 as Our Lord teaches, is the mark of character that distinguishes 
 the Christian from the heathen. " After all these things do the 
 heathens seek. . . . Seek ye first the kingdom of God and His 
 justice, and all these things shall be added unto you." 
 
 Let our associations, then, look first and before all things to 
 God ; let religious instruction have therein the foremost place, 
 each one being carefully taught what is his duty to God, what 
 he has to believe, what to hope for, and how he is to work out 
 his salvation ; and let all be warned and strengthened with spe- 
 cial care against wrong principles and false teaching. Let the 
 workingman be urged and led to the worship of God, to the 
 earnest practice of religion, and, among other things, to the keep- 
 ing holy of Sundays and holydays. Let him learn to reverence 
 and love Holy Church, the common Mother of us all ; and hence 
 to obey the precepts of the Church and to frequent the Sacra- 
 ments, since they are the means ordained by God for obtaining
 
 CHURCH AND LABOR ORGANIZATIONS 183 
 
 forgiveness of sin and for leading a holy life. ("The Condition 
 of Labor.") 
 
 If in some countries such organizations cannot 
 now be established, the non-Catholic unions, ac- 
 cording to the spirit of the directions given by 
 Pope Pius X, are at least to be supplemented by 
 special organizations which will afford the laborer 
 all that spiritual guidance, Sacramental strength 
 and religious insight into the social question that 
 may enable him on all occasions to champion the 
 cause of charity and justice and to promote true 
 Christian principles wherever the interests of labor 
 are concerned. Secular unions to which Catholics 
 belong should be preserved by them from all theo- 
 ries and practices in contradiction to the teachings 
 of the Gospel of Christ and of His Holy Church. 
 When the labor unions of a country become Social- 
 istic it is obvious that Catholics must form their 
 own independent labor organizations. Justice, 
 charity and the welfare of immortal souls require 
 this wherever it is possible. 
 
 The principle of the Church in her insistence 
 upon the right and utility of labor organizations 
 is daily more fully recognized. The period of 
 individual bargaining is rapidly approaching its 
 end. The laissez-faire attitude towards labor
 
 184 THE WORLD PROBLEM 
 
 problems, which followed upon the Reformation 
 and was all in favor of the economically stronger 
 employer, is fast passing into the limbo of forgot- 
 ten things. Catholics will evidently have a most 
 important part to play in the future development 
 of labor organization and cannot prepare them- 
 selves for it too faithfully, carefully and consci- 
 entiously.
 
 CHAPTER XVII 
 
 SOCIAL LEGISLATION 
 
 IT'S coming yet, for a' that," Burns sang in a 
 fine elation of triumphant optimism, " That 
 man to man, the warld o'er, shall brothers 
 be for a' that! " To make this possible, religion 
 must doubtless be the prime influence in the lives 
 of men. Without it there can never be any true 
 brotherhood of man. But after religion itself, 
 and prompted and directed by it, the most po- 
 tent means at our command is intelligent social 
 legislation. 
 
 Brotherhood is the thought uppermost in the 
 minds of all today. It has never been fully real- 
 ized in any epoch of modern history except among 
 the early Christian communities and in certain 
 periods of the Ages of Faith. We cannot hope to 
 restore it again except by the reunion of all men in 
 the one true Fold of Christ. So will all mankind 
 be one in Him. But while our best efforts should 
 be given to bringing about this happy consumma- 
 
 185
 
 1 86 THE WORLD PROBLEM 
 
 tion, we may not pause in our social labors while 
 we are striving to attain that supreme end. The 
 immediate remedy, ready at hand, is social legis- 
 lation animated by the spirit of Christ and of His 
 Church. For such legislation we shall find the 
 entire world receptive. 
 
 No social legislation can ever be final. Eco- 
 nomic conditions are in a constant state of fluctua- 
 tion, and periods of tranquility are followed by 
 renewed contests of conflicting interests. There 
 have been centuries of comparative rest, when so- 
 cial adjustments had been satisfactorily established 
 by law and the status of industry and commerce 
 changed but slightly. Such occurred in the Mid- 
 dle Ages. On the other hand there were critical 
 periods when entire phases of economic life or the 
 entire economic system of nations, or of the civil- 
 ized world itself, imperatively called for a recon- 
 struction. After a sudden and violent struggle 
 and at the cost of a deluge of blood, or else peace- 
 fully and in the silent lapse of years, a new social 
 order rose out of the old. Today the world is ap- 
 parently entering into another great climacteric. 
 A clear historic retrospect is needed if we would 
 rightly face the possibilities of the future. 
 
 The hour of such a change had struck when at
 
 SOCIAL LEGISLATION 187 
 
 the dawn of modern history, at a time when cen- 
 tralized governments were unknown and industrial 
 life had not yet begun in the renascent civilization, 
 the early European farmers, unable to protect 
 themselves against piratic invasions and in con- 
 stant danger from marauders, sought shelter under 
 the shadow of some powerful stronghold and 
 rendered personal service in return for their safety. 
 In the same manner their own lords found it neces- 
 sary to give fealty to still mightier overlords, and 
 thus an organized resistance against all foes and 
 disturbers of the peace was made possible. So the 
 feudal system arose with its undoubted benefits 
 and its obvious evils, yet withal a powerful pro- 
 tection in those days of turbulence and force. 
 
 But the time came when the evils of the system 
 began to outweigh its benefits. The villeins fled 
 into the rapidly growing cities and the gilds arose 
 with their high ideals of a free Christian manhood. 
 The hour of a second transformation had struck. 
 Yet at first the complete change became effective in 
 the cities alone. Often the freedom of the craft 
 gilds was won only after periods of violence and 
 bloodshed; in other instances, as in England, a 
 quiet and peaceful development took place. A 
 further crisis, however, was inevitable. It came
 
 1 88 THE WORLD PROBLEM 
 
 with the peasants' war that followed hard upon 
 the awful havoc of the Black Death, comparable 
 only to the world war itself, no less universal and 
 no less terrible in its destruction of human life. 
 
 In all the preceding economic crises, which far 
 outweighed in importance the political struggles 
 of kings and nations, social legislation had been 
 the one means, after religion itself, of securing 
 peace and prosperity to all classes. The more 
 perfectly this legislation was adapted to each 
 changing economic period and the more perfectly 
 it applied the unalterable Christian principles of 
 justice and charity, the happier was the entire 
 population. 
 
 A new and momentous crisis awaited the world 
 at the very period of the Reformation. It was not 
 in any way connected with the latter, but arose 
 inevitably out of the economic circumstances of the 
 time, the invention of machinery and the immense 
 growth of the city population, not to mention other 
 similar conditions that vitally affected the methods 
 of production, and consequently called for the most 
 sweeping changes in social legislation. The ele- 
 ments for a peaceful readjustment were not want- 
 ing and could be found in the existing gilds. But 
 the Reformation rendered this readjustment im-
 
 SOCIAL LEGISLATION 189 
 
 possible and delayed for almost four centuries the 
 needed social legislation which might at once have 
 obviated all the social misery and economic chaos 
 that was to follow. Nothing indeed could have 
 been more foreign to the gild principles than " The 
 concentration of so many branches of trade in the 
 hands of a few individuals," as Pope Leo XIII 
 described the economic situation which resulted, 
 " so that a small number of very rich men have 
 been able to lay upon the masses of the poor a yoke 
 little better than slavery itself." 
 
 This four-century-long retardation and retro- 
 gression of social legislation, this casting-back of 
 the masses into a new state of industrial serfdom 
 far worse than the old from which they had been 
 freed, this degradation of labor from the exalted 
 dignity to which it had attained in the ages of 
 Catholic Faith, was due, as we have previously 
 said, to the false individualism which came as a 
 consequence of the Reformation. Directly it was 
 brought about by the paralysis inflicted upon the 
 gilds. 
 
 Robbed by the " reformed " autocracies of the 
 time, that found in Protestantism a most advan- 
 tageous economic ally, the gilds were not merely 
 deprived of those immense possessions, which,
 
 190 THE WORLD PROBLEM 
 
 though consecrated to religion, had been in great 
 part devoted to charity, but they were above all 
 things debarred from the religious influences that 
 had been the mainspring of their enlightened social 
 legislation. Thus, in England, they became little 
 more than convenient spoils for king, queen, or 
 court favorites. Highly approved methods were 
 invented of turning their revenues into sources of 
 private emolument for these exalted patrons. 
 Hence the impossibility of meeting the new social 
 conditions by fitting social legislation and adapting 
 to new economic developments the old principles 
 of religion, brotherhood and cooperation. The 
 powers of economic legislation were retained ex- 
 clusively in the hands of the rich, who used them 
 for their own purposes of exploitation. 
 
 The fact is that today we are taking up the 
 thread of social legislation precisely where it was 
 broken off at the Reformation. We are seeking 
 to apply to the changed conditions of our time the 
 principles of brotherhood and cooperation which 
 the Church applied in her gilds 400 years ago, and 
 which have been ignored during the intervening 
 period in our dominant economic system of indus- 
 try and commerce. But how shall this be done 
 without the aid of the Church?
 
 SOCIAL LEGISLATION 19 1 
 
 The danger of radicalism, never greater than in 
 periods like the present, can be met in no other 
 way than by constructive legislative action. It is 
 a folly to imagine that it can be destroyed by legal 
 repression. Remove the crime of profiteering and 
 the edge is taken from anarchism. The cure must 
 begin with attacking the source of the evil. In 
 the same way Socialism cannot be fought intelli- 
 gently by directly assailing its principles and ig- 
 noring the corresponding ethical unsoundness of 
 the capitalistic system. Both extremes are equally 
 reprehensible and perilous. Both are equally op- 
 posed to all true rights of property and individual 
 liberty. In adhering rigidly to our Catholic prin- 
 ciples, in preventing by sound legislation the future 
 concentration of wealth in'the hands of a few, in 
 promoting anew our ideals of cooperation and of 
 the widest possible diffusion of ownership among 
 the many, we shall not merely follow our Catholic 
 pre-Reformation traditions, but we shall find our- 
 selves in agreement with the ablest minds of our 
 day. More than all this, we shall be in advance 
 of our own age, the heralds of a new era of social 
 justice through Christian legislation. 
 
 History has taught us her lesson. If the world 
 is indeed entering into a period of great economic
 
 192 THE WORLD PROBLEM 
 
 changes, as all admit, it is important that we our- 
 selves direct these changes along peaceful lines 
 and towards Christian ideals. It is not an op- 
 tional task, but a duty which confronts the Church. 
 Thus shall we be able to preserve the world from 
 the bloody cataclysms of the past which have 
 so frequently preceded the epochs of economic 
 transitions. 
 
 No mere surface legislation will suffice today. 
 We must strike boldly at the very root of economic 
 evils. Why attempt merely to lop off the hydra- 
 heads of innumerable secondary evils instead of 
 reaching the very heart of the social injustice? 
 We do not want a multiplicity or laws that defeat 
 their own purpose, but measures of such far-reach- 
 ing and vital importance as the legal minimum 
 wage. 
 
 Without a sufficient wage for the reasonable sup- 
 port of the laborer's family, it is inevitable that 
 wife and children will be driven from the home 
 into the factory. The consequence is a further 
 depression of wages and frequent unemployment 
 owing to the unnecessary competition of women 
 and children with men. Hence, as a further con- 
 sequence, there follows the need of endless pro- 
 tective legislation for women workers who under
 
 SOCIAL LEGISLATION 193 
 
 such conditions are underpaid and overworked, of 
 countless child-labor laws, delinquency laws and 
 provisions for defectives, since at their very birth 
 the little ones have often been blighted and 
 stunted. Hence the record of criminality and the 
 strength of the rising tide of anarchy, the increased 
 danger of birth-control and the excessive infant- 
 mortality rate. Irreligion, too, plays its part in 
 these evils; but irreligion itself is in great part 
 fostered by the absence of the mother from the 
 home and the want of a fitting home itself. 
 
 From the lack of a living wage follows in the 
 next place the need of State support for social in- 
 surance of every kind. Thus the workingman 
 becomes a ward of the State, though his contribu- 
 tions of honest labor to the social welfare entitle 
 him to an honorable independence. Obligatory 
 social insurance will indeed remain a wise provision 
 under any system of social laws, but with a living 
 wage the laborer will be able to pay in full his own 
 rate, thus preserving his self-respect and not trans- 
 ferring to the State the expenses saved to the 
 employer. These problems have already been 
 alluded to in the chapter on " The State and La- 
 bor." So far as State help is at any time required 
 it must obviously be given.
 
 194 THE WORLD PROBLEM 
 
 In a discussion of social legislation we may not 
 pass over the question of social insurance here 
 touched upon. It is one of the problems that is 
 most actively debated. Social insurance legisla- 
 tion has been proposed as a provision against sick- 
 ness, old age, unemployment, invalidity and acci- 
 dent on the part of the laborer. Few apparently 
 understand the real principles on which such legis- 
 lation rests. In general it may be regarded as 
 merely a substitute for an adequate wage. Hence 
 it would seem to follow that in strict justice the 
 burden of such taxation, in so far as the laborers 
 themselves cannot reasonably be expected to bear 
 it, should fall upon the delinquent employers in 
 proportion as they are neglecting to pay a proper 
 wage. In practice however such a fair distribu- 
 tion of taxation is impossible. Hence we find 
 State, laborers, and employers all sharing at times 
 in bearing the common burden of social insurance. 
 
 The difficulty of an equitable adjustment is ob- 
 vious so long as a living wage is not paid to every 
 worker. Such a wage would include a sufficient 
 sum enabling the laborer himself to make due pro- 
 vision for future emergencies and to pay in its 
 entirety the full assessment of whatever social 
 taxation might still be deemed necessary. To
 
 SOCIAL LEGISLATION 195 
 
 render the payment of such a wage normally pos- 
 sible for every employer the articles manufac- 
 tured must necessarily be sold at a price that will 
 enable the employer to meet any added expendi- 
 ture, and at the same time yield him a sufficient 
 though moderate margin of profit after paying a 
 living wage. 
 
 In a word, no satisfactory solution can be found 
 for the problem until prices, profits, and wages 
 are kept within the limits of a reasonable minimum 
 on the one side and a reasonable maximum on the 
 other, excluding alike all oppression and excessive 
 gains. So alone can the welfare of every class 
 of citizens be duly consulted : of the consumer, the 
 laborer and the employer. This, we admit, is not 
 possible without a certain measure of State con- 
 trol. But public control for all these purposes 
 is in full accord with our Catholic traditions. 
 
 In the meantime social students must be 
 warned, under present conditions, not to place too 
 much confidence in the existing methods of State 
 insurance for labor emergencies. They should 
 regard them as a mere makeshift, a transitional 
 stage towards an adequate wage which will free 
 the laborer from undue State dependence. 
 
 The latest revelation in regard to Germany's
 
 196 THE WORLD PROBLEM 
 
 social policies may serve as a lesson, not indeed 
 to destroy interest in social insurance, but to instil 
 prudence. Germany's compulsory sickness and 
 workingmen's accident insurance began in 1883, 
 and her invalidity and old-age insurance in 1889. 
 Yet we are now told that in 1913, after about a 
 quarter of a century of this regime, Dr. Frederic 
 Zahn, of Munich, reported at a hygienic congress 
 that the number of paupers, or persons drawing 
 from the public relief fund, had steadily grown. 
 In Berlin alone it had increased from 31,358 in 
 1891 to 55,601 in 1909. Pauper burials were of 
 frequent occurrence. Similar conditions are re- 
 corded for other German cities, though Govern- 
 ment statistics were not drawn up or were ad- 
 visedly kept secret. The first reason for its in- 
 sufficiency was the small pittance it allowed the 
 laborer. At all events social insurance neither 
 stemmed the tide of discontent, as the enormous 
 Socialist vote indicated, nor did it serve to prevent 
 that worst of economic evils, pauperism, which 
 first appeared with the Reformation and was its 
 direct consequence. We doubt whether a larger 
 insurance would have solved the difficulty. It 
 might readily have created new ones. The les- 
 son is that social insurance is indeed to be heartily
 
 SOCIAL LEGISLATION 197 
 
 promoted so far as may seem desirable, but must 
 not be permitted to take the place of a living 
 wage. 
 
 Separate consideration must be given to work- 
 men's compensation laws. No later than 1913 a 
 joint commission, appointed by the Civic Federa- 
 tion for the study of such laws in the various 
 States of the Union, thus reported its general 
 satisfaction at their successful operation : 
 
 The litigation between employer and employee arising out of 
 personal injuries has practically ceased to exist in most of the 
 States which have enacted compensation laws. The objections 
 raised by either side prior to the enactment of compensation acts 
 have been mostly removed by experience under the acts. The 
 principle of compensation is now thoroughly established ; the 
 only problems for the future relate to the nature of the legislation 
 and the methods of administration. 
 
 The principle in question, as conceived in mod- 
 ern legislation, is that the economic cost of acci- 
 dents should be considered a part of the necessary 
 expense of production. While the suffering must 
 be borne by the injured workman, and a certain 
 expense is entailed upon the employer, the general 
 burden will be divided among the consumers of 
 the article whose production necessarily implies a 
 constant risk of accidents. " No justification," 
 says Father Cathrein, S.J., " can be urged for
 
 198 THE WORLD PROBLEM 
 
 placing the burden of insurance upon the tax-pay- 
 ers, except in so far as an important branch of 
 industry would not be able to raise the required 
 insurance money without incurring destruction." 
 ("Moralphilosophie," II, art. IX.) It is here 
 presumed that all due precautions against acci- 
 dents have been taken by the employer. 
 
 Another legal measure upon which special in- 
 sistence is to be placed, though only indirectly con- 
 nected with the subject of this volume, is the 
 Mothers' Pension law, which will enable children 
 to be nurtured and reared in their own home and 
 by the mother to whom God has given them in 
 place of being committed to institutional care. In 
 the acceptance of the principle underlying this law 
 we behold another victory of the ideals that have 
 ever been promoted by the Church, however much 
 they may for a time have run counter to modern 
 " enlightenment." There is no social principle 
 of the Church which is not today finding approval 
 in the most progressive circles of genuinely scien- 
 tific thought. 
 
 Careful consideration is likewise to be given to 
 the question of prison labor. It is recommended 
 by trade unionists that every prisoner should be 
 taught a useful trade, so that on his restoration to .
 
 SOCIAL LEGISLATION 199 
 
 liberty he may become a useful member of society. 
 Trade unionists in the United States further op- 
 pose the contract labor system and recommend the 
 New York system, which calls for use by the State 
 of prison-made articles, as the best that has yet 
 been devised. The system of leasing convicts to 
 contractors is thus attacked in the Chattanooga 
 Central Labor Journal: 
 
 The convict lease system is proven by legislative investiga- 
 tion to be guilty of the following civic crimes: Inhumane 
 treatment of the convicts themselves; deprivation of their 
 families of the support they are entitled to; encouragement 
 and breeding of tuberculosis from close confinement; illegiti- 
 mate interference with manufacture and industry of the state; 
 unfair treatment of laboring people of the state by the intro- 
 duction of cheap prison labor in competition with them; de- 
 priving the farmers and others of a good public road system 
 by failure to employ the convicts in this connection. 
 
 Means should be devised, in particular, to pre- 
 vent the destitution and untold misery that often 
 fall upon the innocent family, whose bread-win- 
 ner is under prison sentence. Special attention, 
 therefore, deserves to be given to the above clause 
 which accuses the convict leases of depriving fam- 
 ilies of the support of which they may perhaps 
 stand in the bitterest need. An intelligent prison 
 labor system will enable the dependents to live 
 upon the prison earnings of the man who can no
 
 200 THE WORLD PROBLEM 
 
 longer provide for them in any other way. It 
 may likewise enable him to lay aside something 
 for his future rehabilitation. 
 
 Other legislation of a fundamental nature has 
 already been touched upon in previous chapters, 
 such as the discussion ending the chapter on 
 " Monopolistic Prices." 
 
 In the solution of all these problems the clear 
 teaching of the Church is imperatively needed, and 
 nothing in the whole range of social science will 
 prove so thoroughly satisfactory as that teaching 
 itself. It would be a fatality as well as a folly for 
 Catholics to overlook their immense responsibili- 
 ties of bringing that teaching before the world at 
 this critical period of history, when civilization is 
 in many ways being shaped anew. Shall we leave 
 its fate to the destructive forces of social revolu- 
 tion, or shall we provide that it is wisely fashioned 
 by the loving hands of Christ?
 
 CHAPTER XVIII 
 
 DEMOCRATIC CONTROL OF 
 INDUSTRIES 
 
 THE dominance of wealth, or the particu- 
 lar capitalistic regime under which the 
 great masses of the people are pos- 
 sessed of little but their labor power, while the 
 ownership of the instruments of production is 
 concentrated in the hands of a few powerful em- 
 ployers, is known as the " Servile State." There 
 can be no industrial peace where such conditions 
 exist, no matter how wages may increase and hours 
 of labor be shortened. Democratic forms of 
 government are in themselves no solution. 
 
 " While the Constitution had increasingly taken 
 on democratic forms," wrote Cardinal Bourne in 
 reference to England, " the reality underlying 
 these forms had been increasingly plutocratic. 
 Legislation under the guise of ' social reform ' 
 tended to mark off all wage-earners as a definitely 
 servile class." Against such conditions a violent 
 reaction had already set in before the Great War. 
 
 201
 
 202 THE WORLD PROBLEM 
 
 In defining the Catholic attitude towards the 
 democratic control of industry it is necessary to 
 distinguish between the different kinds of produc- 
 tive property. It is the great mistake of syndical- 
 ism, Socialism, and similar panaceas that they en- 
 tirely overlook the intricate complexity of the mod- 
 ern social problem. Remedies warranted to cure 
 all evils must, to say the least, be looked upon with 
 great suspicion. Yet it is true likewise that the 
 very optimism with which they are advertised 
 unfortunately obtains for them both credence and 
 a trial. 
 
 The first class of productive property to which 
 a form of democratic control may be applied are 
 obviously our public service utilities. There can 
 be no objection, from a Catholic point of view, to 
 a transition in these instances from private to 
 municipal or national ownership, provided always 
 that such a transfer is for the common good and 
 that a proper compensation is offered to previous 
 owners. In regard to these enterprises experi- 
 ence has shown that public ownership has in cer- 
 tain conditions and places been of no slight ad- 
 vantage, while in other instances it has no less 
 plainly proved disastrous in a financial way.
 
 DEMOCRATIC CONTROL OF INDUSTRIES 203 
 
 Whatever method is clearly for the common good 
 should be boldly favored by every Catholic. 
 
 The same rule applies to natural monopolies. 
 They may be either publicly or privately owned 
 and managed accordingly as the general welfare 
 may require in any given case. No private owner 
 of public service utilities or of natural monopolies 
 has any reason for complaint if, after due com- 
 pensation has been made to him, his business is 
 absorbed by the city or State. Obviously, how- 
 ever, the sole consideration that may influence the 
 public authorities in taking such action is the rea- 
 sonable conviction that they are promoting the 
 common good. The same principles apply to 
 other agencies of production where public interest 
 demands a public ownership. This, of course, is 
 only a last resort when other means fail. 
 
 But in all such transference of properties the 
 greatest circumspection must be used. Full ac- 
 count is to be taken of the undeniable fact that 
 public management implies increased expenditure, 
 aside from the advantages that may come with in- 
 creased centralization. Under equal conditions 
 private owners can obtain far greater results at less 
 cost than will ever be possible under public owner-
 
 2O4 THE WORLD PROBLEM 
 
 ship. Yet in spite of this fact the elimination of 
 the enormous profits that frequently are reaped 
 at the public expense by private capitalists may still 
 at times leave a substantial gain for the people. 
 
 Another difficulty which suggests itself here is 
 the power given to politicians who may prove 
 no less unscrupulous than the criminal profiteers. 
 The question therefore to be carefully pondered in 
 each single instance is whether a strict and thor- 
 ough Government control may not be more advan- 
 tageous than public ownership. The former, it 
 would appear, should at all events be tried before 
 any step is taken towards nationalization. In the 
 latter instance we must consider likewise the diffi- 
 culty of ejecting from power a political party that 
 can count on the support of so large an army of 
 office-holders. 
 
 The farther an industry is removed from the 
 nature of a public service utility or a natural 
 monopoly, the greater is the presumption in favor 
 of private ownership as the method most conducive 
 to the common good, until finally we arrive at 
 forms of industry where individual enterprise is 
 absolutely essential for success. In the same man- 
 ner Government control and supervision, where 
 public ownership is not desirable, will be in pro-
 
 DEMOCRATIC CONTROL OF INDUSTRIES 205 
 
 portion either to the nearness of an industry, 
 in its nature, to a public service utility or its 
 remoteness from that utility. Says the Rev. 
 Herbert Lucas, S.J., in the Month: 
 
 In the case of those industries which have not this character 
 [of public service utilities] it should be sufficient to protect the 
 wage-earner and the consumer from exploitation by means of 
 a graduated tax on the profit of large-scale concerns; so that the 
 fullest measure of liberty may be left to those which, to the gen- 
 eral benefit of the public, are winning for themselves a moderate 
 prosperity under the stimulus of private enterprise. (March, 
 1918.) 
 
 The demand that the workers alone should con- 
 trol the public industries is obviously unjust and 
 unreasonable. The management should be given 
 to the most competent, whoever they may be, if 
 no special objection can be urged against them. 
 
 The theory of " National Gilds," often spoken 
 of as " Gild Socialism," is thus described by S. G. 
 Hobson : 
 
 A national gild is a combination of all labor of every kind, 
 administrative, executive, productive, in any particular indus- 
 try. It includes those who work with their brains and those 
 who contribute labor power. Administrators, skilled and un- 
 skilled labor every one who can work are all entitled to 
 membership. 
 
 If based upon an enforced collectivist or Social- 
 ist system, this plan would obviously meet, in its 
 own degree, with the strictures passed upon So-
 
 2O6 THE WORLD PROBLEM 
 
 cialism. No objection could be urged against it 
 if voluntary, in the sense of Bishop Ketteler's free 
 communistic brotherhoods; or if cooperative, in 
 the sense that the productive property thus op- 
 erated and managed would be owned individually 
 and not merely collectively by the workers, each 
 being able to obtain a limited number of shares. 
 Practically the method can be tried on the latter 
 plan, in a voluntary way; but the difficulties of co- 
 operative production and previous failures in this 
 regard must be well taken into account. 
 
 There is one form of public ownership, however, 
 against which all must combine, although a wide 
 agitation is at present carried on in its favor, and 
 that is the universal nationalization of the land. 
 There could be no more terrible error. If there 
 is one thing certain in the entire range of economic 
 science it is that the land should, so far as possible, 
 be owned by the men who cultivate it, and not by 
 a Socialist cooperative commonwealth, a State 
 monopoly, or any other form of Government abso- 
 lutism. It is this one instance which Pope Leo 
 XIII particularly selected to urge the widest rea- 
 sonable distribution of private ownership among 
 the people. It would be a crying injustice and a 
 public crime to alienate for public ownership the
 
 DEMOCRATIC CONTROL OF INDUSTRIES 207 
 
 land that is tilled by the calloused hands and 
 moistened by the sweat of the farmer. Let vol- 
 untary cooperation produce the utmost results, but 
 let us not yield to the lure of land-nationalization. 
 Pope Leo thus states the Single-Tax fallacy: 
 
 We are told that it is right for private persons to have the 
 use of the soil and the fruit of the land, but that it is unjust 
 for any one to possess, as owner, either the land on which he has 
 built or the estate which he has cultivated. 
 
 To absorb the rental value of the land is equi- 
 valent to denying the right of ownership. 
 
 Those who assert this do not perceive that they are robbing 
 man of what his own labor has produced. For the soil which is 
 tilled and cultivated with toil and skill utterly changes its condi- 
 tion: it was wild before, it is now fruitful; it was barren, and 
 now it brings forth in abundance. That which has thus altered 
 and improved it becomes so truly part of itself as to be in great 
 measure indistinguishable and inseparable from it. Is it just 
 that the fruit of a man's sweat and labor should be enjoyed by 
 another? As effects follow their cause, so it is just and right 
 that the results of labor should belong to him who has labored. 
 ("The Condition of Labor.") 
 
 The " unearned increment " is not confined to 
 the land. Abuses connected with it must be rem- 
 edied by more discriminating methods. Just tax- 
 ation is not " single " but various. 
 
 Socialism proceeds still further in its demand 
 for the public ownership and management of the 
 means of production. But while attempting to
 
 208 THE WORLD PROBLEM 
 
 vest this, in a vague manner, in the entire com- 
 monwealth it fails even more egregiously than 
 capitalism had done in answering man's natural 
 desire for private ownership. While public owner- 
 ship of public utilities or of certain natural monop- 
 olies may, under given circumstances, be deemed 
 desirable, yet the great bulk of the productive 
 property within a nation can best be privately 
 owned for the reasons we have already indicated. 
 The main problem is to ascertain how this private 
 ownership can be most widely distributed among 
 the people. 
 
 The consciousness on the part of the laborer, 
 under Socialism, that his means of livelihood 
 would belong to everybody in common could 
 neither satisfy his instinct for ownership nor 
 stimulate his energy. Production would lag and 
 its cost would rise. All avenues towards eco- 
 nomic betterment would be closed to him, for 
 strikes would be labor mutiny. Hence revolution 
 and counter-revolution would be the monotonous 
 history until the last state would be far worse than 
 the first. Socialism would not bring democratic, 
 but bureaucratic control of industry. 
 
 There is doubtless a great truth in the Socialist 
 contention that wastage both in production and
 
 DEMOCRATIC CONTROL OF INDUSTRIES 
 
 distribution can be prevented by centralization. 
 Of this full account is taken in the Catholic ac- 
 ceptance of Government ownership or Govern- 
 ment control wherever it can serve the common 
 good. Yet it is equally true that there can as 
 readily be an over-centralization which will not 
 merely interfere with private rights and individual 
 liberty, but which will lead to confusion, to bureau- 
 cratic tyranny and the deadly retardation of pro- 
 duction even in the most essential necessities of 
 life. 
 
 The Church fully perceives the elemental truths 
 contained in Socialism, but they are merely her 
 own Catholic principles seen through the distorted 
 Marxian lens. Whatever is best and most truly 
 progressive in modern social doctrines was put 
 into practice by her more than five centuries ago, 
 and it is amusing, if not irritating, for Catholic 
 sociologists to hear these commonplaces of Cath- 
 olic tradition proclaimed as modern discoveries. 
 
 But public ownership is not the only means, 
 as many wrongly imagine, of attaining to a just 
 democratic control of industry. It is largely in 
 the field of cooperation that this is to be achieved. 
 Between public service utilities or such great 
 monopolies as closely approximate to them, and
 
 210 THE WORLD PROBLEM 
 
 industrial undertakings which of their very nature 
 call for individual management as the essential 
 factor of success, there lies a wid and almost in- 
 terminable province of cooperative enterprise. 
 Of this we shall treat more fully in the following 
 chapter. 
 
 Reference may here be made to Mr. Penty's 
 theory which would bring about democratic con- 
 trol of industry through " production for quality." 
 This would restore the handicrafts, so far as pos- 
 sible. The worker, to-day, is too frequently the 
 mere slave of the machine and has lost all that 
 joy in labor which comes from the artistic produc- 
 tion of a complete article. The ideal contem- 
 plates a renewal of the medieval gilds. Surplus 
 wealth would be expended, now as then, in noble 
 works of architecture and art, instead of being 
 sunk into the manufacture of articles beyond de- 
 mand, with the consequent unemployment and 
 human misery. 
 
 The idea is beautiful and we could wish it to 
 come true. It must be tested by the principles 
 applied above to Gild Socialism. Mr. Penty's 
 theory culminates in Local Gilds.
 
 CHAPTER XIX 
 
 METHODS OF COOPERATION 
 
 DURING the packers' wage-arbitration dis- 
 pute in Chicago, in 1918, some interest- 
 ing revelations were made. The head 
 of one of the firms admitted that the net profits of 
 his business for the year 1916 had been $20,000,- 
 ooo. At the same time it was announced by the 
 counsel for the trade unions that the 20,000 em- 
 ployees of that same firm were together receiving 
 only $13,400,000, or not nearly two-thirds the 
 amount absorbed by a comparatively small number 
 of stockholders. Commenting editorially upon 
 the testimony in this case the New York Evening 
 Mail wrote : 
 
 Mr. Nelson Morris, twenty-six years old, endowed with a sal- 
 ary of $75,000 a year, admited that neither he nor Mr. Ferris, 
 who determined employees' wages, ever visited their homes. 
 Mr. Morris said he had never looked over a budget showing the 
 cost of living for a laboring man with a family. The plain 
 truth is that this newer generation of industrial lords grew up in 
 luxury, apart from the toilers who earn their profits for them. 
 To them the workers are like machinery, to be bought at the 
 cheapest price attainable, to be run at the highest possible speed 
 
 211
 
 212 THE WORLD PROBLEM 
 
 the longest number of hours, to be scrapped when worn out and 
 replaced by new. 
 
 We are fully aware that this does not represent 
 the attitude of all employers. Yet it gives a truth- 
 ful picture of the results that followed on the 
 dissociation of religion from industry in the post- 
 Reformation capitalism. Cannot a more equit- 
 able plan be devised? The possibilities of public 
 ownership within certain limits, and the necessity 
 of Government regulation or supervision in other 
 instances, has been treated in the previous chapter. 
 There still remains the most important of all 
 means to be considered, the system of Coopera- 
 tion. 
 
 Few realize the extent to which this " medie- 
 val " plan of economics had again been adopted 
 before the outbreak of the war, and the success 
 with which it met in many various fields. Survey- 
 ing the work already accomplished by it, we can 
 readily understand the possibilities this system 
 would offer with the restoration of the Catholic 
 Faith throughout the world. Nowhere are we 
 approaching more closely to the expression of 
 Catholic economic thought. Our just regard for 
 the dignity of human beings, our preference of the 
 common good to private interests, our insistence
 
 METHODS OF COOPERATION 213 
 
 upon Government control and oversight of indus- 
 try to whatever extent it may be required for the 
 welfare of the people, our countless cooperative 
 societies already bursting into full blossom in every 
 land, and withal the universal aspiration for the 
 brotherhood of all mankind what are all these 
 signs of our time, when taken at their best, other 
 than Catholic revivals? There is need now of 
 that Faith only which first gave substance to these 
 conceptions and popular movements and which 
 can bestow on them the fulness of a Christian life. 
 Without this Faith the new social tendencies can 
 never reach their coveted perfection. They may 
 even degenerate into wrongful and dangerous 
 developments. 
 
 To begin with, the system of cooperative bank- 
 ing has struck deep root and will continue in its 
 prosperous development. Every one is familiar 
 with the success of the Raiffeisen credit associa- 
 tions. These or similar systems of cooperative 
 banking had been established in practically every 
 European country before the war. The main in- 
 centive and purpose in founding them was to en- 
 able the poorer classes, particularly upon the land, 
 to obtain the credit which the commercial banks 
 refused them and to escape the merciless system
 
 214 THE WORLD PROBLEM 
 
 of usury to which they were in consequence 
 exposed. Such cooperative credit associations, 
 formed among the people, exercised moreover the 
 best of moral influences, and taught them thrift and 
 self-respect. 
 
 In very many instances these cooperative soci- 
 eties were established by the parish priests. Ac- 
 cording to the account given by Father Joseph P. 
 Archambault, S.J., in his work " Le Clerge et 
 1'Action sociale," the first popular bank in Italy 
 was founded by a Paduan Jew. The cure of 
 Gombarare soon realized its possibilities if con- 
 ducted on a purely Catholic basis, excluding all 
 idea of commercialism. The success of the plan 
 is obvious from the following figures, taken from 
 the Civilta Cattolica. (Vol. XII, p. 671.) We 
 there find that between the years 1883 and 1892 
 the enterprising Jew had established seventy-two 
 banks. But about this time the work of the cure 
 of Gombarare began to attract the attention of his 
 fellow priests. The success of his cooperative 
 venture at once called forth a host of imitators. 
 The consequence was that in 1893 the Jew founded 
 three and in 1894 only two banks, while the Cath- 
 olics during the same years established respectively 
 29 and 105 of their own banks. Raiffeisen him-
 
 METHODS OF COOPERATION 
 
 self thus beautifully explains the nature and pur- 
 pose of the cooperative credit system : 
 
 A loaning and savings bank should in a manner constitute a 
 single family, a brotherhood where the weak are supported and 
 borne along by their fellows, where the associates do not wait 
 until the members, one after another, fall into actual distress, 
 but where of their own accord they seek out those who stand in 
 need of assistance, bringing them friendly aid, saving them from 
 ruin, doing everything for the good of each individual and the 
 good of the entire community. The work is carried on for the 
 love of God. ("Le Clerge et 1'Action sociale," pp. 80, 81.) 
 
 Almost equally successful, in many places, have 
 been the cooperative stores. It is estimated vari- 
 ously that between one-third and one-fourth of the 
 entire population of Great Britain had already 
 participated in these enterprises before the out- 
 break of the war. The total cooperative sales in 
 that country for the year 1913 considerably ex- 
 ceeded $600,000,000 and there were thousands 
 of cooperative stores in Great Britain alone. The 
 same system had likewise developed in Ireland. 
 Describing the nature of these stores in the Irish 
 Monthly Cruise O'Brien writes: 
 
 Here you have an association of persons who band themselves 
 together to run a retail store for their own benefit. The first 
 thing to be noted about their constitution is, that their member- 
 ship is open to all, and accordingly their share lists cannot be 
 closed. Here is one difference from a joint stock enterprise, in 
 which the share list is closed when sufficient capital has been 
 obtained in order that the existing shareholder may obtain the
 
 2l6 THE WORLD PROBLEM 
 
 best possible amount of profit. Again, the members of the store 
 propose to make savings and not profits that is to say, they do 
 not want to sell to those who are not members in order to ob- 
 tain a profit on their trade, but they want non-members to be- 
 come members in order that all may save on the economy which 
 arises from collective buying and from the elimination of the 
 profits which the retailer takes as his reward for distribution of 
 goods. 
 
 We are at once reminded of the wise restric- 
 tions of the medieval gilds by the further regula- 
 tion which forbade any person to have more than 
 200 worth of capital invested. But the perfec- 
 tion of the fraternal spirit was further exemplified 
 in the modern European system of cooperative 
 stores by the rule which conceded but one vote 
 to each shareholder, whether he possessed fifty 
 shares or one only. Thus the poor man could 
 exercise the same right and power in controlling 
 the interests of the business as his more well-to-do 
 neighbor. We are here approaching to an ideal 
 understanding of what may be accomplished by 
 voluntary agreement toward attaining to a 
 u Democratic control of industry." So too the 
 interest of the share capital itself is limited to a 
 sum not exceeding five per cent, so that the soci- 
 eties, whose purpose is to effect cheap purchases, 
 may not be perverted into profit-making schemes. 
 Another wise regulation : " The division of the
 
 METHODS OF COOPERATION 217 
 
 savings," we are further told, " is in proportion 
 to the amount of purchases made by each member, 
 and it is a part of the cooperative creed that some 
 portion of the savings should be shared in by the 
 society's employees." To stimulate thrift and 
 self-reliance the purchases can be made in cash 
 only. 
 
 We may well rub our eyes and wonder whether 
 this is England and Ireland of the twentieth cen- 
 tury, or England and Ireland of the thirteenth, 
 fourteenth, and fifteenth centuries. . It is the spirit 
 of brotherhood returned to earth; it is the wear- 
 ing-away of the iron bonds of the Reformation; 
 it is true appreciation of the worth of a man above 
 the worth of his wealth; it is the supreme ideal of 
 each for all and all for each ; it is the first premon- 
 ition of the passing-away of a system which made 
 of profits the end of man, and man the slave of 
 profits. It is Catholicism resurgent in economic 
 life. Yet the work of restoring an order of so- 
 ciety in which capital and labor shall meet on a 
 more equitable footing, and the benefits of private 
 ownership shall be more widely shared by the 
 people, has only begun. The great task lies be- 
 fore us. But there are other and still more im- 
 portant developments of the cooperative system to
 
 21 8 THE WORLD PROBLEM 
 
 be considered. With these we shall deal in the 
 following chapter. 
 
 A word should here be said about the system of 
 profit sharing. To make this method truly coop- 
 erative the worker must be admitted not merely to 
 a share in the profits, but likewise to a share in the 
 management of the business. This stage has 
 actually been reached in not a few instances. 
 
 The usual form of profit-sharing in the United 
 States has consisted in simply dividing among the 
 employees a certain percentage of the general or 
 total profits of an establishment, in proportion to 
 their wages; or else separate departments only 
 of a business have declared an extra wage or share 
 of profits to their employees. In some instances, 
 however, a share in the management was likewise 
 conceded at least to the reliable employees. This 
 is ordinarily done through a distribution of the 
 voting stock as part or the whole of the profits 
 that are shared, and constitutes a form of genuine 
 cooperation. 
 
 When honestly purposed and conducted, profit- 
 sharing is doubtless of advantage to the employee, 
 since under such conditions it supposes that a fair 
 wage is already being paid. Under no conditions 
 should it be permitted to take the place of a living
 
 METHODS OF COOPERATION 219 
 
 wage. The same is to be said of the bonus plan, 
 in which the excess wage has no direct relation to 
 the profits of the company and the latter enters 
 into no engagement to pay it regularly. All these 
 methods are apt to be looked upon with suspicion 
 by labor when it fears that they are merely used 
 as a means to prevent a raise in wages. 
 
 The ends sought by the employers themselves 
 can be briefly summarized from the volume on 
 " Profit-Sharing," composed by three manufac- 
 turers and two university professors who made an 
 extensive study of this subject in the United States 
 in 1915. It promotes a prevention of waste, an 
 increase in personal effort and therefore in general 
 efficiency, a more reliable labor stability, a greater 
 assurance of industrial peace, the furtherance of 
 effective management, and the improvement of 
 the spirit of cooperation. In the past the applica- 
 tion of the system in the United States has usually 
 been confined to skilled labor or even merely to 
 office employees. The more closely profit-sharing 
 approaches to genuine cooperation the more 
 heartily will it be welcomed. No one will deny 
 that it has often been well-intentioned. In itself 
 it cannot, of course, be considered as an adequate 
 solution of the industrial problem.
 
 CHAPTER XX 
 
 POSSIBILITIES OF COOPERATION 
 
 THE cooperative bank and the cooperative 
 store have met with undeniable success. 
 They have long ago passed the period 
 of trial and experiment and fully answer the pur- 
 pose for which they were established. The ques- 
 tion of main importance is the extension of the co- 
 operative principle to the field of production. Its 
 most complex and difficult application is found in 
 the cooperative ownership and management of 
 industrial enterprises. 
 
 The cooperation here considered is entirely vol- 
 untary, and neither communistic nor Socialistic, 
 since it is based upon the private and not upon the 
 public ownership of the instruments of production. 
 They are to belong to the men who operate them 
 according to the individual shares that each one 
 possesses in the cooperative enterprise. To pre- 
 vent deterioration into the old abuses of capitalism 
 
 220
 
 POSSIBILITIES OF COOPERATION 221 
 
 the number of shares that could be held by any in- 
 dividual would obviously be strictly limited, so that 
 ownership of the means of production could not 
 again be absorbed by a few more powerful, more 
 clever or more unscrupulous members. The old 
 gildsmen wisely understood that it is by such means 
 only that the greatest happiness and prosperity of 
 the greatest number can be assured and social sta- 
 bility and contentment secured. 
 
 In opposing the private ownership of capital, 
 such as would likewise be maintained here by the 
 workingmen, Socialists often refer to the com- 
 munism of the early Christian Church. They fail 
 to mention that this was not universal, but purely 
 local; that no mention is made of communistic 
 productive enterprises operated by the early Chris- 
 tians; that even in the localities where a form of 
 Christian communism doubtless existed it was 
 purely voluntary and obliged no one to participate 
 in it as a condition for embracing Christianity; and 
 finally that after all it proved to be an economic 
 failure, like practically all other communistic or 
 Socialistic enterprises. The only notable excep- 
 tion has been the communism of the Religious 
 Orders of the Church. The latter is possible be- 
 cause it is based upon the threefold vows of pov-
 
 222 THE WORLD PROBLEM 
 
 erty, chastity and obedience, and is centered in the 
 love of God. 
 
 That productive cooperation in itself is not im- 
 practicable must be manifest to all from its suc- 
 cessful application upon the land, where both pro- 
 duction and distribution are frequently managed 
 cooperatively. Thus in the Netherlands alone 
 66,600,000 pounds of butter were produced by co- 
 operatives in 1910, and only 27,500,000 pounds 
 by private manufacturies. Many other products 
 are cooperatively prepared on the land for gen- 
 eral marketing, as varied in their nature as cheese, 
 bacon and wine. Both purchasing and selling are 
 done cooperatively, to the exclusion of the middle- 
 man and the great gain of the farmer. Similarly 
 the larger and more intricate machinery is co- 
 operatively owned. In Italy Catholic cooperative 
 societies have rented the land itself. " Often ma- 
 chinery, oxen and utensils are owned in common," 
 writes Borosini. " The harvest is frequently sold 
 in advance to cooperative societies in the neighbor- 
 ing town." The cooperatives in these instances 
 are jointly responsible for the rent and the neces- 
 sary assurance is given the landowners by finan- 
 cially well-established Catholic organizations. It 
 may surprise many to learn that the products co-
 
 POSSIBILITIES OF COOPERATION 223 
 
 operatively bought and sold by the American farm- 
 ers themselves, as early as 1915, amounted to 
 $1,400,000,000 for that year. 
 
 To illustrate the democratic, or better still, the 
 Christian ideal that can be attained under coopera- 
 tion we shall quote again from the article on " The 
 Meaning of Cooperation " by Cruise O'Brien in 
 the Irish Monthly for November, 1917. He is 
 describing the cooperative creamery whose mem- 
 bers united to own the means of turning the milk 
 produce of their farms into butter, and of mar- 
 keting it to the best advantage : 
 
 Here [as in the cooperative store] we have the same rule as 
 to open membership, although it would be much more profitable 
 for the members of a creamery to close their share list when 
 they were strong enough ; and although, indeed, it often involves 
 a certain sacrifice on their part to keep their membership open 
 to newcomers at a time when the original members have borne 
 the heat and burden of the day. Here, also, we have a rule 
 limiting the amount of shares which the member may hold and 
 limiting the interest which he may receive on his share capital. 
 
 Each member is paid for his milk at regular intervals 
 usually each month and is given, to begin with, a price less 
 than the value it will ultimately fetch as a manufactured arti- 
 cle. The difference in value is made up at the end of the year, 
 and represents what is called a dividend, as in the case of the 
 cooperative store, but what is really the deferred payment, just 
 as in the cooperative store the so-called dividend is really a 
 saving. 
 
 Finally, the cooperatively organized producer in his creamery 
 provides for a bonus to his employees, just as the cooperatively 
 organized consumer in his store.
 
 224 THE WORLD PROBLEM 
 
 As outlined here the system of cooperation con- 
 tains all the idealism of brotherhood. Like all 
 things human it will doubtless have its weaknesses 
 and its faults, yet it approximates most closely to 
 the Christian spirit. 
 
 But we now come to the most crucial question 
 of all. Granting that cooperation is practical in 
 other fields, can the same be said of the coopera- 
 tive ownership of industries in our cities? The 
 difficulty can best be stated in the words of Dr. 
 Ryan where he speakes of the " perfect " form of 
 productive cooperation, the only one considered 
 here. He defines it as that form in which " all 
 the workers engaged in a concern own all the share 
 capital, control the entire management, and re- 
 ceive the whole of the wages, profits and interest." 
 Writing of conditions as they existed before the 
 war, he says: 
 
 In this field the failures have been much more numerous and 
 conspicuous than the successes. Godin's stove works at Guise, 
 France, is the only important enterprise of this kind that is now 
 in existence. Great Britain has several establishments in which 
 the workers own a large part of the capital, but apparently 
 none in which they are the sole proprietors and managers. The 
 " labor societies " of Italy, consisting mostly of diggers, masons 
 and bricklayers, cooperatively enter into contracts for the per- 
 formance of public works, and share in the profits of the under- 
 taking in addition to their wages; but the only capital that they 
 provide consists of comparatively simple and inexpensive tools.
 
 POSSIBILITIES OF COOPERATION 225 
 
 The raw material and other capital is furnished by the public 
 authority which gives the contract. (" Distributive Justice," p. 
 223.) 
 
 Yet, as Dr. Ryan is ready to admit, the ob- 
 stacles in the way of industrial cooperation, such 
 as the risks to be encountered and the need of con- 
 siderable capital and directive ability, are not 
 insuperable. What has been accomplished upon 
 the land may gradually likewise be widely accom- 
 plished in the city, although the difficulties will 
 often be considerably greater. The practical 
 workings of such a cooperative enterprise are thus 
 described by Cruise O'Brien: 
 
 A number of people, who are, say, bootmakers by trade, form 
 themselves into a cooperative society in order to carry on their 
 work. The people who actually make the boots are the owners 
 of the society. They elect their committee from among them- 
 selves; they provide capital, and instead of, as one might ex- 
 pect, taking all the profits for themselves, they divide the profits 
 between labor, capital and purchasers. Their other rules have 
 exactly the same features as we have noted in the other two 
 types of society which we have touched on (i.e. the cooperative 
 store and the cooperative creamery). 
 
 The difficulties in the way of cooperative pro- 
 duction are in the first place the large sums of 
 capital required in many instances. Yet we 
 know that billions of dollars have actually been 
 handled annually in the cooperative banks of a 
 single country. Thus the Schulze-Delitzsch pop-
 
 226 THE WORLD PROBLEM 
 
 ular urban banks had 939 banks affiliated to their 
 national federation, and there were ninety-six non- 
 affiliated banks. According to a pamphlet issued 
 by the International Institute of Agriculture at 
 Rome, the business transacted by these coopera- 
 tive banks in Germany during 1910 amounted to 
 no less than $3,231,801,035. Yet besides these 
 banks there existed the rural cooperative Raif- 
 feisen system. The management of the former 
 banks was conducted along strict business lines. 
 Though the immense sums referred to did not 
 pass through any single hand, yet the existence 
 of the National Federation shows a completely 
 developed organization. 
 
 The second difficulty is that of cooperative 
 management. Here again we have the example 
 of the Cooperative Wholesale Society of Man- 
 chester whose sales per year had risen to $150,- 
 000,000 before the war, and was increasing at 
 the rate of $5,000,000 annually. Few mercantile 
 establishments in the entire world have ever done 
 so large a business. Yet the society never bor- 
 rowed and had money to loan. The wholesale 
 society was made up of membership from the re- 
 tail societies in a definite proportion, and the lat- 
 ter apparently took out one five dollar share for
 
 POSSIBILITIES OF COOPERATION 227 
 
 each member. In reference to the management, 
 it will be well to quote the report regarding it 
 drawn up some years ago by the United Mine 
 Workers of America : 
 
 The business of the wholesale cooperative societies is man- 
 aged by thirty-two directors, elected by the local societies. These 
 directors give their entire time, at a salary of $1,750 per annum. 
 It is almost unthinkable for the average American business 
 man to consider a proposition of this kind: thirty-two men, com- 
 ing up from the ranks of ordinary consumers, by popular elec- 
 tion, conducting an enormous business more economically than 
 the large establishments of trade in England, and giving their 
 best efforts entirely for the motive of rendering good service 
 and securing a comfortable salary, with the honor that goes 
 with a public service efficiently performed. We should judge 
 from what we learn that these directors are more devoted to their 
 business than the ordinary business man. Their efficiency cannot 
 be challenged. 
 
 Here then are some interesting facts. With 
 all this said, however, we cannot fail to realize 
 the vast difference between these enterprises, 
 which are creditors' and consumers' plants, and 
 cooperative production as exemplified in the self- 
 governing work-shop. Even under cooperation it 
 is more than possible that one class of workers 
 may oppress and exploit another if religious prin- 
 ciples are set aside. 
 
 Yet one point must be borne in mind: that 
 cooperative production, though presenting many 
 difficulties into which we cannot enter here and
 
 228 THE WORLD PROBLEM 
 
 which have long prevented it from attaining to 
 undoubted success like other cooperative enter- 
 prises, may in the future be carried on more 
 auspiciously under Government aid and oversight, 
 so far as this may be required. A true religious 
 spirit, such as the Catholic Church could infuse 
 into the entire movement, would certainly lead to 
 success. Progressive taxation of incomes, limita- 
 tion in the future purchasing of shares, definite 
 regulations regarding the shares of those who 
 no longer are actively engaged in their respective 
 industries, stability of prices to prevent the evils 
 of excessive competition, and other similar 
 methods, might yet make of cooperation a sys- 
 tem which may become a leading factor in social 
 reconstruction. In all probability it will coexist 
 with other forms of ownership, both private 
 and public, and a more perfect Government 
 regulation. 
 
 Cooperative production differs essentially from 
 Socialism in every regard. It is based upon the 
 private ownership of capital by all the workers, 
 in place of depriving them all alike of this bene- 
 fit. It is purely constructive in its nature while 
 Socialism is mainly destructive and revolutionary. 
 It is not dependent on confiscation, on political
 
 POSSIBILITIES OF COOPERATION 229 
 
 machination or even upon the ballot, but must 
 obtain its recognition solely through superior ef- 
 ficiency and the rightful Government protection. 
 Where the Socialist promises, the cooperator 
 acts. 
 
 Cooperative production differs likewise from 
 Syndicalism. The latter indeed has caught some- 
 thing of the Catholic gild idea, but, left without 
 religious influence, it has failed to recognize the 
 two most fundamental principles of social life, 
 authority and justice, without which no State can 
 flourish. It would constitute the syndicates, or 
 labor groups of each industry, the exclusive 
 owners and managers of the enterprises operated 
 by them. But the manner in which it would bring 
 about its purpose implies both the destruction of 
 State authority and the abolition of the rights of 
 private owners. The syndicalist idea found its 
 first expression in the United States in the organ- 
 ization of the Industrial Workers of the World, 
 the notorious I. W. W. In England and Ireland 
 it was introduced under its original name. 
 
 Had the Medieval Gilds been preserved from 
 the robbery and destruction of their rights and 
 maintained their high religious ideals unimpaired, 
 they might readily have been transformed into
 
 230 THE WORLD PROBLEM 
 
 successful cooperative industrial societies. So the 
 world would have been saved the unspeakable 
 misery and oppression that followed upon the ill- 
 advised Reformation. There was no need of a 
 change of Catholic doctrine, which was Christian- 
 ity pure and simple, but a need of living up to it 
 more perfectly. The time has come when the 
 principles of these gilds must be applied anew, 
 in the most wise and just way possible, to our 
 present economic conditions. Yet this high ideal 
 will be impossible of realization unless we restore 
 religion as the unifying and guiding principle of 
 our economic life. 
 
 The democratic control of industry, if ever it 
 is to be an accomplished fact and a lasting institu- 
 tion, must be based upon the foundation of Catho- 
 lic principles. It will consist in the public owner- 
 ship of such utilities as may call for municipal 
 or national management, in the careful and scien- 
 tific regulation of others, in the development of 
 cooperative societies which will most probably 
 flourish side by side with private industries, and 
 in the creation of a healthy middle class which 
 will again be the strength and stability of the 
 social order. It will not deny a difference of
 
 POSSIBILITIES OF COOPERATION 231 
 
 classes, arising out of the inequalities of nature 
 and the need of established authority, but will 
 seek to harmonize all interests with the common 
 good.
 
 CHAPTER XXI 
 
 THE STATE AND PROPERTY 
 
 THE question of ownership is obviously the 
 most fundamental of our economic prob- 
 lems. Directly or indirectly it affects 
 every human being. Hence the far-reaching con- 
 sequences of false popular theories in this regard. 
 The definition itself of ownership is sufficiently 
 clear. It implies the full right of disposing of an 
 object, in so far as the law permits. The right of 
 property is described by Blackstone as " The free 
 use, enjoyment and disposal of all acquisitions, 
 without any control or diminution, save only by 
 the laws of the land." When justice and charity 
 have been considered, as religion demands, there 
 is but one other factor that can limit a man's free 
 use and disposal of his own possessions, and that 
 is the power of the State. 
 
 Yet this fact does not imply any rights of owner- 
 ship on the part of the State over the private prop- 
 erty of individuals, families, organizations or so- 
 
 232
 
 THE STATE AND PROPERTY 233 
 
 defies. The false doctrine that all ownership is 
 due to the law of the State, and therefore can be 
 annulled or changed at the pleasure of the State, 
 or by a majority of voters at the ballot box, became 
 a favorite principle of Socialism. It can be found 
 repeated in the popular literature of our day, 
 which is sadly lacking in all fundamental principles. 
 
 Hence, too, the consequence drawn by Socialist 
 and others, that not merely the confiscation of the 
 productive property of citizens, but likewise the of- 
 fering or refusal of any payment in compensation 
 for it, are purely matters of expediency to be deter- 
 mined at the will and whim of a victorious party. 
 This would logically follow if the right of owner- 
 ship were conferred by the State and held at its 
 good pleasure only. As the law alone had created 
 this right by an arbitrary edict, so the law could 
 take away the property of citizens, confiscate it 
 without any " by your leave," and without offering 
 a penny in compensation. 
 
 Such are the intensely practical consequences, 
 sufficient to overturn all civilization, that flow from 
 a single philosophical error touching upon this im- 
 portant question. The weal or woe of the world 
 is determined far more than men realize by the 
 theorist and the philosopher.
 
 234 THE WORLD PROBLEM 
 
 The doctrine that private property owes its 
 existence to the laws of the State was propounded 
 by Hobbes in his " Leviathan." All other rights 
 of citizens were derived by him from the same 
 source. From England the false theory passed 
 into France and Germany. Destructive of prac- 
 tically all natural rights, it became an excellent 
 justification for the aberrations of Socialists and 
 communists. Nothing but the law now stood be- 
 tween the property-holder and his possessions. 
 Change the law and you change the owner. Such 
 was the Socialist doctrine. Churches and private 
 schools, as well as land and factories, could on the 
 morrow be arbitrarily taken by the State and ap- 
 plied to its own uses or distributed among new 
 owners. No injustice would be done and no com- 
 plaint could be made. It all follows from the one 
 false principle. Atheistic capitalists hardly dared 
 to act up to the full possibilities of their own prin- 
 ciples, but men of the Bolshevist and extreme 
 Socialist type are not to be deterred from pushing 
 their theories to their logical consequences. 
 
 Catholic doctrine, on the contrary, teaches that 
 as the individual and the family precede the State, 
 so their rights, including that of ownership, are 
 prior to the State. They cannot, therefore, be
 
 THE STATE AND PROPERTY 235 
 
 derived from it. Men do not exist for the State ; 
 but the State exists for the individuals and families 
 within its care. Its function is to guard their indi- 
 vidual rights and to harmonize them with the gen- 
 eral welfare. The State neither creates nor con- 
 fers them. Private owners, therefore, may use 
 and dispose of their property, freely and without 
 any interference on the part of the State, except 
 only in so far as the social order and the public 
 good are affected. Just here for the first time the 
 power of the State enters, not however by virtue 
 of any rights of ownership which the State is pre- 
 sumed to possess, but solely by virtue of its power 
 of jurisdiction. This distinction must be carefully 
 noted, since it underlies all that can be said upon 
 this important subject. 
 
 The significance of this principle is plain at once. 
 Since the State has no rights of ownership over 
 any private possessions, held individually or cor- 
 porately by its citizens, it follows that the State 
 cannot dispose of one foot of private land or one 
 penny of private wealth according to its own arbi- 
 trary will and pleasure, even should that will and 
 pleasure be expressed through the ballot box, by 
 a majority of Socialist voters. They, no more 
 than czar and emperor, can claim the right of
 
 236 THE WORLD PROBLEM 
 
 ownership over the private possessions of citizens. 
 It matters not whether these possessions consist of 
 a boy's whipping-top or of the latest factory built 
 by Ford. The principle is absolute and there is 
 no exception. 
 
 Yet though the State has no rights of ownership 
 over private property, it has rights of jurisdiction. 
 It cannot dispose at its pleasure or for its own in- 
 terests of any private possessions, for this would 
 imply ownership, but it can and must exercise its 
 power so far as the general welfare requires, and 
 no further. For this the State has been instituted, 
 that it may consult and safeguard the common 
 good. 
 
 " The temporal goods which God commits to a 
 man are his indeed in regard to property," says St. 
 Thomas, " but in regard to use they are not his 
 alone, but others also who can be sustained by 
 what is superfluous for him." If the individual 
 owner neglects his social responsibilities, it is the 
 duty of the State to enforce their observance. 
 
 But often it may be difficult for the individual 
 correctly to perceive these obligations. In gen- 
 eral, too, many of these obligations cannot be 
 wisely carried out except by subordination to some 
 governing authority which regulates them. Hence
 
 THE STATE AND PROPERTY 237 
 
 the rightfulness of the imposition of special income 
 taxes, of the assumption of public ownership in 
 certain particular fields, and of all similar measures 
 enacted in conformity with the general welfare. 
 In none of these instances is the State usurping the 
 rights of ownership, provided it is guided solely by 
 the common good. Its laws, however, must take 
 into account the well-being of all classes. No 
 more than the just burdens should be placed upon 
 the shoulders of property-owners, and Socialistic 
 confiscation is always unjust. 
 
 Reference is often made to the right of " emi- 
 nent domain." This power can be sufficiently un- 
 derstood by what has already been said. It 
 merely implies that in such exceptional instances 
 as have been mentioned, the State may appropriate 
 certain private properties required for the common 
 good, making due compensation to the previous 
 owners. This does not justify a general confisca- 
 tion, even of productive property. Neither is any 
 such consequence implied in the right of taxation, 
 as Socialists and others argue. This, too, is a 
 strictly limited right which merely draws upon such 
 portion of the property as the existing needs of the 
 State require. It takes a portion of the property 
 and therewith preserves from violation and sus-
 
 238 THE WORLD PROBLEM 
 
 tains intact the entire property, both public and 
 private, of the citizens. 
 
 The correct relation of the individual and of the 
 State to the possession of private property can be 
 briefly stated. The right of acquiring private 
 property belongs by nature to every man. Be- 
 cause man alone of all animate creation is gifted 
 with reason, he must have the right to provide for 
 the future as well as for the present moment. 
 This he does by the acquisition of stable and per- 
 manent possessions. " Hence man can possess 
 not only the fruits of the earth, but also the earth 
 itself; for of the products of the earth he can make 
 provision for the future." This right, as Pope 
 Leo XIII adds, is not given him by the State, but 
 is prior to the State: 
 
 " Man is older than the State, and he holds the right of pro- 
 viding for the life of his body prior to the formation of any 
 State. And to say that God has given the earth to the use and 
 enjoyment of the whole human race is not to deny that there 
 can be private property. For God has granted the earth to 
 mankind in general; not in the sense that all without distinction 
 can do with it as they please, but rather that no part of it has 
 been assigned to any one in particular, and that the limits of 
 private possession have been left to be fixed by man's own in- 
 dustry and the laws of individual peoples." ("The Condition 
 of Labor.") 
 
 While therefore the right of acquiring property 
 is derived from nature and not from the State, the
 
 THE STATE AND PROPERTY 239 
 
 actual acquisition of private property is not deter- 
 mined by nature, but depends upon external facts, 
 such as mere occupancy in the beginning. More- 
 over the jurisdictional power of the State is law- 
 fully invoked to limit and regulate the rights of 
 ownership that they may be made to harmonize 
 with the general welfare. 
 
 Such action became particularly necessary when 
 all the land had already passed into private and 
 public possession. Those who now held no pri- 
 vate title to the land had likewise by nature a right 
 to live from the fruits of the land. It was the 
 duty of the State, therefore, to see that all were 
 provided from this common storehouse. Hence 
 the further duty of the State to regulate the 
 privileges of private ownership, so that no one, 
 who duly performs his allotted task in life, may be 
 excluded from the reasonable use and enjoyment 
 of what God has made for all mankind. 
 
 " Moreover, the earth, though divided among private owners, 
 ceases not therefore to minister to the needs of all, for there 
 is no one who does not live on what the land brings forth. 
 Those who do not possess the soil contribute by their labor; 
 so that it may be truly said that all human subsistence is de- 
 rived either from labor on one's own land, or from some 
 laborious industry which is paid for either in the produce of 
 the land itself or in that which is exchanged for what the land 
 brings forth." ("The Condition of Labor.")
 
 24 THE WORLD PROBLEM 
 
 The State therefore, to resume the argument, 
 has no rights of ownership over private property, 
 whether this consists of land or of the industries 
 which convert into manufactured products the raw 
 materials drawn from the earth. But it has both 
 the right and the duty of exercising jurisdictional 
 power over every form of private ownership the 
 moment the latter affects the general welfare. 
 Yet the extent of all State action in this regard 
 must be strictly limited by the demands of the com- 
 mon good. While public ownership in certain 
 public service utilities may be desirable, according 
 to national or local conditions, the main tendency 
 of legislation should be, as we are constantly in- 
 sisting, to enable as many as possible to become 
 private owners of productive property in land or 
 shares. Hence all true legislation will be equally 
 opposed to Socialism, which would withdraw own- 
 ership from individuals to confer it on the com- 
 monwealth; and to rationalistic capitalism, which 
 would concentrate it in the hands of a few. Such, 
 in brief, is the Christian ideal as expressed in the 
 teachings of the Holy See.
 
 CHAPTER XXII 
 
 THE WOMAN WORKER 
 
 SIDE by side with man, woman is pictured 
 walking with uplifted head towards the 
 dawn of economic independence. To some 
 it is an inspiring sight. To others, not so. 
 Rightly, therefore, do all classes turn to the Church 
 to find her attitude towards this important subject. 
 No one has been so consistently devoted to the 
 unfolding of woman's powers and the promotion 
 of her temporal and spiritual welfare as the Cath- 
 olic Church. We need but point to the brilliant 
 galaxy of learned women who flourished in the 
 cloisters of the Middle Ages or to the marvelous 
 activities displayed by such great Catholic heroines 
 as St. Catherine of Sienna, Blessed Joan of Arc or 
 St. Teresa to whom even the non-Catholic world 
 turns for inspiration and encouragement. The 
 Church is no less interested in the women of our 
 day, and particularly in the millions whom eco- 
 nomic circumstances have driven from the home 
 into the open mart, the busy shop and factory. 
 
 241
 
 242 THE WORLD PROBLEM 
 
 That woman, no less than man, should be de- 
 voted to useful occupation is a first principle of 
 Christianity. Even in the literature of the Jewish 
 Talmud there is a wise saying that if a woman has 
 a hundred servants, it should not dispense her from 
 personal work. Idleness is the mother of vice, 
 and the proverb holds as true of woman as of 
 man. Rich or poor, married or unmarried, en- 
 gaged in gainful occupations for a livelihood or 
 free to devote her energies to the welfare of oth- 
 ers outside her own home circle and to the inter- 
 ests of the Church of God, woman has endless 
 work to do and her hands need never rest idle. 
 
 There can be no reason and no excuse for an 
 existence of mere leisure and social functions. 
 The woman who lives but to be served, whose time 
 is given to pleasure and " society," whose sole am- 
 bition is to be a thing of useless preciousness, en- 
 vied or admired, is a human parasite who thrives 
 upon the toil and blood of others. 
 
 How dignified and noble by the side of this 
 scented creature, whose only worth is in her silks 
 and satins, her lap dogs and her limousines, is the 
 true Christian working girl! In her Christ lives 
 again. Her soul is pure as lilies from the taint 
 of sin. Beneath her drawn and tired features,
 
 THE WOMAN WORKER 243 
 
 wearied after the long day's toil, is hidden, though 
 not all concealed, the presence of the Living God 
 who tabernacles in her breast. Who that has 
 learned to know her does not honor and respect 
 her? Yet what power has been able thus to up- 
 hold her dignity and preserve her purity amid the 
 world's allurements but that same Catholic Church 
 which is her comfort, her glory and her joy; 
 within whose sanctuary she can find her truest rest 
 and at whose altar she partakes of the Bread of 
 Life? 
 
 But if the Church acknowledges the need of 
 woman's work, both within and without the home, 
 and has no blame to cast upon the Christian woman 
 worker, whom she ever fosters and protects, it 
 does not therefore follow that she approves of the 
 condition of society in which millions of women, 
 married and unmarried, are driven forth into the 
 field of the world's industrial competition, whose 
 services would be more gladly and more fruitfully 
 rendered in the home. Much less does the Church 
 consider this an ideal state. Such indeed is the 
 fallacy of that typical Socialist philosophy which 
 would constrain all alike, irrespective of sex, to 
 take their place at the wheel of industry or in the 
 booth of commerce. It is in a measure likewise
 
 244 THE WORLD PROBLEM 
 
 the error of that modern feminism which demands 
 for every woman her complete economic independ- 
 ence, while denying to man the divinely-assigned 
 headship of the family. Both these systems are 
 equally repugnant to Christianity and to that 
 Catholic Church which will safeguard, at every 
 cost, the right and dignity of womankind whose 
 high ideal is enshrined for her in Mary. 
 
 The Church has not failed to understand the 
 economic exigencies of our time, both as they ap- 
 ply to the legions of women who must earn their 
 livelihood in industry or commerce, and to the 
 commonwealth which may stand in special need of 
 their service in times of national crisis. Yet 
 neither does she ever lose sight of woman's normal 
 purpose in life. Spiritually it is the same as that 
 of man, but in the material order it differs from 
 his in many respects, even as in structure, func- 
 tion, character and aptitude woman was created 
 different from man: " For woman is not unde- 
 veloped man, but diverse." Neither training nor 
 education can ever make her the same as man, nor 
 ever should strive to do so. There is an ideal of 
 womanliness and an ideal of manliness, and both 
 are perfect in their way; but there is no sadder 
 spectacle for angels and for men in this sublunary
 
 THE WOMAN WORKER 245 
 
 world than the womanlike man or the manlike 
 woman. 
 
 " Male and female he created them," the Scrip- 
 ture tells us. This difference is again brought 
 home to us in the consequences of the Fall. To 
 man God said : " Cursed is the earth in thy work ; 
 with labor and toil shalt thou eat thereof all the 
 days of thy life." But to woman He said: "In 
 sorrow shalt thou bring forth thy children." 
 Here therefore are clearly defined the normal oc- 
 cupations of both sexes for which the Almighty has 
 especially fitted them. The hard and burdensome 
 toil of the outer world is, so far as possible, to be 
 the portion of man, while the gentler, but even 
 more heroic sacrifices of home and motherhood 
 fall to the part of woman. Hence in his great 
 Encyclical on " The Condition of Labor " Pope 
 Leo XIII has this to say of woman, which briefly 
 sums up the entire doctrine of the Church on the 
 important question of woman labor : 
 
 Women are not suited for certain occupations; a woman is 
 by nature fitted for home-work, and it is that which is best 
 adapted to preserve her modesty and to promote the good up- 
 bringing of children and the well-being of the family. 
 
 Yet of the women who are engaged in wage- 
 earning occupations outside of the home many
 
 246 THE WORLD PROBLEM 
 
 have not made the choice of their own heart. 
 Others have freely chosen the state of virginity to 
 preserve their purity for God alone, and are work- 
 ing out their salvation in the world rather than 
 within convent walls. Both classes may be doing 
 God's will according to their best lights and both 
 classes must seek to earn their livelihood as best 
 they can. Others, still, and these are by far 
 the greatest number, are only temporarily engaged 
 in gainful occupations, during their early years. 
 A. E. Mahuteaux in the Liverpool Catholic Times 
 thus summarizes the question: 
 
 Many women fortunately will always find their happiness in 
 receiving shelter and comfort from a father's or a husband's 
 love. No one wants to change that. It is both the normal 
 and the ideal. But what must happen to the large number of 
 women who have neither father nor husband? From whose 
 kindness and solicitude will they receive the necessary means 
 of subsistence? And if in honor a woman may not receive 
 them from any other, how can she procure them except by her 
 own skill and effort? And how, in the present state of our 
 social economy, can that skill and effort be exercised except in 
 competition with her fellow-beings, men and women alike? 
 
 Woman's place, therefore, as the writer ob- 
 serves, is wherever Providence has given her du- 
 ties to perform; for no woman's hands may be 
 idle, whether she labors for herself or for others. 
 Some have their duties in their own home or in 
 the home of others, and some have their duties in
 
 THE WOMAN WORKER 247 
 
 hospital, workshop, school or office. There are 
 certain classes of work which are rightly to be re- 
 stricted to men, and there are others which woman 
 can perform as well or perhaps far better. The 
 domestic sphere is their own by nature.. For the 
 rest it matters not what we do, provided we do 
 well what God's Providence assigns us. It is the 
 love of Him that gives to every act its highest 
 value and it is this alone that can raise to a fine 
 white flame of devotion these little lives of ours, 
 whether they burn in cloister, home or workshop. 
 
 Nothing of all this conflicts with the Holy 
 Father's teaching, that woman is by nature fitted 
 for home-work and that it is this which is best 
 adapted to preserve her modesty and prepare her 
 for her normal duty as wife and mother. It is in 
 the latter function that she can render to society 
 her greatest service, unless indeed she choose for 
 her sole Spouse Christ the Lord, that she may 
 become the spiritual mother of souls. 
 
 Clearly, then, it is the duty of the State to pro- 
 vide, so far as possible, that woman shall be en- 
 abled to follow her primal vocation of mother- 
 hood. If already a mother she must be given the 
 opportunity to devote to her children all that at- 
 tention and care which make industrial occupations
 
 248 THE WORLD PROBLEM 
 
 in shop or factory impossible. Her place is now 
 in the home, with her little ones. This, as we can- 
 not too frequently repeat, is one of the most urgent 
 reasons obliging the State to secure an adequate 
 family wage for every adult male laborer. Thus 
 will he be able, in the early years of his manhood, 
 to offer a home to the woman of his choice where 
 she can happily perform the duties of a Christian 
 mother, undisturbed by that struggle for existence 
 whose weight should rightly fall upon the hus- 
 band's shoulders. Her own duties, if conscien- 
 tiously performed, may far more than balance this 
 burden, while the claims of charity will leave no 
 moments idle on her hands. 
 
 Both statistics and experience show conclusively 
 that, in general, married women will gladly with- 
 draw from industrial and commercial life if a 
 suitable family wage is paid their husbands. 
 Their withdrawal, like the prevention of child 
 labor, will in turn react favorably upon the labor 
 situation, will lessen unemployment and tend to 
 raise the wages of the men. 
 
 But there is a duty likewise imposed upon the 
 individual man and woman. It is the duty of 
 thrift and moderation, and unless this is better 
 observed by all classes there can be no solution of
 
 THE WOMAN WORKER 249 
 
 our problem. We are living in an age of extrava- 
 gant expenditure. The rich by the neglect of 
 their stewardship, using their surplus wealth as if 
 it stood at their free disposal and were not in- 
 tended for the common good, are setting an ex- 
 ample of lavish living which the poor are imitat- 
 ing in their own degree. The spendthrift young 
 man cannot hope to support a wife, even though 
 an adequate wage be secured for him, while the 
 earnest and ambitious worker will wisely fear to 
 marry a girl whose extravagance of dress and 
 amusement forebodes disaster to his limited earn- 
 ings. " I will not be hard to keep," was the as- 
 suring remark made by a simply yet faultlessly 
 dressed American girl to the happy young man 
 whose heart and hand she had accepted. There 
 was no thought of narrow parsimony, but of that 
 wisdom which builds a successful home and that 
 motherliness which provides for the little ones 
 who are to be the joy of the parents' youthful days 
 and the glory of their declining years. 
 
 Until, therefore, every man is assured a family 
 wage, and rich and poor alike return to the sim- 
 plicity of Christian life, it would be futile to hope 
 for a satisfactory solution of this particular phase 
 of the problem of the woman worker. The wage-
 
 250 THE WORLD PROBLEM 
 
 labor of countless women is to a great extent un- 
 natural, because unnecessarily enforced upon them 
 through capitalistic greed, through inadequate 
 legislation and through personal habits of thrift- 
 lessness and excess. Socialism has studiously fos- 
 tered the latter, though little urging was needed in 
 this direction. The luxury of the rich was even 
 far more culpable in the example that it set. We 
 must prepare for a future reconstruction in which 
 woman will be given ampler opportunities to pro- 
 mote both her own happiness and that of the race.
 
 CHAPTER XXIII 
 
 THE WOMAN LABOR PROBLEM 
 
 THE problem of woman labor has become 
 of permanent interest and importance. 
 The world war merely lent to it an added 
 significance. It is a strictly modern problem. 
 The industrial work of women in the Middle Ages 
 was usually confined to assisting father or husband 
 in the home, which was often likewise the work- 
 shop of the master tradesman. Yet this was a 
 limited and casual occupation. There was other 
 work for woman's hands to do, that never rested 
 idle. 
 
 It is true none the less that women often held 
 a place in the trade gilds and there is mention even 
 of a gild of women goldsmiths. It was a craft 
 calling for delicate skill rather than strength, and 
 woman's nimble fingers might therefore ply it with 
 special success. Gild regulations in general did 
 not overlook the wives and daughters of the gilds- 
 men. They were to uphold the honor and good 
 
 251
 
 252 THE WORLD PROBLEM 
 
 repute of the organization and in return to receive 
 its fullest protection during the life of the gilds- 
 man and particularly after his death. The only 
 person who might conduct a trade by proxy was the 
 widow who desired to continue her husband's busi- 
 ness and was permitted to leave the master-work 
 which this implied to a paid workman. 
 
 The first oppressive labor statutes against 
 women that have come to the writer's notice were 
 those enacted by a woman. They are contained 
 in the labor code of Queen Elizabeth, known as 
 " 5 Eliz. cap. 4," and admirably illustrate the 
 summary way in which labor difficulties were set- 
 tled in the post-Reformation day. A servant 
 problem had evidently arisen with the increase of 
 wealth and luxury on the part of the rich, and the 
 deep and hopeless depression of the laboring 
 classes that followed upon the Reformation. To 
 supply the desired number of domestic servants it 
 was enacted by Queen Elizabeth that unmarried 
 women between the ages of twelve and forty years 
 could be assigned by the local magistrates to 
 service at such wages as these magistrates should 
 determine. If a woman refused she was to be 
 committed to ward until she consented. The deli- 
 cate prison attention bestowed upon such recal-
 
 THE WOMAN LABOR PROBLEM 253 
 
 citrants in the days of " Good Queen Bess " did 
 not encourage any hunger strikes. In practice 
 women might thus be turned over as bondslaves 
 to any employer, against both their own wish and 
 against the will of their parents or guardians, to 
 labor for any wages the magistrate might assign. 
 There was no merciful limit set to the hours of 
 labor or the nature of the work that might be 
 imposed upon them. 
 
 Woman's more general entrance into the in- 
 dustrial field, outside of the home or apart from 
 domestic service, was to follow upon the inven- 
 tion of machinery. Not that the actual conditions 
 which then came about were necessitated by this in- 
 vention, but because labor had been handed over 
 to the merciless greed of capital under a system 
 that was no longer influenced by the saving prin- 
 ciples of the Catholic Church. Woman conse- 
 quently was to be exploited in common with man, 
 and even her helpless little ones were not to be 
 spared by " the greedy speculators," as Pope Leo 
 XIII wrote, " who use human beings as mere in- 
 struments for money-making." 
 
 For generations woman was to furnish the 
 " cheap labor " of the world. She was to be 
 placed in competition, not merely with men and
 
 254 THE WORLD PROBLEM 
 
 with her own sex, but with the newly invented ma- 
 chinery itself. It was often found less expensive 
 to employ the deft hands of woman labor than to 
 purchase the costly devices of the modern era of 
 industry. In a million sweat shops and a million 
 homes the song of the shirt was repeated from 
 early morning until late at night : " Work ! work ! 
 work ! " till the brain began to swim and the eyes 
 grew heavy and dim. Far better had been the 
 condition of woman even under that earlier serf- 
 dom which the Church had slowly worn away by 
 the power of her doctrine, whose whole tendency 
 was to make man and woman alike free in Christ. 
 While the new form of sweated labor did not 
 elevate woman, it degraded man through her. It 
 brought about that other equally modern problem 
 of unemployment, and clogged the labor market 
 with starving men and women ready to slave for 
 any pittance. Wages were accordingly depressed. 
 Often an entire family, husband, wife and little 
 children, together labored for a wage far less than 
 was due to the father of the family alone. We 
 need not go beyond the United States for illustra- 
 tions. Thus in the summary of a New York State 
 factory investigation some few years before the 
 
 
 
 war we find the following statement in a clipping
 
 THE WOMAN LABOR PROBLEM 255 
 
 made at the time from an A. F. of L. News Letter: 
 
 " Testimony has been adduced which shows that in many 
 instances the children were compelled to work or the entire 
 family would face starvation. It was shown that the prices 
 of the necessities of life are -higher than ever before in the 
 history of the United States and the earnings of the tenement 
 dwellers so low that, even with the entire family working, the 
 average was only $7 a week. The stories related under oath 
 are almost unbelievable in their recital of hunger and misery. 
 They deal with women working side by side with men in 
 iron foundries, performing tasks far beyond their strength, and 
 subject to sudden changes in temperature which result in many 
 instances in fatal diseases ; of women working nine to fourteen 
 hours nightly in factories and mills, and of mere children work- 
 ing in canneries until long into the night. Babies of eighteen 
 months are being trained to sort out artificial petals, and children 
 of tender age, some less than five years, are being used to take 
 advantage of the Christmas holidays to dress dolls, extract meat 
 from nuts, etc." 
 
 " It's O ! to be a slave along with the barbarous 
 Turk," if this is Christian work. Child labor is 
 closely connected with oppressive woman labor 
 and is based upon the same pagan philosophy which 
 the Holy Scripture described as especially peculiar 
 to the men of the generation in which Christ was 
 to be born : The things which are weak are found 
 to be nothing worth. 
 
 There is a reaction in our day which would 
 postpone unreasonably the age at which children 
 may be permitted to work in gainful occupations . 
 and aid in the support of the family. Work of
 
 256 THE WORLD PROBLEM 
 
 every kind is in fact to be kept from the growing 
 child even in the school and in the home. This 
 almost equally dangerous excess must not permit 
 us to overlook the real evil. Both extremes must 
 be combated alike for the sake both of the home 
 and of the child, as well of society in general. 
 But it is with the sins of commercialism we are 
 here concerned. 
 
 With the mother forced to sweated labor, the 
 child was soon obliged to help her. With the 
 mother entering the factory, the child was made to 
 follow. It was the condition against which Pope 
 Leo raised his voice and against which Cardinal 
 Manning so strongly wrote long before our Child 
 and Woman Labor laws had in any effective way 
 remedied this barbarism. Men complain, wrote 
 the great Cardinal in his comment on the Labor 
 Encyclical, that employers prefer the cheaper 
 work of women, and women are finding that em- 
 ployers prefer the cheaper work of children. " It 
 is the old formula of modern political economy, 
 ' Sell in the dearest market, and buy in the cheap- 
 est.' What is cheaper than the work of women 
 and half-timers?" A normal state of wage- 
 earning should not merely put the wife back into 
 the home into the midst of her children, as he says,
 
 THE WOMAN LABOR PROBLEM 257 
 
 but likewise protect the home itself against the 
 encroachments of that stealthy greed to which 
 nothing is sacred. Here is a picture of child labor 
 as a radical poet describes it. Such facts have 
 helped to make our Socialists and anarchists : 
 
 " Lisabetta, Marianina, Fiametta, Teresina, 
 
 They are winding stems of roses, one by one, one by one, 
 
 Little children who have never learned to play; 
 
 Teresina softly crying that her ringers ache today; 
 
 Tiny Fiametta nodding when the twilight slips in, gray. 
 
 High above the clattering street, ambulance and fire-gong beat, 
 
 They sit, curling crimson petals, one by one, one by one. . . . 
 
 They have never seen a rose bush nor a dew drop in the sun." 
 
 Thus for the sake of the unnoly dollar were 
 mothers and children alike oppressed and their 
 souls and bodies left blighted and stunted. What 
 rendered the problem doubly difficult was the fact 
 that both women and children were often prepared 
 to enter into conspiracy with their sweated-labor 
 bosses to evade the provisions of the law when 
 this had at last been enacted. But what were they 
 to do? For they must live, and too often the law 
 had failed to make provision for this. To abol- 
 ish tenement labor, for instance, and not provide 
 for those who must thus sustain their existence, is 
 ill-considered legislation.
 
 258 THE WORLD PROBLEM 
 
 But if these are serious difficulties, it is even 
 still less possible to organize such women. The 
 organization of all woman labor has everywhere 
 been extremely difficult and unfortunately radical- 
 ism often played a dominant part where such or- 
 ganization was achieved. 
 
 Labor unionism has for its own self-protection 
 earnestly worked at the total elimination of child- 
 slavery and of the unnatural conditions and inter- 
 minable hours of woman labor, and with no slight 
 success. It has particularly fought to secure for 
 women the same wages that are accorded to men 
 at the same labor. Here too its purpose has been 
 self-protection. It has sought to reduce still 
 further the existing competition and guard the 
 wages of male labor. 
 
 It is reasonable that woman should be paid 
 according to her productiveness. Under normal 
 conditions an equal wage with man should imply 
 an equal service. In whatever industry her pro- 
 ductiveness may be less than that of man, her 
 wage will also naturally be less. This plan was 
 followed by the United States Government, when 
 in its war labor program it demanded that where 
 women were obliged to replace men: "The 
 standard of wages hitherto prevailing for men in
 
 THE WOMAN LABOR PROBLEM 259 
 
 the process should not be lowered where women 
 render equivalent services." 
 
 As regards the enactment of minimum wage 
 laws we must however clearly distinguish between 
 the lowest wage that may be paid to the adult 
 woman and that which may be paid to the adult 
 male laborer. The former must receive no less 
 than an individual wage which will suffice to sup- 
 port her independently of any external assistance. 
 Though some girls there are who work for " pin 
 money " or clothing, cumulative evidence shows 
 that the vast majority are aiding in the support of 
 a family or are living alone, exclusively dependent 
 on their earnings. But while the adult woman 
 worker should receive at the least a living wage, 
 the adult male laborer should receive no less than 
 a full family wage. This will either enable him to 
 marry or to support, in Christian decency, the wife 
 and children whom God has already given him. 
 ' The minimum wage," says Cardinal Manning, 
 " must be sufficient to maintain a man and his 
 home. This does not mean a variable measure, 
 or a sliding scale according to the number of chil- 
 dren, but a fixed average sum." 
 
 We have so far dealt mainly with what may be
 
 260 THE WORLD PROBLEM 
 
 regarded as the historical aspect of the question 
 and have touched upon certain phases only of the 
 great problem in the present chapter. We shall 
 now turn to still other fundamental considerations 
 to which this subject gives rise in our day.
 
 WELFARE OF THE WOMAN 
 LABORER 
 
 AFTER all the decades of years that have 
 passed since the appearance of the Labor 
 Encyclical of Pope Leo XIII, no flaw has 
 been found in any detail of that remarkable docu- 
 ment. We may therefore safely trust in the wis- 
 dom of the Sovereign Pontiff when he tells us: 
 ' Women are not suited for certain occupations." 
 Wifehood and motherhood are the goal of the vast 
 majority of our industrial woman workers. This 
 is made plain by the fact that by far the greatest 
 number of these women laborers is under the age 
 of twenty, showing that soon after this period 
 many discontinue their employment for a home 
 life. Women themselves therefore confirm in 
 practice the truth of those other words of the 
 illustrious Pontiff, that " A woman is by nature 
 fitted for home-work, and it is this which is best 
 adapted to preserve her modesty and to promote 
 
 261
 
 262 THE WORLD PROBLEM 
 
 the good up-bringing of children and the well- 
 being of the family." 
 
 The occupation that will naturally best prepare 
 woman for her normal purpose in life, is the round 
 of household duties, whether in her own home or 
 the home of others. Yet domestic service, though 
 often far preferable to shop and factory labor, 
 does not appeal to all. The reasons need not here 
 be considered. The thirteenth United States 
 census, taken in normal times, showed neverthe- 
 less that about one-third of the total number of 
 women employed in gainful occupations were en- 
 gaged in domestic and personal service, in which 
 they doubly outnumbered the men. Only in pro- 
 fessional and clerical work did they otherwise re- 
 motely compare with the men in numbers. Here, 
 too, therefore, the facts fully support the wisdom 
 of the Holy Father's words in regard to woman's 
 work. 
 
 It was no less positively supported in the rec- 
 ommendations of the United States War Labor 
 Board when it laid down the rule that even in 
 these trying times " women should not be em- 
 ployed to replace men in occupations or places of 
 employment clearly unfit for women, owing to 
 physical or moral conditions." Specific instances
 
 WELFARE OF THE WOMAN LABORER 263 
 
 were given in illustration, as barrooms, pool- 
 rooms, mines or quarries. " In addition, girls 
 under twenty-one years of age should not be em- 
 ployed in occupations or places of employment 
 clearly unfit for them, owing to their youth." 
 Occupations mentioned were the public messenger 
 service, street-car service and employment as ele- 
 vator operators or as bell boys in hotels and clubs. 
 These principles were approved at the time by all 
 the production and distribution agencies of the 
 Government. 
 
 Extraordinary emergencies, unusual remunera- 
 tions, or motives of purest patriotism may induce 
 women for the time to fill the places of men in 
 occupations to which woman is least adapted by 
 nature. The temporary success and the eclat 
 given to such work in the popular press do not 
 prove that it will be normally conducive to the 
 welfare either of woman herself or of the race. 
 It is folly to strive to ignore the fact of sex; to 
 overlook the differences of organism, structure and 
 function. It is in effect to disregard the creative 
 will of God which made us, male and female, with 
 diverse aptitudes and powers, suited to diverse 
 purposes in life. Even an equal muscular strength 
 would give no ground for the conclusion that the
 
 264 THE WORLD PROBLEM 
 
 work of men and women can ever be made simply 
 interchangeable. 
 
 Labor that implies great physical fatigue and 
 continued strain will always remain the normal 
 portion of man. Women, as physical experts tell 
 us and experience proves, are by nature predis- 
 posed to nervous troubles. Their sexual functions 
 weaken the nerves, and nervous tension will there- 
 fore exaggerate any evil tendencies to which they 
 may be prone. The remark of a factory girl, 
 that she felt " like screaming " whenever the ma- 
 chines came to a sudden stop at night is character- 
 istic. Constant vibrations, such as those of a mill, 
 wrote D. R. Kier in the Popular Science Monthly, 
 act upon their nerves as light tappings do upon 
 steel. 
 
 " The effect of the strain of industry, then, is to add mental to 
 physical fatigue, destroying the recuperative power of the body. 
 Since the sexual organs and the nervous system both take the 
 same food elements from the blood and are delicately adjusted 
 to each other, the toll industry takes of the nerves is sooner or 
 later reflected in organic maladjustments. As with monotonous 
 work, so with industrial diseases no direct result on the fecundity 
 of women can be pointed out. The harm comes indirectly 
 through a lowering of general vitality and nerve strain." 
 
 Various industrial poisonings seem to be more 
 harmful to women than to men, and have exceed- 
 ingly disastrous effects. " It is rare for a woman
 
 WELFARE OF THE WOMAN LABORER 265 
 
 working in lead fumes to give birth to a healthy 
 child at term. Often the poisoning results in 
 sterility." Similar evil effects due to various kinds 
 of injurious factory work, lifting heavy weights 
 or running foot-power machinery, might readily 
 be enumerated. Malnutrition too plays its part 
 where woman has no time properly to prepare her 
 meals. Statistics need not be quoted to show the 
 fearful toll in life or health to be paid by children 
 of such factory mothers. Lactation is of necessity 
 interfered with to the serious injury of both mother 
 and child. 
 
 " The survivors of this heroic treatment grow up, never having 
 had sufficient nourishment. When it comes their turn to go to 
 work, they do so not equipped with full vigor to meet the in- 
 creasing stress of such work, but in a weakened condition, and 
 are susceptible to all the ills before mentioned." 
 
 Thus the future mothers of the race are undone 
 in their very babyhood, and even before they have 
 seen the light of day. Worst of all, we now find 
 not only the social and economic, but all the moral 
 factors which have caused a world-wide decline 
 in the birth-rate, operating in the various groups 
 of working women. The immorality of irre- 
 ligion has thus found its expression among them in 
 many and various ways. Against all these evil 
 influences, physical and spiritual, our women labor-
 
 266 THE WORLD PROBLEM 
 
 ers must be guarded and protected by sincere Chris- 
 tian social workers as well as by the influence of 
 the Church herself. 
 
 While the wages of men remain insufficient for 
 the support of a family and married women con- 
 tinue their labor in the factories or other places of 
 employment, it is clear that strict laws must pro- 
 vide for the right of the offspring, so that an 
 ample period of rest is ensured the mother imme- 
 diately before and after the advent of a child. 
 Here, as elsewhere, women workers in factories 
 are likely, of their own accord, to aid the em- 
 ployer in circumventing the law, or to do so even 
 against his will. In the same manner laws enact- 
 ing shorter working hours are worthless once an 
 extension, or over-time work, is made possible 
 except perhaps under the most careful restric- 
 tions for here too women workers often readily 
 lend themselves to an evasion of the law. It is 
 the duty of the State in many cases to protect such 
 laborers against themselves. There may be less 
 need for this, however, once a full living wage has 
 been secured for every woman worker. 
 
 In regard to the night work of women, Jo- 
 sephine Goldmark concludes, from the experience 
 of the past, that such work will be considered
 
 WELFARE OF THE WOMAN LABORER 267 
 
 necessary and inevitable until it is positively pre- 
 vented by law. So, too, the excessive hours in 
 laundry work, which were wont to run up to twelve 
 and fourteen hours at the end of the week, were 
 claimed to be unavoidable: " Because the laun- 
 dries are obliged to return promptly linen from 
 hotels, barber shops, restaurants, etc." But neces- 
 sity readily suggested another way out of the 
 dilemma. It consisted in adopting the very sim- 
 ple remedy of laying in a larger stock of such 
 linens, in place of relying upon the nervous over- 
 work of poor, helpless girls and women. Similar 
 solutions can be found elsewhere, once men are 
 made to realize that human life and happiness are 
 of more value than an extra stock of linen or any 
 other trifle added to the working expenses of their 
 business. 
 
 But far worse than all these evils are the temp- 
 tations to which working girls are only too fre- 
 quently exposed in offices, shops and other places 
 of employment. Besides their service, the price 
 of their virtue is asked. This holds true not 
 merely in isolated cases, but in countless instances 
 to which any man of experience can personally 
 point. In all such infamous violations of morality 
 there should be absolutely no mercy shown by the
 
 268 THE WORLD PROBLEM 
 
 law to the brutal seducer. Yet who, ordinarily, 
 in any particular case, is ever concerned about 
 this most hideous of all the phases of our modern 
 commercialism ? 
 
 Here is a picture drawn some years ago in the 
 Outlook. It tells but a small part of the story, 
 but we can readily understand the rest. The 
 writer briefly relates the grievances of the woman 
 workers as gathered at the time of a laundry 
 strike. It is again, we are advised, the " Song of 
 the Shirt," yet this time, not of its sewing, but of 
 its washing: 
 
 "The girls and women have told me of the inhumanly hard 
 work in the busy and holiday seasons eighteen, nineteen and 
 twenty hours at a stretch. I have heard of the washers' terrible 
 attacks of rheumatism from standing day after day, and week 
 after week, ankle-deep in water in the wash kitchens; I have 
 heard of fingers lost in the mangle and other machines; of the 
 young girls who fall like flies, as one of the strikers put it, in 
 the terrific hot weather during the summer. And there are con- 
 ditions in the laundry industry that one cannot even speak about 
 that one can only suggest when girls and women and men 
 work together long, monotonous hours where there is absolutely 
 no privacy, no chance for decency and self-respect. Perhaps one 
 woman told the whole sad story when she said: 'Little Katie, 
 she was such a nice little girl when she first came to this laundry, 
 but I nearly died when I saw her in them grand clothes in the 
 street.' " 
 
 That indeed is the saddest and the most inhuman 
 part of it all ! In the private office, as well as in
 
 WELFARE OF THE WOMAN LABORER 269 
 
 the store and factory, is that last tragic chapter 
 enacted all too often. Economic necessity, human 
 frailty and perhaps the lure of fine clothing, are 
 the setting for the scene. Yet the law has rarely 
 touched this evil. 
 
 Can women, then, be too circumspect? Can 
 they fail to see the wisdom of the Holy Father's 
 words? Can occupations be deliberately chosen 
 by them, or for them, which must of necessity do 
 violence to that spirit of modesty and purity which 
 is the jewel of woman's soul, and which can be so 
 readily lost by her at any unguarded moment. 
 That modesty, we know, has been made cheap and 
 vile upon the stage and in the movies, in our illus- 
 trated magazines and Sunday supplements, and in 
 so much of our sensuous, sexual, novel literature; 
 but in the name of all that is sacred, let Christian 
 men and women not stand by and permit the poor 
 working girl to be robbed of the one treasure 
 she possesses. Nothing in all our modern social 
 work and social literature is more inhuman and 
 diabolic than the constant and studied attempt, in 
 the name of progress and evolution, to destroy the 
 modesty of woman. 
 
 The working woman needs protection, the pro- 
 tection of Christian men and women, the protec-
 
 270 THE WORLD PROBLEM 
 
 tion of the law against all unwomanly conditions. 
 She requires reasonable hours, the minimum wage, 
 the abolition of night work, the safeguarding of 
 her maternity and fecundity, the abolition of child 
 labor, the removal of all circumstances that expose 
 her to physical injury and above all the conserva- 
 tion of her modesty, her decency, her purity. We 
 cannot be indifferent in this great matter. As are 
 the mothers, so will be the race. 
 
 Here again we can profitably revert to war 
 regulations, made when the employment of 
 women was incomparably more necessary than it 
 ever can be in the normal days of peace. The 
 following orders of General Crozier, setting the 
 standard for woman labor, deserve more than 
 passing attention: 
 
 Existing legal standards should be rigidly maintained, and 
 even where the law permits a nine or ten hour day, effort 
 should be made to restrict the work of women to eight hours. 
 
 The employment of women on night shifts should be pre- 
 vented as a necessary protection, morally and physically. 
 
 No women should be employed for a longer period than four 
 and a half hours without a break for a meal, and a recess 
 of 10 minutes should be allowed in the middle of each working 
 period. 
 
 At least 30 minutes should be allowed for a meal, and this 
 time should be lengthened to 45 minutes or an hour if the 
 working day exceeds eight hours. Meals should not be eaten 
 in the workroom. 
 
 The Saturday half-holiday should be considered ai abso- 
 lute essential for women under all conditions.
 
 WELFARE OF THE WOMAN LABORER 271 
 
 For women who sit at their work, seats with backs should 
 be provided unless the occupation renders this impossible. For 
 women who stand at work, seats should be available and their 
 use permitted at regular intervals. 
 
 No woman should be required to lift repeatedly more than 
 25 pounds in any single load. 
 
 When it is necessary to employ women in work hitherto 
 done by men care should be taken to make sure that the task 
 is adapted to the strength of women. The standards of wages 
 hitherto prevailing for men in the process should not be low- 
 ered where women render equivalent service. The hours for 
 women engaged in such processes, of course, should not be 
 longer than those formerly worked by men. 
 
 No work shall be given out to be done in rooms used for 
 living purposes, or in rooms directly connected with living 
 rooms in any dwelling or tenement. 
 
 There is need of organization on the part of 
 the Church. Social and economic, as well as re- 
 ligious instruction must be given to our girls that 
 they may help themselves and aid others, for they 
 have a great duty towards each other. No power 
 is so great in their world of thought, no influence 
 is so trusted and obeyed, as the power and influ- 
 ence of the Catholic Church. It must therefore 
 be used to the utmost for the salvation of modern 
 woman, and in particular of the working woman, 
 who in all her needs, her struggles and temptations 
 must ever be most dear to the heart of the Church.
 
 CHAPTER XXV 
 
 CHRISTIAN DEMOCRACY 
 
 CHRISTIAN Democracy is the highest ex- 
 pression of social science illuminated by 
 the light of faith. The name itself, as 
 Pope Leo XIII was careful to explain, is not 
 meant to convey any political significance. There 
 is question solely of a democracy of social en- 
 deavor, a " popular action " for the common wel- 
 fare in which all alike are to participate. It does 
 not preclude the efficacy of the ballot, but rather 
 supposes the full and intelligent Christian use of 
 it as a powerful means for the promotion of social 
 justice. 
 
 Christian Democracy is based upon the funda- 
 mental truth that society is a moral organism: a 
 social body all the members of which are united 
 for a common purpose, by a common bond of 
 brotherhood, under the common fatherhood of 
 God. " No one lives in a community for his 
 personal advantage only," says Pope Leo XIII 
 
 272
 
 CHRISTIAN DEMOCRACY 273 
 
 in his Encyclical on " Christian Democracy," cited 
 throughout this chapter; " he lives for the com- 
 mon good also." Each member is therefore to 
 contribute his own share towards the welfare of 
 the entire body, and that body, in turn, must 
 reasonably provide for the welfare of its indi- 
 vidual members. In every conflict between pri- 
 vate and public interests the former must yield 
 to the latter, since the common good is the su- 
 preme social law. This, however, does not imply 
 the Socialistic abrogation of inviolable individual 
 rights. It does not imply the negation of all 
 private capital, but its proper restriction and regu- 
 lation. Due precedence must, moreover, be given 
 to all the interests of a higher order. Right rea- 
 son demands that spiritual claims prevail over 
 merely temporal considerations. 
 
 Christian Democracy is earnestly concerned 
 for the welfare of all classes of society, yet it 
 openly professes to devote itself primarily to the 
 interests of the poor, since they, in particular, 
 stand in need of its assistance. Its chief aim is 
 thus expressed by the Sovereign Pontiff: 
 
 To make the conditions of those who toil more tolerable; to 
 enable them to obtain, little by little, those means by which they 
 may provide for the future; to help them to practise in public 
 and in private the duties which morality and religion inculcate;
 
 274 THE WORLD PROBLEM 
 
 to aid them to feel that they are not animals but men, not 
 heathens but Christians, and so to enable them to strive more 
 2ealously and more eagerly for the one thing which is necessary: 
 that ultimate good for which we are all born into this world. 
 This is the intention ; this is the work of those who wish that the 
 people should be animated by Christian sentiments and should 
 be protected from the contamination of Socialism which threatens 
 them. 
 
 Christian Democray, in a word, is not satisfied 
 with a national prosperity, which may be based 
 entirely upon the excessive wealth of a privileged 
 class, but seeks to bring about a public prosperity 
 in which all alike can share in due measure. It 
 has no fatuous delusions about a Socialistic aboli- 
 tion of classes, but neither will it admit the denial, 
 in practical life, of the brotherhood of men. 
 Therefore it demands a mutual love and consid- 
 eration and a just regard for the full dignity of 
 every human being made to the likeness of God. 
 It will bitterly fight the attempts of Socialism to 
 interfere with the individual rights of citizens, 
 whether capitalists or laborers, but it will not less 
 fearlessly erect an adamantine wall of public 
 opinion and civil law against the encroachments 
 of liberalistic capitalism, based not upon individual 
 right but upon individual privilege opposed to the 
 common good. 
 
 There is one lesson, above all others, which it
 
 CHRISTIAN DEMOCRACY 275 
 
 would bring home to the hearts of men, and this 
 is that no social regeneration is possible in our 
 century, or in any century, except by the aid of 
 religion : 
 
 It is the opinion of some, and the error is already very com- 
 mon, that the social question is merely an economic one, whereas 
 in point of fact it is above all a moral and religious matter, and 
 for that reason must be settled by the principles of morality and 
 according to the dictates of religion. For even though wages are 
 doubled and the hours of labor are shortened and food is cheap- 
 ened, yet if the workingman hearkens to the doctrines that are 
 taught on this subject, as he is prone to do, and is prompted by 
 the examples set before him to throw off respect for God and to 
 enter upon a life of immorality, his labors and his gain will avail 
 him naught. 
 
 So likewise the additional profits of rationalistic 
 capitalism, without regard for God and His Com- 
 mandments, will be new millstones hung around 
 its neck to sink it deeper into perdition. Nothing 
 can ever still the unrest of a State in which godless 
 labor is gathering its resources for a combat 
 against equally godless capitalism. Neither will 
 ever be satisfied; neither will ever say enough, 
 whether there be question of wages on the one 
 side or profits on the other. The law of force 
 alone restrains them, and when this dam is broken 
 nothing but the deluge can follow. Labor and 
 capital will alike be involved in the common ruin. 
 To save civilization from this impending catas-
 
 276 THE WORLD PROBLEM 
 
 trophe, Pope Leo XIII solemnly sent forth his 
 warning to the world: 
 
 The condition of things at present proclaims, and proclaims 
 vehemently, that there is need for a union of brave minds with 
 all the resources they can command. The harvest of misery is 
 before our eyes, and the dreadful projects of the most disastrous 
 national upheavals are threatening us from the growing power 
 of the Socialistic movement. 
 
 Hence the imperative need of the Christian 
 Democratic movement, equally opposed to So- 
 cialism on the one hand and to rationalistic capital- 
 ism on the other. While this method is distin- 
 guished from Socialism by the fact that it pre- 
 serves inviolate all the true rights of property, it 
 is no less sharply contrasted with unrestrained 
 capitalism by its demand for a regulation and re- 
 striction of the power and privilege of private 
 capital, wherever they are detrimental to the pub- 
 lic welfare. In opposition to Socialism, Christian 
 Democracy would preserve industrial freedom and 
 economic initiative as the mainsprings of national 
 prosperity, but in equal opposition to encroach- 
 ing capitalism it would firmly set for it the bounds 
 defined by the greater good of the entire people. 
 
 Christian Democracy is the golden mean be- 
 tween the two destructive extremes of Socialistic 
 and capitalistic excesses. It favors free coopera-
 
 CHRISTIAN DEMOCRACY 277 
 
 tion and such a measure of municipal or govern- 
 ment ownership of public-service utilities as can 
 best contribute to the general advantage of all the 
 citizens. On the other hand it strenuously op- 
 poses the fallacy that all productive property 
 should be made national or public. This would 
 be a calamity for labor and capital alike. It is 
 in violation of all the teachings of history and de- 
 structive of the common good as well as of the 
 last measure of human liberty. It would aggra- 
 vate the very evils from which we are seeking to 
 escape by an enlightened legislation and a more 
 Christian conception of social relations and social 
 duties. Christian Democracy comes as the one 
 true liberator of mankind from economic injustice 
 and the one great teacher of Christian charity. It 
 would bring about a wider distribution of private 
 ownership, whereas Socialism would place upon 
 all alike its relentless yoke of tyranny and State 
 absolution. 
 
 Much of the success of Socialism comes from 
 the use of Christian Democratic measures as step- 
 ping stones to its own pernicious ends. These 
 measures, though deprived of their religious mo- 
 tives and often rendered unjust or revolutionary 
 in their Socialistic application, still contain at least
 
 278 THE WORLD PROBLEM 
 
 a remnant of Christian truth which is used as a 
 bait for the unwary. Socialism, for this reason, 
 has become more dangerous than ever. The time 
 approaches when even the elect may be deceived. 
 
 No one, therefore, can fail to understand how 
 important it is that the principles of Christian 
 Democracy be firmly grasped by all Christians. 
 It is no time for mere defensive warfare. 
 Though combating Socialism on the one hand 
 and rationalistic capitalism on the other, we must 
 lift on high our own glorious standard. Aggres- 
 sive action is required. The teachings of the 
 Gospel and of the natural law must be firmly but 
 carefully applied to all the great social and eco- 
 nomic problems of the day. 
 
 The guidance of the Church is furthermore 
 necessary that men may not be misled by the 
 utterly unwarranted interpretations constantly 
 given to the Scriptures themselves by Socialists 
 who deny the Divinity of Christ and would make 
 of Him a purely revolutionary agitator. Hence 
 the need of a clear, consistent, Christian Demo- 
 cratic movement which, by the cogency and mod- 
 eration of its arguments, can unite all men of 
 good-will. 
 
 While Christian Democracy relentlessly opposes
 
 CHRISTIAN DEMOCRACY 279 
 
 the oppression of the poor, it likewise demands 
 justice for the wealthier classes and seeks their 
 cooperation no less than that of the laboring men. 
 It is not, like Socialism or individualistic capital- 
 ism, a mere class system. Like the Church and 
 the Gospel, on which it is founded, it is intended 
 for all alike. There is no Christian who cannot 
 and should not be a Christian Democrat His 
 Christian faith demands no less of him, if the 
 Gospel of Christ is to have its practical applica- 
 tion in his life. 
 
 Christian Democracy is not content with 
 merely defending the just rights of the rich as 
 well as of the poor, but it likewise recalls to both 
 their sacred duties. While the latter may not 
 transgress the laws of Christian morality, the 
 former, too, are bidden to bear in mind that their 
 responsibilities are in direct proportion to the 
 greatness of the temporal benefits they have re- 
 ceived. '' We wish them to understand," says 
 Pope Leo XIII, " that they are not at all free to 
 look after or neglect those who happen to be be- 
 neath them, but that it is a strict duty which binds 
 them." 
 
 Christian Democracy is the consummation of 
 Christian charity no less than of social justice. It
 
 28O THE WORLD PROBLEM 
 
 is the practical application of the Ten Command- 
 ments and of the twofold law of love which em- 
 braces them all. It seeks to provide for the souls 
 of men while caring for their temporal welfare. 
 It goes about in the spirit of Christ, with malice 
 towards no man, with good-will for all, battling 
 for justice and the reign of love in the hearts of 
 all mankind. 
 
 We have spoken much of social justice, but we 
 must not forget that there is also a law of Chris- 
 tian charity which must be no less insisted upon 
 in the mutual relations between capital and labor, 
 employer and employed. 
 
 A special characteristic by which Our Lord 
 wished His disciples to be distinguished from the 
 pagan world about them was to be their love for 
 one another. This would of necessity express 
 itself in outward acts of mutual service. Great- 
 ness of opportunity was to bring with it only in- 
 crease of service. Thus the Head of the well- 
 nigh three hundred million Faithful throughout 
 the world today, the Vicegerent of Christ, the 
 direct successor of him to whom Christ committed 
 the keys of His Kingdom, still rejoices in the simple 
 title which he officially bears, " Servant of the 
 servants of God." Such service does not dimin-
 
 CHRISTIAN DEMOCRACY 28 1 
 
 ish authority, since authority is derived from God, 
 but its purpose is to join high and low, rich and 
 poor, capital and labor, in one Christian unity of 
 love for the promotion of the common good. 
 This principle of mutual service, which is the 
 pivot of Christian social life and government, the 
 Gentile world had never been able to understand: 
 
 You know that they who seem to rule over the Gentiles, lord 
 it over them: and their princes have power over them. 
 
 But it is not so among you : but whosoever will be greater shall 
 be your minister. 
 
 And whosoever will be the first among you, shall be the servant 
 of all. 
 
 Service is the duty of every Christian and every 
 citizen. It was because capitalism too often for- 
 got this truth that Socialism became possible. In 
 proportion as Christianity lost its sway over the 
 hearts of men the masses were once more re- 
 garded as destined only to labor for the wealth, 
 luxury and power of the rich. No wonder that 
 the multitudes, thus divested of their dignity as 
 Christians, in turn lost the true concept of service, 
 and that oppression on the one hand and revolu- 
 tion on the other replaced the law of mutual Chris- 
 tian love and service. So the divine order of so- 
 ciety, in which love was to be the quickening soul 
 and service the visible, ministering body of Chris-
 
 282 THE WORLD PROBLEM 
 
 tian life, was converted into social chaos, envy and 
 hatred. Hence Pope Benedict XV, at his acces- 
 sion to the Papal Chair, in the midst of the great 
 world war, was forced to write: 
 
 Never perhaps was human brotherhood more spoken of than 
 at present. It is even pretended, though the words of the Gos- 
 pel and the work of Christ and His Church are forgotten, that 
 this fraternal zeal is one of the most precious features of mod- 
 ern civilization. But the truth is that never was human frater- 
 nity so little practised as it is today. Race-hatred is most bitter. 
 Nations are divided more by rancor than by natural boundaries. 
 In one and the same country and within the walls of the same 
 city different classes of the citizens hate one another, and amongst 
 individuals everything is governed by selfishness as a supreme 
 law. 
 
 Never, therefore, he adds, " Shall we grow 
 weary of urging upon men to give effect to the 
 teaching of the Apostle St. John : * Love one 
 another.' ' Christian Democracy is the appli- 
 cation of this love to our social life. Love is the 
 fulfilment of the law. The laborer asks not for 
 alms: he has a claim to justice. But when all 
 justice has been fulfilled the question of chanty 
 still remains. There is charity towards the em- 
 ployer as well as charity towards the laborer, and 
 there may at times be great need of both. 
 
 The love of our neighbor, St. Teresa says, is 
 the surest test by which to gage our love of God, 
 and St. John in the ardor of his charity exclaims :
 
 CHRISTIAN DEMOCRACY 283 
 
 If any man say, I love God, and hateth his brother; he is a 
 liar. For he that loveth not his brother, whom he seeth, how 
 can he love God, whom he seeth not? 
 
 And this commandment we have from God, that he who loveth 
 God, love also his brother. / John iv, 20, 21. 
 
 Neither radical Socialist nor rationalistic Capi- 
 talist is excluded from this love, that arises out of 
 the common brotherhood of all and is rooted far 
 deeper in the love of God. We abhor their 
 errors but pray that we may win them to unite 
 with us in the great task of the establishment of 
 a true Christian Democracy upon the earth. 
 
 This love, to correspond to the true ideal pro- 
 posed to us in the Holy Scriptures, must be ani- 
 mated by the great purpose of seeking only the 
 service of God in our service of the neighbor. It 
 is necessary to remind Catholics themselves, in 
 these days of vaunting reformers, philanthropists 
 and self-advertised agents of " social uplift," that 
 the Lord is not in the whirl-wind. The super- 
 natural worth of our actions consists in the fact 
 that they are performed by us as disciples of 
 Christ, in His name, for His sake and for the 
 glory of God. " And whosoever shall give to 
 drink to one of these little ones a cup of cold water 
 only in the name of a disciple, amen I say to you,
 
 284 THE WORLD PROBLEM 
 
 he shall not lose his reward." In this therefore 
 lies the essence of Christian service, the prime 
 motive of Christian Democracy, that in the name 
 of Christ we become other saviors of men, tem- 
 porally and spiritually, by the grace of God. 
 
 Perfectly to accomplish our mission we have 
 need above all things of social education. Liter- 
 ature and lecture courses are indispensable, but 
 there is also an imperative demand for Catholic 
 schools of sociology. The Church has fully un- 
 derstood this important fact, and hence the many 
 institutions now devoted to this high purpose. 
 Individual action will no longer suffice. Scientific 
 knowledge and scientific training are everywhere 
 desired. Catholics must be in the van of progress 
 and they can be so only through a thorough sys- 
 tem of social education. 
 
 While the trent of the world's best thought is 
 all towards Catholic ideals there is still much un- 
 soundness of principle in the social literature and 
 social teaching of our day. Nothing therefore 
 can be more important than the safe and certain 
 guidance of the Church through social education.
 
 OUR SOCIAL AIMS IN BRIEF 
 
 As expressed in the Encyclical of Pope Pius X on Catholic Social 
 Action, addressed to the Bishops of Italy, June u, 1905. 
 
 I. To combat anti-Christian civilization by 
 every just and lawful means, and to repair in every 
 way the grievous disorders which flow from it. 
 
 II. To reinstate Jesus Christ in the family, 
 the school and society. 
 
 III. To reestablish the principle that human 
 authority represents that of God. 
 
 IV. To take close to our heart the interests of 
 the people, especially those of the working and 
 agricultural classes, not only by the inculcation of 
 religion, the only true source of comfort in the 
 sorrows of life, but also by striving to dry their 
 tears, to soothe their sufferings, and by wise 
 measures to improve their economic conditions. 
 
 V. To endeavor, consequently, to make public 
 laws conformable to justice, and to amend or sup- 
 press those which are not so. 
 
 285
 
 286 THE WORLD PROBLEM 
 
 VI. Finally, with a true Catholic spirit, to de- 
 fend and support the rights of God in everything, 
 and no less the sacred rights of the Church. 
 
 Instaurare omnia in Christo 
 " To restore all things in Christ."
 
 INDEX 
 
 Accident insurance, 84-85. 
 
 Agents, 68. 
 
 Agrarian problem, 14-151 
 
 iS4 ft- 
 Agrarian Catholic literature, 
 
 169. 
 
 Alphonsus, St., prices, 49, 51. 
 American Federation of Labor 
 
 News Letter, 255. 
 Apprentices, 171 ; limitation of, 
 
 173-174- 
 
 Arbitration, 117, 119-122. 
 Archambault, S.J., Rev. J. P., 
 
 " Le Clerge et 1'Action so- 
 
 ciale," 214-215. 
 Autocracies, early, 189-190. 
 
 B 
 
 "Back to the land," 158. 
 Banks: popular and clergy, 
 
 214-215; Reiffeisen, 213, 
 
 214-215; Schulze-Delitzch 
 
 popular urban, 225. 
 Benedict XV, on brotherhood, 
 
 282. 
 
 Birth Control, 145-146. 
 Black Death, 188. 
 Blackstone, 232. 
 Bonus plan, 219. 
 Bourne, Cardinal, 201. 
 
 Boycott: primary, 180; second- 
 ary, 180-181. 
 
 Brotherhood, 185, 224; Catho- 
 lic, 185-186, 190, 274, 283 ; 
 impossible without religion, 
 
 122. 
 
 Brownson, Orestes, 34. 
 Bureaucratic control of indus- 
 try, 208. 
 
 Catholic Church in its relation 
 to: social reform, 31, 272 ff.; 
 labor, 75 ff., 87 ; civilization, 
 109-110; labor organization, 
 '7 1 ff-! woman, 241 ff. 
 
 Catholic: principles and mod- 
 ern social ideas, 87, 191, 198, 
 209, 212; traditions revived, 
 102-103, 209, 212-213, 217; 
 reconstruction, 147-148, 230. 
 
 Catholics, social duties of, 78, 
 191-192, 200. 
 
 Capital : honest, 7-8, 22 ; moral 
 use of, 42; fictitious, 55; du- 
 ties in regard to, 99 ff. 
 
 Capitalism, rationalistic, 6, 
 3Sff-> "i; defined, 35, 36- 
 37; development of, 40 ff.; 
 Sombart's theory, 44 ff.; 
 Pierre L'Ermite, 165-168. 
 
 Capitalization, deceptive, 55.
 
 288 
 
 INDEX 
 
 Cartage charges, 68. 
 
 Centralization of industries, 
 209. 
 
 Charity and Christian Democ- 
 racy, 279 ff. 
 
 Child labor, 83-84, 255; in 
 canneries, 255; in tenements, 
 257; moral dangers of, 83. 
 
 Children of factory mothers, 
 
 3, 193. 265- 
 
 Christian Democracy: its defi- 
 nition, 272; its ideals, 116, 
 149-150, 272 ff.; its regard 
 for all classes, 273, 276, 279 ; 
 its love for the poor, 273; 
 its duties for the rich, 279; 
 its love for God and the 
 neighbor, 283. 
 
 Civic Federation, National, re- 
 port of, 197. 
 
 Civilization: relation to the 
 Church, 109-110; and the 
 farm, 154. 
 
 Class struggle, 8-9, 16, 104- 
 106. 
 
 Closed Shop, 172-173. 
 
 Collective bargaining, 79. 
 
 Combination for prices, 58. 
 
 Commercialism, 36, 39; ethics 
 
 of, 37 ff-> 44, 52- 
 
 Commission dealer, 68. 
 
 Communism, voluntary, 30 ; 
 early Christian, 221 ; of Re- 
 ligious Orders, 221-222. 
 
 Compensation, workmen's, 197- 
 198. 
 
 Competition, unfair, 22; un- 
 regulated, 39; and monopo- 
 lies, 53-54. 
 
 Confiscation, and prices, 60; 
 
 and Socialism, 233-234. 
 Conciliation, 115, 117. 
 Consumer, 45, 54, 65, 68-69, 
 
 73-74, 195, 197- 
 
 Control, Government, 65, 195, 
 204-205; and farmer, 160. 
 
 Control of industry, demo- 
 cratic, 201 ff. 
 
 Cooperation, 211 ff.; various 
 forms of farmers', 156-157. 
 
 Cooperative: store, 73, 215- 
 216; Wholesale Society of 
 Manchester, 226-227; cream- 
 ery, 223 ; bootmakers, 225 ; 
 credit associations. See 
 
 Banks. 
 
 Cooperative production, possi- 
 bilities of, 220; perfect form 
 of, 224; and Socialism, 228- 
 229. 
 
 Corners, 58, 65. 
 
 Corporations, 53 ; and justice, 
 56. 
 
 Corporation agent, 156. 
 
 Cost of high living, 18. 
 
 Credit, for poorer classes, 
 213 ff.; associations. See 
 Banks. 
 
 Credit systems for farmer, 161. 
 See Banks. 
 
 Dairy, cooperative, 222-223. 
 
 Defense Association, employ- 
 ers', 121. 
 
 Democratic control of indus- 
 try, 201 ff.; by cooperation, 
 216.
 
 INDEX 
 
 289 
 
 Democracy, Christian, 116, 
 149-150, 272 ff. 
 
 Diseases, occupational, 19. 
 
 Distribution of ownership, be- 
 fore the world war, 4, 5; 
 Catholic ideal, 43, 98, 108- 
 109, 149. 
 
 Dividends, 19, 45; deceptive, 
 
 54, 55- 
 
 Domestic service, 262. 
 Drummers, 68. 
 
 Economic conditions, influence 
 on virtuous living, 77-78 ; 
 constant fluctuation of, 186- 
 187. 
 
 Economic problems, enumera- 
 tion and definition of, 13 ff. 
 
 Education, social, 179, 284; of 
 woman worker, 271. 
 
 Efficiency, and large scale in- 
 dustries, 53-54; and profits, 
 54; and Socialism, 102, 208- 
 209. 
 
 Elizabeth, Queen, woman labor 
 statute, 252. 
 
 Eminent domain, 237. 
 
 Employers, sincere Christian, 
 7-8, 22. 
 
 Employment Exchanges, 155 ff. 
 
 Encyclicals. See Leo XIII, 
 Pius X, Benedict XV. 
 
 En gels, Frederick, on State So- 
 cialism, 27. 
 
 Ethics of just prices, 44 ff.; of 
 monopolistic prices, 53 ff.; of 
 godless capitalism, 37^.; 45. 
 
 Equality of opportunity and the 
 
 Church, 33. 
 Extravagance, 18, 249. 
 
 Factory System* 165-168. 
 
 Family wage. See Wage. 
 
 Farm, Socialist doctrine, 24- 
 25; factory type of, 156; ma- 
 chinery for, 156; transporta- 
 tion problem on, 14-15; co- 
 operative enterprises, 157, 
 222 ff.; Catholic colonization, 
 139-140, 170. 
 
 Farm labor problem, 157-158. 
 
 Farm problem, 154^. 
 
 Farmers, class of small, 154 ff.; 
 and Socialism, 168. 
 
 Fathers and Doctors of Church 
 on labor, 178-179. 
 
 Feminism, 244. 
 
 Feudal system, 187. 
 
 Finance, commercial, public 
 control of, 63. 
 
 " Financing " an enterprise, 
 
 55-56- 
 
 Force, 99, 112. 
 
 Forestalling the market, 67, 70. 
 Francis of Assisi, St., 152. 
 Freedom of speech, 118. 
 
 Gild: Catholic, and large for- 
 tunes, 10; and modern social 
 reforms, 31; distribution of 
 ownership, 39-40; prices, 48; 
 consumer, 65, 173 ; purchases,
 
 290 
 
 INDEX 
 
 65 ff.; quality and quantity 
 of goods, 70; non-gildsmen, 
 71; wage regulations, 90; 
 over-spreading Europe, 171 ; 
 advanced legislation, 172 ff.; 
 closed shop, 172-173 ; train- 
 ing of apprentices, 173-174; 
 deterioration of, 119, 174; 
 freedom won, 187; elements 
 of readjustment, 188, 230; 
 despoiled, 189-190; cooper- 
 ation, 216; modern gild 
 ideals, 210, 217, 221 ; gild of 
 woman goldsmiths, 251; 
 woman's place in gild, 251- 
 252; merchant gild statutes, 
 
 66 ff.; craft gilds, journey- 
 men gilds, 114. 
 
 Gild Socialism, 205-206, 210. 
 
 Gilds, Local, 210; National, 
 205-206, 210. 
 
 Government control. See Con- 
 trol. 
 
 Government ownership. See 
 Ownership. 
 
 H 
 
 Harris, E., quoted on cooper- 
 ation, 73-74. 
 
 High cost of living, 18. 
 
 History, critical periods of, 
 186-187. 
 
 Hobbes, "Leviathan," 234. 
 
 Home, to be safeguarded, 147; 
 broken up, 148. 
 
 Hours of labor, 84, 101, 147; 
 long, 19; and women, 166. 
 
 Housing problem, 16-17, 95- 
 
 I. W. W., 88, 131, 166, 229. 
 
 Idle rich, 6, 19. 
 
 Immigrant girls, dangers for, 
 136. 
 
 Immigrants, and unemploy- 
 ment, 136; distribution 
 of, 138^.; opportunity for, 
 on farm, 139, 162; Catho- 
 lic colonization, 139-140, 
 170. 
 
 Income taxes, 63. 
 
 Individual bargaining, 47, 80, 
 
 175- 
 
 Individualism, 36 ff., 174 ff. 
 See Reformation. 
 
 Industrial accidents, 19 ; dis- 
 eases, 19; poisoning, 264- 
 65. 
 
 Industrial peace, 119^. 
 
 Industrial lords, modern, 211. 
 
 Industries, large scale, 9; 
 democratic control of, 9, 
 201 ff. 
 
 Infant mortality, 193 
 
 Insurance, State, 85, 193 ff.; 
 unemployment, 142-143 ; va- 
 rious kinds of social insur- 
 ance, 85; social in Germany, 
 196. 
 
 Irish Archbishops and Bishops 
 on Socialism, 29-30. 
 
 Irish Monthly, on cooperation, 
 215-216, 223, 225. 
 
 Irish Theological Quarterly, 
 on prices, 64. 
 
 Irreligion, modern, source of 
 social evils, 16, 193.
 
 INDEX 
 
 291 
 
 Jews, and modern capitalism, 
 40 ff.; and labor in Old Tes- 
 tament, 75. 
 
 Jobber, 68. 
 
 Joseph, St., 20; and unemploy- 
 ment, 151. 
 
 Journeymen, 171 ; gilds, 114. 
 
 Jurisdiction, right of, by State, 
 235 ff- 
 
 K 
 
 Ketteler, Bishop, 106, 206. 
 
 Labor bureaus, 135 ff.; and 
 strikers, 141. 
 
 Labor, duties of State towards, 
 75 ff'! oppression of, 39 ff.; 
 duties of, 99 ff.; pagan dis- 
 dain for, 75. 
 
 Labor organizations, attitude of 
 Church towards, 171 ff.; and 
 Reformation, 174 ff.; and 
 wages, 88 ; woman and child 
 labor combated by, 258. 
 
 Labor Party, British, program 
 of, 61 ; and prices, 62-63. 
 
 Labor problem, 15, in ff. 
 
 Labor retardation, 99 ff. 
 
 Laissez-faire policy, 64, 79-80, 
 183. 
 
 Legislation, social: nature and 
 necessity of, 75 ff., 87 ff., 
 185 ff.; and Reformation, 
 1 88 ff.; different forms of, 
 194, 197, 198; Catholic ideal, 
 240; tenement labor, 257. 
 
 Leo XIII, his encyclicals quoted 
 on following questions: Cap- 
 ital and labor, 35; duty of 
 State towards labor, 77-78, 
 79; higher life of laborer, 
 83, 84; hours of labor, 84; 
 reasons for State interfer- 
 ence, 85-86; living wage, 
 92-93 ; distribution of owner- 
 ship, 98 ; need of reform, 103 ; 
 oppression of labor, 104; 
 class struggle, 105; violence, 
 107; duties of employers, 
 107; strikes, 117; land, 154; 
 radical labor organizations, 
 177-178 ; ideal labor organi- 
 zation, 182-183 ; oppression 
 of labor, 189 ; single tax, 207 ; 
 State and property, 238 ; 
 earth to minister to all, 239; 
 woman, 245 ; greedy specu- 
 lators, 253; aims of Christian 
 Democracy, 273-274; social 
 question a religious matter, 
 275 ; warning to society, 276 ; 
 duties of the rich, 279. 
 
 L'Ermite, Pierre, and farm 
 problem, 163 ff. 
 
 Liberalism, economic, 38 ff., 47, 
 113, 116, 150. 
 
 Liberty, not license, 118. 
 
 Limitation of output, 99 ff. 
 
 Living wage. See Wage. 
 
 Local Gilds, 210. 
 
 Lock-outs, 1 20. 
 
 Love of God and neighbor, 283. 
 
 Lucas, S.J., Rev. Herbert, 63, 
 205. 
 
 Luxury, 5.
 
 INDEX 
 
 M 
 
 Machinery: and unemployment, 
 149 ; oppression of labor, 
 175; and the farmer, 156, 
 222; woman in competition 
 with, 253-254. 
 
 Manning, Cardinal, 256-257. 
 
 Manorial days, 154. 
 
 Married women in industry. 
 See Woman worker. 
 
 Mary, model of women, 20, 
 244; and unemployment, 151. 
 
 Marx, 27; and social revolu- 
 tion, 1 06. 
 
 Marxian theory of deteriora- 
 tion, 21-22. 
 
 Masters, gild, 171. 
 
 Maternity and labor. See 
 Woman Worker. 
 
 Merchant gild statutes, 66 ff.; 
 restrictions, 71. 
 
 Middle Ages: attitude towards 
 spirit of gain, 37-38; prices, 
 48, 63, 64; sales, 65 ff.; co- 
 operation, 74; strikes, 114; 
 labor bureaus, 135; trade or- 
 ganizations, 171 ; monas- 
 teries, 174; periods of eco- 
 nomic stability, 186; learned 
 women, 241 ; woman's work, 
 251. See Gilds. 
 
 Middle Ages, spirit of, re- 
 turned, 63, 64. See Catho- 
 lic. 
 
 Middleman, problem of, 65 ff.; 
 and farmer, 14, 161, 222. 
 
 Minimum wage, its meaning, 
 91 ff., 114; objections against, 
 
 95 ; boards, 9 ; physical in- 
 ability to earn, 95-96; for 
 woman and man respec- 
 tively, 259. 
 
 Monopoly, age of, 53 ; evils of, 
 54-55; ' e gal and public, 57; 
 private, 57; general laws of 
 private, 58-60; natural, 203; 
 artificial, 25. 
 
 Monopolistic prices, morality 
 of 53 ff- 
 
 Month, on prices, 61-63 ; on 
 State control of industries, 
 205. 
 
 Moralists, Catholic, regarding 
 prices, 48-52 ; monopolies, 
 59; wages, 93. 
 
 Mothers' pensions, 198. 
 
 N 
 
 National Gilds, 205-206. 
 
 Nationalization of land, 206; 
 opposed by the Holy See, 
 207. 
 
 Nationalization, under Social- 
 ism. See Ownership. 
 
 Night work of women, 266- 
 277. 
 
 O'Brien, Cruise, quoted on 
 cooperation, 215-216, 223, 
 225. 
 
 Organization, labor, and the 
 Church, 39-40, 88-89; of 
 woman workers, 271. 
 
 Overpopulation, 145 ff.
 
 INDEX 
 
 293 
 
 Overproduction prevented, 70. 
 Overtime work for women, 266. 
 Ownership, definition of, 232; 
 private and public, 28, 30, 
 
 202 if., 234 ff.; and State, 
 26 ff., 32, 208-210, 232 ff.; 
 distribution of, 208 ; under 
 Socialism, 24 ff., 233-234; 
 private, whence derived, 
 238 ff.; public and efficiency, 
 
 203 ff.; public of land, 206; 
 and Christian Democracy, 
 277. 
 
 Paganism and labor, 75. 
 
 Parasite class, 5, 19-20; 
 woman, 242. 
 
 Pauperism and Reformation, 
 196; Germany, 196. 
 
 Peasants' War, 188. 
 
 Penty, Arthur J., on produc- 
 tion for quality, Local Gilds, 
 210. 
 
 Picketing, morality of, 181. 
 
 Pius X, on labor's obligations, 
 99 ; Catholic organizations 
 for labor, 183 ; our social 
 aims in brief, 285-286. 
 
 Plutocratic regime, 201. 
 
 Political economy, modern, 256. 
 
 Politician, average, 156. 
 
 Politics, and unemployment re- 
 lief, 134, 136; dangers of, 
 under public ownership, 204. 
 
 Poverty, 5, 17-18. 
 
 Price agreements, 58. 
 
 Price, legal, 48 ; common or 
 
 natural, highest, lowest, 
 mean common price, etc., 
 
 iff. 
 
 Prices, excessive, 22 ; ethics of 
 just, 44 ff.; monopolistic, 
 53 ff-; stability in, 228. 
 
 Prison labor, 198-200. 
 
 Production, under Socialism, 
 208-209. See Socialism; for 
 quality, 210 ; cooperative, 
 220 ff.; cooperative and So- 
 cialist contrasted, 228-229. 
 
 Productive cooperation, 220 ff. 
 
 Productive property, different 
 kinds, 202 ff. 
 
 Profiteers, 22, 64. 
 
 Profits, excessive, 37 ff., 113; 
 and Church, 39, 45 ; and ef- 
 ficiency, 54; wages before, 
 91 ; just, 195. 
 
 Profit sharing, 218; object of 
 employers, 219. 
 
 Property, and State, 232 ff.; 
 rights of acquiring, whence 
 derived, 238 ff. See Owner- 
 ship. 
 
 Prosperity, 87; true, 150; na- 
 tional and public, 274. 
 
 Public relief work, 132-135. 
 
 Public Relief Fund, 196. 
 
 Public service utilities, 202, 
 204-205, 240. 
 
 Public works, 133-134. 
 
 Public Works Act, 133. 
 
 Race suicide, 145-146. 
 Radical capitalism and radical
 
 294 
 
 INDEX 
 
 labor, in if., 275, 276. 
 Radicalism, 10, 12, 139, 191, 
 
 275. 
 Railway, and farmer, 14-15, 
 
 159-160; "financing," 55- 
 
 56. 
 Reconstruction demanded, 3, 
 
 12, 250 ; at various periods in 
 
 past, 186-187. 
 Reformation : its effect on labor 
 
 organization, 39-40, 174; 
 
 and rationalistic capitalism, 
 
 40 /f., 174, 189; and social 
 
 legislation, 188 ff.; and au- 
 tocracies, 189-190; and 
 
 woman labor, 252. 
 Reiffeisen, credit associations, 
 
 213-215. 
 Religion, no social solution 
 
 without, 73, no, 121, 174 ff., 
 
 230, 275. 
 Retailer, 68 ; small retailer and 
 
 profits, 73. 
 Rich, the idle, 6, 19; unjust, 
 
 37 ff- 
 
 " Right to loaf," 147. 
 Rings, 58, 59. 
 Ryan, Rev. John A., D.D., 91, 
 
 101, 224-225. 
 
 Schulze-Delitzsch popular ur- 
 ban banks, 225. 
 
 Scripture: the Last Judgment, 
 20; the unjust rich men, 38; 
 Isaias on social service, 78 ; 
 Christ's ideal of service, 
 281 ; St. John on brotherly 
 
 love, 283 ; a cup of cold 
 water, 283. 
 
 Serf, 76, 254. 
 
 " Servile State," 201. 
 
 Servant problem and Queen 
 Elizabeth, 252. 
 
 Service, Christian, 280 ff, 
 
 Sexes, occupations of, 245. 
 
 Sharing, 66. 
 
 Shareholders and corporation, 
 55, 211 ; under cooperative 
 system, 215^., 220 ff. 
 
 Single Tax, land nationaliza- 
 tion, 206-207; unearned in- 
 crement, 207. 
 
 Slaves, under Roman law, 75; 
 after barbarian invasion, 76; 
 freed by Church, 76. 
 
 Social, duties, 14, 78; reform, 
 31; legislation, 186 ff.; in- 
 surance, 193 ff. 
 
 Social problems, 13 ff.; a reli- 
 gious issue, 77-79; Divine 
 remedy, 152-153. 
 
 Social study centers, 179. 
 
 Socialism: dangers of, n; and 
 the laborer, 11-12; and 
 thrift, 18; substance of, 
 24 ff.; orthodox, 24; various 
 forms, 24-26; and land, 24- 
 25; its philosophy and atti- 
 tude towards religion, 28-29; 
 and Catholic social reform, 
 31; "Religion a private mat- 
 ter," 32-33 ; and equality, 
 33~34 X 49 ! borrowed plu- 
 mage of, 81; inefficiency un- 
 der, 102, 208-209; and class 
 struggle, 104-106 ; radical-
 
 INDEX 
 
 295 
 
 ism of, in ff.; and race sui- 
 cide, 145-146 ; " right to 
 loaf," 147; bureaucratic ab- 
 solutism under, 149; on the 
 farm, 169-170; and Christi- 
 anity, 176; and labor un- 
 ionism, 177-178; false policy 
 in opposing it, 191 ; a pana- 
 cea, 202 ; and desire for own- 
 ership, 208 ; and cooperation, 
 228-229; and doctrines of 
 ownership, 233 ; and confis- 
 cation, 233-234, 237; and 
 woman, 243 ; and Christian 
 Democracy, 274, 276, 277- 
 278. 
 
 Socialism, Gild, 205-206. 
 
 Socialists, Irish Bishops re- 
 garding, 29-30; and the 
 Church, 29-34; as converts, 
 
 34- 
 
 Solidarity, Christian, 33. 
 
 Sombart, Werner, on capital- 
 ism, 40^. 
 
 Socialization, 25. 
 
 State: control. See Conirol; 
 insurance, 193 ff.; interven- 
 tion, 63, 65, 75 ff.; and labor, 
 75 ff.; and wages, 87 if.; and 
 property, 232 ff.; regulation, 
 228 ; its duty regarding 
 woman, 247 ff., 266 ff. 
 
 State Socialism, 26 ff. 
 
 State ownership. See Owner- 
 ship. 
 
 Strikes: in ff.; when justified, 
 115, 117; rights of public in 
 regard to, 118; sympathetic, 
 123 ff.; general, 127-128. 
 
 Stockholders, 54, 55, 211. 
 Stock-watering, 54-55. 
 Sunday labor, 18-19, 82. 
 Surplus gain, 54, 55, 60. 
 Sweated labor, boycott of, 169; 
 
 and women, 254 #.; bosses 
 
 and women, 257, 266. 
 Sympathetic strikes, definition, 
 
 different kinds and their 
 
 morality, 123 ff. 
 Syndicalism, 202, 229. 
 
 Talmud on woman, 242. 
 
 Tax, income, 63, 228; gradu- 
 ated, 205 ; single, 206-207. 
 
 Taxation, and property rights, 
 237-238; indirect, 57. 
 
 Tenement labor, 257. 
 
 Teresa, St., 153, 241, 282. 
 
 Thomas, St., on just prices, 
 46, 50; excessive prices, 51; 
 property, 236. 
 
 Thrift, 18, 217, 248. 
 
 Trade Agreements, 119-122. 
 
 Trade unions, and unskilled la- 
 bor, 88-90; and woman and 
 child labor. See Labor. 
 
 Transportation problem, 68 ; 
 on farm, 159 ff. 
 
 Trusts, 53. 
 
 U 
 
 Underselling, 60-61. 
 Unearned increment, 95, 207. 
 Unemployment: the problem, 
 15-16, 130^.; its nature and
 
 296 
 
 INDEX 
 
 provisions against it, 131 f.; 
 and the Church, 145 if.; and 
 St. Joseph in Egypt, 151; 
 promoted by sweated labor, 
 254. 
 
 Unemployment insurance, 135, 
 142-143. 
 
 Unrest, social, 3, 113. 
 
 Unskilled labor, 88, 90. 
 
 "Uplifter," social, 21, 283. 
 
 Usury, the Church law regard- 
 ing* 39 modern, 213-214.. 
 
 Violence, 99; and Socialism, 
 
 106. 
 Voting stock, distribution of, 
 
 218. 
 
 W 
 
 Wage, living and family, 
 90 ff., 108, 114, 147, 192, 248, 
 254 ff-,' woman, 92, 258-259. 
 Set Minimum Wage. 
 
 Wages and State, 87 ff. 
 
 Wealth, excessive, 5 ; danger 
 of, 5-6. 
 
 Wholesaler, 68. 
 
 Woman : normal purpose of, in 
 
 life, 244 ff., 262; during 
 Middle Ages, 243 ; and femi- 
 nism, 244; her sphere, 246- 
 247; and motherhood, 245, 
 247. 
 
 Woman worker: the problem 
 considered, 241 ff.; married, 
 248; and machinery, 253- 
 254; motherhood of, 256, 
 265; and home life, 261; 
 fecundity of, 264-265 ; wel- 
 fare of, 261 ff.; fact of sex, 
 263 ; nervous tension of, 264 ; 
 modesty, 20, 269 ; protective 
 laws for, 269-270. 
 
 Woman labor, moral dangers 
 of, 83, 262-263, 265, 267 ff.; 
 first oppressive statute on, 
 252; excessive, 253 #., 255, 
 268 ; unfit, 262-263 5 domes- 
 tic service, 262; industrial 
 diseases affecting, 264-265. 
 
 Woman labor welfare regu- 
 lations, 270-271. 
 
 Woman problem, 20. 
 
 Womanliness, 244. 
 
 Work for all, 145 ff. 
 
 Working girl, Christian, 242- 
 243. 
 
 Workmen's Compensation, 197- 
 198.
 
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