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If brighter days are in store-which may God grant !-may Ireland never forget the fostering care of the Church in her dark days.

This rapid survey of the action of the Church in Europe to-day suffices to give testimony that she is now, as she was in the beginning, the refuge of the oppressed, the protector of labour. She was not daunted by the intensity and extent of the misery and degradation of the Roman slave, nor is she now deterred by the range and intricacy involved in the modern conditions of labour. She confronted slave labour with determination and prudence, without violent change or destruction of society, so with the same spirit and the same discretion she has set herself to meet present evils without overthrowing the complex machinery of commerce. She does not stay to unravel economic puzzles; that is not her mission, but she sees the workman in distress and oppressed by capital, and throughout Europe she has taken practical means to lighten his burdens and to give him some degree of independence. The Church alone attempts to control the inmost cause of the labour struggles, the greed of capitalists and the excited passions of the workmen, and by her Catholic organizations, whether of masters or men, she can use that influence over the human heart that Christ has committed to her. She is specially fitted to deal with the far reaching complications of the modern system. The deeper the study of the social question and the condition of labour the more it becomes apparent that a thorough solution cannot be attained by any one nation. The dependence of one country upon another for articles in daily use, the keen competition between home and imported goods, the rivalry to secure foreign markets, make it difficult to enforce an adequate wage or generous treatment of the workman in any one country, and point to a general understanding, an international agreement.

The only existing agency capable of promoting common action amongst nations is the Church. She is Catholic, she is everywhere, she is bound to uphold the principles of justice, and she could adjudicate equitably between the

demands of capitalist and workman. On the confidence of the workman the Church has a powerful claim from the record of the past. When he was a slave she nursed him, she strengthened him, she brought out his manhood and gave him his home and his liberty: when he was a serf she worked with him, she cheered his toil, she brought him comforts and watched over him until he obtained his freedom; when he was a craftsman she breathed the spirit of piety and charity into him, she brought peace to his work and comfort to his hearth, and made him contented and happy. Through the long ages she has been his friend, his protector, his champion: it has been her mission, her duty, and a labour of love: whatever may be his distress, hardships, or oppression, he can rely with confidence upon her support, her assistance and her fostering care.

of the

Labour Question.

BY THE

RIGHT REV. ABBOT SNOW, O.S.B.

I. THE WAYS OF WEALTH.

THE troubles and complications of the labour questions of the present day cluster round two things which are prominent, constant, and not to be evaded, viz., wealth and work. This is an age of wealth and work, of colossal fortunes and enormous industrial enterprises, of sumptuous edifices and huge workshops, of hundreds revelling in abundance, and millions toiling for a mere living. The population is separated into two classes, the comparative few who contend for wealth, and the many who struggle for existence. In restless efforts to amass a fortune, owners of wealth scatter their money over the utmost bounds of the earth in the hope of a crop of gold pieces, and encompass the whole world with a network of speculation. Seated in his countinghouse, surrounded by clerks and ledgers, the capitalist marks an island in mid-ocean, or the fringe of the desert, or the bluffs over a distant river, forecasts that profit can be made, sets his organization in motion, and ventures a part of his capital, in order that his present great store may grow into a greater store. Yet not one step can he stir, not one gold piece can he handle, not the simplest undertaking can he carry on, without the muscles and the handiwork of men. Whether in towns teeming with industry, or in tillage of land, or in transit by ship or rail, or in commerce with nations, no gain, no fortune is possible that is not made up of the work

of labourers, the sweat of their brow, the strength of their arm, the mettle of their heart. All the wealth of the world is the product of work. The investment in consols, the ample rent-roll, the splendid mansion, are all ultimately contributed by the work of the labourer. On the other hand, should wealth be locked up and not employed in industrial enterprise, multitudes are deprived of work, and the masses of men who now toil in the daily struggle for existence would be face to face with hunger and misery. Thus wealth provides work, and in providing work increases wealth, yet wealth is created by work. How comes it that the proceeds of work are so unequally divided? Is it just that wealth should have all the enjoyment, the ease, and the luxury, and that work should be left with the toil, the weariness, and the bare living? To what proportion of its produce is work entitled? Is the whole scheme of the distribu

tion of wealth unjust and untenable? What is right and what is wrong in the matter?

The science of political economy professes to treat of the whole subject of wealth and work, and to lay down principles and laws for their mutual relations. Experience shows that these principles are often misleading and sometimes fallacious. In questions of moral right or wrong, we do not look for guidance to political economy or to any science, but to the Church of God. She has a mandate from our Divine Master to teach the world what is morally right and morally wrong. We place ourselves under her guidance with confidence, knowing that she is directed by the Holy Spirit and develops the teaching of our Blessed Lord, the doctrines of His Christianity. The minds of some

Catholics are troubled by many theories that are mooted at the present time, and they are anxious to ascertain the Christian view of the labour problems. I propose to treat of some of the Christian aspects both of wealth and of work, their contact and their conflict.

The Christian view of wealth can be best learnt from the actual words of Christ. He is Truth itself; whatever He spoke was uttered for our instruction

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and guidance, and when He deigns to enlighten us on a subject, we have a certainty which human science or teaching cannot assail. In speaking of riches and wealth He speaks earnestly, and with a force and emphasis that compels attention. The following passages contain His teaching on wealth, and they are remarkable for strength of expression :-"Take heed, and beware of all covetousness, for a man's life does not consist in the abundance of things which he possesseth" (Luke xii. 15). "Sell what you possess and give alms: make to yourself bags which grow not old, a treasure in heaven which faileth not, where the thief approacheth not, nor the moth corrupteth" (Luke xii., 33). 'You cannot serve God and Mammon” (Matt. vi., 24). "But woe to you that are rich for you have your consolation" (Luke vi., 24). "And I will say to my soul: Soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many years, take thy rest, eat, drink, make good cheer. But God said to him: Thou fool, this night do they require thy soul of thee: and whose shall those things be which thou hast provided. So is he that layeth up treasure for himself, and is not rich towards God" (Luke xii. 19). "And the rich man died and he was buried in hell" (Luke xvi. 22)-not for any specified offence or crime against the Law, for we are told nothing beyond that he was clothed in purple and fine linen, and fared sumptuously every day, and that Lazarus fed on the crumbs from his table. Amen I say to you that a rich man shall hardly enter into the kingdom of heaven. And again I say to you that it is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of heaven" (Matt. xix., 23-24). Which means that it is more difficult for a rich man to get to heaven than for a camel burdened with laden panniers to pass through a narrow gate.

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The character and tendency of Christ's sayings and teachings were conspicuous for gentleness and mildness, yet, He scarcely uses more emphatic and earnest words than in thus delineating the nature of riches The different passages trace the career and end of the

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