„.:Pagtoral better... 
 
 RELATIONS BETWEEN 
 EMPLOYERS 
 
 - -AND - 
 
 THE EMPLOYED 
 
 William, Carbtital ^’Connell 
 
 &rdbbtef)op of Boston 
 
 boston collese library 
 
 CHESTNUT HILL, MASS. 
 
 3XVY/S- 
 
 4 4 4 
 
 &bbent, 1912 
 
 4 4 4 
 
■* 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
William, Cardinal ©’Connell 
 
 ^rcptsifjop of Boston 
 
 * 
 
 To the Reverend Clergy, and People of the 
 Diocese, Health and Benediction. 
 
 r | <HE time of Advent set apart by the Church 
 to prepare the minds of men for the coming 
 of the Prince of Peace seems an appropriate 
 one, venerable brethren of the clergy and laity, 
 to open my pastoral heart to you on a subject 
 vitally connected with your domestic, civil and 
 spiritual peace. 
 
 The social problem of the relations between 
 employers and employed appears to be the one 
 most fraught with danger to our peaceful living. 
 It has been many times in the past the source of 
 widespread discord and disorder, and may in 
 the future prove a danger to the public peace 
 
 1 
 
unless some remedy can be found to better our 
 social conditions. The hostile attitude of one 
 set of men against another is always prejudicial 
 to the permanence of peaceful relations; but 
 when two classes are arrayed in antagonism and 
 distrust, each against the other, the one with the 
 resources of wealth and power behind it, the 
 other with the force of numbers to make its in¬ 
 fluence felt, society is menaced by impending out¬ 
 breaks, and the peace of families, the tranquillity 
 of the State and the normal calm engendered by 
 religion are imperilled. 
 
 To find a way out of these social dangers, to 
 reconcile conflicting interests, to lay down a basis 
 for the just and equitable settlement of differ¬ 
 ences between employers and workers is a call 
 to an apostolate of the highest service, which 
 every lover of his faith and of his country should 
 heed, and to which every Christian and every 
 patriot may well consecrate his best endeavors. 
 
 Justice and charity, two of the noblest Chris¬ 
 tian virtues, hold a foremost place in any gen¬ 
 uine crusade for social betterment, and make the 
 cause a holy one that appeals even more strongly 
 to the churchman than to the statesman. 
 
 2 
 
The proper consideration of the problem de¬ 
 pends much on the way in which we approach 
 it. The initial mistake that is made in trying 
 to find a solution is in viewing the question as a 
 merely economic one. The lives and happiness 
 of millions of human beings are involved in the 
 issue; and this gives it a moral aspect which 
 cannot be ignored. It is much more than an 
 economic problem. From the moment that the 
 well-being of individuals and families is concerned 
 in any question at issue, it is lifted out of the 
 domain of mere economics. Bald political econ¬ 
 omy with its inflexible law of supply and demand 
 can no longer cope with it. The reciprocal rights 
 and duties inhering in the personality and posi¬ 
 tion of those who are making claims and of those 
 who are resisting them, enter in and create at 
 once a moral issue. In the long run dollars and 
 cents are powerless before a just human right 
 and must give way in every community ruled 
 by principles of justice. 
 
 The question of human rights that is in¬ 
 volved in the issue between capital and labor 
 goes deeper down than any legal enactment con¬ 
 cerning them. In fact, much of the confusion of 
 
 3 
 
« 
 
 thought surrounding the problem springs from 
 a faulty conception of the fundamental sources 
 of human society. There is a tendency to-day 
 to exalt unduly the State, and to regard it as 
 the creator of all the rights and privileges which 
 we enjoy, and to look to it for the solution of all 
 our problems. Such a position is philosophically 
 and historically false. The family is by nature 
 and in fact anterior to the State. There are 
 certain inherent individual and family rights that 
 spring from nature itself and from the funda¬ 
 mental relations established by the Creator in the 
 universe which antedate the constitution of States 
 or the enactments of civil law. The authority 
 of the parent over his child, his right to provide 
 for his family, the choice of the kind of education 
 his children shall receive—all these fundamental 
 rights are rooted in the very nature of family 
 life. So also the rights of conscience are in¬ 
 herent in the individual. They were not created 
 by the State. The}^ are anterior to it by nature 
 and in fact. But if the State is not the creator 
 of them, the State should be the conserver and 
 respecter of them. For it was precisely to safe¬ 
 guard these primary rights of the individual and 
 
 4 
 
of the family that States were formed. To the 
 fact that man is by nature a social being made 
 so by his Creator and to the natural need of indi¬ 
 viduals and families of protecting their primary 
 and natural rights, which alone and isolated they 
 had not the strength to defend against unjust 
 aggression, States owe their origin and formation. 
 It is the province of the State in consonance with 
 its origin to protect these fundamental, indi¬ 
 vidual and family rights, not to invade them. 
 
 Now the right of a man to provide for his 
 family is a natural one. In the exercise of this 
 right he may sell his labor for what he considers 
 just compensation, or may refuse his labor for 
 what he deems an inadequate return. The meas¬ 
 ure which he must use in determining his de¬ 
 cision is that imposed by nature itself. He must 
 support his family; and the living wage which 
 he has a right to demand according to the teach¬ 
 ing of Leo XIII, of blessed memory, is the one 
 which will maintain his family in decent and 
 frugal comfort. The man who accepts less through 
 necessity or fear of harder conditions is the vic¬ 
 tim of force and injustice. This general norm 
 of wage does not exclude the special claims of 
 
labor, skilled and unskilled, which according to 
 the degree of toil or danger incurred, has a right 
 to greater compensation. It simply means that 
 the lowest measure of compensation must be the 
 decent maintenance of a man and his home. 
 
 This principle is based on sound political 
 economy and the highest political wisdom. The 
 safety of the State depends upon the integrity of 
 its homes. To build up contented homes should 
 be the aim of enlightened legislation as well as 
 the scope of every movement for social better¬ 
 ment. The source of the nation’s strength lies 
 in the stable and well-ordered home, and with¬ 
 out it, national greatness swiftly hastens to decay. 
 The homeless man, free from the restraints of 
 domestic life may easily become a menace, and 
 to diminish such a danger becomes the duty of 
 comprehensive patriotic statesmanship. 
 
 The maintenance of a home, then, is the 
 standard of the minimum wage dictated by the 
 law of nature, and prompted by the highest 
 public policy. It is the clear right of the wage 
 earner, and to protect this right he may make 
 use of all legitimate means. He may combine 
 with others to enforce it and form a union with 
 
 6 
 
his fellow workers to exert the adequate moral 
 power to maintain it or to better his condition 
 within the limits of justice. To deny him this 
 right is a tyranny and an injustice. He has no 
 other way to safeguard his interests. The rich 
 and the powerful have many ways which they do 
 not hesitate to employ to protect their invest¬ 
 ments; the workingman has only the support of 
 peaceful combination. 
 
 Moreover, workmen’s associations may peace¬ 
 fully agitate and seek to mould public opinion 
 in their favor to bring about a redress of real 
 grievances. A campaign of this kind must, how¬ 
 ever, be legitimately conducted, free from viola¬ 
 tions of justice and of charity and of the public 
 peace. Finally, the worker in the last resort has 
 the right to refuse to work, that is to strike, and 
 to induce by peaceful and lawful methods others 
 to strike with him when this extreme measure 
 becomes necessary to mitigate unendurable con- 
 ' ditions, or to wrest from an unreasonable em¬ 
 ployer just compensation for his labor, after all 
 other measures have failed. 
 
 All this is the teaching of the illustrious 
 Pontiff Leo XIII in his now famous encyclical 
 
 7 
 
u 0n the Condition of the Workingmen/’ It has 
 its root in the law of nature, which dictates that 
 a man has a natural right to a wage which will 
 maintain his home in frugal and reasonable com¬ 
 fort. All the other conclusions which we have 
 laid down are but corollaries flowing from this 
 fundamental principle, on the ground that any 
 one who possesses a natural right may make use 
 of all legitimate means to protect it, and to safe¬ 
 guard it from violation. 
 
 These are the objective principles which may 
 serve as guiding ones in contests between workers 
 and employers, and if loyally accepted by both 
 sides, would undoubtedly mitigate the bitterness 
 that often arises in labor disputes. 
 
 The principles governing the conduct of em¬ 
 ployers are well known and are generally ac¬ 
 cepted as the only safe ones which may be fol¬ 
 lowed. They may be summed up as follows: 
 Capital has a right to a just share of the profits, 
 but only to a just share: Employers should treat T 
 those who work under them with humanity and 
 justice; they should be solicitous for the health¬ 
 ful conditions of the places where workmen daily 
 toil: they should use all reasonable means to 
 
 8 
 
promote the material and moral well-being of 
 their employees. They should be kindly hu¬ 
 mane and just in all their relations with them. 
 
 We are well aware that some of these prin¬ 
 ciples find no place in a political and commercial 
 economy which has become wholly pagan. We 
 are convinced, however, that the social problem 
 of the relations between employers and workers 
 can never be settled on any other than a Chris¬ 
 tian basis. The attitude of each towards the 
 other must radically change round to a Christian 
 one, else we shall have the spectacle of two op¬ 
 posing forces facing each other in a hostile spirit, 
 each stubbornly insisting on its pound of flesh, 
 with no thought of the Christian brotherhood 
 which ought to bind them together. 
 
 The present deplorable situation in the world 
 of labor has been brought about by a neglect of 
 Christian principles, and by the attempt to put 
 this question on a material basis only. On the 
 other hand, riches and power bring danger in 
 their train unless moral rectitude and moral 
 standards are accepted as guiding sign posts 
 along the way of life. Money gives power, and 
 it may be sought after too anxiously without due 
 regard to the principles of justice. 
 
 9 
 
Saint Paul has declared in the sixth chapter 
 of his first epistle to Timothy that “the desire of 
 money is the root of all evil,” meaning, of course, 
 its inordinate and greedy desire. Men are for¬ 
 getting these principles. They are making too 
 much of money for money’s sake. They have for¬ 
 gotten the injunction of the Saviour given in the 
 twelfth chapter of Saint Luke: “take heed and 
 beware of all covetousness; for a man’s life doth 
 not consist in the abundance of things which he 
 possesseth.” There is need of this solemn warn¬ 
 ing. 
 
 Men with money should be careful to regard 
 it as a means to do good rather than an end. 
 They should beware lest its possession make 
 them arrogant, tyrannical and despisers of their 
 less fortunate brethren. The great restraining 
 force against these natural tendencies is the 
 spirit of religion, which subdues while it strength¬ 
 ens and sanctifies while it chastens. Whether as 
 individuals or as members of corporate bodies, 
 men of wealth must remember that the Christian 
 law obliges them in one capacity as in the other. 
 There is no double moral standard, no loop-hole 
 of escape from the sanctions which the moral 
 
 10 
 
law of Christ imposes. Men of wealth should 
 not buy that which is not sellable according to 
 Christian ethics. It is an abuse of their wealth 
 and an infraction of the moral code, and a crime 
 against society. 
 
 The merely natural outlook has produced 
 another idea of wealth which is a source of danger. 
 Men regard themselves as absolute owners of 
 what they possess, and claim the right to do with 
 it what they please. In one sense this is true. 
 They are owners, and exclusive owners. But 
 there is a law higher than themselves, and there is. 
 a God above them. To stand stubbornly upon 
 individual ground and because they are owners 
 to absolve themselves from all obligations to so¬ 
 ciety and their weaker brethren is paganism, pure 
 and simple. In reality they are according to the 
 Divine Word stewards of God. The greater their 
 wealth, the greater their responsibilities. 
 
 Before the so-called Reformation, this was 
 the Christian conception of wealth as any one 
 who will read the records of history will readily 
 see. There was poverty, but not pauperism. 
 The rich man saw in the poor his brethren in 
 Jesus Christ, and was well content to share his 
 
 11 
 
treasures on earth that he might lay up for him¬ 
 self treasures in heaven. 
 
 The individualistic principle of life was in¬ 
 troduced by the revolt against the authority of 
 the Church. The unity of faith was broken and 
 Christendom ceased to be one great organic 
 social body, one brotherhood in Christ. Once 
 granted, the principle that man can choose, as he 
 would a garment, his own religion, the most su¬ 
 preme issue of life, the way is open for him to 
 have his own way in things of all moral import. 
 The direct tendency of the spirit of individual¬ 
 ism is to breed self-sufficiency and selfishness. 
 That it does not always do so is owing solely to 
 the fact that it is not always carried out to its 
 logical outcome. 
 
 There is need of a return to old Catholic 
 ideals. Men must learn to give to every cause 
 of religion and charity and mutual help, in pro¬ 
 portion to their means. Rich men should bear 
 in mind that they shall one day hear the voice of 
 the Master of all saying, 1 Tender an account of 
 thy stewardship.” There must be a generous 
 recognition, on the part of those whom God has 
 blessed with abundance, of their obligations to 
 
 12 
 
society and the poorer members of the human 
 family. The Christian spirit must be enkindled 
 in the soul and this will of itself arouse the noble 
 and generous disposition to approach conflicts 
 with a calm and balanced mind, and with a 
 readiness to listen to higher impulses than the 
 mere desire for victory over helpless and often¬ 
 times maddened men, who alas too often have 
 good reason to believe that the rich have lost all 
 sense of kindly feeling and think only of themselves. 
 
 On the other hand, workers are just as much 
 bound by the Christian law as their employers. 
 This fact seems to be lost sight of at times, and 
 men give way to their baser impulses. The 
 spirit of envy generates discontent, and the at¬ 
 titude of the laborer towards his employer be¬ 
 comes un-Christian and pagan. There is a dis¬ 
 position, too, to regard work as an intolerable 
 burden to be gotten rid of as soon as possible, 
 and with as little effort as possible. This is 
 contrary to Christian teaching. The Wise Man 
 in Ecclesiastes who had tasted all the pleasures of 
 life was forced to confess: “for I have found 
 that there is nothing better for a man than to 
 rejoice in his work . y ’ This natural discontent is 
 
 13 
 
fomented and intensified by the noisy agitators of 
 Socialism, the enemies of God and man, who 
 would overturn the foundations upon which hu¬ 
 man society is built, and exile God from His 
 universe. 
 
 This singular set of men who seek to conceal 
 the malice of their real principles, but who cannot, 
 are a brood of disturbers. Their doctrines are 
 an abomination striking at the foundations of 
 family life and religion. Their spirit is not new. 
 A similar class of men were graphically described 
 by Saint Paul in his second epistle to the Thes- 
 salonians; “for also when we were with you, this 
 we declared unto you: that if any man shall not 
 work, neither let him eat. For we have heard 
 that they are some among you who walk dis¬ 
 orderly, working not at all, but curiously med¬ 
 dling. Now we charge them that are such, and 
 beseech them by the Lord Jesus Christ, that work¬ 
 ing with silence, they would eat their own bread.” 
 
 There is not, and cannot be a Catholic 
 Socialist. Leo XIII has rejected such a fellow¬ 
 ship in his immortal encyclical. The principles 
 of Socialism are utterly opposed to the principles 
 of Christianity. They are mutually destructive 
 
 14 
 
of each other. Certain misguided Christians may 
 call themselves Socialists, but objectively, a Cath¬ 
 olic Socialist is an utter impossibility. 
 
 Another source of unrest among working 
 people, and one against which they must be 
 warned, is the desire to give themselves over too 
 much to the pleasures of life. It is directly con¬ 
 trary to the Christian, Catholic spirit. It leads 
 people to live beyond their incomes, and is the 
 fruitful source of family troubles and discontent 
 with one’s station in life. A Christian people 
 should ever remember that the Christian life is 
 one of restraint. Legitimate recreations are good, 
 but not the surrender of the heart to the pleasures 
 of this life. They should bear in mind the warn¬ 
 ing of Saint Paul, that among those who make 
 dangerous times in the history of the world are 
 “lovers more of pleasures than of God.” More 
 economy at home and less perpetual seeking of 
 empty pleasure would remove much of the un¬ 
 necessary discontent and murmuring which, even 
 without real cause, we hear on many sides. 
 
 The social problem of the relations between 
 employers and workers must be solved on a 
 Christian basis, or not at all. They must face 
 
 15 
 
each other in the proper frame of mind springing 
 from a Christian spirit, before even an initial 
 step towards permanent betterment can be ef¬ 
 fected. Employers and workers must regard each 
 other as brothers in the same great brotherhood 
 of Christ. The Church by her teaching incul¬ 
 cates the only sure method of social regeneration. 
 She would purify the hearts of men of selfishness, 
 greed, envy and hatred which stand in the way 
 of a better understanding. She abolished slav¬ 
 ery, in spite of opposition coming from human 
 interests, and made men socially free. She pro¬ 
 tected and fostered the workingmen’s guilds of 
 the Middle Ages, using every means in her power 
 to keep the workers under the gracious and mel¬ 
 lowing influence of religion. She alone can be 
 the regenerator of the social commonwealth in 
 the conditions which confront us to-day. 
 
 When the worker imbibing her spirit will 
 look upon labor as a conscientious duty to be 
 done with care and diligence, and when the em¬ 
 ployer accepting her teaching will be content 
 with reasonable profit and treat the laborer gen¬ 
 erously and humanely, the battle will be already 
 won, and peace will descend and bless both for 
 
 their loyal Christian and Catholic spirit. 
 
 16 
 
We exhort all, both employers and work¬ 
 men, to enter upon this holy crusade of Christian 
 emulation, to make every effort for a lasting 
 peace, to shut out from their ranks socialistic 
 disturbers, to be loyal adherents of the Church, 
 faithfully following and carrying out in their 
 daily lives the teachings of the illustrious Leo, 
 that, human passions laid aside and put out of 
 the lives of the Church’s children, the Prince of 
 Peace may reign over a tranquil and contented 
 people. 
 
 Let the Societies of the Holy Name, now so 
 well established and so flourishing throughout 
 this diocese, serve as the great spiritual centres 
 whence shall radiate this spirit of religious, do¬ 
 mestic and social peace and harmony. Let the 
 doctrines of the Church and the principles of her 
 Pontiffs and Bishops, elucidating the economic 
 conditions of her children, and their correspond¬ 
 ing duties, be studied and learned well at the 
 meetings of this Confraternity. 
 
 When our people have begun to understand 
 better the malice of those who under cover of 
 friendship stir up strife, and when they realize 
 that the law of Christ alone can make all men free, 
 
 17 
 
and that not dollars, but peace and contentment, 
 are the richest and most precious possessions in 
 life, then will the clamor of these noisy hawkers 
 of poisonous social panaceas appear what it is 
 in very truth, the vicious propaganda of enemies 
 of the Christian faith, and deceitful disturbers 
 of the peace of States. 
 
 During the Holy Season of Advent, we charge 
 those having care of souls to instruct their people 
 in the true doctrine of the Church concerning 
 their duties in the realm of labor; to proclaim 
 again to the workman that the consolations which 
 religion holds out to him are the only real and 
 lasting foundations of true happiness here below; 
 and that the envy, the jealousy and hatred of 
 class, only render more and more bitter the con¬ 
 test which, even were it victorious, would end 
 only in the ashes of disillusionment. 
 
 Let them announce fearlessly to the rich the 
 duties of their station, and the responsibility of 
 their stewardship. Let them courageously stand, 
 as the Church has ever stood, as the defender of 
 the weak, the poor and the oppressed, warning 
 them, however, of their solemn duty and just 
 obligations. 
 
 18 
 
So may these days be sacredly employed to 
 bring about that peace to men of good will which 
 the Christ Child came to establish on earth when 
 the first Christmas dawned over Bethlehem. 
 
 May the Blessed Saviour and Redeemer of 
 men send among us, during these days of prepa¬ 
 ration, the fire of his holy love, that its glow and 
 warmth may cast out the darkness of false doc¬ 
 trines and the chill of unchristian distrust and 
 unfriendliness, so that we may all, rich and poor, 
 employer and employed, gather around the crib 
 of the Divine Child with Mary and Joseph to 
 adore our God, whose first law is that of light 
 and love. And may the blessing of God be with 
 you always. 
 
 Given at Boston, on the Feast of St. Clement, 
 November 23d, 1912. 
 
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