LEO XIII. AND THE LABOUR QUESTION.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XIX, Issue 38, 26 June 1891, Page 27

LEO XIII. AND THE LABOUR QUESTION.

(Irish World, May 23.) As we go to press a cable dispatch brings the news that the Pope's Encyclical on the labour question has been distributed among the Cardinals and that its publication may be expected in a few days. A synopsis of it has teen published which supplies the heads of the subjects that the Holy Father treats of in dealing with this most important question. The Encyclical is entitled "De Conditione Opificum " (Concerning the Condition of Workingmen),and is divided into three parts, the first part showing the position the Church has taken on the labour question in all ages ; the second part deals with the social and labour questions of our day, showing the prominence they have assumed and the need there is of the Church dealing with them ; the third part lays down the policy the Church adopts on these questions. As the Catholic Church has in all times displayed a mother's sympathy with the trials and struggles of those who, like her Divine Founder, gained their livelihood by the work of their bands, it will not be a difficult matter for Leo XIII. to show that the Church has a right to speak with authority on the labour question. Mindful of the teachings of her Divine Spouse, she has ever insisted on the dignity of man being respected. She has never assented to that heartless doctrine of soulless political economists, who teach that labour is a commodity, to be bought and sold like any other commodity and who believe they silence all argument when they flourish in our face their wise saw about "supply and demand." The divine element in man they ignore, and treat him as they would so many Cittle whose price in the market is determined by their number. The Catholic Church would be false to her teachings and her traditions if she ever consented to take this view of the labour queetion. She has time and again placed herself on record as being

unalterably opposed to the doctrine that a workingman is merely a piece of machinery from which a 9 much profit as possible is to be extracted and when worn out to be thrown aside as any other piece of mechanism that has survived its usef uleness. This species of social paganism, however much it may be endorsed by political economists, ia so revolting to the Church that she had never lost an opportunity of condemning it in the strongest term 9. Whilst she has ever recognised and defended the just claims of capital, she haa never swervad ou*> nch from the position she has taken in regard to the dignity of man as the child of God and the heir of Heaven. She has, therefore, a strong claim on the attention of wage-workers when she speaks on the Labour question. Speaking in her name, Leo XIII. reminds us that the solution of the Labour question lies m the observance of the great truths taught by the Gospel. It has been well said that if the Sermon on the Mount were taken by all men as their guide in their dealings with their fellowmen society would be regenerated from top to bottom. In the synopsis of »he Encyclical that has been published the Holy Father is represented as Baying that " the true solution cau be found in the Gospel, which, if rightly studied, would teach the employer and the employed to become united while fulfilling their respective duties." The Holy Father, however, recognises that in the default of men taking the Gospel as their guide in right living something in the way of alleviating the hard iot of labour can be accomplished by legislation. He holds that the State should countenance all institutions that are likely to improve existing social conditions. In this connection he deals with the question of strikes, wages, and hours of labour for workmen, and speaks of the good results of woiking-men associations. The brief summary of the Encyclical that has been published shows that the head of the Catholic Church is in full sympathy with the legitimate efforts labour is making in all countries to improve ita condition. The Encyclical cannot fail to be a timely and valuable aid to the solution of the gient social problems that are imperious y demanding attention in all civilised lands.