Communications

...not one that has been invented for the sake of argument, but one that at present is before a factory owner...

...Naturally, the slogan of "soak the rich" makes the employers recalcitrant...

...If a non-Catholic should contend to Father Maguire that the Church cannot be what we claim it to be— that is, a divine institution, divinely inspired—because many prominent historical personages identified with it led rather scandalous lives, he will immediately point out that what the Church teaches and what men do are two independent considerations and the truth of the former is not dependent on the fact of the latter...

...This argument of Father Maguire's is the very kind against which I protested in my first letter...

...Now I am going to test it...

...No attempt is being made to recoup losses, but merely to keep the business from bankruptcy or a complete suspense of operations...

...Why, then, should Catholic employers defend such a system...

...Edward F. Garesche, S J. THE REELECTION OF MONSIGNOR SEIPEL Denton, Texas...

...TO the Editor:—The Commonweal of November 3 has a comm^itary on the reelection of Monsignor Seipel as Chancellor of the Austrian cabinet...

...It aims at no principle, not even at the practicability of the principle...

...The principle of a living wage cannot be disproved by the failure of a single or even of many unanswerable problems...

...I trust that our priests and people will approve of this suggestion and will cairy it out on the coming great feast so that a wave of prayer and action by the citizens of this country may go forth for their suffering and oppressed brethren...

...and there is no social, economic, or scientific principle which will work under all circumstances and conditions...

...At sea there is nothing to measure and no objects1 with which to compare the progress, but on this river steamer, every turn was noticeable...

...Rev...

...If I reply to him briefly that I cannot answer his difficulty, it would simply mean that in this single case the theory of the living wage does not work...

...I am going to present a difficulty—a real difficulty...

...and even if it failed several times in a year, nothing could be argued against river navigation in general, or this special steamer in particular...

...Father Maguire's letter in your issue of October 20 is much more difficult of analysis...

...Rev...

...Let us encourage Catholics throughout the country in parishes, schools, institutions, and in private homes to offer special and earnest prayers either on December 8 or on the following Sunday, December 12, for the liberty of the Church in Mexico and the redress of the wrongs being done to Catholics there...

...One of the reasons why these measures are opposed in many cases is because those proposing them want the employers to bear the whole burden of the expense when it should be borne equitably by every member of the community...

...It was marvelous how the unseen pilot could so direct such a cumbersome boat The windings of the steamer through the tortuous channels of the river brought ever fresh delight and interest to the passengers...

...then away with all your teaching about the principle of a 'living wage...

...It seems faultless, unanswerable...

...As for the justice of the case, what is unjust about an employer offering to pay what he can...

...Stephen Du Brul...

...It is true, as Father Maguire contends, that I have on occasion defended our economic system, but he has gravely misunderstood my position...

...It claims tr settle many modern problems, which both the workmen and the capitalists have to face...

...It is gratifying to have Father Maguire admit the abstract character of the language of these thinkers, for that has been my own experience...

...It is a difficult problem...

...To argue that because this one concern cannot November 17, 1926 THE COMMONWEAL 49 afford to pay a living wage, therefore the whole economic system needs rebuilding, is exactly like saying that because the plumbing in a house leaks, a new house should be built, or at least a new plumbing system installed, when further investigation might show that half a yard of piping will repair thd trouble...

...You have failed You have had a chance to apply your principle, and you could not do so...

...So it is with the case which Mr...

...A DAY OF PRAYER AND ACTION Milwaukee, Wis...

...Maybe they think it too great a waste of time...

...A thorough understanding of that remarkable paper will further bear out this contention...

...This is his third term...

...As for the two alternatives presented, it has always seemed to me that half a loaf is better than none...

...It was a large boat and seemed suited for ocean service rather than for inland towns or cities...

...He puts his difficulty in the concrete form of an example and argues something like this: "You Catholic economists have been advocating a living wage for workmen...

...She contends that a cut in wages would be unjust "if the employer recoups his losses at the expense of his employees " This contention is not j'ustified from the facts given...

...I am beginning to feel like Diogenes with The Common-weal as my lantern...

...Yet I make bold to assert that nothing can be argued for or against the principle of a living wage from a solution or a failure of the solution of the difficulty...

...Yes, it is a wonderful theory...

...I wish to point out an evident fallacy in Mr Du Brul's argument...

...It may be so difficult that advocates of the living wage fail to apply their theory to it...

...If he were a non-Catholic minister or an atheist, there would be no end to the praise heaped upon him...

...But, remember, it is only a theory...

...His whole letter is a rather naive example of "ignoratio elenchi...

...Like the steamer, it has met with difficulties which make its application impossible, but it has worked in thousands of other cases, and will work in ten thousand in the future...

...As a matter of fact, the character of his letter is a perfect illustration of the very sort of sociology to which I object...

...Perhaps this is the reason why so few Catholic employers attend the Conference on Industrial Problems...

...If you cannot answer this difficulty, if you cannot tell this factory owner what to do, if you cannot solve a real problem, even though it is a hard problem...

...The exact manoeuvres of the vessel at its approach to a wharf, were executed with the precision of one aiming at a target...

...DU BRUL EXPLAINS HIS LETTER Jackson, Ohio...

...Father Maguire contents himself with criticizing me for ever defending that order and then tells me to solve the problem myself...

...The broader question then, as to the moral standard of a fair wage remains unanswered by either of your correspondents...

...These letters may be addressed to Plutarco Calles, President of the United States of Mexico, Mexico, D. F., Mexico...

...I ask for bread and he gives me a stone...

...The writer often watched the movements of an excursion steamer on the Mississippi River...

...I presented a concrete problem of immediate importance in our present system, and asked for a solution, not an argument...

...Let us make it a day of special prayer for the oppressed and outraged Catholics in Mexico, who are deprived of their religious and civil rights, and suffering from intolerable persecutions...

...TO the Editor:—I wish to make a suggestion which I trust will be a very fruitful one...

...I can illustrate it by citing a fairly parallel case...

...Selfishness and dishonesty will always be, as they have always been, obstacles to the perfection of any system of human activity, and if the success of Father Maguire's proposed industrial democracy is dependent upon higher motives than those now governing our economic life, it is doomed to failure...

...Finding them so abstract as to be practically useless in my search for an answer to the problem which I presented, I turned to The Commonweal, hoping that enough representative answers would be forthcoming to enable me to deduce from them a moral principle for the determination of a fair wage...

...Rev Raymond Vernimont...

...Miss Elizabeth Church maintains, in your issue of October 6, that the employer whose problem is cited has only two alternatives: either to pay at least the present wage, or to close his plant...

...We must recognize a sharp distinction when discussing wages, that wages may not be living wages, and yet, as far as the employer is concerned, may be fair, while on the other hand, a wage may be a living wage and yet not be a fair one...

...This is a hasty generalization of the baldest kind I did not say that the industry was not paying a living wage, but a notoriously low wage...

...An economic system which does not enable a necessary industry to pay living wages to the workers is by that very fact convicted of inadequacy and incompetence...

...Why give so much space to the doings of Calles, who is crushing his country, and take no notice of Monsignor Seipel, who is rebuilding a country which was in the mire...

...Now, it would be wrong to argue from this incident, that the boat had not succeeded in making its trip in the past, or that it would not do so in the future...

...If then, my solution does not agree with his ideas of social justice, he should be rather hesitant about criticizing it...

...Then let everyone write a personal letter in his own words to the President of Mexico asking that the citizens of Mexico be allowed to practise their religion freely as are the citizens of the United States...

...TO the Editor-—It is unfortunate that my letter in The Commonweal of September 22 was editorially entitled An Economic Challenge, for it was not so intended...

...Granting, for the sake of argument, that this is true, nothing can be adduced from it against the principle of a living wage...

...It had met a difficulty which it could not overcome...

...Herein lies his fallacy...

...but no progress could be made, and the steamer was forced to drift downstream to its docks...

...His men are under no compulsion from him to accept it...

...The feast of the Immaculate Conception, December 8, is the patronal feast of the Catholic Church in the United States...

...Your theory has appeared just and reasonable...

...details are marshaled in such a fashion as to leave no possibility of a subterfuge in the reply...

...Du Brul seems to think that if his difficulty cannot be solved, then the principle of a living wage must be wrong...

...May I suggest that Father Maguire reread Mr...

...Would not Father Maguire instinctively be hypercritical of any legislation proposed by the Ku Klux Klan...

...And until a clear definition can be given, one which will be serviceable as a working basis to determine a fair wage, I reiterate the request made in my original letter, that those denouncing employers merely for not paying living wages in any particular case, get all the facts and make no claims until they have a fair solution, that is fair to both sides...

...He would be called, by all leading papers, the saviour of Austria...

...Du Brul presents...

...The concrete case which he cites is artfully put...

...A. R. Orage's The Quest of God in The Commonweal of March 3, 1926...

...Can the public press claim to be fair and impartial...

...The letter was not intended as "an indictment of these critics" and it is a misinterpretation to so designate it, when I merely asked for more patience on their part when dealing with such problems...

...It had carried out an almost perfect schedule for years, and continued to do so after the incident told above It simply failed to work under certain conditions...

...The dexterity in handling the boat could be observed by comparison with the shores and numerous islands...

...Possibly both of your correspondents who replied to that letter took it for a challenge, which may account for the slightly aggressive attitude both have displayed...

...This fact excludes him from the sanction of the public press...

...It is illogical and characteristic of those fruitless arguments that these critics "have been using for many years " Why employers "oppose legislative measures for the amelioration of the working classes" has nothing whatever to do with our present problem, but since Father Maguire has injected it into this controversy, it deserves a reply...

...The writer, Stephen Du Brul, has a difficulty about the application of the principle of a "living wage," so earnestly advocated by Catholic economic thought...

...TO the Editor:—In The Commonweal of September 22, there appeared a communication with the title: An Economic Challenge...

...It is something in the abstract, in fact, it is in the air...

...In the first place, he says I have "unconsciously put into concrete terms the arguments that they (the Catholic thinkers on economic problems) have been using for many years...

...It was quite generally admitted at Cleveland at the Catholic Conference on Industrial Problems on October 1, when our present problem was under discussion, that this employer was not committing any injustice and I do not recall any strong dissent from Father Maguire at that time...

...The sending of these letters will be a work of zeal in honor of our Blessed Mother and their number will emphasize the attitude of the citizens of the United States toward the Mexican persecutions...

...A remarkable event, of which the public press seems to be ignorant Monsignor Seipel has the misfortune of being a Catholic priest...

...Henry S Spalding, S.J...

...But one day a storm swept down the river, and the big boat refused to go upstream...

...In other words, his economic challenge is not a challenge at all...

...I am in a similar position, being just as much aware, if not more so than he, of the economic evils and abuses about us, but maintaining that these evils and abuses are not inherent in the economic order as such, but in the nature of the men composing it...

...The boilers were worked to their capacity, and the current was avoided as much as possible...

...It appeals alike to the employer and employee...