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TUE SOCIALISM OF TO-DAY. 
What are the causes of the intolerable condition of the 
labouring class ? According to the bishop, there are two 
principal ones. In the first place, the utter suppression of 
all organization of labour. Formerly a sort of contract existed 
between society and the labourer ; the artisan satisfied the 
needs of society, and society, in exchange, guaranteed to him, 
by means of the guild regulations, both work and wages. 1 o- 
day he is abandoned without hope to the mercy of the capi 
talist. In the second place, the more and more general use 
of machinery and the development of the large system of 
manufacturing are always lessening the number of artisans 
who can dispose of a small private capital, and increasing 
that of the wage-earners who depend entirely upon the ever- 
varying demand for their work. 
Having indicated the causes of the evil, Monseigneur von 
Ketteler seeks the remedies. They will never be found, he 
says, in liberty, as is often imagined. For the labourer, liberty 
consists in offering his labour at a discount and in dying of 
hunger, if his labour is not needed. Free trade merely sub 
jects him to the competition of countries where wages are 
lowest. You speak of “ self-help,” and you expect the working 
man to raise himself by his own efforts. That is all very well 
for a few, the fortunate and best endowed, who may be able 
to make for themselves a place in the ranks of the masters ; 
but can the others cease to be wage-earners, and are not 
wages governed by the “iron law,” as demonstrated by Lassalle 
and Ricardo? 
All the fine speeches of infidel Liberalism will not per 
suade the working men that they should resign themselves 
to living in privation, while those who make profit out of 
them enjoy all the refinements of luxury and sensuality. 
Christianity alone can reconcile the lower classes to that 
inequality of condition which is inevitable here below. 
The true believer will accept without bitterness and even 
with joy the heaviest trials of a life of labour, because he 
expects them to ensure him eternal happiness. Christianity 
inspires a spirit of self-sacrifice, of obedience, of order. It 
condemns drunkenness, evil ways, debauchery, and rebellion.