to conditions of today. Its criticism of existing abuses is most outspoken. Take, as example, what he says in defending the laborer's claim for increased wages:

"Economic Liberalism, making abstraction of all religion and morality, not only degraded labor to the level of a commodity, but looked on man himself, with his capacity for work, simply as a machine bought as cheaply as possible and driven until it would go no more. To combat the dreadful consequences which resulted from the application of such principles, the Trade Unions arose in England and, in time, spread into other countries. They are beginning to take root in Germany, too, and not a few of you belong to them. The chief weapon. of the Trade Unions against capital and the grande industrie is the Strike, by means of which, in spite of many reverses and seeming defeats, they have succeeded, as the Englishman Thornton. has but quite recently proved, in increasing wages 50, 25 and 15 per cent. . . .

"Just as these efforts may be to reclaim for human labor and the laborer the human dignity of which economic Liberalism had robbed them, it is evident that they will not procure you any real advantages, my dear workmen, and will not be crowned by any lasting success unless they go hand-in-hand with religion and morality.'

Sane Limit of Wages.

Ketteler admits that there must necessarily be some limit to the increase of wages and that the highest wage obtainable cannot do more than provide a decent subsistence. Hence the need of temperance and economy. Moral energy is required to be sober and thrifty with all the temptations that surround the workingman. Then, warning his hearers against being imposed upon and having the power of organization misdirected, Ketteler makes this famous dictum,

followed by a severe arraignment of capital:

"The object of the labor movement must not be war between the workman and employer, but peace on equitable terms between both.

"The impiety of capital, which would treat the workman like a machine, must be broken. It is a crime against the working-classes; it degrades them. It fits in with the theory of those who would trace man's descent to the ape. But the impiety of labor must also be guarded against. If the movement in favor of higher wages oversteps the bounds of justice, catastrophies must necessarily ensue, the whole weight of which will recoil on the working-classes. Capitalists are seldom at a loss for lucrative investments. When it comes to the worst, they can speculate in government securities. But the workman is in a far different position. When the business in which he is employed comes to a standstill, unemployment stares him in the face. Besides, exorbitant wagedemands affect not only the large business concerns controlled by the capitalists, but also the smaller ones in the hands of the middle classes and the daily earnings of master workmen and handicraftsmen.

Money Without Religion.

"But, if the working-classes are to observe just moderation in their demands, if they are to escape the danger of becoming mere tools in the hands of ambitious and unscrupulous demagogues, if they wish to keep clear of the inordinate selfishness which they condemn so severely in captalism they must be filled with a lofty moral sense, their ranks must be made up of courageous. Christian, religious men. The power of money without religion is an evil, but the power of organized labor without religion is just as great an evil. Both lead to destruction.

Ketteler gave much consideration to the demand of the laborer for shorter

hours. As mere increase in wages without moral principles to guide him would not insure the real happiness of the laborer, so shorter hours could not be a boon, but rather a source of danger, unless the workingman should employ the time gained in a manner consistent with the duties that Christianity imposes upon him. Scoring unscrupulous capitalists who tried to bring wages to the lowest level and lengthen the working hours to the limits of human endurance, he says:

Working Hours and Wages.

"One thing, however, is certain; working hours and wages have shared the same fate. Wherever capitalists, ignoring the dignity of man, have acted on the principles of modern political economy, wages have been reduced to a minimum and working hours have been prolonged to the limits of human endurance and beyond them. Day and night, like a machine, the workman cannot be kept going; but for all that the impossible was expected from him, Hence, wherever the hours of work are lengthened beyond the limits fixed by nature, the workingmen have an indisputable right to combat this abuse of the power of wealth by well-directed concerted action."

The employment of minors in factories was especially unjust in Ketteler's eyes. Not only did he condemn the employers whose greed for gain had stifled all humane impulses but also the parents who sent their children to mills and factories in order to increase their income. Certain leaders of the labor organizations had drawn attention to the child labor abuse, and they found in Ketteler a powerful ally, as is seen from the following paragraph from his Offenbach sermon:

I

"Fritzsche, the president of the Cigar Makers' Union, has been especially active in this matter. He brought in a motion in the parliament of the North German Confederation to have child labor prohibited by law. Unfortunately his motion was thrown out. Child labor was restricted but not forbidden. deplore this action of the legislature profoundly, and look on it as a victory of materialism over modern principles. My own observations are in full accord with the statements of Fritzsche on the bad effects of factory labor on children. I know right well what arguments are brought forward to excuse it, and I am also aware that even some who are welldisposed toward the the working-classes wish to see child labor tolerated to a certain extent. Children are in duty bound, these men argue, to help their parents in the labors of the house and the field, why debar them from the factory?

Evils of Factory Work.

These people forget that there is a vast difference between work at home and work in the factory. Factory work quenches, as it were, the family spirit in the child, and this is, as we shall see presently, the greatest danger danger that threatens the working-classes in our day. Moreover, it robs the child of the time it should devote to innocent, joyous recreation so necessary at this period of life. Lastly, the factory undermines the bodily and spiritual health of the child. I regard child labor in factories as a monstrous cruelty of our time, a cruelty committed against the child by the spirit of the age and the selfishness of parents. I look on it as a slow poisoning of the body and the soul of the child. With the sacrifice of the joys of childhood, with the sacrifice of health, with the sacrifice of innocence the child is condemned to increase the profits of the entrepreneur and oftentimes to earn bread for parents whose dissolute life has made them incapable of doing so themselves. Hence I rejoice at every word spoken in favor of the workingman's child. Religion in

its great love for children cannot but support the demand for the prohibition of child labor in factories. You, my dear workmen, can second this demand most efficaciously by never permitting your own children under fourteen years of age to work in a factory."

Womens' Work in Factories.

The employment of women in factories is still condemned by trades unions, for this custom has not yet been abolished. However, if you ask the average worker why he opposes the employment of women in factories, he will answer that it is because women do the work of men and in doing so put men out of employment and lower the standard of wages. Thus, the opposition becomes a selfish one, and it redounds all the more to the credit of Bishop Ketteler that he, forty years ago, impressed upon the 10,000 laborers whom he addressed, another motive-that of the dignity of womanhood and motherhood. His attack

was chiefly directed against the employment of girls in factories. Every trades unionist ought to take to heart these words:

"Workmen themselves have repeatedly called attention to these sad consequences. In their meetings such striking argumentation as the following has been heard: 'We want good and happy families; but to have good and happy families we must have pure, virtuous mothers; now, where can we find these if our young girls are lured into the factories and are there inoculated with the germs of impudence and immorality?' I cannot tell you, my dear, workmen, how deeply such words coming from the ranks of the working-classes touched and gladdened my heart. Ten years ago, when the labor movement was still in its infancy among us, such sentiments were hardly heard anywhere except from our Christian pulpits. The Liberals were

insensible to the moral dangers to which the daughters of the workman were exposed. When these poor creatures were utterly corrupted in the factory, their employers still had the effrontery to pose as their benefactors-because, thanks to them, they were earning so many cents a day. The dangers of factory life to the morals of young workinggirls and, therefore, to the family of the workman, are beginning to be recognized more and more even by the factoryowners themselves. This is a happy symptom and shows once more that the labor question, like all the other great social questions, is in the last analysis a question of religion and morality."

Worst Enemies of Labor.

Developments within the last few decades have shown that the enemies of labor are not confined to the employing class, but that they are also to be found in the ranks of labor. Socialists with their materialistic creed have sought viciously to capture the trade union movement. Ketteler saw what was going on in Germany and did not fail to sound a well-founded note of warning.

"Beware of those who scoff at religion" he says, "beware of those who wish to lead you away from religion and to hinder you in the performance of your religious duties. your religious duties. They are your deadliest enemies, because, as we have seen, every step forward in behalf of the workman is accompanied by religion and morality. Hence, if anyone protests that he is anxious to help you and at the same time attacks your religion, you may be sure he either knows nothing about the labor question or he is an imposter. There are men in our midst who act as though they were able to convert their sneers at religion into bread and money."

"These are the words," Ketteler concludes, "which I wished to address to you, my dear workmen, at the close of my sojourn among you. They were intended to express in some way, however