Fordham University - Maroon Yearbook (New York, NY)

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498 The Fordham Monthly greater wealth, evading the laws of the country, and totally subordinating the welfare of the community to their own individual good. They use their wealth to secure the passage of special legislation, they seek to monopolize the great commercial industries of the country and frequently, especially in the mining states of the West, the local government of a coriimunity is frustrated before the power of their wealth. The poor cannot obtain justice, and when justice is gone, violence and strife reign supreme. Among the wealthy the desire for greater riches has made them forget that there is something greater than the riches, the pleasures and the honors of this life. Every effort they make, every thought they have is for the accumulation of greater wealth. Men have become worshippers at the shrine of Mammon; bowing down in admiration of the golden calf. Their hopes and desires are influenced by the power of the almighty dollar. The wealth they can grasp, The material prosperity they can reach are the objects of their desires and the limit of their aspirations. It creates- grave responsibilities, and occupied, as be is, with the preservation, the increase and the management of his riches, the man of wealth is wont to forget his eternal salvation. Mere earthly gains and material cares distract his attention, and all thought of the spiritual is lost to him forever. As long as the world endures there will be some who will be unable to provide sufficiently for themselves. Until the end of time, unequalities of fortune will exist, the fatal result of the physical, intellectual and moral inequalities nature herself has established among men. These evils will never entirely disappear, but nevertheless, upon everyone of us rests the duty of mitigating them as far as lies within our power. Were men of wealth to realize that they are not the absolute owners of their riches, but merely the administrators, that their wealth belongs to God, and. they are His stewards, they would use it in accordance with the intentions of their Maker. Were they to realize that they are under a solemn obligation to better the poor and to enable them to obtain the necessities, the comforts and some of the luxuries of this life, the great social inequalities would be lessened, the bitter class antagonism woufd disappear, and the rich arid the poor would live together in the brotherhood of man and under the fatherhood of God. Walter A. Lynch, T5.

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Demamtnonizing the Country 497 wealthy and the indigent practically constitute the two classes of the country. Between the two the gorge of separation is steadily becoming wider and wider. By the poor we do not simply mean those who are in poverty, those who are without even the necessities of life, but we mean those thousands who are living from hand to mouth, the thousands we see going to and from their daily work, receiving a wage that does not enable them to adequately provide for that time in their lives when they can no longer toil. These are the poor of the country and their number is steadily increasing. It is true, perhaps, that there is still a middle class, but just so surely as that class has decreased in the past, so under similar circumstances will it continue to decrease. This condition cannot long continue. Men will not always quietly acquiesce in social conditions that enable the few to live in affluence, luxury and ease, while the masses of the people cannot adequately provide for the future. History repeats itself and the history of India, Greece, Rome and Judea should stand as a lasting warning to all America. What greater misery and tyranny than among the castes of India, what greater social inequalities than among the ancient Greeks; what greater class distinctions than between the patricians and plebeians of Rome—all the fruits of the unjust accumulation of great fortunes by the few? In our own country to-day we have practically these same castes, the rich and the poor, we have the same great class distinctions and bitter class antagonism, and most of all we have among us modern Pharisees, who rob the workers in the coal fields of Pennsylvania and the iron workers of Colorado, and then in the guise of philanthrophv, establish foundations for the propagation of godless education and donate free libraries to a gullable public instead of giving decent wages to their employees. This great estrangement of the rich and the poor will reach the breaking point. The poor see themselves deprived of the necessities and comforts of life, they do not fail to realize that through their low wages they are increasing the fortunes of their employers, while they can scarely maintain themselves. Among them is sown the seed of discontent and resentment at the injustice that is done them. They yield to the harangues of the Socialist demagogues, and are influenced by men of evil principles, who deceive them with artful promises and excite foolish hopes which usually end in useless regrets and the loss of all they possess. On the other hand, we see the enormously rich striving after

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Religious Liberty in the United States N 1620 the Puritans landed in Massachusetts. Bravely sacrificing temporal advantages on. the altar of the faith, they braved the dangers and hardship of an unknown land and established a community where they could worship God according to the dictates of their conscience. To them was given a great opportunity. In a world torn by religious strife they could have risen to the height of a great principle,—the principle of religious freedom. But such a broad liberalism was contrary to the spirit of the time. It was an age when intolerance was regarded as a virtue by all sects. To bum or banish heretics was a sacred duty. Heretics, when they secured power, were no less hostile to their former orthodox persecutors. The Puritans were content to rest on the plane of universal bigotry. In 1636 Roger Williams was cited before the General Court of Massachusetts for preaching the doctrine of liberty of conscience. Thus the odium theologicum, the curse of Europe, was introduced on the virgin soil of the new continent. Roger Williams was exiled from Massachusetts, and in midwinter lie journeyed through the primeval forests to Rhode Island, where he unfurled the banner of religious liberty and established a state where he and all men might worship God according to the dictates of their consciences. No such land had previously existed in the wrhole civilized world. Roman Catholics and Quakers were especial objects of persecution in England, and, quite naturally, they turned to the new world as a place of refuge. Lord Baltimore, a devout Catholic, by reason of his high official position, and being in the good graces of James I, succeeded in obtaining a charter for Maryland, which embodied a very broad conception of toleration. The Quakers, likewise, under the leadership of William Penn established religious freedom in the colony of Pennsylvania. In Rhode Island, Maryland, and Pennsylvania therefore was first evidenced the spirit that was to become a