To Our
Venerable Brethren the Patriarchs,
Primates, Archbishops, Bishops, and other ordinaries
of places having Peace and Communion with the Apostolic See.
Rights and Duties of Capital and Labor
That the spirit of
revolutionary change, which has long been disturbing the nations of the world,
should have passed beyond the sphere of politics and made its influence felt in
the cognate sphere of practical economics is not surprising. The elements of
the conflict now raging are unmistakable, in the vast expansion of industrial
pursuits and the marvellous discoveries of science; inthe changed relations between
masters and workmen; in the enormous fortunes of some few individuals, and the
utter poverty of the masses;the increased self reliance and closer mutual
combination of the working classes; as also, finally, in the prevailing moral
degeneracy. The momentous gravity of the state of things now obtaining fills
every mind with painful apprehension; wise men are discussing it; practical men
are proposing schemes; popular meetings, legislatures, and rulers of nations
are all busied with it - actually there is no question which has taken deeper
hold on the public mind.
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