essential in these times of covetous greed, to keep the
multitude within the line of duty; for if all may justly
strive to benefit their condition, yet neither justice nor
the common good allows any one to seize that which belongs
to another, or, under the pretext of futile and ridiculous
equality, to lay hands on other peoples' fortunes.

And this, you understand, in lands where rapine and conquest,
class-tyranny and priestly domination have been the custom since the
dawn of history; in which no property-right can possibly trace back to
any other basis than force. In Austria, for example--Austria, the
leader and guardian of the Holy Alliance--Austria, which had no
Reformation, no Revolution, no Kultur-kampf--Austria, in which the
income of the Catholic Primate is $625,000 a year! In other words,
Austria is still to a large extent a "Priestly Empire;" and it was
Austria which began the war--began it in a religious quarrel, with a
Slav people which does not acknowledge the Holy Father as the ruler of
the world, but persists in adhering to the Eastern Church. So of
course to-day, when Austria is learning the bitter lesson that they
who draw the sword shall perish by the sword, the heart of the Holy
Father is wrung with grief, and he sends out these eloquent
peace-notes, written in Vienna and edited in Berlin. And at the same
time his private chaplain is convicted and sentenced to prison for
life as Austria's Master-Spy in Rome!

It is a curious thing to observe--the natural instinct which, all over
the world, draws Superstition and Exploitation together. This war,
which is hailed as a war against autocracy, might almost as accurately
be described as a war against the clerical system. Wherever in the
world you find the Papal power strong, there you find sympathy with
the Prussian infamy and there you find German intrigue. In Spain, for
example; in Ireland and Quebec, and in the Argentine. The treatment of
Belgium was a little too raw--too many priests were shot at the
outset, and so Cardinal Mercier denounces the Germans; but you notice
that he pleads in vain with the Vatican, which stands firm by its
beloved Austria, and against the godless kingdom of Italy. The Kaiser
allows the hope of restoration of the temporal power at the peace
settlement; and meantime the law forbidding the presence of the
Jesuits in Germany has been repealed, and all over the world the
propagandists of this order