> The great mistake made in regard to the matter now under
> consideration is to take up with the notion that class is naturally
> hostile to class, and that the wealthy and the working men are
> intended by nature to live in mutual conflict. So irrational and so
> false is this view that the direct contrary is the truth. Just as
> the symmetry of the human frame is the result of the suitable
> arrangement of the different parts of the body, so in a State is it
> ordained by nature that these two classes should dwell in harmony
> and agreement, so as to maintain the balance of the body politic.
> Each needs the other: capital cannot do without labor, nor labor
> without capital. Mutual agreement results in the beauty of good
> order, while perpetual conflict necessarily produces confusion and
> savage barbarity. Now, in preventing such strife as this, and in
> uprooting it, the efficacy of Christian institutions is marvellous
> and manifold. First of all, there is no intermediary more powerful
> than religion (whereof the Church is the interpreter and guardian)
> in drawing the rich and the working class together, by reminding
> each of its duties to the other, and especially of the obligations
> of justice.