Page:The Great Encyclical Letters of Pope Leo XIII.djvu/486



480 CHRISTIAN DEMOCRACY.

ened still greater disaster, both to individuals and the commonwealth, We strove with all the more energy to avert them. This was the object of Our Encyclical Rerum Novarum of the 15th May, 1891, in which We dwelt at length on the rights and duties which both classes of society â€” those namely, who control capital, and those who contribute labor â€” are bound in relation to each other; and at the same time. We made it evident that the remedies which are most useful to protect the cause of religion, and to terminate the contest between the different classes of society, were to be found in the pre- cepts of the Gospel.

Nor, with God's grace, were Our hopes entirely frustrated. Even those who are not Catholics, moved by the power of truth, avowed that the Church must be credited with a watchful care over all classes of society, and especially those whom fortune had least favored. Catholics of course profited abundantly by these Letters, for they not only received encouragement and strength for the admirable enterprises in which they were engaged but also obtained the light which they desired, by the help of which they were able with greater safety and with more plentiful blessings to continue the efforts which they had been making in the matter of which We are now speak- ing. Hence it happened that the differences of opinion which prevailed among them were either removed or their acrimony diminished and the discussion laid aside. In the work which they had undertaken this was effected, viz. : that in their efforts for the elevation of the poorer classes, especially in those places where the trouble is greatest, many new enterprises were set on foot; those which were already established were increased and all reaped the blessing of a greater stability imparted to them. Some of these works were called Bureaus of the People, their object being to supply information. Rural savings banks had been established, and various associa- tions, some for mutual aid, others, of relief were organized.