long time to come; if they refuse to share with the starving hundreds around them, the government, general or local, as the case may be, has a perfect right to seize on their property and distribute it around among the suffering poor. Here again there is no sin nor theft, for material goods are not to be compared to human lives, and if these rich men refuse to save human lives with their goods, their refusal is wicked, unreasonable, and not to be respected. But remember it is only in cases of extreme necessity that the words mine and thine cease to exist — that what is yours becomes mine and mine yours; and then only to the extent of relieving that necessity here and now. Again, suppose I agreed to do a certain amount of work for a man for so much a day, and suppose that by and by my employer doubled my work without increasing my pay. I protest and demand either less work or more pay, but he refuses both, and in all the world I cannot see where I am to get another job. What am I to do? I must consult my confessor about it and if he agrees that the circumstances really are as I state them, then I can, unknown to my employer, take from him as much money or goods as will compensate me for the increased work I do. Oh, but I steal! No, for my employer's dissent is so palpably unreasonable and unjust that I am not bound to respect it, and besides I do him no wrong, for, according to himself at our first agreement, my work is worth the money.
These are a few cases allowed by the Church to save the poor and needy from absolute oppression.
