ENCYCLICAL LETTER OF POPE LEO XEH. 131
would be irrational to neglect one portion of the citizens and to favor another ; and therefore the public adminis- tration must duly and solicitously provide for the welfare and the comfort of the working-people, or else that law of justice will be violated which ordains that each shall have his due. To cite the wise words of St. Thomas of Aquin : As the part and the whole are in a certain sense identical, the part may in some sense claim what belongs to the ivhole* Among the many and grave duties of rulers who would do their best for the people, the first and chief is to act with strict justice with that justice which is called in the Schools distributive toward each and every class.
37. But although all citizens, without exception, can and ought to contribute to that common good in which individuals share so profitably to themselves, yet it is not to be supposed that all can contribute in the same way and to the same extent. No matter what changes may be made in forms of government, there will always be differences and inequalities of condition in the State: Society cannot exist or be conceived without them. Some there must be who dedicate themselves to the work of the commonwealth, who make the laws, who administer justice, whose advice and authority govern the nation in times of peace, and defend it in war. Such men clearly occupy the foremost place in the State, and should be held in the foremost estimation, for their work touches most nearly and effectively the general interests of the community. Those who labor at a trade or calling do not promote the general welfare in such a fashion as this ; but they do in the most important way benefit the nation, though less directly. We have insisted that, since it is the end of Society to make men better, th#
- 2a 2 Q. Ixi. Art. 1 ad 2.
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