146 THE CONDITION OF LABOR.
the clergy, both secular and regular, labor assiduously on behalf of the spiritual and mental interests of the members of Associations. And there are not wanting Catholics possessed of affluence who have, as it were, cast in their lot with the wage-earners, and who have spent large sums in founding and widely spreading Benefit and Insurance Societies ; by means of which the working-man may without difficulty acquire by his labor not only many present advantages, but also the certainty of honorable support in time to come. How much this multiplied and earnest activity has benefited the com- munity at large is too well known to require Us to dwell upon it. We find in it the grounds of the most cheering hope for the future ; provided that the Associations We have described continue to grow and spread, and are well and wisely administered. Let the State watch over these Societies of citizens united together in the exercise of their right ; but let it not thrust itself into their peculiar concerns and their organization ; for things move and live by the soul within them, and they may be killed by the grasp of a hand from without.
60. In order that an Association may be carried on with unity of purpose and harmony of action, its organi- zation and government must be firm and wise. All such Societies, being free to exist, have the further right to adopt such rules and organization as may best conduce to the attainment of their objects. We do not deem it possible to enter into definite details on the subject of organization : this must depend on national character, on practice and experience, on the nature and scope of the work to be done, on the magnitude of the various trades and employments, and on other circumstances of fact and of time all of which must be carefully weighed.
61. Speaking summarily, we may lay it down as a general and perpetual law, that Workmen's Associations
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