THE CATHOLIC SOCIAL-REFORM MOVEMENT 39
a human life. It is only by a due recognition of this diversity that equal justice can be rendered or dispensed. The maximum of true liberty, possible equality, and real fraternity can only be attained in a condition of affairs in which every member of society gives to every other member of society all that which is due him, whether of mental, moral, or material goods, and whether bv the law of justice or the law of charity.
Human society is made up of a number of intertwined and superimposed hierarchies, which may be reduced to the spiritual, intellectual, political, aesthetic, social, and economic. It is requisite for the order of society that the masters in each domain shall be duly respected and docilely followed by the rest of mankind, within the spheres of their respective competency, and that they shall assiduously devote themselves to the welfare of the whole community.
It is the function of the spiritual hierarchs to direct all man- kind toward its chief and final end, which is the possession of God. It is the function of the intellectual leaders to direct men to the knowledge of truth, which is their proximate end, con- sidered as rational creatures: It is the function of the political rulers and social chiefs to direct men to their end, in so far as they are destined to live in a state of organic and personal asso- ciation. It is the function of the masters of taste to direct men to their end, considered as beings possessing by nature a love and capacity for beauty, in themselves and their surroundings and their works. It is the function of the captains of industry to direct men to their end, in so far as they are animals, needing nourishment, clothing, and other material comforts, luxuries, and instruments.
The more perfectly the authority of the heads of these hierarchies is recognized and obeyed, in their respective depart- ments, even by each other, the more perfect will be the spiritual, intellectual, political, aesthetic, social, and economic condition of the whole community, and the happier all the individuals com- posing it will be. So far as that authority is not recognized, a state of anarchy exists, which produces untold waste, discomfort, ugliness, misery, and ruin.
