JAMES GIBBONS 195 was that known as the Eaiights of Labor, which in 1886 num- bered five hundred thousand members. The head of the asso- ciation, Terrence V. Powderly, known as the * * general master workman," several others of the prominent officers and the ma- jority of the members were Catholics. The organization had been condemned in Canada by ecclesiastical authority as an- tagonistic to religion and the conunon good, and the condenma- tion had been confirmed by Bome. The same sentence was im- minent in regard to the United States. The archbishops of the country assembled in council had, after thorough investigation of the case, failed to pronounce against the Eaiights. When the cause was carried to Bome, Cardinal Gibbons prepared and presented a masterly memorial in behalf of the Eiiights, show- ing that the character and methods of the organization as it existed and operated in this country did not fall under the Churches principles and rules governing the condemnation of secret societies. The cardinal supported his formal plea in the Boman Curia with such convincing argument that his defense not only prevented the condemnation of the Eaiights in the United States, but also led to the removal of the ban in Canada. This success was a notable triumph for the reason that official Bome — and all Europe, for that matter — was of the opinion that the organization of workingmen was revolutionary and dangerous. Not a few Americans thought they saw in this new movement the speedy dissolution of the Bepublic. Car- dinal Gibbons, however, promptly recognized it as a necessary development from new conditions, and resolved to deal with it as such. It is hard to say how serious might have been the consequences that were saved by his energetic defense of the laborers. A policy of repression would doubtless have driven great numbers of the American workingmen into the camp of Socialism which was then recruiting the malcontents of the land under its red flag. It should be noted too that Pope Leo Xlll, who always esteemed his American cardinal for his sound liberalism, probably derived from the latter *s exposi- tion of the labor problem some suggestions for his own treat- ment of the subject in the famous encyclical on **The Condi-
