6. The venal press, working in the interests of political servility and of property‐holders, continually misrepresents public opinion, and is the principal cause of the social evils that threaten Germany. 7. The foreign policy of the German Empire, especially in its relations to the Holy See, is not in harmony with the principles and interests of the Catholic population of Germany, and is not capable of securing the preservation of the peace of Europe. III. _Regarding the State of the Working‐Classes._ 1. Like all other states of Europe, Germany is threatened by the discontent existing among the working‐classes. 2. The principal reasons for this discontentment are: Decrease of the retail business; overtaxing the agricultural classes; miserable condition of the operatives in manufactories; and the endless development of money speculation. 3. The real origin of these misfortunes is the enervation of Christian faith and morality in the higher as well as in the lower ranks of society, caused by modern rationalism and liberalism, whereby it has happened also that a great portion of the working‐ classes have allowed themselves to be deceived by the illusions of irreligious and revolutionary leaders. 4. The means of healing these social evils and reconciling all classes of society consist in the passing of laws prohibiting the exhausting of the bodily and financial strength of the people; in claiming that protection from the state to which all classes are entitled; in the continued effort to remove the particular defects of the present commercial laws by means of legislation; in establishing the rights of the working‐classes in accordance with Christian principles and the demands of general equity; in founding different industrial auxiliary houses, either through the union of the working‐classes and others, or through the friends of the working‐classes; in restricting the amount of labor to be performed by females and children; in the careful cultivation of the moral and religious life in the families of the working‐ classes, especially by having Sunday kept holy, and by applying Christian principles to the sphere of business life; in the free development of Christian charity to alleviate inevitable want. IV. _Regarding the Rights of the Church._ 1. The Catholic Church is, according to divine ordination, an independent society, which has the right to exist publicly in all lands as the one and universal church of Jesus Christ, and to protect which every Christian government should feel itself bound.