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+This eBook, including all associated images, markup, improvements,
+metadata, and any other content or labor, has been confirmed to be
+in the PUBLIC DOMAIN IN THE UNITED STATES.
+
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+Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for
+eBook #53018 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/53018)
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-The Project Gutenberg EBook of Men and Things, by Henry A. Atkinson
-
-This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most
-other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions
-whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of
-the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at
-www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you'll have
-to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this ebook.
-
-
-
-Title: Men and Things
-
-Author: Henry A. Atkinson
-
-Release Date: September 9, 2016 [EBook #53018]
-
-Language: English
-
-Character set encoding: UTF-8
-
-*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MEN AND THINGS ***
-
-
-
-
-Produced by Chris Curnow and the Online Distributed
-Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was
-produced from images generously made available by The
-Internet Archive)
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-Transcriber’s Note: Italics text is enclosed in _underscores_, boldface
-in =equals signs=.
-
-
-
-
-[Illustration:
-
- Press Illustrating Service.
-
-CUTTING STEEL FOR SHIPS WITH GIGANTIC SHEARS.
-
-These workers are the servants of civilization and without them we
-would have no such trade as we have to-day.]
-
-
-
-
- MEN AND THINGS
-
-
- BY
- HENRY A. ATKINSON
-
- SECRETARY, SOCIAL SERVICE DEPARTMENT OF THE CONGREGATIONAL CHURCHES
- AND ASSOCIATE SECRETARY OF THE COMMISSION ON THE CHURCHES
- AND SOCIAL SERVICE OF THE FEDERAL COUNCIL OF THE
- CHURCHES OF CHRIST IN AMERICA
-
-
- NEW YORK
- MISSIONARY EDUCATION MOVEMENT
- OF THE UNITED STATES AND CANADA
- 1918
-
-
-
-
- COPYRIGHT, 1918, BY
- MISSIONARY EDUCATION MOVEMENT OF THE
- UNITED STATES AND CANADA
-
-
-
-
-CORRESPONDENCE CONCERNING MISSION STUDY
-
-
-Send the proper one of the following blanks to the secretary of your
-denominational mission board whose address is in the “List of Mission
-Boards and Correspondents” at the end of this book.
-
- =================================================================
-
- We expect to form a mission study class, and desire to have any
- suggestions that you can send that will help in organizing and
- conducting it.
-
- Name ............................................................
-
- Street and Number ...............................................
-
- City or Town ..................... State ........................
-
- Denomination ..................... Church .......................
-
- Text-book to be used ............................................
-
- =================================================================
-
- We have organized a mission study class and secured our books.
- Below is the enrolment.
-
- Name of City or Town .................... State .................
-
- Text-book ......................... Underline auspices under
- which class is held:
- Denomination ......................
- Church Y. P. Soc.
- Church ............................ Men Senior
- Women’s Soc. Intermediate
- Name of Leader .................... Y. W. Soc. Junior
- Sunday School
- Address ...........................
-
- Name of Pastor .................... Date of starting ............
-
- State whether Mission Study Class, Frequency of Meetings .......
- Lecture Course, Program Meetings,
- or Reading Circle ............... Number of Members ...........
-
- ................................. Does Leader desire Helps? ...
-
- Chairman, Missionary Committee, Young People’s Society ...........
-
- ............................................................
-
- Address ....................................................
-
- Chairman, Missionary Committee, Sunday School ....................
-
- ............................................................
-
- Address ....................................................
-
-
-
-
-TO MY FATHER
-
-THE REV. THOMAS A. ATKINSON
-
-
-
-
-CONTENTS
-
-
- CHAPTER PAGE
-
- Foreword xiii
-
- I The World of Work 1
-
- II The World of the Rural Workers 17
-
- III The World of the Spinners and Weavers 33
-
- IV The World of the Garment Workers 49
-
- V The World of the Miners 65
-
- VI The World of the Steel Workers 79
-
- VII The World of the Transportation Men 95
-
- VIII The World of the Makers of Luxuries 113
-
- IX The World of Seasonal Labor and the Casual Workers 135
-
- X The World of Industrial Women 155
-
- XI The World of the Child Workers 173
-
- XII The Message and Ministry of the Church 191
-
- Bibliography 211
-
- Index 215
-
-
-
-
-ILLUSTRATIONS
-
-
- These workers are the servants of civilization _Frontispiece_
-
- PAGE
-
- The work which men do inevitably groups them together 10
-
- Not many of us stop to consider the man who made possible the
- white bread that we eat 18
-
- The worker in these mills is a worker and little or nothing else 42
-
- The workers on the sidewalks of Fifth Avenue 50
-
- We forget the men who are toiling underground 66
-
- The New U. S. Bureau of Mines Rescue Car 74
-
- Commerce and transportation are dependent upon the steel workers 82
-
- The church must preach from the text “A man is more precious
- than a bar of steel” 90
-
- Living upon the canal-boats and barges are the families of the
- workers 106
-
- The cigarmakers carry no moral enthusiasm into their trade 122
-
- The casual workers are the true servants of humanity 146
-
- In the army of laborers the girl and the woman are drafted 162
-
- Thousands of children in America are doing work which they
- ought not to do 186
-
- A Russian Forum in session in the Church of All Nations, Boston 194
-
- The Church of All Nations provided a sleeping place for the
- unemployed 202
-
-
-
-
- “Ill fares the land, to hastening ills a prey,
- Where wealth accumulates, and men decay.”
-
-
-
-
-FOREWORD
-
-
-A friend said to me this last week, “There are two things that I
-instinctively distrust, one is prophecy, the other is statistics. Now
-that the war has lengthened into the fourth year and America has taken
-her place by the side of the Allies, I find my gorge rising every time
-any one attempts a prophecy and quotes statistics. All prophecies have
-proved false and statistics are utterly unreliable. Even the clocks
-have been made to lie by official decree.”
-
-Granted that my friend is pessimistic, at the same time we must
-all sympathize with him in this feeling. In writing this book, I
-have tried to keep out of the realm of prophecy and have used just
-as few statistics as possible. Most of the facts were secured by
-investigations made prior to August, 1914. I have endeavored to check
-up every statement with all the reports I could secure from the
-Department of Labor at Washington, through the _Survey_ and the _New
-Republic_, and through other sources. I feel reasonably certain that
-all the statements concerning conditions will bear investigation and
-are substantially correct. If there are discrepancies, it will be found
-after making due allowance for the judgment of others, that they are
-due to changes brought about by unusual conditions in industry. The
-principles are unchanged and it is upon these that I have attempted
-to place the most emphasis. Concrete facts are but illustrative of
-the principle involved. Conditions affect cases but leave principles
-undisturbed.
-
-I am greatly indebted to the help in research given me by Miss Lucy
-Gardner, of Salem, Massachusetts. As far as possible I have given
-credit to the proper authorities for material used. If I have failed to
-do so I take this opportunity of acknowledging my indebtedness to all
-unknown authors and authorities who have contributed in any way.
-
-This book goes forth to the young people of America in the hope
-that they will find in it some small inspiration that will prove
-an incentive to them to give themselves to the cause of humanity,
-realizing that through service, and through service alone, can any one
-make the fullest contribution to his generation.
-
-“Men and Things,”--a nation is great only in its citizens. The great
-task before the church to-day is to help to readjust the conditions
-existing in all industries so that men and women may labor and enjoy
-the fruits of their labor and profit physically and spiritually in the
-wealth which they help to create.
-
- HENRY A. ATKINSON.
-
-New York, May, 1918.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER I
-
-THE WORLD OF WORK
-
-
-One of the commonest sights in the city is that of the people going to
-work in the early morning; the streets are thronged with men carrying
-dinner pails, and girls and women carrying bundles. Many are hurrying
-with a worried look on their faces as if fearful of being a minute or
-two late. At night the same people are again on the streets with their
-faces turned in the opposite direction going home after the day’s work.
-A few hours’ rest, then a new day, and the same people may be seen in
-the same streets, hurrying to the ever unending tasks.
-
-The country holds the same urge of work. Nothing is more interesting
-than a trip through the country early in the morning. With the first
-hint of dawn you see a thin pencil of smoke begin to stream from the
-chimneys of the farmhouses. Bobbing lanterns appear by the barn. You
-hear the clanking of chains and the rattle of harness as the teams are
-being made ready for the day’s toil. As the morning grows older, you
-meet the workers out on the road with their faces set sturdily toward
-the field of their labor.
-
-All night long from a thousand centers massive trains are rushing
-toward other centers. In each engine two men, with nerves alert and
-eyes peering out into the darkness ahead, guide the power that pulls
-the train. Every few minutes the door of the firebox is opened and a
-gleam of light makes an arc through the darkness of the night as the
-fireman mends his fire.
-
-During the daytime thousands of trackmen have inspected the rails;
-other thousands have been at work repairing the ties, putting in new
-rails, and improving the grade. Telegraphers are continuously flashing
-their messages along the wires; their invisible hands guide these
-flying trains. In factories, workshops, mills, mines, forests, on
-steamships, on the wharves, wherever there are human beings, there is
-work being done. Work is as ceaseless and persistent as life itself.
-
-=The Song of the World of Work.= You remember, perhaps, the first time
-that you visited a big city. From your room in the hotel you could hear
-the roar of the streets. That roar is made up of hundreds of separate
-sounds. It is the voice of work from the throat of the city. It changes
-with each hour of the night. Just before dawn there is a lull and the
-voice is almost quiet but only for a short period; then it takes on a
-new volume of sound and grows in intensity to the full force of its
-noonday chorus. What is this voice saying? It is telling the story, and
-pouring out the complaint, and singing the song of the world of work.
-The idler or the parasite is the exception. People can live without
-working, but such is human nature that the person is rarely found who
-is willing to bear the odium of being a member of the class that never
-toils.
-
-=Work and Life.= “What are you going to do when you grow up?” This
-is a common question asked of every girl and boy. Very early in our
-lives we begin to try to answer this question. Our environment shapes
-our attitude toward life, and helps us to choose the type of work to
-which we think we are adapted, but, having once settled the question
-of the kind of work we are to do, that choice eventually determines,
-in a large measure, our character. Work is so much a part of our lives
-that it marks us and puts us in groups. All ministers are very much
-alike, doctors are alike, lawyers are alike, business men are alike,
-business women resemble each other, so do miners and woodsmen. In fact,
-the work that we do groups us automatically with the others in the
-same profession or trade. Work creates our world for us and also gives
-us our vocabulary. A man who made his fortune on a big cattle-ranch
-in the West moved with his family to Chicago. His wife and daughter
-succeeded in getting into fashionable society and with the money at
-their command made quite a stir in the social world. Foolishly they
-were ashamed of their old life on the ranch. They had difficulty in
-living down their past, and the husband never reached a place where his
-family could be sure of him. He carried his old world with him into the
-new environment. One of the standing jokes among their friends was the
-way in which this man told his cronies at the club how his wife had
-“roped a likely critter and had him down to the house for inspection.”
-This was his description of a young man who was considered eligible
-for his daughter’s hand. The men who have been brought up in mining
-communities use the phraseology of the mines. One of the most prominent
-preachers in America was a miner until he was past twenty years of age.
-His sermons, lectures, and books are filled with the phrases learned in
-his early life. A preacher in a fishing village in the northern part
-of Scotland, in making his report to the Annual Conference, stated:
-“The Lord has blessed us wonderfully this year. In the spring, with the
-flood-tide of his grace, there was brought a multitude of souls into
-our harbor. We set our nets and many were taken. These we have salted
-down for the kingdom of God.” Needless to say, he and his people were
-dependent upon the fishing industry for a living.
-
-=Purpose of Work.= Life is divided into work and play. Work is the
-exertion of energy for a given purpose. People accept the claim of
-life as they find it with little or no protest because one must work
-in order to eat. The compulsion of necessity determines the amount of
-work and the amount of play in the average life. Even a casual study of
-the industrial life of to-day convinces one that work absorbs a large
-part of the time and conscious energy of all the people. The letters
-T. B. M. meaning “Tired Business Man” are now used to typify a fact of
-modern life. Business takes so much time and effort that it leaves the
-individual so worn out at the end of every day that he is not able to
-think clearly, or to render much service to himself or to his friends.
-He is simply a run-down machine and must be recharged for the next
-day’s work.
-
-In one of the American cities a group of nineteen girls formed
-themselves into a Bible study class, and met at the Young Women’s
-Christian Association building on Thursday nights. A light, inexpensive
-dinner was served and the pastor of one of the churches was asked to
-teach the group. All of these girls were members of the church and were
-engaged in work in the city. One was in a secretarial position, four
-were stenographers, two were saleswomen, and thirteen were employed
-in a department store. The hours of work were long for the majority of
-the class. On Saturday nights they were forced to work overtime. The
-average wage for the group was $7.25 a week. Out of this they had to
-buy their food, pay for their rooms, buy their clothes, and pay their
-car-fare. Whatever was left they could save or give away just as they
-pleased. After the classes had been meeting for about six weeks, it
-developed that only four of the girls went to church with any degree
-of regularity. Ten of them gave as a reason for not going that they
-were so tired on Sunday mornings that they could not do their work
-and get up in time to go to church. When they did get up, there were
-dozens of hooks and eyes and buttons that had to be sewed on, clothes
-which had to be mended, and the week’s washing to be done. In telling
-of their experiences one girl said, “Sunday is really my busiest day.”
-These girls can be taken as typical of a large number of workers, men
-and women. Life to the majority becomes simply the performance of
-labor. Work is the whole end of existence. All brightness and cheer is
-squeezed out by the compulsion of labor.
-
-In a Pennsylvania coal town the employees of the company live in a
-little village built around the coke ovens. There is not a green thing
-in the whole village. A girl from Pittsburgh married one of the men
-who was interested in the mines. They moved to this town, and she took
-all her wedding presents and finery with her. In three weeks the smoke
-had ruined her clothes, had made the inside of her little home grimy,
-and the dirt and soot had ground itself into the carpets and floor,
-till she said, “I feel that all the beautiful life that Frank and I had
-planned to live together has become simply an incidental adjunct to the
-coke-ovens.” We often hear it said that the minds of people are stolid,
-stodgy, or indifferent, and that they do not appreciate the best things
-in life. The wonder is that the masses of the people appreciate them as
-much as they do.
-
-=The Purpose of Life.= A well-known catechism teaches that, “The
-chief end of man is to glorify God and to enjoy him forever.” Herbert
-Spencer says, “The progress of mankind is in one aspect a means of
-liberating more and more life from mere toil, and leaving more and
-more life available for relaxation, for pleasure, culture, travel, and
-for games.” The struggle for existence consumes so much time that it
-becomes an end in itself. This ought not to be. The true purpose of
-life is not work, nor wealth, nor anything else that can be gained by
-human striving, but it is life itself. Therefore, the work that people
-do ought to contribute to an enrichment of life. We are indebted to
-Henry Churchill King for the splendid phrase, “The fine art of living.”
-William Morris said that whatever a man made ought to be a joy to the
-maker as well as to the user, so that all the riches created in the
-world should enrich the creator as well as those who profit by the use
-of the riches. Under the old form of production, where every man did
-his own work with his own tools, it was easy for him to take pleasure
-in the thing that he was making. The factory system breaks the detail
-of production into such small parts that no one worker can take very
-much pride in the actual processes of his work. It is not a very
-thrilling thing to stand by a machine and feed bars of iron into it
-for ten hours a day, and to watch the completed nuts or screws dropping
-out at the other end of the machine. The pleasure in the work must be
-secured from the conditions under which the work is performed--the
-cooperation in the production, and the feeling that the worker is a
-part, and is being blessed by being a part, of the modern industrial
-system.
-
-=Specialization in Work.= Specialization has been carried so far that
-to-day there are very few skilled workers in the sense in which this
-term was used several years ago. Shoemakers very rarely know how to
-make shoes, for they now make only some one part of the shoe. The
-automobile industry, by methods of standardizing, is organized so that
-each worker performs some simple task. He repeats this over and over,
-but his task added to that done by the others, produces an automobile.
-In the glove factory one set of workers spend their lives making
-thumbs; another group stitch the back of the gloves. In the clothing
-industry some make buttonholes, others sew on buttons; some put in
-the sleeves, and others hem; each has a very small part to do. This
-specialization in industry has been carried so far that it is seldom
-that a worker knows anything about the finished product.
-
-A study of the organization of labor shows to what extent
-specialization has been carried. One of the chief complaints of the
-American manufacturer is that his men and women are not loyal. There is
-undoubtedly ground for this complaint, but on the other hand it must be
-conceded that it is very difficult for a worker--in the garment trade,
-for instance--to be loyal to a long succession of buttonholes; and for
-glovemakers to be loyal to a multitude of thumbs. The lack of loyalty
-comes largely from the failure of the directors of modern industry to
-bring their workers into that relationship with the business which
-would give them a feeling that they are an essential part of the
-industry. Loyalty grows by what it feeds on. The specialization that
-has been going on has been the very force which has made the worker
-simply a part of the machine, and as such, detaches him from the
-business of which he ought to feel himself an integral part.
-
-=Unity of the Workers.= The extent to which specialization has been
-developed has had another effect. While the process of differentiation
-has been carried on at a rapid pace, and the individual worker has
-known but little about the finished product, he has come to know a
-great deal about the other disintegrated units in the workshop, the
-mine, the factory, and the mill. Consequently, with the differentiation
-in the work there has been a growing solidarity or feeling of unity
-among the workers themselves. Evidence of this is found in the
-philosophy that there are only two classes of people in the world, the
-people who work and the people who do not work, and which is used by
-the revolutionary groups with tremendous force. We do not like to think
-of classes in America, but the forces of industrial life have created
-classes in spite of ourselves.
-
-=A World Apart.= The workers live in a world apart. Unconsciously they
-drift together. They talk each other’s language; they understand each
-other’s point of view. In every town and city we find groups of the
-workers living to themselves. The work which men do inevitably groups
-them together; and social life centers so completely about their work
-that it is really the factory and mill that mark out the lines and
-define the limits within which the classes must live. Consequently,
-in our American cities we find such designations as these: “Shanty
-Town,” “Down by the Gas Works,” “Across the Tracks,” “Murphy’s Hollow,”
-“Tin-Can Alley,” “Darktown,” “On the Hill,” “Out by the Slaughter-Pen,”
-“Over on the West Side,” and “Down in the Bottoms.” Just think of
-your own town, and you probably can add some new phrase that tells
-where your laboring group lives. In one Western town the community
-was divided by the Southern Pacific Railroad tracks. The boys in the
-school on the north side of the tracks were all known as “Sewer Rats.”
-On the opposite side of the town they were known as “Depot Buzzards.”
-Whenever one group met the other there was always a war. A friend tells
-of a similar condition in a Canadian village where the Scotch boys were
-banded against the Irish and the Irish against the Scotch. Whenever
-the Macks met the Micks, or the Sandys met the Paddys, there was a
-row. A large part of this classification is temporary and need not be
-considered very seriously. Underlying it, however, is the deeper fact
-that we have come to recognize that there is a world of the workers,
-and that it is a world apart. In this world of the workers the rewards
-and the profits of toil are barely adequate to take care of the needs
-of the families of the workers.
-
-It is assumed that in pre-war times it required from $800 to $900 a
-year to support a family in the average American community. Since
-1914 the cost of living has increased approximately 60 per cent. It
-is estimated that even to-day with the advances that have been made
-in the wages by nearly all industries, 61 per cent. of the workers of
-America are receiving an average wage of less than $800 a year. “Shanty
-Town” and that section “Down by the Gas Works” have been built of poor
-material and allowed to become dilapidated not because the people
-living there like that sort of thing, but because the returns for the
-labor of these people are totally inadequate for their needs. The
-housing and living conditions of the people who live in the world of
-the workers is determined by the wages which they receive.
-
-[Illustration:
-
- McGraw-Hill Company.
-
-The work which men do inevitably groups them together.]
-
-=The Interdependence of All.= Now, if we do recognize that the
-world of work is a world apart, we must not fail to recognize also
-that behind this disintegration that has been going on, there is an
-integration of society more comprehensive than we have ever known
-before in the history of the world. While the people may be allowed
-to live by themselves in a part of the town that is less desirable as
-a dwelling-place than other parts, yet we are all dependent one upon
-the other. There is an old story which illustrates this point. A boy
-complained to his father about being poor and said that he wished that
-he had been born in a rich man’s home. The father told him that he
-was mistaken, for he really had wealth which he had never considered.
-That night the boy had a dream. It seemed to him that there came and
-stood at his bed a little fellow dressed like a farmer. The boy asked
-him who he was. He replied that he was the soul of all the farmers
-that were working to produce the flour that went into bread. Another
-little figure appeared beside the first, a black man with a turban on
-his head; he was the spirit of the workers in the tea and spice
-gardens of India. Another black man dressed in the rough clothes of a
-day-laborer joined the others; he was the spirit of the workers on a
-Southern plantation who make the cotton and produce the sugar. Other
-workers appeared so fast that the boy could hardly keep up with their
-approach--the coal-miner, the iron-miner, the woodsman, the carpenter,
-and the girl workers in the flax-mills of Dublin, who produce the linen
-in the rough, red-checked tablecloths. When they had all gathered
-together there was a multitude, and all were in reality the servants of
-this one boy.
-
-Our dependence upon each other was clearly illustrated in the shut-down
-of non-essential industries on certain days in the winter of 1917-18.
-In order to keep people from starving and freezing, the government of
-the United States ordered the suspension of certain industries so that
-the conservation of fuel might protect the lives of the people.
-
-=The Good Neighbor.= We are “members one of another.” The basic
-industries provide the necessities of our lives--feeding, housing,
-clothing, warmth, means of traveling, and the things which are part
-and parcel of our very being. The workers who are engaged in producing
-these things are true servants of humanity, and we are all under deep
-and abiding obligations to them. Just in the proportion that we produce
-something that adds to the wealth and happiness of the world, we are
-discharging the obligation which others by their labors have placed
-upon us. The division into classes, and the setting off of groups by
-themselves, the creating of the world of labor as a world apart, makes
-the practise of neighborliness a difficult thing. Now neighborliness
-is the very essence of Christianity. To be a friend of man ought to
-be the supreme desire of every individual. In the parable of the
-Good Samaritan Jesus defined the meaning of Christianity in terms of
-neighborliness. The church must answer this question: How can Christian
-people be good neighbors in modern industrial society?
-
-=Neighbor to the Group.= We recognize the call to neighborliness in
-individual cases. If a man is knocked down by an automobile when he
-is crossing a street, people will run to help him to his feet, will
-call a cab or an ambulance, and he will be cared for just as carefully
-by the stranger as if he were a near relative. The individual idea
-of neighborliness is thoroughly appreciated. We have learned how to
-practise it. When it comes to a group, however, we find it difficult.
-The same men that would rush into the street to help an individual that
-is hurt, will live in a community and not appreciate the needs of the
-people living in the same block. The industrial class may be knocked
-down by adverse social conditions, and no one will recognize just what
-the situation means; or, recognizing it, will know how to apply the
-remedy, or even how to offer intelligent assistance.
-
-In a small city in Ohio there lived an old man and his wife. Their
-children had married and moved away, leaving the old people to shift
-for themselves. The man was nearly blind and his wife was paralyzed
-and unable to take care of herself. The neighbors used to go to see
-them once in a while but no one felt any special responsibility for
-them and the community knew very little about the conditions under
-which they lived. One of the neighbors remarked one day that he had not
-seen anybody around the house and no smoke coming from the chimney.
-An investigation was made and it was found that the old man had been
-dead three days and was lying in bed with his paralyzed wife who could
-not help herself, nor could call for assistance. For three days she had
-been suffering unspeakable agony beside the form of her dead husband.
-The whole community was shocked. No one could believe that such a lack
-of neighborliness could exist. No one was particularly to blame; it was
-merely one of those things that occur because the man and his wife had
-dropped out of the main-traveled path of the city’s life.
-
-The church is making every effort to meet the needs of the individual,
-but when it preaches the need of regeneration, it must meet the group
-needs as well, and the minister of a church for a world of labor must
-be minister to the group as well as to the individual. The world war
-has impressed upon us many facts, none with more insistence than
-this--that we are living in a very small world; and that nations, as
-well as groups of people everywhere, must learn to appreciate each
-other for what they are, and for the contribution which they are making
-to the well-being of humanity. Recognizing this, however, does not mean
-that we are all to try and think alike, to be alike, or to live alike.
-As Americans we are very likely to think that our way of doing things
-is entirely right, and that enlightenment comes in proportion to the
-degree in which other people copy our example in clothes, methods of
-living, and even our manner of speaking.
-
-=A Specialized Program for Group Needs.= The church’s program for a
-world of work must be a specialized program. It must be based upon a
-thorough knowledge of the facts incident to the life of the people, an
-appreciation of their view-points, and must take into consideration
-the ultimate ends to be achieved, the means by which these ends can be
-reached, and a willingness to subordinate the program of the church
-to the needs of the group. The program of a city church appealing to
-well-to-do, middle-class people, will utterly fail in the average rural
-community. A program for a mining community must consider the needs as
-well as the character of the miners, and the quality of their work. The
-church is sharply challenged by the specialization in industry, and by
-the fact that there are classes who do not hear, or at least fail to
-heed its appeal. In the growing demand for democracy, the church must
-not only be the most democratic of all institutions but it must be the
-leader in setting before the people the ideals and in keeping before
-their minds the great ends of democracy.
-
-=Approach to the Subject.= In the following chapters are set forth
-some of the conditions under which the workers in the basic industries
-toil and live; also the great needs of each group and what the church
-is doing, what it ought to do, and what it can do. We will consider
-each group in relation to the contribution it makes to the life of us
-all. Food is a first need of each individual, therefore, we will study
-the rural workers first, for they are the ones who feed the world.
-Next we will study the makers of our clothing; then the mines, for
-they provide for our warmth and shelter; then the steel workers, who
-are the real builders of our material civilization. We are a restless
-race, and demand the labor of thousands of men and women to move us
-from place to place, so we will study the lives of these providers of
-transportation. We will also think together of that large group who
-amuse us and who labor to produce the luxuries which we enjoy. There
-are certain groups that we will find in each of these larger groups,
-such as the seasonal workers, the women in industry who toil. We will
-take a glimpse at these.
-
-=Men and Things.= Men produce things, and often the created thing
-seems to become greater than its creator. We will hope through these
-discussions to show that man is infinitely greater than all the things
-which he produces. We will also endeavor to arrive at some decision
-as to what constitutes a proper message and ministry for the church
-in the midst of a world of work, so that working men and women may
-be protected in their toil, and freed from the incessant and always
-present danger of becoming slaves to the wealth they create.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER II
-
-THE WORLD OF THE RURAL WORKERS
-
-
-There have grown up on the western plains of Canada a number of large
-cities and a great many small villages and towns. These are the direct
-results of a process of civilization dependent upon the fertile soil
-from which vast quantities of wheat are reaped each year. Just before
-harvest the sea of grain extends as far as the eye can see. The first
-settlers built their little cabins, bought as much seed grain as was
-available, and planted it; doing nearly all of the work themselves.
-Improved methods of planting and harvesting have added thousands of
-acres to the wheat-fields. Railroads have been built to carry the wheat
-to the great shipping and milling centers. Cities such as Winnipeg
-have grown rich through being the connecting-links between the farmer,
-with his field and his wheat, and the breakfast tables all over the
-civilized world.
-
-=Our Daily Bread.= The development of the grain-belt of western Canada
-is similar to that which has taken place in Minnesota, the Dakotas, and
-other Northwestern states. In California, Oregon, Washington, Oklahoma,
-and Kansas we find great areas devoted to the growing of wheat. The
-wheat that is put on the market is of two general varieties: what is
-known as winter wheat sown in the autumn, and spring wheat that is
-sown early in the spring. These great wheat areas have been called the
-bread-basket of the Western world. Few of us realized the importance of
-wheat to the life of the world until Mr. Hoover began to tell us that
-we must save it by having wheatless days and by eating more corn bread
-and war-breads of various kinds. The total annual consumption of wheat
-is 974,485,000 bushels, and of this amount the United States produced,
-in 1917, 678,000,000 bushels. The needs of the world have been figured
-as calling for about 20 per cent. advance upon all that is available
-under normal conditions.
-
-Not many of us who live in cities stop to consider the man who made
-possible the roll or the piece of white bread that we eat with our
-meal. We forget the long day’s work, the painstaking toil, and the
-grim struggle of the pioneers who first worked the land. We seldom
-think of the planting and reaping year after year, the construction of
-transportation, the building of warehouses, the venturing of money in
-mill-building, until finally were developed not only the vast farms but
-also cities, railroads, wheat-carrying steamship lines, elevators, and
-the mills that go to make up the great bread-making industry. Only when
-the war interfered with the processes and threatened to cut off the
-supply of wheat, did we begin to realize how important the wheat farm
-is to the very life of the nation. If bread is the staff of life, wheat
-is the chief material out of which that staff is made. Other grains
-when used for bread, as we are forced to use them to-day, are all
-substitutes for wheat.
-
-[Illustration:
-
- Press Illustrating Service.
-
-Not many of us stop to consider the man who made possible the white
-bread that we eat at our daily meals.]
-
-=The Cane-Sugar Makers.= If we travel in a direction a little east of
-south from the wheat-fields of Canada, we come to the great plantations
-of Louisiana and Mississippi where sugar-cane is grown. Here we
-find people of a different type living under different conditions.
-Sugar-cane is grown in fields that have been won from the swamps by
-hard toil. In this rich soil, cultivated and ridged by the plow, the
-sugar-cane is laid in long parallel rows. After it has been buried a
-few days it begins to sprout, and from each one of the joints on the
-stalk of cane there grows up a new plant. These are tilled and come to
-maturity in October. The stalks grow from eight to fifteen feet high
-and at harvest-time are cut down and then stripped of their leaves by
-the workers, who take them up in their hands and with a flat knife
-slash off the long, bladelike leaves, leaving them clean and smooth.
-The stalks are piled in rows to be picked up later and put into wagons,
-taken to the siding, loaded into freight-cars, and hauled to the mill,
-where they are crushed between rollers, and the juice pressed out.
-The liquid so obtained is then put into large vats and evaporated,
-leaving brown sugar and molasses. The crude or brown sugar is sent to
-the refinery and passed through various processes until we get the
-white sugar that comes to our tables. Practically all of the work on
-the sugar plantation is done by Negroes. These people live in small
-cabins and work for a very small wage, ranging from 75 cents to a $1.25
-a day. Their tiny houses, which are usually whitewashed and surrounded
-by a little plot of ground, are the property of the owners of the
-plantation. The Negro is expected to buy everything from the company’s
-stores. The prices are high and it is rarely that one finds a family
-that is not in a perpetual state of debt to the owner of the plantation.
-
-When the migration of Negroes from the South to the North began some
-few years ago, a great concern was felt in many quarters as to what
-the result would be. A meeting was held in one of the Southern cities
-and the Negroes were invited to be present. One of the Negroes said:
-“If you let me tell you what I think, it is about like this. We-all
-have been working here for about 75 cents to $1 a day, but we never
-see the time when we have any money of our own. It takes more than we
-make for the things we use. Folks in Iowa, Pennsylvania, Illinois, and
-Massachusetts offer us $15 to $18 a week, tickets for ourselves and our
-families, and a free house to live in with two weeks’ rations provided
-and in the house. Now none of us wants to leave Louisiana, and if you
-want to keep us here just raise our wages to $2 a day. We would a heap
-rather stay here than go North.”
-
-=Sugar from Beets.= Not all the sugar that comes to our tables is made
-from the cane; in fact only a small proportion is cane-sugar. Most of
-it is produced from the beet which is grown in large quantities in
-the West. Montana, Colorado, Idaho, Wyoming, and California are the
-extensive sugar-beet producing states. The beets grow to an enormous
-size; they are planted in rows and cared for much as the beets that
-grow in our vegetable gardens. In California the Japanese are entering
-very largely into the sugar-beet culture.
-
-The beet-fields call whole families to work. Several towns in the
-Northwestern states have sections made up entirely of Russians, and
-people from other lands, who have been attracted by the opportunities
-for employment offered by the beet industry. One family consisting of a
-father, mother, thirteen children, and the mother’s sister worked all
-last summer in one of the beet-fields. The youngest child was only five
-years old but he put in long hours every day. This family is typical of
-many. The statistics regarding child labor in the United States show
-that the vast majority of children employed in gainful labor are the
-children in the rural districts. Thus sugar comes to your table through
-two sources: from the workers, including a large number of children, in
-the beet-fields and the workers on the Southern plantations.
-
-=The Corn Belt.= In the Middle states we have the great corn-producing
-areas. A great deal of the philosophy of this region is summed up in
-the reply of a farmer to the question as to why he was planting more
-corn than usual. He said: “So that I can feed more hogs.”
-
-“What will you do with the hogs?” he was then asked.
-
-“Sell them and buy more land to plant more corn to raise more hogs to
-buy more land.”
-
-The price of hogs and the price of corn, in normal times, keep on a
-level with each other. When corn is high pork is high, and when corn
-falls we find that pork falls with it.
-
-=Food and the Land.= It is impossible within the limits of this book
-to give more than a glimpse of a few of the great food-producing
-industries of America. The packing-houses and canneries contribute
-their share to the feeding of the people; but when all is said and
-done, we get back to the fact that even in this age when factory and
-city make claims, all values finally rest on the land. The growth of
-our cities has emphasized their dependence upon the country. People
-in the city must be fed, and the food comes from the soil. It is now
-claimed that the gravest mistake made by Kerensky, a leader of the
-Russian revolution, was in not giving sufficient attention to the food
-question in Russia. After the revolution became a fact Kerensky tried
-to spur the army to greater activity, but the people, unused to the new
-ways of freedom, failed to keep up the processes that would produce
-food. The railroads were congested; fuel was scarce; lacking fuel--the
-railroads and boats still further failed in their undertaking. The
-result was that the food supply became less and less in Petrograd and
-other centers. Behind the lines hungry people grew restless. Leon
-Trotzky would not have succeeded in overthrowing Kerensky but for the
-hunger of the people. These people were willing to accept any change
-of government because there was at least a hope, however desperate it
-might be, that the new government would furnish the food which they
-needed so badly. One writer dealing with this subject said: “Oratory
-and precepts failed to feed the hungry people.”
-
-We have heard over and over again the phrase, “An army travels on its
-stomach.” It is also true that the civilian population of a country
-lives and labors on its stomach. Food is the foundation of life.
-“Give us this day our daily bread” is the first demand of man upon
-God and upon his fellow man. The solution of all our problems depends
-finally on the question of bread. “Who shall be king?” The answer to
-this question is very likely to be, “The one who will give us bread.”
-The peace of the world must finally be based upon an appreciation of
-economic values. Justice means that conditions will be such that in
-each nation food for all the people will be produced in abundance.
-
-=The Country and the City.= Much has been said of the freedom and
-independence of farm life. The producer of food is a real benefactor of
-the race. The farmer works in the open air and lives a simple life, and
-so gains an opportunity for developing the very finest traits of human
-character. But when we compare the changes that have been taking place
-in the rural districts, we find strong reasons for the exodus from the
-country to the city. The city offers a more interesting and profitable
-life which makes it difficult to maintain the center of attraction on
-the farm. The history of humanity began in a garden and ends in a city.
-The word “city” comes from the old Latin word which means the citizen,
-the place where the citizen lived.
-
-The city is really the center of authority and governmental power.
-It offers the best and at the same time the worst; has the best in
-intellect, which it attracts and claims for its own, and it has the
-best in amusement and entertainments. We have heard people say: “The
-country is a good place in which to rest and work, but the city is
-the place to have your fun.” The city has the best and the worst of
-morals, and the best and the worst health conditions. Side by side with
-the city mansion are the tumble-down hovels and the cramped, narrow
-tenements that are a disgrace to our land. The robust, strong man
-pushes his weaker fellow to the wall. The worst forms of disease and
-the most acute physical suffering are found in the city. In the city
-there are many intellectual giants and many half-sane intellectual
-weaklings. The man dwelling in the country has a greater independence
-than these. He can at least have three meals a day, and knows how to
-take care of himself. Hundreds of thousands of people in our cities
-have just brains enough and just education enough to do one thing;
-if hard times throws one of these out of his job, he is left utterly
-helpless--a derelict on the sea of humanity. The culprit is safer in
-the city than in the thickest forest. Men without character and women
-without principle huddle together in its sordid districts. The tides of
-the city wash up queer specimens to the light of day, and reveal to the
-passer-by the saddest and most gruesome sights, and the worst types of
-humanity.
-
-The best in the city is matched by the worst. Philanthropy cures, or
-tries to cure, what rogues have created. Just as the incentive to
-goodness in the city is highest, so the temptations to the opposite
-course of life are of the strongest. The artificial life creates new
-and unusual wants, and together with the excitement caused by city
-conditions, makes temptations hard to resist. The city is the rich
-man’s paradise and the poor man’s hell. The lure of the city is strong
-upon us all. There are a thousand voices calling us there; and this
-is impoverishing our rural districts and making the question of food
-a more serious one every year. In the country one can plod along and
-with the present prices be independent, but this does not satisfy. The
-men of to-day think in thousands where their fathers thought in terms
-of hundreds. Hundreds of dollars are made on the farm and millions in
-the city. The city calls every young man and young woman. Everybody who
-is at all familiar with the small towns knows that one of the hardest
-facts which must be faced is that just as soon as the young people
-finish school they leave for the city. Church work is made hard by the
-continual drain on the best life in the community.
-
-=The Tenant and the Absentee Landlord.= Over against this question of
-the lure of the city there is that of the tenant farmer. The Industrial
-Relations Commission, making its study of the rural conditions in
-America, finds that there is a very grave danger that America will
-produce a peasant class like that of some of the European countries.
-The independent landowners are decreasing; in Mississippi 62 per cent.
-of the land is tilled by tenants, in Louisiana 58 per cent., and Kansas
-36 per cent. So many of the owners of the farms have moved to the
-city that the actual production of food has been left to the people
-who are known as “birds of passage.” Most of these tenants are here
-to-day and gone to-morrow. The retired farmer presents the problem of
-the absentee landlord. The tenant farmer suffers under the handicap
-of his limitation, and his poverty is often his undoing. The absentee
-landlord of the farm enjoys the fruits of the labor of another. We
-must not forget, however, that the retired farmer has contributed his
-share toward the development of our nation. He has helped to make his
-community. The man who actually remains on the soil to produce the food
-is producing less, and takes less interest in his community, than the
-man who owns the land and who made a success of production in years
-gone by. The tenant does not cultivate the land as intensively as it
-can be cultivated; he does not attempt soil conservation, and takes but
-little interest in the community and its institutions.
-
-=Study of a Rural Community.= It is interesting to make a study of
-the rural community and to compare present conditions with those of
-the past. Such a study convinces one that the success of the church
-is closely bound up with the economic situation of the community.
-An investigation was made in three townships in the central part of
-Wisconsin just a few miles from the state capital.[1] The land in this
-section is rich, the homes of the people are comfortable, the barns and
-sheds substantial, and everything about the farms well kept. Fences
-are up and all the buildings are neatly painted. The land produces
-anything that can be grown in a temperate climate: peas, grain, barley,
-potatoes, oats, hay, cattle, sheep, and hogs. Other parts of Wisconsin
-produce more milk and butter; but the large herds of Holstein cows and
-the number of creameries and cheese factories found in this part of the
-state convince the visitor that no small part of the farmer’s income is
-derived from this source.
-
- [1] Survey made by Social Service Department of Congregational
- Churches, 14 Beacon Street, Boston.
-
-The state university is the Wisconsin farmer’s best friend. Through
-its instruction at Madison, its extension department, experimental
-stations, and institutes held throughout the state, it shows this
-friendship; and the splendid economic conditions found in rural
-Wisconsin prove that this friendship is not wasted. The land in these
-townships is valued at $100 to $150 an acre, but upon inquiry at a
-dozen or more farms it was learned that no one knew of any farm land
-that was for sale.
-
-About 2,500 people live in the three townships described. Sixty
-years ago nearly all the people were Americans, many of them having
-emigrated from New York State. In later years the Americans have
-been supplanted by Germans and Scandinavians. The old settlers now
-lie at rest in the beautiful cemeteries which are taken care of by
-the communities with the same care and affection that is bestowed
-upon private homes and grounds. Many of the descendants of the first
-settlers are scattered far and wide throughout the United States.
-The Rev. Hubert C. Herring, Secretary of the National Council of the
-Congregational Churches of the United States, and one of the best known
-among home missionary leaders in America, was born and spent his early
-life in this section of Wisconsin. The school he attended is at the
-country cross-roads and near the school is the Presbyterian church
-which he joined. Dr. Herring’s first efforts at oratory were practised
-upon the neighboring boys and girls in the Philomathean Society, a
-country debating society, at that time a leading social and literary
-organization among the people of the community. Ella Wheeler Wilcox,
-one of the most popular and prominent of the magazine and newspaper
-writers, and who is well known to every reader in America, was born in
-this same township. Twelve other people who are influential nationally
-and internationally were born and reared in this community.
-
-Most of the people hold their own farms and most of them have money
-on interest in the bank. The few families who rent farms are working,
-planning, and saving so that they can buy land and own their farms.
-The school-buildings are adequate and the grounds well kept; the
-teachers are efficient and intelligent; and the high school maintains
-an advanced standard. The young people go directly from these schools
-into the state university. Here, then, we have the material conditions
-that would seem to guarantee success in the work of the church. There
-is no poverty, and very few people can be said to be living on the
-fringe of the community. There is no overcrowding on the part of the
-churches, for there are only two American churches and they have a
-parish twelve miles wide and fifteen miles long, and the pastor serving
-both is the only English-speaking preacher in this whole district. Now
-what are the facts? One of these churches was closed for a number of
-years and now has services only once in every two weeks; the other was
-also closed for a number of years. One church has a Sunday-school with
-fifty members and a Christian Endeavor Society of thirty-six members;
-the church service is attended by twenty-five to forty people. One of
-the men in the community said: “Many of the people are foreign and have
-their own churches, of which there are seven in this district; but they
-have their troubles, for the children are breaking away from the old
-churches as they have broken from the old languages, and are beginning
-to come to our Sunday-school.” The community has a good moral record.
-There has never been a saloon, except at one point, and the two saloons
-that were located there were voted out years ago. The people are
-home-loving and law-abiding, but the two churches are not as successful
-as they were fifty years ago when they were filled at every service.
-
-The first minister in the district was a graduate and honor man of
-Williams College, and the church was the center of the community
-life. People looked to the church, were helped and inspired; it
-sent out teachers, preachers, and other men and women trained
-in thoughtfulness, to enrich the world. Contributions of such a
-range cannot spring from the conditions in which the church finds
-itself to-day. What are the reasons? Some of the people blame the
-universities. When the young people return from college they seem to
-take no interest in the church. But the universities are really not to
-blame. The church fills so small a circle in the community that when
-the young man has finished his course at the university he cannot fit
-himself back into the narrow groove of the church activities. In sixty
-years the old methods of farming have changed. Tools and machinery are
-of another type. Conditions on the farm are totally different, because
-the farmers have recognized that new methods are demanded. When the old
-settlers have their picnics and reunions, one of the older men shows
-the young men how they used to “cradle” the grain. It is an interesting
-thing, but compared to the modern reaper the cradle is simply an
-archaic tool, and no man would think of harvesting his crop with it
-to-day. The fields of the church life of rural Wisconsin and in other
-sections of the country are “white to the harvest,” but the ministers
-are forced to use the old-fashioned “cradle” in harvesting the whole
-crop. The university is showing the church its opportunity and at the
-same time pointing out its failure. In the particular locality under
-discussion the churches have no program. Religion is limited to a very
-small part of life. The farm demands all the time of the people during
-six days of the week. On Sunday the work clothes are changed for Sunday
-clothes and part of the day given over to the church. This is religion.
-The line of demarkation between the sacred and the secular is much
-more clearly drawn in the country than anywhere else. The average
-minister of the country church is much more a man apart from the rest
-of the community.
-
-The program of the church must be made a part of the whole life of the
-people. The church out in the districts where the people live who are
-producing the food for the world is responsible in a large degree for
-the pleasures of the people. Country people find it difficult to think
-in terms of the community. It is hard for them to cooperate. The church
-must shape its program with a clear understanding of the great facts of
-the community life, and appeal primarily from this standpoint and not
-simply from that of the needs of individuals.
-
-Another rural study shows a community where 80 per cent. of the people
-were living on land owned by somebody else. There were five churches,
-and each of them was struggling for a pitiful existence. Less than
-20 per cent. of the people had any connection with the church or any
-other organization. A minister was sent into this district to make a
-study of the situation with a view to possible work by the home mission
-board of his church. In his report he stated that the needs there were
-just as pressing and demanded just as much statesmanship as any field
-in India or China. He was furnished with sufficient money to put up a
-good church building, and the plans of the building provided for social
-and game rooms. He brought a doctor into the community and attached
-him to the church as a lay worker. He promoted an interest in better
-farming methods, and began with organized groups a course of lessons
-in thrift. Gradually this minister gained the interest of the boys
-and girls through baseball, basket-ball, singing school, and other
-community exercises and agencies. People began to come to church. They
-wanted to hear this preacher, for as one of the farmers said, “A feller
-who knows enough to talk about the things that we are interested in
-must know something about heaven. I want to hear what he’s got to say.”
-The church in this community succeeded, but its success was primarily
-dependent upon the program that considered the economic needs of the
-people, and studied to find a remedy for the bad, and to build up the
-good.
-
-=Socialism’s Message to the Church.= Socialism has been sneered at
-as being a “stomach philosophy.” There is ground for this criticism,
-for a great deal of socialism is purely materialistic; but the fact
-that it interests itself in the feeding of the people is not a serious
-fault. Socialism has emphasized many things that the church has failed
-to appreciate. Consideration of the food problems and of the economic
-basis of our civilization is something that the church cannot afford
-to ignore. The great mass of workers who are producing the food of the
-world are truly ministers to the needs of humanity.
-
-=The World of Rural Workers.= Figures are dull or they would be
-marshaled here to show that the producers of the world’s food live in
-a world to themselves. There are many divisions in this world, and
-many cross-sections of the life of the people. That the rural church
-is not succeeding is evident. Its sons and daughters of the past
-generation are the leaders in the world of finance, art, commerce, and
-letters; but are the conditions within it to-day such that may produce
-sons and daughters to fill the places of those who are now occupying
-the positions of trust and honor? The call and the opportunity
-of the church are urgent in that great part of the world of work
-which produces the things that we eat. Shall those who feed others
-themselves be denied the bread of life? It is a call for leadership,
-for statesmanship, for planning, for devotion, for sacrifice, and for
-heroic service.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER III
-
-THE WORLD OF THE SPINNERS AND WEAVERS
-
-
-“Now when we cross this bridge, look north and you will see the soul
-of our city symbolized in brick and mortar.” These were the words of a
-business man who had taken an afternoon off and was showing his friend
-the wonders of a New England city that had grown up about the textile
-industry. The soul of the city, as he thought of it, lived in the huge
-mills lining the banks of the canal which runs through the city. When
-his friend looked, he saw more than the mills. He saw a road beside
-the canal paved with cobblestones and, on the other side, the company
-houses overshadowed by the mills and factories. The towers and huge
-smokestacks threw shadows that completely covered the houses where many
-of the workers lived.
-
-So thoroughly is this city dependent upon the mills and their output
-that a brilliant writer in a recent work of fiction said of it, that
-if there were bridges and a portcullis you could easily think of their
-being raised to protect the mills against an invasion from the workers;
-just as in medieval times the feudal castles were protected by the moat
-and bridge. The bells in the many towers and the siren whistles of the
-mills call the people from sleep in the morning, telling them when
-to begin work and when to quit. Within the mills are long lines of
-machines set in parallel rows down which the workers easily pass. Each
-worker tends eight to twenty machines. Here is a broken thread to be
-tied, and there a new pattern to be set up. The clatter and roar of the
-machinery is unceasing. It is a part of the composite voice of labor
-that is sounding around the world. As the shuttles fly the finished
-fabric is rolled up ready for inspection, and, when passed, goes to the
-market, and later is made into garments.
-
-It is a huge task to clothe the modern world. No one realizes how much
-it means until he looks into the work of the textile-mills which have
-grown up in our own and in other countries. Cities like Lawrence,
-Lowell, and Fall River, Massachusetts, are what they are because of
-their great factories. In these places they produce miles of cloth
-every week.
-
-=Men and Clothes.= Of all the animals in the world man is the only one
-that provides himself with artificial covering. All the others have
-perfectly fitting coats provided by nature, and these coats are adapted
-to the conditions under which the individual animal is forced to live.
-Man calls in the help of plant and animal life to supply himself with
-clothing for his protection against the cold of winter and the heat of
-summer. He also uses clothing as an adornment. We have come to consider
-clothing as a badge of civilization and a mark of man’s superiority
-to all the other animals. Those races that pay the least attention to
-clothing are the lowest in the scale of civilization. Such races are
-found in South America, in Central Africa, and on some of the islands
-of the South Seas. There is scarcely a trace of civilization to be
-found among them. They have a kind of community life, but they live in
-a most primitive fashion. Their food consists chiefly of roots, plants,
-fish, and game which can be easily secured. They have rude shelters or
-crude huts; wear very little clothing; and their religion is a belief
-in witches and evil spirits. Where they have idols they are of the
-most hideous workmanship, representing in a most grotesque way bad
-influences and vicious passions.
-
-=The Materials.= The first clothing man wore was made from the skins of
-animals and from the bark of trees. Later on it was learned that wool
-could be spun, and that by using crude needles cloth could be sewed
-together. Wool, silk, cotton, linen, paper, and many others materials
-have come into common use. All of these are produced by groups of
-people of whose working conditions we are in ignorance and whose very
-existence is unknown to most of us. Among civilized people the use of
-wool has grown to such an extent that the sheep-raising industry has
-become one of the biggest businesses in all sections of America. The
-sheep-herder lives a lonely life and yet rarely complains, and is never
-happier than when out in the fields with his charges. At shearing time
-the sheep are brought into a shed, and after a few futile struggles in
-an effort to escape the process, they sit quietly head up while the
-fleece is taken from them. When they go into the shed they are grimy
-gray; after the shearing when they leave it they are a light yellowish
-white. Thousands of people are employed in the wool industry; in
-securing the product, spinning it, weaving it into cloth, and making it
-into garments for our use.
-
-Silk has been used for many centuries in the manufacture of garments.
-A Chinese legend tells of a wife of one of the early emperors of China
-who lived more than thirty-five centuries ago and who learned to make
-silk from the cocoon of the caterpillar. From this discovery has come a
-great industry. The caterpillar lives upon the leaves of the mulberry
-tree, and it has to be fed and tended with infinite patience. The
-process of gathering the cocoons and of preparing them for spinning is
-a business that can be learned only by years of apprenticeship. Caring
-for the caterpillar is a task that does not always appeal to people,
-and yet it is one that engages the attention of a large number of
-workers.
-
-Cotton was first used in India, but its cultivation and manufacture
-developed in three continents at just about the same time. In a Vedic
-hymn written fifteen centuries before Christ reference is made to
-“the threads in the loom,” which indicates that the manufacture of
-cloth was already well advanced. Cotton was used in China one thousand
-years before Christ. It was held to be so valuable that a heavy fine
-was imposed upon any one who stole a garment or any piece of cotton
-cloth. Alexander the Great found cotton in use when he invaded India,
-and tradition says that it was he who introduced its use into Europe.
-In Persia cotton was exclusively used before the days of Alexander.
-Thousands of years before the invention of machinery for the making of
-cotton cloth Hindu girls were spinning cotton on wheels, making it into
-yarn, and using frail looms for weaving these yarns into textiles. The
-beauty of the fabric was so striking that they were known as “Webs of
-the Woven Wind.”
-
-=Cotton and History.= Cotton has played a large part in the history of
-the United States. It was just one hundred years after the discovery
-of America that the first cotton plant was introduced into the land.
-The short-staple cotton plant did not mean much until 1814 when an
-enterprising New Englander assembled in one building the several
-processes of spinning and weaving. His shop at Waltham was the first
-complete cotton factory in the world. The South made the mistake of
-turning its attention to the planting of cotton and allowing the North
-to do the manufacturing. Cotton became an important factor only when
-the cotton-gin was invented. This was in 1833. When cotton became
-profitable, Negro slavery took on an added meaning. The value of cotton
-was really the factor that led men to demand that slavery should
-continue as a national institution.
-
-=Why Increase Production?= Having secured the material suitable
-to be made into cloth the next step was to improve the process of
-manufacture. The first wool that was woven was rolled in the hand, made
-into threads, and woven in a very crude loom. The task was a tedious
-one, and the cloth was produced very slowly. But, as time went on, man
-by practise learned more about weaving. He had been weaving linen from
-flax in the days when the Pyramids were being built in Egpyt, but it
-was not until the power-loom was invented that cloth-making could be
-carried on as a profitable industry. Early man had just about all he
-could do to provide himself with food, shelter, and the clothes that he
-needed. To-day these things are provided in quantities sufficient for
-all and with little exertion. Hence, we find the basis for the division
-of labor. A machine for spinning cotton can produce enough thread in a
-very few hours to make clothes for the families of all the men who are
-interested in operating the machine. This thread is then turned over
-to the operator of the power-loom; the machinery is started and the
-cloth begins to roll itself up into a huge bundle. Very soon enough is
-produced to clothe all of those who are interested and occupied with
-this operation. The cloth is then turned over to the garment-makers
-and the process of fashioning the clothes is carried forward so that
-each individual has his or her part to perform; and in a very short
-time there are enough garments fashioned and finished so that all the
-garment-makers can be provided with clothes. Now comes the question
-that is so often asked. If there is plenty of clothing for everybody,
-why should some people not have clothes enough? If a man interested in
-the production of cloth makes more than enough for him to wear, why
-should he go on working? The answer to this is that, in the modern
-world, man must trade off his specialized product in order to satisfy
-his own needs and those of his family.
-
-=The Machine.= The enterprise of clothing the world is made possible by
-machinery. Man has never produced more marvelous results than in the
-development of the intricate, huge, and costly machines which fashion
-the fabrics from which we make our clothes. These tools give man a
-thousand hands where before he had only two. If each person did only
-a moderate amount of labor the people of every country that employed
-machinery would be provided with all the necessities of life. A supply
-could be insured without overworking any one, and a few hours’ work
-each day would be enough. In that time all that is necessary for each
-individual would be produced. The machine, then, is the instrument
-that increases the possibility for leisure; by the multiplied
-productive power it increases the number of things that a man may have,
-and at the same time it enlarges his possibilities for leisure. We
-accept the machine as we accept the weather. As a matter of fact it
-is not at all certain that since the machine has been with us we have
-been any happier because of the enormous production of our times. The
-machine has carried on the divisions in our industrial life. The new
-methods and improved devices save labor, time, and energy. At the same
-time they increase the output. A man’s hand is no more mighty than it
-was centuries ago, but backed by the tireless energy of machinery he
-can with slight effort turn out a production that a story-teller would
-not have credited to the mightiest giants of mythology.
-
-The United States Bureau of Labor tells the story in figures. Five
-hundred yards of checked gingham can be made by a machine in 73 hours;
-by hand labor it would take 5,844 hours. One hundred pounds of sewing
-cotton can be made by a machine in 39 hours; by hand labor it would
-take 2,895 hours. The labor costs are proportionate. The increased
-effectiveness of a man’s labor aided by the use of machinery, according
-to these reports, varies from 150 per cent. all the way up to 2,000
-per cent. Hence, we see that the machine is not so much a labor-saving
-device as it is a production-making device. As has been said already,
-it is man’s energy and strength multiplied many times. The machine has
-become so potent that the question is, “What relation shall the created
-thing be to the creator?” The machine sets the pace. The man or woman
-working with it must follow. It is exacting, implacable, produces
-through long hours; is set up in the midst of high temperatures, and
-is utterly indifferent to the fate of the individuals operating it. It
-works at night, it works by day and under conditions which are humanly
-impossible; but human beings are forced to keep the pace. The textile
-cities of America with their rows of tenements are practically built
-by the machinery in the mills and factories. The system has grown up,
-and men and women are forced to adjust themselves to this system. The
-welfare and happiness of the individuals working at the machines are
-very likely to be matters of secondary importance to the value of the
-production of the machinery itself.
-
-=The Workers.= At the present time in the United States there are about
-1,000,000 people employed in all the textile industries and about
-$500,000,000 a year paid in wages. About one and three quarter billions
-is the total value of the production. The worker in these mills is a
-worker and little or nothing else. The struggle for mere existence
-takes so much of his time that he has slight opportunity and but small
-inclination to take part in any social or civic affairs. He usually
-lives in a tenement or in a barrack type of building provided by the
-company for which he works.
-
-=The Southern Mill Village.= In the Southern mill towns the companies
-usually own all the houses in which the people live. These houses
-are generally one-story buildings with a porch extending along the
-entire front. All of them are alike, and most of them are painted
-gray or drab. The streets of the mill village are unpaved and in
-most places cut into gullies by the rains. In a few places running
-water, bathtubs, electricity, and other modern conveniences have been
-provided, but these are the rare exceptions. More often the houses are
-barren of all comforts, and living is reduced to the lowest possible
-terms. The mill village has ordinarily but one store and this is owned
-or controlled by the company. The food eaten by the people is of the
-simplest kind; corn bread, pork side-meat, and coffee make up the
-staples of diet. Nearly all the members of the family work in the mill.
-At an investigation made by a state commission in Atlanta, Georgia,
-one of the men testified that he, his wife, five of his children, and
-his wife’s sister all worked in the mill; there were three younger
-children who stayed at home, the oldest one of the three acting as
-housekeeper and nurse. The improvements that most people expect as a
-matter of course, such as fire-proofing, sanitary plumbing, lighting,
-heating, storage, bathing, and washing facilities are utterly unknown.
-If you spent a day in one of these mill villages, you would find one
-or two members in almost every family sitting on the porch of the
-house and away from work because of sickness. If a neighbor happens
-to pass, you would hear some such conversation as this: “Howdy? How
-are you feeling?” “Poorly, thank you, I have never felt worse in my
-life; my victuals just don’t seem to agree with me, an’ I just feel
-like I was of no account.” The vitality of the people is being sapped
-by the insanitary conditions under which they live. It was discovered
-some years ago that hookworm is the cause of the illness that has been
-preying upon these workers for generations. The dangerous worms thrive
-in the midst of filth. A clean-up of the village and the building of
-better homes almost certainly eliminates the disease and its cause.
-
-The people of the mill village find most of their recreation in the
-near-by city. Nearly all of the principal Southern cities have a number
-of these villages contributory to it. In many a home the only piece
-of finery is the tawdry dress made up in what is supposed to be the
-latest style--certainly the most exaggerated style--and usually in the
-most striking colors. This is the Sunday dress of the young lady of
-the house. When she is ready for her day off in the city, her costume
-will be completed by the addition of a hat of the most marvelous and
-striking make and color.
-
-=The Motion-Picture’s Contribution.= The motion-picture theater has
-been a godsend to the people of the mill village. Most of these workers
-are very ignorant. Hard living and incessant toil have deprived them
-of the opportunity of attending school, and even if there were the
-will to get an education, the schools have not been accessible in many
-instances; consequently, the people have merely the rudiments of an
-education, and many of them can neither read nor write. Hundreds of
-homes in these villages have no books except an almanac and a Bible.
-The needs of the workers are almost overwhelming, so that one hardly
-knows where to begin even to tell about the changes that must be made
-in a community before much benefit can be secured in the lives of the
-individuals. The motion-picture has brought to these workers scenes
-from the outside world and has enlarged their ideas of life. Any one
-can understand the lesson a picture teaches.
-
-[Illustration:
-
- Copyright, H. C. White Company.
-
-In the cotton-mills a worker is a worker and little or nothing else.]
-
-The motion-picture furnishes amusement and recreation, and it gives
-a glimpse of larger aims and new motives. The girls who dress up in
-their fine clothes and gaudy hats and go to the city whenever they have
-a chance are trying to express themselves. Inherently they have fine
-traits of character, but out of their ignorance and lack of experience
-they are unable properly to balance the proportion of color and style
-and make these to fit in with the facts of every-day life. There is no
-one to teach them; they are unable to go to dressmakers for advice, and
-the people with whom they associate admire the kind of finery that they
-wear. But when they see these pictures presented on the screen they get
-a chance to know how people in other places really live and act. As one
-girl said: “I only learned how to be a lady when I got to see ladies’
-pictures at the movies.”
-
-=Improvements.= Some of the mills have built model villages, have
-furnished good schools, churches, playgrounds, and other recreational
-features. There have been discouraging failures made in attempting
-to lead the people to accept the better things; but the failures are
-insignificant when compared to the successes that have been achieved by
-the companies that have really had the welfare of the workers at heart.
-One mill owner has put in the finest kind of equipment in the homes
-of the people. The hours of labor have been materially reduced: first
-they began with eight, now they have seven, and this reformer says that
-he believes that they will be able to reduce the hours still further
-and make the six-hour day the standard. He intends to put on four
-shifts of workers for each twenty-four hours and believes that he will
-get a better result than could be achieved even with the eight-hour
-day. It is interesting to note that this man, by paying higher wages
-than others and by reducing the hours of labor, has been able to
-secure permanence among his workers; and at this period when other
-mills are shorthanded, he has all the labor that he needs. “It is not
-philanthropy but good sense” is his way of defining the splendid work
-he is doing.
-
-=Workers in the Northern Textile Cities.= In the Northern textile
-cities we find a different situation, for most of the workers live in
-tenements. The stores, shops, and theaters are built and operated with
-the demands of the workers, rather than their needs in view. In one of
-these textile cities the average wage is $11.25 a week. Consider the
-case of just one family living in this city under these conditions.
-The family lives in a tenement with barely room enough for the father,
-mother, two daughters, and a son. The mother is devoted to the home;
-the father is a loom-fixer in the mill and a member of the union. All
-attend the Congregational church on Sundays. This man has been able
-to send his children through grammar school. His wages are above the
-average for the kind of work he is doing. The two girls started work
-just as soon as they finished school. The son also went to work, but he
-was so tired of the town where he had always lived that he went to New
-York and secured a position there. Everything went well for many years,
-and the prospects, while not bright for the future, were not especially
-dark. Then trouble came. First, the father was sick, and his illness
-dragged on through the whole winter, but by spring he was able to go
-back to work. It was the beginning of the slack season, however, when
-he applied for his old position. He went to work, but the wages were
-not as good as they had been when he left. The daughters found that in
-order to have any society they had to spend more money for clothes.
-“You can’t expect us to dress in a dowdy fashion, for if we do we
-never will have any friends,” was their assertion. Ten dollars was the
-wage of one of the girls and eight dollars the wage of the other girl.
-This amount did not go very far toward supporting them and buying the
-necessary clothes, and gave but little chance for a good time. Nothing
-was left to help the family fund. Before the winter was over a strike
-was called and the father lost his position. The family now became
-dependent upon the funds of the union to which the father belonged and
-the small amount the girls could squeeze out of their wages.
-
-The winter passed as do all other mundane things and the strike came to
-an end. Those who were members of the union were not allowed to come
-back. The managers of the mill proclaimed that they had won a great
-victory for democracy and that the mill should be operated strictly
-as an “open shop.” The father found that “open shop” meant a closed
-shop to him until he tore up his union card and promised not to join
-any other labor organization. This he did in order to go back to work.
-He was forced to it, but he never quite gained the confidence of the
-foreman, for he was a marked man. Added to the hard struggle for
-existence with its attendant worries there is an increasing feeling of
-bitterness in the heart of this man, because he knows that he is being
-discriminated against for his former membership in the trade union. The
-family lives on, as thousands of others in the neighborhood are doing,
-but there is hostility toward the factory and all it represents. Not
-all the workers in the mill have this experience. Some have managed
-to save, and by good fortune have been able to save enough so that
-they are fairly comfortable and independent, owning their homes and
-living in comparative ease, although very simply. We must not think
-for a moment that there is only one side to this life and that always
-a disheartening one. The challenging thing, however, is that the men
-and women who are actually operating the machines are nearly all living
-harassed lives, with a heavy burden of trouble and worry, and are not
-finding the pleasure that should come from work well done.
-
-=The Machine and Human Happiness.= The machine has been hailed as a
-savior from trouble and want. It promised happiness and well-being
-to all mankind. This promise has not been fulfilled, for instead of
-the prophecy of the future being one of cheer growing out of the
-development of the machine, it is rather one of warning. The machine
-has subordinated the man; thrust him aside and denied him a fair share
-of the things he has helped to create. As one of our keen-minded
-writers has said, “The machine has developed a new kind of slave and
-doomed him to produce through long and weary hours a senseless glut of
-things; and then forced him to suffer for lack of the very things he
-has produced.”
-
-=The Church and the Factory.= What about the church in the midst of the
-factory city? The minister is no longer the most important personage in
-town. The business man dominates the life of the community. The mill
-has pushed itself into the place of influence once held by the church.
-In one of the New England cities a factory has been built around three
-sides of one of the oldest established churches. The church still
-remains, embraced by this factory. It is a fit parable of the present
-situation in the mill town. The church has a place but industry holds
-the outstanding position.
-
-One of the most interesting pieces of work undertaken in recent years
-was that of a pastor in one of the mill villages in Georgia. He built
-the church; put in club rooms and provided features that would appeal
-to the people. At first the cotton-mill owners were favorably disposed
-toward the undertaking. They supplied a portion of the money toward
-erecting the building, and made a regular contribution for the support
-of the enterprise. The rector of the church soon found that the young
-people did not attend the social functions as much as he had hoped that
-they would, and they were conspicuous by their absence from the Sunday
-services. Upon inquiry, in addition to the usual reasons given by
-people for not attending church, he found that it was principally the
-economic factor that was at work against the church. Low wages and long
-hours left the people without energy enough to take part in anything
-that had to do with their culture or spiritual welfare. The sad thing
-about it was that the minister soon found to his deep sorrow that even
-his questioning of the people was resented by the authorities, who
-began to refer to him as a trouble-maker and a busybody, and eventually
-he was forced to resign his church and leave the community.
-
-How is the church going to meet this situation? The church must
-continue its helpful agencies, open its club rooms, offer opportunity
-for play, for service, and for worship. But it must do more than
-that, for it must be the champion of the people, help them to secure
-a fair degree of leisure, and then direct them in a wise spending of
-their leisure hours. Unless the church can do this, it can never be the
-instrument for leading men and women in these communities to accept
-Jesus as a personal Savior from sin.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER IV
-
-THE WORLD OF THE GARMENT MAKERS
-
-
-Fifth Avenue in New York is one of the world’s great thoroughfares.
-Years ago it was devoted exclusively to residential purposes. The
-wealthy people built their homes along the lower end of the street.
-As the city grew, these people followed the avenue north until at
-the present time the finest homes in the city are located in the
-neighborhood of Central Park in the upper reaches of the street.
-Between Fourteenth Street and Washington Square there are now a number
-of business houses, two fine old churches, and a portion of the city
-that still retains the residential quality of dignity and worth. From
-Fourteenth Street to Fiftieth Street the avenue is given over almost
-exclusively to business. From Thirtieth Street to Fifty-seventh Street
-are found the finest shops and stores in New York City. Below Thirtieth
-Street this stately avenue, and the numbered cross streets for many
-blocks running east and west have been invaded by great skyscrapers
-known as loft buildings in which is being carried on the greatest
-garment-making industry in the world.
-
-The workers in the garment trade in New York are nearly all Jews and
-Italians. At any time of the summer and winter thousands of these
-workers will be Found spending their leisure on the street between
-twelve and one o’clock. When the workers are free it is almost
-impossible to pass along the sidewalks of Fifth Avenue from Fourteenth
-to Twenty-third Street. This solid mass of men and women, all speaking
-a tongue that is unintelligible to American ears, pass round and round,
-back and forth, up and down, a resistless tide typifying the steady
-resistless rise of labor to a position in society where it must be
-considered.
-
-These big loft buildings occupied by the garment-making industry
-have been constructed in recent years, and so rapidly have they been
-erected that the storekeepers and business men of upper Fifth Avenue
-have formed an organization and are exerting every effort “to save the
-avenue from this advancing tide of foreign workers.”
-
-[Illustration:
-
- Press Illustrating Service.
-
-When the workers are free it is almost impossible to pass along the
-sidewalks of Fifth Avenue from Fourteenth to Twenty-third Street.]
-
-Many shops and department stores have been forced to give way before
-the onward sweep of this enterprise. The area in New York occupied
-most exclusively by the garment workers is about a mile long and about
-one-half mile wide; in this district there are thousands of workers
-employed exclusively in making garments of one kind and another. The
-Garment Makers’ Union has a membership of 60,000. How much do we know
-about these workers? When the Triangle Shirt Waist Company’s loft
-caught fire and scores of girls were burned to death or killed by
-jumping from the building, the country was shocked, but up to that time
-we had not known that thousands of girls work every day behind closed
-and locked doors. We have almost forgotten the incident. Where was the
-factory? What was done about it? The girls were, however, our servants
-working at the task of furnishing us with clothes!
-
-=Fashion and Clothes.= In the last chapter we considered the workers
-who produce the material from which clothes are made. The question that
-is still of vital significance to most of us is, how shall we make our
-clothes? “I have not a thing to wear,” is a very common statement, yet
-it does not mean what it says, for the people that use this complaint
-most frequently are the ones who have literally trunks full of clothes.
-What they mean is that they have nothing in the latest fashion. Fashion
-is a hard taskmaster. Some one has said that the length of the stay of
-a society woman at any hotel can be determined by the number of gowns
-she brings with her to the hotel. “She would no more think of wearing
-the same gown twice to the same place than she would think of insulting
-her best friends,” was a woman’s description of her companion to prove
-that she was a “real lady.” The frequent changes in style bring rich
-returns to the manufacturers of clothing and call for a ceaseless outgo
-by people who feel that they are obliged to follow the dictates of
-fashion. “I hate rich people,” said a little shop-girl. “For every time
-I see a woman wearing a fine dress I cannot help thinking how hard I
-work and how useless the dress is for any practical purpose.”
-
-=Dressmaking in the Home.= Dressmaking was at one time carried on
-entirely within the family. It was a domestic employment. The only
-garments that were made outside of the home were men’s clothes, and the
-journeyman tailor was a skilled mechanic. He made the entire garment
-himself; but even in this industry very often the work was carried on
-in his home and all the members of the family assisted more or less.
-
-=The Sweat-Shop.= The sweat-shop, in most cases, is a home that
-has been turned into a factory. The father or mother goes to the
-manufacturer of clothing and agrees to furnish so many pairs of pants
-or waists or shirts for so much money. The worker carries these
-garments to the home and all the family go to work upon the job. Many
-of these homes are one-room affairs, so that in many instances the work
-is carried on in the room where the cooking is done; where the meals
-are eaten and where the family sleeps. Legislation has done much to
-eliminate the sweat-shops, and sweating as a system is under the ban.
-Every church and every individual in the church ought to know all about
-the work of the National Consumers’ League. This organization inspects
-factories and workshops and issues a stamp or label that is attached to
-all garments made under clean, humane, healthful, and fair conditions.
-Information can be secured by writing to Mrs. Florence Kelly, 289
-Fourth Avenue, New York. Look for this label when you buy any garment.
-
-Low wages make possible the continuation of the sweat-shop system.
-In a family where the wage-earner receives less than enough for its
-subsistence, or for some reason or other the earnings are decreased
-to a rate at which the family cannot live, it becomes necessary to
-supplement the family income. Wife and children go to work, boarders
-and lodgers are taken into the home, and the standardization of living
-is so lowered that normal conditions of home life are impossible. In a
-study made of the garment trades it was found that in the homes where
-work is being done for a profit only about 11 per cent. of the husbands
-in these families earned $500 or more a year, while more than one half
-of them earned $300 or less a year.
-
-=The Task System.= A study of conditions in the dressmaking industry
-was made by the United States government. The results of this study
-showed that we never can get back to the old state of affairs. We have
-entered into a new period of production and this must continue. The
-task system prevails in a large number of the garment-making shops.
-By the task system is meant that the work on a garment is done by a
-team of three persons consisting of a machine-operator, a baster, and
-a finisher. Every three teams have two pressers and several girls to
-sew on the pockets and buttons that are necessary for the completion of
-the garment. There is essentially a fine adjustment within the team,
-so that each one completes his work in time to pass it on to the next
-one as soon as the latter is ready to receive it. A certain amount of
-work is called a task, and this amount is supposed to be done within a
-day. Forced competition has gradually increased the amount of the task,
-until frequently even with the most strenuous activity the task cannot
-be completed without working twelve and fourteen hours a day. The wages
-paid are based upon the utmost that the best individual in the team can
-do in a day.
-
-This system came in with the influx of the Jews into New York in the
-early eighties. These workers, with their intense desire to accumulate
-money, get on in the world, and then be emancipated from hard work,
-are peculiarly adapted to the system. Just as soon as a few of the
-workers save enough money they become proprietors of small factories.
-Another thing that enters into the situation is the characteristics of
-the people themselves. Jews are a restless race and resent the rigid
-routine and supervision of the factory, but the comparative freedom in
-a small shop under the task system appeals to their desires to get on
-in the world and gives them a degree of freedom which they cannot have
-under the factory system. The task system lends full opportunity for
-the cupidity of worker and owner to exploit other workers, and in the
-end every man in the shop comes to be looked upon as an opportunity for
-more profits.
-
-=The Modern Factory.= Another stage in the evolution of the clothing
-industry is found in the factory itself. Just as the task system was
-an improvement over the sweat-shop in the home, so the factory is a
-big advance over the task system. The factory has grown very rapidly
-owing to the demand for tailor-made clothes, to the continual change
-in the styles, and to the large supply of cheap labor always at hand.
-In recent years the demand for men’s and women’s ready-made clothes
-has so increased that now large department stores which formerly sold
-only cheap grades of ready-made clothes are stocking up with expensive
-garments in order to cater to the class of customers who used to order
-their clothes directly from the custom tailor.
-
-This movement toward standardizing the clothing industry aids the
-factory in overcoming the competition of the smaller shops. There is
-going on a sure but slow movement toward the elimination of the bad
-conditions in the garment trades, and the factories are increasing
-because people of even moderate means are demanding higher-priced and
-better-grade garments. “I got such a wonderful bargain to-day, you
-just ought to see the shirt-waists that are being sold for one dollar
-and seventy-five cents. Why, you couldn’t even buy the material for
-that price, to say nothing of the work and trouble of making it.” This
-is an accurate report of a conversation overheard on a street-car one
-evening. It sounds familiar to you, now, doesn’t it? When you got your
-bargain, did you ever consider the girls who work to make you that
-waist? The manufacturer is not alone responsible for bad conditions. It
-is impossible for him to pay good wages and continue in business unless
-he can sell his goods at a decent profit. If you force him to compete
-with the sweat-shop, you drive him out of business and subsidize the
-sweat-shop at the same time.
-
-Our selfishness in desiring to get the best possible bargains makes us
-thoughtless partners of the exploiters of the men and women who are
-working to make our clothes. Progress costs money, time, and thought.
-We are all bound together and go forward or backward with the group.
-Next time you buy a dress or a suit, try to picture the girls and men
-who worked on it. Consider the hours of labor which they spent and the
-responsibilities that rest upon them; then figure against the price
-which you are paying a fair proportion of the cost for wages to these
-workers, and ask yourself would you be willing to make the garment for
-that price? If you would not, providing, of course, that you had the
-skill, you are not playing fair with your sister and brother who live
-somewhere and are being cheated out of a decent wage.
-
-=Groups by Races.= The workers in the garment industries in New York
-live in groups made up not by industrial conditions or interests
-so much as by racial interests. The Jews tend to live in certain
-quarters of the city confined to themselves, and the Italians have
-their quarters also. As a family accumulates a little money, plans are
-made to move out of these sections in lower New York and to settle in
-different surroundings in the upper part of the city, on Lexington
-Avenue or in the Bronx.
-
-=Seasonal Work in the Garment Trade.= In spite of the tremendous
-advance made in late years in these industries in matters relating to
-conditions of work, such as the eliminating of excessive overtime,
-shortening of the regular hours of labor, and raising rates or
-earnings, the matter of unemployment is still a serious problem. The
-garment trades are affected by seasonal demands. Everybody wants a new
-suit at just about the same time. “If I cannot have my spring suit by
-Easter, I would just as soon not have it at all,” was the complaint
-of a young girl whose family was trying to make retrenchments during
-war time. The improvement in conditions has been marked; but in no way
-has it been found practicable to lengthen the work season. And since
-payment by the piece is widely prevalent in the clothing industries, in
-the case of home workers a record of the time and the payment is not
-strictly kept, and statistics are not available.
-
-=Health Conditions.= The health conditions among the workers in the
-garment industries show an interesting relationship to the wages paid
-and the method of payment. The United States Public Health Service,
-reporting on conditions among the garment-workers in New York City,
-states that the strain was more prevalent where wages were paid on the
-piece basis than by the week or other time basis. With the increased
-use of machinery another series of health hazards appears, according
-to this report. These are the result of fatigue and overstrain caused
-by the close application to the same process through long hours. The
-monotony of the work contributes to the bad industrial conditions. At
-its best the wage of the garment-worker is pitiably small. Among the
-girls, especially, there is keen competition. They cut one another
-down, and they underbid and undersell each other. The average wage
-paid barely affords a living. One little Italian girl in a recent
-shirt-waist strike in New York said, “Me no live verra much on
-forta-nine cent a day.” This wage of forty-nine cents it must be said
-is not usual, and is largely the result of the ignorance of the girl,
-but there are others like her who are forced to go to work unprepared
-and therefore are unable to earn a better wage.
-
-In many communities there still lingers the employment of the women and
-children in home trades, making garments under sweat-shop conditions.
-The contractor who formerly depended for his living upon letting out
-his work to the sweat-shops has largely disappeared; but there are
-still many homes in which work is done and no serious attempt has been
-made as yet to reach the evils incident to it. Here the workers are
-driven by the pressure of poverty to labor under conditions and for
-wages that destroy life, and to work their children in the same manner.
-Here disease breeds and is passed on to the consumer.
-
-A recent study of the home conditions shows that the worst abuses of
-child labor linger in this remnant of family work. No child labor law
-that has been passed in the United States seems to be adequate to the
-situation. To control this there must be a special provision made in
-the factory laws of each state regarding the work done by families in
-their own homes. Several of the states do provide in their laws that
-no work for pay shall be done in the homes except by the members of
-the families themselves. Other states provide that this work shall
-be done under certain conditions, and standards are required of the
-factory. Massachusetts issues a license to the family to do work in
-the home, and like New York, requires a “tenement made” tag attached
-to the article; also holding the owners of the property responsible
-for any violation of the law. At the Chicago Industrial Exhibition a
-picture was shown entitled “Sacred Motherhood.” It was that of a woman
-nursing her child and driving a sewing-machine at the same time. It was
-a terrible portrayal of unchecked, unregulated industry, which does not
-stop to reckon the effect upon the future, but imperils the well-being
-of both the mother and the child.
-
-=Labor Disturbances.= The fundamental cause of the troubles in the
-clothing industry in Boston prior to the spring of 1913, was similar
-to that in the same industry in New York before their abolition by
-concerted action of the employers and employees in the spring of the
-same year. There have been serious disturbances in the garment trade
-in Chicago, New York, Boston, Philadelphia, and other cities. The
-difficulty was right in the trade itself and many of the causes of
-discord will continue for some time to come.
-
-Among these causes of disturbances are long hours, low wages, poor
-sanitary conditions, sub-contracting, unequal distribution of the
-work, work in tenement-houses, failure to state the standard price for
-piece-work, playing of favorites in the giving out of the work, lack of
-cooperation between the employers and the employees, prevalence of the
-piece-work system, and the difficulty of determining what shall be paid
-or what constitutes a just basis for computing hours and wages.
-
-For instance, three girls work in one factory and are put upon work
-that is to be a test upon which a new wage is to be based. One of the
-girls is put to work upon a certain task in shirt-waists. They are made
-of thin material; the thread used is very fine and the stuff shirrs
-easily, so that it is almost impossible to make any speed. The second
-girl is put to work upon a pile of plain waists. The third girl has
-a still different task. Each girl at the beginning of the day has an
-equal amount of work to do. They all put in the same number of hours
-and expend approximately the same amount of energy; but at the end of
-the day one of the girls has finished her task, the other has probably
-two hours’ work to do on the day following, while the third girl, the
-one who was working upon the thin waists, has more than a day’s work
-ahead of her. It will be readily seen that it is almost impossible
-to determine what pay would be a fair price for making shirt-waists,
-or for doing any part of the work connected with the making of these
-garments unless a different and more equitable basis of reckoning is
-established.
-
-=Cost and Selling Price.= Another matter that enters into the situation
-and complicates it is the fact that there is a different selling
-price put on each garment. Of course, we must all recognize that
-wages cannot be made except in proportion to the selling price of the
-garment. No business can be run unless it is able to make enough on
-its products to pay a decent wage. The cost of production, including
-the cost of materials, a fair price for the superintendent, and a
-proportion of the general overhead cost of the factory must be charged
-against each garment, together with a proportion of the interest on
-the investment and the approximate cost of the wear and tear on the
-machinery. Add to this the cost for advertising and marketing the
-garment. All of these things have to enter into consideration, and
-the wages must be determined by the amount of money that will be
-received for the finished garment. Now, how are we to bring about
-a just settlement of this vexed question? There is only one way in
-which it can be done, that is, by bringing the workers themselves into
-partnership with the firm. Just as long as the destiny of the worker is
-in the hands of the foreman and there is no chance for these workers to
-be heard, or to have any voice in the decisions that are made, so long
-there will be fruitful cause for trouble.
-
-=Arbitration.= The experience of the Massachusetts Board of Arbitration
-warrants the conclusion that there is a proper and very useful sphere
-of activity for a permanent State Board of Arbitration. A number
-of questions arise from time to time in almost all trades which do
-not require a detailed knowledge of the industry on the part of the
-arbitrating body. There are, for example, questions of discharge in
-alleged violation of a clause in an agreement covering discharges.
-There are certain other controversies which both sides are willing to
-have decided by the application of standards which are matters of fact
-ascertainable upon investigation. For instance, in many piece-price
-controversies, both sides are willing to have the questions decided on
-the basis of what competing manufacturers pay for the same operations
-under similar working conditions; but each is unwilling to accept the
-figures presented by the other side in support of its contention. This
-has been done by the Massachusetts Board in the boot and shoe industry,
-and recently in a textile case. The Arbitration Board should be given
-all the powers in the way of compelling the attendance of witnesses and
-testimony under oath, and the production of books and papers, which it
-requires to secure the information necessary to reach a decision.
-
-=The Religious and Social Problems.= Twenty-five per cent. of all the
-effort put into the processes of industry and commerce is concerned
-with the supply of clothing. Most of the clothing is made under
-conditions which determine the life and welfare of such a large
-proportion of the people that we find in the garment-making industries
-themselves a distinct and definite challenge to the religious and
-social agencies. There are some fundamental considerations which must
-be borne in mind and which will help us to see the problem as it
-affects the workers. Most of those in the garment trades are foreigners
-unused to our way of thinking. At noon on Fifth Avenue and again at
-night as the workers leave for their homes, the newsboys sell papers
-printed in Yiddish characters almost exclusively, and only a few
-English papers are sold for several blocks below Twenty-third Street.
-In religious matters the garment-workers represent three groups: those
-who are devoted to the faith of their fathers and who are Jews in
-the truest sense of the word; those who have drifted away from the
-old faith in the rush of life in America, and, antagonistic to the
-domination of the Roman Catholic faith, have not been attracted or won
-by the Protestant faith; and a third class composed of those who are
-bitterly hostile to all religions because of the corruption of the
-church as they view it, because of the social injustice of which they
-are the subjects, and which is identified in their own minds with the
-church and religious leaders.
-
-It is an interesting thing to visit a social center in either Boston
-or New York. Ford Hall or Cooper Union serves as a good illustration.
-Here the majority of the people are Jews, radical through and through.
-They are intelligently awake and thoroughly skeptical. The Bible is
-not an open book to many of these people, and they have not learned to
-read history or current events with an open mind. Social conditions
-and economic pressure make it almost impossible for them to render
-a straight and just judgment. They have monstrous misconceptions of
-Protestants and the Protestant religion, for they see for the most part
-only the worst side. America means to them, instead of freedom, hope,
-and independence, only extortionate profiteering.
-
-=The Gospel for the Garment-workers.= How can we overcome this
-prejudice? How can we give these people an adequate and intelligible
-interpretation of the gospel? We must respect their faith. It will
-not solve the problem to make proselytes of a large number of our new
-Jewish citizens. We need to be definite, concrete, and practical, and
-to leave controversial matters and philosophical discussions out of
-the situation. We need to cultivate more reverence in our American
-churches, and a finer regard for the associations and experiences of
-the past of these people. As these words are being written, I can see
-from my window the tower of a church surmounted by a cross. It is the
-Judson Memorial Baptist Church on Washington Square. Sunday after
-Sunday there are gathered together large groups of people. Most of them
-live under sordid, cramped conditions, but they find in this church a
-ministry that appeals to them. The church is more interested in making
-good Americans out of these people, and in interpreting America to
-them than in securing their membership in the church. And rightly this
-church is justified in its attitude. By ministering to the people it is
-gaining their allegiance to the principles of Christianity as it could
-in no other way.
-
-To sum up the chapter, the making of garments, like other industries we
-have considered, is highly specialized. It has been taken out of the
-hands of the American group. The old-fashioned dressmaking and tailor
-shops have given way to the huge lofts where many factories are turning
-out clothing for men, women, boys and girls in large quantities. The
-workers are all city dwellers. They are all foreigners, most of them
-Jews, with a large intermingling of Italians. To meet their needs and
-to interpret the gospel to them the church must first of all come to
-know the conditions under which they live. It must create a public
-opinion that will demand an adjustment of the difficulties in the trade
-itself and then in the homes of the people. In the community in which
-they live it must show that the members of the Protestant churches are
-the best of friends and neighbors.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER V
-
-THE WORLD OF THE MINERS
-
-
-According to the old Greek story Prometheus stole fire from heaven
-and thus drew upon himself the anger of the gods, because with fire
-he was able to work miracles and do wonders that rivaled the gods
-themselves. The metals of the earth are the instruments in the hands
-of man for accomplishing the material wonders that mark our time. Our
-age has been rightly termed the steel age, but, as we shall see in
-subsequent chapters, this period has its important and unique character
-only because man knows how to use fire, and because he has coal at his
-command.
-
-=The Riches of the Earth for Man.= It is not surprising that the
-ancient Hebrews taught that God made everything for the benefit of the
-human race, and that man was the child of his supreme favor, for in
-every place over the entire earth are found the things essential to
-man’s happiness and comfort. Even in the most desolate regions, with
-very few exceptions, a man is able to make his way against adverse
-elements. The most valuable minerals are coal, iron, copper, zinc,
-lead, gold, and silver. Of course there are many others that are
-mined and used extensively. The supply of coal produced for 1916 in
-the United States alone was 67,376,364 tons of anthracite coal and
-502,518,545 tons of bituminous coal. During the first nine months of
-1917 the mines produced 57,778,097 tons of anthracite coal, which is
-an increase of 7,847,681 tons over a similar period in 1916, or an
-increase of about 16 per cent.
-
-In the United States the absolute necessity for coal was never felt so
-keenly as during the winter of 1917-18, when the Fuel Administrator
-shut down all the business places for five days and declared workless
-Mondays as a measure of relief. The war has demanded extraordinary
-measures, and these have been taken with a vigor and decision that have
-been really startling. The call for metals made by the warring nations
-has been so great that mining is now carried on at a furious rate.
-One of the Western mining papers uses as a slogan, “Get the ore while
-the prices are high.” The reason that the Germans hold so stubbornly
-to northern France is because of the rich coal and iron mines in the
-region. For years following the war there will be an extraordinary
-demand for an increased output of coal, iron, copper, and zinc, in
-fact, for all of the metals. The task of rebuilding the areas will
-demand not only ingenuity, but all the resources of all the nations
-combined.
-
-[Illustration:
-
- Copyright, Underwood and Underwood.
-
-We forget the men who are toiling underground.]
-
-=The Producers of Coal.= You have no doubt seen the women and children
-with their baskets picking up coal along the railroad tracks on the
-edge of the city. That small basket of coal will probably be all the
-fuel that many of them have. It is a common sight to see the little
-foreign boys bringing home packing-boxes and the lids of boxes that
-they have begged from the stores to take the place of the coal they
-cannot get. Those among us who live in steam-heated apartments, or in
-communities near the coal-fields or wooded areas, do not realize what
-a constant struggle is required on the part of the poor people in
-the cities to keep coal enough in the stove to prevent the family from
-freezing. “The only times I was really warm enough last winter,” said
-a Slovenian woman in Chicago, “was when I went to church, and then I
-had to keep my head muffled up.” It was said of a group of Italians in
-Boston, “The men go to the saloon, the women to the church, both for
-the same purpose,--to get good and warm.”
-
-Just as we sometimes fail to realize how many people are working for us
-to make our clothes or to produce our food, so we forget the men who
-are toiling underground to dig the coal and mine the iron upon which we
-are so dependent for our every-day living. The city dweller especially
-is dependent upon the supply of coal that comes to him through retail
-sources, but in order to bring that coal to the city there has been
-a long line of workers, each one putting his hand to the task of
-producing the necessity.
-
-=Where the Coal Is Mined.= If you should visit the coal-mining
-community, you would first of all be impressed with the desolation
-of the place. The village is an ugly, straggling affair with nothing
-to add to its beauty or hide its deformities. Nearly all the houses
-are built alike, two and three rooms being the average size. In all
-probability not one painted house is to be found in the whole town,
-unless possibly it is the front of a saloon on the main street. In many
-of the old-time mining communities the fronts of the saloons were all
-painted blue. Whether or not this was done to match the color of the
-patrons’ noses, no one seems to know. The fences are of rough pickets
-and so broken and out of repair that, as one person visiting the coal
-town for the first time said, “The pickets look like broken teeth in
-an old, dried-up skull.” There are very few flowers or gardens, and the
-deep black mud of the winter-time, the black smoke, and the dust of the
-dry season during the summer deepen the sense of desolation one feels
-in the midst of these villages. The schoolhouse is a poor one-room
-affair; and if there is a church, it has a weak organization and is
-housed in a building that is little if any better than the average in
-the community. Very few coal-mining towns in Colorado have a church of
-any kind. The Home Missions Council looked into this matter some years
-ago and reported extensively its investigations.
-
-The Cœur d’Alene mining district of northern Idaho is rich in ores,
-but poor in cultural and religious opportunities for the people. In a
-region lying along the north fork of the Cœur d’Alene river there are
-half a dozen small towns where there is not a church, and it is rarely
-that a minister visits the region.
-
-=The Mining Areas.= Never before have the common necessities of life
-seemed so important as they do now. Canada produces large quantities of
-minerals, the chief of which is copper. The production for 1916 of all
-the minerals was valued at $177,417,574. The coal and principal metals
-produced in Canada, with their respective amounts for the year named,
-are as follows:
-
- Copper 119,770,814 tons
- Nickel 82,958,564 ”
- Lead 41,593,680 ”
- Zinc 23,315,030 ”
- Silver 25,669,172 ”
- Coal 14,461,678 ”
-
-To transport this amount of coal (the smallest tonnage of all) there
-would be required 482,056 freight-cars. This would make a train almost
-4,000 miles long, a distance greater than from Nova Scotia to British
-Columbia.
-
-The mining areas in the United States are fairly well defined.
-Practically all of the anthracite coal comes from central and
-northern Pennsylvania, only a little being mined in Colorado. The
-largest bituminous coal-fields are found in Virginia, Illinois, Ohio,
-Tennessee, southeastern Kansas, southwestern Missouri, Colorado,
-Alabama, and some in the west-central part of Pennsylvania. Iron is
-mined in the northeastern part of Minnesota, northwestern Wisconsin,
-upper peninsula of Michigan, Tennessee, Georgia, western Pennsylvania,
-and in southeastern Kansas. The copper regions are in the upper
-peninsula of Michigan, Arizona, and northern Idaho. The chief lead
-district is the Joplin district of southwestern Missouri. This region
-is matched in large measure by the Cœur d’Alene of northern Idaho. Lead
-and zinc are almost always found together. Gold and silver are mined on
-the Pacific Coast, and in Colorado, and northern Idaho. Some gold is
-found in all of the Rocky Mountain states and small amounts in Georgia.
-There is scarcely a state in the Union but what produces to a greater
-or less amount all of the metals that go to make up the mineral wealth
-of the United States.
-
-=The Miners of King Coal.= Coal is mined in three ways: by sinking a
-shaft and then running tunnels out from it following the vein of the
-coal; by driving a tunnel straight into the heart of the mountain; or
-by scooping it up with a steam shovel and loading it into cars. The
-first two methods are used in all the mines of Colorado; the latter
-method is used in the mines in southeastern Kansas and southwestern
-Missouri. In a mine where the shaft is sunk the hoist is directly over
-the mouth of the pit. The cages are just like elevators and drop to
-the bottom of the pit; there the loaded cars are pushed upon them and
-at a signal the car is brought to the top of the superstructure above
-the mine known as the tipple. The car is unloaded automatically and
-runs back upon the cage, and is lowered into the mine as the second car
-is brought up to the surface very rapidly. At the bottom of the mine
-and following it out along the vein of coal there are little railway
-tracks. The cars on these tracks are pulled by mules. Some mines have
-electric cars, but the mule is still the motive power in general use.
-These mules are sentenced to the mines for life. Stables are made for
-them by digging a cave in one side of the main shaft or tunnel, and
-here in the underground mine the mule lives, moves, and has his being.
-Sometimes the animals are brought to the surface and turned out to
-pasture. It is really pathetic to see with what joy they accept the
-light, air, and freedom of God’s good world above ground.
-
-The only light in most of the mines is that given off from the little
-lamps carried on the caps of the miners. It is a weird sight to
-walk through a mine and see the bobbing lights; to catch the sound
-of pick and shovel in the tunnels that cross and recross each other
-at intervals; to hear the creak of the wheels, the slamming of the
-doors; and to see the mules as they strain at their task like phantom
-engines hauling the loaded cars of coal. When the men go to work in
-the morning, they are checked in and let down in the cage; when they
-come up they are checked out. In the morning when they check in they
-are white; at night they are black. Thus the color line is completely
-eliminated by working in a mine. The work is done in little rooms or
-pockets. Each miner has to work out his own room. He drills the hole,
-puts in the charge of powder; and when he has everything in readiness,
-fires the charge that brings down the coal; then he and his partner
-(for two men work together, one is called the miner, the other is known
-as the buddy) shovel the coal into the cars, and push them out into the
-main line of the mine tramway track. The miner and his buddy may be
-both white men, or the miner may be a white man and the buddy a Negro.
-They look alike as they work in the semi-darkness and the common tasks
-eventually make them appreciate each other for what they are and what
-they do.
-
-The miner has to follow the vein. He must put in the braces to protect
-himself against the falling roof, must remove all the stone and slate,
-and mine only clean coal. This he shovels into his car. It is weighed
-and tagged, tally is kept, and at the end of the day he is credited
-with so many tons and is paid accordingly. When the vein is thick and
-the miner can stand upright, his work is hard and monotonous enough;
-but when the vein is thin, it is necessary for him to stoop or to
-lie down in order to get the coal. This makes the work hard almost
-beyond human endurance. It is no wonder that mining greatly affects
-the character of the men involved in it. No one can spend eight or ten
-hours underground every day doing that kind of work without having the
-place and the work stamp itself upon his mind and his character. Life
-underground spoils even the temper of a mule!
-
-=Accidents.= Mining develops the spirit of adventure. There is always
-a risk. Mining is a dangerous operation and is classified as extra
-hazardous. There is continual danger from falling stones, and the miner
-is always gambling with fate. A study of the coroner’s report in any
-country where mining is carried on supplies concrete evidence that a
-large number of men are killed in the mines from one cause and another.
-There is the danger from the deadly carbon-monoxide gas and another
-danger from the explosion of the coal-dust. As the coal is mined a
-certain proportion of it is ground into powder, and this fills the air
-and becomes a powerful explosive. Precautions are taken in most cases.
-The mines are sprinkled and state and national governments have done
-much to make mining safe, but at the best the occupation claims an
-unusually heavy toll in life and limb.
-
-According to statistics regarding deaths of miners during the years
-1907 to 1912, it is shown that 23.2 out of every hundred died from
-accidents; and among the metalliferous miners 24.7 per cent. of all
-deaths were caused by accidents. A great many industrial accidents are
-due to failure on the part of the management to make proper provision
-against accident, and to keep abreast with the increase in efficiency
-of the machinery and output in the matter of precautionary measures.
-Also it is now known that industrial accidents are caused by excessive
-fatigue, carelessness, and ignorance on the part of the workers
-themselves. Taking all of these things into consideration, however, we
-must realize that a large proportion of the accidents and fatalities
-in the coal-mines are inherent in the business itself.
-
-=Returns for Labor Received by the Miners.= Coal has to be dug where
-nature put it. Therefore, the mining village is almost certain to be
-located in a desolate region, and thus the miner and his family will be
-denied many of the good things that other people enjoy, because of the
-conditions under which they are compelled to live. We hear a great deal
-about the enormously large wages paid to the miner. Unfortunately this
-condition is not true; for the stories we hear of the big wages the
-miners receive are very largely fictitious. In the Colorado mines it is
-shown by actual study of the statistics taken at the time of the last
-great strike in 1914, that the average wage for the miner when actually
-employed was $4.58 a day; but other figures given at the same period
-show that other miners were paid an average wage of only $2.61 a day.
-It is impossible to get at the facts as to wages.
-
-The miner is forced to buy his powder, oil, pay doctor’s fee,
-blacksmithing charges, union dues, and other expenses. These are
-deducted, so that the wage is reduced to the point where perhaps
-not more than one per cent. of the entire number of workers receive
-as much as $25 a week. In fact, the wage is so small compared to
-the difficulties of the work and the hardships of living, that the
-miner finds it almost impossible to move freely in order to better
-his condition. The result of this situation has been that, whereas
-formerly nearly all the miners were English-speaking men, they are now
-practically all non-English-speaking immigrants. In the camp at Ludlow,
-where the miners lived after they and their families were driven
-out of their homes in Colorado during the strike of 1914, there were
-twenty-two nationalities, and they were living together in some sort of
-amity.
-
-=Workers in the Metal Mines.= The workers in the metal mines have a
-problem different from that of the workers in the coal-mines. The
-copper country of Michigan located on Lake Superior in the upper
-peninsula is the most famous metal-producing region of the United
-States. These mines have been operated for half a century; and for the
-most part a humane policy has been followed and, consequently, the
-cities and towns in the region have developed some civic pride, and
-have an unusually high reputation for orderliness and morality. There
-are very few of the bad features which one is accustomed to find in
-such communities. The district has approximately forty-two mines and
-the products from these mines amount to fifty million dollars a year.
-The shafts of these copper mines are the deepest holes that have ever
-been dug in the earth as far as we know. The “Red Jacket” mine is
-almost a mile and a quarter deep. The shaft of a copper mine is pierced
-every one hundred feet by levels or tunnels. The trams run in these
-levels to the chambers where the rock is cut and are known as stopes.
-Drills are operated by compressed air; the miner bores the holes,
-places the dynamite charge in readiness, and touches off the charge as
-he leaves his work at the end of the shift. The broken rock is picked
-up during the next shift, loaded into the tram-cars by the trammer, and
-then dumped into the skip or little car by means of which it is raised
-to the surface.
-
-[Illustration:
-
- Press Illustrating Service.
-
-The new U. S. Bureau of Mines Rescue Car is manned by a mining
-engineer, a mine surgeon, a foreman miner, a first aid miner, and a
-clerk.]
-
-In the Cœur d’Alene field the process of mining in the lead and
-zinc mines is very much the same as that in the copper mines of
-Michigan. The Cœur d’Alene region of northern Idaho is a district in
-itself. It might almost be called a province, it is so extensive. The
-drills that are used by the miners are protected in some cases by a
-stream of water which pours off the end of its point as it comes in
-contact with the rock. This prevents the dust from flying and being
-breathed by the worker. These drills are just now being introduced. The
-old-fashioned drill had no such protection and is called by the miner
-the widow-maker, because of the gruesome effect on the worker.
-
-=Wages.= The wages in the Calumet district as well as in the Cœur
-d’Alene section are not, and never have been, adequate to the needs of
-the men, nor are they proportionate to the returns received from the
-work that these men have been doing. Wages must be considered on the
-basis of comparative value. The type of the worker, however, and the
-risks incurred, and the opportunity for improving the worker himself
-must all be taken into account. When we remember the enormous profits
-made on the metals, especially within the last few years, we will find
-that the increase in the wages of the men has not been enough to meet
-the increased cost of living. Wages have advanced about 20 per cent.
-and living expenses 140 per cent. Some welfare work is being undertaken
-in almost all of the mining communities. But welfare work cannot
-supplement poor wages, nor does it do away with the feeling of unrest
-always present in the community and which threatens to break out in
-rebellion and throw the whole district into disorder.
-
-=The Church and the Miner.= The pastor of the miners’ church told the
-story of the desolation in the life of his people. He said: “There
-are no chances for cultural work. When I talk about the higher life
-the people listen to me as if I were giving a lecture on Mars. It is
-something that is more or less interesting because I am able to make
-it interesting, but there is no special personal interest in it. All
-of my people live in this desolate and isolated village. There is
-nothing attractive anywhere around. The superintendent and a few of the
-English-speaking workers live five miles away in a place that calls
-itself a city. There are five other villages like mine; no one from the
-other places ever comes here except on business. Every Saturday night
-most of the men go to the ‘city.’ On Saturday, or pay-day evening, the
-stores, amusement places, saloons, and the principal streets of that
-center are filled with a heterogeneous mass of people of all races and
-there is a regular babel of tongues. The destroying forces work havoc
-with my people. Now what can I do to meet the conditions?” Listening
-to him I wondered and went away still wondering. In these places where
-men are working to produce the coal for us, and the metals that form
-the foundation-stone of our civilization, there must be something more
-than merely the touch of charity; there must be worked out a plan by
-which true brotherhood may become a reality. We are accepting the
-gift of these men, the things that they produce at such risk, and we
-are forgetting the men themselves. They are serving our interests and
-we have a responsibility for them, but what are we doing to meet the
-situation?
-
-At the close of the Colorado coal strike a plan was inaugurated for
-bettering conditions throughout the state. This plan has much to
-commend it to the public favor. It is not wholly democratic and it has
-many features that can be criticized. Even viewed in the best light it
-fails to solve the fundamental difficulties in the situation--but it is
-a long step ahead of anything that has ever been done before. One of
-the miners, while discussing the plan, said: “It is all right as far as
-it goes. The best thing about it is that the company promises to allow
-us to join our union. When we get the district organized 100 per cent.
-we will put some real democracy into the plan.”
-
-The features of the plan may be stated broadly in these four
-propositions:
-
-First of all, the men working the mines are to be recognized as
-partners in the enterprise and are to have a voice in the management
-of the mines. They elect their representatives who meet with the
-representatives of the company and together they work out their own
-problems.
-
-Second, the bad conditions which are chronic in the mines and which
-have disturbed the peace are to be corrected as far as possible.
-
-Third, the physical conditions in the village are to be improved.
-Better houses are to be built and they are to be painted. Provisions
-are made so that the miners can have gardens.
-
-Fourth, special arrangements are made for the establishment of better
-schools, Young Men’s Christian Association with club privileges,
-and help is given in organizing and maintaining churches and other
-religious agencies.
-
-All of these things point to a better day that is coming, and is a
-great advance over the attitude taken by the old-time mine owner who
-replied to a committee which warned him of impending trouble, “Let them
-start something if they want to find out who is boss.”
-
-The battle has not been won, and will not be won, until the church
-makes a demand for industrial justice its chief object, and makes
-democracy really applicable in every mining district and community
-throughout the whole nation.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER VI
-
-THE WORLD OF THE STEEL WORKERS
-
-
-“The sky-line of your cities is the monument of your civilization.”
-These words summed up the impression of an Oriental visiting America
-for the first time. He had seen everything of America that could be
-shown during his two months’ visit. Boards of trades in the various
-cities entertained him. Figures concerning miles of pavements, hundreds
-of miles of trolley lines, millions of dollars in the various banks,
-thousands of bales of cotton, millions of tons of coal, iron, steel,
-potatoes, rice, wheat, corn, and all the rest of the things that go to
-make America great had been quoted to him. He was apparently impressed
-by what he saw but did not become enthusiastic, and accepted every
-statement with becoming politeness. No one could tell what moved
-him most. When he summed up his total impressions and expressed his
-opinion, it showed that he had really formed a most exact judgment of
-that which makes the true material basis of our national life. The
-skyscraper building is the only important contribution that America has
-made to the art of architecture. This structural development, which is
-so truly American, has been made possible only because we have learned
-how to use steel for the framework of the gigantic construction.
-
-=The Steel Industry.= Interesting statistics as to the extent of
-the steel industry have been compiled. The United States and Canada
-together produce about half of the world’s output. According to the
-last figures, there are employed in the iron and steel industry of this
-country 1,426,014 workers. At the present time the capacity of all the
-shops is taxed to the utmost and hundreds of new factories have been
-erected. Canada and the United States are cooperating in the production
-of ships. The huge bridge works are giving over all of their machinery
-and time to the building of new boats to carry men and food in support
-of the Allied armies in France.
-
-=The Use of Steel.= Steel is made by melting iron and combining it with
-a certain proportion of carbon. The softest grade of steel contains
-less than one per cent. of carbon, the hardest contains about thirty
-per cent. Iron furnishes almost every useful thing that is necessary to
-our life in the community. When we have food and clothes, we are then
-ready to take up the routine of living a part of the common life of our
-city or town. Iron is used extensively in building our homes. The house
-is held together with nails made of iron; its plumbing, its lighting,
-its heating are all made possible by the use of steel.
-
-Possibly the building in which we work is a steel building, if not,
-it may be made of reenforced concrete and this form of construction
-is dependent upon the use of iron. The product toward which we are
-contributing our industry, whatever it may be, is dependent upon
-commerce, transportation, and communication; and these great branches
-of activity are dependent upon steel. Iron can be melted and cast
-into a thousand different shapes. It is used to make the most simple
-kitchen utensil and the largest and most complicated machinery. Again,
-it is melted in larger quantity, combined with carbon, and put through
-the rolling-mills. By this process it may become steel rails, or be
-made into plates and huge sheets that form the protective outer skin of
-the great ships of war. It is rolled out thin and corrugated to be used
-as sheeting for houses, and sides of freight-cars, and roofs of houses;
-or it may issue in things as delicate as knitting-needles or the finest
-springs which form the adjustment and motive power in the most costly
-watches. It is used in the construction of buildings that tower up
-hundreds of feet above the level of the street, and is the only thing
-that has been found so far that can be used successfully for such a
-purpose. At the same time this most necessary substance is formed into
-pliable rope and used to draw the miner and the minerals he mines from
-the depths of the earth, and to keep the elevators running up and down
-in hotels, office buildings, and apartment houses. The finest cambric
-needles are first cousins to the great guns with which the Germans were
-able to shell Paris from a distance of seventy-five miles.
-
-The advance in recent years in invention and new processes as applied
-to the manufacture of steel has brought about more changes in the
-industrial life of the world than any other thing. The cities of the
-future will all be steel cities. We have already built our cities
-twice--once of wood and once of brick--and we are now building them
-of steel. An advertisement in a hotel in a Middle-Western city reads:
-“This hotel is built without a stick of wood. We could roast an ox in
-the room next to yours and never disturb you.” Steel mesh is replacing
-lath in ceilings, and ornamental steel ceilings are replacing plaster.
-In subway systems quantities of steel have been used for tunnels; the
-elevated railroads are prolonged bridges. Williamsburg Bridge between
-New York and Brooklyn cost $20,000,000, and 45,000 tons of steel were
-used in its construction. One pound in every ten of all the steel
-manufactured is made into wire. The Brooklyn Bridge cables have each
-6,400 strands of wire. Other wires made of steel have approximately
-a dimension of one tenth the thickness of a hair. A carpet tack is
-an insignificant sort of thing, but one factory in Chicago produced
-3,000,000 pounds of these tacks in a year. Steel goes into furniture,
-is made into barrels; utilized in art work, so that the value of common
-iron when refined and drawn out to the highest possible utility makes
-steel the most precious of all metals to-day. Watch-screws cost $1,600
-a pound and hair springs twice this amount.
-
-[Illustration:
-
- McGraw-Hill Company.
-
-Commerce and transportation are dependent upon steel, and to-day there
-are employed in the iron and steel industry of this country, 1,426,014
-workers.]
-
-=The Making of Steel.= The workshop of civilization is now on the west
-side of the Atlantic because of the vast manufacturing establishments
-producing steel on this side of the ocean. The so-called Bessemer
-process in making steel has brought about a change that is almost
-as revolutionary in its far-reaching results as any of the great
-revolutions in the past. Within thirty years American resources have
-been developed, and American methods have been reorganized with such
-amazing rapidity that the United States has to-day, together with
-the natural advantage, the means at hand for utilizing its almost
-inexhaustible supplies of fuel and iron. The world needs these supplies
-and America is glad that she is able to do her part in supplying
-them.
-
-Steel has been made for centuries, but until a few years ago, the
-process was slow and costly, and the tools with which the men worked
-were really treasures. In those days a pocket-knife was a thing of
-great value. The railroads used iron rails but these soon wore out. If
-it had been suggested that steel be used a protest would have been made
-on the grounds that steel is too expensive. Trains had to be shortened;
-coaches and locomotives built of light material because iron rails and
-bridges could not stand the strain. As land in the cities became more
-valuable and taller buildings were needed, stone and brick not proving
-adaptable and too expensive, the Bessemer process, which manufactured
-steel cheaply and in great quantities, came to meet a long-felt need.
-Iron was plentiful but the process of converting it into steel had not
-been mastered. The great difficulty in manufacturing steel is to get
-just the right proportion of carbon mixed with the iron. The Bessemer
-system takes all the carbon out and then puts back into it the quantity
-that is needed. Tons of molten iron are run into an immense pear-shaped
-vessel called a converter. Blasts of air are forced in from below.
-These unite with the carbon and the impurities such as sulphur and
-silicon are destroyed. There is a roar and clatter and a terrific din.
-A great bolt of red flame shoots forth many feet from the mouth of the
-converter. Its color changes from red to yellow and then to white. When
-the flame becomes white the workers know that the carbon and other
-impurities are all gone; and this is the signal for the blast of air
-to be turned off. Then a quantity of special iron ore in melted form,
-containing the right amount of carbon to convert the whole into steel
-of the desired degree of hardness, is poured into the purified molten
-iron in the converter. This huge converter is perfectly poised upon
-pivots so that it can be moved with very little effort. The molten
-steel at the next stage is poured from the converter into square molds
-and the blocks resulting from it are called blooms. These are then
-started through the mill, passed under and between rollers of different
-shapes and kinds, and drawn out into plates, rails, or beams.
-
-=The Steel Factory or Rolling-mill.= One of the foremost pictures
-in the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York is a picture of a
-steel-mill. It seems to be a prosaic subject but it makes an appealing
-picture, and one typical of our modern world. Some one has described
-a steel-mill as a modern materialization of Dante’s Inferno. The sky
-above Pittsburgh, Birmingham, and other steel centers is aflame at
-night as the process of manufacturing is carried on in the miles of
-buildings that contain the workers and the machinery. To step into one
-of these steel factories even in broad daylight is to step out of the
-world of reality into the semi-reality of a new and unknown world.
-Most of the men work stripped to the waist. The long ribbons of red
-hot steel writhe and twist about the length of the room. The jangle of
-chains mingles with the creaking of the machinery above our heads. The
-sparks are flying and a bluish haze hovers about the heads of the men
-like some unholy halo as they move back and forth appearing as gnomes
-in the unnatural light of the place. There is a peculiar odor that we
-instinctively associate with the blacksmith shop that used to stand at
-the side of the street on the way between our house and the butcher
-shop where we used to be sent every day for the meat for dinner.
-Everything moves with feverish haste. No one lags. Every man knows his
-task and does it. He must keep up.
-
-The days are unusually long in the steel-mills. It used to be that
-the men worked twelve hours a day and seven days a week. This has
-been changed now in most of the mills, but even yet there is a great
-deal of twelve-hour work and a great deal of Sunday labor. The rumble
-of the cranes above the heads of the gnome-like men at work in the
-building fills our ears with an unearthly sound. The peculiar glare of
-the gigantic open hearth changes at frequent intervals as the white
-cascade of molten metal announces the beginning of the shaping process
-of the new rail or the new plate for some new man-of-war, or the beam
-that is to live for centuries in some skyscraper. These men working in
-this mill are kneading the metal into shape, for as it goes under the
-rollers it is pressed and twisted until the final process is completed.
-
-=Accidents.= If it was a lucky day when we visited the steel-mill there
-were no serious accidents. Men are being continually hurt in the works.
-A report concerning one says: “John Schwobboda and Joseph Mikelliffyky
-were standing near one of the hearths. Something went wrong, and
-instead of the steel coming out in an orderly stream it broke out and
-before these two could get away they were caught in the midst of the
-stream and absorbed by the burning metal.” This thing has happened many
-times. The percentage of deaths due to accidents and injuries during
-the last ten years among soldiers and sailors of the United States has
-been about twelve to the thousand; in the same period with the workers
-in the steel-mills it has been about sixteen to the thousand.
-
-=Wages and Conditions of Labor.= The toil is strenuous and the hazards
-great; the hours are long and the product is of almost incalculable
-value. What do men get out of it? They are the servants of civilization
-and without them we would have no such trade as we have to-day, we
-would have no commerce and no progress. Steel is king. When the price
-of steel is up to normal, times are good; when the price of steel is
-down, times are bad. A Pittsburgh man said that steel is the elevator
-which carries civilization, “The world goes up or goes down with the
-price of steel rails.” The workers are the subjects and the slaves of
-this king. They are giving their lives as well as their time in fealty
-to him. Yet how little the average person knows of the lives of these
-men.
-
-A genius for mathematics has estimated that if the 587 rolling-mills
-in the United States were set end to end in a circle around Pittsburgh
-it would be 100 miles in diameter. Inside of this circle can be formed
-another circle three quarters as large if we set end to end the 532
-smaller steel-mills and 3,161 puddling furnaces, where the iron is
-first melted and made into bars called pigs. There are 577 open-hearth
-works, or factories that manufacture steel by another process much
-slower than the Bessemer, but having certain advantages because the
-process does not have to be carried on so rapidly. These works would
-make a third circle 50 miles across. The 410 other furnaces of various
-kinds would form a fourth circle 35 miles in diameter. If all the
-Bessemer converters were made into one great big converter and put in
-the center, it would be a mile in circumference and would pour a river
-of molten steel every hour.
-
-The furnaces are fed literally mountains of ore every year. The
-families dependent upon the iron and steel trade for their living, if
-gathered together, would form a state more populous than Illinois. The
-steel business thinks its own thoughts, prints its own literature, and
-very largely makes its own laws. There is no trade on the face of the
-earth equal to it. The results of the present world war hang in the
-balance. The needs come back definitely to the steel industry. If we
-can get more workers we can get more steel. If we get more steel, we
-can build more ships, and if we can get more ships, we can get more
-soldiers, more ammunition, and more food with which to fight the war
-for democracy.
-
-The year 1916 was the most prosperous one which the American steel
-trade has ever known; manufacturers especially were driven to the limit
-of their capacity. The purchases amounted to startling proportions.
-Wages were increased so that the workman shared in a measure in the
-general prosperity. Three advances were made, each time approximating
-10 per cent. The workmen are paid on a sliding schedule thus benefiting
-by the rise in the value of the product they make. Never have workmen
-received such wages as are now being paid to the workmen of America.
-But over against this increase in wages must be considered the increase
-in the cost of living, and also the base line, or average wage in days
-before the war upon which these increases are figured. Hours are still
-very long and no process has been devised for making the work very much
-easier or less wearing upon the individual worker. Investigators who
-made their report in 1912 said that during the year 1910, the period
-covered by their investigation, 29 per cent. of the employees in the
-blast furnaces and steel works and rolling-mills ordinarily worked
-seven days a week; 24 per cent. worked eighty-four hours or more a
-week. This means a twelve-hour day seven days a week.
-
-These long hours were not confined to the men in the blast-furnace
-department, where there is a real necessity for continual toil, but
-to a large extent to the other departments, where no such necessity
-existed, except the necessity of making all the profits possible
-from the workers. When the shift was made from day to night work or
-from night to day work, the employees making the shift were required
-to remain on duty without relief for periods of from eighteen to
-twenty-four hours consecutively. No one can visit a steel-mill and not
-feel that there is something merciless in the way the workers are being
-goaded by invisible forces to keep their speed at the topmost notch.
-The very nature of the work is such that men are forced to labor at
-high tension. The mill stops for nothing either day or night. “You must
-draw or be dragged to death,” said one of the workers.
-
-A steel employee in South Chicago made good wages but was a hard
-drinker and with his companions spent most of the evenings in the
-saloons so that there was rarely a night that he went to bed sober. A
-friend of the family had a chance to talk with him about the situation
-and tried to argue with him to show him the folly of drinking. His
-reply was, “Why, who cares? The mill drives me all the day long and
-dries me all up. I have to draw, draw, draw, or be dragged. By the end
-of the day there is only one thing that I want and that is beer.”
-
-A large proportion of the workers in the steel-mills are immigrants.
-There are Magyars, Poles, Slovaks, Croatians, Italians, as well as
-Austro-Hungarians, and all the other races mixed in. Many of the men
-are single, or if they are married they have left their wives in the
-old country. The wage is very largely based on the needs of a single
-man. Nearly all the families take boarders. This reduces the cost of
-living and in some of these families, the “boarding boss” as he is
-known, is the head of the household consisting of himself, his wife,
-his children, and anywhere from four to sixteen boarders or lodgers.
-Each lodger pays the boarding boss a fixed sum, usually two or three
-dollars a month for lodging, cooking, and washing. The food is bought
-by the boss and its cost shared individually by the members of the
-group. A study was made of a community in Johnstown, Pennsylvania, and
-it was found that the food consumed was cheap beef, bread, and coffee.
-Some of the people used vegetables sparingly. The Italians ate only
-a small quantity of meat, but used large quantities of vegetables,
-spaghetti, bread, and olive oil. The Austro-Hungarians used vast
-quantities of meat.
-
-=Houses and Homes.= The housing conditions among the poorly paid steel
-workers are invariably bad. In a part of Pittsburgh known as the
-“strip” the living conditions are bad almost beyond belief. The reason
-given for this situation is that the wages are so low no better is
-possible. The standard of living among all the steel workers is low.
-Comfort or ordinary provisions for decency are almost entirely lacking
-in nearly every steel-producing district. The housing conditions are
-congested, the children play in the streets, and only the cheapest
-and most dangerous forms of recreation are open to the young people.
-A large proportion of the workers are members of the Roman Catholic
-Church. The men, however, for the most part have no use for the church
-and rarely if ever attend. The women cling to it, since they are
-naturally more devout.
-
-The children suffer from the hard circumstances in the laboring
-communities. The mothers have generally gone to work too early in life
-to give proper vitality to the child. The lack of conditions that
-make for decent home life brought about through inadequate incomes of
-the fathers and the overcrowded housing conditions taxes life heavily
-by infant mortality, and mortgages the future health and morals of
-the children, thus threatening the future efficiency of the state.
-Investigations conducted by the Children’s Bureau in Washington show
-that the chances of life for a baby grow appallingly small as the
-father’s earnings grow less. For instance, the cases of one thousand
-babies in eight representative cities were studied. The returns show
-that in families where the father earns less than $550 a year every
-sixth baby dies; while in families where the father’s income is $1,050
-or more a year only one baby in sixteen dies.[2]
-
- [2] See “Infant Mortality,” a pamphlet issued by the Children’s
- Bureau, U. S. Department of Labor, Washington, D. C.
-
-[Illustration: The church in this age of steel must preach from the
-text, which interpreted in modern times will be, “A man is more
-precious than a bar of steel.”]
-
-=The Church and the Homes of the Workers.= The disorganizing influence
-on the social and industrial life incident to the war accentuates the
-importance of protecting mothers and children. The churches have a
-remarkable opportunity here, for it is to the homes that the church
-makes its first and strongest appeal. Jesus set a little child at the
-very center of his system for regenerating humanity and saving the
-world.
-
-The church must produce and train skilled leaders who can direct
-affairs; it must set in motion forces that will counteract the evil in
-these industrial communities; and must help to create public sentiment
-so that the city that allows bad housing to exist and the industry
-that forces it will be looked upon as murderers of little children.
-Playgrounds, recreation centers, and the strict enforcement of all the
-laws that protect the home must be urged upon the church as a part of
-its program. Without these the gospel fails.
-
-=The Church and the Workers.= Another feature incident to the life in
-the steel-mills is the apathy that develops in the workers themselves.
-Their attitude toward life is characterized by a dumb, brutish
-fatalism. The editor of a paper in one of the steel cities when
-discussing this attitude of mind remarked: “A Finlander cares less
-about being killed in the mill than I do about having my tooth pulled.”
-It is almost impossible to enforce the necessary precautions. Life
-becomes of little value to the worker pressed as he is for production.
-This thing called steel looms big and human; life looks small in
-proportion. Jesus, appealing to the rural-minded people of his day,
-said that man is more precious than a sheep. The church in our great
-steel centers must often and persistently preach the gospel from this
-text which interpreted in modern times will be, “Man is more precious
-than a bar of steel.”
-
-=Progress Toward Justice.= The process of adjustment between
-manufacturing, the cost of labor, and the selling price of the
-material is a difficult one. Labor conditions have been such, and
-competition so keen, that it has been very difficult to safeguard
-the men employed in this industry. Union labor has had a hard time
-to establish itself. Nearly all of the mills and factories are run
-as open shops. Of late years, however, it has been found that there
-must be closer cooperation between the management, the owners, and the
-workers; and certain concessions have been made and new elements have
-been introduced into the system which are bettering conditions. It is
-now possible for the workers to have shares of the common stock of the
-United States Steel Corporation. The workers are suspicious of this
-scheme as well as of all other forms of profit-sharing and welfare work
-because they believe that it leads to a deepening of the dependence of
-the worker upon the concern for which he works, and thus hinders the
-coming of industrial democracy. It must be said, however, for a plan
-which makes it possible for the employees to buy stock in the concern,
-that it is a step toward democracy if it is democratically carried out.
-The difficulty at present is that only the better paid, higher class
-of laborers in the steel-mills can or will take the stock. Until the
-wages of all the laborers are increased to the place where each one
-can have a decent home located in a desirable part of the city, and a
-degree of leisure so that he can give some time and attention to other
-things than the mere process of making steel, the distributing of stock
-will not go far toward settling the labor difficulties that so often
-embarrass the great steel companies.
-
-=A Successful Experiment.= Democracy means that each worker shall
-have a voice and a vote in determining the conditions under which he
-works as well as some share in the ownership of the business. The only
-answer to the argument against democracy is a successful experiment in
-democracy. A manufacturing plant in a democratic country must recognize
-in these days that the only scheme that will succeed must make for
-a larger control of the business by a larger number of the people
-employed. The Baker Manufacturing Company, of Evansville, Wisconsin,
-has carried out a stock-owning, profit-sharing plan with great success.
-Since 1899 the lowest additional wage paid to the employees has been 60
-per cent. and the highest 120 per cent. based on average wages. Every
-employee has a vote in the company, and the annual meetings are held
-in the town hall. The stock issued each year represents real value,
-for every dollar of it is put into material improvements in the shop
-and its equipment. I visited Mr. Baker some years ago and he told me
-of the success of his plans. Just before I left I said: “Mr. Baker,
-do you think that you have been wise in putting so much effort into
-the creation of this new form of industrial organization?” He replied:
-“Well, I am past seventy years of age and have all the money I can use
-conveniently. I enjoy life and have the friendship of my workmen. I do
-not need to station detectives about my home to protect me while I am
-asleep; and another thing, we never have had a strike in this town. We
-are all friends and fellow workers.” Surely these are the things that
-accumulations of money cannot produce and their possession is beyond
-value. What has been done in this factory connected with the steel
-trade ought to be possible everywhere.
-
-=The Church and Its Approach.= The scheme of adjustment is a difficult
-one, and the church is not meeting the situation in any adequate way.
-Its task is before it and must be attacked with persistence, with
-skill, and with patience. This means, first of all, that the church
-in the communities where the steel workers live must find a method of
-approach through the home and the school to the heart and the life of
-the people. Until this is done, it will be futile for the church to
-even attempt to minister to the people in the deeper things of life.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER VII
-
-THE WORLD OF THE TRANSPORTATION MEN
-
-
-“Here, boss, jes’ take fo’ dollars’ worth of ride out of this here
-bill.” This was the response of an old Negro riding on a Southern
-train when asked for his ticket by the conductor. Without a word the
-conductor gave him the change from a ten dollar bill and a ticket to
-tuck into his hat and which allowed him to ride to a town approximately
-two hundred miles distant. When the train reached its destination
-the old Negro began to fumble in his pockets and then he picked up
-his bundles and slowly got off. Three hours later, as a train coming
-in the opposite direction stopped at the station, the same Negro got
-aboard, paid his fare back to the starting-point and arrived early in
-the morning. Going up the street he met the judge of the district, who
-said to him, “Hello, John, what are you doing out so early? Where have
-you been?” “I ain’t been nowhere, Judge; I jes’ been doing a little
-traveling.” This is not an isolated case by any means. I told this
-story as I had heard it to a conductor on another road and he said it
-was a very common thing to have fifteen or twenty white people as well
-as Negroes “ride out” the mileage covered by a five dollar bill.
-
-The American is the most restless person in the world. We are always on
-the move and a large amount of our traveling is purposeless. We simply
-travel because we like to be going somewhere. This trait in us is a
-survival from a long past age in man’s development. This primitive love
-of change is strengthened by the economic pressure under which most of
-us live. Early man wandered from place to place in search of his food.
-Modern man does the same, the only difference being that he does not
-now look for his food ready to his hand, but looks for a place to work,
-so that he can earn money with which to buy his food. “We have been
-married twelve years,” said a vivacious little lady, “and I have lived
-in six states. It seems that my husband is always getting a chance to
-better our condition, and we both have come to look forward to a move
-about every two years. If we just live long enough, we will have lived
-in every state in the Union.”
-
-But transportation as we understand it to-day refers to the moving
-of freight, express, and mail, as well as to the moving of men and
-women. Man himself was the original burden-bearer and became the first
-transportation system, carrying combined freight and express. He simply
-took his bundle on his shoulders and used his legs as the means of
-moving from one place to another. Then he used other men to help carry
-his loads. There has been much speculation as to how the stones used in
-the building of the Great Pyramids were brought to the desert and put
-into place. Many theories have been advanced. One of the latest is that
-the Pyramids are made of concrete and that they were poured rather than
-quarried. However the material was secured, or in whatever way the work
-was accomplished, we can be sure of one thing and that is that all of
-the material was carried by men. They were the slaves of Pharaoh and
-this was the usual form of the transportation system of Egypt. There
-were auxiliary lines which employed camels, asses, and some horses; but
-the slave was the principal carrier just as he is in Africa to-day. The
-rivers and the oceans were used as highways of travel, but the boats
-were very crude affairs and the slaves chained to the seats and pulling
-on heavy oars formed the motive power. The oars were made in graduated
-lengths, one bank above another. The three-tiered Roman boat was known
-as the trireme and it was the great-grandfather of the ocean liners
-with their triple screws. It is a long development from the primitive
-methods of travel and burden-bearing in the early days of Egypt to the
-great transcontinental railway lines and the ocean steamships of our
-day!
-
-=Progress and Transportation.= The word progress carries within it the
-implication that there is a road over which the race of men is passing.
-The roadmaker has always been the pioneer of civilization. The advent
-of steam and the perfecting of railroads marks a period of development
-throughout civilization itself. Some one has said that it would be
-far more interesting and informing concerning the facts that will
-transpire in the next one hundred years, if we could see the railroad
-map showing all the transportation lines in the different continents to
-be published in the year 2018, than if we could have a map that would
-simply show the national boundaries. A nation may be compared to a
-human body. The railroad lines are the arteries along which flows the
-life-blood of the nation. Industry is the center of a nation’s life,
-and it pumps commerce over the rails and thus keeps the body growing
-and in a healthful state.
-
-=Age of the Engineer.= The great world war has been characterized in
-many ways, but perhaps the best characterization of all is that it
-is an engineers’ war. Eliminate the work of the engineers, civil and
-mechanical, from this war and it could not have been fought. For that
-matter the last seventy-five years of the world’s history has belonged
-to the engineers. Ninety per cent. of all our comforts, conveniences,
-and practical achievements is due to their work, and what wonders
-have been wrought in this time! The engineer has accomplished more in
-the field of transportation than in any other realm. Transportation,
-represented by the railroads, the steamships, the automobiles, and the
-better roads that have been built to accommodate them, makes up the
-chief differences between our age and all those ages preceding.
-
-=The Railway Systems.= There is being operated in the United States at
-the present time 230,000 miles of railroads. The mileage which they
-cover if stretched about the earth would belt the globe nine times.
-The total mileage for the whole world is about 700,000; all of Europe
-has 215,140 miles. The United States and Canada together have almost
-half the total mileage of the world and as much as all of Europe and
-Asia combined. In 1915 the railroads of the United States carried
-976,303,602 passengers and moved 1,802,018,177 tons of freight. The
-railway companies employed 1,654,075 men and women. The average hourly
-pay for these workers, figured on the basis of the eight-hour day,
-is twenty-six cents. Railroading is a most difficult and dangerous
-occupation, and yet there is something in the work itself that appeals
-to the worker. “Once a railroad man, always a railroad man,” as one
-brakeman put it.
-
-There was a railroad wreck on the Southern Pacific line just south of
-Livermore, California, some years ago. The engine fell over into a
-creek and the engineer was caught underneath, and pressed down into
-the soft sand. It was eighteen hours before he was rescued; his chest
-was crushed and he was horribly burned but by some miracle he lived.
-The railway company gave him a pension in recognition of his faithful
-services of about twelve years, and he was able to live on the income
-without working. This invalided engineer was idle for almost ten
-months; he then went back to the company and asked to be put on an
-engine again. He was not considered strong enough to run a passenger
-engine, but was supremely happy when put in charge of a switch engine
-in the train-yards of Sacramento. He said, “It was the happiest day of
-my life when I pulled the throttle, and again felt the engine begin to
-move out under my touch and control.”
-
-=Casualty Lists.= In the year 1916, the steam railways of the United
-States injured 196,722 people and killed 10,001. The electric railways
-for the same period injured 4,606 and killed 518. Of these persons,
-4,928 were killed while riding as passengers, or while at work in the
-performance of their tasks. The remainder were killed while walking
-upon the railway tracks or in other ways trespassing.
-
-One bitter cold day a Lackawanna train from New York going to Buffalo
-was nearing a little village near Binghamton when the brakeman,
-muffling up his ears, stepped out on the rear platform to be ready to
-signal as the train stopped at the near-by crossing. The train stopped
-and then gave four blasts on the whistle calling in the brakeman. There
-was a delay and the conductor went back to find out why the brakeman
-did not come, but could not see him anywhere down the line. The train
-was late and running badly, so instead of backing up to look for the
-brakeman, the conductor gave orders for the train to go ahead and
-reported the fact at the next station. Two stations beyond word reached
-him that the body of the brakeman had been found beside the track. He
-had stepped out on the rear platform just as the train rounded a curve
-and the platform being slippery he lost his footing and was thrown off
-and killed instantly. The brakeman’s family was protected because he
-was engaged in interstate commerce, but one more human being was lost
-in the performance of his daily task. The inventions such as patent
-coupling devices, block signals, and the vestibule cars, have done
-away with a great many accidents, but in the very nature of the case,
-there will always be danger in the work done by the men who operate our
-trains.
-
-=The Human Factor.= The railroads of the country are made as safe as
-possible by installing wonderful devices which work automatically.
-The tracks are inspected, old ties replaced by new ones; bolts are
-tested, yet in spite of all the excellent devices to secure safety,
-accidents occur in sickening succession. An entire circus company was
-recently wiped out by an accident on the Michigan Central Railroad. The
-members of the circus were nearly all asleep when a train from the rear
-plunged through their cars killing nearly one hundred and injuring
-over one hundred others. The wreckage caught fire and many of the
-bodies were cremated. Reports would indicate that this accident was one
-of those unavoidable things that happen so often in railroading.
-
-Experiences in speaking before groups of railroad men prove that the
-question of danger is always before the minds of the workers. These men
-literally carry their lives in their hands. For after all, no matter
-how perfectly the track may be laid, and in spite of the fact that
-the signals are all set, there is always the human factor to be taken
-into consideration. The flagman may not go back far enough from the
-train that is stopped so that the one following can be brought to a
-halt before crashing into the train ahead. Another thing that enters
-into the situation is the fact that men who are working surrounded
-by constant perils are likely to become careless. “I carry with me a
-sense of responsibility for the life of every man, woman, and child who
-rides on my train.” This was the statement of a conscientious railroad
-engineer. “But,” he continued, “I am in constant fear that my train
-will be wrecked through the carelessness of somebody else.” This man
-recognized a need that is essential in securing safety in traveling
-on our railroads, that is, a sense of corporate responsibility; by
-this we mean, that the entire group of men, all the workers and all of
-those who are responsible for the operation of the roads should feel
-the same sense of responsibility that the individual engineer feels.
-To secure this condition the railroad companies must realize that they
-are dealing with human beings; and that the men who furnish the human
-element in the railroad equation are entitled to a voice and a share
-in the management of the line.
-
-=Wages and Hours of Work.= When the railroad employees threatened to
-strike in 1917 and asked for an eight-hour day and an increase of
-wages, there was a great deal of discussion as to whether the companies
-or the men were in the right. Most people sided with the companies
-against the men, because there is an idea among the people that the
-railroad men are the best paid employees in any of our industries.
-Contrary to the general understanding, the railroad employees for the
-most part are not well paid. The government has recognized the need for
-increased wages and has made advances to nearly all classes of railway
-employees since federal control went into effect. The average rate for
-a normal day’s work for engineers in the freight service throughout the
-eastern territory is $4.85, conductors $4, brakemen $2.67, and firemen
-$3.25. These are the best paid of all the railroad employees. Tower
-men, who have in their care the lives of millions of passengers as they
-protect crossings, receive from $40 to $50 a month. Telegraphers, train
-dispatchers, track inspectors, and other employees, outside of the four
-great brotherhoods, made up of the engineers, conductors, brakemen, and
-firemen, are very poorly paid. And even the wages for the best paid and
-most skilful operators, the brakeman and the fireman, for instance, are
-so low that it means that in order to earn a living wage they must make
-a great deal through overtime.
-
-The effect of this low wage is shown in the number of employees who are
-changed every year. In the first nine months of 1917 in the eastern
-territory three men were employed for every one job filled. This is
-known as the turn-over in employment and it is unusually high because
-the wages are below standard, the hours long, and the work hard and
-dangerous. There is a continual change in the operating forces and a
-consequent lack of efficiency. Another consideration to be taken into
-account in studying the wages and lives of railway workers is that of
-the effect of the work upon the workers. An engineer must put in years
-as a fireman before he can secure the right to run an engine, and then
-a dozen or fifteen years is about the length of time that he can depend
-on keeping his job. He is fortunate indeed if he earns a good wage for
-this length of time. The wear and tear on muscles, nerves, eyes, ears,
-kidneys, and heart is almost certain to break down the strongest body
-in a few years. Some few men stand the strain and hold on for twenty
-years but these are the rare exceptions.
-
-=Fictitious Values and the Railways.= The railroad business deals in
-a commodity that may be termed public service. Almost more than any
-other business it is dependent for success upon the good-will of the
-public. The earnings of the railroads have been enormous and even if
-their operating expenses are high, there have been big profits made,
-and these profits have been taken up to a large extent in paying
-dividends upon fictitious values. This is the most serious situation
-that threatens the railroad system of the United States. For instance,
-a road is built and a certain amount of money put into the equipment
-and rolling stock, such as engines, coaches, and freight-cars. The
-employees are hired and the road begins to do business as a regular
-passenger and freight carrier. Out of its total receipts it must pay a
-fixed amount for up-keep, for new equipment, and for wages, besides the
-interest on the money it has borrowed. The balance that is left from
-the amount of money received by the road and the amount it must pay out
-marks its own profits. This is given to the owners of the road.
-
-For many years the railroads felt that they needed special legislation;
-and money was spent in buying up legislators, in corrupting city
-councils, and in gaining the influence of noted men who would agree
-to return certain favors to the road for certain concessions given. A
-common practise in connection with this was the giving of free passes
-to all statesmen and newspaper men. In addition to this the railroad
-property became valuable as a factor in the stock market, and new stock
-was continually being issued. This stock would be sold and in many
-cases no new equipment put into the road, so that at the present time
-some of the railroads of the United States have three or four times as
-much stock as they have actual physical value for their stock.
-
-A good illustration of this business situation would be that you
-as owner of a house worth $4,000 should make or form a cooperative
-housekeeping company and sell shares in this new company, basing the
-value of the total amount of shares upon the $4,000 that the house
-is worth. You could sell forty shares each for $100. This would be
-perfectly legitimate and a good business transaction, because at any
-time every share would have back of it one-fortieth of the total value
-of the house. But suppose instead of selling forty shares, you should
-capitalize your house at $40,000 and sell 400 shares at $100 a piece,
-instead of the forty shares. The extra valuation would be known as
-watered stock, because there would be no real value attached to it. You
-would be selling something that neither you nor anybody else possessed.
-
-It is said that the term watered stock came from the practise of one
-of the early financiers who brought cattle from the West to sell in
-the New York market when New York was a very small city. He drove the
-cattle a long distance on the last day, and then gave them salt the
-night before arrival, so that they were inordinately thirsty. Just
-before they were sold and weighed he would let them drink all the water
-they wanted, so that the man who bought them was paying for a great
-deal of water in addition to the actual amount of beef he received.
-The result of this financial device known as watered stock has been
-disastrous for many of our railway companies, and the plight of the
-United States railroads has been a scandal for years.
-
-=Regulating the Railroads.= The legislature of nearly every state
-has tried to remedy the railway situation. The commissions in the
-various states have frequently found themselves in each other’s way.
-The Interstate Commerce Commission appointed by the United States
-government for the purpose of regulating railroads is one of the most
-efficient bodies in the entire government and has rendered remarkable
-services. The citizens of the United States are individualists and
-believe strongly in letting each business adjust its own difficulties
-as best it can. With the growth of the world commerce without, and
-the development of the country’s trade within, however, many men are
-coming to believe that the only way out of difficulties is through a
-larger degree of government control, tending finally to government
-ownership of all the means of transportation. The strongest argument in
-favor of government ownership is the success of the Interstate Commerce
-Commission. During the last ten years there has come about a very
-radical change in the relations existing between the various railways
-and the general public. During the period between 1850 and 1900 the
-railways were masters of the situation; and the financiers who built
-and operated them were despots, more or less benevolent or the opposite
-according to their personal temperaments. The railway presidents
-during that period really regarded their roads as private property
-to be managed as they saw fit. This theory built up a great railroad
-system in the country, but the theory is not big enough to meet the new
-national demands that are put upon the common carriers of the day. The
-railroads are now pleading with the public to recognize them as public
-institutions primarily interested in serving the people.
-
-[Illustration:
-
- Press Illustrating Service.
-
-In New York harbor and on other waterways, living upon the canal-boats
-and barges, are the families of the workers.]
-
-=Railroads and Churches.= The railroad situation is too complicated
-for us to attempt a solution of it in a church study class. It will
-demand years of experimentation and a degree of personal service on
-the part of the best and ablest men of our nation. What the church can
-and must do is to try to estimate the value of the principles that are
-involved in the railroad development and management. This can be done
-by following the story of the railroad as told by the writers in the
-public magazines of the last ten years. The history of our railroad
-legislation is also available for us in the records of the Interstate
-Commerce Commission. Each study group should write to Washington and
-get the literature issued by this commission. Much of it will be
-found to be dry reading, being largely a compilation of statistics;
-and these statistics dealing in figures so large that they mean very
-little to us. The recommendations, however, and the conclusions are of
-practical value and will be found to be extremely helpful in the wise
-and just conclusion regarding our attitude toward the railroad as a
-national institution.
-
-=Other Means of Transportation.= The work of the men engaged in
-transportation is not by any means confined to the workers on the
-railroads. In our cities there are thousands of men employed on the
-street-cars, elevated railroads, and subway railways. The interurban
-traction lines employ hundreds of thousands of men. A careful study has
-been made of the situation affecting these workers by the Department
-of Labor of the United States, and its report is based upon facts
-ascertained from actual conditions found in all the principal cities
-of the country. Without exception the street-car men, including
-conductors, motormen, linesmen, and ticket-sellers, are poorly paid.
-Many of the cities are paying the men much less than a living wage.
-What do you know about the conditions in the street-cars in your own
-city? Where do the men who operate these cars live? What about their
-families? A motorman on one of the elevated railway lines of Chicago
-shot himself a few years ago. The note he left said: “I have four
-children and it is impossible with the rising cost of living for me
-to maintain my home on $2.12 a day. I have a Life Insurance policy
-for $2,000 and this is worth more to my wife and children than I earn
-at present.” The street-car lines in most of our cities are owned and
-controlled by capitalists living in some other city, and they are
-operated, not for the benefit of the city, but simply for profits. The
-frequent strikes on the street-car lines are the direct result of this
-foolish policy of our cities of allowing themselves to be exploited
-by groups of business men who have no interest in the city, but hold
-toward it, its citizens, and its own workers, the attitude of a set
-of political and social freebooters. A few places only have attempted
-municipal ownership, and in these cases it has met with a large
-measure of success. The lines owned and operated by the San Francisco
-municipality have proved so successful that the business men are all
-enthusiastic over the policy.
-
-Another group that aids in providing transportation is made up of
-the men on boats on the lakes, rivers, and canals; those who come to
-our shores from other nations traveling by sea in foreign boats; the
-sailors on our merchant marine; and the thousands of workers on the
-docks and lighters in our harbors. In connection with this great work,
-Andrew Furuseth, president of the International Seamen’s Union, stands
-out as a remarkable figure. He is a Scandinavian by birth, and worked
-his way up from the simple life of a sailor before the mast until he is
-now the best known sailor in all the world. Mr. Furuseth has a great
-heart, and has fought long and hard for his fellow workers; he might
-be rich to-day, but as head of the union he accepts only the pay of a
-first-class seaman and is literally giving his life for others. At a
-meeting of the City Club in Rochester which he addressed some years
-ago, one of the gentlemen present turned to his companion and said:
-“Just look at Furuseth. In every line of his face there is written a
-chapter of the tragedy and pathos of the men who go down to the sea in
-ships.”
-
-The sailor has been practically a prisoner always. When he signed his
-work papers he put himself under the control of an absolute autocrat.
-Until recently the master of a ship at sea recognized no authority
-greater than himself, and when the boat landed at any port, no matter
-what the treatment might have been, the seaman could not desert,
-otherwise he would be arrested and imprisoned. Furuseth protested
-against this inhuman treatment, and through a long period of years kept
-demanding that seamen, “the last slaves” as he called them, be made
-free. Finally his efforts were successful and on March, 1915, there was
-approved by the Congress of the United States an Act which promotes the
-welfare of the American seaman in the merchant marine. It abolishes
-arrest and imprisonment for desertion, and it secured the abrogation
-of treaty provisions between the different nations which guaranteed
-that American sailors would be treated as felons if they deserted in a
-foreign port. It also provided additional safety at sea for all persons
-upon a boat; one of its provisions being that there shall be carried on
-every passenger-carrying steamer or sailing vessel enough life-boats
-so that each passenger and each man of the crew will have a seat and
-a chance for escape in case of an accident. It is interesting to note
-that this Act was passed as a direct result of the sinking of the
-_Titanic_.
-
-=The World of the Transportation Men.= The transportation men live in a
-world apart. How many sailors do you know? How many street-car men? How
-many railroaders? Have you ever wondered where the conductor on the
-street-car upon which you ride so often lives? “Yes, we have a little
-church, but it is over across the tracks where the railroad men live,
-and I always attend the Presbyterian Church here.” This was the excuse
-given by a gentleman for not attending the church of the denomination
-to which he had belonged before he moved into a new community near
-Chicago. We do not want a church to be known as the Railroad Men’s
-Church or the Sailors’ Church or the Street-Car Workers’ Church. This
-is not the way to be the best kind of a neighbor. What we do want is
-for the church everywhere to take an interest in these men who are
-providing for our transportation and also carrying the necessities
-of life for all the world. We come into personal relationships with
-many of them in a business way, and they all do much to add to our
-wealth, our happiness, and our comfort. We in turn as individuals and
-as members of the church should acquaint ourselves with the conditions
-surrounding them.
-
-For instance, in the waters of the New York harbor, living upon the
-canal-boats which move in and out carrying coal, hay, and other rough
-freight, are the families of the workers, and in these families there
-are approximately 5,000 children. They are at one place to-day and
-another place to-morrow. These people have no citizenship in the best
-sense of the word. Many of the men do not vote because they live in
-no locality long enough to register. The questions of schooling, of
-church privileges, and of all social contact are serious ones. Yet how
-many people in New York City, or for that matter in any of the smaller
-towns and villages where these boats land, have ever once thought of
-the status and social conditions of these men, and women, and their
-children? Things we know. The things which the boats and the railroads
-carry and that other thing that looms so large, the profits that are
-made from transportation, are regarded as very important; but we have
-paid scant attention to the men who produce things and carry them from
-place to place.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER VIII
-
-THE WORLD OF THE MAKERS OF LUXURIES
-
-
-“I would not like to work in a candy store,” said a young lad, “because
-then I could not have the fun of buying candy.” A visitor to Atlantic
-City stepped into one of the shops to make a purchase. She said to the
-little girl in charge, “It must be delightful to be able to live in
-Atlantic City and work right here on the boardwalk.” “You may think
-so,” replied the girl. “But I guess if you put in all your time in this
-store, and had to come to work at eight in the morning and work until
-nine at night every day; and all the time saw these thousands of people
-passing along outside, going up and down, with nothing to do but just
-enjoy themselves, you would not think it is such a snap.” Two boys
-were playing the game of “wish.” When the turn of the youngest came,
-he said, “I wish that I worked in a chocolate factory, then I could
-have all the chocolate I wanted to eat.” When we become acquainted with
-the people who are at work producing the luxuries, we find a common
-and far-reaching disillusionment. The hardest work in the world is to
-work when other people are playing, or work hard ourselves just for the
-purpose of giving other people enjoyment. And yet there are literally
-hundreds of thousands of people who spend their lives in producing
-luxuries.
-
-Oliver Wendell Holmes used to say that if he could just have the
-luxuries, he would not care anything about the necessities of life.
-This was a whimsical way of stating a fact that is common to all
-experience, that is, that life is enriched by the luxuries we enjoy. I
-asked a man of the typographical union what he considered the one thing
-that had done most for the advancement of printers. He replied, “Pianos
-in their parlors.” By this he meant that when hours were decreased and
-wages increased, printers began to have something to hope for; and
-with a margin of money they bought luxuries, and in the margin of time
-enjoyed them. Thus they laid the foundation for future development.
-
-=Luxuries.= What constitutes a luxury? This is a difficult question
-to answer. Some people think that it is a luxury to take a bath. In
-fact, many of the monastic orders put special virtue on foregoing the
-use of soap and water. An old gentleman living in a little town near
-Chicago who owned a great deal of the property in the town, fought
-every effort to put in water-works and a sewer system. As the climax of
-an impassioned speech at a public meeting in which he had denounced the
-extravagances of the present time, he said: “These new notions of our
-young people are going to ruin us. My daughter made such a fuss that
-nine years ago I put a bathtub in our house, but I never use it and I
-guess I am about as healthy as any man in town.” One of the religious
-sects forbids its members the use of buttons on their clothes, as they
-are regarded as useless luxuries. They fasten their clothes together
-with hooks and eyes. Cutting the hair, shaving the beard, wearing gold
-and silver, adorning the person in any way, all of these things are
-considered luxuries by some persons. Luxury is really a thing that we
-can get along without. But at best it is a relative term, for what one
-person would consider a luxury another would consider a necessity.
-
-=Growth by Wants, Not Needs.= A merchant in Memphis had a carload of
-supplies arrive early one Saturday morning. He was very anxious to
-get the goods unloaded so that he could release the car. He started
-out to get help, but every Negro on the street had some good excuse
-why he could not help. Meeting an old fellow on the corner he said to
-him, “Look here, Bob, what is the trouble with all these Negroes? Not
-one of them wants to work and yet they all seem to have plenty of time
-and nothing to do.” “It’s just like this, Boss,” replied old Bob. “All
-the worth-while niggers is out working, ’cause you see they’s got to
-support their Fords. These here fellers ain’t no good; don’t want cyars
-and won’t work nohow when the sun shines on both sides of the street at
-de same time.” In this statement we have summed up the philosophy of
-all workers. It is only when we desire something better than we have
-and are willing to work for the thing desired that we begin to advance.
-Luxuries are the things that are not essential for mere existence, but
-they are the things that are of infinite value in enriching and adding
-to the meaning of life.
-
-=Classes of Luxuries.= Luxuries can be roughly divided into two
-classes, those that are harmless and those that are hurtful. The extra
-dress, the piece of cake, the sugar in our coffee, the coffee itself,
-and in fact a great many of the things we wear, eat, and drink are
-luxuries. The line between these things and necessities is such a thin
-one that it is hard to know just when a thing ceases to be a necessity
-and becomes a luxury. Most things are harmless in and of themselves,
-and it must be acknowledged, luxuries have the effect of increasing
-the value and meaning of life. There are, however, luxuries such as
-beer, wine, whisky, brandy, and other alcoholic stimulants used as
-beverages, also tobacco used as snuff, for chewing or for smoking,
-which add nothing to life; but on the contrary must be classed with
-the habit-forming drugs so injurious to the race. In this chapter we
-are considering luxuries from the standpoint of production, and not
-the moral value involved in their use. Therefore, we must think of
-the workers in the brewery, the cigar and cigaret makers, the makers
-of artificial flowers and willow plumes as all belonging to the same
-class. They are the ones who are making the things that are not
-absolutely necessary for our existence. Were the production of bread to
-stop we could not live. Iron, steel, coal, and transportation are all
-part and parcel of our very existence, but we could get along very well
-if not another artificial flower, cigar, or fancy dress were made.
-
-=The Cigarmakers.= The cigarmakers living in Tampa and Key West form
-the most complete compact group of workers to be found anywhere in
-the United States who are interested solely in producing luxuries.
-Tampa is known as “The city that furnishes the world’s smoke.” Last
-year this city shipped (in round numbers) 300,000,000 cigars! Havana
-and Key West have always been considered the principal cigar cities,
-but the production in these latter places has been declining for a
-number of years, while it has been increasing in Tampa. It was a clash
-between the Cuban and Spanish workers at Key West which led the first
-manufacturer to move from that city and build his factory at Tampa.
-To-day there are 15,000 Cuban and Spanish workers employed in Tampa in
-making cigars. A person could live in the city, and by restricting his
-business to certain districts, from one year’s beginning to the end
-would never hear a word spoken in any language except Spanish. The city
-is a foreign city, and a city of workers producing a luxury that all
-the world demands. Since the time that Columbus sent his men to explore
-the island of Cuba in November, 1492, and found the natives “carrying
-and smoking firebrands” made from loosely rolled leaves of a weed which
-grew extensively on the island, until the present time men everywhere
-have found enjoyment and pleasure in the narcotic value of tobacco.
-
-=The Making of a Cigar.= In its manufacture a cigar goes through a
-process dependent upon the knowledge and skill gained from years of
-practise on the part of the worker. The tobacco that is used in making
-the best cigars still comes from the island of Cuba. It is grown very
-carefully, cured, baled, and shipped under bond to the United States
-government. The bales as they are received at the tobacco factory weigh
-from 80 to 120 pounds. The tobacco is of two qualities, that to be used
-as a filler (which makes up the body of the cigar), and that which is
-known as the wrapper or the outside covering. From the time that the
-tobacco begins to grow until the cigars are packed in the boxes ready
-for shipment the weed requires special care and attention. As the bales
-of tobacco are brought into the factory they have to be piled in a
-certain way. Some of them are piled high, some of them low, some on
-their sides, and some on their ends; all depending upon the quality and
-conditions of the leaves.
-
-The tobacco is cured by a process which adds to its value; and the
-curing must be carried on with precision, for a faulty method will
-spoil the best tobacco that can be grown. Any one who has visited Tampa
-is impressed with the humidity of the atmosphere. The climate of Cuba
-is more nearly reproduced there than in any other city in America, and
-because of its equable temperature, it being neither too hot nor too
-cold, the city has become famous as the manufacturing center for cigars.
-
-The cigarmakers sit at long tables in parallel rows throughout the
-room. In one room in a large factory eight hundred workers sit as close
-together as possible. The tools of the trade are a flat, broad-bladed
-knife, a hard block, a gage, and a rule. This gage is simply a hole
-bored through a piece of board and as the worker makes up the cigar,
-from time to time he puts it through the hole in the board to see that
-it is the proper size and places it against the rule to see that it is
-the proper length. Should it be too large it must be rolled tighter,
-if too small it must be loosened up a bit. Much depends upon the way
-a cigar is rolled. “I learned to make a cigar in three months,” said
-a Cuban cigarmaker, “but it took me two years to learn how to put an
-end on it.” This is the real test, and until a machine is invented
-which can turn this trick, the hand-made cigars, rolled, and finished
-according to the old Spanish method, will hold first place.
-
-=The Reader in the Factory.= The Tampa cigarmakers are all either
-Spanish or Cuban, and in conversation they gesticulate with their
-hands to such an extent that it is impossible for them to talk and work
-at the same time. Hence, the manufacturers are very sympathetic with
-the old custom of maintaining a reader in the factory. This reader has
-a little balcony from which he reads to the employees while they are at
-work, making his selections from current magazines, newspapers, novels,
-telegrams, dispatches from abroad, and extracts from books on national
-history. It is an interesting sight to see a factory of four or five
-hundred workers busily engaged in plying their trade, and listening
-at the same time to a story read by the paid reader, who, with coat
-off and suspenders hanging, gesticulates and shouts at the top of his
-voice. One of the readers in a Tampa factory has held his position for
-twenty years. He reads daily from the New York _Herald_, translating
-the news articles into Spanish as he reads them. The reader is well
-paid, for each worker gives him twenty-five cents a week; and it is
-reported that some of these men receive as high as $300 a month. The
-workers decide what shall be read. Some years ago there was a strike
-in one of the factories occasioned by a protest on the part of the
-women workers against the reading of an especially vulgar novel. The
-management ordered the reading of this novel stopped. The men then laid
-down their tools and refused to go back to work until they were assured
-that the story would be continued. Among the cigarmakers the tradition
-is that the custom of reading grew out of the desire of the early
-workers for a more liberal education than was offered by the church and
-its schools.
-
-=Wages and Unions.= The wages of the cigarmakers are based on the
-piece-work system. An expert may make as high as $35 a week; the
-average is a little higher than in other employments using the same
-grade of labor. Some years ago, when a bitter strike was conducted
-in Tampa, the question of wages was one of the grievances of the men
-but was not the real trouble, for the problem in Tampa now as well
-as then is racial and psychological rather than economic. The strike
-was settled on the basis of an agreement called the “equalization
-agreement.” This provided for the appointment of a board to be composed
-of three manufacturers and three cigarmakers who would meet regularly,
-hear complaints, and make adjustments. Most of the workers belong to
-the union, and under this agreement there is a fair degree of peace in
-the industry.
-
-One great difficulty is that the workers in the cigar industry carry
-into their trade no moral enthusiasm. They are doing something that
-is not absolutely requisite for human welfare, and while they make
-good money, they have no commanding purpose to impel them to carry on
-their work. The people live simple lives for the most part. On Saturday
-nights the streets of the city are filled with people, and every one
-is in a holiday mood. The majority of the cigar workers in Tampa are
-communicants in the Roman Catholic Church and it is the finest building
-in the city. It is constructed of marble and decorated with magnificent
-windows. The church takes little interest, however, in social or
-economic matters. One of the workers said to me the last time I was in
-the city, “When the business men forced us back to work, and through
-their private army guarded the city with sawed-off shotguns, the
-church was back of them. All the priests want is our money.” To the
-cigarmakers a church is a church whether it be Catholic or Protestant.
-They remember the days in Cuba under the domination of Spain when the
-priests held them in a kind of bondage of fear, and made it easy for
-the political forces to exploit them. In America they do not intend to
-give the church a chance at them.
-
-The Cuban is easily pleased; very emotional, and more inclined to be
-fickle than the American or Englishman. A few years ago the butchers of
-Tampa raised the price of meat. Just at that time there happened to be
-a representative of the Industrial Workers of the World in the city.
-He gathered some of the people together in East Tampa, harangued them
-regarding their wrongs, and called a second meeting. He aroused so much
-enthusiasm that nearly two thousand of the cigar workers quit their
-jobs; procured sticks, and bought beefsteaks and stuck them on the end
-of the sticks. Carrying these over their shoulders as though they were
-banners, the whole mob marched through the streets to the City Hall,
-where they demanded of the startled mayor, that he force the butchers
-to reduce the price of beef. The mayor gave the necessary order and
-the people then dispersed and went quietly back to their homes. Union
-organizers complain that it is very difficult to maintain a union
-of any strength among the cigar workers in Tampa. “They are very
-enthusiastic for a time, but it is difficult for them to persistently
-and constantly follow the union rules,” said one of the leaders.
-
-The city of the cigarmakers swarms with children, many of these
-youngsters play in the street, and as the climate is warm most of the
-year, during the summer they wear very little clothing. Until recently
-there was no provision made for organized play among the children of
-the city. Even now the provision is totally inadequate.
-
-=The Protestant Churches.= The Protestant churches have attempted to
-do what they could among the cigarmakers; but the needs have been so
-great and the equipment so inadequate that the best results have not
-been secured. In West Tampa there is a very interesting piece of work
-being conducted by the Methodist, the Baptist, and the Congregational
-churches. One of the churches has a plant consisting of a church, a
-school, and a house that is used as a social center for the entire
-community. For many years two homes were operated by this church;
-one for boys and one for girls. Some seven hundred children attend
-the school in connection with the church. The services on Sunday
-are in Spanish, and while it has not been possible always to secure
-a large attendance from among the people, still there is usually
-a representative and interesting group present. A man who served
-as pastor of the Cuban church was for a number of years a regular
-worker in one of the big cigar factories. This gave him a peculiar
-relationship to the community. He was accepted as a friend and equal;
-and was listened to with reverence and respect where another man would
-not have secured a hearing.
-
-[Illustration:
-
- Photo from National Child Labor Committee.
-
-The workers in the cigar industry carry into their trade no moral
-enthusiasm, for they are doing something that is not absolutely
-requisite for human welfare.]
-
-=Some Results of the Work.= A little girl in the community where one
-of the church homes is situated was arrested for being a vagrant. Her
-face was dirty; she was barefooted and wore a torn, buttonless, brown
-gingham dress that was positively filthy and which was held in place
-by a safety-pin fastened in such a way as to give the whole dress a
-weird, elfish look. The child’s picture was taken on the day that
-she was arrested and committed to the care of the church. This picture
-is a typical portrayal of childish rebellion against life and all
-that it holds in store for the human race. Her mother was a worthless
-woman, and the child had never known a father. All her life she had
-really lived on the streets of the city. Her case was brought before
-the Juvenile Court; she was put on probation and given into the care of
-the workers in one of the little Protestant churches. She objected to
-having her hair combed and refused to wash her face. Those in charge of
-the home were almost in despair of being able to do anything with her.
-However, they won her confidence by allowing her to go to a party where
-they had a phonograph and motion pictures. They told her she could have
-all the cake and lemonade she wanted; so once in her life under happier
-conditions she had a chance for simple enjoyment and to be her natural
-self. From that time on she began to take an interest in herself and
-to gain in intelligence. Two years later she had her picture taken
-and it was exhibited as the picture of the typical Cuban girl, for
-she had developed into a perfect little beauty and showed capability.
-This story illustrates better than almost anything else the infinite
-possibilities in the Cuban people.
-
-Some one said of the cigarmakers in Tampa that they were not Americans
-and never could be, and further stated: “They are interested only in
-their theaters, their clubs, their cock-fights, their coffee-houses,
-and their gambling rooms.” It is true that they are interested in
-these things; because they are by temperament a pleasure-loving,
-happy-go-lucky sort of people and these resources are the expression
-of their idea of life. If the church would meet the needs of these
-people, it must be able to appreciate them, and sympathetically to
-interpret life for them. They can all become, as indeed most of them
-are now, good American citizens, but they will never be like the
-Americans in our Northern cities. We must allow them to develop along
-the lines of their own racial interests. How can we ever expect to be
-friends with Latin America if we cannot learn how to be good neighbors
-to the Latin Americans living in our own land?
-
-=The Challenge of Conditions in the Factories.= The conditions in the
-factories are not ideal by any means, nor is the nature of the business
-such as to promote the highest type of character. The work is hard,
-and it is performed in a heavy atmosphere poisoned with the breath of
-many individuals, and vitiated by the odors of human bodies and damp
-tobacco. The rooms where cigars are made have to be kept closed to save
-the weed; and every window is down, and no matter how hot the weather,
-not a breath of fresh air is allowed to enter the place. The atmosphere
-is so bad that it gives one a headache even to pass through; imagine
-what it would mean to spend your life working in such a place.
-
-Tuberculosis makes deep inroads in the ranks of the workers. Statistics
-show that the proportion of mortality among the cigar workers
-from tuberculosis of the lungs is higher than in almost any other
-occupation. Between the ages of 15 and 24 the proportionate mortality
-from tuberculosis is 48.5 per cent. of the total deaths as compared
-with 33.8 per cent. for all occupations.[3] The reason for this is that
-the workers must sit for long hours at a table in a bad atmosphere and
-surrounded by others, many of whom are suffering from tuberculosis.
-There are nearly 50,000 members of the union and these men have been
-fighting for years for a betterment of conditions. However, just as
-in other trades, the employers claim that it is impossible to make
-cigars without sacrifice of the working men and women. The workers
-have accepted it there, as other workers have accepted it in other
-occupations, with the stoic attitude that marks so many of the laborers
-of our country.
-
- [3] U. S. Bulletin of Labor, 1917.
-
-One of the most noted social workers in America, a woman with strength
-and charm of character, who is a leader in every radical movement,
-began her life in a cigar factory. Later on she married a man of
-wealth and has lived a life of ease ever since. She says of her early
-experiences: “For twelve years I was a cigar worker in Cleveland. I
-was ill-nourished and poorly clad. I worked at night as well as by
-day to help piece out my family’s existence. I never had anything I
-wanted.” This might be said of a great many of the cigar workers and
-their families. The only difference would be that she did not tell all
-of her story. In addition to the long hours there is an undermining
-of the health that goes with it. Now all these people are working for
-some one’s pleasure. They are making luxuries. The most radical person
-I ever knew in my life was an eighteen-year-old girl whose parents
-had lost their money. She was forced to go to work in a cigar factory
-when she was twelve years old. She was bitter toward life and had no
-faith or confidence in anything or in any person. Said she, “When I
-look around and see people who have all the money and all the clothes
-and all the good things that I want and can never have, I know that
-conditions are unjust and must be changed. I don’t care what it costs;
-I am going to do my part in fighting and agitating until there is a
-change.” This is an attitude that is now growing very common. There are
-deep-seated forces at work perpetuating these ideas. By valuing things
-more than men these conditions are made a permanent part of our life.
-
-=Furs.= “Why do you want to wear furs in the summer-time?” I asked a
-young lady. It was an extremely hot day and she was wearing a white
-dress with very short sleeves and cut low in the neck, but she had a
-fox fur around her neck; there was quite a margin between the lower
-edge of her fur and the upper edge of her dress. “Why,” she replied,
-“I think it is pretty, don’t you?” This fur had come on a long journey
-and gone through many processes before it came into her hands. Many
-men and women had labored to produce it. The man who had caught the
-fox probably had a line of traps stretched over nine or ten miles of
-some stream in the northern part of Canada or Alaska. All through the
-bitter cold of the winter he had lived alone in a cabin, and day after
-day had tramped that line to take out the animals that had been caught.
-Bringing them back to his cabin he skinned them; turned the hide over a
-piece of board and stood it behind the stove to cure. Later the pelts
-were brought out of the wilderness and sold into the hands of a group
-of fur workers. They were then more fully cured, and passed on to the
-makers of scarfs. All of these workers were producing a luxury.
-
-=The Trappers’ Community.= In one of the regions of the Northwest where
-trapping is carried on through the winter there are three little
-settlements. There are only three white people and one white family in
-two of them, and the third settlement, which is a trading post, has
-about half a dozen white families. From the time that the snow falls
-in the autumn until late in May of the following spring, no one comes
-into these communities except the man carrying the mail who comes
-once in about ten days. No one goes out from the community unless it
-is absolutely necessary. The only ministers that ever visit there
-are those who come in the summer to enjoy the fishing in the near-by
-streams. The wife of a trapper in this region said to a minister:
-“Our oldest girl is nearly thirteen years old. She has never been to
-Sunday-school and never heard a sermon. She has never seen a church
-and you are the only preacher to whom she has ever talked. When I was
-married fifteen years ago in Missouri and we started for this country,
-I had no idea that a girl who had been brought up in the church and was
-a teacher in the Sunday-school could live so long in a community where
-there is no church or religious service of any kind.” When we learn of
-places like this where there are no churches, and then hear of some
-small community that has six or eight churches and only about five or
-six hundred people, we wonder if there is not a call for a new kind of
-missionary effort and zeal. The church is not alone to blame nor is
-any one wholly responsible for this condition, and yet we are all to
-blame, for if it is necessary that a man should live on the outpost of
-civilization it should be made possible for some of the good things of
-civilization to be taken to him. In the foreign missionary work we have
-crossed oceans, traversed mountains, translated the Bible into new
-languages, and made every effort to reach new groups of people. In our
-own land we have neglected people just because they seemingly live in a
-world outside of our own. While they are producing the things we demand
-and use, we have forgotten the men who have brought these things to us.
-
-=The Theater.= People have always been interested in seeing life
-presented in a play. The theater has had a large place in the history
-of every nation. It has furnished the means of recreation and
-amusement, and in a large measure it has been a great educator of the
-people. Religion was once taught through the theater. In fact, much
-of our church ritual is taken from performances that were meant to
-symbolize great facts and emotions of human life. The modern theater
-has become highly commercialized, and those who attend the performances
-continually demand more magnificent scenery, more elaborate costumes,
-and more thrills. What of the performers? Have you ever wondered, as
-you looked at the play, just how the people who are taking part would
-look if you saw them off the stage? For instance, there is a girl that
-is playing the part of an old woman. She is dressed in a plain black,
-close-fitting gown, and hobbles across the stage leaning heavily upon a
-stick. In actual life she is a young woman under twenty-five years of
-age, has bright red hair, a charming smile, a figure that her friends
-describe as willowy, and walks with a springy step like that of a high
-school girl. Another character in the play is a woman who plays the
-part of the vampire. At home surrounded by her three children, she is a
-demure, domestic little body.
-
-A few years ago one of our theatrical critics said that a glimpse
-behind the scenes would cure almost any girl of the desire to become an
-actress. The glamor is all in front of the curtain. Behind the scenes
-we come face to face with a hard-working group of men and women who are
-doing their best to furnish amusement. One of the leading actresses,
-in writing the history of her life, said that the only opportunity for
-success on the stage was for the person who comprehends fully that the
-theater offers but one thing--a chance for long hours of drudgery and
-the uncertain rewards that come from the hands of a fickle public. She
-described vividly the actors’ boarding-house, with its narrow cramped
-bedrooms; its dimly-lit halls, with the faded and worn carpet; the
-smell of cooking that permeated the whole place “like the ghost of a
-thousand dead dinners;” the bitter loneliness, the jealousies, the
-misunderstandings, and she added, “my whole being revolts against all
-the petty details of the life.” Then there is the traveling; nights on
-the train and days spent in the hotels until time to go to the opera
-house; then the feverish excitement of dressing; the play; and back to
-the hotel for a few hours’ sleep and away again to another town.
-
-The trouble is that most of the young people who think that they
-would like to go on the stage think only of the theaters in New York,
-Chicago, Boston, or in one of the other large cities. The great
-majority of the actor-folk spend most of their time traveling from
-place to place. There are comparatively few plays that enjoy long
-runs. Nowadays in one-night stands there are few places where special
-rates at the hotels are secured for actors. Usually the worst rooms
-in the house are assigned to them. In fact, the rooms that are given
-to the actors and actresses are known in a great many hotels as the
-Soubrette Row. The best rooms are saved for the regular patrons of the
-house, such as traveling salesmen, while anything is “good enough for
-the actor.” In China the player folk live to themselves. They have no
-other companions but form a class of their own. We have not recognized
-the caste system in this country, and we do not officially ostracise
-the players, but in effect this is what we do. Their world is a world
-apart, yet they are the ones that help to amuse us. Each year we pay
-millions of dollars into the coffers of the theaters to see plays that
-are produced by these men and women who work hard, and who receive but
-little for their toil.
-
-Once in a while the newspapers tell the story of some old actor, who
-has just died poor, broken down, and forgotten by the public. One of
-the most pathetic figures of these modern days was that of an old actor
-in Brooklyn, who had to be buried at the expense of his friends. They
-took up a collection to buy the casket in which he now rests; otherwise
-he would have been buried in the potter’s field although thirty years
-ago he was one of the most popular men on Broadway. There are thousands
-of actors and actresses and they live for the most part to themselves.
-The Actors’ Church Alliance was formed some years ago and has branches
-in many of our cities. There is, too, an organization known as the
-Actors’ Fund, which provides relief for the poor found among these
-hard-working men and women who give so much pleasure to millions of
-people.
-
-=The Motion Pictures.= The motion-picture business has become one of
-the greatest enterprises of our day. In 1914 there were over 20,000
-motion-picture theaters in the United States. The year before that
-three hundred million dollars was spent for films, and over five
-billion paid admissions were recorded throughout the country. The
-motion-picture has made possible the reproduction of the best plays,
-and they are offered to the people at a very low price. Five and
-ten cents will permit any one to be amused for a whole evening. The
-motion-picture theater possesses great educational possibilities. It
-has revolutionized our ideas of entertainment. The best books have been
-put into films and more people than ever before are having a chance
-to read. This is having a profound effect upon our lives, for as has
-been said, “the thing we see impresses us more than what we hear.” We
-often say, “it went in one ear and out the other” but no one ever says,
-“it went in one eye and out the other.” The making of films requires
-the work of thousands of actors; besides carpenters, masons, machine
-operators, directors, and managers. It is a huge business!
-
-A crowd gathered in New York at Thirty-fourth Street and Second Avenue
-one Saturday afternoon. A man was beating a boy when a disheveled woman
-ran out from the side entrance of a saloon and threw herself upon this
-beast. He grasped her by the throat and was just about to strangle her,
-when the boy, released from the clutches of the man, stabbed him in the
-back with a knife and thus freed his mother. It happened so quickly
-that many of the crowd thought that they were looking upon a real
-tragedy. It proved to be simply a “movie” being enacted upon the street.
-
-In a Florida city an automobile dashed into town; a young girl was in
-the back seat, while in the front was a young man driving the machine
-with one hand and holding a preacher down with the other. They stopped
-in front of a church; went inside, and there they were met by two other
-men, accomplices of the young fellow, and who stood one on either side
-of the minister with revolvers at his head and forced him to perform
-the marriage ceremony. An outrage in real life, but really played for
-the movies.
-
-In the West there are cities devoted entirely to the motion-picture
-industry. In some of the elaborate plays hundreds of thousands of
-dollars are expended in getting the scenic effects. Cities have been
-built and then burned to give the effect of a sacked town being
-destroyed by the enemy. Shipwrecks have been shown where real ships
-have been purchased, and then run upon the rocks and deliberately
-wrecked to get the proper setting for the pictures and the necessary
-thrills for the people. What of these people who follow the
-motion-picture industry for a living? Their lives are apart from the
-rest of the community. It seems fascinating, but it is one filled with
-hard labor, uncertain hours, and affords rather scanty pay. The pastor
-of one of the Los Angeles churches attempted to reach the people living
-in the near-by “movie-city” but he failed. A plan should be devised
-whereby a sympathetic understanding might bring these hard-working
-people into relationship with the church. The influence of such a tie
-would be far-reaching in results.
-
-=The Makers of Other Luxuries.= Another group of workers are those
-who make jewelry; others are at work making fancy costumes, special
-designs in millinery, and artificial flowers. In fact, when we take
-a census of all of the people who are at work serving the demands of
-this age, which loves the extraordinary and insists upon luxuries as
-a right, you find that there are in reality hundreds of thousands of
-these workers who are in every sense of the word serving humanity.
-Whether they are serving in the highest and best way is not the
-question we are discussing. As long as we tolerate an age of luxury
-and draft an army of thousands of men, women, and children to help
-produce these luxuries, so long must we consider the needs of the men,
-women, and children so drafted. The church, if its appeal is to reach
-all the groups, must reach all the workers who are making possible the
-abundance of things that minister to an age of luxury.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER IX
-
-THE WORLD OF SEASONAL LABOR AND THE CASUAL WORKERS
-
-
-“Why is it that those who produce food are hungry, and that those who
-make clothes are ragged? Why, moreover, is it that those who build
-palaces are homeless, and that those who do the nation’s work are
-forced to choose between beggary, crime, or suicide in a nation that
-has fertile soil enough to feed and clothe the world; material enough
-to build homes to house all peoples, an enormous productive capacity
-through labor-saving machinery of forty thousand million man-power;
-and where there are only sixty-five million souls to feed, clothe, and
-shelter?”
-
-The foregoing questions were put into the platform and issued by the
-Industrial Army of 1894 which was known as Coxey’s army. That year was
-one of great depression all over the United States. The causes for the
-depression were discussed very widely at the time. It was the year
-following the great World’s Fair in Chicago and hundreds of thousands
-of men were out of employment. There was suffering and deprivation in
-all the cities of the United States. Charitable institutions were taxed
-to their limit by the new responsibilities put upon them. The idea of
-having all the unemployed form themselves into a great army of peace,
-and march to Washington for the purpose of presenting to the President
-and Congress a petition for the right to labor, developed in the mind
-of a man named Coxey who lived at Masillon, Ohio. He gathered together
-the first army numbering several thousand men. These men were organized
-into companies, and officers were appointed after the fashion of the
-regular military customs.
-
-Similar armies mobilized in other parts of the country. One at Los
-Angeles, another at San Francisco, one in Boston, and one in the
-Northwest, started towards Washington at one time. There were about
-10,000 men on the march. They were ridiculed, persecuted, and feared.
-When the army that started from San Francisco reached Sacramento, it
-encamped outside the city. On Sunday night this curious army marched
-down into the center of the town, halted before the first church it
-came to, then the men filed in and in an orderly fashion filled up
-every pew. The remainder of the army marched on to the next church and
-did the same thing. This was repeated until every church in the city
-was filled to its capacity. This was the first and probably the last
-time in the history of that city when church pews were at a premium on
-Sunday night.
-
-The men of this army were harmless for the most part. A great many
-of them were worthless fellows, but the vast majority were honest
-workingmen who had been thrown out of employment, and owing to the
-circumstances of the times were unable to find anything to do, and,
-consequently, were in despair. Their plan was to go quietly across the
-country and when they arrived in Washington simply to fold their arms
-and ask the government what it was going to do for them. Only a few of
-the men of Coxey’s army reached Washington and the spectacular scheme
-failed. It, however, emphasized the need of the time and showed up the
-extreme danger in the situation.
-
-=The Unemployed.= The unemployed man presents a real problem to
-society. Carlyle said, “A man willing to work, and unable to find work
-is, perhaps, the saddest sight that fortune’s inequality exhibits under
-the sun.” Many well-to-do people living in comfortable circumstances,
-with position and income assured, assert that if a man wants work he
-can always find it, and that the only men unemployed are the shiftless
-and the lazy. Right now the war has absorbed all the surplus labor,
-and a condition exists different from any that we have previously
-known in the history of America. Immigration has been cut off and the
-demands for new enterprises have called for hundreds of thousands of
-new workers, so that at the present time there is no reason why any
-man should be out of work. In fact, so serious has the need for men
-become that the latest interpretation put upon the draft law amounts
-practically to a conscription of labor for all men of draft age.
-
-=The Banana Boat.= A whistle sounded on the Mississippi river just
-below New Orleans early one afternoon last summer. It was a dismal,
-rainy day, and as the long screech died away the sound seemed almost
-prophetic of some coming disaster. Soon a huge steamship painted
-drab-gray, with a red diamond upon its smoke-stack, nosed its way from
-out of the mist and crowded in close to the pier. Scarcely were the
-ropes fast when there began to appear on the dock men black and white,
-ragged, unkempt fellows who had hurried from the near-by saloons,
-poolrooms, and other lounging places. This boat was just in from
-Central America loaded down with bananas. Two enormous unloaders were
-set up alongside of the vessel. The machinery of these started and an
-endless belt, which traveled to the bottom of the hold and out again,
-came up loaded with bunches of bananas. The fruit was brought down and
-thrown upon a table. Here two men, standing one on either side of the
-traveling belt, would take hold of a bunch of bananas and place it upon
-the shoulders of a third man, who in turn carried it off to the waiting
-freight-car. Fifty men went to work almost immediately; twenty an hour
-later in the afternoon; and at nine o’clock that night, under the glare
-of the electric lights, ninety-two men were busily engaged in carrying
-the fruit and storing it in the freight-cars.
-
-All night long the men worked at a feverish pace. They were organized
-so that they formed an endless chain. The first two continuously placed
-the fruit upon the third man’s shoulder, and he in turn stepped along
-as fast as those ahead of him would allow. When he was relieved of his
-bunch of bananas at the car door by two men on the inside who stowed
-the fruit away, he would take his place in the line of men returning
-for more fruit. Round after round this group of men passed, until in
-less than seventeen hours of constant work every banana was taken off
-the boat. When we realize that this boat carried nearly ten thousand
-tons, we get some idea of the activity of the workers.
-
-I said to one of the men in the line, “How often do you get a job of
-this kind?”
-
-“That depends,” he replied. “A banana boat comes in about every three
-weeks and then I have about two days’ work.”
-
-“What do you do between times?” I asked.
-
-“Well, not much of anything. Sometimes one thing, sometimes another.
-Just kind of live along between the trips of these boats.”
-
-=Millinery and Dresses.= A little girl in Chicago wanted to learn the
-millinery business. She easily found a position. It only paid four
-dollars a week, but she was learning, so she was willing to begin at
-that price. Just before Easter the shop where she worked was crowded
-with orders, and she was forced to work from early in the morning
-until late at night. When Easter was over she said, “All I know about
-making hats is how to sew wire together and line frames.” The girls in
-this shop who had been so busy were now thrown out of employment. They
-either had to find other employment or else live on what little money
-had been saved during the rush time. “I can never get ahead,” said one
-of the workers in the shop. “Last year I was able to make just enough
-to carry me through the dull season.” What is true of the millinery
-trade is also true of some lines of garment trades, especially the
-makers of evening gowns. At one period they are rushed to the limit of
-their endurance: at another there is nothing to do. Business demands
-cannot be regulated perfectly. The clerks in the stores at Christmas
-time must expect to do extra work.
-
-=The Vagabond Workers.= One night in Seattle I saw a large group of men
-gathered on a street corner and singing at the top of their voices.
-The strange chorus was led by a young fellow who was standing on a
-soap box. The song he was teaching was mere doggerel; the refrain of
-it being “Oh, Mr. Block, you take the cake. You make me ache.” The
-leader would pronounce a line, then say, “Now, fellow workingmen, all
-sing and sing with all your might. Let us show them what we can do.”
-And the motley crowd shouted out the words of the song which told the
-story of a poor “blanket stiff”--a fellow who has to carry his blankets
-when he goes looking for a job--who got through work in one place, went
-into an employment agency to ask for a new job and was told that if he
-would put up the money he could get the job. He paid two dollars and
-was sent out into the woods. When he got off the train there was no
-job in sight. He came back and made his complaint, but nothing could
-be done because that was the method by which the employment agency
-made its money. He then applied to Samuel Gompers of the Federation
-of Labor, but all he got from Gompers was “sympathy.” This man’s name
-was “Block,” and to accentuate the significance of the name the leader
-would hold up his hand, stop the crowd from singing, and then tapping
-on his head would say, “What was his name?” and they would reply
-“Block.” “What was it made of?” and they shouted “wood.”
-
-It was amusing to listen to this crowd but in the midst of the
-grotesquery of the leader and the raucous howling of the song there
-was a moral quality and a spiritual earnestness that even a casual
-listener could feel. These men had just come in from the woods. They
-were laborers who had been lumbering all through the winter, and now
-at the end of the season were thrown on the city with nothing to do.
-The Industrial Workers of the World, that revolutionary organization
-that was formed in Colorado early in this century, had found a fertile
-soil in the minds of these men and had not been slow to sow the seed. I
-stood with one of the group and listened. My friend was an elderly man
-who had just reached the city from the mines in Alaska. In his youth he
-had been a miner in Wales. Said he, “This carries me back to the days
-of my boyhood. The Welsh sang as these men do, and the discontent of
-the miners in our district gathered headway under the leadership of the
-local Methodist preacher. The men sang and from their singing began an
-enthusiasm that rolled throughout the whole region in a wave of protest
-against the bitter conditions under which we were forced to work. We
-got results. If these men keep on singing, some day they are going to
-make their message heard.” The main reason for the I. W. W. and similar
-organizations is that nothing has been done for the laborer who is at
-the bottom of the industrial ladder. He is considered a tramp, pushed
-into the out-of-the-way places, forced to do the hardest, most perilous
-work, and society forgets him. He is a bum, a tramp, or hobo. No one
-has a good word for him. Every effort to improve his condition is
-looked upon with disfavor. This little poem expresses the feeling of
-many of these men:
-
- “The world is housed, and homed, and wived,
- It takes no note as I pass by.
- Nobody shared in the life I lived,
- Nobody’ll share in the death I die.
-
- “East, west, north, and south I’ve hiked,
- Seen more things than I’d care to tell;
- Part of the world that I’ve seen I liked--
- None of it liked me overwell.
-
- “I cheated once--or twice--in my time,
- But the joy of crime I never could see,
- So I never went the way of crime--
- No pull-and-haul with the cops for me.
-
- “I never was low like the hobo crew,
- Though I’ve begged my bread on many a day,
- But I always worked when they asked me to,
- To pay for a meal or a bed in the hay.”
-
-There has never been any great success in the attempts to organize
-the vagabond workers. The membership in the I. W. W. and similar
-organizations rises or declines so rapidly that it is almost impossible
-to quote any figures that are dependable. Professor Parker reported
-the results of a careful study made in California in 1915 and which
-showed that there were at that time 4,500 affiliated members in that
-state. The membership fluctuates, however, because when trouble arises
-in any industry in the West the membership in the I. W. W. always
-doubles or trebles. In one strike in Washington the organization
-claimed membership of 3,000, but there were about 7,000 on strike.
-The organization of these workers and the explosive quality of their
-teachings form a real menace to society. The philosophy of the I. W. W.
-is expressed in the words of one of the leaders who explained that
-according to their code there is no such thing as right or wrong. He
-said, “We know what people mean when they discuss these questions but
-they have no significance in our lives. The only principle that we
-acknowledge is the principle of expediency. It is better not to break
-windows because it will get us into trouble with the authorities, but
-the abstract principle of breaking windows and destroying property
-being wrong makes no appeal to us whatever.” The man who gave utterance
-to this statement was formerly a Presbyterian minister. He was in
-charge of a church in a steel city and his contact with the workers
-gained for him a clear understanding of the poverty and despair that
-grow out of their conditions. This vision and the sight of the people
-on the other side of the social gulf, who were living most recklessly
-in the midst of their luxuries, led him to become one of the leading
-radicals in the labor world. The philosophy of the I. W. W., and the
-power of this organization are increasing just in proportion as we fail
-to correct the abuses that now destroy the lives of men.
-
-=Causes.= In this country we have made little effort to prevent the
-consequences which are certain to follow the operation of the law of
-supply and demand. We have acted upon the theory that all we need
-to do is to allow natural law to have a chance for its operation.
-Individualism is praised as being the means of saving the worker. The
-result is that there is a shockingly large amount of labor turn-over
-each year--that is, each job has two or three men working on it. We
-have presented to us also the spectacle of thousands of men who form an
-army of migratory laborers. In one part of the United States there will
-be a labor shortage and in another there will be a shortage of work to
-be done.
-
-If we would know what makes the tramp and the vagabond we must become
-acquainted with some man who tramps the highway with his pack on his
-back. His wife and his children were left years ago in some Eastern
-city when he went out West to find a job. The job which he secured did
-not keep him long enough for him to become a resident or even to feel
-settled in the community. The place in which he slept and lived was a
-bunk-house, dirty, filthy, and filled with vermin; and the food he had
-to eat was of such poor quality and so wretchedly cooked that he would
-not have eaten it at all except that he was almost famished and it was
-all that he could get.
-
-The communities in which this wanderer of the road finds himself have
-always been against him. The children in the homes are told that if
-they are not good the tramps will get them. He looks upon the law as
-being framed especially to cause him inconvenience, and the officers
-of the law are his special enemies. The only places that are open to
-him are the saloons, the low dives, and the cheap rooming house. The
-work he does pays him fairly good wages for a short period; but when
-he is paid off, with the money in his pocket, there is nothing for
-him to do but to get drunk, and this he proceeds to do; nor does he
-sober up until every cent is gone. Then he turns to another job if he
-can find one. Of course, if he would save his money and try to live a
-decent life he might be able to get on. But as the pastor of a church
-in southern Washington said: “Down in my parish, which is in the woods,
-I have in the winter-time about 1,500 men to look after. They are a
-rough, hard set who have been gathered together through the employment
-agencies in Seattle and Tacoma. They believe in nothing and in no one.
-They are made victims of every possible tyranny. All that they have is
-their job, and their roll of blankets. The bunk-houses in which they
-live are so bad that a self-respecting dog would not stay in them. The
-food they eat is absolutely rotten. They are treated like cattle, with
-the exception that a valuable steer will receive greater protection,
-for it is not as easy to get another good working steer as it is to
-get another hobo to take the place of the worker that is lost. When
-these drifters are paid off the forces that ruin men get hold of them
-immediately, and for the next few days they spend their time carousing
-and getting drunk. The lumber companies in our community are making
-money fast, but they are destroying men, and scattering dynamite all
-over the Northwest that threatens to explode in a social upheaval that
-will shake the whole western part of the United States.” These are the
-words of a sober-minded Presbyterian pastor and one who has no sympathy
-for dangerous social doctrines. He is simply speaking out of his heart
-and from his experience.
-
-In another district one of the officials of a mining company said in
-his annual report: “This last year was one of unprecedented success. We
-were able to work continuously and with little difficulty because we
-had at all times an average of three men available for each job. This
-gave us workers always ready to our hand.” As was said before, the war
-changed this situation very largely, and for the time being the old
-causes which operated to increase the number of the unemployed have
-been removed. There is more work than possibly can be done, and every
-worker has his job cut out for him. In a letter I have just received
-the writer says, “The war offers the right-minded people of America
-the greatest opportunity in history. We can correct ancient wrongs
-and right old abuses if we will only put our minds to this task.” But
-there are certain considerations that must be taken into account if we
-would remove the causes which make for unemployment and discontent that
-accompany it. The community’s responsibility for the man out of work
-does not end with securing a job for him, nor with the regularizing of
-industry, nor in supporting labor exchanges. We are all creatures of
-circumstances and influenced strongly by our environment. Therefore,
-every community ought to provide adequate means for recreation, and
-decent places where men and women can gather under wholesome conditions.
-
-[Illustration: The casual workers are the true servants of humanity.]
-
-=A Man and His Job.= One of the slogans of the French Revolution was
-“The right to work.” Man has a proprietary right in his job and it is
-the only property that most men possess; when he loses it he is losing
-everything. Some years ago the Idaho legislature passed a law which
-guarantees to every citizen resident in the state for six months,
-ninety days public work a year at ninety per cent. of the usual wage
-if married or having a dependent, and seventy-five per cent. of the
-usual wage if he is single. Industry has never been organized so as
-to include the best interests of the worker. There are hundreds of
-thousands more workers needed in the good years than in the bad years.
-In every business special calls arise for more workers to be used for
-a few weeks or a few days at a time. The reserves of labor necessary
-to meet these seasonal or casual demands can be reduced to a minimum,
-providing that industry is regularized. As it is, the individual worker
-suffers in the machine, or system, that he has helped to create. The
-modern plan of organization provides for managers, superintendents,
-foremen, clerks, and skilled men--all dependent for their position
-upon the group of unskilled men or semi-skilled workers at the bottom.
-
-It is obvious that we cannot legislate so that lumber can be taken out
-of the forests all the year round, nor can the casual workers--farm
-laborers, fruit-, and hop-pickers and others--have continual
-employment. What we can do, however, is to mobilize the labor forces of
-the country with the same care and ability that we have mobilized our
-national army. Through a chain of labor exchanges extending throughout
-the whole nation we can bring the man and the job together. When the
-lumber employees in the woods of Washington finish with their season
-they could be brought down into California to work on the farms and in
-the fields; and then farther down as the fruit ripens, following on
-straight through the state. In the autumn they could be brought back
-again to take their places in the woods.
-
-Another thing that will be required is a changed attitude toward the
-men at work. Just as long as we assume that the workers employed at
-these tasks are worthless, just so long will they try to live down to
-their reputation. A Methodist minister in Seattle believed that the
-average “blanket stiff” had enough good in him to respond to right
-treatment. He formed a cooperative company and bought up a number of
-mills in the state. He hired a lot of the commonest workers and sent
-them out to the woods to work in these mills. Instead of attempting to
-make a big profit on the labor of the men, he allowed the men to share
-in the management and profits of the concern. The result was that when
-all the other mills were having labor troubles he was able to work
-right straight along, and where others failed he made a big success.
-The reason was that he faced the issues squarely and fairly, and
-treated the men as he would himself like to be treated.
-
-=Sin and Inefficiency.= If every individual was normal you could lay
-the full responsibility upon him and feel that when he failed it was
-perfectly just that he should suffer, and we would not need to worry
-about the conditions under which people labor. But sin enters in and
-with depravity comes inefficiency. Business cannot be conducted as a
-benevolent enterprise. A man or woman’s wage must be earned by the
-worker or else it cannot be continued. When a man by drink or other
-excesses destroys his efficiency it is impossible for him to maintain
-himself in a position that pays a large wage and which offers steady
-employment; so he drifts into the ranks of the casual workers. He is
-unfit for regular work by temperament and habit; but he is willing to
-work for a short time, even though he works extremely hard. In dealing
-with the problem of the casual worker then, we have two things to take
-into account: First, we must regularize industry as far as possible,
-doing away with the extraordinary demands for certain periods that are
-always followed by long periods of idleness. In the second place, we
-must in some way lay hold of the individual man, and by surrounding him
-with the best influences, make it possible for him to live a life of
-righteousness and sobriety. In other words, we must reduce the amount
-of seasonal work to the minimum and increase the efficiency of the
-worker to the maximum.
-
-We should never lose sight of the fact that personal qualities enter
-in to complicate this question and make its solution more difficult.
-The drunkenness and vice of the individual man keep him in a position
-where it is almost impossible for him to be helped or for him to help
-himself. The man out of work degenerates. His moral fiber is weakened;
-he becomes susceptible to every evil. The process by which many a
-criminal has been made was begun in the hour that the man found himself
-thrown out of employment. Perhaps it was not his own fault in the first
-place, but having once been faced with the grim alternative of seeing
-his family suffer or of yielding to some criminal act, he accepted the
-latter as the easiest solution of the problem and a way out of his
-difficulties.
-
-As long as a person is able to provide the necessities of life and to
-keep himself and his family in a fair degree of efficiency through the
-use of an adequate amount of food, shelter, and clothing, the chances
-are that he will develop a new and stronger interest in the things that
-have to do with the moral and social side of his life. On the other
-hand, when the means of livelihood are taken away, and a man finds
-himself denied the opportunity of work--which means that the things
-that are necessary to satisfy the most fundamental needs of himself
-and his family cannot be secured--the moral effect on this man, his
-family, and society can hardly be exaggerated. The whole structure of
-our life is dependent upon and presupposes regularity of employment.
-Not only does the fact of being out of a job cut off a man’s means
-of livelihood, but the psychological effect of being forced to live
-without working, taken together with the breaking of habits acquired by
-years of industry, puts a severe strain on the standards of morality
-which have been built up by long and painful processes. The unemployed
-man may react in one of two ways: he will become an anarchist and spend
-himself in fighting the system under whose injustice he suffers, or he
-will give up the struggle and become a drifter upon the tides of life,
-a social outcast.
-
-=The Jungle.= The best thing in Upton Sinclair’s story of the
-conditions in the stock-yards in Chicago is the little picture he gives
-of the man who finally in despair gave up the struggle for a living,
-got on a train, and went out as far west as the train would carry him.
-When he left the railroad track he wandered into a field and lay down
-beside a stream. Feeling hungry after a while he arose and went to a
-near-by house and asked for something to eat. This was the first time
-he had ever begged but the woman at the door was considerate of him and
-he got his food. Then he returned and lay down again in the rich grass
-and went to sleep. When he awoke he took off his clothes and had a bath
-in the creek, then getting out of the water he dressed himself and
-again lay down; put his hands behind his head and looked up into the
-blue sky. All of a sudden it occurred to him that he was now getting
-more out of life than he ever had before. He had worked and worried and
-all he ever got was just barely enough to eat. Now he had all he wanted
-to eat, a good place to lie and dream, the pure air of heaven fanning
-his face, the blue sky over his head, and no work to do. “Why should a
-man work, anyway? What’s the use?” he said. This philosophy made him a
-tramp.
-
-Unemployment must be recognized as an evil in and of itself. For the
-man out of work meals and lodging should be secured. The church has
-done much in this regard. The soup-kitchens have been so much an
-adjunct of so many churches that some of our evangelists have come to
-refer to the soup-kitchen type of Christianity as being a recognized
-type. The church knows the methods for charity and relief. We must go
-further than this. The church’s program for the casual laborer should
-include the education of the community regarding the necessity of
-regularized industry, bringing it about so that, for instance, hats
-will be made not only when hats are needed but ahead of time. And, too,
-there should be public exchanges for employment covering the country
-and a systematized distribution of public work.
-
-The forming of a comprehensive plan for unemployment insurance is
-another step forward. Other countries have found this kind of insurance
-a wise provision. Insurance against every form of disaster is common.
-We insure a perfect day for a parade. We insure the ships and their
-cargoes. We insure our lives. Why not insure men against the greatest
-of all disasters that can befall them, the loss of their jobs? We
-need not worry about the probability that unemployment insurance is
-likely to take away the initiative of the men. The danger of moral
-deterioration in such a case is much less than that which actually
-grows out of the periods of unemployment.
-
-The church is involved in the whole situation. The men dependent on
-their wages for a living find their means of livelihood cut off and
-they naturally turn to the church. A year before the war broke out the
-unemployed in several cities marched into the churches and demanded
-help. Some of the churches felt that they were being encroached upon.
-A committee in one church forced the janitor to sweep the entire
-building with a solution of formaldehyde, for, as the chairman of
-the committee said, “You never know what diseases these dreadful
-people have.” It is undoubtedly true that the churches are always
-expected to do more than it is possible for them to do. At the same
-time the unemployed man has the right to feel that if the church is
-a fundamental institution for the salvation of individuals, for the
-remaking of society, and the reconstruction of industrial life, it
-cannot evade the issue nor fail to shoulder its responsibility. To open
-the church as a sleeping place and to feed the hungry is not enough.
-
-=The War and the Future.= The world war has brought us face to face
-with a new task. The United States and Canada are at present the
-producing nations of the world. The Anti-Loafer laws now being carried
-through are cleaning out the cabarets, the poolrooms, the theaters,
-and other places where idle men congregate. It will be years before
-we are faced with the same serious situation that has faced us in
-the past. However, when our huge armies are demobilized and “Johnny
-comes marching home,” there will be a new problem which will have to
-be considered. How can these men be fitted back into industrial life
-without increasing the number of unskilled and semi-skilled workers
-to such a degree that we will again be faced with a huge army of
-unemployed?
-
-In periods of unemployment it is the common laborer who suffers most.
-We have failed to realize this. And yet he makes a big contribution
-to all progress. You cannot build a bridge without him and, in fact,
-he is used in every enterprise. Because of his lack of skill, and
-also because of his too common habits of living, we call these men
-tramps and hobos, and refer to them in the mass as common laborers.
-As a matter of fact no man who does any work is a common man. They
-are ignorant for the most part; vicious in many cases; some are lazy,
-drunken, shiftless--all of these things; but at the same time they are
-the men who are cutting down the trees, sawing up the logs, forming
-them into rafts, floating them down the river, and putting them through
-the mills. They are the men who are loading the ships at our docks, the
-men who pick hops and work in the harvest fields; pick the fruit and
-do the thousand other things that have to be done when the season is
-right. Besides these, there are the thousands of women who are driven
-at top speed at certain periods of the year through the unusual demands
-of industry, and then are thrown out of employment for long periods.
-Ignorant, unknown, friendless, and made the victims of industrial
-conditions over which they have no control, they seem of so little
-importance in the vast system--as merely the lesser cogs in the lesser
-wheels--that very few know of their existence except when something
-goes wrong with the cogs, and the whole machine is shut down because of
-the break. But without them the machine could not run at all.
-
-The casual workers are the true servants of humanity, and yet they are
-the ones that are passed by unnoticed; the ones that rarely if ever are
-influenced by the church. They constitute a great army of neglected men
-and women, a challenge to the church, a menace to society, and a danger
-to our commonwealth; and all because they are neglected and unknown.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER X
-
-THE WORLD OF INDUSTRIAL WOMEN
-
-
-Any one who reads history with his eyes open will be impressed with the
-fact that this world has always been considered a man’s world. At one
-period woman was denied every right; she was the slave of man. Rome
-and Greece treated her as a child. Medieval ages found her working in
-the fields and supporting large families, while her husband and son
-fought for rights that could never be hers. The familiar figure of a
-woman and an ox yoked together and driven by a man well represents the
-spirit of the past. The Hebrew rabbis made many proverbs relating to
-woman’s condition: “When Jehovah was angry, he made woman.” “Woman is
-an afterthought of God.” “A man of straw is worth more than a woman of
-gold.” The statement has been made and repeated times out of number
-that woman’s sphere is the home. This statement is true, but not
-unqualifiedly so; in fact, home is no more a woman’s place than it is a
-man’s. Home is based upon mutual responsibility, consideration, and the
-willingness to share mutual burdens. There is no sense in the old saw,
-“Woman should leave her home but three times--when she is christened,
-when she is married, and when she is buried.” This is on a par with
-another old proverb: “Woman, the cat, and the chimney should never
-leave the house.” We have outlived these archaic notions, and to-day,
-while we recognize as never before that home is woman’s true sphere, we
-realize that home is the man’s true sphere also.
-
-The home is the foundation-stone of our civilization. It is the
-strength and safety of society. Rome fell when her homes were
-destroyed. Public morals are gaged by the morals of the home. In the
-face of the divorce court, with its incessant grind of business, it
-is time to raise a voice of protest against the spirit of careless
-indifference which views the home as a mere boarding-house, and “a
-place to stay away from.” Who is the chief offender, man or woman?
-The woman’s club, the woman’s place in politics, woman’s interest in
-industry and in reform have all been cited as being the potent forces
-at work destroying the home. As a matter of fact it is the man who is
-chiefly responsible. The strength, the vigor, and the purity of the
-American home, which show to-day in the splendid type of soldiers that
-are being sent across the seas to fight in the battle for democracy,
-speak well for the work of woman. The average man knows where he lives,
-the number of the house, and the name of the street on which it stands.
-He is able to recognize his children usually when he meets them. He
-pays the bills and takes a general interest in the appearance and
-up-keep of the establishment; but when it comes to bearing his share of
-the heavy burdens, he is a poor partner in the concern. The wife and
-mother is the home-maker. We know how well she has done her part.
-
-=Woman and Necessity.= Women have chosen their work because of
-necessity as well as because of opportunity. A mother of two boys
-was left a widow with no money. Her people were all poor. If she went
-back home, the added burden would be an injustice to her parents and
-would work hardship upon her brothers and sisters. She had too much
-self-respect to take this course. She knew little about business and
-had no trade, but she found work in a store and by hard study at night
-and close application became an expert saleswoman. She sent her boys
-through college. One of them to-day is a successful lawyer and has
-served as senator in the state legislature. The other is a practising
-physician in one of the large cities of the Middle West. Both of these
-men are eminently successful. This woman contributed more than her
-share to society and was cheerful and happy in her work. In speaking of
-her one of the partners in the firm where she was employed said, “There
-is no person connected with this firm who has created such a wholesome
-atmosphere as she has done.”
-
-A little black-eyed boy was arrested in the north end of Boston and
-sent to the reform school. He was eleven years old and had become the
-leader of a gang of boys who had been robbing show-windows. His mother
-was a Jewess; his father had deserted her and left three children, one
-just a baby in arms. This woman could find nothing to do that would
-pay her enough to enable her to provide actual necessities for her
-children. The baby died and in the distress of the hour the mother
-appealed to a neighbor. She helped her financially and found a position
-for her in one of the millinery shops of the city. This woman, in
-reality a widow, had been able to struggle along but was not very
-capable. She fought her battle as bravely as she could and was always
-cheerful, but it was almost too much for her to do the earning that was
-necessary. Her little boy, without proper guardianship, with no place
-to play but the streets, got into trouble. It was not only because the
-mother was at work and thus unable to train her boy, that this new
-trouble came, but because there is no proper and adequate provision
-made for women left in her position.
-
-The woman of the family is always the most overburdened member. She
-has serious responsibilities and the heaviest tasks. When she is left
-with the care of children, it is inevitable that she should turn to
-industry for her own and her children’s support. Another group of
-workers are the young girls who go into work for a few years until they
-are married. Still another are the young women who feel that there is
-no reason why women should not have the same chance to make a place
-for themselves in the world of industry that is accorded to men. We
-must come to believe in the independence of both men and women and
-grant to each the right to choose his or her own place and work in
-life. A newspaper woman in Cincinnati said: “I determined that I had
-qualifications necessary for success as a writer. I went to school and
-studied hard with the intention of becoming a reporter. When I received
-my diploma, I was as proud as any member of the class, but not half
-as happy on that day as I was a week later when I received my first
-assignment from the city editor of a paper that had employed me ‘on
-trial.’ I have succeeded and am happy in my work.” Why should any one
-attempt to limit this woman in her vocation? She has chosen and chosen
-well. She is making her contribution and it is just as important as
-that made by thousands of the best men in similar positions.
-
-=In War Time.= Since the war began nearly a million and a quarter
-additional women have been brought into the industries of Great
-Britain. This is an increase of nearly forty per cent. of the number
-employed in July, 1914. Moreover, the percentage of the increase is
-rising. In France we find the same situation. In the United States
-as the war goes on larger numbers of women are taking places as
-wage-earners. Women are replacing men in running elevators in all
-public buildings, working in hotels, as conductors on street-car lines,
-guards on subway trains, ticket sellers, baggage agents, and crossing
-tenders in the railroad service. Thousands more are going into the
-different forms of agricultural work. Besides these new pursuits, women
-are running the lathes in the shops and factories, while thousands are
-employed in the making of munitions. Probably it is safe to say that
-for every man who has gone to the front at the present time there is a
-woman in America who is doing the man’s work.
-
-A study of the conditions shows that nearly all the work done by women
-in the warring nations is unskilled or semi-skilled. There are not very
-many opportunities for advancement and most of the women feel that
-they are simply working in an emergency; hence there is not a chance
-of their becoming efficient as skilled workers. The ability of these
-workers is remarkable, especially when we take into consideration
-the fact that most of the women had no training before the war. In
-the working of automatic machines where technical skill is of less
-value than carefulness, attention, and dexterity, women are much
-more efficient than men. In a report made upon the conditions in the
-employment of women in Great Britain during the war, is this statement
-concerning the efficiency of women: “In regularity, application,
-accuracy, and finish women have proved very satisfactory.”
-
-=Quality of Work.= In the work that women are able to do, they learn
-quickly, more so than the men employed in the same places; and they
-increase the output above what was usual with the men workers. The
-experience in the United States in pre-war times proves the efficiency
-of the women workers. The treasury department employs women for the
-detecting of counterfeits in paper money. After a bad bill has gone
-through half a dozen banks, and has been subjected to the closest
-scrutiny, and yet has not been detected, these experienced women can
-detect it by its “feel.” According to statistics color-blindness is
-much more prominent in men than in women. A noted educator is authority
-for the statement that in the public schools four per cent. of all the
-boys are color-blind, while only one tenth of one per cent. of the
-girls are color-blind. It is now generally conceded that the sight is
-the most intelligent of all the senses. The average woman, no matter
-what she undertakes, will work harder to make herself proficient
-than will the average man. One result of so many women entering into
-industry is to raise the grade of employment and make the workers more
-competent. It may not seem that this would be the result at first, but
-that rather the reverse would be true. It was the entering of women
-into the ranks of the physicians that changed the meager ten or eleven
-months’ course of the medical college into the four years’ course that
-is required to-day.
-
-There never has been a time when women were not in industry. When the
-loom left the home, women followed it into the factory. More than eight
-million women and girls were employed in gainful occupations outside
-the home in the United States just before the war began. This number
-has been increased, yet it is not out of proportion to the number of
-women in the country. It is logical that women should continue in
-industry. A woman must live, and for her living a certain amount of
-money is required. This money must be given to her or she must earn it;
-not only that, but the women of to-day will demand the right to do some
-constructive work in the midst of the new conditions under which we
-live.
-
-=The Field of Women’s Activity.= Certain vocations are closed to women.
-All those occupations which demand great physical strength belong of
-right to man. The heavy work in the steel-mills, much of the work in
-constructural iron trades, wood-work, bridge-building, stone masonry,
-heavy carpentry, mining, smelting, refining minerals, and the heavy
-work of shoveling and lifting are men’s tasks. Many of the trades are
-also closed to women, because in these trades it takes at least five
-years’ apprenticeship before a man is able to earn a salary. Women do
-not care to enter into such a long apprenticeship. They will not give
-five years to non-productive work, for the great majority of women
-have not accepted industrial work in preference to married life. If
-the right man comes along, the average woman would feel that as a
-home-maker cooperating with her husband she could accomplish more than
-by continuing alone as an industrial unit. Of this attitude Miss Alice
-Henry says, “Give her fairer wages, shorten her hours of toil, let her
-have a chance of a good time, of a happy girlhood, and an independent,
-normal woman will be free to make a real choice of the best man. She
-will not be tempted to accept passively any man who offers himself,
-just in order to escape from a life of unbearable toil, monotony, and
-deprivation.”[4]
-
- [4] Alice Henry, _The Trade Union Woman_.
-
-[Illustration:
-
- Press Illustrating Service.
-
-In the army of laborers the girl and the woman are drafted as well as
-the boy and the man.]
-
-=A Woman’s Chances in a Man’s World.= Woman is an organic part
-of society. This means that she is a part of every one of the
-organizations that enter into modern society. She has always had a
-part in literature. Julia Ward Howe in writing the “Battle Hymn of
-the Republic,” contributed not only to our wealth of song, but made a
-direct contribution toward the winning of the freedom of the slaves.
-Harriet Beecher Stowe also gave her remarkable aid to the same cause.
-George Eliot was one of the great novelists. In the field of reform
-Frances E. Willard takes first place. Maud Ballington Booth, the
-“little mother” of thousands of prisoners, is making a new world for
-the men into which they may enter when they leave the penitentiary
-door. It is the Pilgrim mothers rather than the Pilgrim fathers who
-ought to be given the credit for New England’s contribution to national
-history. All other attempts to colonize failed because the adventurers
-in their quest for gold and fortunes did not bring their women with
-them. Anna the prophetess of old in the temple and Susan B. Anthony in
-the suffrage cause each represent an age and an enthusiasm and an
-ability to persist until results are achieved.
-
-Now we have a new situation. Many people view with concern the
-increasing numbers of women that are employed in gainful occupations
-in the United States and Canada at the present time. The employment of
-women presents not one question but many. The problem that is familiar
-to nearly all housekeepers--that of securing domestic service--presses
-upon our attention the number of women employed in this kind of work.
-Domestic service engages the largest number of women outside of the
-home. Women are now doing everything that men have done, and in most
-cases are doing the work just as well, while in many occupations they
-show an efficiency that men have never achieved. Charles Kingsley’s
-phrase, “For men must work and women must weep,” did very well in
-that age, but under the economic conditions under which we are living
-to-day, the contrast he makes is absolutely inappropriate. The question
-of work and workers has been settled. In the army of laborers the girl
-and the woman are drafted as well as the boy and man.
-
-Before the great war began there was in the United States about
-one woman worker for every five men. This number has been greatly
-increased. Of the three hundred specific occupations the census of
-1900 enumerated there were only two occupations in which women were
-not engaged in some capacity. The census of 1910 gives a larger number
-of occupations, and not one in which women are not employed. Women are
-on the street-car lines and are line women and telegraphers, riveters,
-blacksmiths, steam-boiler makers, brass workers, and foundry workers.
-In fact, no work seems too hard or too heavy for some woman to make
-a success of it. From the time of the invention of the cotton-gin,
-which brought more women into the world of industry than any other one
-machine, to the present day we have the story of women and men gaining
-larger visions, receiving better wages, and together making the world a
-more habitable place for us all.
-
-=Justice to Women Workers.= It would be impossible for us to manage
-business as we do to-day without the efficient help of secretaries,
-stenographers, telegraph-operators, and other office assistants, nearly
-all of whom are women. The question arises as to what treatment a woman
-should receive. For some reason, when a woman does a piece of work, no
-matter how well it is done, or howsoever efficient she becomes, we have
-a feeling that she should receive less pay for the same work than a man
-would receive. There are many reasons why women are suffering from this
-injustice. One arises from the conditions which bring a large number of
-women into industry.
-
-A number of salesgirls, some stenographers, and a great many helpers
-in different industrial firms live at home and work for what is known
-as pin-money. They are not primarily dependent upon their wage. The
-money comes in handy and they can use it to good advantage. They are
-not forced to work, hence, they can and will accept a lower wage than
-if they were absolutely dependent upon what they earn. “I receive $3.50
-a week for clerking in this store,” said a bright girl in Chicago, “and
-I don’t take anything from the floor-walkers. Whenever they try to
-order me around, they have got another guess coming. I don’t have to
-work, and I let them know it. They are mighty lucky to get me.” This
-was all right for this girl, but the fact that she was situated so that
-a salary of $3.50 a week satisfied her made it possible for the firm
-to set that as a standard wage, and other girls who did have to take
-bossing from the floor-walkers, and were dependent upon their wages,
-were forced to accept what the firm offered. A friend of mine who has
-an interest in a dry-goods store holds that the average girl is not
-worth more than $6 a week because she works simply to tide her over
-a few years until she gets married. He said, “I cannot afford to pay
-more than $6 because my competitors pay this same rate to their clerks;
-and if I am going to sell goods I have to take into consideration the
-conditions in the trade.”
-
-Another thing that enters into the situation is the fact that women
-workers have never been as well organized as men. The points upon which
-the trade-union movement concentrates are the raising of wages, the
-shortening of hours, the diminution of seasonal work, the regulation
-of piece-work (with its resultant speeding up), the maintaining of
-sanitary conditions, the guarding of unsafe machinery, the making of
-laws against child labor which can be enforced, the abolition of taxes
-for power and for working materials (such as thread and needles),
-and of unfair fines for petty or unproved offenses. Miss Henry tells
-of a case in a non-union trade which suggests the reasons which make
-organization a necessity. “Twenty-one years ago in the bag and hemp
-factories of St. Louis, girl experts turned out 460 yards of material
-in a twelve-hour day, the pay being 24 cents per bolt, measuring from
-60 to 66 yards. These girls earned $1.84 per day. Four years ago a girl
-could not hold her job under 1,000 yards in a ten-hour day. The fastest
-possible worker can turn out only 1,200 yards, and the price has
-dropped to 15 cents a hundred yards. The old rate of 24 cents per bolt
-used to net $1.80 to a very quick worker. The new rate to one equally
-competent is but $1.50.
-
-“The workers have to fill a shuttle every minute and a half or two
-minutes. This necessitates the strain of constant vigilance, as
-the breaking of the thread causes unevenness, and for this mishap
-operators are laid off for two or three days. The operators are at
-such a tension that they not only stand all day, but may not even bend
-their knees. The air is thick with lint which the workers inhale. The
-throat and eyes are terribly affected, and it is necessary to work
-with the head bound up, and to comb the lint from the eyebrows. The
-proprietors have to retain a physician to attend the workers every
-morning, and medicine is supplied free, as an accepted need for every
-one so engaged. One year is spent in learning the trade; and the girls
-last at it only from three to four years afterward. Some of them enter
-marriage, but many of them are thrown on the human waste-heap. One
-company employs nearly 1,000 women, so that a large number are affected
-by these vile, inhuman conditions. The girls in the trade are mostly
-Slovaks, Poles, and Bohemians, who have not been long in America. In
-their inexperience they count $1.50 as good wages, although gained
-at ever so great a physical cost.”[5] These wretched conditions are
-not uncommon. Thousands of women who are forced to earn their living
-and are contributing their full share toward making America the great
-commercial power she is to-day are laboring under just such injustice.
-
- [5] Alice Henry, _The Trade Union Woman_.
-
-=Women and Unions.= Most of the union leaders have viewed with alarm
-the increasing number of women that are being drafted into industry
-each year. The reasons for this are clear to all who know the history
-of trade unionism and know how the workmen greet the coming into
-industry of any new group of available workers. The war has made
-labor conditions chaotic; and the shortage in certain lines has given
-opportunity for the employers to substitute women for men, because
-women for the most part are economically defenseless and, therefore,
-can be secured for a lower wage than men. Women are more easily
-exploited than men because they have not been so long in the industrial
-struggle with its keen competition. They are less able to appreciate
-the value of cooperation for mutual protection. One union leader said,
-“I look upon the large number of women who are being drafted into
-industry as a real menace to the women themselves, to society, and to
-labor.” The situation presents itself something like this: Organized
-labor has a very close relation in its feeling to all labor and to
-all the different groups of workingmen organized and unorganized; and
-it regards an injustice to an unorganized worker as being indirectly
-an injustice to itself. The reason for this sympathy is of course
-primarily selfish, for the union man knows that if his fellow laborers
-in another trade are unprotected, and an injustice is practised upon
-them, it will be only a short time until the same thing will be
-attempted upon the organized worker. If women go into competition with
-men under present conditions they will be employed rather than men
-because they can be secured for a lower wage. Look, for instance, at
-some of the cotton-mills in the South, where the whole family, father,
-mother, and two or three children all work, and the total wage of the
-family group amounts to just about what is considered a living wage.
-
-The attitude of organized labor toward women workers is about the
-same as its attitude toward cheap foreign labor, and the reason for
-the feeling is due wholly to the fear that the women brought into the
-industry will lower wages and bring down the standard of living of the
-entire group. The attitude is dictated as a defense measure in behalf
-of the standard of living for all. The attitude of union labor is
-indefensible except as a measure of self-defense. It should be said,
-however, that union labor is not a unit in this attitude. There are a
-large number of broad-minded men in the ranks of the organized workers
-who recognize present conditions, and see that it is inevitable that
-larger numbers of women shall be employed in gainful occupations in the
-future. Instead of putting up the bars and attempting to keep women
-out, those who have given the matter most thought are putting forth
-their efforts to organize the workers. The Women’s National Trade Union
-League, of which Mrs. Raymond Robbins is the president, has rendered
-great service for the women workers of the nation. Legislation has
-been secured and minimum wages established in some places. But best of
-all this movement has been teaching the women workers the necessity
-of organization in order that they and other women may be protected,
-and that the women drafted into industry may not become a menace to
-the American standard of living which has been built up at such great
-pains and through such toilsome efforts. This league voices the protest
-of American working women against the notoriously bad conditions
-surrounding the work of women and children.
-
-Women have always been taken into some of the men’s unions, but the
-growth of certain trades--such as glove-making, coat- and suit-making,
-shirt, collar, and shirt-waist manufacturing--employing women almost
-exclusively made such cooperation impossible. These trades were
-organized after much effort on the part of the leaders of the Women’s
-National Trade Union League. This organization has conducted several
-strikes in big cities in the last ten years, and in nearly every case
-has won. Girls strike just as hard as men. They have more persistence;
-are more willing to sacrifice and suffer and generally show more
-intelligence in conducting their affairs. They make good pickets
-and because of their aggressive, earnest work are successful. Their
-resources are not so great and when they are out of work they have more
-difficulty in getting temporary jobs. Another important feature of
-their problems is that the supply of non-union workers to take their
-places is almost unlimited.
-
-=Women and the Church.= Women in all the Christian ages have recognized
-the church as their friend and in appreciation of what it has done they
-have worked unceasingly for its success. There is a big task before
-the church in behalf of women, and especially in the interests of the
-women laborers in industry. There is the opportunity for the church
-groups to influence the individual employer to improve conditions
-pending regulation by the community. In addition to the question of
-wages and hours the demands of the churches must involve the abolition
-of the speeding-up process by which, under the piece-work system, the
-amount of work required for a specified task is constantly increased.
-The fastest worker is used as the pace-maker, so that the wage of the
-slower worker continually drops, and the amount of work done by the
-fastest workers continually increases. The law may specify a minimum
-wage, but it cannot specify the amount of work to be done in each
-particular trade.
-
-Here is where the church groups must cooperate with the working women
-themselves, and must assist them to secure some voice in determining
-the conditions under which they shall work. Legislation alone can never
-achieve the standards now demanded in common by the church and social
-workers; nor can they be realized by the benevolence of employers.
-If the health and morals of the community are not to suffer from the
-employment of women in industry, it can be accomplished only by the
-cooperation of working women to this end. The church must educate
-its community to think in terms of the greatest good to the greatest
-number. And this means that we must come to realize more than ever
-that the strength of the childhood of the nation is dependent upon
-the home; and that the strength of the home is dependent upon the
-physical, intellectual, and moral welfare of the women of the nation.
-It is possible for the church to accomplish much by arousing purchasers
-to the necessity of using their conscience in their shopping. Local
-white-lists of stores and factories which meet the Consumers’ League
-conditions can be made by representative groups. The Consumers’ League
-label and the labels of the organizations affiliated in the Women’s
-Trade Union League should be demanded. They will protect the conscience
-of the buyer and assure him that his comfort is not being secured at
-the cost of strain upon the health and morals of the women of his city
-or nation. It is for the churches to make this fight for the working
-women a community issue. It is a religious issue, and the pulpit may
-help to realize these religious values in the lives of the working
-women.
-
-When we pray “God save the people,” it would be well for us to use our
-heads in our prayers, and to remember that the people will perish if we
-do not protect the womanhood which is the foundation of the home. God
-cannot save the people if we destroy the mothers of men.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XI
-
-THE WORLD OF THE CHILD WORKERS
-
-
-“No, we can’t go to school, much as we’d like to. You see, school holds
-only a few weeks each year and we have to help with the tobacco.”
-
-This was the reply of a twelve-year-old girl to a question regarding
-her school work. She also informed the visitor that helping with the
-tobacco meant doing everything that was necessary to be done from the
-time the plants are set out until the leaves are finally cured. While
-the conversation was going on, this girl’s eight-year-old sister came
-out of the barn, and the visitor said:
-
-“Do you help with the tobacco, too?”
-
-“Yep,” was her reply, “I jest now been out wormin’ it.”
-
-When asked what she meant by that she was utterly amazed that any one
-could be so ignorant as not to know that tobacco had to be wormed. To
-display her efficiency, she showed a tomato-can nearly full of worms
-that she had just brought in from the tobacco-field. To prove the
-quality of her catch, she held up a nice fat one and even offered to
-let the visitor take it if he so desired.
-
-The Burley tobacco is made into plugs for chewing and is used in pipes.
-It is grown very extensively in central Kentucky. It was on one of
-these tobacco farms that this conversation took place. The worm that
-infests the plant looks like a caterpillar with a smooth skin. A small
-boy described it as a “bald-headed caterpillar.” It has huge eyes and
-is twice the size of the woolly caterpillar. These creatures crawl
-all over the plants, and, because of their size and their voracious
-appetite, unless they are closely looked after, soon destroy all the
-leaves. The plants cannot be sprayed with poison for obvious reasons.
-The only prevention is to have the worms picked off by hand. This work
-falls to the lot of the boys and girls in the district. It is not a
-very congenial task, and it is hard work for the children stooping and
-raising the leaves as they toil all day in the burning sun. The little
-girls wore their sunbonnets tied under their chins but pushed back on
-their necks. They were barefooted and carried a tin can in one hand to
-hold the worms. They followed down each row peering under the leaves
-and picking off the worms. “Wormin’ time” came just at the period when
-they ought to have been in school, but the tobacco had to be saved.
-
-=The Beet-Fields.= There is a settlement of Russians near Billings,
-Montana. The fathers, mothers, and all the children work in the
-beet-fields. The work commences early in the spring when the beets have
-to be thinned out. Apparently no child is too young to pull beets. I
-saw boys in the beet-fields hoeing and the hoe-handle was almost as big
-as their little bare legs. When the crop is ready to harvest, the dirt
-is loosened about the beets and then they are pulled out by hand. The
-dirt is knocked off the roots and they are thrown to one side so that
-when a row of beets has been pulled they look like hay in a windrow.
-This work is heavy and hard, for a beet will average from seven to
-eight pounds, and by the time a person has lifted them all day long
-from five in the morning to seven at night, he has lifted several tons.
-After the beets are laid in rows they have to be topped with a strong,
-broad-bladed knife with a hook at the end. The beet is held against
-the knee of the worker, and with one stroke of the knife the top is
-severed from the root. In the beet-fields the beauties of nature are
-reduced to a dull round of production. According to a report made by
-the National Labor Committee there are five thousand children working
-in the beet-fields. “Money and not children is evidently the chief
-concern of these families” is the testimony given in the report made
-by Miss Ruth McIntire. She says: “An eleven-year-old girl was found,
-who with her sister aged seven, was kept out of school to work in the
-beet-field, although her family boasted that they had made ten thousand
-dollars last year from their farm. A certain parent declared to a
-school principal that his boy was worth $1,000 for work during the beet
-season. If he went to school he was nothing but an expense.”[6]
-
- [6] “Children in Agriculture,” by Ruth McIntire, a pamphlet
- published by the National Child Labor Committee.
-
-=Mills, Factories, and Workshops.= With the development of the
-cotton-mill there was opened up a wide field for the exploitation of
-childhood. The spools full of thread have to be put on the machine and
-the empty spools removed. Boys and girls of six and eight years can do
-this work even better than a grown man or woman. One worker in a mill
-can take care of several machines, and if there is a child to care for
-the spools the machines can be run very economically, and the profits
-will be large. Children are used in works and on the breakers in the
-coal-mines. In one of the silver-mills in the Cœur d’Alene mining
-district boys stand on the platform alongside the incline down which
-the ore rushes in a ceaseless stream going into the breakers. As it
-passes down their quick eyes detect the rocks, and especially the hard
-round stones that get mixed up with ore. These they pick out and throw
-to one side. This is a boy’s job. He can do it better than a man. Thus
-all modern processes of industry seem to be at work to make easy the
-utilization of the immature and the unskilled.
-
-=Why Child Labor.= Because the machine produces so much it is possible
-to pay the child worker a wage that seems large in comparison to what
-a man would receive. The father of a boy who worked in one of the
-cotton-mills said, “I can make a dollar and seventy-five cents a day;
-but my nine-year-old kid makes anywhere from eighty cents to one dollar
-a day.” The quick returns from child labor appeal to the selfishness
-of the manufacturer as well as to the greed of the father and mother.
-It is not good business to have a man do anything that a machine can
-do; nor is it good business to put a man to work on a job that a
-boy can do just as well as a man. This is the dictate of business.
-Children are an expense, and with the increased cost of living there is
-always a temptation to utilize the children in the family as economic
-assets. “I have three children,” said a father in an Indiana town,
-“and all of them are working. We are about as happy a family as you
-want to find anywhere. Every month we are able to put a tidy sum in
-the savings-bank. Every member of the family is doing his or her
-full share. But now on the other hand, my brother has four children
-and not one of them is earning a cent. The oldest girl had to have a
-college education and that is just a drain on the family. Poor George
-has never known a moment’s ease or peace all of his life, what with an
-extravagant wife and four children eating their heads off!”
-
-“Children are a blessing from the Lord,” says an old writer. But the
-modern interpretation is that they are industrial units that can be
-utilized to advantage. Another reason for child labor, however, is
-found in the stress of poverty. Here is the story told by another
-father: “I love my children just as much as anybody in the city and
-I would like to see them have a good time. Joe is selling papers on
-the street, May working as cash-girl in a dry-goods store, Frankie
-clerking in a five-and-ten-cent store, and William working in a pencil
-factory--but not just because I do not care to provide for them. You
-see it is this way. My folks were poor and there were nine of us
-children. When I was eight years old I had to go to work. To begin with
-I got good wages for a boy, and until I was eighteen or nineteen years
-old I got along all right. Just about that time other fellows came in
-that had more than twelve dollars a week. I began at six dollars. Now I
-am nearly fifty, and am already considered an old man, and I am getting
-forty dollars a month. How can I support my children and give them
-an education such as they ought to have?” This indicates the vicious
-circle that is formed between poverty and childhood. Poverty forces
-children into industry. They help out for the time being but it is not
-very long before they have used up all their initiative, and have gone
-just as far as they can go; and as they grow older their wages are
-reduced, and in turn their children have to go into the mills to help
-them out.
-
-=Poverty and the Cost of Living.= Poverty is the chief enemy of
-humanity. It is the parent of nearly all of our ills. This is the
-demon that drives bad bargains. For the present the high wages that
-are being paid for labor everywhere has done away with a great deal of
-poverty; but even yet wages have not been advanced in proportion to
-the increased cost of living. Last fall in Scranton a gentleman whom I
-met was bitterly complaining of the high price of coal. “If it is so
-high now what in the world will the poor people of the city do when the
-cold weather really comes?” Scranton is built on the largest anthracite
-coal deposit in the world. It is said that in some places the vein is
-seventy-five feet thick. It is estimated that at the present rate of
-production the supply will last for one hundred years. If, therefore,
-the poor people of Scranton suffer for lack of coal what about the
-people in other places? We learned last winter how essential coal is to
-the life of the people. Combinations all tend to keep the prices high;
-our foodstuffs, our fuel, our clothes are high, not because of the law
-of supply and demand, for we have learned how to circumvent that law,
-but we are all “jobbed by the jobbers.”
-
-Cold storage enables vast quantities of goods to be brought together
-and kept for a rise in the market. James E. Wetz, the so-called
-egg-king of Chicago, boasted early last winter that he had six million
-dozen eggs in storage, and in defiance of the Federal Prosecutor said,
-“All the investigation, legislative or otherwise, will not bring the
-price of eggs down this year. This is a broker’s year and as for me I
-am going to sit tight, watch the prices climb up, and the public can
-pay. Nobody can do anything to me.” In the French Revolution the queen
-appealed to one of the superintendents of finance and urged him to
-bring about a change, for the people were starving. He was obdurate,
-however, and in despair she said to him, “What will the people eat?”
-The contemptuous statement of the French official was, “Let the people
-eat grass.” With the increased cost of living, and the manipulation
-of the market so as to keep prices always above a certain level, the
-present rise in wages is not as great as under ordinary circumstances.
-As long as there is poverty there will always be a strong incentive for
-the piratical industrial agent and the greedy conscienceless father to
-join hands in exploiting childhood.
-
-=Effect of Child Labor.= The children of the nations at war have been
-called the second line of national defense. The men in the front line
-are the soldiers and the children growing up will take their places. If
-the childhood of the nations at war is destroyed, there is no chance
-for men to take the places of the ones who fall at the front. It is
-perfectly clear then that in times of war the nations are dependent
-upon the growing boys. If, however, the children in times of war form
-the second line of defense, in times of peace they form the first line
-of defense. The future of a nation is in the hands of the boys and
-girls of the present generation. They are the men and women that will
-take the places of the business men, the workers in the factories and
-workshops, and the tillers of the soil. They must become the future
-people who will be responsible for transportation, producers of the
-raw materials of civilization, and those who with cunning hands and
-ingenious brains work these raw materials into finished fabrics that go
-to make up the wonders of civilization and of the age. We are robbing
-the nation when we set children to work and make producers out of them.
-
-=Physical Evils.= The effects of child labor are so bad and so well
-known that there is no need of entering into a formal discussion of
-the question. I taught a class of boys in a settlement in Chicago some
-years ago. One of the little fellows had hands that were as black as a
-Negro’s, and he always held his hand in a certain position. One night
-after class I asked him to wait for a few minutes. I said, “Just a
-minute, Fred. I notice that you always hold your hand in a peculiar
-way.” “Gee, it is the only way I can hold it,” he replied. Then he
-showed me that his fingers were all pressed out of shape and that the
-black stain was ink that had been ground into his hand and into his
-very flesh. This boy looked to be about twelve years old but he was
-nearly nineteen. For almost nine years he had been working in a box
-factory. His job was to stencil the ends of boxes. He would lay the
-stencil on the wooden end of the boxes, then hold a brush resembling a
-shaving brush in his hand and this he would dip into the pot of black
-and rub it across the stencil. This constant work for ten hours a day
-for nine years had blackened his hands so that they would never be
-white again; and the constant pressure from the brush had deformed his
-right hand so that it was good for nothing else than to hold a stencil
-brush.
-
-Nearly all the unemployable men who gather in our cities, who sleep on
-the park benches in good weather, eat wherever they can, and in cold
-weather fill up the municipal lodging houses or sleep upon the floors
-of the police stations, are physically unfit because they were forced
-to go to work at too early an age. The number of these men who are the
-victims of child labor is remarkable. A student of social conditions,
-who made a study of the problem of unemployment in this country in the
-winter of 1913-14 said, “We are coming to see the rank folly of putting
-children in at one end of the industrial hopper, grinding them up,
-and taking inefficient, no-account men out at the other end. We have
-thousands of children in the country doing work that they ought not
-to do, and hundreds of thousands of men who can get nothing to do. We
-are not only faced with the problem to-day, but we are projecting the
-problem into to-morrow.”
-
-An accurate study of the life of the cotton-mill operators shows that
-the death-rate is so high that the inference is justified that work
-in the mill has an unfortunate influence upon those who follow it.
-Approximately half of the deaths of the operatives between fifteen and
-forty-five years of age are due to tuberculosis. Some years ago a book
-was published in defense of child labor in the South. The contention
-was that the workers in the cotton-mill were the most healthful of any
-people in the community. A report made by the United States government
-on the conditions in the mills shows that beyond any doubt the mill
-is a hazardous place for an adult, to say nothing of the child. In
-Massachusetts, according to reports quoted by Florence I. Taylor of
-the National Committee on Child Labor, it was found that the average
-fourteen-year-old mill boy was decidedly below standard in weight and
-height; and that the sixteen-year-old boys did not show a normal gain
-in height over the fifteen-year-old boys, and actually decreased two
-and a half pounds in average weight. “It was evident from the physical
-examination alone,” said the report, “that there were boys whose
-interests from the point of view of physical welfare called for further
-attention after being permitted to go to work, whatever the work for
-which an employment certificate might be issued.”
-
-In the printing trades, in the paint shops, in glass works, in
-coal-mines, in fact, in every place where children are employed, we
-find the physical effects all bad. The undeveloped boy or girl is more
-susceptible to diseases that are inherent in the several businesses
-themselves. For instance, lead attacks a child worker more quickly
-than it would an adult. The fumes inhaled and the substances breathed
-in affect the child, and owing to the demands put upon his physical
-strength by his growing body it is difficult for nature to throw off
-the bad effects of these poisons.
-
-=Child Labor and Education.= Another evil is the loss of educational
-opportunities. “There is plenty of time for the children to go to
-school,” is a common saying among fathers and mothers. “I will send
-Mary to school next year,” said a farmer in Oklahoma. “She wants to
-go on with her class. I cannot see that it makes any great difference
-whether she gets her learning this year or next.” Mary was fourteen
-years old and we have no record of Mary’s career, but it is quite
-probable that she never got a chance to go back to school. The school
-promised to boys and girls who are being used in gainful occupations
-is like the promise that St. Patrick made to the snakes in Ireland
-after he had put them all into a box. He promised that he would let
-them out to-morrow, but to-morrow never came, according to the old
-Irish legend.
-
-A returning visitor from Russia tells us that the cause of Russia’s
-collapse is to be found in the ignorance of the people. Only one per
-cent. of the people are able to read and write. In the midst of this
-dense ignorance the peasant groups believe everything and nothing; are
-easily influenced by anything no matter how unsubstantial, passionate,
-cruel, brutish. No wonder that Russia presents one of the most pitiable
-spectacles of any nation in the world’s history. There is serious
-danger that in America we will produce a rural peasantry that is
-ignorant, and if such should be the case, there will grow up with this
-ignorance a narrow-minded prejudice against everything that we think is
-worth while in life. Education is the hope of this nation as well as
-that of every other nation.
-
-=What of Disposition and Character?= Child labor has a bad effect on
-the disposition. It crushes initiative from the group, and while it
-will develop a type of leadership in the future, the leadership is not
-that of free, broad-minded Americans, but is self-assertive cheap,
-tricky, and clannishly shrewd. For instance, I was told that the
-children attending school in an Arkansas city who came from the mill
-district were the leaders in all the sports. I asked some of the boys
-about this, and named to them several who I had been told were leaders.
-The reply was that these fellows were not leaders but were bullies. “No
-matter what we play, they want to run everything, and if we do not
-do what they want us to do, we have a fuss.” The struggle in the mill
-and the bearing of responsibilities had led the mill boys to rely upon
-themselves. They knew that they could never get anything unless they
-got it for themselves and by the most direct and brutal means. In an
-age when a new emphasis is being put upon cooperation any power that
-warps the disposition and creates wrong ideals is a real menace.
-
-=Robbers of Childhood.= “Ketch,” cried a small lad as he turned with
-the ball in his hand just as he was entering the mill door at the end
-of the thirty minute noon period of freedom. The boy to whom he had
-called, and who had been playing ball with him during this period
-raised his hands preparatory to catching the ball. Then he dropped them
-to his side and said, “Naw, don’t throw it, else we’ll get fined for
-not comin’ in on time after the whistle blew.” No time for play! Thirty
-minutes for lunch and out of that thirty minutes these boys had taken
-as much as possible for a game of ball. By night they would be so tired
-that there would be no inclination to play. They would stand around
-and talk a little, or sit on the front porch for an hour after supper,
-and then crawl into bed and sleep until aroused by the whistle of the
-factory early in the morning. This was the life of these children. The
-only period in their lives when they might have been free was taken
-away from them and they were made to work in the mills of industry,
-grinding out the raw materials of civilization which go into the very
-foundation of our society, and grinding out at the same time the joy
-of life and the possibilities of ever being able to gain the best that
-life holds in store for them.
-
-=A National Evil.= East, west, north, and south we have been robbing
-children on every hand. California canners deplore the conditions
-among the child workers in Massachusetts. In Massachusetts those who
-employ children find excuses for themselves in the laws of the state,
-and in the traditions of New England, but they have no good thing to
-say about conditions in the mills of the South. In the South it is
-easy to find men who are responsible for the children working who see
-nothing but good evolution of the family from bad rural conditions to
-a condition of comparative opulence in their mill cities, but who can
-see nothing good in the child labor as it is found in the coal-mines
-in Pennsylvania and the beet-fields of the Northwest. In Montana and
-Nebraska the farmer everywhere will tell you that “Nothing is so good
-for a child as to work in the beet-fields. It makes a man of him
-quicker than anything else.”
-
-=The Unfinished Task.= When the Federal Child Labor Law was passed
-which prohibited the shipping of any goods in interstate commerce
-that had been manufactured by child labor, a great many people
-foolishly thought that the last trench was taken and the final victory
-won in behalf of the children. Now that this law has been declared
-unconstitutional we will have to begin the fight for its reenactment
-in terms that will be in accord with the constitution of the United
-States. This law was a great advance over anything we have ever had
-before. While it held, it released thousands of children from toil,
-but there were still employed in small towns, in villages, and in the
-rural communities boys and girls in domestic service, as bootblacks, as
-newsboys, as messenger boys, and at work in stores and local shops.
-According to the last census in the United States, 1,990,225 children
-under fifteen years of age are at work at some gainful occupation and
-895,976 of these children are thirteen or under. Advanced legislation
-has been taken in most of the states, but as the standards of such
-legislation rise in the different states it becomes clear that with the
-reenactment of the child labor law further steps must be taken for the
-protection of children against exploitation. For instance, the child
-labor law can be administered effectively and for the best good of the
-child only in connection with compulsory education laws. It is futile,
-and dangerous as well, to take the children out of the mills and leave
-them in idleness upon the streets. Higher and better health standards
-must be raised and safeguards thrown about the home and school life of
-the children. Owen Lovejoy says, “The physical development of children
-securing employment is quite as important as their age.”
-
-[Illustration:
-
- Photo from National Child Labor Committee.
-
-We have thousands of children in America doing work which they ought
-not to do.]
-
-=The War and Childhood.= The war has put a new emphasis upon the value
-of children as industrial assets, and many states attempted to rescind
-the laws protecting children so that they might be allowed to work in
-the munition factories as a war measure. England had her experience.
-Schools suffered, juvenile delinquency grew, and chaos resulted from
-the short-sighted policy of those who wanted children to help out in
-a time of need. An English periodical is quoted as saying, “When the
-farmers clamored for boys and girls at the outbreak of the war, it was
-‘for a few weeks only,’ and ‘to save the harvest.’ The few weeks have
-spread out to a few years; and a few years cover all the brief period
-‘’twixt boy and man’ when character is molded, education completed,
-and skill of hand and eye and intellect acquired. Even in the time of
-peace one of our statesmen said that one of the most urgent national
-problems was how to check the evils by which too many of our bright,
-clean, clever boys leaving school at the ages of thirteen or fourteen,
-had become ignorant and worthless hooligans at seventeen or eighteen.
-Much has been done in recent years by patient, skilful endeavor to
-stanch this wound in the body politic; but now all is reversed and
-the hooligan harvest promises to be truly plenteous. The victims
-are of two classes. First, the little children taken from school at
-illegal ages for a few weeks under promises that their interrupted
-school time should be completed later on--a ‘later on’ which was
-never really practicable, and is now frankly abandoned. Secondly, the
-boys and girls, who, having completed their legal school attendance,
-would normally have gone to learn a trade, and would by a few years
-of patient training and industry at small wages have made themselves
-skilled workers and worthy citizens. But training for any future
-efficiency, either industrial, social, or moral, has been brushed aside
-by the necessities or the hysteria of war time.” It remains to be seen
-whether we will learn the lesson from Britain’s experience.
-
-=The Church’s Part.= There is no one thing in which the church should
-be so much interested as in the welfare of the children. When Jesus was
-asked who was the greatest in the kingdom of heaven, he took a little
-child and set him in the midst of the disciples. If any one offends a
-child, he said, it were better for him that “a millstone were hanged
-about his neck, and he were thrown into the sea.” Entrance into his
-kingdom was dependent upon a childlike attitude, and the measure of
-rewards and punishments was to be meted out according to the treatment
-of children by the individual man and woman.
-
-“Lord, when saw we thee hungry, or athirst?” is the question which
-we must ask. “Inasmuch as ye did it not unto one of these least, ye
-did it not unto me,” is the promised reply. The program of the church
-relating to the children is perfectly simple and plain. Each church
-should keep in close touch with the work of the National Committee on
-Child Labor. Information can be secured by writing to the Secretary,
-Owen R. Lovejoy, 105 East Twenty-second Street, New York. One Sunday in
-each year, the fourth Sunday in January, is set aside as Child Labor
-Sunday. Every church should take pains to observe this day and make
-it a time when the members of the church will be made acquainted with
-the work being done by the Child Labor Committee; and should strive to
-understand the conditions concerning the child laborers of America, and
-the plans and purposes that are being devised for meeting needs and for
-protecting our nation’s greatest asset. Child Labor Sunday was observed
-in nearly 10,000 churches last year.
-
-The child laborer suffers because we do not know about him. His life
-is lived in a world apart. While he is producing the things that we
-accept, we have forgotten or passed over lightly the needs of the
-producer himself. The war puts a new responsibility upon us. Its agony
-and suffering have made us seemingly callous to suffering and we stand
-in grave danger of losing our power to sympathize. It is during such
-periods as these that the hard won gains of generations may be lost.
-We have gone far in our legislation for the protection of children
-since the days when the Earl of Shaftsbury first began his work for the
-poor boys of London. Much remains to be done. The church cannot slacken
-its efforts nor clear its skirts of responsibility if it does not exert
-every effort and put forth all its strength to pass new legislation,
-and steadfastly to set its face against every effort to break down
-existing laws or set them aside even as a temporary measure.
-
-The battle for democracy cannot be won, and will not be won, even with
-the destruction of German autocracy if we allow the bulwark that has
-been built up for the protection of the children of democracy to be
-torn down.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XII
-
-THE MESSAGE AND MINISTRY OF THE CHURCH TO A WORLD OF WORK
-
-
-“He has never given me a mouthful of bread nor means to gain it. What
-have I to do with your God?” This was the answer of an immigrant woman
-to an appeal made by the church visitor, and it strikes nearer the
-heart of our modern life than it appears upon first thought. Why indeed
-should a person acknowledge kinship to a God who allows suffering,
-sorrow, and want in the world? It is not enough to answer such a
-question by pointing to the ultimate ends God has in view, for with
-hunger gnawing at the very vitals it is difficult to be philosophical
-or to meet the problems of existence in a quiet frame of mind. It is
-undoubtedly true that a large part of the misery and suffering of this
-world is caused by the sins and incompetency of the individual; but it
-does not help one to bear misfortune to know that he is to blame for
-his own condition. Is it any easier for the mother to teach her hungry
-little children to say their prayers asking the heavenly Father to feed
-them when she knows that her husband has brought the suffering and
-want through his evil conduct? But suppose she knows that her husband
-has tried as hard as possible, and in spite of all his efforts and all
-her care there is not enough bread for the little ones. She is very
-likely to grow impatient with the religion that talks about love, and
-yet allows bad social conditions to exist in the community that robs
-children of their childhood, destroys manhood, and makes women slaves
-in their own homes.
-
-We have studied certain groups of the workers, and great as is the
-contribution made by these workers, it is only a small part of the
-story. The world of the workers is a very large world. Within this
-world things are produced that enrich mankind to a degree that has
-never even been dreamed of in any other age of the world’s history. The
-men who are producing these things are the true servants of the world.
-
-=Social Salvation and the Wage-Earners.= The church, in order to retain
-its ascendency in national life, must lay increasing emphasis upon the
-importance of social salvation. The importance of social salvation as
-contrasted with individual salvation was seen by the great spiritual
-teachers of the past; but modern civilization, with its marvels of
-intercommunication, has placed a new emphasis upon mutual dependence of
-associated human beings, and has made self-realization a possibility
-only in connection with the salvation of the social group. The social
-group consists mainly of wage-earners, two thirds of those gainfully
-employed in the nation being dependent for food, shelter, and clothing
-upon a daily, weekly, or monthly wage. Therefore, social salvation is
-largely a question of the salvation of the wage-earner. The problem
-is a dual one. It is material and spiritual. It is material, because
-the higher purposes of the Eternal cannot be attained in an atmosphere
-of inefficiency, disease, unemployment, vice, crime, and general
-destitution. It is spiritual, because the elimination of inefficiency,
-disease, unemployment, vice, crime, and general destitution will not
-regenerate character. The salvation of the wage-earner must, therefore,
-be achieved by the combined efforts of three important agencies of
-social reconstruction: religion, education, and government. Religion
-furnishes the motive, education the method, and government the
-mechanism of social reconstruction; each of these three is impotent
-without the other two.
-
-Religion from this view-point must be personal and social in order
-that regenerated individuals may work for the material and spiritual
-regeneration of national life. Education from this view-point must
-be technical, scientific, moral, and universal so that all may have
-the opportunity to become skilled workers, progressive thinkers, and
-efficient citizens. Government from this view-point must be controlled
-by the religious element of the community and equipped with a program
-of economic and social reform based on scientific investigation.
-Scientific studies of the wage-earners’ communities show that a family
-of five in a large American city requires a minimum income of $900 in
-order to maintain its physical equilibrium, and that three out of every
-four adult males, and nineteen out of every twenty adult females in
-the United States, receive less than $600 a year. No one can longer
-doubt that the hardships and depravity of the poor are more economic
-and social than personal; and that the responsibility for human misery
-is put squarely upon the more fortunate members of society. The way of
-salvation for the poor and helpless lies along the path of the educated
-conscience of the rich and powerful.
-
-=Workers and the Church.= Much has been written and said in criticism
-of the church. Many statistics have been given to prove that the
-workers are not members of the church. For the most part the figures
-quoted are mere guesses. It is sheer folly to assume that the working
-people of our nation are not religious. Religion is as natural to all
-people as is breathing. The belief in God is well-nigh universal. It is
-a fact, however, that comparatively few of the mass of workers of our
-country are connected in any way with the church, or have any part in
-carrying on the functions of organized religion. There are a great many
-working people in the churches, but in proportion to the large number
-of wage-earners in each community there are comparatively few of the
-actual producers in the churches.
-
-[Illustration:
-
- Board of Home Missions, Church Extension. Methodist Episcopal Church.
-
-A Russian Forum in session in the Church of All Nations, Morgan
-Memorial, Boston.]
-
-A study made in city after city shows that the churches are largely
-made up of the well-to-do, middle-class people. In one typical city
-of 75,000 people there were found to be approximately 30,000 members
-of all the religious organizations, Protestant, Catholic, and Jews.
-Of this total number approximately 1,000 were wage-earners, that
-is, men and women working in shops and factories; 500 of these were
-members of the Catholic Church, and the other 500 were distributed
-among the sixteen Protestant churches. There were a great many
-persons in these churches who were dependent upon their wages; such
-as clerks, stenographers, bookkeepers, and others who should be
-classed as belonging to the industrial group. But as some one has
-said, the distinction between people who are in the churches and those
-untouched by the church can be drawn in this way: those who refer to
-the remuneration received for their work as a salary, and their work
-as a position, are in one group and they attend church; the other
-group is made up of those who refer to their work as a job, and the
-remuneration received as wages, and but few of these go to church. The
-conditions found in that instance are the same that would be found in
-most cities of the same size in America. The total membership was a
-little larger, perhaps, for in most places only about one third of the
-people are connected with the churches.
-
-=The Makers of Things Outside the Churches.= Communities in which
-the church has failed are the communities where may be found most of
-the workers who are the actual producers of the things that go to
-make up our life. The men who run the lathes and other machines, the
-day-laborers on the street, in the factory, and on the railroads;
-these men and their families are the ones untouched by the church. The
-foremen, the better class of skilled mechanics, and those workers who
-are doing the more congenial kinds of work are the ones found in the
-churches. I asked one of the leading labor leaders of the country why
-it is that the laboring man is opposed to the church. “Opposed?” he
-answered. “He is not opposed. The average laboring man living under
-average conditions does not know that there is a church in town.” In
-other words, the church moves in an orbit that is totally removed from
-the life of the mass of the workers.
-
-=When Nineteen Men Last Went to Church.= During the last year I took
-occasion to ask different men that I met at various times what they
-thought of the church. I have the record of the conversation of
-nineteen men on this subject. Not one of these men had been to church
-with any degree of regularity during the past five years; three of
-them had attended the Billy Sunday meetings in the various cities. They
-went to see the evangelist, however, just as they would visit Barnum
-& Bailey’s circus, and they professed to having come away from the
-meetings in the same frame of mind as if they had been attending such
-an entertainment. Five of the men were Jews, nine were Roman Catholics,
-and five were Protestants. They gave various reasons for not going to
-church, but all agreed on three things: they had no especial criticism
-or complaint to make regarding the church; it was easier to stay at
-home on Sundays than it was to go to church; the church had very little
-to do with the things that they were interested in. One of the men
-said, “The minister stands in a pulpit over my head and talks down to
-me about things that I am not interested in.” They also agreed that
-they could see no special reason why they should be influenced or moved
-to live according to the requirements of the church.
-
-The church has no especial authority and a life of piety did not appeal
-to these men. My conclusion was that the church had lost its grip upon
-these men because of the innate selfishness of the individual and the
-unwillingness on his part to pay the price demanded of a true follower
-of any religion. These men were living under false impressions as
-to what the church required and knew nothing of the quality of the
-church’s message. The fact remained, however, that the church failed
-to reach them, and if we define religion as the giving of one’s self
-to the group, these men had no religion, for they were each living
-their own lives in their own selfish way. Of these nineteen men three
-were skilled mechanics, five worked in a cottonseed mill, four were
-traveling salesmen, and the remaining seven were business men. This
-would seem to prove that the church has failed to reach other groups in
-the community as well as the groups of laboring men.
-
-=The Church and the Age.= The new social order must be based upon
-righteousness, and the church must furnish the power that will carry
-forth the plans of reconstruction to ultimate victory. It must supply
-the regenerating social influences for our generation in order to live
-up to its privilege and fulfil its function in the world. It is the
-will rather than the intellect of men that is primarily influenced
-by religion. The doctrine of the church attracts only a few people;
-speculation on theological questions, and arguments regarding life and
-its problems are futile in the face of the bitter experiences that lead
-the majority of the working people to view life from the standpoint
-of the pessimist. What men want to know about the church is, does it
-make people better neighbors? Is there more kindness in the community
-because of the church? These are the things that are of paramount
-importance. A boy passed by three churches on his way to attend a
-certain Sunday-school. A neighbor said to him, “Why do you go so far?
-why don’t you come to my Sunday-school?” “I do not care how far it is,”
-he replied; “they like me down at the other church.” This is the secret
-of the success of much that is being done to-day by different churches.
-
-A prominent pastor desiring to discover how his preaching would affect
-different classes of people had a friend invite some persons from
-different parts of the city; and then after the service these people
-were invited to meet with others in one of the classrooms to discuss
-the sermon. It was almost impossible to draw any expressions of opinion
-from them as to the value of the service, but they agreed that they did
-not feel at home in the church. Yet none of these visitors could tell
-what he meant by “feeling at home.” The fact is, however, more people
-go to church to-day because of the friendships that they find within
-the institution than because of their desire for religious instruction.
-A large proportion of the people who are outside of the church are
-outside because to them the institution seems cold, narrow, and
-unattractive, and fits the description given by Robert Louis Stevenson
-of many churches that he had known, “A fire at which no man ever warms
-his hands.”
-
-=A Ministry to All.= The Morgan Memorial Church of Boston touches
-a wide community and is carrying on a very extensive work. It has
-enlarged its plant from time to time until it occupies almost a
-solid block. There has recently been erected a new building to be
-operated in connection with this institution known as the Church of
-all Nations. Here is the gathering place of the multitude from every
-land who now live in the south end of Boston. In addition to the
-regular religious services there is a rescue mission for the “down
-and outs,” and dormitories for men and women where clean beds can
-be secured at a reasonable price. There are workshops, employment
-bureaus, a restaurant, a reading-room and, in fact, under one roof this
-church houses a community of interests, economic, industrial, social,
-educational, and religious. On the front of the building there is a
-lighted cross, and to all of the south end of Boston this cross means
-hope.
-
-=Story of Twenty-five Years.= The church has not accomplished all that
-might have been accomplished, but when we study the history of the
-last twenty-five years and take stock of the results that have been
-achieved, we find that there are countless things that indicate a real
-life interest, and a purpose toward achievement in the church.
-
-Twenty-five years ago the Student Volunteer Movement for Foreign
-Missions was just beginning, and a Social Service Commission for the
-churches would have been considered as something having no part in the
-churches’ work. In fact, at that time the men who were the prophets
-of the new social order were looked upon as dangerous leaders. There
-were only a few books that dealt with the social aspects of the
-teachings of Jesus, and these were theological and theoretical rather
-than practical. At that time institutional churches were novelties,
-and the efforts that were being directed toward the solution of the
-social questions by the church were very often efforts in the wrong
-direction. The institutional church was not a complete success because
-it attempted to do for people instead of inspiring people to do for
-themselves. The institutional church and the modern socialized church
-have the same relationship to each other as the old alms-giving
-societies have to the modern charitable organizations. Legislation in
-the interests of women and children was considered totally out of the
-realm of Christian interests. “The church was put in the world to save
-souls and not to dabble in politics,” was a favorite definition of the
-church’s sphere. There was little church unity or coordination of
-effort. The churches were more busy fighting each other than they were
-fighting the common foes of the community. There were only one or two
-professors in our theological seminaries who were teaching sociology,
-and of one of these men an eminent authority in the church of that
-time said: “He ruined a lot of good ministers and made a lot of poor
-socialists by turning the attention of the young men who came under his
-teaching to merely humanitarian interests.” The church leaders knew
-nothing about the labor movement; in fact, at that time, the modern
-labor movement as represented in the American Federation of Labor was
-just beginning to gain strength. The church made no special efforts to
-interpret the spirit of Christ in terms of international relationship.
-
-=The Present Situation.= Now, when we compare the present situation
-with these facts, there is every reason to be encouraged. Never in
-the history of the world was there a time when organized religion
-was more efficient. When was there ever such interest in religious
-education? so much cooperative effort among Protestant bodies? such an
-eagerness to discuss ways in which men of widely different views may
-work together? The money given for missions and social reconstruction
-reaches proportions that were never dreamed of before. Jesus Christ
-is recognized to-day as the friend of all men and his salvation
-is recognized as applying to social, industrial, and educational
-relationships as well as to individual needs. He is the Savior of the
-individual and also the Savior of the world in which the individual
-lives. It is true that the individual cannot enter the kingdom of God
-unless he is born again, but it is equally true that the whole social
-fabric must be recast and social relationships regenerated, else the
-kingdom of God cannot come in this world.
-
-Nearly all the parables of Jesus have to do with the idea of mutual
-helpfulness. The parable of the Good. Samaritan will always stand first
-as the exemplification of the life that bears another’s burdens. The
-teachings of Jesus sums itself up in supreme love for God and for one’s
-fellow man. At the marriage feast the multitude were invited and they
-came from the highways and the hedges. According to Jesus’ teachings
-all material possessions are to be counted as nothing when compared to
-the use and helpfulness of these possessions. His bitter denunciation
-and burning wrath were turned against the hypocrites who made long
-prayers, took the widow’s mite, paid their church dues, forgot mercy,
-and used harsh measures against the defenseless. In every instance
-where Jesus referred to future punishment, it was to be visited upon
-the individual because he failed to live according to the law of love
-and was making burdens harder to be borne rather than helping men to
-bear them. His law was the law of cooperation.
-
-The early church began among the very poor; and all through the
-Apostolic Age the slave and the owner, the poor man and the rich man,
-met on the plane of equality. There was only one interest for all and
-that was the life of the Master. It is said that Napoleon and several
-of his aides were one day walking along the country road. They met
-a peasant carrying a load of fagots who did not get out of the path
-as quickly as one of the emperor’s companions thought he should, so
-stepping up to the rustic he took him by the shoulders and started
-to push him out of the way. “Stop,” said Napoleon, motioning to his
-companions to step out of the road while he did the same. “Messieurs,
-let us respect the burden, even if you do not respect the man.” In the
-community there are a multitude of burden bearers. The church must be
-filled with the desire to do what it can to improve the conditions in
-the community life, and to add to the good of all the people, so that
-the community relationships will no longer be regarded as matters of
-indifference to be taken up or laid aside without faithfulness to the
-gospel. The success of the church must be measured in terms of the
-community life.
-
-[Illustration:
-
- Board of Home Missions. Church Extension. Methodist Episcopal Church.
-
-The Church of All Nations, Boston, provided a sleeping place in its
-hall for over five hundred of the unemployed in the winter of 1915.]
-
-=Inspiration for Social Effort.= The church is not merely a reform
-agency. It is not primarily interested in housing, ventilation,
-sanitation, and labor questions, but is completely interested in the
-moral aspects of these questions, and their effect upon the life of the
-community and the life of the individuals in the community. Any church
-which fails to educate its members to look at all such matters from
-the moral point of view, and fails to make effective the principles
-of Jesus in relation to the social life of the community, is falling
-far short of its duty. It is no wonder that the men and women who are
-struggling with the evils of society grow impatient with the churches
-that do not undertake to help humanity. One worker expresses it thus:
-“The trouble with all social effort is that we have no inspiration for
-the task. The churches that should be helping us by supplying this
-inspiration are apparently afraid to take hold of the job.” This is too
-sweeping a criticism, for there are hundreds of churches that are doing
-just this thing.
-
-=The Church and Other Organizations.= Instead of institutional
-churches, however, we are substituting the socialized church, and it is
-not what the church is doing as an institution but what it is inspiring
-others to do in the community that counts most. When the church cannot
-get any one else to do a certain task, then the church must shoulder
-the responsibility itself. The church ought to cooperate with the
-united charities of the community. It will not be enough for it to
-have merely a member or two on the boards of these organizations; the
-church as an organization must be in close touch with them, furnishing
-money and workers, and helping to plan and carry out the plans of the
-organization. Above all, it must supply the proper spirit of love which
-will offset that professionalism which is to-day a growing evil in all
-charitable effort.
-
-=The Church and the Outcasts.= The church ought to be organized so
-that the sick and the poor, the unfortunate and the people out of
-work, would find it a friend and champion. There was a preacher in
-one of our churches in a certain city who was greatly disliked by
-all the so-called “respectable” people who knew him. As one man put
-it, “He has long hair, a long tongue, and is a trouble-maker.” But
-among the outcasts in the city he was known as the “Chaplain for the
-nobody-knows-who.” By this term those who loved him meant that he was
-a friend of the neglected people of the great city. After he died men
-who had no use for him before began to tell of little illuminating
-incidents in his life, and thousands of people testified to the fact
-that he had been an inspiration and a help.
-
-The early Christians were not a very respectable lot of people nor
-would they have been very congenial. Probably some of our modern
-churches are so fine that these people would have been considered out
-of place; but it was to these people that Jesus preached his gospel in
-the first place, and from them the influence of Christianity spread
-until the whole life of the Roman world was brought under the control
-of the new gospel. Now, of course, all the laboring groups that we
-have been considering are not made up of the poorest people in the
-community. The heart of the great mass of the people is sound to the
-core; their principles are strong and their morals are uncorrupted.
-We are very likely to measure morals by social customs. Just because
-a man shaves every day and wears a white collar is no sign that he is
-a gentleman; while the man who wears blue overalls, who shaves once
-a week, whose face and hands are grimy with toil, is not by these
-things made an uncouth barbarian. The reverse is very often true. The
-unions have been educating their members; and the men gathered in these
-organizations have a fund of common sense and a breadth of judgment
-that would put to shame men who have had much larger experiences and
-wider opportunities both for education and travel. The son of a man
-with a salary of twelve to fifteen thousand a year was expelled from
-one of our universities a few years ago; and in the same year the
-honor man in the class was the son of a blacksmith who worked for one
-of the Western coal-mining companies. This boy was one of a family
-of six children. With the help and efforts of no one but himself he
-was able to go through the university and graduate at the head of his
-class. All the forces of our time are at work leveling the fictitious
-and mischievous barriers that have been raised between men, and which
-divide society into groups and classes.
-
-=Wider Use of the Church Plant.= The church building can be used for
-very much wider service than at present. The church is usually one of
-the best-equipped buildings in the community. It has light, air, and
-heating facilities and can take care of a large number of people. In
-the Maverick Church, East Boston, they are using the church for club
-purposes. Just at present plans are being devised whereby this property
-will be used much more extensively for meeting the new needs put upon
-the community by the old ship-building industry that has just been
-revived. Plymouth Church, Oakland, California, is a veritable beehive
-of industry. Every night different groups gather in the social clubs,
-sewing classes, cooking classes, and other organizations. The community
-looks upon this church as the natural meeting-place to discuss vital
-problems. During the past winter in one of the Baptist churches on the
-east side of New York different nationalities met night after night and
-were instructed concerning patriotism and the moral issues of the war
-by men who spoke the tongues of the men attending.
-
-A Presbyterian church in Du Page County, Illinois, became famous
-because it made its buildings available for all social activities
-and interests of the community. A report of this work says: “The
-older people often attend and engage in play with the young people.
-Refreshments are served free at these gatherings. Special attention is
-given to strangers and to the backward boys and girls, and a few of the
-leaders have always upon their hearts those who are not of the fold of
-Christ. The people become well acquainted, and such fellowship, such
-friendships, such companionships are created--all centering around
-the church!” The writer, telling of the work in another progressive
-church, says: “This church has learned the value of the inspirational
-meetings. Two principal ones are held each year. One takes place on New
-Year’s eve when the whole community, old and young, gather at church as
-one family to watch the old year out and to welcome in the new. This
-is no common watch service. The evening is filled to overflowing with
-good and interesting things. The other great inspirational meeting is
-held at the close of the church year. It is an all day meeting, and
-the whole countryside turns out to help round up the year’s work. The
-ladies serve a banquet at noon free of charge. There is always good
-music on this occasion and two or three talented participants from
-outside supplement the home talent. These big meetings are of benefit
-to the country people. They promote friendship and good fellowship, and
-the dead level gait always receives a big jolt.” These are just a few
-of the churches that are making good use of their buildings, and there
-are hundreds of others all over the country. Whenever you feel that
-the church is failing, just turn to the record of some church that is
-really doing what it ought to do. You can easily find some such church,
-and what is being done in one place can be done in another. People are
-the same the world over, and all groups can be brought together upon a
-common level of interests and good fellowship.
-
-=A Program of Action.= The war has emphasized the necessity of making
-our communities 100 per cent. American. We are thinking in terms of
-nationalities and races now because of the present world crisis. We
-need each community to be not only 100 per cent. American, but 100
-per cent. democratic and neighborly. This involves the study of the
-questions of the relation of the foreigner and of his Americanization;
-the problems of the housing of the community, and the questions of
-the eight-hour day and union labor. The charge that the church speaks
-for the employer rather than for the workingman must be completely
-answered, so that every workingman in every community will come to
-realize from practical contact with the churches that he knows that
-they are not capitalistic institutions. He must learn that they stand
-for all men; and that they speak fairly and unreservedly for the cause
-of humanity and champion the rights of men against the encroachment of
-everything that would crush the spirit of man. The church must interest
-itself in the problem of recreation. People used to work for a living;
-now they work for profit. Playtime was formerly not such a problem as
-it is to-day, for industry was not geared up to the same high pitch of
-efficiency. To-day the margin of play is about the only margin of an
-individual’s life when he is really himself. In our cities especially
-the problem of play is a real problem. The questionable forms of
-amusement are patronized, not because young men and young women are
-inherently bad, but because they are the only means of recreation
-offered. The motion-picture theater is popular because the best of the
-drama has been put within reach of the average person. Public health
-should be a vital consideration of the church. In fact, every line of
-effort that involves the welfare and happiness of human beings is of
-interest to the Christian church.
-
-No church ought to have at first too intricate a program. More can be
-accomplished by an active pro-virtue program than by one that is all
-anti-vice, but the church must also be a fighting organization. We must
-fight evil of every kind. The great struggle of the church against the
-liquor traffic and against vice has resulted in a vast amount of good.
-The thing to remember, however, is that the church must not stop simply
-with its protest and its fight.
-
-=The Ultimate End of All Effort.= Nothing material or physical is
-final. We are not to provide social rooms, good healthful surroundings,
-playgrounds, and other social good things just for themselves, but
-because these things are essential to the best and highest moral
-development of individuals. In the last analysis the work of the church
-is the salvation of men and women. Its work, as has been said, is to
-put a sky over men’s heads. You cannot save individuals by giving them
-good physical surroundings, healthful conditions, and by supplying all
-their physical needs. These are merely the steps to the temple of the
-spirit. The weakness of most of our schemes for social betterment is
-found in the fact that many of them would put a man in a fine room,
-with good light, splendid furnishings, serve a sumptuous meal to him
-and then start a force-pump and pump all the air out of the room. A man
-may die in the midst of the finest things with which we can surround
-him. People must grow, and growth demands atmosphere, and if we give
-everything else and fail to create the right kind of atmosphere we are
-failing. “Seek ye first his [God’s] kingdom, and his righteousness;
-and all the other things shall be added unto you.” By this Jesus did
-not mean that we were to put less emphasis on right conditions, but
-that if we get conditions right, then we can work for the things that
-really are of greatest interest. Above all, he was warning of the
-danger that faces us to-day, of becoming so much interested in a man’s
-social welfare that we lose sight of the emphasis which the great
-Teacher would put upon the qualities which make up humanity.
-
-We must recognize man as a spiritual being, and everything that goes to
-make him better physically ought to make him better spiritually. The
-best work of the church, and the work which God alone can do for the
-community, is to carry humanity beyond physical betterment into the
-realm of spiritual idealism. This is our task. This is the church’s
-goal. When this is realized in all society then the kingdom of God will
-be realized on earth; and the things that men create will be set in
-right relationship to the men themselves; that is, they will become the
-adjuncts of every man’s life and will minister to all human happiness.
-
-
-
-
-BIBLIOGRAPHY
-
-A BRIEF READING LIST
-
-
-_The Rural Problem_
-
- Bailey, L. H. _The Country Life Movement in the United States._
- 1911. Macmillan Company, New York. 75 cents.
-
- Brunner, Edmund de S. _Cooperation in Coopersburg._ 1917.
- Missionary Education Movement, New York. 50 cents.
-
- Brunner, Edmund de S. _The New Country Church Building._ 1917.
- Missionary Education Movement, New York. 75 cents.
-
- Earp, Edwin L. _The Rural Church Movement._ 1914. Methodist Book
- Concern, New York. 75 cents.
-
- Mills, Harlow S. _The Making of a Country Parish._ 1914. Missionary
- Education Movement, New York. 50 cents.
-
- Morse, Richard. _Fear God in Your Own Village._ 1918. Henry Holt &
- Co., New York. $1.30.
-
- Vogt, Paul. _The Church and Country Life._ 1916. Missionary
- Education Movement, New York. $1.25.
-
- Wilson, Warren H. _The Church at the Center._ 1914. Missionary
- Education Movement, New York. 50 cents.
-
- Wilson, Warren H. _The Church of the Open Country._ 1911.
- Missionary Education Movement, New York. 40 cents.
-
-
-_Industrial Relations_
-
- Abbott, Grace. _The Immigrant and the Community._ 1917. Century
- Company, New York. $1.50.
-
- Antin, Mary. _The Promised Land._ 1912. Houghton, Mifflin Company,
- Boston. $1.75.
-
- Burritt, Arthur W. _Profit Sharing._ 1918. Harper & Brothers, New
- York. $2.50.
-
- Carlton, Frank T. _History and Problems of Organised Labor._ 1911.
- D. C. Heath & Co., Boston. $2.00.
-
- Cole, G. D. H. _Self Government in Industry._ 1918. Macmillan
- Company, New York. $1.75.
-
- Fitch, John A. _The Steel Workers_ (Pittsburgh Survey). 1910.
- Charities Publication Committee, New York. $1.50.
-
- Goldmark, Josephine, _Fatigue and Efficiency._ 1912. Russell Sage
- Foundation, New York. $2.00.
-
- Haynes, George E. _Negro New-Comers in Detroit, Michigan._ 1918.
- Home Missions Council, New York. 20 cents.
-
- Kelley, Florence. _Modern Industry in Relation to the Family._
- 1914. Longmans, Green & Co. New York. $1.00.
-
- Mangano, Antonio. _The Sons of Italy._ 1917. Missionary Education
- Movement, New York. 60 cents.
-
- Redfield, William C. _The New Industrial Day._ 1912. Century
- Company, New York. $1.25.
-
- Ross, J. E. _The Right to Work._ 1917. Devin-Adair Company, New
- York. $1.00.
-
- Ryan, John A. _A Living Wage._ 1906. Macmillan Company, New York.
- $1.25.
-
- Shriver, William P. _Immigrant Forces._ 1913. Missionary Education
- Movement, New York. 60 cents.
-
- Symposium by seven well-known authors, _The Path of Labor_. 1918.
- Council of Women for Home Missions, New York. 57 cents.
-
- Ward, Harry F. _The Gospel for a Working World._ 1918. Missionary
- Education Movement, New York. 60 cents.
-
- Ward, Harry F. _The Labor Movement._ 1917. Sturgis & Walton. New
- York. $1.25.
-
- Ward, Harry F. _Poverty and Wealth._ 1915. Methodist Book Concern,
- New York. 50 cents.
-
- Ward, Harry F. _Social Evangelism._ 1915. Missionary Education
- Movement, New York. 50 cents.
-
- Warne, Frank J. _The Slav Invasion and the Mine Workers._ 1904.
- J. B. Lippincott Company, Philadelphia. $1.00.
-
-
-_Women and Children_
-
- Abbott, Edith. _Women in Industry._ 1916. Daniel Appleton &
- Company, New York. $2.50.
-
- Addams, Jane. _The Spirit of Youth and the City Streets._ 1909.
- Macmillan Company, New York. 50 cents.
-
- Henry, Alice. _The Trade Union Woman._ 1915. Daniel Appleton & Co.,
- New York. $1.50.
-
- Fraser, Helen. _Woman and War Work._ 1918. G. Arnold Shaw, New
- York. $1.50.
-
- MacLean, Annie M. _Wage-Earning Women._ 1910. Macmillan Company,
- New York. $1.25.
-
- MacLean, Annie M. _Women Workers and Society._ 1916. A. C. McClurg,
- Chicago. 50 cents.
-
- Mangold, George B. _Child Problems._ 1917. Macmillan Company, New
- York. $1.25.
-
- Schreiner, Olive. _Woman and Labor._ 1911. Frederick A. Stokes
- Company, New York. $1.25.
-
-
-_The Church and Social Conditions_
-
- Atkinson, Henry A. _The Church and the People’s Play._ 1915.
- Pilgrim Press, Boston. $1.25.
-
- Cutting, R. Fulton. _The Church and Society._ 1912. Macmillan
- Company, New York. $1.25.
-
- Felton, Ralph A. _A Study of a Rural Parish._ 1915. Missionary
- Education Movement, New York. 50 cents.
-
- Gates, Herbert W. _Recreation and the Church._ 1917. University
- Press, Chicago. $1.00.
-
- Harrison, Shelby M.; Tippy, Worth M.; Ward, Harry F.; and Atkinson,
- Henry A. _What Every Church Should Know about Its Community._
- Federal Council of Churches, New York. 10 cents.
-
- Hughan, Jessie W. _The Facts of Socialism._ 1913. John Lane
- Company, New York. 75 cents.
-
- Mangold, George B. _The Challenge of St. Louis._ 1917. Missionary
- Education Movement, New York. 60 cents.
-
- Marsh, Daniel L. _The Challenge of Pittsburgh._ 1917. Missionary
- Education Movement, New York. 60 cents.
-
- Mathews, Shailer. _The Individual and the Social Gospel._ 1914.
- Missionary Education Movement, New York. 25 cents.
-
- Rauschenbusch, Walter. _Christianity and the Social Crisis._ 1907.
- Macmillan Company, New York. 50 cents.
-
- Rauschenbusch, Walter. _The Social Principles of Jesus._ 1916.
- Association Press, New York. 50 cents.
-
- Roberts, Richard. _The Church in the Commonwealth._ 1918. Frederick
- A. Stokes Company, New York. $1.00.
-
- Spargo, John. _The Spiritual Significance of Socialism._ 1912.
- B. W. Huebsch, New York. 50 cents.
-
- Vedder, Henry C. _The Gospel of Jesus and the Problem of
- Democracy._ 1914. Macmillan Company, New York. $1.50.
-
- White, Charles L. _The Churches at Work._ 1915. Missionary
- Education Movement, New York. 60 cents.
-
-
-
-
-INDEX
-
-
- A
-
- Accidents, in mining, 72, 73;
- in steel-mills, 85, 86;
- on railroads, 99-101
-
- Actors, Church Alliance and Fund, 130;
- off the stage, 128
-
- Anthony, Susan B., referred to, 162
-
- Anthracite coal areas, 69
-
- Anti-loafer laws, 152
-
- Apathy of mill workers, 91
-
- Arbitration in clothing industry, 60, 61
-
- Architecture and present use of steel, 79-81
-
- Artificial flowers, 132
-
-
- B
-
- Bag and hemp factory conditions, 165
-
- Baker Manufacturing Company, 93
-
- Banana boat and rush unloading, 137
-
- Baptist East Side churches in New York City, 205
-
- Bargains in ready-made clothing, 55
-
- Bathtubs and buttons, 114
-
- Beet, culture, 20, 174, 175;
- sugar, 20;
- use of child labor, 20, 21, 174, 175, 185
-
- Bessemer steel, 82-84
-
- Bible, study class members, Y. W. C. A., 4, 5;
- unopened to Jewish radicals, 62
-
- Billy Sunday meetings, 195
-
- Bituminous coal-fields, 69
-
- Booth, Maud Ballington, referred to, 162
-
- Brakeman, accident to a, 100
-
- Brick and mortar not the soul of the city, 33
-
- Bridge cables, steel, 82
-
- Burley tobacco, 173
-
-
- C
-
- Canada, western grain-belt, 17
-
- Cane-sugar makers, 18, 19
-
- Casual workers and the common man, 153
-
- Casualty lists. See _Accidents_
-
- Catholics, 90, 120, 194, 196
-
- Cemeteries, well-tended Western, 27
-
- Chaplain beloved, a, 203
-
- Chicago, Industrial Exhibition, picture of a mother, 58;
- stock-yards, 150
-
- Child labor, in agriculture, 174-185;
- in home work, 58;
- reasons for, 176;
- task of the church, 187-189
-
- Child Labor Law, Federal, very helpful but unconstitutional, 185
-
- Child Labor, National Committee on, 188;
- Sunday, 188
-
- “Children in Agriculture,” quoted, 175
-
- Children’s Bureau in Washington, D. C., 90
-
- China, actors in, 130
-
- Christ. See _Jesus Christ_
-
- Christmas-time work, 139
-
- Church, duty of, 197;
- responsibility, 151, 152;
- statistics
- of per cent. of working people, 194;
- work, past and present, 28, 191-209;
- with country people, 27-32;
- with factory folks, 46-48;
- with garment-makers, 62, 63;
- with miners, 75-78;
- with rail and vessel forces, 109-111;
- with steel workers, 91-94;
- with Tampa cigarmakers, 122, 123;
- with theater people, 130;
- with transient classes, 150-153;
- with women and children, 169-171, 187-189
-
- Churches, criticism of, 194;
- faulty distribution of, 127;
- indifference to, 195
-
- Cigarmakers, 116-120;
- social worker’s story, 125
-
- City and country life depicted and distinguished, 1, 23, 24
-
- City church statistics, 194
-
- Clothes and civilization, 34
-
- Clothing industry, 54;
- labor troubles in, 58-61;
- materials, 34-36
-
- Coal, importance of, 65, 66;
- mining methods and miners, 67-74
-
- Cœur d’Alene district, Idaho, 68, 75
-
- Cold storage, 178
-
- Conservation, of fuel, 11;
- of wheat, 18
-
- Consumers’ League, 52, 171
-
- Cooper Union, New York City, a social center, 62
-
- Cooperation, 170, 184;
- among the churches, 200
-
- Copper, 68, 69, 74
-
- Corn and hogs, price of, 21
-
- Corn belt, 21
-
- Cost of living, 9, 178
-
- Cotton, 36, 37;
- importance increased by the invention of the cotton-gin, 37
-
- Cotton-mills and workers, in Northern cities, 34, 44-46;
- in
- Southern towns and villages, 40-43, 47
-
- Coxey’s army, 135-137
-
- Cuban traits, 121
-
-
- D
-
- Dressmaking industry, 53
-
- Du Page County, Illinois, Presbyterian Church, 206
-
- Duty of the church, the, 197
-
-
- E
-
- Early ambitions, 3
-
- Early Christians, influence of, 203
-
- Effects of specialization in work, 7
-
- Efficient women in war and other work, 159-165
-
- Eliot, George, referred to, 162
-
- Engineer, the, and the world war, 98-101;
- wish to renew service, 99
-
- Evansville, Wisconsin, Manufacturing Company, 93
-
-
- F
-
- Factory system, 7
-
- Fall River factories, 34
-
- Farm life, 23
-
- Fashion and clothes, a shop-girl’s comment, 51
-
- Fatalism of steel-mill workers, 91
-
- Feudal castles and modern mills compared, 33
-
- Fictitious barriers in society, 204, 205
-
- Fifth Avenue, New York City, 49, 61
-
- Film making, 43, 131, 132
-
- “Fine art of living, the,” 6
-
- Fire and coal, 65
-
- Fishing village preacher’s report, 3, 4
-
- Food-producing industries, 21
-
- Ford Hall, Boston, a social center, 62
-
- Foreign element on Western farms, 27
-
- Formaldehyde used in a church, 151, 152
-
- French Revolution conditions, 179
-
- Fuel administrator, 66
-
- Furs, 126
-
- Furuseth, Andrew, work for the sailors, 108, 109
-
-
- G
-
- Garment makers, 51-53, 57-63
-
- Garment Makers’ Union, New York City, 50
-
- Garment workers in New York City, 49, 50, 53, 55-58, 61-63
-
- Gentleman, deeper than outward marks, 204
-
- Girl clerks’ wages affected by “pin-money” competitors, 164, 165
-
- God, question of an immigrant woman, 191;
- work for the community, 209
-
- Gold and silver mining, 69
-
- Government ownership of railroads, 106
-
- Grain belts of Canada and the United States, 17
-
- Group needs and the church, 13, 14
-
-
- H
-
- Havana and Key West, 116
-
- Health of garment workers, 56
-
- Henry, Miss Alice, quoted, 162, 165, 166
-
- Herring, Rev. Hubert C., referred to, 27
-
- Home, importance of, 156;
- work conditions, 57
-
- Home mission work, pressing need for, 30
-
- Hookworm, 41
-
- Hoover, Mr., 18
-
- Housing conditions and the cost of living, 9
-
- Howe, Julia Ward, referred to, 162
-
-
- I
-
- Idaho, labor legislation in, 146
-
- Immigrant, mill workers, 89;
- woman and God, 191;
- women in Saint Louis, 166
-
- I. W. W., code, 142;
- efforts in East Tampa, 121;
- street song in Seattle, 141, 142
-
- Industrial, army, questions raised, 135;
- classes created, 8
-
- Inefficiency, causes of, 148
-
- “Infant Mortality” statistics, 90
-
- Institutional churches, 203
-
- Interdependence, 10
-
- International Seamen’s Union, 108
-
- Interstate Commerce Commission, 105
-
- Iron, 69, 80-83
-
- Italians, 49, 56, 57, 63, 67
-
-
- J
-
- Jesus Christ, 12, 187, 200-202, 204, 209
-
- Jewelry industry, 132
-
- Jewish characteristics, 54
-
- Jews, 49, 53-56, 62, 63, 194
-
- Johnstown, Pennsylvania, mill workers, 89
-
- Judson Memorial Baptist Church, New York City, 63
-
- Juvenile court case in Tampa, Florida, 122
-
-
- K
-
- Kelly, Mrs. Florence, referred to, 52
-
- Kerensky, mistake of, 22
-
- King, Henry Churchill, quoted, 6
-
-
- L
-
- Landlord and tenant, 25
-
- Lawrence, Massachusetts, cotton-mills, 34
-
- Lead and zinc, 68, 69
-
- Life in the Southern mill village, 40-44, 47
-
- Livermore, California, railroad wreck, 99
-
- Loom, contrast between earlier and later, 36-38
-
- Lovejoy, Owen R., quoted, 186;
- referred to, 188
-
- Lowell, Massachusetts, cotton-mills, 34
-
- Loyalty, labor’s lack of, 7
-
- Lumber companies of the Northwest, bad conditions for laborers,
- 144, 145
-
- Luxuries, defined, 114, 115;
- examples of producers of, 116-134;
- harmless and hurtful, 115
-
-
- M
-
- Machinery, 37;
- has subordinated man, 46
-
- McIntire, Miss Ruth, quoted, 175
-
- Manufacture of clothing materials, 35, 36
-
- Maverick Church in East Boston, 205
-
- Men, as users of clothes, 34;
- as creators of things, 15
-
- Metal mine workers, 74;
- wages, 75
-
- Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City, picture referred to, 84
-
- Michigan Central Railroad accident, 100
-
- Migratory workers, 143
-
- Millinery, 132, 139
-
- Mills and workers, 33-47;
- experience of a family, 44, 45
-
- Mine workers, accidents, 72;
- forgotten, 67;
- wages, 73, 75
-
- Minerals, valuable, 65, 68
-
- Mining town, life in a, 5, 6
-
- Missionary work at home, 127
-
- Morgan Memorial Church, Boston, 198
-
- Morris, William, demand for joy in work, 6
-
- Motion-pictures, 43;
- theater statistics, 130-132
-
- Motorman a suicide, 107
-
- Municipal ownership, San Francisco, 108
-
-
- N
-
- Napoleon, anecdote of, 201
-
- National Child Labor Committee, 175, 181
-
- National Consumers’ League, 52
-
- Negro philosophy of work, 115;
- work and wages on sugar plantation, 19, 20
-
- Neighborliness, 11, 12
-
- New York _Herald_, referred to, 119
-
- Nickel, of Canada, 68
-
- Northern textile workers, 44;
- Southern groups, 40
-
-
- O
-
- “Open shop,” 45;
- in steel mills, 42
-
- Organization, of labor, 7;
- of men questioning women’s admission to labor unions, 167-169;
- of women workers, 165
-
- Oriental visitor’s comment on American civilization, 79
-
-
- P
-
- Peace of the world and the bread question, 22
-
- Philanthropy, city, 24
-
- Pilgrim mothers, 162
-
- “Pin-money” workers affecting regular wages, 164
-
- Pioneers in the West and their descendants, 27, 31
-
- Pittsburgh has bad housing conditions for steel workers, 89
-
- Play and relaxation, 6, 207
-
- Plymouth Church, Oakland, California, 205
-
- Professor Parker’s report of I. W. W. in California, 142
-
- Profit-sharing, 92, 93
-
-
- R
-
- Racial and residential phrases used by rival boy groups, 9;
- more general racial groups, 55, 56
-
- Railroads, casualty lists, 99;
- churches and, 106;
- expenses and profits, 103, 104;
- government ownership, 106;
- system statistics, 98;
- work and workers, 99, 102
-
- Ranch life, 3
-
- Reader in Tampa, Florida, cigar factory, 119
-
- Ready-made clothing bargains, 54, 55
-
- “Red Jacket” mine, 74
-
- Restless Americans, 95
-
- “Riding out a bill,” 95
-
- Right to work a just demand, 146;
- helping agencies, 147
-
- Robbins, Mrs. Raymond, referred to, 168
-
- Rochester, New York, address at the City Club, 108
-
- Rolling-mill, 84;
- statistics, 86
-
- Rural community study, 26-28, 30.
-
- Russian, labor, 21;
- revolution and the food question, 22;
- unexpected collapse, 183
-
-
- S
-
- “Sacred Motherhood,” 58
-
- Safety devices for railroad trains, 100
-
- Saint Louis, factory conditions and women workers in, 165, 166
-
- Saint Patrick and the Irish snakes, 183
-
- Salvation of the individual the ultimate aim, 208
-
- Scranton, Pennsylvania, coal famine in, 178
-
- Seattle, song of the vagabond workers, 139;
- success of minister’s experiment with “blanket stiffs,” 147
-
- Selfishness and greed back of child labor, 176
-
- Serving humanity, 133
-
- Silk, 35
-
- Sinclair, Upton, story referred to, 150
-
- Skyscraper significant of America, 79
-
- Social, centers formed by the churches, 205-209;
- salvation and the wage-earners, 192
-
- Social Service, Commission, 199;
- Department of Congregational churches, 26
-
- Socialism and the church, 31
-
- Socialized church as an inspiring force, 202, 203
-
- Song of the world of work heard in the city’s roar, 2
-
- Soubrette Row, 130
-
- Soul of the city, 33
-
- Soup kitchens, 151
-
- Southern mill village, life in, 40-47
-
- Spencer, Herbert, quoted, 6
-
- State laws for home work, special provision needed, 58
-
- State University rural work in Wisconsin, 26
-
- Steel production, 80-89;
- manufacture, 80-83;
- statistics, 79, 80;
- uses, 80-82;
- workers and working conditions, 86-89
-
- Stencil work deforming a hand, 180
-
- Stock-owning, 92, 93
-
- Stock-yards of Chicago, 150
-
- Stowe, Mrs. Harriet Beecher, referred to, 162
-
- Street-car men’s wages, 107
-
- Strikes: on street-car lines, 108;
- one striker’s case, 45
-
- Student Volunteer Movement for Foreign Missions, 199
-
- Sugar-beet culture, 20;
- child workers in, 174
-
- Sugar-cane fields, processes and workers, 19
-
- Summer use of furs, 126
-
- Sweat-shop system, 52, 57
-
-
- T
-
- Tampa, Florida, churches, 121-123;
- cigar factory, 119;
- conditions, 120, 124;
- statistics, 116
-
- Task system, 53
-
- Taylor, Florence I., effect of mill work on boys, 181
-
- Tenant farmer, 25
-
- Textile industries, Northern and Southern wages and workers, 40, 44
-
- Theater as a medium of luxury, 128-130
-
- Theories concerning the Pyramids, 96
-
- “Tired Business Man,” the, 4
-
- Tobacco, for cigars, 117, 118;
- for the Burley demands, 173;
- “worming” done by children, 173, 174
-
- _Trade Union Woman, The_, quoted, 162, 166
-
- Tramp as a product of labor conditions, 143-150
-
- Transportation, 96;
- and progress, 97;
- other than railways, 107;
- workers largely unknown to us, 109-111
-
- Trappers, 126
-
- Triangle Shirt Waist Company fire, 50
-
- Trotzky’s success turned on supplying food, 22
-
- Tuberculosis statistics, 124
-
- Typical life of busy women illustrated, 5
-
-
- U
-
- Unemployed, problem of, 56, 137;
- regulation of industry, 146;
- war changes, 145, 152
-
- Union Garment Makers’, 50
-
- United States, Bulletin of Labor, quoted, 124;
- Bureau of Labor, statistics from, 39;
- coal-mine statistics, 65, 66;
- Public Health Service, report quoted, 56;
- Steel Corporation, concessions, 92
-
- Urge of work, the, 1
-
-
- V
-
- Vagabond workers, in Seattle, 139;
- poem, 141
-
- Valuable non-essentials, 115
-
-
- W
-
- Wales, singing by miners a means of progress, 141
-
- War, asking the employment of childhood, 186, 187;
- requirements in communities, 207;
- talks in New York City churches, 205
-
- Washington state, a parish in, 144
-
- Watered stock, 105
-
- Welfare of the American seaman cared for by Act of Congress, 109
-
- Welfare work in mining communities, 75, 76;
- plan for Colorado, 77
-
- Wetz, James E., Chicago egg-king, 178
-
- Wheat, 17
-
- Wilcox, Ella Wheeler, referred to, 27
-
- Willard, Frances E., referred to, 162
-
- Williamsburg Bridge, cost and materials, 82
-
- Winnipeg, prosperity of, 17
-
- Wisconsin townships, survey of three, 26
-
- Woman, former disadvantages, 155, 156;
- present opportunities, 156-164
-
- Women, needed service of the church for, 169-171;
- organization of, 165-169
-
- Women’s National Trade Union League, the, 168, 171
-
- Wool, production and manufacture of, 35
-
- Work, vocabulary of, 3
-
- “Wormin’ time,” 174
-
-
- Y
-
- Young Men’s Christian Association, 77
-
-
-
-
-LIST OF MISSION BOARDS AND CORRESPONDENTS
-
-
-The Missionary Education Movement is conducted in behalf of the Foreign
-and Home Mission Boards and Societies of the United States and Canada.
-
-Orders for literature on foreign and home missions should be addressed
-to the secretaries representing those organizations, who are prepared
-to furnish special helps to leaders of mission study classes and to
-other missionary workers.
-
-If the address of the secretary of the Foreign or Home Mission Board
-or Society of your denomination is unknown, orders may be sent to the
-Missionary Education Movement. All persons ordering from the Missionary
-Education Movement are requested to indicate their denominations when
-ordering.
-
- ADVENT CHRISTIAN--American Advent Mission Society, Rev. George E.
- Tyler, 160 Warren Street, Boston, Mass.
-
- ASSOCIATE REFORMED PRESBYTERIAN--Young People’s Christian Union and
- Sabbath School Work, Rev. J. W. Carson, Newberry, S. C.
-
- BAPTIST (NORTH)--Department of Missionary Education of the
- Cooperating Organizations of the Northern Baptist Convention,
- 23 East 26th Street, New York City.
-
- BAPTIST (SOUTH)--Foreign Mission Board of the Southern Baptist
- Convention, Rev. T. B. Ray, 1103 Main Street, Richmond, Va.
- (Correspondence concerning both foreign and home missions.)
-
- BAPTIST (COLORED)--Foreign Mission Board of the National Baptist
- Convention, Rev. L. G. Jordan, 701 South Nineteenth Street,
- Philadelphia, Pa.
-
- CHRISTIAN--The Mission Board of the Christian Church: Foreign
- Missions, Rev. M. T. Morrill; Home Missions, Rev. Omer S.
- Thomas, C. P. A. Building, Dayton, Ohio.
-
- CHRISTIAN REFORMED--Board of Heathen Missions, Rev. Henry Beets,
- 2050 Francis Avenue, S. E., Grand Rapids, Mich.
-
- CHURCH OF THE BRETHREN--General Mission Board of the Church of the
- Brethren, Rev. Galen B. Royer, Elgin, Ill.
-
- CONGREGATIONAL--American Board of Commissioners for Foreign
- Missions, Rev. D. Brewer Eddy, 14 Beacon Street, Boston, Mass.
-
- American Missionary Association, Rev. C. J. Ryder, 287 Fourth
- Avenue, New York City.
-
- Congregational Education Society, Rev. Miles B. Fisher, 14
- Beacon St., Boston, Mass.
-
- The Congregational Home Missionary Society, Rev. William S.
- Beard, 287 Fourth Avenue, New York City.
-
- DISCIPLES OF CHRIST--Foreign Christian Missionary Society, Rev.
- Stephen J. Corey, Box 884, Cincinnati, Ohio.
-
- The American Christian Missionary Society, Mr. R. M. Hopkins,
- Carew Building, Cincinnati, Ohio.
-
- EVANGELICAL ASSOCIATION--Missionary Society of the Evangelical
- Association, Rev. George Johnson, 1903 Woodland Avenue, S. E.,
- Cleveland, Ohio.
-
- EVANGELICAL LUTHERAN--Board of Foreign Missions of the General
- Council of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in N. A., Rev. George
- Drach, Trappe, Pa.
-
- Board of Home Missions of the General Council of the
- Evangelical Lutheran Church in North America, 805-807
- Drexel Building, Philadelphia, Pa.
-
- Board of Foreign Missions of the General Synod of the
- Evangelical Lutheran Church in the U. S. A., Rev. L. B.
- Wolff, 21 West Saratoga Street, Baltimore, Md.
-
- Board of Home Missions and Church Extension of the Evangelical
- Lutheran Church, Rev. H. H. Weber, York, Pa.
-
- Board of Foreign Missions of the United Synod of the
- Evangelical Lutheran Church in the South, Rev. C. L. Brown,
- Columbia, S. C.
-
- FRIENDS--American Friends Board of Foreign Missions, Mr. Ross A.
- Hadley, Richmond, Ind.
-
- Evangelistic and Church Extension Board of the Friends Five
- Years’ Meeting, Mr. Harry R. Keates, 1314 Lyon Street, Des
- Moines, Iowa.
-
- GERMAN EVANGELICAL--Foreign Mission Board, German Evangelical Synod
- of North America, Rev. E. Schmidt, 1377 Main Street, Buffalo,
- N. Y.
-
- METHODIST EPISCOPAL--For Mission Study, Miss Inez Traxier,
- Department of Mission Study and Christian Stewardship of
- the Epworth League, 740 Rush Street, Chicago, Illinois. For
- Missionary Education in the Sunday School, Rev. Gilbert
- Loveland, Department of Missionary Education of the Board of
- Sunday Schools, 58 East Washington Street, Chicago, Illinois.
-
- METHODIST EPISCOPAL (SOUTH)--The Educational Department of
- the Board of Missions of the Methodist Episcopal Church,
- South, Rev. C. G. Hounshell, 810 Broadway, Nashville, Tenn.
- (Correspondence concerning both foreign and home missions.)
-
- METHODIST PROTESTANT--Board of Foreign Missions of the Methodist
- Protestant Church, Rev. Fred C. Klein, 316 North Charles
- Street, Baltimore, Md.
-
- Board of Home Missions of the Methodist Protestant Church, Rev.
- Charles H. Beck, 507 Pittsburgh Life Building, Pittsburgh,
- Pa.
-
- MORAVIAN--The Department of Missionary Education of the Moravian
- Church in America, Northern Province, Rev. F. W. Stengel,
- Lititz, Pa.
-
- PRESBYTERIAN (U. S. A.)--The Board of Foreign Missions of the
- Presbyterian Church in the U. S. A., Mr. B. Carter Millikin,
- Educational Secretary, 156 Fifth Avenue, New York City.
-
- Board of Home Missions of the Presbyterian Church in the
- U. S. A., Mr. Ralph A. Felton, Director of Educational
- Work, 156 Fifth Avenue, New York City.
-
- PRESBYTERIAN (U. S.)--Executive Committee of Foreign Missions of
- the Presbyterian Church in the U. S., Mr. John I. Armstrong,
- 210 Union Street, Nashville, Tenn.
-
- General Assembly’s Home Missions of the Presbyterian Church in
- the U. S., Rev. S. L. Morris, 1522 Hurt Building, Atlanta,
- Ga.
-
- PROTESTANT EPISCOPAL--The Domestic and Foreign. Missionary Society
- of the Protestant Episcopal Church in the U. S. A., Mr. W. C.
- Sturgis, 281 Fourth Avenue, New York City.
-
- REFORMED CHURCH IN AMERICA--Board of Foreign Missions, Rev. L. J.
- Shafer; Board of Home Missions, Rev. W. T. Demarest; Board of
- Publication and Bible School Work, Rev. T. F. Bayles, 25 East
- Twenty-second Street, New York City.
-
- REFORMED CHURCH IN THE UNITED STATES--Mission Study Department.
- Representing the Boards of Home and Foreign Missions, Mr. John
- H. Poorman, 304 Reformed Church Building, Fifteenth and Race
- Streets, Philadelphia, Pa.
-
- UNITED BRETHREN IN CHRIST--Foreign Missionary Society, Rev. S. S.
- Hough, Otterbein Press Building, Dayton, Ohio.
-
- Home Missionary Society, Miss Lyda B. Wiggim, United Brethren
- Building, Dayton, Ohio.
-
- Young People’s Work, Rev. O. T. Deever, Otterbein Press
- Building, Dayton, Ohio.
-
- UNITED EVANGELICAL--Home and Foreign Missionary Society of the
- United Evangelical Church and Board of Church Extension, Rev.
- B. H. Niebel, Penbrook, Pa.
-
- UNITED NORWEGIAN LUTHERAN--Board of Foreign Missions United
- Norwegian Lutheran Church of America, Rev. M. Saterlie, 425-429
- South Fourth Street, Minneapolis, Minn.
-
- Board of Home Missions, United Norwegian Lutheran Church of
- America, Rev. Olaf Guldseth, 425 South Fourth Street,
- Minneapolis, Minn.
-
- UNITED PRESBYTERIAN--Mission Study Department of the Board of
- Foreign Missions of the United Presbyterian Church of North
- America, Miss Anna A. Milligan, 200 North Fifteenth Street,
- Philadelphia, Pa.
-
- Board of Home Missions of the United Presbyterian Church of
- North America, Rev. R. A. Hutchison, 209 Ninth Street,
- Pittsburgh, Pa.
-
- UNIVERSALIST--Department of Missionary Education of the General
- Sunday School Association, Rev. A. Gertrude Earle, Methuen,
- Mass.
-
- Send all orders for literature to Universalist Publishing
- House, 359 Boylston Street, Boston, Mass.
-
-
-CANADIAN BOARDS
-
- BAPTIST--The Canadian Baptist Foreign Mission Board, Rev. J. G.
- Brown, 223 Church Street, Toronto, Ontario.
-
- CHURCH OF ENGLAND--The Missionary Society of the Church of England
- in Canada, Rev. Canon S. Gould, 131 Confederation life
- Building, Toronto, Ontario.
-
- CONGREGATIONAL--Canada Congregational Foreign Missionary Society,
- Miss Effie Jamieson, 23 Woodlawn Avenue, East, Toronto, Ontario.
-
- METHODIST--Young People’s Forward Movement Department of the
- Missionary Society of the Methodist Church, Canada, Rev. F. C.
- Stephenson, 299 Queen Street, West, Toronto, Ontario.
-
- PRESBYTERIAN--Presbyterian Church in Canada, Board of Foreign
- Missions, Rev. A. E. Armstrong, 439 Confederation Life
- Building, Toronto, Ontario.
-
-
-REVISED TO 1917
-
-
-
-
-Transcriber’s Notes
-
-
-Punctuation, hyphenation, and spelling were made consistent when a
-predominant preference was found in this book; otherwise they were not
-changed.
-
-Simple typographical errors were corrected; occasional unbalanced
-quotation marks retained.
-
-Ambiguous hyphens at the ends of lines were retained.
-
-Index not checked for proper alphabetization or correct page references.
-
-On the Form near the beginning of the book, “Helps” was printed that
-way, with the “s”.
-
-Page 189: “Earl of Shaftsbury” was printed that way.
-
-Page 192: “ascendency” was printed that way.
-
-
-
-
-
-End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Men and Things, by Henry A. Atkinson
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-<pre>
-
-The Project Gutenberg EBook of Men and Things, by Henry A. Atkinson
-
-This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most
-other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions
-whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of
-the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at
-www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you'll have
-to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this ebook.
-
-
-
-Title: Men and Things
-
-Author: Henry A. Atkinson
-
-Release Date: September 9, 2016 [EBook #53018]
-
-Language: English
-
-Character set encoding: UTF-8
-
-*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MEN AND THINGS ***
-
-
-
-
-Produced by Chris Curnow and the Online Distributed
-Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was
-produced from images generously made available by The
-Internet Archive)
-
-
-
-
-
-
-</pre>
-
-
-<div class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;">
-<img src="images/cover.jpg" width="375" height="600" alt="Cover" />
-</div>
-
-<div id="i_frontis" class="figcenter" style="width: 380px;">
-<img src="images/i_001.jpg" width="380" height="600" alt="" />
-<div class="captionl">
-
-<p>Press Illustrating Service.</p></div>
-
-<div class="caption">
-
-<p>CUTTING STEEL FOR SHIPS WITH GIGANTIC SHEARS.</p></div>
-
-<div class="captionn"><p>These workers are the servants of civilization and without them
-we would have no such trade as we have to-day.</p></div></div>
-
-<hr />
-
-<h1>MEN AND THINGS</h1>
-
-<p class="p2 center vspace wspace">BY<br />
-<span class="large">HENRY A. ATKINSON</span><br />
-<span class="small">SECRETARY, SOCIAL SERVICE DEPARTMENT OF THE CONGREGATIONAL CHURCHES<br />
-AND ASSOCIATE SECRETARY OF THE COMMISSION ON THE CHURCHES<br />
-AND SOCIAL SERVICE OF THE FEDERAL COUNCIL OF THE<br />
-CHURCHES OF CHRIST IN AMERICA</span></p>
-
-<p class="p2 center">NEW YORK</p>
-<p class="center larger wspace">MISSIONARY EDUCATION MOVEMENT<br />
-OF THE UNITED STATES AND CANADA<br />
-<span class="smaller">1918</span>
-</p>
-
-<hr />
-
-<p class="newpage p4 center vspace wspace smaller">
-COPYRIGHT, 1918, BY<br />
-MISSIONARY EDUCATION MOVEMENT OF THE<br />
-UNITED STATES AND CANADA
-</p>
-
-<hr />
-
-<div id="if_i_004" class="newpage figcenter" style="width: 550px;">
-<img src="images/i_004.jpg" width="369" height="600" alt="" />
-
-<div class="hideme">
-<pre class="newpage p2 smaller">
-              <span class="large">CORRESPONDENCE CONCERNING</span>
-                        <span class="large">MISSION STUDY</span>
-
-  Send the proper one of the following blanks to the secretary of
-your denominational mission board whose address is in the “List of
-Mission Boards and Correspondents” at the end of this book.
-
-=================================================================
-
-  We expect to form a mission study class, and desire to have any
-suggestions that you can send that will help in organizing and
-conducting it.
-
-Name ............................................................
-
-Street and Number ...............................................
-
-City or Town ..................... State ........................
-
-Denomination ..................... Church .......................
-
-Text-book to be used ............................................
-
-=================================================================
-
-  We have organized a mission study class and secured our books.
-Below is the enrolment.
-
-Name of City or Town .................... State .................
-
-Text-book .........................  Underline auspices under
-                                       which class is held:
-Denomination ......................
-                                     Church        Y. P. Soc.
-Church ............................  Men           Senior
-                                     Women’s Soc.  Intermediate
-Name of Leader ....................  Y. W. Soc.    Junior
-                                     Sunday School
-Address ...........................
-
-Name of Pastor ....................  Date of starting ............
-
-State whether Mission Study Class,   Frequency of Meetings .......
-  Lecture Course, Program Meetings,
-  or Reading Circle ...............  Number of Members ...........
-
-  .................................  Does Leader desire Helps? ...
-
-Chairman, Missionary Committee, Young People’s Society ...........
-
-      ............................................................
-
-      Address ....................................................
-
-Chairman, Missionary Committee, Sunday School ....................
-
-      ............................................................
-
-      Address ....................................................
-</pre>
-</div></div>
-
-<hr />
-
-<p class="newpage p4 center vspace larger">TO MY FATHER<br />
-
-THE REV. THOMAS A. ATKINSON</p>
-
-<hr />
-
-<div class="chapter">
-<h2><a id="CONTENTS"></a>CONTENTS</h2>
-</div>
-
-<table id="toc" summary="Contents">
- <tr class="small">
- <td class="tdr">CHAPTER</td>
- <td> </td>
- <td class="tdr">PAGE</td></tr>
- <tr>
- <td> </td>
- <td class="tdl">Foreword</td>
- <td class="tdr"><a href="#FOREWORD">xiii</a></td></tr>
- <tr>
- <td class="tdr top">I</td>
- <td class="tdl">The World of Work</td>
- <td class="tdr"><a href="#CHAPTER_I">1</a></td></tr>
- <tr>
- <td class="tdr top">II</td>
- <td class="tdl">The World of the Rural Workers</td>
- <td class="tdr"><a href="#CHAPTER_I">17</a></td></tr>
- <tr>
- <td class="tdr top">III</td>
- <td class="tdl">The World of the Spinners and Weavers</td>
- <td class="tdr"><a href="#CHAPTER_I">33</a></td></tr>
- <tr>
- <td class="tdr top">IV</td>
- <td class="tdl">The World of the Garment Workers</td>
- <td class="tdr"><a href="#CHAPTER_I">49</a></td></tr>
- <tr>
- <td class="tdr top">V</td>
- <td class="tdl">The World of the Miners</td>
- <td class="tdr"><a href="#CHAPTER_V">65</a></td></tr>
- <tr>
- <td class="tdr top">VI</td>
- <td class="tdl">The World of the Steel Workers</td>
- <td class="tdr"><a href="#CHAPTER_V">79</a></td></tr>
- <tr>
- <td class="tdr top">VII</td>
- <td class="tdl">The World of the Transportation Men</td>
- <td class="tdr"><a href="#CHAPTER_V">95</a></td></tr>
- <tr>
- <td class="tdr top">VIII</td>
- <td class="tdl">The World of the Makers of Luxuries</td>
- <td class="tdr"><a href="#CHAPTER_V">113</a></td></tr>
- <tr>
- <td class="tdr top">IX</td>
- <td class="tdl">The World of Seasonal Labor and the Casual Workers</td>
- <td class="tdr"><a href="#CHAPTER_I">135</a></td></tr>
- <tr>
- <td class="tdr top">X</td>
- <td class="tdl">The World of Industrial Women</td>
- <td class="tdr"><a href="#CHAPTER_X">155</a></td></tr>
- <tr>
- <td class="tdr top">XI</td>
- <td class="tdl">The World of the Child Workers</td>
- <td class="tdr"><a href="#CHAPTER_X">173</a></td></tr>
- <tr>
- <td class="tdr top">XII</td>
- <td class="tdl">The Message and Ministry of the Church</td>
- <td class="tdr"><a href="#CHAPTER_X">191</a></td></tr>
- <tr>
- <td> </td>
- <td class="tdl">Bibliography</td>
- <td class="tdr"><a href="#BIBLIOGRAPHY">211</a></td></tr>
- <tr>
- <td> </td>
- <td class="tdl">Index</td>
- <td class="tdr"><a href="#INDEX">215</a></td></tr>
-</table>
-
-<hr />
-
-<div class="chapter">
-<h2><a id="ILLUSTRATIONS"></a>ILLUSTRATIONS</h2>
-</div>
-
-<table id="loi" summary="Illustrations">
- <tr>
- <td class="tdl">These workers are the servants of civilization</td>
- <td class="tdr"><a href="#i_frontis"><i>Frontispiece</i></a></td></tr>
- <tr class="small">
- <td> </td>
- <td class="tdr">PAGE</td></tr>
- <tr>
- <td class="tdl">The work which men do inevitably groups them together</td>
- <td class="tdr"><a href="#ip_10">10</a></td></tr>
- <tr>
- <td class="tdl">Not many of us stop to consider the man who made possible the white bread that we eat</td>
- <td class="tdr"><a href="#ip_18">18</a></td></tr>
- <tr>
- <td class="tdl">The worker in these mills is a worker and little or nothing else</td>
- <td class="tdr"><a href="#ip_42">42</a></td></tr>
- <tr>
- <td class="tdl">The workers on the sidewalks of Fifth Avenue</td>
- <td class="tdr"><a href="#ip_50">50</a></td></tr>
- <tr>
- <td class="tdl">We forget the men who are toiling underground</td>
- <td class="tdr"><a href="#ip_66">66</a></td></tr>
- <tr>
- <td class="tdl">The New U. S. Bureau of Mines Rescue Car</td>
- <td class="tdr"><a href="#ip_74">74</a></td></tr>
- <tr>
- <td class="tdl">Commerce and transportation are dependent upon the steel workers</td>
- <td class="tdr"><a href="#ip_82">82</a></td></tr>
- <tr>
- <td class="tdl">The church must preach from the text “A man is more precious than a bar of steel”</td>
- <td class="tdr"><a href="#ip_90">90</a></td></tr>
- <tr>
- <td class="tdl">Living upon the canal-boats and barges are the families of the workers</td>
- <td class="tdr"><a href="#ip_106">106</a></td></tr>
- <tr>
- <td class="tdl">The cigarmakers carry no moral enthusiasm into their trade</td>
- <td class="tdr"><a href="#ip_122">122</a></td></tr>
- <tr>
- <td class="tdl">The casual workers are the true servants of humanity</td>
- <td class="tdr"><a href="#ip_146">146</a></td></tr>
- <tr>
- <td class="tdl">In the army of laborers the girl and the woman are drafted</td>
- <td class="tdr"><a href="#ip_162">162</a></td></tr>
- <tr>
- <td class="tdl">Thousands of children in America are doing work which they ought not to do</td>
- <td class="tdr"><a href="#ip_186">186</a></td></tr>
- <tr>
- <td class="tdl">A Russian Forum in session in the Church of All Nations, Boston</td>
- <td class="tdr"><a href="#ip_194">194</a></td></tr>
- <tr>
- <td class="tdl">The Church of All Nations provided a sleeping place for the unemployed</td>
- <td class="tdr"><a href="#ip_202">202</a></td></tr>
-</table>
-<hr />
-
-<div class="newpage p4 poem-container">
-<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
-<span class="iq">“Ill fares the land, to hastening ills a prey,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Where wealth accumulates, and men decay.”<br /></span>
-</div></div>
-</div>
-<hr />
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_viii" id="Page_viii">viii</a></span></p>
-
-<div class="chapter">
-<h2><a id="FOREWORD"></a>FOREWORD</h2>
-</div>
-
-<p>A friend said to me this last week, “There are two
-things that I instinctively distrust, one is prophecy, the
-other is statistics. Now that the war has lengthened into
-the fourth year and America has taken her place by the
-side of the Allies, I find my gorge rising every time any
-one attempts a prophecy and quotes statistics. All
-prophecies have proved false and statistics are utterly
-unreliable. Even the clocks have been made to lie by
-official decree.”</p>
-
-<p>Granted that my friend is pessimistic, at the same time
-we must all sympathize with him in this feeling. In
-writing this book, I have tried to keep out of the realm
-of prophecy and have used just as few statistics as possible.
-Most of the facts were secured by investigations
-made prior to August, 1914. I have endeavored to check
-up every statement with all the reports I could secure
-from the Department of Labor at Washington, through
-the <cite>Survey</cite> and the <cite>New Republic</cite>, and through other
-sources. I feel reasonably certain that all the statements
-concerning conditions will bear investigation and are
-substantially correct. If there are discrepancies, it will
-be found after making due allowance for the judgment
-of others, that they are due to changes brought about by
-unusual conditions in industry. The principles are unchanged
-and it is upon these that I have attempted to
-place the most emphasis. Concrete facts are but illustrative<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_ix">ix</a></span>
-of the principle involved. Conditions affect cases but
-leave principles undisturbed.</p>
-
-<p>I am greatly indebted to the help in research given me
-by Miss Lucy Gardner, of Salem, Massachusetts. As far
-as possible I have given credit to the proper authorities
-for material used. If I have failed to do so I take this
-opportunity of acknowledging my indebtedness to all
-unknown authors and authorities who have contributed
-in any way.</p>
-
-<p>This book goes forth to the young people of America
-in the hope that they will find in it some small inspiration
-that will prove an incentive to them to give themselves
-to the cause of humanity, realizing that through service,
-and through service alone, can any one make the fullest
-contribution to his generation.</p>
-
-<p>“Men and Things,”&mdash;a nation is great only in its
-citizens. The great task before the church to-day is
-to help to readjust the conditions existing in all industries
-so that men and women may labor and enjoy the fruits
-of their labor and profit physically and spiritually in
-the wealth which they help to create.</p>
-
-<p class="sigright">
-<span class="smcap">Henry A. Atkinson.</span>
-</p>
-
-<p class="in0">New York, May, 1918.</p>
-
-<hr />
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_1">1</a></span></p>
-
-<div class="chapter">
-<h2 class="vspace"><a id="CHAPTER_I"></a>CHAPTER I<br />
-
-<span class="subhead"><span class="smcap">The World of Work</span></span></h2>
-</div>
-
-<p>One of the commonest sights in the city is that of the
-people going to work in the early morning; the streets
-are thronged with men carrying dinner pails, and girls
-and women carrying bundles. Many are hurrying with
-a worried look on their faces as if fearful of being a
-minute or two late. At night the same people are again
-on the streets with their faces turned in the opposite
-direction going home after the day’s work. A few hours’
-rest, then a new day, and the same people may be seen
-in the same streets, hurrying to the ever unending tasks.</p>
-
-<p>The country holds the same urge of work. Nothing
-is more interesting than a trip through the country early
-in the morning. With the first hint of dawn you see
-a thin pencil of smoke begin to stream from the chimneys
-of the farmhouses. Bobbing lanterns appear by
-the barn. You hear the clanking of chains and the
-rattle of harness as the teams are being made ready for
-the day’s toil. As the morning grows older, you meet
-the workers out on the road with their faces set sturdily
-toward the field of their labor.</p>
-
-<p>All night long from a thousand centers massive trains
-are rushing toward other centers. In each engine two
-men, with nerves alert and eyes peering out into the
-darkness ahead, guide the power that pulls the train.<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_2">2</a></span>
-Every few minutes the door of the firebox is opened and
-a gleam of light makes an arc through the darkness of the
-night as the fireman mends his fire.</p>
-
-<p>During the daytime thousands of trackmen have inspected
-the rails; other thousands have been at work
-repairing the ties, putting in new rails, and improving
-the grade. Telegraphers are continuously flashing their
-messages along the wires; their invisible hands guide
-these flying trains. In factories, workshops, mills, mines,
-forests, on steamships, on the wharves, wherever there
-are human beings, there is work being done. Work is
-as ceaseless and persistent as life itself.</p>
-
-<p><b>The Song of the World of Work.</b> You remember,
-perhaps, the first time that you visited a big city. From
-your room in the hotel you could hear the roar of the
-streets. That roar is made up of hundreds of separate
-sounds. It is the voice of work from the throat of the
-city. It changes with each hour of the night. Just
-before dawn there is a lull and the voice is almost quiet
-but only for a short period; then it takes on a new volume
-of sound and grows in intensity to the full force of its
-noonday chorus. What is this voice saying? It is telling
-the story, and pouring out the complaint, and singing
-the song of the world of work. The idler or the parasite
-is the exception. People can live without working,
-but such is human nature that the person is rarely found
-who is willing to bear the odium of being a member of
-the class that never toils.</p>
-
-<p><b>Work and Life.</b> “What are you going to do when
-you grow up?” This is a common question asked of
-every girl and boy. Very early in our lives we begin
-to try to answer this question. Our environment shapes<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_3">3</a></span>
-our attitude toward life, and helps us to choose the
-type of work to which we think we are adapted, but,
-having once settled the question of the kind of work we
-are to do, that choice eventually determines, in a large
-measure, our character. Work is so much a part of
-our lives that it marks us and puts us in groups. All
-ministers are very much alike, doctors are alike, lawyers
-are alike, business men are alike, business women resemble
-each other, so do miners and woodsmen. In
-fact, the work that we do groups us automatically with
-the others in the same profession or trade. Work
-creates our world for us and also gives us our vocabulary.
-A man who made his fortune on a big cattle-ranch in
-the West moved with his family to Chicago. His wife
-and daughter succeeded in getting into fashionable society
-and with the money at their command made quite
-a stir in the social world. Foolishly they were ashamed
-of their old life on the ranch. They had difficulty in
-living down their past, and the husband never reached
-a place where his family could be sure of him. He
-carried his old world with him into the new environment.
-One of the standing jokes among their friends was the
-way in which this man told his cronies at the club how
-his wife had “roped a likely critter and had him down
-to the house for inspection.” This was his description
-of a young man who was considered eligible for his
-daughter’s hand. The men who have been brought up
-in mining communities use the phraseology of the mines.
-One of the most prominent preachers in America was
-a miner until he was past twenty years of age. His
-sermons, lectures, and books are filled with the phrases
-learned in his early life. A preacher in a fishing village<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_4">4</a></span>
-in the northern part of Scotland, in making his report
-to the Annual Conference, stated: “The Lord has blessed
-us wonderfully this year. In the spring, with the flood-tide
-of his grace, there was brought a multitude of souls
-into our harbor. We set our nets and many were
-taken. These we have salted down for the kingdom of
-God.” Needless to say, he and his people were dependent
-upon the fishing industry for a living.</p>
-
-<p><b>Purpose of Work.</b> Life is divided into work and
-play. Work is the exertion of energy for a given
-purpose. People accept the claim of life as they find
-it with little or no protest because one must work in
-order to eat. The compulsion of necessity determines
-the amount of work and the amount of play in the
-average life. Even a casual study of the industrial life
-of to-day convinces one that work absorbs a large part
-of the time and conscious energy of all the people. The
-letters T. B. M. meaning “Tired Business Man” are now
-used to typify a fact of modern life. Business takes so
-much time and effort that it leaves the individual so
-worn out at the end of every day that he is not able
-to think clearly, or to render much service to himself
-or to his friends. He is simply a run-down machine
-and must be recharged for the next day’s work.</p>
-
-<p>In one of the American cities a group of nineteen girls
-formed themselves into a Bible study class, and met at
-the Young Women’s Christian Association building on
-Thursday nights. A light, inexpensive dinner was
-served and the pastor of one of the churches was asked
-to teach the group. All of these girls were members of
-the church and were engaged in work in the city. One
-was in a secretarial position, four were stenographers,<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_5">5</a></span>
-two were saleswomen, and thirteen were employed in a
-department store. The hours of work were long for the
-majority of the class. On Saturday nights they were
-forced to work overtime. The average wage for the
-group was $7.25 a week. Out of this they had to buy
-their food, pay for their rooms, buy their clothes, and
-pay their car-fare. Whatever was left they could save or
-give away just as they pleased. After the classes had
-been meeting for about six weeks, it developed that only
-four of the girls went to church with any degree of
-regularity. Ten of them gave as a reason for not
-going that they were so tired on Sunday mornings that
-they could not do their work and get up in time to
-go to church. When they did get up, there were dozens
-of hooks and eyes and buttons that had to be sewed
-on, clothes which had to be mended, and the week’s
-washing to be done. In telling of their experiences one
-girl said, “Sunday is really my busiest day.” These
-girls can be taken as typical of a large number of workers,
-men and women. Life to the majority becomes
-simply the performance of labor. Work is the whole
-end of existence. All brightness and cheer is squeezed
-out by the compulsion of labor.</p>
-
-<p>In a Pennsylvania coal town the employees of the
-company live in a little village built around the coke
-ovens. There is not a green thing in the whole village.
-A girl from Pittsburgh married one of the men who
-was interested in the mines. They moved to this town,
-and she took all her wedding presents and finery with
-her. In three weeks the smoke had ruined her clothes,
-had made the inside of her little home grimy, and the
-dirt and soot had ground itself into the carpets and floor,<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_6">6</a></span>
-till she said, “I feel that all the beautiful life that Frank
-and I had planned to live together has become simply
-an incidental adjunct to the coke-ovens.” We often hear
-it said that the minds of people are stolid, stodgy, or
-indifferent, and that they do not appreciate the best things
-in life. The wonder is that the masses of the people
-appreciate them as much as they do.</p>
-
-<p><b>The Purpose of Life.</b> A well-known catechism
-teaches that, “The chief end of man is to glorify God
-and to enjoy him forever.” Herbert Spencer says, “The
-progress of mankind is in one aspect a means of liberating
-more and more life from mere toil, and leaving
-more and more life available for relaxation, for pleasure,
-culture, travel, and for games.” The struggle for existence
-consumes so much time that it becomes an end in
-itself. This ought not to be. The true purpose of life
-is not work, nor wealth, nor anything else that can be
-gained by human striving, but it is life itself. Therefore,
-the work that people do ought to contribute to an enrichment
-of life. We are indebted to Henry Churchill King
-for the splendid phrase, “The fine art of living.” William
-Morris said that whatever a man made ought to
-be a joy to the maker as well as to the user, so that all
-the riches created in the world should enrich the creator
-as well as those who profit by the use of the riches.
-Under the old form of production, where every man did
-his own work with his own tools, it was easy for him to
-take pleasure in the thing that he was making. The factory
-system breaks the detail of production into such
-small parts that no one worker can take very much pride
-in the actual processes of his work. It is not a very
-thrilling thing to stand by a machine and feed bars of<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_7">7</a></span>
-iron into it for ten hours a day, and to watch the completed
-nuts or screws dropping out at the other end
-of the machine. The pleasure in the work must be secured
-from the conditions under which the work is performed&mdash;the
-cooperation in the production, and the feeling
-that the worker is a part, and is being blessed by
-being a part, of the modern industrial system.</p>
-
-<p><b>Specialization in Work.</b> Specialization has been carried
-so far that to-day there are very few skilled workers
-in the sense in which this term was used several years
-ago. Shoemakers very rarely know how to make shoes,
-for they now make only some one part of the shoe.
-The automobile industry, by methods of standardizing,
-is organized so that each worker performs some simple
-task. He repeats this over and over, but his task added
-to that done by the others, produces an automobile. In
-the glove factory one set of workers spend their lives
-making thumbs; another group stitch the back of the
-gloves. In the clothing industry some make buttonholes,
-others sew on buttons; some put in the sleeves, and
-others hem; each has a very small part to do. This
-specialization in industry has been carried so far that it
-is seldom that a worker knows anything about the
-finished product.</p>
-
-<p>A study of the organization of labor shows to what
-extent specialization has been carried. One of the chief
-complaints of the American manufacturer is that his
-men and women are not loyal. There is undoubtedly
-ground for this complaint, but on the other hand it must
-be conceded that it is very difficult for a worker&mdash;in the
-garment trade, for instance&mdash;to be loyal to a long succession
-of buttonholes; and for glovemakers to be loyal<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_8">8</a></span>
-to a multitude of thumbs. The lack of loyalty comes
-largely from the failure of the directors of modern industry
-to bring their workers into that relationship with
-the business which would give them a feeling that they
-are an essential part of the industry. Loyalty grows by
-what it feeds on. The specialization that has been going
-on has been the very force which has made the worker
-simply a part of the machine, and as such, detaches him
-from the business of which he ought to feel himself an
-integral part.</p>
-
-<p><b>Unity of the Workers.</b> The extent to which specialization
-has been developed has had another effect. While
-the process of differentiation has been carried on at a
-rapid pace, and the individual worker has known but
-little about the finished product, he has come to know
-a great deal about the other disintegrated units in the
-workshop, the mine, the factory, and the mill. Consequently,
-with the differentiation in the work there has
-been a growing solidarity or feeling of unity among the
-workers themselves. Evidence of this is found in the
-philosophy that there are only two classes of people in
-the world, the people who work and the people who do
-not work, and which is used by the revolutionary groups
-with tremendous force. We do not like to think of
-classes in America, but the forces of industrial life have
-created classes in spite of ourselves.</p>
-
-<p><b>A World Apart.</b> The workers live in a world apart.
-Unconsciously they drift together. They talk each
-other’s language; they understand each other’s point of
-view. In every town and city we find groups of the
-workers living to themselves. The work which men do
-inevitably groups them together; and social life centers<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_9">9</a></span>
-so completely about their work that it is really the
-factory and mill that mark out the lines and define the
-limits within which the classes must live. Consequently,
-in our American cities we find such designations as
-these: “Shanty Town,” “Down by the Gas Works,”
-“Across the Tracks,” “Murphy’s Hollow,” “Tin-Can
-Alley,” “Darktown,” “On the Hill,” “Out by the
-Slaughter-Pen,” “Over on the West Side,” and “Down
-in the Bottoms.” Just think of your own town, and you
-probably can add some new phrase that tells where your
-laboring group lives. In one Western town the community
-was divided by the Southern Pacific Railroad
-tracks. The boys in the school on the north side of the
-tracks were all known as “Sewer Rats.” On the opposite
-side of the town they were known as “Depot
-Buzzards.” Whenever one group met the other there
-was always a war. A friend tells of a similar condition
-in a Canadian village where the Scotch boys were banded
-against the Irish and the Irish against the Scotch.
-Whenever the Macks met the Micks, or the Sandys met
-the Paddys, there was a row. A large part of this
-classification is temporary and need not be considered
-very seriously. Underlying it, however, is the deeper
-fact that we have come to recognize that there is a
-world of the workers, and that it is a world apart. In
-this world of the workers the rewards and the profits
-of toil are barely adequate to take care of the needs of
-the families of the workers.</p>
-
-<p>It is assumed that in pre-war times it required from
-$800 to $900 a year to support a family in the average
-American community. Since 1914 the cost of living
-has increased approximately 60 per cent. It is estimated<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_10">10</a></span>
-that even to-day with the advances that have been made
-in the wages by nearly all industries, 61 per cent. of the
-workers of America are receiving an average wage of
-less than $800 a year. “Shanty Town” and that section
-“Down by the Gas Works” have been built of poor
-material and allowed to become dilapidated not because
-the people living there like that sort of thing, but because
-the returns for the labor of these people are totally inadequate
-for their needs. The housing and living conditions
-of the people who live in the world of the workers
-is determined by the wages which they receive.</p>
-
-<div id="ip_10" class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;">
-<img src="images/i_010.jpg" width="600" height="383" alt="" />
-<div class="captionl">
-
-<p>McGraw-Hill Company.</p></div>
-
-<div class="caption">
-
-<p>The work which men do inevitably groups them together.</p></div></div>
-
-<p><b>The Interdependence of All.</b> Now, if we do recognize
-that the world of work is a world apart, we must
-not fail to recognize also that behind this disintegration
-that has been going on, there is an integration of society
-more comprehensive than we have ever known before in
-the history of the world. While the people may be allowed
-to live by themselves in a part of the town that
-is less desirable as a dwelling-place than other parts, yet
-we are all dependent one upon the other. There is an
-old story which illustrates this point. A boy complained
-to his father about being poor and said that he wished
-that he had been born in a rich man’s home. The father
-told him that he was mistaken, for he really had wealth
-which he had never considered. That night the boy had
-a dream. It seemed to him that there came and stood
-at his bed a little fellow dressed like a farmer. The
-boy asked him who he was. He replied that he was
-the soul of all the farmers that were working to produce
-the flour that went into bread. Another little figure appeared
-beside the first, a black man with a turban on
-his head; he was the spirit of the workers in the tea<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_11">11</a></span>
-and spice gardens of India. Another black man dressed
-in the rough clothes of a day-laborer joined the others;
-he was the spirit of the workers on a Southern plantation
-who make the cotton and produce the sugar.
-Other workers appeared so fast that the boy could hardly
-keep up with their approach&mdash;the coal-miner, the iron-miner,
-the woodsman, the carpenter, and the girl workers
-in the flax-mills of Dublin, who produce the linen in
-the rough, red-checked tablecloths. When they had all
-gathered together there was a multitude, and all were in
-reality the servants of this one boy.</p>
-
-<p>Our dependence upon each other was clearly illustrated
-in the shut-down of non-essential industries on
-certain days in the winter of 1917–18. In order to keep
-people from starving and freezing, the government of
-the United States ordered the suspension of certain industries
-so that the conservation of fuel might protect
-the lives of the people.</p>
-
-<p><b>The Good Neighbor.</b> We are “members one of
-another.” The basic industries provide the necessities
-of our lives&mdash;feeding, housing, clothing, warmth, means
-of traveling, and the things which are part and parcel
-of our very being. The workers who are engaged in
-producing these things are true servants of humanity,
-and we are all under deep and abiding obligations to
-them. Just in the proportion that we produce something
-that adds to the wealth and happiness of the world, we
-are discharging the obligation which others by their
-labors have placed upon us. The division into classes,
-and the setting off of groups by themselves, the creating
-of the world of labor as a world apart, makes the practise
-of neighborliness a difficult thing. Now neighborliness<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_12">12</a></span>
-is the very essence of Christianity. To be a friend
-of man ought to be the supreme desire of every individual.
-In the parable of the Good Samaritan Jesus
-defined the meaning of Christianity in terms of neighborliness.
-The church must answer this question: How
-can Christian people be good neighbors in modern industrial
-society?</p>
-
-<p><b>Neighbor to the Group.</b> We recognize the call to
-neighborliness in individual cases. If a man is knocked
-down by an automobile when he is crossing a street,
-people will run to help him to his feet, will call a cab
-or an ambulance, and he will be cared for just as carefully
-by the stranger as if he were a near relative. The
-individual idea of neighborliness is thoroughly appreciated.
-We have learned how to practise it. When it
-comes to a group, however, we find it difficult. The same
-men that would rush into the street to help an individual
-that is hurt, will live in a community and not appreciate
-the needs of the people living in the same block. The
-industrial class may be knocked down by adverse social
-conditions, and no one will recognize just what the situation
-means; or, recognizing it, will know how to apply
-the remedy, or even how to offer intelligent assistance.</p>
-
-<p>In a small city in Ohio there lived an old man and
-his wife. Their children had married and moved away,
-leaving the old people to shift for themselves. The man
-was nearly blind and his wife was paralyzed and unable
-to take care of herself. The neighbors used to go to
-see them once in a while but no one felt any special
-responsibility for them and the community knew very
-little about the conditions under which they lived. One
-of the neighbors remarked one day that he had not seen<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_13">13</a></span>
-anybody around the house and no smoke coming from
-the chimney. An investigation was made and it was
-found that the old man had been dead three days and
-was lying in bed with his paralyzed wife who could not
-help herself, nor could call for assistance. For three
-days she had been suffering unspeakable agony beside the
-form of her dead husband. The whole community was
-shocked. No one could believe that such a lack of neighborliness
-could exist. No one was particularly to blame;
-it was merely one of those things that occur because
-the man and his wife had dropped out of the main-traveled
-path of the city’s life.</p>
-
-<p>The church is making every effort to meet the needs
-of the individual, but when it preaches the need of regeneration,
-it must meet the group needs as well, and
-the minister of a church for a world of labor must be
-minister to the group as well as to the individual. The
-world war has impressed upon us many facts, none with
-more insistence than this&mdash;that we are living in a very
-small world; and that nations, as well as groups of people
-everywhere, must learn to appreciate each other for
-what they are, and for the contribution which they are
-making to the well-being of humanity. Recognizing
-this, however, does not mean that we are all to try and
-think alike, to be alike, or to live alike. As Americans
-we are very likely to think that our way of doing things
-is entirely right, and that enlightenment comes in proportion
-to the degree in which other people copy our
-example in clothes, methods of living, and even our
-manner of speaking.</p>
-
-<p><b>A Specialized Program for Group Needs.</b> The
-church’s program for a world of work must be a specialized<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_14">14</a></span>
-program. It must be based upon a thorough
-knowledge of the facts incident to the life of the people,
-an appreciation of their view-points, and must take into
-consideration the ultimate ends to be achieved, the means
-by which these ends can be reached, and a willingness
-to subordinate the program of the church to the needs
-of the group. The program of a city church appealing to
-well-to-do, middle-class people, will utterly fail in the
-average rural community. A program for a mining
-community must consider the needs as well as the character
-of the miners, and the quality of their work. The
-church is sharply challenged by the specialization in industry,
-and by the fact that there are classes who do
-not hear, or at least fail to heed its appeal. In the growing
-demand for democracy, the church must not only
-be the most democratic of all institutions but it must
-be the leader in setting before the people the ideals
-and in keeping before their minds the great ends of
-democracy.</p>
-
-<p><b>Approach to the Subject.</b> In the following chapters
-are set forth some of the conditions under which the
-workers in the basic industries toil and live; also the
-great needs of each group and what the church is doing,
-what it ought to do, and what it can do. We will consider
-each group in relation to the contribution it makes
-to the life of us all. Food is a first need of each individual,
-therefore, we will study the rural workers first,
-for they are the ones who feed the world. Next we
-will study the makers of our clothing; then the mines,
-for they provide for our warmth and shelter; then the
-steel workers, who are the real builders of our material
-civilization. We are a restless race, and demand the<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_15">15</a></span>
-labor of thousands of men and women to move us from
-place to place, so we will study the lives of these providers
-of transportation. We will also think together of
-that large group who amuse us and who labor to produce
-the luxuries which we enjoy. There are certain
-groups that we will find in each of these larger groups,
-such as the seasonal workers, the women in industry who
-toil. We will take a glimpse at these.</p>
-
-<p><b>Men and Things.</b> Men produce things, and often the
-created thing seems to become greater than its creator.
-We will hope through these discussions to show that man
-is infinitely greater than all the things which he produces.
-We will also endeavor to arrive at some decision as to
-what constitutes a proper message and ministry for the
-church in the midst of a world of work, so that working
-men and women may be protected in their toil, and freed
-from the incessant and always present danger of becoming
-slaves to the wealth they create.</p>
-
-<hr />
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_17">17</a></span></p>
-
-<div class="chapter">
-<h2 class="vspace"><a id="CHAPTER_II"></a>CHAPTER II<br />
-
-<span class="subhead"><span class="smcap">The World of the Rural Workers</span></span></h2>
-</div>
-
-<p>There have grown up on the western plains of Canada
-a number of large cities and a great many small villages
-and towns. These are the direct results of a process of
-civilization dependent upon the fertile soil from which
-vast quantities of wheat are reaped each year. Just before
-harvest the sea of grain extends as far as the eye
-can see. The first settlers built their little cabins, bought
-as much seed grain as was available, and planted it;
-doing nearly all of the work themselves. Improved
-methods of planting and harvesting have added thousands
-of acres to the wheat-fields. Railroads have been
-built to carry the wheat to the great shipping and milling
-centers. Cities such as Winnipeg have grown rich
-through being the connecting-links between the farmer,
-with his field and his wheat, and the breakfast tables all
-over the civilized world.</p>
-
-<p><b>Our Daily Bread.</b> The development of the grain-belt
-of western Canada is similar to that which has taken
-place in Minnesota, the Dakotas, and other Northwestern
-states. In California, Oregon, Washington, Oklahoma,
-and Kansas we find great areas devoted to the
-growing of wheat. The wheat that is put on the market
-is of two general varieties: what is known as winter
-wheat sown in the autumn, and spring wheat that is sown<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_18">18</a></span>
-early in the spring. These great wheat areas have been
-called the bread-basket of the Western world. Few of
-us realized the importance of wheat to the life of the
-world until Mr. Hoover began to tell us that we must
-save it by having wheatless days and by eating more
-corn bread and war-breads of various kinds. The total
-annual consumption of wheat is 974,485,000 bushels,
-and of this amount the United States produced, in 1917,
-678,000,000 bushels. The needs of the world have been
-figured as calling for about 20 per cent. advance upon
-all that is available under normal conditions.</p>
-
-<p>Not many of us who live in cities stop to consider the
-man who made possible the roll or the piece of white
-bread that we eat with our meal. We forget the long
-day’s work, the painstaking toil, and the grim struggle
-of the pioneers who first worked the land. We seldom
-think of the planting and reaping year after year, the
-construction of transportation, the building of warehouses,
-the venturing of money in mill-building, until
-finally were developed not only the vast farms but also
-cities, railroads, wheat-carrying steamship lines, elevators,
-and the mills that go to make up the great bread-making
-industry. Only when the war interfered with the processes
-and threatened to cut off the supply of wheat, did
-we begin to realize how important the wheat farm is to
-the very life of the nation. If bread is the staff of life,
-wheat is the chief material out of which that staff is
-made. Other grains when used for bread, as we are
-forced to use them to-day, are all substitutes for wheat.</p>
-
-<div id="ip_18" class="figcenter" style="width: 386px;">
-<img src="images/i_018.jpg" width="386" height="600" alt="" />
-<div class="captionl">
-
-<p>Press Illustrating Service.</p></div>
-
-<div class="caption">
-
-<p>Not many of us stop to consider the man who made possible
-the white bread that we eat at our daily meals.</p></div></div>
-
-<p><b>The Cane-Sugar Makers.</b> If we travel in a direction
-a little east of south from the wheat-fields of Canada,
-we come to the great plantations of Louisiana and Mississippi<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_19">19</a></span>
-where sugar-cane is grown. Here we find people
-of a different type living under different conditions.
-Sugar-cane is grown in fields that have been won from
-the swamps by hard toil. In this rich soil, cultivated
-and ridged by the plow, the sugar-cane is laid in long
-parallel rows. After it has been buried a few days
-it begins to sprout, and from each one of the joints on
-the stalk of cane there grows up a new plant. These are
-tilled and come to maturity in October. The stalks grow
-from eight to fifteen feet high and at harvest-time are
-cut down and then stripped of their leaves by the
-workers, who take them up in their hands and with a flat
-knife slash off the long, bladelike leaves, leaving them
-clean and smooth. The stalks are piled in rows to be
-picked up later and put into wagons, taken to the siding,
-loaded into freight-cars, and hauled to the mill, where
-they are crushed between rollers, and the juice pressed
-out. The liquid so obtained is then put into large vats and
-evaporated, leaving brown sugar and molasses. The
-crude or brown sugar is sent to the refinery and passed
-through various processes until we get the white sugar
-that comes to our tables. Practically all of the work on
-the sugar plantation is done by Negroes. These people
-live in small cabins and work for a very small wage, ranging
-from 75 cents to a $1.25 a day. Their tiny houses,
-which are usually whitewashed and surrounded by a
-little plot of ground, are the property of the owners
-of the plantation. The Negro is expected to buy everything
-from the company’s stores. The prices are high
-and it is rarely that one finds a family that is not in a
-perpetual state of debt to the owner of the plantation.</p>
-
-<p>When the migration of Negroes from the South to the<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_20">20</a></span>
-North began some few years ago, a great concern was
-felt in many quarters as to what the result would be.
-A meeting was held in one of the Southern cities and
-the Negroes were invited to be present. One of the
-Negroes said: “If you let me tell you what I think, it
-is about like this. We-all have been working here for
-about 75 cents to $1 a day, but we never see the time
-when we have any money of our own. It takes more
-than we make for the things we use. Folks in Iowa,
-Pennsylvania, Illinois, and Massachusetts offer us $15
-to $18 a week, tickets for ourselves and our families,
-and a free house to live in with two weeks’ rations provided
-and in the house. Now none of us wants to leave
-Louisiana, and if you want to keep us here just raise
-our wages to $2 a day. We would a heap rather stay
-here than go North.”</p>
-
-<p><b>Sugar from Beets.</b> Not all the sugar that comes to
-our tables is made from the cane; in fact only a small
-proportion is cane-sugar. Most of it is produced from
-the beet which is grown in large quantities in the West.
-Montana, Colorado, Idaho, Wyoming, and California are
-the extensive sugar-beet producing states. The beets
-grow to an enormous size; they are planted in rows and
-cared for much as the beets that grow in our vegetable
-gardens. In California the Japanese are entering very
-largely into the sugar-beet culture.</p>
-
-<p>The beet-fields call whole families to work. Several
-towns in the Northwestern states have sections made up
-entirely of Russians, and people from other lands, who
-have been attracted by the opportunities for employment
-offered by the beet industry. One family consisting of a
-father, mother, thirteen children, and the mother’s sister<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_21">21</a></span>
-worked all last summer in one of the beet-fields. The
-youngest child was only five years old but he put in long
-hours every day. This family is typical of many. The
-statistics regarding child labor in the United States
-show that the vast majority of children employed in
-gainful labor are the children in the rural districts.
-Thus sugar comes to your table through two sources:
-from the workers, including a large number of children,
-in the beet-fields and the workers on the Southern plantations.</p>
-
-<p><b>The Corn Belt.</b> In the Middle states we have the
-great corn-producing areas. A great deal of the philosophy
-of this region is summed up in the reply of a
-farmer to the question as to why he was planting more
-corn than usual. He said: “So that I can feed more
-hogs.”</p>
-
-<p>“What will you do with the hogs?” he was then
-asked.</p>
-
-<p>“Sell them and buy more land to plant more corn to
-raise more hogs to buy more land.”</p>
-
-<p>The price of hogs and the price of corn, in normal
-times, keep on a level with each other. When corn is
-high pork is high, and when corn falls we find that pork
-falls with it.</p>
-
-<p><b>Food and the Land.</b> It is impossible within the limits
-of this book to give more than a glimpse of a few of
-the great food-producing industries of America. The
-packing-houses and canneries contribute their share to
-the feeding of the people; but when all is said and done,
-we get back to the fact that even in this age when factory
-and city make claims, all values finally rest on the
-land. The growth of our cities has emphasized their<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_22">22</a></span>
-dependence upon the country. People in the city must
-be fed, and the food comes from the soil. It is now
-claimed that the gravest mistake made by Kerensky, a
-leader of the Russian revolution, was in not giving
-sufficient attention to the food question in Russia. After
-the revolution became a fact Kerensky tried to spur the
-army to greater activity, but the people, unused to the
-new ways of freedom, failed to keep up the processes
-that would produce food. The railroads were congested;
-fuel was scarce; lacking fuel&mdash;the railroads and boats
-still further failed in their undertaking. The result was
-that the food supply became less and less in Petrograd
-and other centers. Behind the lines hungry people grew
-restless. Leon Trotzky would not have succeeded in
-overthrowing Kerensky but for the hunger of the people.
-These people were willing to accept any change of government
-because there was at least a hope, however desperate
-it might be, that the new government would furnish
-the food which they needed so badly. One writer
-dealing with this subject said: “Oratory and precepts
-failed to feed the hungry people.”</p>
-
-<p>We have heard over and over again the phrase, “An
-army travels on its stomach.” It is also true that the
-civilian population of a country lives and labors on its
-stomach. Food is the foundation of life. “Give us this
-day our daily bread” is the first demand of man upon
-God and upon his fellow man. The solution of all our
-problems depends finally on the question of bread.
-“Who shall be king?” The answer to this question
-is very likely to be, “The one who will give us bread.”
-The peace of the world must finally be based upon an
-appreciation of economic values. Justice means that<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_23">23</a></span>
-conditions will be such that in each nation food for all
-the people will be produced in abundance.</p>
-
-<p><b>The Country and the City.</b> Much has been said of
-the freedom and independence of farm life. The producer
-of food is a real benefactor of the race. The
-farmer works in the open air and lives a simple life,
-and so gains an opportunity for developing the very
-finest traits of human character. But when we compare
-the changes that have been taking place in the rural
-districts, we find strong reasons for the exodus from the
-country to the city. The city offers a more interesting
-and profitable life which makes it difficult to maintain
-the center of attraction on the farm. The history of
-humanity began in a garden and ends in a city. The
-word “city” comes from the old Latin word which
-means the citizen, the place where the citizen lived.</p>
-
-<p>The city is really the center of authority and governmental
-power. It offers the best and at the same time
-the worst; has the best in intellect, which it attracts and
-claims for its own, and it has the best in amusement and
-entertainments. We have heard people say: “The
-country is a good place in which to rest and work, but
-the city is the place to have your fun.” The city has the
-best and the worst of morals, and the best and the worst
-health conditions. Side by side with the city mansion
-are the tumble-down hovels and the cramped, narrow
-tenements that are a disgrace to our land. The robust,
-strong man pushes his weaker fellow to the wall. The
-worst forms of disease and the most acute physical suffering
-are found in the city. In the city there are many
-intellectual giants and many half-sane intellectual weaklings.
-The man dwelling in the country has a greater<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_24">24</a></span>
-independence than these. He can at least have three
-meals a day, and knows how to take care of himself.
-Hundreds of thousands of people in our cities have
-just brains enough and just education enough to do one
-thing; if hard times throws one of these out of his job,
-he is left utterly helpless&mdash;a derelict on the sea of humanity.
-The culprit is safer in the city than in the
-thickest forest. Men without character and women
-without principle huddle together in its sordid districts.
-The tides of the city wash up queer specimens to the
-light of day, and reveal to the passer-by the saddest and
-most gruesome sights, and the worst types of humanity.</p>
-
-<p>The best in the city is matched by the worst. Philanthropy
-cures, or tries to cure, what rogues have created.
-Just as the incentive to goodness in the city is highest,
-so the temptations to the opposite course of life are of
-the strongest. The artificial life creates new and unusual
-wants, and together with the excitement caused
-by city conditions, makes temptations hard to resist. The
-city is the rich man’s paradise and the poor man’s hell.
-The lure of the city is strong upon us all. There are
-a thousand voices calling us there; and this is impoverishing
-our rural districts and making the question of food
-a more serious one every year. In the country one can
-plod along and with the present prices be independent,
-but this does not satisfy. The men of to-day think in
-thousands where their fathers thought in terms of hundreds.
-Hundreds of dollars are made on the farm and
-millions in the city. The city calls every young man
-and young woman. Everybody who is at all familiar
-with the small towns knows that one of the hardest facts
-which must be faced is that just as soon as the young<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_25">25</a></span>
-people finish school they leave for the city. Church work
-is made hard by the continual drain on the best life in
-the community.</p>
-
-<p><b>The Tenant and the Absentee Landlord.</b> Over
-against this question of the lure of the city there is that
-of the tenant farmer. The Industrial Relations Commission,
-making its study of the rural conditions in
-America, finds that there is a very grave danger that
-America will produce a peasant class like that of some of
-the European countries. The independent landowners
-are decreasing; in Mississippi 62 per cent. of the land is
-tilled by tenants, in Louisiana 58 per cent., and Kansas
-36 per cent. So many of the owners of the farms have
-moved to the city that the actual production of food
-has been left to the people who are known as “birds of
-passage.” Most of these tenants are here to-day and
-gone to-morrow. The retired farmer presents the problem
-of the absentee landlord. The tenant farmer suffers
-under the handicap of his limitation, and his poverty
-is often his undoing. The absentee landlord of the farm
-enjoys the fruits of the labor of another. We must
-not forget, however, that the retired farmer has contributed
-his share toward the development of our nation.
-He has helped to make his community. The man who
-actually remains on the soil to produce the food is producing
-less, and takes less interest in his community,
-than the man who owns the land and who made a success
-of production in years gone by. The tenant does
-not cultivate the land as intensively as it can be cultivated;
-he does not attempt soil conservation, and takes
-but little interest in the community and its institutions.</p>
-
-<p><b>Study of a Rural Community.</b> It is interesting to<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_26">26</a></span>
-make a study of the rural community and to compare
-present conditions with those of the past. Such a study
-convinces one that the success of the church is closely
-bound up with the economic situation of the community.
-An investigation was made in three townships in the
-central part of Wisconsin just a few miles from the
-state capital.<a id="FNanchor_1" href="#Footnote_1" class="fnanchor">1</a> The land in this section is rich, the homes
-of the people are comfortable, the barns and sheds substantial,
-and everything about the farms well kept.
-Fences are up and all the buildings are neatly painted.
-The land produces anything that can be grown in a temperate
-climate: peas, grain, barley, potatoes, oats, hay,
-cattle, sheep, and hogs. Other parts of Wisconsin produce
-more milk and butter; but the large herds of Holstein
-cows and the number of creameries and cheese
-factories found in this part of the state convince the
-visitor that no small part of the farmer’s income is derived
-from this source.</p>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_1" href="#FNanchor_1" class="fnanchor">1</a> Survey made by Social Service Department of Congregational
-Churches, 14 Beacon Street, Boston.</p></div>
-
-<p>The state university is the Wisconsin farmer’s best
-friend. Through its instruction at Madison, its extension
-department, experimental stations, and institutes
-held throughout the state, it shows this friendship; and
-the splendid economic conditions found in rural Wisconsin
-prove that this friendship is not wasted. The
-land in these townships is valued at $100 to $150 an
-acre, but upon inquiry at a dozen or more farms it was
-learned that no one knew of any farm land that was
-for sale.</p>
-
-<p>About 2,500 people live in the three townships described.
-Sixty years ago nearly all the people were<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_27">27</a></span>
-Americans, many of them having emigrated from New
-York State. In later years the Americans have been
-supplanted by Germans and Scandinavians. The old
-settlers now lie at rest in the beautiful cemeteries which
-are taken care of by the communities with the same care
-and affection that is bestowed upon private homes and
-grounds. Many of the descendants of the first settlers
-are scattered far and wide throughout the United States.
-The Rev. Hubert C. Herring, Secretary of the National
-Council of the Congregational Churches of the United
-States, and one of the best known among home missionary
-leaders in America, was born and spent his
-early life in this section of Wisconsin. The school he
-attended is at the country cross-roads and near the
-school is the Presbyterian church which he joined. Dr.
-Herring’s first efforts at oratory were practised upon the
-neighboring boys and girls in the Philomathean Society,
-a country debating society, at that time a leading social
-and literary organization among the people of the community.
-Ella Wheeler Wilcox, one of the most popular
-and prominent of the magazine and newspaper writers,
-and who is well known to every reader in America, was
-born in this same township. Twelve other people who
-are influential nationally and internationally were born
-and reared in this community.</p>
-
-<p>Most of the people hold their own farms and most of
-them have money on interest in the bank. The few
-families who rent farms are working, planning, and saving
-so that they can buy land and own their farms. The
-school-buildings are adequate and the grounds well kept;
-the teachers are efficient and intelligent; and the high
-school maintains an advanced standard. The young people<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_28">28</a></span>
-go directly from these schools into the state university.
-Here, then, we have the material conditions that
-would seem to guarantee success in the work of the
-church. There is no poverty, and very few people can
-be said to be living on the fringe of the community.
-There is no overcrowding on the part of the churches,
-for there are only two American churches and they have
-a parish twelve miles wide and fifteen miles long, and
-the pastor serving both is the only English-speaking
-preacher in this whole district. Now what are the facts?
-One of these churches was closed for a number of years
-and now has services only once in every two weeks; the
-other was also closed for a number of years. One
-church has a Sunday-school with fifty members and a
-Christian Endeavor Society of thirty-six members; the
-church service is attended by twenty-five to forty people.
-One of the men in the community said: “Many of the
-people are foreign and have their own churches, of which
-there are seven in this district; but they have their
-troubles, for the children are breaking away from the
-old churches as they have broken from the old languages,
-and are beginning to come to our Sunday-school.” The
-community has a good moral record. There has never
-been a saloon, except at one point, and the two saloons
-that were located there were voted out years ago. The
-people are home-loving and law-abiding, but the two
-churches are not as successful as they were fifty years
-ago when they were filled at every service.</p>
-
-<p>The first minister in the district was a graduate and
-honor man of Williams College, and the church was the
-center of the community life. People looked to the
-church, were helped and inspired; it sent out teachers,<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_29">29</a></span>
-preachers, and other men and women trained in thoughtfulness,
-to enrich the world. Contributions of such a
-range cannot spring from the conditions in which the
-church finds itself to-day. What are the reasons? Some
-of the people blame the universities. When the young
-people return from college they seem to take no interest
-in the church. But the universities are really not to
-blame. The church fills so small a circle in the community
-that when the young man has finished his course
-at the university he cannot fit himself back into the
-narrow groove of the church activities. In sixty years
-the old methods of farming have changed. Tools and
-machinery are of another type. Conditions on the farm
-are totally different, because the farmers have recognized
-that new methods are demanded. When the old settlers
-have their picnics and reunions, one of the older men
-shows the young men how they used to “cradle” the
-grain. It is an interesting thing, but compared to the
-modern reaper the cradle is simply an archaic tool, and
-no man would think of harvesting his crop with it to-day.
-The fields of the church life of rural Wisconsin and in
-other sections of the country are “white to the harvest,”
-but the ministers are forced to use the old-fashioned
-“cradle” in harvesting the whole crop. The university
-is showing the church its opportunity and at the same
-time pointing out its failure. In the particular locality
-under discussion the churches have no program. Religion
-is limited to a very small part of life. The farm demands
-all the time of the people during six days of the week.
-On Sunday the work clothes are changed for Sunday
-clothes and part of the day given over to the church.
-This is religion. The line of demarkation between the<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_30">30</a></span>
-sacred and the secular is much more clearly drawn in
-the country than anywhere else. The average minister
-of the country church is much more a man apart from
-the rest of the community.</p>
-
-<p>The program of the church must be made a part of
-the whole life of the people. The church out in the
-districts where the people live who are producing the
-food for the world is responsible in a large degree for
-the pleasures of the people. Country people find it
-difficult to think in terms of the community. It is hard
-for them to cooperate. The church must shape its
-program with a clear understanding of the great facts
-of the community life, and appeal primarily from this
-standpoint and not simply from that of the needs of
-individuals.</p>
-
-<p>Another rural study shows a community where 80
-per cent. of the people were living on land owned by
-somebody else. There were five churches, and each of
-them was struggling for a pitiful existence. Less than
-20 per cent. of the people had any connection with the
-church or any other organization. A minister was sent
-into this district to make a study of the situation with
-a view to possible work by the home mission board of his
-church. In his report he stated that the needs there were
-just as pressing and demanded just as much statesmanship
-as any field in India or China. He was furnished
-with sufficient money to put up a good church building,
-and the plans of the building provided for social and
-game rooms. He brought a doctor into the community
-and attached him to the church as a lay worker. He
-promoted an interest in better farming methods, and
-began with organized groups a course of lessons in<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_31">31</a></span>
-thrift. Gradually this minister gained the interest of
-the boys and girls through baseball, basket-ball, singing
-school, and other community exercises and agencies.
-People began to come to church. They wanted to hear
-this preacher, for as one of the farmers said, “A feller
-who knows enough to talk about the things that we are
-interested in must know something about heaven. I
-want to hear what he’s got to say.” The church in this
-community succeeded, but its success was primarily dependent
-upon the program that considered the economic
-needs of the people, and studied to find a remedy for
-the bad, and to build up the good.</p>
-
-<p><b>Socialism’s Message to the Church.</b> Socialism has
-been sneered at as being a “stomach philosophy.” There
-is ground for this criticism, for a great deal of socialism
-is purely materialistic; but the fact that it interests itself
-in the feeding of the people is not a serious fault. Socialism
-has emphasized many things that the church has
-failed to appreciate. Consideration of the food problems
-and of the economic basis of our civilization is
-something that the church cannot afford to ignore. The
-great mass of workers who are producing the food of
-the world are truly ministers to the needs of humanity.</p>
-
-<p><b>The World of Rural Workers.</b> Figures are dull or
-they would be marshaled here to show that the producers
-of the world’s food live in a world to themselves. There
-are many divisions in this world, and many cross-sections
-of the life of the people. That the rural church is not
-succeeding is evident. Its sons and daughters of the
-past generation are the leaders in the world of finance,
-art, commerce, and letters; but are the conditions within it
-to-day such that may produce sons and daughters to fill<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_32">32</a></span>
-the places of those who are now occupying the positions
-of trust and honor? The call and the opportunity of the
-church are urgent in that great part of the world of work
-which produces the things that we eat. Shall those who
-feed others themselves be denied the bread of life? It is
-a call for leadership, for statesmanship, for planning, for
-devotion, for sacrifice, and for heroic service.</p>
-
-<hr />
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_33">33</a></span></p>
-
-<div class="chapter">
-<h2 class="vspace"><a id="CHAPTER_III"></a>CHAPTER III<br />
-
-<span class="subhead"><span class="smcap">The World of the Spinners and Weavers</span></span></h2>
-</div>
-
-<p>“Now when we cross this bridge, look north and you
-will see the soul of our city symbolized in brick and
-mortar.” These were the words of a business man who
-had taken an afternoon off and was showing his friend
-the wonders of a New England city that had grown up
-about the textile industry. The soul of the city, as he
-thought of it, lived in the huge mills lining the banks
-of the canal which runs through the city. When his
-friend looked, he saw more than the mills. He saw a
-road beside the canal paved with cobblestones and, on
-the other side, the company houses overshadowed by
-the mills and factories. The towers and huge smokestacks
-threw shadows that completely covered the houses
-where many of the workers lived.</p>
-
-<p>So thoroughly is this city dependent upon the mills
-and their output that a brilliant writer in a recent work
-of fiction said of it, that if there were bridges and a
-portcullis you could easily think of their being raised
-to protect the mills against an invasion from the workers;
-just as in medieval times the feudal castles were
-protected by the moat and bridge. The bells in the
-many towers and the siren whistles of the mills call the
-people from sleep in the morning, telling them when to
-begin work and when to quit. Within the mills are long<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_34">34</a></span>
-lines of machines set in parallel rows down which the
-workers easily pass. Each worker tends eight to twenty
-machines. Here is a broken thread to be tied, and there
-a new pattern to be set up. The clatter and roar of the
-machinery is unceasing. It is a part of the composite
-voice of labor that is sounding around the world. As
-the shuttles fly the finished fabric is rolled up ready for
-inspection, and, when passed, goes to the market, and
-later is made into garments.</p>
-
-<p>It is a huge task to clothe the modern world. No one
-realizes how much it means until he looks into the work
-of the textile-mills which have grown up in our own and
-in other countries. Cities like Lawrence, Lowell, and
-Fall River, Massachusetts, are what they are because of
-their great factories. In these places they produce miles
-of cloth every week.</p>
-
-<p><b>Men and Clothes.</b> Of all the animals in the world
-man is the only one that provides himself with artificial
-covering. All the others have perfectly fitting coats
-provided by nature, and these coats are adapted to the
-conditions under which the individual animal is forced
-to live. Man calls in the help of plant and animal life
-to supply himself with clothing for his protection against
-the cold of winter and the heat of summer. He also
-uses clothing as an adornment. We have come to consider
-clothing as a badge of civilization and a mark of
-man’s superiority to all the other animals. Those races
-that pay the least attention to clothing are the lowest in
-the scale of civilization. Such races are found in South
-America, in Central Africa, and on some of the islands
-of the South Seas. There is scarcely a trace of civilization
-to be found among them. They have a kind of<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_35">35</a></span>
-community life, but they live in a most primitive fashion.
-Their food consists chiefly of roots, plants, fish, and
-game which can be easily secured. They have rude
-shelters or crude huts; wear very little clothing; and
-their religion is a belief in witches and evil spirits.
-Where they have idols they are of the most hideous
-workmanship, representing in a most grotesque way bad
-influences and vicious passions.</p>
-
-<p><b>The Materials.</b> The first clothing man wore was
-made from the skins of animals and from the bark of
-trees. Later on it was learned that wool could be spun,
-and that by using crude needles cloth could be
-sewed together. Wool, silk, cotton, linen, paper, and
-many others materials have come into common use. All
-of these are produced by groups of people of whose
-working conditions we are in ignorance and whose very
-existence is unknown to most of us. Among civilized
-people the use of wool has grown to such an extent
-that the sheep-raising industry has become one of the
-biggest businesses in all sections of America. The sheep-herder
-lives a lonely life and yet rarely complains, and is
-never happier than when out in the fields with his
-charges. At shearing time the sheep are brought into
-a shed, and after a few futile struggles in an effort to
-escape the process, they sit quietly head up while the
-fleece is taken from them. When they go into the shed
-they are grimy gray; after the shearing when they leave
-it they are a light yellowish white. Thousands of people
-are employed in the wool industry; in securing the
-product, spinning it, weaving it into cloth, and making
-it into garments for our use.</p>
-
-<p>Silk has been used for many centuries in the manufacture<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_36">36</a></span>
-of garments. A Chinese legend tells of a wife
-of one of the early emperors of China who lived more
-than thirty-five centuries ago and who learned to make
-silk from the cocoon of the caterpillar. From this
-discovery has come a great industry. The caterpillar
-lives upon the leaves of the mulberry tree, and it has
-to be fed and tended with infinite patience. The process
-of gathering the cocoons and of preparing them for spinning
-is a business that can be learned only by years of
-apprenticeship. Caring for the caterpillar is a task that
-does not always appeal to people, and yet it is one that
-engages the attention of a large number of workers.</p>
-
-<p>Cotton was first used in India, but its cultivation
-and manufacture developed in three continents at just
-about the same time. In a Vedic hymn written fifteen
-centuries before Christ reference is made to “the
-threads in the loom,” which indicates that the manufacture
-of cloth was already well advanced. Cotton
-was used in China one thousand years before Christ.
-It was held to be so valuable that a heavy fine was
-imposed upon any one who stole a garment or any
-piece of cotton cloth. Alexander the Great found cotton
-in use when he invaded India, and tradition says that
-it was he who introduced its use into Europe. In Persia
-cotton was exclusively used before the days of Alexander.
-Thousands of years before the invention of
-machinery for the making of cotton cloth Hindu girls
-were spinning cotton on wheels, making it into yarn,
-and using frail looms for weaving these yarns into textiles.
-The beauty of the fabric was so striking that they
-were known as “Webs of the Woven Wind.”</p>
-
-<p><b>Cotton and History.</b> Cotton has played a large part<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_37">37</a></span>
-in the history of the United States. It was just one
-hundred years after the discovery of America that the
-first cotton plant was introduced into the land. The
-short-staple cotton plant did not mean much until 1814
-when an enterprising New Englander assembled in one
-building the several processes of spinning and weaving.
-His shop at Waltham was the first complete cotton
-factory in the world. The South made the mistake of
-turning its attention to the planting of cotton and allowing
-the North to do the manufacturing. Cotton became an
-important factor only when the cotton-gin was invented.
-This was in 1833. When cotton became profitable, Negro
-slavery took on an added meaning. The value of cotton
-was really the factor that led men to demand that slavery
-should continue as a national institution.</p>
-
-<p><b>Why Increase Production?</b> Having secured the material
-suitable to be made into cloth the next step was
-to improve the process of manufacture. The first wool
-that was woven was rolled in the hand, made into
-threads, and woven in a very crude loom. The task
-was a tedious one, and the cloth was produced very
-slowly. But, as time went on, man by practise learned
-more about weaving. He had been weaving linen from
-flax in the days when the Pyramids were being built in
-Egpyt, but it was not until the power-loom was invented
-that cloth-making could be carried on as a profitable industry.
-Early man had just about all he could do to
-provide himself with food, shelter, and the clothes that
-he needed. To-day these things are provided in quantities
-sufficient for all and with little exertion. Hence,
-we find the basis for the division of labor. A machine
-for spinning cotton can produce enough thread in a very<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_38">38</a></span>
-few hours to make clothes for the families of all the
-men who are interested in operating the machine. This
-thread is then turned over to the operator of the power-loom;
-the machinery is started and the cloth begins to
-roll itself up into a huge bundle. Very soon enough is
-produced to clothe all of those who are interested and
-occupied with this operation. The cloth is then turned
-over to the garment-makers and the process of fashioning
-the clothes is carried forward so that each individual
-has his or her part to perform; and in a very short time
-there are enough garments fashioned and finished so that
-all the garment-makers can be provided with clothes.
-Now comes the question that is so often asked. If
-there is plenty of clothing for everybody, why should
-some people not have clothes enough? If a man interested
-in the production of cloth makes more than
-enough for him to wear, why should he go on working?
-The answer to this is that, in the modern world, man
-must trade off his specialized product in order to satisfy
-his own needs and those of his family.</p>
-
-<p><b>The Machine.</b> The enterprise of clothing the world
-is made possible by machinery. Man has never produced
-more marvelous results than in the development
-of the intricate, huge, and costly machines which fashion
-the fabrics from which we make our clothes. These
-tools give man a thousand hands where before he had
-only two. If each person did only a moderate amount of
-labor the people of every country that employed machinery
-would be provided with all the necessities of
-life. A supply could be insured without overworking
-any one, and a few hours’ work each day would be
-enough. In that time all that is necessary for each individual<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_39">39</a></span>
-would be produced. The machine, then, is the
-instrument that increases the possibility for leisure; by
-the multiplied productive power it increases the number
-of things that a man may have, and at the same time
-it enlarges his possibilities for leisure. We accept the
-machine as we accept the weather. As a matter of fact
-it is not at all certain that since the machine has been
-with us we have been any happier because of the enormous
-production of our times. The machine has carried
-on the divisions in our industrial life. The new methods
-and improved devices save labor, time, and energy. At
-the same time they increase the output. A man’s hand
-is no more mighty than it was centuries ago, but backed
-by the tireless energy of machinery he can with slight
-effort turn out a production that a story-teller would
-not have credited to the mightiest giants of mythology.</p>
-
-<p>The United States Bureau of Labor tells the story in
-figures. Five hundred yards of checked gingham can
-be made by a machine in 73 hours; by hand labor it
-would take 5,844 hours. One hundred pounds of sewing
-cotton can be made by a machine in 39 hours; by
-hand labor it would take 2,895 hours. The labor costs
-are proportionate. The increased effectiveness of a
-man’s labor aided by the use of machinery, according
-to these reports, varies from 150 per cent. all the way
-up to 2,000 per cent. Hence, we see that the machine
-is not so much a labor-saving device as it is a production-making
-device. As has been said already, it is
-man’s energy and strength multiplied many times. The
-machine has become so potent that the question is,
-“What relation shall the created thing be to the
-creator?” The machine sets the pace. The man or<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_40">40</a></span>
-woman working with it must follow. It is exacting,
-implacable, produces through long hours; is set up in
-the midst of high temperatures, and is utterly indifferent
-to the fate of the individuals operating it. It works at
-night, it works by day and under conditions which are
-humanly impossible; but human beings are forced to
-keep the pace. The textile cities of America with their
-rows of tenements are practically built by the machinery
-in the mills and factories. The system has grown up, and
-men and women are forced to adjust themselves to this
-system. The welfare and happiness of the individuals
-working at the machines are very likely to be matters
-of secondary importance to the value of the production
-of the machinery itself.</p>
-
-<p><b>The Workers.</b> At the present time in the United
-States there are about 1,000,000 people employed in all
-the textile industries and about $500,000,000 a year
-paid in wages. About one and three quarter billions is
-the total value of the production. The worker in these
-mills is a worker and little or nothing else. The struggle
-for mere existence takes so much of his time that he
-has slight opportunity and but small inclination to take
-part in any social or civic affairs. He usually lives in a
-tenement or in a barrack type of building provided by
-the company for which he works.</p>
-
-<p><b>The Southern Mill Village.</b> In the Southern mill
-towns the companies usually own all the houses in
-which the people live. These houses are generally one-story
-buildings with a porch extending along the entire
-front. All of them are alike, and most of them are
-painted gray or drab. The streets of the mill village
-are unpaved and in most places cut into gullies by the<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_41">41</a></span>
-rains. In a few places running water, bathtubs, electricity,
-and other modern conveniences have been provided,
-but these are the rare exceptions. More often
-the houses are barren of all comforts, and living is reduced
-to the lowest possible terms. The mill village has
-ordinarily but one store and this is owned or controlled
-by the company. The food eaten by the people is of the
-simplest kind; corn bread, pork side-meat, and coffee
-make up the staples of diet. Nearly all the members of
-the family work in the mill. At an investigation made
-by a state commission in Atlanta, Georgia, one of the
-men testified that he, his wife, five of his children, and
-his wife’s sister all worked in the mill; there were three
-younger children who stayed at home, the oldest one of
-the three acting as housekeeper and nurse. The improvements
-that most people expect as a matter of course,
-such as fire-proofing, sanitary plumbing, lighting, heating,
-storage, bathing, and washing facilities are utterly unknown.
-If you spent a day in one of these mill villages,
-you would find one or two members in almost every
-family sitting on the porch of the house and away from
-work because of sickness. If a neighbor happens to
-pass, you would hear some such conversation as this:
-“Howdy? How are you feeling?” “Poorly, thank
-you, I have never felt worse in my life; my victuals just
-don’t seem to agree with me, an’ I just feel like I was
-of no account.” The vitality of the people is being sapped
-by the insanitary conditions under which they live. It
-was discovered some years ago that hookworm is the
-cause of the illness that has been preying upon these
-workers for generations. The dangerous worms thrive
-in the midst of filth. A clean-up of the village and the<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_42">42</a></span>
-building of better homes almost certainly eliminates the
-disease and its cause.</p>
-
-<p>The people of the mill village find most of their
-recreation in the near-by city. Nearly all of the principal
-Southern cities have a number of these villages contributory
-to it. In many a home the only piece of finery
-is the tawdry dress made up in what is supposed to
-be the latest style&mdash;certainly the most exaggerated style&mdash;and
-usually in the most striking colors. This is the
-Sunday dress of the young lady of the house. When
-she is ready for her day off in the city, her costume will
-be completed by the addition of a hat of the most marvelous
-and striking make and color.</p>
-
-<p><b>The Motion-Picture’s Contribution.</b> The motion-picture
-theater has been a godsend to the people of the
-mill village. Most of these workers are very ignorant.
-Hard living and incessant toil have deprived them of the
-opportunity of attending school, and even if there were
-the will to get an education, the schools have not been
-accessible in many instances; consequently, the people
-have merely the rudiments of an education, and many
-of them can neither read nor write. Hundreds of homes
-in these villages have no books except an almanac and
-a Bible. The needs of the workers are almost overwhelming,
-so that one hardly knows where to begin even
-to tell about the changes that must be made in a community
-before much benefit can be secured in the
-lives of the individuals. The motion-picture has brought
-to these workers scenes from the outside world and has
-enlarged their ideas of life. Any one can understand
-the lesson a picture teaches.</p>
-
-<div id="ip_42" class="figcenter" style="width: 387px;">
-<img src="images/i_042.jpg" width="387" height="600" alt="" />
-<div class="captionl">
-
-<p>Copyright, H. C. White Company.</p></div>
-
-<div class="caption">
-
-<p>In the cotton-mills a worker is a worker and little or nothing else.</p></div></div>
-
-<p>The motion-picture furnishes amusement and recreation,<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_43">43</a></span>
-and it gives a glimpse of larger aims and new motives.
-The girls who dress up in their fine clothes and
-gaudy hats and go to the city whenever they have a
-chance are trying to express themselves. Inherently they
-have fine traits of character, but out of their ignorance
-and lack of experience they are unable properly to
-balance the proportion of color and style and make
-these to fit in with the facts of every-day life. There
-is no one to teach them; they are unable to go to dressmakers
-for advice, and the people with whom they associate
-admire the kind of finery that they wear. But
-when they see these pictures presented on the screen
-they get a chance to know how people in other places
-really live and act. As one girl said: “I only learned
-how to be a lady when I got to see ladies’ pictures at
-the movies.”</p>
-
-<p><b>Improvements.</b> Some of the mills have built model
-villages, have furnished good schools, churches, playgrounds,
-and other recreational features. There have
-been discouraging failures made in attempting to lead
-the people to accept the better things; but the failures
-are insignificant when compared to the successes that
-have been achieved by the companies that have really
-had the welfare of the workers at heart. One mill
-owner has put in the finest kind of equipment in the
-homes of the people. The hours of labor have been
-materially reduced: first they began with eight, now they
-have seven, and this reformer says that he believes that
-they will be able to reduce the hours still further and
-make the six-hour day the standard. He intends to put
-on four shifts of workers for each twenty-four hours and
-believes that he will get a better result than could be<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_44">44</a></span>
-achieved even with the eight-hour day. It is interesting
-to note that this man, by paying higher wages than others
-and by reducing the hours of labor, has been able to secure
-permanence among his workers; and at this period
-when other mills are shorthanded, he has all the labor
-that he needs. “It is not philanthropy but good sense”
-is his way of defining the splendid work he is doing.</p>
-
-<p><b>Workers in the Northern Textile Cities.</b> In the
-Northern textile cities we find a different situation, for
-most of the workers live in tenements. The stores,
-shops, and theaters are built and operated with the demands
-of the workers, rather than their needs in view.
-In one of these textile cities the average wage is $11.25
-a week. Consider the case of just one family living in
-this city under these conditions. The family lives in a
-tenement with barely room enough for the father, mother,
-two daughters, and a son. The mother is devoted to the
-home; the father is a loom-fixer in the mill and a member
-of the union. All attend the Congregational church on
-Sundays. This man has been able to send his children
-through grammar school. His wages are above the
-average for the kind of work he is doing. The two
-girls started work just as soon as they finished school.
-The son also went to work, but he was so tired of the
-town where he had always lived that he went to New
-York and secured a position there. Everything went
-well for many years, and the prospects, while not bright
-for the future, were not especially dark. Then trouble
-came. First, the father was sick, and his illness dragged
-on through the whole winter, but by spring he was able
-to go back to work. It was the beginning of the slack
-season, however, when he applied for his old position.<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_45">45</a></span>
-He went to work, but the wages were not as good as they
-had been when he left. The daughters found that in
-order to have any society they had to spend more money
-for clothes. “You can’t expect us to dress in a dowdy
-fashion, for if we do we never will have any friends,” was
-their assertion. Ten dollars was the wage of one of the
-girls and eight dollars the wage of the other girl. This
-amount did not go very far toward supporting them and
-buying the necessary clothes, and gave but little chance
-for a good time. Nothing was left to help the family
-fund. Before the winter was over a strike was called
-and the father lost his position. The family now became
-dependent upon the funds of the union to which the
-father belonged and the small amount the girls could
-squeeze out of their wages.</p>
-
-<p>The winter passed as do all other mundane things and
-the strike came to an end. Those who were members
-of the union were not allowed to come back. The managers
-of the mill proclaimed that they had won a great
-victory for democracy and that the mill should be
-operated strictly as an “open shop.” The father found
-that “open shop” meant a closed shop to him until he
-tore up his union card and promised not to join any
-other labor organization. This he did in order to go back
-to work. He was forced to it, but he never quite gained
-the confidence of the foreman, for he was a marked man.
-Added to the hard struggle for existence with its attendant
-worries there is an increasing feeling of bitterness
-in the heart of this man, because he knows that he is
-being discriminated against for his former membership
-in the trade union. The family lives on, as thousands
-of others in the neighborhood are doing, but there is<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_46">46</a></span>
-hostility toward the factory and all it represents. Not
-all the workers in the mill have this experience. Some
-have managed to save, and by good fortune have been
-able to save enough so that they are fairly comfortable
-and independent, owning their homes and living in comparative
-ease, although very simply. We must not think
-for a moment that there is only one side to this life and
-that always a disheartening one. The challenging thing,
-however, is that the men and women who are actually
-operating the machines are nearly all living harassed
-lives, with a heavy burden of trouble and worry, and
-are not finding the pleasure that should come from work
-well done.</p>
-
-<p><b>The Machine and Human Happiness.</b> The machine
-has been hailed as a savior from trouble and want. It
-promised happiness and well-being to all mankind. This
-promise has not been fulfilled, for instead of the prophecy
-of the future being one of cheer growing out of the development
-of the machine, it is rather one of warning.
-The machine has subordinated the man; thrust him
-aside and denied him a fair share of the things he has
-helped to create. As one of our keen-minded writers
-has said, “The machine has developed a new kind of
-slave and doomed him to produce through long and
-weary hours a senseless glut of things; and then forced
-him to suffer for lack of the very things he has produced.”</p>
-
-<p><b>The Church and the Factory.</b> What about the
-church in the midst of the factory city? The minister
-is no longer the most important personage in town. The
-business man dominates the life of the community. The
-mill has pushed itself into the place of influence once held<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_47">47</a></span>
-by the church. In one of the New England cities a
-factory has been built around three sides of one of the
-oldest established churches. The church still remains,
-embraced by this factory. It is a fit parable of the
-present situation in the mill town. The church has a
-place but industry holds the outstanding position.</p>
-
-<p>One of the most interesting pieces of work undertaken
-in recent years was that of a pastor in one of the mill
-villages in Georgia. He built the church; put in club
-rooms and provided features that would appeal to the
-people. At first the cotton-mill owners were favorably
-disposed toward the undertaking. They supplied a portion
-of the money toward erecting the building, and made
-a regular contribution for the support of the enterprise.
-The rector of the church soon found that the young
-people did not attend the social functions as much as he
-had hoped that they would, and they were conspicuous
-by their absence from the Sunday services. Upon inquiry,
-in addition to the usual reasons given by people
-for not attending church, he found that it was principally
-the economic factor that was at work against the church.
-Low wages and long hours left the people without
-energy enough to take part in anything that had to do
-with their culture or spiritual welfare. The sad thing
-about it was that the minister soon found to his deep
-sorrow that even his questioning of the people was resented
-by the authorities, who began to refer to him as a
-trouble-maker and a busybody, and eventually he was
-forced to resign his church and leave the community.</p>
-
-<p>How is the church going to meet this situation? The
-church must continue its helpful agencies, open its club
-rooms, offer opportunity for play, for service, and for<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_48">48</a></span>
-worship. But it must do more than that, for it must
-be the champion of the people, help them to secure a
-fair degree of leisure, and then direct them in a wise
-spending of their leisure hours. Unless the church can
-do this, it can never be the instrument for leading men
-and women in these communities to accept Jesus as a
-personal Savior from sin.</p>
-
-<hr />
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_49">49</a></span></p>
-
-<div class="chapter">
-<h2 class="vspace"><a id="CHAPTER_IV"></a>CHAPTER IV<br />
-
-<span class="subhead"><span class="smcap">The World of the Garment Makers</span></span></h2>
-</div>
-
-<p>Fifth Avenue in New York is one of the world’s great
-thoroughfares. Years ago it was devoted exclusively to
-residential purposes. The wealthy people built their
-homes along the lower end of the street. As the city
-grew, these people followed the avenue north until at
-the present time the finest homes in the city are located
-in the neighborhood of Central Park in the upper reaches
-of the street. Between Fourteenth Street and Washington
-Square there are now a number of business houses,
-two fine old churches, and a portion of the city that still
-retains the residential quality of dignity and worth.
-From Fourteenth Street to Fiftieth Street the avenue is
-given over almost exclusively to business. From Thirtieth
-Street to Fifty-seventh Street are found the finest
-shops and stores in New York City. Below Thirtieth
-Street this stately avenue, and the numbered cross streets
-for many blocks running east and west have been invaded
-by great skyscrapers known as loft buildings in
-which is being carried on the greatest garment-making
-industry in the world.</p>
-
-<p>The workers in the garment trade in New York are
-nearly all Jews and Italians. At any time of the summer
-and winter thousands of these workers will be Found
-spending their leisure on the street between twelve and<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_50">50</a></span>
-one o’clock. When the workers are free it is almost impossible
-to pass along the sidewalks of Fifth Avenue
-from Fourteenth to Twenty-third Street. This solid
-mass of men and women, all speaking a tongue that is
-unintelligible to American ears, pass round and round,
-back and forth, up and down, a resistless tide typifying
-the steady resistless rise of labor to a position in society
-where it must be considered.</p>
-
-<p>These big loft buildings occupied by the garment-making
-industry have been constructed in recent years,
-and so rapidly have they been erected that the storekeepers
-and business men of upper Fifth Avenue have
-formed an organization and are exerting every effort
-“to save the avenue from this advancing tide of foreign
-workers.”</p>
-
-<div id="ip_50" class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;">
-<img src="images/i_050.jpg" width="600" height="379" alt="" />
-<div class="captionl">
-
-<p>Press Illustrating Service.</p></div>
-
-<div class="caption">
-
-<p>When the workers are free it is almost impossible to pass along the sidewalks of Fifth Avenue
-from Fourteenth to Twenty-third Street.</p></div></div>
-
-<p>Many shops and department stores have been forced
-to give way before the onward sweep of this enterprise.
-The area in New York occupied most exclusively by
-the garment workers is about a mile long and about one-half
-mile wide; in this district there are thousands of
-workers employed exclusively in making garments of
-one kind and another. The Garment Makers’ Union has
-a membership of 60,000. How much do we know about
-these workers? When the Triangle Shirt Waist Company’s
-loft caught fire and scores of girls were burned
-to death or killed by jumping from the building, the
-country was shocked, but up to that time we had not
-known that thousands of girls work every day behind
-closed and locked doors. We have almost forgotten the
-incident. Where was the factory? What was done
-about it? The girls were, however, our servants working
-at the task of furnishing us with clothes!</p>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_51">51</a></span>
-<b>Fashion and Clothes.</b> In the last chapter we considered
-the workers who produce the material from
-which clothes are made. The question that is still of
-vital significance to most of us is, how shall we make
-our clothes? “I have not a thing to wear,” is a very
-common statement, yet it does not mean what it says,
-for the people that use this complaint most frequently
-are the ones who have literally trunks full of clothes.
-What they mean is that they have nothing in the latest
-fashion. Fashion is a hard taskmaster. Some one has
-said that the length of the stay of a society woman at
-any hotel can be determined by the number of gowns
-she brings with her to the hotel. “She would no more
-think of wearing the same gown twice to the same place
-than she would think of insulting her best friends,” was
-a woman’s description of her companion to prove that
-she was a “real lady.” The frequent changes in style
-bring rich returns to the manufacturers of clothing and
-call for a ceaseless outgo by people who feel that they
-are obliged to follow the dictates of fashion. “I hate
-rich people,” said a little shop-girl. “For every time I
-see a woman wearing a fine dress I cannot help thinking
-how hard I work and how useless the dress is for any
-practical purpose.”</p>
-
-<p><b>Dressmaking in the Home.</b> Dressmaking was at one
-time carried on entirely within the family. It was a
-domestic employment. The only garments that were
-made outside of the home were men’s clothes, and the
-journeyman tailor was a skilled mechanic. He made
-the entire garment himself; but even in this industry
-very often the work was carried on in his home and all
-the members of the family assisted more or less.</p>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_52">52</a></span>
-<b>The Sweat-Shop.</b> The sweat-shop, in most cases, is
-a home that has been turned into a factory. The father
-or mother goes to the manufacturer of clothing and
-agrees to furnish so many pairs of pants or waists or
-shirts for so much money. The worker carries these
-garments to the home and all the family go to work upon
-the job. Many of these homes are one-room affairs, so
-that in many instances the work is carried on in the
-room where the cooking is done; where the meals are
-eaten and where the family sleeps. Legislation has
-done much to eliminate the sweat-shops, and sweating
-as a system is under the ban. Every church and every
-individual in the church ought to know all about the
-work of the National Consumers’ League. This organization
-inspects factories and workshops and issues a
-stamp or label that is attached to all garments made
-under clean, humane, healthful, and fair conditions. Information
-can be secured by writing to Mrs. Florence
-Kelly, 289 Fourth Avenue, New York. Look for this
-label when you buy any garment.</p>
-
-<p>Low wages make possible the continuation of the
-sweat-shop system. In a family where the wage-earner
-receives less than enough for its subsistence, or for some
-reason or other the earnings are decreased to a rate at
-which the family cannot live, it becomes necessary to
-supplement the family income. Wife and children go
-to work, boarders and lodgers are taken into the home,
-and the standardization of living is so lowered that normal
-conditions of home life are impossible. In a study
-made of the garment trades it was found that in the
-homes where work is being done for a profit only about
-11 per cent. of the husbands in these families earned<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_53">53</a></span>
-$500 or more a year, while more than one half of them
-earned $300 or less a year.</p>
-
-<p><b>The Task System.</b> A study of conditions in the
-dressmaking industry was made by the United States
-government. The results of this study showed that we
-never can get back to the old state of affairs. We have
-entered into a new period of production and this must
-continue. The task system prevails in a large number
-of the garment-making shops. By the task system is
-meant that the work on a garment is done by a team of
-three persons consisting of a machine-operator, a baster,
-and a finisher. Every three teams have two pressers and
-several girls to sew on the pockets and buttons that are
-necessary for the completion of the garment. There is
-essentially a fine adjustment within the team, so that
-each one completes his work in time to pass it on to the
-next one as soon as the latter is ready to receive it. A
-certain amount of work is called a task, and this amount
-is supposed to be done within a day. Forced competition
-has gradually increased the amount of the task, until
-frequently even with the most strenuous activity the task
-cannot be completed without working twelve and fourteen
-hours a day. The wages paid are based upon the
-utmost that the best individual in the team can do in a
-day.</p>
-
-<p>This system came in with the influx of the Jews into
-New York in the early eighties. These workers, with
-their intense desire to accumulate money, get on in the
-world, and then be emancipated from hard work, are
-peculiarly adapted to the system. Just as soon as a few
-of the workers save enough money they become proprietors
-of small factories. Another thing that enters<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_54">54</a></span>
-into the situation is the characteristics of the people
-themselves. Jews are a restless race and resent the rigid
-routine and supervision of the factory, but the comparative
-freedom in a small shop under the task system appeals
-to their desires to get on in the world and gives
-them a degree of freedom which they cannot have under
-the factory system. The task system lends full opportunity
-for the cupidity of worker and owner to exploit
-other workers, and in the end every man in the shop
-comes to be looked upon as an opportunity for more
-profits.</p>
-
-<p><b>The Modern Factory.</b> Another stage in the evolution
-of the clothing industry is found in the factory itself.
-Just as the task system was an improvement over the
-sweat-shop in the home, so the factory is a big advance
-over the task system. The factory has grown very
-rapidly owing to the demand for tailor-made clothes, to
-the continual change in the styles, and to the large supply
-of cheap labor always at hand. In recent years the
-demand for men’s and women’s ready-made clothes has
-so increased that now large department stores which
-formerly sold only cheap grades of ready-made clothes
-are stocking up with expensive garments in order to
-cater to the class of customers who used to order their
-clothes directly from the custom tailor.</p>
-
-<p>This movement toward standardizing the clothing industry
-aids the factory in overcoming the competition
-of the smaller shops. There is going on a sure but slow
-movement toward the elimination of the bad conditions
-in the garment trades, and the factories are increasing
-because people of even moderate means are demanding
-higher-priced and better-grade garments. “I got such<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_55">55</a></span>
-a wonderful bargain to-day, you just ought to see the
-shirt-waists that are being sold for one dollar and
-seventy-five cents. Why, you couldn’t even buy the material
-for that price, to say nothing of the work and
-trouble of making it.” This is an accurate report of a
-conversation overheard on a street-car one evening. It
-sounds familiar to you, now, doesn’t it? When you got
-your bargain, did you ever consider the girls who work
-to make you that waist? The manufacturer is not alone
-responsible for bad conditions. It is impossible for him
-to pay good wages and continue in business unless he
-can sell his goods at a decent profit. If you force him to
-compete with the sweat-shop, you drive him out of business
-and subsidize the sweat-shop at the same time.</p>
-
-<p>Our selfishness in desiring to get the best possible bargains
-makes us thoughtless partners of the exploiters of
-the men and women who are working to make our
-clothes. Progress costs money, time, and thought. We
-are all bound together and go forward or backward with
-the group. Next time you buy a dress or a suit, try
-to picture the girls and men who worked on it. Consider
-the hours of labor which they spent and the responsibilities
-that rest upon them; then figure against
-the price which you are paying a fair proportion of the
-cost for wages to these workers, and ask yourself would
-you be willing to make the garment for that price?
-If you would not, providing, of course, that you had the
-skill, you are not playing fair with your sister and
-brother who live somewhere and are being cheated out
-of a decent wage.</p>
-
-<p><b>Groups by Races.</b> The workers in the garment industries
-in New York live in groups made up not by<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_56">56</a></span>
-industrial conditions or interests so much as by racial
-interests. The Jews tend to live in certain quarters of
-the city confined to themselves, and the Italians have
-their quarters also. As a family accumulates a little
-money, plans are made to move out of these sections in
-lower New York and to settle in different surroundings
-in the upper part of the city, on Lexington Avenue or
-in the Bronx.</p>
-
-<p><b>Seasonal Work in the Garment Trade.</b> In spite
-of the tremendous advance made in late years in these
-industries in matters relating to conditions of work, such
-as the eliminating of excessive overtime, shortening of
-the regular hours of labor, and raising rates or earnings,
-the matter of unemployment is still a serious problem.
-The garment trades are affected by seasonal demands.
-Everybody wants a new suit at just about the same time.
-“If I cannot have my spring suit by Easter, I would
-just as soon not have it at all,” was the complaint of a
-young girl whose family was trying to make retrenchments
-during war time. The improvement in conditions
-has been marked; but in no way has it been found practicable
-to lengthen the work season. And since payment
-by the piece is widely prevalent in the clothing industries,
-in the case of home workers a record of the time and the
-payment is not strictly kept, and statistics are not available.</p>
-
-<p><b>Health Conditions.</b> The health conditions among the
-workers in the garment industries show an interesting
-relationship to the wages paid and the method of payment.
-The United States Public Health Service, reporting
-on conditions among the garment-workers in
-New York City, states that the strain was more prevalent<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_57">57</a></span>
-where wages were paid on the piece basis than by
-the week or other time basis. With the increased use
-of machinery another series of health hazards appears,
-according to this report. These are the result of fatigue
-and overstrain caused by the close application to the
-same process through long hours. The monotony of
-the work contributes to the bad industrial conditions.
-At its best the wage of the garment-worker is pitiably
-small. Among the girls, especially, there is keen competition.
-They cut one another down, and they underbid
-and undersell each other. The average wage paid
-barely affords a living. One little Italian girl in a recent
-shirt-waist strike in New York said, “Me no live verra
-much on forta-nine cent a day.” This wage of forty-nine
-cents it must be said is not usual, and is largely the
-result of the ignorance of the girl, but there are others
-like her who are forced to go to work unprepared and
-therefore are unable to earn a better wage.</p>
-
-<p>In many communities there still lingers the employment
-of the women and children in home trades, making
-garments under sweat-shop conditions. The contractor
-who formerly depended for his living upon letting out
-his work to the sweat-shops has largely disappeared;
-but there are still many homes in which work is done and
-no serious attempt has been made as yet to reach the
-evils incident to it. Here the workers are driven by the
-pressure of poverty to labor under conditions and for
-wages that destroy life, and to work their children in
-the same manner. Here disease breeds and is passed on
-to the consumer.</p>
-
-<p>A recent study of the home conditions shows that the
-worst abuses of child labor linger in this remnant of<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_58">58</a></span>
-family work. No child labor law that has been passed
-in the United States seems to be adequate to the situation.
-To control this there must be a special provision
-made in the factory laws of each state regarding the
-work done by families in their own homes. Several of
-the states do provide in their laws that no work for pay
-shall be done in the homes except by the members of
-the families themselves. Other states provide that this
-work shall be done under certain conditions, and standards
-are required of the factory. Massachusetts issues
-a license to the family to do work in the home, and like
-New York, requires a “tenement made” tag attached to
-the article; also holding the owners of the property responsible
-for any violation of the law. At the Chicago Industrial
-Exhibition a picture was shown entitled “Sacred
-Motherhood.” It was that of a woman nursing her
-child and driving a sewing-machine at the same time.
-It was a terrible portrayal of unchecked, unregulated industry,
-which does not stop to reckon the effect upon
-the future, but imperils the well-being of both the mother
-and the child.</p>
-
-<p><b>Labor Disturbances.</b> The fundamental cause of the
-troubles in the clothing industry in Boston prior to the
-spring of 1913, was similar to that in the same industry
-in New York before their abolition by concerted action
-of the employers and employees in the spring of the
-same year. There have been serious disturbances in the
-garment trade in Chicago, New York, Boston, Philadelphia,
-and other cities. The difficulty was right in the
-trade itself and many of the causes of discord will continue
-for some time to come.</p>
-
-<p>Among these causes of disturbances are long hours,<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_59">59</a></span>
-low wages, poor sanitary conditions, sub-contracting,
-unequal distribution of the work, work in tenement-houses,
-failure to state the standard price for piece-work,
-playing of favorites in the giving out of the work, lack of
-cooperation between the employers and the employees,
-prevalence of the piece-work system, and the difficulty of
-determining what shall be paid or what constitutes a
-just basis for computing hours and wages.</p>
-
-<p>For instance, three girls work in one factory and are
-put upon work that is to be a test upon which a new
-wage is to be based. One of the girls is put to work
-upon a certain task in shirt-waists. They are made of
-thin material; the thread used is very fine and the stuff
-shirrs easily, so that it is almost impossible to make any
-speed. The second girl is put to work upon a pile of
-plain waists. The third girl has a still different task.
-Each girl at the beginning of the day has an equal amount
-of work to do. They all put in the same number of
-hours and expend approximately the same amount of
-energy; but at the end of the day one of the girls has
-finished her task, the other has probably two hours’ work
-to do on the day following, while the third girl, the one
-who was working upon the thin waists, has more than a
-day’s work ahead of her. It will be readily seen that it is
-almost impossible to determine what pay would be a
-fair price for making shirt-waists, or for doing any
-part of the work connected with the making of these
-garments unless a different and more equitable basis of
-reckoning is established.</p>
-
-<p><b>Cost and Selling Price.</b> Another matter that enters
-into the situation and complicates it is the fact that
-there is a different selling price put on each garment.<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_60">60</a></span>
-Of course, we must all recognize that wages cannot be
-made except in proportion to the selling price of the
-garment. No business can be run unless it is able to
-make enough on its products to pay a decent wage. The
-cost of production, including the cost of materials, a
-fair price for the superintendent, and a proportion of the
-general overhead cost of the factory must be charged
-against each garment, together with a proportion of the
-interest on the investment and the approximate cost of
-the wear and tear on the machinery. Add to this the
-cost for advertising and marketing the garment. All of
-these things have to enter into consideration, and the
-wages must be determined by the amount of money that
-will be received for the finished garment. Now, how
-are we to bring about a just settlement of this vexed
-question? There is only one way in which it can be done,
-that is, by bringing the workers themselves into partnership
-with the firm. Just as long as the destiny of the
-worker is in the hands of the foreman and there is no
-chance for these workers to be heard, or to have any
-voice in the decisions that are made, so long there will
-be fruitful cause for trouble.</p>
-
-<p><b>Arbitration.</b> The experience of the Massachusetts
-Board of Arbitration warrants the conclusion that there
-is a proper and very useful sphere of activity for a
-permanent State Board of Arbitration. A number of
-questions arise from time to time in almost all trades
-which do not require a detailed knowledge of the industry
-on the part of the arbitrating body. There are,
-for example, questions of discharge in alleged violation
-of a clause in an agreement covering discharges. There
-are certain other controversies which both sides are willing<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_61">61</a></span>
-to have decided by the application of standards which
-are matters of fact ascertainable upon investigation.
-For instance, in many piece-price controversies, both
-sides are willing to have the questions decided on the
-basis of what competing manufacturers pay for the same
-operations under similar working conditions; but each is
-unwilling to accept the figures presented by the other
-side in support of its contention. This has been done
-by the Massachusetts Board in the boot and shoe industry,
-and recently in a textile case. The Arbitration
-Board should be given all the powers in the way of compelling
-the attendance of witnesses and testimony under
-oath, and the production of books and papers, which it
-requires to secure the information necessary to reach a
-decision.</p>
-
-<p><b>The Religious and Social Problems.</b> Twenty-five per
-cent. of all the effort put into the processes of industry
-and commerce is concerned with the supply of clothing.
-Most of the clothing is made under conditions which determine
-the life and welfare of such a large proportion
-of the people that we find in the garment-making industries
-themselves a distinct and definite challenge to
-the religious and social agencies. There are some fundamental
-considerations which must be borne in mind and
-which will help us to see the problem as it affects the
-workers. Most of those in the garment trades are foreigners
-unused to our way of thinking. At noon on
-Fifth Avenue and again at night as the workers leave
-for their homes, the newsboys sell papers printed in
-Yiddish characters almost exclusively, and only a few
-English papers are sold for several blocks below
-Twenty-third Street. In religious matters the garment-workers
-represent three groups: those who are<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_62">62</a></span>
-devoted to the faith of their fathers and who are Jews
-in the truest sense of the word; those who have drifted
-away from the old faith in the rush of life in America,
-and, antagonistic to the domination of the Roman Catholic
-faith, have not been attracted or won by the Protestant
-faith; and a third class composed of those who are
-bitterly hostile to all religions because of the corruption
-of the church as they view it, because of the social injustice
-of which they are the subjects, and which is
-identified in their own minds with the church and religious
-leaders.</p>
-
-<p>It is an interesting thing to visit a social center in either
-Boston or New York. Ford Hall or Cooper Union
-serves as a good illustration. Here the majority of the
-people are Jews, radical through and through. They are
-intelligently awake and thoroughly skeptical. The Bible
-is not an open book to many of these people, and they
-have not learned to read history or current events with
-an open mind. Social conditions and economic pressure
-make it almost impossible for them to render a straight
-and just judgment. They have monstrous misconceptions
-of Protestants and the Protestant religion, for they
-see for the most part only the worst side. America
-means to them, instead of freedom, hope, and independence,
-only extortionate profiteering.</p>
-
-<p><b>The Gospel for the Garment-workers.</b> How can we
-overcome this prejudice? How can we give these people
-an adequate and intelligible interpretation of the gospel?
-We must respect their faith. It will not solve the problem
-to make proselytes of a large number of our new
-Jewish citizens. We need to be definite, concrete, and
-practical, and to leave controversial matters and philosophical<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_63">63</a></span>
-discussions out of the situation. We need to
-cultivate more reverence in our American churches, and
-a finer regard for the associations and experiences of the
-past of these people. As these words are being written,
-I can see from my window the tower of a church surmounted
-by a cross. It is the Judson Memorial Baptist
-Church on Washington Square. Sunday after Sunday
-there are gathered together large groups of people. Most
-of them live under sordid, cramped conditions, but they
-find in this church a ministry that appeals to them. The
-church is more interested in making good Americans
-out of these people, and in interpreting America to them
-than in securing their membership in the church. And
-rightly this church is justified in its attitude. By ministering
-to the people it is gaining their allegiance to the
-principles of Christianity as it could in no other way.</p>
-
-<p>To sum up the chapter, the making of garments, like
-other industries we have considered, is highly specialized.
-It has been taken out of the hands of the American
-group. The old-fashioned dressmaking and tailor shops
-have given way to the huge lofts where many factories
-are turning out clothing for men, women, boys and girls
-in large quantities. The workers are all city dwellers.
-They are all foreigners, most of them Jews, with a large
-intermingling of Italians. To meet their needs and to
-interpret the gospel to them the church must first of all
-come to know the conditions under which they live. It
-must create a public opinion that will demand an adjustment
-of the difficulties in the trade itself and then in
-the homes of the people. In the community in which
-they live it must show that the members of the Protestant
-churches are the best of friends and neighbors.</p>
-
-<hr />
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_65">65</a></span></p>
-
-<div class="chapter">
-<h2 class="vspace"><a id="CHAPTER_V"></a>CHAPTER V<br />
-
-<span class="subhead"><span class="smcap">The World of the Miners</span></span></h2>
-</div>
-
-<p>According to the old Greek story Prometheus stole
-fire from heaven and thus drew upon himself the anger
-of the gods, because with fire he was able to work miracles
-and do wonders that rivaled the gods themselves.
-The metals of the earth are the instruments in the hands
-of man for accomplishing the material wonders that
-mark our time. Our age has been rightly termed the
-steel age, but, as we shall see in subsequent chapters,
-this period has its important and unique character only
-because man knows how to use fire, and because he
-has coal at his command.</p>
-
-<p><b>The Riches of the Earth for Man.</b> It is not surprising
-that the ancient Hebrews taught that God made
-everything for the benefit of the human race, and that
-man was the child of his supreme favor, for in every
-place over the entire earth are found the things essential
-to man’s happiness and comfort. Even in the most
-desolate regions, with very few exceptions, a man is able
-to make his way against adverse elements. The most valuable
-minerals are coal, iron, copper, zinc, lead, gold, and
-silver. Of course there are many others that are mined
-and used extensively. The supply of coal produced for
-1916 in the United States alone was 67,376,364 tons of
-anthracite coal and 502,518,545 tons of bituminous coal.
-During the first nine months of 1917 the mines produced<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_66">66</a></span>
-57,778,097 tons of anthracite coal, which is an increase
-of 7,847,681 tons over a similar period in 1916, or an
-increase of about 16 per cent.</p>
-
-<p>In the United States the absolute necessity for coal
-was never felt so keenly as during the winter of 1917–18,
-when the Fuel Administrator shut down all the business
-places for five days and declared workless Mondays as
-a measure of relief. The war has demanded extraordinary
-measures, and these have been taken with a vigor
-and decision that have been really startling. The call
-for metals made by the warring nations has been so great
-that mining is now carried on at a furious rate. One
-of the Western mining papers uses as a slogan, “Get
-the ore while the prices are high.” The reason that the
-Germans hold so stubbornly to northern France is because
-of the rich coal and iron mines in the region. For
-years following the war there will be an extraordinary
-demand for an increased output of coal, iron, copper,
-and zinc, in fact, for all of the metals. The task of rebuilding
-the areas will demand not only ingenuity, but
-all the resources of all the nations combined.</p>
-
-<div id="ip_66" class="figcenter" style="width: 377px;">
-<img src="images/i_066.jpg" width="377" height="600" alt="" />
-<div class="captionl">
-
-<p>Copyright, Underwood and Underwood.</p></div>
-
-<div class="caption">
-
-<p>We forget the men who are toiling underground.</p></div></div>
-
-<p><b>The Producers of Coal.</b> You have no doubt seen
-the women and children with their baskets picking up
-coal along the railroad tracks on the edge of the city.
-That small basket of coal will probably be all the fuel
-that many of them have. It is a common sight to see
-the little foreign boys bringing home packing-boxes and
-the lids of boxes that they have begged from the stores
-to take the place of the coal they cannot get. Those
-among us who live in steam-heated apartments, or in
-communities near the coal-fields or wooded areas, do not
-realize what a constant struggle is required on the part<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_67">67</a></span>
-of the poor people in the cities to keep coal enough in
-the stove to prevent the family from freezing. “The
-only times I was really warm enough last winter,” said a
-Slovenian woman in Chicago, “was when I went to
-church, and then I had to keep my head muffled up.”
-It was said of a group of Italians in Boston, “The men
-go to the saloon, the women to the church, both for the
-same purpose,&mdash;to get good and warm.”</p>
-
-<p>Just as we sometimes fail to realize how many people
-are working for us to make our clothes or to produce
-our food, so we forget the men who are toiling underground
-to dig the coal and mine the iron upon which
-we are so dependent for our every-day living. The city
-dweller especially is dependent upon the supply of coal
-that comes to him through retail sources, but in order
-to bring that coal to the city there has been a long line
-of workers, each one putting his hand to the task of
-producing the necessity.</p>
-
-<p><b>Where the Coal Is Mined.</b> If you should visit the
-coal-mining community, you would first of all be impressed
-with the desolation of the place. The village is
-an ugly, straggling affair with nothing to add to its
-beauty or hide its deformities. Nearly all the houses
-are built alike, two and three rooms being the average
-size. In all probability not one painted house is to be
-found in the whole town, unless possibly it is the front
-of a saloon on the main street. In many of the old-time
-mining communities the fronts of the saloons were
-all painted blue. Whether or not this was done to match
-the color of the patrons’ noses, no one seems to know.
-The fences are of rough pickets and so broken and out
-of repair that, as one person visiting the coal town for<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_68">68</a></span>
-the first time said, “The pickets look like broken teeth
-in an old, dried-up skull.” There are very few flowers
-or gardens, and the deep black mud of the winter-time,
-the black smoke, and the dust of the dry season during
-the summer deepen the sense of desolation one feels in
-the midst of these villages. The schoolhouse is a poor
-one-room affair; and if there is a church, it has a weak
-organization and is housed in a building that is little
-if any better than the average in the community. Very
-few coal-mining towns in Colorado have a church of any
-kind. The Home Missions Council looked into this matter
-some years ago and reported extensively its investigations.</p>
-
-<p>The Cœur d’Alene mining district of northern Idaho
-is rich in ores, but poor in cultural and religious opportunities
-for the people. In a region lying along the
-north fork of the Cœur d’Alene river there are half a
-dozen small towns where there is not a church, and it is
-rarely that a minister visits the region.</p>
-
-<p><b>The Mining Areas.</b> Never before have the common
-necessities of life seemed so important as they do now.
-Canada produces large quantities of minerals, the chief
-of which is copper. The production for 1916 of all the
-minerals was valued at $177,417,574. The coal and
-principal metals produced in Canada, with their respective
-amounts for the year named, are as follows:</p>
-
-<table class="intact" summary="Canadian mining production">
- <tr>
- <td class="tdl">Copper</td>
- <td class="tdl">119,770,814 tons</td></tr>
- <tr>
- <td class="tdl">Nickel</td>
- <td class="tdl"> 82,958,564   ”</td></tr>
- <tr>
- <td class="tdl">Lead</td>
- <td class="tdl"> 41,593,680   ”</td></tr>
- <tr>
- <td class="tdl">Zinc</td>
- <td class="tdl"> 23,315,030   ”</td></tr>
- <tr>
- <td class="tdl">Silver</td>
- <td class="tdl"> 25,669,172   ”</td></tr>
- <tr>
- <td class="tdl">Coal</td>
- <td class="tdl"> 14,461,678   ”</td></tr>
-</table>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_69">69</a></span>
-To transport this amount of coal (the smallest tonnage
-of all) there would be required 482,056 freight-cars.
-This would make a train almost 4,000 miles long, a
-distance greater than from Nova Scotia to British
-Columbia.</p>
-
-<p>The mining areas in the United States are fairly well
-defined. Practically all of the anthracite coal comes
-from central and northern Pennsylvania, only a little
-being mined in Colorado. The largest bituminous coal-fields
-are found in Virginia, Illinois, Ohio, Tennessee,
-southeastern Kansas, southwestern Missouri, Colorado,
-Alabama, and some in the west-central part of Pennsylvania.
-Iron is mined in the northeastern part of Minnesota,
-northwestern Wisconsin, upper peninsula of
-Michigan, Tennessee, Georgia, western Pennsylvania,
-and in southeastern Kansas. The copper regions are in
-the upper peninsula of Michigan, Arizona, and northern
-Idaho. The chief lead district is the Joplin district
-of southwestern Missouri. This region is matched in
-large measure by the Cœur d’Alene of northern Idaho.
-Lead and zinc are almost always found together. Gold and
-silver are mined on the Pacific Coast, and in Colorado, and
-northern Idaho. Some gold is found in all of the Rocky
-Mountain states and small amounts in Georgia. There
-is scarcely a state in the Union but what produces to a
-greater or less amount all of the metals that go to make
-up the mineral wealth of the United States.</p>
-
-<p><b>The Miners of King Coal.</b> Coal is mined in three
-ways: by sinking a shaft and then running tunnels out
-from it following the vein of the coal; by driving a tunnel
-straight into the heart of the mountain; or by scooping
-it up with a steam shovel and loading it into cars.<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_70">70</a></span>
-The first two methods are used in all the mines of
-Colorado; the latter method is used in the mines in southeastern
-Kansas and southwestern Missouri. In a mine
-where the shaft is sunk the hoist is directly over the
-mouth of the pit. The cages are just like elevators and
-drop to the bottom of the pit; there the loaded cars
-are pushed upon them and at a signal the car is brought
-to the top of the superstructure above the mine known
-as the tipple. The car is unloaded automatically and
-runs back upon the cage, and is lowered into the mine
-as the second car is brought up to the surface very
-rapidly. At the bottom of the mine and following it
-out along the vein of coal there are little railway tracks.
-The cars on these tracks are pulled by mules. Some
-mines have electric cars, but the mule is still the motive
-power in general use. These mules are sentenced to the
-mines for life. Stables are made for them by digging a
-cave in one side of the main shaft or tunnel, and here in
-the underground mine the mule lives, moves, and has his
-being. Sometimes the animals are brought to the surface
-and turned out to pasture. It is really pathetic to
-see with what joy they accept the light, air, and freedom
-of God’s good world above ground.</p>
-
-<p>The only light in most of the mines is that given off
-from the little lamps carried on the caps of the miners.
-It is a weird sight to walk through a mine and see the
-bobbing lights; to catch the sound of pick and shovel
-in the tunnels that cross and recross each other at intervals;
-to hear the creak of the wheels, the slamming of
-the doors; and to see the mules as they strain at their
-task like phantom engines hauling the loaded cars of
-coal. When the men go to work in the morning, they<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_71">71</a></span>
-are checked in and let down in the cage; when they
-come up they are checked out. In the morning when
-they check in they are white; at night they are black.
-Thus the color line is completely eliminated by working
-in a mine. The work is done in little rooms or pockets.
-Each miner has to work out his own room. He drills the
-hole, puts in the charge of powder; and when he has
-everything in readiness, fires the charge that brings
-down the coal; then he and his partner (for two men
-work together, one is called the miner, the other is
-known as the buddy) shovel the coal into the cars, and
-push them out into the main line of the mine tramway
-track. The miner and his buddy may be both white
-men, or the miner may be a white man and the buddy
-a Negro. They look alike as they work in the semi-darkness
-and the common tasks eventually make them
-appreciate each other for what they are and what
-they do.</p>
-
-<p>The miner has to follow the vein. He must put in the
-braces to protect himself against the falling roof, must remove
-all the stone and slate, and mine only clean coal.
-This he shovels into his car. It is weighed and tagged,
-tally is kept, and at the end of the day he is credited with
-so many tons and is paid accordingly. When the vein
-is thick and the miner can stand upright, his work is hard
-and monotonous enough; but when the vein is thin, it
-is necessary for him to stoop or to lie down in order
-to get the coal. This makes the work hard almost beyond
-human endurance. It is no wonder that mining greatly
-affects the character of the men involved in it. No one
-can spend eight or ten hours underground every day
-doing that kind of work without having the place and<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_72">72</a></span>
-the work stamp itself upon his mind and his character.
-Life underground spoils even the temper of a mule!</p>
-
-<p><b>Accidents.</b> Mining develops the spirit of adventure.
-There is always a risk. Mining is a dangerous operation
-and is classified as extra hazardous. There is continual
-danger from falling stones, and the miner is always
-gambling with fate. A study of the coroner’s report in
-any country where mining is carried on supplies concrete
-evidence that a large number of men are killed
-in the mines from one cause and another. There is
-the danger from the deadly carbon-monoxide gas and
-another danger from the explosion of the coal-dust. As
-the coal is mined a certain proportion of it is ground
-into powder, and this fills the air and becomes a powerful
-explosive. Precautions are taken in most cases.
-The mines are sprinkled and state and national governments
-have done much to make mining safe, but at the
-best the occupation claims an unusually heavy toll in life
-and limb.</p>
-
-<p>According to statistics regarding deaths of miners during
-the years 1907 to 1912, it is shown that 23.2 out of
-every hundred died from accidents; and among the metalliferous
-miners 24.7 per cent. of all deaths were caused by
-accidents. A great many industrial accidents are due to
-failure on the part of the management to make proper
-provision against accident, and to keep abreast with the
-increase in efficiency of the machinery and output in
-the matter of precautionary measures. Also it is now
-known that industrial accidents are caused by excessive
-fatigue, carelessness, and ignorance on the part of the
-workers themselves. Taking all of these things into
-consideration, however, we must realize that a large proportion<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_73">73</a></span>
-of the accidents and fatalities in the coal-mines
-are inherent in the business itself.</p>
-
-<p><b>Returns for Labor Received by the Miners.</b> Coal
-has to be dug where nature put it. Therefore, the mining
-village is almost certain to be located in a desolate region,
-and thus the miner and his family will be denied
-many of the good things that other people enjoy, because
-of the conditions under which they are compelled to live.
-We hear a great deal about the enormously large wages
-paid to the miner. Unfortunately this condition is not
-true; for the stories we hear of the big wages the miners
-receive are very largely fictitious. In the Colorado
-mines it is shown by actual study of the statistics taken
-at the time of the last great strike in 1914, that the
-average wage for the miner when actually employed was
-$4.58 a day; but other figures given at the same period
-show that other miners were paid an average wage of
-only $2.61 a day. It is impossible to get at the facts as
-to wages.</p>
-
-<p>The miner is forced to buy his powder, oil, pay doctor’s
-fee, blacksmithing charges, union dues, and other expenses.
-These are deducted, so that the wage is reduced
-to the point where perhaps not more than one per cent.
-of the entire number of workers receive as much as
-$25 a week. In fact, the wage is so small compared to
-the difficulties of the work and the hardships of living,
-that the miner finds it almost impossible to move freely in
-order to better his condition. The result of this situation
-has been that, whereas formerly nearly all the miners
-were English-speaking men, they are now practically all
-non-English-speaking immigrants. In the camp at Ludlow,
-where the miners lived after they and their families<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_74">74</a></span>
-were driven out of their homes in Colorado during the
-strike of 1914, there were twenty-two nationalities, and
-they were living together in some sort of amity.</p>
-
-<p><b>Workers in the Metal Mines.</b> The workers in the
-metal mines have a problem different from that of the
-workers in the coal-mines. The copper country of
-Michigan located on Lake Superior in the upper peninsula
-is the most famous metal-producing region of the
-United States. These mines have been operated for
-half a century; and for the most part a humane policy
-has been followed and, consequently, the cities and towns
-in the region have developed some civic pride, and have
-an unusually high reputation for orderliness and morality.
-There are very few of the bad features which
-one is accustomed to find in such communities. The district
-has approximately forty-two mines and the products
-from these mines amount to fifty million dollars a year.
-The shafts of these copper mines are the deepest holes
-that have ever been dug in the earth as far as we know.
-The “Red Jacket” mine is almost a mile and a quarter
-deep. The shaft of a copper mine is pierced every one
-hundred feet by levels or tunnels. The trams run in
-these levels to the chambers where the rock is cut and
-are known as stopes. Drills are operated by compressed
-air; the miner bores the holes, places the dynamite charge
-in readiness, and touches off the charge as he leaves his
-work at the end of the shift. The broken rock is picked
-up during the next shift, loaded into the tram-cars by
-the trammer, and then dumped into the skip or little
-car by means of which it is raised to the surface.</p>
-
-<div id="ip_74" class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;">
-<img src="images/i_074.jpg" width="600" height="369" alt="" />
-<div class="captionl">
-
-<p>Press Illustrating Service.</p></div>
-
-<div class="caption">
-
-<p>The new U. S. Bureau of Mines Rescue Car is manned by a mining engineer, a mine surgeon, a
-foreman miner, a first aid miner, and a clerk.</p></div></div>
-
-<p>In the Cœur d’Alene field the process of mining in
-the lead and zinc mines is very much the same as that<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_75">75</a></span>
-in the copper mines of Michigan. The Cœur d’Alene
-region of northern Idaho is a district in itself. It might
-almost be called a province, it is so extensive. The drills
-that are used by the miners are protected in some cases
-by a stream of water which pours off the end of its point
-as it comes in contact with the rock. This prevents the
-dust from flying and being breathed by the worker.
-These drills are just now being introduced. The old-fashioned
-drill had no such protection and is called by
-the miner the widow-maker, because of the gruesome
-effect on the worker.</p>
-
-<p><b>Wages.</b> The wages in the Calumet district as well as
-in the Cœur d’Alene section are not, and never have been,
-adequate to the needs of the men, nor are they proportionate
-to the returns received from the work that these men
-have been doing. Wages must be considered on the basis
-of comparative value. The type of the worker, however,
-and the risks incurred, and the opportunity for
-improving the worker himself must all be taken into
-account. When we remember the enormous profits made
-on the metals, especially within the last few years, we
-will find that the increase in the wages of the men has
-not been enough to meet the increased cost of living.
-Wages have advanced about 20 per cent. and living expenses
-140 per cent. Some welfare work is being undertaken
-in almost all of the mining communities. But welfare
-work cannot supplement poor wages, nor does it
-do away with the feeling of unrest always present in
-the community and which threatens to break out in rebellion
-and throw the whole district into disorder.</p>
-
-<p><b>The Church and the Miner.</b> The pastor of the
-miners’ church told the story of the desolation in the<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_76">76</a></span>
-life of his people. He said: “There are no chances for
-cultural work. When I talk about the higher life the
-people listen to me as if I were giving a lecture on Mars.
-It is something that is more or less interesting because
-I am able to make it interesting, but there is no special
-personal interest in it. All of my people live in this
-desolate and isolated village. There is nothing attractive
-anywhere around. The superintendent and a few of the
-English-speaking workers live five miles away in a place
-that calls itself a city. There are five other villages like
-mine; no one from the other places ever comes here except
-on business. Every Saturday night most of the
-men go to the ‘city.’ On Saturday, or pay-day evening,
-the stores, amusement places, saloons, and the principal
-streets of that center are filled with a heterogeneous
-mass of people of all races and there is a regular babel
-of tongues. The destroying forces work havoc with my
-people. Now what can I do to meet the conditions?”
-Listening to him I wondered and went away still wondering.
-In these places where men are working to produce
-the coal for us, and the metals that form the
-foundation-stone of our civilization, there must be something
-more than merely the touch of charity; there
-must be worked out a plan by which true brotherhood
-may become a reality. We are accepting the gift of
-these men, the things that they produce at such risk, and
-we are forgetting the men themselves. They are serving
-our interests and we have a responsibility for them, but
-what are we doing to meet the situation?</p>
-
-<p>At the close of the Colorado coal strike a plan was
-inaugurated for bettering conditions throughout the state.
-This plan has much to commend it to the public favor.<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_77">77</a></span>
-It is not wholly democratic and it has many features that
-can be criticized. Even viewed in the best light it fails
-to solve the fundamental difficulties in the situation&mdash;but
-it is a long step ahead of anything that has ever been
-done before. One of the miners, while discussing the
-plan, said: “It is all right as far as it goes. The best
-thing about it is that the company promises to allow us
-to join our union. When we get the district organized
-100 per cent. we will put some real democracy into the
-plan.”</p>
-
-<p>The features of the plan may be stated broadly in these
-four propositions:</p>
-
-<p>First of all, the men working the mines are to be
-recognized as partners in the enterprise and are to have
-a voice in the management of the mines. They elect
-their representatives who meet with the representatives
-of the company and together they work out their own
-problems.</p>
-
-<p>Second, the bad conditions which are chronic in the
-mines and which have disturbed the peace are to be corrected
-as far as possible.</p>
-
-<p>Third, the physical conditions in the village are to be
-improved. Better houses are to be built and they are to
-be painted. Provisions are made so that the miners can
-have gardens.</p>
-
-<p>Fourth, special arrangements are made for the establishment
-of better schools, Young Men’s Christian Association
-with club privileges, and help is given in organizing
-and maintaining churches and other religious
-agencies.</p>
-
-<p>All of these things point to a better day that is coming,
-and is a great advance over the attitude taken by<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_78">78</a></span>
-the old-time mine owner who replied to a committee
-which warned him of impending trouble, “Let them
-start something if they want to find out who is boss.”</p>
-
-<p>The battle has not been won, and will not be won, until
-the church makes a demand for industrial justice its
-chief object, and makes democracy really applicable in
-every mining district and community throughout the
-whole nation.</p>
-
-<hr />
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_79">79</a></span></p>
-
-<div class="chapter">
-<h2 class="vspace"><a id="CHAPTER_VI"></a>CHAPTER VI<br />
-
-<span class="subhead"><span class="smcap">The World of the Steel Workers</span></span></h2>
-</div>
-
-<p>“The sky-line of your cities is the monument of your
-civilization.” These words summed up the impression of
-an Oriental visiting America for the first time. He had
-seen everything of America that could be shown during
-his two months’ visit. Boards of trades in the various
-cities entertained him. Figures concerning miles of
-pavements, hundreds of miles of trolley lines, millions
-of dollars in the various banks, thousands of bales of cotton,
-millions of tons of coal, iron, steel, potatoes, rice,
-wheat, corn, and all the rest of the things that go to
-make America great had been quoted to him. He was
-apparently impressed by what he saw but did not become
-enthusiastic, and accepted every statement with becoming
-politeness. No one could tell what moved him most.
-When he summed up his total impressions and expressed
-his opinion, it showed that he had really formed a most
-exact judgment of that which makes the true material
-basis of our national life. The skyscraper building is
-the only important contribution that America has made
-to the art of architecture. This structural development,
-which is so truly American, has been made possible only
-because we have learned how to use steel for the framework
-of the gigantic construction.</p>
-
-<p><b>The Steel Industry.</b> Interesting statistics as to the extent<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_80">80</a></span>
-of the steel industry have been compiled. The
-United States and Canada together produce about half of
-the world’s output. According to the last figures, there
-are employed in the iron and steel industry of this country
-1,426,014 workers. At the present time the capacity
-of all the shops is taxed to the utmost and hundreds of
-new factories have been erected. Canada and the United
-States are cooperating in the production of ships. The
-huge bridge works are giving over all of their machinery
-and time to the building of new boats to carry men and
-food in support of the Allied armies in France.</p>
-
-<p><b>The Use of Steel.</b> Steel is made by melting iron and
-combining it with a certain proportion of carbon. The
-softest grade of steel contains less than one per cent. of
-carbon, the hardest contains about thirty per cent. Iron
-furnishes almost every useful thing that is necessary to
-our life in the community. When we have food and
-clothes, we are then ready to take up the routine of living
-a part of the common life of our city or town. Iron
-is used extensively in building our homes. The house
-is held together with nails made of iron; its plumbing,
-its lighting, its heating are all made possible by the use of
-steel.</p>
-
-<p>Possibly the building in which we work is a steel
-building, if not, it may be made of reenforced concrete
-and this form of construction is dependent upon the use
-of iron. The product toward which we are contributing
-our industry, whatever it may be, is dependent upon commerce,
-transportation, and communication; and these
-great branches of activity are dependent upon steel.
-Iron can be melted and cast into a thousand different
-shapes. It is used to make the most simple kitchen<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_81">81</a></span>
-utensil and the largest and most complicated machinery.
-Again, it is melted in larger quantity, combined with carbon,
-and put through the rolling-mills. By this process
-it may become steel rails, or be made into plates and
-huge sheets that form the protective outer skin of the
-great ships of war. It is rolled out thin and corrugated
-to be used as sheeting for houses, and sides of freight-cars,
-and roofs of houses; or it may issue in things as
-delicate as knitting-needles or the finest springs which
-form the adjustment and motive power in the most costly
-watches. It is used in the construction of buildings that
-tower up hundreds of feet above the level of the street,
-and is the only thing that has been found so far that
-can be used successfully for such a purpose. At the
-same time this most necessary substance is formed into
-pliable rope and used to draw the miner and the minerals
-he mines from the depths of the earth, and to keep the
-elevators running up and down in hotels, office buildings,
-and apartment houses. The finest cambric needles are
-first cousins to the great guns with which the Germans
-were able to shell Paris from a distance of seventy-five
-miles.</p>
-
-<p>The advance in recent years in invention and new
-processes as applied to the manufacture of steel has
-brought about more changes in the industrial life of the
-world than any other thing. The cities of the future
-will all be steel cities. We have already built our cities
-twice&mdash;once of wood and once of brick&mdash;and we are now
-building them of steel. An advertisement in a hotel in
-a Middle-Western city reads: “This hotel is built without
-a stick of wood. We could roast an ox in the room
-next to yours and never disturb you.” Steel mesh is<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_82">82</a></span>
-replacing lath in ceilings, and ornamental steel ceilings
-are replacing plaster. In subway systems quantities of
-steel have been used for tunnels; the elevated railroads
-are prolonged bridges. Williamsburg Bridge between
-New York and Brooklyn cost $20,000,000, and 45,000
-tons of steel were used in its construction. One pound in
-every ten of all the steel manufactured is made into wire.
-The Brooklyn Bridge cables have each 6,400 strands of
-wire. Other wires made of steel have approximately a
-dimension of one tenth the thickness of a hair. A carpet
-tack is an insignificant sort of thing, but one factory in
-Chicago produced 3,000,000 pounds of these tacks in a
-year. Steel goes into furniture, is made into barrels;
-utilized in art work, so that the value of common iron
-when refined and drawn out to the highest possible
-utility makes steel the most precious of all metals to-day.
-Watch-screws cost $1,600 a pound and hair springs twice
-this amount.</p>
-
-<div id="ip_82" class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;">
-<img src="images/i_082.jpg" width="600" height="381" alt="" />
-<div class="captionl">
-
-<p>McGraw-Hill Company.</p></div>
-
-<div class="caption">
-
-<p>Commerce and transportation are dependent upon steel, and to-day there are employed in the iron
-and steel industry of this country, 1,426,014 workers.</p></div></div>
-
-<p><b>The Making of Steel.</b> The workshop of civilization
-is now on the west side of the Atlantic because of the
-vast manufacturing establishments producing steel on
-this side of the ocean. The so-called Bessemer process
-in making steel has brought about a change that is almost
-as revolutionary in its far-reaching results as any of the
-great revolutions in the past. Within thirty years American
-resources have been developed, and American
-methods have been reorganized with such amazing rapidity
-that the United States has to-day, together with the
-natural advantage, the means at hand for utilizing its almost
-inexhaustible supplies of fuel and iron. The world
-needs these supplies and America is glad that she is
-able to do her part in supplying them.</p>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_83">83</a></span>
-Steel has been made for centuries, but until a few
-years ago, the process was slow and costly, and the tools
-with which the men worked were really treasures. In
-those days a pocket-knife was a thing of great value.
-The railroads used iron rails but these soon wore out.
-If it had been suggested that steel be used a protest
-would have been made on the grounds that steel is too
-expensive. Trains had to be shortened; coaches and
-locomotives built of light material because iron rails
-and bridges could not stand the strain. As land in
-the cities became more valuable and taller buildings were
-needed, stone and brick not proving adaptable and too
-expensive, the Bessemer process, which manufactured
-steel cheaply and in great quantities, came to meet a long-felt
-need. Iron was plentiful but the process of converting
-it into steel had not been mastered. The great
-difficulty in manufacturing steel is to get just the right
-proportion of carbon mixed with the iron. The Bessemer
-system takes all the carbon out and then puts back
-into it the quantity that is needed. Tons of molten iron
-are run into an immense pear-shaped vessel called a converter.
-Blasts of air are forced in from below. These
-unite with the carbon and the impurities such as sulphur
-and silicon are destroyed. There is a roar and clatter
-and a terrific din. A great bolt of red flame shoots forth
-many feet from the mouth of the converter. Its color
-changes from red to yellow and then to white. When
-the flame becomes white the workers know that the carbon
-and other impurities are all gone; and this is the
-signal for the blast of air to be turned off. Then a
-quantity of special iron ore in melted form, containing
-the right amount of carbon to convert the whole into<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_84">84</a></span>
-steel of the desired degree of hardness, is poured into
-the purified molten iron in the converter. This huge
-converter is perfectly poised upon pivots so that it can
-be moved with very little effort. The molten steel at the
-next stage is poured from the converter into square molds
-and the blocks resulting from it are called blooms. These
-are then started through the mill, passed under and between
-rollers of different shapes and kinds, and drawn
-out into plates, rails, or beams.</p>
-
-<p><b>The Steel Factory or Rolling-mill.</b> One of the foremost
-pictures in the Metropolitan Museum of Art in
-New York is a picture of a steel-mill. It seems to be a
-prosaic subject but it makes an appealing picture, and
-one typical of our modern world. Some one has described
-a steel-mill as a modern materialization of
-Dante’s Inferno. The sky above Pittsburgh, Birmingham,
-and other steel centers is aflame at night as the
-process of manufacturing is carried on in the miles of
-buildings that contain the workers and the machinery.
-To step into one of these steel factories even in broad
-daylight is to step out of the world of reality into the
-semi-reality of a new and unknown world. Most of the
-men work stripped to the waist. The long ribbons of
-red hot steel writhe and twist about the length of the
-room. The jangle of chains mingles with the creaking
-of the machinery above our heads. The sparks are flying
-and a bluish haze hovers about the heads of the men like
-some unholy halo as they move back and forth appearing
-as gnomes in the unnatural light of the place. There
-is a peculiar odor that we instinctively associate with the
-blacksmith shop that used to stand at the side of the
-street on the way between our house and the butcher<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_85">85</a></span>
-shop where we used to be sent every day for the meat
-for dinner. Everything moves with feverish haste. No
-one lags. Every man knows his task and does it. He
-must keep up.</p>
-
-<p>The days are unusually long in the steel-mills. It
-used to be that the men worked twelve hours a day and
-seven days a week. This has been changed now in most
-of the mills, but even yet there is a great deal of twelve-hour
-work and a great deal of Sunday labor. The rumble
-of the cranes above the heads of the gnome-like men at
-work in the building fills our ears with an unearthly
-sound. The peculiar glare of the gigantic open hearth
-changes at frequent intervals as the white cascade of
-molten metal announces the beginning of the shaping
-process of the new rail or the new plate for some new
-man-of-war, or the beam that is to live for centuries in
-some skyscraper. These men working in this mill are
-kneading the metal into shape, for as it goes under the
-rollers it is pressed and twisted until the final process is
-completed.</p>
-
-<p><b>Accidents.</b> If it was a lucky day when we visited the
-steel-mill there were no serious accidents. Men are being
-continually hurt in the works. A report concerning one
-says: “John Schwobboda and Joseph Mikelliffyky were
-standing near one of the hearths. Something went
-wrong, and instead of the steel coming out in an
-orderly stream it broke out and before these two could
-get away they were caught in the midst of the stream
-and absorbed by the burning metal.” This thing has
-happened many times. The percentage of deaths due
-to accidents and injuries during the last ten years among
-soldiers and sailors of the United States has been about<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_86">86</a></span>
-twelve to the thousand; in the same period with the
-workers in the steel-mills it has been about sixteen to
-the thousand.</p>
-
-<p><b>Wages and Conditions of Labor.</b> The toil is strenuous
-and the hazards great; the hours are long and the
-product is of almost incalculable value. What do men
-get out of it? They are the servants of civilization and
-without them we would have no such trade as we have
-to-day, we would have no commerce and no progress.
-Steel is king. When the price of steel is up to normal,
-times are good; when the price of steel is down, times
-are bad. A Pittsburgh man said that steel is the elevator
-which carries civilization, “The world goes up or
-goes down with the price of steel rails.” The workers
-are the subjects and the slaves of this king. They are
-giving their lives as well as their time in fealty to him.
-Yet how little the average person knows of the lives of
-these men.</p>
-
-<p>A genius for mathematics has estimated that if the 587
-rolling-mills in the United States were set end to end in a
-circle around Pittsburgh it would be 100 miles in diameter.
-Inside of this circle can be formed another circle
-three quarters as large if we set end to end the 532
-smaller steel-mills and 3,161 puddling furnaces, where
-the iron is first melted and made into bars called pigs.
-There are 577 open-hearth works, or factories that manufacture
-steel by another process much slower than the
-Bessemer, but having certain advantages because the
-process does not have to be carried on so rapidly. These
-works would make a third circle 50 miles across. The
-410 other furnaces of various kinds would form a fourth
-circle 35 miles in diameter. If all the Bessemer converters<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_87">87</a></span>
-were made into one great big converter and put
-in the center, it would be a mile in circumference and
-would pour a river of molten steel every hour.</p>
-
-<p>The furnaces are fed literally mountains of ore every
-year. The families dependent upon the iron and steel
-trade for their living, if gathered together, would form
-a state more populous than Illinois. The steel business
-thinks its own thoughts, prints its own literature, and
-very largely makes its own laws. There is no trade on
-the face of the earth equal to it. The results of the
-present world war hang in the balance. The needs come
-back definitely to the steel industry. If we can get more
-workers we can get more steel. If we get more steel,
-we can build more ships, and if we can get more ships,
-we can get more soldiers, more ammunition, and more
-food with which to fight the war for democracy.</p>
-
-<p>The year 1916 was the most prosperous one which
-the American steel trade has ever known; manufacturers
-especially were driven to the limit of their capacity. The
-purchases amounted to startling proportions. Wages were
-increased so that the workman shared in a measure in
-the general prosperity. Three advances were made, each
-time approximating 10 per cent. The workmen are paid
-on a sliding schedule thus benefiting by the rise in the
-value of the product they make. Never have workmen
-received such wages as are now being paid to the workmen
-of America. But over against this increase in
-wages must be considered the increase in the cost of
-living, and also the base line, or average wage in days
-before the war upon which these increases are figured.
-Hours are still very long and no process has been devised
-for making the work very much easier or less<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_88">88</a></span>
-wearing upon the individual worker. Investigators who
-made their report in 1912 said that during the year
-1910, the period covered by their investigation, 29 per
-cent. of the employees in the blast furnaces and steel
-works and rolling-mills ordinarily worked seven days a
-week; 24 per cent. worked eighty-four hours or more a
-week. This means a twelve-hour day seven days a week.</p>
-
-<p>These long hours were not confined to the men in the
-blast-furnace department, where there is a real necessity
-for continual toil, but to a large extent to the other
-departments, where no such necessity existed, except the
-necessity of making all the profits possible from the
-workers. When the shift was made from day to night
-work or from night to day work, the employees making
-the shift were required to remain on duty without relief
-for periods of from eighteen to twenty-four hours consecutively.
-No one can visit a steel-mill and not feel that
-there is something merciless in the way the workers are
-being goaded by invisible forces to keep their speed at
-the topmost notch. The very nature of the work is such
-that men are forced to labor at high tension. The mill
-stops for nothing either day or night. “You must draw
-or be dragged to death,” said one of the workers.</p>
-
-<p>A steel employee in South Chicago made good wages
-but was a hard drinker and with his companions spent
-most of the evenings in the saloons so that there was
-rarely a night that he went to bed sober. A friend of
-the family had a chance to talk with him about the situation
-and tried to argue with him to show him the
-folly of drinking. His reply was, “Why, who cares?
-The mill drives me all the day long and dries me all up.
-I have to draw, draw, draw, or be dragged. By the end<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_89">89</a></span>
-of the day there is only one thing that I want and that
-is beer.”</p>
-
-<p>A large proportion of the workers in the steel-mills
-are immigrants. There are Magyars, Poles, Slovaks,
-Croatians, Italians, as well as Austro-Hungarians, and
-all the other races mixed in. Many of the men are
-single, or if they are married they have left their wives
-in the old country. The wage is very largely based on
-the needs of a single man. Nearly all the families take
-boarders. This reduces the cost of living and in some
-of these families, the “boarding boss” as he is known,
-is the head of the household consisting of himself, his
-wife, his children, and anywhere from four to sixteen
-boarders or lodgers. Each lodger pays the boarding boss
-a fixed sum, usually two or three dollars a month for
-lodging, cooking, and washing. The food is bought by
-the boss and its cost shared individually by the members
-of the group. A study was made of a community in
-Johnstown, Pennsylvania, and it was found that the food
-consumed was cheap beef, bread, and coffee. Some of
-the people used vegetables sparingly. The Italians ate
-only a small quantity of meat, but used large quantities
-of vegetables, spaghetti, bread, and olive oil. The Austro-Hungarians
-used vast quantities of meat.</p>
-
-<p><b>Houses and Homes.</b> The housing conditions among
-the poorly paid steel workers are invariably bad. In a
-part of Pittsburgh known as the “strip” the living conditions
-are bad almost beyond belief. The reason given
-for this situation is that the wages are so low no better
-is possible. The standard of living among all the steel
-workers is low. Comfort or ordinary provisions for
-decency are almost entirely lacking in nearly every steel-<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_90">90</a></span>producing
-district. The housing conditions are congested,
-the children play in the streets, and only the
-cheapest and most dangerous forms of recreation are
-open to the young people. A large proportion of the
-workers are members of the Roman Catholic Church.
-The men, however, for the most part have no use for
-the church and rarely if ever attend. The women cling
-to it, since they are naturally more devout.</p>
-
-<p>The children suffer from the hard circumstances in
-the laboring communities. The mothers have generally
-gone to work too early in life to give proper vitality to
-the child. The lack of conditions that make for decent
-home life brought about through inadequate incomes of
-the fathers and the overcrowded housing conditions taxes
-life heavily by infant mortality, and mortgages the future
-health and morals of the children, thus threatening the
-future efficiency of the state. Investigations conducted
-by the Children’s Bureau in Washington show that the
-chances of life for a baby grow appallingly small as
-the father’s earnings grow less. For instance, the cases
-of one thousand babies in eight representative cities
-were studied. The returns show that in families where
-the father earns less than $550 a year every sixth baby
-dies; while in families where the father’s income is
-$1,050 or more a year only one baby in sixteen dies.<a id="FNanchor_2" href="#Footnote_2" class="fnanchor">2</a></p>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_2" href="#FNanchor_2" class="fnanchor">2</a> See “Infant Mortality,” a pamphlet issued by the Children’s
-Bureau, U. S. Department of Labor, Washington, D. C.</p></div>
-
-<div id="ip_90" class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;">
-<img src="images/i_090.jpg" width="600" height="382" alt="" />
-<div class="caption">The church in this age of steel must preach from the text, which interpreted in modern times will
-be, “A man is more precious than a bar of steel.”</div></div>
-
-<p><b>The Church and the Homes of the Workers.</b> The
-disorganizing influence on the social and industrial life
-incident to the war accentuates the importance of protecting
-mothers and children. The churches have a remarkable
-opportunity here, for it is to the homes that<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_91">91</a></span>
-the church makes its first and strongest appeal. Jesus
-set a little child at the very center of his system for regenerating
-humanity and saving the world.</p>
-
-<p>The church must produce and train skilled leaders who
-can direct affairs; it must set in motion forces that will
-counteract the evil in these industrial communities; and
-must help to create public sentiment so that the city that
-allows bad housing to exist and the industry that forces
-it will be looked upon as murderers of little children.
-Playgrounds, recreation centers, and the strict enforcement
-of all the laws that protect the home must be urged
-upon the church as a part of its program. Without
-these the gospel fails.</p>
-
-<p><b>The Church and the Workers.</b> Another feature incident
-to the life in the steel-mills is the apathy that
-develops in the workers themselves. Their attitude
-toward life is characterized by a dumb, brutish fatalism.
-The editor of a paper in one of the steel cities when
-discussing this attitude of mind remarked: “A Finlander
-cares less about being killed in the mill than I
-do about having my tooth pulled.” It is almost impossible
-to enforce the necessary precautions. Life becomes
-of little value to the worker pressed as he is for production.
-This thing called steel looms big and human;
-life looks small in proportion. Jesus, appealing to the
-rural-minded people of his day, said that man is more
-precious than a sheep. The church in our great steel
-centers must often and persistently preach the gospel
-from this text which interpreted in modern times will
-be, “Man is more precious than a bar of steel.”</p>
-
-<p><b>Progress Toward Justice.</b> The process of adjustment
-between manufacturing, the cost of labor, and the<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_92">92</a></span>
-selling price of the material is a difficult one. Labor conditions
-have been such, and competition so keen, that it
-has been very difficult to safeguard the men employed in
-this industry. Union labor has had a hard time to establish
-itself. Nearly all of the mills and factories are
-run as open shops. Of late years, however, it has been
-found that there must be closer cooperation between
-the management, the owners, and the workers; and certain
-concessions have been made and new elements have
-been introduced into the system which are bettering conditions.
-It is now possible for the workers to have
-shares of the common stock of the United States Steel
-Corporation. The workers are suspicious of this scheme
-as well as of all other forms of profit-sharing and welfare
-work because they believe that it leads to a deepening
-of the dependence of the worker upon the concern
-for which he works, and thus hinders the coming of industrial
-democracy. It must be said, however, for a
-plan which makes it possible for the employees to buy
-stock in the concern, that it is a step toward democracy
-if it is democratically carried out. The difficulty at
-present is that only the better paid, higher class of
-laborers in the steel-mills can or will take the stock.
-Until the wages of all the laborers are increased to the
-place where each one can have a decent home located
-in a desirable part of the city, and a degree of leisure so
-that he can give some time and attention to other things
-than the mere process of making steel, the distributing
-of stock will not go far toward settling the labor difficulties
-that so often embarrass the great steel companies.</p>
-
-<p><b>A Successful Experiment.</b> Democracy means that
-each worker shall have a voice and a vote in determining<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_93">93</a></span>
-the conditions under which he works as well as some
-share in the ownership of the business. The only answer
-to the argument against democracy is a successful experiment
-in democracy. A manufacturing plant in a
-democratic country must recognize in these days that
-the only scheme that will succeed must make for a
-larger control of the business by a larger number of
-the people employed. The Baker Manufacturing Company,
-of Evansville, Wisconsin, has carried out a stock-owning,
-profit-sharing plan with great success. Since
-1899 the lowest additional wage paid to the employees
-has been 60 per cent. and the highest 120 per cent.
-based on average wages. Every employee has a vote in
-the company, and the annual meetings are held in the
-town hall. The stock issued each year represents real
-value, for every dollar of it is put into material improvements
-in the shop and its equipment. I visited Mr.
-Baker some years ago and he told me of the success
-of his plans. Just before I left I said: “Mr. Baker, do
-you think that you have been wise in putting so much
-effort into the creation of this new form of industrial
-organization?” He replied: “Well, I am past seventy
-years of age and have all the money I can use conveniently.
-I enjoy life and have the friendship of my
-workmen. I do not need to station detectives about
-my home to protect me while I am asleep; and another
-thing, we never have had a strike in this town. We are
-all friends and fellow workers.” Surely these are the
-things that accumulations of money cannot produce and
-their possession is beyond value. What has been done
-in this factory connected with the steel trade ought to
-be possible everywhere.</p>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_94">94</a></span>
-<b>The Church and Its Approach.</b> The scheme of adjustment
-is a difficult one, and the church is not meeting
-the situation in any adequate way. Its task is before
-it and must be attacked with persistence, with skill, and
-with patience. This means, first of all, that the church
-in the communities where the steel workers live must
-find a method of approach through the home and the
-school to the heart and the life of the people. Until this
-is done, it will be futile for the church to even attempt
-to minister to the people in the deeper things of life.</p>
-
-<hr />
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_95">95</a></span></p>
-
-<div class="chapter">
-<h2 class="vspace"><a id="CHAPTER_VII"></a>CHAPTER VII<br />
-
-<span class="subhead"><span class="smcap">The World of the Transportation Men</span></span></h2>
-</div>
-
-<p>“Here, boss, jes’ take fo’ dollars’ worth of ride out of
-this here bill.” This was the response of an old Negro
-riding on a Southern train when asked for his ticket by
-the conductor. Without a word the conductor gave him
-the change from a ten dollar bill and a ticket to tuck
-into his hat and which allowed him to ride to a town
-approximately two hundred miles distant. When the
-train reached its destination the old Negro began to
-fumble in his pockets and then he picked up his bundles
-and slowly got off. Three hours later, as a train coming
-in the opposite direction stopped at the station, the same
-Negro got aboard, paid his fare back to the starting-point
-and arrived early in the morning. Going up the
-street he met the judge of the district, who said to him,
-“Hello, John, what are you doing out so early? Where
-have you been?” “I ain’t been nowhere, Judge; I jes’
-been doing a little traveling.” This is not an isolated
-case by any means. I told this story as I had heard it
-to a conductor on another road and he said it was a
-very common thing to have fifteen or twenty white
-people as well as Negroes “ride out” the mileage covered
-by a five dollar bill.</p>
-
-<p>The American is the most restless person in the world.
-We are always on the move and a large amount of our<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_96">96</a></span>
-traveling is purposeless. We simply travel because we
-like to be going somewhere. This trait in us is a survival
-from a long past age in man’s development. This
-primitive love of change is strengthened by the economic
-pressure under which most of us live. Early man wandered
-from place to place in search of his food. Modern
-man does the same, the only difference being that he does
-not now look for his food ready to his hand, but looks
-for a place to work, so that he can earn money with
-which to buy his food. “We have been married twelve
-years,” said a vivacious little lady, “and I have lived in
-six states. It seems that my husband is always getting
-a chance to better our condition, and we both have come
-to look forward to a move about every two years. If we
-just live long enough, we will have lived in every state
-in the Union.”</p>
-
-<p>But transportation as we understand it to-day refers
-to the moving of freight, express, and mail, as well as
-to the moving of men and women. Man himself was
-the original burden-bearer and became the first transportation
-system, carrying combined freight and express.
-He simply took his bundle on his shoulders and used
-his legs as the means of moving from one place to
-another. Then he used other men to help carry his loads.
-There has been much speculation as to how the stones
-used in the building of the Great Pyramids were brought
-to the desert and put into place. Many theories have
-been advanced. One of the latest is that the Pyramids
-are made of concrete and that they were poured rather
-than quarried. However the material was secured, or in
-whatever way the work was accomplished, we can be
-sure of one thing and that is that all of the material<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_97">97</a></span>
-was carried by men. They were the slaves of Pharaoh
-and this was the usual form of the transportation system
-of Egypt. There were auxiliary lines which employed
-camels, asses, and some horses; but the slave was the
-principal carrier just as he is in Africa to-day. The
-rivers and the oceans were used as highways of travel,
-but the boats were very crude affairs and the slaves
-chained to the seats and pulling on heavy oars formed
-the motive power. The oars were made in graduated
-lengths, one bank above another. The three-tiered
-Roman boat was known as the trireme and it was the
-great-grandfather of the ocean liners with their triple
-screws. It is a long development from the primitive
-methods of travel and burden-bearing in the early days of
-Egypt to the great transcontinental railway lines and the
-ocean steamships of our day!</p>
-
-<p><b>Progress and Transportation.</b> The word progress
-carries within it the implication that there is a road over
-which the race of men is passing. The roadmaker has
-always been the pioneer of civilization. The advent of
-steam and the perfecting of railroads marks a period of
-development throughout civilization itself. Some one
-has said that it would be far more interesting and informing
-concerning the facts that will transpire in the
-next one hundred years, if we could see the railroad
-map showing all the transportation lines in the different
-continents to be published in the year 2018, than if we
-could have a map that would simply show the national
-boundaries. A nation may be compared to a human
-body. The railroad lines are the arteries along which
-flows the life-blood of the nation. Industry is the center
-of a nation’s life, and it pumps commerce over the rails<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_98">98</a></span>
-and thus keeps the body growing and in a healthful
-state.</p>
-
-<p><b>Age of the Engineer.</b> The great world war has been
-characterized in many ways, but perhaps the best characterization
-of all is that it is an engineers’ war. Eliminate
-the work of the engineers, civil and mechanical,
-from this war and it could not have been fought. For
-that matter the last seventy-five years of the world’s
-history has belonged to the engineers. Ninety per cent.
-of all our comforts, conveniences, and practical achievements
-is due to their work, and what wonders have
-been wrought in this time! The engineer has accomplished
-more in the field of transportation than in any
-other realm. Transportation, represented by the railroads,
-the steamships, the automobiles, and the better
-roads that have been built to accommodate them, makes
-up the chief differences between our age and all those
-ages preceding.</p>
-
-<p><b>The Railway Systems.</b> There is being operated in
-the United States at the present time 230,000 miles of
-railroads. The mileage which they cover if stretched
-about the earth would belt the globe nine times. The
-total mileage for the whole world is about 700,000; all
-of Europe has 215,140 miles. The United States and
-Canada together have almost half the total mileage of
-the world and as much as all of Europe and Asia combined.
-In 1915 the railroads of the United States carried
-976,303,602 passengers and moved 1,802,018,177
-tons of freight. The railway companies employed 1,654,075
-men and women. The average hourly pay for these
-workers, figured on the basis of the eight-hour day, is
-twenty-six cents. Railroading is a most difficult and<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_99">99</a></span>
-dangerous occupation, and yet there is something in the
-work itself that appeals to the worker. “Once a railroad
-man, always a railroad man,” as one brakeman
-put it.</p>
-
-<p>There was a railroad wreck on the Southern Pacific
-line just south of Livermore, California, some years
-ago. The engine fell over into a creek and the engineer
-was caught underneath, and pressed down into the soft
-sand. It was eighteen hours before he was rescued;
-his chest was crushed and he was horribly burned but
-by some miracle he lived. The railway company gave
-him a pension in recognition of his faithful services of
-about twelve years, and he was able to live on the income
-without working. This invalided engineer was
-idle for almost ten months; he then went back to the
-company and asked to be put on an engine again. He
-was not considered strong enough to run a passenger
-engine, but was supremely happy when put in charge
-of a switch engine in the train-yards of Sacramento.
-He said, “It was the happiest day of my life when I
-pulled the throttle, and again felt the engine begin to
-move out under my touch and control.”</p>
-
-<p><b>Casualty Lists.</b> In the year 1916, the steam railways
-of the United States injured 196,722 people and killed
-10,001. The electric railways for the same period injured
-4,606 and killed 518. Of these persons, 4,928 were
-killed while riding as passengers, or while at work in the
-performance of their tasks. The remainder were killed
-while walking upon the railway tracks or in other ways
-trespassing.</p>
-
-<p>One bitter cold day a Lackawanna train from New York
-going to Buffalo was nearing a little village near Binghamton<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_100">100</a></span>
-when the brakeman, muffling up his ears, stepped
-out on the rear platform to be ready to signal as the
-train stopped at the near-by crossing. The train stopped
-and then gave four blasts on the whistle calling in the
-brakeman. There was a delay and the conductor went
-back to find out why the brakeman did not come, but
-could not see him anywhere down the line. The train
-was late and running badly, so instead of backing up
-to look for the brakeman, the conductor gave orders for
-the train to go ahead and reported the fact at the next
-station. Two stations beyond word reached him that
-the body of the brakeman had been found beside the
-track. He had stepped out on the rear platform just
-as the train rounded a curve and the platform being
-slippery he lost his footing and was thrown off and
-killed instantly. The brakeman’s family was protected
-because he was engaged in interstate commerce, but one
-more human being was lost in the performance of his
-daily task. The inventions such as patent coupling devices,
-block signals, and the vestibule cars, have done
-away with a great many accidents, but in the very nature
-of the case, there will always be danger in the work done
-by the men who operate our trains.</p>
-
-<p><b>The Human Factor.</b> The railroads of the country
-are made as safe as possible by installing wonderful devices
-which work automatically. The tracks are inspected,
-old ties replaced by new ones; bolts are tested,
-yet in spite of all the excellent devices to secure safety,
-accidents occur in sickening succession. An entire circus
-company was recently wiped out by an accident on the
-Michigan Central Railroad. The members of the circus
-were nearly all asleep when a train from the rear plunged<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_101">101</a></span>
-through their cars killing nearly one hundred and injuring
-over one hundred others. The wreckage caught
-fire and many of the bodies were cremated. Reports
-would indicate that this accident was one of those unavoidable
-things that happen so often in railroading.</p>
-
-<p>Experiences in speaking before groups of railroad
-men prove that the question of danger is always before
-the minds of the workers. These men literally carry
-their lives in their hands. For after all, no matter how
-perfectly the track may be laid, and in spite of the fact
-that the signals are all set, there is always the human
-factor to be taken into consideration. The flagman may
-not go back far enough from the train that is stopped so
-that the one following can be brought to a halt before
-crashing into the train ahead. Another thing that enters
-into the situation is the fact that men who are working
-surrounded by constant perils are likely to become careless.
-“I carry with me a sense of responsibility for the
-life of every man, woman, and child who rides on my
-train.” This was the statement of a conscientious railroad
-engineer. “But,” he continued, “I am in constant
-fear that my train will be wrecked through the carelessness
-of somebody else.” This man recognized a need
-that is essential in securing safety in traveling on our
-railroads, that is, a sense of corporate responsibility;
-by this we mean, that the entire group of men, all the
-workers and all of those who are responsible for the
-operation of the roads should feel the same sense of responsibility
-that the individual engineer feels. To secure
-this condition the railroad companies must realize that
-they are dealing with human beings; and that the men
-who furnish the human element in the railroad equation<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_102">102</a></span>
-are entitled to a voice and a share in the management
-of the line.</p>
-
-<p><b>Wages and Hours of Work.</b> When the railroad employees
-threatened to strike in 1917 and asked for an
-eight-hour day and an increase of wages, there was a
-great deal of discussion as to whether the companies or
-the men were in the right. Most people sided with the
-companies against the men, because there is an idea
-among the people that the railroad men are the best paid
-employees in any of our industries. Contrary to the
-general understanding, the railroad employees for the
-most part are not well paid. The government has recognized
-the need for increased wages and has made advances
-to nearly all classes of railway employees since
-federal control went into effect. The average rate for a
-normal day’s work for engineers in the freight service
-throughout the eastern territory is $4.85, conductors $4,
-brakemen $2.67, and firemen $3.25. These are the best
-paid of all the railroad employees. Tower men, who
-have in their care the lives of millions of passengers as
-they protect crossings, receive from $40 to $50 a month.
-Telegraphers, train dispatchers, track inspectors, and
-other employees, outside of the four great brotherhoods,
-made up of the engineers, conductors, brakemen, and
-firemen, are very poorly paid. And even the wages for
-the best paid and most skilful operators, the brakeman
-and the fireman, for instance, are so low that it means
-that in order to earn a living wage they must make a
-great deal through overtime.</p>
-
-<p>The effect of this low wage is shown in the number
-of employees who are changed every year. In the first
-nine months of 1917 in the eastern territory three men<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_103">103</a></span>
-were employed for every one job filled. This is known
-as the turn-over in employment and it is unusually high
-because the wages are below standard, the hours long,
-and the work hard and dangerous. There is a continual
-change in the operating forces and a consequent lack of
-efficiency. Another consideration to be taken into account
-in studying the wages and lives of railway workers is
-that of the effect of the work upon the workers. An
-engineer must put in years as a fireman before he can
-secure the right to run an engine, and then a dozen or
-fifteen years is about the length of time that he can
-depend on keeping his job. He is fortunate indeed if he
-earns a good wage for this length of time. The wear
-and tear on muscles, nerves, eyes, ears, kidneys, and
-heart is almost certain to break down the strongest body
-in a few years. Some few men stand the strain and
-hold on for twenty years but these are the rare exceptions.</p>
-
-<p><b>Fictitious Values and the Railways.</b> The railroad
-business deals in a commodity that may be termed public
-service. Almost more than any other business it is dependent
-for success upon the good-will of the public.
-The earnings of the railroads have been enormous and
-even if their operating expenses are high, there have
-been big profits made, and these profits have been taken
-up to a large extent in paying dividends upon fictitious
-values. This is the most serious situation that threatens
-the railroad system of the United States. For instance,
-a road is built and a certain amount of money put into
-the equipment and rolling stock, such as engines, coaches,
-and freight-cars. The employees are hired and the road
-begins to do business as a regular passenger and freight<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_104">104</a></span>
-carrier. Out of its total receipts it must pay a fixed
-amount for up-keep, for new equipment, and for wages,
-besides the interest on the money it has borrowed. The
-balance that is left from the amount of money received
-by the road and the amount it must pay out marks its
-own profits. This is given to the owners of the road.</p>
-
-<p>For many years the railroads felt that they needed
-special legislation; and money was spent in buying up
-legislators, in corrupting city councils, and in gaining
-the influence of noted men who would agree to return
-certain favors to the road for certain concessions given.
-A common practise in connection with this was the giving
-of free passes to all statesmen and newspaper men.
-In addition to this the railroad property became valuable
-as a factor in the stock market, and new stock was
-continually being issued. This stock would be sold and
-in many cases no new equipment put into the road, so
-that at the present time some of the railroads of the
-United States have three or four times as much stock as
-they have actual physical value for their stock.</p>
-
-<p>A good illustration of this business situation would
-be that you as owner of a house worth $4,000 should
-make or form a cooperative housekeeping company and
-sell shares in this new company, basing the value of the
-total amount of shares upon the $4,000 that the house
-is worth. You could sell forty shares each for $100.
-This would be perfectly legitimate and a good business
-transaction, because at any time every share would have
-back of it one-fortieth of the total value of the house.
-But suppose instead of selling forty shares, you should
-capitalize your house at $40,000 and sell 400 shares at
-$100 a piece, instead of the forty shares. The extra<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_105">105</a></span>
-valuation would be known as watered stock, because
-there would be no real value attached to it. You would
-be selling something that neither you nor anybody else
-possessed.</p>
-
-<p>It is said that the term watered stock came from the
-practise of one of the early financiers who brought cattle
-from the West to sell in the New York market when
-New York was a very small city. He drove the cattle
-a long distance on the last day, and then gave them salt
-the night before arrival, so that they were inordinately
-thirsty. Just before they were sold and weighed he
-would let them drink all the water they wanted, so that
-the man who bought them was paying for a great deal
-of water in addition to the actual amount of beef he
-received. The result of this financial device known as
-watered stock has been disastrous for many of our railway
-companies, and the plight of the United States railroads
-has been a scandal for years.</p>
-
-<p><b>Regulating the Railroads.</b> The legislature of nearly
-every state has tried to remedy the railway situation.
-The commissions in the various states have frequently
-found themselves in each other’s way. The Interstate
-Commerce Commission appointed by the United States
-government for the purpose of regulating railroads is one
-of the most efficient bodies in the entire government and
-has rendered remarkable services. The citizens of the
-United States are individualists and believe strongly in
-letting each business adjust its own difficulties as best
-it can. With the growth of the world commerce without,
-and the development of the country’s trade within,
-however, many men are coming to believe that the only
-way out of difficulties is through a larger degree of government<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_106">106</a></span>
-control, tending finally to government ownership
-of all the means of transportation. The strongest
-argument in favor of government ownership is the success
-of the Interstate Commerce Commission. During
-the last ten years there has come about a very radical
-change in the relations existing between the various railways
-and the general public. During the period between
-1850 and 1900 the railways were masters of the situation;
-and the financiers who built and operated them
-were despots, more or less benevolent or the opposite
-according to their personal temperaments. The railway
-presidents during that period really regarded their roads
-as private property to be managed as they saw fit. This
-theory built up a great railroad system in the country,
-but the theory is not big enough to meet the new national
-demands that are put upon the common carriers of the
-day. The railroads are now pleading with the public to
-recognize them as public institutions primarily interested
-in serving the people.</p>
-
-<div id="ip_106" class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;">
-<img src="images/i_106.jpg" width="600" height="358" alt="" />
-<div class="captionl">
-
-<p>Press Illustrating Service.</p></div>
-
-<div class="caption">
-
-<p>In New York harbor and on other waterways, living upon the canal-boats and barges, are the
-families of the workers.</p></div></div>
-
-<p><b>Railroads and Churches.</b> The railroad situation is
-too complicated for us to attempt a solution of it in a
-church study class. It will demand years of experimentation
-and a degree of personal service on the part of
-the best and ablest men of our nation. What the church
-can and must do is to try to estimate the value of the
-principles that are involved in the railroad development
-and management. This can be done by following the
-story of the railroad as told by the writers in the public
-magazines of the last ten years. The history of our
-railroad legislation is also available for us in the records
-of the Interstate Commerce Commission. Each study
-group should write to Washington and get the literature<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_107">107</a></span>
-issued by this commission. Much of it will be found
-to be dry reading, being largely a compilation of statistics;
-and these statistics dealing in figures so large that they
-mean very little to us. The recommendations, however,
-and the conclusions are of practical value and will be
-found to be extremely helpful in the wise and just conclusion
-regarding our attitude toward the railroad as a
-national institution.</p>
-
-<p><b>Other Means of Transportation.</b> The work of the
-men engaged in transportation is not by any means confined
-to the workers on the railroads. In our cities there
-are thousands of men employed on the street-cars, elevated
-railroads, and subway railways. The interurban traction
-lines employ hundreds of thousands of men. A careful
-study has been made of the situation affecting these
-workers by the Department of Labor of the United
-States, and its report is based upon facts ascertained from
-actual conditions found in all the principal cities of the
-country. Without exception the street-car men, including
-conductors, motormen, linesmen, and ticket-sellers,
-are poorly paid. Many of the cities are paying the men
-much less than a living wage. What do you know about
-the conditions in the street-cars in your own city?
-Where do the men who operate these cars live? What
-about their families? A motorman on one of the elevated
-railway lines of Chicago shot himself a few years ago.
-The note he left said: “I have four children and it
-is impossible with the rising cost of living for me to
-maintain my home on $2.12 a day. I have a Life Insurance
-policy for $2,000 and this is worth more to my
-wife and children than I earn at present.” The street-car
-lines in most of our cities are owned and controlled<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_108">108</a></span>
-by capitalists living in some other city, and they are
-operated, not for the benefit of the city, but simply for
-profits. The frequent strikes on the street-car lines are
-the direct result of this foolish policy of our cities of
-allowing themselves to be exploited by groups of business
-men who have no interest in the city, but hold toward
-it, its citizens, and its own workers, the attitude of a
-set of political and social freebooters. A few places only
-have attempted municipal ownership, and in these cases it
-has met with a large measure of success. The lines owned
-and operated by the San Francisco municipality have
-proved so successful that the business men are all enthusiastic
-over the policy.</p>
-
-<p>Another group that aids in providing transportation
-is made up of the men on boats on the lakes, rivers, and
-canals; those who come to our shores from other nations
-traveling by sea in foreign boats; the sailors on our
-merchant marine; and the thousands of workers on the
-docks and lighters in our harbors. In connection with
-this great work, Andrew Furuseth, president of the International
-Seamen’s Union, stands out as a remarkable
-figure. He is a Scandinavian by birth, and worked his
-way up from the simple life of a sailor before the mast
-until he is now the best known sailor in all the world.
-Mr. Furuseth has a great heart, and has fought long
-and hard for his fellow workers; he might be rich to-day,
-but as head of the union he accepts only the pay of a
-first-class seaman and is literally giving his life for
-others. At a meeting of the City Club in Rochester
-which he addressed some years ago, one of the gentlemen
-present turned to his companion and said: “Just
-look at Furuseth. In every line of his face there is<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_109">109</a></span>
-written a chapter of the tragedy and pathos of the men
-who go down to the sea in ships.”</p>
-
-<p>The sailor has been practically a prisoner always.
-When he signed his work papers he put himself under
-the control of an absolute autocrat. Until recently the
-master of a ship at sea recognized no authority greater
-than himself, and when the boat landed at any port, no
-matter what the treatment might have been, the seaman
-could not desert, otherwise he would be arrested and
-imprisoned. Furuseth protested against this inhuman
-treatment, and through a long period of years kept demanding
-that seamen, “the last slaves” as he called
-them, be made free. Finally his efforts were successful
-and on March, 1915, there was approved by the Congress
-of the United States an Act which promotes the
-welfare of the American seaman in the merchant marine.
-It abolishes arrest and imprisonment for desertion, and it
-secured the abrogation of treaty provisions between the
-different nations which guaranteed that American sailors
-would be treated as felons if they deserted in a foreign
-port. It also provided additional safety at sea for all
-persons upon a boat; one of its provisions being that
-there shall be carried on every passenger-carrying
-steamer or sailing vessel enough life-boats so that each
-passenger and each man of the crew will have a seat and
-a chance for escape in case of an accident. It is interesting
-to note that this Act was passed as a direct
-result of the sinking of the <i>Titanic</i>.</p>
-
-<p><b>The World of the Transportation Men.</b> The transportation
-men live in a world apart. How many sailors
-do you know? How many street-car men? How many
-railroaders? Have you ever wondered where the conductor<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_110">110</a></span>
-on the street-car upon which you ride so often
-lives? “Yes, we have a little church, but it is over across
-the tracks where the railroad men live, and I always
-attend the Presbyterian Church here.” This was the
-excuse given by a gentleman for not attending the church
-of the denomination to which he had belonged before he
-moved into a new community near Chicago. We do
-not want a church to be known as the Railroad Men’s
-Church or the Sailors’ Church or the Street-Car Workers’
-Church. This is not the way to be the best kind of
-a neighbor. What we do want is for the church everywhere
-to take an interest in these men who are providing
-for our transportation and also carrying the necessities
-of life for all the world. We come into personal relationships
-with many of them in a business way, and they
-all do much to add to our wealth, our happiness, and our
-comfort. We in turn as individuals and as members of
-the church should acquaint ourselves with the conditions
-surrounding them.</p>
-
-<p>For instance, in the waters of the New York harbor,
-living upon the canal-boats which move in and out
-carrying coal, hay, and other rough freight, are the
-families of the workers, and in these families there are
-approximately 5,000 children. They are at one place to-day
-and another place to-morrow. These people have
-no citizenship in the best sense of the word. Many of
-the men do not vote because they live in no locality long
-enough to register. The questions of schooling, of
-church privileges, and of all social contact are serious
-ones. Yet how many people in New York City, or for
-that matter in any of the smaller towns and villages
-where these boats land, have ever once thought of the<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_111">111</a></span>
-status and social conditions of these men, and women,
-and their children? Things we know. The things which
-the boats and the railroads carry and that other thing that
-looms so large, the profits that are made from transportation,
-are regarded as very important; but we have
-paid scant attention to the men who produce things and
-carry them from place to place.</p>
-
-<hr />
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_113">113</a></span></p>
-
-<div class="chapter">
-<h2 class="vspace"><a id="CHAPTER_VIII"></a>CHAPTER VIII<br />
-
-<span class="subhead"><span class="smcap">The World of the Makers of Luxuries</span></span></h2>
-</div>
-
-<p>“I would not like to work in a candy store,” said a
-young lad, “because then I could not have the fun of
-buying candy.” A visitor to Atlantic City stepped into
-one of the shops to make a purchase. She said to the
-little girl in charge, “It must be delightful to be able
-to live in Atlantic City and work right here on the boardwalk.”
-“You may think so,” replied the girl. “But I
-guess if you put in all your time in this store, and had
-to come to work at eight in the morning and work until
-nine at night every day; and all the time saw these
-thousands of people passing along outside, going up and
-down, with nothing to do but just enjoy themselves, you
-would not think it is such a snap.” Two boys were
-playing the game of “wish.” When the turn of the
-youngest came, he said, “I wish that I worked in a
-chocolate factory, then I could have all the chocolate
-I wanted to eat.” When we become acquainted with the
-people who are at work producing the luxuries, we find
-a common and far-reaching disillusionment. The hardest
-work in the world is to work when other people are
-playing, or work hard ourselves just for the purpose
-of giving other people enjoyment. And yet there are
-literally hundreds of thousands of people who spend
-their lives in producing luxuries.</p>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_114">114</a></span>
-Oliver Wendell Holmes used to say that if he could
-just have the luxuries, he would not care anything about
-the necessities of life. This was a whimsical way of
-stating a fact that is common to all experience, that is,
-that life is enriched by the luxuries we enjoy. I asked
-a man of the typographical union what he considered the
-one thing that had done most for the advancement of
-printers. He replied, “Pianos in their parlors.” By
-this he meant that when hours were decreased and wages
-increased, printers began to have something to hope for;
-and with a margin of money they bought luxuries, and
-in the margin of time enjoyed them. Thus they laid the
-foundation for future development.</p>
-
-<p><b>Luxuries.</b> What constitutes a luxury? This is a difficult
-question to answer. Some people think that it is
-a luxury to take a bath. In fact, many of the monastic
-orders put special virtue on foregoing the use of soap
-and water. An old gentleman living in a little town
-near Chicago who owned a great deal of the property in
-the town, fought every effort to put in water-works and
-a sewer system. As the climax of an impassioned speech
-at a public meeting in which he had denounced the
-extravagances of the present time, he said: “These new
-notions of our young people are going to ruin us. My
-daughter made such a fuss that nine years ago I put a
-bathtub in our house, but I never use it and I guess I
-am about as healthy as any man in town.” One of the
-religious sects forbids its members the use of buttons on
-their clothes, as they are regarded as useless luxuries.
-They fasten their clothes together with hooks and eyes.
-Cutting the hair, shaving the beard, wearing gold and
-silver, adorning the person in any way, all of these things<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_115">115</a></span>
-are considered luxuries by some persons. Luxury is
-really a thing that we can get along without. But at best
-it is a relative term, for what one person would consider
-a luxury another would consider a necessity.</p>
-
-<p><b>Growth by Wants, Not Needs.</b> A merchant in Memphis
-had a carload of supplies arrive early one Saturday
-morning. He was very anxious to get the goods unloaded
-so that he could release the car. He started out
-to get help, but every Negro on the street had some
-good excuse why he could not help. Meeting an old
-fellow on the corner he said to him, “Look here, Bob,
-what is the trouble with all these Negroes? Not one of
-them wants to work and yet they all seem to have plenty
-of time and nothing to do.” “It’s just like this, Boss,”
-replied old Bob. “All the worth-while niggers is out
-working, ’cause you see they’s got to support their Fords.
-These here fellers ain’t no good; don’t want cyars and
-won’t work nohow when the sun shines on both sides of
-the street at de same time.” In this statement we have
-summed up the philosophy of all workers. It is only
-when we desire something better than we have and are
-willing to work for the thing desired that we begin to
-advance. Luxuries are the things that are not essential
-for mere existence, but they are the things that are of
-infinite value in enriching and adding to the meaning
-of life.</p>
-
-<p><b>Classes of Luxuries.</b> Luxuries can be roughly divided
-into two classes, those that are harmless and those that
-are hurtful. The extra dress, the piece of cake, the
-sugar in our coffee, the coffee itself, and in fact a great
-many of the things we wear, eat, and drink are luxuries.
-The line between these things and necessities is such a<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_116">116</a></span>
-thin one that it is hard to know just when a thing ceases
-to be a necessity and becomes a luxury. Most things
-are harmless in and of themselves, and it must be acknowledged,
-luxuries have the effect of increasing the
-value and meaning of life. There are, however, luxuries
-such as beer, wine, whisky, brandy, and other alcoholic
-stimulants used as beverages, also tobacco used as snuff,
-for chewing or for smoking, which add nothing to life;
-but on the contrary must be classed with the habit-forming
-drugs so injurious to the race. In this chapter we
-are considering luxuries from the standpoint of production,
-and not the moral value involved in their use.
-Therefore, we must think of the workers in the brewery,
-the cigar and cigaret makers, the makers of artificial
-flowers and willow plumes as all belonging to the same
-class. They are the ones who are making the things that
-are not absolutely necessary for our existence. Were
-the production of bread to stop we could not live. Iron,
-steel, coal, and transportation are all part and parcel of
-our very existence, but we could get along very well if
-not another artificial flower, cigar, or fancy dress were
-made.</p>
-
-<p><b>The Cigarmakers.</b> The cigarmakers living in Tampa
-and Key West form the most complete compact group of
-workers to be found anywhere in the United States who
-are interested solely in producing luxuries. Tampa is
-known as “The city that furnishes the world’s smoke.”
-Last year this city shipped (in round numbers) 300,000,000
-cigars! Havana and Key West have always been
-considered the principal cigar cities, but the production in
-these latter places has been declining for a number of
-years, while it has been increasing in Tampa. It was a<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_117">117</a></span>
-clash between the Cuban and Spanish workers at Key
-West which led the first manufacturer to move from
-that city and build his factory at Tampa. To-day there
-are 15,000 Cuban and Spanish workers employed in
-Tampa in making cigars. A person could live in the city,
-and by restricting his business to certain districts, from
-one year’s beginning to the end would never hear a word
-spoken in any language except Spanish. The city is a
-foreign city, and a city of workers producing a luxury
-that all the world demands. Since the time that
-Columbus sent his men to explore the island of Cuba
-in November, 1492, and found the natives “carrying
-and smoking firebrands” made from loosely rolled leaves
-of a weed which grew extensively on the island, until
-the present time men everywhere have found enjoyment
-and pleasure in the narcotic value of tobacco.</p>
-
-<p><b>The Making of a Cigar.</b> In its manufacture a cigar
-goes through a process dependent upon the knowledge
-and skill gained from years of practise on the part of
-the worker. The tobacco that is used in making the
-best cigars still comes from the island of Cuba. It is
-grown very carefully, cured, baled, and shipped under
-bond to the United States government. The bales as
-they are received at the tobacco factory weigh from 80
-to 120 pounds. The tobacco is of two qualities, that to
-be used as a filler (which makes up the body of the
-cigar), and that which is known as the wrapper or the
-outside covering. From the time that the tobacco begins
-to grow until the cigars are packed in the boxes ready
-for shipment the weed requires special care and attention.
-As the bales of tobacco are brought into the factory
-they have to be piled in a certain way. Some of<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_118">118</a></span>
-them are piled high, some of them low, some on their
-sides, and some on their ends; all depending upon the
-quality and conditions of the leaves.</p>
-
-<p>The tobacco is cured by a process which adds to its
-value; and the curing must be carried on with precision,
-for a faulty method will spoil the best tobacco that can
-be grown. Any one who has visited Tampa is impressed
-with the humidity of the atmosphere. The climate of
-Cuba is more nearly reproduced there than in any other
-city in America, and because of its equable temperature,
-it being neither too hot nor too cold, the city has become
-famous as the manufacturing center for cigars.</p>
-
-<p>The cigarmakers sit at long tables in parallel rows
-throughout the room. In one room in a large factory
-eight hundred workers sit as close together as possible.
-The tools of the trade are a flat, broad-bladed knife, a
-hard block, a gage, and a rule. This gage is simply a
-hole bored through a piece of board and as the worker
-makes up the cigar, from time to time he puts it
-through the hole in the board to see that it is the
-proper size and places it against the rule to see that
-it is the proper length. Should it be too large it must
-be rolled tighter, if too small it must be loosened up a
-bit. Much depends upon the way a cigar is rolled. “I
-learned to make a cigar in three months,” said a Cuban
-cigarmaker, “but it took me two years to learn how to
-put an end on it.” This is the real test, and until a
-machine is invented which can turn this trick, the hand-made
-cigars, rolled, and finished according to the old
-Spanish method, will hold first place.</p>
-
-<p><b>The Reader in the Factory.</b> The Tampa cigarmakers
-are all either Spanish or Cuban, and in conversation<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_119">119</a></span>
-they gesticulate with their hands to such an extent that
-it is impossible for them to talk and work at the same
-time. Hence, the manufacturers are very sympathetic
-with the old custom of maintaining a reader in the factory.
-This reader has a little balcony from which he
-reads to the employees while they are at work, making
-his selections from current magazines, newspapers,
-novels, telegrams, dispatches from abroad, and extracts
-from books on national history. It is an interesting
-sight to see a factory of four or five hundred workers
-busily engaged in plying their trade, and listening at the
-same time to a story read by the paid reader, who, with
-coat off and suspenders hanging, gesticulates and shouts
-at the top of his voice. One of the readers in a Tampa
-factory has held his position for twenty years. He reads
-daily from the New York <cite>Herald</cite>, translating the news
-articles into Spanish as he reads them. The reader is
-well paid, for each worker gives him twenty-five cents
-a week; and it is reported that some of these men receive
-as high as $300 a month. The workers decide what
-shall be read. Some years ago there was a strike in one
-of the factories occasioned by a protest on the part of
-the women workers against the reading of an especially
-vulgar novel. The management ordered the reading of
-this novel stopped. The men then laid down their tools
-and refused to go back to work until they were assured
-that the story would be continued. Among the cigarmakers
-the tradition is that the custom of reading grew
-out of the desire of the early workers for a more liberal
-education than was offered by the church and its schools.</p>
-
-<p><b>Wages and Unions.</b> The wages of the cigarmakers
-are based on the piece-work system. An expert may<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_120">120</a></span>
-make as high as $35 a week; the average is a little
-higher than in other employments using the same grade
-of labor. Some years ago, when a bitter strike was conducted
-in Tampa, the question of wages was one of the
-grievances of the men but was not the real trouble, for
-the problem in Tampa now as well as then is racial and
-psychological rather than economic. The strike was settled
-on the basis of an agreement called the “equalization
-agreement.” This provided for the appointment of
-a board to be composed of three manufacturers and
-three cigarmakers who would meet regularly, hear complaints,
-and make adjustments. Most of the workers
-belong to the union, and under this agreement there is
-a fair degree of peace in the industry.</p>
-
-<p>One great difficulty is that the workers in the cigar
-industry carry into their trade no moral enthusiasm.
-They are doing something that is not absolutely requisite
-for human welfare, and while they make good money,
-they have no commanding purpose to impel them to
-carry on their work. The people live simple lives for
-the most part. On Saturday nights the streets of the
-city are filled with people, and every one is in a holiday
-mood. The majority of the cigar workers in Tampa
-are communicants in the Roman Catholic Church and it
-is the finest building in the city. It is constructed of
-marble and decorated with magnificent windows. The
-church takes little interest, however, in social or economic
-matters. One of the workers said to me the last
-time I was in the city, “When the business men forced
-us back to work, and through their private army guarded
-the city with sawed-off shotguns, the church was back
-of them. All the priests want is our money.” To the<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_121">121</a></span>
-cigarmakers a church is a church whether it be Catholic
-or Protestant. They remember the days in Cuba under
-the domination of Spain when the priests held them in
-a kind of bondage of fear, and made it easy for the
-political forces to exploit them. In America they do not
-intend to give the church a chance at them.</p>
-
-<p>The Cuban is easily pleased; very emotional, and more
-inclined to be fickle than the American or Englishman.
-A few years ago the butchers of Tampa raised the price
-of meat. Just at that time there happened to be a representative
-of the Industrial Workers of the World in
-the city. He gathered some of the people together in
-East Tampa, harangued them regarding their wrongs,
-and called a second meeting. He aroused so much enthusiasm
-that nearly two thousand of the cigar workers
-quit their jobs; procured sticks, and bought beefsteaks
-and stuck them on the end of the sticks. Carrying these
-over their shoulders as though they were banners, the
-whole mob marched through the streets to the City Hall,
-where they demanded of the startled mayor, that he
-force the butchers to reduce the price of beef. The
-mayor gave the necessary order and the people then dispersed
-and went quietly back to their homes. Union
-organizers complain that it is very difficult to maintain
-a union of any strength among the cigar workers in
-Tampa. “They are very enthusiastic for a time, but
-it is difficult for them to persistently and constantly follow
-the union rules,” said one of the leaders.</p>
-
-<p>The city of the cigarmakers swarms with children,
-many of these youngsters play in the street, and as the
-climate is warm most of the year, during the summer
-they wear very little clothing. Until recently there was<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_122">122</a></span>
-no provision made for organized play among the children
-of the city. Even now the provision is totally inadequate.</p>
-
-<p><b>The Protestant Churches.</b> The Protestant churches
-have attempted to do what they could among the cigarmakers;
-but the needs have been so great and the equipment
-so inadequate that the best results have not been
-secured. In West Tampa there is a very interesting
-piece of work being conducted by the Methodist, the
-Baptist, and the Congregational churches. One of the
-churches has a plant consisting of a church, a school,
-and a house that is used as a social center for the entire
-community. For many years two homes were operated
-by this church; one for boys and one for girls. Some
-seven hundred children attend the school in connection
-with the church. The services on Sunday are in Spanish,
-and while it has not been possible always to secure a
-large attendance from among the people, still there is
-usually a representative and interesting group present.
-A man who served as pastor of the Cuban church was
-for a number of years a regular worker in one of the
-big cigar factories. This gave him a peculiar relationship
-to the community. He was accepted as a friend and
-equal; and was listened to with reverence and respect
-where another man would not have secured a hearing.</p>
-
-<div id="ip_122" class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;">
-<img src="images/i_122.jpg" width="600" height="381" alt="" />
-<div class="captionl">
-
-<p>Photo from National Child Labor Committee.</p></div>
-
-<div class="caption">
-
-<p>The workers in the cigar industry carry into their trade no moral enthusiasm, for they are doing
-something that is not absolutely requisite for human welfare.</p></div></div>
-
-<p><b>Some Results of the Work.</b> A little girl in the community
-where one of the church homes is situated was
-arrested for being a vagrant. Her face was dirty; she
-was barefooted and wore a torn, buttonless, brown gingham
-dress that was positively filthy and which was held
-in place by a safety-pin fastened in such a way as to give
-the whole dress a weird, elfish look. The child’s picture<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_123">123</a></span>
-was taken on the day that she was arrested and committed
-to the care of the church. This picture is a typical
-portrayal of childish rebellion against life and all that
-it holds in store for the human race. Her mother was
-a worthless woman, and the child had never known a
-father. All her life she had really lived on the streets
-of the city. Her case was brought before the Juvenile
-Court; she was put on probation and given into the care
-of the workers in one of the little Protestant churches.
-She objected to having her hair combed and refused to
-wash her face. Those in charge of the home were almost
-in despair of being able to do anything with her.
-However, they won her confidence by allowing her to go
-to a party where they had a phonograph and motion pictures.
-They told her she could have all the cake and
-lemonade she wanted; so once in her life under happier
-conditions she had a chance for simple enjoyment and
-to be her natural self. From that time on she began to
-take an interest in herself and to gain in intelligence.
-Two years later she had her picture taken and it was
-exhibited as the picture of the typical Cuban girl, for
-she had developed into a perfect little beauty and showed
-capability. This story illustrates better than almost anything
-else the infinite possibilities in the Cuban people.</p>
-
-<p>Some one said of the cigarmakers in Tampa that they
-were not Americans and never could be, and further
-stated: “They are interested only in their theaters, their
-clubs, their cock-fights, their coffee-houses, and their
-gambling rooms.” It is true that they are interested
-in these things; because they are by temperament a
-pleasure-loving, happy-go-lucky sort of people and these
-resources are the expression of their idea of life. If<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_124">124</a></span>
-the church would meet the needs of these people, it must
-be able to appreciate them, and sympathetically to interpret
-life for them. They can all become, as indeed
-most of them are now, good American citizens, but they
-will never be like the Americans in our Northern cities.
-We must allow them to develop along the lines of their
-own racial interests. How can we ever expect to be
-friends with Latin America if we cannot learn how to
-be good neighbors to the Latin Americans living in our
-own land?</p>
-
-<p><b>The Challenge of Conditions in the Factories.</b> The
-conditions in the factories are not ideal by any means,
-nor is the nature of the business such as to promote the
-highest type of character. The work is hard, and it is
-performed in a heavy atmosphere poisoned with the
-breath of many individuals, and vitiated by the odors of
-human bodies and damp tobacco. The rooms where
-cigars are made have to be kept closed to save the weed;
-and every window is down, and no matter how hot the
-weather, not a breath of fresh air is allowed to enter
-the place. The atmosphere is so bad that it gives one a
-headache even to pass through; imagine what it would
-mean to spend your life working in such a place.</p>
-
-<p>Tuberculosis makes deep inroads in the ranks of the
-workers. Statistics show that the proportion of mortality
-among the cigar workers from tuberculosis of the
-lungs is higher than in almost any other occupation.
-Between the ages of 15 and 24 the proportionate mortality
-from tuberculosis is 48.5 per cent. of the total deaths
-as compared with 33.8 per cent. for all occupations.<a id="FNanchor_3" href="#Footnote_3" class="fnanchor">3</a>
-The reason for this is that the workers must sit for long<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_125">125</a></span>
-hours at a table in a bad atmosphere and surrounded by
-others, many of whom are suffering from tuberculosis.
-There are nearly 50,000 members of the union and these
-men have been fighting for years for a betterment of
-conditions. However, just as in other trades, the employers
-claim that it is impossible to make cigars without
-sacrifice of the working men and women. The workers
-have accepted it there, as other workers have accepted it
-in other occupations, with the stoic attitude that marks
-so many of the laborers of our country.</p>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_3" href="#FNanchor_3" class="fnanchor">3</a> U. S. Bulletin of Labor, 1917.</p></div>
-
-<p>One of the most noted social workers in America, a
-woman with strength and charm of character, who is a
-leader in every radical movement, began her life in a
-cigar factory. Later on she married a man of wealth and
-has lived a life of ease ever since. She says of her early
-experiences: “For twelve years I was a cigar worker
-in Cleveland. I was ill-nourished and poorly clad. I
-worked at night as well as by day to help piece out my
-family’s existence. I never had anything I wanted.”
-This might be said of a great many of the cigar workers
-and their families. The only difference would be that
-she did not tell all of her story. In addition to the long
-hours there is an undermining of the health that goes
-with it. Now all these people are working for some
-one’s pleasure. They are making luxuries. The most
-radical person I ever knew in my life was an eighteen-year-old
-girl whose parents had lost their money. She
-was forced to go to work in a cigar factory when she
-was twelve years old. She was bitter toward life and
-had no faith or confidence in anything or in any person.
-Said she, “When I look around and see people who have
-all the money and all the clothes and all the good things<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_126">126</a></span>
-that I want and can never have, I know that conditions
-are unjust and must be changed. I don’t care what it
-costs; I am going to do my part in fighting and agitating
-until there is a change.” This is an attitude that is
-now growing very common. There are deep-seated
-forces at work perpetuating these ideas. By valuing
-things more than men these conditions are made a permanent
-part of our life.</p>
-
-<p><b>Furs.</b> “Why do you want to wear furs in the summer-time?”
-I asked a young lady. It was an extremely
-hot day and she was wearing a white dress with very
-short sleeves and cut low in the neck, but she had a fox
-fur around her neck; there was quite a margin between
-the lower edge of her fur and the upper edge of her
-dress. “Why,” she replied, “I think it is pretty, don’t
-you?” This fur had come on a long journey and gone
-through many processes before it came into her hands.
-Many men and women had labored to produce it. The
-man who had caught the fox probably had a line of
-traps stretched over nine or ten miles of some stream in
-the northern part of Canada or Alaska. All through the
-bitter cold of the winter he had lived alone in a cabin,
-and day after day had tramped that line to take out the
-animals that had been caught. Bringing them back to
-his cabin he skinned them; turned the hide over a piece
-of board and stood it behind the stove to cure. Later
-the pelts were brought out of the wilderness and sold
-into the hands of a group of fur workers. They were
-then more fully cured, and passed on to the makers of
-scarfs. All of these workers were producing a luxury.</p>
-
-<p><b>The Trappers’ Community.</b> In one of the regions
-of the Northwest where trapping is carried on through<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_127">127</a></span>
-the winter there are three little settlements. There are
-only three white people and one white family in two of
-them, and the third settlement, which is a trading post,
-has about half a dozen white families. From the time
-that the snow falls in the autumn until late in May of
-the following spring, no one comes into these communities
-except the man carrying the mail who comes
-once in about ten days. No one goes out from the community
-unless it is absolutely necessary. The only ministers
-that ever visit there are those who come in the
-summer to enjoy the fishing in the near-by streams. The
-wife of a trapper in this region said to a minister: “Our
-oldest girl is nearly thirteen years old. She has never
-been to Sunday-school and never heard a sermon. She
-has never seen a church and you are the only preacher
-to whom she has ever talked. When I was married
-fifteen years ago in Missouri and we started for this
-country, I had no idea that a girl who had been brought
-up in the church and was a teacher in the Sunday-school
-could live so long in a community where there is no
-church or religious service of any kind.” When we
-learn of places like this where there are no churches,
-and then hear of some small community that has six or
-eight churches and only about five or six hundred people,
-we wonder if there is not a call for a new kind of missionary
-effort and zeal. The church is not alone to
-blame nor is any one wholly responsible for this condition,
-and yet we are all to blame, for if it is necessary
-that a man should live on the outpost of civilization it
-should be made possible for some of the good things of
-civilization to be taken to him. In the foreign missionary
-work we have crossed oceans, traversed mountains,<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_128">128</a></span>
-translated the Bible into new languages, and made
-every effort to reach new groups of people. In our own
-land we have neglected people just because they seemingly
-live in a world outside of our own. While they are
-producing the things we demand and use, we have forgotten
-the men who have brought these things to us.</p>
-
-<p><b>The Theater.</b> People have always been interested in
-seeing life presented in a play. The theater has had a
-large place in the history of every nation. It has furnished
-the means of recreation and amusement, and in a
-large measure it has been a great educator of the people.
-Religion was once taught through the theater. In fact,
-much of our church ritual is taken from performances
-that were meant to symbolize great facts and emotions
-of human life. The modern theater has become highly
-commercialized, and those who attend the performances
-continually demand more magnificent scenery, more
-elaborate costumes, and more thrills. What of the performers?
-Have you ever wondered, as you looked at
-the play, just how the people who are taking part would
-look if you saw them off the stage? For instance, there
-is a girl that is playing the part of an old woman. She
-is dressed in a plain black, close-fitting gown, and hobbles
-across the stage leaning heavily upon a stick. In
-actual life she is a young woman under twenty-five years
-of age, has bright red hair, a charming smile, a figure
-that her friends describe as willowy, and walks with a
-springy step like that of a high school girl. Another
-character in the play is a woman who plays the part of
-the vampire. At home surrounded by her three children,
-she is a demure, domestic little body.</p>
-
-<p>A few years ago one of our theatrical critics said that a<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_129">129</a></span>
-glimpse behind the scenes would cure almost any girl
-of the desire to become an actress. The glamor is all
-in front of the curtain. Behind the scenes we come face
-to face with a hard-working group of men and women
-who are doing their best to furnish amusement. One
-of the leading actresses, in writing the history of her
-life, said that the only opportunity for success on the
-stage was for the person who comprehends fully that the
-theater offers but one thing&mdash;a chance for long hours of
-drudgery and the uncertain rewards that come from the
-hands of a fickle public. She described vividly the actors’
-boarding-house, with its narrow cramped bedrooms; its
-dimly-lit halls, with the faded and worn carpet; the
-smell of cooking that permeated the whole place “like
-the ghost of a thousand dead dinners;” the bitter loneliness,
-the jealousies, the misunderstandings, and she
-added, “my whole being revolts against all the petty
-details of the life.” Then there is the traveling; nights
-on the train and days spent in the hotels until time to
-go to the opera house; then the feverish excitement of
-dressing; the play; and back to the hotel for a few hours’
-sleep and away again to another town.</p>
-
-<p>The trouble is that most of the young people who
-think that they would like to go on the stage think
-only of the theaters in New York, Chicago, Boston, or in
-one of the other large cities. The great majority of the
-actor-folk spend most of their time traveling from place
-to place. There are comparatively few plays that enjoy
-long runs. Nowadays in one-night stands there are few
-places where special rates at the hotels are secured for
-actors. Usually the worst rooms in the house are assigned
-to them. In fact, the rooms that are given to<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_130">130</a></span>
-the actors and actresses are known in a great many hotels
-as the Soubrette Row. The best rooms are saved for
-the regular patrons of the house, such as traveling salesmen,
-while anything is “good enough for the actor.”
-In China the player folk live to themselves. They have
-no other companions but form a class of their own. We
-have not recognized the caste system in this country, and
-we do not officially ostracise the players, but in effect
-this is what we do. Their world is a world apart, yet
-they are the ones that help to amuse us. Each year we
-pay millions of dollars into the coffers of the theaters
-to see plays that are produced by these men and women
-who work hard, and who receive but little for their toil.</p>
-
-<p>Once in a while the newspapers tell the story of some
-old actor, who has just died poor, broken down, and forgotten
-by the public. One of the most pathetic figures
-of these modern days was that of an old actor in Brooklyn,
-who had to be buried at the expense of his friends.
-They took up a collection to buy the casket in which he
-now rests; otherwise he would have been buried in the
-potter’s field although thirty years ago he was one of the
-most popular men on Broadway. There are thousands
-of actors and actresses and they live for the most part
-to themselves. The Actors’ Church Alliance was formed
-some years ago and has branches in many of our cities.
-There is, too, an organization known as the Actors’ Fund,
-which provides relief for the poor found among these
-hard-working men and women who give so much pleasure
-to millions of people.</p>
-
-<p><b>The Motion Pictures.</b> The motion-picture business
-has become one of the greatest enterprises of our day.
-In 1914 there were over 20,000 motion-picture theaters<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_131">131</a></span>
-in the United States. The year before that three hundred
-million dollars was spent for films, and over five
-billion paid admissions were recorded throughout the
-country. The motion-picture has made possible the reproduction
-of the best plays, and they are offered to the
-people at a very low price. Five and ten cents will
-permit any one to be amused for a whole evening. The
-motion-picture theater possesses great educational possibilities.
-It has revolutionized our ideas of entertainment.
-The best books have been put into films and more
-people than ever before are having a chance to read.
-This is having a profound effect upon our lives, for as
-has been said, “the thing we see impresses us more than
-what we hear.” We often say, “it went in one ear and
-out the other” but no one ever says, “it went in one
-eye and out the other.” The making of films requires
-the work of thousands of actors; besides carpenters,
-masons, machine operators, directors, and managers. It
-is a huge business!</p>
-
-<p>A crowd gathered in New York at Thirty-fourth
-Street and Second Avenue one Saturday afternoon. A
-man was beating a boy when a disheveled woman ran
-out from the side entrance of a saloon and threw herself
-upon this beast. He grasped her by the throat and
-was just about to strangle her, when the boy, released
-from the clutches of the man, stabbed him in the back
-with a knife and thus freed his mother. It happened
-so quickly that many of the crowd thought that they
-were looking upon a real tragedy. It proved to be
-simply a “movie” being enacted upon the street.</p>
-
-<p>In a Florida city an automobile dashed into town; a
-young girl was in the back seat, while in the front was<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_132">132</a></span>
-a young man driving the machine with one hand and
-holding a preacher down with the other. They stopped
-in front of a church; went inside, and there they were
-met by two other men, accomplices of the young fellow,
-and who stood one on either side of the minister with
-revolvers at his head and forced him to perform the
-marriage ceremony. An outrage in real life, but really
-played for the movies.</p>
-
-<p>In the West there are cities devoted entirely to the
-motion-picture industry. In some of the elaborate plays
-hundreds of thousands of dollars are expended in getting
-the scenic effects. Cities have been built and then
-burned to give the effect of a sacked town being destroyed
-by the enemy. Shipwrecks have been shown
-where real ships have been purchased, and then run
-upon the rocks and deliberately wrecked to get the
-proper setting for the pictures and the necessary thrills
-for the people. What of these people who follow the
-motion-picture industry for a living? Their lives are
-apart from the rest of the community. It seems fascinating,
-but it is one filled with hard labor, uncertain
-hours, and affords rather scanty pay. The pastor of
-one of the Los Angeles churches attempted to reach the
-people living in the near-by “movie-city” but he failed.
-A plan should be devised whereby a sympathetic understanding
-might bring these hard-working people into
-relationship with the church. The influence of such a
-tie would be far-reaching in results.</p>
-
-<p><b>The Makers of Other Luxuries.</b> Another group of
-workers are those who make jewelry; others are
-at work making fancy costumes, special designs in millinery,
-and artificial flowers. In fact, when we take a<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_133">133</a></span>
-census of all of the people who are at work serving
-the demands of this age, which loves the extraordinary
-and insists upon luxuries as a right, you find that there
-are in reality hundreds of thousands of these workers
-who are in every sense of the word serving humanity.
-Whether they are serving in the highest and best way
-is not the question we are discussing. As long as we
-tolerate an age of luxury and draft an army of thousands
-of men, women, and children to help produce these luxuries,
-so long must we consider the needs of the men,
-women, and children so drafted. The church, if its
-appeal is to reach all the groups, must reach all the
-workers who are making possible the abundance of things
-that minister to an age of luxury.</p>
-
-<hr />
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_135">135</a></span></p>
-
-<div class="chapter">
-<h2 class="vspace"><a id="CHAPTER_IX"></a>CHAPTER IX<br />
-
-<span class="subhead"><span class="smcap">The World of Seasonal Labor and the Casual
-Workers</span></span></h2>
-</div>
-
-<p>“Why is it that those who produce food are hungry,
-and that those who make clothes are ragged? Why,
-moreover, is it that those who build palaces are homeless,
-and that those who do the nation’s work are forced to
-choose between beggary, crime, or suicide in a nation
-that has fertile soil enough to feed and clothe the world;
-material enough to build homes to house all peoples, an
-enormous productive capacity through labor-saving machinery
-of forty thousand million man-power; and where
-there are only sixty-five million souls to feed, clothe, and
-shelter?”</p>
-
-<p>The foregoing questions were put into the platform
-and issued by the Industrial Army of 1894 which was
-known as Coxey’s army. That year was one of great
-depression all over the United States. The causes for
-the depression were discussed very widely at the time.
-It was the year following the great World’s Fair in
-Chicago and hundreds of thousands of men were out of
-employment. There was suffering and deprivation in all
-the cities of the United States. Charitable institutions
-were taxed to their limit by the new responsibilities put
-upon them. The idea of having all the unemployed form
-themselves into a great army of peace, and march to<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_136">136</a></span>
-Washington for the purpose of presenting to the President
-and Congress a petition for the right to labor, developed
-in the mind of a man named Coxey who lived at
-Masillon, Ohio. He gathered together the first army
-numbering several thousand men. These men were organized
-into companies, and officers were appointed after
-the fashion of the regular military customs.</p>
-
-<p>Similar armies mobilized in other parts of the country.
-One at Los Angeles, another at San Francisco, one in
-Boston, and one in the Northwest, started towards
-Washington at one time. There were about 10,000 men
-on the march. They were ridiculed, persecuted, and
-feared. When the army that started from San Francisco
-reached Sacramento, it encamped outside the city. On
-Sunday night this curious army marched down into the
-center of the town, halted before the first church it
-came to, then the men filed in and in an orderly fashion
-filled up every pew. The remainder of the army marched
-on to the next church and did the same thing. This was
-repeated until every church in the city was filled to its
-capacity. This was the first and probably the last time
-in the history of that city when church pews were at a
-premium on Sunday night.</p>
-
-<p>The men of this army were harmless for the most
-part. A great many of them were worthless fellows,
-but the vast majority were honest workingmen who had
-been thrown out of employment, and owing to the circumstances
-of the times were unable to find anything
-to do, and, consequently, were in despair. Their plan
-was to go quietly across the country and when they
-arrived in Washington simply to fold their arms and ask
-the government what it was going to do for them. Only<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_137">137</a></span>
-a few of the men of Coxey’s army reached Washington
-and the spectacular scheme failed. It, however, emphasized
-the need of the time and showed up the extreme
-danger in the situation.</p>
-
-<p><b>The Unemployed.</b> The unemployed man presents a
-real problem to society. Carlyle said, “A man willing to
-work, and unable to find work is, perhaps, the saddest
-sight that fortune’s inequality exhibits under the sun.”
-Many well-to-do people living in comfortable circumstances,
-with position and income assured, assert that
-if a man wants work he can always find it, and that the
-only men unemployed are the shiftless and the lazy.
-Right now the war has absorbed all the surplus labor,
-and a condition exists different from any that we have
-previously known in the history of America. Immigration
-has been cut off and the demands for new enterprises
-have called for hundreds of thousands of new
-workers, so that at the present time there is no reason
-why any man should be out of work. In fact, so serious
-has the need for men become that the latest interpretation
-put upon the draft law amounts practically to a
-conscription of labor for all men of draft age.</p>
-
-<p><b>The Banana Boat.</b> A whistle sounded on the Mississippi
-river just below New Orleans early one afternoon
-last summer. It was a dismal, rainy day, and as the long
-screech died away the sound seemed almost prophetic of
-some coming disaster. Soon a huge steamship painted
-drab-gray, with a red diamond upon its smoke-stack,
-nosed its way from out of the mist and crowded in close
-to the pier. Scarcely were the ropes fast when there
-began to appear on the dock men black and white, ragged,
-unkempt fellows who had hurried from the near-by<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_138">138</a></span>
-saloons, poolrooms, and other lounging places. This
-boat was just in from Central America loaded down with
-bananas. Two enormous unloaders were set up alongside
-of the vessel. The machinery of these started and
-an endless belt, which traveled to the bottom of the hold
-and out again, came up loaded with bunches of bananas.
-The fruit was brought down and thrown upon a table.
-Here two men, standing one on either side of the traveling
-belt, would take hold of a bunch of bananas and
-place it upon the shoulders of a third man, who in turn
-carried it off to the waiting freight-car. Fifty men went
-to work almost immediately; twenty an hour later in
-the afternoon; and at nine o’clock that night, under the
-glare of the electric lights, ninety-two men were busily
-engaged in carrying the fruit and storing it in the
-freight-cars.</p>
-
-<p>All night long the men worked at a feverish pace.
-They were organized so that they formed an endless
-chain. The first two continuously placed the fruit upon
-the third man’s shoulder, and he in turn stepped along
-as fast as those ahead of him would allow. When he
-was relieved of his bunch of bananas at the car door by
-two men on the inside who stowed the fruit away, he
-would take his place in the line of men returning for
-more fruit. Round after round this group of men
-passed, until in less than seventeen hours of constant
-work every banana was taken off the boat. When we
-realize that this boat carried nearly ten thousand tons,
-we get some idea of the activity of the workers.</p>
-
-<p>I said to one of the men in the line, “How often do
-you get a job of this kind?”</p>
-
-<p>“That depends,” he replied. “A banana boat comes<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_139">139</a></span>
-in about every three weeks and then I have about two
-days’ work.”</p>
-
-<p>“What do you do between times?” I asked.</p>
-
-<p>“Well, not much of anything. Sometimes one thing,
-sometimes another. Just kind of live along between
-the trips of these boats.”</p>
-
-<p><b>Millinery and Dresses.</b> A little girl in Chicago
-wanted to learn the millinery business. She easily found
-a position. It only paid four dollars a week, but she
-was learning, so she was willing to begin at that price.
-Just before Easter the shop where she worked was
-crowded with orders, and she was forced to work from
-early in the morning until late at night. When Easter
-was over she said, “All I know about making hats is
-how to sew wire together and line frames.” The girls
-in this shop who had been so busy were now thrown
-out of employment. They either had to find other employment
-or else live on what little money had been
-saved during the rush time. “I can never get ahead,”
-said one of the workers in the shop. “Last year I was
-able to make just enough to carry me through the dull
-season.” What is true of the millinery trade is also true
-of some lines of garment trades, especially the makers
-of evening gowns. At one period they are rushed to the
-limit of their endurance: at another there is nothing
-to do. Business demands cannot be regulated perfectly.
-The clerks in the stores at Christmas time must expect
-to do extra work.</p>
-
-<p><b>The Vagabond Workers.</b> One night in Seattle I saw
-a large group of men gathered on a street corner and
-singing at the top of their voices. The strange chorus
-was led by a young fellow who was standing on a soap<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_140">140</a></span>
-box. The song he was teaching was mere doggerel; the
-refrain of it being “Oh, Mr. Block, you take the cake.
-You make me ache.” The leader would pronounce a
-line, then say, “Now, fellow workingmen, all sing and
-sing with all your might. Let us show them what we
-can do.” And the motley crowd shouted out the words
-of the song which told the story of a poor “blanket
-stiff”&mdash;a fellow who has to carry his blankets when he
-goes looking for a job&mdash;who got through work in one
-place, went into an employment agency to ask for a new
-job and was told that if he would put up the money he
-could get the job. He paid two dollars and was sent
-out into the woods. When he got off the train there was
-no job in sight. He came back and made his complaint,
-but nothing could be done because that was the method
-by which the employment agency made its money. He
-then applied to Samuel Gompers of the Federation of
-Labor, but all he got from Gompers was “sympathy.”
-This man’s name was “Block,” and to accentuate the
-significance of the name the leader would hold up his
-hand, stop the crowd from singing, and then tapping
-on his head would say, “What was his name?” and they
-would reply “Block.” “What was it made of?” and
-they shouted “wood.”</p>
-
-<p>It was amusing to listen to this crowd but in the midst
-of the grotesquery of the leader and the raucous howling
-of the song there was a moral quality and a spiritual
-earnestness that even a casual listener could feel. These
-men had just come in from the woods. They were
-laborers who had been lumbering all through the winter,
-and now at the end of the season were thrown on the
-city with nothing to do. The Industrial Workers of the<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_141">141</a></span>
-World, that revolutionary organization that was formed
-in Colorado early in this century, had found a fertile
-soil in the minds of these men and had not been slow
-to sow the seed. I stood with one of the group and
-listened. My friend was an elderly man who had just
-reached the city from the mines in Alaska. In his youth
-he had been a miner in Wales. Said he, “This carries
-me back to the days of my boyhood. The Welsh sang
-as these men do, and the discontent of the miners in
-our district gathered headway under the leadership of
-the local Methodist preacher. The men sang and from
-their singing began an enthusiasm that rolled throughout
-the whole region in a wave of protest against the
-bitter conditions under which we were forced to work.
-We got results. If these men keep on singing, some day
-they are going to make their message heard.” The main
-reason for the I. W. W. and similar organizations is that
-nothing has been done for the laborer who is at the bottom
-of the industrial ladder. He is considered a tramp,
-pushed into the out-of-the-way places, forced to do the
-hardest, most perilous work, and society forgets him.
-He is a bum, a tramp, or hobo. No one has a good
-word for him. Every effort to improve his condition is
-looked upon with disfavor. This little poem expresses
-the feeling of many of these men:</p>
-
-<div class="poem-container">
-<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
-<span class="iq">“The world is housed, and homed, and wived,<br /></span>
-<span class="i2">It takes no note as I pass by.<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Nobody shared in the life I lived,<br /></span>
-<span class="i2">Nobody’ll share in the death I die.<br /></span>
-</div><div class="stanza">
-<span class="iq">“East, west, north, and south I’ve hiked,<br /></span>
-<span class="i2">Seen more things than I’d care to tell;<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Part of the world that I’ve seen I liked&mdash;<br /></span>
-<span class="i2">None of it liked me overwell.<br /></span><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_142">142</a></span>
-</div><div class="stanza">
-<span class="iq">“I cheated once&mdash;or twice&mdash;in my time,<br /></span>
-<span class="i2">But the joy of crime I never could see,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">So I never went the way of crime&mdash;<br /></span>
-<span class="i2">No pull-and-haul with the cops for me.<br /></span>
-</div><div class="stanza">
-<span class="iq">“I never was low like the hobo crew,<br /></span>
-<span class="i2">Though I’ve begged my bread on many a day,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">But I always worked when they asked me to,<br /></span>
-<span class="i2">To pay for a meal or a bed in the hay.”<br /></span>
-</div></div>
-</div>
-
-<p>There has never been any great success in the attempts
-to organize the vagabond workers. The membership
-in the I. W. W. and similar organizations rises or declines
-so rapidly that it is almost impossible to quote any
-figures that are dependable. Professor Parker reported
-the results of a careful study made in California in 1915
-and which showed that there were at that time 4,500
-affiliated members in that state. The membership fluctuates,
-however, because when trouble arises in any industry
-in the West the membership in the I. W. W.
-always doubles or trebles. In one strike in Washington
-the organization claimed membership of 3,000, but there
-were about 7,000 on strike. The organization of these
-workers and the explosive quality of their teachings
-form a real menace to society. The philosophy of the
-I. W. W. is expressed in the words of one of the
-leaders who explained that according to their code there
-is no such thing as right or wrong. He said, “We
-know what people mean when they discuss these questions
-but they have no significance in our lives. The
-only principle that we acknowledge is the principle of
-expediency. It is better not to break windows because
-it will get us into trouble with the authorities, but the
-abstract principle of breaking windows and destroying<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_143">143</a></span>
-property being wrong makes no appeal to us whatever.”
-The man who gave utterance to this statement was formerly
-a Presbyterian minister. He was in charge of a
-church in a steel city and his contact with the workers
-gained for him a clear understanding of the poverty and
-despair that grow out of their conditions. This vision
-and the sight of the people on the other side of the social
-gulf, who were living most recklessly in the midst of
-their luxuries, led him to become one of the leading
-radicals in the labor world. The philosophy of the I. W. W.,
-and the power of this organization are increasing just
-in proportion as we fail to correct the abuses that now
-destroy the lives of men.</p>
-
-<p><b>Causes.</b> In this country we have made little effort to
-prevent the consequences which are certain to follow the
-operation of the law of supply and demand. We have
-acted upon the theory that all we need to do is to allow
-natural law to have a chance for its operation. Individualism
-is praised as being the means of saving the
-worker. The result is that there is a shockingly large
-amount of labor turn-over each year&mdash;that is, each job
-has two or three men working on it. We have presented
-to us also the spectacle of thousands of men who
-form an army of migratory laborers. In one part of
-the United States there will be a labor shortage and in
-another there will be a shortage of work to be done.</p>
-
-<p>If we would know what makes the tramp and the
-vagabond we must become acquainted with some man
-who tramps the highway with his pack on his back. His
-wife and his children were left years ago in some Eastern
-city when he went out West to find a job. The job which
-he secured did not keep him long enough for him to<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_144">144</a></span>
-become a resident or even to feel settled in the community.
-The place in which he slept and lived was a
-bunk-house, dirty, filthy, and filled with vermin; and
-the food he had to eat was of such poor quality and
-so wretchedly cooked that he would not have eaten it
-at all except that he was almost famished and it was all
-that he could get.</p>
-
-<p>The communities in which this wanderer of the road
-finds himself have always been against him. The
-children in the homes are told that if they are not
-good the tramps will get them. He looks upon the law
-as being framed especially to cause him inconvenience,
-and the officers of the law are his special enemies. The
-only places that are open to him are the saloons, the
-low dives, and the cheap rooming house. The work he
-does pays him fairly good wages for a short period;
-but when he is paid off, with the money in his pocket,
-there is nothing for him to do but to get drunk, and
-this he proceeds to do; nor does he sober up until every
-cent is gone. Then he turns to another job if he can
-find one. Of course, if he would save his money and
-try to live a decent life he might be able to get on. But
-as the pastor of a church in southern Washington said:
-“Down in my parish, which is in the woods, I have in
-the winter-time about 1,500 men to look after. They
-are a rough, hard set who have been gathered together
-through the employment agencies in Seattle and Tacoma.
-They believe in nothing and in no one. They are made
-victims of every possible tyranny. All that they have
-is their job, and their roll of blankets. The bunk-houses
-in which they live are so bad that a self-respecting dog
-would not stay in them. The food they eat is absolutely<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_145">145</a></span>
-rotten. They are treated like cattle, with the exception
-that a valuable steer will receive greater protection, for
-it is not as easy to get another good working steer as
-it is to get another hobo to take the place of the worker
-that is lost. When these drifters are paid off the forces
-that ruin men get hold of them immediately, and for
-the next few days they spend their time carousing and
-getting drunk. The lumber companies in our community
-are making money fast, but they are destroying men, and
-scattering dynamite all over the Northwest that threatens
-to explode in a social upheaval that will shake the whole
-western part of the United States.” These are the
-words of a sober-minded Presbyterian pastor and one
-who has no sympathy for dangerous social doctrines. He
-is simply speaking out of his heart and from his experience.</p>
-
-<p>In another district one of the officials of a mining company
-said in his annual report: “This last year was one
-of unprecedented success. We were able to work continuously
-and with little difficulty because we had at all
-times an average of three men available for each job.
-This gave us workers always ready to our hand.” As
-was said before, the war changed this situation very
-largely, and for the time being the old causes which
-operated to increase the number of the unemployed have
-been removed. There is more work than possibly can
-be done, and every worker has his job cut out for him.
-In a letter I have just received the writer says, “The
-war offers the right-minded people of America the greatest
-opportunity in history. We can correct ancient
-wrongs and right old abuses if we will only put our
-minds to this task.” But there are certain considerations<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_146">146</a></span>
-that must be taken into account if we would remove the
-causes which make for unemployment and discontent
-that accompany it. The community’s responsibility for
-the man out of work does not end with securing a job
-for him, nor with the regularizing of industry, nor in
-supporting labor exchanges. We are all creatures of
-circumstances and influenced strongly by our environment.
-Therefore, every community ought to provide
-adequate means for recreation, and decent places where
-men and women can gather under wholesome conditions.</p>
-
-<div id="ip_146" class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;">
-<img src="images/i_146.jpg" width="600" height="381" alt="" />
-<div class="caption">The casual workers are the true servants of humanity.</div></div>
-
-<p><b>A Man and His Job.</b> One of the slogans of the
-French Revolution was “The right to work.” Man has
-a proprietary right in his job and it is the only property
-that most men possess; when he loses it he is losing
-everything. Some years ago the Idaho legislature passed
-a law which guarantees to every citizen resident in the
-state for six months, ninety days public work a year at
-ninety per cent. of the usual wage if married or having
-a dependent, and seventy-five per cent. of the usual wage
-if he is single. Industry has never been organized so as
-to include the best interests of the worker. There are
-hundreds of thousands more workers needed in the good
-years than in the bad years. In every business special
-calls arise for more workers to be used for a few weeks
-or a few days at a time. The reserves of labor necessary
-to meet these seasonal or casual demands can be reduced
-to a minimum, providing that industry is regularized.
-As it is, the individual worker suffers in the
-machine, or system, that he has helped to create. The
-modern plan of organization provides for managers,
-superintendents, foremen, clerks, and skilled men&mdash;all<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_147">147</a></span>
-dependent for their position upon the group of unskilled
-men or semi-skilled workers at the bottom.</p>
-
-<p>It is obvious that we cannot legislate so that lumber
-can be taken out of the forests all the year round, nor
-can the casual workers&mdash;farm laborers, fruit-, and hop-pickers
-and others&mdash;have continual employment. What
-we can do, however, is to mobilize the labor forces of
-the country with the same care and ability that we have
-mobilized our national army. Through a chain of labor
-exchanges extending throughout the whole nation we
-can bring the man and the job together. When the
-lumber employees in the woods of Washington finish
-with their season they could be brought down into California
-to work on the farms and in the fields; and then
-farther down as the fruit ripens, following on straight
-through the state. In the autumn they could be brought
-back again to take their places in the woods.</p>
-
-<p>Another thing that will be required is a changed attitude
-toward the men at work. Just as long as we assume that
-the workers employed at these tasks are worthless, just
-so long will they try to live down to their reputation.
-A Methodist minister in Seattle believed that the average
-“blanket stiff” had enough good in him to respond to
-right treatment. He formed a cooperative company and
-bought up a number of mills in the state. He hired a
-lot of the commonest workers and sent them out to the
-woods to work in these mills. Instead of attempting to
-make a big profit on the labor of the men, he allowed
-the men to share in the management and profits of the
-concern. The result was that when all the other mills
-were having labor troubles he was able to work right
-straight along, and where others failed he made a big<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_148">148</a></span>
-success. The reason was that he faced the issues
-squarely and fairly, and treated the men as he would
-himself like to be treated.</p>
-
-<p><b>Sin and Inefficiency.</b> If every individual was normal
-you could lay the full responsibility upon him and
-feel that when he failed it was perfectly just that he
-should suffer, and we would not need to worry about
-the conditions under which people labor. But sin enters
-in and with depravity comes inefficiency. Business cannot
-be conducted as a benevolent enterprise. A man
-or woman’s wage must be earned by the worker or else
-it cannot be continued. When a man by drink or other
-excesses destroys his efficiency it is impossible for him
-to maintain himself in a position that pays a large wage
-and which offers steady employment; so he drifts into
-the ranks of the casual workers. He is unfit for regular
-work by temperament and habit; but he is willing to
-work for a short time, even though he works extremely
-hard. In dealing with the problem of the casual worker
-then, we have two things to take into account: First,
-we must regularize industry as far as possible, doing
-away with the extraordinary demands for certain periods
-that are always followed by long periods of idleness. In
-the second place, we must in some way lay hold of the
-individual man, and by surrounding him with the best
-influences, make it possible for him to live a life of
-righteousness and sobriety. In other words, we must reduce
-the amount of seasonal work to the minimum and
-increase the efficiency of the worker to the maximum.</p>
-
-<p>We should never lose sight of the fact that personal
-qualities enter in to complicate this question and make
-its solution more difficult. The drunkenness and vice of<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_149">149</a></span>
-the individual man keep him in a position where it is
-almost impossible for him to be helped or for him to
-help himself. The man out of work degenerates. His
-moral fiber is weakened; he becomes susceptible to every
-evil. The process by which many a criminal has been
-made was begun in the hour that the man found himself
-thrown out of employment. Perhaps it was not his
-own fault in the first place, but having once been faced
-with the grim alternative of seeing his family suffer or
-of yielding to some criminal act, he accepted the latter as
-the easiest solution of the problem and a way out of his
-difficulties.</p>
-
-<p>As long as a person is able to provide the necessities
-of life and to keep himself and his family in a fair
-degree of efficiency through the use of an adequate
-amount of food, shelter, and clothing, the chances are
-that he will develop a new and stronger interest in the
-things that have to do with the moral and social side of
-his life. On the other hand, when the means of livelihood
-are taken away, and a man finds himself denied
-the opportunity of work&mdash;which means that the things
-that are necessary to satisfy the most fundamental needs
-of himself and his family cannot be secured&mdash;the moral
-effect on this man, his family, and society can hardly
-be exaggerated. The whole structure of our life is dependent
-upon and presupposes regularity of employment.
-Not only does the fact of being out of a job cut off a
-man’s means of livelihood, but the psychological effect of
-being forced to live without working, taken together
-with the breaking of habits acquired by years of industry,
-puts a severe strain on the standards of morality
-which have been built up by long and painful processes.<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_150">150</a></span>
-The unemployed man may react in one of two ways: he
-will become an anarchist and spend himself in fighting
-the system under whose injustice he suffers, or he will
-give up the struggle and become a drifter upon the tides
-of life, a social outcast.</p>
-
-<p><b>The Jungle.</b> The best thing in Upton Sinclair’s story
-of the conditions in the stock-yards in Chicago is the
-little picture he gives of the man who finally in despair
-gave up the struggle for a living, got on a train, and went
-out as far west as the train would carry him. When he
-left the railroad track he wandered into a field and lay
-down beside a stream. Feeling hungry after a while
-he arose and went to a near-by house and asked for
-something to eat. This was the first time he had ever
-begged but the woman at the door was considerate of
-him and he got his food. Then he returned and lay
-down again in the rich grass and went to sleep. When
-he awoke he took off his clothes and had a bath in the
-creek, then getting out of the water he dressed himself
-and again lay down; put his hands behind his head and
-looked up into the blue sky. All of a sudden it occurred
-to him that he was now getting more out of life than he
-ever had before. He had worked and worried and all
-he ever got was just barely enough to eat. Now he had
-all he wanted to eat, a good place to lie and dream, the
-pure air of heaven fanning his face, the blue sky over
-his head, and no work to do. “Why should a man work,
-anyway? What’s the use?” he said. This philosophy
-made him a tramp.</p>
-
-<p>Unemployment must be recognized as an evil in and
-of itself. For the man out of work meals and lodging
-should be secured. The church has done much in this<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_151">151</a></span>
-regard. The soup-kitchens have been so much an adjunct
-of so many churches that some of our evangelists
-have come to refer to the soup-kitchen type of Christianity
-as being a recognized type. The church knows
-the methods for charity and relief. We must go further
-than this. The church’s program for the casual laborer
-should include the education of the community regarding
-the necessity of regularized industry, bringing it about
-so that, for instance, hats will be made not only when
-hats are needed but ahead of time. And, too, there
-should be public exchanges for employment covering the
-country and a systematized distribution of public work.</p>
-
-<p>The forming of a comprehensive plan for unemployment
-insurance is another step forward. Other countries
-have found this kind of insurance a wise provision. Insurance
-against every form of disaster is common. We
-insure a perfect day for a parade. We insure the ships
-and their cargoes. We insure our lives. Why not
-insure men against the greatest of all disasters that can
-befall them, the loss of their jobs? We need not worry
-about the probability that unemployment insurance is
-likely to take away the initiative of the men. The
-danger of moral deterioration in such a case is much
-less than that which actually grows out of the periods of
-unemployment.</p>
-
-<p>The church is involved in the whole situation. The
-men dependent on their wages for a living find their
-means of livelihood cut off and they naturally turn to the
-church. A year before the war broke out the unemployed
-in several cities marched into the churches and
-demanded help. Some of the churches felt that they
-were being encroached upon. A committee in one church<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_152">152</a></span>
-forced the janitor to sweep the entire building with a
-solution of formaldehyde, for, as the chairman of the
-committee said, “You never know what diseases these
-dreadful people have.” It is undoubtedly true that the
-churches are always expected to do more than it is
-possible for them to do. At the same time the unemployed
-man has the right to feel that if the church is a
-fundamental institution for the salvation of individuals,
-for the remaking of society, and the reconstruction of
-industrial life, it cannot evade the issue nor fail to
-shoulder its responsibility. To open the church as a
-sleeping place and to feed the hungry is not enough.</p>
-
-<p><b>The War and the Future.</b> The world war has
-brought us face to face with a new task. The United
-States and Canada are at present the producing nations
-of the world. The Anti-Loafer laws now being carried
-through are cleaning out the cabarets, the poolrooms,
-the theaters, and other places where idle men congregate.
-It will be years before we are faced with the
-same serious situation that has faced us in the past.
-However, when our huge armies are demobilized and
-“Johnny comes marching home,” there will be a new
-problem which will have to be considered. How can
-these men be fitted back into industrial life without increasing
-the number of unskilled and semi-skilled workers
-to such a degree that we will again be faced with a
-huge army of unemployed?</p>
-
-<p>In periods of unemployment it is the common laborer
-who suffers most. We have failed to realize this. And
-yet he makes a big contribution to all progress. You
-cannot build a bridge without him and, in fact, he is
-used in every enterprise. Because of his lack of skill,<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_153">153</a></span>
-and also because of his too common habits of living, we
-call these men tramps and hobos, and refer to them in
-the mass as common laborers. As a matter of fact no
-man who does any work is a common man. They are
-ignorant for the most part; vicious in many cases; some
-are lazy, drunken, shiftless&mdash;all of these things; but at
-the same time they are the men who are cutting down
-the trees, sawing up the logs, forming them into rafts,
-floating them down the river, and putting them through
-the mills. They are the men who are loading the ships
-at our docks, the men who pick hops and work in the
-harvest fields; pick the fruit and do the thousand other
-things that have to be done when the season is right.
-Besides these, there are the thousands of women who
-are driven at top speed at certain periods of the year
-through the unusual demands of industry, and then are
-thrown out of employment for long periods. Ignorant,
-unknown, friendless, and made the victims of industrial
-conditions over which they have no control, they seem
-of so little importance in the vast system&mdash;as merely the
-lesser cogs in the lesser wheels&mdash;that very few know of
-their existence except when something goes wrong with
-the cogs, and the whole machine is shut down because
-of the break. But without them the machine could not
-run at all.</p>
-
-<p>The casual workers are the true servants of humanity,
-and yet they are the ones that are passed by unnoticed;
-the ones that rarely if ever are influenced by the church.
-They constitute a great army of neglected men and
-women, a challenge to the church, a menace to society,
-and a danger to our commonwealth; and all because
-they are neglected and unknown.</p>
-
-<hr />
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_155">155</a></span></p>
-
-<div class="chapter">
-<h2 class="vspace"><a id="CHAPTER_X"></a>CHAPTER X<br />
-
-<span class="subhead"><span class="smcap">The World of Industrial Women</span></span></h2>
-</div>
-
-<p>Any one who reads history with his eyes open will be
-impressed with the fact that this world has always been
-considered a man’s world. At one period woman was
-denied every right; she was the slave of man. Rome
-and Greece treated her as a child. Medieval ages found
-her working in the fields and supporting large families,
-while her husband and son fought for rights that could
-never be hers. The familiar figure of a woman and an
-ox yoked together and driven by a man well represents
-the spirit of the past. The Hebrew rabbis made many
-proverbs relating to woman’s condition: “When Jehovah
-was angry, he made woman.” “Woman is an afterthought
-of God.” “A man of straw is worth more than
-a woman of gold.” The statement has been made and
-repeated times out of number that woman’s sphere is
-the home. This statement is true, but not unqualifiedly
-so; in fact, home is no more a woman’s place than it is
-a man’s. Home is based upon mutual responsibility,
-consideration, and the willingness to share mutual burdens.
-There is no sense in the old saw, “Woman
-should leave her home but three times&mdash;when she is
-christened, when she is married, and when she is buried.”
-This is on a par with another old proverb: “Woman,<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_156">156</a></span>
-the cat, and the chimney should never leave the house.”
-We have outlived these archaic notions, and to-day, while
-we recognize as never before that home is woman’s true
-sphere, we realize that home is the man’s true sphere
-also.</p>
-
-<p>The home is the foundation-stone of our civilization.
-It is the strength and safety of society. Rome fell when
-her homes were destroyed. Public morals are gaged by
-the morals of the home. In the face of the divorce court,
-with its incessant grind of business, it is time to raise a
-voice of protest against the spirit of careless indifference
-which views the home as a mere boarding-house, and
-“a place to stay away from.” Who is the chief offender,
-man or woman? The woman’s club, the woman’s place
-in politics, woman’s interest in industry and in reform
-have all been cited as being the potent forces at work
-destroying the home. As a matter of fact it is the man
-who is chiefly responsible. The strength, the vigor, and
-the purity of the American home, which show to-day in
-the splendid type of soldiers that are being sent across
-the seas to fight in the battle for democracy, speak
-well for the work of woman. The average man knows
-where he lives, the number of the house, and the name of
-the street on which it stands. He is able to recognize
-his children usually when he meets them. He pays the
-bills and takes a general interest in the appearance and
-up-keep of the establishment; but when it comes to
-bearing his share of the heavy burdens, he is a poor partner
-in the concern. The wife and mother is the home-maker.
-We know how well she has done her part.</p>
-
-<p><b>Woman and Necessity.</b> Women have chosen their
-work because of necessity as well as because of opportunity.<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_157">157</a></span>
-A mother of two boys was left a widow with
-no money. Her people were all poor. If she went back
-home, the added burden would be an injustice to her
-parents and would work hardship upon her brothers and
-sisters. She had too much self-respect to take this
-course. She knew little about business and had no trade,
-but she found work in a store and by hard study at
-night and close application became an expert saleswoman.
-She sent her boys through college. One of
-them to-day is a successful lawyer and has served as
-senator in the state legislature. The other is a practising
-physician in one of the large cities of the Middle West.
-Both of these men are eminently successful. This woman
-contributed more than her share to society and was
-cheerful and happy in her work. In speaking of her
-one of the partners in the firm where she was employed
-said, “There is no person connected with this firm who
-has created such a wholesome atmosphere as she has
-done.”</p>
-
-<p>A little black-eyed boy was arrested in the north end
-of Boston and sent to the reform school. He was eleven
-years old and had become the leader of a gang of boys
-who had been robbing show-windows. His mother was
-a Jewess; his father had deserted her and left three
-children, one just a baby in arms. This woman could
-find nothing to do that would pay her enough to enable
-her to provide actual necessities for her children. The
-baby died and in the distress of the hour the mother appealed
-to a neighbor. She helped her financially and
-found a position for her in one of the millinery shops
-of the city. This woman, in reality a widow, had been
-able to struggle along but was not very capable. She<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_158">158</a></span>
-fought her battle as bravely as she could and was always
-cheerful, but it was almost too much for her to do the
-earning that was necessary. Her little boy, without
-proper guardianship, with no place to play but the
-streets, got into trouble. It was not only because the
-mother was at work and thus unable to train her boy,
-that this new trouble came, but because there is no proper
-and adequate provision made for women left in her
-position.</p>
-
-<p>The woman of the family is always the most overburdened
-member. She has serious responsibilities and
-the heaviest tasks. When she is left with the care of
-children, it is inevitable that she should turn to industry
-for her own and her children’s support. Another group
-of workers are the young girls who go into work for a
-few years until they are married. Still another are the
-young women who feel that there is no reason why
-women should not have the same chance to make a place
-for themselves in the world of industry that is accorded
-to men. We must come to believe in the independence of
-both men and women and grant to each the right to
-choose his or her own place and work in life. A newspaper
-woman in Cincinnati said: “I determined that I
-had qualifications necessary for success as a writer. I
-went to school and studied hard with the intention of becoming
-a reporter. When I received my diploma, I was
-as proud as any member of the class, but not half as
-happy on that day as I was a week later when I received
-my first assignment from the city editor of a paper that
-had employed me ‘on trial.’ I have succeeded and am
-happy in my work.” Why should any one attempt to
-limit this woman in her vocation? She has chosen and<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_159">159</a></span>
-chosen well. She is making her contribution and it is
-just as important as that made by thousands of the best
-men in similar positions.</p>
-
-<p><b>In War Time.</b> Since the war began nearly a million
-and a quarter additional women have been brought
-into the industries of Great Britain. This is an increase
-of nearly forty per cent. of the number employed in July,
-1914. Moreover, the percentage of the increase is rising.
-In France we find the same situation. In the United
-States as the war goes on larger numbers of women are
-taking places as wage-earners. Women are replacing
-men in running elevators in all public buildings, working
-in hotels, as conductors on street-car lines, guards on subway
-trains, ticket sellers, baggage agents, and crossing
-tenders in the railroad service. Thousands more are
-going into the different forms of agricultural work. Besides
-these new pursuits, women are running the lathes
-in the shops and factories, while thousands are employed
-in the making of munitions. Probably it is safe to say
-that for every man who has gone to the front at the present
-time there is a woman in America who is doing the
-man’s work.</p>
-
-<p>A study of the conditions shows that nearly all the
-work done by women in the warring nations is unskilled
-or semi-skilled. There are not very many opportunities
-for advancement and most of the women feel that they
-are simply working in an emergency; hence there is not
-a chance of their becoming efficient as skilled workers.
-The ability of these workers is remarkable, especially
-when we take into consideration the fact that most of
-the women had no training before the war. In the
-working of automatic machines where technical skill is<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_160">160</a></span>
-of less value than carefulness, attention, and dexterity,
-women are much more efficient than men. In a report
-made upon the conditions in the employment of women
-in Great Britain during the war, is this statement concerning
-the efficiency of women: “In regularity, application,
-accuracy, and finish women have proved very satisfactory.”</p>
-
-<p><b>Quality of Work.</b> In the work that women are able
-to do, they learn quickly, more so than the men employed
-in the same places; and they increase the output
-above what was usual with the men workers. The experience
-in the United States in pre-war times proves the
-efficiency of the women workers. The treasury department
-employs women for the detecting of counterfeits in
-paper money. After a bad bill has gone through half
-a dozen banks, and has been subjected to the closest
-scrutiny, and yet has not been detected, these experienced
-women can detect it by its “feel.” According to
-statistics color-blindness is much more prominent in men
-than in women. A noted educator is authority for the
-statement that in the public schools four per cent. of
-all the boys are color-blind, while only one tenth of one
-per cent. of the girls are color-blind. It is now generally
-conceded that the sight is the most intelligent of
-all the senses. The average woman, no matter what she
-undertakes, will work harder to make herself proficient
-than will the average man. One result of so many
-women entering into industry is to raise the grade of employment
-and make the workers more competent. It
-may not seem that this would be the result at first, but
-that rather the reverse would be true. It was the entering
-of women into the ranks of the physicians that<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_161">161</a></span>
-changed the meager ten or eleven months’ course of the
-medical college into the four years’ course that is required
-to-day.</p>
-
-<p>There never has been a time when women were not
-in industry. When the loom left the home, women followed
-it into the factory. More than eight million
-women and girls were employed in gainful occupations
-outside the home in the United States just before the
-war began. This number has been increased, yet it is
-not out of proportion to the number of women in the
-country. It is logical that women should continue in
-industry. A woman must live, and for her living a
-certain amount of money is required. This money must
-be given to her or she must earn it; not only that, but
-the women of to-day will demand the right to do some
-constructive work in the midst of the new conditions
-under which we live.</p>
-
-<p><b>The Field of Women’s Activity.</b> Certain vocations
-are closed to women. All those occupations which demand
-great physical strength belong of right to man.
-The heavy work in the steel-mills, much of the work in
-constructural iron trades, wood-work, bridge-building,
-stone masonry, heavy carpentry, mining, smelting, refining
-minerals, and the heavy work of shoveling and
-lifting are men’s tasks. Many of the trades are also
-closed to women, because in these trades it takes at least
-five years’ apprenticeship before a man is able to earn
-a salary. Women do not care to enter into such a long
-apprenticeship. They will not give five years to non-productive
-work, for the great majority of women have
-not accepted industrial work in preference to married
-life. If the right man comes along, the average woman<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_162">162</a></span>
-would feel that as a home-maker cooperating with her
-husband she could accomplish more than by continuing
-alone as an industrial unit. Of this attitude Miss Alice
-Henry says, “Give her fairer wages, shorten her hours
-of toil, let her have a chance of a good time, of a happy
-girlhood, and an independent, normal woman will be free
-to make a real choice of the best man. She will not be
-tempted to accept passively any man who offers himself,
-just in order to escape from a life of unbearable toil,
-monotony, and deprivation.”<a id="FNanchor_4" href="#Footnote_4" class="fnanchor">4</a></p>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_4" href="#FNanchor_4" class="fnanchor">4</a> Alice Henry, <cite>The Trade Union Woman</cite>.</p></div>
-
-<div id="ip_162" class="figcenter" style="width: 382px;">
-<img src="images/i_162.jpg" width="382" height="600" alt="" />
-<div class="captionl">
-
-<p>Press Illustrating Service.</p></div>
-
-<div class="caption">
-
-<p>In the army of laborers the girl and the woman are drafted as
-well as the boy and the man.</p></div></div>
-
-<p><b>A Woman’s Chances in a Man’s World.</b> Woman is
-an organic part of society. This means that she is a
-part of every one of the organizations that enter into
-modern society. She has always had a part in literature.
-Julia Ward Howe in writing the “Battle Hymn of the
-Republic,” contributed not only to our wealth of song,
-but made a direct contribution toward the winning of the
-freedom of the slaves. Harriet Beecher Stowe also gave
-her remarkable aid to the same cause. George Eliot
-was one of the great novelists. In the field of reform
-Frances E. Willard takes first place. Maud Ballington
-Booth, the “little mother” of thousands of prisoners,
-is making a new world for the men into which they
-may enter when they leave the penitentiary door. It is
-the Pilgrim mothers rather than the Pilgrim fathers
-who ought to be given the credit for New England’s contribution
-to national history. All other attempts to colonize
-failed because the adventurers in their quest for
-gold and fortunes did not bring their women with them.
-Anna the prophetess of old in the temple and Susan B.
-Anthony in the suffrage cause each represent an age and<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_163">163</a></span>
-an enthusiasm and an ability to persist until results are
-achieved.</p>
-
-<p>Now we have a new situation. Many people view
-with concern the increasing numbers of women that are
-employed in gainful occupations in the United States
-and Canada at the present time. The employment of
-women presents not one question but many. The problem
-that is familiar to nearly all housekeepers&mdash;that of
-securing domestic service&mdash;presses upon our attention the
-number of women employed in this kind of work. Domestic
-service engages the largest number of women
-outside of the home. Women are now doing everything
-that men have done, and in most cases are doing the
-work just as well, while in many occupations they show
-an efficiency that men have never achieved. Charles
-Kingsley’s phrase, “For men must work and women must
-weep,” did very well in that age, but under the economic
-conditions under which we are living to-day, the contrast
-he makes is absolutely inappropriate. The question of
-work and workers has been settled. In the army of laborers
-the girl and the woman are drafted as well as the boy
-and man.</p>
-
-<p>Before the great war began there was in the United
-States about one woman worker for every five men.
-This number has been greatly increased. Of the three
-hundred specific occupations the census of 1900 enumerated
-there were only two occupations in which women
-were not engaged in some capacity. The census of 1910
-gives a larger number of occupations, and not one in
-which women are not employed. Women are on the
-street-car lines and are line women and telegraphers,
-riveters, blacksmiths, steam-boiler makers, brass workers,<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_164">164</a></span>
-and foundry workers. In fact, no work seems too hard
-or too heavy for some woman to make a success of it.
-From the time of the invention of the cotton-gin, which
-brought more women into the world of industry than
-any other one machine, to the present day we have the
-story of women and men gaining larger visions, receiving
-better wages, and together making the world a more
-habitable place for us all.</p>
-
-<p><b>Justice to Women Workers.</b> It would be impossible
-for us to manage business as we do to-day without the
-efficient help of secretaries, stenographers, telegraph-operators,
-and other office assistants, nearly all of whom
-are women. The question arises as to what treatment a
-woman should receive. For some reason, when a woman
-does a piece of work, no matter how well it is done, or
-howsoever efficient she becomes, we have a feeling that
-she should receive less pay for the same work than a
-man would receive. There are many reasons why women
-are suffering from this injustice. One arises from the
-conditions which bring a large number of women into
-industry.</p>
-
-<p>A number of salesgirls, some stenographers, and a
-great many helpers in different industrial firms live at
-home and work for what is known as pin-money. They
-are not primarily dependent upon their wage. The
-money comes in handy and they can use it to good advantage.
-They are not forced to work, hence, they can
-and will accept a lower wage than if they were absolutely
-dependent upon what they earn. “I receive $3.50
-a week for clerking in this store,” said a bright girl in
-Chicago, “and I don’t take anything from the floor-walkers.
-Whenever they try to order me around, they<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_165">165</a></span>
-have got another guess coming. I don’t have to work,
-and I let them know it. They are mighty lucky to get
-me.” This was all right for this girl, but the fact that
-she was situated so that a salary of $3.50 a week satisfied
-her made it possible for the firm to set that as a
-standard wage, and other girls who did have to take
-bossing from the floor-walkers, and were dependent upon
-their wages, were forced to accept what the firm offered.
-A friend of mine who has an interest in a dry-goods
-store holds that the average girl is not worth more than
-$6 a week because she works simply to tide her over a
-few years until she gets married. He said, “I cannot
-afford to pay more than $6 because my competitors pay
-this same rate to their clerks; and if I am going to sell
-goods I have to take into consideration the conditions
-in the trade.”</p>
-
-<p>Another thing that enters into the situation is the fact
-that women workers have never been as well organized
-as men. The points upon which the trade-union movement
-concentrates are the raising of wages, the shortening
-of hours, the diminution of seasonal work, the regulation
-of piece-work (with its resultant speeding up), the
-maintaining of sanitary conditions, the guarding of unsafe
-machinery, the making of laws against child labor
-which can be enforced, the abolition of taxes for power
-and for working materials (such as thread and needles),
-and of unfair fines for petty or unproved offenses. Miss
-Henry tells of a case in a non-union trade which suggests
-the reasons which make organization a necessity.
-“Twenty-one years ago in the bag and hemp factories of
-St. Louis, girl experts turned out 460 yards of material
-in a twelve-hour day, the pay being 24 cents per bolt,<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_166">166</a></span>
-measuring from 60 to 66 yards. These girls earned
-$1.84 per day. Four years ago a girl could not hold her
-job under 1,000 yards in a ten-hour day. The fastest
-possible worker can turn out only 1,200 yards, and the
-price has dropped to 15 cents a hundred yards. The old
-rate of 24 cents per bolt used to net $1.80 to a very quick
-worker. The new rate to one equally competent is but
-$1.50.</p>
-
-<p>“The workers have to fill a shuttle every minute and
-a half or two minutes. This necessitates the strain of
-constant vigilance, as the breaking of the thread causes
-unevenness, and for this mishap operators are laid off
-for two or three days. The operators are at such a
-tension that they not only stand all day, but may not
-even bend their knees. The air is thick with lint which
-the workers inhale. The throat and eyes are terribly
-affected, and it is necessary to work with the head bound
-up, and to comb the lint from the eyebrows. The proprietors
-have to retain a physician to attend the workers
-every morning, and medicine is supplied free, as an
-accepted need for every one so engaged. One year is
-spent in learning the trade; and the girls last at it only
-from three to four years afterward. Some of them
-enter marriage, but many of them are thrown on the
-human waste-heap. One company employs nearly 1,000
-women, so that a large number are affected by these
-vile, inhuman conditions. The girls in the trade are
-mostly Slovaks, Poles, and Bohemians, who have not
-been long in America. In their inexperience they count
-$1.50 as good wages, although gained at ever so great a
-physical cost.”<a id="FNanchor_5" href="#Footnote_5" class="fnanchor">5</a> These wretched conditions are not uncommon.<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_167">167</a></span>
-Thousands of women who are forced to earn
-their living and are contributing their full share toward
-making America the great commercial power she is to-day
-are laboring under just such injustice.</p>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_5" href="#FNanchor_5" class="fnanchor">5</a> Alice Henry, <cite>The Trade Union Woman</cite>.</p></div>
-
-<p><b>Women and Unions.</b> Most of the union leaders
-have viewed with alarm the increasing number of women
-that are being drafted into industry each year. The
-reasons for this are clear to all who know the history of
-trade unionism and know how the workmen greet the
-coming into industry of any new group of available
-workers. The war has made labor conditions chaotic;
-and the shortage in certain lines has given opportunity
-for the employers to substitute women for men, because
-women for the most part are economically defenseless
-and, therefore, can be secured for a lower wage than
-men. Women are more easily exploited than men because
-they have not been so long in the industrial struggle
-with its keen competition. They are less able to
-appreciate the value of cooperation for mutual protection.
-One union leader said, “I look upon the large
-number of women who are being drafted into industry
-as a real menace to the women themselves, to society,
-and to labor.” The situation presents itself something
-like this: Organized labor has a very close relation in
-its feeling to all labor and to all the different groups of
-workingmen organized and unorganized; and it regards
-an injustice to an unorganized worker as being
-indirectly an injustice to itself. The reason for this
-sympathy is of course primarily selfish, for the union
-man knows that if his fellow laborers in another
-trade are unprotected, and an injustice is practised
-upon them, it will be only a short time until the<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_168">168</a></span>
-same thing will be attempted upon the organized
-worker. If women go into competition with men under
-present conditions they will be employed rather than
-men because they can be secured for a lower wage. Look,
-for instance, at some of the cotton-mills in the South,
-where the whole family, father, mother, and two or three
-children all work, and the total wage of the family group
-amounts to just about what is considered a living wage.</p>
-
-<p>The attitude of organized labor toward women workers
-is about the same as its attitude toward cheap foreign
-labor, and the reason for the feeling is due wholly
-to the fear that the women brought into the industry
-will lower wages and bring down the standard of living
-of the entire group. The attitude is dictated as a defense
-measure in behalf of the standard of living for all. The
-attitude of union labor is indefensible except as a measure
-of self-defense. It should be said, however, that
-union labor is not a unit in this attitude. There are a
-large number of broad-minded men in the ranks of the
-organized workers who recognize present conditions,
-and see that it is inevitable that larger numbers of
-women shall be employed in gainful occupations in
-the future. Instead of putting up the bars and attempting
-to keep women out, those who have given the matter
-most thought are putting forth their efforts to organize
-the workers. The Women’s National Trade
-Union League, of which Mrs. Raymond Robbins is the
-president, has rendered great service for the women
-workers of the nation. Legislation has been secured and
-minimum wages established in some places. But best
-of all this movement has been teaching the women workers
-the necessity of organization in order that they and<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_169">169</a></span>
-other women may be protected, and that the women
-drafted into industry may not become a menace to the
-American standard of living which has been built up at
-such great pains and through such toilsome efforts.
-This league voices the protest of American working
-women against the notoriously bad conditions surrounding
-the work of women and children.</p>
-
-<p>Women have always been taken into some of the men’s
-unions, but the growth of certain trades&mdash;such as glove-making,
-coat- and suit-making, shirt, collar, and shirt-waist
-manufacturing&mdash;employing women almost exclusively
-made such cooperation impossible. These trades
-were organized after much effort on the part of the leaders
-of the Women’s National Trade Union League.
-This organization has conducted several strikes in big
-cities in the last ten years, and in nearly every case has
-won. Girls strike just as hard as men. They have
-more persistence; are more willing to sacrifice and suffer
-and generally show more intelligence in conducting
-their affairs. They make good pickets and because of
-their aggressive, earnest work are successful. Their resources
-are not so great and when they are out of work
-they have more difficulty in getting temporary jobs.
-Another important feature of their problems is that the
-supply of non-union workers to take their places is
-almost unlimited.</p>
-
-<p><b>Women and the Church.</b> Women in all the Christian
-ages have recognized the church as their friend and
-in appreciation of what it has done they have worked
-unceasingly for its success. There is a big task before
-the church in behalf of women, and especially in the
-interests of the women laborers in industry. There is<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_170">170</a></span>
-the opportunity for the church groups to influence the
-individual employer to improve conditions pending regulation
-by the community. In addition to the question of
-wages and hours the demands of the churches must involve
-the abolition of the speeding-up process by which,
-under the piece-work system, the amount of work required
-for a specified task is constantly increased. The
-fastest worker is used as the pace-maker, so that the
-wage of the slower worker continually drops, and the
-amount of work done by the fastest workers continually
-increases. The law may specify a minimum
-wage, but it cannot specify the amount of work to be
-done in each particular trade.</p>
-
-<p>Here is where the church groups must cooperate with
-the working women themselves, and must assist them to
-secure some voice in determining the conditions under
-which they shall work. Legislation alone can never
-achieve the standards now demanded in common by
-the church and social workers; nor can they be realized
-by the benevolence of employers. If the health and
-morals of the community are not to suffer from the
-employment of women in industry, it can be accomplished
-only by the cooperation of working women to this end.
-The church must educate its community to think in
-terms of the greatest good to the greatest number. And
-this means that we must come to realize more than ever
-that the strength of the childhood of the nation is dependent
-upon the home; and that the strength of the
-home is dependent upon the physical, intellectual, and
-moral welfare of the women of the nation. It is possible
-for the church to accomplish much by arousing
-purchasers to the necessity of using their conscience in<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_171">171</a></span>
-their shopping. Local white-lists of stores and factories
-which meet the Consumers’ League conditions can be
-made by representative groups. The Consumers’ League
-label and the labels of the organizations affiliated in the
-Women’s Trade Union League should be demanded.
-They will protect the conscience of the buyer and assure
-him that his comfort is not being secured at the
-cost of strain upon the health and morals of the women
-of his city or nation. It is for the churches to make
-this fight for the working women a community issue.
-It is a religious issue, and the pulpit may help to realize
-these religious values in the lives of the working women.</p>
-
-<p>When we pray “God save the people,” it would be
-well for us to use our heads in our prayers, and to remember
-that the people will perish if we do not protect
-the womanhood which is the foundation of the home.
-God cannot save the people if we destroy the mothers
-of men.</p>
-
-<hr />
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_173">173</a></span></p>
-
-<div class="chapter">
-<h2 class="vspace"><a id="CHAPTER_XI"></a>CHAPTER XI<br />
-
-<span class="subhead"><span class="smcap">The World of the Child Workers</span></span></h2>
-</div>
-
-<p>“No, we can’t go to school, much as we’d like to.
-You see, school holds only a few weeks each year and
-we have to help with the tobacco.”</p>
-
-<p>This was the reply of a twelve-year-old girl to a question
-regarding her school work. She also informed the
-visitor that helping with the tobacco meant doing everything
-that was necessary to be done from the time the
-plants are set out until the leaves are finally cured. While
-the conversation was going on, this girl’s eight-year-old
-sister came out of the barn, and the visitor said:</p>
-
-<p>“Do you help with the tobacco, too?”</p>
-
-<p>“Yep,” was her reply, “I jest now been out wormin’
-it.”</p>
-
-<p>When asked what she meant by that she was utterly
-amazed that any one could be so ignorant as not to know
-that tobacco had to be wormed. To display her efficiency,
-she showed a tomato-can nearly full of worms that she
-had just brought in from the tobacco-field. To prove the
-quality of her catch, she held up a nice fat one and even
-offered to let the visitor take it if he so desired.</p>
-
-<p>The Burley tobacco is made into plugs for chewing
-and is used in pipes. It is grown very extensively in
-central Kentucky. It was on one of these tobacco farms
-that this conversation took place. The worm that infests<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_174">174</a></span>
-the plant looks like a caterpillar with a smooth
-skin. A small boy described it as a “bald-headed caterpillar.”
-It has huge eyes and is twice the size of the
-woolly caterpillar. These creatures crawl all over the
-plants, and, because of their size and their voracious
-appetite, unless they are closely looked after, soon destroy
-all the leaves. The plants cannot be sprayed with
-poison for obvious reasons. The only prevention is to
-have the worms picked off by hand. This work falls to
-the lot of the boys and girls in the district. It is not a
-very congenial task, and it is hard work for the children
-stooping and raising the leaves as they toil all day in
-the burning sun. The little girls wore their sunbonnets
-tied under their chins but pushed back on their necks.
-They were barefooted and carried a tin can in one hand
-to hold the worms. They followed down each row peering
-under the leaves and picking off the worms.
-“Wormin’ time” came just at the period when they
-ought to have been in school, but the tobacco had to be
-saved.</p>
-
-<p><b>The Beet-Fields.</b> There is a settlement of Russians
-near Billings, Montana. The fathers, mothers, and all
-the children work in the beet-fields. The work commences
-early in the spring when the beets have to be
-thinned out. Apparently no child is too young to pull
-beets. I saw boys in the beet-fields hoeing and the hoe-handle
-was almost as big as their little bare legs. When
-the crop is ready to harvest, the dirt is loosened about
-the beets and then they are pulled out by hand. The
-dirt is knocked off the roots and they are thrown to one
-side so that when a row of beets has been pulled they
-look like hay in a windrow. This work is heavy and<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_175">175</a></span>
-hard, for a beet will average from seven to eight pounds,
-and by the time a person has lifted them all day long
-from five in the morning to seven at night, he has lifted
-several tons. After the beets are laid in rows they have
-to be topped with a strong, broad-bladed knife with a
-hook at the end. The beet is held against the knee of
-the worker, and with one stroke of the knife the top is
-severed from the root. In the beet-fields the beauties
-of nature are reduced to a dull round of production.
-According to a report made by the National Labor Committee
-there are five thousand children working in the
-beet-fields. “Money and not children is evidently the
-chief concern of these families” is the testimony given in
-the report made by Miss Ruth McIntire. She says:
-“An eleven-year-old girl was found, who with her sister
-aged seven, was kept out of school to work in the beet-field,
-although her family boasted that they had made
-ten thousand dollars last year from their farm. A certain
-parent declared to a school principal that his boy
-was worth $1,000 for work during the beet season. If
-he went to school he was nothing but an expense.”<a id="FNanchor_6" href="#Footnote_6" class="fnanchor">6</a></p>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_6" href="#FNanchor_6" class="fnanchor">6</a> “Children in Agriculture,” by Ruth McIntire, a pamphlet
-published by the National Child Labor Committee.</p></div>
-
-<p><b>Mills, Factories, and Workshops.</b> With the development
-of the cotton-mill there was opened up a wide field
-for the exploitation of childhood. The spools full of
-thread have to be put on the machine and the empty
-spools removed. Boys and girls of six and eight years
-can do this work even better than a grown man or
-woman. One worker in a mill can take care of several
-machines, and if there is a child to care for the spools the
-machines can be run very economically, and the profits<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_176">176</a></span>
-will be large. Children are used in works and on the
-breakers in the coal-mines. In one of the silver-mills
-in the Cœur d’Alene mining district boys stand on the
-platform alongside the incline down which the ore rushes
-in a ceaseless stream going into the breakers. As it
-passes down their quick eyes detect the rocks, and especially
-the hard round stones that get mixed up with ore.
-These they pick out and throw to one side. This is a
-boy’s job. He can do it better than a man. Thus all
-modern processes of industry seem to be at work to
-make easy the utilization of the immature and the unskilled.</p>
-
-<p><b>Why Child Labor.</b> Because the machine produces so
-much it is possible to pay the child worker a wage that
-seems large in comparison to what a man would receive.
-The father of a boy who worked in one of the
-cotton-mills said, “I can make a dollar and seventy-five
-cents a day; but my nine-year-old kid makes anywhere
-from eighty cents to one dollar a day.” The quick returns
-from child labor appeal to the selfishness of the
-manufacturer as well as to the greed of the father and
-mother. It is not good business to have a man do anything
-that a machine can do; nor is it good business to
-put a man to work on a job that a boy can do just as well
-as a man. This is the dictate of business. Children are
-an expense, and with the increased cost of living there is
-always a temptation to utilize the children in the family
-as economic assets. “I have three children,” said a
-father in an Indiana town, “and all of them are working.
-We are about as happy a family as you want to
-find anywhere. Every month we are able to put a tidy
-sum in the savings-bank. Every member of the family<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_177">177</a></span>
-is doing his or her full share. But now on the other
-hand, my brother has four children and not one of them
-is earning a cent. The oldest girl had to have a college
-education and that is just a drain on the family. Poor
-George has never known a moment’s ease or peace all
-of his life, what with an extravagant wife and four children
-eating their heads off!”</p>
-
-<p>“Children are a blessing from the Lord,” says an old
-writer. But the modern interpretation is that they are
-industrial units that can be utilized to advantage. Another
-reason for child labor, however, is found in the
-stress of poverty. Here is the story told by another
-father: “I love my children just as much as anybody
-in the city and I would like to see them have a good time.
-Joe is selling papers on the street, May working as cash-girl
-in a dry-goods store, Frankie clerking in a five-and-ten-cent
-store, and William working in a pencil factory&mdash;but
-not just because I do not care to provide for them.
-You see it is this way. My folks were poor and there
-were nine of us children. When I was eight years old
-I had to go to work. To begin with I got good wages
-for a boy, and until I was eighteen or nineteen years
-old I got along all right. Just about that time other
-fellows came in that had more than twelve dollars a
-week. I began at six dollars. Now I am nearly fifty,
-and am already considered an old man, and I am getting
-forty dollars a month. How can I support my children
-and give them an education such as they ought to have?”
-This indicates the vicious circle that is formed between
-poverty and childhood. Poverty forces children into industry.
-They help out for the time being but it is not
-very long before they have used up all their initiative,<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_178">178</a></span>
-and have gone just as far as they can go; and as they
-grow older their wages are reduced, and in turn their
-children have to go into the mills to help them out.</p>
-
-<p><b>Poverty and the Cost of Living.</b> Poverty is the chief
-enemy of humanity. It is the parent of nearly all of our
-ills. This is the demon that drives bad bargains. For
-the present the high wages that are being paid for labor
-everywhere has done away with a great deal of poverty;
-but even yet wages have not been advanced in
-proportion to the increased cost of living. Last fall in
-Scranton a gentleman whom I met was bitterly complaining
-of the high price of coal. “If it is so high now
-what in the world will the poor people of the city do
-when the cold weather really comes?” Scranton is built
-on the largest anthracite coal deposit in the world. It
-is said that in some places the vein is seventy-five feet
-thick. It is estimated that at the present rate of production
-the supply will last for one hundred years. If,
-therefore, the poor people of Scranton suffer for lack
-of coal what about the people in other places? We
-learned last winter how essential coal is to the life of the
-people. Combinations all tend to keep the prices high;
-our foodstuffs, our fuel, our clothes are high, not because
-of the law of supply and demand, for we have
-learned how to circumvent that law, but we are all
-“jobbed by the jobbers.”</p>
-
-<p>Cold storage enables vast quantities of goods to be
-brought together and kept for a rise in the market.
-James E. Wetz, the so-called egg-king of Chicago, boasted
-early last winter that he had six million dozen eggs in
-storage, and in defiance of the Federal Prosecutor said,
-“All the investigation, legislative or otherwise, will not<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_179">179</a></span>
-bring the price of eggs down this year. This is a broker’s
-year and as for me I am going to sit tight, watch the
-prices climb up, and the public can pay. Nobody can
-do anything to me.” In the French Revolution the queen
-appealed to one of the superintendents of finance and
-urged him to bring about a change, for the people were
-starving. He was obdurate, however, and in despair she
-said to him, “What will the people eat?” The contemptuous
-statement of the French official was, “Let
-the people eat grass.” With the increased cost of living,
-and the manipulation of the market so as to keep prices
-always above a certain level, the present rise in wages is
-not as great as under ordinary circumstances. As long
-as there is poverty there will always be a strong incentive
-for the piratical industrial agent and the greedy conscienceless
-father to join hands in exploiting childhood.</p>
-
-<p><b>Effect of Child Labor.</b> The children of the nations
-at war have been called the second line of national defense.
-The men in the front line are the soldiers and the
-children growing up will take their places. If the childhood
-of the nations at war is destroyed, there is no
-chance for men to take the places of the ones who fall at
-the front. It is perfectly clear then that in times of war
-the nations are dependent upon the growing boys. If,
-however, the children in times of war form the second
-line of defense, in times of peace they form the first
-line of defense. The future of a nation is in the hands
-of the boys and girls of the present generation. They
-are the men and women that will take the places of the
-business men, the workers in the factories and workshops,
-and the tillers of the soil. They must become the
-future people who will be responsible for transportation,<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_180">180</a></span>
-producers of the raw materials of civilization, and those
-who with cunning hands and ingenious brains work these
-raw materials into finished fabrics that go to make up the
-wonders of civilization and of the age. We are robbing
-the nation when we set children to work and make producers
-out of them.</p>
-
-<p><b>Physical Evils.</b> The effects of child labor are so bad
-and so well known that there is no need of entering into
-a formal discussion of the question. I taught a class of
-boys in a settlement in Chicago some years ago. One
-of the little fellows had hands that were as black as a
-Negro’s, and he always held his hand in a certain position.
-One night after class I asked him to wait for a
-few minutes. I said, “Just a minute, Fred. I notice
-that you always hold your hand in a peculiar way.”
-“Gee, it is the only way I can hold it,” he replied. Then
-he showed me that his fingers were all pressed out of
-shape and that the black stain was ink that had been
-ground into his hand and into his very flesh. This boy
-looked to be about twelve years old but he was nearly
-nineteen. For almost nine years he had been working in
-a box factory. His job was to stencil the ends of boxes.
-He would lay the stencil on the wooden end of the boxes,
-then hold a brush resembling a shaving brush in his hand
-and this he would dip into the pot of black and rub it
-across the stencil. This constant work for ten hours a
-day for nine years had blackened his hands so that they
-would never be white again; and the constant pressure
-from the brush had deformed his right hand so that it
-was good for nothing else than to hold a stencil brush.</p>
-
-<p>Nearly all the unemployable men who gather in our
-cities, who sleep on the park benches in good weather,<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_181">181</a></span>
-eat wherever they can, and in cold weather fill up the
-municipal lodging houses or sleep upon the floors of the
-police stations, are physically unfit because they were
-forced to go to work at too early an age. The number
-of these men who are the victims of child labor is remarkable.
-A student of social conditions, who made
-a study of the problem of unemployment in this country
-in the winter of 1913–14 said, “We are coming to see
-the rank folly of putting children in at one end of the
-industrial hopper, grinding them up, and taking inefficient,
-no-account men out at the other end. We have
-thousands of children in the country doing work that
-they ought not to do, and hundreds of thousands of men
-who can get nothing to do. We are not only faced with
-the problem to-day, but we are projecting the problem
-into to-morrow.”</p>
-
-<p>An accurate study of the life of the cotton-mill
-operators shows that the death-rate is so high that the
-inference is justified that work in the mill has an unfortunate
-influence upon those who follow it. Approximately
-half of the deaths of the operatives between fifteen
-and forty-five years of age are due to tuberculosis.
-Some years ago a book was published in defense of
-child labor in the South. The contention was that the
-workers in the cotton-mill were the most healthful of
-any people in the community. A report made by the
-United States government on the conditions in the mills
-shows that beyond any doubt the mill is a hazardous
-place for an adult, to say nothing of the child. In Massachusetts,
-according to reports quoted by Florence I.
-Taylor of the National Committee on Child Labor, it
-was found that the average fourteen-year-old mill boy<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_182">182</a></span>
-was decidedly below standard in weight and height;
-and that the sixteen-year-old boys did not show a normal
-gain in height over the fifteen-year-old boys, and
-actually decreased two and a half pounds in average
-weight. “It was evident from the physical examination
-alone,” said the report, “that there were boys whose interests
-from the point of view of physical welfare called
-for further attention after being permitted to go to work,
-whatever the work for which an employment certificate
-might be issued.”</p>
-
-<p>In the printing trades, in the paint shops, in glass
-works, in coal-mines, in fact, in every place where children
-are employed, we find the physical effects all bad.
-The undeveloped boy or girl is more susceptible to diseases
-that are inherent in the several businesses themselves.
-For instance, lead attacks a child worker more
-quickly than it would an adult. The fumes inhaled and
-the substances breathed in affect the child, and owing to
-the demands put upon his physical strength by his growing
-body it is difficult for nature to throw off the bad
-effects of these poisons.</p>
-
-<p><b>Child Labor and Education.</b> Another evil is the loss
-of educational opportunities. “There is plenty of time
-for the children to go to school,” is a common saying
-among fathers and mothers. “I will send Mary to school
-next year,” said a farmer in Oklahoma. “She wants to
-go on with her class. I cannot see that it makes any
-great difference whether she gets her learning this year
-or next.” Mary was fourteen years old and we have no
-record of Mary’s career, but it is quite probable that she
-never got a chance to go back to school. The school
-promised to boys and girls who are being used in gainful<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_183">183</a></span>
-occupations is like the promise that St. Patrick made to
-the snakes in Ireland after he had put them all into a
-box. He promised that he would let them out to-morrow,
-but to-morrow never came, according to the old Irish
-legend.</p>
-
-<p>A returning visitor from Russia tells us that the cause
-of Russia’s collapse is to be found in the ignorance of
-the people. Only one per cent. of the people are able to
-read and write. In the midst of this dense ignorance
-the peasant groups believe everything and nothing; are
-easily influenced by anything no matter how unsubstantial,
-passionate, cruel, brutish. No wonder that Russia
-presents one of the most pitiable spectacles of any nation
-in the world’s history. There is serious danger that in
-America we will produce a rural peasantry that is ignorant,
-and if such should be the case, there will grow up
-with this ignorance a narrow-minded prejudice against
-everything that we think is worth while in life. Education
-is the hope of this nation as well as that of every
-other nation.</p>
-
-<p><b>What of Disposition and Character?</b> Child labor has
-a bad effect on the disposition. It crushes initiative
-from the group, and while it will develop a type of
-leadership in the future, the leadership is not that of free,
-broad-minded Americans, but is self-assertive cheap,
-tricky, and clannishly shrewd. For instance, I was told
-that the children attending school in an Arkansas city
-who came from the mill district were the leaders in all the
-sports. I asked some of the boys about this, and named
-to them several who I had been told were leaders. The
-reply was that these fellows were not leaders but were
-bullies. “No matter what we play, they want to run<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_184">184</a></span>
-everything, and if we do not do what they want us to do,
-we have a fuss.” The struggle in the mill and the bearing
-of responsibilities had led the mill boys to rely upon themselves.
-They knew that they could never get anything
-unless they got it for themselves and by the most direct
-and brutal means. In an age when a new emphasis is
-being put upon cooperation any power that warps the
-disposition and creates wrong ideals is a real menace.</p>
-
-<p><b>Robbers of Childhood.</b> “Ketch,” cried a small lad
-as he turned with the ball in his hand just as he was
-entering the mill door at the end of the thirty minute noon
-period of freedom. The boy to whom he had called, and
-who had been playing ball with him during this period
-raised his hands preparatory to catching the ball. Then
-he dropped them to his side and said, “Naw, don’t
-throw it, else we’ll get fined for not comin’ in on time
-after the whistle blew.” No time for play! Thirty minutes
-for lunch and out of that thirty minutes these boys
-had taken as much as possible for a game of ball. By
-night they would be so tired that there would be no inclination
-to play. They would stand around and talk
-a little, or sit on the front porch for an hour after supper,
-and then crawl into bed and sleep until aroused by
-the whistle of the factory early in the morning. This was
-the life of these children. The only period in their lives
-when they might have been free was taken away from
-them and they were made to work in the mills of industry,
-grinding out the raw materials of civilization
-which go into the very foundation of our society, and
-grinding out at the same time the joy of life and the
-possibilities of ever being able to gain the best that
-life holds in store for them.</p>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_185">185</a></span>
-<b>A National Evil.</b> East, west, north, and south we
-have been robbing children on every hand. California
-canners deplore the conditions among the child workers
-in Massachusetts. In Massachusetts those who employ
-children find excuses for themselves in the laws of the
-state, and in the traditions of New England, but they
-have no good thing to say about conditions in the mills
-of the South. In the South it is easy to find men who are
-responsible for the children working who see nothing
-but good evolution of the family from bad rural conditions
-to a condition of comparative opulence in their
-mill cities, but who can see nothing good in the child
-labor as it is found in the coal-mines in Pennsylvania and
-the beet-fields of the Northwest. In Montana and
-Nebraska the farmer everywhere will tell you that
-“Nothing is so good for a child as to work in the beet-fields.
-It makes a man of him quicker than anything
-else.”</p>
-
-<p><b>The Unfinished Task.</b> When the Federal Child Labor
-Law was passed which prohibited the shipping of any
-goods in interstate commerce that had been manufactured
-by child labor, a great many people foolishly
-thought that the last trench was taken and the final victory
-won in behalf of the children. Now that this law
-has been declared unconstitutional we will have to begin
-the fight for its reenactment in terms that will be in
-accord with the constitution of the United States. This
-law was a great advance over anything we have ever
-had before. While it held, it released thousands of children
-from toil, but there were still employed in small
-towns, in villages, and in the rural communities boys and
-girls in domestic service, as bootblacks, as newsboys, as<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_186">186</a></span>
-messenger boys, and at work in stores and local shops.
-According to the last census in the United States, 1,990,225
-children under fifteen years of age are at work at
-some gainful occupation and 895,976 of these children
-are thirteen or under. Advanced legislation has been
-taken in most of the states, but as the standards of such
-legislation rise in the different states it becomes clear
-that with the reenactment of the child labor law further
-steps must be taken for the protection of children against
-exploitation. For instance, the child labor law can be
-administered effectively and for the best good of the
-child only in connection with compulsory education laws.
-It is futile, and dangerous as well, to take the children
-out of the mills and leave them in idleness upon the
-streets. Higher and better health standards must be
-raised and safeguards thrown about the home and school
-life of the children. Owen Lovejoy says, “The physical
-development of children securing employment is quite as
-important as their age.”</p>
-
-<div id="ip_186" class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;">
-<img src="images/i_186.jpg" width="600" height="373" alt="" />
-<div class="captionl">
-
-<p>Photo from National Child Labor Committee.</p></div>
-
-<div class="caption">
-
-<p>We have thousands of children in America doing work which they ought not to do.</p></div></div>
-
-<p><b>The War and Childhood.</b> The war has put a new
-emphasis upon the value of children as industrial assets,
-and many states attempted to rescind the laws protecting
-children so that they might be allowed to work in
-the munition factories as a war measure. England had
-her experience. Schools suffered, juvenile delinquency
-grew, and chaos resulted from the short-sighted policy
-of those who wanted children to help out in a time of
-need. An English periodical is quoted as saying, “When
-the farmers clamored for boys and girls at the outbreak
-of the war, it was ‘for a few weeks only,’ and ‘to save
-the harvest.’ The few weeks have spread out to a few
-years; and a few years cover all the brief period ‘’twixt<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_187">187</a></span>
-boy and man’ when character is molded, education completed,
-and skill of hand and eye and intellect acquired.
-Even in the time of peace one of our statesmen said that
-one of the most urgent national problems was how to
-check the evils by which too many of our bright, clean,
-clever boys leaving school at the ages of thirteen or fourteen,
-had become ignorant and worthless hooligans at
-seventeen or eighteen. Much has been done in recent
-years by patient, skilful endeavor to stanch this wound
-in the body politic; but now all is reversed and the
-hooligan harvest promises to be truly plenteous. The
-victims are of two classes. First, the little children taken
-from school at illegal ages for a few weeks under promises
-that their interrupted school time should be completed
-later on&mdash;a ‘later on’ which was never really practicable,
-and is now frankly abandoned. Secondly, the
-boys and girls, who, having completed their legal school
-attendance, would normally have gone to learn a trade,
-and would by a few years of patient training and industry
-at small wages have made themselves skilled workers
-and worthy citizens. But training for any future
-efficiency, either industrial, social, or moral, has been
-brushed aside by the necessities or the hysteria of war
-time.” It remains to be seen whether we will learn the
-lesson from Britain’s experience.</p>
-
-<p><b>The Church’s Part.</b> There is no one thing in which
-the church should be so much interested as in the welfare
-of the children. When Jesus was asked who was the
-greatest in the kingdom of heaven, he took a little child
-and set him in the midst of the disciples. If any one
-offends a child, he said, it were better for him that “a
-millstone were hanged about his neck, and he were<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_188">188</a></span>
-thrown into the sea.” Entrance into his kingdom was
-dependent upon a childlike attitude, and the measure
-of rewards and punishments was to be meted out according
-to the treatment of children by the individual man
-and woman.</p>
-
-<p>“Lord, when saw we thee hungry, or athirst?” is the
-question which we must ask. “Inasmuch as ye did it
-not unto one of these least, ye did it not unto me,” is
-the promised reply. The program of the church relating
-to the children is perfectly simple and plain. Each
-church should keep in close touch with the work of the
-National Committee on Child Labor. Information can
-be secured by writing to the Secretary, Owen R. Lovejoy,
-105 East Twenty-second Street, New York. One
-Sunday in each year, the fourth Sunday in January, is
-set aside as Child Labor Sunday. Every church should
-take pains to observe this day and make it a time when
-the members of the church will be made acquainted with
-the work being done by the Child Labor Committee; and
-should strive to understand the conditions concerning
-the child laborers of America, and the plans and purposes
-that are being devised for meeting needs and for
-protecting our nation’s greatest asset. Child Labor Sunday
-was observed in nearly 10,000 churches last year.</p>
-
-<p>The child laborer suffers because we do not know about
-him. His life is lived in a world apart. While he is
-producing the things that we accept, we have forgotten
-or passed over lightly the needs of the producer himself.
-The war puts a new responsibility upon us. Its agony
-and suffering have made us seemingly callous to suffering
-and we stand in grave danger of losing our power to
-sympathize. It is during such periods as these that the<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_189">189</a></span>
-hard won gains of generations may be lost. We have
-gone far in our legislation for the protection of children
-since the days when the Earl of Shaftsbury first began his
-work for the poor boys of London. Much remains to be
-done. The church cannot slacken its efforts nor clear
-its skirts of responsibility if it does not exert every effort
-and put forth all its strength to pass new legislation, and
-steadfastly to set its face against every effort to break
-down existing laws or set them aside even as a temporary
-measure.</p>
-
-<p>The battle for democracy cannot be won, and will not
-be won, even with the destruction of German autocracy
-if we allow the bulwark that has been built up for the
-protection of the children of democracy to be torn down.</p>
-
-<hr />
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_191">191</a></span></p>
-
-<div class="chapter">
-<h2 class="vspace"><a id="CHAPTER_XII"></a>CHAPTER XII<br />
-
-<span class="subhead"><span class="smcap">The Message and Ministry of the Church to a
-World of Work</span></span></h2>
-</div>
-
-<p>“He has never given me a mouthful of bread nor
-means to gain it. What have I to do with your God?”
-This was the answer of an immigrant woman to an
-appeal made by the church visitor, and it strikes nearer
-the heart of our modern life than it appears upon first
-thought. Why indeed should a person acknowledge kinship
-to a God who allows suffering, sorrow, and want in
-the world? It is not enough to answer such a question
-by pointing to the ultimate ends God has in view, for
-with hunger gnawing at the very vitals it is difficult to be
-philosophical or to meet the problems of existence in a
-quiet frame of mind. It is undoubtedly true that a large
-part of the misery and suffering of this world is caused
-by the sins and incompetency of the individual; but it
-does not help one to bear misfortune to know that he is to
-blame for his own condition. Is it any easier for the
-mother to teach her hungry little children to say their
-prayers asking the heavenly Father to feed them when
-she knows that her husband has brought the suffering
-and want through his evil conduct? But suppose she
-knows that her husband has tried as hard as possible, and
-in spite of all his efforts and all her care there is not
-enough bread for the little ones. She is very likely to<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_192">192</a></span>
-grow impatient with the religion that talks about love, and
-yet allows bad social conditions to exist in the community
-that robs children of their childhood, destroys manhood,
-and makes women slaves in their own homes.</p>
-
-<p>We have studied certain groups of the workers, and
-great as is the contribution made by these workers, it
-is only a small part of the story. The world of the
-workers is a very large world. Within this world things
-are produced that enrich mankind to a degree that has
-never even been dreamed of in any other age of the
-world’s history. The men who are producing these
-things are the true servants of the world.</p>
-
-<p><b>Social Salvation and the Wage-Earners.</b> The
-church, in order to retain its ascendency in national life,
-must lay increasing emphasis upon the importance of
-social salvation. The importance of social salvation as
-contrasted with individual salvation was seen by the
-great spiritual teachers of the past; but modern civilization,
-with its marvels of intercommunication, has placed
-a new emphasis upon mutual dependence of associated
-human beings, and has made self-realization a possibility
-only in connection with the salvation of the social group.
-The social group consists mainly of wage-earners, two
-thirds of those gainfully employed in the nation being
-dependent for food, shelter, and clothing upon a daily,
-weekly, or monthly wage. Therefore, social salvation
-is largely a question of the salvation of the wage-earner.
-The problem is a dual one. It is material and spiritual.
-It is material, because the higher purposes of the Eternal
-cannot be attained in an atmosphere of inefficiency, disease,
-unemployment, vice, crime, and general destitution.
-It is spiritual, because the elimination of inefficiency, disease,<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_193">193</a></span>
-unemployment, vice, crime, and general destitution
-will not regenerate character. The salvation of the wage-earner
-must, therefore, be achieved by the combined
-efforts of three important agencies of social reconstruction:
-religion, education, and government. Religion furnishes
-the motive, education the method, and government
-the mechanism of social reconstruction; each of these
-three is impotent without the other two.</p>
-
-<p>Religion from this view-point must be personal and
-social in order that regenerated individuals may work
-for the material and spiritual regeneration of national
-life. Education from this view-point must be technical,
-scientific, moral, and universal so that all may have the
-opportunity to become skilled workers, progressive
-thinkers, and efficient citizens. Government from this
-view-point must be controlled by the religious element of
-the community and equipped with a program of economic
-and social reform based on scientific investigation.
-Scientific studies of the wage-earners’ communities show
-that a family of five in a large American city requires
-a minimum income of $900 in order to maintain its
-physical equilibrium, and that three out of every four
-adult males, and nineteen out of every twenty adult
-females in the United States, receive less than $600 a
-year. No one can longer doubt that the hardships and
-depravity of the poor are more economic and social than
-personal; and that the responsibility for human misery
-is put squarely upon the more fortunate members of society.
-The way of salvation for the poor and helpless
-lies along the path of the educated conscience of the
-rich and powerful.</p>
-
-<p><b>Workers and the Church.</b> Much has been written<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_194">194</a></span>
-and said in criticism of the church. Many statistics have
-been given to prove that the workers are not members of
-the church. For the most part the figures quoted are
-mere guesses. It is sheer folly to assume that the
-working people of our nation are not religious. Religion
-is as natural to all people as is breathing. The belief
-in God is well-nigh universal. It is a fact, however, that
-comparatively few of the mass of workers of our country
-are connected in any way with the church, or have
-any part in carrying on the functions of organized religion.
-There are a great many working people in the
-churches, but in proportion to the large number of wage-earners
-in each community there are comparatively few
-of the actual producers in the churches.</p>
-
-<div id="ip_194" class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;">
-<img src="images/i_194.jpg" width="600" height="378" alt="" />
-<div class="captionl">
-
-<p>Board of Home Missions, Church Extension. Methodist Episcopal Church.</p></div>
-
-<div class="caption">
-
-<p>A Russian Forum in session in the Church of All Nations, Morgan Memorial, Boston.</p></div></div>
-
-<p>A study made in city after city shows that the churches
-are largely made up of the well-to-do, middle-class people.
-In one typical city of 75,000 people there were found to
-be approximately 30,000 members of all the religious
-organizations, Protestant, Catholic, and Jews. Of this
-total number approximately 1,000 were wage-earners,
-that is, men and women working in shops and factories;
-500 of these were members of the Catholic Church, and
-the other 500 were distributed among the sixteen
-Protestant churches. There were a great many persons in
-these churches who were dependent upon their wages;
-such as clerks, stenographers, bookkeepers, and others
-who should be classed as belonging to the industrial group.
-But as some one has said, the distinction between people
-who are in the churches and those untouched by the
-church can be drawn in this way: those who refer to
-the remuneration received for their work as a salary, and
-their work as a position, are in one group and they<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_195">195</a></span>
-attend church; the other group is made up of those who
-refer to their work as a job, and the remuneration received
-as wages, and but few of these go to church. The
-conditions found in that instance are the same that
-would be found in most cities of the same size in America.
-The total membership was a little larger, perhaps, for
-in most places only about one third of the people are connected
-with the churches.</p>
-
-<p><b>The Makers of Things Outside the Churches.</b> Communities
-in which the church has failed are the communities
-where may be found most of the workers who
-are the actual producers of the things that go to make
-up our life. The men who run the lathes and other
-machines, the day-laborers on the street, in the factory,
-and on the railroads; these men and their families are
-the ones untouched by the church. The foremen, the
-better class of skilled mechanics, and those workers who
-are doing the more congenial kinds of work are the ones
-found in the churches. I asked one of the leading labor
-leaders of the country why it is that the laboring man
-is opposed to the church. “Opposed?” he answered.
-“He is not opposed. The average laboring man living
-under average conditions does not know that there is a
-church in town.” In other words, the church moves
-in an orbit that is totally removed from the life of the
-mass of the workers.</p>
-
-<p><b>When Nineteen Men Last Went to Church.</b> During
-the last year I took occasion to ask different men that I
-met at various times what they thought of the church.
-I have the record of the conversation of nineteen men
-on this subject. Not one of these men had been to
-church with any degree of regularity during the past<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_196">196</a></span>
-five years; three of them had attended the Billy Sunday
-meetings in the various cities. They went to see the
-evangelist, however, just as they would visit Barnum &amp;
-Bailey’s circus, and they professed to having come away
-from the meetings in the same frame of mind as if they
-had been attending such an entertainment. Five of the
-men were Jews, nine were Roman Catholics, and five
-were Protestants. They gave various reasons for not
-going to church, but all agreed on three things: they
-had no especial criticism or complaint to make regarding
-the church; it was easier to stay at home on Sundays
-than it was to go to church; the church had very little
-to do with the things that they were interested in. One
-of the men said, “The minister stands in a pulpit over
-my head and talks down to me about things that I am
-not interested in.” They also agreed that they could
-see no special reason why they should be influenced or
-moved to live according to the requirements of the
-church.</p>
-
-<p>The church has no especial authority and a life of
-piety did not appeal to these men. My conclusion was that
-the church had lost its grip upon these men because of
-the innate selfishness of the individual and the unwillingness
-on his part to pay the price demanded of a true
-follower of any religion. These men were living under
-false impressions as to what the church required and
-knew nothing of the quality of the church’s message.
-The fact remained, however, that the church failed to
-reach them, and if we define religion as the giving of
-one’s self to the group, these men had no religion, for
-they were each living their own lives in their own selfish
-way. Of these nineteen men three were skilled<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_197">197</a></span>
-mechanics, five worked in a cottonseed mill, four were
-traveling salesmen, and the remaining seven were business
-men. This would seem to prove that the church
-has failed to reach other groups in the community as
-well as the groups of laboring men.</p>
-
-<p><b>The Church and the Age.</b> The new social order must
-be based upon righteousness, and the church must furnish
-the power that will carry forth the plans of reconstruction
-to ultimate victory. It must supply the regenerating
-social influences for our generation in order
-to live up to its privilege and fulfil its function in the
-world. It is the will rather than the intellect of men
-that is primarily influenced by religion. The doctrine of
-the church attracts only a few people; speculation on
-theological questions, and arguments regarding life and
-its problems are futile in the face of the bitter experiences
-that lead the majority of the working people to
-view life from the standpoint of the pessimist. What
-men want to know about the church is, does it make
-people better neighbors? Is there more kindness in the
-community because of the church? These are the things
-that are of paramount importance. A boy passed by
-three churches on his way to attend a certain Sunday-school.
-A neighbor said to him, “Why do you go so
-far? why don’t you come to my Sunday-school?” “I
-do not care how far it is,” he replied; “they like me
-down at the other church.” This is the secret of the success
-of much that is being done to-day by different
-churches.</p>
-
-<p>A prominent pastor desiring to discover how his
-preaching would affect different classes of people had a
-friend invite some persons from different parts of the<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_198">198</a></span>
-city; and then after the service these people were invited
-to meet with others in one of the classrooms to
-discuss the sermon. It was almost impossible to draw
-any expressions of opinion from them as to the value of
-the service, but they agreed that they did not feel at
-home in the church. Yet none of these visitors could
-tell what he meant by “feeling at home.” The fact is,
-however, more people go to church to-day because of the
-friendships that they find within the institution than because
-of their desire for religious instruction. A large
-proportion of the people who are outside of the church
-are outside because to them the institution seems cold,
-narrow, and unattractive, and fits the description given
-by Robert Louis Stevenson of many churches that he
-had known, “A fire at which no man ever warms his
-hands.”</p>
-
-<p><b>A Ministry to All.</b> The Morgan Memorial Church
-of Boston touches a wide community and is carrying on
-a very extensive work. It has enlarged its plant from
-time to time until it occupies almost a solid block.
-There has recently been erected a new building to be
-operated in connection with this institution known as
-the Church of all Nations. Here is the gathering place
-of the multitude from every land who now live in the
-south end of Boston. In addition to the regular religious
-services there is a rescue mission for the “down and
-outs,” and dormitories for men and women where clean
-beds can be secured at a reasonable price. There are
-workshops, employment bureaus, a restaurant, a reading-room
-and, in fact, under one roof this church houses a
-community of interests, economic, industrial, social, educational,
-and religious. On the front of the building<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_199">199</a></span>
-there is a lighted cross, and to all of the south end of
-Boston this cross means hope.</p>
-
-<p><b>Story of Twenty-five Years.</b> The church has not
-accomplished all that might have been accomplished, but
-when we study the history of the last twenty-five years
-and take stock of the results that have been achieved,
-we find that there are countless things that indicate a
-real life interest, and a purpose toward achievement in
-the church.</p>
-
-<p>Twenty-five years ago the Student Volunteer Movement
-for Foreign Missions was just beginning, and a
-Social Service Commission for the churches would have
-been considered as something having no part in the
-churches’ work. In fact, at that time the men who were
-the prophets of the new social order were looked upon
-as dangerous leaders. There were only a few books that
-dealt with the social aspects of the teachings of Jesus,
-and these were theological and theoretical rather than
-practical. At that time institutional churches were novelties,
-and the efforts that were being directed toward the
-solution of the social questions by the church were very
-often efforts in the wrong direction. The institutional
-church was not a complete success because it attempted
-to do for people instead of inspiring people to do for
-themselves. The institutional church and the modern
-socialized church have the same relationship to each
-other as the old alms-giving societies have to the modern
-charitable organizations. Legislation in the interests of
-women and children was considered totally out of the
-realm of Christian interests. “The church was put in
-the world to save souls and not to dabble in politics,”
-was a favorite definition of the church’s sphere. There<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_200">200</a></span>
-was little church unity or coordination of effort. The
-churches were more busy fighting each other than they
-were fighting the common foes of the community. There
-were only one or two professors in our theological seminaries
-who were teaching sociology, and of one of these
-men an eminent authority in the church of that time
-said: “He ruined a lot of good ministers and made a lot
-of poor socialists by turning the attention of the young
-men who came under his teaching to merely humanitarian
-interests.” The church leaders knew nothing
-about the labor movement; in fact, at that time, the
-modern labor movement as represented in the American
-Federation of Labor was just beginning to gain strength.
-The church made no special efforts to interpret the spirit
-of Christ in terms of international relationship.</p>
-
-<p><b>The Present Situation.</b> Now, when we compare the
-present situation with these facts, there is every reason
-to be encouraged. Never in the history of the world was
-there a time when organized religion was more efficient.
-When was there ever such interest in religious education?
-so much cooperative effort among Protestant
-bodies? such an eagerness to discuss ways in which men
-of widely different views may work together? The
-money given for missions and social reconstruction
-reaches proportions that were never dreamed of before.
-Jesus Christ is recognized to-day as the friend of all
-men and his salvation is recognized as applying to social,
-industrial, and educational relationships as well as to
-individual needs. He is the Savior of the individual and
-also the Savior of the world in which the individual lives.
-It is true that the individual cannot enter the kingdom
-of God unless he is born again, but it is equally true<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_201">201</a></span>
-that the whole social fabric must be recast and social
-relationships regenerated, else the kingdom of God cannot
-come in this world.</p>
-
-<p>Nearly all the parables of Jesus have to do with the
-idea of mutual helpfulness. The parable of the Good.
-Samaritan will always stand first as the exemplification
-of the life that bears another’s burdens. The teachings of
-Jesus sums itself up in supreme love for God and for one’s
-fellow man. At the marriage feast the multitude were
-invited and they came from the highways and the hedges.
-According to Jesus’ teachings all material possessions
-are to be counted as nothing when compared to the use
-and helpfulness of these possessions. His bitter denunciation
-and burning wrath were turned against the
-hypocrites who made long prayers, took the widow’s
-mite, paid their church dues, forgot mercy, and used
-harsh measures against the defenseless. In every instance
-where Jesus referred to future punishment, it
-was to be visited upon the individual because he failed
-to live according to the law of love and was making burdens
-harder to be borne rather than helping men to bear
-them. His law was the law of cooperation.</p>
-
-<p>The early church began among the very poor; and all
-through the Apostolic Age the slave and the owner, the
-poor man and the rich man, met on the plane of equality.
-There was only one interest for all and that was the life
-of the Master. It is said that Napoleon and several of
-his aides were one day walking along the country road.
-They met a peasant carrying a load of fagots who did not
-get out of the path as quickly as one of the emperor’s
-companions thought he should, so stepping up to the
-rustic he took him by the shoulders and started to push<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_202">202</a></span>
-him out of the way. “Stop,” said Napoleon, motioning
-to his companions to step out of the road while he did
-the same. “Messieurs, let us respect the burden, even if
-you do not respect the man.” In the community there
-are a multitude of burden bearers. The church must be
-filled with the desire to do what it can to improve the
-conditions in the community life, and to add to the good
-of all the people, so that the community relationships
-will no longer be regarded as matters of indifference
-to be taken up or laid aside without faithfulness to the
-gospel. The success of the church must be measured
-in terms of the community life.</p>
-
-<div id="ip_202" class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;">
-<img src="images/i_202.jpg" width="600" height="385" alt="" />
-<div class="captionl">
-
-<p>Board of Home Missions. Church Extension. Methodist Episcopal Church.</p></div>
-
-<div class="caption">
-
-<p>The Church of All Nations, Boston, provided a sleeping place in its hall for over five hundred of the
-unemployed in the winter of 1915.</p></div></div>
-
-<p><b>Inspiration for Social Effort.</b> The church is not
-merely a reform agency. It is not primarily interested
-in housing, ventilation, sanitation, and labor questions,
-but is completely interested in the moral aspects of these
-questions, and their effect upon the life of the community
-and the life of the individuals in the community.
-Any church which fails to educate its members to look
-at all such matters from the moral point of view, and
-fails to make effective the principles of Jesus in relation
-to the social life of the community, is falling far short
-of its duty. It is no wonder that the men and women
-who are struggling with the evils of society grow impatient
-with the churches that do not undertake to help
-humanity. One worker expresses it thus: “The trouble
-with all social effort is that we have no inspiration for
-the task. The churches that should be helping us by
-supplying this inspiration are apparently afraid to take
-hold of the job.” This is too sweeping a criticism, for
-there are hundreds of churches that are doing just this
-thing.</p>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_203">203</a></span>
-<b>The Church and Other Organizations.</b> Instead of
-institutional churches, however, we are substituting the
-socialized church, and it is not what the church is
-doing as an institution but what it is inspiring others to
-do in the community that counts most. When the
-church cannot get any one else to do a certain task, then
-the church must shoulder the responsibility itself. The
-church ought to cooperate with the united charities of
-the community. It will not be enough for it to have
-merely a member or two on the boards of these organizations;
-the church as an organization must be in close
-touch with them, furnishing money and workers, and
-helping to plan and carry out the plans of the organization.
-Above all, it must supply the proper spirit of love
-which will offset that professionalism which is to-day a
-growing evil in all charitable effort.</p>
-
-<p><b>The Church and the Outcasts.</b> The church ought to
-be organized so that the sick and the poor, the unfortunate
-and the people out of work, would find it a friend
-and champion. There was a preacher in one of our
-churches in a certain city who was greatly disliked by
-all the so-called “respectable” people who knew him.
-As one man put it, “He has long hair, a long tongue, and
-is a trouble-maker.” But among the outcasts in the city
-he was known as the “Chaplain for the nobody-knows-who.”
-By this term those who loved him meant that
-he was a friend of the neglected people of the great city.
-After he died men who had no use for him before began
-to tell of little illuminating incidents in his life, and
-thousands of people testified to the fact that he had
-been an inspiration and a help.</p>
-
-<p>The early Christians were not a very respectable lot<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_204">204</a></span>
-of people nor would they have been very congenial.
-Probably some of our modern churches are so fine that
-these people would have been considered out of place;
-but it was to these people that Jesus preached his gospel
-in the first place, and from them the influence of
-Christianity spread until the whole life of the Roman
-world was brought under the control of the new gospel.
-Now, of course, all the laboring groups that we have been
-considering are not made up of the poorest people in
-the community. The heart of the great mass of the
-people is sound to the core; their principles are strong
-and their morals are uncorrupted. We are very likely
-to measure morals by social customs. Just because a
-man shaves every day and wears a white collar is no sign
-that he is a gentleman; while the man who wears blue
-overalls, who shaves once a week, whose face and hands
-are grimy with toil, is not by these things made an uncouth
-barbarian. The reverse is very often true. The
-unions have been educating their members; and the men
-gathered in these organizations have a fund of common
-sense and a breadth of judgment that would put to
-shame men who have had much larger experiences and
-wider opportunities both for education and travel. The
-son of a man with a salary of twelve to fifteen thousand
-a year was expelled from one of our universities
-a few years ago; and in the same year the honor man
-in the class was the son of a blacksmith who worked for
-one of the Western coal-mining companies. This boy
-was one of a family of six children. With the help and
-efforts of no one but himself he was able to go through
-the university and graduate at the head of his class. All
-the forces of our time are at work leveling the fictitious<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_205">205</a></span>
-and mischievous barriers that have been raised between
-men, and which divide society into groups and classes.</p>
-
-<p><b>Wider Use of the Church Plant.</b> The church building
-can be used for very much wider service than at
-present. The church is usually one of the best-equipped
-buildings in the community. It has light, air, and heating
-facilities and can take care of a large number of people.
-In the Maverick Church, East Boston, they are using
-the church for club purposes. Just at present plans are
-being devised whereby this property will be used much
-more extensively for meeting the new needs put upon
-the community by the old ship-building industry that
-has just been revived. Plymouth Church, Oakland,
-California, is a veritable beehive of industry. Every
-night different groups gather in the social clubs, sewing
-classes, cooking classes, and other organizations. The
-community looks upon this church as the natural meeting-place
-to discuss vital problems. During the past
-winter in one of the Baptist churches on the east side of
-New York different nationalities met night after night
-and were instructed concerning patriotism and the moral
-issues of the war by men who spoke the tongues of the
-men attending.</p>
-
-<p>A Presbyterian church in Du Page County, Illinois,
-became famous because it made its buildings available
-for all social activities and interests of the community.
-A report of this work says: “The older people often
-attend and engage in play with the young people. Refreshments
-are served free at these gatherings. Special
-attention is given to strangers and to the backward boys
-and girls, and a few of the leaders have always upon
-their hearts those who are not of the fold of Christ.<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_206">206</a></span>
-The people become well acquainted, and such fellowship,
-such friendships, such companionships are created&mdash;all
-centering around the church!” The writer, telling
-of the work in another progressive church, says: “This
-church has learned the value of the inspirational meetings.
-Two principal ones are held each year. One takes
-place on New Year’s eve when the whole community,
-old and young, gather at church as one family to watch
-the old year out and to welcome in the new. This is
-no common watch service. The evening is filled to overflowing
-with good and interesting things. The other
-great inspirational meeting is held at the close of the
-church year. It is an all day meeting, and the whole
-countryside turns out to help round up the year’s work.
-The ladies serve a banquet at noon free of charge.
-There is always good music on this occasion and two
-or three talented participants from outside supplement
-the home talent. These big meetings are of benefit to
-the country people. They promote friendship and good
-fellowship, and the dead level gait always receives a big
-jolt.” These are just a few of the churches that are
-making good use of their buildings, and there are hundreds
-of others all over the country. Whenever you feel
-that the church is failing, just turn to the record of
-some church that is really doing what it ought to do.
-You can easily find some such church, and what is being
-done in one place can be done in another. People are
-the same the world over, and all groups can be brought
-together upon a common level of interests and good
-fellowship.</p>
-
-<p><b>A Program of Action.</b> The war has emphasized the
-necessity of making our communities 100 per cent.<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_207">207</a></span>
-American. We are thinking in terms of nationalities and
-races now because of the present world crisis. We need
-each community to be not only 100 per cent. American,
-but 100 per cent. democratic and neighborly. This involves
-the study of the questions of the relation of the
-foreigner and of his Americanization; the problems of
-the housing of the community, and the questions of the
-eight-hour day and union labor. The charge that the
-church speaks for the employer rather than for the workingman
-must be completely answered, so that every
-workingman in every community will come to realize
-from practical contact with the churches that he knows
-that they are not capitalistic institutions. He must learn
-that they stand for all men; and that they speak fairly
-and unreservedly for the cause of humanity and champion
-the rights of men against the encroachment of
-everything that would crush the spirit of man. The
-church must interest itself in the problem of recreation.
-People used to work for a living; now they work for
-profit. Playtime was formerly not such a problem as
-it is to-day, for industry was not geared up to the same
-high pitch of efficiency. To-day the margin of play is
-about the only margin of an individual’s life when he
-is really himself. In our cities especially the problem
-of play is a real problem. The questionable forms of
-amusement are patronized, not because young men and
-young women are inherently bad, but because they are
-the only means of recreation offered. The motion-picture
-theater is popular because the best of the drama
-has been put within reach of the average person. Public
-health should be a vital consideration of the church. In
-fact, every line of effort that involves the welfare and<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_208">208</a></span>
-happiness of human beings is of interest to the Christian
-church.</p>
-
-<p>No church ought to have at first too intricate a program.
-More can be accomplished by an active pro-virtue
-program than by one that is all anti-vice, but the church
-must also be a fighting organization. We must fight
-evil of every kind. The great struggle of the church
-against the liquor traffic and against vice has resulted in
-a vast amount of good. The thing to remember, however,
-is that the church must not stop simply with its
-protest and its fight.</p>
-
-<p><b>The Ultimate End of All Effort.</b> Nothing material
-or physical is final. We are not to provide social rooms,
-good healthful surroundings, playgrounds, and other
-social good things just for themselves, but because these
-things are essential to the best and highest moral development
-of individuals. In the last analysis the work
-of the church is the salvation of men and women. Its
-work, as has been said, is to put a sky over men’s heads.
-You cannot save individuals by giving them good physical
-surroundings, healthful conditions, and by supplying
-all their physical needs. These are merely the steps to the
-temple of the spirit. The weakness of most of our schemes
-for social betterment is found in the fact that many of
-them would put a man in a fine room, with good light,
-splendid furnishings, serve a sumptuous meal to him and
-then start a force-pump and pump all the air out of the
-room. A man may die in the midst of the finest things
-with which we can surround him. People must grow,
-and growth demands atmosphere, and if we give everything
-else and fail to create the right kind of atmosphere
-we are failing. “Seek ye first his [God’s] kingdom,<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_209">209</a></span>
-and his righteousness; and all the other things shall be
-added unto you.” By this Jesus did not mean that we
-were to put less emphasis on right conditions, but that
-if we get conditions right, then we can work for the
-things that really are of greatest interest. Above all,
-he was warning of the danger that faces us to-day, of
-becoming so much interested in a man’s social welfare
-that we lose sight of the emphasis which the great
-Teacher would put upon the qualities which make up
-humanity.</p>
-
-<p>We must recognize man as a spiritual being, and
-everything that goes to make him better physically ought
-to make him better spiritually. The best work of the
-church, and the work which God alone can do for the
-community, is to carry humanity beyond physical betterment
-into the realm of spiritual idealism. This is our
-task. This is the church’s goal. When this is realized
-in all society then the kingdom of God will be realized
-on earth; and the things that men create will be set
-in right relationship to the men themselves; that is, they
-will become the adjuncts of every man’s life and will
-minister to all human happiness.</p>
-
-<hr />
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_211">211</a></span></p>
-
-<div id="BIBLIOGRAPHY" class="chapter">
-<h2>BIBLIOGRAPHY<br />
-
-<span class="subhead">A BRIEF READING LIST</span></h2>
-
-<h3><i>The Rural Problem</i></h3>
-
-<blockquote>
-
-<p>Bailey, L. H. <cite>The Country Life Movement in the United States.</cite>
-1911. Macmillan Company, New York. 75 cents.</p>
-
-<p>Brunner, Edmund de S. <cite>Cooperation in Coopersburg.</cite> 1917.
-Missionary Education Movement, New York. 50 cents.</p>
-
-<p>Brunner, Edmund de S. <cite>The New Country Church Building.</cite>
-1917. Missionary Education Movement, New York. 75
-cents.</p>
-
-<p>Earp, Edwin L. <cite>The Rural Church Movement.</cite> 1914. Methodist
-Book Concern, New York. 75 cents.</p>
-
-<p>Mills, Harlow S. <cite>The Making of a Country Parish.</cite> 1914.
-Missionary Education Movement, New York. 50 cents.</p>
-
-<p>Morse, Richard. <cite>Fear God in Your Own Village.</cite> 1918. Henry
-Holt &amp; Co., New York. $1.30.</p>
-
-<p>Vogt, Paul. <cite>The Church and Country Life.</cite> 1916. Missionary
-Education Movement, New York. $1.25.</p>
-
-<p>Wilson, Warren H. <cite>The Church at the Center.</cite> 1914. Missionary
-Education Movement, New York. 50 cents.</p>
-
-<p>Wilson, Warren H. <cite>The Church of the Open Country.</cite> 1911.
-Missionary Education Movement, New York. 40 cents.</p></blockquote>
-
-<h3><i>Industrial Relations</i></h3>
-
-<blockquote>
-
-<p>Abbott, Grace. <cite>The Immigrant and the Community.</cite> 1917.
-Century Company, New York. $1.50.</p>
-
-<p>Antin, Mary. <cite>The Promised Land.</cite> 1912. Houghton, Mifflin
-Company, Boston. $1.75.</p>
-
-<p>Burritt, Arthur W. <cite>Profit Sharing.</cite> 1918. Harper &amp; Brothers,
-New York. $2.50.</p>
-
-<p>Carlton, Frank T. <cite>History and Problems of Organised Labor.</cite>
-1911. D. C. Heath &amp; Co., Boston. $2.00.</p>
-
-<p>Cole, G. D. H. <cite>Self Government in Industry.</cite> 1918. Macmillan
-Company, New York. $1.75.</p>
-
-<p>Fitch, John A. <cite>The Steel Workers</cite> (Pittsburgh Survey). 1910.
-Charities Publication Committee, New York. $1.50.</p>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_212">212</a></span>
-Goldmark, Josephine, <cite>Fatigue and Efficiency.</cite> 1912. Russell
-Sage Foundation, New York. $2.00.</p>
-
-<p>Haynes, George E. <cite>Negro New-Comers in Detroit, Michigan.</cite>
-1918. Home Missions Council, New York. 20 cents.</p>
-
-<p>Kelley, Florence. <cite>Modern Industry in Relation to the Family.</cite>
-1914. Longmans, Green &amp; Co. New York. $1.00.</p>
-
-<p>Mangano, Antonio. <cite>The Sons of Italy.</cite> 1917. Missionary Education
-Movement, New York. 60 cents.</p>
-
-<p>Redfield, William C. <cite>The New Industrial Day.</cite> 1912. Century
-Company, New York. $1.25.</p>
-
-<p>Ross, J. E. <cite>The Right to Work.</cite> 1917. Devin-Adair Company,
-New York. $1.00.</p>
-
-<p>Ryan, John A. <cite>A Living Wage.</cite> 1906. Macmillan Company,
-New York. $1.25.</p>
-
-<p>Shriver, William P. <cite>Immigrant Forces.</cite> 1913. Missionary Education
-Movement, New York. 60 cents.</p>
-
-<p>Symposium by seven well-known authors, <cite>The Path of Labor</cite>.
-1918. Council of Women for Home Missions, New York.
-57 cents.</p>
-
-<p>Ward, Harry F. <cite>The Gospel for a Working World.</cite> 1918.
-Missionary Education Movement, New York. 60 cents.</p>
-
-<p>Ward, Harry F. <cite>The Labor Movement.</cite> 1917. Sturgis &amp;
-Walton. New York. $1.25.</p>
-
-<p>Ward, Harry F. <cite>Poverty and Wealth.</cite> 1915. Methodist Book
-Concern, New York. 50 cents.</p>
-
-<p>Ward, Harry F. <cite>Social Evangelism.</cite> 1915. Missionary Education
-Movement, New York. 50 cents.</p>
-
-<p>Warne, Frank J. <cite>The Slav Invasion and the Mine Workers.</cite>
-1904. J. B. Lippincott Company, Philadelphia. $1.00.</p></blockquote>
-
-<h3><i>Women and Children</i></h3>
-
-<blockquote>
-
-<p>Abbott, Edith. <cite>Women in Industry.</cite> 1916. Daniel Appleton &amp;
-Company, New York. $2.50.</p>
-
-<p>Addams, Jane. <cite>The Spirit of Youth and the City Streets.</cite> 1909.
-Macmillan Company, New York. 50 cents.</p>
-
-<p>Henry, Alice. <cite>The Trade Union Woman.</cite> 1915. Daniel Appleton
-&amp; Co., New York. $1.50.</p>
-
-<p>Fraser, Helen. <cite>Woman and War Work.</cite> 1918. G. Arnold
-Shaw, New York. $1.50.</p>
-
-<p>MacLean, Annie M. <cite>Wage-Earning Women.</cite> 1910. Macmillan
-Company, New York. $1.25.</p>
-
-<p>MacLean, Annie M. <cite>Women Workers and Society.</cite> 1916. A.
-C. McClurg, Chicago. 50 cents.</p>
-
-<p>Mangold, George B. <cite>Child Problems.</cite> 1917. Macmillan Company,
-New York. $1.25.</p>
-
-<p>Schreiner, Olive. <cite>Woman and Labor.</cite> 1911. Frederick A.
-Stokes Company, New York. $1.25.</p></blockquote>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_213">213</a></span></p>
-
-<h3><i>The Church and Social Conditions</i></h3>
-
-<blockquote>
-
-<p>Atkinson, Henry A. <cite>The Church and the People’s Play.</cite> 1915.
-Pilgrim Press, Boston. $1.25.</p>
-
-<p>Cutting, R. Fulton. <cite>The Church and Society.</cite> 1912. Macmillan
-Company, New York. $1.25.</p>
-
-<p>Felton, Ralph A. <cite>A Study of a Rural Parish.</cite> 1915. Missionary
-Education Movement, New York. 50 cents.</p>
-
-<p>Gates, Herbert W. <cite>Recreation and the Church.</cite> 1917. University
-Press, Chicago. $1.00.</p>
-
-<p>Harrison, Shelby M.; Tippy, Worth M.; Ward, Harry F.; and
-Atkinson, Henry A. <cite>What Every Church Should Know
-about Its Community.</cite> Federal Council of Churches, New
-York. 10 cents.</p>
-
-<p>Hughan, Jessie W. <cite>The Facts of Socialism.</cite> 1913. John Lane
-Company, New York. 75 cents.</p>
-
-<p>Mangold, George B. <cite>The Challenge of St. Louis.</cite> 1917. Missionary
-Education Movement, New York. 60 cents.</p>
-
-<p>Marsh, Daniel L. <cite>The Challenge of Pittsburgh.</cite> 1917. Missionary
-Education Movement, New York. 60 cents.</p>
-
-<p>Mathews, Shailer. <cite>The Individual and the Social Gospel.</cite> 1914.
-Missionary Education Movement, New York. 25 cents.</p>
-
-<p>Rauschenbusch, Walter. <cite>Christianity and the Social Crisis.</cite>
-1907. Macmillan Company, New York. 50 cents.</p>
-
-<p>Rauschenbusch, Walter. <cite>The Social Principles of Jesus.</cite> 1916.
-Association Press, New York. 50 cents.</p>
-
-<p>Roberts, Richard. <cite>The Church in the Commonwealth.</cite> 1918.
-Frederick A. Stokes Company, New York. $1.00.</p>
-
-<p>Spargo, John. <cite>The Spiritual Significance of Socialism.</cite> 1912.
-B. W. Huebsch, New York. 50 cents.</p>
-
-<p>Vedder, Henry C. <cite>The Gospel of Jesus and the Problem of
-Democracy.</cite> 1914. Macmillan Company, New York. $1.50.</p>
-
-<p>White, Charles L. <cite>The Churches at Work.</cite> 1915. Missionary
-Education Movement, New York. 60 cents.</p></blockquote>
-</div>
-
-<hr />
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_215">215</a></span></p>
-
-<div class="chapter">
-<div class="index">
-<h2><a id="INDEX"></a>INDEX</h2>
-
-<ul class="index">
-<li class="ifrst">A</li>
-
-<li class="indx"><a id="Accidents"></a>Accidents, in mining, <a href="#Page_72">72</a>, <a href="#Page_73">73</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">in steel-mills, <a href="#Page_85">85</a>, <a href="#Page_86">86</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">on railroads, <a href="#Page_99">99–101</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Actors, Church Alliance and Fund, <a href="#Page_130">130</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">off the stage, <a href="#Page_128">128</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Anthony, Susan B., referred to, <a href="#Page_162">162</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Anthracite coal areas, <a href="#Page_69">69</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Anti-loafer laws, <a href="#Page_152">152</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Apathy of mill workers, <a href="#Page_91">91</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Arbitration in clothing industry, <a href="#Page_60">60</a>, <a href="#Page_61">61</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Architecture and present use of steel, <a href="#Page_79">79–81</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Artificial flowers, <a href="#Page_132">132</a></li>
-
-<li class="ifrst">B</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Bag and hemp factory conditions, <a href="#Page_165">165</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Baker Manufacturing Company, <a href="#Page_93">93</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Banana boat and rush unloading, <a href="#Page_137">137</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Baptist East Side churches in New York City, <a href="#Page_205">205</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Bargains in ready-made clothing, <a href="#Page_55">55</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Bathtubs and buttons, <a href="#Page_114">114</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Beet, culture, <a href="#Page_20">20</a>, <a href="#Page_174">174</a>, <a href="#Page_175">175</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">sugar, <a href="#Page_20">20</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">use of child labor, <a href="#Page_20">20</a>, <a href="#Page_21">21</a>, <a href="#Page_174">174</a>, <a href="#Page_175">175</a>, <a href="#Page_185">185</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Bessemer steel, <a href="#Page_82">82–84</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Bible, study class members, Y. W. C. A., <a href="#Page_4">4</a>, <a href="#Page_5">5</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">unopened to Jewish radicals, <a href="#Page_62">62</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Billy Sunday meetings, <a href="#Page_195">195</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Bituminous coal-fields, <a href="#Page_69">69</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Booth, Maud Ballington, referred to, <a href="#Page_162">162</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Brakeman, accident to a, <a href="#Page_100">100</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Brick and mortar not the soul of the city, <a href="#Page_33">33</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Bridge cables, steel, <a href="#Page_82">82</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Burley tobacco, <a href="#Page_173">173</a></li>
-
-<li class="ifrst">C</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Canada, western grain-belt, <a href="#Page_17">17</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Cane-sugar makers, <a href="#Page_18">18</a>, <a href="#Page_19">19</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Casual workers and the common man, <a href="#Page_153">153</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Casualty lists. See <i><a href="#Accidents">Accidents</a></i></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Catholics, <a href="#Page_90">90</a>, <a href="#Page_120">120</a>, <a href="#Page_194">194</a>, <a href="#Page_196">196</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Cemeteries, well-tended Western, <a href="#Page_27">27</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Chaplain beloved, a, <a href="#Page_203">203</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Chicago, Industrial Exhibition, picture of a mother, <a href="#Page_58">58</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">stock-yards, <a href="#Page_150">150</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Child labor, in agriculture, <a href="#Page_174">174–185</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">in home work, <a href="#Page_58">58</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">reasons for, <a href="#Page_176">176</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">task of the church, <a href="#Page_187">187–189</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Child Labor Law, Federal, very helpful but unconstitutional, <a href="#Page_185">185</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Child Labor, National Committee on, <a href="#Page_188">188</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">Sunday, <a href="#Page_188">188</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">“Children in Agriculture,” quoted, <a href="#Page_175">175</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Children’s Bureau in Washington, D. C., <a href="#Page_90">90</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">China, actors in, <a href="#Page_130">130</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Christ. See <i><a href="#Jesus_Christ">Jesus Christ</a></i></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Christmas-time work, <a href="#Page_139">139</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Church, duty of, <a href="#Page_197">197</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">responsibility, <a href="#Page_151">151</a>, <a href="#Page_152">152</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">statistics of per cent. of working people, <a href="#Page_194">194</a>;<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_216">216</a></span></li>
-<li class="isub1">work, past and present, <a href="#Page_28">28</a>, <a href="#Page_191">191–209</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">with country people, <a href="#Page_27">27–32</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">with factory folks, <a href="#Page_46">46–48</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">with garment-makers, <a href="#Page_62">62</a>, <a href="#Page_63">63</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">with miners, <a href="#Page_75">75–78</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">with rail and vessel forces, <a href="#Page_109">109–111</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">with steel workers, <a href="#Page_91">91–94</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">with Tampa cigarmakers, <a href="#Page_122">122</a>, <a href="#Page_123">123</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">with theater people, <a href="#Page_130">130</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">with transient classes, <a href="#Page_150">150–153</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">with women and children, <a href="#Page_169">169–171</a>, <a href="#Page_187">187–189</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Churches, criticism of, <a href="#Page_194">194</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">faulty distribution of, <a href="#Page_127">127</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">indifference to, <a href="#Page_195">195</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Cigarmakers, <a href="#Page_116">116–120</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">social worker’s story, <a href="#Page_125">125</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">City and country life depicted and distinguished, <a href="#Page_1">1</a>, <a href="#Page_23">23</a>, <a href="#Page_24">24</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">City church statistics, <a href="#Page_194">194</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Clothes and civilization, <a href="#Page_34">34</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Clothing industry, <a href="#Page_54">54</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">labor troubles in, <a href="#Page_58">58–61</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">materials, <a href="#Page_34">34–36</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Coal, importance of, <a href="#Page_65">65</a>, <a href="#Page_66">66</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">mining methods and miners, <a href="#Page_67">67–74</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Cœur d’Alene district, Idaho, <a href="#Page_68">68</a>, <a href="#Page_75">75</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Cold storage, <a href="#Page_178">178</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Conservation, of fuel, <a href="#Page_11">11</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">of wheat, <a href="#Page_18">18</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Consumers’ League, <a href="#Page_52">52</a>, <a href="#Page_171">171</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Cooper Union, New York City, a social center, <a href="#Page_62">62</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Cooperation, <a href="#Page_170">170</a>, <a href="#Page_184">184</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">among the churches, <a href="#Page_200">200</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Copper, <a href="#Page_68">68</a>, <a href="#Page_69">69</a>, <a href="#Page_74">74</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Corn and hogs, price of, <a href="#Page_21">21</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Corn belt, <a href="#Page_21">21</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Cost of living, <a href="#Page_9">9</a>, <a href="#Page_178">178</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Cotton, <a href="#Page_36">36</a>, <a href="#Page_37">37</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">importance increased by the invention of the cotton-gin, <a href="#Page_37">37</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Cotton-mills and workers, in Northern cities, <a href="#Page_34">34</a>, <a href="#Page_44">44–46</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">in Southern towns and villages, <a href="#Page_40">40–43</a>, <a href="#Page_47">47</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Coxey’s army, <a href="#Page_135">135–137</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Cuban traits, <a href="#Page_121">121</a></li>
-
-<li class="ifrst">D</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Dressmaking industry, <a href="#Page_53">53</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Du Page County, Illinois, Presbyterian Church, <a href="#Page_206">206</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Duty of the church, the, <a href="#Page_197">197</a></li>
-
-<li class="ifrst">E</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Early ambitions, <a href="#Page_3">3</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Early Christians, influence of, <a href="#Page_203">203</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Effects of specialization in work, <a href="#Page_7">7</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Efficient women in war and other work, <a href="#Page_159">159–165</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Eliot, George, referred to, <a href="#Page_162">162</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Engineer, the, and the world war, <a href="#Page_98">98–101</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">wish to renew service, <a href="#Page_99">99</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Evansville, Wisconsin, Manufacturing Company, <a href="#Page_93">93</a></li>
-
-<li class="ifrst">F</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Factory system, <a href="#Page_7">7</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Fall River factories, <a href="#Page_34">34</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Farm life, <a href="#Page_23">23</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Fashion and clothes, a shop-girl’s comment, <a href="#Page_51">51</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Fatalism of steel-mill workers, <a href="#Page_91">91</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Feudal castles and modern mills compared, <a href="#Page_33">33</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Fictitious barriers in society, <a href="#Page_204">204</a>, <a href="#Page_205">205</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Fifth Avenue, New York City, <a href="#Page_49">49</a>, <a href="#Page_61">61</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Film making, <a href="#Page_43">43</a>, <a href="#Page_131">131</a>, <a href="#Page_132">132</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">“Fine art of living, the,” <a href="#Page_6">6</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Fire and coal, <a href="#Page_65">65</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Fishing village preacher’s report, <a href="#Page_3">3</a>, <a href="#Page_4">4</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Food-producing industries, <a href="#Page_21">21</a><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_217">217</a></span></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Ford Hall, Boston, a social center, <a href="#Page_62">62</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Foreign element on Western farms, <a href="#Page_27">27</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Formaldehyde used in a church, <a href="#Page_151">151</a>, <a href="#Page_152">152</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">French Revolution conditions, <a href="#Page_179">179</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Fuel administrator, <a href="#Page_66">66</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Furs, <a href="#Page_126">126</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Furuseth, Andrew, work for the sailors, <a href="#Page_108">108</a>, <a href="#Page_109">109</a></li>
-
-<li class="ifrst">G</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Garment makers, <a href="#Page_51">51–53</a>, <a href="#Page_57">57–63</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Garment Makers’ Union, New York City, <a href="#Page_50">50</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Garment workers in New York City, <a href="#Page_49">49</a>, <a href="#Page_50">50</a>, <a href="#Page_53">53</a>, <a href="#Page_55">55–58</a>, <a href="#Page_61">61–63</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Gentleman, deeper than outward marks, <a href="#Page_204">204</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Girl clerks’ wages affected by “pin-money” competitors, <a href="#Page_164">164</a>, <a href="#Page_165">165</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">God, question of an immigrant woman, <a href="#Page_191">191</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">work for the community, <a href="#Page_209">209</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Gold and silver mining, <a href="#Page_69">69</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Government ownership of railroads, <a href="#Page_106">106</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Grain belts of Canada and the United States, <a href="#Page_17">17</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Group needs and the church, <a href="#Page_13">13</a>, <a href="#Page_14">14</a></li>
-
-<li class="ifrst">H</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Havana and Key West, <a href="#Page_116">116</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Health of garment workers, <a href="#Page_56">56</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Henry, Miss Alice, quoted, <a href="#Page_162">162</a>, <a href="#Page_165">165</a>, <a href="#Page_166">166</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Herring, Rev. Hubert C., referred to, <a href="#Page_27">27</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Home, importance of, <a href="#Page_156">156</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">work conditions, <a href="#Page_57">57</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Home mission work, pressing need for, <a href="#Page_30">30</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Hookworm, <a href="#Page_41">41</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Hoover, Mr., <a href="#Page_18">18</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Housing conditions and the cost of living, <a href="#Page_9">9</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Howe, Julia Ward, referred to, <a href="#Page_162">162</a></li>
-
-<li class="ifrst">I</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Idaho, labor legislation in, <a href="#Page_146">146</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Immigrant, mill workers, <a href="#Page_89">89</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">woman and God, <a href="#Page_191">191</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">women in Saint Louis, <a href="#Page_166">166</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">I. W. W., code, <a href="#Page_142">142</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">efforts in East Tampa, <a href="#Page_121">121</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">street song in Seattle, <a href="#Page_141">141</a>, <a href="#Page_142">142</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Industrial, army, questions raised, <a href="#Page_135">135</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">classes created, <a href="#Page_8">8</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Inefficiency, causes of, <a href="#Page_148">148</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">“Infant Mortality” statistics, <a href="#Page_90">90</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Institutional churches, <a href="#Page_203">203</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Interdependence, <a href="#Page_10">10</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">International Seamen’s Union, <a href="#Page_108">108</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Interstate Commerce Commission, <a href="#Page_105">105</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Iron, <a href="#Page_69">69</a>, <a href="#Page_80">80–83</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Italians, <a href="#Page_49">49</a>, <a href="#Page_56">56</a>, <a href="#Page_57">57</a>, <a href="#Page_63">63</a>, <a href="#Page_67">67</a></li>
-
-<li class="ifrst">J</li>
-
-<li class="indx"><a id="Jesus_Christ"></a>Jesus Christ, <a href="#Page_12">12</a>, <a href="#Page_187">187</a>, <a href="#Page_200">200–202</a>, <a href="#Page_204">204</a>, <a href="#Page_209">209</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Jewelry industry, <a href="#Page_132">132</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Jewish characteristics, <a href="#Page_54">54</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Jews, <a href="#Page_49">49</a>, <a href="#Page_53">53–56</a>, <a href="#Page_62">62</a>, <a href="#Page_63">63</a>, <a href="#Page_194">194</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Johnstown, Pennsylvania, mill workers, <a href="#Page_89">89</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Judson Memorial Baptist Church, New York City, <a href="#Page_63">63</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Juvenile court case in Tampa, Florida, <a href="#Page_122">122</a></li>
-
-<li class="ifrst">K</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Kelly, Mrs. Florence, referred to, <a href="#Page_52">52</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Kerensky, mistake of, <a href="#Page_22">22</a><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_218">218</a></span></li>
-
-<li class="indx">King, Henry Churchill, quoted, <a href="#Page_6">6</a></li>
-
-<li class="ifrst">L</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Landlord and tenant, <a href="#Page_25">25</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Lawrence, Massachusetts, cotton-mills, <a href="#Page_34">34</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Lead and zinc, <a href="#Page_68">68</a>, <a href="#Page_69">69</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Life in the Southern mill village, <a href="#Page_40">40–44</a>, <a href="#Page_47">47</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Livermore, California, railroad wreck, <a href="#Page_99">99</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Loom, contrast between earlier and later, <a href="#Page_36">36–38</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Lovejoy, Owen R., quoted, <a href="#Page_186">186</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">referred to, <a href="#Page_188">188</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Lowell, Massachusetts, cotton-mills, <a href="#Page_34">34</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Loyalty, labor’s lack of, <a href="#Page_7">7</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Lumber companies of the Northwest, bad conditions for laborers, <a href="#Page_144">144</a>, <a href="#Page_145">145</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Luxuries, defined, <a href="#Page_114">114</a>, <a href="#Page_115">115</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">examples of producers of, <a href="#Page_116">116–134</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">harmless and hurtful, <a href="#Page_115">115</a></li>
-
-<li class="ifrst">M</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Machinery, <a href="#Page_37">37</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">has subordinated man, <a href="#Page_46">46</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">McIntire, Miss Ruth, quoted, <a href="#Page_175">175</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Manufacture of clothing materials, <a href="#Page_35">35</a>, <a href="#Page_36">36</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Maverick Church in East Boston, <a href="#Page_205">205</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Men, as users of clothes, <a href="#Page_34">34</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">as creators of things, <a href="#Page_15">15</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Metal mine workers, <a href="#Page_74">74</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">wages, <a href="#Page_75">75</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City, picture referred to, <a href="#Page_84">84</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Michigan Central Railroad accident, <a href="#Page_100">100</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Migratory workers, <a href="#Page_143">143</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Millinery, <a href="#Page_132">132</a>, <a href="#Page_139">139</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Mills and workers, <a href="#Page_33">33–47</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">experience of a family, <a href="#Page_44">44</a>, <a href="#Page_45">45</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Mine workers, accidents, <a href="#Page_72">72</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">forgotten, <a href="#Page_67">67</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">wages, <a href="#Page_73">73</a>, <a href="#Page_75">75</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Minerals, valuable, <a href="#Page_65">65</a>, <a href="#Page_68">68</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Mining town, life in a, <a href="#Page_5">5</a>, <a href="#Page_6">6</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Missionary work at home, <a href="#Page_127">127</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Morgan Memorial Church, Boston, <a href="#Page_198">198</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Morris, William, demand for joy in work, <a href="#Page_6">6</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Motion-pictures, <a href="#Page_43">43</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">theater statistics, <a href="#Page_130">130–132</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Motorman a suicide, <a href="#Page_107">107</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Municipal ownership, San Francisco, <a href="#Page_108">108</a></li>
-
-<li class="ifrst">N</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Napoleon, anecdote of, <a href="#Page_201">201</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">National Child Labor Committee, <a href="#Page_175">175</a>, <a href="#Page_181">181</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">National Consumers’ League, <a href="#Page_52">52</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Negro philosophy of work, <a href="#Page_115">115</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">work and wages on sugar plantation, <a href="#Page_19">19</a>, <a href="#Page_20">20</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Neighborliness, <a href="#Page_11">11</a>, <a href="#Page_12">12</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">New York <cite>Herald</cite>, referred to, <a href="#Page_119">119</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Nickel, of Canada, <a href="#Page_68">68</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Northern textile workers, <a href="#Page_44">44</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">Southern groups, <a href="#Page_40">40</a></li>
-
-<li class="ifrst">O</li>
-
-<li class="indx">“Open shop,” <a href="#Page_45">45</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">in steel mills, <a href="#Page_42">42</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Organization, of labor, <a href="#Page_7">7</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">of men questioning women’s admission to labor unions, <a href="#Page_167">167–169</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">of women workers, <a href="#Page_165">165</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Oriental visitor’s comment on American civilization, <a href="#Page_79">79</a></li>
-
-<li class="ifrst">P</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Peace of the world and the bread question, <a href="#Page_22">22</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Philanthropy, city, <a href="#Page_24">24</a><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_219">219</a></span></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Pilgrim mothers, <a href="#Page_162">162</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">“Pin-money” workers affecting regular wages, <a href="#Page_164">164</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Pioneers in the West and their descendants, <a href="#Page_27">27</a>, <a href="#Page_31">31</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Pittsburgh has bad housing conditions for steel workers, <a href="#Page_89">89</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Play and relaxation, <a href="#Page_6">6</a>, <a href="#Page_207">207</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Plymouth Church, Oakland, California, <a href="#Page_205">205</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Professor Parker’s report of I. W. W. in California, <a href="#Page_142">142</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Profit-sharing, <a href="#Page_92">92</a>, <a href="#Page_93">93</a></li>
-
-<li class="ifrst">R</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Racial and residential phrases used by rival boy groups, <a href="#Page_9">9</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">more general racial groups, <a href="#Page_55">55</a>, <a href="#Page_56">56</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Railroads, casualty lists, <a href="#Page_99">99</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">churches and, <a href="#Page_106">106</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">expenses and profits, <a href="#Page_103">103</a>, <a href="#Page_104">104</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">government ownership, <a href="#Page_106">106</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">system statistics, <a href="#Page_98">98</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">work and workers, <a href="#Page_99">99</a>, <a href="#Page_102">102</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Ranch life, <a href="#Page_3">3</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Reader in Tampa, Florida, cigar factory, <a href="#Page_119">119</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Ready-made clothing bargains, <a href="#Page_54">54</a>, <a href="#Page_55">55</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">“Red Jacket” mine, <a href="#Page_74">74</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Restless Americans, <a href="#Page_95">95</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">“Riding out a bill,” <a href="#Page_95">95</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Right to work a just demand, <a href="#Page_146">146</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">helping agencies, <a href="#Page_147">147</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Robbins, Mrs. Raymond, referred to, <a href="#Page_168">168</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Rochester, New York, address at the City Club, <a href="#Page_108">108</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Rolling-mill, <a href="#Page_84">84</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">statistics, <a href="#Page_86">86</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Rural community study, <a href="#Page_26">26–28</a>, <a href="#Page_30">30</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Russian, labor, <a href="#Page_21">21</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">revolution and the food question, <a href="#Page_22">22</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">unexpected collapse, <a href="#Page_183">183</a></li>
-
-<li class="ifrst">S</li>
-
-<li class="indx">“Sacred Motherhood,” <a href="#Page_58">58</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Safety devices for railroad trains, <a href="#Page_100">100</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Saint Louis, factory conditions and women workers in, <a href="#Page_165">165</a>, <a href="#Page_166">166</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Saint Patrick and the Irish snakes, <a href="#Page_183">183</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Salvation of the individual the ultimate aim, <a href="#Page_208">208</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Scranton, Pennsylvania, coal famine in, <a href="#Page_178">178</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Seattle, song of the vagabond workers, <a href="#Page_139">139</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">success of minister’s experiment with “blanket stiffs,” <a href="#Page_147">147</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Selfishness and greed back of child labor, <a href="#Page_176">176</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Serving humanity, <a href="#Page_133">133</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Silk, <a href="#Page_35">35</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Sinclair, Upton, story referred to, <a href="#Page_150">150</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Skyscraper significant of America, <a href="#Page_79">79</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Social, centers formed by the churches, <a href="#Page_205">205–209</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">salvation and the wage-earners, <a href="#Page_192">192</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Social Service, Commission, <a href="#Page_199">199</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">Department of Congregational churches, <a href="#Page_26">26</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Socialism and the church, <a href="#Page_31">31</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Socialized church as an inspiring force, <a href="#Page_202">202</a>, <a href="#Page_203">203</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Song of the world of work heard in the city’s roar, <a href="#Page_2">2</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Soubrette Row, <a href="#Page_130">130</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Soul of the city, <a href="#Page_33">33</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Soup kitchens, <a href="#Page_151">151</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Southern mill village, life in, <a href="#Page_40">40–47</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Spencer, Herbert, quoted, <a href="#Page_6">6</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">State laws for home work, special provision needed, <a href="#Page_58">58</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">State University rural work in Wisconsin, <a href="#Page_26">26</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Steel production, <a href="#Page_80">80–89</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">manufacture, <a href="#Page_80">80–83</a>;<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_220">220</a></span></li>
-<li class="isub1">statistics, <a href="#Page_79">79</a>, <a href="#Page_80">80</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">uses, <a href="#Page_80">80–82</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">workers and working conditions, <a href="#Page_86">86–89</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Stencil work deforming a hand, <a href="#Page_180">180</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Stock-owning, <a href="#Page_92">92</a>, <a href="#Page_93">93</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Stock-yards of Chicago, <a href="#Page_150">150</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Stowe, Mrs. Harriet Beecher, referred to, <a href="#Page_162">162</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Street-car men’s wages, <a href="#Page_107">107</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Strikes: on street-car lines, <a href="#Page_108">108</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">one striker’s case, <a href="#Page_45">45</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Student Volunteer Movement for Foreign Missions, <a href="#Page_199">199</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Sugar-beet culture, <a href="#Page_20">20</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">child workers in, <a href="#Page_174">174</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Sugar-cane fields, processes and workers, <a href="#Page_19">19</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Summer use of furs, <a href="#Page_126">126</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Sweat-shop system, <a href="#Page_52">52</a>, <a href="#Page_57">57</a></li>
-
-<li class="ifrst">T</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Tampa, Florida, churches, <a href="#Page_121">121–123</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">cigar factory, <a href="#Page_119">119</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">conditions, <a href="#Page_120">120</a>, <a href="#Page_124">124</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">statistics, <a href="#Page_116">116</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Task system, <a href="#Page_53">53</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Taylor, Florence I., effect of mill work on boys, <a href="#Page_181">181</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Tenant farmer, <a href="#Page_25">25</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Textile industries, Northern and Southern wages and workers, <a href="#Page_40">40</a>, <a href="#Page_44">44</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Theater as a medium of luxury, <a href="#Page_128">128–130</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Theories concerning the Pyramids, <a href="#Page_96">96</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">“Tired Business Man,” the, <a href="#Page_4">4</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Tobacco, for cigars, <a href="#Page_117">117</a>, <a href="#Page_118">118</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">for the Burley demands, <a href="#Page_173">173</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">“worming” done by children, <a href="#Page_173">173</a>, <a href="#Page_174">174</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx"><cite>Trade Union Woman, The</cite>, quoted, <a href="#Page_162">162</a>, <a href="#Page_166">166</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Tramp as a product of labor conditions, <a href="#Page_143">143–150</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Transportation, <a href="#Page_96">96</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">and progress, <a href="#Page_97">97</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">other than railways, <a href="#Page_107">107</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">workers largely unknown to us, <a href="#Page_109">109–111</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Trappers, <a href="#Page_126">126</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Triangle Shirt Waist Company fire, <a href="#Page_50">50</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Trotzky’s success turned on supplying food, <a href="#Page_22">22</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Tuberculosis statistics, <a href="#Page_124">124</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Typical life of busy women illustrated, <a href="#Page_5">5</a></li>
-
-<li class="ifrst">U</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Unemployed, problem of, <a href="#Page_56">56</a>, <a href="#Page_137">137</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">regulation of industry, <a href="#Page_146">146</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">war changes, <a href="#Page_145">145</a>, <a href="#Page_152">152</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Union Garment Makers’, <a href="#Page_50">50</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">United States, Bulletin of Labor, quoted, <a href="#Page_124">124</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">Bureau of Labor, statistics from, <a href="#Page_39">39</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">coal-mine statistics, <a href="#Page_65">65</a>, <a href="#Page_66">66</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">Public Health Service, report quoted, <a href="#Page_56">56</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">Steel Corporation, concessions, <a href="#Page_92">92</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Urge of work, the, <a href="#Page_1">1</a></li>
-
-<li class="ifrst">V</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Vagabond workers, in Seattle, <a href="#Page_139">139</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">poem, <a href="#Page_141">141</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Valuable non-essentials, <a href="#Page_115">115</a></li>
-
-<li class="ifrst">W</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Wales, singing by miners a means of progress, <a href="#Page_141">141</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">War, asking the employment of childhood, <a href="#Page_186">186</a>, <a href="#Page_187">187</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">requirements in communities, <a href="#Page_207">207</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">talks in New York City churches, <a href="#Page_205">205</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Washington state, a parish in, <a href="#Page_144">144</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Watered stock, <a href="#Page_105">105</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Welfare of the American seaman cared for by Act of Congress, <a href="#Page_109">109</a><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_221">221</a></span></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Welfare work in mining communities, <a href="#Page_75">75</a>, <a href="#Page_76">76</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">plan for Colorado, <a href="#Page_77">77</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Wetz, James E., Chicago egg-king, <a href="#Page_178">178</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Wheat, <a href="#Page_17">17</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Wilcox, Ella Wheeler, referred to, <a href="#Page_27">27</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Willard, Frances E., referred to, <a href="#Page_162">162</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Williamsburg Bridge, cost and materials, <a href="#Page_82">82</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Winnipeg, prosperity of, <a href="#Page_17">17</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Wisconsin townships, survey of three, <a href="#Page_26">26</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Woman, former disadvantages, <a href="#Page_155">155</a>, <a href="#Page_156">156</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">present opportunities, <a href="#Page_156">156–164</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Women, needed service of the church for, <a href="#Page_169">169–171</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">organization of, <a href="#Page_165">165–169</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Women’s National Trade Union League, the, <a href="#Page_168">168</a>, <a href="#Page_171">171</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Wool, production and manufacture of, <a href="#Page_35">35</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Work, vocabulary of, <a href="#Page_3">3</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">“Wormin’ time,” <a href="#Page_174">174</a></li>
-
-<li class="ifrst">Y</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Young Men’s Christian Association, <a href="#Page_77">77</a></li>
-</ul>
-</div></div>
-
-<hr />
-
-<div id="boardlist" class="chapter">
-<h2><a id="LIST_OF_BOARDS"></a>LIST OF
-MISSION BOARDS AND
-CORRESPONDENTS</h2>
-
-<p>The Missionary Education Movement is conducted in behalf of the
-Foreign and Home Mission Boards and Societies of the United States and
-Canada.</p>
-
-<p>Orders for literature on foreign and home missions should be addressed
-to the secretaries representing those organizations, who are prepared
-to furnish special helps to leaders of mission study classes and to
-other missionary workers.</p>
-
-<p>If the address of the secretary of the Foreign or Home Mission Board
-or Society of your denomination is unknown, orders may be sent to the
-Missionary Education Movement. All persons ordering from the Missionary
-Education Movement are requested to indicate their denominations
-when ordering.</p>
-
-<blockquote>
-
-<p><span class="smcap">Advent Christian</span>&mdash;American Advent Mission Society, Rev. George E.
-Tyler, 160 Warren Street, Boston, Mass.</p>
-
-<p><span class="smcap">Associate Reformed Presbyterian</span>&mdash;Young People’s Christian Union and
-Sabbath School Work, Rev. J. W. Carson, Newberry, S. C.</p>
-
-<p><span class="smcap">Baptist</span> (<span class="smcap">North</span>)&mdash;Department of Missionary Education of the Cooperating
-Organizations of the Northern Baptist Convention, 23 East 26th Street,
-New York City.</p>
-
-<p><span class="smcap">Baptist</span> (<span class="smcap">South</span>)&mdash;Foreign Mission Board of the Southern Baptist Convention,
-Rev. T. B. Ray, 1103 Main Street, Richmond, Va. (Correspondence
-concerning both foreign and home missions.)</p>
-
-<p><span class="smcap">Baptist</span> (<span class="smcap">Colored</span>)&mdash;Foreign Mission Board of the National Baptist Convention,
-Rev. L. G. Jordan, 701 South Nineteenth Street, Philadelphia,
-Pa.</p>
-
-<p><span class="smcap">Christian</span>&mdash;The Mission Board of the Christian Church: Foreign Missions,
-Rev. M. T. Morrill; Home Missions, Rev. Omer S. Thomas, C. P. A.
-Building, Dayton, Ohio.</p>
-
-<p><span class="smcap">Christian Reformed</span>&mdash;Board of Heathen Missions, Rev. Henry Beets, 2050
-Francis Avenue, S. E., Grand Rapids, Mich.</p>
-
-<p><span class="smcap">Church of the Brethren</span>&mdash;General Mission Board of the Church of the
-Brethren, Rev. Galen B. Royer, Elgin, Ill.</p>
-
-<p><span class="smcap">Congregational</span>&mdash;American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions,
-Rev. D. Brewer Eddy, 14 Beacon Street, Boston, Mass.</p>
-
-<blockquote>
-
-<p>American Missionary Association, Rev. C. J. Ryder, 287 Fourth Avenue,
-New York City.</p>
-
-<p>Congregational Education Society, Rev. Miles B. Fisher, 14 Beacon St.,
-Boston, Mass.</p>
-
-<p>The Congregational Home Missionary Society, Rev. William S. Beard,
-287 Fourth Avenue, New York City.</p></blockquote>
-
-<p><span class="smcap">Disciples of Christ</span>&mdash;Foreign Christian Missionary Society, Rev. Stephen
-J. Corey, Box 884, Cincinnati, Ohio.</p>
-
-<blockquote>
-
-<p>The American Christian Missionary Society, Mr. R. M. Hopkins, Carew
-Building, Cincinnati, Ohio.</p></blockquote>
-
-<p><span class="smcap">Evangelical Association</span>&mdash;Missionary Society of the Evangelical Association,
-Rev. George Johnson, 1903 Woodland Avenue, S. E., Cleveland,
-Ohio.</p>
-
-<p><span class="smcap">Evangelical Lutheran</span>&mdash;Board of Foreign Missions of the General Council
-of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in N. A., Rev. George Drach,
-Trappe, Pa.</p>
-
-<blockquote>
-
-<p>Board of Home Missions of the General Council of the Evangelical
-Lutheran Church in North America, 805–807 Drexel Building, Philadelphia,
-Pa.</p>
-
-<p>Board of Foreign Missions of the General Synod of the Evangelical
-Lutheran Church in the U. S. A., Rev. L. B. Wolff, 21 West Saratoga
-Street, Baltimore, Md.</p>
-
-<p>Board of Home Missions and Church Extension of the Evangelical
-Lutheran Church, Rev. H. H. Weber, York, Pa.</p>
-
-<p>Board of Foreign Missions of the United Synod of the Evangelical
-Lutheran Church in the South, Rev. C. L. Brown, Columbia, S. C.</p></blockquote>
-
-<p><span class="smcap">Friends</span>&mdash;American Friends Board of Foreign Missions, Mr. Ross A. Hadley,
-Richmond, Ind.</p>
-
-<blockquote>
-
-<p>Evangelistic and Church Extension Board of the Friends Five Years’
-Meeting, Mr. Harry R. Keates, 1314 Lyon Street, Des Moines, Iowa.</p></blockquote>
-
-<p><span class="smcap">German Evangelical</span>&mdash;Foreign Mission Board, German Evangelical Synod
-of North America, Rev. E. Schmidt, 1377 Main Street, Buffalo, N. Y.</p>
-
-<p><span class="smcap">Methodist Episcopal</span>&mdash;For Mission Study, Miss Inez Traxier, Department
-of Mission Study and Christian Stewardship of the Epworth League, 740
-Rush Street, Chicago, Illinois. For Missionary Education in the Sunday
-School, Rev. Gilbert Loveland, Department of Missionary Education
-of the Board of Sunday Schools, 58 East Washington Street, Chicago,
-Illinois.</p>
-
-<p><span class="smcap">Methodist Episcopal</span> (<span class="smcap">South</span>)&mdash;The Educational Department of the
-Board of Missions of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, Rev.
-C. G. Hounshell, 810 Broadway, Nashville, Tenn. (Correspondence
-concerning both foreign and home missions.)</p>
-
-<p><span class="smcap">Methodist Protestant</span>&mdash;Board of Foreign Missions of the Methodist
-Protestant Church, Rev. Fred C. Klein, 316 North Charles Street,
-Baltimore, Md.</p>
-
-<blockquote>
-
-<p>Board of Home Missions of the Methodist Protestant Church, Rev.
-Charles H. Beck, 507 Pittsburgh Life Building, Pittsburgh, Pa.</p></blockquote>
-
-<p><span class="smcap">Moravian</span>&mdash;The Department of Missionary Education of the Moravian
-Church in America, Northern Province, Rev. F. W. Stengel, Lititz,
-Pa.</p>
-
-<p><span class="smcap">Presbyterian</span> (U. S. A.)&mdash;The Board of Foreign Missions of the Presbyterian
-Church in the U. S. A., Mr. B. Carter Millikin, Educational
-Secretary, 156 Fifth Avenue, New York City.</p>
-
-<blockquote>
-
-<p>Board of Home Missions of the Presbyterian Church in the U. S. A.,
-Mr. Ralph A. Felton, Director of Educational Work, 156 Fifth Avenue,
-New York City.</p></blockquote>
-
-<p><span class="smcap">Presbyterian</span> (U. S.)&mdash;Executive Committee of Foreign Missions of the
-Presbyterian Church in the U. S., Mr. John I. Armstrong, 210 Union
-Street, Nashville, Tenn.</p>
-
-<blockquote>
-
-<p>General Assembly’s Home Missions of the Presbyterian Church in the
-U. S., Rev. S. L. Morris, 1522 Hurt Building, Atlanta, Ga.</p></blockquote>
-
-<p><span class="smcap">Protestant Episcopal</span>&mdash;The Domestic and Foreign. Missionary Society of
-the Protestant Episcopal Church in the U. S. A., Mr. W. C. Sturgis,
-281 Fourth Avenue, New York City.</p>
-
-<p><span class="smcap">Reformed Church in America</span>&mdash;Board of Foreign Missions, Rev. L. J.
-Shafer; Board of Home Missions, Rev. W. T. Demarest; Board of
-Publication and Bible School Work, Rev. T. F. Bayles, 25 East
-Twenty-second Street, New York City.</p>
-
-<p><span class="smcap">Reformed Church in the United States</span>&mdash;Mission Study Department.
-Representing the Boards of Home and Foreign Missions, Mr. John H.
-Poorman, 304 Reformed Church Building, Fifteenth and Race Streets,
-Philadelphia, Pa.</p>
-
-<p><span class="smcap">United Brethren in Christ</span>&mdash;Foreign Missionary Society, Rev. S. S.
-Hough, Otterbein Press Building, Dayton, Ohio.</p>
-
-<blockquote>
-
-<p>Home Missionary Society, Miss Lyda B. Wiggim, United Brethren
-Building, Dayton, Ohio.</p>
-
-<p>Young People’s Work, Rev. O. T. Deever, Otterbein Press Building,
-Dayton, Ohio.</p></blockquote>
-
-<p><span class="smcap">United Evangelical</span>&mdash;Home and Foreign Missionary Society of the United
-Evangelical Church and Board of Church Extension, Rev. B. H. Niebel,
-Penbrook, Pa.</p>
-
-<p><span class="smcap">United Norwegian Lutheran</span>&mdash;Board of Foreign Missions United Norwegian
-Lutheran Church of America, Rev. M. Saterlie, 425–429 South
-Fourth Street, Minneapolis, Minn.</p>
-
-<blockquote>
-
-<p>Board of Home Missions, United Norwegian Lutheran Church of America,
-Rev. Olaf Guldseth, 425 South Fourth Street, Minneapolis, Minn.</p></blockquote>
-
-<p><span class="smcap">United Presbyterian</span>&mdash;Mission Study Department of the Board of Foreign
-Missions of the United Presbyterian Church of North America,
-Miss Anna A. Milligan, 200 North Fifteenth Street, Philadelphia, Pa.</p>
-
-<blockquote>
-
-<p>Board of Home Missions of the United Presbyterian Church of North
-America, Rev. R. A. Hutchison, 209 Ninth Street, Pittsburgh, Pa.</p></blockquote>
-
-<p><span class="smcap">Universalist</span>&mdash;Department of Missionary Education of the General Sunday
-School Association, Rev. A. Gertrude Earle, Methuen, Mass.</p>
-
-<blockquote>
-
-<p>Send all orders for literature to Universalist Publishing House, 359
-Boylston Street, Boston, Mass.</p></blockquote>
-</blockquote>
-
-<h3>CANADIAN BOARDS</h3>
-
-<blockquote>
-
-<p><span class="smcap">Baptist</span>&mdash;The Canadian Baptist Foreign Mission Board, Rev. J. G. Brown,
-223 Church Street, Toronto, Ontario.</p>
-
-<p><span class="smcap">Church of England</span>&mdash;The Missionary Society of the Church of England
-in Canada, Rev. Canon S. Gould, 131 Confederation life Building,
-Toronto, Ontario.</p>
-
-<p><span class="smcap">Congregational</span>&mdash;Canada Congregational Foreign Missionary Society, Miss
-Effie Jamieson, 23 Woodlawn Avenue, East, Toronto, Ontario.</p>
-
-<p><span class="smcap">Methodist</span>&mdash;Young People’s Forward Movement Department of the Missionary
-Society of the Methodist Church, Canada, Rev. F. C. Stephenson,
-299 Queen Street, West, Toronto, Ontario.</p>
-
-<p><span class="smcap">Presbyterian</span>&mdash;Presbyterian Church in Canada, Board of Foreign Missions,
-Rev. A. E. Armstrong, 439 Confederation Life Building, Toronto,
-Ontario.</p></blockquote>
-
-<p class="p2"><span class="smcap">Revised to 1917</span></p>
-</div>
-
-<div class="chapter">
-<div class="transnote">
-<h2><a id="Transcribers_Notes"></a>Transcriber’s Notes</h2>
-
-<p>Punctuation, hyphenation, and spelling were made consistent when a predominant
-preference was found in this book; otherwise they were not changed.</p>
-
-<p>Simple typographical errors were corrected; occasional unbalanced
-quotation marks retained.</p>
-
-<p>Ambiguous hyphens at the ends of lines were retained.</p>
-
-<p>Index not checked for proper alphabetization or correct page references.</p>
-
-<p>On the Form near the beginning of the book, “Helps” was
-printed that way, with the “s”.</p>
-
-<p>Page <a href="#Page_189">189</a>: “Earl of Shaftsbury” was printed that way.</p>
-
-<p>Page <a href="#Page_192">192</a>: “ascendency” was printed that way.</p>
-</div></div>
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-<pre>
-
-
-
-
-
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