AMERICAN SOCIAL ^ RELIGIOUS CONDITIONS CHARLES STELZLE - jMmmUmmHttt (Qornell UnitteraitH ffiibratg 3tlfara. JJtm lork FROM THE BENNO LOEWY LIBRARY COLLECTED .BY BENNO LOEWV 1854-1919 BEQUEATHED TO CORNELL UNIVERSITY The date shows when this volume was taken. M 1 7004 Mp HOME USE RULES All books subject to recall All borrowers must regis- ter in the library to borrow books for home use. All books must be re- turned at epd, of college year for inspection and repairs, Limited books must, be returned within the four week limit and not renewed. Students must return all books before leaving town. Officers should arrange for the return of books wanted during their absence from town. Volumes of pei"iodicals nd of pamphlets are held ^ the library as much as pogsible. For special pur- poses they are given out for a limited time. Borrowers should not use their library privileges for the benefit of ^other. persons. Books of special value and gift books, when the giver wishes it, are not allowed to circulate. Readers are asked to re- port all cases of books marked or mutilated. ■ Do not deface books by marks and writing. Cornell University Library HN64 .S82 American social and relialous condi|^^^^^ olin 3 1924 030 266 344 Cornell University Library The original of tliis bool< is in tine Cornell University Library. There are no known copyright restrictions in the United States on the use of the text. http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924030266344 American Social and Religious Conditions By CHARLES STELZLE The Gospel of Labor 12 mo, cloth, Net, $0.50 Contains thitty-three compact and trenchant chapters. All those who labor, Employers, Employees, Pastors, Christian workers, who minister to the laboring classes — will welcome this work of practical value. American Social and Religious Conditions Illustrated with numerous charts and tables Net, 1.00 The finding of Men and Religion Surveys in seventy principal cities, of which the author had charge. Mr. Stelzle also served as the dean of the Social Service throughout the movement. The book contains many original charts and diagrams. Principles of Successful Church Advertising Illustrated, 12mo, cloth ...Net, 1.25 "We concur in the finding that no up-to-date church officer, be he pastor or layman, can afford to neglect reading this exceedingly wise little volume." — Advance. Christianity s Storm Centre A study of the Modern City, 16mo, cloth Net, 1.00 "There is a wild call for instructive infor- mation and it is well answered here." — The Outlook. Boys of the Street How to Win Them Net, .50 "Sound common senee and much practical experience." — Christian Advocate. American Social and Religious Conditions By CHARLES STELZLE Superintendent, Bureau of Social Service the Board of Home Missions of the Presbyterian Church in the United States of America New York Chicago Toronto Fleming H. Revell Company London and Edinburgh Copyright, 19' a, by FLEMING H. REVELL COMPANY j\(fZ^Xl^' New York: 158 Fifth Avenue Chicago: 125 North Wabash Ave. Toronto: 25 Richmond Street, W. London: 31 Paternoster Square Edinburgh: 100 Princes Street To CHARLES L. THOMPSON Missionary Statesman Preface WHEN Josiah Strong wrote "Our Country," nearly thirty years ago, he gave the Church a vision of the great problems which confronted it, pointing out the duties and the opportunities which awaited the Church, in order that Our Country might be made God's Country. In many particulars wonderful progress has since been made. There is a new conscious- ness of the responsibility of the individual ; men's move- ments of various kinds have enlisted the masculine ele- ment in the Church in definite service for their fellow men. There is a more scientific approach to the social question. The schools and colleges are awaking to the need of a system and a curriculum that will adequately meet the modern situation. Even the general indication of a spirit of social unrest is a healthy sign of progress. But there are considerations which are not quite so hope- ful, and it is significant that the peril of the twentieth century is the destruction of the home life of the people. It has been said that the family is the unit of society. Whatever destroys this foundation is a menace to the nation. Divorces are on the increase. The number of mar- riages has gone from 483,069 in 1887 to 853,290 in 1906, or an increase of forty-three per cent. ; whereas the number of divorces granted has increased from 27,919 in 1887 to 72,062 in 1906, or an increase of sixty-one per cent. It is interesting to note in this connection that the population of the United States as a whole developed from 58,680,000 in 1887 to 85,702,533 in 1906, or a total 7 8 Preface iucrease of thirty per cent. The percentage of marriages increased more rapidly than that of the population, but the increasing number of divorces granted should give thoughtful people great concern. Along with this serious situation should be considered the rapid decline in the birth-rate in this country. In the continental United States the size of the family is de- creasing. The average number of members iu a family was 5.1 in 1870, 5.0 in 1880, 4.9 in 1890, and 4.7 in 1900. The prevailing size of the family was three in three- eighths of the states and territories in 1890, and in three- fifths of them in 1900. Three was also the prevailing size of the family in three-fifths of the cities having at least 25,000 inhabitants in 1890, and in seven-tenths of such cities in 1900. It is impossible to secure accurate figures with reference to the number of births, and per- haps the best method for arriving at the real situation is to find the number of children under five years of age to all females between fifteen and forty-four years of age. For the continental United States in 1880 there were 586 children of white population per thousand females of the above ages, as against 508 in 1900. For Negroes, Indians and Mongolians, there were 759 per thousand in 1880, and 585 per thousand in 1900. The census returns state that for the native women the number of children was 475 per thousand in 1890, and 462 per thousand in 1900, a decrease of thirteen, but for foreign-born women the number was 666 per thousand in 1890 and 710 in 1900, an increase of forty-four. Also that for the native women in the cities the number of children fell from 309 in 1890 to 296 in 1900, whereas for the native women in the coun- try the decrease was from 523 in 1890 to 522 in 1900, showing that the decrease in the number of children among native-born women was confined chiefly to the cities. No doubt the modern industrial situation has Preface 9 mucli to do with this situation, but our artificial social life is still more to blame. The cousumptiou of liquor is on the increase. We are sometimes deceived by the statement that the consump- tion of intoxicating liquor was greater during the times of our grandfathers than it is to-day, because in those days this practice was condoned or even encouraged. But statistics indicate that whereas in 1850 the per capita consumption of alcoholic liquors in the United States was 4.08 gallons, in 1911 it was 22. 79 gallons. There has been a steady increase in the use of intoxicants, in spite of the activity of the Church and temperance societies. The Commissioner of Internal Eevenue reports that during the fiscal year ending in 1912 more whiskey and rum was produced than ever before in the history of the country. Stored in warehouses the country over are 263,786,000 gallons of this material. Incidentally it may be said that during the same period 11,221,624,084 cigarettes were smoked, an increase over 1911 of nearly 2,000,000,000. Here is a call to those who believe in the slogan "for God, and home, and native land." The number of wage-earning women sixteen years of age and over has increased from 14. 7 per cent, in 1870 to 20.6 per cent, in 1900. But in the occupations which have to do with home life there has been a decided de- crease in the percentage. In 1870, 52.96 per cent, were engaged in domestic and personal service, but in 1900 only 39.4 per cent, were thus employed ; and in agricul- tural pursuits the decrease was from 21.6 per cent, in 1870 to 18.4 per cent, in 1900. The increase was in those occupations which are taking women from the home and sending them into the store and factory. Take the mat- ter of child labour ; according to the special census bulletin of 1907 there were in the United States 1,750,178 child workers engaged in gainful occupations. It should 1 o Preface be borne in mind that a very large percentage of these children wei-e employed on farms, but there were many thousands employed in mills and factories, working under the most degrading conditions. The concentration of wealth in the hands of a compar- atively few individuals is a peril to the homes of the masses, for such ownership of the land and the means of production can only result in the exploitation of the people. The desertion of the farms and the crowding into city tenements must weaken the home life of the nation, for the maintenance of family life under the con- ditions found in the average city tenement is well-nigh impossible. At such a time as this the Church must come to the defense of the home. It must patiently construct the principles upon which the home must firmly stand. It must bravely attack the evils which threaten to destroy it. For, aside from other considerations, the future of the Church depends upon the permanency of the home. CHAELES STELZLE. NeiD York City. Contents I. The Problem of the City 13 II. Country Life Problems . . . . 37 III. Economic Aspects of the Liquor Question 67 IV. Women and Children in Industry . 87 V. The Immigrant .... 103 VI. The Negro 123 VII. The Indian . 133 VIII. The Spanish- American 141 IX. The New Frontier .... 153 X. Social Movements Arising Out of Sociai Conditions .... 163 XI. The Church As a Social Agency . 177 XII. The Church as a Religious Force . 193 XIII. The Church and Modern Efficiency 201 XIV. The Churches in a Unified Program oi Advance ..... . 213 Appendix A . 220 Charts Showing Conditions in Seventy American Cities Appendix B 234 Men and Religion Survey Statistics, and Social Service Recommendations II 25 METROPOLITAN DISTRFCTS Cities of 200,000 or more, including lemtory lyin^ within ten miles of city limi'-ts..^ Area in Acres ■ Metropolitan '1>717,6S2 acres Tbtal landsitrfeoe forllnibedStafes- l,30(i3+7,2OOacres Popula-tion 1 Total for UriitedState-, 91,972,266 Mroporrtan Distrirfs- 22,088^81 One-Rnirth of thapopulafion mtiieUratedSlaiEs liviponJiBcif ttcWal landaioi 12 THE PEOBLEM OF THE CITY IT requires a fool or a philosopher to prophesy what a generation may bring forth, and one may be about as trustworthy as the other in the matter of ventur- ing an opinion as to the future of the city. It was a titled statistician who reasoned that a city's food supply could not be brought from a greater distance than thirty- five miles, because this was the travelling limit of cattle, and that this fact would set the bounds of a city's growth. Sir William Petty argued that if London con- tinued to double its population every forty years, while England doubled its population only once in three hun- dred and sixty years, obviously the men on the farms could not possibly supply the city with provisions, as, in his day, it required one man on the farm for every man in the city. The trouble with Petty was that he based his conclusions upon the supposition that all the factors involved would ^remain as they were. This is a common fault with many another sociologist. Malthus, the great economist, said that the time would undoubtedly come when it would not be possible to sup- ply the world with sufficient food, because while the population was growing in geometrical proportions food could be produced only in arithmetical ratios. But how was he to know that a famous President of the United States would one day seriously discuss the question of race suicide, while another man, whose name has become almost equally famous, would manufacture a wonderful 13 14 American Social and Religious Conditions harvestiug maeliiue which has revolutionized agricultural life aud practice ? At oue time it required two-thirds of the population of the United States to produce enough food for this country. To-day it requires only one-third. But if present available means were employed, one man could produce enough food to feed forty. Aristotle limited the ideal city to 10,000 inhabitants. Plutarch and Cicero sought by persuasion to turn back the current of emigration which came from the country. Justinian tried to stop it by legal measures. The Tudors aud the Stuarts issued proclamations forbidding the erection of new houses in London, enjoining the country people to return to their homes. The extension of Paris beyond certain limits was prohibited by law at various periods from 1549 to 1672.' But persuasion and legisla- tion were both in vain. The city has developed in spite of the wisdom of philosophers aud the edicts of rulers, because the growth of populations and their maaaner of making a living are determined by certain forces over which neither kings nor philosophers have ultimate control. "While the problem of the city is by no means a modern one, nevertheless the factors which make the great cities of the twentieth century possible are of recent origin. The same causes which account for the rapidly growing American cities are responsible for the growth of the cities in foreign lands. For the problem of the city is world-wide. The modern city is the product of the newer civilization. It is the outgrowth of economic and social conditions from which there is no turning back. At the beginning of the sixteenth century Europe had only seven cities with a population of 100,000 and over. At its end there were not more than fourteen. During the seveuteenth century practically no progress was made • "The Growth of Cities," Weber, page 454. The Problem of the City 15 w o W T-i " r-l . 00 ej-*t»iot-ejotooo a »H TK (NO-*»HfHTfU5eD(C rH (N CO co(Meo-3 CO o-^caoowcDwco in (U r~ t-Tllt'tp^t-t-^OO OS l~- CO « oTi-^ooo •* m 0"'* CO t^ tH r-OiHt-iC0C0U3t^O w> a> 0U30-*(N0-*ri^ OS ?'. U3 rH ef rtl-TlH rH rH tH rH r-l 2 O .-I O o I PL4 I 10 U5 t- 10 to CO UO f-H t- CO >* CO o OS rH r- (N 00 00 o t- W -^ "# i-H O -* t- ^ CO ■* (N OQO 10 O'* N 00 OS orr-roJ"TH"OOOd"cO-*''o" ■*" IN O CO (N * 0 OSO 00 ■^ W OS -^ OS O rH r-l O CO -h" ccrof(M~eo''ofco''Ti<"eo''eo~ 'j'" t- CO tH CD r« O U30 OS 00 U3 CO 00 CO CO CO W r-l CO O O 10 00 ■* OS r- (N t- CO 05 O 00 IM OS ■* 10 TJi ^ t>- CO O CD O OS QO rH O CCS^CO rH 00" ofeo ■*"■*"•*'" 10" ■^'"■*" fc. " zS o < S OS ►J r-l eoWr-ir-icnO'*asco r-l CO 10 (N t- CT I- 1H CO COrH b O CJ o o m o o o SrHl 00 O 2 O _ _ O O o Q O -000 ■Sgo in O g o rH 10 O O ■»•'•" o o o o o ■" ■" ■^ 00000 00000 o-o-oR-R. 100 o ino CJrHinOJrH So o o 0-° r-im o o 00 o o OU5 .5; s l6 American Social and Religious Conditions in the number of great cities, although those in existence increased their population by about forty per cent, while the population of Europe as a whole remained practically stationary, largely on account of the wars of the period. From 1700 to 1800 the population of great cities increased about fifty per cent., while their number also increased fifty per cent., there being twenty-one large cities at the end of the century. Beginning with the year 1800 the growth of European cities went forward with great bounds. In fifty years the number of cities of 100,000 aud over doubled. During the next fifty years, or in 1900, their number had increased to 168, the total popu- lation for Europe being 425,573,073. The United States has a population of 91,972, 266 with fifty cities of 100,000 and over. The growth of cities in the United States has naturally been more marvellous than in any other part of the world. In 1800 there were six cities in the United States with a population of 8,000 and over, as follows : Philadelphia, New York, Baltimore, Boston, Charleston and Salem, these cities having a combined population of about 200- 000, or less than the total population of Portland, Oregon, which ranks twenty-eighth among the cities of this country. In 1910 there were 2,405 places of 2,500 in- habitants or more in the United States which were counted as "urban" or "city," having a combined population of 42,623,383, or 46.3 per cent., as against a rural population of 49,348,883, or 53.7 percent, of the total population. Prom 1900 to 1910 the population of the United States as a whole increased 21.0 per cent. The rural population increased 11.2 percent., whereas the urban population increased 34.8 per cent., although the cities of 25,000 and over increased 55.0 per cent. Nearly one- tenth (9.2 per cent.) of the total poprlation in 1910 resided in three cities, — New York, Chicago, GROWTH OF URBAN POPULATION IN THE UNITED STATES FIRST FIGURE AND FULL COLUMN SHOW POPULATION OF UNITED STATES SECOND FIGURE AND WHITE COLUMN SHOW POPULATION OF PLACES OF 2,500 OR OVER THIRD FIGURE SHOWS PER CENTAGE OF SUCH URBAN POPULATION CO 00 in — o" in (0 n — O) w 1880 (M(0 TO 1890 15 in a 0) If) 0) tod 1900 0) 1910 17 l8 American Social and Religious Conditions Philadelphia, aud oue-fourth of the eutire population lived on oue-four-hundredths of the total land area. Like a great whirlpool the city is drawing to itself those elements which constitute the social unrest. In the city one finds practically every social problem that one finds anywhere else, only much more intensified. In the matter of populations, it has most difflcult problems. There are 229 cities which had in 1910 more than 25,000 iuhabitants, with an aggregate population of 28,453,816. The combined population of the 229 cities constitute thirty-one per cent, of the entire population (91,972,266) of the continental United States, but of native whites of native parentage the number in these cities constitute only 20.5 per cent, of the total number in the United States, while for native whites of foreign or mixed parentage the percentage is 48.8, and for foreign-boru whites it is 56.0 per cent. Thus, while these principal cities have only about one-third of the population of the United States, they contain more than one-half of the foreign-born population. For negroes the percentage is 16.5 as against 10.7 per cent, for the entire country. However, negroes constitute one-fourth or more of the total population in each of twenty seven principal cities, and in four of them the percentage is more than one- half, namely, Charleston 52.8 per cent. ; Savannah 61.1 percent. ; Jacksonville 50.8 per cent. ; Montgomery 50. 7 per cent. In each of twelve cities there are more than 40,000 negroes. The foreign-born white population is mainly con- centrated in the northern aud eastern cities. Passaic, N. J., has 28,467 foreign-born whites, representing 52.0 per cent, of its total population (54,773). This is the largest proportion of foreign-born whites in any of the principal cities. Lawi-ence, Miiss., with 41,319 foreign- boru whites in a total population of 85,892, or 48.1 per The Problem of the City 19 cent, comes next. There are eleven other cities in each of which the foreign-boru whites constitute more than forty per cent, of the total population, namely, Perth Amboy, N. J., 44.5; New Bedford, Mass., 42.4; Manchester, N. H., 42.4 ; New Britain, Conn., 41 ; Lowell, Mass., 40.9; Shenandoah, Pa., 40.6; New York, N. Y., 40.4; Holyoke, Mass., 40.3. The foreign-born population of London is about 3.0 per cent. ; of Berlin 2.6 per cent. ; of Paris about 8.0 per cent. No doubt economic causes have had most to do with the growth of the city. The development of industrial life was the principal factor in bringing together large numbers of labourers. The invention of machinery com- pelled the working man to surrender his handicraft and go to the factory which was controlled by the men who alone could afford to purchase the costly machines. One Industry naturally attracted another, especially when it was related in some way in the production of a given ar- ticle. Thus there were grouped a force of workers and proprietors with somewhat mutual interests. This was a perfectly natural evolution, and it seems likely that it will continue indefinitely. But soon these city men began to make machines which were used on the farm. With the use of these imple- ments one man could do the work of four or more men under the old regime. This process has since been highly developed, until to-day the use of agricultural machinery hag completely changed the processes on the farm. In view of this situation it seems foolish to attempt to send large numbers of the city's poor or unemployed to the farm. Whatever may be the condition in some parts of the country, and whatever the temporary demand for men on the farm during certain seasons, the fact remains that economic laws have decreed that eventually most men 20 American Social and Religious Conditions must live in the city and there work out their salvation. Even before economic necessity compelled men to go to the city, the glamour and life of the town lured the chil- dren of the farmer away from the homes of their child- hood. The call of the city could not be hushed. The country offers no such allurement for the city-bred work- ing man. To him the farm holds nothing of the inspira- tion which comes to him through contact with real peo- ple. Stumps and stones may inspire poets, but they are poor companions for the man who must live with them al- ways, and this is about the only kind of land that a poor man can afford to purchase. How can it be expected that those who have tasted the life of the city for which the countryman longs could be induced to forsake it for the loneliness of the field from which the farmer is fleeing. It is largely a matter of adaptation. The country-bred man seems to find it comparatively easy to adapt himself to the life of the city, but the city-bred man rarely ad- justs himself to the ways of the country. Those who do go to the country and make a success of it are usually free from the necessity of doing so. After all, the whole thing is principally a question of human nature. We may find fault with it, and persuade ourselves that the city's poor and unemployed are foolish, but whatever else they may be they are human, and somehow they cannot very well help being that. To fly in the face of prejudice, pride, and all the traditions of city life, requires greater force of character than is usually attributed to poverty- haunted residents of the city's tenements. If they could overcome all the obstacles which stand in the way of a migration to the farm, they would be capable of making a pretty good living in the city, under ordinary circum- stances. What, then, is the remedy? Certainly not in the wholesale transfer of the city's poor to farm colonies. The Problem of the City 21 t-oeoi-co eot-od g > o (33 •"> c u s go Ph o o PS H o — o oo o o m e« rH lo t-; o ■*' 00 ■^ ■*' ■^' CO 0OU5 oi> o o MlOOM eo IH 't OJ t' CO I- CO 50 CJ oi (N to' CO Q ■" o oo oo coo to OS to ^ t* t* CO CO CO O lO CO §1- o O S3 lO 03 00 in d 00 CO >o CO t^co'td rH lOlOrHlOtO r-( 03 »-( « Q S p< a o O s CO ^ & ■3 2 a g S -g .s -3 2 ■SB 3 g.S 22 American Social and Religious Conditions Many will, undoubtedly, find their way to the country, and there discover life and joy in the open air. But the vast majority will remain in the city. And since they are to remain there, they must be dealt with as citizens of our municipalities. If their lives are unreal, they must be trained to learn the true values. If they are liv- ing under conditions which debase and degrade, morally and physically, these conditions must be removed, so that even life in a tenement may be made sweet and whole- some. If they ai-e in their present situation because of inefficiency, they should be made more competent. In any case, the fight will be lost or won in the city. We cannot shift the responsibility. The problem is ours. It is ours, whether we accept it or not, for the weal or the woe of every man in the city helps to constitute the life and the thought of the world. Another factor which has influenced the growth of the city is the development of transportation facilities. Men live in cities because they can drain vast areas of surrounding farm land of its produce. The " thirty-five mile limit" of Petty no longer holds. London to-day eats grain which was grown in Manitoba. The milk sup- ply area of our big cities covers several hundred miles. One of the charges made against the city is that it saps the life of the country and gives nothing in return. Whatever other causes there may be for the growth of the modern American city the social factor is one of the most important. The city provides better educational facilities than does the country ; recreational life is more advantageous ; standards of living are higher ; the houre of labour are shorter ; there is a better opportunity for social life. These have a strong tendency to draw the countryman to the city, and to keep the city-bred man there. But there are certain perils in the city which should The Problem of the City 23 have our careful consideration. Even those who are most expert in dealing with them are often baffled because of the complexity of the situation. The mere fact of con- centration is a peril. The cities will unquestionably dominate the nation. The next census will report the supremacy of the city. What is to be the character of the American city in 1920, when it will govern all the people ? In the matter of reform for the cities it usually hap- pens that were it not for the " up-state " or country vote, it would be next to impossible to secure the desired end. This is not because the country people are more moral than they are in the city, but because the evil seems greater to them than it does to the city man, since they are farther removed from it and have not had that familiarity with it which breeds indifference. Bat what will happen when the city outvotes the country ? It seems almost incredible that the grossest forms of im- morality should be protected in the first city in America through unscrupulous police officers who are commis- sioned and maintained to eradicate the evil. But this has come to pass because we have permitted a corrupt ring to gain control of our municipal life. The average citizen is concerned only when the evil somehow creeps over into his lot. He is not at all interested even though the corruption is eating out the heart of the city's life, provided that it does not seem to injure him. This is one of the gravest perils of the city. We have permitted land speculators to build our cities for us — men who are interested in their own gain and nothing else. American cities should be planned and built for all the people. Streets and parks and recreation centres should be laid out by expert landscape architects. Transportation, gas, water, electric light and power are important parts of the city's life. We have been reckless 24 American Social and Religious Conditions in giving these into the hands of men who, often un- scrupulous, have made them a burden instead of a bless- ing, and yet the very existence of the city depends upon them. Those who control our transportation facilities deter- mine to a considerable degree the extent of the tenement house problem. They have it largely in their power to bring about congestion in a city or to distribute the popu- lation. In many European cities the municipalities them- selves control the franchises for transportation, heat, light and water — the vital organs of a city — because they have become wearied of the exploitation of private corpora- tions. But whether these important functions of minis- tering to the physical needs of the people shall be per- formed by the municipality or by private individuals, it is the individual citizen, who, after all, must see to it that they are properly performed. Not until this is done more effectively will our cities grow normally and beauti- fully. The greatest peril of the city is not the tenement dwellers. The greatest peril is the smug, self-satisfied middle class which is quite content with itself and with things as they are. These are the people who must be aroused to a sense of their personal responsibility. The Church is in peril in the city, mostly because the great middle class, of which the Church is principally composed, has no hearty interest in the conditions which have developed in the city in recent years. The Church is slowly but surely losing ground in the city. If the city is to dominate the nation — and it will — and if the Church continues to lose in the city, it does not require a prophet to foretell the inevitable result. Is the Protestant Church justified in deserting the down- town or so-called city mission fields, leaving, in place of well-equipped institutions, poorly supported chapels and mission enterprises which are altogether inadequate to The Problem of the City 25 <* 2 b O W r-l < t-_ e» ■* e« 10 o e» o M t- tij os 10 03 o» co «d o o 00 r-ro5'"i>'fff CO coco r- •* T(H 00 CO r-l t- t~-* c« — la r- t-"o"03'co" O U3 CO 00 CI r-l ■* O CO 05 O U3 03 05 r-l ■* CO CO (m'in cd"i-^ 05 lO 91 US J< • ■ ■ • — "" S rt „ ^ iS ■- <« 9 4 SH '-' .3 ol O »H ' « rt g'o- CCLi r-l ^ P< 13 H t/3 Id ■ " ; P rt nl rt 1,- o ? ctl o d ■2 o ■g ^^ H _r Q^^^ z r-iejeO'*in cot»ooo3o r-l(NeOTll U5COl»Q0 OSOrHM rHr-(T-lrH rH iH tH iH rH IM d C* 26 American Social and Religious Conditions meet the situatiou ? Before it can adopt this policy as a recoguized principle of church work, it must honestly face and answer several important questions : Is the gospel that it preaches " the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth," or is its power limited to those who have moved uptown or to the suburbs t Is it a gospel which can be accepted only by the favoured ones who can afford to live in comfortable homes and adequately support the Church, or has it also a place in the lives of the tenement- house dwellers ? Is its gospel a universal gospel, or is it a gospel which may be understood and accepted only by the English- speaking race? If the Church believes that its gospel is adaptable to every nation, why does the Church flee when the foreigner comes in ? Shall it be confessed that this gospel is good for the foreigner only when it is exported, and that it is non-effective for him in the land which is known as a Christian country ? Is the message of the Church sufficient for the great social problems which confront the people in the factories and the tenements, or must they look to the leaders in social reform outside the Church for their solution? Christian people have been declaring that the gospel of Christ is the only remedy for the social questions of the day — are they ready to honestly apply this gospel to the social and ecouomic needs of the people 1 The tenement dwellers are waiting for the Church to answer this ques- tion, and many of those who wait are already Christians and members of the Church. It will not suffice to say that if the working men would accept Christ the labour question would be settled. There are others who need to be saved if this matter is to be adjusted. There is a "spiritual" salvation and there is a " social " salvation. There should be no dis- tinction between the two, the latter coming as a direct re- The Problem of the City 27 suit of the former. But social salvation is largely a mat- ter of education — of " sanctification," to use the word in the sense that salvation is progressive. Most people in the Church have experienced the former, but compara- tively few have accepted the latter — working men as well as capitalists. But what is the Church to do concerning these social questions ? Is the Church ready to confess that the principles, which Jesus gave and all the power and influence of Christianity, are inadequate in the pres- ence of questions which others outside the Church are facing and honestly trying to answer ; or will the Church courageously attack these problems of the city, remain- ing with the people in their distress, and helping them solve their problems 1 Is the gospel offered by the Protestant Church superior to all other moral and religious teaching, or is it simply one religion among many other religions, any one of which, or, at least, most of which, are as good as Protes- tantism ? Or, worse still, is Protestantism inferior to other religious systems, in that, while the people have forsaken the faith of their fathers because they have come to the conclusion that it does not meet their needs, the Protestant Church is now afraid to offer them its gospel because it believes that it is no better than the faith which they have rejected? It is not a question of proselyting the Catholic and the Jew. There are vast numbers of such in city mission fields who are neither "Catholic" nor "Jew" in their religious practices, and never will be. These churches are rapidly losing their grip, especially upon the young people. It would be perfectly legitimate to offer such the gospel of Christ, as the Protestant Church understands it, because no one else has an ecclesiastical claim upon them. It would be vastly better for a dead Protestant to become a live Catholic or Jew, just as it would be a decided uplift for 28 American Social and Religious Conditions an indifferent Jew or Catholic to become an earnest Protestant. By what system of ethics has a church organization the right to appropriate, for its own use elsewhere, property paid for by former members who may either have died or moved away, and which property was intended for the use of the people living iu the community ? Who has the right to say what the original purchasers would do with the property under the changed conditions ? If at least a majority of the present membership, which desires to re- move the church, paid for it, there could be no valid ob- jection, so far as this particular point is coucerned. But even under such circumstances those who must remain in the neighbourhood should receive a pro-rata share of the property's value. But ordinarily, few, if any, of the original purchasers are identified with the organization at the time when it desires to take the property elsewhere. To be sure, they have a legal right to the property, be- cause they have fallen heir to it and because the property is held by the church corporation and not by the com- munity, but it would be only fair if they should be re- quired to pay something in the nature of an inheritance tax to the community. In practically every case the value of the property has increased since its original pur- chase — made more valuable by the community which paid the taxes, and all the taxes, for churches do not pay any taxes. In a very important sense the community has the right of equity in church property, and its disposi- tion should not be left exclusively in the hands of a few church members who presume to act for the dead and the departed. In view of the entire situation, can the Protestant Church consistently desert the most densely populated sections of our American cities, in the face of the greatest opportunity that has ever come to It in the history of The Problem of the City 29 home missions ? The incoming foreigner and the rapidly- developing social and economic problems in our great cities will test as never before not only our democratic form of government, but also the efficiency and the suffi- ciency of the Protestant Church to meet these new condi- tions. We talk about " the problem of i^e down-town church,^ ^ whereas the emphasis should be placed upon " the down- town problem of the church." Such a statement of the case suggests that the thing to be considered is not the welfare of a particular church which happens to have been left stranded in the down-town field, but that there must be a consideration of the conditions and principally of the people who live in such a community, the objective being the people, and not the church. It also suggests that the situation confronting the church in the down- town district must be the concern of the whole Church, and not simply that of the local down-town church. If there is such a thing as Christian unity in the attack upon modern social and religious conditions, it should be manifested in the big cities, where the problems are al- most terrific and where no one church can adequately meet them. The great city mission enterprises of even twenty years ago have been seriously crippled, and in many American cities they have simply passed out of existence. This change has been occasioned by a new situation. It has been brought about largely through recent developments in the social and economic worlds, which have given the masses a new conception of their rights and privileges. It is this growing spirit of democracy among the people that has so seriously affected the old-fashioned mission enterprises. The managers of these institutions have failed to keep abreast of the times, and because of this they have lost their grip. Frankly, the old city mission 30 American Social and Religious Conditions is played out. It served its day when a paterualistic Christian philanthropy was in vogue. There are still small groups of working people who may be influenced by such enterprises, but the great masses which have be- come affected by the modern spirit of self-reliance and independence cannot be controlled by them. It need scarcely be said that this new spirit is a sign of real prog- ress. Working people have come to rely more and more upon their own initiative. They prefer to fight their own battles in their own way. Their methods may not always be right, but the mere fact that they appreciate their re- sponsibility is most encouraging, for this is an earnest of better things for all the people, not only in their economic interests but in moral and religious matters as well. The situation demands a new approach on the part of the Church. There are some fields in our American cities which demand a strong evangelistic enterprise, but of a manly virile type. This is quite generally accepted, and it is not necessary t« enlarge upon its importance, only to add, that if the Church really means business in the matter of evangelism, it should dignify this branch of its work by placing it in the hands of responsible men, who shall be commissioned by the Church itself. It should also be said that many existing down-town churches may become the centres of Christian activities which might revolutionize the life of the community. But there seems to have arisen a situation in our prin- cipal cities which demands a broader and more general attack. It requires a movement which takes into ac- count the other forces which are fighting for supremacy in the hearts of the people, and which in themseheshave already so largely taken the place of the Church. It is mainly a question of adaptability — of flexibility — on the part of the Church. Under normal circumstances, the success of any movement undertaken by a religious The Problem of the City 31 society among the people in a particular community is manifested by the organization of a church which must become stronger as the years advance, until it finally reaches self-support, meanwhile becoming "a fountain of beneficence " to the people in still other localities. But this is not the only criterion of success in religious work. There are vast areas of influence which are not shown by statistics — not even the statistics of church membership. This is particularly true in connection with enterprises which are established among people who have a strong prejudice against the Church. After all, it is not of prime importance that there should be or- ganized one more church of a particular denomination with a membership of a few hundred — provided that the work being done is such as would be done by a thorough- going Christian institution. This is recognized in the bountiful support of Young Men's and Young Women's Christian Associations, Eescue Missions, Social Settle- ments and similar enterprises. The organization of a church among the " backward races " is less difficult in some respects than it is in many of our American cities, because the appeal in the foreign field is a fresh one and has not back of it long years of strong prejudice due to misunderstanding, as is the case with many among whom much of our work in the aban- doned city fields must be done. But even in work among the so-called " heathen " the organization of an orthodox church is often long deferred, the point of contact being sought in some other way. It should also be remembered that the average down-town field presents problems which make a Christian enterprise in such a community of strategic importance, for here are found the great social, physical, economic and religious questions that now confront the American people, and the Church has a distinct responsibility in their solution. 32 American Social and Religious Conditions These problems must be viewed iu the most comprehen- sive manner and with the most sympathetic spirit. To do this requires men and women of considerable culture and experience. Such are not usually found among those who now constitute the membership in the average down-town church or mission. Ordinarily, these are leastsympathetic in the matter of an adequate solution of the social problem. Their own outlook upon life has been so uari-owthat tlicy do not ordinarily understand the underlying principles of their own problems, to say nothing about those of their neighbours. Their philosophy of life is usually based upon surface observations. On account of their inability to grasp the real difficulties in conducting a church in a down-town field, a membership consisting exclusively of such persons cannot be depended upon to help bring the work to the highest point of efficiency. Instead, they often prove to be a real handicap. They strenuously op- pose, any aggressive or ladical departure. They desire to conduct a so-called "family church," which is clearly impossible under the circumstances. If it were feasible to have in connection with such a church a group of strong, broad-minded, educated men and women whose social spirit has been broadly developed, and who would be willing to throw in their lot with the people in such an organization, it would make the task less difficult, but this arrangement seems at present to be too idealistic, on account of the great sacrifice involved. It must be evident, therefore, that the institution to be established in such a community must be different from the ordinary church. It should be a " Fellowship " or a " Forum " or take on some other form of organization, which, however, should be confessedly and distinctly Christian. While the institutional church has its value in the down-town field, this proposed organization must become The Problem of the City 33 more than that. It should be interested in the larger, more vital problems of the people, giving them a chance to speak their minds concerning them, but it must also help the people secure better living conditions, — it should insist upon justice and righteousness in every relationship of life. It would be a revelation to most working men to know that the Church dares give them a chance to speak their minds, even when they desire to "roast" the Church. The average working man has only one address against the Church. Having gotten rid of the bitter ex- pressions, under Christian auspices, these men rarely re- peat the experience. They have learned that the Church is not afraid to be criticized, and such frankness always disarms an enemy. When such a generally tabooed subject as Socialism is to be discussed — and men will talk about it — it is much better that it should be considered under Christian auspices and with an intelligent, broad-minded chairman in control. Ordinarily, the audience itself will take care of the blatant agitator who may insist upon presenting obnoxious views. Such an institution attracts the leaders among the people. It has an unusual opportunity to educate those who direct the thought and life of the masses. "Without committing itself to organized labour, socialism, or any other economic system, the organization may attract and win men and women of all beliefs, be- cause of the fair-mindedness of its leaders. While the work should be based upon as democratic a spirit as possible, there must be vested in the director or board of management a certain authority and power which would not be possible in a regularly organized church, where the people are practically supreme. The spirit of patronage which is so much in evidence in the average city mission enterprise should be avoided. Somewhere between the mission and the church organiza- 34 American Social and Religious Conditions tion there is a form of control which gives the people in the highly specialized downtown enterprise the privilege of limited self-government. This enterprise supported by the Church should serve as a mediator betwtcu the classes and the masses, between the estranged labourer and the Church. Here the representatives of both groups should meet and become better acquainted, each having the right to speak out his feelings and his prejudices, so that each may learn the other's view-point. At present, each group meets with kindred spirits, and the discus- sion with men of their own class results only in greater bitterness and further separation. Manifestly, an ordinary church organization cannot serve in such a capacity without overcoming almost in- superable obstacles. At any rate, it will take a long time to prove that it has no ulterior motive in inviting the working man to take part in such a discussion or confer- ence. Our city churches are usually "class" institu- tions, in that they consist either of the rich and those who naturally group themselves with them on account of their taste or peculiar circumstances, or else they are composed exclusively of the people in the tenement disti'icts. There are notableiexceptions, to be sure, but ordinarily the church reflects the character of the people in the community, excepting where the older members have moved away, but still worship in the down-town church. In the latter case the church does not ordinarily touch the community life, because those who constitute its membership are not usually sympathetic towards the masses about the church, their hope being that the church will ultimately be re- moved to the neighbourhood in which they now live. As it is more reasonable to expect the rich and cultured man to attend the enterprise conducted for the benefit of the working man than it is to expect the poor man to attend the rich man's church, such an institution as has been The Problem of the City 35 suggested should be located in a community in which working men live. In conducting the enterprise under consideration, it will be qtute clear that one is getting down to elementary principles, and that what may be right and proper in a full-fledged church organization, under more favourable conditions, may become a real obstacle here. Every- thing that is not absolutely essential in religion should be omitted, in order that there may be as little as possible of the controversial in the basic work of the institution. But as the enterprise is to be confessedly and aggressively Christian, there should be a distinct effort to bring men to see Christ from the Christian standpoint, for He must become the great motive power back of everything that is attempted. LOSS OF POPULATION IN NINE GREAT AGRICULTURAL STATES Percentages of counties losing population from i900tol9IO 36 II COUNTEY LIFE PEOBLBMS WHILE the problems of the country are very different from those in the city they are at base the same. In the last analysis the solu- tion of the situation in the country must be found in a social and economic program. The economic interpreta- tion of history, of which so much is made by the social- ists, is often far-fetched ; but any student who will look at the question fairly will see at once that the fundamental basis of the development of mankind has been largely economic and industrial. It has been shown, for ex- ample, that •'the life of primitive man was' determined by certain economic factors, as, for instance, the discovery of fire, the invention of pottery, the domestication of animals, and the use of tools. We speak of the stone age, the bronze age, the iron age ; we talk of the hunting and the fishing period, the pastoral, the agricultural, and the industrial stages of civilization. The early migra- tions, the abolition of slavery, the awakening of nations, the American and the French Eevolutions, and most of the wars of history, were largely due to economic causes. There is no great political question before the American people to-day which is free from this element. The platforms of national political parties have to do almost entirely with social and economic problems. Nearly every law passed by the legislature, and nearly every governmental enterprise, has its economic aspect — if, in- deed, it is not altogether economic in its nature. Other influences there have been which cannot be catalogued 37 38 American Social and Religious Conditions in this manuer, for there are elements in human nature which have had more to do with history in its making than any purely mechanical causes, but we cannot get away from the significance of the phase of the subject herein presented. Because this is true the men and the women of the churches must at least study with an open mind the social problems which are so important to the masses of the people both in the city and in the country. What is the situation with reference to the country life problem ? Is the country falling into decay, as is so fre- quently said t What is to become of the farmer and his children f Society is so dependent upon the soil for its life as well as its living that this question should be seriously considered by the statesmen in political as well as those in religious life. The census returns for 1900 give us most interesting figures with reference to this problem. As has already been pointed out in the previous chapter, while the population of the United States as a whole increased 21.0 per cent, during ten years, the rural population increased 11.2 per cent. The total num- ber of farms in 1900 was 5,737,372, whereas in 1910 there were 6,361,502, an increase of 624,130 or 10.9 per cent.' ' A "farm " for census purposes is all the land which is directly farmed by one person managing and conducting agricultural opera- tions, either by his own labour alone or with the assistance of mem- bers of his household or hired employees. The term "agricultural operations "is used as a general term referring to the work of grow- ing crops, producing other agricultural products, and raising animals, fowls and bees. A "farm" as thus defined may consist of a single tract of land or of a number of separate and distinct tracts, and these several tracts may be held under different tenures, as where one tract is owned by the farmer and another tract is hired by him. Further, when a landowner has one or more tenants, renters, croppers, or managers, the land operated by each is considered a " farm." In ap- plying the foregoing definition of a " farfti " for census purposes enumerators were instructed to report as a " farm " any tract of three WIT IS-ST 9I3'08T'Wg 8e9*i8S'TSI SSt'giS'liZ'E 09S'SW'4S5'Z 0-9 9 -St O'Bt 9-gOZ ti9'3eo'eii tT9'09S'S63 9i9*t5t*ES ZS"9T 09 "eT ST6'63£*6S0't Itl'8Il'9K i00'SW)'gt9'9 £90'£6*'096'i$ 9-9 t-TZ 3 "661 0Zi'0Tt'29t 8S3*2t2'iO* OOS'iSE'eOS'l iiO'WO'Z izfi'sw'te 93 "81 e92'e* 609*689*633'T 6i9'eiS'0i3 6-6 S-9t »-T3 O'li £•231 660't36'88t IW'SSi'iO* 009'iE£'S06'l S86'6g9'2 TiZ'8SS'8e ZO'i 3i'; iOi*W8'9iS'I ggo'03s'9o* 9/,i'960"i6I'0X 823 "103 '081 '31$ 0-St f2g :3-83 lO-ti :i-2ST ZW'XU'WZ S28'T80'9Eg 009'ie£'S0S'I iOS'BOO't Eei'SST'OS IE '13 I8"S3 E3S'E $ Eig'i9i'B02'3 l.91/'l.vZ't6f 6t9'3S3'6i3'ET 689'i93'380'9T$ e-ei i'32 E'8A S-9£t 9Si'9I9'iS£ 6T9'8I3*£39 oos'iSE'eoe't Tt9't9g'* tii'iw'sg le'st 12 -tZ E93'S$ 20i'ii*'SiO'E 0i6'3ii'6W T6*'/,*9'tt9'9T WT't06'62*'03t 8*I3 3'3i 3'9*T 48^'86'i''W* tii't63'8£8 09i'T:9*'£06'l 3i£'iSi'3 34S'W6'3i 09 -es W91' tW'9$ otg'sii'gge't £8i'6W'393't ^69'33t'TO8'*E O6O'6Wt66'0*l fg3 3'9t 3"Si T;8£t 03i'TS*'8i'^ S3E'86i'ei8 009'693'£06'l 303'T9£'9 993'345'T6 — 0J09 J3d cSuipiinq pu9 PUBX JO QnTBA e3^Jt3A7 eittiBj uz pirsT jo - - S93C1 pu^ ^^xnod *eTBi]liu« OT^^soniod „___-__ jCjsUTqOBj? pira B^ueoisidnil — sSu-pptT^ P^^ Ptt^ paAojdint B3JB pirex x^^o^ JO ^ueo jsj - pSAOaoilll DCUSJ UT PUBX JO %U9S JO£E sotiBj tiT ^ej« pu^x I^^o^ JO ^uso ^aj - -CUT3J jed 9SB9J0S p8A0.icEGrf oS^jsay ittiBj jsd eSseioa sSs^bay soaoB omBj ui puBX psAOj;cii:i BaiffB 6«"^J "I ^""^ sdjos iLti^imoo 9X1% ^0 t33j:b pasT ' - _ -euUBj XI^ JO jsqumji . non'SXnaoi 09BX OiSI 068T 0051 •0I6T 01 038I-S3J,Vi9 0311 Md SHS i XIHaaOHi WHTa 'E K a T i Country Life Problems 39 The 6,361,502 farms contained a total of 878,798,000 acres, of which 478,452,000 are improved. The land in farms represents somewhat less than one- half (46.2 per cent.) of the total land area of the country, while the improved land represents somewhat over one- half (54.4 per cent.) of the total acreage of land in farms. Improved land thus represents almost exactly one-fourth of the total land area of the country. The average size of a farm is 138.1 acres, of which on the average 72.2 acres are improved.^ or more acres used for agrioultural purposes, no matter what the valne of the products raised upon the land or the amount of labour involved in operating the same in 1909. In addition, they were instructed to report in the same manner all tracts containing less than three acres which either produced at least $250 worth of farm producta in the year 1909 or on which the continuous services of at least one person were expended. ' Laud in farms is divided by the 1910 census into(l) improved land, (2) woodland, and (3) all other unimproved land. The same classification was followed in 1880. At former censuses, except that of 1880, farm land was divided into improved land and unimproved land, woodland being included with unimproved land. Improvedland includes all land regularly tilled or mowed, land pastured and cropped in rotation, land lying fallow, land in gardens, orchards, vineyards, and nurseries, and land occupied by farm buildings. Woodland in- cludes all land covered with natural or planted forest trees which pro- duce, or later may produce, fire-wood or other forest products. All other unimproved land includes brush land, rough or stony land, swamp land, and any other land which is not improved or in forest. It should be noted, however, in this connection that the census classifi- cation of farm laud as "improved land," "woodland," and "other unimproved land ' ' is one not always easy for the farmers or enumerators to make, owing to the fact that the farmers sometimes use these terms with different meanings from those assigned to them by the Bureau of the Census. There is evidence that the same kind of land has at certain times and places been reported as "improved land " and at other times and places as "unimproved land," rendering these classifica- tions less accurate than the report of total farm acreage and value. 40 American Social and Religious Conditions O 00 M OS .00-* 10 e^ lOrt 00 t-rt »■«)< rt r-4 -^ ^ o -^ la lO-* SS2{:g§ T^ 00 IM to tH iH • rH 1 00 OS w rH r-t rt rt 00 CO O O rt CO 1-1 CO-* (M CO r- S S06 . *.«td 03 CO 1/3 CO CD lO <» ^ /i.^ (N f COrt C (4 o g CO t^ 05 rt rt U5 o lO ■* to rt t- 01 a» o OS O 0> CD rt (N 03 ub to 00 CO to 1 ^ O s 1— 1 Ufrt" Tjl ■ O CO rt f^ 00 10 OS rt rt ■« CO Wrt CO rt ■«• •«<■ 10 rH OS S S CO 3S OS 1-1 SSSiSS IS"-^ O 4J OS CO CO t* TJ* iO ^ OSOCO f* ^ a lOrt Tj 10 COOO'* os'"od'tD''os''io ^ ^ t-eo'* o cort ma lo-f t- os^^oo-* omn m" «.*"* coco CO « O lO o rt C4 (M "^ rt OOSODCOO -^-^O to 00 gc 04 in OS to IN 0(5 - tX to -«< '-\ (N_co_^ab '««co_t-__ QO CO '^ 10 CO t- «* lo 55 = "."=. '^'O 'ttofN- lO OfcO^Od* r^OiODr^ rt os'^rtoseo eo'-tSs o '"' r^ (M -^ to QQ OS iO OS coco CO 55 t- ■* ■«it-iO-*i> »» '-' 'n ■*CD_-*rt__rt 05 'C rt"cfos" co'co-oo-od" Y-Tio'js lo^if - lH CU OS -^-^ o t- t~ OS t-ej CO o5 < os__oo ■* os'fl'eoSffi N-^ rt" cToo-co-rt-TfT S" !^ .' ..2 .■0 tn w Ml ■ J • V V V IH t-< t-l u u ? . rt rt rt §§|l is • 3 k- > U) . ts • vS .cd C "s» u M , s o ■5 rt rt £(2 ts i ■s « a J > ge improved acreage per ent. of total land area in f ent. of land in farms impr ent. of total land area imp 1 f Idings nestic animals, poultrv. be ge value of all property pe ge value of all property per ge value of land per acre . ^ §-3 l-o-o 2 2 guou S S^B B-S S E " 1 ^^ C B ;1^ 1 > < l-r t2 i-i M^ Q o £ ti u •" « ° ■c hi H g rt a -§•1 IS, si §•■ 2» 1H o ,3 <«„ .5 2 •« 2 ; «)^ -3 S 8 " 0.rt en Hi . •a 5 g, ^ 111 V a o ki CO USB ' o « 2"a 'S|S.2| - CL-O « Country Life Problems 41 The total value of farm property in 1910 was $40,991,- 449,090, of which over two-thirds represents the value of land, about one-sixth the value of buildings, and about another one-sixth the combined value of implements and machinery and of all live stock. The value of farm property as a whole increased 100.5 per cent, in ten years, but the greater part of this extraordinary increase has been in farm land, the value of which increased not less than 118.1 per cent. ; implements and machinery in- creased 68.7 per cent., and domestic animals, etc., in- creased 60.1 per cent. The average size of a farm de- creased from 146.2 per cent, acres in 1900 to 138.1 per cent, acres in 1910, but the average acreage of improved land per farm was somewhat greater in the later year than in the earlier, although, as indicated in the foot-note with reference to land in farms, this increase in the proportion of farm land improved may be partly due to differences of interpretation as to what constitutes improved land. It is profitable to glance for a moment at the average number of acres to a farm reported by the various censuses. In 1850 the average number of acres per farm was 202.6 ; in 1860, 199.2 per cent. ; in 1870, 153.3 per cent. ; in 1880, 133.7 percent. ; in 1890, 136.5 per cent. ;in 1900, 146.2 per cent. ; in 1910, 138.1 per cent. The per cent, of farm land improved increased from 38.5 in 1850 to 54.4 per cent, in 1910. The decrease in the size of farms from 202.5 per cent, acres in 1850 to 133. 7 per cent, acres in 1880 was due in part to the breaking up of plantations in the South. From 1880 to 1900, on account of the inclusion of large ranches of land which had formerly been free public domain, the average size of farms increased somewhat, reaching 146.2 in 1900, since which time it has again decreased on account of the breaking up of ranches and the further sub-division of plantations in the South. 42 American Social and Religious Conditions The average acreage of improved land per farm has been comparatively stationary from census to census ; it was seventy-eight acres in 1850, and 75. 2 per cent, acres in 1910. The greatest increase in the number of farms and also in the improved farm acreage took place in the decade of 1870 to 1880, but the greatest increase in the total farm crop was in the decade of 1890 to 1900, and by far the greatest increase in the value of farm property was in the last decade, that is, from 1900 to 1910. Comparison of the two thirty year periods shows that while from 1850 to 1880 the agricultural industry more than kept pace with the population, it has, on the whole, failed to do so since 1880. The population increased 116.3 per cent, between 1850 and 1880, and improved farm laud increased 151.9 per cent., but from 1880 to 1910 the population increased 83.4 per cent., and im- proved farm land only 68.0 per cent. The most con- spicuous feature shown in the United States census is the movement of agriculture towards the West. New England has actually less land in farms at present than it had in 1850, although the population is much greater. The acreage of farm land and of improved land in the Middle Atlantic division reached its maximum in 1880, and has since declined. Our study of the census figures will not be complete without including the value of the crops raised. In the matter of cereals alone the increase of the acreage was 3.5 per cent, from 1899 to 1909. The increase in the number of bushels during the same period was 1.7 per cent. But the increase in the value of this product was 79.8 per cent. The total value of the cereal crop of 1909 was $2, 665, 539, 714. If one were to add the value of hay, for- age, potatoes, sweet potatoes and yams, tobacco and cot- ton, the total value of these crops in 1909 would amount to $4,449,330,000. The crops here under consideration Country Life Problems 43 O H II4 Z O t-QOO(Naicx)u5 ,m m 10 oi oi CO 00 CO 00 il i-l t- tH t~ I lO OSOO'^f-ICOQDTJ'tNCD a>O3i>U:>COt^CO ■^eOCDCNi-l MlO(N CO-^ 00 CD (M « . 1> l> OS Oi 03 CD iH 04 CD IC CD iH (N 10 . CO 00 03 "^ l> CO a> OS IC -'^ 00 c« Tt< -* « OS '<1' COlO-^t-lCOr-lCDiH (m" cf oT od" uT 00" ic" co" o" Q0COlDOSO5i:*C0t^TH COWiHCDT-iaOCDlDCO 00 CO -**os f- t- M tH r~ r^ -^ »ft r- Oi -* 1^ S?? OS to U5 t* 1-i rH t- 05 00 « o CD t-"rH CD O i>_CO "^^^ r-T OtTl^" i-T C» CO cc o CD 05 IC »H CO 1010 00 1 t~ 10 10 »-t CO r- 00 d 05 00 s, 00 »H CD n* CO CO (N « iH U5»rH i < a t= S o) a 00 t- A CO -C! IH =«5cr ■» TjTm mc6 met (^ m" '^ in CO" '^ K ^ rt" 1 f i-t C4 CO 10 1-1 fH r- 1-1 r-l 00 1 1 r^ 1 z o s 3 Q O c- o» 10 f- in in CO t» in ^' r' c5 »-i 1-1 eo CT CO 00 co_in -h_ cc > N i^ o« in t- ) CO ^ CO ?-( CO ■5 c i ^io-i2ST).*oo='ri bA ^ ^ "^ ^ \i •. • ^ _ . •. Oh Oi ^ t- ■^' TjT oTtjT ccT CO" oT eii CO 00 eo CO CO CD CO in CO CO 10 C5 rH 1 «i-(i;0OI> R(N^5-* s r5 °C § I E^S |;;s |;5 ^s? ■^Itt co" oT co" oT in i-T in" r a" '^l eo"fff ^ oT '^ of P" CO in -^ rH 01 tH t~ t~ ^ CO ■"5 CO CO 03 T-l a 00 [ •9 - ef ir 0050(Nl^(NinOC in in CO 00 o. tc coioooi-iincooiHO cf .- CO h- Q CD i ■2" CO (N 03 CI,-* CO eo ^- ir oToTn Ti<'"croi'j-"ofa . >^ 'X ■§ * => -S * " ". 3 « .-.cor-ieoioooini>a ,oin sosco Sco^-* rS "" ^2 CT m" r-" eo" oTTir t-" oiV t-" ^ en m" ^10" ^0" inOCOt^WlHrHr-ICs OS 00 in in 11 If incoort CO 0^ ■» «" T-T ih" U > *J •a !• c CI ^ T3 W 1 ^rT 1- *^ C (2 1 £ ■| a > 1 V > 1 4J HI 1 c n V u (2 a c Country Life Problems 45 H g a I- oq o rH e» M eo . r- « c« eo O CO u a M t-' iH «■ to IN rH C O OS 00 CO i> t- .i>t-a>(Ncoa)ai ■«■ P to S 00 r-l ei >-i « . ■- T-t H &< H C/l S ti u- iHT-IQ005W0SOOlf 3 -^ O to ■^ w ^ a: mQ0esot»«ou5^ < t- O CO in CO O H tc in -* oo^oo^iM i> o> o c S^ rH 00 CO OS TH z «: T-T i-T oT CD" T-T cQoa s m "i* lo tH to o CT eot-tnaOi-Hio-^oci )_ t- O lO CO 00 s 5. o"i>'t-'~c"oD"c<3"ario"a r oT od" icT t~^ oT t- -a " ■* O OS t- 00 00 c OS -^ OS CO 03 -^ CD Cs in 00 CD GO in « >H o>_o^co__« i> eo • cr o CO 00 OS t- iH ^^ aToTt^r-Tcf u^T-T . cc -<#* ctT os" cd" co" oc W CO rH -^ rH 00 OS tH m iM -^ 00 CO ct •^ CO ,_ «f •^ 05 >H« rt « (M O O t- O CD CO CO '-lOdt^wOS'^WC y-l t- in o p 0500'a>100C100>OCC oc OS 1-1 00_ CO i o- co' co" r^ od" ^'' o" co"-*" a Tt " CO" os" of oT c- U3U3OSIO{MC0»-HQ0t- c (M a IT lCCOCO-«3<-^C0Q0WC c ■*_ "*, co_ co_ tH IC aSt^-^aiOOiOiatc ■^ " tcT ic~ ■^'' co" te CO in tH 05 (N iH »- (N to CO o o cc -*_CO Tl< oc r-i rH t- c r^ m y m a * ^ ^ T3 g- •do s S a 6 1 6 pq 1 Buckwheat Kafir Corn Emmer an Roueh Ric 1 in 3 o 2 8 t •g c 1 CJ w & 1/1 H <^ 46 American Social and Religious Conditions were raised upon 301,325,598 acres, occupying slightly more than one-third of all the land in farms and some- what more than three-fifths of the farm land which was improved. Upon the face of it, therefore, the farmer is prospering, although the matter of his efficiency may be seriously questioned. It is steadfastly claimed that while the crops have increased so greatly in value the farmer is not receiving his just share of the profit of the soil. Meanwhile the price of his land has gone up, and, natu- rally, his taxes have been greatly increased. Therefore, to make farming pay is not merely a ques- tion of raising more produce ; it is a question of proper distribution of the profit. The farmer's risks are greater than those of the merchant, who is fairly sure of returns on the capital invested. But the farmer is dependent upon the middleman, who, by the way, is to-day receiv- ing the condemnation of both the producer and the con- sumer. Everybody recognizes the value of the services of the middleman, but it is an open question as to the amount of the profit which he should receive, although many farmers have gone beyond this stage of the discus- sion, and are seriously considering the matter of organiz- ing to put the middleman out of business. But the solu- tion of this problem must not be left to the farmer alone. The consumer must have an important part in this con- troversy ; indeed, the government itself should intervene and assist in the solution of this question. It is rather significant that the decrease or slow increase in the rural population throughout large areas of the United States is in no sense due to lack of agricultural prosperity. On the contrary, in most of the states show- ing a decrease or only a very slight increase in rural pop- ulation throughout the past decade, there has been a re- markable increase in the value of farm property. In the table on page 47 will be found a list of twenty-two states Country Life Problems 47 W i^ w 3 o «i < ^ o " d ai O W Q f* 5 «< Bi Bi W K << ■*. ■*. '^. "'^ "'. ''J ®. *. ®. °°. '^ '^. *. ^. M 05 !D 05 QD OC 05 to »ri0505C4TlJlf5c405COui'^©iC4t^^CDi>OQdo'^CD t-e3'#e!e»'*ao«Deoi-iwot-t-eJio«Dm«r-ii>iNin .v.; • '.a • "! -d 48 American Social and Religious Conditions with little or no increase in rural population. It will be noted that the percentage changes in rural population as compared with the percentage changes in the average value of farm land per acre indicates a decided gain in the value of farm property. The fact that so many boys and girls leave the farm is often greatly deplored, but does it necessarily follow that because a boy was born on a farm he must of neces- sity become a farmer ? It may be that he was destined to become a poet or musician, a blacksmith or an engineer. He may have none of the qualifications which would fit him to become a farmer. On the other hand, there are many boys who are born in the city who by nature are agriculturists. At any rate, their tastes run in that di- rection, and with very little encouragement they may become expert farmers. "While the matter of environ- ment has a great deal to do with the future of the boy, he should be given free play in the question of his life's vocation. As already indicated, the country problem grows out of economic conditions. If a boy raised on the farm can make a better living inthe city, he will move to the more congested centres. However, the father may not be able to leave as freely as the son, thus, frequently, some men who can do better in the town than on the farms will remain on the land. It is sometimes said that the town has sifted out the weaker members of the community, and that they are carried into the city and finally sink in the whirlpool of the slum. It would be rather difBcult to substantiate this statement, for it is undoubtedly true that the strongest men in the city have come from the country. At a recent con- ference of about one hundred ministers it was revealed that all but two were born and raised in the country. The coun- try may be contributing its weaker element to the city, but it is also giving its strongest men and women to the town. Country Life Problems 49 Often when there is a decline in rural populations in some regions there really has developed a greater effi- ciency on the farm. This is the natural working out of an inevitable law. There will continue to be an exodus from the farm to the city until we strike the basis which will naturally leave enough people in the country to till the farms that need to be cultivated. As a matter of fact,— as Luther Bailey points out in " The Country Life Move- ment," — the real problem before the American people is how to make the country population most effective, not how to increase this population. The men who are living on the farms, but who are not farmers in any sense of the word, should go to the town or the city, while those who do remain should be made most efflcient in carrying on their occupation. Neither is it a question of cultivating every bit of available land. It is really a matter of em- ploying the best methods upon the least amount of land possible. We have scarcely begun to utilize the best methods of agricultural efficiency, as is indicated by the figures showing farm production. The fact that farms have been abandoned in New Eng- land means, in many cases, that those wTio formerly oc- cupied them have moved to regions where the soil is more productive, and where for the same amount of effort expended a larger harvest may be secured. The same thing happens in the city. Sometimes entire neighbour- hoods are abandoned by certain business enterprises be- cause better facilities have been offered them in other sections of the town. The portions of the city formerly occupied will no doubt be utilized in due time for other purposes. Just so with the farm land which has been temporarily given up. Sometimes these farms have been abandoned because expert farmers were unable to make adequate livings upon them. It is not to be presumed in such cases that inexperienced men from the city, or im- 50 American Social and Religious Conditions migrauts, who are uufamiliar with agricultural life, can succeed where those who are more expert have percep- tibly failed. In 1900 35.3 per cent, of the farms in the United States were tenant farms. In 1910, the proportion had arisen to 37.1 per cent. In thirty years tenant farms in the South Central Division — which includes Kentucky, Ten- nessee, Alabama, Mississippi, Arkansas, Louisiana, Oklahoma and Texas — have increased from 36. 2 per cent, to 51.7 per cent., although in many large districts the proportion of tenant operated farms runs from 60.0 to 80.0 per cent., and this is by no means limited to the negroes. In 1880 Texas had 65,468 tenant farms, which comprised 37.6 per cent, of all the farms in the state. lu 1910 the number had increased to 219, 575, which included 63.0 per cent, of all the farms in the state. During the same period land values in Texas had arisen 204 per cent. It is noteworthy that wherever land has gone to the highest average figures we find the highest percentage of tenants farming the fields. In the southern states in- dicated there are over 500,000 farm renters, and in Texas — which is known as the "white man's state" — only 23.0 per cent, of the tenants are negroes. From the economic standpoint, therefore, the white man is no better off than his black competitor. Here is one of the most important problems in country life. The tenant farmer, whose lease usually runs only for a single year, is not interested in keeping up the standard of efficiency upon the farm. He robs the soil and does not keep the buildings in repair. An owner usually finds it cheaper to rent than to till the ground. He can make more money living in the town than he can by running the farm, but some day there will be a reckon- ing, and the entire country will pay the cost. Unques- tionably the country districts are already suffering be- Country Life Problems 51 cause of the exodus of the home-owning class. The small towns, on the other hand, have not been greatly benefited by the addition of the retired farmer, for often he is close-fisted, narrow in his outlook, and not particularly interested in the welfare of the town. It is his object to keep down his taxes and to keep up his rates of interest. Meanwhile there is a steady growth of discontent among the tenant farmers who are replacing the stronger type of owner who formerly occupied the land. Actually a " class-conscious " revolution is developing among them. This is particularly true in the South, where a strong farmers' labour union has been organized. This organi- zation employs about ten men who are continually in the field organizing locals. It is said that there is now a membership of 25,000. There may be decided differ- ences of opinion among these men as to methods, but of this they are quite sure : First, that they are suffering many wrongs from which they cannot find relief from the landlords; and, second, that they have lost all hope of becoming home-owners under the present social condi- tions. They are determined that there shall be a radical change in the system which now controls them. They have declared for the abolition of the private ownership of land and the establishment of a nationalized system of ownership and control. Their organization has intro- duced the land question into state politics, and in a short time they will undoubtedly hold the balance of power. Socialistic papers are being read among them, and what the final outcome will be no one dares prophesy. The farmer will succeed only as he depends upon the scientist for the working out of his farm problems. This is coming more and more to be the case, for no class of workers receives more scientific information through the government and through the schools than does the farmer. There is scarcely a factor of his work but that he may 52 American Social and Religious Conditions find for it a careful analysis of the entire situation, with remedies which have been tried and proved, and which he may work out successfully. The farmer will succeed as he learns the value of cooperation. Perhaps this will be one of the most difficult lessons to learn, for the Amer- ican farmer is a strong individualist. His life has been lived alone. He has fought his battles alone. But this is the day of socialized effort, therefore the solidarity of the farmer must be more highly developed. Theodore Eooaevelt's Country Life Commission brought to the front the chief problems which face the work- ing farmer. This Commission was one of exploration rather than of organization. It did not attempt a com- plete analysis of the situation ; it simply sought to place the entire problem before the people. It recommended that there be made " an exhaustive study or survey of all the conditions that surround the business of farming and the people who live in the country, in order to take stock of our resources and to supply the farmer with local knowledge." It suggested that Congress provide some means or agency for the guidance of public opinion towards the development of a real rural society that shall rest directly on the land. It also recommended that there be held a local, state, or even national conference on rural progress, designed to unite the interests of education, or- ganization and religion into one forward movement for the rebuilding of country life. It is significant that the Commission did not discuss the " back-to-the-land " movement. Luther H. Bailey points out that "the country life movement " must be sharply distinguished from the present popular " back-to-the-land " agitation. The lat- ter is primarily a city or town impulse, expressing the desire of the townspeople to escape, or of cities to find re- lief, or of real estate dealers to sell land ; and in part it Country Life Problems 53 is the result of the doubtful propaganda to decrease the cost of living by sending more persons to the land on the mostly mistaken assumption that more products will thereby be secured for the world's markets. The move- ment of city men to the country offers no solution of country problems. Usually it offers only a solution of the city problem, and how a city man may find the most enjoyment for his leisure hours and his vacation. In the last analysis the country must solve its own problems. The movement to send the incompetent to the country is a modern one. The country does not need him any more than does the city, and he can do no better in the field than he can in the town. It has been pointed out that the labour that the city can supply with profit to the country districts is the very labour that is good for the city to keep. Careful students of the problem insist that the present back-to-the-farm movement is for the most part un- scientific and unsound as a corrective of social ills. Farming is more and more becoming a science requiring trained workers. It is no longer a poor man's business. It requires capital to equip and run a farm, as well as to buy it, just as is the case in any other business. One of the most important aspects of country life is that of the reclamation of land through the process of ir- rigation. This system will do much to socialize country life because it brings men together for mutual purposes. Through this method vast areas are being reclaimed. But very much more land will be reclaimed by the re- moval of water than by the addition of water. Great areas, especially in the South, need to be drained in order to make them most profitable. The eastern states have many such territories. New York is still nearly half in woods and swamps and wastes, but practically all of it is useable. New York is undeveloped country 54 American Social and Religious Conditions !>: (^S o O ©■O" « ) ^ 05 2 o cod « 5 r-( 00 5 rH s CD CO 10T)< a z :s s > O OS o 3 CO -* a ph. »-< ■< 1— 1 s H 2 % en 8 o d K co" CO & r-1 o ■* ■a'r- H -^S Q g s a z z ;3 O O rH CO CC > t-_e«3 o < d ^•■dl^ i iH 00 H r^ o ■* I- i -^ i/3 z. a S Pi l2 rH o tH t- C 1 r-l05 d o dio-a S^" fa o ft 14 n E O o ■■ tJ 00 tH ■fli •>»' CO CO • • as &:i o •a K 5 .2-K IS .2 OT 1 gs •^ ^'^S ^1 11^ !l 1 H (U [2 !3 1* Country Life Problems 55 T-t 00 in-* CO tA ■* o ■>* M oq o ■*i* CD M C* I> o t-^ CO o OS r-l •>*rHlOIN Tii d o» ■*■ lO l> "* CO lO CD Per Cent. Land IN Farms of Total Land Area O iHiH ■*■* tHOO CD CO O S « Ti; tm 1> CD d CO -^ ■*£-COrt cooo 1 1 5 o 1^ 1 ■s ss 56 American Social and Religious Conditions •& C4 05 1-HQC !0 Ttl < § (N 00 1- r-; 00 fH i> 05 -^ r- \ri tsi a S S £ « 5 S u. 1-1 w „P- u -< w CO CO ^ ■* ■* 10 d 00 1- 10 r^ oa t>- -^ c •0 rH rH 1- r-( < C» W Wr- 00 q § CO CO 00* cc oj<» ■^ CO CO a 05 e» r-( r-l r-lf-* C^ (S b ° s 1^ g^ < « 0'^ -< t-t 0^ o- eo QC) CO* Tf* CC eo th 05 CO -^ T-t CT 05.-I r-l 1-) tH 1-1 CJ IN K &:i M ■ M (A W 1 IS .2 l^|« Jl ^^U ^° 05 COO u rH CD -"^ CO 05 05 t* .-1 C* <0 (N H n rH 1-" r-( 06 M u M P^ • r* 05 « 10 03 r-l H (N CO U3 CO M e<5 § (M* od CO c^' rH m S ^'^'^ c* (N IN PU aiCo (N m s < D CO J> i> C5 i> ■* — 1 ■^ i> rH ad oai 5 «COrHrH CO rH -< > M < K < tP CO1H CO '-'S! 3 CD Tfi CO a rH t- i-t CO CD iQ C eii « 10 T)! K s ■ll H ■n t" Cfl 1 si ^^5t! si i^^^ ^° " The Liquor Problem "—The CtommitteD of Fifty, p. 122. 67 68 American Social and Religious Conditions or the big men, or the little men, bat the drinkers, and they dropped out as clearly as if they had been labelled." The principal railroads of the United States not only demand that their employees shall not drink while on duty, but they insist that their employees shall not enter a saloon when off duty. Alcohol not only lowers the power of efficiency, but it lowers the power of resistance to disease. There is a popular belief that alcohol renders a person exposed to infection less likely to take the disease, but it has been clearly demonstrated by the most famous physicians that alcohol, even in moderate doses, diminishes the body's power of resistance to disease. In the Indian army in 1905, taking the average of seven regiments in different stations in India, the proportion of admittance to hos- pitals among the drinkers was 92.0 per cent., and among the abstainers only 49.0 per cent. In a study of 20,192 hospital cases of tuberculosis the following is given as the causes : Alcoholism 1,229 Insufficient air, etc. - - - - 650 Privation 82 Probable heredity - - - - 90 Contagion 482' In spite of the testimony against the liquor traffic from all classes of men who have studied the question from the social and scientific standpoint, there has been a great increase in the consumption of liquor. The following table has been prepared in order to show in detail the per capita consumption of distilled ' American Issue, January, 1911, Economic Aspects of the Liquor Question 69 spmts and wines and all malt liquors from 1850 to 1911 : Distilled 1850 i860 1870 2 1871-80 I 1881-90 I 1891 1892 1893 1894 1895 1896 1897 1898 1899 1900 1901 1902 i9°3 1904 i9°5 1906 1907 ■•• 1908 i9°9 1910 1911 Galloua . 2. . 2. 24 86 07 39 34 43 49 Sz 34 14 01 02 12 18 28 31 34 43 45 42 47 58 39 32 42 46 Wines Gallons 27 34 32 47 48 46 43 48 32 3° 27 S3 28 35 39 36 61 47 52 41 53 65 58 67 65 67 Malt Liquors Gallons 1.58 3.22 5-31 ^■93 11.38 14.84 15.20 16.19 15-32 15-13 15-85 14.94 15.96 15-30 16.09 15-98 17.18 17-67 17.91 18.02 19-54 20.56 20.26 19.07 19.79 20.66 All Liquors and Wines Gallons 4.08 6-43 7.70 8.79 13.21 16.72 17-13 18.20 16.98 16-57 17.12 16.50 17-37 16.82 17.76 17-65 19.14 19-57 19.87 19-85 21-55 22.79 22.22 21.06 21.86 22.79 Taking the per capita consumption of all beers and wines we see that the per capita consumption rose from 4.08 gallons in 1850 to 22.79 gallons in 1911. Here is a singular fact which ought to arouse the attention of every student and thinker. In spite of the growth of temper- ance, of education, of enlightenment, the consumption of alcohol is steadily increasing. In the words of the brew- 70 American Social and Religious Conditions era, this "remarkable increase is due to a combination of economic and social causes, together with trade prog- ress in providing better distribution, and in adapting itself to new conditions. The present era of industrial development, with the rising scale of wages and the steady employment of labour, has increased the purchas- ing power of the people. Under the head of social causes, the growth of cities and towns, and in 'general, the steady increase in the urbanization of the people is the most important factor." ' Sir T. P. Whittaker, in his "Economic Aspect of the Drink Problem" gives an interesting explanation of the inconsistency between the growth of temperance and the increasing expenditure upon drink : " In my opinion, the true explanation of what is con- sidered to be the greater sobriety of the people is to be found in another direction. There is more drinking now than there was sixty or eighty years ago. But it is of a different kind. It is more frequent and regular. There is less obvious intoxication, but there is more soaking. There is less reeling drunkenness, less evident excess, and, consequently, there are fewer cases in the police courts, and fewer guests under the dinner table. But, taking the year round, more liquor is swallowed. There have been great changes in manners and customs in this respect during the last hundred years, but they have not affected for the better the quantity consumed. Habitual drinking, continual and frequent, has taken the place of occasional bouts of brutal drunkenness." The following table, showing a comparison of the per capita consumption of alcoholic liquors and coffee and tea, will be of interest in the study of this important phase of the subject : » Year Book of the U. S. Brewers Aaso., 1911. Economic Aspects of the Liquor Question 7 1 COMPAEISON OF THE Pee Capita Consumption op AT.COHOLIO Liquors and Coffee AND Tea Liquors and Wines Coffee Tea Gallons Pounds Pounds 1850 4.08 5.60 .56 i860 6-43 5-79 .84 1870 7.70 6.00 1. 10 1871-80 8.79 7.24 ^■Zi 1881-90 13.21 8.60 1.34 1891 16.72 8.00 1.29 1892 1713 9.67 1.38 1893 18.20 8-31 1-33 1894 16.98 8.30 1.36 189s 1657 9-33 1.40 1896 17.12 8.11 1-33 1897 16.50 10.12 1.58 1898 17-37 11.68 •94 1899 16.82 10.79 .98 1900 17.76 9.81 1.10 1901 I7-6S IO-4S 1. 12 1902 19.14 13-34 .92 1903 I9S7 10.62 1.27 1904 19.87 11.68 1-31 1905 19.85 12.00 1.19 1906 21-55 9-74 1.06 1907 22.79 11.17 .96 1908 22.22 9.84 1.03 1909 21.06 11-45 1.24 1910 21.86 9-33 -39 1911 22.79 9.27 1.04 There are other aspects of the subject which should have our attention — those phases of it which appeal especially to the working man, because, in the last analysis, he is the man who may destroy the power of the saloon, largely because of his superior numbers. Eealizing this fact, the agents of the brewing and the distilling interests have been catering to him in their propaganda, especially emphasizing the economic aspects of the liquor problem. 72 American Social and Religious Conditions Here is a sample of the attitude of mind of the work- ing man towards this question : "Have the temperance fanatics ever given a thought to the question of what would become of the hundreds of thousands who would be deprived of the means of making a living if prohibition became general? Did they ever seriously consider the disastrous consequences of the destruction of so large an industry as the brewing in- dustry, and how it would affect other industries? Did they ever consider that prohibition in our country would take away the bread from the mouths of a million men, women and children, who would be dumped upon the labour market, or made paupers ? " This is a fair question, especially as it is asked in con- vention assembled by a body of workers known as the United Brewery Workmen of America. Will the aboli- tion of the liquor traffic create a labour panic ? Let us confine ourselves to this single proposition. Never mind, for the moment, the social, the physiological, the moral and the political phases of the liquor problem. The average working man worries more about losing his job than he does about going to hell. No hell in the future can hold as many terrors as the hell which comes to him through a jobless condition. To his mind, therefore, the economic aspect of the liquor problem is more important than any other. He has been told that if the breweries and the saloons were closed, the men who grow the grain out of which beer is manufactured will suffer grievously ; that the glass bottle blowers who make the glasses and the bottles used in the industry, and those who make the cigars which are sold in the saloon, those who manufacture the bar fixtures used in the saloon, those who make the automobiles in which the beer is conveyed about the city, the horseshoers, the harness-makers, the machinists, the carpenters, the engineers, — all, indeed, who are in any Economic Aspects of the Liquor Question 73 ■way related to the manufacture or the sale of liquor — all ■will lose their jobs, if the saloon is put out of business. This is why hundreds of thousands of perfectly sober, non-saloon-patronizing ■working men, vote to retain the saloon in every part of the United States. In the Bulletin of Statistics on Manufactures, 1910, table 1, ■we find that in the United States there ■were en- gaged in the manufacture of distilled liquors, beer and ■wine, 62,920 ■workers. The annual ■wages paid these workers amounted to $45,252,000. The cost of raw material was $139,199,000. The capital invested was $771,516,000. The relation of the liquor traffic to all other industries was as follows : All Industries Liquor Industry Workers (No.), 6,616,046 62,920 Wages, _ $ 3,427,038,000 $ 45,252,000 Cost of Materials, 12,141,791,000 139,199,000 Capital Invested, 18,428,270,000 771,516,000 The Bureau of the Census, inlts Bulletin, page 8, makes the following comment upon the relative importance of the brewing and distilling industries : "The figures . . . are, therefore, misleading as an indication of the relative importance of these industries from a purely manufacturing standpoint. That impor- tance is best shown by their ranking in number of wage- earners ; in this respect the brewing industry ranks twenty-fifth among the industries of the country, and the distillery industry forty-third." The railroad man is concerned in our calculation. What is he getting out of the liquor business? How much the liquor traffic contributes to the freight traffic movement on railroads is shown in the figures given in the Statistical Abstract of the United States, 1911, p. 298. The total tonnage of all freight in 1910 was 1,745,324,- 828; that of wines, liquors and beers, 6,785,150, which 74 American Social and Religious Conditions represents only .003 per cent, of the total. What of the farmer ? Of the total crop of grain for 1911, consisting of barley (malt), rye, corn, wheat, and oats, there was used for liquor just about three per cent. Invariably when compared with other industries, the liquor business is at a great disadvantage. The table which follows is made up of facts taken from the Abstract of Sta- tistics of Manufactures, United States, 1910, and shows the number of wage-earners, capital invested, wages paid, and the value of products in the liquor industry as compared with the same items in five other industrial groups : Industry of^WaTe- ^mtal Wages Value of Earners Invested Paid Products 1 Liquor, 64,680 $ 831,802,000 $ 46,600.000 % 630,802,000 Textile and its fin- ished Products, 1,431,666 2,471,478,000 590,425,000 2,999,086,000 Iron and Steel and their Products, 989,718 3,487,226,000 614,276,000 3,104,533,000 Lumber and its Manufactures, 927,218 1,599,720,000 433,921,000 1,612,207,000 Leather and its fin- ished Products, 309,766 659,231,000 155,112,000 992,714,000 Paper and Printing, 413,964 1,126,825,000 240,872,000 1,174,582,000 Based upon these figures the following table indicates the ratio of wages paid to the capital invested, and the ratio of wag&s paid to the value of products : Ratio of Wages to Ratio of Wages to Industry Capital Invested Value of Products Per cent. Per cent. Liquor, 5.6 738 Textile and its finished Products, 23.9 19.6 Iron and Steel and their Products, 17.6 19.7 Lumber and its Manu- factures, 27.1 26.9 Leather and its finished Products, 23.5 15.6 Paper and Printing, 21.3 20.5 ' Figures include malting industry. Economic Aspects of the Liquor Question 7^ It is seen here that the ratio of wages paid to the work- ing man in the five groups of industries outside of the liquor industry in the matter of capital invested is about four times greater than it is in the liquor business, and in the matter of wages paid compared to the value of prod- ucts it is nearly three times greater. Let us look at this question from another angle. Take the investment in each of these industries to each wage- earner, and the number of wage-earners to each $1,000,- 000 invested : Number of Wage- Investment to Each Earners to Each Industry Wage-Earner $1,000,000 Invested Liquor, ;?i2,86o 77 Textile, etc., 1,726 578 Iron, etc.. 3.523 284 Lumber, etc.. 1,725 579 Leather, etc., 2,128 469 Paper, etc., 2,722 367 These figures prove that the liquor business employs only one-fifth as many workers for the same amount in- vested, as is the case in the average number employed in the other five groups of industries. If we consider the liquor industry alone we discover that the investment to each wage-earner has steadily increased, whereas the number of wage-earners to each million dollars invested has steadily decreased : Investment to Each Wage-Earner Numier of Wage- Earners to Each $1,000,000 Invested 1909 1904 1899 ;?i2,86o 10,989 10,693 77 86 93 The one conclusion to which we can come in view of this situation is that the share which the working man will receive in the liquor business will steadily diminish, 76 American Social and Religious Conditions whereas the profits of the brewers and the distillers will constantly Increase. We have still another set of figures in this connection. What about the value of the product of each individual worker, and the percentage of that product which goes directly to him ? Industry Share of Value of Products Labour Seceives in Wages Liquor, 7-3% Textile, 19.7 Iron, 19.8 Lumber, 26.8 Leather, iS-7 Paper, 20.5 Here it is proven that in the liquor industry the worker receives only about one-third as much as is re- ceived on the average by the workers in the five other groups. It is undoubtedly true that the liquor industry pays a higher rate of wages per worker than is paid in most other industries, but it should be remembered that the liquor industry employs very few women and children, so that the rate would naturally be higher than in most of the industries with which it is being compared. How- ever, the brewer and his family are paying dearly for the slightly higher rate of wages which he receives. From Thomas Oliver's " Dangerous Trades," we quote the fol- lowing table : Mean Annual Mortality of Males Engaged in diffekent occupations at successive Periods of Age Occupations Ages 65 and upward 102.3 129.1 15-20 20-25 25-35 35-45 45-55 55-65 Occupied Males, 2.6 5.1 7.3 12.4 20.7 36.7 Brewers, 2.7 5.6 10.8 19. 30.8 54.4 Economic Aspects of the Liquor Question 77 This excessive death-rate among brewers destroys the value of the argument which the brewery owners are mak- ing with so much self-complacency with reference to the high rate of wages paid in their industry. It is in the quantity of raw material used that an in- dustry becomes of special value to the working men who produce the raw material. The following table shows the capital invested as compared with the cost of raw material used in nine industries : Industry Capital Invested Cost of Material Liquor, $ 771,516,000 $ 592,550,000 Boots and Shoes, 222,324,000 332,738,000 Bread and other Barley Products, 212,910,000 238,034,000 Butter, Cheese and Condensed Milk, 71,284,000 235,546,000 Clothing (men's), 275,320,000 297,515,000 Clothing (women's), 129,301,000 208,788,000 Food Preparations, 64,685,000 83,942,000 Flour and Grist-Mill Products, 349,152,000 767,576,000 Slaughtering and Meat Packing, 363,249,000 1,201,828,000 Thus, while the liquor industry has an investment of about three and two-thirds times as much as the average in- dustry indicated, it uses only about one-third more raw material than is used on the average by these other in- dustries. Or, to put it another way, whereas the average industry spends annually about twice as much for raw material as there is capital invested in this industry the liquor business spends for raw material only a little more than one-half the amount invested. One of the most re- markable phases of the liquor industry is the concentra- tion of the business in the hands of comparatively few people, as the following table will indicate : 78 American Social and Religious Conditions CONOENTEATION OF THE LiQUOR INDUSTRY {Statistical Abstract, 1911) Industry Capital Invested Number of Pro- prietors and Firm Members 1,838 Boots and Shoes, $222,324,000 Butter, Cheese and Condensed Milk, 71,284,000 8,019 Clothing (men's), 275,320,000 8,502 Clothing (women's), 129,301,000 6,482 Furniture and Re- frigerators, 227,134,000 2,657 Printing and Pub- lishing, 588,346,000 30,424 Liquor Industry, 771,516,000 1,438 Average Invest- ment to Each Proprietor and Firm Member ;? 1 20,600 8,890 32,300 19.950 85,400 19.350 536.500 Upon a conservative basis we may safely say that the annual drink bill in America is $1,800,000,000. That is to say, this is the amount which is spent, at the retail price, for intoxicating liquor. Let us assume that national prohibition should prevail, and that the money now spent for liquor should be spent for bread and clothing. What would be the effect upon labour? The Statistics of Manufactures for 1911 gives the following figures with reference to each of these groups of industries, as they are related to the number of workers employed, wages paid, and the cost of raw material used : Ind^^try ofm£ Wages Paid ^^fj^, ^^'J^^ Bread and other bakery products, 100,216 $ 59,351,000 $238,034,000 Clothing (men's), 239,696 106,277,000 297,515,000 Clothing (women's), 153,743 78.568,000 208,788,000 Liquor Industry, Difference, 493,655 $244,196,000 $744,337,000 $1,800,000,000 62,920 45,252,000 139,199,000 430,736 $198,944,000 $605,138,000 $1,800,000,000 Economic Aspects of the Liquor Question 79 It is at once apparent that if the $1,800,000,000 now spent for liquor were to be spent for bread and clothing it would give employment to nearly eight times as many worJcers who would collectively receive five and one-half times as much wages, or nearly $200,000,000 more. But this is not all. The cost of the raw material necessary to pro- duce $1,800,000,000 worth of bread and clothing (retail price) instead of liquor would be over $600,000,000 more than the liquor industry now uses. It is difficult to estimate accurately the number of workers re- quired to produce this raw material, but it would be safe to say that at least one-third more workers may be added to the figures given for the bread and clothing industries. The advocate of the liquor business will insist that our calculations should include the army of saloon-keepers, bartenders, salesmen, and all others engaged in manu- facturing material used in the manufacture and sale of liquor, but it will be noted that this factor has been elim- inated from the entire process, because whatever may be said with reference to the liquor business upon this point may also be claimed for the bread and clothing business, only in a larger measure. It requires many more people to sell ^1,800,000,000 worth of bread and clothing than it does to sell liquor of the same value. This is one of the principal reasons why the item of wages is so much larger in the bread and clothing business. It could easily be demonstrated that if the money now spent for liquor should be spent for bread and clothing, not only would all the salesmen, saloon-keepers and bartenders find work in legitimate business enterprises, but the men who make glass bottles, furniture, harness, delivery wagons, and every other thing used in connection with the liquor business, would be more steadily employed, for there would be a still greater demand for their products. 8o American Social and Religious Conditions There is need in other business enterprises for prac- tically everything that is being made for the liquor business, and in such cases where certain articles are not required, the raw material may be worked up in other ways. One of the pathetic arguments used by the bakery workers in favour of the saloon is that as the saloon serves " free lunch " it would prove disastrous to all bakers were the saloon to be closed. As if this were the only way of disposing of an equal amount of bread ! It is well known that the average bartender is selected be- cause of his "mixing" abilities— not only as this quali- fication refers to drinks, but to people. He is a good salesman. He knows how to handle men. Without any doubt he would be equally successful selling almost any other kind of goods. Practically, then, we have come to the consideration of the sixty-odd thousand who are en- gaged in the manufacture of liquor. But this includes large numbers of engineers, machinists, carpenters, drivers, bottlers, and other craftsmen who are employed in breweries aud distilleries. The census figures state that in 1900 there were only 20,962 brewers and malters and 3,144 distillers and rectifiers in the United States. The number had increased very slightly since 1890, and it is not likely that the census of 1910 will show a ma- terial change in this number. If their trade should be destroyed what would become of them ? It is of interest in this connection that the Statistics of Manufactures, 1910, table 1, shows a group of industries which from 1904 to 1909 lost just about 60,000 workers. There was no labour panic during these years. Those who lost their employment no doubt suffered some incon- venience on account of the transition from one trade to another, but the adjustment was made without a shock to Economic Aspects of the Liquor Question 81 the labour market, eveu though it involved twice as many as would be seriously affected through the abolition of the brewery and the distillery. A similar instance oc- curred when the typesetting machine was introduced in the printing business. Many thousands of highly skilled workmen were practically compelled to learn a new trade. This often happens in industrial life on account of swift changes due to invention or general progress. There is no doubt that those employed in breweries and distilleries would soon adjust themselves to the new situation were these industries abolished. It has been stated that prohibition stifles industry, drives out capital and reduces the number of workers. It is possible to make a comparison between states in our country which have adopted a prohibition policy and those which are known as non-prohibition. Referring again to the Statistical Abstract for 1911, we find the fol- lowing figures on these points : INOKEASE IN VALUE OF PEODUCTS OF MANUFACTURES IN Pkohibition and Non-Peohibition States 1904-1909 ProhiMiion States Per Cent, of Increase 1904-1909 Non-Prohibition States Per Cent, of Increase 1904-1909 Oklahoma, II9-5 Michigan, 59-7 North Dakota, 87-3 New Jersey, 47-9 Kansas, 64.0 California, 44-3 North Carolina, 52.0 Kentucky, 40.1 Mississippi, 40.2 Illinois, 36.1 Georgia, 34-3 New York, 35-4 Tennessee, 30.6 New Hampshire, 33-1 Maiae, 22.2 Connecticut, 32.8 82 American Social and Religious Conditions Inceease of Capital Invested in Manufactures in Prohibition and Non-Peohibition States 1904-1909 Prohibition Stales Per Cent, of Increase 1904-1909 Non- Prohibition States Per Cent, of Increase 1904-1909 Oklahoma, 141. California, 90.1 North Dakota, Kansas, 103.1 76.0 Michigan, Illinois, 72.8 58.6 Tennessee, North Carolina, 64.2 54-1 Pennsylvania, New York, 37-7 369 Georgia, Mississippi, Maine, 50-1 44.0 40.7 New Jersey, New Hampshire, Kentucky, 36.7 28.0 17.4 Inoeease in Numbee of Wage-Eaenebs in Manu- FAOTUEES IN PROHIBITION AND NoN-PROHIBI- TioN States— 1904-1909 Prohibition States Per Cent, of Increase 1904-1909 Non- Prohibition States Per Cent, of Increase 1904-1909 Oklahoma, 140.9 Illinois, 22.8 North Dakota, 58.9 New Jersey, 22.S North Carolina, 42-3 New Hampshire, 20.3 Mississippi, 30.2 New York, 17.2 Kansas, 24-3 Kentucky, 9.4 Tennessee, 21.9 Connecticut, 16.1 Georgia, 12.8 Pennsylvania, 15.0 Maine, 6.7 Michigan, 2.1 Here, then, are sixteen great industrial states, half of them In favour of prohibition, and half opposed. The figures prove conclusively that the abolition of the liquor trafBc means prosperity for the worker instead of a "labour panic." The growing sentiment in favour of temperance among working men is most gratifying. The ' ' Trades UnioD Economic Aspects of the Liquor Question 83 Labour Officials' Temperance Pellowsbii) " is the name of a temperance association composed exclusively of "walking delegates" and trades-union officials in Eng- land. The object of this Fellowship is "the personal practice and promotion of total abstinence, and the re- moval of trades' society meetings from licensed premises. " This remarkable temperance fellowship of organized workmen to-day practically controls the British Trades' Congress in the matter of its attitude towards the liquor problem. "It is no longer considered honourable or de- cent for a labouring man to put away three bottles of porter," said the Secretary of the General Federation of Trades' Unions, when the writer talked with him about the influence of the Movement in England. The American Federation of Labour has at three con- secutive conventions declared unanimously in favour of having all labour-union meetings held away from the saloon. Many international unions will not permit their locals to meet back of saloons or over them, and several will not pay sick or death benefits if the member was injured or killed while intoxicated. In many American cities there are Labour Temples owned and controlled by the trades-unions. In practically every instance there is a clause in the articles of incorporation which prohibits the selling or the use of intoxicants in any part of the building. One can scarcely find any other organization that would thus restrict itself in the matter of intoxicants, excepting, perhaps, those that are strictly religious. It is exceedingly doubtful whether a vote of condemnation for the anti-saloon movement could be secured in a straight-out fight in a convention of the American Fed- eration of Labour. At various times some of the great American labour leaders have expressed their views about the liquor traffic. Says John Mitchell : 84 American Social and Religious Conditions " I am not at all impressed with the arguiueut that if you close down the liquor traffic you bring about a calamity. When you shut down a distillery, a factory takes its place ; and when you close up a saloou, a grocery store is put in. I am willing to assert that when all men work eight hours a day and receive for it a fair wage there will be less liquor drunk in the world than there is to-day. I say this, realizing that nothing has done more to bring misery upon innocent women and children than the money spent in drink. "No man has a right to spend a cent upon himself until he has first provided for his family. But the average working man does not yet earn enough to give his family all the comforts they deserve. He has no money to spend on drink without robbing his family. I believe that in the proportion that the labour movement grows so will the temperance movement grow. " John B. Lennon, the Treasurer of the American Fed- eration of Labour, long recognized as a potent force in the fight for temperance, when discussing the effect of the liquor traffic on the standard of living, declared that "to the trades- unionist there is no redeeming feature in the saloon." He says : " What is the effect of the liquor traffic on the standard of living of the people 1 Is there any influence gone out from the saloon that has helped to make men and women better? The labour movement is essentially a moral movement. It stands for equal opportunity for men and women, though it believes that it should be made more easily possible for women to become homemakers. Who can deny that the liquor traffic is driving women to work in factories, in workshops and at wash-tubs who ought not to be there? The trades-union movement is opposed to child labour, yet who can deny that the liquor traffic is driving into industrial life boys and girls who should be in the schools or on the playground? The liquor traffic tends to decrease wages, never to increase them. The use of alcohol makes workmen less skillful Economic Aspects of the Liquor Question 85 and drives men to lower scales of employment and re- ward. Every cent spent in the liquor business is wasted. It brings no social benefit and no moral uplift." Thomas L. Lewis, a former President of the United Mine Workers, speaks emphatically against the saloon : "If you want to know where the miners of America stand upon the temperance question, I'll tell you. In our constitution we have a clause which forbids any member to sell intoxicants even at a picnic. That's what we think of the liquor traf&c. Some people say that the saloon is a necessary evil. I don't believe in that kind of doctrine. I don't believe that legislation alone will eradicate the traf&c. Nothing but the spread of education will accomplish that. . . . The Christian churches are established for the purpose of replacing paganism with Christianity ; the trades-union movement is organized to educate the people, to drive out igno- rance, and elevate the toilers of our land. Because the liquor traffic tends to enslave the people, to make them satisfied with improper conditions, and keep them igno- rant, the leaders of the trades-union movement are called on to fight the saloon." WOMEN ANDCHILDREN IN INDUSTRY Percentages in each occupation ^roup I870tol9l)0 (1910 figures not available.") Years- 1870 isso isso leoo Domestic and ftrsonal Serwce ,. sa 45. S(X SEu Agricultural Pursuits Manuiktunn^&MedQiiical RirsuJis Professional Service s. Trade andTransportation Tfftal Number » teae^isa :,&F7.is7 -w^ssi &ai4S99 Note. — Figures in chart refer only to women and girls over ten years of age. r:-'^ 86 IV WOMEN AND CHILDEEN IN INDUSTEY WHETHEE or not it is better for a woman to work in her own home in occupations which are related to industrial life, or whether such work should be done in the factory itself, is a question which most students have decided in favour of the factory ; and this for various reasons. In the first place, when such work is done in the factory there is a legal number of hours during which the woman may be em- ployed, and the wages which she will receive have been fairly well standardized. Women in industry ordinarily work too many hours per day and they do not receive as high a wage as they earn, as compared with that received by men, but, undoubtedly, the conditions in the factory are much better than they can possibly be in the home. Aside from other considerations, the home should rarely, if ever, be turned into a workshop, for this involves not only the work of the women but that of little children. Carroll D. Wright in his book entitled "Some Ethical Phases of the Labour Question " has a chapter on the factory as an element in civilization. In this chapter Dr. Wright argues that instead of being a deteriorating influence upon operatives, as well as upon the population surrounding it, the factory has resulted in raising moral and ethical standards. Undoubtedly the factory has been beneficial in a purely economic sense. Dr. Wright calls- attention to the high standard of the Lowell factory girls when they were composed of the American type — daugh- ters of New England farmers. These girls, through economic influences, were forced out of the factory, but 87 88 American Social and Religious Conditions they were not forced downward in the scale of life. They were crowded out, but up into higher callings. They became the wives of foremen and supeiiuteudeuts, teachers in the common schools, clerks in stores and counting rooms. The women who came in to take their places were very largely Irish girls — fresh and raw immigrants from the poorer and less developed localities of Ireland. Taking the places of the English and Ameri- can girls in the Eastern factories they soon began to im- prove their condition, and the result was that they, in turn, were crowded out by another nationality. ■ But the Irish girl did not retrograde. She progressed, as had her predecessors, and enlisted in higher occupations. Next came a great body of French -Canadian women. The opposition in the New England states to the presence of the French-Canadian was as great as it ever had been against the coming of the Irish ; but the French-Cana- dians have also made progress. Slowly they are graduat- ing from the factories, and the Greeks and Italians are taking their places. No doubt, the history of the factory in New England has been such as to lead us to believe that it has reached down to the lower strata of society and lifted them up to a higher standard of living. Whatever has been said of the evils of the textile in- dustry, particularly in the South, there is no question but what the factories have been of distinct value in rais- ing the standards of living of the so-called "Mountain Whites." Formerly they had rather a precarious living, often under immoral and unsanitary conditions. Life in the factory was a great discipline for them. The factory usually means enlightenment and an intellectual devel- opment to many who could not possibly reach these things in any other way. The factory has been a most potent element in promoting civilization, and whatever one may say with regard to the wage system, it is un- Women and Children in Industry 89 questionably tlie best system which has thus far been in operation in industrial life. It is by no means ideal, and, undoubtedly, there will be many improvements upon the system. " The domestic labourer's home, in- stead of being the poetic one, was far from the character poetry has given it. Huddled together in what poetry calls a cottage and history a hut, the weaver's family lived and worked without comfort, convenience, good food, good air and without much intelligence. Drunk- enness and theft of materials made each home a scene of crime and want and disorder. Superstition ruled and envy swayed the workers. If the members of a family endowed with more virtue and intelligence than the com- mon herd tried to so conduct themselves as to secure at least self-respect, they were either abused or ostracized by their neighbours. The ignorance under the old sys- tem added to the squalor of the homes under it, and what all these elements failed to produce in making the hut an actual den was faithfully performed in too many instances by the swine of the family." ^ The history of women in industry in the United States is the story of a great industrial readjustment Not only has women's work been carried from the home to the factory, but the kind of work which they are doing has been greatly changed, and, at the same time, their mon- opoly of the traditional occupations has been destroyed. As is the case with men, their labour has been greatly systematized and specialized, so that an individual woman no longer finishes an entire product. She has become part of a great machine. Also, what was for- merly regarded as women's work exclusively is now be- ing performed by men, and what was formerly considered men's work is often performed by women. Under the old domestic system the work of the women 1 " Some Ethical Phases of the Labour Question." go American Social and Religious Conditions was to spin, to do a large part of the weaving, to sew, to knit, and in general to make most of the clothing worn by the family ; to cook, to brew, to clean and to perform the other duties of the domestic servant. But machines have now come in to aid in all these industries — machines which in some cases have brought iu their train men oper- atives and in other cases have euormously increased the productive power of the individual, making it necessary for many women to hunt other work. One kind of spin- ning is now done by men only. Men tailors make thou- sands of women's suits. Men dressmakers and even milliners are common. Men make our bread and brew our ale and do much of the work of the steam laundry where our clothes are washed. Men, too, have learned to clean our houses by the vacuum process, so that it is not altogether fair to insist that women have been crowding men out of industrial life. On the other hand, women have come in and taken the places of men in various industries. Very early in the history of industry in the United States the National Trades Union was decidedly opposed to the employment of women in industry. One of its leaders in a Fourth of July oration before the Philadel- phia Trades Union said that he did not consider it pos- sible for women to "recede from labour all at once," but urged them to form trades-unions and raise their wages until "half the labour now performed will suflSce to live upon . . . and the less you do," he added, "the more there will be for the men to do and the better they will be paid for doing it, and ultimately you will be what you ought to be, free from the performance of that kind of labour which was designed for men alone to perform." ' 'Quoted from "History of Women in Industry in the United States," Vol. IX on "Report on Condition of Woman and Child Wage- Earners in the United States," issued by the Department of Commerce and Labour. Women and Children in Industry 91 As a matter of fact the opposition of men to the encroach- ment of women in industry has been almost entirely due to the reason that when women enter the same occupa- tion as men they usually receive lower wages for the same kind and amount of work. The labour union demands " equal pay for men and women for equal work." They make this demand not so much because they are inter- ested in having women receive as much money as they receive, but because they fear that unless the women do receive as much money they will themselves be crowded out of the industry. But women have come to stay in industrial life and their economic position will be gradually improved, partly as the result of trades-union activity, but also be- cause of labour legislation. They came in, originally, largely because of the scarcity of labour supply in par- ticular places or at particular times. The Civil "War was an important factor in driving women into gainful occu- pations. In 1869 it was estimated that there were 25,000 working women in Boston who had been forced by the war to earn their living.' Industrial depressions at various times sent women to the factory because their husbands were out of employment and because they themselves could secure work, even though it promised . small pay. In 1836 Harriet Martineau mentioned eight occupa- tions as open to women in this country — teaching, needle- work, keeping boarders, work in mills, shoe binding, typesetting, bookbinding and domestic service — but Edith Abbott in " Women in Industry " states that from a number of the official reports on manufacturing indus- tries she has concluded that there were more than one hun- dred industrial occupations open to women at that time. No doubt, however, the one hundred industries referred ' WorMngman's Advocate, Chicago and Cincinnati, May 8, 1869. 92 American Social and Religious Conditions to are to a considerable extent a larger classification of the groups of industries outlined by Harriet Martineau. According to the census of 1900, which gives the latest figures available, there were 5,319,397 females ten years of age and over engaged iu gainful occupations ; in 1870 there were 1,836,288; in 1880 2,647,157; in 1890 there were 4,005,532. In agricultural pursuits there were in 1870 396,968, or 21.6 per cent, of the total number; in 1900 there were 977,336, or 18.4 per cent, of the total number. In domestic and personal service there were in 1870 1,066,672, or 52.9 per cent. ; in 1900 there were 2,095,449, or 39.4 per cent. In trade and transportation there were in 1870 18,698, or one per cent., whereas in 1900 there were 503,347, or 9.4 percent. In manufactur- ing and mechanical pursuits there were in 1870 353,950, or 19.3 per cent., and in 1900 there were 1,312,668, or 24. 7 per cent. Those in professional service increased from 177,255, or 6.7 per cent, in 1880, to 430,597, or 8.1 per cent, in 1900 — there being no figures given for 1870. The introduction of the typewriter some thirty years ago did more than any other one thing to open up new fields for women, and how they responded to the possibilities offered them is shown strikingly by the census figures. In 1870 the entire group of women bookkeepers, account- ants, clerks, copyists, stenographers and typewriters numbered only 8,023. In 1900 it numbered 245,517. During these thirty years the whole number of women gainfully employed increased 190 per cent., but the num- ber employed in this group increased 2,960 per cent., or over fifteen times as rapidly as the whole body of work- ing women. It will be seen, therefore, that the tendency among women engaged in gainful occupations is towards those occupations which have least to do with tlie home. In 1900 of all the women engaged in gainful occupa- tions 30.6 per cent, were between fifteen and twenty-four Women and Children in Industry 93 Oc^ 1 11 O B 7, a. o W AS. ft ^ Xi A O. > Oo < « z zO S^ S 13 U) C g z a .^^ () < " 'o ^- «'J S,**"! PLi Q Z U3 00 CO CO -^ 05 o w ori-rt-Too't-" 05lJ 00 § OS i> *--' lO U3 1— 1 "^ w y ° O O a z ■< a a < < j2 < "-I O 00 moo z t « s. §^ H o o en < U ^ c > r- 05 m c» OS m c ; -f oifit^rA rH ? > in CO z o K) ^ c » -a; U5 •* lo OJ Z o OS c ; -^ ei OS -rj^' oi c > U5 (N id T-\ r" u o 'A Q C = Lo to lo in en ^ ^ \ -^"g^s o c > rH 1-; CO 05 CO o OS 1 J r-I 05 <» OS CO ; (M CO c! z o M o c > 00 w CO o oo . > 05 00 1 ' ^^^"^t ■< SS o c f-iO->*(N(M - to t-' T-i OJ (N rH oi ■ia< « (« ■4-i "3 l-r 3 c L4 Ah 3 c D 3 o C 3 ■£ -S 2 C 5 (U ^ C3 H < J 5 ■S rsuits vice . ersona sporta ind Ml (. J 1 S hCL c " c 5 tural P onal Se ic and nd Tra cturing 53 as tS ">« ■^ gric rofei ome rade anu < fi< QE- S 1 a u Women and Children in Industry 95 years of age ; 19.9 per cent, were between twenty-five and thirty-four ; 15.6 per cent, were between thirty-five and forty-four ; 14. 7 per cent, were between forty-five and fifty-four ; 13.2 per cent, were between fifty-five and sixty -four ; 9.1 per cent, were sixty -five years of age and over ; and the ages of 24.2 per cent, were unknown. The study of the wages received in department and other retail stores is interesting from a number of view- points. According to the " Eeport on "Woman and Child "Wage-Earners in the "United States," investigations were made of wages paid to women in these stores in Boston, Chicago, Minneapolis, St. Paul, New York, Philadelphia and St. Louis. The living conditions of 108,616 women were investigated. Those living at home averaged 22.5 years of age ; those not living at home averaged 28.2 years of age. The average years of experience in the same industry of the first class was 4. 7 and of the second class 6. 7. The average weekly earnings of those living at home was $6.98; those not living at home $7.89. Those living at home paid an average weekly amount to their families of $5.39, while those not living at home paid an average weekly amount of $4.43 for food, shelter, heat, light and laundry. In addition to this, of the lat- ter group about 21.4 per cent, contributed to needy rela- tives. Those working in factories, mills and miscellaneous establishments were even worse off. The total number investigated in the same cities was 294,506. The aver- age age of those living at home was 21. 1 ; those not liv- ing at home 27.7. The average years of experience in the same industry of those living at home was 3.9 ; those not living at home 7.4. The average weekly earnings of those living at home was $6.40 ; those not living at home $6.78. Those living at home paid weekly $5.46 to their families, while those not living at home spent $3.50 per 96 American Social and Religious Conditions oj SuijnqujuoQ ■JU33 aaj . 05 CD M l^ CO 00 (N i-( * id . f: 10 ■^ ■<*< n AjpunBq puB iqSn •jBSH'JsjpqS'pooi joj piBj junouiy jC[J133;\V 33BJ3AV s3u!UJE3 iiv ^IIUIEJ OJ ptBj junouiy ^l^^^AV 33BJ3AY CO t- 01 CO 00 10 QO' t-' ■*■ CD* * 10 r- ^r 00 "O . CO CO OS J-t 00 ■* CO o< CO . M* CO ■^ 10 lO . »» 00 00 coco CO t^ t^ 00 CO t^ U\ 33U3!J3dX3 JO IN CO ■* CD >o 10 CO 05 rH CO CO-* J-^ 05 33v sSejsAy I-rH 2S >0 CO CD T^ a CO ss 3mo|{ 1? lou pire 3UI0}} IE 1033 J3J t- CO CO t- rH 05 Xjif) ui Xjisnpu] ui Z o a a o U o g S « 2 2 « B O -i ^ (^ ■ •2 ^o^-S t: M o ^.S o • a 2 « CuO . •5 ^ -cl* 0) a "2 " .£ •*? ^ .a 3 S ^ ^ ^ S3 c ^ G j:z Women and Children in Industry 97 . U5 .y-l ,1- .CO .CD . rH io 00 CO ce • (N -iH -rH ■« •« 00 ■ 00 '0 'to '0 ' I- ■ CO ■ .1-1 . ■» .0 -n .IE . CO .10 , "^ .CO . M .CO . 0^ . CO .CO I- CO 10 rH 05 05 T-4 IH CO oo' • i> "^ a> 00 10 00 . CO t> . Ol ■* ■ m CD »-i t- ■* CO . ■* ■* ■ •o . 10 « . "3 . «» t^ ec coco rH l> Oi •<* W !&'= t-" i^-' CO i> so' co' CO ce CD t- CO CD tH If r-( tH tH CO 00 t- O" OS 05-^ U5 QC 10 •5|< CO T|i CO .#■ idr' "- cot- SOi- 05CO >Oi> 00 IOt- ■*o rH t- d a rH CO rH O lO CO ■* O CO rH 1> KS S« 0» ti, M.S: it 0Jl.£ .Si bfl.£ .. rt C •a M.> ■■ fi !^ C— <3^bS^ a^.."u C3 — » B ^ ;|SI Mittne Livi Not New i Livi Not Philaa Livi Not St. Lo Livi Not 98 American Social and Religious Conditions week for food, sLelter, heat, light and laundry. Of the latter group nearly 28.4 per cent, contributed to needy relatives. Any one who is familiar with living conditions in our great cities can see at a glance that the earnings of women in industry are totally inadequate to maintain a decent standard of living, and if they do so it proves the unusual strength of character of the women engaged in industi-ial life.' The state of Massachusetts has just adopted a min- imum wage for women in industry. This plan should be carefully studied by students of industrial problems. Wisconsin, Minnesota and about half a dozen other states are seriously considering it. As has already been stated, women will unquestionably remain in industrial life. Large numbers of them should do so ; most of them will be compelled to ; but it may as well be recognized that when women become the compet- itors of men in industrial life they always suffer, directly or indirectly, and when women — and especially mothers — desert the home for the factory, the nation suffers. According to the special census bulletin of 1907, there were 1,750,178 child workers in the continental United States, of whom 60.2 per cent, were on the farm. Four- fifths of these youthful agricultural labourers were re- ported as assisting their parents. The question is, to what extent is such labour injurious? It will not hurt the average child between the ages of ten and fourteen to do a reasonable amount of work on the farm. Indeed, it is a decided advantage. But many country boys are over-strained, according to those who are in a position to judge. But probably the greatest evil attendant on rural child ' For a careful disonssion of the relation between ooonpation and criminality of women see Vol. XV of the " Report on Condition of Woman and Child Wage-Earners in the United States." Women and Children in Industry 99 labour appears in the form of arrested educational de- velopment. Says Charles W. Holman of The Farm and Banch: " Notwithstanding the fact that we have a Texas child labour law, no effort has ever been made to prevent the labour of young children in the fields during the cot- ton-picking and the cotton-hoeing seasons. The result is that the whole of our common school system in country districts is based upon the fact that the child will be at work until late in the fall and must leave school early in the spring. ... To understand the child labour problem you must understand the larger problem of land tenure. Since the majority of the farmers are renters, and since the cotton crop imposes such an enormous tax upon labour, it is impossible for us to eradicate this evil until we pass compulsory education laws which will pro- vide for thorough inspection of truants and until we com- pletely revolutionize our field cropping system — an evil which has grown out of land tenure. " It is quite apparent that, especially in recent years, boys leave the country school far more generally than do the girls. K". C. MacDonald, the K"orth Dakota rural school inspector, said at a meeting of the State Educa- tional Association, held recently: "In twenty-five one- room schools that I visited during the months of Septem- ber and October there were enrolled in the upper grades (fifth, sixth, seventh and eighth) 111 pupils. Of these 103 were girls ; eight were boys. In October and No- vember thirty-five one-room schools inspected showed 148 pupils enrolled. In these same upper grades there were 136 girls and twelve boys. In one graded rural school in the sixth, seventh, eighth and ninth grades twenty- three girls were enrolled and no boys, and in a one-room rural school, fifth, sixth, seventh and eighth grades, were six girls and not a boy. In other schools visited during these months about the same ratio obtained." Note, in loo American Social and Religious Conditions this connection, that in this state the number of boys ex- ceeded that of girls in the population. Compulsory edu- cation laws evidently are not effective in North Dakota, for this state has had such a law for many years. This is the fault of the farmers themselves, for they will not per- mit the law to become operative. It must not be con- cluded, therefore, that the evil of child labour is confined to the city and to the cotton mill districts. The real curse of child labour is not in the fact that children are compelled to work. Even a child of eight may perform a certain routine of duties on the farm, in the home, or, for a limited time, in the factory without serious injury. It is the continuous toil for long hours under unsanitary conditions with improper or insufficient food that stunts the body and the mind so that when the child arrives at the years when it should be giving ex- pression to its best self it is simply impossible for it to appreciate the highest values of life. The pathetic thing about the whole situation is that there comes no realiza- tion of that which is missing. Life has lost its largest and fullest meaning. SOURCES OF IMMIGRATION. shows proportion from Gennany,Great BritainsbySomlanavia shows proportion from Austria-Hungary, Italy. Russia soo.ooo 800, 000 • 700,000 Slrai; ^ lines s Jit lines tow niun jerof im idfortt nigrants c whole per year period. H ■ 1 • • 600,000 « « 600,000 1 • i 400.000 i v' ;■ 300,000 p 'a ■ 200,000 / V' 1 •* lOOfOOO 4 t \ •• ' \f* ' A /A/ V 1 *•*' ./■*-- ISO 1830 tSIO 1850 (Seo 1870 1890 1890 1300 rsitf 102 THE IMMIGEANT WHEN a million or more immigrants come to America during a single year it makes most people wonder what is to become of our country. But the "peril of the immigrant" is for the most part a phantasy of the imagination. In spite of the fact that immigrants have been coming to America in such large numbers in recent years it is worth while noticing that the percentage of foreign-born living in the United States at any one time has not materially changed since 1860. Following are some figures : In 1860 the percentage of foreign-born in the United States was 13.2 per cent. ; in 1870, 14.4 per cent. ; in 1880, 13.3 per cent. ; in 1890, 14.8 per cent. ; in 1900, 13.7 per cent. ; in 1910, 14.7 per cent. The constant per- centage, therefore, is about fourteen. There is no partic- ular danger, then, in the so-called menace of the immi- grant in point of numbers. During some years more than half as many immigrants returned to the fatherland as came to America. The condition of the labour market in the United States determines the number of foreigners that come and go, so that the immigrant is in a constant state of flux. The foreigner not only takes care of him- self by returning to his native land during a time of in- dustrial depression, where he can live more cheaply, but he also relieves the labour market of congestion which might result in great harm to the American worker. It has sometimes been declared with considerable feeling, that the immigrant comes here merely for the purpose of 103 104 American Social and Religious Conditions making what is to him a small fortune, and then returns to his own country remaining there to spend this money. No doubt it would be a great advantage to us to have him remain in this country to speud his profits in the country in which he made them, but, in the first place, he has honestly earned whatever he takes with him, and he has left more than its equivalent in services rendered, and he has a perfect right to do with his money as he pleases. Dr. Edward A. Steiner, who knows more about the human side of the immigrant than any other man in America, recently declared that 5,000 strong-limbed, healthy-bodied immigrants landing on Ellis Island are more resourceful than as many average college graduates would be — and Dr. Steiner knows, for he is a college professor. They come to us, most of these immigrants, after their own countries have paid the cost of their education. They are ready to take up their day's work the moment they land on our American shore. We are often con- cerned about what we term the " new immigration," but Eobert Watchhorn, for several years commissioner at Ellis Island, once remarked, " If you give the Italian, the Hungarian and the Eussian Jew half a chance he will make the English, the Irish and the German look like thirty cents," and presumably Mr. Watchhorn knew what he was talking about, for he has handled literally millions of immigrants. The prizes in the public schools of our large cities are being taken by the children of the immigrant. The brightest scholars in the public schools on the East Side of New York are the children of Eussian refugees. There are many who are insisting that the immigrant is bringing with him loathsome diseases ; that he is the scum of the earth, and that he might better remain in the The Immigrant 105 country from which he came. But such expressions are due to gross ignorance and to unreasonable prejudice. In the early days there was no careful inspection of the immigrant. Many of them came to this country feeble or diseased, with the result that comparatively soon they be- came a burden upon our charities, and unquestionably affected the health of the community through contagious diseases. But this is not the case to-day. The steamship companies are too heavily fined in case they transport an undesirable immigrant, so that they are usually careful in the inspection of those whom they bring to America. The steamship companies are compelled to return free of charge passengers rejected by our immigrant ofScials here, and in the case of the insane or diseased they are fined, in addition, $100 for each case. The result of this has been that, with very rare exceptions, every immi- grant admitted to this country is in good health and does not bring with him the germs of any disease that may prove detrimental to the welfare of the communities in which they may settle. It is true that many of the immigrants that come to America are illiterate. Possibly twenty-five per cent, of the persons fourteen years of age and over who come to us can neither read nor write. Most of these come from the smaller towns or rural districts, where the educational facilities are not as good as they are in the city. But it should be remembered that the most undesirable, that is, the criminal classes, among Europeans come from the cities, and are therefore the best educated. The test of illiteracy is not by any means the best one in our selec- tion of the immigrant. The claim is sometimes made that the United States is receiving the worst elements of the European nations ; that the better class does not come to America, and it is reasoned that the sum of the worst elements of a group of nations lo6 American Social and Religious Conditions cannot possibly result in the finest product of the human race, as is declared by those who argue that the amalga- mation of the races will finally result in the typical American — the finest specimen of manhood in the world. But in the consideration of this phase of the subject it is a question as to whether after all we are not receiving in America those who are morally and physically as fine a type as remains in the fatherland. If it were merely a question of wealth or education there would undoubtedly be some point to the above argument. But whatever may be the theory which is being advanced in this particular, it is daily being demonstrated in our American life that the children of these very foreigners are taking the place of leadership, and are rapidly becoming the backbone of America, ranking with the product of the best civilization in European countries. What has here been said refers of course to the people coming from European countries. What may be the case with regard to the Oriental immigration which is rapidly confronting us in America is another question. But it is said by those who have lived in Asia that the possibilities of these races is just as great as is that among Europeans. The low standards of living to which they have been accustomed in their own land will, for a time at least, make them dangerous competitors of American work- ing men, but it is quite remarkable how quickly the immigrants who have come to America thus far have become assimilated, and how very quickly they form the same standards of living that are required by the Ameri- can working man. The labour unions have performed a most remarkable service in this connection. Carroll D. Wright, who was for some years the Commissioner of the Department of Labour for the United States government, once said that the labour union has done more to natural- ize the immigrant than any other agency. The constant The Immigrant 107 appeal on the part of tlie labour union leaders for better things— better homes, better clothes, better food, better education — has had a marked effect upon the im- migrant listeners. There is, perhaps, no other organiza- tion which succeeds quite so well in amalgamating the races. The writer recently attended a meeting of a labour union, at which time there were initiated to membership in the organization five candidates, each of them repre- senting a different nationality. It required five different interpreters to obligate them. The Immigration Commission appointed by the United States government brought out some interesting facts with reference to the changes which have taken place amoug immigrants. Not only do they rapidly adopt American customs, but their personal and bodily appearance undergoes a marked change. In many instances the children of the immigrant show greater height and weight than the same races in the mother-country, and in some cases even the head form, which has always been con- sidered one of the most stable and permanent character- istics of races, has undergone very great changes. For instance, the East European Hebrew usually has a round head. His American-born child becomes more long- headed than his parent, while the descendant of the South Italian, who in Italy has a head of the long type, becomes more short-headed than his parent. In all instances in this country the heads of the descendants of these races that are so markedly different in Europe approach to a uniform type so far as this characteristic of the shape of the head is concerned. This fact is extremely suggestive inasmuch as it shows that even those characteristics of people that seem to be most permanent are subject to very marked changes in the American environment. If these physical changes are so great we may well conclude that the whole mental, and even the moral, constitution lo8 American Social and Religious Conditions of the people may also rapidly change under the new conditions. However, it must not be assumed that there are no perils iu the foreigners who are coming to us in such large numbers. It is quite possible that In many respects they may become an undigested mass. One of the problems which concerns us is that of distribution. When two- thirds of the immigrants that land at our ports of entry remain in New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Massachusetts there is something wrong in the handling of this problem. When by far the largest percentage of these immigrants remain in our cities crowded into un- sanitary quarters and congested beyond human endurance in big tenement houses, this of itself presents a peril. Here they form their "Ghettos," their " Little Italys," their "Bohemian Hills," often retaining their old country social ideas and customs. Coming from lands where their privileges have been restricted they become an easy prey to unscrupulous agitators. Sometimes the false economic doctrines accepted abroad influence their relationships in America. Purchased and led to the polls by corrupt politicians they become a menace to the well-being of our country. In the immigrant problem Protestant America is to be tested as never before. It is a problem which embraces all problems that have ever faced the Church. Problems physical — for the immigrant must be assimilated, — problems educational, for the immigrant must become an intelligent citizen — problems social, for the immigrant must find a larger, fuller life amongst us — problems economic, for the immigrant must be taught the doc- trines which are fundamentally in harmony with our American spirit and life— problems patriotic, for the immigrant must be led to see that upon him depends the future of his adopted country— problems religious, for The Immigrant 109 the immigrant must learn that his spiritual interests are of the utmost importance. In the solution of this question the Church in America needs all the wisdom which is given to the Church universal as the result of her experi- ence in other generations. The task which lies before us requires a deeper study and a greater devotion than is found in mere sentiment, romance or sociological interest, although all these are present, and rightfully so. Neither must there be anything like narrowness of spirit either in religious or social teaching, in daily life o? in method of work. The enterprise demands a statesmanship of the highest order. It demands a comprehensive study and attack which must be country-wide. Indeed it must consider not only the conditions found in America but those which meet the immigrant on his native soil, for it is only as we come to know him there that we can intelli- gently direct him here. Most of us can remember a little group of devoted " missionary women " who came together once a week to pray for an open door to the foreigner. Their prayer has been answered. God has opened the door. But it smngs both ways. "We may now go to the foreigner with the Gospel, but he is also coming to us, bringing his problems with him. He is finding his home in the back alleys of our city streets, where we may personally visit him and become a friend to him. Hungry, oppressed, exploited, deceived — born in lands where the word " gov- ernment" means oppression — these millions look upon "Amerika" as the twentieth century land of promise. Even though immigration should at this time be abso- lutely restricted, the present generation of Americans will have all it can do to adequately meet the needs of those who are already here. But they will continue to come. Every law which affects human life — physical, social, political, economic, seems to have conspired to 1 1 o American Social and Religious Conditions make America the Mecca of the oppressed races of the earth. No wonder that the immigrant comes to this country where a man may earn four times as much as he earns at home, where women are honom-ed as they are not in any other part of the world, and where even the rights of little children are respected. Here they find religious and political freedom and a chance to make the most of themselves, and economic liberty such as they never knew before. What an opportunity, then, as well as a responsibility, for the American Church. How are we to meet the needs of those who have come unwittingly, because — if there is any potency in prayer — the Chui'ch has long asked for the chance to help them ? First, by sympathetically studying their social and moral conditions. Not by organizing "slummiug parties," nor by going into the work merely for the sake of studying " sociology," nor yet because the subject has become a fad, but because there is an honest purpose to help those who need education and direction, but prin- cipally the influence of the Gospel with all that this im- plies. Study the manner in which they live in the tenements, and ask yourself if you could remain sweet-tempered, to say nothing about being Christian — under such condi- tions. Look into their restricted social and intellectual opportunities, and you will no longer wonder why some are immoral. Go to the police court, and glance over the records. Find out why the immigrant was arrested. Probably it will be discovered that in many cases it was on account of his ignorance of our language aud customs. Investigate the reading matter which goes to his home. Note how plentiful is the supply of materialistic Socialist and Anarchist literature with which somebody has made it his business to supply him. The postmaster can tell The Immigrant ill you about this ; so may the letter carrier and the news agent. Note how the saloon has become his social centre. Here he has his birthday parties, his christenings, his marriages. The saloon is his employment agency, his social club, his reading-room, his savings bank, his steamship agency, his political headquarters. Indeed, nothing is too "common" for this centre of influence. He trusts the owner of the saloon — this countryman of his — who seems so interested in all that concerns him. The saloon-keeper has no pet theories concerning the for- eigner, and he knows much about his real needs. His social instinct is strongly developed. He seems to love the crowd. Therefore lodges, labour unions, social and benevolent orders appeal to him. It would pay to find out what there is in these that is so attractive, and what may be improved upon — eliminating the obnoxious features, and then supplying a substitute for whatever may be detrimental to his highest interests. Pacts con- cerning the immigrant may be obtained from the public school principals and teachers. It would pay to visit the schools and inquire about the work of the immigrant children. The political leaders know the voters among the for- eigners and many who do not vote, but who will soon have the right to do so. Among every group of foreign- ers there will usually be found an ambitious young fellow who is honestly trying to lead his countrymen into better ways. This man's cooperation should be secured in any plans which are to be introduced among his people. The employers of labour may give assistance. They know the foreigners' economic value, and what will make them of greater value from their standpoint. The census re- turns are valuable in giving figures which are inform- ing. The Department of Immigration in Washington 112 American Social and Religious Conditions will supply abundant material, which is always up to date. The orthodox method of supplying the immigrant with opportunities for religions worship is to establish a mis- sion on a side street in a dark, dingy, dirty building. Then we wonder why these men who formerly worshipped in the greatest cathedrals of Europe do not crowd our mission halls. Sometimes they do come in their eager- ness to hear the story of the Gospel, but thsy do it in spite of many handicaps. We cannot give them cathe- drals which rival those in the fatherland, but we can at least give them decently clean meeting-places. Mating the Church the centre, an educational cam- paign may be inaugurated whose influence may reach every foreigner's home in the community. Classes in English will better equip the immigrant to make his way in the world, and may even be the means of saving his life, for many accidents occur among foreigners because of their ignorance of the English language. The knowl- edge of domestic science will help the women to make their homes brighter, healthier and more attractive. In the Church the immigrant should be taught lessons of American patriotism. Not despising the love for the country which gave him birth, nevertheless, he should be made to see that his immediate interests are now with America, and that his destiny is wrapped up with that of his adopted country. The immigrant has not forgotten how to play. Folk dances and carnivals appeal to him. They were his chief joy in the fatherland. Under Christian influence his amusements will help immensely to relieve the monotony of a desolate life. I The "Kafifee Klatsch " for the women gives them cheer, and usually better coffee than they enjoy at home. And how the clean, white table-cloth and fresh-cut flowerg SOURCE or IMMIGRATION IN EUROPE DEPTH OF SHADING SHOWS RELATIVE AMOUNT OF EMICRATION FROM EUROPE TO THE UNITED STATES DURING THE TEN YEARS 1000-1910 AUSTRIA- HUNGARY. 2, l-1-0,260 347 Sunday-schools 342 EaroUment 16,083 Mission classes among the Indians (so far as at present reported) 34 In these classes are employed 150 teachers and helpers, with 1,829 pupils enrolled. Only the elementary Eng- lish branches are taught, and a few industries, such as Agriculture, Stock Eaising, Carpentry, and Domestic Service. To this the government schools add Weaving, Shoe and Harness Making, Wood-Carving, Broom Manu- facturing, Dairying and Bee Culture. In industrial education a sphere of great opportunity for the uplift of the Indian is found. The effort of the 138 American Social and Religious Conditions Protestant Boards in this respect is limited, but is suc- cessful where undertaken with adequate appropriations for its maintenance. It can readily be seen, therefore, that compared to what might be done, the Protestant churches of this country are woefully lacking in aggressive work among the Indians. Service of this kind requires men and women of the strongest type, but principally, the work should be placed upon a statesmanlike basis. The Indians are for the most part on reservations. Not many years hence they will be scattered. In many respects this will be a great blessing to the Indians, but while they are still upon the reservations the opportunity of the Church is greater than it ever can be later, so far as concentration of effort is concerned. It is true that much that was vicious in the administra- tion of Indian affairs has been eliminated during recent years. The government has greatly improved its schools among the Indians, and it spends a liberal amount of money for their education. It is gradually allotting good land in severalty to Indians whose reservations still con- tain good land, but for the most part, we are allotting to many Indians the poorer remnants which have been left to them after the many injustices of the white man— a pathetic spectacle, this granting Indians the choice of land on which no well-equipped white man could make a living. James McLaughlin, United States Indian Inspector, says in his book, "My Friend the Indian," that the Treasury of the United States holds something like $36,000,000 in funds belonging to the Indians. "The fund as it stands," he says, "might be described as an endowment for the creation of paupers and the perpetua- tion of the present state of dependence among the people to whose credit it stands. In addition to this fund, the government holds for the Indians a vast amount in landed The Indian 139 property, the title to a great deal of which property -will pass to the Indian in twenty-five years after he accepts an allotment. It is quite impossible to value the land, even approximately, but it is worth many millions of dollars. The Indian from time to time gets just about enough of this great wealth to keep life in his body and to prevent him from exerting himself to any great extent on his own behalf, with the result that the American Indian is fated to die in a state of unthrift and indigence, «, sort of half- starved ward in chancery." This property should be given to the Indians at once. At any rate, it should be given to them much more quickly than is now being done. The objection is raised that the Indian would not know how to use this wealth. He certainly is not mak- ing very much progress under the present condition, and were he to receive it and spend it foolishly he would then plainly understand that his very life depended upon his exerting himself and taking a man's part in our American life. The Indian is no longer the fine specimen of manhood he was thirty years ago. He has degenerated physically, and it is not at all certain that he has advanced intel- lectually. If the Indian is ever to be given the chance to make a man of himself he must really be given that chance as a free man — as a citizen of our great democracy. ILLITERACY IN CUBA According to Birth and Colon. Population Ten Years of A^e and Over 1.481,573 TOTAL FOREIGN WHITE 196,88 m Percentage of Illiteracy2SL6 TOTAL COLORED 453,714 Percentage of Illiteracy 55.0 TOTAL NATIVE WHITE 830.978 Percentage of* 1 1 literacy 414 140 VIII THE SPANISH-AMEEICAF IN the southwest section of the United States, there are 800,000 so-called "Spanish- Americans," who, by the way, are neither Spanish nor American. Their forefathers lived in California, New Mexico, Texas, Arizona, Utah and Nevada, and it was then their own land. This entire territory was originally Spanish, but finally it came under the American flag. Many of us wonder why these Spanish- Americans are not as loyal to the United States as most of us think we are. When an Englishman comes to America, we are out of patience with him if he does not immediately take steps to be- come naturalized. But when an American settles in England and becomes a citizen of his adopted country, we call him an "Anglo-Maniac" aiud a renegade. What a nation of egotists we Americans are ! Now the country in which the Mexicans live is still to them their native land — a part of Mexico. The Americans are looked upon as intruders and as an alien people. The very strength and success of the American is a source of re- sentment to his Spanish fellow citizen. The prevailing use of the Spanish language makes the problem distinct and difficult. The mere fact of race is not definitive. Our American population is one tangle of diverse racial elements. But any civilization is em- barrassed by the vernacular use of two or more languages. Special methods must be used to reach a population alienated from the common mass by a foreign speech. 141 142 American Social and Religious Conditions Though many of these people are native to our soil for generations, — some indeed have descended from those in whose veins European blood flowed and who dwelt upon this soil before the Pilgrim Fathers landed on Plymouth Eock, — yet the Spanish language has to this day proved a barrier to their incorporation in American civilization. The problem has two faces. Here is an alien population long native to the soil, but here is also an immigration problem, and one almost unique among our many. In the case of most of the peoples coming in numbers to American shores, while the sense of nationality is often strong, yet they more or less readily yield to the appeal of American citizeuship. There is coming to us, how- ever, from Mexico an immigration which the sense of nationality embitters against American citizenship. They do not intend to become citizens ; they resent the suggestion that they become citizens. The Mexicans are mostly labourers. Originally all were entirely dependent upon agriculture, though unor- ganized home manufactures have always occupied a pro- portion of the population. In recent years numbers are employed in railroad construction and in shops, and to some extent in factories. They also work in the mines and in the humbler occupations of the growing cities. Some in every community keep stores and shops. Al- ready a limited number are possessed of independent means. They are keen politicians, and as a race incline to participate in political movements. There is much and probably increasing drunkenness. The Spanish are said, however, to be a naturally temperate people. The saloon is an American institution, not Spanish or Mexi- can. The natural antagonism of this population to the saloon is further revealed in their attitude towards the incipient prohibition movement of New Mexico. It is alleged that the liquor interests fear to submit the ques- The Spanish- American 143 tion of prohibition to popular vote since the Mexican element is sure to be rallied in opposition to the saloon. Educational institutions of the right kind are very much needed. In the schools that we furnish we must provide a curriculum which will combine manual training and art and music, besides the other cultural teaching, but prin- cipally we must teach those things which make for a better manhood and womanhood. The various denom- inations are conducting mission schools at many points. They should receive the hearty support of the Church. There is no more important work being done among the Mexicans. The combined Protestant Churches have at work in California, Arizona, New Mexico, Texas and Colorado a total of 138 ordained ministers and lay workers, not in- cluding teachers in the mission schools, nor does this in- clude about ten women workers who are engaged in special evangelistic or social work. While it is not pos- sible to tabulate every evangelical agency of work in this field, it is estimated that there are 201 church organiza- tions with a membership of 8,315. Midway between North and South America and on the great line of travel from Europe to the Pacific via the Panama Canal, is Porto Bico : about half the size of New Jersey and about 105 miles long by thirty-five miles wide ; mountainous in the centre with a flat rim around its sea- coast. The name Porto Eico comes from the Spanish Puerto Eico, meaning "Eich Port" or "The Gateway of Wealth." Early in the sixteenth century Ponce de Leon founded a city on the island which he named San Juan Bautista de Puerto Eico, whence is derived the present name of the island. Its history, like all countries with which Spain has had to do, is one of romance and bloodshed and tyranny. The Porto Bicans themselves are industrious and law- 144 American Social and Religious Conditions abiding and intelligent. One of the bright spots in their history is that outlined in a statement made by Dr. Tulio Larrinaya, Commissioner of Porto Eico at Washington : " Porto Eico is the only country in the world that abolished slavery voluntarily and deliberately by the will of her own people. We, the slaveholders, abolished slavery there. It was done in a night, without bloodshed and without friction. When by chance we secured rep- resentation in the Spanish Cortes, our people united with the Spanish Eepublicaus and passed a law that ac- complished that result. The cable flashed back the news to our country, and on the following morning every slave in Porto Eico rose from his bed a free man. We not only did that, but we paid the slaveholders for their slaves. For that purpose we contracted a loan which, in principal and interest, amounted to $14,000,000. I be- lieve that this is something of which we may justly be proud ; and it was an achievement which has not been accomplished under similar circumstances by any coun- try in the world." Porto Eico is 1,000 miles from Havana, 1,200 miles from Panama, 1,420 miles from New York, and 1,650 miles from the mouth of the Amazon. It is a wonder- fully productive country. There are no wastes or swamps or rocky stretches. The entire island may be- come a great garden. According to the census of 1910 Porto Eico has a population of 1,118,012. The following figures indicate its growth during the past 145 years : 1765, 44,883 ; 1775, 70,250; 1800, 155,426; 1815, 220,892; 1832, 330,051; 1846, 447,914; 1860, 583,308 ; 1877, 731,648 ; 1887, 798,- 565 ; 1899, 953,243 ; 1910, 1,118,012. Porto Eico has two cities, sixty-four towns and twelve villages. San Juan, the largest place, has a population of 48,716, and Ponce, the next largest, a population of 35,005. Mayaguez and Caguas, with 16,563 and 10,354 inhabitants respectively, The Spanish-American HS are the only other places on the island having over 10,000 inhabitants. There are seven places having from 5,000 to 10,000, nineteen having from 2,500 to 6,000, and forty-eight having less than 2,500 inhabitants. The fol- lowing table, taken from the United States census, shows the population of the eleven cities and towns having in 1910 over 3,000 inhabitants, as reported at the censuses of 1910 and 1899, together with the absolute and the relative increase during the eleven-year period : City oe Town Population Increase ' 1910 1899 Number Per Cent. Aguadilla Arecibo 6,135 9,612 5,272 10,354 6,086 8,321 5,159 16,563 35-005 48,716 6,589 6,425 8,008 2,218 5,450 3,414 5-334 4,428 15-187 27,952 32,048 6,108 -290 1,604 3-054 4,904 2,672 2,987 731 1,376 7,053 16,668 481 -3-5 20,0 Bayamon Caeruas 137-7 90.0 Fajardo 78.3 Guayaraa 56.0 Humacao Mavaeruez 16.5 9-1 Ponce San Juan 25.2 52.0 Yauco 7-9 The total area of Porto Bico, includiDg the adjacent and dependent islands, is 3,435 square miles. The average number of persons to the square mile in 1910 was 325.5, and in 1899, 277.5. The urban territory of Porto Eico — that is, the places of 2,500 and over— contained 224,620 inhabitants, or 20.1 per cent, of the total population, while 893,392 inhabitants, or 79.9 percent., lived in rural territory. The urban territory, as it existed in 1899, con- tained 138,703 inhabitants, or 14.6 per cent, of the total ' A minns sign (-) denotes decrease. 146 American Social and Religious Conditions population, while 814,540 inhabitants, or 85.4 per cent., lived iu rural territory. A comparison of the total population iu 1910 of places having a population of not less than 2,500 each, with the total population of the same places in 1899, shows an in- crease of 36.5 per cent. During the same period the rural population comprising that of the remainder of Porto Eico increased 13.3 per cent. The urban population thus increased more than two and a half times as rapidly as the rural. The indications are, therefore, that even in Porto Eico with its unsurpassed natural agricultural op- portunities, the tendency of the population is towards the city. Manufactures are increasiug in Porto Eico, chiefly among them being bread and other bakery products, cof- fee, liquors, sugar, molasses and tobacco. Exports have increased from $8,583,967 in 1901 to $30,391,225 iu 1909. Sugar and molasses is by far the most important manu- facturing industry on the island. The value of these prod- ucts form fifty-six per cent., and the value added by manufacture 53.3 per cent, of the respective totals for all industries. While the cities of Porto Eico are growing very rapidly the population is at present overwhelmingly rural, only 9.9 per cent, living in cities of 10,000 inhabitants and over. One of the factors in developing the rural districts lies in the situation that the factories on the island are largely located in the smaller towns and rural com- munities. When Porto Eico came under the Stars and Stripes it was almost demoralized because of three centuries of mis- rule and selfishness. At that time only about twenty per cent, of its splendid agricultural fields were under cultivation. Labourers were very poorly paid, and they were unable to purchase the necessary amount of food for human maintenance. The anemic condition of great The Spanish- American 147 numbers of the poor to-day is due to starvation and to tlieir former method of living. The great problems con- fronting Porto Eico are first : a government which will be satisfactory both to the United States and the provincial leaders (at this moment there is considerable uneasi- ness and discontent among the Porto Eicans because of the apparent indifference of the United States Congress to the governmental needs of the islanders) ; second : the necessity for better and more adequate education to fit the peculiar requirements of the natives. The public school curriculum must be adapted to the conditions which exist in Porto Eico. Illiteracy is still quite com- mon, although there is a great desire among the better classes for education. When the United States took possession there was scarcely a single well equipped school on the island, and there was only one schoolhouse, although on December 31, 1897, 22,265 pupils were enrolled in the Spanish schools. In the American schools — five years later, there were 42,070 pupils enrolled. This was in- creased to 70,216 pupils enrolled the following year, or about one-fifth of the total population of school age. There are now approximately 1,200 American schools in Porto Eico, but there are still about 350,000 children of school age without educational facilities. Whereas the Spanish government spent only $35,000 a year on the schools over $1,000,000 per year is spent to-day. Another great need of the Porto Eican is better sanita- tion. Tuberculosis, pneumonia and other diseases of the lungs are responsible for one-third of the deaths. More than three-fourths of the natives suffer from "hook worm," as it is commonly known in the South. It is said that ninety-five per cent, of the population, outside of the cities and larger towns, are infected by this disease and ninety per cent, of the adult labouring population. If this disease were eradicated— and it may be — it would 148 American Social and Religious Conditions mean the physical salvation of the Porto Ricaus. It may be stamped out in Porto Eico as yellow fever has been in Cuba, and as smallpox has already been eradicated under proper medical supervision. Already the death-rate in Porto Rico has been decreased within a few years by one-half. But important as are the elements which we have con- sidered the necessity for moral improvement is even greater. While the American saloon has not yet become a Porto Rican institution, and while the natives rarely become intoxicated, nevertheless gambling is common among all classes, and immorality exists to a very con- siderable degree. This laxity of the morals of the masses is largely due to the degeneracy of the priests, who for many years were the religious leaders of the people. "Father" Sherman, a son of Gen. "W. T. Sherman, who was the Roman Catholic chaplain for the American Army in Porto Rico wrote to a Catholic journal : "Porto Rico is a Catholic country without religion. The clergy do not seem to have any firm hold on the na- tive people, nor have they any lively sympathy with Porto Rico or Porto Ricaus. The island needs spiritual transformation wrought by the Gospel of Jesus Christ in the lives of the people. Rural districts are particularly destitute of religious privileges, and the sacred relation- ships of American home life are largely unknown." About one hundred miles south of Florida is Cuba, the "Pearl of the Antilles"— 730 miles long, with an area nearly as great as Pennsylvania or Ohio. It has a population of 2,048,980. The number of persons ten years of age and over, according to the census of 1907, was 1,481,573. Of foreign whites there were 196,881, and the percentage of illiteracy 25.6. Of the total number of coloured persons — 453,714 — the percentage of illiteracy The Spanish- American 149 was 55.0. The total native white population was 830,978 with the percentage of illiteracy 41.4. About oue-half the males of voting age were illiterate. Out of the total population of 2,084,980, 21,420 were carpenters, one out of every seven being illiterate. Of cigar factory operatives there were 24,161, the proportion of illiteracy being slightly higher. But these constituted the better type of workers. Of farmers, planters and farm labour- ers there were 364,821 males and 3,110 females. Of the males 235,027, or nearly two-thirds, were illiterate. The illiteracy among the females was in about the same pro- portion. Another striking fact in connection with the life of Cuba is that 257,888, or 12.5 per cent, of the total popu- lation, are illegitimate children. But this is not to be wondered at when one considers the customs which ex- isted for so many years previous to the intervejition of the United States. The price of a marriage ceremony was fifty dollars in advance. The citizens were kept in perpetual poverty by those in power, so that it was im- possible for any of the poorer class to enjoy the luxury of a marriage ceremony. Even now, considerable red tape is necessary in Cuba for legal marriage. Cuba, like Porto Eico, suffered grievously from Span- ish misrule. As early as 1825 we find the United States interested in the question of Cuban annexation. Presi- dent Polk proposed in 1848 to purchase the island from Spain, but the offer was rejected, as was that of President Grant during the "Ten Years' War," the period of Cuba's bitterest struggle for independence. But the blowing up of the Maine in the harbour of Havana deter- mined the destiny of the island, the subsequent history of which is familiar to every American. On May 1, 1898, Admiral Dewey destroyed the Spanish fleet off Manila Bay, and the Philippines became American territory. 150 American Social and Religious Conditions On the morning of July 3cl the Spanish fleet under Admiral Cervera was totally destroyed near Santiago Harbour, and on December 10th the Treaty of Peace with Spain was signed at Paris, ratified in the following March, and Cuba was proclaimed a free country on April 11, 1899, after nearly 400 years of Spanish dominion. The Cubans had been so long fighting for Cuban con- trol of Cuba that it required some time to understand the attitude of the Americans, but the Bill of Rights, issued by General Leonard Wood, Commander-in-Chief and Military Governor of Santiago province, guaranteeing the right of assembly, petition and remonstrance ; free- dom of worship according to individual conscience ; courts of justice open to all ; the right to a hearing by the accused in criminal cases ; criminal procedure in accord- ance with our law ; safeguarding the rights of citizens in business, person, papers, house and effects ; right of free printing and writing, subject to responsibility for the abuse of the privilege, clearly indicated the attitude of the United States. Very soon a public school system was established, the postal telegraph and railway systems were greatly ex- tended, a code of civil and moral laws was revised and the courts were reorganized, so that it was possible for a Cuban to secure justice. Under a constitution which guaranteed religions liberty the American Missionary Societies became active in a comprehensive manner, va- rious sections of the country being cared for by different denominational bodies. A plan of cooperation is being worked out among these denominations, and the work is being carried on most effectively. Illiteracy and immo- rality are the two great problems of the missionaries, al- though the response of the people is most gratifying. New moral standards are being set up. Cuba is getting a new couscience, a new consciousness, and a new creed, The Spanish- American 15I as is pointed out by Dr. Howard B. Grose iu his " Ad- vance in the Antilles. " The digging of the Panama Canal will open the gate- way to America for vast numbers from the states of Cen- tral America and the South American Continent. These will give the Southwest an immigration problem such as it has never had before. Those who will come to us may be either a blessing or a curse. Much will depend upon how we ourselves welcome them. The United States has already conquered by force of arms the brown-skinned people of the South, but these now challenge our nation to conquer their hearts as well. Here they are then, 4,000,000 Spanish- Americans: in Cuba, in Porto Eico and in the southwest section of the United States — another distinct obligation which America must meet. They need schools that will not only teach their children to become efficient workmen but which will teach them the beauty and dignity of labour. They need the Gospel of Jesus Christ, untainted by superstition. But these things must be given them in the spirit of brotherhood and without a trace of patronage^ or supe- riority. GROWTHOF THE immD STATES Date of Accession and Area in Square Miles 1904 RinamaCaiul Zone— >>^ 44-8 fParb Rico\ laSI>IUiiiitm»nH»- y • V -6449 Total Area 3.743,031 square miles Alaska Plirchase fi8e7 590.88't no fiadsfen Hirrfuse-^ c— ... . 3r-4K.0OO / Kexico Cession \ / 1848 686,036 \ /i84e Oregon Settlement ^gg g^X IBI9 ) / r 1845 Texas Annexation 376.I33\ Cession ) /^ Louisiana Purchase /l803 871, 140 \ Original Territory \ / IT83 844.S23\ DATfe AREA 152 IX THE NEW PEONTIEE THE United States has to-day an area nearly four and a half times as great as it was in 1783. In 1803, with the Louisiana Purchase, the terri- tory of this country was more than doubled. Steadily we have grown until in 1904 the Panama Canal zone of 448 square miles was acquired. This latest acquisition will mean more to the United States than the mere saving of time in transporting freight. It will some day figure significantly in commanding the Pacific Ocean, the future battle-ground of the world, for in this arena Eussia, Japan, China and the United States will determine whether the world is to be dominated by the Anglo-Saxon race or by a race which is foreign to most of the ideals which have made America great and powerful. Says Ward Piatt in " The Frontier" : " World navi- gation and world history may be divided into three stages : the Mediterranean, which stands for past history, the Atlantic, which means the present, and the Pacific, which holds the future. Historj^ was shifted from the Mediterranean to the Atlantic in an attempt to find an ocean route to the Orient. ... In the light of mod- ern history we are able to appreciate the immense im- portance of our every accession of territory bordering on the Pacific. Hawaii in its location is providential. Our trade with the Orient steadily increases. We are sure to dominate the Pacific and to exert over the Orient a cor- respondingly great infiuence. The importance of the de- velopment of the West as a basis of this new world in- 153 154 American Social and Religious Conditions flueuce is apparent." The Orieut may not be quite so sure about its future disposition. It may protest against being dominated by the United States even to the extent of being " iuflufuced " by it. When giant China awakes — watch out. And the Japanese are still to be reckoned with. Therefore, let us not be overconfident. It is ex- ceedingly important that we first of all build up our own Western frontier in point of manhood and morals, as Ward Piatt suggests, before we calmly talk about domi- nating great and powerful countries. We might better learn how to possess our own laud. What about this American frontier ? We are told that America no longer has a "frontier" — that all the land has been occupied or at least appropriated. The history of the dispositiou of the 3,000,000 square miles of public domain of the United States is one of which we may be heartily ashamed. It cost us four and seven-tenths cents per acre, and this cheap land was a louder call to the im- migrant than our democratic form of government. Thomas Carlyle once said, " Te may boast o' yere democracy or any ither 'cracy or any kind o' poleetical roobish, but the reason why yer labouring folk are so happy is that ye have a vost deal o' land for a verra few people." But the day has gone by when the poor man can secure free laud. We have reached the limit in this respect. We are facing a situation similar to that in many foreign lands. We have become land impoverished through our foolish generosity in giving railroads, and speculators, and land-grabbers the choicest sections of our national domain. Ill "Privilege and Democracy," Frederic C Howe tells us that of this immense area the Pacific railroads aloue acquired oue-twelfth. In addition to a right of way across the continent of 100 to 400 feet wide, with such land as was needed for sidings, stations and yards, a The New Frontier 155 subsidy of every alternate section of one square mile each on either side of the right of way was added as au aid to construction. The dealings of the Pacific railways with Congress with regard to laud transactions have been notoriously scandalous. It is said that the grants of the Northern Pacific Eailway alone were worth a thousand million dollars.^ Following the railways came the land grabbers and ranchmen, who have appropriated great tracts of land which they are still holding unlawfully. One individual became the owner of 14,539,000 acres of the richest land in California and Oregon — an area three times as great as the state of New Jersey, with its population of two mil- lion and a half.'' One hundred men in the Sacramento Valley came to own 17,000,000 acres of land. There are single estates twice the size of Belgium, bigger than all Switzerland, bigger even than the combined areas of New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Connecticut and Delaware. Other investigations indicate that more than 150,000,000 acres have been illegally or collusively appropriated from the public domain within the last fifteen years. The in- vestigations made during the administration of President Eoosevelt indicate that large sections of the best land of the nation have been acquired by dishonest means. It has been estimated that America has been despoiled of an empire greater than the combined areas of the thirteen original states. The Public Lands Commission, appointed by President Eoosevelt, reported that " a larger propor- tion of the public land is passing into the hands of speculators than into those of actual settlers who are mak- ing homes. Nearly everywhere the large landowner has succeeded in monopolizing the best tracts whether of » "The United States in Onr Own Times," E. Benjamim Andrews, Chapter IV. ' Everybody's Magazine, May, 1905. 156 The New Frontier 157 timber or of agricultural land. Your commission has had inquiries made as to how a number of estates — selected haphazard— have been acquired. Almost without excep- tion collusion or evasion of the letter and the spirit of the law was involved. It is not necessarily to be inferred that the present owners of these estates were dishonest, but the fact remains that their holdings were acquired or consolidated by practices which carinot be defended." ' To-day, by the mere fact of his arrival, every immi- grant increases the value of the laud in the United States by $500. Every new-born babe has the same effect upon land values. Rents for the working man in our big cities have become exorbitant. The percentage of rent- ing farmers is increasing. In spite of our remarkable growth in land area there is a famine of land for the poor, and the poor — the people on the margin — determine the status and the standards for the whole people with re- gard to national prosperity and happiness. The land question is one of the greatest importance and must be reckoned with by our statesmen. But in spite of this tremendous handicap the average American still has a great opportunity. The marvellous natural resources of our country have apparently over- come many of the consequences of our reckless extrava- gance in the gift of land. Gone is the day of the pioneer who "trekked" across the plains in a canvas covered wagon which sheltered his family and all his worldly goods to the frontier which offered free land. There is a " new West" and a " new South " which challenge men of the heroic type. The next decade will witness marked advances in the growth of cities and in the develop- ment of new territory in this modern Eldorado. Great wealth will be accumulated and many powerful institu- ' State Document No. 154, Fiftj'-eighth Congress, Third Session, page 14. 158 American Social and Religious Conditions tious established. Witness the growth of Oklahoma City with its 539. 7 per cent, rate of increase from 1900 to 1910. No city in all the land grew as did this new metropolitan centre in the midst of vast agricultural areas. Muskogee, in the same state, had 494.2 per cent, increase. Birmingham, a second Pittsburgh with its iron, and steel, and coal industries, increased 245.4 per cent. Los Angeles, already one of the leading cities on the Pacific coast, increased 211.5 per cent, in ten years. Seattle, in the northwest, increased 194 per cent., and its neighbour, Spokane, increased 183.3 per cent., while Tacoma has to its credit a growth of 122 per cent. Port- land, Oregon, grew at the rate of 129.2 per cent. Fort Worth developed 174. 7 per cent, and El Paso increased 146.9 per cent., while Dallas increased 116 per cent. Of the twenty-two cities which increased over one hun- dred per cent, in ten years all but three are in the new West or new South. But the new frontier is interesting to us not only be- cause of its growing cities. There are other factors which stir us. The New England states are no larger than either North or South Dakota. Montana nearly equals New England, New York and Pennsylvania, and Texas — how can one think of the new frontier without having Texas loom up — Texas with its 265,896 square miles is about five-sixths as large as the original thirteen states. One can draw a straight line for 900 miles within the state. Arizona, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Arkansas and western Louisiana constitute the giant of the new Southwest. North and South Dakota, Montana, Idaho, Washington and Oregon, with Wyoming, are the elements of the giant Northwest. Josiah Strong once said : " The West is to-day an infant but shall one day be a giant in each of whose limbs shall unite the strength of many nations." This prophecy has been fulfilled, al- The New Frontier 159 though the East has scarcely discerned the development of the new frontier. Puget Sound, one of the most marvellous inland water- ways on the continent, with its 1,600 miles of coast line, opens into the sea with a passage so wide and deep that any vessel afloat in any weather may pass freely in and out. It is two days nearer China than San Francisco. It is, therefore, destined to be the gateway to the Orient. If, as is prophesied, America will one day find a great market in China, Seattle will become the metropolis of the Pacific coast, into which will be emptied the riches of the glorious northwest country. San Francisco will continue to be the Golden Gateway of the south Pacific coast. It is already established and will draw to itself the wealth of a considerable section of the Southwest. But Galveston will be the gateway of the Southwest through the Panama Canal. We know little to-day of South America and its opportunities, although it is our southern neighbour. We are more familiar with the far- off Orient. But South America, with an area more than twice as great as the United States, has in recent years advanced with tremendous strides. When most of us think of South America we think of revolts and insur- rections, but conditions are greatly improving in this country. Naturally, the Southwest will reap an abundant harvest with the development of South America. There- fore, from every point of view the Panama Canal will determine to a considerable degree the future of our en- tire country. It will permit us to go to South America and the Orient with greater freedom, but it will also permit South America and the Orient to come to us with greater facility. The next generation will bring to America problems and perils in this connection of which to-day it never dreams. But mere bigness does not constitute the problem. l6o American Social and Religious Conditions Population figures and laud areas mean little compared with the spirit that pervades this growing territory. It is this factor which is of such remarkable signilicance iu the new frontier. Picked men have gone from the East to the West — the pioneer type with its daring and its ag- gressiveness. This accounts for the remarkable develop- ment of what was formerly known as the Great American Desert which appeared in the maps of our geographies a score of years ago. The transformation of this desert is one of the wonders of modern times. The men who were capable of such enterprise and those who have built and rebuilt the Northwest and the Southwest are the men who could easily determine the destiny of a nation. And they are doing it. The West and the South will some day dictate to the North and the East. While most of us in the older parts of America are quite content with things as they are, there will come out of the new froutier a demand for change. Some of it will be for the better, for these men and women are of the type who are not tied up by the tape of tradition. It would be folly to insist that the East has said the last word with regard to modern social, economic and religious problems. The West is teaching us many a fundamental lesson con- cei'ning these things. The strong men of the new frontier do not need very much assistance from the East so far as they themselves are concerned. The danger is that the "frontiersmen" will be swamped through the very prosperity which they have created, for the wealth and the power of the new West and the new South are sure to attract elements which will break down the idealism created by a strong people. The freedom of life and thought may result in license unwarranted and dangerous. The natural resources may develop a monopoly worse than any yet attempted. The spontaneous religious feeling may be diverted by false The New Frontier i6i ecclesiastical leaders. The political opportunities may develop a group of unscrupulous demagogues. The economic agitation may result in unsound legislation which will cripple industry. In these particulars there must be watchfulness and courage. The burden of the new frontier rests primarily upon the people who live within its bounds. In the final analysis they must work out their own salvation. But inasmuch as the territory is so important a part of our country, no other section can evade its responsibility in seeing to it that the new South and the new West are saved from those who would spoil it. Herein lies the opportunity of our home missionary agencies. But they must attack the situation in a manner commensurate with the magnitude of other undertakings in this area. There must be statesmanship of the broadest type. The scatter- ing of effort without a fundamental basis of cooperation will result in failure. There must be first of all a thorough survey of the field. Upon the findings thus secured there should be erected a program which will be scientific and systematic and yet shot through with a warm evangelistic spirit which will be broad enough to include the great social questions which those on the new frontier are so courageously facing. Such a program by the Church is sure to win. OWNERSHIP OF WEALTH IH THE U^. AND GROWTH OF SOCIALISM POPULATION VS^EALTH |0l9%CWNS70.5%| |29.0% OWNS 2S.3%I Growth of Socialism in the United States I7U«0WNS4:2%I 162 SOCIAL MOVEMENTS AEISING OUT OF SOCIAL CONDITIONS HISTORY has been written around the lives of kings and warriors. The common people have scarcely been considered in the narratives of the world's development excepting as a background to picture the glory and the achievements of the ruling classes. Only here and there do we get a glimpse into the lives of the masses. While there was a civilization of a very superior kind centuries before the Christian era, men had not learned the lesson of brotherhood. Indeed, even the noted philosophers of ancient times, some of whom the world to-day delights to honour, declared that a purchased labourer was better than a hired one, and in accordance with this principle half the world lived in slavery when Christ was born. Practically all the work of the world was done by slaves. To labour with one's hands was re- garded as dishonourable and to be a labouring man was to be placed on a level with the beasts of the field. The wise men of the time said that the slave had no soul. It did not matter whether that slave was a man of their own race : the mere fact that he was a slave took from him all claim to manhood and citizenship. Whether men became slaves by birth, through their sale when children by their parents, through the sale of themselves because of poverty or debt, through capture in war or by pirates, they were all classed alike — they became less than men, even though they had been endowed by na- 163 164 American Social and Religious Conditions ture with temperament and ability far superior to their captors. Under such conditions the organization of working men was imj)ossible. From time to time the masses rose in rebellion against inhuman treatment by their mas- ters, but they were slaughtered and driven back to their toil more heavily bound than ever before. This situation continued for centuries. The system of slavery was fol- lowed by that of feudalism, when men began to till the soil. They did not own it, but the "land lords" gave them the use of the property on condition of tribute or service. During this period religious leaders who were raised up from among the people fought against the sys- tem. They testified to the value of the individual. They taught that before God all men were equal. Wyclif's poor priests honeycombed the minds of the upland folk with what may be called "religious socialism." The preachers told the people that it would be better for them to die with arms in their hands than to be thrust back without an effort on their part into the shameful slavery from which they had been delivered. The Peasants' War was largely due to the influence of these religionists of the period. The leaders of the Ana- baptists and those of the Eeformation joined hand in hand with labour in the attempt to destroy the intoler- able economic conditions from which they were suffering. Fifty thousand peasants perished and the people lost much of the liberty that they had already won. Later came the development of manufactures, but mostly in the homes of the people. There was a mixture of mechanical work with agricultural. It was the tran- sitional period between the land and the factory. Here again labour passed through trying experiences. Sani- tary conditions were bad and overcrowding worse thau in some modern working men's homes. Social Movements 165 With the introduction of machinery and other inven- tions during the eighteenth century there came the great industrial revolution, in the throes of which we are still labouring. The factory system has had its uplifting in- fluence, but it was a curse to great numbers of people during the early days of its existence. Large fortunes were made by the owners, but the workers' wages rap- idly decreased to the barest cost of living. Children of five worked in the mills, and the hours of labour were often sixteen per day. Women and children drove men from the factory to the street, because they could tend machines more cheaply, and it frequently happened that the father remained at home to do the housework while the mother was employed in the factory. Pauper chil- dren were practically enslaved by some manufacturers, and in one authenticated instance an employer contracted to take one idiot child for each twenty sane children.^ And yet labour was regarded as "free." It had all the privilege of ** freedom of contract." Great economists insisted upon the right of individual liberty in making agreements. By law the working people were prohibited from organizing for any purpose whatsoever. Many of them suffered imprisonment because of an attempt to se- cure better social and economic conditions. Organized labour, in its present form, had no existence prior to the eighteenth century. Modern trades-unionism had its rise in 1824. The history of organized labour was a checkered one for at least fifty years. It was only after a campaign of education among the workers themselves that they finally settled upon a definite program. It was necessary to develop a company of leaders. The total membership of the trades-unions of the world is to-day about ten millions. In the United States there are some- thing like three million members of organized labour, in- ' " Organized Labour," by John Mitchell, page 24. l66 American Social and Religious Conditions eluding those affiliated with the American Federation of Labour, the Eailroad Brotherhoods, the Industrial Work- ers of the World, the Knights of Labour and other smaller societies. Each of the above named organiza- tions is independent of the other and is operated upon somewhat different principles. The modern trades-uuion is not ideal, any more than the Church or any other institution controlled by ordi- nary human beings is ideal. Most critics of the labour union demand of its members and of the organization as a whole what they would not think of asking of any other group of men. The Church and the lodge and the business men's organization insist that they must be judged by their best and not by their worst actions. The trades- union is always judged by its worst deeds, and not only that — it is judged by the worst deeds of its worst enemies, although these enemies may be found within the ranks of organized labour itself. In all fairness the labour union should be permitted to present its own ideals. The obligation taken by the raau who becomes a member of the American Federation of Labour is as follows : "We are pledged to the emancipation of our class from poverty, ignorance and selfishness ; to be respectful in word and action to every woman ; to be considerate to the widow and the orphan, the weak and the defenseless ; and never to discriminate against a fellow worker on ac- count of creed, colour or nationality. To defend freedom of thought, whether expressed by tongue or pen. To educate ourselves and our fellow workers in the history of the labour movement. We promise that we will never knowingly wrong a brother or see him wronged, if in our power to prevent it. We will endeavour to subordinate every selfish impulse to the task of elevating the ma- terial, intellectual and moral conditions of the entire labouring class." Social Movements 167 In substance, this is the obligation assumed by every trades-unionist, no matter what his craft. It need scarcely be added that not every trades-unionist lives up to this pledge, but neither does the average church mem- ber live up to the obligations assumed when he united with the Church. Shall we, therefore, abolish all the churches ? In an address delivered before the Commercial Clubs of Chicago, St. Louis, Cincinnati and Boston, Franklin McVeagh, a large employer of labour in Chicago and formerly Secretary of the Treasury, said : " Unionism has so much power for good and so many possibilities of evil that it must not be dealt with by employers as a mere enemy. It is childish to think that we can abolish labour unions. The public opinion of all nations has accepted them as fixtures. We must develop, not abolish, them. And the employers, as sure as there is moral responsi- bility anywhere in the world, must assume a distinct share of the responsibility for the increase of their use- fulness and for the correction of their faults. And we come a long way towards progressive unionism whenever employers deal with them as friends. The chief require- ment, after all, is that we shall believe that labour unions are indispensable to the advancement of mankind and the growth of civilization ; for therein lies their profoundest claim. And that is why the labour movement must not rest wholly upon the shoulders of the working men, but is a responsibility of yours and mine. " "We must frankly face the problem of organized labour, for it will undoubtedly be brought to the attention of the public in the future even more forcibly than it has in the past. The trades-union has come to stay. It is simply a question as to whether it will be a good unionism or a bad unionism, and the responsibility for making it a good unionism rests as distinctly and as definitely upon the em- l68 American Social and Religious Conditions ployers as it does upon the trades-unionists themselves. The general policy of outlawing a workman when he be- comes a member of organized labour is one of the most serious mistakes in our industrial life. The radical tend- ency in the present-day labour movement is the direct re- sult of the unreasonable and unreasoning attitude of some employers' associations with reference to trades-union- ism. If the interests of the employer and the employee are identical, then working men should be persuaded of it. If their interests are not identical, then the sooner we find it out the better, for this knowledge will clear the atmosphere of some very vague aud cloudy thinking. Employers of labour must present a constructive program. It will not suffice to assume a merely negative attitude. Organized labour has undoubtedly made many mistakes, but it is not peculiar in this regard. Organized capital has sinned just as frequently and sometimes with less ex- cuse. Organized labour represents flesh and blood and demands a living. Organized capital represents vested interests and demands dividends. The evils of trades- unionism should be severely denounced ; but the moral aud ethical value of organized labour should also be em- phasized. If criticism is to be made, this criticism should be based upon an intelligent conception of the real aims and aspirations of trades-unionism. Like most other reform movements, organized labour seeks to abolish poverty. But it does not spend its time dreaming about a millennium in which all wrongs shall be righted and all ills cured. Its leaders are opportunists. They are alert to the measure which promises immediate though only partial relief. They are convinced that the working man is not receiving his just share of the com- mon product. They are not prepared to state just what that share shall be, but they insist that we have not yet reached the point in our industrial life when the working Social Movements 169 man should be satisfied with his wages. It is not fair to ask labour to specify any given amount with which it promises to be satisfied for all time. Money has a chang- ing value in different sections of the country and at differ- ent periods of time. Also the development of our indus- trial life may be such as to completely alter the relative value of the services of both employer and employee. The introduction of labour saving machinery, for ex- ample, may revolutionize our chief industries. The working man feels that he is entitled to a fair share in the product of all improvements. He is not ready to commit himself to any contract which will prevent his securing future, and what will then be conceded, perfectly legitimate advances in his wages. The labour union makes contracts for only a limited period. Employers themselves prefer this arrangement, for they cannot tell what may develop from their view-point in the course of time. In any case, the increase in wages and the short- ening of hours of labour, — the two principal points of contention between capital and labour — must be worked out upon an evolutionary basis, such changes being made from time to time as conditions warrant. Present indications point towards increased bitterness in the industrial world. It is altogether likely that the greatest battle in history will soon be fought between capital and labour. Both sides seem to be getting ready for the fight, and the struggle will no doubt become in- ternational in its scope, for the trades-unions are coming more and more to have world-wide relationships, and the employers are coming closer together through their com- mon interests. National Employers' Associations are creating immense funds for the express purpose of des- troying organized labour, and organized labour is stor- ing up in its treasury vast sums for defense purposes. What the outcome will be no one dares prophesy. 170 American Social and Religious Conditions It is not reasonable to suppose that either capital or labour will ever permanently secure a position of supe- riority one above the other. They are both too stroug for such a situation to long continue. The probabilities are that after they have both come to respect each other because they have learned to appreciate one another's power, they will get together in a businesslike manner and make collective bargaius for the particular groups of peraons which they represent. It is for such a pro- gram that organized labour has been long contending. It cannot be conceived that modern industry will be car- ried on successfully if employers assume that they have the right to offer whatever wages they please, and dictate all the conditions under which men shall work. Work- ing meu must be given a chance to bargain with the em- ployer as to these matters. It is manifestly impossible in the present stage of industrial development for each individual working man to make his own bargain. The workers must deal collectively with the corporation. As conditions of trade and methods of work have been so thoroughly standardized, it will be to the advantage of the employer as well as the men if the representative of all the men can bargain with the representative of all the employers. This will place the employers upon an equal footing in so far as the payment of wages, and the num- ber of hours worked are concerned. It then resolves it- self into a question of personal efQciency. The trades- union is eager to have employers form strong organiza- tions of their own, so that they may deal with responsible persons in their business transactions. There are fully 500,000 accidents to the workera in in- dustrial life every year. Probably 30,000 of these are fatal. If every year an American city of 30,000 people should be completely destroyed it would arouse the greatest indignation. But iu the matter of industrial Social Movements I7I accidents the 30,000 killed are producers, men with fam- ilies which suffer most keenly on account of our reckless- ness and apparent indifference to industrial accidents. How some accidents happen is indicated in the report of the Factory Inspector of Pennsylvania. Eeferring to the iron and steel works, he says : " The reckless manipula- tion of cranes and hoists ; the hasty and faulty hooking up of heavy weights ; the slipping of furnaces ; the over- turning of ladles filled with molten metal ; the speeding of engines and cars without light, bell or flagman through the yards of large establishments througed with busy workers ; the ordering of employees to work upon rotten scaffoldings ; the employment of foreigners ignorant of our language and habits in dangerous occupations without words of caution and without proper oversight, are crimes against humanity that call for drastic legislation." The number of accidents in the coal industry of America are appalling. We kill more men in the mines than are killed in any other country in the world, in spite of the fact that our mines are most easily worked. In Pennsyl- vania alone five hundred miners are killed every year. On the railroads in the United States we injure every year 35,000 workers. Every eighth man in this industry is injured once a year. Almost the entire burden of industrial accidents falls upon the injured worker and his family, those least able to bear it. In the United States the brunt of the struggle for the prevention of ac- cidents has been and still is being borne almost entirely by the labour unions. It is rather difficult to forecast what the near future may bring forth in the form of organization of the trades- unions of the United States. There appears to be de- veloping a powerful insurgent movement within the ranks, and leaders of labour who have long felt secure in the tenure of their oifice are being made uncomfortable on 172 American Social and Religious Conditions account of the aggressiveness of the radical element. This includes not merely the socialistic membership in the union but the "progressive" men aud women who have become tired of what they consider the conservative leadership of men who ha\ e been long in office aud who have lost the radicalism of a former and somewhat differ- ,ent period. The growth of socialism iu the United States, where one would think it had the least opportunity for develop- ment, is one of the most striking things in our economic and political history. The socialists are conducting more open-air meet iugs than are being held by all of the churches combined. Their literature far surpasses the literature of the Church in its appeal to the man on the street. It is writteu in the language of the people. A prominent socialist in the Middle "West recently told me that in his city — which was strongly socialistic and had elected a number of socialist candidates to public office — there were 300 men who were pledged to get up every Sunday morn- ing at five o'clock for the purpose of placing socialist literature into the Sunday morning newspapers found upon the front porches of the people living iu the districts for which they had become responsible. There are many socialist Sanday-schools in our American cities, a good many reading-rooms aud several training-schools for socialist agitators. There are probably twenty-five million socialists throughout the world, ten million of whom have cast their ballots for socialist candidates. There are about 1,000 socialist office-holders in the United States, and the movement is rapidly increasing. But what is socialism? It is quite distinct from anarchy. The anarchist believes that the law is the source of all evil. Therefore, he would eradicate the law. The socialist, on the other hand, would apply the law to society in all of its ramifications. Neither is it Social Movements 173 "Communism." The communist believes in having everything owned by the community. Following is a definition of socialism which is acceptable to most socialists: "The ownership by the people of all the means of production, of distribution and exchange, democratically administered." But there are different kinds of socialism. Some people are unkind enough to say that there are about as many kinds of socialism as there are socialists. Eecently there has arisen in this country a more radical wing of socialism than had yet appeared. The organiza- tion is known as the Industrial Workers of the World. It had its beginnings in Chicago in 1904, but it was formally organized in a convention in the same city on June 27, 1905. There were in attendance 186 delegates, and they represented about 90,000 members. The Indus- trial Workers of the World have quite a different program from that of the American Federation of Labour. The program of the new movement is confessedly revolutionary. It declares distinctly that the working class and the em- ploying class have nothing in common — that between these two classes a struggle must go on until all the toilers come together on the political as well as the industrial field, and take and hold that which they produce by their labour through an economic organization of the working class without afiSliation with any political party. It declines to recognize employers or agreements and comes out flat-footedly for an economic war, employing what- ever tactics will secure the end desired. It is no longer a question of "a fair day's pay for a fair day's work," but a campaign for the ultimate transference of all profits of industry from the employer to the labourer until the present system shall have fallen to pieces. The labour problem resolves itself into a question of the equitable distribution of the product of industry. 174 American Social and Religious Conditions The American working man is the most highly skilled working man in the world. He is the most highly paid working man in the world. But compared with what he produces, he is probably the poorest paid working man in the world. It is not a question as to whether the work- ing man is receiving higher wages than he received fifty years ago. It is a question as to whether he is receiving a just share of the common product of capital and labour. The average working man is not concerned about a general dividing up of all wealth, but he does insist that he shall be given a square deal. He does not want charity — he wants work, and he wants justice. In this he is to be commended. There are some people who are tremendously disturbed about the growth of socialism and they are bending every energy to exterminate it, but socialism cannot be snuffed out, or bluffed out, or laughed out. The only way to abolish socialism is to abolish the conditions which have given rise to socialism. In the end there will be not one answer to the social question but many. But all will be religious, for the social problem is at heart a religious problem. Therefore, the Church will have an important part in its solution. THE CHURCH- The Source of Supply of Social Reform Workers— Results of a recent study; involving 1012 persons- PERCENTAGE OF CHURCH MEMBERS Associatexi Charity "Workers Social Settlement Workers. 71% General Social Workers, 176 XI THE CHURCH AS A SOCIAL AGENCY THE Protestant Church has always iusisted upon the right of individual freedom. It will not ac- cept as final the edict of any one man in matters of religion. It declares that every man shall stand up and be counted as one. It has always emphasized the importance of personal salvation. All this came about because of the teachings and practices of the Catholic Church, which made absolute the authority of the Pope, and taught doctrines that practically eliminated the in- dividual. But in its insistence upon the value of the individual, the Protestant Church swung so far away that it nearly lost the social ideal which recognizes that there is a great truth in what has come to be known as social salvation. "We have made so much of saving men "one by one" that we have forgotten that there is an important sense in which we may save the individual very much easier, if we first of all "save" society. To be sure, society is made up of individuals, and if we can save enough individuals we will have saved society, but if it is possible to raise the moral level of the mass, we will not need to lift the individual from so low a depth as would otherwise be necessary. Everybody knows how hard it is to live the Christian life in some details on account of the comparatively low moral and ethical standards in modern business life. Some, indeed, say that it is impossible to apply the prin- ciples of Jesus to the business of the twentieth century. To whatever extent this may be true, it is attributable to 177 178 American Social and Religious Conditions the fact that the busiuess world has not accepted the standards of Jesus in its every-day practice. Even some Christian men who are in busiuess must blink at much that they persoually resent, and they try to close their eyes to the fact that subordinates in their emphjj- are compelled to do certaiu things which they themselves would not think of doing, although they are the direct beneficiaries of the immoral practices of their employees. Many Christian meu are compelled to employ little children aud pay them a mere pittance, because their rivals in business who are not professing Christians are doing the same thing. The Christian man feels that he will be undersold in the open market if he does not resort to the unchristian practices of his competitors, and he at- tempts to justify himself by the thought that everybody else is doiug the same thing, and that, after all, it is purely a business proposition. This illustration must suffice to cover many similar customs in the social and the economic world — meu find it proportionately easy or difficult to apply Christian principles to their businesses as these principles are generally accepted or rejected by the entire community. It would seem logical, therefore, that the ethical standards in business and social life should be elevated, so that the individual may fiud it less difficult to live the Christian life in his business rela- tionships. The kind of teaching and preaching which would bring this about for society as a whole is what is known as the "social gospel." It means the observance of the second great commandment : "Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself," which Christ said was like unto the first. It involves the presentation of social and economic facts which will make men see the injustices that are being suffered by the weak and the defenseless. It will bring home to the powerful individual employer and the still The Church as a Social Agency 179 more powerfal corporation the truth that they are stewards, and that they are responsible not only for the use of their wealth, but also for the physical, mental and moral well-being of those who are in their employ, those who are living in their tenements, and all those who, in any way, look to them for the necessities as well as some of the larger benefits of life. These conditions may be secured through education, through inspiration, but also through the passage of good laws which must be enforced. The closing of the saloon, for instance, makes it easier for some men to lead temperate lives. The removal of gambling places makes the temptation to risk money and reputation easier to combat. But our efforts must also be constructive. We should establish positive forces which make for righteous- ness. These forces may be controlled by the Church to a very considerable degree, but it may seem wise to have the city manage them through the self-sacrificing citizens who desire to bring about a "social revival." Such a program will help the churches in their propaganda for the salvation of men, "one by one." In 1720 the famous Jukes family consisted of a lazy, ir- responsible fisherman and five daughters. In five gen- erations the known descendants numbered about 1,200 persons. At about the same time Jonathan Edwards died, leaving a large family. In 1900 as many as 1,394 of his descendants were identified. Of the 1,200 descend- ants of Juke, 310 were professional paupers living in almshouses, 440 were physically wrecked by their own wickedness, more than half of the women being immoral, 130 were convicted criminals, sixty were habitual thieves, seven were murderers, and 300 died in infancy. But note the list of Jonathan Edwards' descendants : — thirteen college presidents, three United States senators, sixty -five college professors, thirty judges, one hundred l8o American Social and Religious Conditions lawyers, sixty physicians, seveuty-five officers iu Army aud Navy, oue hundred clergymen, missionaries, etc., sixty authors and writers, two hundred and ninety-five college graduates, eighty pnblic officials. Oue was Vice- President of the United States, several were governors of states, members of Congress, mayors of cities, ministers to foreign courts, etc. Almost every department of social, educational, political and religious life has felt the impulse of this healthy aud long-lived family. The Jukes family cost New York state over a million and a quarter dollars, and the cost is still going on. Not one member of the Edwards family has been couvicted of a crime. Instead of a curse they have been a blessing to the state. Unquestionably religion had a great deal to do with the fine record of Jonathan Edwards' family. It is evident that the Jukes family was not influenced by the spirit of the Gospel. But there were also some other sad lacks. Not one of the 1,200 had even a common school education. Only twenty learned a trade, and ten of these learned it in the State Prison. There was a great educational lack. There was no social outlook. It was to be expected that these unfortunates who were cursed into their pernicious surroundings would become a menace to society. Eeligion would undoubtedly have helped all of them. But the evangelist and the social worker, each sympathetic towards the other's work, and supplement- ing each other's efforts, might have prevented the blight which has fallen upon society through the Jukes family. "What is the Church doing iu the matter of social re- form ? The socialists scorn its claims that it is render- ing real service in this connection. It is true that the Church is not a social reform agency in the sense that it makes this its chief function, but eveu a cursory study of the situation must convince the open-minded studeutthat the Church is an important factor in social service. It The Church as a Social Agency 181 gives to every man the right to accept whatever economic theory he desires so long as its application does no vio- lence to the rights of others, and so long as it is in accord with fundamental moral principles. Bat the Church has a positive position and work in this matter. It has under- taken important studies of social conditions throughout the country which easily match the efforts of professional social workers. It has come out in pronouncements upon certain economic conditions which might well have been sent forth by the workers themselves — they could not be more emphatic and concrete. But perhaps the chief function of the Church in these matters is that of supplying the men and the women who are the leaders in social reform affairs. The study of over a thousand pro- fessional social workers as to church affiliations shows that of those who were associated charity workers ninety- two per cent, were church members. Similar facts with regard to other groups are also shown.' As a matter of fact, the Church practically controls through its mem- bership nearly every great philanthropic movement of any consequence. Glance at the list of directors and verify this statement. Practically all of the money that goes into hospitals, orphan asylums, clubs and charitable institu- tions of various kinds, comes from church people. With- out them these could not exist. Eecognizing that there is a great work to be done in the matter of social reform which must reach down to fundamental things, let it not be forgotten that the wounded in life's battle must mean- while be cared for. To these the Church ministers freely. At the same time it is developing most of those who will fight for the bigger things in social reform. At a conference of social workers recently held in New York, the Church was sueeringly alluded to by the chief speaker, when he mentioned a certain piece of social work ' " Encyclopedia of Social Reform, " page 221. i82 American Social and Religious Conditions done by the Church. He remarked that "it was well doue, iu spite of the fact that the Church had done the job." "Which comment was liberally applauded by his audience. It was interesting to note that the speaker had received his original inspiration as a social worker iu the Church, that most of his listeners were church members, and that the organization, which had made the very occasion at which he spoke possible, was heavily endowed by a well-known Presbyterian elder. A somewhat extensive, and, in a measure, a rather critical study of the methods and the spirit of Christian workers among the so-called masses, has led me to the conclusion that more effective work is being done to-day in behalf of the multitude by the men and women in the churches who have not been "scientifically trained," than is the case with those who have the ability to glibly quote a few pedantic phrases with reference to sociological teaching, but who have never had a real love for their fellows. Scientific training plus human love which has a divine origin is the ideal equipment for the social worker. But the latter is more important than the former. All this is said with full appreciation of the splendid work beinp done by trained students and teachers of sociology, but these should not spoil the fruits of their labours by sueeringly referring to the workers in the Church, who for mauy years have been giving hearts and lives to the task of bringing sunshine into darkened lives. The study of sociology is important. Modern social service cannot be made truly effective without such training. But the Church possesses the spirit and teaches the principles which are fundamental in such study and service. Many of her children have been doing scientific social work without knowing it, and without being at all familiar with the vocabulary of the "scientifically" trained sociologist. The Church as a Social Agency 183 The Church has also been at fault in this matter, for often it has underrated the value of what social workers are doing. There should be frequent conferences between the workers in the Church and the men and the women who are serving society in other ways. The Church should not only be informed with regard to such service, but it should heartily cooperate in carrying out all plans which have for their object the bettering of social con- ditions. An effort should be made on the part of the Church to find out what is really being done through the social workers, securing very specific information and in exact figures, wherever possible. The larger social needs of the city and of the community should be frankly dis- cussed and definite and concrete plans with estimates of the costs should be considered. The obstacles which stand in the way of their accomplishment should be pre- sented, whether they are due to general indifference on the part of the public, lack of cooperation on the part of the city oflcials, or to Inadequate laws. It should be ascertained whether the greatest need is suflScient money, competent leadership, personal cooperation, or adequate equipment. The churches should then honestly face their responsibility in the fields of service presented. There should be conferences with leaders among work- ing men. A spirit of democracy should prevail in every effort undertaken in behalf of the toilers. The people should be worked with rather than for. Every movement which is agitated and carried out exclusively by the so- called upper class is bound to fail in accomplishing the greatest and most permanent good. Working people resent very quickly the spirit of patronage or paternal- ism. Ask for the privilege of addressing trades- unions, both local and central bodies, so that organized labour may be given an opportunity to cooperate with the 184 American Social and Religious Conditions churches and the social workers in making their city a better city ; seek to impress upon the workers that they have a distinct share in the responsibility of making the city what it should be, and that there are other questions besides hours of labour and rates of wages which should engage their attention ; that they have it in their power to rid the city of bad rulers and undesirable conditions. Seek from these men information as to the standards of living, conditions of work, average wage rates, casual and seasonal labour and the situations which arise from these conditions. Meet with the superintendents, principals and teachers, and all other officials of the public schools, discussing with them such questions as the desirability and value of manual and vocational training and other courses of study which will equip for their life's work the boys and girls who are to enter the industrial field. Study with them the sanitary conditions surrounding the school buildings, the health of the pupils, the physical handi- caps of the children of the poor, the use of the school buildings for social centres when they are not otherwise employed, the question of vacation schools, of evening schools, and extension courses. Eepresentatives of the churches should see the commissioners having in charge the departments governing the health of the city, and se- cure from them information as to the mortality figures and other health statistics. They should try to discover the causes of the number of deaths above the normal figures, and secure from those having such matters in charge information as to the purity of the milk and water supply, the housing conditions of the poor, the removal of garbage and rubbish, the cleaning of streets and alleys, the treatment of hospital inmates, and similar matters. Every effort should be made to support the officials in charge of the remedying of the evils existing The Church as a Social Agency 185 in connection with these subjects ; and the churches should see to it, in so far as it is within their power, that these officials have a sufficient amount of money to work with, and that they are properly supported in every way in the performance of their duties. The general attitude of the churches towards the city officials should be one of sympathetic cooperation, and of strong commendation when duties have been faithfully performed, rather than condemnation when mistakes have been made, or where unfaithfulness has been discovered. The free and frank discussion of the problems of the people should be encouraged by the Church. The criticism is made that the Church is afraid to face the big questions which are staggering the working man. The Church has nothing to lose by a full and open dis- cussion of these questions. Experience has demonstrated that such treatment of the problems of the masses disarms all criticism. Also, it is the business of the Church to interpret the great movements which are arising among the people. Social unrest needs intelligent and unselfish direction. The Church is largely responsible for the spirit of social unrest which exists to-day. Having created this spirit, is the Church now to step aside and permit the unscrupulous agitator to come in and usurp the place which rightfully belongs to the Church ; or will the Church bravely finish the task which it so long ago began? This is one of the most important questions con- fronting the Church to-day. An investigation into the recreative opportunities for boys and girls, for young men and women, as well as for adults, will indicate that this problem is not being ade- quately met. Clean, healthful places of amusement should be encouraged. Inasmuch as the streets and yards are the playgrounds for the children of the poor, conditions of paving and sanitation are important ele- 1 86 American Social and Religious Conditions meuts iu both the life and pleasure of the children. Every public school in working people's communities should have adequate playgrounds with bathing facilities. The general attitude towards these problems has been largely a negative one. Attempts aie made to close the saloon, the motion picture show and the Sunday baseball game, and other objectionable features. Without argu- ing for or against such legislation, it is highly important that a constructive policy with regard to the recreational life of the people be adopted. There is a distinct oppor- tunity for moral and ethical teaching in recreational life. The motion picture has come to stay. With proper supervision it may become a great force for moral and religious teaching, to say nothing of its educational value. The commercialization of the recreational life of the people is the most serious problem in connection with the subject. This important matter should be taken out of the field of commercialism and be administered by trained leaders whose sole object would be to conserve the welfare of the masses. There should be presented to the people of the city, in a most aggressive manner, a comprehensive plan for recreational life which will be at once scieutific and appealing. This plan should take into consideration all the agencies at present at work in this direction, and in some manner these agencies should present a united plan with regard to the entire situation. A definite and scientific attempt should be made to ar- rive at the cost of living among the various classes of people in the city, determining the miuimnm wage in various industries that will maintain the American standard of living in the homes of intelligent working people who have assumed the responsibility of the typical American family in matters of education, morals and general standards of physical comfort. There should be greater cooperation by the Church The Church as a Social Agency 187 in securing social and labour legislation. Such action should be directed towards the lessening of the number of persons incapacitated by industrial disease and indus- trial overstrain due to excessive hours of labour and un- sanitary conditions. An effort should be made to strengthen and to enforce child labour laws through legislation ; women in industry should be protected and the rights of workers conserved. The Church should be especially concerned with reference to the continuous in- dustries, those necessarily operating on seven days a week, such as railroads, street cars, telegraph and tele- phone lines, heat, light and power plants, newspaper of&ces, blast furnaces, hotels and restaurants, and other industries. Much could be done for human betterment by working for six-day legislation. There might well be inaugurated a movement to place in the hands of the courts, or some similar appropriate body, the authority to determine when industrial operations are necessarily continuous and must necessarily be performed on Sun- day. In view of the statement made by many that work- ing men have abused their holidays and Sundays by drunkenness, ball games, and the like, the Church might investigate what opportunities for clean recreation are open to the working people ; what mechanics and others who have the Saturday half holiday do with it ; what public provision there is for adult recreation, other than that on a commercial basis, that is, enterprises depend- ing on admission tickets, foods and drinks sold, in con- trast to, for instance, the public recreation centres which serve many of the low rent districts of Chicago. The Church should cooperate in these and other matters with the organized working men in the city, with the Cham- ber of Commerce, and with all other bodies which have the general social welfare of the city at heart. The social evil is wide-spread in many of our cities. i88 American Social and Religious Conditions There is a division of opinion among even the better citizens with reference to the desirability of segregation. Many of the best people are committed to this policy without having given the matter very serious thought. It is quite significant that the men serving on the Chicago and Minneapolis Vice Commissions who were in favour of segregation changed their opinions after the study of the social evil in these cities had been made. The de- velopment of a very serious situation with regard to the social evil may be brought about very quickly. Any city may be brought face to face with this question in its grossest forms without very much warning. In order to forestall an event of this kind, it would seem to be the part of wisdom to educate the citizens with reference to this whole matter. A thorough study of the entire sub- ject should be made in a scientific manner through a commission appointed by the Mayor, and consisting of segregationists and anti-segregationists and of men of various religious beliefs, in order to make the commis- sion thoroughly non-sectarian and non-partisan. The decision of such a committee would win the respect of all citizens. This study should be gone into in a broad and sympathetic manner and with the determination to get at the heart of the problem. A movement should be inaugurated with reference to the probational care of men who have been arrested for a first ofifense. A thoroughly competent salaried proba- tional officer should be appointed, but deputy probation officers might be appointed to serve without salary but with all the authority of the courts. This would give op- portunity for many Christian citizens to become the friends of the unfortunates who need wise counsel and personal sympathy. There is a real need in many cities for loan institutions which will supply the needs of the dependent with loans The Church as a Social Agency 189 under $50.00, especially those who have no banking facilities. These people do not need charity and are per- fectly willing to pay a fair rate for the accommodation granted, but they frequently become the victims of graft- ing of the most unscrupulous character. The laws of the state should severely punish those who engage in the loan shark business, but the Church should encourage such loan institutions as will meet the need indicated in a fair manner, or else a group of Christian business men should themselves establish such an enterprise, as was done by Maltbie Babcock in Baltimore. If women are compelled to work long hours in indus- trial life it cannot but result in lower standards of living and a lower state of morality. It will undermine the home, the state and the Church. A fair law with efficient in- spectors and the right kind of a bureau to enforce this law should meet with the hearty approval of all right think- ing men, and should be pushed by the Church. There can be no controversy in regard to a law de- manding one day's rest in seven in all industries. It is quite possible to conduct every industrial plant in a man- ner that will permit one day's rest in seven to all em- ployees. The moral aspect of this proposition should ap- peal to the men of the Church as well as to all other citizens. There are few more disastrous experiences in the home life of working people than the laying aside of bread winners on account of industrial accidents. Legislation should be enacted, perhaps, upon the principle of the German system which involves obligations on the part of the employer, employee and the state. Such a measure would result in a great blessing to industrial workers. Unaccustomed to business methods, and often helpless on account of ignorance of language, the immigrant be- comes a victim of unscrupulous employment agencies, " fake " banks, and dishonest transportation officials. 190 American Social and Religious Conditions Better legislation, and such as will be euforcecl, sliould be euacted to protect the immigraut from those who would exploit him for their own profit, both among their own kinsmen and among citizens of the United States. A social service " revival " will prove efiective. Such a campaign, of a week's duration, should present to the churches, in the most effective manner possible, the social needs and opportunities of the city. These meetings should be held for various groups of people, such as the ministers, the members of the brotherhoods, men's clubs of the churches, missionary societies, women's organiza- tions of various kinds in the churches, and young peo- ple's societies. There should also be special meetings for trades- unions, the Chamber of Commerce, employers' associations, organizations of men and women having to do with civic and social service affairs, and such other groups as are — or should be — interested in the social betterment of the city. These meetings should be both educational and inspirational in character. There should be institutes of various kinds dealing with specific sub- jects at which definite forms of service are outlined. During all of these meetings, pledge cards should be used for the purpose of securing Ihe signatures of those who have become interested, the signers indicating the special form of service which attracts them most. These cards should then be turned over to the social service organizations in the city for whose work a prefer- ence has been expressed and upon whom should be placed a large amount of responsibility for interesting further those whose names have been secured. An effort should be made to tabulate the results of the campaign in the number of agencies assisted, and the number of persons directed to these agencies or to other forms of social service. An attempt should be made to find out if these persons have heretofore been interested in Christian — or The Church as a Social Agency 191 religious — work of any kind, and j ust what was the ex- tent of the work. The effect of such a movement will be an enlargement of the vision of large numbers of church members, whose interests have heretofore been confined to merely one aspect of the Church's work. There are many people in the Church who have been converted spiritually, but they have never been converted socially. They have obeyed the "first and great commandment" — " Thou Shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, with all thy soul and with all thy mind," but they have neglected the second — "Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself," which Jesus said was like unto or of equal im- portance with the first. In all this work there must always be the motive of Jesus, who healed the sick, not that they might come to hear Him preach, but because He had compassion upon them and because they needed healing. When social service is engaged in merely that it may serve as a " bait," those for whose benefit it is being conducted al- ways see the " hook " and they refuse to " bite." Social service should be rendered for its own sake, and because the people need our help. Only in this way will the peo- ple believe in our sincerity. mECHURCH AS AREUGKHK FORCE 'Holding its own" or Evangelizing the World! WHICH? 21% 21% ncrcase Increase -bpuktion in Church in the US Nenkrship 1900- 1910 1900-1310, 193 XII THE CHUECH AS A EELIGIOUS FOECE IS the Church losing its grip upon the life of the nation ? Look at a few figures. In 1800 only seven persons out of every hundred of the total population in this country were members of the Church. In 1850 there were fifteen to every hundred ; in 1870, seventeen ; in 1880, twenty ; in 1890, twenty-two ; in 1900, twenty- four ; in 1910, twenty-four. There seems to be a crisis on just now. The increase in the population of the United States from 1900 to 1910 was twenty-one per cent. The increase in the church membership from 1900 to 1910 was also twenty-one per cent. What will the next decade show ? It is rather unsafe to prophesy. In a recent number of the American Magazine a well- known Bishop of the Protestant Episcopal Church wrote an article on the conflict between religion and the Church. " Eeligion to-day is vitally concerned with the funda- mental questions of social righteousness, industrial equity, political and commercial honesty and honour and ec- onomic justice. Great movements, essentially religious, for the establishment of these ends are sweeping over the land ; but the Church, as an ecclesiastical body, is out of touch with these movements. She speaks timidly upon such matters if at all. She does not meet the religious demands of the age. Her morals and ethics are not big enough nor her service adequate. She preaches for the most part a narrow and petty round of ethics. The minor moralities of purely personal conduct, respectabili- ties, good form, technical pieties and ecclesiastical pro- prieties, while the age is seeking the larger righteousness 193 RELIGIOUS CENSUS OF THE UNITED STATES 1910 34,796,077 NON-CHURCH MEMBERS TEN YEARS OF AGE AND OVER. ESTIMATED f ONE HALF ARE AD- HERENTS OF THE PROTESTAMT CHURCHES 21,843,413 CHILDREN LESS THAN TEN YEARS OF AGE* EASTERN CATHOLICS, HEBREW BODIES, 21,974,315 PROTESTANT COMMUNICANTS 12,321, 74.6 ROMAN CATHOLICS , COMMUNICANTS IN-/ CLUDE ALL AD- HERENTS ABOVE> TEN YEARS OF AGE 1.036,715 IN OTHER RELIGIOUS BODIES SUCH AS LAHER PAY SAINTS ^ Ratio of Children less ttian ID Years of Age is ^hat of Census ofigOO 194 The Church as a Religious Force 195 of the kingdom of God, which is 'human society, organized according to the will of God.' She knows only the little righteousness of the individual, while religion is interested in the big righteousness of the kingdom of God." . . , "Eeligion has to-day far outgrown de- nominationalism and sectarianisn. They are obsolete — dead issues that ought to be buried. Eeligion is to- day absorbed in bigger and more vital concerns. It is frankly agnostic as to the metaphysical mysteries, and wholly indifferent as to the modes of ecclesiastical ma- chinery which have divided the Church into warring camps. Yet the situation is not wholly discouraging. The Church is bound to become more hospitable to the new spirit of religion. Great movements of reform and reconstruction are seeking a home and centre about which they may organize and unify themselves, and there is none other like the Church if the Church will only take them. This much is certain. If that reconciliation is to be effected, the Church cannot remake religion, cannot shrink it into the old convenient and conventional type, cannot crowd it back again into the old doctrinal and ec- clesiastical forms. Eeligion made the Church in the first place and it must remake it to-day — remake it into the natural and hospitable home of all that is best and highest in our modern life and world." These are stirring words and they come from an eminent authority. They are not by any means pessimistic, but they show the stirring of a strong man's blood in his hope for the realization of a splendid dream of what the Church may become. He is the greatest sinner who is blind to the present situation. It requires a heroic man to tell the truth. The Church of Jesus Christ was ordained of God, and it will ultimately triumph. It may not conquer in its present form, for the Church has changed outwardly many times since it was first given to us. In essentials it has remained the same, but in organization and in activities it has constantly been modified to meet the de- mands of the age. Just now we have reached a point 196 American Social and Religious Conditions where it is agaili a question as to whether we will de- part froia au ecclesiasticism which often smothers the trutli and the life. The Church was not created by priests and ministers. So far as the human side is concerned it grew out of the naturally religious instincts of the people. The persistence of religious institutions shows that they are factors of importance in the life of the community. For many the Church is the most powerful of all agents of social control. Its place among social institutions is unique. From this standpoint alone the best interest of society will be better served by strengthening the Church instead of battering it down. As a matter of fact the Church does its best work in the realm of idealism. Josh Billings once said: "Before you can have an honest horse race you must have an honest human race." There seems to be much horse sense in this expression. Before it is possible to have an ideal social system we must have ideal meu. It is the chief business of the Church to develop such men — men with muscle and mind and morals, men who will fight for the right and a square deal. Those who believe in the general proposi- tion that it is better to have strong men than weak, educated men instead of ignorant, good men instead of bad, might well sincerely stand back of the Church in the work that it is trying to do. John Fiske — not a churchman and not a theologian, but one of the foremost scientific investigators, said of re- ligion : "None can deny that it is the largest and most ubiquitous fact connected with the existence of mankind upon the earth." Man is naturally religious, but here is an important fact in this conuection : Eeligion is life. Now life pro- duces organisms. There is no life anywhere witliout organization. The inorganic is the lifeless. Sometimes RATIO OF PROTESTANT COMMUNI- CANTS TO POPULATION IN THE UNITED STATES FROM 1800 TO I9I0 The Shaded Section of each Bar Gives Per Centof Protestant Communicants first Number below each BarGives Protestant Communicants,SecondNumberGivesR)pulation Cen- 1800 1850 1870 1880 1890 1900 I9IO in each 100 of Population S,30S,92S 15 17 in each 100 23, iai,S7e in each 100 3a.S5S,37l in each 100 IO,06S,9e3 so.isa.see in each 100 I3,e23,eia 62.622.250 in eac hlOO la, 169, IIS 76,99*, S7S iury, I800- 1900 during which the Prot- esta nt Com- muni- cants steadily out- stripped the Pop- u la- ti on I n Growth in each 100. 91,972,200 From 1900 tol9IO the Population andiKe Protestant Communicants each gained 21 percent. A Tl E ! What will This Decade Show? 197 198 American Social and Religious Conditions meu say : "I believe in religion, but I do not believe in the Church." It is impossible to have real religion witli- out organization, not necessarily the form of orgauizatiou which we find in the Church to-day, but some kind of organization must result from religion, for true religion is a social force. No man can be religious alone. There must be a God and a neighbour. The Church is man's expression of his religious life and instincts. It is the organization which he has formed to permit him to serve best. For let us repeat — true religion means service. Let us keep in mind always then these two fundamental facts : first, man's greatest need is spiritual ; and second, the Church is the organization which has been created to satisfy this need. This, of itself, justifies its existence. But the success of the Church is not indicated by its great wealth, its enormous membership, its splendid form of worship, for, after all, religion cannot be an end in itself. It is the business of the Chui-ch to save not itself, but the world. Eeligion and the Church have as their purpose the salvation of mankind. It must ever be borne in mind that it is not the business of the Church to advo- cate any particular social system. It is the business of the Church to become the exponent of the fundamental principles of truth and justice which are eternal, permit- ting every man to apply them for himself. There is no reason why the Church may not include every individual who is a Christian at heart, even though he may hold an economic theory which is at variance with that which is generally accepted by the majority of the members of the Church. If this could but be admitted, vast numbers of men who now feel hostile towards the Church because of its supposed narrowness in this particular might become its most enthusiastic supporters. The Church will become a greater religious force as it divests itself of those things which have grown up around The Church as a Religious Force 199 the simpler teachings of its Founder. We are re-discov- ering Christianity and bringing it back to the purpose of its Master. Lecky, the historian, surely not prejudiced in favour of Christianity, says in his "History of Euro- pean Morals " : " The three short years of the active life of Christ have done more to regenerate and to soften mankind than all the disquisitions of philosophers, and all the exhortations of the moralists." It has been said that the Church, having failed, out- side agencies have arisen and to-day they are taking the place of the Church ; and reference is made to the Young Men's Christian Association, the Eescue Missions, the Salvation Army, and other philanthropic and relief agencies. There is a measure of truth in this statement, but, as a matter of fact, not any of these would be pos- sible were it not for the Church. The Church is the sup- porter of them all. They are the Church specializing upon certain problems or certain groups of people. It is not possible for every church to become general enough in its work to minister to all classes. It therefore seems to be the part of wisdom to reach as many men and women in as many ways as is feasible. After all, it must be confessed that the fundamental cause of distress and injustice is sin, and the Church, as a religious force, is fighting sin ; so that when a preacher denounces sin wherever he sees it, — the sin of the employer as well as the sin of the employee, he is helping to improve social conditions. The reading of this book will indicate that the author does not believe in confining the efforts of the minister to this one aspect of the larger work which should be his, but nevertheless, it must be insisted that the Church has its greatest mission in the spiritual salvation of man- kind, and this must be given the greatest emphasis. No other society is to-day doing more than the Church, even 200 American Social and Religious Conditions in the matter of social service. Some years ago a well- known preacher in New York becoming impatient with the Church, rented a large hall and later a theatre, and for two years he denounced the Church and sought rela- tionships with those who he thought were doing more than the Church in the emancipation of the people. At the end of this period he returned with the statement that however the Church may have failed no other agency is doing more to help mankind. XIII THE CHUECH AND MODBEN EFFICIENCY IT would be folly to declare that the Church as an in- stitution is fully alert to the problems which are so insistent in present-day life. Not only is the Church as an institution failing at some very vital points, but individual organizations are often woefully lacking in business methods, to say nothing about the narrow outlook which many have upon their mission in the world and to their own communities. Let us frankly confess that the Church is not all that it might be. To insist blindly upon its infallibility and efficiency simply creates contempt among men both inside the Church and out of it who know the marks of success and of failure. But having said all this it must be recognized that prob- ably few, if any, other institutions or organizations are so successful in their own fields as is the Church in its peculiar province. It would be impossible to reduce the question of effi- ciency to exact figures or statements, but when one con- siders all the circumstances with regard to the multiform duties of the average minister, and his absolute depend- ence upon a company of often irresponsible volunteer workers, it is a marvel that the Church has been able to maintain so high a standard of efficiency. But let us re- peat : the Church is far from what it should be in this respect. It should not be content with past achievements. Eemarkable progress is being made in the business world in the matter of production. It will soon be a question 202 American Social and Religious Conditions of the survival of the most efficient. This law will also affect the Church. The recent development in industrial efiiciency has revolutionized shop and factory practice. It has sys- tematized the movements of men and women so that lost motion has been practically eliminated in many indus- tries. It has increased the output forty, eighty, two hundred and four hundred per cent. " But the Church isn't a machine shop " — somebody protests. To be sure it isn't, but, nevertheless, men are applying efficiency tests to the work of the Church, whether we like it or not. There are some who object to "system" in the Church. "It is too harsh, too mechanical " — " we pre- fer joyous, spontaneous service," we are told. But even God does not work without system. He never created anything without applying to it inexorable law. The stars of heaven suggest the solar "system," and there are mathematics enough related to this system to make one's head swim. "We have been charmed by Drummond's "Natural Law in the Spiritual "World" ; we talk about the plan of salvation ; we discuss the laivs of prayer. If God thinks it worth while to adopt a system in His economy does it seem unreasonable to insist that He ex- pects men to be scientific in carrying on His work ? The telephone company in a large Western city has in its employ twenty sociological investigators. These ex- perts are studying social conditions in order that this commercial enterprise may make its plans for 1930. When a railroad company decides to open up a new ter- ritory, it does not depend merely upon inspiration and enthusiasm — it sends out a corps of engineers to study soils and levels ; a master workman maps out the entire job, and in his mind's eye he sees it complete before the first tie is laid or the first spike driven. Something like this should be the program of the The Church and Modern EflBciency 203 Church. It should face all the facts. It should master the situation. This applies particularly to the national problems which confront the Church. The questions which have been discussed in this book demand statesmanship of the highest order and executive ability which is unsurpassed either in industrial or in business life. They demand a comprehensive study and attack which must be conntry-wide. As Shailer Mathews says in his "Scientific Management in the Churches" : "Church efaeiency is not to be gained by substituting sociology for the Gospel." But it is a ques- tion as to how the preaching of this Gospel is to be made most effective. The Church is often caught napping when great social and religious problems present themselves. It is not organized to meet the situation. Its workers are not trained to grapple with it. Frederick W. Taylor, who is the leader in the movement for scientific management, told the writer that comparatively little in his efficiency methods is absolutely new. He has gotten together the best methods used in general practice, and from these he has worked out a system which contains the most success- ful plans in operation throughout the entire industrial field. The planning department is considered of supreme importance. Here the work is laid out, and all the proc- esses are carefully tabulated. Exact records are kept, and all operations are thoroughly standardized. Each industry is highly specialized. The selection of workers for particular tasks is insisted upon. But probably the chief item in the system is the scientific training of the workers. For that purpose special teachers are de- veloped. Here we have broad principles which may be applied to the work of the Church. First, there should be a science of home missions based 204 American Social and Religious Conditions upon the best practice in the modern church. This ex- perience should be available for every worker. Second, there should be somewhere in the organization of the Church a national bureau which would keep abreast of every modern movement, and plan campaigns or methods for the entire Church. This bureau might, for example, give the Church the broadest information with reference to the movements of certain immigrant races, the tendencies among city or country populations, the industrial problem, and, in general, to make compre- hensive surveys of large areas, which studies should be available for national, state and local home missionary societies, as well as individual churches. This bureau might also maintain a publicity department for the entire Church, whose chief business it would be to inform the M orld at large with regard to the work of the Church and its claims upon men and women. Third, the Church is often at sea because no accurate records are kept with reference to some of the most im- portant facts that pertain to its life and activities. This applies primarily to the local church, and hence must necessarily apply to the national societies. Such records should be standardized, so that uniform statistics may be obtained. Such a system might be worked out by the efficiency bureau suggested above. Fourth, the efficiency of the Church may be increased by introducing standardized programs in communities of a common type. Fifth, the modern situation in the Church demands that specialists of a high order be developed. The train- ing in the average theological seminary does not always equip a man for the largest and most effective service when he is brought into contact with difficult city and country problems. More consideration should be given to the preparation of men for peculiar tasks, and when The Church and Modern Efficiency 205 men are found for such tasks they should be given large liberty in carrying out their plans. Sixth, there should be more scientific training of workers in the Church, and there should be more such workers in the Church. It is not a question of merely "seeing the wheels go round" — of "giving our young people something to do in order to keep them interested. " Their efforts should be directed towards the extension of Christ's kingdom, in a definite, concrete program of work, which will usefully employ every talent that they desire to consecrate to God's service. These are some of the larger principles which may be applied to the work of the Church. But let us consider the more immediate needs and methods of the local insti- tution, and which may be carried out at once by practi- cally every organization. A comprehensive survey should be made by each local church of its own community, the study to be engaged in by the men in each church and not delegated to an em- ployed investigator, excepting where the study is to be so elaborate that it will require an expert to interpret the material collected. But even in such cases the work should be merely directed by such an expert, the men themselves giving attention to the main facts. The chief value of such study will consist in bringing the men of the church into personal contact with the problems in the immediate neighbourhood of the church. For ex- ample : — A small group might familiarize itself with the saloons in the community, finding out why they are so in- fluential and seeking to discover wherein the church may function with reference to the needs of men as manifested by their desire to go to the saloon. The subjects which should engage the attention of the local survey committee must be determined by the conditions found in the community. A map should be made showing the various social aud 2o6 American Social and Religious Conditions religious forces, indicating both the agencies which lift up the community and which break down the commu- nity life. These may be indicated upon the map by sig- natures of various kinds. Another map may be made showing the residences of the members of the church, of the Sunday-school and of the various organizations in the church, each indicated by a different signature. Other special charts may be prepared. The investigation should cover the situation prevailing both inside the church and in the community. There should be a frank facing of all the facts with reference to the administration of the business affairs of the church, especially in the mat- ter of keeping records and statistics concerning the mem- bership, and with reference to the various societies con- nected with the church. The same careful stock-taking which generally prevails in the business world should be employed by the church, and the laymen should assume a distinct responsibility in this matter, giving the pastor a larger opportunity to take his place as leader in the af- fairs of the kingdom. The survey will have value only as it is used. It is therefore urged that all of the material prepared in con- nection with the investigation be presented to the mem- bers of the church in the most effective manner possible. A printed report may be gotten out containing the gen- eral statement of conditions, the recommendations and the reproduction of the most important of the charts. In ad- dition to this method of publicity, some one specially designated to the task may prepare a digest of such por- tions of the report and recommendations as may seem wise to present to the public. Under the supervision of a publicity committee, a series of talks or lectures may be given. Stereopticon slides might be made of those charts which most readily lend themselves to this purpose, and photographs may be added in order to give variety to the The Church and Modern Efficiency 207 illustrations. The original charts may be taken from church to church, especially if the field studied is one in which other churches are or should be interested. A small pamphlet may be issued containing a condensation of the material submitted, the whole matter being reduced to short sentences or striking paragraphs. This leaflet may be reduced to four, or possibly eight, pages of conve- nient size for mailing purposes or for general distribution. Growing out of the survey of the local field, but com- ing also as the result of a wider knowledge of the city's social needs, a careful and thorough-going list of all social service tasks should be tabulated by each church. As new situations develop, a record of possible opportunities for service should be made so that each church will have a complete directory of things to be done. Much infor- mation of this kind may be secured from the social serv- ice agencies of the city. A canvas of the men in the church should be made with a view of finding out what they are doing in active service. An inquiry card should be prepared for this pur- pose, upon one side of which may be asked the question indicated above, and upon the other side there may be out- lined the work to be done with the request that a check be placed next the items of work for which these men will volunteer. Thus every eligible man connected with the church may be related to some definite task in the church, in the community, in the city. Unquestionably the best time to secure the service of men is when they unite with the church. Coming either as the result of evangelistic effort or through the normal work of the church, men are at such a time in a mood to render service to their fellows. Because this opportunity is so rarely given them they soon become lukewarm or indifferent to the church itself, it having failed to place these earnest men into virile relationship with the big 2o8 American Social and Religious Conditions problems of the day, even though this relationship may be brought about through the performance of the com- paratively simpler tasks. There must be united action by the men in each church, who are interested in the work of the church. Therefore, the men who have volunteered as individuals should be organized in such a manner as will bring them together frequently for the discussion of questions which are of mutual interest and upon which they may take such action as seems wise and expedient. This group should seek to enlist other men in the church who might become interested in social service, and it should endeavour to impress upon men outside the church the fact of the church's attitude towards the larger problems which concern the people's welfare. If the united Protestant churches through the various social service groups in each church were to bring suffi- cient pressure to bear, they might easily remedy practi- cally every social evil in the city. This group should hold conferences whenever specific social problems are engaging the attention of the city, especially when these problems have a moral basis, and it should be possible to exert swift and powerful influence which might effectively bring things to pass. Many thousands of dollars are invested in church buildings which are not being used by the people as they should. The church should become the centre of the lives of the' people in every community. The churches in working people's neighbourhoods, especially, should be open every night and a good share of the day. These churches should be used as social centres, not only for the purposes of mere sociability, important as this may be, but for service in any manner which will minister to the physical, economic, intellectual aud spiritual welfare of the people. Particularly should church buildings be The Church and Modern Efficiency 209 employed for tlie discussion of tliose problems which are troubliug mauy sincere workers. Modern church build- ings should become the "cathedrals " of the earlier period in the Church's history, when these magnificent structures were used as the common meeting place for all classes, and when nothing that concerned the immediate welfare of mankind was alien to the interest of the Church. The Church should carefully study the development of various sections of the city, covering a period of twenty- five years, and seek to learn as much as possible about the present tendencies of the population. The large ex- penditure of money required for the erection of church buildings should be made only after a very thorough study not only of the present constituency in the com- munity but in view of what is likely to happen in the next generation. This conclusion may be arrived at by consulting specialists on this subject, particularly expert real estate men, and the social workers of the city. A study should be made of the location of churches and missions with reference to the greatest efficiency. The matter of denominational supremacy should have no place in this consideration, the chief end sought being the extension of the kingdom of God. There are certain denominations and religious agencies which are peculiarly adapted for certain kinds of work. After the field has been studied, the work in a particular territory should be assigned to that agency which may best accomplish the work to be done in the community. While the com- mittee or any voluntary body of ministers have not the power to determine this ofificially, nevertheless, some body of Christian men through its suggestions will un- doubtedly strongly influence sentiment so that practically all of the denominational agencies will readily accede to the request of this body in the matter of the retention of particular enterprises, or the erection of new ones. 210 American Social and Religious Conditions The same advertising principles which apply to great business enterprises may be just as effectively employed in advertising a church. This is simply another method of preaching the Gospel. The manufacturers and dealers iu the great staple articles, which are so familiar to the readers of newspapers and magazines, have spent years in the task of creating an atmosphere favourable to their particular businesses. The Church should make it its business to compel meu to think well of it. When the average man thinks of the Church, what is the dominant idea in his mind 1 Does he think of a great virile insti- tution, powerful to influence for the right, strong to in- spire to the noblest living, teaching the principles of Jesus ? Those of us who know, believe that the Church is all this — and more. It is doing a marvellous work for humanity — no other organization is doing more ; but the man in the street does not know it. The Church, as a whole, has been weak in the task of acquainting the world with its true value. There is no virtue in such modesty — or inefBciency. The logical order for carrying on the work of the Church is : first, know the facts ; second, organize the work in view of the facts discovered ; third, make known the work to the public. This process is usually reversed. The aim is first to get the crowd, then to organize the work, and then, possibly, the leaders may stumble onto the facts with reference to the local situation. An advertising campaign which will really do justice to the combined Protestantism of the city should be con- ducted. It should be in the hands of an expert advertis- ing manager, possibly a man who is familiar with the principles of advertising and who understands and is sympathetic towards the work of the Church. He should have back of him a suflicient amount of money to conduct a ciimpaign covering a period of at least six mouths, or The Church and Modern Efficiency 21 1 possibly a year. There should be a liberal use of the coluuiDS of the daily press. The daily newspapers should coutain on Saturday at least half a page of advertising matter, presenting in the most telling manner possible the claims of the Church upon the people.' Newspaper advertising by the Church will attract more attention than if the same story were told in the news columns. It would be more striking. It would be more concisely and more forcefully told. One hundred words in bold- faced type will be ten times as effective as a thousand words in a news story. An advertising campaign engaged in by all of the churches will convince the people outside the Church that there is real unity of spirit among them. It will revolutionize the attitude of the outsider towards the Church. ' See the author's "Principles of Successful Church Advertising." THE CHURCHES INAUNIFIED PROGRAM OF AM/ANCE AMERICAN PROTESTANT FORCES Church Members 22,O0Q000 Church Adherents 60,000,000 Sand^School Enrollment 16,000,000 Ordained Ministers 161000 Church Organizations 215,000 Church Buildings 210,000 Seating Capacity 60,000,000 Value Church Property tl,300,00a000 212 XIV THE CHUECHES IN A UNIFIED PEOGEAM OF ADVANCE THE Church is the most powerful institution in the world. In the United States it controls or influences in various ways the great majority of the population. With a membership of 22,000,000 and an adherency of 60,000,000, a Sunday-school enroll- ment of 16,000,000, 162,000 ordained ministers, 215,000 church organizations, 210,000 church buildings with a seating capacity of 60,000,000, and a total valuation of $1,300,000,000, the Church has it in its power to deter- mine the social and the ethical standards which shall govern the nation. This being so, it naturally follows that the Church may be held largely responsible for the standard of ethics which prevails among the people. When the organized Protestant forces of the United States get together for an edncational campaign on American social and religious conditions, and are really in earnest about the task, it means that something will happen. A number of national Home Mission Boards have long had departments and bureaus through which they have been grappling with social problems in the city and in the country, employing experts for the pur- pose of making sociological surveys and suggesting the most up-to-date methods for meeting the needs discov- ered. There are in the employ of these Boards men who are regarded as authorities on these subjects, and who are consulted by the leaders in social work outside the 213 214 American Social and Religious Conditions Church. The evolution in the thinking of men with re- gard to the function of the Church regarding modern social problems has not caught these Home Mission agencies napping. One of the encouraging features in the work of these bureaus and departments is that there is a free interchange of literature, and there are frequent conferences among them, so that actually each denomina- tional agency with its group of specialists is performing a valuable service for the entire Church, for the tasks which these men are performing cannot in the nature of the case be sectarian or partisan. The world is on the verge of a great social upheaval. The forces which have been at work for generations are about to see the fruits of their patient seed-sowing. Al- most unconsciously the Church has had the largest share in this evolutionary process- "Without realizing it, the Church has been preaching the doctrine of social unrest. With this message of divine discontent the ministers and the missionaries have been stirring up the people. The vision of the possibilities in Jesus Christ has made them forever dissatisfied with their former physical, economic, social and moral estate. As a result of this preaching the Church is soon to enter into its larger inheritance. For years the evangelists of the Church have been tell- ing us that the world is ready for another great revival. They have been prophesying that soon we shall see a "great awakening." But these prophets have seen only a part of the future glory of the Church. In this awak- ening there will be much of the so-called " evangelistic " preaching, but the greatest emphasis will be placed upon the social Gospel for which the Church has been so long preparing. This Gospel will have to do not so much with a spectacular philanthropy, which is supposed to express the kindness of the well-favoured towards the poor, but it will also demand justice and right dealing A Unified Program of Advance 215 towards all men. It will deal fearlessly with the ques- tion of the exploitation of little children, of helpless women, and of downtrodden men. It will demand that men's bodies shall be saved as well as their souls. It will not say less about heaven and its glory, but it will say more about earth and its duty. It will seek to con- vert men socially as well as spiritually. It will destroy forever that miserably false conception that a Christian man may practice unchristian principles in his business life simply because his unchristian competitors find it more profitable to do so. It will insist that every com- munity composed of Christian people must also be a Christian community. The watchword of the coming revival will be "Democ- racy." Every organization composed of the masses of the people to-day is shot through with the democratic spirit, which has always permeated every movement with which the common people have had to do — religious, po- litical and economic. The future victories of the Church will be won largely because of its cooperation with the men who in other fields and through other methods have been labouring in the spirit of Jesus to reach the same goal towards which the Church has been struggling. Not always known as Christians, and sometimes spurned by those who thought that they had a monopoly of the Christian religion, nevertheless they have been controlled by the spirit of Jesus, which, after all, is the truest test of genuine Chris- tianity. Already these men and women have won vic- tories of which the Church might well be proud. The labour movement has long stood for the three great principles for which the Church has been contend- ing, namely, the care of the human body, the develop- ment of the human mind, the enrichment of the human soul. The struggle for these ideals has brought them 2i6 American Social and Religious Conditions nearer the heart of God thau eveu they themselves are aware. They are UDfamiliar with the ecclesiastical vocabulary of the Church ; they cannot understand the formulas which the Church has been using in eveiy n^a ; the language which they speak and which they can best understand is the language of the common man because they are never far away from the people, and thus, with nearness to God and to men, they are teaching us again that " the voice of the people is the voice of God." Dimly the best leaders of the modern social movement realize that theirs is a religious movement. They are sometimes puzzled and ofttimes distressed because they cannot harmonize their terminology with that of the Church, but they are conscious that somewhere there must be a nexus. Leaders in the Church the world over are convinced that the Church must soon become the leader in a new social propaganda. They are unwill- ing that the Church should surrender to the unscrupulous agitator the place which it has made for itself in the social and the economic world because of its teachings through- out many generations. With deep concern they are searching for the rock foundation upon which they may build a far-reaching social program for the Church. Some day the leaders in both the Church and the social movement will see their way as clear as the sun. That day will witness the coming of "the times of refreshing " — the long expected revival will be at hand, and the Church of Christ will enter upon the completion of the task which it so long ago began, and upon which it has long been labouring, even though sometimes it saw only " as through a glass darkly." Dr. Charles L. Thompson, President of the Home Mis- sions Council, in a stirring address before the Presby- terian General Assembly at Louisville in May, 1912, said : A Unified Program of Advance 217 "We talk of evangelizing the world in this genera- tion. Perhaps ! Bat if we do the evangelized ' world ' will look down on America and ask : ' At your present rate of progress, O America, how many generations or centuries before you are evangelized? ' " We have orthodoxy enough to save our immortal souls. But that orthodoxy has not vitality enough to save our mortal society. What a magnificent machine is our Christian civilization ! What with institutions, conventions, movements, we seem to have engiuery enough to lift a continent ; yet how slow the real progress. The most hopeful sign of the day is the splendid team work the Christian Church is doing. Cooperation, feder- ation and the like fill the air with their choruses ; and yet after centuries it is forty per cent. Christian and sixty per cent. non-Christian. We need no new creed. We have steam enough to drive the world into the kingdom. We have wheels and levers enough to give the steam a chance. And the age opens an open track towards the millennium. Oh, to vitalize the potencies that like a charged atmosphere are throbbing around us ! " At last it's the man who counts. Do you remember Kipling's story of the old Scotch engineer f He is re- counting the glory of his engines : " ' I cannot get my sleep to-night, old bones are bard to please. I'll stand the middle watch up here, alone wi' God and these My engines, after ninety days of race and rack and strain, Through all the seas of all Tby world, slam-bangin' borne again.' " He tells lovingly of the development of the machine to ever higher power : " ' We're creepin' on wi' each new rig, less weight and larger power; There'll be the loco-boiler next and thirty knots an hour Thirty and more ; what I hae seen since ocean steam began Leaves me nae doot for the machine, but what aboot the man ? ' "Aye, .there's the problem — to match the machine with the man — lest our enginery outgrow our capacity ; lest the man stand helpless in the midst of forces he has evolved. It is said when an engineer for several success- ive runs fails to bring the Twentieth Century Limited in 2i8 American Social and Religious Conditions oa time he is laid off, or put on a local. His uerve has failed. He is not equal to a steady hand on the lever to drive tiirougd the night sixty miles an hour. How many great enterprises halt to-day because the hand on the lever fails ! At last it's the man who counts. The man behind the gun in the battle ! The man on the bridge in the storm ! And woe to that civilization whose invention outruns the moral capacity of the inventor. I stand be- side an engine in the train-shed. It interests and puzzles me — that complexity of rods and steam- box and six-foot drivers ; it awes me by its bigness. But when a little man comes along the foot-board, puts his hand on the throttle and makes that thing his slave for that plunge into the night, that thrills me ! What is man T ' Thou hast made him a little lower than the angels.' What the Churoh of Christ in this land needs is courageous, be- lieving leadership— God's men— trained in His schools and with faith enough to match their chance. This on the prairies, up in the mountains, in the cities, dealing with lowly souls or wrestling in the angry swirls of wrestling, fighting populations— this is God's call to His Church to-day. Given great souls on fire for the kingdom and the kingdom shall come. " Appendix A Charts showing conditions in Seventy American Cities. Surveys made un- der auspices of The Men and Religion Forward Movement, 1912 Appendix A 221 222 Appendix A Appendix A 223 1 1 1 '5 « f it to} (A J3 1 B II S- ! 4 ll: H 1 1 224 Appendix A to 3 9i ll ^' — -X C G 1 / \ s •^1/ \ c t^t/ ^ <£-Ss^ £ 1 Appendix A 2: Character of Sunday Night Meetings in the Churches Perceniaaes Devotect to HIJ mt ill >■ HI Membership in Mission Stud^ Classes ■1 ^^^^^^H^ li ■1 226 Appendix A (B o w o ro .2 (0 4) O lillllllil r I I t I I { I J Appendix A 227 itistics 000 Population ast Year ^ Vital St< Birth Kate perl During P ^ 228 Appendix A Appendix A 229 230 Appendix A Appendix A 231 232 Appendix A Appendix A 233 E . ^ 0) , /^ ^*\ ^ c- / \ •n ^ i 1 1 ^ ^ \ / .2 >^ V W y^ CO 5 k^"""^/ ^V \ / JEZ CO \ / ^