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 LABOR 
 
 LEADERS 
 
 IN THE 
 
 CHURCH 
 
 
 
 By CHARLES STELZLE 
 
 
 
 THE BOARD OF HOME MISSIONS OF 
 THE PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH IN THE 
 U.S.A., 156 FIFTH AVENUE, NEW YORK 
 
LABOR LEADERS IN THE 
 CHURCH 
 
 While it is true that a large number of 
 workingmen are outside the Church and 
 haven’t much sympathy with it, it is not true 
 that their strongest leaders are alienated 
 from it. 
 
 It has been a source of great satisfaction to 
 meet with the active church officers and mem¬ 
 bers who are in the lead of the labor move¬ 
 ment in the United States. Practically every 
 labor editor with whom I have talked is at 
 least a member of some church and some of 
 them are church officers. 
 
 I sat one day in the office of a labor paper 
 in a western city, and in the course of an 
 hour six men casually dropped in to see him 
 about matters of business. I discovered that 
 every one of these men was either a member 
 or officer of some church in that city. 
 
 Some time ago at a conference of ministers, 
 to which had been invited the representative of 
 the Trades Assembly of that city, it transpired 
 that this representative was one of the most 
 active church men in the town. 
 
 The presidents of several labor unions which 
 I have addressed are Presbyterian elders. I 
 recently talked with three national officers in 
 three different labor organizations, all living 
 in the same city, and I discovered that all 
 
three were the most aggressive officers in their 
 particular churches. 
 
 I recently met the chairman of the Commit¬ 
 tee of Adjustment on a great railroad system, 
 who was at one time talked of as the successor 
 of Chief Arthur of the Brotherhood of Loco¬ 
 motive Engineers. He was then representing 
 the engineers of that system and he was an 
 active man in the church to which he belonged. 
 Indeed, he said with emphasis (and in his 
 capacity as chairman of the Adjustment Com¬ 
 mittee he could speak with authority), that the 
 labor problem would never be settled until the 
 principles that are taught by Jesus Christ and 
 the Church are applied to human society. 
 
 The national treasurer of one of the strong¬ 
 est labor federations in the country is a Pres¬ 
 byterian elder. He has the confidence of the 
 entire association, and to him was committed, 
 only the other day, one of the most delicate 
 tasks that had ever been entrusted to a labor 
 leader. Indeed, he was selected to call on the 
 President of the United States in company 
 with another official in whom the association 
 had not the same confidence. It was quite 
 evident that the churchman stood very high in 
 the estimation of his fellow-unionists. In the 
 same town I met another official whose name 
 is known throughout the country as one of 
 the most aggressive labor leaders. When I 
 saw him he was looking for a preacher who 
 could conduct a service in a little church in 
 
which he was interested. He told me of some 
 things that he was engaged in with regard to 
 the pushing of several lines of religious effort 
 in his town. 
 
 The fact that these prominent labor leaders 
 are Christian men would seem to indicate that 
 the church of Jesus Christ is not against the 
 workingman, or else they would not be in the 
 Church. These labor men are in the Church 
 because they believe that the Church is a real 
 help to the workingman. The Church has 
 trained them. It has given them the charac¬ 
 teristics which make them representative lead¬ 
 ers. For this, the workingmen who are helped 
 through their efforts are obligated to the 
 Church. 
 
 Other Leaflets by Charles Stelzle 
 
 “Class Spirit in America.” 
 
 “Has the Minister a ‘Closed Shop’? ’ 
 
 “Is the Church Opposed to Workingmen? 
 “Jesus Christ and Rich Men. ’ 
 
 “Not ‘Missions,’ but Churches, for Working¬ 
 
 men.” 
 
 “One Pastor, One Church 
 Hundred Dollars.” 
 
 “Special Work Among Workingmen by 
 Presbyterian Board of Home Missions. 
 
 “The Organization of an Anti-Poverty So 
 
 One Year and One 
 
 the 
 
 CICtj. , „ 
 
 “The Plan of Campaign in the Interest ot 
 Workingmen.” 
 
 “The Relation of the Church to the Labor 
 Movement.”