PAM.' MiSCs Social Service Series A Reasonable Social Policy for Christian P eOple Henderson The Interest of Each Is the Concern of All % *-Vh? 71 T :i h.' ''42ra *«‘ i -t^y.'v, ; ' f V-ii® /• y »v ;.i*J v. i, '-('/ './. t, v; REVIEW COPY IS The price of this book postage Kindly mail copy of paper con¬ taining review to AMERICAN BAPTIST PUBLICATION SOCIETY 1701-1703 CHESTNUT STREET PHILADELPHIA Social Service Series—No. 1, Division 3 A Reasonable Social Policy for Christian People Charles R. Henderson, Ph. D. Professor of Sociology in the University of Chicago Published for the Social Service Committee of the Northern Baptist Convention American Baptist Publication Society Philadelphia Boston Chicago St. Louis Atlanta Dallas Copyright 1909 by A. J. ROWLAND, Secretary Published May, 1909 A REASONABLE SOCIAL POLICY FOR CHRISTIAN PEOPLE This discussion takes for granted that the readers are Christians at heart, and that they sincerely pray “ Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done.” The pul¬ pit and public worship have prepared the spirits of millions for hearing a sober call to specific forms of human service. The church is conservative by instinct, and is not open to revolutionary visions. Its membership almost universally respects the his¬ toric institutions of private property, constitutional government, monogamic marriage, and peaceful methods of progress. To such minds this out¬ line of a social policy is fraternally offered for con¬ sideration. The church is not asked to vote or pass resolu¬ tions on its propositions, or to take sides in disputes between employers and employed, or to declare any group schismatic or heretical which opposes them, 3 4 Social Service Series or to identify itself with any programme, or bill for a law or party; but only to give an opportunity, especially to younger men, to consider the new view of social obligations so that each individual can do his own duty with enlightened understanding. There are eternal principles of justice, reason, and love which never change; they are of the very nature of God, and are written very deep in human souls. These principles shine out in our sacred Scriptures in the biographies of saints and heroes, in the divine process of national education, and su¬ premely, in the story of Jesus our Lord and Saviour. The sun of righteousness rose to the zenith in those dark hours when Jesus died upon the cross for man¬ kind. Beyond that the revelation of love could never go. His own word was, “ It is finished.” The artist of holiness gave the last touch to a perfect picture. But the life of Christ is continuous. The stream of goodness is a widening river whose fountain is his throne. God is ever shifting the conditions of life. Duty is the conduct required in a particular time and land and group, and it cannot be foretold or written once for all in a book; we need divine guidance on every question and wisdom from on Ji Reasonable Social Policy 5 high for every new work. As truly as did Abraham must each generation of young Christians go into a new land never seen before by mortals; they must go out not knowing whither they journey, knowing only that God is Friend and Guide. The Holy Spirit is given us by promise to lead us into all truth; and his method is one of wisdom, and is called among men the scientific method. This method is inspired by love of truth, and has no other end. It searches for facts of experience, for their tendency and meaning, and for the best way of utilizing them for human welfare. I. The individualistic bias and presumption in America. Any person who attempts to promote a common effort to improve human life by law finds himself in the chill atmosphere of an inherited prejudice which envelops law, ethics, and theology. This country was settled by isolated farmers, and perhaps a majority of families still live in isolated dwellings without the habit of co-operation with large groups. Each man works alone and turns his hand to a great variety of tasks. In frontier days each farmer carried his own rifle 6 Social Service Series and defended himself against Indians; only in urgent necessity did he join a company or army, and this he quit as soon as possible. Washington’s soldiers, at Braddock’s Ford, imitated the Indian style, and each man, protected by a tree, picked out his Indian for a well-aimed shot. Thus our fore¬ bears plowed and killed as individualists, and they could have done no other. Furthermore, our American ancestors were strug¬ gling to break the shackles of tyranny in Church, in State, in business. They built up their laws and governments and institutions in the eighteenth cen¬ tury, when all were demanding liberty from clergy, feudal lords, and kings. Men really believed that freedom was the one thing needful; that each man, in following his own interest, would serve mankind wisely and effectively. Each man wished to be left alone, and claimed the same right for all. Under the circumstances of that age it was a seductive creed, and strong men liked it; some grew rich and more powerful by means of it. They made it the basis of our constitution, and judges interpreted statutes according to it. Then the theology and popular sermons of the church were dominated by the same individualistic Jl Reasonable Social Policy 7 bias and prejudice, for theologians are children of their age. Emphasis was laid upon one aspect of religious truth, the individual soul, individual duty, individual responsibility, individual peril, individual salvation. They proclaimed and urged a truth, but it was not all the truth, and one side of the sun was eclipsed in their teaching. There was good in all this tendency, an element which the world can never afford to lose or forget. In industry there was wonderful initiative, in business immense energy, in religion intense fervor and zeal; and these are qualities we must keep while we go on to the larger view. But “ the good is often enemy of the best/’ Individualism unmodified by altruism becomes self¬ ish ; egotism masks itself under the disguise of liberty; and in pursuit of one’s own salvation one is in danger of leaving his brethren in an earthly inferno. And this happened in industry. States¬ men made an idol of an abstract theory, and it resembled a Moloch, to whom they sacrificed chil¬ dren, defenseless women, and oppressed men. II. We live in an era of corporations What individual could carry out a scheme of transcontinental railways or intercontinental steam- 8 Social Service Series ship lines ? The petty shopkeeper’s notions of barter are not large enough to meet the demand of the world-wide commerce. The movement toward com¬ binations is not the work of noisy agitators, but is the current of destiny. The concentration of capital about huge mills and factories, with costly machines driven by steam and electricity, is not a human invention, but a demand of human need and reason; that method alone sup¬ plies the wants of men at least sacrifice. Every buyer seeks the place which sells the desired goods at the lowest price, and this search always discovers a merchant who buys of the most efficient manu¬ facturer with vast capital. The “ captains of in¬ dustry,” responding to the requirements to pro¬ duce commodities cheaply, bring wage-earners together in masses. It is not the labor agitator, it is the business manager who first lifts his trumpet to call workmen into assemblies. The manufacturer, in order to transport his goods to the merchant and consumer at the lowest cost, asks for cheap and swift methods of transportation, and offers to pay for the service. The response is seen in railway, steamship, telegraph, telephone, and express corporations. It all goes back to the yl Reasonable Social Policy 9 shoppers and their insistence on goods at least sacrifice. The bargain counter commands union of efforts. Politically, the war for the Union cemented States into a nation, the most magnificent and power¬ ful “ trust ” on earth, above all other combinations in authority and power. Ethically and religiously we are passing up and away from theories of selfish fear into the purer air and loftier view of a divine patriotism, a uni¬ versal brotherhood, a justice which knows no class barriers. We are trying to rediscover our social gospel—the gospel of the kingdom of God—and now multitudes are prepared to inquire what that kingdom means to a voter, here and now. What the foreign mission enterprise is extensively, char¬ ity and social legislation are intensively and at home. III. While the souls of the generous and just have become expectant of this coming of the Lord in power and glory, a bitter cry ascends from the wage-earners. There is grim determination expressed in the demand for a social policy. This demand is not 10 Social Service Series artificial, but a natural product of our situation. What are the vital facts of this situation ? 1. The semi-dependent position of the wage- earners. Once the worker tilled his own land, owned his tools, controlled his surroundings; now the capital is owned by a powerful syndicate; the raw materials he handles are not owned by the manipulator; the profits belong to another; the rule of the shop is made by the manager. The manager holds over each individual employee the power of life or death—employment on the terms of the em¬ ployer, or starvation. In this situation, the pretense that the workman is “ free ” to make or decline the terms offered by the master of his fate is hypocritical mockery. He is not free; he must do as he is ordered. “ Free contract ” does not actually exist when a manager can dictate terms to a hungry man with children asking for bread. 2. The social need is written in the fact that the neglected degenerating class is a menace to the wealth, the vigor, the character of the common¬ wealth and nation. Capital decays unless the laborer has energy to make it multiply. Diseases start in unfit dwellings, but spread to mansions. Victims of temptation in poverty become the temptresses of Jl Reasonable Social Policy 11 sons of wealth. The winds of heaven carry flies with germs of typhoid from the cesspools of the neglected slums to the lips of innocent children on the boulevards. We cannot afford to have diseased, tempted, ignorant, base, angry multitudes in a republic. 3. The growing and rising industrial multitudes are in our times awake; they can read; they are becoming conscious of their power in our cities; they are often in a majority; they are disposed to take care of themselves, and many of them believe that they cannot look for help to others. Is it safe to leave such a vast class to care for its own interests without help from law? There is the ever-imminent danger that the trade unions, hoping for no aid from law, will help themselves by anti-social means—the boycott, the strike, the picketing—all words expressive of battle and hate, all stirring hot blood. Of course, anti¬ social methods must be suppressed, and we have the injunction, the police, the militia, the federal troops, at the sight of whom feelings of rebellion are aroused and hate intensified. There is danger in certain arguments and slogans of the Socialists, as in their appeal to the “ class 12 Social Service Series consciousness,” in their call to “ crush the oppres¬ sors.” Not all the doctrines of socialism are vi¬ cious; many of their criticisms are true and just; some of their constructive suggestions have been wise; but this appeal to “ class consciousness ” is the forerunner of revolt, a call to arms, the insti¬ gator of inhuman passions. We believe in a justice which knows no class, a fellowship of mankind; and, therefore, we believe that a partisan watchword may become deadly. Yet if we do nothing but criticize, restrict, control, punish, can we expect any real reverence for the law? IV. The fundamental principle of a Social Policy is the co-operation of all for the welfare of all. i. A social policy is not based on class privileges, nor does it ask for special advantages to a particular group. “ Class legislation ” is distinctly unconsti¬ tutional, and ought to be. It is neither necessary nor fair to rob a few fortunate persons to enlarge the incomes of the lazy. Charity is for the relief of a comparatively few and exceptional cases and can¬ not be relied on for the support of any considerable group of the population. j4 Reasonable Social Policy 13 2. The community, in a social policy, identifies itself with all its members. The eye, the hand, the foot, the teeth are joined in one nervous system; an injury to one member is felt as pain by all. No commonwealth is rich while a multitude remain in abject misery. A look into the fiery pit does not enhance the joy of heaven for any person fit to be in heaven. When the multitude despise art no artistic work is secure. Only when the people are all intelligent is science safe in the universities. Our venerated parents who struggled to es¬ tablish free schools were able to educate their own children in private schools; but they could not bear to see their poorer and less intelligent neighbors left to their own ignorance and spiritual night. 3. There must be found a legal way to protect the rights and promote the interests of all. We must train men to look to the law as their constant friend, not their foe, not a mere club of repression. V. What is the programme of a reasonable Social Policyf We must make a selection and restrict the pres¬ ent brief outline to a few illustrations. We can 14 Social Service Series merely hint at solutions of vast problems of supreme moment. I. Such a policy must include a programme for the promotion of public health, and especially the physical integrity and efficiency of the semi-depend¬ ent, the wage-earners, and their families. (1) We must begin with little children and rescue them by law from exploitation in mines, mills, quarries, factories, shops. The banner carried by the National Child Labor Committee leads the way for a holy crusade. The feeble little workers are victims of their own inexperience, of the ignorance of their parents, of the greed of unscrupulous and unenlightened employers, and of the wicked neglect of a Christian people. (2) The nation must regard the working women as its care. They have no votes; they have no access to the public press; they are poor, and feel the spur of poverty. All honor to those who in dire stress of hunger repel the temptation to gilded pleasure and remain constant to their womanly ideals! What can so properly be invoked for the defense of these women as majestic, chivalrous law? The domestic employees, too generally and snob¬ bishly called “ servants,” constitute a class of wage- Jl Reasonable Social Policy 15 earners who have been too much neglected by Chris¬ tian people. They need the protection of law against the abuses of the ordinary employment bureau, and it would be well to erect special municipal offices for their accommodations. Their lowly and isolated life is exposed to endless temptations, and they are often driven to public dance halls for their necessary opportunities of social enjoyment and acquaintance with men. The heads of families are notoriously suffering the penalty of long neglect. The happi¬ ness and health of families and the character of children are profoundly affected by the household employees, and their training and surroundings should, therefore, be a theme for thought by the church. Another group of wage-earners in our cities deserves special consideration—the girls in factories, mills, and mercantile establishments. They need the protection of law against the exploitation of unscrupulous employers. When they are homeless and friendless they require better surroundings than are furnished in lodging and boarding-houses. In many cases the wages paid for exhausting toil will not keep soul and body together, and this situation in a strange city is unspeakably perilous. 16 Social Service Series We must learn by careful study, by observation of men working under varied conditions, by consult¬ ing physicians who practise among wage-workers, and visiting nurses familiar with their home sur¬ roundings what are the causes of sickness and wounds and death. It is the duty of Christian men who profess to be patriotic to study the factory in¬ spectors’ reports and learn how defective our pro¬ tective laws are as compared with those of older civilized lands. The history of industry proves that employers need to be taught how to save the life and limbs of their employees, and they ever require the compelling pressure of inspection and penalties to secure their observance of the legal requirements. A factory law not enforced by a sufficient corps of inspectors, is a wicked mockery instead of justice. Law sets a standard and educates the conscience of the masters of men. A reasonable social policy will include modern regulation of the condition of family dwellings among working people. The rich and comfortable class can protect themselves ; can build or rent homes which meet hygienic requirements. But multitudes of wage-earners are compelled to live near the mines or mills when they are employed long hours; ji Reasonable Social Policy 17 they may be turned out if they complain; and they have no means of protecting themselves, even if they know the evils of unwholesome houses. A community owes it to the artisans and the laborers to guarantee that every dwelling shall have light, air, sufficient space and privacy, sewerage, and bath, and not be overcrowded. This it can do by inspection of dwellings, by condemnation of houses unfit for human habitation, and by build¬ ing decent houses for rent, if landlords fail to pro¬ vide a sufficient number of tenements of proper standard. The opportunity to work for wages is not always furnished by the community. It is not true that an honest and industrious man can find employment at any time. Many a strong and willing man has been transformed into a hopeless vagrant by the necessity of begging his way along the road to find occupation. There are difficulties in the way of finding where the employers need labor, even when there is a local demand. Many of the employment bureaus are directed by unscrupulous men, who take fees but do not furnish work. Immigrants, ignorant of our language and customs and in¬ dustries, are especially exposed to peril. Hence we / S Social Service Series must study and act in relation to the best methods of guiding idle workmen to places where reward is waiting for the worker. The rights of the wage-earners to organize them¬ selves into associations for mutual benefit is as clear as the right of employers to form corporations for personal benefits. This is conceded now by the moral judgment of all civilized nations and is recog¬ nized by law. That men abuse this right is not an argument that should create prejudice against as¬ sociations, unions, or corporations as such, but is simply a reason for guarding against perversions by legal enactments and judicial decisions. Part of a modern social policy will include a sane and sym¬ pathetic attitude of religious people to the trade union and a system of regulation which will con¬ serve the advantages and rebuke the abuses of such powerful agencies. A reasonable social policy will seek to secure for every wage-worker an assured income in times when, from no fault of his own, he is unemployed and deprived of means of support. Such times are sickness, disablement from accident, prolonged invalidism, the feebleness of old age, death, and the weeks or months when establishments are closed. ji Reasonable Social Policy 19 It is true that a savings fund will provide some¬ thing for such periods; but experience has shown that the ordinary laborer’s wages are too small to leave much margin for savings, and that the largest sum he can gather in twenty years is swallowed up within a few months of sickness. A more reliable, quick, and economical method of providing a steady inflow of money during such periods of enforced incapacity for labor is indus¬ trial insurance. It is strange that a system so rea¬ sonable and effective in all the other great nations of Christendom should not be understood or appre¬ ciated in America. Perhaps we are not so superior in mental quickness or alertness as our Fourth of July orators try to make us believe. Perhaps our individualistic philosophy and traditions have been an opiate to our consciences and made them sleepy. At any rate, until quite recently there was little in¬ quiry for information on the subject. After long waiting there seems to be some public interest in a neglected means of preventing untold and incal¬ culable misery in countless homes. The principles of insurance involved are few and simple, although in drawing up laws, establishing rates, and organi¬ zing administration, experts must be employed. All 20 Social Service Series intelligent persons know that it is ruinous to neglect fire insurance and life insurance. Many persons know that bonds can be bought of fidelity companies which secure payments of losses due to occasional dishonesty. By the payment of a small sum by all owners of houses and goods, those few who are hurt by fire can receive an indemnity which enables them to rebuild and start again in home or shop. The blow Hurts, but does not kill. So also no man knows when he will die, but he knows that he must some day die—it may be to-morrow. By paying a small premium to a strong company one buys a legal right for his family to receive a large sum even the next week, in case of his death, and so they feel secure. In a similar way wage-workers can be guaranteed a payment of income during illness or old age when they cannot work. The principle is now generally accepted by all those who have given serious at¬ tention to the subject that so far as the business causes injury to a workman the loss occasioned by that injury should be paid for out of the product of the business, whether it be a wound, mutilation, sickness, or death. It is not fair for the public which enjoys the cheapened products of the machine manufacture to shirk the cost of production. Part j4 Reasonable Social Policy 21 of the cost of producing food, fuel, clothing, houses is this injury suffered by workmen. The method of equalizing or distributing this cost is by requiring the employer to set apart a certain sum each day for each employee, to create a fund for paying him income during his incapacity resulting from the work. Every prudent manufacturer sets aside a sum every year for the repair or renewal of tools, machines, and buildings, and he regards this as part of the cost of production. When he esti¬ mates the price to be charged customers, he counts this cost of repairs and renewal in the price of sale, and so in the end the consumers who enjoy the goods pay for the worn-out or broken tools, ma¬ chines, and shop buildings. We now see that the employer ought to estimate the loss of time and energy of workmen as part of the cost of producing goods, buy insurance to cover this cost, and charge the amount in the price charged customers and consumers. Thus the loss would be easily borne, being widely distributed and paid in very small additions to the prices of goods by the millions of consumers, many of whom are the workmen themselves. Since part of the cause of sickness and death is 22 Social Service Series found in the conduct of the workmen or in general conditions outside of the industry, it seems fair to require the wage-earners to contribute to the in¬ surance premiums and to ask the general public also to add a reasonable sum from taxes. Such a vast system could not be organized and carried through by private companies. It can be done only by legal methods and by the adminis¬ trative machinery of city, commonwealth, and na¬ tion. The federal government has already enacted a law which guarantees compensation for certain classes of its own employees. But Congress has no power to make other employers insure their em¬ ployees; this is left to the legislatures of different States under our constitution. These legislatures never act; indeed, they cannot act, until there is a general and aggressive demand from the voters. Therefore, our first duty, as a Christian people, is to urge upon our representatives in the various State legislatures, the appointment of strong and active commissions to study this question and bring in well-considered laws for the alleviation of the suffering caused by past errors and neglect. When we consider how many persons and families are hungry, cold, or dying in poor-houses because of j4 Reasonable Social Policy 23 our long neglect, we can see that our action should be prompt. No reliable method has as yet been found for insuring income in case of enforced unemployment. The trade unions, through their out-of-work benefits, help many workmen; but this is confined to a limited number. The experiments of cities with the col¬ lection of premiums from workmen for the creation of a fund for seasons of unemployment have thus far failed of their purpose, or only partly succeeded. A postal savings system, supplemented by local mis¬ sionary effort to promote thrift, would help to some extent to relieve the situation. One of the most pressing needs of the industrial group is cheap, swift, and reliable justice. When men must wait long years, and pay lawyers’ heavy fees and court costs, and be bandied about from place to place, and lost in an unintelligible jargon of antiquated technicalities, they are educated to hate law and government and distrust the whole political arrangement of society. They see that rich men can carry on litigation and employ the best legal talent, while they despair in case of appeal to a higher court, and often are defrauded because their lawyers are incompetent. 24 Social Service Series Justice and social security demand that all cases of disputes between workmen, or between employers and employed, should be decided without compli¬ cated process, in special industrial courts, such as those which France, Germany, and other countries have long enjoyed. In these courts the matter in dispute is presented in plain language and a judg¬ ment is rendered without costs, and parties go back to work without rancor or suspicion. Canada has a law that provides that before a strike occurs the parties in dispute shall repair to a commission which hears the arguments and seeks to reconcile the an¬ tagonists before they are arrayed in open warfare. A reasonable social policy to be advocated by Christian men will include a complete system of education for all people, with special adaptations to the needs of wage-earners who cannot establish and maintain private schools. Since wealth uses skilled workmen to make profits, it should be taxed for the training of skilled workmen, and it can well afford to bear the burden. It is now a well-established principle that the public schools should prepare youth for the shop, the mine, the factory, the store, and they are striving to meet this demand. The movement to improve technical education, j4 Reasonable Social Policy 25 however, may fall short of the full aim of educa¬ tion. It is not the sole or final end of a working¬ man to be a useful tool, a part of a machine to serve the employer more effectively. The working¬ man is a man, and has all the rights of a man in our heritage of culture. He has a human right of access to natural beauty and the works of art. To him belong the thoughts of poets, philosophers, historians, statesmen, theologians. For these enjoy¬ ments he must be protected in his leisure; he must have a legal limit to exhausting toil; he must have a recognized claim to his Sunday rest, his hours of domestic fellowship, his periods for sleep. The cities must open beautiful parks and play¬ grounds for rest and recreation, and for the whole¬ some enjoyment of children. Public libraries, read¬ ing-rooms, and art galleries, with competent and interesting interpreters, must be provided at public expense. The workman deserves these privileges; he has toiled to produce wealth; he has risked his life; he has spent his blood; he has drained his strength for social wealth; and therefore we ask for him not charity, but his just rights when we ask for such means of spiritual satisfaction. If the wage-earners are excluded from these nobler en- 26 Social Service Series joyments, nothing is left them but crude animal gratifications which stupefy the intellect, destroy efficiency, and unfit men for political duties. It will be noticed that we have not here discussed public and private charity. Our “ social policy ” deals only with self-respecting men who own not only their own support, but a surplus for others— some of it spent in luxury and guilty display of waste. Workingmen ask not charity, but justice, and to discuss benevolent societies here would raise a false issue. Nor do we here discuss the important subject of social treatment of crime, because few real wage- earners belong to the criminal class. They feed and clothe society, while criminals prey upon their fellow-men. VI. The right attitude of Christian men to such a Social Policy. i. We must come to believe in our business world, that the entire people are to be considered. When a great railroad man cursed the public and told them that they had no right to touch “ his business,” he stirred the blood of revolution. When another conspicuous leader of industry was reported to j4 Reasonable Social Policy 27 claim that he was deputed by the Almighty to take care of the rights of the workmen, independent of their own views, the claim was universally felt to be blasphemous and anti-American. We are not going- back to the times when the kings ruled by “ divine right.” We recognize no valid claim to private property except its service to mankind. Only representatives elected by the people have a right to make laws affecting their health, their com¬ fort, and their character. Corporations are the creatures of law for public ends, and when they fail to serve the public they have no moral or legal foundation for their special privileges. Business men must learn that they are trustees intrusted with power and wealth, and that power to mar human bodies and souls can never be left to the arbitrary caprice of owners of property. Business men cannot logically and consistently ask their em¬ ployees to be law-abiding, while they who assert superiority are themselves tax-dodgers or tyrants in abuse of their trust. 2. Wage-earners, as Christian men, are called upon by every social interest to look only to legal methods of righting wrongs and promoting their welfare. They must be patient, even when courts 28 Social Service Series rule according to ancient precedent, rather than according to common sense and present-day require¬ ments. For the sake of all that is valuable in civili¬ zation they are asked to be patient when legislators are slow to change the statutes and bring them into accord with the demands of our contemporary hu¬ manity. Constitutions seem to be fixed and petri¬ fied ; but, in fact, they are living things which grow, though slowly; and while they exist they deter¬ mine the decisions of judges. Appeal to force is not to be thought of! It is the method of ruffians, savages, frontiersmen, and criminals. Between nations we are learning to organize justice by courts of arbitration and peace¬ ful discussion. Nor is appeal to force necessary; because history proves that the people in due time can make their judgments felt in laws, and with universal suffrage the wage-earners have but to urge a measure and it will become the law which governors and presidents are obliged to enforce. 3. The teachers of the nation, as Christian men, have a special duty in respect to this social policy; they are set to study and teach it. As a nation thinks in its heart, so it becomes. They who shape j4 Reasonable Social Policy 29 men’s thoughts give form to their deeds and statutes. 4. The church has a duty in relation to this social policy. Its fundamental idea is one with the prin¬ ciple of Christianity, love for God and man; justice between man and man; reason in law and institu¬ tions. The church cannot enter politics and take sides with parties, cliques, agitators, or particular inter¬ ests. Its ministry is to all citizens alike; its doc¬ trine is for the entire people. Nor can the preacher assume the task of giving instruction to mixed audiences of men, women, and children on the complex problems here out¬ lined. The time of the sermon is too short, and its inspirational value will be lowered by details and economic arguments. Yet the church can be helpful, and chiefly by means of the classes of men and meetings of brother¬ hoods, as well as by providing for lectures by com¬ petent specialists at proper times. In an address before the Religious Education As¬ sociation, in 1909, the present writer has discussed this aspect of the matter. Young men have by instinct and necessity an interest in physical energy, 30 Social Service Series in business or industry, and in politics. It is in these spheres that they try to do their moral thinking and form their religious character. When they think of righteousness, it is chiefly in terms of right and wrong in sports, in business, or in politics. Hence the most direct, easy, and natural way for the church to guide the inner life of men is to help them to discuss with all freedom the actual problems of their own lives. Discussion is the only teaching method which produces educational results which we can test. It is next to impossible to find out whether a man has learned anything from a sermon to which he has listened passively, for he does not pass any examination, nor make any kind of response. But when he takes part in a real discussion of a prob¬ lem of the community, he is all alive, creative, ener¬ getic, forceful, and self-revealing. Furthermore, the class can immediately set their conclusions into action and report results. They can, as individuals, undertake to help clean an alley, open a playground or park, defeat a scoundrel at the polls, or push a desirable ordinance through the city council. They can, as a class, undertake to furnish probation officers for a juvenile court, or vis¬ itors to a charitable society, or leaders of clubs for 31 JL Reasonable Social Policy a settlement or mission. They can entertain repre¬ sentatives of the wage-earners and give them a chance to tell their side of the question. But if the church officers attempt to choke dis¬ cussion, to suppress freedom of speech, the class is dead. Young men of spirit will go off to some club where the atmosphere is tolerant. The best cor¬ rective of error is by discussion, because extremists call each other to account, and truth comes out of the melting-pot refined. The church can furnish rooms, invite lectures, provide leaders, without being responsible for all that is said. If the spirit of the congregation is earnest, patriotic, humane, the class will feel the inspiration of religion and the discussions will move straight to some useful service of God in helping man. The development of this modern programme in all its details is not possible in a pamphlet; it is the labor of multitudes of men and women, in churches, universities, trade unions, legislatures, editorial rooms. The materials for study are found in a vast number of volumes of documents, records, reports, and books. Yet each intelligent citizen can con¬ tribute something to the cause of promoting the 32 Social Service Series health, safety, comfort, and spiritual enjoyment of the working people. The Carpenter of Nazareth is our Inspiring Leader. “ Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of these ye have done it unto Me.” Prof. John R. Commons of the University of Wisconsin says: “This is the best thing planned for the popular study of social con¬ ditions before the public today.** STUDIES IN AMERICAN SOCIAL CONDITIONS Edited by RICHARD HENRY EDWARDS These studies are meant fop busy people who want quick access to the facts of social questions. They are timed for today, for thinking men who want to know what the experts know about our social conditions. Ten great problems are treated: Liquor, Negro, Im¬ migration, Labor, Poverty, Excessive Wealth, Municipal Government, Children of the Cities, Crime, and the Treat¬ ment of the Criminal. Others will follow. Facts and proposed solutions are the guiding thoughts. Social workers in the turmoil of many problems want to hear the word of specialists and to know which way hope lies. These studies tell them the facts of the problems, one by one, and the effectiveness of different efforts to solve them. The people in the churches are no longer content with a worn-out sociology. They are waking up to the raw facts and want to know how to go about their great new social work. These studies suggest how to do it by a tested plan. Readers in public libraries are always studying the ques- tions answered in these pamphlets. The librarian’s efficiency is magnified by them. College debaters will find here a multitude of subjects and references. The Social Problems Group Idea is a tested plan de¬ scribed in Charities and the Commons for Oct. 17 , 1908 , by which, (1st) to get at the facts of these questions; (2d) to com¬ pare the proposed solutions, and ( 3 d) to help clean up condi¬ tions. Men in all walks of life, teachers, ministers, social work¬ ers, professors of economics and many others who begin to see the meanings of the Social Crisis, are taking up this plan. What are you doing about the conditions in your town which are a shame to decent citizens'? Why not study those conditions? Why not clean up? Why not form a Social Problems Group in your church or in your club? Isn’t this the very thing for church brotherhoods? Is there a timelier question than the reality and extent of the bearing of Jesus’ teaching on each of these questions? You can study one problem or all, few or many, as you will, and fit the method to your particular needs. Each problem is succinctly stated. The best material is presented in accessible form in carefully selected lists of references to books and magazines. Every list was prepared as a graduating thesis at the Wisconsin Library School with special reference to its practical effectiveness. Every list is revised and approved by eminent specialists. The material to which reference is given is briefly described. These studies which are in process of publication are sold at a nominal price, 10 cents each, postage 2c, for all except the mir' ’ _ _ wtii iywhi rn i aiii iiuijm ii iirfUnTWiri—-i' 1 * trtijnr^-iTiv^Vftir ruti'CT; Labor Problem which is 20c postpaid. The entire series includ- 111,11 nr. i i . . i m , , , , „ |>|| iimii in _- U j||Mi||ij l i| L ing a reprint of the Charities article is sold at $1.15 postpaid. One hundred copies of any study, except the Labor Problem, or ten sets of the entire series, will be sold at $10.50, postpaid. One hundred copies of the Labor Problem are sold at $18.00, postpaid. Order from the editor, enclosing the cash, or from Charities and the Commons , which has united with us in making the following combination offers: (1) 1 new subscription to Charities and the Commons and one set of the studies in social conditions (re¬ gular price $3.15), our combination price .$2 15 (2) 1 new subscription to Charities , regular price.. $2 00 1 copy of Bliss’ New Encyclopedia of social reform, regular price. 7 50 1 set of the studies in social conditions, reg¬ ular price. 1 15 Total regular price for the three...$10 65 Our combination price for the three .... 8 15 These three give you all the material you need for a Social Problems Group (except additional copies of the studies) and at a rock bottom price. Every church and public library in Amer¬ ica ought to have these three. With them you can have an up- to-date group wherever you live. Money for the combination offers should be forwarded to Charities and the Commons , 105 E. 22nd St., New York City, or to R. H. Edwards, 237 Langdon St., Madison, Wis. Prof. Richard T. Ely says: “I think the plan an excellent one and I hope it will be widely adopted. It should prove espe¬ cially helpful in stimulating the churches and organizations like the Y. M. C. A. to wise and beneficent action.” Prof. Edward A. Ross says: “In his Social Problems Group idea Mr. R. H. Edwards has contributed the germ of a movement as individual, perhaps even as far-reaching as the circulating library movement, scientific temperance instruction in the schools, or University extension. Moreover, not content with throwing out his idea he has equipped it for victory with a series of Studies in American Social Conditions, one for each problem, each a model of analysis, arrangement, statement, and bibli¬ ography-making. In view of the fact that his idea meets the needs of the time, that his plan has met the test of experience, and that his studies are based on a thorough and scientific knowl¬ edge, I believe Mr. Edward’s Social Problems Group idea is des¬ tined to play no small role in the civic enlightenment of the public.” Prof. Jeremiah W. Jenks, of Cornell, member of the U. S. Immigration Commission, says: “It seems to me that the plan of your course is admirable; and so far as I can judge from the pamphlet on the liquor problem, you are carrying the plan out thoroly well. I like your general statement and explanation of the question, and the classified bibliography will be of great help to anyone who attempts to make a thoro study.”