Brown Brothers. A STEEL WORKER by L. M. JEROME. On the lawn of Charles M. Schwab's residence, Riverside Drive, New Yoik. THE GOSPEL FOR A WORKING WORLD BY HARRY FREDERICK WARD NEW YORK MISSIONARY EDUCATION MOVEMENT OP THE UNITED STATES AND CANADA 1918 COPYRIGHT, 1918, BY MISSIONARY EDUCATION MOVEMENT OP THE UNITED STATES AND CANADA CORRESPONDENCE CONCERNING MISSION STUDY Send the proper one of the following blanks to the secretary of yottr denominational mission board whose address is in the "List of Mission Boards and Correspondents" at the end of this book. We expect to form a mission study class, and desire to have any suggestions that you can send that will help in organizing and conducting it. Name .. Street and Number City or Town State .. Denomination Church. Text-book to be used . We have organized a mission study class and secured oitr books. Below is the enrolment. Name of City or Town State Text-book Underline auspices under which class is held : Denomination Church y p ^ Church Men Senior Women's Soc. Intermediate Name of Leader Y. W. Soc. Junior Address Sunday School Name of Pastor Date <* starting State whether Mission Study Class, Frequency of Meetings Lecture Course, Program Meet- ings, or Reading Circle Number of Members Does Leader desire Helps?. . . Chairman, Missionary Committee, Young People's Society Address Chairman, Missionary Committee, Sunday School Address, 388255 CONTENTS CHAPTER PAGE INTRODUCTION ix FOREWORD xiii I. THE RIGHT TO LIVE 3 II. THE DAY'S WORK 35 III. THE PAY ENVELOP 67 IV. WAR OR PEACE 99 V. Nor BY BREAD ALONE 131 VI. MASTER AND MAN 165 VII. MEN AND THINGS 195 VIII. NEW FRONTIERS 227 BIBLIOGRAPHY 250 INDEX . 254 ILLUSTRATIONS PAGE A Steel Worker Frontispiece An Isolated Miner 8 Occupational Diseases 16 Air Lock in Caisson Construction 24 Safety Device on Grinding Wheel 32 Women in the Mill 40 The Latest Form of Child Labor 56 Children in the Cotton Field 72 Labor Temple 88 Types of Labor Leaders 104 Ammunition Used in Strike 120 Leader Instructing Youthful Picketers 144 Evicted Strikers 152 Houses for Workingmen 168 Relationship of Things to Man 200 "For He Had Great Possessions". . . 216 INTRODUCTION The new home missions has consciously and aggres- sively accepted a continuously expanding program. It defines itself as "a group .of activities attempting to Chris- tianize the United States." It insists that the church should recognize and support it as "one of the chief de- vices of social progress and control." It has developed the social vision by the very ardor and sincerity of its efforts to Christianize the individual. These efforts in mission churches and settlements led it into a ministry to all the aspects of the life of needy folk and then into manifold functions which seek to Christianize all the con- ditions that surround their lives. The whole complex field of human life is now regarded as within the scope of the missionary activity of the gospel. Every associa- tion of mankind -the family, the state, industry all the different group activities and relations of life, the play and the work of the community, as well as its worship these are now considered fields of Christian activity. The purpose of missions is- not simply to put the flag of Jesus on the last frontier, not simply to carry the gospel to the rim of the earth, but to put it at the center of human life. It seeks to make the gospel the inspiring force and power of the whole social organism. It demands that it actuate the entire life of the individual and the entire life of society; that it inspire every function and activity of humanity. Its goal is a redeemed humanity living together in the "commonwealth of God." Home missions has found its task by following the un- ix x INTRODUCTION churched, unevangelized groups, such as the settlers on the frontiers, or the Indians on the reservations. In answer to the same call of human need, it has found new frontiers running across city streets and alleys, across country villages and towns, as it has sought to minister to the immigrants and to the people of the rural sec- tions. These new frontiers prove now to be the borders of great stretches of unoccupied territory. Seeking to reach with the gospel the people who live on these new frontiers, the church finds itself compelled to carry the gospel into all the territory that their life occupies. The gospel must reach them not merely in the church, but in the tenement, the store, the factory. It is not content to open up settlements or missions for immigrants in congested districts and gather in their children for social ministry and religious instruction without at the same time applying the gospel to the conditions of housing that destroy the lives of those children and to the conditions of child labor that weaken and prevent their development In this practical fashion, following the gradual call of increasing needs, the whole social ministry of the modern church program has developed. The attempt to carry the gospel to any group now beyond the borders of the churches involves also the carrying of the gospel to the conditions under which they live and work. The discov- ery of this fact through the natural development of mis- sionary policy at home and abroad has led its leaders to ask the churches to devote a year to the study of indus- trial problems and to call for this and other books. This study deals particularly with those conditions and relations in the world of work which are out of harmony with the teaching of the gospel. It therefore does not at- INTRODUCTION xi tempt a judicial survey of the industrial world as a whole. It uses the "case method," and because this method, whether in the law school or the medical clinic, selects extreme cases in order to reveal general tendencies and so find general remedies, the massing of such cases natur- ally tends to create an impression of overemphasis upon abnormal conditions. In the present study, however, the incidents given have either come under the personal ob- servation of the writer or have been taken from current records. That so many of them could thus have been gathered indicates that there are much more serious and widely extended needs in the world of work than is commonly supposed by the people who do not touch in- dustrial conditions or read the Survey, or government reports, or labor and radical papers. Because it is not desirable to burden a text of this sort with foot-notes, authorities have not been cited. They will be found in the appended reading list. A study such as this is inevitably open to the charge of undue sympathy with the wage-earner. That is a question of the facts. If the facts show that the pro- ducers are not getting equal opportunity with the posses- sors for the development of personality, then the church, like the prophets and Jesus, must be on their side to the extent of securing justice for them and must call upon all possessors who would continue to call themselves Christians also to take the side of the weak and the suf- fering until justice is achieved. It is not a question of siding with any organization but of siding with eternal justice and the needs of humanity. The church is obli- gated by all its principles to champion the cause of the oppressed and disinherited of mankind. It remains only xii INTRODUCTION to determine whether the facts establish the presence of such a group in modern society. Then comes the ques- tion of the nature and purpose of that attitude. The church must seek not merely justice for the suffering and the weak, but justice and the highest spiritual de- velopment for all the people. In any discussion of social ills the demand for a pro- gram is always raised. It is natural to seek a short way out of our difficulties, a simple solution for our problems, a panacea for our misery. But there is no such remedy at hand. The program is continually to be made. All that can be done is to point out the general lines of ad- vance upon which social reconstruction is now proceed- ing, to make clear the general principles of action which the gospel proclaims and which the conscience and prac- tise of humanity approve, and to insist that they be followed to further development. The amount and char- acter of social construction effected by the war show the futility of any fixed formula. There is a constant demand to be told just what to do, but that is just what must be found out by experience in every situation. The Christianizing of industry demands initiative and experience. From the action of others in similar situations some hints as to method can be gath- ered from the text. Whatever directions can safely be given on the basis of present experience will be found in the teachers' manual to be used with this text. I am greatly indebted to Miss Grace Scribner for the gathering and classifying of data, and to Ralph E. Dif- fendorfer for continuous counsel. HARRY F. WARD. FOREWORD Some years ago a young preacher went to take charge of a church in the neighborhood of one of the largest producing units of one of the nation's basic industries. It was home missionary territory filled by unskilled immi- grant workers. The larger part of the cost of the church had been given by one of the magnates of the local in- dustry. The larger part of the annual budget came from other men at the top of this industry. A modern type of home mission work was developed. A social ministry was organized to meet all the needs of all groups of the community which were not being met by other organi- zations. But there was little response from the men. The women and children came, but not the men. The preacher wondered why. One night he- found himself in the midst of a crowd of men coming home from work. He heard one man say to another with a bitter sneer in his voice, "Well, we worked for the church again to- night, didn't we?" The curiosity of the preacher was aroused. He determined to find out what that meant. He discovered that the great corporation which was trying to destroy competition without, was developing the spirit of competition- between the departments within its own organization in. order to increase output and re- duce labor cost. Under this pressure some of the fore- men of the unskilled gang had secured a rule whereby overtime was not to be paid for unless it went beyond forty-five minutes. Then it was to be paid for at the rate of an hour. Under this rule they then began skil- xiii xiv FOREWORD fully to work their gangs overtime for different periods less than forty-five minutes, never passing that limit except under the pressure of rush work. It did not take the unskilled immigrant workers long to discover how they were being robbed of their labor. Then they read in the paper how the chief owner of the business gave a gift to every new church of his denomination built in that city. They also knew that he had given largely to the local church. Hence their bitter phrase, "We worked for the church again to-night." The preacher came to see that as long as that unjust industrial condition remained, no program that the church could develop would carry the gospel to those men. The Christianity that functioned in parts of the life of the head of the business had to become manifest in the treatment of unskilled laborers by his foremen. This was not a difficult task. It merely required that he should be made acquainted with the facts. In the same neighborhood a year or two later a girl was coming home from work with a crowd of her com- panions. She took' no part in their laughter and con- versation. Suddenly in a moment of silence she turned to the rest and said, "I'm through. I'm not going back there. I'll never do another day's work in that dirty place, and I don't care what happens to me." This atti- tude was the result of four years of monotonous toil in brutalizing surroundings. She belonged to the church and attended the settlement, but both of them together were unable to prevent the moral disaster which was the inevitable consequence of such an attitude. Unchristian industrial conditions had proved stronger than organized Christianity. Such cases of spiritual disaster are excep- FOREWORD xv tional perhaps ; but so are cases of large spiritual develop- ment under such hostile industrial conditions. Such experiences made it clear to that preacher that there are many conditions and relations from which the workers in modern industry suffer and from which many of those who support the extension of Christianity now profit that are contrary to the teachings of Jesus. He became convinced that organized Christianity must dis- cover and remove these conditions before it can carry the gospel effectively to the groups which suffer from them, that such effort is indeed the proclamation of the gospel with power. For some years he has been seeking to discover just what are the unchristian conditions and relations in the world of work and just how they may be removed. This book is a part of the undertaking. I THE RIGHT TO LIVE Aim: To show the necessity for the churches to se- cure protection for the Iwes of the industrial workers to whom they are seeking to carry the gospel. THE RIGHT TO LIVE Is the Worker Sacred? "We use up one batch of men as fast as we can, and when they are done, we throw them aside and get another." This was the re- gretful admission of one big business leader concern- ing the effect of his industry upon the lives of its im- migrant workers. Such a fact opens new territory for the home missionary endeavor of the churches. To these immigrant toilers it sends Bibles and preaching, classes in English and in civics, missionaries and deaconesses. They cannot say, "No man cares for my soul," but can they say, "No church cares for my life"? The ancient Hebrew law cared with great tenderness for the well- being of the slave workers, both native and alien (Exod. 21.26; 22.21; Deut. 14.29). Jesus fulfilled the law at this point by declaring a man to be worth in- finitely more than property r (Matt. 12.12). Are not the churches then obligated to secure protection for the livds of those industrial workers whom they are seeking to reach with his gospel? The Battle--field of Peace. Except in the case of some great explosion, terrific railroad wreck, or enor- mous marine disaster, the newspaper headlines do not chronicle the casualties of the peaceful battle-fields of in- dustry. That gruesome story is mostly buried in official government reports. It makes grim reading. A con- servative estimate, based on the records of a number of 3 4 rilK GOSPEL -FOR A WORKING WORLD states, puts the death list of American industry at 25,000 a year. The number of serious injuries is estimated at all the way from half a million to two million a year. In the mining and metallurgical industries of this country 3,500 men are killed and over 100,000 injured each year. The director of the Bureau of Mines declares that half the fatalities and three fourths of the injuries could easily be prevented, and computes this to mean an annual money loss of $12,000,000 a year. In France and Belgium the accident- and death-rate among miners is one fifth of what it is in this country. In 1914, its first year of oper- ation, the Industrial Accident Board of Massachusetts reported 454 fatal accidents, and one non-fatal accident for every ten wage-earners in the state. The New York Labor Department (omitting three catastrophes from fire and explosion) thus reports the causes of fatal in- dustrial accidents in 1911-14 in the order of number and percentage. Mechanical power, 457 or 42.3 per cent. Heat and electricity, 259 or 23.9 per cent Fall of persons, 199 or 18.4 per cent. Weights and falling objects, 81 or 7.5 per cent. Miscellaneous, 85 or 7.9 per cent. The uncovered belt, the unguarded saw and knife, the unsunk set-screw, the defective wiring, the careless work- man these are the occasions of destruction in modern industry. The cost of their death harvest must be added to the price of the goods which we buy. The Price of Coal. Gibson, the English poet, tells how he came to write of the sufferings and struggles of the toilers. "Sitting snug in my easy chair, I stirred THE RIGHT TO LIVE 5 the fire to flames." Then as he watched the glow, "the flickering fancies came." He saw: Amber woodland streaming; Topaz islands dreaming, Sunset cities gleaming, Spire on burning spire; Witches' caldrons leaping; Golden galleys sweeping, Out from sea-walled Tyre. Then suddenly another picture came. I shut my eyes to heat and light; And saw, in sudden night, Crouched in the dripping dark, With steaming shoulders stark, The man who hews the coal to feed my fire. Then he wrote his poems about the lives snuffed out by the quick explosion that shatters the rock upon them ; about the men sitting with clasped hands, waiting in the dark for the stealthy after-damp, that, creeping, creeping, * Takes strong lads by the throat and drops them sleeping, To wake no more for any woman's weeping, about the mothers and the girls struck silent by the news of the sudden death of sons and lovers, and left to live in broken-hearted loneliness. Working with Death. Mining is only one of the ex- tremely dangerous occupations. The railroads of this country have reduced passenger deaths by accident al- most to a minimum, but they kill ten thousand workers every year and injure one hundred thousand more. The price of the safety of the passenger is the death of these workers. The Bulgarians have a proverb that "there is not one bridge, there is not one big building if it is to 6 THE GOSPEL FOR A WORKING WORLD last, that does not have some human soul at its founda- tion to give it strength and life." This is a recognition of the grim fact that every great structure is consecrated by the blood of humble workers. The structural steel workers have the highest recorded death-rate of any oc- cupation in the country. Their life-blood goes with the rivets that hold together our great steel bridges and the frames of our sky-scrapers. If there is a more danger- ous trade, it is that of the man who goes down to the sea in ships. But he is "the forgotten man." The gov- ernment has kept record of the deaths and injuries on railroads and in manufactures. In the report of the Fisheries Commission there is no information concerning the fatal accidents among deep-sea fishermen. It has just been* discovered that milling is a dangerous occupation. The grain dust in mills and elevators has been shown to be even more inflammable than coal dust, capable of de- veloping a higher pressure upon explosion. During re- cent years a number of men have been killed and in- jured in mills and elevators from explosions caused by open lights, by sparks from motors, and by the friction of belts and grinding machines. It is the unreckoned part of the cost of bread. In one of his poems Kipling reckons the lives of the sailors of England spent to es- tablish her sea power and makes them say: "If blood be the price of admiralty, Lord God, we ha' paid in full." What price do the industrial workers pay for our prosperity ? The prophets brought a bitter word of God to the zealous worshipers of old : "And when ye spread forth your hands, I will hide mine eyes from you; yea. THE RIGHT TO LIVE 7 when ye make many prayers, I will not hear : your hands are full of blood" (Isa. 1.15). How does this apply to the people who labor hard to build churches and invite the toilers to share in their worship, and yet do nothing to save those toilers from death by accidents which are preventable ? The Old Days. "On the ninth of last October, at about ten o'clock in the evening, Walter Stelmaszyk, a sample-boy, went to one of the blast-furnaces to get a sample of iron to take to the laboratory. He stood at one of the entrances to the platform. The bright liquid iron was running out of its tapping-hole and flowing in a sparkling, snarling stream along its sandy bed to the big twenty-ton ladle that stood beside the platform on a flat car. Walter Stelmaszyk stood still for a moment and gazed at this scene. It was well for him that he hesitated. Suddenly there came a flash, a roar, and a drizzle of molten metal. Milak Lazich, Andrew Vrkic, Anton Pietszak, and Louis Fuerlant lay charred and dead on the casting floor." The cause ? Some fire-brick, fallen out from beside the tapping-hole, had been cheaply replaced by fire-clay, which soon wore through and let the hot metal come in contact with water. This was typi- cal of the steel industry ten years ago. But those days have gone forever. The steel industry has become a leader in the safety-first movement. It not only installs safety devices, but also continually instructs foremen and workers in the use and observance of them. In the old days many men were killed when crossing the switch- ing tracks. There were danger signs, but "it is useless to expect a Bohemian who has worked all day in the heat and glare of a blast furnace to pay much attention The isolated miner working a one-man drill is in constant fear of an accident where no assistance can reach him. THE RIGHT TO LIVE 9 to a danger sign, especially if he doesn't know how to read which he usually doesn't." The men expected the danger signs to be supplemented by the ringing of the locomotive bell and the cries of the engineer. One man described his accident as follows: "No choo-choo! No ling-ling ! No ' you, get out of the way !' Just run over." To-day that man is taught to read and appreciate the danger sign. Preventive Measures. Nearly all the states now have some legislation to protect the lives and health of the wage-earners. These preventive measures are supported by many owners and managers. The general manager of the Remington Typewriter Company, as a result of twenty-five years of engineering experience, says that legislation will be futile that does not invite and secure at every stage the cooperation of trained mechanical en- gineers. He demands uniform state safety laws and scientific administration of them. The Bureau of Mines has recorded the rescue of more than one hundred entombed miners by government agents and many more rescues by volunteers trained by the Bureau's rescue and first aid stations established in hundreds of mines throughout the country. The total number of miners now trained for this rescue work has reached 24,975 (1914). The states are already expend- ing more than the federal government in behalf of mine safety. Pennsylvania makes yearly an expenditure of $213,000. Twelve individual mining companies have res- cue cars, four more than are operated by the federal Bureau. Industrial accidents are being prevented by im- proved state inspection methods, by safeguarding ma- chines before they leave the factory, by the maintenance 10 THE GOSPEL FOR A WORKING WORLD of safety museums, by lectures, moving pictures, school talks, and the elimination of danger spots in plants. These measures are an expression of Jesus' teaching con- cerning the worth of every human life. The churches have both proclaimed and acted upon this teaching in their missionary activities, until now it is expressed in these safety-first measures in the industrial world. Are not the churches then obligated to help extend and en- force these measures? There is need of constant vigi- lance if the lives of the workers are to be protected. A current newspaper says: "The lives of more than one hundred men were snuffed out by the mine disaster in Hastings Canyon, Colorado. The accident, it is said, was due to the neglect of the company officials to pro- vide certain protection demanded by law and asked for by the employees/' On the train the other day a young man was telling his companion about the high wages he was making in a ship-building plant. Presently he said : "That's a pretty dangerous place to work. They kill a man about once in two weeks, and somebody is injured every day." Taking a Chance. The life of the worker cannot be made safe merely by regulation. Managers of industry rightly complain about the difficulty of educating workers to be careful, about their willingness to take a chance. This attitude is a reflection of the American philosophy of life. When Kipling was on his first visit to this country, he was astonished to find his train going across a trestle that looked as if it were ready on the slightest provocation to crumble away into the mountain torrent beneath. He remonstrated to the engineer, who replied, "We guess that when a trestle's built it ought THE RIGHT TO LIVE 11 to last forever. Sometimes we guess ourselves into the depot and sometimes we guess ourselves into hell." Here speaks the spirit of reckless hurry and gain which runs through American life. It makes some managers say, "What does it matter? It's only a hunkie." And it makes some hunkies recklessly careless of their own lives and of their fellow workers in defiance of the or- ders of the management. To both managers and workers, to owners and wage-earners, the church must make clear the teaching "of Jesus concerning the value of every life, until they will observe it both for them- selves and for others. There is no better way to teach immigrants a new reverence for human life than by show- ing them, through measures for their safety while at work, that their lives are reverenced both by the man- agement and the community. The Next Step. At a conference concerning welfare work, one machinist got up and said: "I have been working all week at a machine from which I took the safeguards. Did I break a law of this state, because I want to take a chance? Not a bit of it. But because I have a wife and two boys to feed. I cannot keep up with the efficiency standard of my plant and operate that machine with the safety device on it. I must either lose my job, or take a chance and break the law." This is evidence of the fact that laws will not enforce them- selves. They are not equipped with self-starters. This experience also indicates that there are some further tasks to be undertaken before the life of the industrial worker is made sacred. Christianity has yet to reckon with that desire for profit that puts pressure on the work- ers to nullify the safety that has been provided. 12 THE GOSPEL FOR A WORKING WORLD From Different Angles. Most of our industrial states now have workmen's compensation and employers' liability laws which assure the workingman >and his family of some relief from the financial burden imposed by industrial accidents. They are a product of the Chris- tian conscience. A bulletin of the Manufacturers' Asso- ciation reports that "under the first year's operation of the Pennsylvania Workmen's Compensation Law, 1916, the total awards amounted to $4,224,875. For eyes, arms, hands, legs, and feet, the total amount was $562,204. Two hundred and eighty-three eyes had the sight totally destroyed, whether the eye itself was removed or not; arms, legs, and feet were amputated to the number of 209. 1 eye $950 1 arm 1,537 1 leg 1,463 1 hand 1,347 1 foot 1,241 "The money total is the amount actually paid, or to be paid in instalments, to the injured workers. It does not include the cost of medical and surgical services which the employers paid." To a writer in a working-class paper it seems as though the bulletin treats this matter "calmly and coolly, as though it were giving the latest quotations on pigs' feet or calves' brains. These tragedies, each one a fear- ful calamity to the humble toiler and his family, are a by-product in the profit system of wealth production. They are inseparably bound up with long hours, monoto- nous labor, starved minds and bodies. A father's eye- THE RIGHT TO LIVE 13 sight gone; a brother's arm crushed in the rolls; a sis- ter's hand torn to shreds. This is the price, not calcu- lable in cold dollars and cents, that we pay for the hideous institution of capitalism." Occupational Disease. In a small town that was full of churches, one Sunday morning while the church bells were ringing and the people going to worship God, the writer found two small shacks in which thirty to forty Italians were housed in double-decker bunks. Here they slept and cooked. The cracks in the boards let in the winter weather. The air was foul and damp from the cooking and washing. In the bunks two of the men lay sick with pneumonia contracted from exposure at their work in the excavation and from the bad air of the shack in which they slept. The church people of that town who were supporting home missions had no knowledge of thia situation right at their own church doors. It was a small example of occupational disease which takes a heavier toll of life from the industrial workers than even preventable accidents. The United States Health Service puts first among the more im- portant factors which affect the health of the wage-earn- ing population the "occupational hazards of disease/' that is, the risk of those diseases which originate in cer- tain trades. They are divided into two groups: those which affect the workers in harmful substances, in metals, dust, gases, vapors and fumes; and those which affect the workers under harmful conditions, heat, mois- ture, cold, confined air or bad ventilation, overcrowding, compressed air, excessive light, strains of muscles, nerves, or special senses, and the like. The Dangerous Trades. The European record) 14 THE GOSPEL FOR A \VORKING WORLD finds that the occupations in which the death-rate is highest are those in which the worker is exposed to hard dust, mineral or animal, and those in which the worker is exposed to inclement weather while unable to exer- cise. The grim list of occupational diseases includes : "the hatter's shake, the potter's rot, the painter's colic and wrist-drop, the match-maker's phossy-jaw, the brass- worker's asthma/' Those who work in the wool, leather, and horsehair industries are subject to anthrax, due to the introduction of a minute bacillus that clings to the hides of diseased animals. Wood alcohol poisoning at- tacks varnishers and furniture finishers, lacquerers, hat- ters, and others. It results not infrequently in partial or total blindness. Those who work in the caissons con- nected with the building of bridges, tunnels, subways, and sky-scrapers, have the disease called "the bends," or compressed air illness. Blood sometimes runs from the eyes, nose, and ears, and the pains in the joints and muscles are excruciating. Paralysis and death are not uncommon. Industrial Poisons. A federal government health re- port declares "there is scarcely any one line of modern manufacture which is free from the dangers of indus- trial poisoning." Most of the occupational diseases come from exposure to poisons, particularly phosphorus, lead, mercury, and arsenic. Workers in certain parts of the boot and shoe industry are exposed to naphtha fumes. In the rubber industry the workers are exposed to poison from anil in, also from antimony. They often get "gassed" from the fumes of naphtha, benzin, or gaso- line. Hat-making is a dangerous business. About fourteen per cent, of the hat-makers examined by the New York THE RIGHT TO LIVE 15 City health department were suffering from mercurial poisoning. The workers in fur also are commonly af- flicted with eczema, due to the dipping of the bare hands in dyes and other chemicals. In the manufacture of dyes, wall-paper, artificial flowers, chemicals, glass, oil- cloth, and many other products, arsenic endangers the health of the worker, causing a number of painful dis- eases and sometimes death, resembling that from chol- era. Those who manufacture thermometers, electric meters, and explosives are also exposed to mercurial poi- soning, whose final result is general nervous paralysis. No less than twenty-seven trades are menaced by arsenic poisoning. New forms of industrial poisoning have de- veloped during the war from the chemicals used in the manufacture of high explosives and in the preparation of airplane wings. These poisons, their effects, and their prevention have been promptly studied, and our manu- facturers, encouraged by various government agencies, are endeavoring to avoid the injury to workers expe- rienced by England and Germany. The Dangers of Lead. Of all industrial poisons, however, lead is in most common use. In approxi- mately 150 industries it daily exposes thousands of American workers to the risk of lead-poisoning, with its paroxysms of colic, its nervous convulsions, its partial paralysis, wrist-drop, and often insanity. It also de- velops progressive hardening of the blood-vessels, fre- quently developing into cerebral hemorrhage and death. The records of individual workers who have suffered from it are ghastly reading. Here is a man dying at the age of thirty-nine, leaving a widow with two chil- dren. A tall, vigorous man, weighing 186 pounds, em- OCCUPATIONAL DISEASES 1. PHOSSY JAW. Necrosis caused by the inhaling of white phosphorus fumes. The poison at- tacks the alveolar process of the jaw bone which is least protected against infection. Investigations and prohibitory tares have recently re- formed the match industry in which the disease most frequently occurs. One manufacturing firm generously renounced their patent rights to a safety process so that others might use it. 2. ANTHRAX. The largest rec- ord of this infection is found among handlers of hides and tanners, for the disease is of animal origin. Leather workers, kid workers, brush makers, workers in hair and hair- cloth t wool sorters and workers in the woolen industry, longshoremen and veterinarians are frequent vic- tims of the disease. Adequate meth- ods of disinfection which will leave the hides uninjured are now being developed. 3. LEAD POISONING. Lead is used in more than one hundred in- dustries mid the ranks of the em- ployees give many examples of lead poisoning. The greatest number of these are due to the breathing of the fumes or to the inhaling of the dust. The nerve tissue becomes af- fected and causes paralysis. One common type of this disease is "Wrist drop," and the condition in- dicates a muscular fatigue as an in- ducing cause. 4. PAPILLOMA. In occupa- tions where the skin surfaces are exposed to irritating substances, warty growths appear which may develop into tumors. A long-con- tinued injury to the skin serves as a basis for the subsequent devel- opment of a cancerous condition. The illustration shores papilloma of the hand of an iron worker. The dangerous lesion is due to friction from the tools of the trade. Courtesy of American Association of Labor Legislation. THE RIGHT TO LIVE 17 ployed in the finer part of painting as a letterer and striper in car-shops, worked steadily until he was sud- denly stricken, and died in eight days. Here is an un- skilled laborer who for years dipped manufactured articles into paint baths and then later stood between the drying racks and packed the dipped things for shipment. For five years he suffered terribly due to lead-poisoning from the wet paint that dripped upon him from the rack. Three of those years he was unable to do a day's work. Here is Sadie G., an intelligent, neat, clean girl who worked in an embroidery factory. She used a white powder to transfer the perforated design to the cloth. Her last employer found that using white lead powder mixed with resin, instead of chalk or talcum, prevented the design from being rubbed off. It cannot be con- ceived that he knew anything of lead-poisoning. None of the girls knew of the change nor of its danger. Con- tinually they breathed this powder. In the hot, crowded workroom soon Sadie's appetite began to flag. She lost her color. Very soon she had terrible colic and could not go to work. Her hands and feet swelled. She lost the use of one hand. Her teeth and gums were blue. When she finally went to the hospital, and an examina- tion revealed lead-poisoning, no one knew that her work had involved the use of lead until one of her friends re- called hearing the manager send a messenger out sev- eral times with money to buy white-lead powder. Stop It! Lead-poisoning can be stopped. In Eng- land and Germany the use of lead is so hedged about with stringent regulations as to rob it of its worst dan- gers. In large English white-lead factories not a case of lead-poisoning was found in several successive years. In 18 THE GOSPEL FOR A WORKING WORLD this country twenty-five cases were found in one year in a model factory employing two hundred. In a small fac- tory in operation only one year, where nine men are regu- larly employed, using molten lead as a tempering agent, nine men have had lead-poisoning. The American Asso- ciation for Labor Legislation publishes the following summary of European and American conditions: EUROPEAN AMERICAN White-lead factories in Diis- American white-lead factory seldorf employ 150 men; ex- employs 170 men; 60 cases in amining physician reports 2 1911. c ^ s !? J 910 /- American white- and red-lead EngUsh white- and red-lead factory employs 85 men; doc- factory employs 90 men; no tors > records for six months case of poisoning in five sue- s h O w 35 men ''leaded." at batteries) 80 to 100 men are case * o P o > son ' n S ' nine employed; no case for over a year. An American local dippers' Government factory inspec- union reports that 13 men out tion in Staffordshire potteries of a local of 85 dippers had 16 reports 13 cases among 786 attacks of lead-poisoning in male dippers in one year. one year. In Great Britain the ratio of cases to employees is one to eighty-nine. In this country it is one to ten. The British result is accomplished by drawing off fumes and dust, by special ventilation, by forbidding the dry sand- papering or dry chipping off of lead paint, by separat- ing workrooms and lunch-rooms, and by special clean- liness in the washing of hands and changing of clothes on leaving the workroom. Lead-poisoning is on the in- crease in this country in the automobile factories where men are "sanding the boxes" without proper protection. Belgium, regarding human life as worth more than a THE RIGHT TO LIVE 19 highly polished surface on an automobile, prohibits the dry sandpapering of paint. The failure of American in- dustrial communities to sense the seriousness of this situ- ation is strikingly revealed by a recent news item in the Chicago Herald: ''Arrested because he told laborers seeking work at the Company's paint plant that they would die of lead-poisoning if they worked there, Michael Strym was fined one dollar and costs by Judge ." Study and Action Needed. Every industrial cen- ter in this country should maintain a clinic for the study of occupational disease, such as was organized first in Milan, Italy. Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Cleveland, Chi- cago, St. Louis are all places where the study of dan- gerous industries should be undertaken. In March, 1916, the commissioner of health in New York City authorized the opening of a clinic for the study of occupational diseases. There was no appropriation available. He used a loft in a building owned by the health depart- ment. He begged, borrowed, or stole furniture from the other offices to serve the bare necessities. The laboratories of the department of health were, of course, at the disposal of the new branch. Has the Christian con- science no obligation to see that our public health de- partment be given the means to make the investigations that may save the lives of the workers in dangerous trades? What would be the missionary effect upon those workers, native and alien, if they knew that the churches were actively conducting a propaganda for their protection from occupational disease ? Here is also an opportunity for pioneer service by Christian em- ployers, i One of our largest paint companies has fur- 20 THE GOSPEL FOR A WORKING WORLD nished an example by its methods to protect its em- ployees from lead-poisoning. One of the biggest match companies contributed notably to the abolition of the use of poisonous phosphorus in that industry by its willing- ness to relinquish its patents. The American Chemical Society has a committee to study occupational disease in the chemical trade and to secure sane and uniform legis- lation. At the 1916 meeting papers were presented on the newer industrial poisons, and opinions were expressed in favor of the establishment of a "safety museum" and the medical inspection of all industries. Deadly Dust. Industrial poison is only one of the enemies that daily lie in wait to attack the servants of industry. In many of our great industries hundreds of thousands of workers are exposed to the deadly effects of bad air and dust. The national census and state in- dustrial surveys shows an extra mortality for tuberculosis and pneumonia among the industrial workers. The cot- ton industry, with its lint-filled atmosphere, its high hu- midity and temperature ; the silk industry, with the un- regulated moisture of the weaving shed and dye house; the metal manufacturing trades with their exposure to dust and vapor and extreme heat; certain processes of the boot and shoe industry, where trimming, shaving, scouring, polishing, finishing, and cleaning parts of the shoe generate dust of leather; lint, fiber, bristles, dry flax, sand, emery, and carborundum all these expose the workers to a high tuberculosis risk. "The humble stone- cutter who spends his life in carving lasting memorials for his fellow men, on account of the dust he breathes, dies fifteen years ahead of his time." The lint of the cotton-mills, the dust of the metal trades, the quarries, THE RIGHT TO LIVE 21 the shoe shops, and the coal mines feed on the lungs of the workers, and they never go hungry. Tuberculosis is entirely an industrial and social disease. Cure or Prevention? One city in this country has spent large sums of money, enormous skill, and much Christian compassion in the erection of a great tuber- culosis sanatorium; yet its beds accommodate only a fraction of those who want admission. Those in charge can receive only incipient cases, they can keep them only ninety days, and then they must discharge them with the notation, "on the road to recovery." Yet the chief cause of tuberculosis shown on the records of that hospital is dry grinding in the metal trades, for that is a metal- manufacturing city. This means that many half-cured workers are sent back to the same trade which gave them the disease. That sanatorium is an expression of the missionary spirit of Christianity, which has taught the people in civic action to love their neighbors as them- selves. Will not this spirit now move to prevent the disease which it has sought to cure? "Misery Diseases." It is not only because of his extra risk from preventable accidents and occupational disease that the industrial worker dies faster than other groups. The modern pathologists classify about eighty per cent, of our diseases as "misery diseases" ; that is, they are due entirely to improper conditions of life and labor: The United States Public Health Service finds the main reason for unhealthful modes of living to be economic. It thus classifies the causes of the low health of the wage- workers : first, inadequate diet ; second, bad housing con- ditions ; third, community environment. The death angel is not impartial when he passes through our cities. The 22 THE GOSPEL FOR A WORKING WORLD highest death-rate is found in the districts where the people live whose wages will not provide adequate diet nor proper housing. An intensive study of six tenement blocks in New York City showed that while the death- rate for the city as a whole was 18.3 per thousand, and 51.5 per thousand for children under five years of age, in those particular blocks it varied from 22.3 to 24.9 per thousand for all ages, and from 592 to 92.2 per thousand for children under five years of age. The dif- ference in the tuberculosis death-rate in three working- class districts in Cleveland was 5 per thousand in a good neighborhood, 23 in an average one, but 35 for the worst. The mortality statistics of the federal census show that the death-rate in the cities where large numbers of low- paid workers live runs all the way from three to nine per cent, above the average. In those cities the line be- tween the sections occupied by the families of low-paid foreign-born workingmen and those occupied by skilled workers, business men, and other residents is sharply drawn. Equal Rights to Life. Here is a great fact chal- lenging the Christian conscience: the industrial wage- earners are subject to a much higher mortality than the other contributors to the community life. The insurance statistics of England show that the industrial wage- earner has an average expectation of life of 27 years, but the leisure class man has an average life expectancy of 57 years. Is the great message, "whosoever will," to apply simply to spiritual privileges and not to the right to live? What is the meaning of "equal rights to life, lib- erty, and the pursuit of happiness"? If the intelligent and well-to-do are able to find large exemption from the THE RIGHT TO LIVE 23 risks of death, and then fail to provide the same safety for others, what then becomes of democracy and Chris- tianity ? The game with death is a game which all men must play with the risk of losing, and the worker has ever played it bravely in the fields, in the forest, on the sea, and in the mines. Over the Sailors' Home in Lii- beck is this inscription, "It is necessary to sail the sea ; it is not necessary to live." Always there must be the yielding of life in the community service, but the risk must be made as equal as possible or we must cease to profess a belief in loving our neighbors as ourselves. Will not the spirit of home missions, which is desirous of sharing the house of God with the toilers, also be eager to give them their due share in the house of life? The New Conscience. Behind the measures de- veloped in recent years to protect the lives of the in- dustrial workers is a new sense of the dignity and worth of human life. It came from the gospels, and it has changed the status of the worker. Formerly he was a slave ; then he was a serf ; now he is a citizen. "Why didn't you let the swine drown ?" said one gen- eral concerning thousands of common soldiers of the enemy who were trapped by an inundation plan. "We needed their boots," was the reply of the other general. That was the old pagan view of a superior social group. In a recent mining disaster the management declared it would go to any expense and any risk to save the life of one worker. That was an expression of the Christian principle of reverence for personality. Working as leaven, that principle will make further changes in the industrial world. The air lock above one of the caissons used in making the extremely deep excavations that are necessary in building bridges, under-water tunnels, subways and skyscrapers. A disease called "The Bends" has been a menace to the health of those who work in the caissons. Paralysis and death have not been uncommon. The caissons are weighted and sunk into the earth and con- tinually built up at the top as the structure gradually sinks to the bottom. They are fitted up with a shaft through which excavated material is removed and for the descent of the work- man. There is also an exliaust pipe for pumping out water, a- series of pipes for supplying compressed air, electric light wires and a signaling system. When the workman enters the air lock the air pressure is slowly increased until it equals the pressure in the caisson. As he descends the blood receives an increase of oxygen and nitro- gen. The gases absorbed are gradually distributed to the fluids of the various tissues. If the workman is returned too rapidly to normal atmospheric pressure the nitrogen gas bubbles off in the blood and blocks up the capillaries, and by cutting off the blood supply in one or another part of the body, causes air illness. The nervous system suffers proportionately the most and the spinal column is affected, hence the common name "The Bends! 1 Courtesy of American Association of Labor Legislation, THE RIGHT TO LIVE 25 The Right to Work. The conscience that insists on protecting the life of the toiler from sudden de- struction will also protect it from slow extinction. He cannot live unless he can work. He must be able to get bread for himself and his family. This is no longer an individual problem- as in pioneer days when it -depended on a man's industry and energy. Now it depends on the will of others, on great social forces, which only the community can control. During most winters men may be found at the gates of our great industries fighting for the chance to work. They have been known to tear the coats off each other's backs, and even to trample a man underfoot and break his leg in the fierce struggle of the crowd to get first to the few jobs that were offered. This is an expression of the desire to live. What has religion to do with it? What does it mean that Jesus gave the crowd both loaves and fishes and the bread of life? A Spiritual Necessity. The consequence of pro- longed unemployment is physical, moral, and spiritual degeneration. The man who cannot get work is apt to find the saloon more attractive than the boarding- house or the home. His will, like his muscle, becomes flabby. He loses courage, energy, independence, and soon he eats in contentment the bread of idleness. The discipline of work is one of the valuable stimuli for the development of the higher qualities of life. To deny men this is waste, not only of economic power, but also of the spiritual forces of the com- munity. It is a reckless throwing away of the divine energy imparted to all human life. Another Extra Hazard. The risk of unemployment 26 THE GOSPEL FOR A WORKING WORLD is another extra hazard to which the worker is sub- jected. This risk has largely disappeared during the war, owing to its industrial demands, though even now the United States Bureau of Labor reports un- employment in some centers. But the close of the war will disarrange industry and will bring back an army for employment, many of whose jobs are now being filled by women. The further down the scale of employment, the less secure is a man's grip upon his job. The more he needs continuous work because of the smallness of his wage, the less likely he is to get it. The unskilled industries are the seasonal industries that constantly shut down. Salaried posi- tions are more or less secure and often continuous for life, but wage-earning gets very precarious after the age of forty-five, when a man can no longer keep up with the efficiency pace. The Manly report 1 to the United States Commission on Industrial Relations declares that wage-earners lose from one fourth to one fith of their working time during the year, and that the greatest amount of this time is lost by the poorest- paid workers, both because they are unskilled and because they are weakened by poor nourishment and bad living and working conditions. One fourth of the time lost is due to sickness, two thirds is due to lack of work or inability to find it, two per cent, of the idleness is due to strikes, two per cent, to accidents. Those Who Can't or Won't Work. The report points out that there is a group who are permanently unemployable. They are the people who have dropped out of the ranks of industry, broken down by the 1 See final report of the Commission, Washington, 1915. THE RIGHT TO LIVE 27 unsteadiness of employment and by other causes. Some are mentally defective or physically incapable, others are down and out or have lost the habit of working, others live by their wits, by begging, or by crime. Even during the most prosperous times, when labor is in great demand, these people do not work. They are unemployable in the same sense that children, the old, the sick, and those who live on income from invest- ments are unemployable. No amount of work pro- vided by public or private forces would have any ap- preciable effect upon these. They need the hospital or corrective treatment. A Question of Justice. The conclusion of the report is that the burden of unemployment is practically borne by labor, which, in the main, wants to work but cannot. Capital is not subject to the same risk because a fair return of investment is usually figured by the year, so that the dull seasons and the busy seasons modify each other, while labor is obliged to maintain itself as a reserve force during the periods of unem- ployment. Here is yet another challenge to those who are organized to spread a gospel which declares that the strong should bear the burdens of the weak. Unemployment and Sickness. Tom Rowe is a man of foreign birth, sixty-two years of age. He has lived here for many years and worked as a longshoreman. He is a member of the union. His work is uncertain at the best, and it becomes increasingly irregular with his advancing years. Six years ago he contracted pneumonia. He suffers now from chronic asthma. He is no longer fitted for such heavy work. Because he is neither equipped nor willing to do anything else. 28 , THE GOSPEL FOR A WORKING WORLD his working life is practically at an end, with no pro- vision for the future. Tow Rowe's situation shows the close connection between unemployment and sick- ness. The United States Health Service finds that irregular employment has a very detrimental effect upon health. When the income of the worker is un- certain, physical efficiency is impaired, both in himself and in his family. It leads to worry and periodic over- driving. It means conditional and irregular nourish- ment. Of 7,000 applicants of the casual labor class at the San Francisco cooperative employment bureau one half of the total number had been incapacitated for work by poor nutrition, exposure, and disease. The Bureau concludes that irregularity of employ- ment becomes a health problem. The industrial work- er's extra risk of unemployment and of disease must be considered together. They both lessen his chance for life. They make a vicious circle which must be cut by recognizing and providing both the right to work and the right to live. The Inefficient. In a Western state, out of a group of American-born men seeking work at a public insti- tution during one winter men who, as the superin- tendent expressed it, were "just beginning to learn that they could beat the game" 86 per cent, had never gone beyond the fourth grade in education. Of 417 cases studied in Boston, lack of training was most characteristic of the men. Few had completed the grammar school, fewer still the high school. The ma- jority were either physically handicapped or of low mentality. With little or no education and small earn- ing power such men live all the time on the border- THE RIGHT TO LIVE 29 line of unemployment. Here is John Doe, of native birth, thirty years of age. He left the school while in the grammar grades. He was not well equipped for life nor particularly intelligent. Without any spe- cial fitness for any task, he became one of an army who, when asked to designate occupations, say "La- borer." He drifted from one job to another, mean- while acquiring a taste for drink, which made him less efficient. Shortly before the war he secured employ- ment as a teamster. The sudden cessation of shipping threw him out of work. As he had made but twelve dollars a week, he soon needed help. There are many John Doe's. The churches constantly assist in provid- ing relief for these men and their families. They are thereby brought face to face with the deeper question of their unemployment. Preventing Unemployment. Of 61 union men out of 417 who came for help during a winter of unemploy- ment in Boston, none came from the cigar-makers' union, which in addition to regular out-of-work bene- fits paid a local assessment of $12.50 on each member. This constituted the most striking experience of the winter in Boston. Much could be learned from it about unemployment insurance. Provision against un- employment was the obligation of some of the earlier Christian groups. It is still the obligation of the union and the fraternal order. In many cases the church is finding jobs for the men who belong to the Bible class or the men's club. During the strenuous winter of 1914-15, 56 cities reported a total expense of $3,600,000 for public works for the unemployed. These experi- ments were mostly successful. The greatest obstacle 30 THE GOSPEL FOR A WORKING WORLD to their complete success was the failure to make plans before the emergency was at hand. But the result of that winter of distress was that the public came openly and consciously to accept as the first step in the solu- tion of the problem the establishment of a nation-wide system of public employment exchanges. This means such an exchange in every state and in the leading cities, cooperating with the federal department of labor. The churches can aid the demand and eiffort for these exchanges. The final solution, however, rests with the managers of American industry. Judge Gary declared that the unemployment of 1914-15 was evi- dence of failure on the part of American industrial management. Industries can be regulated so that un- employment is reduced to a minimum. If organized Christianity can lead the American people to recognize the sacredness of human life and its right to live and work as the Hebrew people recognized it, by providing the proper training for every child and the opportunity for every youth to take part in productive labor, will it not acquire new power in the nation? In modern war the whole economic life of the nation is mobilized. Everybody is put to work. Why should not this be the habit of the nation in time of peace? War on the Unborn. The effect of occupational disease and unemployment upon the worker are not confined to one generation alone. Lead-poisoning is a race poisoning. It has power to impair the germ of life for the next generation. Unto the third and fourth generations are the consequences of our industrial and social sins passed on. Infant mortality is highest in the great industrial cities and in the sections of these THE RIGHT TO LIVE 31 cities where the industrial workers live. The right to live is being taken away from the next generation. Many of the children born of parents who have suf- fered from industrial disease and from the poverty of unemployment will get the right to only the fraction of a life. Their vitality will suffer permanently from the same conditions which have depleted that of their parents. What obligation does this place upon those who would spread the teaching of him who said, "Suf- fer the little children, and forbid them not, to come unto me"? A Practical Religion. The religion which would comfort the worker when dying must also protect him from death. The preaching which proclaims the value of the soul must also seek to realize that value in life. The employer who is willing to recognize the worker as an immortal spirit within the walls of the church must also treat him as such in the place of employ- ment. The prophet saw that God had compassion especially for all the little children of Nineveh, and even for the dumb beasts. The compassion of God must be expressed to-day in protective legislation for the wage-earner. The first step in Christianizing in- dustry is to make safe the life of the worker so that, as the ancient prophetic vision declares, he shall be unhurt and unafraid. The religion which leads the community to respect the life of the worker will clearly gain new power for its appeal to him to respect his own personality. Safety devices on grinding wheel manufactured by the Nor- ton Company for the National Tube Company. The safety features are a proper tool rest, an eye shield to prevent the flying metal dust from entering the eyes, a standard hood with protec- tive arbor end, an exhaust system for drawing the dust away, and shields enclosing the transmission belt. These comprise preventive measures against disease and accident. II THE DAY'S WORK Aim: To show the relation of the shorter work-day to the development of the spiritual life, in order that ef- forts to secure that day may be recognized as a fitting missionary endeavor. II THE DAY'S WORK The Task and the Song. Some of the oldest songs in the world are songs of toil. Many of the ancient folk-songs express the joy and fellowship which the workers of the past found in their common labor. The workingman of other days was also the singing man, and the rhythmic record of his toil is in the swing of "harvest home" songs, in the haunting, mov- ing music of plantation melodies and of the "deep-sea chanteys" to which forgotten sailors heaved the net or raised the anchor or hauled the sheet. Wherever men have worked together they have learned to sing to- gether. In one of our recent labor conflicts a signifi- cant incident occurred daily. When the peasant wo- men of many nations gathered together to peel the potatoes for the common meal of the strikers they sang in many tongues not one of the ancient songs of toil, but one of the great hymns of the mod- ern labor movement voicing its faith in the coming" of a day when the workers should all be brothers. This ancient relationship between the work and the song expresses not alone the actual fellowship of toil, but also the dignity and the value of a worthy task. The Old and the New. A recent poern describes Jesus looking in vain through the modern working world for the ancient singing man. The Russian har- vesters used to sing as they brought home the grain: 35 36 THE GOSPEL FOR A WORKING WORLD Open, O master, the new gates, We may bring a crown of pure gold, O ransom, ransom the crown of gold, For the crown of gold is woven. A modern Jewish garment worker of Russian origin cries : "The machines in the shop roar so wildly that often I forget in the roar that I am; I am lost in the terrible tumult, my ego disappears, I am a machine there are no feelings, no thoughts, no reason; the bitter, bloody work kills the noblest, the most beautiful and best, the richest, the deepest, the highest, which life possesses/' At their trade on the sea the English fishermen for centuries have sung: Watch barrel ! Watch mackerel for to ketch ! White may they be like a blossom on a tree; God sends thousands, one, two, three. The workers in ancient English orchards, watching the bees, would sing: Bees, oh bees of Paradise Does the work of Jesns Christ, Does the work that no man can. God made man and man made money; God made bees and bees made honey. A modern English unskilled worker thus describes the lot of his kind : One with the work he cleaves apart, One with the weary pick he wields Bowed with his weight of discontent Beneath the heavens' sagging gray, His steaming shoulders stark and bent, He drags his joyless years away. The Songless Armies. Who sings to-day at his work? Not those who toil amid the rush and roar of engines, or the whir and clatter of looms; not THE DAY'S WORK 37 those who must speed every faculty to keep up with the machines, and spur every sense to guard against their dangers; not those who must turn out the greatest possible amount of work in the smallest pos- sible amount of time or else lose the opportunity to earn a living; not those who work underground in darkness, nor those who toil at night while others sleep. No song comes from those steel-workers who toil twelve hours a day and seven days a week, nor from the longshoremen whose average time on duty is two days and one night. The women workers of 491 stores investigated who "complained that it took them so long to make a living that they had no time left in which to live" do not sing ; nor do those waitresses for whom every day means up at six, away at six- thirty, home at eight at night, worn with twelve hours of toil, and as one of them put it, "with sore feet and a devilish mean disposition"; nor does that fourteen- year-old boy in an Illinois town who worked eighty- five hours in a drug-store in one week ; nor that fifteen- year-old learner in another drug-store in the same town who worked seventy hours a week regularly in a state that forbids the employment of children under sixteen years of age for more than eight hours a day or at night. What Stops the Song? Yet these workers would sing if they could, for life ever breaks into music. Youth still goes to its task with laughter and a song ; but the speed and strain of modern industry soon choke and stifle the song. In any of our cities watch the armies of youth marching to work in the morning with smile and joke; then watch them as they leave 38 THE GOSPEL FOR A WORKING WORLD the factories, the offices, the stores, at night. They have not the same spirit with which they marched in the morning. There is a different tone to their laughter. Then next morning watch the older indus- trial workers, and see how the habit of silence has been fixed upon their lives. In one of our great cities there is a street called "dinner-pail avenue" because of the numbers of workers who pass daily along upon it. For the most part it is crowded with a silent, songless, almost sullen throng. They look like con- script armies, forced to toil because they must, but rinding neither laughter nor joy in their toiling. Evi- dently they have been used up in the making of goods, not in the making of life. Their silence is the sign of fatigue. What Is Fatigue? One of the romances of modern medical science and legal investigation is the record of the recent studies of the nature and causes of fatigue, and the application of the knowledge gained by these investigations in lifting the burdens of fatigue from overtired workers. Public health specialists now talk about "the toxin of fatigue/' They declare that "the overtired person is literally a poisoned person, poi- soned by his own waste products." To be tired from hard work in healthful surroundings is a normal and beneficial condition. To be in a state of excessive fatigue or exhaustion is abnormal and dangerous. In this condition the body fails to get rid of its own waste products; these poisonous impurities that con- stantly arise in the chemical processes circulate in the blood, the brain, the nervous system, the muscles, the glands. Normally they are burned up by the oxygen THE DAY'S WORK 39 brought by the blood, or they are removed by the liver, the kidneys, or the lungs. If, however, work is carried beyond the point of fatigue, the system fails to eliminate these waste products. They remain to impair the health and perhaps to cause death. They make so slight an ailment as a cold dangerous to life. An- other danger of fatigue is that the body is then unable to work by the power generated from its own stored- up substances. It must call upon its nervous energy, and this oftentimes leads to breakdown. A National Peril. Some years ago the Committee of One Hundred on National Vitality, whose report is now a Senate document, declared that the chief cause of preventable sickness and death in the United States was that the majority of the population is con- tinually in a state of overfatigue. The brief present- ing the case for the shorter work-day to the Supreme Court of the United States, in defense of the Oregon ten-hour law, points out that the outstanding fact in our health situation in the United States is the ex- traordinary increase in the so-called degenerative dis- eases, that is, diseases of the heart, blood-vessels, and kidneys. We have checked tuberculosis and typhoid fever, we have decreased infant mortality and lowered the death-rate for children ; but the mortality from the degenerative diseases shows a steady and marked rise. In this breakdown of the most important organs of the body is the greatest menace to American vitality. Having considered all the available medical testimony, the brief concludes that while the reason is still in part obscure, it is clear that one important contribut- ing factor is the stress and strain of American ways of "The death rate is high among children of women who have overworked in girlhood" Underwood and Underwood. THE DAY'S WORK 41 living and working. "Statistics prove that these dis- eases reduce the working productive period of life, the period of greatest industrial activity. They are thus peculiarly disastrous for industrial workers already subject to higher incidence of disease than other classes of society." A General Condition. Fatigue and its consequences may be found in all sections of society. It is evident in the tired business men of the suburbs as well as in the exhausted workers of the factory or mill districts. In 1898 the Supreme Court sustained state legislation providing an eight-hour day for miners because of the evidence that long hours of labor in mines meant the poisoning of the human system, with consequent great evil to the general welfare. This was then an appar- ently specific exceptional instance; but "it is now demonstrable that the considerations which were on the surface as to miners in 1898 are to-day operative to a greater or less degree throughout the industrial system." It is the pace of American business, the watchword of which is "hustle." This is due partly to the stimulating effect of our climate, but mostly to false ideals of life. We assume that life is for work. We have not found out that work is for life. As far back as 1885 Henry George thus described this attitude : "Here is a man working hour after hour, day after day, week after week, in doing one thing over and over again, and for what? Just to live. He is working ten hours a day in order that he may sleep eight, and may have two or three hours for himself when he is tired out and all his faculties are exhausted. That is not a reasonable life ; that is not a life for a 42 THE GOSPEL FOR A WORKING WORLD being possessed of the powers that are in a man, and I think every man must have felt it for himself. I know that when I first went to my trade I thought to my- self that it was incredible that a man was created to work all day long just to live/' We scorn those peoples of warmer climates whose cry is "Manana" put it off until to-morrow; but we fail to see the folly of the opposite extreme, of developing condi- tions of work that drive the people to death. Whose duty is it to warn the nation against the consequences of fatigue and the perils of a low ideal of life? Is not this task a part of the home mission program whose goal is "to make America Christian"? Fatigue and Health. The United States Supreme Court has recently been sustaining short-hour legisla- tion because of the evidence presented to it concern- ing the effect of fatigue upon national vitality. This evidence has gathered the experience of the whole world. The united judgment of all who have studied the question in all industrial countries is that fatigue is the chief source of disease. It lowers the resistance power of the body; and health depends not so much upon freedom from exposure as upon ability to resist the attack of disease. In the dangerous trades it is the workers who are overfatigued who more readily suc- cumb to occupational diseases. In the less dangerous trades the common phenomena of fatigue and exhaus- tion create a permanent predisposition to disease and premature death. The statistics of all countries which have recorded the hours in which industrial accidents occur show that the number tends to rise after a cer- tain number of hours of work. "The number of acci- THE DAY'S WORK 43 dents is usually the highest during the penultimate hour of work when muscular control and attention are at their lowest." Because health is one of the founda- tions of the state, because the loss of human life and the increase of disease by excessive working hours is a serious factor in depleting the general prosperity of the nation, the modern industrial nations are moving against overwork and are checking fatigue by law. Driven by the need for shells on the firing-line, Great Britain speeded up its munition industries, suspended labor regulations, and introduced the seven-day week and the long-hour day. But recently a government committee on the health of munition workers, after investigating the situation, secured the cessation of seven-day work, the restoration of the short day, and frequent rest periods. The first and conclusive reason for the change was that overtime work resulted in ex- haustion and sickness and so in a decrease of produc- tion. An immediate increase of production justified this diagnosis. The Third and Fourth Generations. The sins of the fathers who permit excessive labor are visited upon the children unto many generations. From a na- tional standpoint the most deadly consequence of fa- tigue is its exhaustion of the capacity for strong moth- erhood. Summing up the experience and testimony of England and Germany, the Massachusetts Committee on the Labor Question declares that "if the common- wealth has interest in securing a healthy and intelli- gent posterity," it must check the hours of labor for females and children in the mills. The progressive deterioration of succeeding generations of factory 44 THE GOSPEL FOR A WORKING WORLD workers is shown by their inability to pass the enlist- ment tests both in England and here. England had to reject more men in the Boer war than in the Crimean war. Switzerland found fit only 26 per cent, of nail- makers, and 21 per cent, of buckle workers. Over- work before marriage has a disastrous effect upon the next generation. A study of 172,365 Italian working women between the ages of 15 and 54, employed in industrial occupations, showed an average child-bear- ing of only about one third of the fertility of all Italian women. Moreover, the record shows that the children of exhausted workers are below the normal in size and weight. "The death-rate is high among children of women who have overworked during girlhood, as well as among children of working mothers." The high infant mortality of the factory population is proved by investigations in this country and abroad. In the British textile trade the women are protected by a ten-hour day and a fifty-five-and-one-half-hour week; yet the average infant mortality (1896 to 1905) in textile towns was 182 per 1,000 infants, and it went as high as 208 ; while in non-textile towns the average infant mortality was 150 per 1,000. After one English town became a mill town, the infant death- rate rose from 143 to 229, and the birth-rate fell from 39 to 27 per 1,000. In the mill towns of the United States, with no such protection of women from fatigue as England provides, a still higher infant mortality is found. In 1910 a comparison of certain selected cities with typical New England mill towns shows a death-rate of infants under one year per 100 deaths at all ages as follows: THE DAY'S WORK 45 Chicago 21 Biddeford 27 Boston 19 Lowell 29 New York 21 Lawrence 35 Holyoke .35 Says an American physician, "So long as mothers v/ork in factories, so long will babes go to their graves." A young textile worker, describing the nerves of the mill girls working for ten hours in one of our states, said, "If we do not get shorter hours for the young girls soon, there will not be much left to save." Breaking Down the Home. What home life is there for a man who works twelve hours a day or for a man who comes home after ten hours' work utterly and completely exhausted? Says a German econo- mist, and they are not sentimentalists, "Such a man is deprived of the benefit of the first school of morals, which is the home." Family life, the foundation of the nation, is destroyed by overwork. There is no time nor energy to care properly for the interests of children. The home becomes a mere place to eat and sleep. The agencies which the community provides to strengthen the family cannot be used by those whose energies are exhausted to the point of fatigue. The public libraries, the lectures, the recreation cen- ters, make but an inefficient appeal to an exhausted group. If the church and the community would save the home, they must look to the hours of labor. Fatigue and Morals. Just as fatigue lowers the re- sistance power of the body to disease, so does it lower the resistance power of the will to evil. It breaks down those defenses which nature has provided here, 46 THE GOSPEL FOR A WORKING WORLD as in the physical system. Continual excessive labor results generally in moral degeneration. In the over- worked groups there is the largest consumption of alcohol, and there, too, the sex instinct is coarsened, depraved, and brutalized. The greatest whisky drink- ers in the country are said to be the longshoremen who work day after day in the grain hatches of the wheat steamers in a thick, rising dust with sponges over their noses to protect them against the stream of grain that sprays off their paddles fifteen or twenty feet away as they push the wheat into the corners of the hatch. The Lackawanna Steel Company has been working its men seven days a week. With a pop- ulation of 16,000, the town of Lackawanna has from 138 to 162 saloons. Nineteen of them stand op- posite the gate where the men come from the mill. "After weeks of overstrain without a day of rest," says the pastor of the only English-speaking church there, *'it is natural for the men to get beastly drunk. They sometimes go straight from the pay window to the saloon and spend all their wages before they leave it." John Fitch, writing of the steel- workers, says: "The only men whom I found in a state of intoxication when I looked for them in their homes were blast-furnace men men who had been working for months with- out a holiday or a Sunday." The experience of the Juvenile Protective Association of Chicago shows that girls who are overworked during the day drift more easily toward wrong-doing in the evening. So over- whelming, conclusive, and abundant is the testimony from England and Germany and from this country, concerning the relation of overwork to temperance and THE DAY'S WORK 47 to morals, that the English economist Hobson de- clares that drink and other sensual excesses are the normal reaction of the lowered morale that comes from fatigue. He therefore declares that "fatigue ranks as a main determinant of the character of the working classes/' How then shall the churches lead the toilers into a higher moral life without dealing with fatigue? Long Hours and the Church. The writer once asked a twelve-hour, seven-day steel-worker whether he went to church. "Let me tell you," said he, "when I was a kid I used to like to go to Sunday-school twice, Methodist in the morning, Baptist in the after- noon ; but since I've been at work in the steel-mill I haven't been to church for so long I wouldn't know what to do if I got there." A study of the religious activities of twelve-hour communities shows that neither the authority of the Roman Church, the fer- vent appeal of the evangelical pulpit, nor the many- sided religious, social, and recreational activities of the Young Men's Christian Association can secure any decided response from the apathetic, jaded workers. Those who are eager to build churches and get the industrial workers to come to them must find a prac- tical meaning for that great saying of the Master, "Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest," before they can develop its full spiritual content. What About Religion? Professor Steiner says that when he was working ten hours a day in a Pittsburgh steel-mill, the worst result was the Condition of apathy that settled upon him. "If any one had given me a 48 THE GOSPEL FOR A WORKING WORLD ticket for a symphony concert, I would not have gone," he declares. Raymond Robbins says that when he worked twelve hours a day in a coal mine, the only thing he wanted to do with his evenings was to spend them in the saloon with the boys and throw two or three beers under his belt and forget that he was a dog. An Indiana preacher recently spent his vaca- tion working in a steel-mill ; he says the prejudices he had entertained against the United States Steel Cor- poration were somewhat dissipated by his experience. He thought the wages were good and the treatment considerate; but he considered the long hours a gen- uine complaint. "While some have an eight- or ten- hour day, many are on duty twelve hours and, with the going and coming, are kept from home fourteen hours a day. With time deducted for sleep, they are left with two hours to be men, to cultivate human interests, to make love to wives and sweethearts, to play with their children, to learn to make good citi- zens, to take part in public affairs, and to know some- thing of the foreign interests of the big world be- yond." With these interests eliminated from life, what has religion to appeal to? On what basis can it be developed ? Who Suffers? The two groups who suffer most from fatigue in this country are women workers and unskilled immigrants. The latter group constitutes a specific field of home missionary endeavor. One of the avowed purposes of Christian work is to teach them a higher use of the rest-day than that which ob- tains on the continent of Europe. Another home mis- sionary purpose is to improve the home life of these THE DAY'S WORK 49 people. But what is American seven-day work teach- ing them? What does the twelve-hour day do to the home? Recently in Philadelphia (February, 1917), 2,000 unorganized sugar workers struck. They were mostly Poles and Lithuanians, with a few Russians, Germans, and Italians. Only a few were able to talk English. Their first demand was that the day be cut from twelve to ten hours. The company pointed out that it was impossible to work in ten-hour shifts. It meant leaving the sugar in the vats for four hours a day. They were unwilling to arrange for three eight-hour shifts. So the men continued to work twelve hours a day, and some of them for seven days a week. The Seven-day Week. The seven-day working week is the most deadly producer of fatigue. It is forbid- den in the first labor legislation on record, that of the ancient Hebrew law. The commandment demands a day of rest for all the workers, including even the for- eigner and even the dumb beast. Yet there are now close to a million men in the United States working continuously seven days a week the year round unless they take a day off at their own expense and lose a day's pay from what for most of them is but a meager income, insufficient to provide properly for their fam- ilies. This work is being done mostly in the con- tinuous industries industries like the blast-furnace section of the steel trade, which must run without cessation to be profitable. A partial list of continuous industries includes steam and electric railroads, ice and milk delivery, telegraph and telephone, news- papers, blast-furnaces, paper- and pulp-mills, heat, 50 THE GOSPEL FOR A WORKING WORLD light, and power plants, and personal service in hotels and restaurants, drug-stores, and barber-shops. Who Is Responsible? If a blast-furnace stops, it takes forty-eight hours to start it up again, and two days' work is lost. Because a blast-furnace or a sugar factory or a glass-house must be run continuously is no reason why human beings must be worked contin- uously. It is not necessity but the desire for profit that drives here. It is not the social welfare of the community, but merely the urge for dividends. When the Lackawanna Steel Company asked for exemption from the one-day's-rest-in-seven law in New York state and admitted that it had not been obeying the law, the pastor of the only Protestant church of Lack- awanna said that the company officials were asking for something they did not believe in, for they had often told him of their desire for a six-day week and an eight-hour day. He could only conclude that they were asking this because they were obliged to do so as representatives of the stockholders. Some of the latter were supporters of the benevolent enterprises of the church. They knew nothing of the seven-day week. What agency should have informed them? Is It Necessary? A great deal of continuous work is in those occupations that minister to the public ne- cessity, convenience, and comfort: the trains, the ho- tels, the drug-stores, the newspapers, the telephone ex- changes, the telegraph offices. They employ a huge army of seven-day workers. 'Much of this work could be reduced if the public would modify its selfish habits and unreasonable demands. The remainder, that which is socially necessary, does not require anybody THE DAY'S WORK 51 to work seven days a week. It is simply a question of an extra shift of workers. It means higher labor cost and less profit. But this is infiniteJy preferable to the degeneration of the workers by continuous toil. We properly protest against the Continental Sabbath, but it does not involve all the social consequences of the American industrial Sabbath. Because her clear mind saw these consequences, France long ago pro- tected both her workers and the national vitality by passing a law forbidding more than six days' work in any week. Some of our American states have recently been concerned with the passing of a similar law. This movement has been promoted by the Federal Council of Churches and the American Association for Labor Legislation. The Will of the Workers. When the International Paper Company petitioned the Industrial Commission of the state of New York for exemption from the law which requires that every workingman shall be given one day's rest in seven, it argued that the men pre- ferred to work continuously. The Federal Council of the Churches of Christ in America, was represented by the Rev. Charles Stelzle. He argued that when a man actually preferred to work a seven-day week, it was either because his wages were so small that he thought it necessary to work in order to earn a "liv- ing wage," or because his finer sensibilities had be- come so blunted that he did not realize the harm he was doing himself. At the hearing of a similar peti- tion from the Lackawanna Steel Company, the pastor of the English-speaking church answered the state- ment of the company that the men unskilled immi- 52 THE GOSPEL FOR A WORKING WORLD grant workers wanted to work seven days a week. He said that a great many of them were feverishly working and hoarding up their wages in order to go back to Europe to farm in comfort. "These men will go back and spread abroad the tale of their twelve- hour day and seven-day week, but I am enough of a patriot to rebel against that's being the reputation that America is to build for herself among the peoples of Europe." Another Kind of Home Missions. There is a further question : What word will these men take home about American Christianity? A business man stood day after day on the deck of a steamer bound for Na- ples and looked down at the returning Italians in the steerage. "What are you thinking of?" asked his friend- "I am thinking," said he, "that these are the real missionaries whom we are sending to Italy. What message will they bear?" The Long Day. While the continuous week is the first source of fatigue, the long day is the great cause of it in this country. The census of 1910 shows that five great industries among others in this country were employing men seventy-two hours and over per week. That is the price of our sugar and molasses, of our steam, of our ice, our gas, our glucose and starch. For proportions running from 57 to 95 per cent, of all the workers engaged in the production of these com- modities, the twelve-hour day obtained. According to the same census there were thirteen industries em- ploying men more than sixty hours a week in propor- tions running from 23 per cent^ to 96 per cent, of the workers. That is the price we pay for our butter, THE DAY'S WORK 53 cheese, and milk, for our paper and wood-pulp, for our flour-mills, and for our coke, petroleum, and salt. Some Significant Facts, In 491 stores in Chicago which were open six full days a week, winter and sum- mer, women frequently worked seventy hours a week, with Sunday afternoon extra twice a month. A rail- road engineer recently took his life in a period of un- balanced mentality after he had been forty-five suc- cessive working days at the throttle. A freight con- ductor recently told me that he had just finished over fifty-six days' continuous work, and said he was better off than most of the men, for he- had been over twenty years in the service and had the preference of senior- ity which gave him the easier runs. The Railway News, writing in defense of working conditions on the railroads, says that only one employee in five on an average last year was compelled to render excess ser- vice during any one day in the whok year, and the total number of cases of excess service from all causes reported was only 61,247 during the year ending June 30, 1915. This means continuous service in excess of sixteen hours, for that is the point set by federal statutes beyond which the record must be kept This twelve months' record is submitted as proof of the rare occurrence of long hours. But no one knows the amount of work that fell just short of sixteen hours. An investigation of over a thousand waitresses showed that 20 per cent, were working twelve hours a day, that 58 per cent, were exceeding the fifty-four hour limit for women in factories and mercantile estab- lishments, that one third do not have one day's rest in seven, that the great majority were not even allowed THE GOSPEL FOR A WORKING WORLD time off for meals, but "must grab 'em any way you can." When do these workers get to church? How does the church get to them? Is It General? Twenty-eight states allow children under sixteen to work more than eight hours a day in stores and local establishments on the mistaken theory that children's work in stores is not detrimental. Nine- teen states allow these 'children to work at night, and sixteen have no fourteen-year limit for such employ- ment. Little girls under twelve are still working eleven hours a day in cotton-mills. In one mill which is interested in their welfare they go to school from six to twelve o'clock, and work from twelve to six, excepting lunch time. This is only one phase of child labor, but it is a good example of the thousands of child workers whom the state laws neglect. The re- sult of the Springfield Survey 1 suggests that the long day may be a national tendency and not simply a bad condition in a few great industries. In that city 85 per cent, of the workers investigated, or 3,981, worked nine hours and more a day. Only 13 per cent of them were unionized and worked eight hours a day or less. Much seven-day work was discovered. How long do clerks work in small country towns? What are the continuous hours of labor for the men who harvest the crops those seasonal laborers who follow the trail of the wheat clear from Kansas to Canada? How does the country church reach them? Monotonous Occupation. Fatigue is also a question of monotony. Our great standardized industries with their efficiency methods often provide a man with one 1 Survey of Springfield, Illinois, Russell Sage Foundation, 1914 THE DAY'S WORK 55 automatic act which he must continually do. In the Chicago stock-yards a few men stand for hour after hour and do nothing but stick a knife into the jugular veins of passing pigs. In the Ford plant a man stands and puts one attachment to the car body as it passes him and then gives it one tap with a hammer to hold it in place. But the management of the Ford plant recognizes the effect of this automatic labor upon the nervous system and keeps a man at that piece of work for only two weeks at a time. It then provides him with necessary relief by a change to other work for two weeks. The National Women's Trade Union League, voicing the experience and judgment of work- ers in many trades, declares that forty years ago Mas- sachusetts passed the ten-hour law as a health meas- ure, but under the present system of speeded-up in- dustry, the eight-hour day would not bring the same measure of relief that ten hours did forty years ago. A physician who has had wide experience in factory investigation declares that in occupations involving much hazard, such as dusty trades, six hours should be the maximum. "My girls cannot come to the week- night church gatherings," said the Italian pastor in a small Middle Western city. "They have no part in the interdenominational life of the young people of the other churches. After standing ten hours in the wool- en-mill they are too tired to go out/' What, then, should be the attitude of the churches toward the women workers' demand for a universal eight-hour day? Speeding Up. Another cause of fatigue is "speed- ing up." The necessity of keeping pace with the ma- Loyalty badges denoting the desire for justice to the down- trodden, have led to the latest form of child labor. Children ranging in age from five to ten years help their mother to make loyalty badges at three cents for twelve dozen. The baby is three months old. Courtesy of National Child Labor Committee. THE DAY'S WORK 57 chine set at a certain rate, or with the standard set by the piece-work plan or the efficiency system works havoc with the nerves and health of the workers. The quickest girls, who are given a bonus to set the pace for the shop so that the wage can be cut by increasing the work required, do not long stand the pace. They soon break down and pay the price of their ambition, which has been cunningly made the instrument of their destruction. Said one such girl, at 27 a physical and nervous wreck supported by others: "I thought I was smarter than the rest. Now I see that, like a fool, I ruined myself and hurt the others." The hu- man system was built to live outdoors; it was not made to stand the noise, the clatter, the dust, the bad air of indoor machine work. Its rhythmic motions, both of muscle and nerve, are keyed in a different pitch from that of the machine, and when the pitch must be changed to keep pace with the mechanism driven by steam or the electric current, something gets out of gear or breaks. The men who work under the efficiency system do not regard it as do those who are well paid to install it, or those who get increased production and more profits from it. Says one of them: "I'll never work again where there's an effi- ciency system if I can help it. It's too much strain to feel that you've got to turn out so much work in so much time. You're always on the jump." This nation has yet to discover that a man is "worth more than a sheep/' that to make the greatest number of articles in the smallest possible time at the lowest production cost is not the highest ideal of industry. The church is charged with spreading the gospel of 58 THE GOSPEL FOR A vVOKiUNG VVWJXI.D "life more abundant" for all the people. How shall it be made real in every respect for the industrial work- ers? This problem home missions is now facing. In June, 1917, the Women's Trade Union League found it necessary to protest to the Secretary of the Treasury because government establishments, notably the Bureau of Engraving and Printing and the Gov- ernment Printing Office, had been operating with ex- cessive overtime, amounting to twelve hours a day and seven days a week, for several hundreds of em- ployees, among them many women. Winning a Rest-day. Obviously the first duty of the forces which are trying to carry the church to the toilers is to secure for them one day's rest in seven. "The worker doesn't need more labor laws; he needs more God," says a prominent church leader. But the old Hebrew law believed that one way to give him more God was to give him one day's rest in seven. In this way God was put into his consciousness through his working experience, and we may well fol- low that example. Those who sit easy in church while others work for their comfort or for their profit will do well to remember that Jesus called those who did the same thing in his day nothing but "whited sepulchers." The Same Job. When the missionary goes into a frontier community, the first thing he does is to hold religious services and to generate some respect for the sacred day of rest. In such a community, which had previously known no law of God or man, the lead- ing spirit one day declared : "We must have a Sunday- school to keep up with " (the rival neigh- THE DAY'S WORK 59 boring settlement). They organized it, and at the opening session a man was suddenly called on to pray. "But I can't pray." "Pray, damn you, pray !" was the command. Out of such conditions home missions produced law-abiding, religious communities. 'When the church goes into an industrial community with its great group of unskilled, ignorant immigrant workers, the task is fundamentally the same; it merely takes an- other form. The evils of the frontier community liquor, gambling, immorality the heroic leaders of home missions have heroically and uncompromisingly attacked. These evils the church still fights in the in- dustrial community. With the same fearless spirit it must move against such industrial wrongs as the seven-day week. Many immigrant workers, if they do not have to work, spend Sunday largely in carousing. To attempt to prevent by law what they have long regarded as their right, and then to make no effort to prevent them from being worked excessively, will not commend our religion to them. We have been pro- tecting the day with our Sabbath laws : we must now protect the men. Then we can teach them not simply to observe the day but to use the day for their souls' health. A Religious Duty. The short-hour day is just as much a religious necessity as the six-day week. The effects of fatigue that have been described the in- crease of drink and vice, the smothering of religious interest, the destruction of home life, the breakdown of the health of the workers, and the lowering of the vitality of the nation come in largest measure from 60 THE GOSPEL FOR A WORKING WORLD the long day. They develop after the six-day week obtains. Consequently when the men through their organizations demand the eight-hour day, when the women come asking for it in forty state legislatures and in Congress, it is an appeal to the forces of re- ligion. Overworked people cannot properly partici- pate in the life of the family, the nation, or the church. If we are to develop a Christian family, a Christian church, a Christian nation, we must protect the work- ers from the effects of fatigue. Of course, shorten- ing the hours of work will not automatically produce religion, but it will give religion room to develop. The churches will then face the opportunity and re- sponsibility of teaching the workers how to use their leisure time. A Further Task. Jesus called the people to him to get rest. He declared that he came to give them life and more abundant life. It was rest for the pur- pose of getting life. The cultivation of life depends upon leisure. There must be time and strength left over from bread-and-butter activities to pursue the dis- cipline of culture. This is now denied to great groups of workers. They have no access to the agencies for culture provided by the community, because they are too tired to take advantage of them. Says a New York garment-worker standing by his machine, "If I'm thirsty, they'll give me a drink; if I'm. hungry, they won't let me starve ; but now when my mind is hungry for knowledge and my mind is thirsty for learning, who will give it to me? Wise men tell me to go to night-school, but did they ever try going to night-school after working ten hours a day?" Are THE DAY'S WORK $1 there any young people in your community too tired to attend mission study classes? The Task Begun. In all our important manufac- turing industries the hours of labor have tended slowly but steadily to decrease. The working time used to be as long as men could see, either in the field or the factory, and as long as they could stand, either in the mine or the mill. Recently five states and the District of Columbia have established an eight-hour law for women and the Supreme Court has sustained them. Five other states have created by law a period of rest for women from 10 p. M. to 6 A. M. One state has recently ordered the ten-hour day for men, and Congress has set eight hours as the standard for rail- road engineers and conductors. In the past twelve months many employers have adopted the eight-hour work-day, affecting hundreds of thousands of men. By private initiative and by legislation this movement must be pushed until it reaches the standard set by the Federal Council of the Churches of Christ in Amer- ica: "the gradual and reasonable reduction of the hours of labor to the lowest practicable point, and . . . that degree of leisure for all which is a con- dition of the highest human life." Some Consequences. It has been established be- yond peradventure that the shortening of the work- day has resulted in commercial prosperity. When Massachusetts first reduced hours from eleven to ten, the result was increased production. In general in- dustries, with only one or two striking exceptions, the reduction of the hours of labor has meant larger out- put The steel-workers of England temporarily bore 62 THE GOSPEL FOR A WORKING WORLD the cost of changing from twelve- to eight-hour shifts to prove to the managers that it was profitable. An American corporation which manufactures tools decided that the reason for its difficulty in hir- ing and keeping men was that its work was hard, laborious, and tiring. On December 4, 1916, it re- duced the hours from 57^ to 52J^ per week and so adjusted the rate of pay that the wage was slightly better than on the old basis. In March, 1917, the secretary reported : "The results speak for themselves. The men felt better and appreciated our action. It is much easier to hire men than before. The weekly production in one of our worst departments, in spite of the shorter hours, has increased 18.4 per cent., and in the entire plant 10 per cent." Last year another company reduced the working week for the 7,000 men in its seven shoe factories from 55 to 52 hours. An exhaustive study of results after four months' operation showed that the daily production unit per employee not only did not de- cline as was feared, but has actually increased. The report concludes: "Long working hours are not only an economic loss to the community as a whole; even inside factory walls there is no net profit in running on a schedule of much over eight and one half hours per day." The testimony is equally clear as to the increase of health and morals. Workers in the short-hour trades consume less liquor per capita than the long-hour trades. Short hours have never in the long run meant more dissipation. They have invariably raised the standards of living. Always the succeeding genera- THE DAY'S WORK 63 tion of workers has shown extraordinary improvement in physique, intelligence, and morals. The first use the printers made of the eight-hour day was to es- tablish a correspondence school in the artistic aspects of their craft. So clear is the case that the Factory Inspectors of America in convention assembled de- clared that scarcely any movement of the century over- shadows the shortening of the hours of work in im- portance for the moral and material welfare of society. The Limits of Law. Law can be used to prevent fatigue. For its own protection, the nation can fix the length of the working day at the point where fatigue endangers community health and morals. This is not the breaking-point, as one far-seeing labor leader points out, but the point where the limit of elasticity is passed. In the testing of steel, where the breaking- point can be calculated, the danger point is found to be about half-way to breaking. The precise location must be determined for men and women as well as for steel, through experiment in the effects of over- strain. This danger-point is the limit of action for the law, and laws can be broken or evaded. But where the law ends, the gospel begins. The Call of Brotherhood. The gospel that teaches us to love our neighbor as ourselves calls to us to share with him the opportunity for all the develop- ment of life. The groups of workers at the bottom of society, already weakened by overwork, often in- heriting its effects from generations before them, are not able alone to emancipate themselves from its pres- sure. It is a challenge to the intelligence and strength 64 THE GOSPEL FOR A WORKING WORLD of the churches to discover how the hours of labor can be reduced to the point where it is possible for this group to gain development and culture. The gos- pel teaching of brotherhood requires that work and leisure must both be shared, that there must be a brotherhood of toil and a brotherhood of culture. A New Spirit. It is clearly the present duty of the churches to permeate society with this principle of brotherhood. To relieve the community from the bur- den of overwork there are three forces at work the defensive power of labor organizations, the good-will of employers, the strong hand of the law. All these the church can aid and stimulate. But after all it is a new spirit that industry needs, the spirit that Jesus revealed in his life and death the spirit of service which will lead the strong to share life with the weak and to discover the methods that will forever eman- cipate the^ workers from bondage to excessive toil. Ill THE PAY ENVELOP Aim: To show. the religious nature of the demand of the industrial workers for increased income, in- order that the church may recognize its missionary duty in regard to it. Ill THE PAY ENVELOP Working for Wages. "How much does he get?" It is a common question wherever business men con- gregate. It is not infrequently heard in other gath- erings, even among preachers. The question used to be: "How much is he worth?" The change indicates the fact that most of the men who work in the busi- ness world are working for some one else. This is one of the results of the organization of industry into corporations. It means that for the great majority of workers, from the unskilled laborer to the man of high intellectual capacity and skilled training, there is a fixed income. Some draw wages and some take a salary, but the income of both groups no longer rep- resents what they can make as in the old days of small independent, competitive business enterprises, but rather the supposed value of their services to the employing firm. Even the president of the company is required to serve the stockholders with all his time and ability. He is not supposed to have any independent interest. A few years ago it was considered perfectly proper for him to make money "on the side," even out of his own corporation. But that practise is now generally regarded as unethical. The days of great adventure in money-making are ending; the old freebooting days, when strong men took what they found, are done. 67 68 THE GOSPEL FOR A WORKING WORLD A Significant Change. A man who draws a salary of $100,000 a year for managing a great business was recently reminded by a radical journal that even though he is a prominent man in the financial and civic life of his city, yet as much as any bundle girl in that store he is working for the heirs of the founder of his business. "They are your fellow employees," he was told ; "would it not be well for you to recog- nize your duty to them ?" Here is a twofold advance, holding great possibilities. The motive of service to an organization is exalted above the motive of un- bridled gain, and this emphasizes the community of interest and the necessity of fellow-feeling between all grades of workers. Suppose now that the motive of service can be extended from the employing organi- zation to the whole community, so that both those who draw salaries and those who get wages shall come to know that they are working for the public good and not primarily to make money for others ! How would this tend to realize Jesus' teaching of brother- hood and service? A Living or a Life. The reason that the size of the pay envelop or the salary check is a topic of com- pelling interest in social gatherings and in assemblies of preachers as well as in business circles, is because the fact of income is central in the life of the family. The home cannot start until there is money enough to provide for it. Whether or not it can maintain cer- tain standards is finally determined by the size of its income. Around the pay envelop, the home life of the industrial worker revolves. It is to him what the prospect of the crop is to the farmer. It means THE PAY ENVELOP 69 health or sickness, clothes and education for his chil- dren. It even means how much church life the family feels itself able to have. "We cannot come because our clothes will not let us feel at home," is the con- stant answer of the people of small income to the church visitor. A Burning Question. The problem of family finance is a burning and a far-reaching issue. For many a worker who will live and die in his trade with a fixed income, it means first, "Can I afford to marry? Will my wage support a family in decency?" And then later when the children come, "How will we tide over this winter with our kiddies?" and later, "How will they be fed, clothed, and educated?" This is the tragedy of the pay envelop which is being acted week by week, month by month, in millions of homes all over this land, as the family income is be- ing worked out into standards of living. The out- come of that tragedy in any family is of supreme in- terest to the community because it has to bear the consequences. In some cases the tragedy of the fam- ily income is because it is too big. It promotes lux- ury and degeneration. It means automobiles and joy rides and foolish dances into the small hours for the young people, with inevitable physical and moral weakness. For millions more the tragedy is that the pay envelop is too small. They must live constantly on the "poverty line," with never enough to satisfy their aspirations or provide efficiency of life. "Charley X is not here to-day," said a Y. M. C. A. secretary to an employer who grumbled that the workers wasted their money in drink and tobacco, "because he has 70 THE GOSPEL FOR A WORKING WORLD not a suit of clothes fit to go out in; and the reason is because he is trying to send his boys through high school, and the wages you pay will not permit it un- less he stints himself." What Is a Living? For some time now the stu- dents of labor conditions have been talking about a "standard of living/' That means the measurement of family welfare in terms of income and expenditure. It means determining the amount of goods necessary to provide a family with a certain amount of well- being, and then the amount of income necessary to provide these goods. In these studies the size of the family has been arbitrarily set at five; a man and a wife and three children below the wage-earning period. This happens to be the average family for the great majority of Americans. Two standards have been set ; one, a minimum standard of living ; the other, an effi- ciency or comfort standard. The Minimum Standard. The minimum standard means the amount that is necessary to maintain life at the bare level of physical efficiency. Below it "lies insufficient education, absence of decency and privacy, ill-ventilated rooms, unhandsome clothing, and food ill adapted for nutrition." It is so low that few fam- ilies would be expected to live upon it. It provides only the food necessary for continued working, cloth- ing enough to keep warm, changes to keep clean and avoid rags, the minimum of light and fuel, and the sundries necessary for house cleaning. No provision is made for carfare, funeral expenses, or insurance. The Efficiency Standard. The fair, or efficiency, standard provides in addition some things for the de- THE PAY ENVELOP 71 velopment of life and the satisfaction of normal de- sires: a varied diet and a complete amount of nutri- tion, clothing allowance for individual tastes and changes for Sundays and holidays, housing with one room to every one and a half persons, allowance for health and insurance and some simple recreation. Practically no luxuries are allowed, but minimum com- forts are provided and all of the strict necessities are made possible. This standard sends the children to school, pays for medical care except in prolonged ill- ness, and it means the very simple life. What Does It Cost? To determine the cost of the standards of living we have the results of a number of investigations, three of them made by the federal government in different states. These results, com- pared with those furnished by half a dozen private investigators in different cities and by a number of writers who have popularized the various problems of making income stretch to family support, all tend "to the same conclusion namely, that a family of five, a man, wife, and three children under fourteen, require from $400 to $600 to provide subsistence, and from $650 to $1,000 to insure efficiency. The vari- ations are between different sections of the country, and between different cities and towns." But these estimates were made before the summer of 1914. To them must be added the rise in the cost of living due to the war. A recent investigation of the federal De- partment of Labor covering the actual cost of the major articles of food generally used by workingmen's families in different cities shows that an average of 27 per cent, has been added to the cost of these items Under the relentless sun and dragging heavy bags, children in the cotton fields continue their monotonous, finger-benumbing task through the long day. A child of five will pick thirty pounds of the light, feathery bolls, and this is the beginning of years of incessant grind and great physical strain. Courtesy of National Child Labor Committee. THE PAY ENVELOP 73 of food. Other articles have become still higher. What About Wages? The facts about wages are incomplete. They indicate, however, that in the manu- facturing and transportation industries east of the Rockies and north of the Mason and Dixon Line, the adult male wage-earners receive in annual earnings: One tenth under $325. Three fourths under $600. One fifth under $400. Nine tenths under $800. One half under $500. The adult females employed in that section receive : One fifth under $200. Nine tenths under $500. Three fifths under $325. Nineteen twentieths under $600. It is a fair conclusion that 10,000,000 wage-earners in the United States receive less than $500, and that the average income of 12,000,000 is only $500. The latest study in the distribution of income in the United States, by Professor Willford I. King of Wis- consin, concludes that 26.08 per cent, of the fami- lies receive less than $600. The 1910 census de- clares that the average wage of those working in manufactories is $670. This includes the high-salaried persons at the top the directors, superintendents, and others. While wages have generally been raised as a result of the war, in only a few skilled trades has the increase kept pace with the added cost of living. Workers on the Soil. The Federal Commission on Industrial Relations heard testimony concerning the conditions of tenant farmers in some sections, particu- larly in the South and Southwest, where wages are lower in industry than in the northern section of the country. This testimony showed conclusively that a 74 THE GOSPEL FOR A WORKING WORLD large proportion of the agricultural workers of the region were living on less than the minimum standard of nourishment. With tenancy increasing in our pros- perous agricultural states, it means that there will be a lower standard of living for the children of tenant farmers than there was for the owners of a previous generation. The United States Department of Agriculture re- ports the results of study of the labor income, includ- ing family supplies, of 3,935 farmers as follows: 579 or 14.7 per cent, less than $600. 2,106 or 33.5 per cent., between $600 and $1,000. 1,250 or 31.8 per cent., over $1,000. Professor Paul L. Vogt concludes after a compari- son with statistics of income for other groups that the farmer is faring better than the great majority of bread-winners in cities and is better off financially than the most numerous professional groups the preachers and teachers. The United States Depart- ment of Agriculture also reports that the average wages per year, without board, for the farm laborer, in 1915 were $361.80. Some Current Facts. Many people believe that be- cause wages have been rising the condition of the wage-earners has been steadily improving. Professor King concludes that there has been a decline of "real" wages since 1900; that is, a decline in the amount of goods and well-being that can be secured by a given amount of wages. He declares that the lot of the worker is worse off than it was before 1900, and that the wage-earners have not shared nearly as much in prosperity as have the rich. It is the economic law that THE PAY ENVELOP 75 wages always rise after prices and fall before them. The head of the Ford Social Welfare Department makes the statement that the value of real estate in Detroit jumped $50,000,000 for five years as a result of the Ford profit-sharing plan. This is one of the reasons why living expenses have so increased in De- troit that the workingman now receiving $5 a day finds that he cannot live as well as he could before the introduction of profit-sharing on $3 a day. De- troit, with its large automobile industry, is a high-wage town, yet its social workers in assembly recently de- clared that 75 per cent, of the families of its wage- earners did not have a "fair" standard of living. Some More Facts. New York has paid big bonuses to the officials of the Interborough Rapid Transit Company, which is building the new subway, but the muckers the men who dig the clay and the dirt out of the excavation have been receiving $1.50 a day. Later the rate was raised to $1.75, but this is com- pletely inadequate to provide even a minimum stand- ard of living for the average family in New York City. Here the community itself is employing- men on con- tract at less than a living wage. The Youngstown Chamber of Commerce, in defending its town against the aspersions that came upon it because of a strike, lists nine cities in Ohio with their average wages. Youngstown appears at the top of the list with an average of $8.50 per week, while the lowest city pays $6.04 per week. These are census figures, but they do not show the real conditions because, in taking the average, they include proprietors, firm members, and salaried employees, some of whose salaries are mom- 76 THE GOSPEL FOR A WORKING WORLD in a year than the wage-earner gets in fifteen years. Dividing the amount paid in wages by the number of wage-earners gives $778 for Youngstown instead of $8.50, and it must be remembered that averages do not help the men who fall below them. As one labor leader is fond of saying, "You can't eat an average." After receiving two ten-per-cent. advances the com- mon laborer still makes in Youngstown only $2.50 in a ten-hour day. This does not provide a fair standard of living. What One Church Found. A men's Bible class se- cured positions for 175 unemployed men during 1916. It reports: Of the 175 positions, 45 were filled by married men with an average monthly wage of $48, The average wage for single men was $41 per month. Considering the present high cost of living, the facts revealed through our employment bureau indicate that the vast majority are receiving less than a living wage, a fact which is the prin- cipal cause of poverty. No wage can be adequate in the fullest sense of that term until it makes possible reasonable livelihood and economic and social standards. Within the Church. The same class called for big brothers to help some of its 500 members meet their actual living expenses. It recorded the following: Mr. S , married, five in family. Wages when work- ing full time, $12.60. Expenses: food, $6 per week; rent, $2 per week; fuel, $1.80 per week; furniture on instalment plan, $1 per week; insurance, 75 cents per month; oil, 20 cents per week; water meter, 50 cents per month. No provision made for clothing, sickness, or recreation. Mr. T , married, four in family. Wages $9 per week. Expenses: food, $6 per week; rent, $3 per week; fuel, $1.25 per week; furniture on instalment plan. No provision made for clothing, sickness, or recreation. This man is continually run- ning behind. Collectors are constantly "dunning" him. Has a little baby which must have milk regularly. THE PAY ENVELOP 77 Mr. P , married, five in family. Wages $13 per week. Expenses : food, $7 per week ; rent, $3 per week ; fuel, $1.25 per week; gas, 25 cents per week; clothing on instalment plan, $1 per week. No provision made for emergencies. Has one little baby which has been sick much of the time. It is unnecessary to state further cases at this time. The above will give you some idea as to how many of our members have to struggle in order to eke out a bare existence. A Business Agency Reports: The background of wage demands appears when we look over recent budgets. In the case of the Detroit street-car men a budget of necessary expenses for a workman's family consist- ing of himself, wife, and three children, recently showed $1,486 as the required figure. On the basis of this exhibit a maximum wage of 40 cents per hour was granted! Working ten hours a day for 300 days a man would thus earn $1,200 in a year. In Dallas,, Texas, average expenditures in fifty workmen's families were $1,135 per year. Average income, with no allowance for loss of time, was $962. Necessities for a "safe, normal living" were estimated at $1,081. So long as this disparity between in- come and living costs remains, clients may expect continued labor trouble. The Case of the Waitresses. Studying the wait- resses of New York, the Consumers' League found that 87 per cent, of these women workers got less than $9 a week, which is the minimum on which a girl can live independently in New York. Even with food and tips added, the proportion of those receiving less than a living wage is 30 per cent. Of the kitchen and pan- try hands who make up 28 per cent, of all the workers, one third receive less than $6, and three fourths less than $8 a week. This is in spite of the fact that a special dress is often required and that fines for late- ness are customary. In almost every place mistakes and breakages are charged to the girls. It was found that 65 per cent, of those who had been at work less than a year received $6 or more a week and only 55 per cent, of those working over ten years get as much. 78 THE GOSPEL FOR A WORKING WORLD A Typical Situation. The Springfield Survey in a typical American community, not industrial, showed that low wages prevailed. The minimum for an un- skilled male was $1.75 to $2. Women in laundries were getting $6 a week. Salesgirls in the five-and-ten- cent stores averaged $4 to $5 a week, but these stores employed girls living at home only. One girl who had worked seven years got $5 a week. The coal miners average from $2.62 for day-laborers to $5 and more a day for miners and leaders, but in 1914 the men worked only 181 days. The yearly income makes it impossible for many of these supposedly high-paid men to supply the average family with the minimum necessities of life. That this is indeed a typical situa- tion is further indicated by the fact that studies of three of the leading industries of the United States show that a large proportion of the workers in them are not receiving an income sufficient to provide the minimum standard for the family. A fair conclusion of all existing wage studies is that approximately 50 per cent, of the wage-earners are unable to provide a minimum family standard of living in the small town, and approximately 75 per cent, cannot provide it in the large city. It means that of the families whose income is between $700 and $800, 30 per cent, are underfed, 52 per cent, underclothed, 58 per cent, are overcrowded. What Does This Mean? This means that, eliminat- ing inefficiency, drunkenness, and shiftlessness from the discussion, a large proportion of the population is living continuously upon the "poverty line," the line where income is barely adequate to provide the abso- THE PAY ENVELOP 79 lute necessities, with nothing left over to meet the inevitable emergencies of life. It means that those energies which, if stimulated by a little more income, might go to develop a higher standard of living, are now used up in the constant struggle to prevent a def- icit. The strength that ought to be available for the greater issues of life is going into the drudgery of getting enough to eat and wear and pay the rent, to keep the home going, and to raise the children. If sickness or unemployment comes, the family must be dependent on others. It is pushed down below the poverty line and often never rises again. The Effect on the Family. Says Scott Nearing: "Below the standard of subsistence lies family disso- lution, misery, want, starvation, disease and death. These inevitable things, following as night follows day, present themselves to the consciousness of the thinking wage-earner who looks toward the future." He is continually haunted by the shadow of fear that ever falls across the hearthstone of those who must live in the region of inadequate income. Says the New York Charity Organization Society concerning the wage paid the men in the subway excavation: Organized iniquities, 198 Overtime work, xiii, xiv Pagan idea accepts lower classes and slaves, 1 66, 167 Painter's colic, 14 Patten, Simon N., referred to, 87 Pay envelop, 68 Pennsylvania, mine safety, g People as property, 210 Personal question, the, 249 Personality, development of, xi, xii; made precious, 24 Phossy-jaw, 1 5 Police, and law enforcers, disre- garding law, 122, 123; lawful action inspires a like spirit, 122- 124 Poor, the, in the United States, 90 Possessions and possessors, xi. TOO Poverty, and luxury, 203, 206, 213: "Poverty line," 78, 79; removal of, 96; might be cured by justice, 89 Practical Man, Mr., 86-89 Presbyterian Church in the U. S. A., 176 Preventive measures, 9, 10 Printed helps by the church for wage-earners, 146 Producers, xi, 100; and possessors, 196 Production as a motive for work, 202 Races and nationalities change in the coal-field, 182, 183 Railroads, passenger and worker ac- cidents, 5 Reconstruction or reform, 204 "Red-light district" for strike-break- ers, in Reduction of hours and results. 62 Relationships, right and wrong, 195, 196, 248 Religion, against the autocrat. 169; Hebrew standards makes room to develop 58-60; tends to bring justice, 89; to be infused into work, 190 Religious, effort may prevent trouble, 114, 115; hunger in la- bor world, 148, 149; publishing houses criticized as ignoring rights of labor, 136 Remington Typewriter Company, 9 Rescue work in mines, 9 Rest day for workers church's first goal, 58 Revolt caused by denial of demo- cratic control, 173 Rewards as a stimulus, 221 Rich, the, in the United States, 90 Right, of petition, 179; to organize, 180; to work, 25 Rivalry instead of peace, 234 Robbins, Raymond, referred to, 48 Roman profligacy in Jesus' time, 206 Sacrificial service, 96 "Safety museum." 20 Salaries of some officials, 91 INDEX 259 Salesgirls' wages, 78 San Francisco employment bureau, 28 Savages changed into Christians, 219 Seamen's fatalities, 6 Service the motive in work, 222 Settlements, x Seven-day week induces fatigue, 49 Sex, and work relationships, 215; evils increased by overwork, 46, Shingle-mill cooperative effort, 190 Short hour legislation, 42, 59, 60 Simple living, doctrine of, 208, 214 Six-day week. 59, 60 Slavery, abolished by gospel proc- lamation, 243 Social creed of the churches to be taken honestly, 138, 141, 142, 157 Social, justice, 96; living, new ideal of, 205; principles of Jesus, 237; religion needed, 162; results of organized labor, 185, 186 Socialism, inclusive spirit, 152 Socialists^ 140, 147; Christian, 146, 147; views of Jesus, 149 Solidarity, an ideal of the church and of Iabor,"i54; views of the I. W. W., 152 Song and work, 35-38 Spahr, Charles B., referred to, 90 Speech, aggressive use of by the church, 140; anti -religious, 145 "Speeding up," 55, 56 Spiritual needs of labor and capi- tal, 127 Springfield, Ohio, survey, light as to the long day, 54; wage fig- ures, 78 Standard of living, 69, 70 State Industrial Commission of New York, 145 Steel works, safety efforts, 7 Steiner, Edward A., quoted, 47 Sterile, Rev. Charles, quoted, 47; referred to, 51, 133, 155 Stewardship, principle of, 213 Stores, excessive hours, 55 Strikers and strikes, 177, 182 Struggle between property and life, 210 Suffrage, growth of, 170 Sunday rest, 134, i43t 144 Surplus, better distribution of, 89 Survey, referred to, xi Swartz, Rev. H. F., referred to, 133 Switzerland, 44 Syndicalism, 147. See also Indus- trial Workers of the World Temperance gains from shorter hours, 62 Temptations of the streets, 229 Tenements, 22; income from, 217 Trade agreements, 181 Trade union, a start in representa- tive government in the workshop, 1 80 Trade unionism. See Labor Union- ism. Tuberculosis, an industrial and so- cial disease, 21, 22 Twofold task, 234 Types of work, 247 Unchristian industrial conditions, xiv Unemployable group, 26, 27 Unemployment, evils of, 26-28 "Unfair" standards charged against the church, 136 United States, 44; a world power, 245; Bureau of Labor, 26, 117; Commission on Industrial Rela- tions, 26; Department of Agri- culture, 74; private armies with government functions, 124, 125; Public Health Service, 13, 21, *8, 81; Steel Corporation, 48, 2325 to be Christianired, ix; unskilled im- migrants and the .living wage. 231; workers in continuous indus- tries, 49 Victims of industrial conflict, some, 227 View of a home mission worker, Violence, how to forestall, 127; in- cited by brutal law officers, 105, 1 06, 122, 123; rarely a direct aim, in Vogt, Paul L., referred to, 74 W Wage-earners, 9, it, 91; causes of low health, 21; income of, 71-78, 260 INDEX 8 1, 82; life to be made safe, 32; loss of time, 26; wage needs and improvements, 82, 83, 95 Wage slavery has a real meaning, 171 Waitresses in New York City, wages, 77 War and the economic struggle, 197* progress in trade agree- ment, 184 War, 195, 197. See also European War . War of capital and labor. See Labor wars Washington Square Methodist Epis- copal Church in New York, hos- jitality to labor, 156 health, concentration of, 203; dis- tribution in United States, 90 Welfare work, 91 When property is sacred, 2x8 Pi Wej Women, and children first, 244; workers and fatigue, 48 Wood alcohol poisoning, 15 Work, and sex relationships, 215; a missionary enterprise, 215; lack of is spiritual waste, 25; motives for, 199, 201; to help life, 40 Work-day, a shorter, 34 Workers' World, quoted, 134 Workingmen, direct and outspoken, 140; points against the church, J 35 J 36 view of the church and religion, 127, 128; with interest in unions church means less, 133 Workmen's compensation law, 210 Wright, Carroll D., referred to, 117, 186 Youngstown, Ohio, wages, 75, 76 LIST OF MISSION BOARDS AND CORRESPONDENTS The Missionary Education Movement is conducted in behalf of the Foreign and Home Mission Boards and Societies of the 'United States and Canada. Orders for literature on foreign and home missions should be ad- dressed to the secretaries representing those organizations, wh are pre- pared to furnish special helps to leaders of mission study classes and to other missionary workers. If the address of the secretary of the Foreign or Home Mission Board or Society of your denomination is unknown, orders may be sent to the Missionary Education Movement. All persons ordering from the Mission- ary Education Movement are requested to indicate their denominations when ordering. ADVENT CHRISTIAN American Advent Mission Society, Rev. George E. Tyler, 160 Warren Street, Boston, Mass. ASSOCIATE REFORMED PRESBYTERIAN Young People's Christian Union and Sabbath School Work, Rev. J. W. Carson, Newberry, S. C. BAPTIST (NORTH) Department of Missionary Education of the Cooperating Organizations of the Northern Baptist Convention, 23 East 26th Street, New York City. BAPTIST (SOUTH) Foreign Mission Board of the Southern Baptist Conven- tion, Rev. T. B. Ray, 1103 Main Street, Richmond, Va. (Correspon- dence concerning both foreign and home missions.) BAPTIST (COLORED) Foreign Mission Board of the National Baptist Con- vention, Rev. L. G. Jordan, 701 South Nineteenth Street, Philadelphia, CHRISTIAN The Mission Board of the Christian Chtirch: Foreign Missions, Rev. M. T. Morrill; Home Missions, Rev. Omer S. Thomas, C. P. A. Building, Dayton, Ohie. CHRISTIAN REFORMED Board of Heathen Missions, Rev. Henry Beets, 2050 Francis Avenue, S. E., Grand Rapids, Mich. CHURCH OF THE BRETHREN General Mission Board of the Church of the Brethren, Rev. Galen B. Royer, Elgin, III. CONGREGATIONAL American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions. Rev. D. Brewer Eddy, 14 Beacon Street, Boston, Mass. American- Missionary Association, Rev. C. J. Ryder, 287 Fourth Avenue, New York City. Congregational Education Society, Rev. Miles B. Fisher, 14 Beacon St., Boston, Mass. The Congregational Home Missionary Society, Rev. William S. Beard, 287 Fourth Avenue, New York City. DISCIPLES OF CHRIST Foreign Christian Missionary Society, Rev. Stephen T. Corey, Box 884, Cincinnati, Ohio. The American Christian Missionary Society, Mr. R. M. Hopkins, Cartw Building, Cincinnati, Ohio. EVANGELICAL ASSOCIATION Missionary Society of the Evangelical Asso- ciation, Rev. George Johnson, 1903 Woodland Avenue, S. E., Cleve- land, Ohio. EVANGELICAL LUTHERAN Board of Foreign Missions of the General Coun- cil of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in N. A., Rev. George Dracb, Trappe, Pa. Board of Home Missions of the General Council of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in North America, 80^807 Drexel Building, Phila- delphia, Pa. Board of Foreign Missions of the General Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in the U. S. A., Rev. L. B. Wolff, 21 West Sara- toga Street, Baltimore, Md. Board of Home Missions and Church Extension of the Evangelical Lutheran Church, Rev. H. H. Weber, York, Pa. Board of Foreign Missions of the United Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in the South, Rev. C. L. Brown, Columbia, S. C. FRIENDS American Friends Board of Foreign Missions, Mr. Ross A. Had- ley, Richmond, Ind. Evangelistic and Church Extension Board of the Friends Five Years' Meeting, Mr. Harry R. Keates, 1314 Lyon Street, DCS Moines, Iowa. GERMAN EVANGELICAL Foreign Mission Board, German Evangelical Synod of North America, Rev. E. Schmidt, 1377 Main Street. Buffalo, N. Y. METHODIST EPISCOPAL For Mission Study, Miss Inez Traxler, Department of Mission Study and Christian Stewardship of the Epworth League, 74<- Rush Street, Chicago, Illinois. For Missionary Education in the Sun- day School, Rev. Gilbert Loveland, Department of Missionary Educa- tion of the Board of Sunday Schools, 58 East Washington Street, Chi- cago, Illinois. METHODIST EPISCOPAL (SOUTH) The Educational Department of the Beard of Missions of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, Rev. C G. Hounshell. 810 Broadway, Nashville, Tenn. (Correspondence concerning both foreign and home missions.) METHODIST PROTESTANT Board of Foreign Missions of the Methodist Protestant Church, Rev. Fred C. Klein, 316 North Charles Street, Baltimore, Md. Board of Home Missions of the Methodist Protestant Church, Rev. Charles H. Beck, 507 Pittsburgh Life Building, Pittsburgh, Pa. MORAVIAN The Department of Missionary Education of the Moravian Church in America, Northern Province, Rev. F. W. Stengel, Lititz, PRESBYTERIAN (U. S. A.) The Board of Foreign Missions of the Pros- byterian Church in the U. S. A., Mr. B. Carter Millikin, Educational Secretary, 156 Fifth Avenue, New York City. Board of Home Missions of the Presbyterian Church in the U. S. A., Mr. Ralph A. Felton, Director of Educational Work, 156 Fifth Avenue, New York Citv PRESBYTERIAN (U. S.) Executive Committee of Foreign Missions of the Presbyterian Church in the U. S., Mr. John I. Armstrong, 210 Union Street, Nashville, Tenn. General Assembly's Home Missions of the Presbyterian Church in the U. S., Rev. S. L. Morris, 1522 Hurt Building, Atlanta, Ga. PROTESTANT EPISCOPAL The Domestic and Foreign. Missionary Society pt the Protestant Episcopal Church in the U. S. A., Mr. W. C. Sturgis, 281 Fourth Avenue, New York City. REFORMED CHURCH IN AMERICA Board of Foreign Missions, Rev. L. J. Shafer; Board of Home Missions, Rev. W. T. Demarest; Board of Publication and Bible School Work, Rev. T. F. Bayles. 25 East Twenty-second Street, New York City. REFORMED CHURCH IN THE UNITED STATES Mission Study Department. Representing the Boards of Home and Foreign Missions, Mr. John H. Poorman, 304 Reformed Church Building, Fifteenth and Race Streets, Philadelphia, Pa. UNITED BRETHREN IN CHRIST Foreign Missionary Society, Rev. S. S. Hough, Otterbein Press Building, Dayton, Ohio. Home Missionary Society, Miss Lyda B. Wiggiro, United Brethren Building, Dayton, Ohio. Young People's Work, Rev. O. T. Deever, Otterbein Press Building, Dayton, Ohio. TED EVANGELICAL Home and Foreign Missionary Society of the United Evangelical Church and Board of Church Extension, Rev. B. H. Niebei, Penbrook, Pa. TED NORWEGIAN LUTHERAN Board of Foreign Missions United Nor. wegian Lutheran Church of America, Rev. M. Saterlie, 425-429 South Fourth Street, Minneapolis, Minn. Board of Home Missions, United Norwegian Lutheran Church of Amer- ica, Rev. Olaf Guldseth, 425 South Fourth Street, Minneapolis, Minn, UNITED PRESBYTERIAN Mission Study Department of the Board of For eign Missions of the United Presbyterian Church of North America Miss Anna A. Milligan, 200 North Fifteenth Street, Philadelphia, Pa, Board of Home Missions of the United Presbyterian Church of North America, Kev. K. A. Hutchison, 209 Ninth Street, Pittsburgh, Pa. UNIVEBSALIST Department of Missionary Education of the General Sun- day School Association, Rev. A. Gertrude Earle, Methuen, Mass. Send all orders for literature to Universaiist Publishing House, 359 Boylston Street, Boston, Mass. CANADIAN BOARDS BAFTIST The Canadian Baptist Foreign Mission Board, Rev. J. G. Brown, 223 Church Street, Toronto, Ontario. CHURCH OF ENGLAND The Missionary Society of the Church of England in Canada, Rev. Canon S. Gould, 131 Confederation Life Building, Toronto, Ontario. ( ONGRncATiONAL Canada Congregational Foreign Missionary Society, Mia F./T-c Jamieson, 23 Woodlawn Avenue, East, Toronto, Ontario. &CETKODIST Young People's Forward Movement Department of the Mis- sionary Sweety of the Methodist Church, Canada, Rev. F. C. Stephen- s>on, 209 G,ueen Street, West, Toronto, Ontario. PRESBYTERIAN Presbyterian Church in Canada, Board of Foreign Mis- sions, Rev. A. E. Armstrong, 439 Confederation Life Building, To- ronto, Ontario. REVISED TO 1917 THIS BOOK IS DUE ON THE LAST DATE STAMPED BELOW AN INITIAL FINE OF 25 CENTS WILL BE ASSESSED FOR FAILURE TO RETURN THIS BOOK ON THE DATE DUE. THE PENALTY WILL INCREASE TO SO CENTS ON THE FOURTH DAY AND TO $1.OO ON THE SEVENTH DAY OVERDUE. APR 30 1934 nnn 1 *i ir* C" 1A AM MAY 1 iaj APR 1 3 '65 -10 AM i^w V6S4! * a& iu J UL 9 1940 REC LD JUL21'65-5PM I -' 'f .I-M ^E '' 1