Part 8

Failure on the part of the churches of Terre Haute, Ind., to grasp the problems of its 11,000 workingmen led to the holding of a “labor parliament.” This parliament, convened last May, was directed by Harry F. Ward of the Methodist Federation for Social Service. There were three meetings in different churches, where the problems of industry and Christianity were discussed in an open and frank manner.

But the prime movers realized, early in April, that to make this parliament a success much local work would have to be done. As a stepping-stone, the ministers adopted an industrial creed, which was floated over the city, with the result that the laboring man discovered that he and the church had common ideals toward which to aim.

The local work in the churches was adapted to the particular condition of the locality, all efforts, however, being focused on the labor parliament to be held in May. Shop meetings were held, lantern slides of existing conditions were shown, and mass meetings for working men and girls conducted. Besides these features, the newspapers helped this most interesting scheme along, so that by the time set for the labor parliament, all Terre Haute was prepared for the co-operative discussion, which was to prove so beneficial to the church and organized labor. The Central Labor Union co-operated well with the movement and appointed a committee of three prominent labor men to help the ministerial committee.

The labor parliament was, indeed, a success. Dr. Ward chose as his subjects, Industry and Social Waste, Democracy in Industry, and the Industrial Problem of Christianity. In all his talks Dr. Ward opened the eyes of labor world and church. One, he showed, could not be of full benefit in its community without the co-operation of the other. And now, nearly a year after this industrial revival, what are the results? Are any permanent effects apparent from these efforts, or did the movement, swelling into the three days’ parliament, gradually fade away and become forgotten by the laboring man? A few pointed statements of those nearest the problem of both the church and laboring man will show the result.

A. M. Powers, president of the Central Labor Union, has this to say of its success. “The movement has been beneficial, as far as I can see, to both sides. When the church can show that the laboring man is not an insect to be placed upon a sociological dissecting table for amused speculations of theologians, but a man to be helped and to help advance the cause of the brotherhood of man through the church, then the antagonism will be replaced by a hearty co-operation because this spirit of brotherhood is the basis of the organized labor movement.

“I believe the churches of Terre Haute have shown that this is the spirit of their activity in their last year’s efforts, and as an individual I endorse the movement and think that as long as the same spirit is shown the labor unions will be willing to work hand in hand with the church.”

George W. Greenleaf, secretary-treasurer of District Lodge No. 72, International Association of Machinists, and city councilman, says:

“The labor parliament and the preceding church services held in Terre Haute last winter were beyond the question of a doubt a benefit to organized labor. The chief benefit derived, in my estimation, consisted in the dispelling of the popular prejudice against our organizations and the placing of our cause on a higher plane in the minds of the public.”

TERRE HAUTE’S INDUSTRIAL CREED

_United we stand_:

_For equal rights and perfect justice to all men._

_For the principle of conciliation and arbitration._

_For the protection of workers from dangerous machinery, occupational diseases, injuries and mortality._

_For the abolition of child labor._

_For such regulations of conditions of labor for women as shall safeguard the physical and moral health of the community._

_For the suppression of “the sweating system.”_

_For a reasonable reduction of the hours of labor to the lowest practical point with labor for all and a reasonable degree of leisure._

_For release from employment one day in seven, and whenever at all possible that this be the Sabbath Day._

_For the highest wage that each industry can afford and for the most equitable division of the profits of industry that can be devised._

_For the recognition of the Golden Rule (Matt. 7:12) and the teachings of Christ as the supreme law of society and the sure remedy of all ills._

The ministers of the city feel much the same way about the effects of the parliament.

Rev. A. E. Monger, pastor of the largest Methodist church in the city and one of the promoters of the movement, says:

“Since the campaign there has been crystalized in the churches a sentiment of responsibility for the welfare of the laboring man. The laboring men have found that the gospel does have a message against the great sins under which they are struggling.”

As a further evidence of the parliament’s lasting effect, Rev. John G. Benson, another of its promoters, may be quoted:

“We are getting requests from every quarter for a repetition of the parliament.”

NEW RECOGNITION OF SOCIAL CHRISTIANITY

In religious periodical literature two high notes of social significance have recently been struck. The _Constructive Quarterly_ has appeared from the press of the George H. Doran Company in America and Hodder & Stoughton in England. It is planned to be a free forum where all the churches of Christendom may frankly and fully state their “operative beliefs” and their distinctive work, “including and not avoiding differences,” but making “no attack with polemical animus on others.”

The purpose of this undertaking is to afford opportunity for the churches, without compromise, “to re-introduce themselves to one another through the things they themselves positively hold to be vital to Christianity,” “so that all may know what the differences are and what they stand for, and that all may respect them, in order to cherish and preserve whatever is true and helpful and to discover and grow out of whatever is harmful and false.”

As it has no editorial pronouncements and no scheme for the unity of Christendom to promote, the _Quarterly_ will depend upon the catholicity and representative influence of its editorial board, selected from all countries and communions, to promote a fellowship of work and spirit. The middle term of the _Quarterly’s_ subtitle—a journal of the Faith, Work and Thought of Christendom—is likely to prove the basis for the correlation of the other two. For long before the faith and the thought of Christendom may be correlated, the churches will surely co-operate in their common work.

The _Hibbert Journal_, which for ten years has been the ablest technical quarterly review of theology and philosophy, announces a department of social service. This policy was foreshadowed by the editor as early as October, 1906, in a notably direct and able protest against the church standing aloof from “the world.” He stoutly maintained that

“the alienation from church life of so much that is good in modern culture, and so much that is earnest in every class, is the natural sequel to the traditional attitude of the church to the world.”

How false and unintelligible, as well as untenable, this attitude is appears in these categorical imperatives:

“If by ‘the world’ we mean such things as parliamentary or municipal government, the great industries of the nation, the professions of medicine, law, and arms, the fine arts, the courts of justice, the hospitals, the enterprises of education, the pursuit of physical science and its application to the arts of life, the domestic economy of millions of homes, the daily work of all the toilers—if, in short, we include that huge complex of secular activities which keeps the world up from hour to hour, and society as a going concern—then the churches which stand apart and describe all this as morally bankrupt are simply advertising themselves as the occupiers of a position as mischievous as it is false.

“If, on the other hand, we exclude these things from our definition, what, in reason, do we mean by ‘the world?’ Or shall we so frame the definition as to ensure beforehand that all the bad elements belong to the world, and all the good to the church? Or, again, shall we take refuge in the customary remark that whatever is best in these secular activities is the product of Christian influence and teaching in the past? This course, attractive though it seems, is the most fatal of all. For if the world has already absorbed so much of the best the churches have to offer, how can these persist in declaring that the former is morally bankrupt?

“Extremists have not yet perceived how disastrously this dualistic theory thus recoils upon the cause they would defend. The church in her theory has stood aloof from the world. And now the world takes deadly revenge by maintaining the position assigned her and standing aloof from the church.”

No better prospectus for the social work of either of these great quarterlies could be framed than the intention to demonstrate and bear home to the intelligence, conscience and heart of the churches these very affirmations. For, while enough of church leaders and followers thus face forward to warrant Professor Rauschenbusch in declaring that it has at last become orthodox to demand the social application of Christianity, yet there is a sharp reaction within every denomination, which threatens to retard this hopeful movement of the churches to serve their communities and thereby save themselves.

But the ultimate issue between those who are thus fearlessly facing the present and those who persist in backing up into the future cannot be doubtful. Social Christianity is not only demonstrably orthodox, but has won its recognition and its own place in any theological, philosophical, historical or experiential conception of Christianity that claims to be comprehensive, not to say intelligent. Without a much larger emphasis upon the social aims and efforts of Christianity in the thought, belief and work of the church, the need that is finding expression in every parish and community cannot be met—that which the _Constructive Quarterly_ well states to be “the need of the impact of the whole of Christianity on the race.”

THE FIRST ORPHAN ASYLUM IN THE UNITED STATES[8] THAT OF THE URSULINE NUNS AT NEW ORLEANS

Footnote 8:

This account of the founding of our first orphanage in the quaint language of the time was obtained for THE SURVEY from a friend of the institution by Albert H. Yoder.

At the outset of the colonization of Louisiana by the French, ten Ursuline nuns of France, with noble generosity and self-sacrifice, volunteered to go to New Orleans, there to instruct the children of the colonists. They left Rouen in January, 1727.

After great difficulties and countless perils, they reached the mouth of the Mississippi whose waters they ascended in pirogues. They finally landed in the Crescent City on the morning of August 7, 1727, after a sea voyage of nearly six months. They had set sail from the port of Havre on February 23, 1727 after a month spent in Paris.

Arriving in New Orleans, they were met by Bienville, governor of the province of Louisiana. As there were no proper accommodations yet provided, the governor vacated his own residence and placed it at their disposal for a convent and school. Immediately was begun the erection of a new building which was completed in 1734.

The Ursuline nuns upon its completion took possession and occupied it till 1824 when they removed to their present home below the city. This structure, which is now the Archbishopric, or official place for the transaction of the business of the Archdiocese of New Orleans, is the oldest building in Louisiana and also in the vast extent of what was known as the Louisiana Purchase.

The Ursulines began their self-sacrificing work immediately upon their arrival on August 8, 1727 and opened a free school to which were added a select boarding school and then a little later a hospital. Moreover, in order to inculcate principles of civilization and, especially, of religion in the hearts of the wives and daughters of the Negroes and Indians, the nuns devoted one hour each day to their instruction.

Shortly after their arrival a new field of labor was open to their zeal in the shape of a poor orphan whom Father de Beaubois, had withdrawn from a family of dissolute morals. Although their lodgings at the time were insufficient, the nuns being still in Bienville’s house (their new convent, the present old Archbishopric, was not ready for occupancy until July 17, 1734), they adopted the child. This was the tiny mustard-seed from which sprang the flourishing orphanage which exists to the present day. It proved a real providence for the country, especially in colonial times, as may be gleaned from history’s record of the Natchez massacre, which took place on November 28, 1729.

After this frightful tragedy, so pathetically described by Chateaubriand, the Indians, who had spared only the young wives and daughters of their French victims, were forced to give up their hostages or to be massacred in turn. The generous Ursulines then opened their home to these unfortunate little ones and mothered them.

This act of disinterestedness and charity was truly heroic, considering the great difficulties usually attendant on the founding of a colony and was highly commended by Rev. Father le Petit, Jesuit, in a letter addressed, July 12, 1730, to Rev. Father d’ Avaugour, procurator of the American missions. Having given an account of the appalling massacre of the French at Fort Rosalie by the Natchez Indians, Rev. Father le Petit adds:

“The little girls, whom none of the inhabitants wished to adopt, have greatly enlarged the interesting company of orphans whom the _religieuses_ [Ursulines] are bringing up. The great number of these children serves but to increase the charity and the delicate attentions of the good nuns. They have been formed into a separate class of which two teachers have charge.

“There is not one of this holy community that would not be delighted at having crossed the ocean, were she to do no other good save that of preserving these children in their innocence, and of giving a polite and Christian education to young French girls who were in danger of being little better raised than slaves. The hope is held out to these holy _religieuses_ that, ere the end of the year, they will occupy the new house which is destined for them, and for which they have long been sighing. When they shall be settled there, to the instruction of the boarders, the orphans, the day scholars, and the Negresses, they will add also the care of the sick in the hospital, and of a house of refuge for women of questionable character. Perhaps later on they will even be able to aid in affording regularly, each year, the retreat to a large number of ladies, according to the taste with which we have inspired them.

“So many works of charity would, in France, suffice to occupy several communities and different institutions. But what cannot a great zeal effect? These various labors do not at all startle seven Ursulines; and they rely upon being able, with the help of God’s grace, to sustain them without detriment to the religious observance of their rules. As for me, I fear that, if some assistance does not arrive, they will sink under the weight of so much fatigue. Those who, before knowing them, used to say they were coming too soon and in too great a number, have entirely changed their views and their language; witnesses of their edifying conduct and great services which they render to the colony, they find that they have arrived soon enough, and that there could not be too many of the same virtue and the same merit.”

After giving details relative to the visit of the Illinois chiefs, who had come to condole with the French and to offer help against the Natchez, Father Le Petit adds:

“The first day that the Illinois saw the _religieuses_, Mamantouenza, perceiving near them a group of little girls, remarked: ‘I see, indeed, that you are not _religieuses_ without an object.’ He meant to say that they were not solitaries, laboring only for their own perfection. ‘You are,’ he added, ‘like the black robes, our fathers; you labor for others. Ah! if we had above there two or three of your number, our wives and daughters would have more sense.’ ‘Choose those whom you wish.’ ‘It is not for me to choose,’ said Mamantouenza. ‘It is for you who know them. The choice ought to fall on those who are most attached to God, and who love him most....’”

The records make mention of Therese Lardas, daughter of a Mobile surgeon. After her father’s death, her mother brought her to the Ursuline orphanage, where she intended leaving her just long enough to make her first communion; but, when she came to take her home, so earnestly did the child plead to remain, that the mother could not resist her entreaties. At the age of sixteen, she entered the novitiate. She led the life of an exemplary lay sister, and died at the age of twenty-nine on November 22, 1786.

In testimony of the good education given to all classes by the Ursulines, the Rt. Rev. Luis Penalvery Cardemas said in a dispatch forwarded to the Spanish court, November 1, 1795:

“Since my arrival in this town, on July 17, I have been studying with the keenest attention the character of its inhabitants, in order to regulate my ecclesiastical government in accordance with the information which I may obtain on this important subject.... Excellent results are obtained from the Convent of the Ursulines, in which a good many young girls are educated. This is the nursery of those future matrons who will inculcate in their children the principles which they here imbibe. The education which they receive in this institution is the cause of their being less vicious than the other sex....”

Up to 1824, that is, for well nigh a century, the Ursulines maintained their orphanage in what is now the old Archbishopric. At this period, New Orleans having spread considerably and become too densely populated to afford the advantages and charms of the country so necessary to a large boarding school, the institution was removed three miles lower down, to the magnificent place which the Ursulines hold to the present day. Owing to the encroachments of the great Father of Waters, they are to transfer again, within a year, to another site.

After 1824, several asylums having been founded for orphans of both sexes, the Ursulines received but thirty or forty poor children. In keeping with their sphere of life and future career, these children are taught English, French, geography, arithmetic, elementary history, and some housekeeping, sewing and laundry work. The nuns endeavor, above all, by religions instruction and careful training, to inculcate in the hearts and minds of their youthful charges principles of duty, so as to form for the future women of confidence, courage, self-sacrifice and devotion.

SOCIAL SERVICE OF THE PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH IN CANADA

J. G. SHEARER

The Presbyterian church in Canada does social service work through its Department of Social Service and Evangelism. Efforts are directed along several lines.

Social surveys of both urban and rural communities are conducted, considering not only religious and moral, but also social and economic conditions. An expert is employed who gives all his time to the work. He secures the co-operation of a large number of volunteer helpers, many of whom are proficient in various phases of social service work.

The problems of the city are studied and practical solutions sought. This is attempted in the following ways:

By evangelical social settlements, of which there are one in Montreal, one in Toronto and one in Winnipeg. Eight or ten others in the not distant future are planned for various other growing cities in the Dominion, especially where non-Anglo-Saxon immigrants are numerous. Our organizer and supervisor of this work is Sara Libby Carson, founder of Christodora House and various other settlements in New York, St. Christopher House, Toronto, and Chalmers House, Montreal. We also have established a training school for settlement workers, in connection with St. Christopher House, Toronto.

By securing the co-operation of churches and sympathetic organizations in every variety of general social betterment effort.

By establishing special redemptive and social missions on the crowded thoroughfares. The first of these was Evangel Hall, Toronto, in which evangelistic work, as well as various sorts of social work, is carried on.

The department has taken up in a large way redemptive and preventive work in the interest of girls, and associated with that educational work along the line of sex teaching among boys and men. There are five homes which are called social service houses, in which girls and women requiring special help are taken care of. Fifteen trained Christian women give their time to this phase of the department’s endeavor, and there is also a large army of volunteer helpers. In connection with this work an educational campaign through pulpit and platform and the distribution of literature throughout the Dominion is carried on. From time to time legislation, federal or provincial, for the more adequate protection of girls and women is sought.

In co-operation with other interested bodies the department keeps up a steady campaign for the suppression of gambling, intemperance, sale of immoral literature, unclean theatricals, the social vice, and the promotion of the positive virtues, the opposite of these.

Special attention is being directed to positive effort and constructive work along all lines aiming at social uplift, and a good deal of legislation toward this end has been successfully put through.

The department has established a lantern slide and film service, and is endeavoring to supply through illustrated means elevating entertainment as well as information and inspiration.

All the evangelistic work of the Presbyterian church is done through this department, so that evangelism and social service are kept in close association in all effort undertaken.

SYNAGOGUE AND COMMUNITY

RABBI HORACE J. WOLF Temple ‘Berith Kodesh’, Rochester, N. Y.

The changing relation of the synagogue and the community is proving the truth of the hoary platitude that history repeats itself. During the Middle Ages the synagogue was the heart of the secular as well as of the religious life of the community; it was a social center as well as a house of prayer. There the poor man found succor, the stranger acquaintances, the children their teachers, and the young people “their fates.” It would be almost impossible to list all the private and public interests which, clustering about the synagogue, bore witness to the vital part this institution played in medieval Jewish life.

This prominent role was due to the enforced isolation of the Jewish community; thanks to the Ghetto walls the Jewish group constituted a city within a city. Once the Jewish population was concentrated into separate quarters, the synagogue became to the segregated community what the home was to the individual family; it was not only a place of meeting, but also a clearing house for individual and communal joys and sorrows.