Men and Things

by Henry A. Atkinson

“He has never given me a mouthful of bread nor means to gain it. What have I to do with your God?” This was the answer of an immigrant woman to an appeal made by the church visitor, and it strikes nearer the heart of our modern life than it appears upon first thought. Why indeed should a person acknowledge kinship to a God who allows suffering, sorrow, and want in the world? It is not enough to answer such a question by pointing to the ultimate ends God has in view, for with hunger gnawing at the very vitals it is difficult to be philosophical or to meet the problems of existence in a quiet frame of mind. It is undoubtedly true that a large part of the misery and suffering of this world is caused by the sins and incompetency of the individual; but it does not help one to bear misfortune to know that he is to blame for his own condition. Is it any easier for the mother to teach her hungry little children to say their prayers asking the heavenly Father to feed them when she knows that her husband has brought the suffering and want through his evil conduct? But suppose she knows that her husband has tried as hard as possible, and in spite of all his efforts and all her care there is not enough bread for the little ones. She is very likely to grow impatient with the religion that talks about love, and yet allows bad social conditions to exist in the community that robs children of their childhood, destroys manhood, and makes women slaves in their own homes.

We have studied certain groups of the workers, and great as is the contribution made by these workers, it is only a small part of the story. The world of the workers is a very large world. Within this world things are produced that enrich mankind to a degree that has never even been dreamed of in any other age of the world’s history. The men who are producing these things are the true servants of the world.

Social Salvation and the Wage-Earners. The church, in order to retain its ascendency in national life, must lay increasing emphasis upon the importance of social salvation. The importance of social salvation as contrasted with individual salvation was seen by the great spiritual teachers of the past; but modern civilization, with its marvels of intercommunication, has placed a new emphasis upon mutual dependence of associated human beings, and has made self-realization a possibility only in connection with the salvation of the social group. The social group consists mainly of wage-earners, two thirds of those gainfully employed in the nation being dependent for food, shelter, and clothing upon a daily, weekly, or monthly wage. Therefore, social salvation is largely a question of the salvation of the wage-earner. The problem is a dual one. It is material and spiritual. It is material, because the higher purposes of the Eternal cannot be attained in an atmosphere of inefficiency, disease, unemployment, vice, crime, and general destitution. It is spiritual, because the elimination of inefficiency, disease, unemployment, vice, crime, and general destitution will not regenerate character. The salvation of the wage-earner must, therefore, be achieved by the combined efforts of three important agencies of social reconstruction: religion, education, and government. Religion furnishes the motive, education the method, and government the mechanism of social reconstruction; each of these three is impotent without the other two.

Religion from this view-point must be personal and social in order that regenerated individuals may work for the material and spiritual regeneration of national life. Education from this view-point must be technical, scientific, moral, and universal so that all may have the opportunity to become skilled workers, progressive thinkers, and efficient citizens. Government from this view-point must be controlled by the religious element of the community and equipped with a program of economic and social reform based on scientific investigation. Scientific studies of the wage-earners’ communities show that a family of five in a large American city requires a minimum income of $900 in order to maintain its physical equilibrium, and that three out of every four adult males, and nineteen out of every twenty adult females in the United States, receive less than $600 a year. No one can longer doubt that the hardships and depravity of the poor are more economic and social than personal; and that the responsibility for human misery is put squarely upon the more fortunate members of society. The way of salvation for the poor and helpless lies along the path of the educated conscience of the rich and powerful.

Workers and the Church. Much has been written and said in criticism of the church. Many statistics have been given to prove that the workers are not members of the church. For the most part the figures quoted are mere guesses. It is sheer folly to assume that the working people of our nation are not religious. Religion is as natural to all people as is breathing. The belief in God is well-nigh universal. It is a fact, however, that comparatively few of the mass of workers of our country are connected in any way with the church, or have any part in carrying on the functions of organized religion. There are a great many working people in the churches, but in proportion to the large number of wage-earners in each community there are comparatively few of the actual producers in the churches.

Board of Home Missions, Church Extension. Methodist Episcopal Church.

A Russian Forum in session in the Church of All Nations, Morgan Memorial, Boston.

A study made in city after city shows that the churches are largely made up of the well-to-do, middle-class people. In one typical city of 75,000 people there were found to be approximately 30,000 members of all the religious organizations, Protestant, Catholic, and Jews. Of this total number approximately 1,000 were wage-earners, that is, men and women working in shops and factories; 500 of these were members of the Catholic Church, and the other 500 were distributed among the sixteen Protestant churches. There were a great many persons in these churches who were dependent upon their wages; such as clerks, stenographers, bookkeepers, and others who should be classed as belonging to the industrial group. But as some one has said, the distinction between people who are in the churches and those untouched by the church can be drawn in this way: those who refer to the remuneration received for their work as a salary, and their work as a position, are in one group and they attend church; the other group is made up of those who refer to their work as a job, and the remuneration received as wages, and but few of these go to church. The conditions found in that instance are the same that would be found in most cities of the same size in America. The total membership was a little larger, perhaps, for in most places only about one third of the people are connected with the churches.

The Makers of Things Outside the Churches. Communities in which the church has failed are the communities where may be found most of the workers who are the actual producers of the things that go to make up our life. The men who run the lathes and other machines, the day-laborers on the street, in the factory, and on the railroads; these men and their families are the ones untouched by the church. The foremen, the better class of skilled mechanics, and those workers who are doing the more congenial kinds of work are the ones found in the churches. I asked one of the leading labor leaders of the country why it is that the laboring man is opposed to the church. “Opposed?” he answered. “He is not opposed. The average laboring man living under average conditions does not know that there is a church in town.” In other words, the church moves in an orbit that is totally removed from the life of the mass of the workers.