In view of these facts it must be stated that our United States, which of all countries is the greatest in industry and suffers most heavily through industrial accidents and diseases, is among the most backward in regard to social legislation as well as in the effort to interest employers and employees in these welfare institutions which are of such vital value for both parties.
Yes, there was in 1910 a “Museum of Safety” established in New York, but so far it has remained the only one in the entire western hemisphere. And, as it is housed in the lower floors of an insignificant building in 24th Street, it has failed to attract the attention and the support of the masses.
In my opinion, every state should have a permanent museum which brings to public knowledge all inventions relating to the special industries and trades followed by its population. The agricultural states may confine themselves to exhibits by which accidents connected with the pursuit of agriculture can be prevented. The mining states may give preference to everything that increases safety in the mines. The states bordering our oceans and great lakes should collect all devices that make navigation safer; our industrial states must direct their efforts to collect such inventions as may restrict accidents in workshops and factories. If this should be done, and if our governments, legislators and factory inspectors would demand the installation of such inventions, the terrific number of victims that perish every year upon our industrial battlefields would most assuredly be greatly diminished. It is to these aims that our statesmen as well as our male and female workers should direct their utmost endeavors.
WOMEN AS MINISTERS OF THE GOSPEL.
Perhaps in no other field of human activity has the disinclination of Christian men to make any concessions to women been so strong as in all matters regarding the church. While women were permitted to sit on thrones and rule vast empires, theological prejudice would not allow them to officiate at the altar or to occupy the pulpit. This vehement opposition was due to mediæval traditions and customs. The saying of the Apostle Paul: “I suffer not a woman to teach, nor to usurp authority over the man, but to be in silence,” had been an inviolable law to all Catholic and Protestant dignitaries of the church. And so during the whole Middle Ages the idea was prevalent that a masculine priesthood alone was acceptable to God.
The first attempt to overthrow these views was made in 1634 by Anne Hutchinson, who came from Lincolnshire to Boston. Joining a church there she found that the male members used to meet every week to discuss the sermon they had heard the preceding Sunday. Believing that the power of the Holy Ghost dwells in every believer, and that the inward revelations of the spirit, the conscious judgment of the mind, are a paramount authority. Mrs. Hutchinson established similar meetings for the women. Soon she had large audiences, in which she set forth sentiments of her own. But disputes arose among her followers and their opponents, which grew so hot, that the continued existence of the two opposing parties was considered inconsistent with public peace. A convention of ministers, the first synod in America, was called in 1637, which condemned the opinions of Mrs. Hutchinson, and caused her to be summoned before the General Court. After a trial of two days, she was convicted of censuring the ministers and advancing errors, and sentenced to banishment from Massachusetts. She found refuge in Rhode Island, but moved later on to the Dutch settlements, where she as well as her children were killed by Indians.
In 1774 another English woman, Anne Lee, immigrated to New York. Professing to have received a special persuasion, she organized at Watervliet, N. Y., the first community of Shakers, to which she promulgated a doctrine of celibacy. Their previous training had led members of this sect to expect that the second coming of Christ would be in the form of a woman; as Eve was the mother of all living, so in their new leader the Shakers recognized “the first mother or spiritual parent in the line of the female.” These Shakers gave their women an equal share with men in the service and government of their society.
With the history of the “Salvation Army” likewise the names of several women are closely connected. This religious body was organized in 1865 on military lines by Rev. William Booth. In his revival and mission work among the lower classes of England he found in his wife Catherine a perfect helpmate. Together they conquered with their revivals first London, then the province, then the United Kingdom, and afterwards country after country in every part of the world.
CATHERINE BOOTH, THE “MOTHER OF THE SALVATION ARMY.”