Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2007 with funding from IVIicrosoft Corporation http://www.archive.org/details/churchindustrialOOcomnnrich THE CHURCH AND INDUSTRIAL RECONSTRUCTION FINAL REPORTS OF THE COMMITTJSE ON THE WAR AND THE RELIGIOUS OUTLOOK Religion among American Men: As Revealed by a Study of Conditions in the Army. (Ready) The Missionary Outlook in the Light of the War. (Ready) The Church and Industrial Reconstruction. (Ready) The Teaching Work of the Church. Principles of Christian Unity. THE CHURCH AND INDUSTRIAL RECONSTRUCTION THE COMMITTEE ON THE WAR AND THE RELIGIOUS OUTLOOK ASSOCIATION PRESS New York: 347 Madison Avenue 1924 Copyright, 1920, by WzirUAM Adams BRO\m CONTENTS PAGB Editorial Preface , vii Introduction i 1. The Christian Interest in Industrial Problems I 2. The Christian Approach to Industrial Problems . . 4 Chapter I. The Christian Ideal for Society 9 1. The Christian Teaching as to the Worth of Every Personality as a Child of God 12 2. The Christian Teaching as to Brotherhood as the Primary Relation between Man and Man 17 3. The Christian Teaching as to the Law of Service. . 23 4. Consequences for the Christian Social Ideal 31 II. Unchristian Aspects of the Present Industrial Order 34 1. Aspects of Our Industrial Order Inconsistent with the Sacredness of Personality 36 a. In Social Attitude: An Impersonal View of Labor 36 b. In Objective Results: Dwarfing of Personality. . 39 (i) Through Lack of Continuous Opportunity to Work (2) Through Inadequate Income (3) Through Inadequate Leisure (4) Dwarfing the Personalities of the Future (a) Through Child Labor (b) Through Failure to Protect Women Workers 2. Aspects of Our Industrial Order Inconsistent with the Principle of Brotherhood 58 a. In Social Attitude: A Selfish and Divisive "^ Spirit in the Productive Process 58 b. In Objective Results: Extreme Inequalities in the Distribution of Wealth 63 3. Aspects of Our Industrial Order Inconsistent with the Duty of Service 68 a. In Social Attitude: Overemphasis on Motive of Self-interest 69 b. In Objective Results: An Unsocial Use of Economic Power 71 (i) Non-Serving Groups (2) Selfish Autocracy in Industry 4. The Protest of Christianity and the Protest of the Labor Movement 76 III. The Christian Attitude toward the System as a Whole 81 1. Private Property 85 2. The Wage System 90 3. Competition 95 4. The Wrong Motive on Which the System Depends 104 V vi CONTENTS CHAPTER PAGE IV. The Christian Method of Social Betterment io8 1. By Developing the Motive of Love 109 2. By Promoting the Attitude of Faith 113 3. By Directing Growth through Education 117 4. Problems of Application 120 V. Present Practicable Steps toward a More Chris- tian Industrial Order 132 1. Measures Designed to Develop and Protect Per- sonality 134 a. Providing Security against Unemployment. . . 134 b. Providing Income for All Sufficient for Self- Realization 138 c. Providing Leisure for All Sufficient for Self- Realization 143 d. Protecting the Personalities of the Future. . . 147 (i) Safeguarding Children from Exploitation (2) Safeguarding Women in Industry 2. Securing a Democratic Organization of Industry More Consistent with Brotherhood. . . • 152 3. Securing a Distribution of Profits More Consistent with the Principle of Service 166 VI. The Question of the Longer Future 171 1. An Increasing Extension of Social Control 171 2. Need for Education in Cooperation . . . . 177 3. A New Motive in Industry the Supreme Need 182 VII. What Individual Christians Can Do to Chris- tianize the Industrial Order. 188 1. Christians as Employers 192 2. Christians as Investors 196 3. Christians as Employes 201 4. Christians as Consumers 206 5. Christians as Citizens 208 VIII.. What the Church Can Do to Christianize the Industrial Order 211 1. Winning Men to the Christian Ideal 214 a. Social Evangelism 216 b. Religious Education 218 2. Promoting an Understanding of the Social Con- ditions to Which Christian Principles Are to Be Applied 223 a. Organized Research 225 b. The Church Forum 229 c. Fraternal Relations with Labor Organizations 231 d. The Social Service Commission 232 3. Illustrating the Christian Ideal in the Church's Corporate Life 233 Appendix I. The Historic Attitude of the Church to Economic Questions 239 Appendix II. Selected Bibliography on the Church and Industrial Reconstruction 273 Appendix III. The Committee on the War and the Religious Outlook 287 Index 291 EDITORIAL PREFACE This volume is the third in a series of reports that is being issued by the Committee on the War and the Re- ligious Outlook, an interdenominational group appointed by the joint action of the Federal Council of the Churches of Christ in America and the General War-Time Com- mission of the Churches "to consider the state of religion as revealed or affected by the war, with special reference to the duty and opportunity of the Churches."^ In the preparation of this report on The Church and Industrial Reconstruction the Committee on the War and the Religious Outlook has been greatly assisted by a special subcommittee whose counsel and criticism have been invaluable. President W. H. P. Faunce served as the convener of this group and with him were associated the following: Rev. William Adams Brown, George W. Coleman, Dr. Edward T. Devine, Harold A. Hatch, Rev. F. Ernest Johnson, President Henry Churchill King, Rev. Frederick H. Knubel, Dean Shailer Mathews, Bishop Francis J. McConnell, Rev. J. Howard Melish, Rev. Frank Mason North, George Foster Peabody, Pro- fessor Herbert N. Shenton, Miss Florence Simms, Pro- fessor Alva W. Taylor, Rev. Worth M. Tippy. To scores of others, including business men, manufacturers, and labor leaders, as well as teachers, social workers, and ministers, the Committee is indebted for many fruitful suggestions and constructive criticism. The report as a whole has been drafted by the Secre- tary of the Committee on the War and the Religious Outlook. In the preliminary development of certain chapters President Faunce, Professor Taylor, Mr. Shen- ^For a statement concerning the history and work of the Com- mittee see Appendix III of this volume. vii vlii EDITORIAL PREFACE ton, and Dr. Melish gave helpful assistance. Contribu- tions of a more specific kind were made by Rev. F. Ernest Johnson in a carefully prepared treatment of industrial democracy; by Miss Florence Simms in the consideration of the problems of v^omen in industry; by Professor W. E. Hocking, in the analysis of the section on competition. Rev. Frank M. Crouch has submitted, at the request of the Committee, a manuscript on The Historical Attitude of the Church toward Economic Questions, which is printed as a special supplement over his own signature (Appendix I). To Professor Brown is due special recognition for out- lining the scope of the report, for detailed analysis of Chapters I and IV, and for constant counsel in the de- velopment of the whole study. For all statements in the report the Secretary, having drafted the final manuscript, is alone responsible. Its general content, however, is endorsed by the Committee as a whole, which has authorized its publication. Samuel McCrea Cavert^ June I, 1920. Secretary. Committee on the War and the Religious Outlook Mrs. Fred S. Bennett Rev. Charles S. Macfarland Rev. William Adams Brown Pres. William D. Mackenzie Miss Mabel Cratty Dean Shailer Mathews George W. Coleman Dr. John R. Mott Pres. W. H. P. Faunce Rev. Frank Mason North Rev. Harry Emerson Fosdick Dr. Ernest C. Richardson Rev. Charles W. Gilkey Very Rev. Howard C. Robbins Frederick Harris Rt. Rev. Logan H. Roots Prof. W. E. Hocking Dr. Robert E. Speer Rev. Samuel G. Inman Rev. Anson Phelps Stokes Prof. Charles M. Jacobs Rev. James I. Vance Pres. Henry Churchill King Very Rev. Henry B. Washburn Bishop Walter R. Lambuth Pres. Mary E. Wooley Bishop Francis J. McConnell Prof. Henry B. Wright Rev. William Adams Brown, Chairman Pres. Henry Churchill King, Vice-Chairman Rev. Charles W. Gilkey, Vice-Chairman Rev. Samuel McCrea Cavert, Secretary 105 East 22d Street, New York, N. Y. INTRODUCTION The industrial unrest and uncertainty of the period following the World War bring to the Christian Church an imperative summons and a boundless opportunity. If it be true that chaotic conditions exist and the whole earth at times seems "without form and void/' it is also true that again the Spirit of God "moves on the face of the waters/' That Spirit now calls all Christian men and women to earnest thought, to repentance for wrongs in which they have unwittingly shared or against which they have made no effective protest, and to resolute action. It summons the Church to reconsider its own Gospel, to redefine its attitude toward the present social order, and to interpret for our time the way of life involved in Christian discipleship. The challenge to the Church is all the stronger because the labor movement itself reflects a new interest in the spiritual side of life. Slowly but surely its center of gravity has been shifting. More and more men are coming to see the importance of the ideal factors in life. It is not money as such that they value most, but in- tangible goods like freedom, power, brotherhood, the opportunity for self-expression, for making themselves felt in the great currents of thought and life. "The world-wide industrial unrest," it has been well said, "is not simply the rumbling of empty stomachs; it is the stirring of the soul of man." Until one perceives this he cannot understand the latest pronouncements of the labor leaders. Self -development in the widest sense of the term is their theme. I. The Christian Interest ii^ Industrial Problems This new attitude gives the Church her opportunity to be heard in industrial questions. If these had to do simply with the length of time a man should work and ^ ,' [ mtRODUCTION the amount he should be paid for it, the Church might conceivably hold aloof. But if hours and wages are simply symbols of spiritual realities like leisure and opportunity and influence, if in and through the conflict for material goods a spiritual struggle for unseen values is going on, then the Church has not only the right but the duty to intervene. For she claims to have a message to the spirit of man as man, and if her claim is justified we should expect to find men turning to her for help. Whether they turn or not, it is her duty to be ready. A new crisis is upon us, not less momentous than that of the war, even though less dramatic, and this time it is not too late for the Church to make a distinctive contribu- tion if she see her duty clearly and dare to do it. But that she may act aright she must see clearly. It is as a help to this primary duty that this report is offered. Its sphere is the industrial situation, using that term in the largest sense to include the whole group of questions Avhich grow out of the relations of men to one another as producers and consumers of material goods. We shall ask what Christian principles bear upon industrial problenjis, what they would require if consistently applied, how far and for what reason our existing industrial order contains features which are unchristian, and what can be done by individual Christians and by the Church in its corporate capacity to secure a better order. What is here offered, therefore, is not a treatise on political economy or social reform but an analysis of Christian principles, as they bear upon economic problems, and the duty of Christians and of the Church in the present emergency. This must be the excuse for adding one more to the Tnany excellent pronouncements which have recently been made upon the subject of industry by religious bodies.^ Prom the point of view of the Church most of these *A list of the more important of these pronouncements of religious bodies on industrial problems is printed in an appendix to this volume. INTRODUCTION 3 pronouncements are inadequate in one of two respects. Either they lay down Christian principles in so general a form that no one can object to them, or they seek to commit the Church to some definite social program without clearly showing how it follows from Christian principles and in what way Christians as Christians can contribute to it by reason of their Christianity.^ There would seem, therefore, to be room for a fresh treatment of the subject, which shall attempt to carry the discussion one step further by focusing attention upon a considera- tion of what follows when one takes his stand frankly within the Christian religion. This is necessary if the Church is to make any dis- tinctive and lasting contribution to the social thought of our time. In the pressure of instant need we are tempted to turn to the first thing that lies at hand without con- sidering its remoter consequences. But Christianity is not a new religion. It is the custodian of a definite group of ideals and principles. Centuries ago it was committed by its Master to a certain conception of life, a certain ideal for society. Not always or even often has it lived up to this ideal, but it has not ceased to proclaim it. It is this ideal and no other that this report seeks to define in its implication for the industrial life of today.^ ^A notable exception is the Report of 'the Archbishops' Fifth Committee of Inquiry on Christianity and Industrial Problems (London, 1918). The Committee which drafted this report is well aware of the problems which the existing situation sets to the Church. It begins its investigation with a discussion of Christian principles and their social application. But the dis- cussion, excellent as it is, is of a very general character and the principles which it lays down as guiding Christians in their attitude to industrial questions are not as definitely related to the specific evils and abuses with which the report deals as the ideal of its authors would render desirable. Moreover, the report deals with conditions in England, and these differ in significant respects from those which obtain in this country. ^It should be clear, therefore, that in using the word "recon- struction" in the title of this report we are not thinking of any- thing so simple as restoration of pre-war conditions. Our inquiry has to do with the foundations on which our industrial order should be built. 4 INTRODUCTION We shall not, then, inquire what social reforms are practicable and afterwards give them the sanction of a Christian label. Our inquiry will rather proceed from a reconsideration of the Christian Gospel itself as it bears upon the perplexing conditions of the present day. We shall ask ourselves what it demands of and for man and bring these demands with us as our standard for judging the existing order. Our aim will be to discover so far as possible what a genuine application of Christian prin- ciples to our industrial life would require. This the Church must do fearlessly, courageously, without respect of persons or classes — speaking the truth in love, indeed, but holding back nothing that belongs to the full counsel of God. It must hold up the Christian standpoint, which is that of humanity as a whole, considered in the light of the divine purpose for all men, as revealed by the Man of men, Jesus Christ. At the outset of this inquiry we gladly recognize that the social principles which we call Christian are not the exclusive possession of Christianity. Brotherhood, jus- tice, and freedom, for example, are ideals which are held by many who are not consciously followers of Christ and which in varying measure have found expression in other social philosophies. Nevertheless, there is some- thing in the way Christians understand these principles which grows out of the peculiar nature and history of the Christian religion. And it is this distinctive quality in the Christian approach, as distinguished from other ap- proaches to the industrial problem, that we need to have in mind as the background of our study. 2. The Christian Approach to Industrial Problems What is fundamentally distinctive of Christianity is that it believes that the qualities which characterize its social ideal are rooted in a relationship between man and God and are to be realized through a process of moral transformation centering in Jesus Christ. The Christian INTRODUCTION S holds that the great need of men is for moral renewal, because he sees radically evil tendencies which are thwarting man's welfare and preventing him from being his best self. And these influences are not confined to the economic realm. To the Christian, therefore, the industrial problem is not an isolated question, but one aspect of the larger problem of living according to the will of God and in the spirit of Christ. To aim at a Christian industrial order is to try to realize in a single group of human relationships a divine ideal which affects the entire life of men. Hence the Christian emphasis is primarily on the need of a change in the motive and spirit of men's lives. For Christianity repentance is always the beginning of social betterment. To become a Christian is to have the center of one's interest shifted from self-seeking to concern for the common good. Fully to realize the Christian ideal would be to have done once and for all with everything that is self-centered and unbrotherly. This emphasis on the moral factor differentiates the Christian approach to industrial problems from any which assumes that economic conditions are the sole de- termining factor in human welfare and that the increase of prosperity will in itself solve the moral problems. Christianity is under no such illusion. It knows that no change in the external machinery of the production and distribution of wealth is sufficient to save society. It realizes that wealth in itself is only a tool, capable of serving either worthy or ignoble ends, and that all turns upon the spirit in which it is used. In their reaction against the purely physical and economic interpretation of life Christians have often gone to the other extreme, and thought that man's spirit was so far independent of his environment that all questions as to the acquisition and distribution of wealth were in- different to him and could be ignored. They have over- looked the effect of environment on men's lives in the 6 INTRODUCTION same one-sided way in which economic thinkers have often overlooked the importance of spiritual influences. But to do this is to do violence to the nature of the Christian religion. For according to the Christian con- ception of God He is the Lord of all life and of both worlds, the material as well as the spiritual. He is the creator of the physical universe and has made for the use of man all that it contains. Mankind in all its rela- tions, therefore, must be organized according to the will of God, as revealed in Christ. The entire social order must be Christianized. The world as a whole is the subject of redemption. And this social order which the Christian seeks is not limited to the present life. Beginning here and now it reaches on into the world beyond. The personalities that constitute it are deathless, made for endless develop- ment. This is an interpretation of human life which has often been severely criticized by those who do not take the Christian view. For the vision of the future, they say, has caused Christians to refuse to assume responsi- bility for present world conditions or to work actively for a world order here and now which shall adequately express the true relation between man and man. This, however, is not the result of the Christian belief in im- mortality, but of an inadequate conception of what that belief really implies for the present life. Rightly under- stood, it does not result in depreciation of the life that now is but in its great enhancement. For consider what the Christian doctrine of immor- tality means. It means that man has a significance so great that it cannot be expressed in terms of space and time. It involves a more exalted estimate of the worth of human personality than is given by any other interpre- tation of life. And the higher the value we place upon man, the stronger will be our impulse to create for him surroundings calculated to develop his latent capacities to the utmost. Hence faith in the future life, far from INTRODUCTION 7 making us indiflferent to the environment in which we live, ought to be the highest and most direct motive to social progress. In an important way, then, the Christian approach to the industrial problem differs from that of much con- temporary social philosophy. It emphasizes the moral and spiritual factor as having its own independent con- tribution to make to the solution of economic problems. And it puts the problem of present industrial reconstruc- tion in its true setting as part of the larger enterprise of the establishment of the Kingdom of God, extending beyond this world into another. Against this general background we have to consider the special principles which determine the Christian attitude to the industrial order. CHAPTER I THE CHRISTIAN IDEAL FOR SOCIETY The teaching of Jesus about society finds its center in what He has to say concerning the Kingdom of God. This phrase, or its equivalent, the Kingdom of Heaven, occurs more than one hundred times in the first three gospels. The idea for which it stands is fundamental in His teaching and it is only as we understand its meaning that we can gain a clue to His social message. Jesus Himself never gave any formal definition of the Kingdom. The phrase had long been familiar to His hearers. It was the term in which the pious Jew ex- pressed his anticipation of a time when the national ideal of Israel should at last be realized and the prophets' dream of a just and prosperous society come true. Jesus, while giving the term a richer and a larger content, took this earlier association for granted. For us, therefore, who lack the background of His hearers, it requires an effort of the imagination to understand all that it meant. Many points of detail are still under discussion among scholars, but enough has been made clear by the study of the last generation to give us a solid foundation for our thought. By the Kingdom Jesus means a social order which is not merely of man's devising, but which it is God's pur- pose to establish in the world and of which He is the head. It is such a society as will naturally result when all men's wills are conformed to the ideals which He has revealed. Of all existing societies the family offers us our nearest analogy. As in the family parents and chil- dren cooperate for a common purpose and recognize the rights of all in the good of each, so in the Kingdom the 9 lo INDUSTRIAL RECONSTRUCTION controlling principle of action is to be love and mutual helpfulness. From the first it has been God's plan that men should live together in this fashion, and now that Jesus has come to make His will clear, participation in this ideal society is to be the great objective of human living. Men are to seek the Kingdom first, confident that if they do, all other interests will fall into their proper places.! They are to pray for its coming upon the earth and they are to live in the spirit of their prayer.^ Coming to men as a gift from God, the Kingdom is to be attained by men's cooperation with His purpose. Thus it is "both a gift to be received and a result to be achieved." Its imminent coming is the motive for personal consecration. Men are to "repent, for the Kingdom of God is at hand."^ Hidden though it be from those whose eyes are not open to discern its coming, it is already present in germ in the seed now sown which will grow up to be an over- shadowing tree.^ For the sake of the Kingdom every- thing else, if need be, must be given up.^ Such, in briefest outline, is Jesus' conception of human society as God means it to be. Nowhere summed up in logical completeness, we gain our impression of it from the word pictures we call the parables. Nevertheless, as one studies the pages of the gospels, certain definite principles emerge which are implicit in Jesus' doctrine of the Kingdom, which give us the standards by which our own social life must be judged, and in the acceptance of which His followers, whatever their differences in other matters, would agree.^ These principles are the supreme ^Matthew 6 : 33. ^Matthew 6:10. *Mark 1:15. * Matthew 13:31. '^Matthew 13:44-46. ® Of the fact and extent of conflicting opinions among Chris- tians the existence side by side of rival denominations gives impressive witness. As Protestants we have no single authori- tative court to which we may go to have our differences resolved, as is the case with Rorce. And even in the case of Rome outward unity may be only the cloak for inward difference. If we are to carry conviction we must win our agreement freely by a comparison of the conclusions of earnest students, who through the centuries have approached the Bible each for himself THE CHRISTIAN IDEAL FOR SOCIETY ii worth of personality in the sight of God, the brotherhood of all men as children of one Father, the obligation of service to one's fellows, the law of love as the ruling motive of life, and the duty of faith in God and in humanity^ As to the specific application of these prin- ciples, there may be wide divergence, but not as to the principles themselves. Whatever else they may or may not believe. Christians are at one in holding that man as man has value for God; that he is a member of a family of which Christ is the elder brother; that the members of the family are to be united in mutual service and helpful- ness; that the way of life in this family is love; that it is the duty of each to believe the best of his fellows because of his faith in the loving purpose of the God upon whom all alike depend. Whether we take our departure from the teaching of Jesus, its interpretation in the Epistles, or the experience of the later Church, these remain cen- tral and cardinal principles which must determine our attitude to every specific question. The first three of these principles we shall consider as defining the nature of the Christian ideal, the last two as indicating, in part, the method by which it is to be realized. We have spoken of. these principles as if they were dis- tinct and independent. It cannot be too often insisted, however, that they are indissoluble parts of a single whole. The significance of each of them can be under- stood only in the light of the others, and the significance of all combined only in the light of that which was the center of Jesus' entire message and of all His experience — faith in God. The worth of personality, brotherhood, to find out what it teaches, and who have tried as best they could to apply what they have found to the changing conditions of their own age. Yet this seeming disadvantage will turn into an advantage if it appears that, in spite of the many superficial and often radical dififerences which exist among Christians, there is an underlying agreement on matters of fundamental importance. 'To justify our choice of these principles would carry us too far. It would require a treatise on Biblical exegesis and historical theology. We must take the results of such a study for granted. 12 INDUSTRIAL RECONSTRUCTION the duty of service, which we are now to discuss, are principles which others than Christians have held. The distinctive contribution which Jesus makes to their inter- pretation is in always viewing them as grounded in reality and destined to be realized because having their foundation in the very character of God. It is from this background that we must come to a consideration of the Christian principles in detail. I. The Christian Teaching as to the Sacred Worth OF Every Personality as a Child of God The most fundamental element in the Christian con- ception of the social life is the intrinsic worth of every personality. For Jesus each human individual has dis- tinct and measureless value as a child of God and a potential member of His Kingdom. The preciousness of a single life is suggested in parable after parable. The shepherd goes out to seek a single sheep, the woman sweeps the house to find one stray coin, the father yearns for a single wayward son. Nothing in the Gospel is clearer than this view of the sacred worth of all human life. Upon this assumption rests the entire redemptive enterprise of Christianity. Only in the light of this view of humanity can the meaning of sin be realized. It is so dreadful a thing to the Christian just because it is com- mitted by one who is a child of God and destined for fellowship with Jesus Christ, in whom God's ideal for man is realized and made known. This principle of the value of personality becomes, therefore, the central and controlling principle of Christian ethics. At various times in the history of the Church the full extent of this principle has been limited. This has been done, for example, whenever the doctrine of election has been interpreted in such a way as to put limits on the saving purpose of God. But in so doing men have departed from Jesus' teaching. The characteristic fea- ture in His attitude was that He saw values where THE CHRISTIAN IDEAL FOR SOCIETY 13 others did not, and refused to despair even of those for whom the Church in His day held out no hope. A lost son was still a son, and heir to all the father possessed. The "lost" man was so precious and of such potential value that "the Son of Man came to seek and to save that which was lost."^ He associated with the outcasts of His day.^ He saw in all men something of infinite worth. In Mary Magdalene he discerned the elements of true womanhood. In vacillating Peter there was some- thing like a rock. In an unknown Syro-Phcenician woman there were elements of greatness. In a Roman soldier He found the greatest faith. In a thief on the cross there was something that could be welcomed in Paradise. The "common people heard him gladly," be- cause in them he discovered and revealed rights and possibilities which others could not see. A new sense of human worth and dignity springs from the pages of the Gospel. From the Christian estimate of personality it follows that each man has his own distinct place in God's plan, and is never to be regarded simply as a means for realiz- ing the ends of others. Hence all slavery is wrong, because based upon a fundamental misconception of the value of personality. Ignoring the right of man as man to free self-development, it treats him not as a person but as a thing. It denies him his independent and inalienable place as a member of the family of God. And this Christian point of view is inconsistent not only with slavery in the crude form that now has vanished from the earth, but also with any social relationships that prevent full self -development by subordinating one human being to the uses of another and making one man little more than a means to another's convenience or gain. It runs counter to all valuing of people according to their utility to us rather than for their own intrinsic worth. ' Luke 19 : 10. " Luke 15 : i, 2. 14 INDUSTRIAL RECONSTRUCTION Any civilization is, therefore, condemned by it so far as the well-being of the relatively few is built upon the continuing impoverishment of the many. The truth that every man is an end in himself does not mean that all men are equal in capacity or in reward. The parable of the talents clearly recognizes inherent differences in men's ability and responsibility,^^ which experience confirms. But the conception of the worth of all men in the sight of God, as all alike His children, does require that there shall be equality of opportunity for all to share in the Father's common gifts and to attain to their own full self -development. We cannot as Chris- tians believe that God has favorites who He means should have special privileges that involve deprivation to others. We dare not think it is His will that millions of men are to be denied the opportunities for education and leisure and culture that make possible our own fulness of life. From the Christian conception of personality it follows also that material values are always to be secondary to human values. A man's life does not consist in the abundance of things that he possesses. They are to be regarded not as of primary concern but simply as a means to the worthiest living. "What doth. it profit a man," asks Jesus, "to gain the whole world and forfeit his life?"^^ And the principle applies not only to one's own life but to any impoverishment of the lives of others through one's pursuit of gain. According to the Chris- tian scale of values, therefore, property rights are to be subordinate to human rights. The test of industrial effi- ciency is to be not the size of the profits but the effect on human lives. Men do not exist for the sake of industry; industry exists for their sakes, if personal values are the supreme thing in the world. This emphasis on the supremacy of spiritual values '^Matthew 25 : 14-30. "Mark 8:36. THE CHRISTIAN IDEAL FOR SOCIETY 15 does not mean that Jesus was indifferent to the physical conditions under which men live. He never isolated the human soul from its environment and treated it as if it were a disembodied spirit. On the contrary he healed the sick, fed the hungry, and cleansed the temple. He bade his disciples clothe the naked, relieve physical want, undo heavy burdens, let the oppressed go free. In seeking to change the external environment for the better, therefore, we are following Jesus' example. If we are to be ef- fectively concerned with the spirit of men we have to be concerned with outward surroundings, for though they do not in themselves determine the issues of life, they have a powerful effect upon them. People differ in character, in part, because of the conditions into which they were born and the opportunities opened to them by their physical surroundings. Change environment and you enlarge or limit opportunity, stimulate or hinder growth, as the case may be. This gives us a direct point of contact with modem industry, for of society as at present organized it is manifestly true that the physical environment does handi- cap the growth of the inner life. There are multitudes of people who might be helped to the larger life who are needlessly hampered by their surroundings. The con- ditions under which they live limit them in knowledge, narrow their sympathies, condemn them to fatiguing hours of monotonous toil, weaken their physical and moral vitality, deny them decent homes in which to live, and in many other ways, which we are presently to state more in detail, prevent them from reaching their full stature as rounded and well developed personalities. Yet these limitations on the lives of millions of men, far from being thought of as unchristian and intolerable, are taken as a matter of course by hosts of their fellows, and attempts to change them are even resented and re- sisted. This denial to some of conditions regarded as necessary and natural for others constitutes the primary i6 INDUSTRIAL RECONSTRUCTION grievance against which so many of the workers now rightly protest. This view of the worth of personality underlies the Christian conception of social justice. What each affirms for himself he must be ready to grant to his neighbor because he, too, is a unit of intrinsic worth, entitled to consideration for his own sake and to equal opportunity for self-realization. To other personalities we must give the same regard that we desire for our- selves,i2 viewing them, as God views us, not in the light of present attainment but in the light of what is possible for them to become. The subordination of one indi- vidual to the ends of another, therefore, whether through force or as the result of economic conditions, is the great injustice. Justice is thus something far more than treat- ing others as a legal code demands. It is something more than an equitable apportionment of goods. As in the family, so also in society at large, it is at heart the seeking of the largest good of all the members of the group. In this insistence upon the value of the individual per- sonality and the underlying faith in the potential capacity of the least of men to fulfill some worthy function in society, Christianity finds its point of contact with modern democracy. Democracy is the attempt to realize this fundamental right of every personality to self- expression through cooperation with others in a common task. In the political sphere it has already found large recognition. But we are discovering that there are other spheres of human interest to which it equally applies. In fact, if we begin by accepting the Christian estimate of man we shall find it difficult to set any limits to democracy. It applies, or should apply, in the sphere of organized religion, which is the Church. It applies in the sphere of industry with which we are here immedi- ately concerned. Indeed, it may be of relatively small sig- "Matthew 7 : 12. THE CHRISTIAN IDEAL FOR SOCIETY 17 nificance for men to have the right of political self- expression, unless they have similar opportunity for self-expression in their daily work. For the conditions which affect them in industry touch them more closely than the concerns of the state. But is it not dangerous to give men the measure of freedom that this estimate of personality requires ? Shall we not simply add to the evils of our present social order by widening the range of conflict? This might, indeed, be true if the personalities in question were isolated individuals, independent of one another in their rights and interests. But this is the opposite of the Christian view. Personality, according to Christianity, is a social conception. To be a person means to have one's place in a larger whole, to realize one's true self in relation to others. It can only be understood, therefore, in the light of its converse, which is brotherhood. 2. The Christian Teaching as to Brotherhood as THE Primary Relation between Man and Man The Christian view of the individual personality never regards him as an isolated unit, but as a member of a society whose interests he shares. This society is regarded by Jesus as a family, a group in which mutual helpfulness should prevail. This, too, like the worth of the individual, follows from our faith in the divine Fatherhood. Those who have one Father such as Christ revealed cannot be distantly related ; one is their Master, even Christ, and they all are brothers. ^^ The extent to which Jesus regarded men in terms of a social unity is nowhere more clearly revealed than in His thought of their fellowship with God in prayer. He taught them to think of God as ''our Father," to seek not private blessings but ''our daily bread," to recognize social re- sponsibility in asking forgiveness for "our trespasses." • Matthew 23 : 8. i8 INDUSTRIAL RECONSTRUCTION This conception of the organic unity of society is involved in Jesus' conception of the Kingdom, in which each must find his place before he can attain his true destiny as a child of God. It is recognized in an explicit way by Paul in his figure of the Church as a body of many members, each of which has its own function, but shares in the weal or woe of all the rest.^^ In both of those points of view the central fact is that we are all so much members one of another that one's larger self-interest is wrapped up in the common good.^^ Personal life is a partnership in which each shares in the experience of the others, works for their good, suffers with them. To state the Christian ideal for man in terms of individual salvation or self -development alone is there- fore impossible. Personality can fulfill itself only in a social setting, its values be realized only in fellowship. In this brotherhood the motive of love is the binding force. And this motive is central and controlling for all of life. When asked, "Which is the greatest command- ment ?" Jesus' answer was, "Thou shalt love," a principle so all-inclusive that on it "hang all the law and the prophets. "1^ Love is to be directed both to God and to men as the children of God. It is, therefore, the one principle for religion and ethics alike. This simplifica- tion of the problems of all social life, in terms of one ruling motive is the most distinctive thing in the Chris- ** I Corinthians 12 : 12-27. ^^ The place of competitive struggle in the development of so- ciety we have in the past greatly overemphasized. The assurnp- tion has even been made, by an appeal to evolutionary theories, that the war of each against all was the normal law of life. How superficial such an interpretation was we are now beginning to see. Thanks to Henry Drummond and Peter Kropotkin, we now know that even in the sub-human realm mutual aid is at least as important a factor in survival as mutual struggle, and that in the onward evolution of life it is of far greater significance. The course of nature is, therefore, no longer to be regarded as alien to the Christian ideal. For a recent treatment of evolution from this angle see George Nasmyth, "Social Progress and the Darwinian Theory," New York, 1916. '* Matthew 22 : 37-40. THE CHRISTIAN IDEAL FOR SOCIETY 19 tian religion. Others have taught the way of love but none other has made it so central as to declare, "By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another. "^"^ Nor has any other made the motive so universal in its application as to say, "Love your enemies ... do good to them that hate you."^^ By love, as used by Jesus, is not meant simply an emotional attitude. It is an active desire that all men shall have the fulness of life that one desires for himself. It involves a directing of the will toward the common good. Hence love always unites. Selfishness, on the other hand, is always disruptive, because it means that men's wills are directed to private and exclusive ends. It is the motive of love, therefore, that makes possible the human solidarity implied in the conception of brother- hood.19 The brotherhood contemplated by the Christian ideal is a universal brotherhood. As there is one Father so there is but one human family. The founder of Christianity included in the circle of His thought the Samaritans, os- tracized by the Jews, and even the Gentiles hated by Jew and Samaritan alike. He saw that men were to come from the East and the West and the North and the South into the Kingdom of God.^^ The early apostles of the new faith had a remarkable experience of ex- panding fellowship that finally knew no limits. Peter learned that he "should not call any man common or unclean,2i and Paul that there is neither Jew nor Greek, bond nor free, male or female, "but all are one in Christ Jesus."22 The attempt to set up as final and ex- clusive any other category less inclusive than humanity is inconsistent with faith in a God who has made of one ''John 13:35, "Matthew 5:44. '* In the present discussion we are considering the principle of love in so far as it helps to define the nature of the Christian ideal. As a method for realizing that ideal it will be discussed in Chapter IV, together with the principle of faith. ""Luke 13 : 29. ''Acts 10 : 28. "Galatians 3 : 28. 20 INDUSTRIAL RECONSTRUCTION blood all peoples of the earth.^^ The solidarity of mankind is inseparable from Christianity.^^ The Christian ideal of an all-embracing brotherhood, it is true, is still unrealized. How far we have to go before we can be said even measurably to have attained ! Nevertheless, it remains as the final goal of all our efforts and must, therefore, be our standard for estimating whatever progress we have made. We have a present anticipation of the goal in the growing interrelationships of nations and in an expanding interracial sympathy, and the progress that has been made is our ground for reason- able hope that the ideal can be increasingly realized in the future of the race. In the existing social order, however, there are influ- ences which seem to limit, if not to deny, human brother- hood. Nationality, race, and class are all conspicuous factors in our present social life that keep men apart. The question, therefore, confronts us. What should be the Christian attitude toward these subordinate social re- lations? How far have they any legitimate place in a society that is moving toward a Christian brotherhood ? We may find a clue to the right answer in what has already been said about the Christian view of the individual. Just as fully developed individuals are essen- tial to the well-being of a community, so also are highly *'Acts 17:26. ^*This is the great significance of the Church, that it is an expression of this inherent unity of mankind. Here is a society which includes men of all races, of all classes, and of all forms of occupation and degrees of knowledge, who are yet one in that they are all children of God. This ideal has hitherto been con- ceived too narrowly and too meagerly attained. Even foreign missions, which is the aspect of the Church's life where the oneness of humanity comes to fullest recognition, has often been given such an individualistic interpretation that the social rela- tionships of men have been ignored. Nevertheless, the very fact of ihe missionary enterprise has been a witness to the unity of mankind and it is needed now, enlarged and strengthened, as a great practical expression of the Church's faith that all men belong to the one family of God THE CHRISTIAN IDEAL FOR SOCIETY 21 developed racial, national, and occupational groups the basis for an efficient social order. The proper develop- ment of the smaller units makes possible a richer unity in an organic whole. Moreover, the existence of these smaller subdivisions of society, with their accompanying group loyalties, has meant an enlargement rather than a narrowing of social consciousness. They mean that men have moved out into relationships no longer bounded by their own family or tribal interests. They may serve, therefore, to educate men for the still larger experience of fellowship with all mankind. The man who loves his own family intensely does not for that reason feel himself opposed to other families. On the contrary, he is better able to understand what family affection means to others because he has felt it himself. So the class consciousness of the labor movement may develop an appreciation of social values that will minister to a more inclusive human fellowship. Even radical labor groups, which may now seem to operate in a destructive manner, may serve as a training school in social living. To an audience of Church workers a leader of the I. W. W. lately said, "You may say what you will against us, but you cannot deny that we, and we alone, have given the casual laborer a social conscience.'' If, however, class, nation, or race is made an exclusive category, or if the group consciousness is artificially limited so that wider human sympathies are repressed, a common fellowship is hindered. Nationality, which is a natural fact, then becomes the basis for a cult of nation- alism, which regards the individual state as an absolute and sovereign entity. So far as classes have their founda- tion in differences of function in the industrial order, they may be following natural and useful lines and may serve to secure a highly diversified and rich social life. But to the extent that possession of material goods is made the basis for the formation of social classes we have set up artificial barriers to brotherhood. For, as we have re- 22 INDUSTRIAL RECONSTRUCTION cently been reminded, creative instincts tend to unite humanity, while acquisitive instincts divide. In any case, according to Christianity, the relationship of brotherhood underlies all other human relationships. Men as men are children of God and members of one family. To regard them as primarily German or English, Caucasian, Mongolian, or Negro is to turn our backs on the Christian attitude. So also in industry. Men, as men, are brothers first, employers or employes afterward. A man who becomes a captain of industry and directs the labor of 10,000 operatives does not thereby cease to be the brother of each of them. If he allows himself to treat them primarily as artisans or "hands" he ignores the fundamental relationship on which any Christian society must rest. That the principle of the supreme value of human personality requires us to consider the effect of physical and economic conditions in either promoting or limiting personal development has been pointed out in the pre- ceding section. In the principle of brotherhood we have a further standard for testing external surroundings. For environment is now seen not simply as a matter which concerns each individual but as a social interest, the denial of a fair opportunity to one being a problem for all. If mankind is a family, what concerns one concerns all. We have to ask ourselves, therefore, whether the environment of any man is such as one would tolerate for his own brothers. If we would not acquiesce in it for them, by what right do we acquiesce in it for any of our fellows? That such a gospel of brotherhood is terribly needed today in our industrial life is patent to any one who has thought at all deeply about our present problems. Al- though "brotherhood" seems to most men to have a Uto- pian sound, it will be insisted in this report that the principle is not only practicable, but that it is finally the only practicable solution of the problems of our collective THE CHRISTIAN IDEAL FOR SOCIETY 23 living. Its acceptance would, it is true, require of us a different conception of industry than that it exists for the sake of the largest private profits that can be secured. It would require us rather to think of all industry in terms of public service, a point of view which we shall now consider. 3. The Christian Teaching as to the Law of Service The Christian conception of society as a brotherhood involves a recognition of mutual service and helpfulness as the Christian way of life. In the family the spirit of competitive self-seeking and the existence of antago- nistic interests have no place. Its members share a com- mon .life whose benefits each receives and to which each contributes according to his ability. This is the spirit that Jesus would have extend beyond the present limits of the home to the whole of the human family. The motive of love, which lies at the heart of Christianity, must express itself in practical service to mankind.^^ The foundation of this law of loving service Jesus found in the fact of God's love. He thought of men as children of a Father who makes His sun to shine freely on even the evil ; hence they were to become perfect in their love as their Father was perfect.^^ The reality of God's outgoing and self -giving love Jesus revealed in His ovvn life, coming not to be served, but to serve and to give His life.^^ In His own ministry to His fellows, and supremely in His self-sacrificing death. He was such an incarnation of God's own life and of the manner of living which He taught to be the will of God for men that the Cross stands as the perfect symbol of the Christian way of life. This principle of service He held to be binding not on Himself alone but on His followers, explicitly saying, after He had illustrated the principle in a striking symbolic act : "I have given you an example that ye should **Luke 10:27-37. '"Matthew 5:44-48. ^^Mark 10:44. 24 INDUSTRIAL RECONSTRUCTION do as I have done."^® And in His great picture of the final judgment the one test of men's lives v^as to be v^hether or not they had ministered to human need.^® The teaching of Jesus as to the duty of service is thus clear and unmistakable. , No less unmistakable is it that the pursuit of material wealth as one's primary concern was regarded by Jesus as being inconsistent with the life of spiritual fellowship and service. The man whose chief interest is to lay up ^'treasure for himself" is not "rich toward God.''^^ Jesus does not mean that wealth is itself an evil or that an ascetic life is called for, but He does clearly mean that the acquisition of material goods can not be the main concern of the Christian. He is to seek first the common good of all men, the goal which Jesus called the Kingdom of God.^^ Service is not to be a man's secondary con- sideration ; it is to be his chief vocation. The ideal of a brotherhood of service does not imply that all men are equal in their capacity for service or that they are necessarily to receive the same reward. In reply to the question, "Which is the greatest?" Jesus did not say that in His Kingdom none would be the greatest and that all would be on one level of achievement. He laid down a new standard of greatness: Whosoever will be great among you, let him be the servant of all.^^ Men may still be ambitious to excel, not, however, "to sit at the right hand and at the left" in places of private ad- vantage, but to minister to human welfare. The same principle is recognized by the Apostle Paul in his discus- sion of diversities of gifts within the body of the Church. The various members do not perform equal functions, but they all are necessary and are to "have the same care one for another."^^ That all men are to engage actively in useful work is a corollary of the principle of service. The parables of "^John 13 : 15. ^Matthew 25 : 31-46. ""Luke 12 : 21. ^'Matthew 6:33. ^''Mark 10:44. ^^ Corinthians 12:25. THE CHRISTIAN IDEAL FOR SOCIETY 25 the workers in the vineyard, the fisherman and his net, the sower in the field, the shepherd with his flock, the householder making a winepress, and many others of Jesus' illustrations drawn from the sphere of industry, all suggest that a life of practical activity is regarded as the right and normal thing. He commends the man who performs economic tasks with diligence and rebukes the man who is slothful in these duties. ^^ In a single word )^ -? the Apostle tersely sums up the Christian view, "If any j-^^^ ' man will not work neither shall he eat." And these daily tasks are not thought of as apart from men's Christian service. They are Christian service if performed in the spirit of seeking the common good and meeting human needs. Any function which is essential to social welfare is a true ministry and he serves God most who con- tributes most to the common weal. Industry, then, in its primary and central significance, is social service. This is inevitably the Christian view. It is true that we cannot look to Jesus' teaching for any detailed regulations for industrial concerns today. In the social horizon of His time there was no such thing as modern industrial organization. But this does not mean that His teaching concerning service has no necessary consequences for that phase of our corporate life today. The principle of service which He lays down is so all- embracing that no aspect of human relationships can be exempted from its sway. Followed to its logical out- come, it means that all social organization, as well as the life of the individual units that comprise society, must center around a higher principle than the getting of material possessions. In the light of Jesus' teaching we cannot escape the conclusion that the Christian test for the success of any business or industrial establishment is the extent to which it ministers to the well-being of the whole community. From this it follows that all income, whether in the form of wages, profits, interest, or rent, "Matthew 25 : 16, 17. 26 INDUSTRIAL RECONSTRUCTION can be justified only as a reward for service rendered to society. The natural inference from Jesus' teaching is that any man is entitled to as much, and only as much, as he earns by ministering to the common good. This point of view obviously runs counter to the standards that largely prevail in the present conduct of industry. The contrast lies not simply in men's failure to measure up to that standard, bi^t in their refusal to accept it as a standard at all. The trouble is not simply that men do not consistently apply the principle, but that they do not generally believe that it is to be applied. They accept the economic sphere as a battle-ground of com- peting self-interests in which one is to have whatever he is able to get. They assume that business and industry exist for the sake of the private profits they can be made to produce and that their efficiency is to be measured in terms of those profits. They do not expect to see over the doorway of the coal mine, steel factory, or depart- ment store, ''Whoever would be great among you shall be the servant of all.'' The seeming impossibility of reconciling Christian teaching with life in the market place drove earnest men in an earlier day into the monastery. Today it calls them to stay in the market place and to say, 'T am here as one that serves." The consequences of the law of service for the use of possessions are as significant as for the conduct of the industry or the business by which the possessions are acquired. These consequences are summed up in what is commonly called the duty of stewardship. This means, in a word, that all that one has he holds in trust for the common good. The principle is valid in the case of other possessions than material goods — it is true of power or influence or public office — but it is with its application to property that we are here most directly concerned. The Christian attitude toward property, as revealed in the New Testament and confirmed by later history, may be summed up in a series of simple propositions. In the- THE CHRISTIAN IDEAL FOR SOCIETY 27 first place, property is taken for granted as a fact to be reckoned with. The parables of the talents and of the unjust steward assume that men have material posses- sions which they are to use. In the second place, prop- erty is to be subordinated to spiritual ends. Should it come, therefore, to bulk so largely in a man's concerns that it dulls his spiritual vision and hinders his higher life, it must be renounced. If it stands in the way of the life of fellowship, one must "sell all that he has.^^s In the third place, property is given social significance as expressing a responsibility for service and as being justi- fied only as based upon service rendered to society. To whom much is given, of him shall much be required. ^^ Finally, it is given a religious sanction as a trust held for God, to be used as He directs for the promotion of His Kingdom. The owner of possessions is to be "a faithful and wise servant whom his lord hath made ruler over his household" and who will be held to account by his Lord.'^'^ These last two points of view together constitute the prin- ciple of stewardship, and are but two aspects of a single attitude. To say that men are to hold possessions in trust for God and that they are to regard them as a trusteeship for humanity are two ways of saying the same thing, because the will of God and the good of mankind are identical. This brief review of Jesus' attitude to the question of material possessions makes clear what is, in general, the Christian view of property. It is a means to the en- hancement of personality, a way in which we are able to realize more fully the spiritual ends of life. Hence it should be an educative force, developing personal powers by giving permanent control over material things and so making possible purposeful and self-directed living. And it is to be gained and used in ways that serve the welfare not of a few but of all. Only in the light of the supreme '"Luke 18:22, Cf. Luke 14:33 and Luke 5:11. "^Luke 12:48 •^Matthew 24:45-51. 28 INDUSTRIAL RECONSTRUCTION value of personality and of brotherhood, therefore, can we, if we would be Christian, consider the rights and duties of property. The ideal of stewardship, as applied to property, has been criticized from two points of view. It has been criticized, in the first place, on the ground that it con- centrates attention upon the expenditure of money to such an extent as often to condone wrong methods of acquiring it. A second criticism rests on the assumption that it identifies the Christian use of money with charity rather than with justice. No doubt both of these criti- cisms have had a certain justification in the actual practice of the Church. Yet it is clear that both rest upon a misconception of the true Christian view. The Christian teaching that property is a trust is never to be understood as justifying any method of acquiring property which violates the law of love, for, as we have already seen, the principle of service applies to the con- duct of industry and the motives with which one engages in it as fundamentally as to the possessions acquired thereby. One cannot carry Jesus' ideal of service into industry and at the same time be more concerned with private profits than with the well-being of the workers or of the community as a whole. The doctrine of stewardship — that all which men have they have from God and hold in trust for the brotherhood — demands the seeking of the common good in the organization of industry and in the use of natural resources from which all wealth is derived. That doctrine is an inheritance from Israel and underlies the Old Testament view that "the earth is the Lord's and the fulness thereof." The conception of divine sovereignty thus held will, if con- sistently applied, make the Christian concerned to secure such an organization both of production and of distribu- tion as shall most fully minister to the well-being of all God's children. To interpret stewardship as affording a sanction for great private wealth — on the ground that THE CHRISTIAN IDEAL FOR SOCIETY 29 God has given it to its present possessor, when as a matter of fact he may have it as the result of an unjust economic system — is to travesty the doctrine. Still less is the other objection valid, namely, that the doctrine of stewardship identifies the Christian's use of money with charity. Stewardship, in the true sense of the social use of what one has, involves directing all one's energy and resources to securing the largest good of man- kind. And the largest good is always inseparable from justice to all. When poverty or need exists, the practice of stewardship does, indeed, demand charity to meet the present emergency, but it demands even more the secur- ing of such social arrangements that the causes of suffer- ing shall so far as possible be removed. To consecrate all that one has and is to God is to dedicate himself to the task of securing a social order that is thoroughly just. The Christian teaching, therefore, will not let us ignore the question of the distribution of wealth. In considering Jesus' own view on this question it is highly essential that we distinguish between His attitude toward personal property, which we have discussed above, and His attitude toward such large accumulations of property as in the gospels are designated as "riches." When we make this distinction, it becomes clear at once that He regards great material wealth as a moral peril, obscuring the supremacy of personal values and en- dangering the spirit of brotherhood. This is evident from many striking passages which it is impossible for us to read out of the gospels or to explain away. This is why Jesus insisted that one "cannot serve God and mam- mon"^^ and emphasized "the deceitfulness of riches."^^ Riches choke one's interest in the higher values of spir- itual fellowship. Hence they that are rich can only with great difficulty enter into the Kingdom.^^ The danger is so great that we find Him saying, "Woe unto you that are "Matthew 6 : 24. '"Mark 4 : 19. '"Mark 10 : 23, 30 INDUSTRIAL RECONSTRUCTION rich," and, in contrast, ^'Blessed are ye poor/'^^ Such an insidious obstacle to the brotherly spirit may great wealth become that the possessor must "sell all that he has and give to the poor."^^ Not only the possession of such riches, but the pursuit of them by those who have them not, is a spiritual peril, so that to one who covetously sought an inheritance Jesus replied, "Who made me a divider over you?'" and explained his reply by the parable of the rich fool who thought that a man's life consisted in the abundance of the things that he pos- sessed.^^ All this is still true today. . Quite apart from the use which is made of them, very great fortunes mean diffi- culties in the way of realizing the Christian ideal* of brotherhood which we must face frankly if we would be true to our Christian teaching. For, in the first place, large wealth tends to separate a man from those first- hand contacts with his fellows which are essential to the best living. Sympathy is harder than it would otherwise be. Impulses to democratic fellowship are hindered. Even when there is a will to be really brotherly, it is diffi- cult to use one's riches for others in ways that the less favored will not resent as paternalistic. In the second place, the effect of great riches is to make possible dom- ination over others. Especially is this so when one owns the materials of production on which others have to depend. The temptation to exercise undue control over their lives is tremendously increased. Property as a means of control is open to all the difficulties which beset the use of power everywhere and may even issue in what is practically a system of economic slavery. When, as so often happens, means and end are confused and money or power becomes an end in itself, we have the sin of sins — namely, the subordination of the personal to that which is non-personal. Hence the love of money, according to both Jesus and the Apostles, is a root of all kinds of evil, *'Luke 6 : 20, 24. "Luke 18 : 22. *'Luke 12 : 13-21. THE CHRISTIAN IDEAL FOR SOCIETY 31 and covetousness — the love of money for its own sake — is the great idolatry.^^ From this discussion it is clear that in our thinking as Christians we must apply two practical tests to the pres- ent institution of property. The first test is, How far does the present distribution of property minister to the development of all personalities and give them adequate opportunity for self-expression? The second is, How far do the present methods of the conduct of industry and the acquisition of property give to all individuals that proper share of social control which enables society to realize the Christian ideal of a brotherly use of the material possessions that God has provided for the good of the race? In the following chapter we shall examine the present industrial order in the light of these standards. 4. Consequences for the Christian Social Ideal The Christian principles that we have here considered are not separable strands of teaching, but are intimately interrelated as parts of a single social ideal. This ideal, which Jesus called the Kingdom of God, is nowhere described in detail in the New Testament, nor is there specific application of the principles to concrete problems of industrial organization. Nevertheless, these prin- ciples are sufficiently clear to enable us to picture the kind of society that we should have if they were realized in fact today. It would be a cooperative social order in which the sacredness of every life was recognized and everyone found opportunity for the fullest self-expres- sion of which he was capable; in which each individual gave himself gladly and whole-heartedly for ends that are socially valuable; in which the impulses to service and to creative action would be stronger than the acquisitive impulses, and all work be seen in terms of its spiritual significance as making possible fulness of life for all men ; in which differences of talents and capacity meant pro- "Colossians 3 : 5. 32 INDUSTRIAL RECONSTRUCTION portional responsibilities and ministry to the common good; in which all lesser differences of race, of nation, and of class served to minister to the richness of an all- inclusive brotherhood ; in which there hovered over all a sense of the reality of the Christ-like God, so that worship inspired service, as service expressed brotherhood. But, it will be asked, is such an ideal practicable? Beautiful though it be, can it ever be anything more than another Utopia? To this question the Christian answer is definite and unmistakable. This ideal can, indeed, be realized. For it is not merely of human contriving; it is rooted in reality itself. The Kingdom of God, as the social ideal which expresses the true relations of men to one another, is the divine goal for the world and God is able to bring His purposes to pass. There are Christians, of course, who hold that the full realization of this ideal has to be postponed to the future life. But whatever be the view taken as to how far the Christian social ideal is realizable in our present world, all must agree that it sets, forth the way of life to which Christians are committed. To the extent that we our- selves live according to these principles are we truly Christian, for God as revealed in Christ wills that now and always we should value all human personalities, that our primary relationship should be that of brothers, that loving service should be the controlling motive in life. These principles also give us, all Christians must likewise agree, the standard by which our present social system must be judged. To the extent that it approximates this ideal in all phases of its life may it be called a Christian system. In no case can the Christian admit that there can be any permanent divorce between religion and economics, since no aspect of life is to be exempt from the sway of Christ. Unless Christian principles are really applicable to industry, we cannot claim finality or universality for Christianity. Whether the final con- summation of the ideal is to come soon or late, by slow THE CHRISTIAN IDEAL FOR SOCIETY 33 degrees or by sudden cataclysm, it is our plain and un- escapable responsibility as Christians to give ourselves with all our might to Christianizing all our social life. In the light of this discussion it will be clear what we are to mean in this inquiry by a Christian society. By a Christian society, in the sense in which we shall use the term, we shall not mean a society committed to any special form of industrial organization but one whose organization shall express and develop a certain spirit of life. Nor shall we mean by the term the millennium, or any state in which all men are sanctified and human frailty and ignorance done away. We mean a society in which the general principles and fundamental assump- tions are Christian, which judges itself and expects to be judged by thoroughly Christian standards; a society such that when as Christians we enter into the various secular callings in which our lives must be lived on earth, we do not find our fundamental Christian faith invalidated by assumptions which govern conduct in the economic sphere. With this point of view we shall approach our present inquiry. We shall take up one by one the Christian prin- ciples which we have found to define our ideal for so- ciety — personality, brotherhood, service — and by them shall test the present industrial system.^^ We shall then ask by what means Christianity would secure social bet- terment and what changes are necessary in the present system in order to make it Christian. After we have done this, we shall be in a position to consider what obligations our principles lay upon the individual Christian in his capacity as employer or employe, producer or consumer, investor or citizen. Finally, we shall ask what special responsibility rests upon the Church in its organized capacity and how that responsibility can best be dis- charged. *'^The attitude of the Church to economic questions in the past is discussed in an important supplement to this report. CHAPTER II UNCHRISTIAN ASPECTS OF THE PRESENT INDUSTRIAL ORDER We have concluded that as Christians we are com- mitted to certain fundamental principles concerning our social life: the sacred worth of personality, brotherhood as the primary relationship among men, and service in the cominon good as the controlling motive in human conduct. We are now to take these principles as our standard of judgment and in the light of each of them endeavor to appraise our present attainment, with a view to ascertaining how far we are failing to secure a Chris- tian industrial order. The deficiencies and evils that arise in the carrying on of the functions of production and distribution spring from various sources. Some are due to limitations in material and intelligence or to accidental circumstances, which are largely beyond our power to control. These are not the concern of this report. Other evils arise from the sins of individuals — dishonesty, laziness, intemper- ance, or improvidence. With these religion has always been concerned because of its message to the individual soul, but they are so fully recognized that they need not be the main interest of this inquiry. Our present concern IS with those tendencies and results in our economic life which are due not simply to the faults of individual workers or employers, but to commonly accepted as- sumptions and prevailing points of view inconsistent with Christian principles. In the day of simpler industrial relations an individual- istic ethics was fairly sufficient, but in the vast and com- plex industrial organization of today it is no longer adequate. We are now confronted with a situation in 34 UNCHRISTIAN ASPECTS 35 which men and women whose lives are Christian in their individual and family relationships and who by intent would be Christian in the whole range of their life, par- ticipate in and accept a business and industrial system which in many grave aspects is unchristian — and this either without realizing that it is so or without feeling able to change the conditions. Christian men and women, for example, receive income from shares of stock in an industry without knowing, or indeed having any way of knowing, whether their own gain has been at the cost of a decent livelihood for workers in the industry. Or we ride in comfortable motor cars whose rubber tires have been cheaply secured only through the modern industrial slavery of the people of the Congo or other tropical lands. These are but familiar illustrations of the way in which our whole economic life is now bound up in such a vast complex of relationships that we can no longer consider simply the failings of individuals, but must examine the unchristian social attitudes and un- christian social arrangements in our industrial order as a whole. Certain aspects of the existing order, when clearly seen, are recognized with practical unanimity as incon- sistent with Christian principles. It may, indeed, be said that they are so well known that it is not worth while to dwell upon them. But the very fact that they are familiar may lead to thoughtless acquiescence, unless we frequently remind ourselves how unchristian they are. These more generally admitted evils we shall consider first. We shall then be better able to take up that part of the inquiry in which there may be more difference of judgment — namely, whether the present system itself, in its fundamental structure, is contrary to the essential teaching of Christianity. When one examines our industrial life in the light of Christian principles, he discovers that our failures are of two kinds, or fall into two groups. There are, in the 36 INDUSTRIAL RECONSTRUCTION first place, certain prevalent social attitudes that are incompatible with the Christian interpretation of life; and, in the second place, and partly as the consequence of those attitudes, there are certain ways of using the existing material resources of mankind that hinder the development of Christian character and Christian rela- tionships. For the sake of clearness it will be well for us to consider first the subjective and then the objective aspects of our present order inconsistent with each of the Christian principles that are to serve as our standard of judgment. I. Aspects of Our Industrial Order Inconsistent WITH THE SaCREDNESS OF PERSONALITY a. In Social Attitude: An Impersonal View of Labor, The whole point of view which regards labor as pri- marily a means for the production of wealth, rather than as the human ends for the sake of whom wealth is pro- duced, is so radically at variance with the Christian estimate of the worth of personality and the Christian in- sistence that every man has a right to full self-realization that it has no place in a nation presuming to judge itself by Christian standards. Yet it is only too clear that there is a widespread assumption that labor is to be considered chiefly as a necessary item in the cost of production, a commodity to be bought as cheaply as possible, like coal or cotton. It is this point of view which the seer in the book of Revelation denounces in scathing terms when he describes the life of the great commercial center of that ancient world and catalogs its commodities as *'the merchandise of gold, and silver, and precious stones . . . and wheat, and beasts, and sheep, and horses, and chariots, and slaves, and souls of men."'^ The very prevalence of the terms "labor market" and "hands'' as synonyms for the men who work in industry ^Rev. i8 : 12, 13. UNCHRISTIAN ASPECTS 37 connotes an estimate of personality incompatible with the clear emphasis of Christianity on the supremacy of human over material values. For it is impossible to sep- arate labor from the laborer. If work is carried on under conditions that menace health and welfare it is personality that is crushed. If wages are such as to deny decent standards of living, it is a human soul that is doomed to degradation. From the Christian viewpoint a contract for labor can never be in the same category as a contract for material goods. We heartily recognize, of course, that at present in many quarters there is a decided tendency to disclaim the theory that labor is a commodity. Workmen's accident insurance laws are a practical assertion that labor cannot be considered apart from the laborer. Not a few large employers and capitalists have publicly expressed their conviction that in any industrial program human values should have the first consideration.^ John D. Rocke- feller, Jr., for example, in his well known address on "Representation in Industry," says : "The soundest in- dustrial policy is that which has constantly in mind the welfare of employes as well as the making of profits, and which, when human considerations demand it, subor- dinates profit to welfare. Industrial relations are es- sentially human relations. . . . The day has passed when the conception of industry as chiefly a revenue-producing process can be maintained." But our economic life as a whole has still far to go before it comes to an unmis- takable and general acceptance of the primacy of human values and to the deliberate application of this principle in industrial organization. The public at large, as well as employers, needs a new point of view, since purchasers of goods and users of services furnished by others are all ^In the title, as well as in the content, of a recent well-known study of present industrial problems this point of view is emphasized — "Industry and Humanity" by W. L. Mackenzie King, Boston, 1918. 38 INDUSTRIAL RECONSTRUCTION too prone to insist on cheapness or speed without regard to what their demands may mean for those engaged in the industry. The tendency to regard labor simply as a means of production has been greatly intensified by modern ma- chinery, which has often had the effect of reducing the man almost to the level of the machine. He is. left to do what inventive genius is unable to design a machine to do. The process of manufacture is carried to a higher and higher degree of specialization, until the worker's task tends to become a deadening routine and he himself hardly more than a semi-mechanical part of the factory. These conditions almost inevitably result in the loss of the sense of personal creation and fine craftsmanship. In the simpler days before the advent of large-scale production the worker helped to plan the work and with his own strength and skill carried it into execution. In such a task a man could really find self-expression. But now he does not plan the work or any part of it, and everything except the monotonous details is accomplished by an automatic machine. The work no longer seems really his. The factory, therefore, means barren mo- notony for millions of men, deadens their imagination, and robs them of any sense of creative joy. And in these results we have had an altogether too complacent acquiescence. If we are seriously concerned about the development of personality we ought to be earnestly seek- ing ways of affording to modern workers opportunity for self-expression in their tasks, by giving them industrial education and making it possible for them to share in directing the industry as a whole. At the very least, we ought to guarantee them sufficient leisure for self- development in other activities outside the factory. We have shown an inexcusable apathy toward this destruc- tion of human values in the process of producing things. We have been concerned with impersonal goods, with profits and dividends, forgetting that the factor which we UNCHRISTIAN ASPECTS 39 indifferently spoke of as "labor'' is nothing less than im- mortal souls for whom the Lord Christ died. b. In Objective Results: Dwarfing of Personality. When we turn from a consideration of our social at- titude on the subject of the sacredness of personality to a consideration of the practical expressions of that atti- tude in our industrial life, we find a present dwarfing of personality on a vast scale. The factors that produce it we shall now briefly consider. (i) Lack of Continuous Opportunity to Work. One of the appalling tragedies of our modern industrial life is that so many who are able and anxious to work often cannot find opportunity to do so. There is always a considerable degree of unemployment and in times of industrial depression millions, through no fault of their own, are denied the chance to earn a living. We may not like to have it put in such ugly words, but it is actually the truth that workers are frequently tossed aside, when occasion arises, like other useless parts of a machine. What unemployment means in terms not simply of physical distress but of mental anguish, harassing fears, blighted hopes, and crushed ambitions for a better life, both for oneself and for those depending on him, is altogether inadequately recognized. It is a situation to which we have become heartlessly indifferent through long use. Nor do we half appreciate what even the pos- sibility of unemployment means — the constant apprehen- sion that is caused in the minds of the great majority of wage earners even when at work by the fear that dismissal may occur at a week's or a day's notice, without any fault of the worker and without any assurance that another opportunity for self -maintenance is available. Most serious of all are the demoralizing effects of con- tinued unemployment on character, an aspect of the problem that directly affects the task of the Church. The 40 INDUSTRIAL RECONSTRUCTION man who would work, but perforce cannot, eventually becomes a man who does not want to work when he may. Habits of shiftlessness and dependence are developed, resulting in a general weakening of moral fiber. Ambition for success appears to be futile when after one's best efforts the ruthless working of the law of supply and de- mand casts him aside as one who has no place to fill in the economic life of the world. The final result is that the unemployed often become unemployable. The statement of the British Quaker Employers is by no means exag- gerated: "Regarding the industrial life of the worker from the standpoint of his whole personality hardly any- thing is of greater moment than that, while he is willing to work and capable of doing so, he should be able to work upon a regular income. It is universally acknowl- edged that insecurity of employment, which is found in the most aggravated form among casual workers, has a deteriorating effect upon both physique and character.'*^ So many people are entirely unaware of the serious amount of unemployment that it may be well to give some indication of the situation, even though exact statistics cannot be secured. The United States Census showed that in 1900 as many as 6,000,000 working people, or nearly twenty-five per cent of all engaged in gainful occupations, had been unemployed at some time during the year, nearly one-half of these losing from one to three months each, more than a third losing from four to six months each, and nearly 750,000 losing even seven to twelvemonths each.^ In 1915 the United States Bureau *Their further comment is significant: "We believe, moreover, that restricted output and opposition to the introduction of ma- chinery are almost always the result of the employe's fear that he or his fellow-worker may be thrown out of employment." See "Quakerism and Industry," edited by J. E. Hodgkin, North of England Newspaper Company, 1918, pages 132-134. A con- venient summary of the conclusions may be found in the Survey, Nov. 23, 1918. *See Commons and Andrews, "Principles of Labor Legislation," p. 261. Similar data were collected in the Census of 1910, but so far as we know, have not yet been published. UNCHRISTIAN ASPECTS 41 of Labor Statistics estimated that in New York City 442,000, or eighteen per cent of the wage earners, were unemployed.^ In the same year the Federal Commission on Industrial Relations reported: "The number of un- employed persons even in normal times is appallingly great. The statistics of highly organized trades show that even in times of greatest industrial activity there is a considerable percentage, ranging from seven to fifteen per cent of all of the members of unions in different trades or industries, of workers who are unemployed during the year. In any year the unemployed who con- gregate in the large cities alone during the winter months number several hundred thousand, while in years of industrial depression the number of unemployed in the entire country is at least 3,000,000."^ A recent study, probably as authoritative as any that could be made, of fluctuations in employment, concluded that at all times between 1902 and 191 7 from one to six million workers, exclusive of farm laborers, were unemployed in the United States and that ''the average number of unem- ployed has been 2,500,000."'^ Summarizing the general situation, the Commission on Industrial Relations concluded: "A careful analysis of all available statistics shows that in our great basic industries the workers are unemployed for an average of at least one-fourth of the year.'*^ The careful find- ings of Messrs. Lauck and Sydenstricker in 1917 roughly corroborate this estimate, as they concluded that the average wage earner in the leading manufacturing and mining industries operating throughout the normal year ''Bulletin of the U. S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, No. 172, pp. 6,7. ''Final Report of the Commission on Industrial Relations, pp. 162, 163, Washington, D. C, 1915. ^"Fluctuation in Unemployment in Cities of the United States, 1902 to 1917," by Hornell Hart, Cincinnati, O., pp. 51, 52; quoted by D. D. Lescohier, "The Labor Market," N. Y., 1919, p. 11. *Final Report of the Commission on Industrial Relations, p. 34. 42 INDUSTRIAL RECONSTRUCTION loses from ten to twenty per cent of his possible working time.^ This unemployment is due to various causes — ill- ness, accidents, unwillingness, and strikes, as well as lack of opportunity — but the Commission reported that "lack of work . . . either in a locality or section or in the country as a whole, accounts for approximately two-thirds of the average worker's loss of time at work, according to the available data on this point/' The burden of this situation has been borne by the workers, not by the industry as a whole or by the general public, that is, by those least able to bear it and not re- sponsible for it. While we have made careful pro- visions for protecting property rights, we have done little to protect the human right to opportunity for continuous self-maintenance through steady work. We have not even seriously begun to face our social responsibility for a situation that has tragic human significance for millions of men. (2) Inadequate Income. The Church is interested in the question of wages because a certain amount of income is essential to the development of worthy personality. For multitudes of men and their families physical well-being, education, cultural interests, recreation, even moral and spiritual development, depend in large measure upon the size of the pay envelope. If the struggle for bare existence con- sumes all one's energies, there is scant vigor and vitality for the growth of the higher life. Such an unending struggle dulls the spirit of hope and smothers aspiration. Moreover, low income involves inadequate housing facil- ities and so militates against the best standards of family life. Anyone who has seen the homes of the lowest paid classes of wage earners, in squalid surroundings, crowd- ing a family into two or three rooms, lacking sunlight and "Lauck and Sydenstricker, "Conditions of Labor in American Industries," New York, 1917, p. 74. UNCHRISTIAN ASPECTS 43 air, affording no opportunity for quietness or privacy, does not need to be told that meagerness of income is a large factor in preventing the normal growth of the human spirit. It may be objected, however, that poverty is a condition conducive to the spiritual life. And it is undoubtedly true that poverty, in the sense of not being unduly cumbered with material possessions, does minister to the life of the spirit. This, however, must not be confused with the modern industrial poverty that dooms men and women and children to degrading environment, under- nourished bodies, impoverished imaginations, weakened vitality, and blighted hopes. Such conditions have the very opposite effect of the kind of poverty which Jesus and St. Francis of Assisi commended, for, instead of freeing men from undue economic concern, they put men in bondage to it by necessitating a ceaseless struggle for physical existence itself. The evidence that great numbers of workers receive wages insufficient to afford the material environment needed as the basis of "the good life" is so convincing as not to be open to question and forbids any easy optimism as to economic justice. In 1910 the Federal Census found the average yearly income of wage earners in manufacturing industries to be $517.91. In 1912 a careful inquiry resulted in the estimate that upwards of sixty per cent of all our adult male wage earners received only about $600 per year and ninety per cent under $1,000.1^ In 1915 the Commission on Industrial Relations reported that not less than two-thirds of the adult male wage earners in factories and mines received less than $750 per year, the lowest sum which could then be regarded as a living wage for a family of five. It further reported that between one-fourth and one-third received less than $500, and in neither of these estimates '^T. H. Streightoflf, "The Distribution of Incomes in the United States," Columbia University Studies, 1912, No. 2, p. 139. 44 INDUSTRIAL RECONSTRUCTION was any deduction made for lost working time.^^ The general summary of the Commission was that an income sufficient to support in comfort the worker, a wife, and three minor children, and in addition to provide for sick- ness, old age, and disability, "is not received by fully one- half of the wage earners employed in industry/'^^ The income of the family is, of course, often somewhat larger than the income of the single wage earner. Yet the studies of Professor King in 191 5 showed that more than fifty per cent of the families of this country re- ceived less than $800 as an annual income.^^ Messrs. Lauck and Sydenstricker, accepting $800 as the minimum family standard in 191 7, concluded that it was "an inescapable fact that a very large proportion, possibly a half, of the wage earners' families in the principal indus- tries of this country have been below that level during the past few years."^^ Such a situation means that a still larger body of wage earners are only a few weeks re- moved from destitution. No wonder that the investiga- tions of the Children's Bureau of the United States De- partment of Labor show that the babies of the poorer working class in industrial centers stand only a third as much chance to live as those of the well-to-do. How much less chance still do they stand of receiving adequate education, growing up in wholesome surroundings, and developing personality to the full ? These reports all have to do with the period preceding the war and therefore represent more normal conditions. Wages have, of course, greatly risen since that time, but it is generally agreed that on the average they have no more than kept pace with the increased cost of living. "Final Report of Commission on Industrial Relations, p. 25. "Final Report of Commission on Industrial Relations, pp. 93, 94. "W. I. King, "The Wealth and Income of the People of the United States," N. Y., 1919, p. 228. "Lauck and Sydenstricker, "Conditions of Labor in American Industries," p. Z7^' UNCHRISTIAN ASPECTS 45 The War Labor Board in June, 1918, regarded $1,380 as a "minimum subsistence wage" for a family of five and $1,760.50 as a "minimum comfort wage/' For August, 1919, the Bureau of Statistics of the United States De- partment of Labor, on the basis of a careful inquiry into current prices, estimated a minimum wage to maintain a family of five in the District of Columbia at "a standard of health and decency" as about $2,250. This was pre- sented as in no sense an ideal budget, but one "below which no family can go without danger of physical and moral deterioration." It does not provide for savings, except insurance, for any vacation, for books, or other forms of education. Corrected to 1920, to allow for the increase in living costs since the estimate was made, it would now stand at about $2,500.^^ As the result of an extensive industrial survey, the United States Department of Labor has found that between 191 3 and the spring of 1919 the hourly wage had advanced in eleven of the major industries between 51 per cent in the case of (lumber) mill-work and 121 per cent in the case of the iron and steel industry as a whole. For the other in- dustries the increase ranges between these two extremes. For the same period as that covered by these percentages carefully prepared statistics show that the cost in living had advanced 75 per cent.^^ In six out of the eleven industries on w^hich figures are given the average hourly wage had increased slightly more than the cost of living. In five of the eleven the hourly wage showed a smaller ^^See "Studies of the Cost of Maintaining a Family at a Level of Health and Reasonable Comfort," presented by W. Jett Lauck before the U. S. Railway Board, 1920. Other figures for the present day, based on former estimates of Professor Ogburn, the Philadelphia Bureau of Municipal Research, and the National Industrial Conference Board, are approximately $2,200, $2,100, and $1,790 respectively. ^^ Monthly Labor Rcviezv oi the United States Department of Labor, Washington, D. C, November, 1919, pp. 191-193. The Labor Review iov March, 1920, shows an increase of 104 per cent between January 11, 1913, and January 11, 1920, in the average retail prices of the chief articles of food. 46 INDUSTRIAL RECONSTRUCTION increase than the cost of Hving. The fair inference would be that the situation is about the same as before the war. These bare statistics fail to give any adequate con- ception of their meaning in terms of human values. They do, however, make it unmistakably clear that hosts of men and women still lack sufficient material goods for adequate self-realization. (3) Inadequate Leisure. The Church is concerned about the length of the work- ing day because a certain amount of leisure is a necessary condition of the higher life. Unless hours of work are such as to permit men to recuperate after the day's labor, to mingle with their fellows, to have companionship with the family, to have time both for play and for self- improvement, there is small opportunity either for the development of good citizenship or the strengthening of spiritual interests and participation in the organized religious life of the community. The need for leisure IS all the greater when the tasks which men are doing involve the strain, the speeding up, the routine, and the deadening monotony of modern machine production. Under such conditions work itself is so uneducative that the enrichment of personality has to be mainly found in the hours spent outside of the factory. The Church is also interested in the length of the work- ing day because there is a lessening of moral and spiritual vitality from over-fatigue. This insidious effect on character assumes serious proportions when such over- fatigue is not occasional but continuous, because of excessive hours of toil and insufficient time for restora- tion to normal vitality before the next day's work begins. That the present working day under existing working conditions is in large areas of our industrial life so long" as to produce harmful effects upon the body, and there- fore on mind and soul as well, is hardly open to doubts UNCHRISTIAN ASPECTS 47 The report of the Committee of One Hundred on National Vitality, summarizing the best judgment of both medical and economic science, declared a few years ago that "the present working day, from a physical standpoint, is altogether too long and keeps the majority of men and women in a continual state of over-fatigue," and that the resulting economic loss *'is probably much greater than the waste from serious illness/'^'^ Such a lessening of physical vitality, involving also a lowering of spiritual power, means that resistance to temptation as well as to disease is definitely lessened. After long hours of toil at mechanical tasks, the saloon, the sensa- tional motion picture, or some other line of least resist- ance becomes the natural outlet for strained and jaded nerves. Yet our present industrial order still denies to great numbers the leisure that is the necessary condition of full development of personality. "Out of the 6,615,046 wage earners enumerated in 1909 by the Census of Manu- factures, only 7.9 per cent were employed in establish- ments where the eight-hour day prevailed. 'Prevailing hours' for three-quarters of them were from fifty-four to sixty weekly. But no fewer than 344,011, or 5.2 per cent of the whole number, worked where prevailing hours were between sixty and seventy-two weekly; 116,083 worked in establishments where the seventy-two hour week prevailed, and 114,118 where the prevailing hours were more than seventy-two. Out of the eighty-six prin- cipal manufacturing industries employing more than J 0,000 wage earners in 1909, twenty employed over ten per cent of their workers more than sixty hours a week. Among those exacting more than seventy-two hours "The report on National Vitality, prepared for the National Conservation Commission by Professor Irving Fisher, Govern- ment Printing Office, 1909. See pp. 44-48. The length of the working day has, of course, been considerably shortened for many workers since the issuance of this document, but its gen- eral conclusions are still valid. 48 INDUSTRIAL RECONSTRUCTION weekly from several thousand employes were beet sugar, cement, chemical, glucose, and sugar and molasses fac- tories, coke works, gas plants, the manufacture of ice and lime, petroleum refineries, blast furnaces, and rolling mills."i8 Considerable gain in shortening the working day has been made since this Federal Census was taken, particu- larly during the period of the war. Comparatively few employes in the United States, except in the building trades, enjoyed the benefits of the eight-hour day previous to the war. The attitude of the Government as expressed in the Adamson Law, granting a basic eight-hour day to railway employes, and in many decisions of the National War Labor Board caused the movement for the eight- hour day to gain no small headway until "today there is scarcely a trade or industry that does not contain many eight-hour workers" although *'in many cases the eight- hour day is simply basic and not actual."^^ These gains, however, have been secured, in the main, not so much through the force of enlightened public opinion as through the success of the workers themselves in col- lective bargaining. Only grudgingly and under pressure have the workers been granted what in the light of the Christian estimate of the worth of human personality they ought long ago to have had. Yet in spite of gains even the twelve-hour day is still with us for thousands of men. According to the recent testimony of the head of the United States Steel Cor- poration before the Senate investigating committee, over twenty-five per cent of its employes have a twelve- hour day.2^ These men, moreover, have a twenty-four "Commons and Andrews, "Principles of Labor Legislation,*' p. 200. ^''Monthly Labor Review, Nov., 1919, pp. 194-199. ^^The above estimate takes into account all employes connected with the United States Steel Corporation, including those work- ing in mines, on railways, etc. Of those actually engaged in the manufacture of steel probably fifty per cent have a twelve- hour day, as is admitted by the he^d of the Corporation. UNCHRISTIAN ASPECTS 49 hour period of continuous work once a fortnight when the change is made between day and night shifts. Yet as long ago as 1912 a committee of its own stockholders, of which Mr. Stuyvesant Fish was chairman, not only ex- pressed the opinion "that a twelve-hour day of labor, followed continuously by any group of men for any con- siderable number of years, means a decreasing of the efficiency and lessening of the vigor and virility of such men,'' but also ^asked that "the question should be considered from a social as well as a physical point of view."2i The twelve-hour day, involving at least thirteen hours away from. home, means that for the worker home becomes hardly more than a place to eat and sleep, that children are denied a father's oversight, wives deprived of the full partnership of husbands, men denied the educative influence of family life, and the community robbed of good citizenship. An important aspect of the question of leisure in which the Church should have a peculiar interest is the right of all to a weekly day of rest. The Church has always insisted that man is so constituted that his body, mind, and spirit need one day of release from the ordinary toil of the week. The significance of the rest-day for the development of moral idealism and religion can hardly be exaggerated. In the words of a decision of the Su- preme Court of Georgia in upholding a Sunday rest law, "Without specific leisure the process of forming character can only be begun ; it can never advance or be completed ; people would be merely machines of labor — nothing more."22 Yet the number of men in the United States who work every day in the week can be told only in millions. The demands of modem life are in part re- ^'Quoted in the Survey, March 13, 1920, p. 750, from a state- ment to the presidents of the constituent companies of the Steel Corporation by Edward T. Devine, representing the Commission on the Church and Social Service. ^^Quoted in Commons' and Andrews' "Principles of Labor Legislation," p. 202. 50 INDUSTRIAL RECONSTRUCTION sponsible for this situation, permitting no cessation iri telegraph and telephone service, printing of newspapers, railway and trolley transportation, milk delivery, restau- rant service, and many other kinds of work. But "an- other large group of industries, important among which are iron and steel works, cement factories, paper and pulp, flour and grist mills, usually operate continuously on account of technical requirements or sometimes simply for economy." A report of a special commission on hours of labor in continuous industries in 1910 showed that in New York in a number of specified industries nearly 20 per cent of the workers were engaged in seven- day labor.23 In Minnesota an investigation in 1909 showed that nearly 14 per cent of all the gainfully em- ployed males in the state were working every day in the week.24 In these wide areas of modern industrial life no Sab- bath seems to have been made for man, and human values are being crushed by denial of opportunity for rest. Even though in some industries continuous operation may be essential, it is only the setting of profit above personality that prevents such an increase in the working force as to free all workers from their toil one day out of the seven. (4) Dwarfing the Personalities of the Future. The dwarfing of human personalities today through lack of opportunity to work, insufficient income, and insufficient leisure, is only part of our practical denial of the Christian estimate of the worth of personality. Under existing industrial conditions we are also mort- gaging the character of future humanity through toler- ating the working of children for gain and through "^New York State Department of Labor, Bulletin No. 45, pp. 450, 451. ^*Minnesota Bureau of Labor, Twelfth Biennial Report, pp. 104-1919; quoted in Commons' and Andrews' "Principles of Labor Legislation," p. 201. UNCHRISTIAN ASPECTS 51 inadequate protection of the women workers who are to be the mothers of the race. Women and children in industry present a special problem, both because they are relatively helpless in the industrial struggle and because injury to them is a direct injury to the coming generation. (a) Child Labor. Nowhere do the unchristian aspects of our social order stand out more clearly than in the exploitation of chil- dren for selfish gain. The issue is so clear that it hardly seems necessary to say that when the lust for profit on the part of those who are economically strong, or the compulsion of necessity on the part of those who are economically weak, drags undeveloped lives away from the home into a ruthless industrial machine, we have a situation utterly at variance with the Christian concep- tion of the potential worth of human personality. A follower of Him who said, "Suffer the little children to come unto me" can never regard these lives as present means for the production of material things. He sees them always as immortal souls with a right to full de- velopment as children of God. The effects of premature labor upon children are much more far-reaching than dwarfed physical development. It militates against their future efficiency and usefulness by leading them into "blind alley*' occupations which train them for no occupation, because their present work, being of a character which can be done more cheaply by children, leads to their dismissal after a few years to make room for another group. Each successive group of young people is thus left on the industrial scrap-heap just when they reach maturity. So "the child laborer is the father of the man without a job or with only a poorly paid job."^^ Adequate education, whether secular ^'^For fuller discussion of the evil of "blind alley" occupations see the Anglican Report on "Christianity and Industrial Prob- lems," pp. 85-87. 52 INDUSTRIAL RECONSTRUCTION or religious, is rendered impossible. Immature lives are taken away from the influence of the home, which the Church has always regarded as the great agency for training in Christian character. They are early exposed to unnecessary temptation, and vitality for resisting it is weakened. The evils are so obvious and so disastrous in their effect upon the future character of the race tlmt it is nothing less than astonishing that the Christian con- science of America has tolerated them so long.. In 1910, according to the Federal Census, there were approximately 2,000,000 children, ten to fifteen years of age, engaged in gainful occupations in this country. Of children under fourteen (not including those under ten, for whom figures were collected but not published) there were upwards of a million. Two states still have no minimum age limit whatever for children's work in fac- tories and mercantile establishments; one permits the labor of boys under twelve and girls under fourteen; sixteen have a minimum age of fourteen but with speci- fied exemptions. Seventeen states have no maximum eight-hour day for children; seven have no prohibition of night work for children.^^ The realization that the present legislation by states is insufificient or that existing laws are inadequately en- forced has led to efforts to secure federal legislation. A bill enacted by Congress in 1916, aiming to reach child labor through the power of the Federal Government to control interstate commerce, was declared unconstitu- tional. Last April a federal child labor measure became effective through an amendment to the Revenue Bill, whereby a tax of ten per cent is imposed on the entire profits received by any mine or quarry employing chil- dren under sixteen, or any mill, cannery, workshop, or factory employing children under fourteen, or children *'See bulletin of the National Child Labor Committee, "What Shall the Coming of Peace Mean to the Working Children of America?" New York, 1919. UNCHRISTIAN ASPECTS 53 between fourteen and sixteen for more than eight hours or at night. At the present moment this law is before the United States Supreme Court, to test its constitution- ality on the alleged ground of its infringing upon the authority of the states. Even if the recently enacted federal law is sustained, there is still a vast amount for the Christian conscience to achieve. This law reaches only certain specific indus- trial concerns, namely, mines, quarries, mills, canneries, workshops, and factories. Perhaps this is as far as a federal measure can go, but further legislation by states will still be imperatively demanded. The law applies "only to occupations in which are found but fifteen per cent of the child labor of America. It affords no protection for the unfortunate hawkers of news and chewing gum on our city streets; none for the truck garden conscripts of New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Colorado, and Maryland; none for the sweating cotton pickers of Mississippi, Oklahoma, and Texas; none for the pallid cash and bundle girls in our department stores ; none for the 90,000 domestic servants under sixteen years of age who do the menial drudgery in our American homes — none for any of these, none for many others."27 Furthermore the provisions of the federal law are far from adequate, requiring neither an educational qualifica- tion nor a physical examination for children entering industry, and setting lower age standards than we can consider finally satisfactory. Certainly the Christian conscience cannot be content with less than the abolition of the working of children for profit unless at tasks of real educational value. It must insist that any industry which has to rest on child labor is not worth preserving. (b) Failure to Protect Women Workers. The central interest of the Churches in family life be^ *'R. G. Fuller, "Child Labor Now," National Child Labor Com- mittee, New York. 54 INDUSTRIAL RECONSTRUCTION cause of its significance for the future character of the race gives them a direct concern in the safeguarding of women workers. Their entrance into industry is an aspect of modern life which many thoughtful people have felt to be unfortunate. In the present situation, however, the practical question is not whether women shall be employed or no, but whether the conditions of work are to be conducive or detrimental to their own welfare and the future welfare of society. The war has tremendously accelerated the entrance of women into industry. For many years, however, the number of women engaged in industrial occupations has been steadily increasing with the development of the factory system. In 1910 there were 8,000,000 women bread-winners in the United States. Approximately one woman out of every five was employed. The estimate now is about 12,000,000 and one out of every four women is at work in a paid occupation. The greatest increase has been in the industrial trades. A govern- ment report of 1914 listed over 400 occupations; in only thirty-nine were no women employed. Nor is the em- ployment of women in industrial processes confined to any special section of the country. The problem is nation-wide. California fruit and vegetable canneries employ 20,000 women. Textile mills of North Carolina employ 25,000. New York State's industrial plants em- ploy more than 350,000. The Annual Report of the^ Railroad Administration shows that in October, 1918, 100,000 women were in its employ. The occupations which welcomed women during the war are retaining them. Reports of investigators agree that "dismissals of women from new positions are insignificant in number and the big dominating fact seems to be that women have made a permanent opening in industries from which they were practically excluded before the war.*' The entrance of women into industry has seldom been tinder auspicious circumstances. Strikes, periods of in- UNCHRISTIAN ASPECTS 55 dustrial depression, wars, have led them into new occupa- tions. Men out on strike have hated women strike break- ers. Poverty and need have forced women to undercut men and accept very low pay. They have been accused of being an unstable element in industry, lacking in- terest in the job for the job's sake, indifferent to incentives for advancement — conditions not surprising in view of the fact that they have entered industry under haphazard circumstances and have had no opportunity to choose work for which they had had training or to which they were adapted. Investigations have clearly shown that women go into industry because they must live and their children and dependents be clothed and fed. In the words of the United States Census, "It is the necessity of supporting themselves wholly or in part and perhaps of contributing to the support of those dependent upon them that is usually the impelling motive." Accord- ing to official reports, young girls who live at home con- tribute from twenty-eight to forty- three per cent of the total family income. The same reasons that have made women go into industry will tend to keep them there. Their work was formerly in the home; now it is in the factory and they must follow it. When we realize that agitation in behalf of labor legis- lation for women in the United States began in 1845 ^^d that now seventy-five years later only ten states^^ have a legal eight-hour day for women, we can hardly be complacent as to what has been accomplished. In some states an eleven-hour day and sixty-hour week is per- mitted. Six states have no protective legislation what- ever on the subject of hours of work for women. ^^ The ten-hour day is a custom or law in the majority of the states. Even those which have an eight-hour day ^^These states and territories are Washington, California, Ne- vada, Arizona, Montana, Colorado, Utah, Kansas, District of Columbia, and Porto Rico. ^'These are West Virginia, Florida, Alabama, Indiana, Iowa, and New Mexico. 56 INDUSTRIAL RECONSTRUCTION permit exemptions in industries like . canning, in several cases the major industry of the state. In the matter of prohibition of night work for women the United States is among the most backward of modern industrial coun- tries. Nineteen states have no legislation on the subject. Ten states prohibit night work for women in factories and mercantile establishments but permit exceptions. Yet "the ordinary strains and stresses of industry are all intensified in night work, which has in addition dangers of its own." Surely the Christian must insist, as the Government recommended during the war, that the needs of production be secured "by the exercise of industrial resourcefulness,'* not by such a sacrificing of the present and future welfare of the nation as is involved when women are compelled to work long hours or at night. Studies of the wages of women continue to show dis- crimination against wqmen workers and exploitation of them in industrial plants. They work to keep from starving, but often the wages they receive scarcely serve that end.^^ In 1917 an investigation in Tennessee of 26,500 women industrial workers showed seventy per cent receiving less than $9.00 a week. A study of work- ers in the District of Columbia in 1918 disclosed the fact that of 800 women interviewed sixty-four per cent re- ceived approximately $10.00 a week. The Minimum Wage Board of the District of Columbia in the spring of 1919, one year later, fixed the minimum living wage for women in the printing trade at $16.50. An investiga- tion in New York State in November and December, ^"Fourteen states and the District of Columbia have realized the dangers of the situation and enacted minimum wage laws for women, but many of the existing laws are not adequate. The decisions of the Massachusetts Minimum Wage Board, for example, are only recommendatory. The Supreme Court of Washington recently decided that a woman in order to receive a minimum wage must work seven days a week, thus combining desirable legislation with pernicious. Nor does any present legis- lation make the attempt to secure for women the minimum that men ordinarily receive. UNCHRISTIAN ASPECTS 57 1918, covering 417 factories with 33,000 women on their payrolls, found twenty per cent receiving less than $8.00 a week and sixty-eight per cent receiving less than $14.00 a week. The Bureau of Women in Industry in New York State published in March, 1919, an investigation of re- placement of men by women which showed that out of 113*643 only 190 received over $20.00 a week and two- thirds received less than $14.00. Yet these were women taking the place of men in essential industries. The New York investigation further disclosed the fact that only nine per cent received equal pay with men and "that the higher the pay of the man replaced the smaller the chance of the woman replacing hihi to receive it. . . . The majority of men replaced at equal wages received between $12 to $15 a week, a wage which is an extremely low wage for men but which approaches the average wage paid to women throughout the State and is less than it costs a woman supporting no one but herself to live." The present situation is well summarized in the Minority Report of the British Commission on the Re- lations between Men's and Women's Wages by Mrs. Sidney Webb, showing "that the exclusion of women by law or by custom from the better paid posts, professions, and crafts, has driven them to compete with each other, and with men, in the lower trades of each vocation, where they have habitually been paid at lower rates than men for equivalent work, on the pretense that women are a class apart, with no family obligations, smaller needs, less capacity, and a lower level of intelligence — none of these statements being true of all the individuals thus penal- ized.*' This unjust inequality results in a vicious circle to the detriment of the home — the competition of the woman lowering the wage of the man, his low wages forcing her to work. Even such a brief survey as this makes it clear that the present situation regarding women industrial workers runs counter to the Christian estimate of the worth of 58 INDUSTRIAL RECONSTRUCTION human personality and the dignity of womanhood, the Christian conviction of the central importance of high standards of family life, and the Christian concern for the future character of mankind. 2. Aspects of Our Industrial Order Inconsistent WITH Brotherhood To anyone who should come from another planet and for the first time observe our social order, brotherhood would certainly not appear a distinguishing feature. The seeming unreality of this Christian ideal is chiefly due to its present limitations in the economic realm. Unless we have mutual good will in our breadwinning, which for the great majority of men constitutes almost their entire existence, we cannot reasonably hope that brother- hood will seem much more than a Utopian fancy. We need, therefore, to examine carefully the ways in which we are now failing, both in our mental attitudes and in objective results, to apply this principle to modern in- dustrial life. a. In Social Attitude: A Selfish and Divisive Spirit in the Productive Process. If mankind is a single family, with common interests and common needs, the good of any member must be regarded as inseparable from the well-being of them all. They must recognize themselves as bound up in one bundle of life. But how far is this spirit of human solidarity, involved in the Christian principle of brother- hood, actually existent in our industrial life? To what extent does cooperative good will now prevail ? Is there any clear recognition of a unity of interests and a gen- eral seeking of a common goal ? The question almost answers itself. An assumption of conflicting, rather than of common, interests is one of the most conspicuous characteristics of our present atti- tude. The productive process is usually thought of as UNCHRISTIAN ASPECTS 59 practically a selfish competitive struggle.^^ When all due allowance has been made for the many firms in which mutual good will prevails, the plain fact remains that capital and labor now commonly regard themselves as pitted against each other in an effort to get the larger share of the joint product. On either side it is less a question of what each has earned by serving the common good than of what each is strong enough to wrest from the other. The house of industry is thus divided against itself. There is room for divergent judgment as to how deep-seated or far-reaching the antagonism of competing interests is, but all admit that it is serious. It is suffi- ciently evidenced by the recurring declarations of open hostility in the form of strikes. Such a situation clearly rests less upon the principle of a unity of interests than upon " that ancient law, that well-known plan, that those shall keep who have the power and those shall take who can." So divisive of human solidarity is such an attitude that it constitutes a practical denial of brotherhood. The gravity of the situation lies in the fact that the industrial conflicts which are now so frequent are not isolated phenomena, but simply acute expressions of an underlying spirit almost constantly present. Whether a class war is here or not, the roots out of which war may grow are in our social order. So long as we accept a con- ception of industrial life as primarily a competitive strug- gle in which any group is to take all that it is strong enough to get, subject only to certain legal regulations, we have the seeds of conflict present and must expect that we shall eventually reap what we have sown. We cannot expect either capital or labor to make the common good the first consideration in times of crisis if it is a second- ary consideration in normal times. The sharpness of this antagonism in interests has been intensified by the lack of a spirit of brotherhood in the '^A fuller discussion of competition in the light of Christian ethics is found in the following chapter. 6o INDUSTRIAL RECONSTRUCTION development of the natural resources on which all our industry depends. It is from the bounty of nature, giv- ing us materials which human skill and eifort can utilize, that the needs of all the people have to be satisfied. These natural resources, however, have not been consid- ered as the gift of a common Father-Creator for the common weal, but as the exclusive possession of those who could muster the capital necessary to exploit them. In our natural eagerness to develop these resources of land, timber, oil, and minerals we have allowed the in- dividuals who held the position of economic power to put their own advantage above the good of the community. The present result is a division of interest between those who control this wealth and those who possess only the labor of their hands. ^^ Antagonism and suspicion exist not merely between capital and labor but also, though to a lesser extent, within each of these groups themselves. It is only too well known how prevalent it has been between rival manufac- turers or business men. Associations of manufacturers and merchants have brought about an increase of coopera- tion within the group, but it is not uncommon for them to seek to undercut one another, to force each other to the wall, or to gain an advantage by dishonest adver- tising. Within the ranks of labor a similar narrowness of spirit is likewise manifest. The labor movement has been developing a community of consciousness among the working classes, but the attitude of highly skilled artisan unions toward unskilled labor, of American toward foreign-speaking laborers, of men toward women in industry, is still far from being such as to merit the description "brotherly." The trade-union move- ment has in the past largely ignored the burdens of the lowest paid labor. Even more striking has often been *^The question as to whether this cleavage into antagonistic groups is necessarily connected with our present economic order we shall postpone till the following chapter. UNCHRISTIAN ASPECTS 6i the attitude toward Negro workers, who have often been denied even the privilege of membership in the unions. Like labor and capital, the general public is largely- characterized by an unbrotherly attitude. It generally inclines to accept the status quo in its sympathies, carry- ing on the ancient prejudices against the poorly paid and poorly educated classes, assuming that life is a struggle in which those who do not rise fail to do so only because they are unfit to enjoy the blessings of the more fortunate. The "successful" man has a feeling of comradeship with those who are "successful** like himself, but usually has an attitude of superiority and callous indifference to those outside his own social circle. He acquiesces in what amounts to an aristocratic order of society. He com- placently tolerates a physical environment for others that he would regard as degrading for his own family. He feels little or no responsibility for their lack of leisure, income, education, and opportunity for self-expression — all of which he takes for granted as the natural right of those in his own class. All this depreciation of others than the members of one's own group is in large measure a continuation of our former attitude toward slavery. The slave was not treated as a weaker member of the human family, whom the more fortunate members were to help. He was regarded as belonging to an inferior group and having inferior rights. We need to ask our- selves whether our present attitude toward those who now hold the position of economic disadvantage may not at some future day be considered almost as much a denial of genuine brotherhood as we now see chattel slavery to have been. Within certain limits, as we have seen, relative dis- tinctions between various groups may legitimately exist. The men whose interests are most closely akin naturally group themselves together. It may be a useful educa- tional expedient that individuals engaged in the same 62 INDUSTRIAL RECONSTRUCTION occupation or possessing a similar background of training should be so associated as to feel more strongly the com- mon tie. But as soon as these groupings come to serve as barriers between man and man instead of ministering to an inclusive sense of human fellowship their rightful purpose is thwarted. The point of view which accepts the distinctions between the groups as lines of cleavage in sympathy, or assumes the continuing subordination of any group, must be recognized as the fundamental nega- tion of brotherhood which it is. During the war we daily saw wealthy people giving solicitous concern and friendly help to ordinary soldiers. Why should this be so in time of war and cease in time of peace? These men in khaki were the same men who dig our coal, produce our food, manufacture our clothes, and in other ways make our life possible. But we show little or no comradeship with them now. Why not? They are as essential to our social life when they toil for us as when they fought for us. Did we honor them during the war because they were soldiers rather than because they were our brother- men ?^^ This unbrotherly attitude toward those who do not succeed in the competitive struggle manifests itself unmistakably in a spirit of domination on the part of those who gain sufficient economic advantage to be able to control the processes of production. So men become divided into those who arbitrarily control and those who are thus controlled.^^ Even if autocracy is benevolent, as of course it often is, it still leaves no room for brother- hood. Kindly autocracy is still autocracy and stands in the way of a full development of personality and of free cooperation in a fraternal spirit.^^ Paternalism, even ^'Cf. George Lansbury's "Your Part in Poverty," pp. 45-48. '^Tn a subsequent section of this chapter we shall consider more fully the consequences of this spirit of domination in pro- ducing an autocratic industrial organization. ^^Cf. the statement in the Report of the Commission on "Per- sonal Life and Society" of the Society of Friends: "Benevolent . UNCHRISTIAN ASPECTS 63 though well meaning, is an insidious foe to democratic ideals. The absolute monarch may be kindly, the feudal lord benevolent, the slaveholder considerate, but v^e no longer think of them as having a place in a Christian society. So domination of others in industry cannot be permanently acceptable to the Christian conscience. Au- tocracy always means some sort of slavery and slavery is the denial of brotherhood. The present spirit of competitive struggle among the members of the human family and the unbrotherly atti- tude toward those who fail are perpetuated and intensified by the great inequalities in the distribution of wealth that have arisen from the seeking of private interests in- stead of the common good. This will concern us in the following section. b. In Objective Results: Extreme Inequalities in the Distribution of Wealth. That there are appalling inequalities in the present distribution of wealth and income is everywhere recog- nized. Even an approximate statement of the facts, however, can be made only on this basis of a statistical inquiry. Probably the most comprehensive analysis of the existing situation was made by Professor W. I. King in 191 5 in his "Wealth and Income of the People of the United States." To it we may go for information, and with the more confidence because the inquiry was made by a conservative student. The results arrived at in this inquiry show the relative distribution of wealth among four classes: the poor, whose possessions consist only of their clothing, furni- ture, and personal belongings; the lower middle class, whose property would be worth perhaps $1,000 on the despotism is as unchristian as it is undemocratic, and not even the most well-intentioned philanthropy with its model factories and paternalism and generous bequests can justify the false re- lationship which is involved.^' 64 INDUSTRIAL RECONSTRUCTION average ; the upper middle class, whose possessions would be valued at from $2,000 to $40,000; the rich, or those having wealth of more than $50,000. According to this study ''the poorest two-thirds of the people own hut a- petty five or six per i:ent of the wealth/* The lower middle class, composed of the next fifteen per cent of the inhabitants, hold about four per cent. The upper middle class, made up of the next eighteen per cent of the people, possess about one-third of the property. The rich, con- stituting the last two per cent of the population, own sixty per cent of the wealth. The significance of these figures can be made clearer by summarizing them more tersely. Four-fifths of the population own scarcely ten per cent of the total wealth, while one-fiftieth of the people own upwards of two- thirds. As much as one-fourth of the entire property is in the hands of one-four-hundredth part of the people.^^ The comment of the Report of the Commission on In- dustrial Relations on these statistics is also in point : "The actual concentration, however, has been carried very much further than these figures indicate. The largest private fortune in the United States, estimated at $1,000,- 000,000, is equivalent to the aggregate wealth of 2,500,000 of those who are classed as *poor,' who are shown in the studies cited to own on the average about $400 each.^^*^ That this situation means a denial, to a large majority of men, of the material goods needed for the most worthy living is an inescapable conclusion. If it be answered that our total national income is so small that it amounts per family to an average which would still be relatively small, we must reply that such an argument "is uncon- vincing as a plea against diminishing the disparity of wealth. If the nation's total income is small, all the less '®W. I. King, "Wealth and Income of the People of the United States," pp. 78-85. ^^Report of the Commission on Industrial Relations, pp. 28, 29. UNCHRISTIAN ASPECTS 65 can the community tolerate inequality in its distribution. If the nation's productive power is limited, all the more essential is it that it should not be diverted to the pro- vision of luxuries, before it has been used to supply the material conditions of a good life to the whole popu- lation."38 As a consequence of inherited inequalities in the distribution of wealth there are gross disparities in in- come, although the differences in income are, of course, not as staggering as the differences in possessions. Yet the studies cited above show that the richest fifth of the families receive half of the total income and the richest fiftieth receive more than one-fifth of the income.^^ It has already been pointed out that about the time Pro- fessor King's study was made more than half of the wage earners received less than $600 per year, a fact which needs to be seen in the light of the profits of in- dustry. "According to the figures of the United States Census," says a well-known sociologist, "the profits in the manufacturing industry in the year 1909 were about twelve per cent after due allowance for interest, in- surance, taxes, and all other fixed charges on the total capital employed. In other words, the capitalist class received, in addition to 'interest,' in manufacturing in- dustry in 1909 about twelve per cent of 'profits.' On the other hand, only a little over fifty-one per cent of the total value of the product added to manufacturing went to working men and other employes in the form of wages or salaries. It will be seen- from these figures, even though they are by no means accurate, that the workings man is still very far from receiving a just share of the product of his labor; and that, on the other hand, the comparatively small class of owners receive in addition k ^"'Christianity and Industrial Problems," pp. 65, 66. ''•W. I. King, "The Wealth and Income of the People of the United States," p. 235. 66 INDUSTRIAL RECONSTRUCTION to the interest on their capital a considerable margin of 'speculative profit/ . . . We may assume that interest, wages of superintendence and the like are a part of 'nec- essary profits' without which business cannot be carried on upon a basis of private ownership and initiative, but 'speculative profits' are not 'necessary profits' and they represent in no sense a compensation for services rendered to the community."^^ According to figures given by the head of the United States Steel Corporation, the increase in the average wages of all employes between 1914 and 1919 was 114 per cent.^i On the other hand, according to figures in the annual reports of the Steel Corporation and the income statistics of the War Labor Board, the profits of the United States Steel Corporation increased from $23,- 496,768 in 1914 to $457,685,000 in 1917 (an increase of more than 1800 per cent over 1914) and in 1918 were $123,318,362 (an increase of 435 per cent over 1914). Even making substantial allowance for any wrong im- pression which the bare figures may produce, one cannot avoid the conclusion that in spite of the relatively high average of wages such a situation rests upon a more or less unconscious assumption that the workers are re- garded more as tools of production than as copartners in a common task. When profits increase out of all propor- tion to wages, or at the expense of the general public, an unbrotherly use of economic power is a patent fact. This does not mean that we suppose possessions or income must be equal. Within certain limits inequality need not be a denial of brotherhood. It may well be argued that the most socially desirable distribution of wealth would not be one which secured exact equality, but which would be roughly proportional to general ""C. A. Ellwood, "The Social Problem," New York, 1915, pp. 157-159- "The great increase in the cost of living during the same period should be borne in mind. UNCHRISTIAN ASPECTS 67 ability." But, as Professor King points out in the studies quoted above, "by the term general ability we cannot mean ability to acquire wealth under existing conditions, else we beg the whole question. We must refer only to those differences in skill which would be manifested in most branches of activity. It is easy to find a man in almost any line of employment who is twice as efficient as another employe, but it is very rare to find one who is ten times as efficient. It is common, however, to see one man possessing not ten times but a thousand times the wealth of his neighbor. This discrepancy represents ability of only one type — the faculty of taking advantage of existing laws and circumstances to acquire property rights.''"*^ Such extreme inequalities, based on something else than service to society, are clearly inconsistent w4th the ideal of brotherhood. In the previous chapter we found two tests for judgmg the present institution of property in the light of Christian principles: first, how far does the present distribution of property minister to the individuaFs full development, and, second, how far do present methods of acquisition of property serve the common good? The latter question we shall consider in the following section. In the light of the discussion of this chapter the answer to the first question is already clear. Under the present distribution of wealth some have vastly more than they need, while the masses have far less than is essential for a worthy life. This is the evil in the situation — not that there is inequality, but that the inequality is such as to prevent many from attaining to full self-realization. The evil is that one man should have three or four palaces that "We do not here mean to imply that there are not other im- portant standards which may have a part in determining the proper distribution of wealth. Ability to use wisely as well as ability to produce is a valid criterion. And even if large ability of either kind is lacking, human need itself presents a claim which the Christian certainly cannot ignore. "W. I. King, "The Wealth and Income of the People of the United States," p. 60. 68 INDUSTRIAL RECONSTRUCTION he cannot begin to utilize, while millions have only a hovel which makes decent family life impossible. It would, of course, be entirely erroneous to assume that all poverty arises from inequality in distribution.^^ Much is due to what seem to be purely individual causes — illness, disability, drunkenness, improvidence, laziness — although even in many of these cases the de- ficiency may be traced, in part at least, to economic sources. InsufHcient production is also a fundamental cause of poverty. Unless the sum total of wealth is at the maximum, the share of all is lower than it ought to be. In a country of natural fertility, however, and in a day of scientific control over nature, we have practically solved the question of producing enough economic goods to afford to all the material basis for a well-developed life. Our great problem today is not the amount of wealth produced, but the proportions in which it is dis- tributed. Unless we can secure greater justice in dis- tribution we can not even secure maximum production, for a sense of injustice is one of the greatest present obstacles to full productive activity. And the problem of distribution is at heart an ethical question and cannot be rightly solved without a recognition of the principle of human brotherhood. 3. Aspects of Our Industrial Order Inconsistent WITH THE Duty of Service In certain wide ranges of our social life the necessity of the motive of service is recognized. In several of the professions — particularly the ministry, teaching, and medicine — this is largely true. No one assumes that the chief concern of a minister or a physician or an educator should be the size of his salary. His income is not the **Robert Hunter, in his work on Poverty, estimated that not less than 10,000,000 persons in the United States are in a condi- tion of poverty; that is, unable to secure the necessities which will enable them to maintain even physical efficiency. Actual statistics are not available. UNCHRISTIAN ASPECTS 69 objective of his effort, but the means by which he is enabled so to live as to do his best work. He is required to think first not of what he can get out of his profession but of what he can put into it. Of those who follow these callings it is expected that the motive of economic self- interest is to have a secondary, not the dominant, place. He that is great among them is the servant of all. But when we pass into the realm of business and industry the principle of service is far less generally recognized as the controlling motive. Both in a prevalent social attitude and in the form of social organization is this found to be the case. a. In Social Attitude: Over-Emphasis on Motive of Self- interest. Although in many individuals the motive of service is undoubtedly supreme, the general assumptions in business and industrial circles do not foster such an attitude. That industry exists for the sake of the personal profit of those who can control it is the widely accepted point of view. A man is supposed to be in business for the sake of what he can get out of it. The size of the financial returns is the usual test for judging the efficiency of an industry, not the extent to which it ministers either to the welfare of all those engaged in it or to the public need. The frank reply of the head of the American Sugar Refining Company to the question of the Industrial Commission in 1900, as to whether he considered it ethically justifiable to make consumers pay dividends on great over-capitalization, is altogether too typical: "I think it is fair to get out of the consumer all you can, consistent with the business proposition."^^ The "profiteering" during the war and after is only an extreme manifestation of this common attitude. Employes in their turn are inclined to think of their *^Quoted in Joseph Husslein's "The World Problem : Capital, Labor, and the Church," New York, 1918, p. 45. ^o INDUSTRIAL RECONSTRUCTION part in production only in terms of the highest wages that can be exacted. The ideal of producing the maxi- mum amount possible for the sake of meeting human needs does not appear to hold a prominent place. Output is limited through apathy or intent. To give as little as possible in return for as much as can be gotten seems to be a not uncommon aim. For a physician, minister, teacher, or social worker to strike, practice sabotage, or enter into an arrangement to curtail service for the sake of raising prices would be considered a public outrage. Yet .it is more or less expected that people in commercial pursuits — employers, merchants, and employes alike — will use such means. In the professions there is a fairly definite ethical code. In manufacture and in trade no such well-defined standards govern the character of the service to be rendered, the quality of goods to be furnished, and the prices to be charged. A well known capitalist, being asked whether he thought ten dollars a week was enough for a long- shoreman, is reported as replying that he believed it was ''if it was all he could get.'' And a labor organ, ironically commenting on the reply, remarked : "This really great man is of the opinion that a wage worker is justified in taking all he can get, and that, when he takes it, it constitutes sufficient wages, and we are decidedly of that same opinion also."^^ ''AH he can get.'' The remark may be regarded as roughly typical of a current attitude on the part of both capital and labor. This point of view, thus generally accepted as the foun- dation of industry, lies at the heart of our industrial conflicts. So long as industry is organized on the basis of each group getting as much as it can, disputes are inevitable. If we are to end them we must come to a recognition that industry is a public service. In the words of a contemporary English economist: 'Tt is because the ^'^Quoted in Joseph Husslein's "The World; Capital, Labor, and the Church," pp. 111-112. UNCHRISTIAN ASPECTS 71 purpose of industry, which is the conquest of nature for the service of man, is neither adequately expressed in its organization nor present to the minds of those engaged in it, because it is not regarded as a function but as an opportunity for personal gain or advancement or display, that the economic life of modern societies is a perpetual state of morbid irritation."^"^ The evil in the existing conditions is not simply in giving the chief consideration to material self-interest but in the general assumption that this procedure is some- thing that is to be taken as a matter of course. We fail to recognize it for what it is — a denial of the Christian view of life. If we are correct in saying that Chris- tianity demands that the controlling motive be love, then business and industry must be looked upon as a service for the common good and income and property must be regarded not as the primary objective but as the due reward for worthy fulfilment of a social function. This exaggerated emphasis on the motive of self- interest is chiefly responsible both for the dwarfing of personalities and the extreme inequalities in distribution of wealth, which we have already considered as incon- sistent with the Christian view of personality and of brotherhood. There are, however, certain further results that we need to consider here. b. In Objective Results: An Unsocial Use of Economic Power, The principle of service, applicable both to the process of acquiring wealth and to its use, demands that in one's work the well-being of mankind shall be served and that what is thus acquired shall be used as a trust for the common good. To how great an extent both of these *^R. H. Tawney, in "The Sickness of an Acquisitive Society," London, 1920, p. 84. The volume deserves reading in full, par- ticularly because of its insistence that self-interest cannot afford an adequate foundation for industry. ^2 INDUSTRIAL RECONSTRUCTION aspects of the principle fail of present application will be evident from the following discussion. (i) Non-Serving Groups. The ideal of service requires that all members of the community be useful members. Yet we find large num- bers of individuals engaged in occupations that are not socially desirable. A vast amount of human energy is directed to ends that are not simply useless but positively hurtful. The liquor trade was an outstanding example. Commercialized vice, organized gambling on the stock exchange, the production of narcotics or drugs for de- moralizing purposes, are some of the flagrant aspects of our social order that most completely contradict the Christian teaching. Any other business that seeks private profit at the expense of social welfare by deliberately appealing to the lower motives of mankind stands similarly condemned. There are still other occupations which, though not necessarily deleterious in their effect on character, never- theless turn productive energies from fruitful labor into channels that do not minister to the largest common good. Such is the manufacture of luxuries and the creating of a market for them through exploitative advertising. An American economist has estimated that not more than one out of ten adults is employed in producing necessities of life.** To spend human energies or the natural re- sources, on which the whole human family depends, in supplying luxuries for the few before we provide neces- sities for all cannot be reconciled with a Christian view of economic life. To define the term ''luxuries" is perhaps impossible, since what is only a needless extravagance for one may sometimes be a useful expenditure for another, but that much is now wasted in ostentatious display or in unsocial self-indulgence is only too apparent. Against "Quoted by Stephen Leacock, "Essays in Social Justice," New York, 1919, p. 31. I UNCHRISTIAN ASPECTS 73 any frittering away of energies that were meant to serve mankind the principle of service is a permanent protest. And there are some, idle and unproductive, that do not work at all. Whether found among rich or poor, they are parasites on the community. Idleness is equally contradictory of the principle of service, whether found among those who complacently and unnecessarily live on charity or among those who live extravagantly and irresponsibly on inherited or unearned wealth. The Apostle's vigorous dictum, "If any will not work, neither let him eat," applies to both alike. There is to be no leisure class in a Christian society. Interest and profits on investments thus find justification only if a corre- sponding service is rendered by the recipient of them. As a matter of fact, it seems clear that some payment for the use of capital is a stimulus to thrift and that a reward for making public use of private savings is socially need- ful. Those who save and thereby provide the capital needed for machine production on the tremendous scale of the present day are certainly fulfilling a necessary function. But mere clipping of coupons and foregoing all sense of responsibility for the way in which the in- come is derived is not a public service. Only when the capital has been used in a way that is socially beneficial can we say that the Christian principle has prevailed. Clearly this is not the case when, through over-capitaliza- tion, power of monopoly, or other means, dividends are increased at the expense of fair prices to the public. The same failure is apparent when dividends are at the expense of those whose skill utilizes the tools — when, for example, dividends run anywhere from thirty to seventy per cent and employes receive less than a decent living wage. Yet by the testimony given before the Federal Industrial Relations Commission it was shown that the conditions and treatment of the workers were generally unknown even to the directors of corporations and re- garded as none of their concern. 74 INDUSTRIAL RECONSTRUCTION No doubt it will be replied that the number of those who are not rendering useful service to society is rela- tively small. Happily this is true. But although the great majority are engaged in worthy occupations it is yet true that in the general conduct of industry the organizing principle is not usually the good of all those engaged in it, or the well-being of the community as a whole, but the private advantage of those who, by virtue of owning the means of production, are strong enough to control. This use of economic power for purposes of domination instead of service is so great a present-day denial of Christian teaching that it particularly challenges our further consideration. (2) Selj&sh Autocracy in Industry. That the present concentration of control denies to the majority of workers the opportunity of directing their own lives freely or finding full self-expression in their work is so evident as to need little argument. In a day in which democracy is regarded as the conscious goal in political development by practically all the nations in the world, autocratic organization is still a widely accepted rule in industry. The idea that "it is my industry and that it is nobody else's business how I run it" is largely unchallenged in our economic life. The plain fact, how- ever, is that no man has a right to think of an industry as simply his own private concern. It is made possible only by the joint endeavors of all the men who, with hand or brain, work in connection with it. Their lives as well as the employer's are all bound up in it and their destinies affected by the way it is carried on. Yet, gen- erally speaking, employes have little or nothing to say as to the conditions under which they are to work, except in so far as they have succeeded, through effective organization, in securing a voice in determining wages and hours — a share of control which is still often con- ceded only after bitter struggle. The man whose bread UNCHRISTIAN ASPECTS 75 for today depends on his securing access to tools owned and arbitrarily controlled by another is virtually com- pelled to accept the terms which the other may name. Collective bargaining has tended to limit this arbitrary control and in certain industries to secure what ap- proaches a balance of power, but in most industries has not yet resulted in anything that can really be designated as democracy. The failure of the present autocratic control of indus- try to serve the general good is further shown by its failure to develop the capacities of the rank and file of the workers. The man who has no share in deciding questions of common concern lacks the stimuli that elicit initiative, creativity, and self -development. To have all questions settled by another, to have no opportunity for understanding the processes of production, to have no responsibility except for the performance of mechanical tasks, means a lamentable lack of educative influence in one's work. For such a master-servant relationship in industry Jesus' words to His associates have a significant challenge: ^'Henceforth I call you not servants, for the servant knoweth not what his lord doeth; but I have called you f riends."^^ Not only in controlling and limiting men's lives but also in the appropriation of the surplus profits, does the autocratic organization of industry run counter to the ideal of service. All that remains after fixed charges are met is ordinarily treated as the rightful due not of all those who share in its production but of a single factor in the process. Still less is there a general effort to return to the community as a whole, from the activity and needs of which all values are derived, the surplus remaining after worthy remuneration has been given to capital and labor. Autocratically organized industry thus increases the power of the strong more than it ministers to the common good. It was not a minister or any theorist, *'John 15 : 15. 76 INDUSTRIAL RECONSTRUCTION but one of the most widely known industrial engineers in America who lately summarized the situation in these words: "The great war through which we have just passed has done away with political autocracy, ap- parently forever, but it has done nothing whatever in this country to modify the autocratic methods of the business system, which is a law unto itself and which now accepts no definite social responsibility. This force is controlled and operated in the interest of ownership, with, in many cases, but little consideration for the in- terest of those upon whose labor it depends, or for that of the community."^^ We thus have the condition of the house divided against itself — democratic on the political side, still auto- cratic in its economic life. Our conscious aim, even if our somewhat halting practice, is that the government of the state shall serve, not dominate, the common will. But industry is not consciously organized for public service; it is still thought of as existing for private profits. So long as such economic autocracy prevails, the institu- tions of political democracy will be distrusted. Men will find that in the aspects of life which concern them most intimately political rights alone are of small avail. To have equal voting power in the state does not give the worker any significant power of self-direction in his daily life or any feeling that he is making his proper contribu- tion to the life of society. To make earnest with our ideal of democracy we must add to political rights a democratic distribution of economic power, without which an equality of opportunity is practically impossible. 4. The Protest of Christianity and the Protest of THE Labor Movement These unchristian aspects of our present industrial order have not been here presented as any fresh discov- ery. Most of them have received recognition in all the ~H. L. Gantt, "Organizing for Work," New York, 1919, p. 100. UNCHRISTIAN ASPECTS jj recent pronouncements of Christian bodies on the subject of industrial relationships. In this agreement there is much encouragement, for the common recognition of evils is the first step necessary to their correction. We have summarized them here only in order to set them sharply over against the Christian teaching that we have discussed in the preceding chapter. The contrast be- tween the principles, to which as Christians we are com- mitted, and our present attainment in the economic realm is thereby seen to be so great that it will be impossible longer to acquiesce in conditions that now exist. In this dissatisfaction as Christians with things as they are we find a clear point of contact with the labor move- ment. The working classes, too, are seeking changes in our industrial life and they, too, like the Churches, are becoming articulate in their aims. The scores of pro- nouncements by various elements in the labor movement, both the more conservative and the more radical, reveal a great current of unsatisfied desires and a demand for a higher level of living. And this unrest is a hopeful sign. If men were willing to endure conditions that prevent the full development of their personalities, we might well despair of the future of the race. This dissatisfaction of the workers does not necessarily mean that they are seeking changes from Christian mo- tives or with any adequate appreciation of the religious significance which we have found to be involved in the external factors that enter into the industrial situation. As a matter of fact, however, there is unmistakable evi- dence in the recent declarations of labor that they are reaching out after values that are fundamentally spiritual. Consider, for example, the notable reconstruction pro- gram of the British Labor Party, entitled **Labor and the New Social Order." It would build the house of in- dustry on these "pillars" : "The universal enforcement of the national minimum; the democratic control of in- dustry ; the revolution in national finance ; and the surplus 78 INDUSTRIAL RECONSTRUCTION wealth for the common good." This program only states more effectively what many other sections of the labor movement are seeking. An analysis of many pronounce- ments reveals three chief objectives in them all: first, a better standard of living; second, greater justice in the distribution of the wealth that labor helps to create; third, a democratic share in the control of industry. From this analysis it appears that the working classes want to change the very things in the present system in which it most directly falls short of the Christian ideal. They are protesting against such a scale of wages and hours as precludes a high standard of living. They are denouncing the injustices created and perpetuated by an inequality in distribution of wealth so great that demo- cratic relationships are practically denied. They are criti- cizing such a centralization of power in the hands of the few that the workers are prevented from sharing in de- termining the things that concern the common good. The evils which labor thus seeks to correct are the very aspects of our industrial order which we have found to be most inconsistent with the Christian principles of the sacredness of personality, the relationship of brotherhood, and the duty of service. A few concrete illustrations will make more clear this point of contact between the labor movement and Chris- tianity. The Reconstruction Program of the American Federation of Labor declares : "The workers of the nation demand a living wage for all wage-earners, skilled or unskilled — a wage which will enable the worker and his family to live in health and comfort, provide a competence for illness and old age, and afford to all the opportunity of cultivating the best that is within mankind." With this compare the words of the pronouncement by the National Catholic War Council : "The laborer^s right to a decent livelihood is the first moral charge upon industry." UNCHRISTIAN ASPECTS 79 The British Labor Party insists that the new social order must be built "not on the competitive struggle for the means of bare life, but on a deliberately planned cooperation in produc- tion and distribution for the benefit of all who participate by hand or by brain ; not on the utmost possible inequality of riches, but on a systematic approach towards a healthy equality of material circumstance for every person born into the world/' And the report of the Anglican Archbishops' Committee of Inquiry says, in similar vein : "We would urge our fellow-Christians to ask them- selves once more whether an economic system which produces the striking and, as we think, excessive in- equalities of wealth which characterize our present society is one which is compatible with the spirit of Christianity." The platform of the Independent Labor Party launched by the Chicago Federation of Labor demands "democratic control of industry and commerce for the general good . . . and the elimination of autocratic dom- ination of the forces of production and distribution." By the side of this statement read the pronouncement of the Canadian Methodists, which declares that "the democratic control of industry is just and inevitable . . . The ethics of Jesus demand nothing less than the transfer of the whole economic life from the basis of competition and profit to one of cooperation and service." The words of the la];)or movement are in large measure the words of the Christian religion. Some critics of the existing order, both in Christian circles and in the labor movement, while agreeing with what has thus far been said as to different phases of the present industrial situation, carry their criticisms further still. They ask whether the system itself is not funda- mentally and structurally wrong. They regard the pres- ent evils not simply as various remediable ailments in the 8o INDUSTRIAL RECONSTRUCTION social body, but as surface evidences of a deep-rooted organic disease. Hence they insist upon a radical recon- struction of society. In the following section of our study, therefore, we shall consider what should be our attitude as Christians toward the present industrial system as a whole. CHAPTER III THE CHRISTIAN ATTITUDE TOWARD THE SYSTEM AS A WHOLE When we have considered both the Christian ideal and our present failures in attaining it, the question inevitably arises as to the extent of change that is necessary if wq are to realize the ideal. Is it capable of attainment in the existing industrial order or must we aim at a thorough reconstruction of society? We have found ourselves to be committed to the prin- ciples of the worth of personality, the relationship of brotherhood, and the duty of service. Are these prin- ciples really workable in our present system? Or does our acceptance of them commit us to some radically dif- ferent organization of industrial life? Are the evils which we have discovered to be denials of these principles maladjustments in the superstructure of society, or are they due to flaws in the very foundation? Can our social ills be treated as functional disorders, or must they be regarded as symptoms of an organic disease that has its seat in the lifeblood of the body and sends out its poison into all its members ? When we speak of securing a "more Christian industrial order" do we mean making the existing system operate to secure results more con- sistent with our ideal, or do we mean superseding the present system by another? Before we can discuss this question intelligently we have to inquire more definitely what we mean by an "in- dustrial order.*' By the term we primarily mean simply a certain method of living together and of doing the world's work. An industrial order is men and women organized for work in a definite way. This social organi- 8i 82 INDUSTRIAL RECONSTRUCTION zation, whatever be its form, is made up of two diverse groups of elements. On the one hand, there are certain external conditions and on the other certain spiritual factors. The external conditions are of an objective, physical sort and chief among them are the economic processes of production and distribution. The spiritual factors are our ideals, our values, our mental attitudes toward one another. Any industrial order, therefore, is not a simple thing, but a complex of physical and of spiritual elements. The type of thought that explains everything by a simple formula of "economic determin- ism,'* holding that if external conditions be corrected nothing further will be necessary, is an artificial simpli- fication of the problem and overlooks the plain fact that ideals and values control and modify outward conditions as certainly as they are modified by them. They are not derived solely from the material environment but have a continuous development of their own. Without them no external conditions could make a society. No less mis- leading an over-simplification is it to assume that because the spiritual side of life is the preponderant aspect, all outer limiting conditions of a material sort can be ignored. The extent to which an industrial order is a complex of material and spiritual elements may be made clear by a concrete illustration. Feudalism, for example, was not simply a certain system of land tenure with peculiar laws and privileges, but a way of looking at life as well. Involved in it were certain assumptions as to the rights and duties of the lord and his retainers to each other, and these assumptions gave a definite moral tone to men's feelings and conduct. The same thing is true of the capitalistic system of industry under which we now live. Capitalism means, on the one hand, large scale factory production, ownership of the means of production by a few, the wage system, and other arrangements of a tech- nical sort. But, on the other hand, capitalism means ATTITUDE TOWARD THE SYSTEM 83 also a certain attitude toward life which has a definite moral and spiritual quality. It is an attitude which tends to make private profits the goal of industry, to measure all things by their money values, to subordinate human interests to property interests, to make ruthless competition or equally ruthless monopoly the way to suc- cess, and to deny the right of those who have failed to any part of the rewards of the successful. In discussing the Christian attitude toward the in- dustrial order, therefore, we need to distinguish between those factors which are either morally good or evil and those which are niorally indifferent. The system by which material goods are produced, whether feudalism, capitalism, socialism, or some other, would be irrelevant to Christianity if the effects upon the spirit of man were the same. The external economic factors of our in- dustrial life are the concern of this report, however, whenever they are found to have a bearing upon personal values and to be either conducive or detrimental to the development of Christian motives in social relationships. The external factors that enter into the constitution of our industrial order are also our concern only in so far as they are within mankind's power to control. And some of them are partly independent of conscious human effort. Modern capitalism was impossible before the discovery of the power of steam and the invention of steam-driven machinery. But when these new powers had been put into men's hands the supplanting of the system of domestic production by factory production, with its intense specialization of labor, became practically in- evitable. This large scale production has naturally led to the control of industrial processes on a national or an international scale. To ignore this revolution brought about by increased mastery over nature is futile. To revert to the economic conditions of a pre-scientific age is neither possible nor desirable. The kind of social organization, however, by which the newly gained ma- 84 INDUSTRIAL RECONSTRUCTION chinery is to be used is a moral problem and quite within human control. Our task is to distinguish between the moral and the physical factors. To discriminate in this way may not be easy, since motive and environment act and react in countless ways, but so far as possible it is essential to do so. A further factor to be taken into account when con- sidering the Christian attitude toward any industrial order is that there is no such thing as an unchanging system. The present capitalistic order is only a hundred and fifty years old. Each system grows out of the past and passes into the future. Systems may shade off into each other so gradually that it is impossible to say when one has ended and another begun. They are not hard and fast and rigid things. Socialism, for example, is not the utter antithesis of capitalism. There has always been a degree of social control and social ownership within the present order, which in its main outlines we designate as capitalistic, and in a socialist state, unless of the most extreme sort, there would be some measure of private property. Again, what is good at one time may be bad at an- other. This is as true of economic systems as of anything else. They cannot be judged absolutely, but only in relation to stages of social development. Thus collective control of the processes of production and distribution is not possible at a period when intelligent collective living has not yet been attained. The developed capacities of men eventually make practicable what was impracticable before. All that we can say of systems is that one is better for a certain social group or for a given time than another. No doubt a society in which no restraint or government existed because every man voluntarily sought the highest good, would come nearest to realizing the Christian ideal. Yet at present to abolish government would defeat the very ideal that we seek to realize, for, as has been well observed, the trouble with such a "gentle- ATTITUDE TOWARD THE SYSTEM 85 men's agreement" today is first of all that we do not have enough gentlemen and, second, that they do not agree. In the light of these considerations we have to de- termine our attitude toward the existing industrial system. That there are aspects of it which are seriously unchristian none can deny. But as to whether they are due to the economic structure /itself or to unsocial attitudes which might be equally prevalent under another system, we find men sharply differing. Since any system is, as we have found, a complex of diverse elements, this difference of judgment on the system as a whole is not surprising. The distinguishing features of our present order, and the points at which it is most criticized, are private property, the wage system, and competition. We need, therefore, to consider the varying points of view on each of these questions. The distinctly economic aspects must in each case be left to others better qualified. As in the previous chapter, our approach will be from the standpoint of the bearing of these structural features upon the principles of the sacredness of personality, brotherhood, and the obligation of service, which, as Christians, we are convinced must be controlling. I. Private Property In the Christian conception of life we have found personality to be the supreme thing. All social institu- tions are made for man, not man for institutions. Prop- erty, therefore, must be judged by its effect on human life. Its rights and duties cannot be determined in an absolute manner according to any a priori theory. They must be settled in the light of their bearing upon the men and women for whose sake the institution of property exists. It is readily apparent, we believe, that a permanent personal control over certain kinds of material things is an essential basis of the good life. Some measure of possessions is needed to make possible free, purposeful, 86 INDUSTRIAL RECONSTRUCTION and ordered living. Property is, therefore, a great edu- cative force. It develops personality by giving it mastery over objects and assuring a degree of liberty and security that would be impossible if one had no continuing posses- sion of material things. It is thus a foundation of ad- vanced civilization. So great may be the social value of private property that there are few who would today advocate a thorough-going communism. It continues to exist not because of any inalienable right but because no other system has seemed so well to serve the needs of organized society. But the validity of private property, as of any other human institution, does not mean that all limitations thereto are precluded. The very fact that it is good and has a useful purpose to fulfil is the best of reasons for safeguarding it from any evil tendencies that bring it into discredit. The criticisms that we shall make are, there- fore, not directed at private property as such but to the serious abuses of it under our present system. When we examine the institution of private property as it now exists we find that it includes so many different kinds of possessions that the word "property" is some- times ambiguous, unless we define the particular kind of property of which we are speaking. The peasant's plot of land and shares in an industrial corporation are both property in the legal sense, but in their economic effect and social justification they are far apart. Especially important is it to distinguish between property which confers control over things and that which confers control not only over things but also over persons. Personal control over material goods with which to meet one's own needs and the needs of one's family is a basis of worthy and independent living. When, however, one comes to possess material goods in such measure that others lack what they need for their own self-develop- ment, he is in the position of being able to dominate to a large extent the lives of others. Especially is this true ATTITUDE TOWARD THE SYSTEM 87 when he possesses wealth in the form of natural resources or machines, to which, as the means of production, others must have access in order to work at all. Those who con- trol this productive wealth are able to levy upon others a toll for its use. We need, then, using Professor Hobhouse's suggestive terms, to distinguish between "property for use" and "property for power.''^ "On the one hand property is the material basis of a permanent, ordered, purposeful, and self-directed activity. Such upon the whole is the property which a man directly uses or enjoys by himself or in association with his nearest and dearest. On the other hand, property is a form of social organization whereby the labor of those who have it not is directed by and for the enjoyment of those that have. In this sense the control of the owner is essentially a control of labor. . . . These two functions of property, the control of things, which gives freedom and security, and the control of persons through things, which gives power to the owner, are very different."^ Against "property for use" certainly no valid criticism can be brought. So essential is it to true freedom and self-development that it is rightly regarded as a corner- stone of social order. But when "property for use" ex- pands into "property for powder" we have to inquire whether the effect on social welfare is still the same. When we do so we can hardly escape the conclusion that the private possession of property in great quantity has this chief defect — that by concentrating so much in the hands of a few it denies to the many sufficient property for use. Thus property for power tends to defeat the very end for the sake of which property for use exists — the full development of personalities. Sta- tistics quoted in the preceding chapter show that two ^See "The Historical Evolution of Property,^' a chapter in "Property, Its Duties and Rights." London, 1917. ^"Property, Its Duties and Rights," p. 10. 88 INDUSTRIAL RECONSTRUCTION per cent of the people of the United States are in pos- session of sixty per cent of the wealth, while sixty-five per cent of the people own but five per cent of the wealth. Can we escape the conclusion that the majority of men do not have sufficient for their personal needs because a few have so much more than they need ? Cer- tainly the wealth available has limits somewhere, and hence, after certain limits are passed, what one group gains another loses. The question is one of proportions, not simply of amounts. The property which gives to its possessor control over others is chiefly the means of production — land, with its mineral wealth, and the machinery by which industry is carried on. Since it is from the land that all our wealth is derived, and since it is on the machine that we are dependent for transforming the wealth of nature into commodities for human use, those who hold these are in a position of economic power. If the land and tools that one possesses are used for his own home or his own tilling they are, of course, still property for use. But when the amount possessed is so great that others can secure homes or access to the resources of nature and to tools only through dependence on him, it has become property for power. The concentration of such wealth in the hands of the few and its transmission by inheri- tance mean that the many find themselves dependent upon the few who possess this economic advantage. Those who are strong through the power of ownership can thus get those who are weak to work for them without paying full compensation for their service to society. "Five out of six ... of the children now born," con- cludes Professor Hobhouse, "are born to no assured place in the industrial system. They have of their own no means of subsistence. They have hands and brains, but they have neither land to till nor stock to till it with .... Thus while modern economic conditions have virtually ATTITUDE TOWARD THE SYSTEM 89 abolished property for use — apart from furniture, cloth- ing, etc., that is, property in the means of production, for the great majority of the people — they have brought about the accumulation of vast masses of property for power in the hands of a relatively narrow class. . . . The institution of property has, in its modern form, reached its zenith as a means of giving to the few power over the life of the many, and its nadir as a means of securing to the many the basis of regular industry, purposeful oc- cupation, freedom and self-support'' because of their "entire dependence on land and capital which belong to others."3 Such an industrial structure finds its almost inevitable expression in what is called the class struggle, or the class war. It is the effort of those who possess nothing but their labor to wrest from those who own the means of production an increasingly larger share of the pro- duct. The struggle centers about the difference between the value of the product and the amount which the workers receive. Those who possess only their ability to work endeavor to secure a larger share of this surplus value by pushing up the cost of labor. On the other hand, those who are now in the position of economic advantage that ownership gives seek to keep the cost of labor down. The result is the bitterness of class strife within the world of work, the struggle between the "haves" and the "have-nots." Almost constant suspicion between capital and labor is the result and open hostilities break out again and again. There is thus an underlying antagonism in our social life, a spirit entirely contrary to the Christian ideal of brotherhood. This does not mean that all who possess great wealth are unregardful of the supremacy of human values or necessarily use their power in an unbrotherly way. It seems clear, however, in the light of this discussion, that '"Property, Its Duties and Rights," pp. 21-23. 90 INDUSTRIAL RECONSTRUCTION the existing tenure of property presents serious diffi- culties in the appHcation of Christian principles. Ik the first place, unrestricted aggregations of wealth in private hands mean that many are denied enough for the develop- ment of worthy personality. In the second place, the concentration of the productive wealth in the hands of the relatively few gives them too great power over the lives of others to be conducive to a spirit of democratic brotherhood. Since the "property for power," which we have been criticizing, involves the possession of the land and tools by which production has to be carried on and to which the workers secure access by selling their labor to the owners, we are led on to a discussion of the wage sys- tem, a second structural feature in our present order. 2. The Wage System The development of modern capitalism, with its di- vision between ownership and labor, has made the wage system a conspicuous part of our industrial life. Under this arrangement the owner of the means of production makes a money payment to others in return for the expenditure of labor directed to certain specified ends. Our question as Christians is whether there is anything in this relationship that creates special difficulties in the application of Christian principles. We shall be better able to answer this question if we examine some of the concrete criticisms that are brought against the system. The wage system is frequently criticized on the ground of its limiting the freedom of the workers to order their own lives. However true this judgment may be, it can be seen in correct perspective only when it is recognized that the wage system was itself a great advance in free- dom beyond the system which it supplanted. When the worker received a cash payment instead of being sup- ported as a chattel slave or a serf, many restraints fell away. He might go elsewhere to work if he found the ATTITUDE TOWARD THE SYSTEM 91 opportunity. He was at liberty to choose his food, his clothing, his abode. His wages could be used as his own choice directed. Whole new areas of freedom were thus opened up to him by the plan of money payments. More- over, within certain limits the wage system affords security as well as freedom. The business may fail, the factory burn, or drought ruin the crops, but if the wage earner can sell his labor to some one else, he does not have to share the loss and can go on untroubled by the disaster. Yet, though the wage system was a step toward free- dom in an earlier day, we now see the limited degree of freedom which it often affords to be inadequate to full personal development. The average wage earner's power of self -direction is small. The employer no longer owns him, which is an unquestioned moral advance over a sys- tem of chattel slavery. But to own the labor of the laborer is to be able to control a large part of his life. Owning no land or tools and so being dependent on others for even the privilege of working, he has very little op- portunity to choose what work he shall do, or to de- termine the conditions under which that work shall be performed. He is free in theory, to be sure; the law binds him to no one. But in practice economic circum- stances are often as circumscribing as a law. He must take the job he can get on terms that the employer sets, or else assume the risk of unemployment and hunger. His freedom is further curtailed by his economic in- security. A temporary slump in the market, a new invention, a disagreement with a foreman, may throw him out of work, with no assurance that some one else will afford him an opportunity for livelihood. The fact that the owner of the means of production is in a position of control is the basis for a second criticism of the wage system — namely, that it does not give the worker a just share in the product. Goods are produced by the joint contribution of capital, which furnishes the 92 INDUSTRIAL RECONSTRUCTION tools; of labor, which transforms the raw material into finished goods; of management, which directs the process ; and of the public, which creates all social values by its needs. Neither under the wage system nor any other is there any rule of thumb by which to de- termine the relative value of the contributions that labor, capital, management, and the public respectively make. When all are interdependent and each one necessary to the others, it is impossible to decide precisely how much each contributes and what is the just share of each in the product. This is no reason, however, for not en- deavoring to divide the product according to some ap- proximate standard of justice. And the wage system of the past has been open to criticism on just this ground — that it has not really undertaken to do so, but has been organized on the principle of paying to labor only as much as was necessary in order to secure an adequate supply. Under our wage system as it has been up to the present time, the payment made to the workers has not been consciously determined by the value created by their expenditure of labor. The wage has been a sum paid in lieu of that value and has been competitively determined by supply and demand, like the price of material commodities. Not justice but economic strength is the determining factor. Unless the workers can so unite as measurably to control the supply, the wage may be fixed at the level of bare physical maintenance. In fact, it is a fairly current assumption that an employer is to pay for the labor of his employes only as much as under the pressure of economic necessity they can be compelled to work for. This conflict of economic interest between the em- ployer, who seeks to buy labor as cheaply as he can, and the employe, who seeks to sell it as dearly as he can, makes the development of a conscious spirit of brother- hood exceedingly difficult. Unless the wage system is modified by other considerations than the market price of ATTITUDE TOWARD THE SYSTEM 93 labor, there is an inherent antagonism in the relationship of wage payer and wage earner. Capital and labor are indeed interdependent, but their interests are by no means identical, despite frequent assertions to that effect. In all other relationships — religious, racial, educational, civic — men may have a community of interest, but in the industrial realm, under a system that is built on remuner- ating labor according to the supply of the labor market, the opposition of the economic interests of employer and employe makes for disunity. A third objection that the Christian critic brings against the wage system is that it hinders the development of individuality and self-expression in the workers. For under the wage system the worker is separated from the real purpose of his work. He has nothing to do with securing the raw product, nothing to do with directing the processes of production, nothing to do with disposing of the product, little or nothing to do even with determin- ing the conditions under which he is to work. All the planning, all the control, all the opportunity for bringing creative impulses into play, are in other hands.^ The modern specialization of labor has made the direction of the whole process the function of the employer or his representative. The worker's only connection with it is through a pay envelope on Saturday night. To go back to the old order of domestic production which prevailed before the development of the factory system is mani- festly impossible, even if it were desirable. It ought not, however, to be impossible to find some way of relating 'Compare the official Memorandum of the Garton Foundation in Great Britain: "It ('wage slavery') means something more than the mere economic dependence of the worker upon his employment. It embodies the revolt of the worker against a system which gives him neither interest, nor pride, nor a sense of responsibility, in his work. To a large proportion of those engaged in industry their work has become something external to their personal life, a disagreeable necessity, affording no opportunity for self-expression, no joy in creation, or the realiza- tion of healthy ambitions." 94 INDUSTRIAL RECONSTRUCTION the workers more directly to the industrial process than merely through a money payment which involves the surrender of all right to participation in planning and control. The arrangement by which a cash nexus is the only connection between the employe and the industry is being criticized by many today on the ground of its economic inefficiency. It does not provide sufficient incentive to cail forth the best efforts of the workers. Lord Lever- hulme, recognized on all sides as one of the greatest industrial leaders in the British Empire, has lately said: "It is not only that the wage system, by precluding from a share of the fruits of industry, is manifestly unfair, but it is also apparent even to the least thoughtful that the wage system dulls and deadens the keenness of even the best and most conscientious workers, and produces a mob of *ca canny' shirkers and slackers." The reason is not far to seek; it is explicitly expressed in Jesus' parable of the Good and the Bad Shepherd. *The hireling fleeth because he is an hireling.'' When has the mere hireling ever had sufficient motive to do anything else? It is a realization of this that has led the Administrative Com- mittee of the National Catholic War Council to say : "The full possibilities of increased production will not be real- ized so long as the majority of the workers remain mere wage earners. The majority must become owners, or at least in part, of the instruments in production." This statement, like Lord Leverhulme's, approaches the ques- tion from the economic side, but both rest on a recogni- tion of the fact that full production cannot be perma- nently secured by methods that do not call forth the initiative and self-expression of the workers. Thus, even when we make the economic approach, we are brought back to the Christian principle of the supreme importance of personality and its full development. If this be a fair analysis of the situation, we must ad- mit that the wage system, in the form that has generally ATTITUDE TOWARD THE SYSTEM 95 prevailed, offers serious obstacles to a full application of Christian principles. To determine wages only by supply and demand is to treat labor as a commodity rather than as personality, as an item in the cost of production rather than as a partner in the process. The wage earner thus tends to become a subject rather than a citizen in the kingdom of industry, one whose interests are so contrasted with the interests of those in control that the spirit of brotherhood is hindered. It must be said in fairness, however, that in practice the operation of the wage system is often better than in theory. Many employers bring Christian motives definitely to bear and find their efforts met by answering good will. That the wage earner may receive a reasonable share of the product, may have a reasonable freedom in determining his way of life, and may have a voice in directing the processes of industry has been demonstrated by experi- ments concerning which we shall speak in a subsequent chapter. What we have been saying here concerns the wage system as in the main it now exists, not as it might conceivably be modified by a fuller application of Chris- tian principles. Our discussion of the wage system has already raised the question of competition, for under existing arrange- ments we have found wages to be determined chiefly by the effort of the employer to buy, and of the employes to sell, labor as profitably as possible. Competition, how- ever, is so characteristic of many other aspects of our ' present economic life that we need to consider the whole question in greater detail. 3. Competition The chief point of criticism of our existing economic system on the ground of its incompatibility with Chris- tianity has been its acceptance of competition for private profits as its organizing principle. On the other hand, the chief criticism of Christianity as impracticable in 96 INDUSTRIAL RECONSTRUCTION economic affairs has been the assumption that a thor- ough-going application of the principle of brotherhood would preclude any competition whatever. The whole question, therefore, of the extent to which competition may be regarded as legitimate in a Christian social order is one of the most important subjects for our consid- eration. We have to recognize at the outset that there is honest divergence of judgment among Christians as to whether competition for material goods can be regarded as con- sonant with Christian principles. Those who find in it no essential denial of Christianity believe that economic competition, based on self-interest, is an indirect method of promoting the general welfare. They hold that the scheme of individual profit-seeking is the best, if indeed not the only, way of securing the quantity of production needed for the common good. They further point out that the competitive factor keeps prices down and quality up and so is, in the long run, socially advantageous. They find, to use the language of the orthodox political economy of an early day, that "man's self-love is God's providence." Granted that unequal rewards for unequal service is a correct principle, it is further argued that there is no more satisfactory way of apportioning rewards to merit than that which now prevails. Some sort of im- personal and automatic selective process is clearly pre- ferable to any method of official apportionment, and competitive organization of industry is regarded as the process by which individual energy, initiative, and enter- prise naturally come into their own and unconsciously minister to the good of the community. The social bene- fits of the end thus achieved are thought of as ennobling and justifying the psychological motive of self-interest which was the immediate stimulus. The fact that com- petition "is the life of trade" and that efficient trade is essential to human welfare is held to sanctify the process ATTITUDE TOWARD THE SYSTEM 97 and to take away the sting of what would otherwise be brutal selfishness. Those who make such an analysis of the problem conclude that the way out of the evils of competition is to be found not in substituting some other motive for self-interest and some other method for the competitive, but in establishing a generally recog- nized distinction between fair and unfair competition and in seeing that the "rules of the game" are more carefully observed. Over against this acceptance of competition for private profits is the view of those who regard it as entirely inconsistent with Christianity and with social welfare. They insist that in an industrial system based on economic competition the largest returns tend to go not to the man who consciously seeks to render the largest social service but to the man who is most self-seeking, or even to the man who is deliberately unscrupulous and does not hesi- tate to adulterate goods, to resort to deceitful advertising, or to secure a monopoly of the essentials of life and to use it in a ruthless manner. Although they readily admit that in some cases great financial success means that so- ciety has been served, through some invention or through exceptionally efficient production, they see all too clearly that this is often flagrantly untrue. Great wealth fre- quently means only that the man who inherited, or was strong enough to secure, a position of advantage has used his power in an extremely selfish way. In either case the "successful" man, proud of what he has achieved, only with difficulty escapes the curse of complacent satisfac- tion with the social arrangements that have made it possible for him thus to "get on," and of a depreciatory attitude toward those who have been less fortunate in the struggle. Competition thus seems to invite the essential moral crime of callousness, the habit of regarding man- kind, outside one's immediate circle, as means to one's own ends. Those who fix their attention upon these effects of competition are convinced that it is inherently 98 INDUSTRIAL RECONSTRUCTION incompatible with the Christian principles of brotherhood and service, that it puts power in the place of right as the final arbiter, and that it stimulates self-seeking instead of love. To these observers of our social life the principle of competition appears to be nothing more than a partly conventionalized embodiment of primeval selfishness. It means to them a sanction for getting as much as one can and giving as little as possible in return, using any avail- able methods for getting the best place in the sun, and wasting no sentimental pity on those who are outdistanced in the race. All this seems in flat contradiction to the at- titude which seeks first the Kingdom of God and regards business and industry as a ministry to the common good. They feel that so long as the present economic arrange- ments prevail, the obstacles to the Christian way of life are so tremendous that we shall have an inevitable sense of make-believe in our profession of Christianity. They insist, therefore, that competition is so intrinsically bad that we must eliminate it entirely and try a very differ- ent plan. Now there is undoubtedly an honest difference of judgment here. Is it not possible, however, that some of the sharpness of the divergence is due to different conceptions as to what is implied in the term "com- petition," or to over-emphasis on a sitijgle aspect of the process? Before we can discuss the evils or the merits of competition to the best advantage, we need to inquire whether we are speaking of precisely the same thing. And, as a matter of fact, we find that those who regard competition as definitely inconsistent with Chris- tianity have their attention fixed on a different phase of it than those who find no necessary inconsistency. The former are judging competition as a useful method for sorting out the men who can perform a given task in the most efficient way and seeing that they receive appropriate reward for their superior service. The latter are judging ATTITUDE TOWARD THE SYSTEM 99 it in the light of the motive of self-seeking that is usually associated with the competitive process. It is important to point out that each of these two sides maintains an essential element of truth. In any form of organized society there would always be some sort of rivalry, at least of an involuntary sort, unless it were based on the principle that all should receive exactly the same reward regardless of the value of their service. As long as everyone receives remunera- tion, and the remunerations are not all equal, there will necessarily be a sifting-out process to secure those who can render the best service. Even if profits in an in- dustry were eliminated and all who were in any way engaged in it worked on a salary plan, and even if the highest income attainable were $10,000 and the lowest $5,000, there would still be needed some kind of emula- tion to determine who should hold the more highly paid positions. To discover and sort out the men who have the largest ability is necessary for the sake of the com- munity itself, in order that it may have the benefit of their talents. Any successful society must secure the abler individuals for the difficult posts, with the result that the less able must fill less coveted positions. If, then, one were convinced of the justice of the methods employed in determining worth, the desire to have a better status than the lowest would be inseparable from the desire to be worthy of a better status than the lowest — which would be entirely commendable. If this be what we mean by competition then it would not be self-seeking in any unworthy sense ; it would simply be the effort of the individual to find his proper place and function in a diversified sodal order — an effort to reach the highest potential possible in the struggle of mankind for mastery over nature. But it is clear that competition as we now find it does not actually so operate as to distribute wealth according to service rendered. Our discussion of the distribution lOO INDUSTRIAL RECONSTRUCTION of wealth, in the preceding chapter, makes inevitable the conclusion that the apportionment of rewards effected by the competitive process is neither just nor conducive to social welfare. At the very least, then, the rules which now govern competition are in need of radical revision. The lack of any adequate code of ethics under which competition is to be carried on is only too obvious. Lying to consumers, excluding great masses of possible competitors by denying them the opportunity of educa- tion through keeping down their vitality and depriving them of leisure, taking advantage of the control of credit, manipulating properties in the dark of interlocking direc- torates, riding on unearned tides of rising social values, profiteering at the nation's expense in a crisis — all these are aspects of economic competition today, and clearly show how unchristian our present standards are, even though they do not necessarily mean that all competition is evil. In any event there is not the slightest excuse for turning competitors loose with the general absolution, **Go to it, all you do in the name of competition is holy." The fact that we have tended to do so in the past has brought it about that there is no spot in our social fabric more full of rottenness and dead men's bones than the realm of unrestricted competition in our commercial and industrial life. In some of the professions an organized code of ethics already prevails. In the field of medicine, for example, well recognized standards of professional practice obtain. There is competition here, but of a different kind than the unregulated business competition of which we have been speaking. Success is in the main inseparable from service and certain kinds of competition are ruled out altogether. Self-advertising and playing on the credulity of clients are under the ban of the profession. We need in business a category corresponding to that of the "quack" or the "scab" — the unfair competitors in the realm of medicine and of labor. When this is the case. ATTITUDE TOWARD THfe ;SYSTEM ' loi the ethics of business will present at least a less flagrant contrast to Christian ethics than we see today .^ But the question still remains whether more definite standards as to what is legitimate in competition and what is not are all that is necessary. That free com- petition, properly conducted, as its classic exponents ideally conceived it, would tend to give society the bene- fits of low prices and high quality and to distribute wealth according to services rendered may be admitted. But as a matter of fact that kind of competition is now practi- cally gone, so far as most of our basic industries are con- cerned. Instead of individuals with equal opportunities and free access to the land and its products, we find great monopolies in almost complete control. In the develop- ment of industry the process of competition has defeated itself by ending in monopoly. Adam Smith's faith in it rested on the assumption that both workers and em- ployers would continue to act independently as indi- viduals. Whatever may have been the advantages of such an arrangement, it is plain today that the develop- ment of combinations of employers, of employes, and of ^There is considerable evidence that an increasing number of men in business are imposing restraints upon themselves as to the means which they will use to gain advantage over rivals, so that they can say with a clear conscience that at least they do not serve themselves at the expense of the public. The advance that has been made in recent years in establishing at least some sort of ethics of competition is well illustrated by certain typical pronouncements from the Queen's Bench as late as 1899, quoted by Julius H. Cohen in "An American Labor Policy," such as the following : "To say that a man is to trade freely, but that he is to stop at any act which is calculated to harm other tradesmen, and which is designed to attract business to his own shop, would be a strange and impossible counsel of perfection. To attempt to limit English competition in this way would probably be as hope- less and impossible as the experiment of King Canute." (Lord Justice Bowen.) The "strange and impossible counsel of perfection" that a man should stop at some acts calculated to harm his rival is probably now the rule rather than the exception. The limit is of course highly elastic, but the fact that most men now have some limit is a hopeful indication that an adequate ethical code may be established. I02 ' "INDUSTRIAL RECONSTRUCTION mercKahts lekve'S' rfiig' ideal a thing of the past. AVhat we have in our basic industries today is, in the main, not a competition between individuals performing the same tasks, but between classes — which is obviously unservice- able and disastrous. Within an economic group whose members perform the same function — for example, be- tween two manufacturers of the same commodity — competition may be a rivalry as to which can do the work most efficiently, and so be, in effect, a rivalry in serving the public good. But competition between two economic classes, performing different functions, both of which are essential to the general welfare — such as the competition between producer and distributor, or dis- tributor and consumer, or capital and labor — is of a different character. Capital and labor are not striving, even indirectly, to see which can perform the same process more efficiently. Their competition with each other is simply a struggle to see which party can get the most from the other, a process which results in detriment to the character of each and stands in the way of the general welfare. A premium is placed on an anti-social attitude. It is a contest not in giving the best values but in cupidity. It is a competition in disservice, not in service, for it divides the house of industry against itself and so means public loss. This kind of competition clearly has no place in a Christian social order. More, then, is required than a change in the rules of the game. A spirit of cooperation and a motive of serv- ing the general welfare are the indispensable need. The trouble with economic competition, and the element in it that makes it unchristian, is the supremacy of the motive of self-interest. The principles to which we have found the Christian to be committed demand that his primary concern shall be for the common good. The evil in competition is not the matching of one's abilities against another's, nor unequal rewards, but the underlying motive of material profit and the setting of individual ATTITUDE TOWARD THE SYSTEM 103 rather than social standards of success. In the light of Christianity the goal of industry is not the personal profit of those who engage in it, but the public service of pro- viding for mankind the material basis of a worthy life. It is clear, therefore, that so far as the seeking of private profits is the primary motive in economic competition, it must be regarded as inconsistent with Christianity. In the economic realm as well as elsewhere we must abandon selfishness as the chief principle of action if we are to be true to Jesus' emphasis upon seeking first the King- dom of God. The seeking of the largest expression of one's ability we want to stimulate, but we want also to direct it to the Christian end of serving the common good. If Christian principles are fully to prevail, competition as a struggle of man against man to secure the largest share of the world's wealth will therefore be abandoned. The effort to excel in useful work will remain. The ability of the strong will then be not a divisive but a unifying force. One will still be first and another second, but the gain of one will be the gain of all. Our discussion has led us to conclude that the struc- tural features of the present system — private property, wage payments, and competition — as found today are clearly characterized by definitely unchristian tendencies. Permanent control over a certain amount of material things is needed for the development of personality; but under our present tenure of property some have so much that many are denied sufficient for this educative influence. Emulation with one's fellows in order to find the largest outlet for one's creative powers is necessary to the fullest self-expression; but in competition today the motive appealed to is self-interest instead of serving the common good. For one man to work for another might be a relationship as Christian as if both were independent producers, but a wage system whereby the worker re- ceives a payment not determined by reference to what he I04 INDUSTRIAL RECONSTRUCTION has contributed to the joint product, but solely by the com- petition in the "labor market," cannot be regarded as consistent with the Christian conception of the worth of personality and of brotherhood. 4. The Wrong Motive on Which the System Depends This analysis of unchristian tendencies in our indus- trial system, makes it clear that what is fundamentally wrong is the present emphasis on self-interest. It is not simply that men do not act from Christian motives, but that the existing organization of in- dustry does not sufficiently appeal to them. It is obvious that as incentives to production we have appealed to some form of the desire for private gain. In the case of those who control industry we have depended on the ambition to amass large wealth. Private profit has been assumed as the goal of industrial activity. In the case of the great mass of workers we have relied on the fear of hunger or unemployment to spur them on. But greed and fear never were Christian motives. And the as- sumption that one is to get and hold all he legally can inevitably makes for disunity in our social life. Just to the extent that self-interest is controlling in the economic realm will a cohesive and brotherly society be impossible. The World War was a sufficient illustration of the moral bankruptcy of an international order founded on selfish- ness. An industrial order founded on that basis cannot fare any better. Why is there the present struggle in the world of industry? Were it due only to agitators, the solution ought not to be difficult. But the trouble lies deeper. For the pursuit of private profits, which is the basis of our present system, results in a propertied and a prop- ertyless class, whose economic interests are largely opposed. Those who possess the natural resources, on which all men depend, and who can control them for their ATTITUDE TOWARD THE SYSTEM 105 private gain, try to get other men to work for them for as little as possible. Owners and workers, therefore, con- tend with each other for the surplus margin that will go into wages or into profits. The resulting mutual an- tagonism which we deprecate as a denial of Christianity cannot be adequately understood apart from this cleavage of interests, under our practically unregulated pursuit of private gain, between those who are now the possessors of productive wealth and the dispossessed. This does not mean that if the cleavage inherent in our economic organization were eliminated the class struggle would quickly disappear — only that certain obstacles would be removed. It means, in a word, that the present concen- tration of ownership and control creates a great tempta- tion to use that power in a selfish way, and that the opposition of economic interests between those who possess the materials of production and those who do not tends to foster the unchristian spirit of self-seeking on the part of all. We cannot better summarize the point of view to which we have been led in this chapter than in the words of the report of the Archbishops' Committee on Christianity and Industrial Problems. We agree with this conclusion: "When every allowance has been made both for the good qualities elicited by the industrial system and for the incidental defects which are likely to be found in any system whatever, we, nevertheless, find it impossible to resist the conclusion that, in certain fundamental respects, that system itself is gravely defective. It is defective not merely in the sense that industrial relations are embittered by faults of temper and lack of generosity on the part of the employer, of the employed, and of the general public alike, but because the system itself makes it exceedingly difficult to carry into practice the prin- ciples of Christianity. Its faults are not the accidental or occasional maladjustments of a social order, the gen- eral spirit and tendency of which can be accepted as satisfactory by Christians. They are the expressions of io6 INDUSTRIAL RECONSTRUCTION certain deficiencies deeply rooted in the nature of that order itself. They appear in one form or another not in this place or in that, |)ut in every country which has been touched by the spirit, and has adopted the institutions, of modern industrialism. To remove them it is necessary to be prepared for such changes as will remove the deeper causes of which they are the result. "We cannot, therefore, agree with the view sometimes expressed which would allow Christians to take for granted the general economic arrangements of society, and would confine their attention to supplementing in- cidental shortcomings and relieving individual distress, in the belief that if men will live conscientiously within the limits of established industrial arrangements, without seeking to modify them, the result will be such a society as can be approved by Christians. The solution of the industrial problem involves, in short, not merely the improvement of individuals, but a fundamental change in the spirit of the industrial system itself."^ The need for change in the present system of capital- istic industry does not mean, of course, that everything in this system must be abolished. For there are many good points in the present order — points to which we have here referred only in an incidental way because it was our special purpose to inquire how far we are failing to realize the Christian ideal. To conserve the good in our present system is no less important than to eliminate its evils. Whether the sum total of Christian values could be more fully secured in some other system than the present one if modified by an increasing extension of social control along the lines to be suggested later, we cannot say. For, as we pointed out earlier in this chapter, systems are not, in practice, such unmodified and unmodifiable things that one can be set sharply over against another. Only in theory is one the antithesis of the other. What we need, then, is not a formal labeling of our present system, as a whole, as either Christian or unchristian, but a clear insight into the aspects and ""Christianity and Industrial Problems," pp. 51, 52. ATTITUDE TOWARD THE SYSTEM 107 tendencies of that system which now hinder the Christian spirit. That there are such tendencies and that the root of them is in the over-emphasis on private profits and the motive of self-interest is unmistakable. CHAPTER IV THE CHRISTIAN METHOD OF SOCIAL BETTERMENT In our present industrial order we have found much in which, as Christians, we cannot acquiesce. Our vision of the social order that ought to be will not allow us to be content with our social order as it is. Impelled by Christian motives, we seek to change existing conditions wherever they are incompatible with the Christian ideal. But to have high ideals and right motives is not enough. They must be translated into some effective form of social action. For we are not living in a world in which ideals and motives are self-fulfilling, but in a wOrld of imperfection and struggle and compromise. We know only in part, and, even when we know, our wills are weak and faltering. It is on such a society that we have to bring the Christian ideal to bear, in such a society that the Christian motive has to be applied. Of any proposal for social betterment, therefore, we have to ask not only whether it is in harmony with the goal that Christianity seeks, but also whether it will in practice actually lead us to the desired end. Unless we choose wise methods as well as a worthy goal, the methods themselves may obstruct, or even defeat, our aims. Now Christianity is committed not only to a definite social ideal but also to a certain way of realizing it. Since the society for which Christians look is one whose members are bound together by the law of love, the development of the motive of love is the way by which a Christian social order is to be brought about. Since a Christian society has, as a distinguishing charac- teristic, faith in a divine purpose for humanity, the at- io8 I r THE CHRISTIAN METHOD 109 tainment of that purpose is conditioned by an increasing development of the attitude of faith. Love and faith — these are the great principles that determine the Christian method of realizing social progress. But the actual w^orld in v^hich we live seems, at best, only partially made for these principles. Only within narrow limits does love now appear to be practicable. In international and industrial relationships how little has mankind trodden the path of love ! So faith also seems possible only in a circumscribed degree. How little does humanity, as it is, reveal the divine capacities that Chris- tianity asserts! The principles of love and faith seem inadequate to secure the achievement of our goal. And so indeed they are, if by that we mean that the ideal is to be realized all at once. We are led, therefore, to a third principle that serves to complete our definition of the Christian method — the principle of growth. This, then, is the Christian way of securing social betterment — ^by developing the motive of love, by promoting the attitude of faith, by carrying on a process of education. Of what is involved in each of these we need now to speak more in detail. I. By Developing the Motive of Love According to Christianity the motive is the determining factor in life. Not external circumstances, not even human deeds, but the inner spirit and purpose are the things of fundamental importance. Evil outer conditions and even evil acts are only symptoms, evidences of a wrong condition within. So true is this that even murder, adultery, blasphemy, and retaliation are regarded by Jesus only as manifestations of an inner attitude of hate, lust, irreverence, and ill will.^ The tree that is rotten within brings forth evil fruit. The good tree spontaneously brings forth good fruit. Hence make the ^Matthew 5:21-48. no INDUSTRIAL RECONSTRUCTION tree good and the fruit will take care of itself. Out of the Jieart are all the issues of life. Moreover, according to Christianity, there is one motive that is to be controlling in human life. It is love — the desire that all men shall have fullness of life in keep- ing with their divine possibilities. "Thou shalt love" — this is Jesus' summary of the Christian way of life. In the epigrammatic words of Augustine, "Ama et fac quod vis'* — only really love, then you may do as you will. For love is not one motive among others; it is the all- embracing Christian motive. All other commandments are ''comprehended in this saying, namely. Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself."^ So the Christian goal is to create love. But how is it to be done ? By what means is this motive to be developed in the lives of men and women who do not now recog- nize its primacy? The Christian answer is that love is created by love. It is a self-perpetuating virtue, eliciting the same attitude in others. "We love him,'* says the Apostle, "because he first loved us."^ And the same prin- ciple holds true in all social life: love is called out by love. This is the way in which family affection is devel- . oped in the home. The love of the parent awakens an answering love in the child. In wider social relationships the same thing is true : intelligent good will toward others evokes an answering attitude on their part. Even in the treatment of offenders against society, modern penology recognizes the efficacy of the method. Sympathetic in- terest arouses the better self when all methods of com- pulsion fail. An inner spirit is always developed only by a spiritual appeal. The emphasis of Christianity on the motive sets the Christian method in contrast with any method that sub- stitutes less spiritual methods of realizing its ends. Christianity insists that the betterment of society is im- ^Romans 13 : 9. •I John 4:19. THE CHRISTIAN METHOD iii possible without a change of motive. Social progress is contingent on moral advance. Only as love gains power over human life can a better social order be secured. No changes in the external framework of society will suffice. However necessary they be, they never go to the root of the matter. Self-interest must give way to concern for the common good. Other changes are important only as they minister to this inner change. But when outer conditions do affect men's motives, as they clearly do, making the spirit of love either easier or more difficult, they become of vital concern.^ Thus the central place which love should have in human life gives us two practical standards for judging any proposed changes in the industrial system. We have to ask in the first place whether they are expressions of the motive of love, and, in the second place, whether they will if adopted help to extend its sway in the social order. And it is important to distinguish between the two parts of the test. A movement may spring from a genuinely Christian motive and yet not be wise enough to produce results consonant with the Christian end. And, on the other hand, worthy by-products, which the Christian will welcome, may result even though the chief motive was narrower than seeking the largest common good. What our attitude should be toward the present labor ^move- ment, for example, or toward any section of it, may be clarified by this twofold test. We need to ask, first, whether its policies and activities spring from the desire to promote human welfare, to give to men and women a larger, more satisfying, and more useful life. Second, we must inquire whether its program, if successful, will result in making the motive of love more controlling in our social life. If, as Christians, we participate in the labor movement, it must be for one or other of these reasons. This consideration of our standard for judging pro- *Cf. p. 15. 112 INDUSTRIAL RECONSTRUCTION posed changes has made it clear that the difficulties in the way of realizing all that is involved in the motive of love are of two kinds. There are, in the first place, those which are due to lack of knowledge, and, in the second place, those which are due to lack of will. The difficulty presented by the meagerness of our knowledge is a serious one. Men who agree in being committed to the Christian ideal and in being animated by the motive of love nevertheless differ widely in their judgment concerning the economic organization that would best lend itself to securing the common goal. One is an individualist and another a socialist because they genuinely disagree as to whether private ownership of the means of production results, on the whole, in the largest social good. They both recognize that economic organi- zation must in any case be such as to secure the quantity of production essential to the best living, but one believes that the needed energy and initiative can be secured under social ownership, while the other is not convinced that this is the case. But more perplexing and far more serious is the con- flict of wills. Even Christians are often only in part committed to the principles of their religion. Applying them in their own private life and in certain social rela- tionships, they yet make reservations concerning their wider application. And we find many others who frankly repudiate Christianity. They do not accept its principles and do not intend to be guided by the motive of love. So far as they have the power they mean to perpetuate con- ditions which Christianity cannot approve, provided only those conditions work to their own advantage. How can we apply the motive of love in the case of those who do not recognize it ? The answer to the questions raised by these obstacles will concern us later, when we consider the problems that arise in the application of the Christian method as a whole. But enough has already been said to suggest the THE CHRISTIAN METHOD 113 question whether the principle of love can be regarded as a practicable one. Is it actually workable in the kind of world which we now have, with so much ignorance and evil in it? To this insistent question we have to take one attitude or another, and that attitude will in large measure determine our practical endeavor. We are led, therefore, to consider the principle of faith as help- ing to define further the Christian method of realizing our social ideal. 2. By Promoting the Attitude of Faith When we think of the Christian ideal for society in the light of society as it now is, we find ourselves asking. Can that ideal ever be realized ? Are the principles which we have found to be structural for a Christian social order really capable of application to the matter-of-fact world in which we live ? Can men generally be led to act in the interest of the common good rather than of a selfish private gain? The Christian faith in God and in humanity, as contrasted with other attitudes, expresses the confidence that the Christian ideal can and will be realized in human life. And to approach all the problems of our collective living in such a spirit is a part of the Christian method of progress. At this point, in fact, we reach Christianity's most dis- tinctive contribution to the solution of the industrial problem. The principles that we have discussed as de- fining the nature of the Christian ideal — the value of per- sonality, brotherhood, service — are held by others than Christians, although at each of these points the con- tribution of Christianity is so significant that the Chris- tian's conviction should be stronger than any other's. But what definitely differentiates the religious point of view — and more specifically the Christian point of view — is that these ideals are regarded as destined to be realized. For the Christian they are not goals merely of human imagining. They are grounded in creation itself; they 114 INDUSTRIAL RECONSTRUCTION are a part of God's plan for the world. They are not something alien to human nature, and so of doubtful real- ization. God Himself has implanted them in the spirit of man. Such an attitude toward ideals makes all the practical difference in the world. The disciples' prayer, "Increase our faith"^ therefore expresses an always pres- ent need. This faith which the Christian has in the realization of his ideal is based upon the character of God as revealed in Jesus Christ. "This is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith . . . that Jesus is the Son of God."* Believing Christ-like character to be the ultimate reality in the universe, we cannot but have confidence in the workability of love. So far are we from considering love impracticable that we are convinced that any method inconsistent with it will itself ultimately be found to be unworkable and out of harmony with the constitution of the universe. We believe that the Christian society is to be realized, because it is the will of God that it shall be realized and because our God is able to bring His purposes to pass. Faith in God carries with it a corresponding faith in human nature. For man is the child of God and it is through man alone that God's purpose for the world can be achieved. Confident belief in the inherent capacity of man to be other and better than he is is inseparable from our faith in God as revealed in Jesus Christ. For this faith means that what human nature potentially is is truly seen in Jesus Christ : that what He was all men may become. Christianity does not deny that there is radical evil in human nature. Indeed, it emphasizes it. But it refuses to accept it as final. It is there to be changed and it can be changed, if only for a long enough time and in a thorough enough way we bring to bear upon "Luke 17:5. «I John 5: 4,5. THE CHRISTIAN METHOD 115 it the principles of Christ. Translated into terms of our daily experience, faith in the divinity of Christ is a statement of our conviction that He can and will rule over all our social life. The overwhelming significance of this attitude of faith for any solution of present industrial problems is*evident as soon as we realize that the root evil from which we suffer today is lack of faith in one another. In the atti- tude, for example, of those who hold economic power toward the working class and its ideals this is true. Many refuse to admit that the motives of the workers can be anything but narrowly selfish and materialistic. Even when the goal they seek is recognized as legitimate, they are not considered good enough or wise enough to be trusted to have any large share in bringing it to pass. To allow labor any organized power is regarded as only an entering wedge, by which labor might establish a dic- tatorship of its own. Distrust is likewise characteristic of the attitude of workers toward employers. Greed and lust of power are attributed even to employers who are honestly seeking the worker's welfare. Each side believes that the other is concerned merely to get all it can. And the generab public distrusts capital and labor alike, not expecting either group to put the general good above private gain. So in the whole industrial realm we move in an atmos- phere of suspicion. Mutual confidence is not developed because it is not appealed to. For all this distrust there is, of course, much justification in present facts, but the trouble is that the present conditions are assumed to be inevitable instead of being recognized as something to be put away. Thus to distrust humanity is to make Christ's words untrue and His example of no effect, for it is out of ordinary men like ourselves and including our- selves that Christ proposes to build His society. If we really believed that God had created men in His image and revealed their true nature in Jesus Christ, we should ii6 INDUSTRIAL RECONSTRUCTION have new faith in the good will of men and in their willingness to work for the common weal. The present industrial situation is largely parallel to the international situation that culminated in the World War. For years fear and distrust and suspicion of one another had been nourishing the conflict. Men in their corporate capacity as nations were not willing to trust the motives of their neighbors ; they must arm against them. Disrup- tion of humanity and almost its destruction were the result. Now that the war is over, the same lack of faith continues and is the one fundamental obstacle to a league of nations. We do not yet believe that Christian prin- ciples apply to our associates and neighbors, to say nothing of their applying to our enemies. Neither in in- dustrial nor in international relationships can we find real solutions until fear and distrust are replaced by faith. That this is our fundamental need is now recognized on every hand. Every other way has been tried and failed. Today even our newspapers and journals and students of economics are expressing this conclusion. In the present atmosphere of distrust in the world of industry the Christian method of faith requires two things. In the first place, we must actually step out in an attitude of trust in our fellows. The only way to make the irresponsible trustworthy is to trust them, just as God by trusting us calls out trust in return. It is true that men will not come to such an attitude all at once. The time element, here as elsewhere, enters in. But -that is all the more reason for making a beginning now. In the second place. Christians must seek to discover what there is in our present industrial organization which breeds a conflict of group interests and so leads to dis- trust. Where such conditions are found, it is of the most fundamental importance so to modify existing arrange- ments as to promote instead of to hinder an attitude of mutual confidence. Our appeal to men to trust one an- other and to act in a cooperative spirit will never meet THE CHRISTIAN METHOD 117 with any adequate response if there are factors in the economic situation itself which are needlessly working against such a result. No economic arrangements can in themselves create this inner attitude of mutual faith, but, on the other hand, they may very effectively destroy it. To urge the employes to have faith in the employers in a factory so autocratically organized that after the market rate of wages has been paid the whole profits are appropriated by capital will be of no avail. Mutual con- fidence is too dependent on a mutuality of interests to develop freely where this underlying basis is lacking. 3. By Directing Growth through Education To have faith in the coming of a Christian social order does not mean that it must come full-blown tomorrow. God*s method is a method of .growth. Not even He can realize His purposes in a moment. It is so in the case of the individual life. The ideal which He seeks is reached through successive stages, as Christian truth is in- creasingly apprehended and appropriated and character progressively transformed thereby. What is true of the individual is even more strikingly true of society. Here new factors arise to make the problem more complex. For we are not now dealing with a single will but with a group of wills, some of which seek unchristian ends directly opposed to those sought by others. As in the parable of the wheat and the tares, good and evil elements exist side by side and the evil cannot in simple fashion be rooted out. In social life, as well as in the life of the individual, growth is the law and education the method by which the final goal is to be achieved."^ In 'To discuss the question of the apocalyptic element in Jesus' teaching concerning the Kingdom would take us too far afield. Here it is sufficient to point out that even though He expected the final consummation to be ushered in by the sudden miraculous intervention of God, He nevertheless insisted, as all students of the Gospels agree, that men had to prepare for the coming of the Kingdom by bringing their own lives into accord with its principles. ii8 INDUSTRIAL RECONSTRUCTION various periods, and perhaps by some Christians in all periods, a catastrophic solution of all human problems has been looked for. Such a hope has often seemed the only thing that could make it possible still to believe in the fulfilment of the ideal. But the normal Christian point of view is that ''through the ages one increasing purpose runs.'* This emphasis on growth as the normal method of attainment is not at all inconsistent with a recognition of the importance of special crises. In the case of the individual this is clear. In conversion, in renewed conse- cration, in the call of the prophet, in Jesus' recognition of his Messiahship, the peculiar significance of certain occasions is unmistakable. So far as any individual is headed in the wrong direction, he can move in the true direction only by a right about face. In society as a whole it may sometimes be equally essential that cer- tain wrong points of view be definitely renounced. To point this out is one of the most important functions of Christian education. But, to use the language of the British Labor Party, society cannot be built anew "in a year or two of feverish reconstruction." Even after a definite turning in another direction the goal is reached only by patiently following the new path. Step by step we have tb pass from one stage to another. For all ideas take time for their realiza- tion. After the seed is sown it must be a case of "first the blade, then the ear, after that the full corn in the ear."^ Or, to change the figure, the Christian ideal is a leaven which works continuously until it actually leavens the whole mass.^ Already the ideal of a Christian social order is at work in human life, but before it can be fully attained there must be increasing apprehension of its con- tent, enlarging experience of its value, steady discipline in adaptation to its demands, and gradual experiment as *Mark 4 : 28. "Matthew 13 : 33. THE CHRISTIAN METHOD 119 to how it can be realized. Hence to have faith in the Christian social principles to which we are committed is not necessarily to believe that they can be made to prevail all at once. It is, however, to be absolutely convinced that they are capable of progressive realization, that all our practical efforts should be directed to their fulfilment, and that they must constitute the standard by which our present progress is to be judged. This emphasis on progressive inner change accounts for the great significance of freedom for Christianity. Free- dom is not something which we cherish for its own sake, in order that we may be able to "do as we please." It is to be treasured as the indispensable condition for the realization of the ideal, since it is only to the free spirit that ideals can appeal. To deny the method of freedom is to do violence to the fundamental Christian principle of the worth of personality, for to be a person and to be free to respond to the ideal are but two ways of saying one and the same thing. Of course this insistence on freedom always involves risk. It makes possible failure and sin and suffering. It means that we have the prodigal son, the woman in adultery, the slothful servant, the unfaithful steward, the unmerciful creditor, the' greedy landlord who destroys widows' houses, all those who bind on men's shoulders heavy burdens and grievous to be borne. It means that men have to learn by experience what is the better way. How much trouble would be saved if only they were com- pelled to do right ! The path of freedom is the long way round rather than the short way home. Yet to emphasize the need of freedom is simply to insist that the means for realizing a Christian social order must be such as to conform to its nature as a society of spiritual person- alities. In the recognition of freedom and in the assumption of the consequent risks, Christianity has a clear point of contact with democracy. Democracy, too, means learning I20 INDUSTRIAL RECONSTRUCTION by experience. Hence it involves peril and sometimes partial failure, as every method of experiment inevitably does. But into the experiment of freedom and democracy, with its resulting suffering, Christianity introduces a new factor. For in the Cross of Christ is revealed the re- demptive character that such suffering may be made to have. Through sympathy the significance of life's trage- dies may be transformed. Brotherhood may become richer and more satisfying because reached through an experience of comradeship in suffering and in final triumph. So the temporary failure, to which freedom sometimes seems to lead, may become the road to the largest ultimate success. This experience of the larger goal that is opened up through freedom, in spite of the anguish and failure involved, is- not without significance for the present industrial situation. Looked at abstractly, the whole struggle of the working classes for better conditions of life often seems a sad and futile record of incompetency, misunderstanding, and failure. But seen from within, in the light of our Christian principles, this struggle of the workers is a step in the progress of mankind toward brotherhood. Behind it there lies a succession of ex- periments in the use and misuse of freedom which have resulted in great human suffering for millions of men. But at the same time, there has developed a sense of one- ness among those who suffer that may make for an increasing appreciation of the solidarity of mankind. What we have to do, therefore, as Christians in our contact with the labor movement is to interpret the meaning of the struggle in order that we may be able sympathetically to reenforce the motives in it that make for brotherhood as against those that end in class selfish- ness. 4. Problems of Application To develop the inner motive of love, to promote the THE CHRISTIAN METHOD 121 attitude of faith, to nourish a process of growth in social living — these we have found to be important aspects of the Christian method of securing a better social order. When, however, we begin to consider the positive changes that need to be brought about if we are to have a Christian society, we find ourselves confronted with perplexing difficulties in the practical application of this method. Before proceeding to a discussion of the needed changes we must, therefore, analyze some of the problems that arise when we try to apply the Christian method to the present industrial situation. The difficulties arise from the fact that we live in a world in which there is little unity of purpose and of spirit. Both the ends which men seek and the motives by which they are actuated in seeking them differ greatly. This means that there can be no simple rule of thumb by which to apply in a uniform manner the methods which we have found to grow out of the very nature of the Christian ideal. If we would proceed intelligently and effectively we must take into account the complexity in the existing situation. We must inquire in detail what the differences are among the people with whom we have to deal in working to secure a Christian social order and what these differences may mean for our procedure. The men and women who constitute society as it now is align themselves, consciously or unconsciously, with one of three different groups, so far as their attitude toward the Christian ideal is concerned. There are, in the .first place, those who seek the Christian end, or can be led to seek it, from the Christian motive. They are honestly committed to seeking a Christian social goal in the Christian way, however much they fail to live up to their ideal. There are, in the second place, those who in the main seek the same end but do so from a different motive. They include, for example, those members of the labor movement who are concerned to secure such larger opportunities for the working class as are 122 INDUSTRIAL RECONSTRUCTION thoroughly consistent with, and indeed demanded by, the fundamental Christian principle of the worth of all per- sonalities, but whose conscious motive may be only to secure a class triumph and a redistribution of property. Finally, there are still others who seek ends that are in themselves inconsistent with the Christian goal. The reasons for their doing so are of two kinds. The first reason is ignorance or misunderstanding as to what is really involved in the Christian ideal. The other is positive ill will and refusal to follow the better way. Whereas some reject Christianity because they suppose that love means only sentimentality and flabbiness and that vigorous self-assertion is the necessary path of progress, others do so because, being in a position of privilege in our present social order, they are concerned only to preserve their present status, regardless of the injustice and oppression that existing social or political or economic arrangements may cause to hosts of their fellowmen. In a society of men and women with such diverse attitudes as these toward the Christian ideal we have to try to apply the Christian method. Obviously, the situa- tion is not one in which an unvarying procedure can be prescribed. So far as we are dealing with the first group that we have described — those who seek what we seek from the same motive — no problem of application is presented. With all such we gladly enter into the fullest cooperation, joining hand in hand to further a common goal in a common way. When our relationships are with the second group — the men and women who seek an end consistent with Christianity but from motives other than the Christian purpose to serve the highest good of all men — difficulties arise, yet hardly of a perplexing kind. Since we approve the ends they seek, it is clear that we must cooperate with them in all practical efforts to achieve those ends. If protective legislation is sought to secure better wages or I THE CHRISTIAN METHOD 123 more reasonable hours for those who are now in such a position of economic disadvantage that they can not secure these rights for themselves, none should be as eager as the Christian to bring this result about. If the support of public opinion is needed to uphold the rights of workers to organize in such a way as to better their standards of living and their conditions of work, there should be no question as to the side on which the Chris- tian should take his stand. But in such cooperation he will never forget that the factor of final significance is the inner purpose for which any external change is sought. In participating in any such movement for social changes he will, therefore, place his emphasis unmistakably upon the importance of the underlying motive, and, as occasion arises, will freely express his disapproval of any motive less worthy than that of love. When we consider our relationship with the third class — those who purposely seek ends inconsistent with the Christian goal — we find ourselves confronted with a far more perplexing question. So far as their attitude is de- termined by ignorance or misunderstanding of the Chris- tian ideal of life our problem is obviously that of educa- tion, which we shall consider later. With every available means at our command we must seek to bring home to them the meaning of Christianity in such effective ways that it will appeal to their wills and secure a free response. But, unfortunately, lack of knowledge is not our only difficulty. We have to deal also with the greatest of human problems — the men and women who, seeing the good, call it evil and say to evil, "Be thou our good." We have not really faced the final issue till we ask what, as Christians, we are to do in our relation- ships with men of unsocial will. An answer commonly given is that we are to restrain them by law. And as a partial answer it is thoroughly in keeping with the Christian view. For by legislation we can help to create an environment in which it will 124 INDUSTRIAL RECONSTRUCTION be more difficult to carry out anti-social purposes and in which those who are now too weak to defend themselves may receive a certain amount of protection. A child labor law, for example, can do much to safeguard children from those who would exploit them for selfish ends. Laws against the sale of intoxicants or against commercialized vice can help to create conditions in which men are less likely to be led into needless temptation by those who would appeal to lower appetites for the sake of gain. But legislation can never be more than a partial solution of the problem. Being only an external re- straint, it cannot in itself secure the inner change which is indispensable to creating a Christian society. There must be the appeal of a positive ideal and the free re- sponse of the spirit in a new motive. The utmost that legislation can do is to modify the outer environment in such a way that the motive of love finds less sharp opposition. And sometimes legislation fails to accomplish even as much as this. The best of laws may be ignored or opposed. The question of a conflict of wills therefore finally arises. What, then, we have to ask, is the bearing of the Christian ideal and the Christian method on such a situation? Christianity fully recognizes the place of conflict in the world. To call men to live for the Kingdom of righteousness and love is to summon them to oppose all the forces of evil and of selfishness. In this sense it is always true that Jesus comes "not to send peace but a sword." The ideal that He sets before men demands an alignment of wills for or against His \(^ay of life and makes a cleavage between those who live for the common good and those who live for wrong and selfish ends. So long as there is still evil in the world, it must be opposed and overcome. But by what method is evil to be opposed? The answer is usually given in terms of the use of force. It THE CHRISTIAN METHOD 125 IS an answer which has been definitely made both in the international and in the industrial realm. For in a very real sense the class struggle which we have found to be characteristic of our modern industrial life is a form of war. This is, in fact, frankly recognized in the term "class war," so often used. The class struggle ordinarily uses as its weapon a strike in which injury to property or to life is carefully avoided. Yet it is still essentially an appeal to might — to economic strength — on the part of two opposing groups, each of which seeks to wrest as much as possible from the other. What does Christianity have to say to such a use of force, whether physical or economic, to settle the issue of a conflict of wills? . To discuss this subject fully would require us to raise the vexed question of pacifism. The arguments on one side and the other have, however, been so fully given that it is not necessary to repeat them here. We are concerned with the debate only in its bearing upon economic con- flicts. What is to be the Christian's attitude toward the industrial struggle? This much at least seems clear — that whatever attitude we take toward international war applies also to class war. We cannot admit that war between nations is ever right and at the same time hold that class conflict is never right. As there may be situations in the relations between na- tions which lead many Christians to believe that it is right to fight, as in the case of a war of self-defense against ruthless attack or in defense of the defenseless, so in the industrial realm there may arise intolerable situations in which those who hold autocratic power through owning all the means of production use their power so selfishly that a strike may be the only weapon of defense available. Indeed, the strike can often be justified when interna- tional warfare cannot, because the strike does not ordi- narily involve a reckless loss of human life. But warfare can never be regarded by the Christian as anything but a temporary and terrible expedient, never 126 INDUSTRIAL RECONSTRUCTION to be used except when forced upon us by men so blind and self-seeking that they will not accept any other way. This is true whether the conflict be between nations or economic classes. War cannot possibly be anything but a last horrible resort and a merely ad interim measure, for it is disruptive of the very social solidarity that Chris- tianity seeks. So the strike, like battles between nations, never settles anything permanently. It is only a means of bringing about a state in which it becomes possible to employ other methods, and it is often at a cost so great as to do more harm than good.^^ Never can it be thought of as other than the lesser of two awful evils. The best that we can say for such a method is that it is less of a denial of brotherhood than it would be to acquiesce in selfish domination. The class struggle, then, remains, not as consistent with the Christian ideal, but as a tempo- rary and second-best procedure until we can secure a more democratic distribution of power and its more brotherly use. To accept as ultimate the conflict of nations or classes is the final denial of the Christian goal for humanity. The fact that we have just emerged from the greatest period of international violence in human history must not be allowed to make our witness against war in any way equivocal. We must all admit a share in our collec- tive responsibility for our tragic failure in not having provided other means than an arbitrament of physical might for adjusting differences of will. Not having done so, we have reaped the staggering consequences on fields of blood. When once an aggressive attack had been pre- cipitated, it was then too late to create other means of settlement. There was nothing left to do but to go through a brutal, inhuman, unchristian business that never ought to have been. In our industrial relations it is not yet too late. It is still possible for us so to organize ^"For a discussion of arbitration as a possible substitute for strikes, see pages 153-154 of this report. THE CHRISTIAN METHOD 127 our economic life on a basis of seeking the common good that the spirit of war and the tendency to conflict will be removed. The imperative need of doing so is brought home to us more vividly than ever by the terrific conse- quences of our failure to do so in the international realm. For nothing is clearer than that the World War was but the natural culmination of the previous insistence of na- tions on seeking selfish ends instead of the largest common weal. Definitely to commit itself to the law of love, both in international and in industrial relationships, is society's greatest need. To hold up the ideal of this "more ex- cellent way" is the opportunity and responsibility of the Church. Even while the class struggle is still a present fact, there are clearly certain things which the progressive application of the method of love demands. Foremost among these is that the struggle should be carried on without resort to violence. We can unmistakably insist that if men must fight, they fight within the limits which the law provides. In a country in which democratic political rights are guaranteed and in which the right to strike is not denied, there can be no excuse whatever for the use of violent methods in the economic struggle. The ineffectiveness and self-defeating character of any destructive means of securing social betterment are clearer than ever in the light of the war. We see that violence calls forth its like, that it engenders a spirit con- trary to seeking any social ends, that it is impossible to cast out devils by Beelzebub. In insisting that the use of violent methods in industrial disputes is contrary to the Christian spirit we must make it entirely clear that our protest against violence is directed to over-zealous defenders of existing social con- ditions, as well as to those who are seeking redress of industrial wrongs and a different social order. We have frankly to recognize that there have been not a few occasions within the past year or two in which the 128 INDUSTRIAL RECONSTRUCTION actions and utterances of those who demanded law and order most loudly have been unhappy examples of its violation.^ 1 In the case of certain industrial disputes in which violence on the part of strikers has occurred, it seems to have resulted, in part at least, from the re- pressive or violent methods used by those who were set by the civic authorities to enforce the laws.^^ 'ri^ig situation has sometimes been aggravated by the repre- hensible practice of so-called "private detective bureaus" in supplying armed guards, who are often sworn in as deputy constables but nevertheless paid by the employ- ing corporations and under their control, and who, being largely recruited from the ranks of ex-convicts or men of doubtful character, have often been found to be re- sponsible for beginning the unnecessary use of violence.^ ^ The insistence upon social progress by conformity to the orderly processes of law carries with it, as a necessary corollary, the guaranteeing of democratic rights to those who are seeking social change. If we are to demand that other means than violence be found for changing unjust conditions, we must make it possible for other means to be used. But this cannot be done unless there is such "On May Day, 1919, for example, in the name of law and order a mob in which men wearing the United States uniform were prominent made an unwarranted attack upon the office of a New York Socialist paper and wounded several. In a lamentable riot in the state of Washington in which four United States soldiers were killed by members of the I. W. W. organization, one of tlie guilty members was taken from jail and illegally lynched by a group that was demanding the defense of the Government and the enforcement of the law. These are familiar facts recorded in the daily press. **The report of the investigations of the 1919 Lawrence strike by the Social Service Commission of the Federal Council of the Churches of Christ in America reached this conclusion. Com- pare "Closed Towns," by S. Adele Shaw, in the Survey, Nov. 8, 1919, a description of the denial of free speech and free as- semblage to strikers in the steel industry. ^^See Robert Hunter's "Violence and the Labor Movement.'* Cf. also Final Report of the Commission on Industrial Relations, pp. 139-155. As long ago as the Homestead strike in 1892, a Pennsylvania Senate Committee reported the hiring of armed guards to be responsible for much of the violence. THE CHRISTIAN METHOD 129 freedom of discussion as to allow grievances to be heard and to make possible the use of moral persuasion in securing support for proposed changes. To repress honest dissent is to imperil orderly social progress. As a matter of practical consequence it must be remembered that the denial of civil liberties has always been a main cause of violence. If free discussion in the open is pre- vented, those who wish to protest are driven into the dark and forced to seek methods that may prove inimical to social welfare.^ ^ Upon the classes that are most power- ful, therefore, there rests a special responsibility. They must maintain for all men the right of free criticism and discussion, in order that no group may be denied its right to appeal to rational public opinion for support. The findings of the Federal Commission on Industrial Rela- tions on this point deserve more attention than they have received : ''Violence is seldom, if ever, spontaneous, but arises from a conviction that fundamental rights are denied and that peaceful methods of adjustment cannot be used. The sole exception seems to lie in the situation where, intoxicated with power, the stronger party to the dispute relies upon force to suppress the weaker."!^ "It was a realization of the fundamental importance of liberty of opinion and of discussion that led a widely known group of ministers a few months ago to make a public protest against current tendencies to crush the expression of views differing from those of the majority. They said in part: "We, the undersigned, ministers of the Church of Christ, beHeving that the political institutions of our country commend themselves to the reason and conscience of mankind sufficiently to stand the test of such freedom of speech as has hitherto in time of peace, been accorded by our Government to the aliens who have come to us for asylum, as well as to our citizens, are moved to make an appeal to the people of the churches of America on account of certain measures inconsiderately under- taken, which threaten the basic principles of our Government. We have long been saying that constitutional changes can be effected without violence in America because of our right to free expression of opinion by voice and ballot. We cannot now deny this American substitute for violence without directly er>- couraging resort to revolution." See New York Tribune, Jan. 28, 1920. ^'Final Report, op. cit., p. 139. I30 INDUSTRIAL RECONSTRUCTION When there are so many unchristian aspects of our present industrial order, we must guard against a too rigid orthodoxy in defending the status quo. Almost more than any other single thing we need unhampered, honest discussion of social problems and proposed solu- tions. We cannot afford to allow sincere criticism of the evils of our present economic life to be identified with treason or sedition or to put the critic in peril of prison bars. A recent statement of Justice Holmes of the Supreme Court of the United States, in dissenting from the majority opinion of the court in a sedition case, is worth careful reflection : "When men have realized that time has upset many fighting faiths, they may come to believe even more than they believe the very foundations of their own conduct that the ultimate good desired is better realized by free trade in ideas — that the best test of truth is the power of the thought to get itself accepted in the competition of the market. . . . That, at any rate, is the theory of our Constitution.''!^ With this we may recall the oft-quoted and immortal words of John Milton : "Though all the winds of doctrine were let loose, to play upon the earth, so truth be in the field, we do injuriously by licensing and prohibiting to misdoubt her strength. Let her and falsehood grapple; who ever knew truth put to the worse, in a free and open encounter? Her confuting is the best and surest suppression." Such freedom of discussion is the only approach to our problems that can be finally consistent with the method of love and faith and growth, which we have found to point the Christian way. The motive of love, the inner quality on which all else depends, cannot be developed by outward coercion. The attitude of faith in God and *'^For the full text of Justice Holmes's opinion in the case of the United States against Abrams et al. see The Survey, Nov. 22, 1919. THE CHRISTIAN METHOD 131 humanity must mean confidence that men will finally respond voluntarily to the truth. And the method of growth can be effective only when free personal assent to the ideal is possible. In a word, the means for realizing the Christian end must correspond to the nature of that end as a society of spiritual personalities. CHAPTER V PRESENT PRACTICABLE STEPS TOWARD A MORE CHRISTIAN INDUSTRIAL ORDER Those who accept the Christian principles of the sacredness of personality, brotherhood, and service are thereby committed to taking every step in their power which will lead to the realization of these principles in our social life. As to the extent of change that this may require there is room for much difference of opinion among those who agree in seeking the common goal. Some are convinced that the ideal can be realized within the existing system ; others that a radical reorganization is necessary. But whichever point of view ultimately proves correct, all are alike concerned that the order under which we are now living should work for Chris- tian ends to the fullest extent that is possible. We shall, therefore, consider first certain measures immediately practicable for remedying some of the unchristian aspects of our present industrial life. In the following chapter we shall raise the question of the longer future and inquire what amount of more thoroughgoing change may be called for. We recognize, of course, that the actual motives of some of those who are working for measures which we shall here discuss may be other than Christian. In- creased income, greater leisure, or a different distribution of economic power may be sought for narrowly selfish ends as well as for the sake of the growing good of all mankind. But, as pointed out in Chapter II, there is a distinctly Christian interest in each of these industrial problems for which solutions are being sought even in circles uninfluenced by the Church. It is the part of 132 PRESENT PRACTICABLE STEPS 133 Christians, then, while cooperating in securing these changes, to work for their acceptance from definitely Christian motives and because they are demanded by right principles. But unless we give our best thought as to how these principles are to be applied and these motives to find concrete expression, we are not likely to proclaim them in a way that will give any worthy im- pression of their practical significance in the daily work of the world. To the proposed changes objections will no doubt be raised. Among these objections the Christian will have to discriminate between those which may prove valid and those whose foundations, as a Christian, he cannot admit. If criticism springs from self-interest and desire to maintain a private advantage at the expense of the general good, the Christian can give it no weight. He is committed to the superior principle that they who are strong ought to bear the burdens of the weak. If objections are made on the grounds of the weakness or the unchangeability of human nature, he will at least have faith. An attitude of doubt and fear is the negation of faith in God and in mankind. If an objection is based on a differing judgment as to whether the proposed measure will in actual practice operate to secure the Christian end, it must be given careful consideration. We must distinguish clearly between changes demanded and the particular plan by which that change can most effectively be brought about. Practical solutions of technical problems must be left to experts. But there are many concrete measures, endorsed by a growing con- sensus of students of social science, on which every Christian should be informed and to which he should bring an open and eager mind, because of his desire that there shall be social results consistent with Christian ideals. When, therefore, in the ensuing pages we discuss specific remedies, they are put forth not as authoritative pronouncements but as experiments which are in some 134 INDUSTRIAL RECONSTRUCTION degree actually being made and which, in the light of our present knowledge, seem to move in the general direction of a further Christianizing of the existing social order. In the following discussion we have no thought of pre- senting anything like a comprehensive program of social reform. All that we aim to do is to indicate some of the practicable steps that seem to look in the direction of a more Christian social life and that need the intelligent support of Christian men. We shall consider them in the light of our preceding analysis, discussing, first, measures designed to protect personality, second, steps toward an organization of industry more consistent with brotherhood, and, third, measures looking toward such a distribution of economic power as will more fully serve the common good. I. Measures Designed to Develop and Protect Per- sonality a. Providing Security against Unemployment. The Church in its charitable work has long been brought face to face with the problem of unemployment, inasmuch as the families needing its help are generally those whose breadwinners are out of work. Can we touch the problem in no deeper way than by simply giving doles to the victims of a situation which the Christian conscience certainly cannot approve? The first thing fundamentally needed is the clear-cut recognition of a principle not yet generally accepted — that the worker, by virtue of the contribution of his labor and skill and experience, has made an investment in the industry and is entitled to protection therein as truly as the employer who contributes his organizing ability or the investor who contributes his capital. To recognize a social responsibility for affording all men an oppor- tunity for livelihood is easier in the light of our experience in the war. We saw then that every man has PRESENT PRACTICABLE STEPS 135 a duty to serve society. But if this be so, surely society owes him the right to live. From this principle it follows that there is a moral obligation resting upon employers to reduce unemploy- ment to the lowest possible minimum. Although the dismissal of a worker may be for such excellent reasons, from the point of view of the employer, as shortage of raw material or curtailed demand, the thought of the mechanical operation of the law of supply and demand in the labor market does not afford any alleviation of the worker's sense of social injustice or of the calamity to himself and his family. The causes giving rise to unemployment are complicated and in considerable part beyond the individual employer's power to control. There are, however, certain things which the employer who recognizes the human values that are imperiled by unem- ployment may do that will go far toward affording a solution of the problem. So far as the problem of unemplo^^-ment arises from conditions within his own plant, the employer's personal responsibility is clear. If he introduces new labor- saving machinery, he should feel an obligation to use every effort to reduce the displacement of workers to a minimum. By readjustments in organization he may be able to use in some other part of the plant the labor displaced in another. When this is out of the question, he has a responsibility to do whatever is possible to help the displaced workers to secure employment elsewhere.^ If questions of discipline arise, dismissal should be used only as a last resort when all other endeavors have failed. *The British Quaker Employers make a suggestion worth noting: "A guarantee to absorb displaced workers in other de- partments may lead to a temporary surplus of labor, but in most cases this condition of things would soon be rectified by the normal and inevitable leakage of labor. A portion of any extra profits arising from labor-saving improvements might be placed in a special reserve fund to compensate workers who cannot be absorbed or placed elsewhere." See The Survey, Nov. 23, 1918. 136 INDUSTRIAL RECONSTRUCTION The transferring of a worker to another foreman, or a more tactful attitude on the part of the present foreman, has often been found to adjust difficulties for which workers would otherwise have been discharged. When unemployment is due to the fact that the occu- pation is of a seasonal character, with alternating periods of intense activity and of slackness, or to the fact that only casual labor is needed, the problem is more difficult. In this situation the employer is partly at the mercy of the general conditions in the industry as a whole. By concerted action, however, much could be done to regu- larize conditions, and, by deliberate planning, production could be kept at a more uniform level in spite of fluctua- tions in demand.2 To substitute regular employment for ''hiring by the day" may not be as cheap, but in most cases it is not impossible. To some extent it may be possible to dovetail occupations systematically, so that winter loggers, for example, can find summer places as harvest hands. Certainly we cannot be content with the existing situation till far more serious attention has been given both to the reorganization of seasonal trades and the reduction of casual labor to the utmost minimum. But even after the individual employer has done every- thing possible, the evil of unemployment will still reach beyond his power to cure. Employers are often seeking for workers at the same time that men are vainly seeking for work, because there are inadequate facilities for bringing job and worker together. For such a situation collective action is necessary. The tremendous need for a unified country-wide labor exchange becomes clear. *Even from the standpoint of economic efficiency alone there is every reason for thorough-going efforts to regularize employ- ment. Every employment manager knows that the extent of labor "turn-over" is an exceedingly important factor, because of the loss in time and money occasioned by the "breaking in" of new men. It has also been shown with considerable conclusive- ness that in seasonal trades the fear of unemployment, which naturally inclines men to make the work last as long as possible, is one of the main factors tending to restriction of the output. PRESENT PRACTICABLE STEPS 137 Such an agency was established to meet the demands of the war, under the name of the United States Employ- ment Service, bringing nearly 800 employment offices into coordination with one another. But, despite the valuable service that it unquestionably rendered, and de- spite the insistent need for its continuance during demobilization and after, the plan had to be practically abandoned for lack of financial appropriations for the purpose. Public opinion should call for the prompt reestablishment of such a bureau and for its organiza- tion in such a way as to secure the full cooperation both of organized employers and organized workers in the various industries. Yet even a perfect employment bureau cannot provide work when there is no work to be had. It cannot afford protection against long continued business depression. Coupled with a federal employment service there is, there- fore, also needed a governmental policy of absorbing surplus labor in a program of public works, which can be carried on with the greatest vigor during the very periods when industrial slackness is most acute.^ Such a means of affording men an opportunity for self-maintenance would have far better effects on their character than charity, and would at the same time result in carrying on needed public work. If governments — federal, state, and local — were also to adopt a regular policy of placing their orders for supplies of all kinds' at the times when orders from private concerns are at a minimum, a further step toward a consistent policy of preventing unemploy- ment would be taken.* If we do not succeed in providing security against unemployment, we must at least provide security against •This is an experiment not entirely untried in this country. In the industrial depression of 1914-1915 a considerable number of American cities provided emergency work, such as street- making, water works, painting public buildings, etc. *Cf. the Report of the Archbishops' Committee on "Christianity and Industrial Problems," pp. 82, 83. 138 INDUSTRIAL RECONSTRUCTION its worst consequences. Since enforced unemployment is the fault not of the individual, but of society, we have no moral right to compel the consequences to be borne individually. We have a collective responsibility to see that none suffer from our failures. We have no question that in an army the soldiers who are essential to the nation's welfare have a right to support even when there is no fighting for them to do. Is not the same thing true of industry? If an establishment requires the services of workers while it is busy, is it unreasonable that it should set aside out of its profits a fund toward their main- tenance when it is slack? In the present legislation for accident insurance, the soundness and importance of which we all now take for granted, we recognize this principle that the worker who has been necessary to an industry has a right to support if his opportunity for earning a livelihood is taken away. The extension of such a program of insurance to cover enforced unem- ployment from any cause is a measure which in principle is thoroughly in accord with the Christian sense of social responsibility. Our first aim is to enable every man to bear his own burdens, but, failing that, to bear one another's burdens is only a fulfilling of the law of Christ. b. Providing Income for All Sufficient for Self-Realiza- tion. If a certain amount of income is essential to the higher life, the consideration of a "living wage" cannot be con- fined within the limits of economic argument. In the light of Jesus' teaching of the worth of human person- ality we see the problem as one in which the eternal rights of the spirit are at stake. With it are connected questions of education, culture, home life, even moral and spiritual character. Nor can the content of the term "living wage" be defined by purely physical considerations. Whatever it may connote to others, to the Christian it cannot mean merely an income sufficient for the maintenance of bodily PRESENT PRACTICABLE STEPS 139 life. It must mean the making possible of a material environment in which men and women can come to their full growth as children of God. The living wage upon which the Church should insist must, therefore, be sufficient to maintain a normal family in reasonable com- fort and wholesome surroundings, must make it pos- sible for the earnings of children to be dispensed with until they have received an education, must leave a mar- gin for recreation, and enable the family to protect itself against illness or old age. Without such an income personality cannot come to full self-realization or fill its proper place in the social order. The language on this point of the British Labor Party's Report on Reconstruction is thoroughly Christian in its general view : "The first principle," it says, **is the secur- ing to every member of the community, in good times and bad alike (and not only to the strong and able, the well- born or the fortunate), of all the requisites of healthy life and worthy citizenship. This is in no sense a *class' pro- posal. Such an amount of social protection of the in- dividual, though poor and lowly, from birth to death, is, as the economist now knows, as indispensable to fruit- ful cooperation as it is to successful combination; and it affords the only adequate safeguard against that insidious degradation of the standard of life which is the worst economic and social calamity to which any community can be subjected. We are members one of another. No man liveth to himself alone. If any, even the humblest, is made to suffer, the whole community and every one of us, whether or not we recognize the fact, is thereby Injured."^ The Church's chief concern is not to determine the amount of a living wage, but to insist upon the principle that the payment of such a wage, as determined by social experts, must be regarded as a first charge against the *See reprint of the Labor Party's Report on Reconstruction in The New Republic, Feb. 16, '18. I40 INDUSTRIAL RECONSTRUCTION industry, a condition of its existence, a necessary business liability. Certainly the Apostle's word is here applicable : "The husbandman that laboreth must be the first to par- take of the fruits." Within the Church there should be an unmistakable sentiment that it is unchristian to accept personal profits beyond a reasonable salary, or to pay larger dividends upon borrowed capital than is necessary to secure an adequate supply, as long as any workers upon whom the industry depends are not re- ceiving a full living wage. The assumption that a living wage can be secured presupposes, of course, the fallacy of the so-called "iron law of wages," in accordance with which labor as a mere commodity is bought and sold at prices inevitably determined by supply and demand. The point of view of this report assumes what experience has now clearly confirmed, that wages can be socially regu- lated and controlled.^ The question as to the most practicable method by which a living wage can be guaranteed is likewise not for such a report as this to answer. We deem it worth while, however, to commend to careful consideration the pro- posal recently made by our fellow-Christians in England in the Archbisbops' Fifth Committee of Inquiry. They point out that the creation of "trade boards," consisting of representatives of employers, of the employed, and of members nominated by the Ministry of Labor, have been advantageously set up, "with the function of fixing mini- mum rates in certain industries, which, after due notice has been given, have the force of law and the payment of which is enforced by officers of the boards." Such a trade board is operative for a given industry over the entire country and so "has enabled the higher standards *This point of view is now becoming accepted in business and economic circles. For example, a report of the Merchants Asso- ciation of New York on Industrial Unrest, in Nov., 1919, advo- cates "the limitation of the economic law of supply and demand as a basis of labor policy by the utilization of a more humane doctrine." PRESENT PRACTICABLE STEPS 141 of certain districts to raise the lower standards of others." The Anglican Committee'/urges the further establishment of such trade boards in all industries where wages are now below a fair living level. "^ The advantage of such a plan over the minimum wage fixed by ordinary legislative action lies both in the fact that it is the result of an agreement arrived at jointly by representatives of the employer, the employed, and the general public, and also in the fact that it makes it possible to take into account divergent conditions in vari- ous industries. The advantage of the plan of fixing rates for an entire industry over the plan of bargaining in local plants lies in the fact that, according to the latter plan, the socially minded employer who adopts the higher standard may be handicapped in competition with those who have less sense of social responsibility.^ A minimum wage, determined by human rights to decent conditions of living, is, of course, in no sense to be regarded as a standard wage. It is simply a level below which the income of anyone willing and able to work ought not to be allowed to fall. The distinction made by the British Quaker Employers is one that needs to be borne clearly in mind. They distinguish between a mini- mum or basic wage, determined primarily by human needs, and a secondary wage, determined by the propor- tional degree of service rendered beyond the service per- ^"Christianity and Industrial Problems," pp. "j^i, yy. ®For the text of the legislation establishing trade boards in England and Australia and for full information concerning minimum wage legislation in the United States and its effects, see the compendious volume "Oregon Minimum Wage Cases," Consumers' League, New York. In the United States the move- ment is concerned mainly with a minimum wage for women and minors. The general procedure here has been the creating of a State Wage Commission, with subordinate wage boards for separate trades. Nine states and the District of Columbia have adopted the general substance of this procedure for protecting women workers, the Commission having authority after investi- gations to promulgate legal rates. In two other states, Massa- chusetts and Nebraska, the decisions of the Commission are only recommendatory. 142 INDUSTRIAL RECONSTRUCTION formed by those receiving only the basic wage. They hold that if the basic wage is fixed at a proper level, the scale of secondary remuneration may be safely left to bargaining.^ That high wages and high cost of production do not necessarily go together hardly needs to be pointed out. In the first place, wages are only one of several factors that enter into the determination of cost of production.!^ The organization and management of the plant and the perfection of the machinery are such significant factors that increased attention to them may more than compen- sate for possible financial loss through higher scales of wages. In the second place, adequate wages tend to in- crease physical and mental efficiency and good will on the part of the workers and so to minister to increased quantity and quality of output. Low wages mean under- nourishment and consequent loss of vitality and produc- tiveness. The Ford Motor Company, in which high wages and large profits have gone hand in hand for many years, is a striking illustration in point. So also is the testimony of Mr. E. A. Filene, representing a large de- partment store in Boston, before a Congressional Com- mittee on the Minimum Wage Bill for the District of Columbia in 1918: "We have found that there was an enormous advantage in adopting the minimum wage. It is not a question of philanthropy ; it is a question of good business."!! But whether or not a living wage be economically profitable in the narrow sense of the term, the Christian must regard economy and efficiency primarily from the standpoint not of material values but of spiritual values. He cannot allow any short-sighted financial •See The Survey, Nov. 23, 1918. ^''For full discussion of the relation of wages to cost of produc- tion see "Oregon Minimum Wage Cases," op. cit., pp. 424-555. Cf. also the analysis presented by W. J. Lauck to the Railway Labor Board in 1920 on "The Relation between Wages and the Increased Cost of Living." ''Quoted in a bulletin of the Consumers' League, 1919. PRESENT PRACTICABLE STEPS 143 interest to thwart the larger conservation of human personality.^^ jje will insist that an industry which has to depend for its existence on paying wages inadequate for proper living is parasitic and that the community is better off without it. For the Christian at least, the test of efficiency is not simply the abundance of things that are produced but the effect upon human life. c. Providing Leisure for All Sufficient for Self-Realisa- tion. If, as we found in an earlier chapter, a certain amount of leisure is a necessary condition of the best living, if to a large extent the possibility of worthy family life, intelligent citizenship, and even spiritual personality is dependent upon it, a Christian society must be concerned to provide such leisure for all its members. It is neither practicable nor important in this study to attempt to say how many hours any man should work. Probably no final answer can be given to this question. But it is tremendously important to secure everywhere the hearty acceptance of the principle that all production is for the sake of human welfare, and hence that working hours should be determined with a primary concern for the personality of the workers. This is the fundamental emphasis of this report. We think it worth while, how- ever, to call attention to the growing practice of the eight- hour day and the increasing recognition both of its economic efficiency and its social values. At the recent International Labor Conference at Washington the first article adopted in its code was a recommendation that "working hours of persons employed in any industrial undertaking shall not exceed eight in the day and forty-eight in the week.^^ Due allowance has to be ^^The words of Ruskin, in "Unto This Last," are worth recall- ing: "There is no wealth but life. . . . The persons themselves are the wealth." "See The Survey, Section XL, Dec. 20, igig. 144 INDUSTRIAL RECONSTRUCTION made, of course, for differences of conditions in various industries, but we believe that Christians everywhere should use their influence to secure at least this standard. This is suggested not in any sense as a final solution of the question of hours, but as a next step now fully prac- ticable for securing such leisure as will make possible for many a fuller personal development. In this connection it may not be amiss to point out that reduction of hours, within certain limits, does not neces- sarily mean lessened production. It has been abundantly shown that in many types of work a reduction of hours up to a given point involves no corresponding reduction in productive capacity. On the contrary, it may often mean increased output because of increased vitality, alertness, and efficiency while at work. Lord Lever- hulme, the great captain of English industry, is even insisting that in some industries a working day of only six hours, with two or more shifts of workers, is eco- nomically practicable, quite apart from the social values involved in such a reduction of hours. He says in part : "We have learned much during the last three years on the subject of fatigue, over-work, and excessively long working hours. We have proved conclusively that pro- longed hours of toil, with resulting excessive fatigue, produce, after a certain point, actually smaller results in quantity, quality, and value than can be produced in fewer hours when there is an entire absence of over- strain or fatigue. Fortunately, however, this logical effect of over-long hours of continued work does not apply, except to a very limited extent, to the case of machinery and mechanical utilities. . . . Therefore, as we shall require an enormously increased output of goods to replenish stocks that have been allowed to run down (during the war), both for our home and export trade, and as we have the machinery available which hitherto in most industries has been run for only forty-eight hours per week, a solution of this one of our difficulties can be best and readily found by working our machinery for more hours and our men and women for fewer liou^'^. We must have a six-hour working day for men and PRESENT PRACTICABLE STEPS 145 women and by means of six-hour shifts for men and women we must work our machinery twelve, eighteen, or twenty-four hours per day. . . . We can get into a working day of six hours all the work we are capable of when that work is monotonous — tending machinery and general work in a factory. To get the work condensed into six hours would enable us to produce not only every- thing that we require, but to produce it without fa- tigue."i4 Whether or not one agrees with Lord Leverhulme as to the present feasibility of his plan, his statement illustrates a growing consensus of judgment as to the need of a considerable shortening of the prevalent work- ing day in the greater part of our industrial life. The many experiments in the efficiency of the short working day, made both in government and in private industries, practically all agree in establishing the in- efficiency of long working hours. During the earlier part of the war, under the stimulus of war conditions, the normal standards governing hours of work in English munition factories were abrogated, eighty to ninety hours of work per week being not at all uncommon. Neverthe- less, there was a continued shortage of output, and this in spite of the patriotic stimulus to production occasioned by the war. The Ministry of Munitions, therefore, un- dertook an investigation, which clearly indicated that such hours were utterly uneconomical. In experiments ex- tending over more than a year it was found that in almost every case the output obtained from seventy hours of work per week was less than was later obtained under much shorter hours. For labor involving heavy hand work the maximum output was secured at fifty-six hours or less per week.^^ The United States Public Health Service has recently issued (February, 1920) the results "Lord Leverhulme, "The Six-Hour Day." London, 1919, pp. 16-18. ^'^See Bulletin 221 of the U. S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, en- titled "Hours, Fatigue, and Health in British Munition Factories," April, 1917. 146 INDUSTRIAL RECONSTRUCTION of an official investigation comparing two great metal- working plants, one working on an eight hour and the other on a ten hour plan, concluding that "the eight hour system is the more efficient,'' that it sustains a more "steady maintenance of output," that "lost time is re- duced to a minimum,'' and other advantages are gained.^^ The case against long working hours, even from the economic standpoint, becomes far stronger still when comparisons cover longer periods of time. If for a week or a month, or even for a few years, a twelve or a ten- hour day should result in greater output, the final weak- ening of vitality and the shortening of the productive period of the worker's life would be such that the total net result would inevitably be on the debit side of the nation's economic ledger — to say nothing of the vastly more serious consequences in terms of impoverished per- sonalities and the undeveloped potentialities of immortal souls. If we are to hold to our Christian conviction of the primacy of human values, that scale of hours must finally be adopted which most adequately ministers to fullness and richness of life in society at large. The Church has also an obvious concern in seeing that men and women are not robbed of their heritage of a weekly day of rest by the greed or the pressure of modern life. It is perhaps inevitable that some industries should require continuous operation, but the Church should use all its influence both to have Sunday work reduced to a minimum, and to guarantee to those who must work on Sunday some other weekly day of rest. We must secure legislation providing that wherever continuous operations are carried on, the number of workers must be sufficiently increased to allow the release of all some one day in the seven. If it be urged that to do this would in some cases require an increase of one-sixth in the number of workers and therefore increased expense, we must insist that the ''U. S. Public Health Service, Bulletin No. io6, p. 26, Washing- ton, 1920. PRESENT PRACTICABLE STEPS 147 protection of the rights of the spirit of man is superior to the protection of material gain.^"^ A word of caution may be needed in the matter of the Church's defense of a day of rest, lest we seem to be in- sistent upon it mainly because of a concern for the Sabbath itself as an institution, rather than for the human beings for the sake of whom it exists. We must keep the emphasis where our Lord laid it — on the Sabbath not for its own sake, but for the sake of man. This will help us to insist more effectively that the Son of Man, not mammon, must be the Lord of the Sabbath. d. Protecting the Personalities of the Future. (i) Safeguarding Children from Exploitation. The recently enacted federal child labor law marks a distinct advance in the safeguarding of childhood from economic exploitation. Yet it is hardly more than a first step. Reaching only certain specified industrial con- cerns — amines, quarries, mills, canneries, workshops, and factories — it applies to but a relatively small proportion of the child workers of the country. Its age standards — being only fourteen for other occupations than mining and quarrying — are lower than we can consider satisfac- tory, and its failure to require an educational qualification for children entering industry is a further serious lack. Nothing less than abolition of child labor, except in tasks of definite educational value, is consistent with the Chris- tian's concern for the future character of the race. If further legislation for the protection of childhood is beyond the present power of the Federal Government, it must be brought about by the force of enlightened public opinion in the separate states. The Christian's conviction of the potential value of every life should make him, ^^Effective rest-day legislation applying to workers in stores and factories is now in force in N. Y. and Mass. See Commons and Andrews, "Principles of Labor Legislation," especially pp. 254, 255. 148 INDUSTRIAL RECONSTRUCTION more than any other, press for such minimum standards as the following, recommended by the Washington and Regional Conferences on Child Welfare in 1919: that a minimum age limit of sixteen years for employment in any gainful occupation be established, with the exception that children between fourteen and sixteen may be em- ployed in agriculture and domestic service during the vacation periods; that no minors be employed for more than eight hours a day; that night work for minors be prohibited; and that no child be allowed to go to work until he ha6 had a physical examination to determine his fitness for the task at which he is to be employed.^^ Beneficial as the existing child labor legislation has been and necessary as it still is, we must realize that re- strictive legislation cannot be enough. It can set a needed barrier against one cause of the evil, the greed of the employer who would employ children because they can be hired more cheaply. It cannot alleviate the other main underlying cause, the pressure of poverty at home which sends the children out to work for the sake of the main- tenance of the home. Such a situation "makes the temptation to supplement the income of the parent by the earnings, however small, of children who ought to be, at school almost irresistible. But this sacrifice of children to the necessities of their parents, this accumu- lation upon the shoulders of the rising generation of the economic burdens of the present, is precisely one of the features in our social life against which Christians ought unceasingly to protest. They must break the vicious circle which binds ignorance to poverty and poverty to ignorance, which causes the educational development of one generation to be neglected because its parents were poor, and the next generation to be poor partly because its educational development has been neglected.*'!^ In ^^See "Minimum Standards for Child Labor," Government Printing Office, 1919. ""Christianity and Industrial Problems," p. 126. PRESENT PRACTICABLE STEPS 149 addition to enacting restrictive legislation against child labor, we must, therefore, seek constantly to secure for all adult workers such income as to make the toil of their children for wages unnecessary. Along with needed restrictions and constructive effort to secure the financial independence of the home apart from the earnings of children, needs to go positive legis- lation on the subject of education. Only six states now have a requirement of compulsory education extending through the eighth grade; fifteen have it up to the age of sixteen years. It is estimated by the United States Department of Education that only ten per cent of our boys and girls finish high school. And the child labor which robs young people of education at school is itself usually of a non-educative character. Certainly Christians, then, whose conception of the worth of per- sonality attaches greater significance to education than does any other view of life, ought to lend the most vigorous support to securing the establishment every- where of the proposal, now gaining favor, that the minimum age for leaving school shall be sixteen and that the minimum age for engaging in gainful occupations shall be the same.^^ The new English provision for con- tinuation schools, with compulsory part-time attendance up to the age of eighteen for those who have left school before that age, is one that merits consideration in this country also. We heartily agree with the Anglican Com- mittee in urging that such continuation schools should occupy not less than half the working week in all occupa- tions except those which are directly educational, and that these hours should be taken out of the actual working week.2i (2) Safeguarding Women in Industry. The old situation in which woman entered industry /^See R. G. Fuller, "Child Labor— Now," Bulletin of the Na- tional Child Labor Committee. "Cf. "Christianity and Industrial Problems," p. 127. I50 INDUSTRIAL RECONSTRUCTION under haphazard circumstances — family crises, strikes, wars, scarcity of male labor — Christians must seek to displace by one in which she is able to choose a permanent means of livelihood to which she is by nature adapted and in which she can find her best self-expression. She cannot thus choose her occupation unless she shares equally with men the opportunities which shall really fit her for her work. More and more as specialization in- ' creases is skill required, and vocational training becomes an imperative need. It is necessary not merely for the sake of industrial efficiency, but for the sake of developed personality. The clumsy, bungling worker not only produces an inferior product but also feels no sense of power, no joy of workmanship, finds no self-realization in her work. When thousands of girls are going into industry every year, vocational training should be made available for them as freely as for boys — which is not yet the case to any great extent. Women in industry, as we found in an earlier chapter, are now laboring under serious handicaps, which can only be removed either by society as a whole through pro- tective legislation or by labor through collective bargain- ing. Night work now presents such a menace both to health and character that it should be entirely prohibited, or at least rigorously safeguarded. Both for the sake of woman herself and for the future well-being of the race she should be guaranteed healthful conditions of work in every respect. More important is it in the case of women even than in the case of men that the working day should be sufficiently short to prevent ac- cumulated fatigue, so that such recreation, house work, and education as they engage in after the day's work shall not be at the expense of reserves of vitality. Equally essential is it that woman's wages shall be adequate not merely to keep body and soul together but to allow a margin for those other things which are necessary to self -development. The thirty-nine states PRESENT PRACTICABLE STEPS 151 which have no minimum wage laws for women should be induced by public opinion to adopt them. Only thus can we guarantee even that minimum of social protection which is demanded both by the Christian estimate of the dignity of womanhood and the Christian concern for the future of mankind. But legislation to insure a level of bare subsistence can be regarded as only a beginning in setting up such standards as will conform to the demands of Christian principles. Women should receive the same pay as men when performing equal work — first, as a matter of justice, and, second, because it is only on this basis that there can be mutually satisfactory relations between men and women in industry. It is a matter of justice both because they often have dependents to sup- port and because "for the production of commodities and services women no more constitute a class than do persons of a particular creed or race." It is necessary to amica- ble relationships between men and women in industry, because the lower wage now paid to women has the effect either of pushing down the wages of men or of forcing them out of the industry — in either case creating a spirit of antagonism. Until men and women are paid on the basis of the job and not on the basis of their sex, there can hardly be either real equality of opportunity or good feeling between them. Women in industry now stand in special need of leader- ship. As a group they are still largely inarticulate. They need help in clarifying and formulating their own thought and purposes; even more, in interpreting their aims to society. The development of leadership should, of course, take place within the ranks of the workers themselves. Hence the women's section of the labor movement should be encouraged to grow side by side with the men's. But in guiding the rising movement along the worthiest lines, the Churches can have an important part. They have facilities for gatherings, of which groups of women workers would often gladly avail themselves. They may 152 INDUSTRIAL RECONSTRUCTION conduct forums for women, where their problems can be discussed frankly in an atmosphere of friendly sym- pathy. One of the great handicaps of women in industry is the lack of understanding and cooperation of other groups of women in society. If women of all kinds — industrial women, professional women, leisure women, business women, and homemakers — could come together under Christian auspices to face their problems as women, a great step would have been taken toward their solution. In this chapter we have thus far been considering va- rious measures needed for the protection of the workers in an industrial order in which the present concentration of economic power places them at a serious disadvantage. So long as this remains, there is a clear responsibility resting on society to safeguard by collective action the human values imperiled in the money-making process. But much more than protective measures are needed. What is essential is such a democratic distribution of power as shall make it difficult for the few to exercise selfish control over the lives of the many. 2. Securing a Democratic Organization of Industry More Consistent with Brotherhood The ideal of democracy we have long accepted in the realm of political government, and more definitely than ever since the beginning of the war. But the Christian conceptions of the value of every personality and of brotherhood as the true relationship in life need expres- sion in industry just as effectively as in government. In applying democracy to industrial relations, however, we have gone but a short way, in spite of the fact that it is here that men's destinies are most immediately con- cerned. So the struggle of the workers today largely centers around the securing of a fuller opportunity to express their personalities in their work and to share in determining questions of common concern. In the words PRESENT PRACTICABLE STEPS 153 of the British Quaker Employers: "The worker asks today more than an improvement in his economic position. He claims from employers and managers the clear recog- nition of his rights as a person. The justice of this claim our religion compels us to admit. . . . The position in- volves . . . the frank avowal that all matters affecting the workers should be decided in consultation with them, when once they are recognized as members of an all- embracing human brotherhood."22 A first step in the direction of a democratic control of industry is the plan of "collective bargaining." Through the organization of workmen into trade unions there has come about a method, more or less effective, of increas- ing their economic power and of registering their will in respect to the conditions and rewards of labor. Their means of enforcement, usually potential rather than actual, is a decision not to work until their conditions are met. A strike is simply a collective refusal of an em- ployer's terms. Unless there is union organization as a means of safeguarding the workers' interests, they may be exploited by those who could otherwise auto- cratically control the industrial situation. For workers to be unorganized in a highly organized corporation, which is itself a union of capital, means that they are practically impotent to better their conditions. The right of the workers to organize and bargain collectively is at present an elementary means of self-protection.23 Of course, collective bargaining presents democracy in only a crude form. Its final appeal is to force — organ- ized economic force. It results in a compromise between what workmen demand and what employers can be pre- vailed upon, under the threat of strike, to grant. A secondary appeal to public opinion is always involved. "See The Survey, Nov. 23, 1918. *'The point of view here developed does not, of course, defend the "closed shop." 154 INDUSTRIAL RECONSTRUCTION and frequently this is the determining factor. The atti- tude of the public as registered in the press often brings about a settlement of industrial disputes without recourse to a strike, and a strike itself is likely to succeed or fail as it wins public sentiment to the cause of the workers or alienates it. Unless the community will guarantee an adequate standard of life for its citizens, we cannot refuse any unprotected group the opportunity to secure it for itself. That the strike is open to serious abuse and that it often involves.most serious consequences to the public we have already abundantly shown. It ought, therefore, always to be regarded as distinctly a last resort. In all cases con- ferences should first be sought ; in many cases, arbitration. During the war the War Labor Board afforded a federal tribunal which acquired a fine reputation for just and enlightened decisions in industrial disputes. The Presi- dent's Second Industrial Conference has recently made a notable proposal for the establishment of a National Industrial Board, with Regional Adjustment Confer- ences, made up of equal representatives of employers and workers, to which the parties to a dispute may voluntarily submit their differences, with the under- standing that if there is a unanimous agreement the decision is binding and that if such a decision is not reached the matter goes to the National Board, unless the parties prefer the decision of an umpire selected by themselves. If either party declines to submit the dispute for adjustment, a Regional Board of Inquiry is formed, with authority "to publish its findings as a guide to public opinion."24 It should be noted particularly that, accord- ing to the proposed plans, the submission of the dispute to the Adjustment Conference is not compulsory. Until we have a system of thoroughly cooperative industrial *^The report deserves study in detail. It is reprinted in The Survey, March 27, 1920. PRESENT PRACTICABLE STEPS 155 management, under which the workers attain to such a share of control that their interests are safeguarded, and their point of view assured equal consideration, the right to use organized economic pressure with the strike as a last resort cannot fairly be denied. When that time does eventually come the strike can be eliminated. Of late much controversy has developed over the ques- tion of collective bargaining, not because the fundamental principle of association of workmen for joint submission of their demands can be frankly opposed, but because an effort has been made to limit the right of collective bargaining to those associated in a single industrial es- tablishment. This attempt has been made by employers who are opposed to trade unionism, on the ground that the employer should not be answerable to groups of labor representatives outside his own plant. The business representative of the union, familiarly known as the "walking delegate,'* has long been an unwelcome factor from the employer's point of view. Doubtless the powers of the business representative have often been abused and employers are sometimes subjected to unjust treatment, by having to deal with persons who are without intimate knowledge of affairs within the plant and devoid of that sympathetic interest in the industry which can obtain, and frequently does obtain, among the workers immediately concerned. On the other hand, the right of the workers to appoint whom they please as their agent would seem to be as incontestable as the right of the employer to select his own legal adviser in his own way. Moreover, the necessity, for labor's protection, of a strong inter-plant organization which gives to the workers in any one estab- lishment the support of those outside and which makes possible the application of the best leadership that can be developed in an entire industry to every group of workers in that industry, is not open to question. So long 'as the organization of capital covers not a single plant but the industry, or even a group of industries as a whole, simple IS6 INDUSTRIAL RECONSTRUCTION fairness and justice ought to lead to a recognition of the rights of labor to organize similarly.^^ To meet this situation labor leaders are now defining the right of collective bargaining as the right to be rep- resented in the determination of wages, hours, and con- ditions of employment by representatives of their own choosing. They mean by this that any considerable group of workers in an industry shall be allowed, if they so desire, to be represented in bargaining by the officials in the trade union to which they belong. This right is claimed even though the group may not be a majority of the workers. For the workers in an establishment as a whole do not always in reality, although they may ideally, constitute an industrial unit. There are groupings within our formal industrial organization which ap- proximate, by themselves, industrial communities. It sometimes appears that the foreign-speaking workers, for example, as a result of a certain isolation and a consequent feeling of being exploited, have become a self-conscious working unit. Whatever its cause, the existence of any sub-group in an industry which has conscious unity is ground for recognition of such a group and of its chosen method of communication. But, from the Christian point of view, collective bar- gaining can be regarded as only a first step toward secur- ing a truly democratic management of industry. Like ^'^The Report of the President's Second Industrial Conference explicitly recognizes this principle : "The Conference is in favor of the policy of collective bargaining. It sees in a frank ac- ceptance of this principle the most helpful approach to industrial peace. It believes that the great body of the employers of the country accept this principle. The difference of opinion appears in regard to the method of representation. In the plan proposed by the Conference for the adjustment of disputes, provision is made for the unrestricted selection of representatives by em- ployes, and at the same time provision is also made to insure that the representatives of employes in fact represent the majority of the employes, in order that they may be able to bind them in good faith." (Italics are ours.) PRESENT PRACTICABLE STEPS 157 all "bargaining" it generally lacks a spirit of genuine cooperation in service. Too often it becomes merely a bitter and selfish struggle for material gain or the dictatorship of a class — a contest in which even slight traces of the Christian ideal of serving the good of the v^hole community are exceedingly hard to find. For the Christian, democracy in industry can mean nothing less than the final establishing of thoroughly cooperative relationships in an organization of production in which all factors seek the general welfare. To make this ideal effective there are required, first, a unity of purpose which can truly exist only when the first concern of both capital and labor is public service, and, second, a mechanism through which this spirit can find expression. It is in the light of this ideal that we shall consider various ex- periments now being made under the general name of "industrial democracy." By an odd circumstance, some of those employers who have given an impetus to new forms of labor or- ganization in the direction of democratic expression are among those who oppose the basic principle of trade- union bargaining which we have described above as fundamental. "Employes' representation" has been used to designate plans of government in an industry whose policy has been consistently anti-union. It cannot be maintained that there is no democratic virtue at all in such plans. Much depends on the personnel of the in- dustry, both in the management and the labor force. But in the present crucial industrial situation an employer's attitude toward trade-union bargaining is pretty much of an acid test. The indifference or even opposition some- times manifested by the workers to schemes of demo- cratic management generally arises from a suspicion that they are really intended to be an offset to effective union organization. A certain manufacturing concern which had widely advertised its democratic plan of management recently found itself with a strike on its hands, one of 158 INDUSTRIAL RECONSTRUCTION the avowed objects of which was to get rid of this plan of so-called "industrial democracy" ! The importance of building a program of industrial democracy upon trade unions, where such exist, is in- dicated by the history of the "works councils'* move- ment in England. When the now famous Whitley Coun- cils were recommended to the British Government as the basis of a labor policy it was stipulated that they should supplement, not displace, trade-union organization and procedure. A supplementary report submitted by the Whitley Committee says: "We think it important to state that the success of the works committees would be very seriously interfered with if the idea existed that such committees were used by employers in opposition to trade unionism. It is strongly felt that the setting up of works committees without the cooperation of the trade-unions and employers' associa- tions in the trade or branch of trade concerned would stand in the way of the improved industrial relationships which in these reports we are endeavoring to further." The background of the democratic movement in in- dustry in England is very different from that in America. There trade boards have been in operation for ten years, fixing minimum wages and always recognizing union machinery. It was but natural that the Whitley Com- mittee should recommend that industrial councils be set up first in industries where both employes and employers are well organized. The English plan for works councils is broad, comprehensive, statesmanlike. The attempt to copy it on the part of isolated employers in America, however well-intentioned, has too often been an ill- conceived makeshift. Some have seized upon it quite without reference to its chief feature in England — national and district councils representing the entire in- dustry within the area involved. That labor will resist any effort to find in the works council plan a substitute for trade unions or a weapon with which to fight them is naturally to be expected. PRESENT PRACTICABLE STEPS 159 But the movement for works councils has gained much of its support from the inadequacy of traditional trade- union procedure for democratic industrial management. The revolt of the engineering shop stewards in England during the war, the disruption of the longshoremen and of the printers in New York in 1919, and the outbreak of "unauthorized" strikes here and there, are illustrations of the need of machinery for communication and dis- cussion of grievances which the great unions, with their stereoypted procedure, have often failed to secure. A democratic system of government must find some way of getting down to the individual. It is undoubtedly true that many an employer enjoys the confidence of his employes and maintains their cooperative good will to a degree that union officials covet. Indeed, if the average employer had the vision and the motive to work out these problems from within, there would hardly be enough union members paying dues to constitute a factor in industry. The movement toward a more democratic management of industry is so significant that it is worth our while to consider some of the concrete plans that are now being tried in this country. In general, there are four types of industrial organization looking in this direction. I. The first is the non-union plant which is in the control of employers of broad sympathy and social vision, who have not opposed unionization but whose employes are too well satisfied to unionize themselves. ^^ This presents certain fundamental elements — a mutually friendly attitude, ready access on the part of any em- ploye to the management, a free statement of opinion, a welcome for such contribution^as the employe may make to the management of the industry, and positive assurance that no prejudice will be incurred by organization ac- tivity. The difficulty with this type of personal manage- *'The Endicott-Johnson Corporation, manufacturers of shoes, might be mentioned as an illustration of this type. i6o INDUSTRIAL RECONSTRUCTION ment is that it is possible only where the industry is in charge of men of extraordinary vision and sympathies, and, furthermore, that it lacks the necessary provision for enabling the workers to develop a corporate sense of their own responsibility. 2. The "company union" in its best and rarest form, in which the employes have no affiliation with trade unions but in which no opposition is offered to such affiliation on the part of the management, is, in general, a step in advance of the type of industrial organization referred to above, since there is a definite organization of the labor force engaged in consciously promoting its own welfarc^"^ A company union which is free to act, and which is not being exploited by the management in self-defense against trade-union affiliations, has in it the germs of democratic development. The tendency in such organization will generally be toward the institution of machinery for joint handling of industrial problems. 3. The works council plan, which provides for the dis- cussion of all questions that arise between the workers and management by joint committees having equal rep- resentation of labor and management, is a significant movement in the democratization of industry. Some of the notable experiments of this sort now in progress in America have been undertaken in the light of the recom- mendations of the Whitley Committee in England. A number were established by order of the War Labor Board which, in the course of its work, gave great stimulus to the development of the works council idea. The plan is particularly significant as a step toward the creation of an "industrial constitution'' by which the re- spective rights and duties of the workers and the em- ployer in any situation are defined. But where it does not recognize the trade-union principle, it is fundament- ally defective. Certainly no plan is likely to succeed *^The Dennison Manufacturing Company of Framingham, Mass., is an example of this kind of organization. PRESENT PRACTICABLE STEPS i6i which opposes the right of the workers to organize in ways of their own choosing. The following outline of the plan as operative in a large concern indicates the scheme of organization that is fairly typical.^s Representatives of the employes sit in joint conference with representatives of the manage- ment, designated by the president. Standing joint com- mittees deal with such problems as industrial cooperation and conciliation, safety and accidents, sanitation, health and housing, recreation and education. The committee on industrial cooperation and conciliation has authority to bring up for discussion at the joint conference, or have referred to it for consideration and report to the presi- dent, any matter concerning the prevention and settle- ment of industrial disputes, or terms and conditions of employment. Its recommendations are not in any way binding, except when, in case of a failure to reach a majority decision, it selects a third person to sit in con- ference with the committee as an umpire. In the case of failure to agree upon an umpire, the matter can be referred to arbitration or, if that is not desired, it becomes the subject of investigation by the state in- dustrial commission. In order to protect the employes in the exercising of these various privileges, a guarantee is given them against discrimination for any cause, the final decision resting with the state industrial commission. In a few cases the experiment of cooperation has been carried to an even further stage. In a mill with 500 employes a board of management has been organized made up of equal representatives of the company and the operatives, with definite power "to settle and adjust such matters of mill management as may arise," including wages and hours. In case of a deadlock in the board of management it is empowered to select a seventh arbitrat- ing member whose deciding vote shall be final. The "The plan outlined in this paragraph is, in general, that of the Colorado Fuel and Iron Company. i62 INDUSTRIAL RECONSTRUCTION board of directors has been reorganized, with three mem- bers representing capital and management, one elected by the operatives, and one representing the local com- munity.29 4. An advanced type of democracy is represented in industries organized in accordance with a trade agree- ment concluded between the employers and the labor union involved. The preamble of such an agreement now operative in a large garment factory^^ states that it contemplates, on the part of the employer, the expectation that the compact will result in the establishment of disci- pline and of cooperation and good will throughout the industry; on the part of the union that the compact will operate in such a way as to strengthen and solidify its organization; on the part of the workers, "that they pass from the status of wage servants, with no claim on the employer save his economic need, to that of self-respect- ing parties to an agreement which they have had an equal part with him in making/' The trade agreement not only stipulates the terms of employment, thus putting them beyond controversy for a period of years, but creates machinery for the adjust- ment of all disputes. There is a trade board, half of whose members are chosen by the union and half by the company, with a chairman selected from outside the industry. Meetings of ^ the board are held whenever nec- essary. Provision is made for deputies representing both the management and the union, who have power to investigate, mediate, and adjust complaints and thus take a great deal of the detailed work off the trade board itself. The union deputies have access to any shop of the ^*The plant referred to is the Dutchess Bleachery at Wap- pingers Falls, N. Y. Its profit-sharing plan is described in the following section. For fuller description see article by Ray Stannard Baker in the New York Evening Post for Feb. 6, 1920. **The agreement here described is that of the Hart, Schaffner, and Marx Company of Chicago, in which a history of disastrous labor disputes has been succeeded by industrial peace through the working of the agreement. PRESENT PRACTICABLE STEPS 163 factory for the purpose of investigation. In such under- takings they are always accompanied by a representative of the employer, unless the latter waives this right. The union has a representative in each shop, who has power to receive complaints and to make proper inquiries. A board of arbitration, consisting of three members, one chosen by the union, one by the company, and the third an impartial chairman, passes on questions of principle and the application of the agreement to new issues, after the questions of fact have been determined by the trade board.31 From the foregoing discussion it is clear that honest efforts are being made in many quarters to secure a more democratic organization of industry and to treat labor not as an item of cost but, in some measure at least, as a partner in production. As the workers, through par- ticipation in the control of conditions under which they work, increasingly acquire capacity for the assumption of larger responsibilities, they will no doubt eventually have a share also in the administration of the processes of production and distribution. The assumption of such responsibility is obviously possible only after a process of patient education in industrial management, as a result of which the workers gradually acquire ability and effi- ciency in these lines.^^ Yet we cannot set any arbitrary 'The department store of William Filene and Sons in Boston is carrying out a noteworthy plan, which, since it applies to a commercial firm rather than an industry, does not fall under any of the heads enumerated above. The members of the Filene Cooperative Association, to which all employes belong, may by a two-thirds vote "change, initiate, or amend any rule that affects the discipline or working conditions of the employes of the store." The elected governing body, known as the Council, may by a five-sixths vote change the rules prevailing in the store. If the manager should veto such a vote, it may be passed over his veto by a two-thirds vote of the entire membership present. Mr. Filene says that it is the definite purpose of the management to have the employes control the business. "In the light of the imperative need for education if the work- ers are to assume larger responsibilities, the significance of the recent opening of a Trade Union College in Boston and of such i64 INDUSTRIAL RECONSTRUCTION limit to the degree of responsibility that they may reach. This does not mean that leadership will be dispensed with; it simply means that, in industrial as in political democracy, leadership will be constitutional instead of autocratic. As to the particular form of organization in which the rising spirit of democracy will find the best expression, it is not our province to attempt a prediction, even if such an attempt were now possible. Our primary concern is that there shall be a spirit which will prompt the creation of the needed machinery. There must be, in the words of the British Quaker Employers, "a living desire on the part of employers to give full expression to their fundamental religious beliefs in the relations they establish with their workers." A democratic organization of industry would not only minister to human values — which constitute the direct concern of this report — ^but ought also ultimately to secure greater efficiency in production. The present sys- tem of autocratic and mechanicalized production, as we have already suggested, hampers the expression of crea- tive impulse and initiative on the part of thjs workers. So long as they have no connection with their work except a pay envelope we cannot expect them to find joy or self- expression in it, to take pride in their achievements, or to do their best. Apathy and indifference on their part can be dispelled only by affording them a basis for genuine interest. ^^ This a democratic control of industry undertakings as that of the United Labor Education Committee of the Amalgamated Clothing Workers can hardly be over- emphasized. The development of the Workers' Educational Association in England has already had notable results. ®'Cf. the statement of George Cadbury, Jr., an English em» ployer, in "Quakerism and Industry," p. "jd'. "Get the idea into men's minds that you are jointly doing some service and they will respond. If they once understand that a business is not run solely for the benefit of and at the caprice of the employer, much suspicion and unrest will be removed." It is the failure to appreciate this psychological factor which is the conspicuous lack in much so-called "scientific management." It too often as- PRESENT PRACTICABLE STEPS 165 ought to do, since it would call into play creative energies and initiative to an extent impossible under a system in which the whole responsibility falls upon other shoulders than the workers'. As in the management of the state, so also in the management of industry autocracy secures a kind of quick efficiency, but all good Americans believe that in the long run democracy will prove still more effi- cient, because of the more developed personalities that it creates. If some one still insists that industrial democracy is Utopian, we must ask. What other solution of the in- dustrial problem can be found? A dictatorship of either capital or labor cannot be accepted as either Christian or as socially efficient. We must, then, move in the direc- tion of democracy. No other real solution is discernible except the Christian solution. And as Christians it is our faith that what Christian principles demand will finally prove to be the only true economy. In this we are con- firmed in an increasing degree by such testimony as was recently given by one of the outstanding industrial engi- neers of this country, when he said that industrial democ- racy "conforms absolutely to the teachings of all the churches, for Christ, who was the first to understand the commanding power of service, thus stands revealed as the first great Economist."^* In addition to cooperation in production, genuine in- dustrial democracy would require a democratic disposi- tion of the joint product. We are led on, therefore, by our discussion of industrial management in the light of the principle of brotherhood to consider how the profits of industry should be distributed. sumes that the worker can be treated like a machine, "a will-less subject for stop-watch experimentation." The trouble with such scientific management, it has been well said, is that it is not scientific enough, failing to see how largely "efficiency depends on cooperation and cooperation on common interest." **H. L. Gantt, "Organizing for Work," New York, N. Y., 1919, p. 108. i66 INDUSTRIAL RECONSTRUCTION 3. Securing a Distribution of Profits More Consist- ent WITH the Principle of Service The present assumption that after labor has been paid the market rate of wages, as determined by the compe- tition in the labor market, all the value of the product belongs to capital alone we have found to be inconsistent with the conception of the goal of industry as serving the common good. Any serious attempt to apply the principle of service must mean that the income from the joint product is to be apportioned, not on a basis of what either party has the economic strength to get, but on a basis of what each has contributed to society. An experiment in the direction of a more democratic distribution of the gains of industry is found in the present movement toward^profit sharing. So far as this is an honest recognition of the right of the workers to participate in the joint product, it is a step toward a more brotherly use of economic power. It is no doubt true that many schemes ordinarily labeled as "profit sharing'- show little or no trace of the democratic impulse. A pro- gram springing merely out of a desire to conciliate the workers or to discourage effective organization has no right to claim the title democratic. Still less has a system of bonuses designed only as a substitute for good wages. It is not surprising that scores of such so-called profit- sharing plans have been dismal failures. The workers have seen them as at bottom only a scheme to increase the profits of capital. But an honest sharing of prosperity, on the ground that those who make profits possible ought justly to participate in them, is an important part of any movement toward a genuine industrial democracy. The particular plan by which a division of profits shall be effected is one for which we do not presume to give a formula. It is a practical problem for those actually engaged in the administration of industry. An experi- ment now under operation in at least one plant may, how- PRESENT PRACTICABLE STEPS 167 ^ver, be referred to by way of illustration of what is possible.^^ The management and the operatives of this concern have adopted an agreement, as a part of its program of democratic organization, in accordance with which the net profits (after all expenses are paid, in- cluding wages and six per cent on capital) are divided half and half between stockholders and operatives. The contingency of losses has been met by establishing two sinking funds, to be built up out of profits until each reaches $250,000 — one to pay part wages if the mill should be forced temporarily to close down, the other to maintain interest on invested capital. In this way there is a provision for a real sharing of losses as well as of prosperity. The increase of cooperative good will, resulting from an honest effort to distribute the profits of industry ac- cording to some standard of social justice, may well prove to secure that increased production which is so great a present need. For, as has been already suggested, a sense of injustice on the part of the workers is one of the greatest hindrances to maximum productivity. So Lord Leverhulme, in insisting that his now well-known plan of "copartnership" is a practicable thing, describes it "not as a coddling scheme for the distribution of doles and benevolence but a business system under which the industries of this country can be better run than under any other system."^^ Much more significant was the memorandum addressed by a group of distinguished in- dustrial engineers last fall to the President's First In- dustrial Conference, pointing out that no final solution of the prevalent unrest can be found until industry is so organized as to remove the sense of injustice now arising from the special privileges that allow a few to acquire wealth out of all proportion to service rendered '''The reference is to the Dutchess Bleachery, at Wappingers Falls, New York. ''See his "Six Hour Day." i68 INDUSTRIAL RECONSTRUCTION and, after arbitrarily deciding the amount that employes shall receive, to appropriate all the surplus profit-^"^ A striking indication of the possible effect of a genuine sharing of profits appeared recently in an editorial in a paper published by the board of operatives in a plant where a program of cooperative management had been in progress for a few months : "P. T. Barnum, the circus man, once exhibited a freak called the Siamese Twins. They were two human beings joined together at the waist in such a way that what was bad for one was bad for the other and what was good for one was good for the other. Now our partnership plan brings about a somewhat similar condition. If we waste time or material for the company, we are robbing ourselves; if we give our best efforts and most loyal service to the company, we are also helping ourselves. We are bound together now in a way that makes it im- possible for us to say ^That's your funeral,* or ^That's my funeral.' We are bound by a moral and financial ob- ligation to each other. Let us remember that when we are tempted to be careless or lie down on the job.''^^ Although the sharing of profits between capital and labor is a step in the right direction, it is no final solution of the problem of organizing our economic life around the principle of service. If, as this report has maintained,- all industry exists for, and finds its justification in, the welfare of the whole community, then surplus profits, above what is needed for remunerating all the factors engaged in production and providing for its efficient continuation, should belong to the community. This becomes all the clearer when it is realized that all wealth is a social creation, made possible by the needs and activities of society, so that no one can say of his profits, *Ts it not lawful for me to do what I will with mine own ?'* How surplus profits can actually be made avail- able for the good of the public cannot yet be fully de- *^See The Nation, Nov. i, 1919, p. 558. 'Trom "The Tracer/' Oct., 1919, published at the Garner Print Works and Bleachery. PRESENT PRACTICABLE STEPS 169 termined. The most direct way is in making prices as reasonable as possible to the consumer. If large surplus profits remain in private hands they should be used in the spirit of service to further worthy social ends. The conclusion of the British Quaker employers on this point merits thoughtful consideration: "We cannot believe that either the proprietors or the workers are entitled to the whole of the surplus profits of the business, though they might reasonably ask for such a share as would give them an interest in its financial prosperity. . . . We believe that in equity the community may claim the greater part of surplus profits.^^ If this is not taken in the form of taxation, we think that it should be regarded by those into whose hands it passes as held in trust for the community. We are not prepared to sug- gest in detail schemes by which such a trust should be administered. If the profits are taken in the ordinary way by the proprietors, they should be regarded as a trust and spent for the common good ; or the proprietors might limit the amount they themselves took out of the business, while surplus profits were put into a separate account, and spent, at the joint discretion of the proprietors and workers, for the benefit of the general public. Our point is that the bulk of them at least belongs to the community, and should be used in its interest." A system of taxation which is progressively graded ac- cording to men's ability to pay tends in the direction of securing part of the surplus for the common good. On this principle taxes on excess profits and in- heritances are now coming to be generally accepted. A third form of surplus income, which is not now taxed but which might well become a source of *°They define surplus profits as "any surplus which may re- main over when labor has been paid on the scale referred to above (including minimum and secondary wage) and managers and directors have been remunerated according to the market value of their services, when capital has received the rate of interest necessary to insure an adequate supply, having regard to the risk involved, and when necessary reserves have been made for the security and development of the business." See The Survey, Nov. 23, 1918. I70 INDUSTRIAL RECONSTRUCTION revenue for public uses, is the unearned increment in land values, arising from the scarcity of land relative to increasing population. The increase in value of real estate on the island of Manhattan is clearly due not to individual effort or foresight but to the activities of the community as a whole. This being so, it is hard to see why the community should not have this surplus for the common good. The obvious difficulty in taxation as a method of securing surplus profits for the general good is that the public funds thus secured are so often inefficiently, un- wisely, undemocratically, or even dishonestly adminis- tered. They may be spent to maintain tremendous mili- tary establishments or to make party plunder all the easier. Only as we develop a socially-minded people and a public-spirited government can such a program of the use of the surplus be effectively carried out. We are thus led again to see that in whatever way we seek to secure a better social order, our ultimate need is for Christian motives and better character. So absolutely fundamental is this spiritual factor that we shall consider it more fully in the following chapter. CHAPTER VI THE QUESTION OF THE LONGER FUTURE Our consideration of practicable next steps toward removing some of the unchristian aspects of our present industrial life leads us to ask now what a thoroughgoing application of Christian principles would require. If we take our point of departure definitely from the Chris- tian teaching concerning personality, brotherhood, and service, toward what kind of an economic system shall we move ? One thing at least has already become clear : we bave to turn our backs once for all upon a policy of unre- stricted individualism. The idea of every man for him- self is now seen to be not only unchristian but socially disastrous. We have discovered "the futility of holding up self-interest as a guide in the social life and then hoping to solve the social problem by striking a balance between egoisms, whether of individuals or of groups.''^ We know now that society is so much an organism that it cannot be in sound condition so long as any part of it is left unhealthy, any more than a body can be normal when the arms or legs are infected with disease. We have come to the Christian view that we are all members one of another. I. An Increasing Extension of Social Control The break with economic individualism, to which we have thus been led, requires an increasing extension of social responsibility and control. This is contemplated in each of the steps already considered in the foregoing chapter. Even to the changes there proposed the objec- tion may be brought that they would mean "socialism.** To this we would reply that if to assume our collective 'C. A. Ellwood, "The Social Problem," New York, 1917, P. 237- 171 172 INDUSTRIAL RECONSTRUCTION responsibility for the conditions of our social life be '^socialism," then as Christians we are all "socialists." And we ought certainly now to be beyond the point of condemning things by mere names. As a matter of fact, however, we have thus far been discussing only measures for the protection of the unprotected members of society and the securing of more brotherly relations which are entirely practicable within the general limits of our pres- ent industrial system. What is needed, then, is not to urge that we abandon a laissez-faire policy so much as to realize that we have already done so and that we are now definitely moving in another direction. Men of the most diverse economic views are looking forward to a much greater degree of democratic control of the processes of production and distribution of wealth. The only question is as to how far this control should go and by what method it should be secured. The question comes to sharpest focus when we con- sider the question of the ownership of the means of production. Under private ownership it is exceed- ingly difficult to secure the complete mutuality of interests that makes for full cooperation in the indus- trial process, for private ownership has made a division of the industrial community into two groups, on the one hand those who own and therefore control and, on the other, those who are dependent upon the owners. The result is that the two groups are in conflict to secure from each other a larger share of the product. Consid- ered in this light, there seems little doubt but that some form of cooperation in the ownership of productive wealth is the completest expression of social control and is the ultimate goal most in keeping with the Christian ideal of brotherhood. In the words of the Commission on the Church and Social Service: "Chris- tian democracy applied to industry means the develop- ment of cooperative relations to the fullest possible QUESTION OF THE LONGER FUTURE 173 •extent. The Churches should therefore clearly teach the principles of the fullest possible cooperative control and ownership of industry and the material resources upon which industry depends, in order that men may be spurred to develop the methods that shall express the principles/'^ The point at v^hich the question of private ownership is most challenged is that of our natural resources. Upon these all men are dependent for their opportunity to work and to live. And here we obviously have to do not with capital which any one can claim to have created, but with the bounty of the Creator to the whole human family. Certainly the Christian ideal is that these means of the common life should somehow be made subject to the common good and the common will. Why, then, do the Churches not insist that we pro- ceed at once to adopt some comprehensive scheme of social ownership? The answer is obvious. Any co- operative system has to depend on cooperative men,^ and the men and women who would have to carry out the system have not attained a sufficiently cooperative spirit. As we pointed out in an earlier chapter, an absolute ideal cannot be immediately applied in a society that is only progressively becoming Christian. However correct in principle social ownership may be, it is only too clear that in practice it involves serious dif- ficulties that it is folly to ignore. For efficient public ownership is possible only if we have both a socially- minded and an efficient administration. These, unfortu- nately, we cannot count on having. To turn over to- morrow to the state such tremendously increased powers ^Report of the Commission on the Church and Social Service to the quadrennial meeting of the Federal Council of the Churches of Christ in America, 1916. ^It is of course also -true that without practice in cooperation, cooperative men will not be developed, as is pointed out in a later part of this chapter. Here we are emphasizing the fact that a general desire for cooperation is the point at which we have to begin. 174 INDUSTRIAL RECONSTRUCTION over industry as would be involved in state ownership might mean only to provide additional opportunities for party plunder. Even if government is honest it may be administered by men who have no wisdom in the prob- lems of industry. Surely management must, in any event, be in the hands of those who know how. We have noth- ing to gain by setting a selfish or inefficient political machine to run our economic life. And even if there be administrative efficiency and honesty, there may still be rigid officialism and consequent loss of freedom. As a matter of fact, we witness today a growing tendency to distrust any enlargement and in- creased centralization of political power. Even in the so-called democratic state a great degree of bureaucracy has been an obvious fact. Individualism would undoubt- edly be preferable to state control by representatives who do not really represent the common will but impose their own decisions upon the people. Clearly there is the pos- sibility of an over-socialization that would subject the individual to too much restraint, and so far from giving him greater freedom, rob him of the measure of freedom that he now has. Even the workers themselves do not necessarily have anything to gain by passing from private employ into the control of the state, as our postal clerks would no doubt attest. And we must not overlook the fact that there are ad- vantages connected with private ownership which it is highly essential to safeguard. The calling out of personal initiative, foresight, independence of thought, and freedom of action is indispensable to fully devel- oped personality and hence to a worthy and efficient so- ciety. A large degree of private ownership there ought, therefore, undoubtedly always to be.^ And as far as *This is, of course, readily admitted by many socialists. See, for example, John Spargo*s "Socialism," New York, 1910, pp. 296-300, in which it is pointed out that socialist theory requires the socializing only of such large scale industry as makes pos- sible the exploitation of other men by the owner. QUESTION OF THE LONGER FUTURE 175 public ownership becomes a fact the values connected with private enterprise must somehow be preserved. Unless this is the case, the gain on one side may be more than counterbalanced by loss on the other. The normal reluctance of any citizen to come under bureaucratic control takes on more serious form when we consider the Christian citizen in his relationship to the state. He realizes how tragically our past policy of economic individualism has failed to secure the Christian goal. He is eager to have society assume its full respon- sibility and extend social control in the interest of the public good. But to do so means to increase the power of the state over the lives of all its citizens. This might, indeed, be advantageous if only the state were ani- mated by the Christian motive and were to use its increased power for the Christian end. Unhappily we do not yet have any assurance that this will be the case. Are we, then, to delegate to an unchristian political administration the control of the social relationships of men who really desire to be Christian? Under the pres- ent system, faulty as it is, they have more freedom to apply the Christian motive and to experiment with measures looking toward the Christian goal than they would have under the domination of a bureaucracy. The problem of the relation of Church and state, always a difficult one, thus comes even more sharply into light.^ ^Even if a state were inspired with the Christian motive and were to seek consistently the Christian end, we should have still to consider the relation of such a state to other states not similarly- organized on Christian principles. Just as the individual cannot fully realize the Christian ideal in an unchristian environment, no more can a state. A nation that should administer its entire economic life on the basis of seeking first the good of all man- kind might find itself at the mercy of a stronger power seeking its own aggrandizement. To realize the Christian ideal for society, therefore, it is necessary not only to Christianize our corporate life as a nation but also to Christianize the life of the world. Thus we are brought to the imperativeness of the foreign missionary enterprise of the Church. Whatever else foreign mis- sions means, it is the expression of the fact that all mankind is bound up in one bundle of life. 176 INDUSTRIAL RECONSTRUCTION Yet our study has led to the conclusion that con- trol must somehow be democratically distributed. We have seen clearly that the management of industry must not be responsible solely to capital but to the human beings engaged in it and to the whole community. It is as a means to this end that social ownership is urged by many earnest men. May it not be, however, that a limitation of the rights of private capital, rather than the abolition of it, would secure the desired end? For although capital now claims the right to control industry, owner- ship and control are not necessarily inseparable^ We have already found a strong movement in the direction of a sharing of control between capital and labor. And even if control ultimately passes entirely from the hands of absentee owners, who do not themselves engage in the processes of production, to those who by hand or brain actually produce goods for society, this is not to say that all industry must be taken over by the state. Private ownership may still remain, receiving interest on the investment, but no longer possessing the right of control. Whether the ownership should be private or social can be wisely decided only in the light of gradual experiment. Even then, no generalization is possible, as the social results of either kind of ownership may be different in the cases of different kinds of property. For the peasant to own his own plot of ground is almost certainly to the advantage of society. To hold land for purposes of speculation is a very different thing. In any event the final solution must be reached on the basis of what proves to be for the welfare of society. The obstacles thus presented to centralizing ownership in the state as it now is are recognized by others than those who are definitely committed to the Christian ideal. Many socialists themselves so fully appreciate the diffi- culty that a new type of socialist program, known as guild J socialism, has developed. "National guildsmen, of ■ course," says one of their chief spokesmen, *'do not QUESTION OF THE LONGER FUTURE 177 recognize the state of today as a body capable of exer- cising ownership on behalf of the community."^ Even the so-called democratic state is, from their point of view, far too undemocratic to be intrusted with the manage- ment of industry. They therefore propose that although the title to all wealth-producing wealth should be vested in the state, the actual control of each industry should be in the hands of the producers themselves. But, even so, the state must function widely in the industrial life of the nation, to see to it that the various guilds, or groups engaged in the several industries, are kept in proper harmony with one another. So the problem of control by the as yet unchristian state would still remain, while within each industry the problem of actually securing the cooperation of the workers themselves for a common goal would be more important than ever. Every in- crease in social responsibility and social control makes a new demand upon character. More, not less, essential does the Christian motive become. Only as a majority of men and women come to the point where they will really make the public good the first consideration, can we have, under any kind of organization, such control of industry as will really secure the Christian end. 2. Need for Education in Cooperation To reach the goal of full collective responsibility and control must therefore be a task for persistent education ii. more brotherly living. For brotherhood, being a spir- itual quality, cannot be achieved by a crisis of fury and conflict. Step by step we must advance through the moral discipline of increasingly united efforts.''^ If we "G. H. D. Cole, "Self-Government in Industry." London, 1918, p. 161. ^The significance of voluntary cooperative organizations of producers or consumers lies chiefly in the fact that they are a step in the process of education in fuller cooperation. Of such present movements the most important is the so-called "Co- operative Movement," which seeks to organize its members in a 178 INDUSTRIAL RECONSTRUCTION have dreamed of securing a thoroughly cooperative society by any sudden reorganization of our economic life, it is an idea which v^e have definitely to forgo. Without a new spirit, outer changes have no value, and spirit, like body, does not come to full stature all at once. The need for such growth in the spirit of cooperation is recognized by many socialists as the indispensable con- dition of a cooperative state. In the earnest words of one of them,: "Should socialism arrive otherwise than as the result of an inward transformation, affecting the deep springs of will and love, it would prove the worse disaster of any experiment in collective living that the world has seen. . . . Socialism is democracy pushed to an extreme. It would involve immensely elaborated machinery. Unless the spirit of the living creature be in the wheels, one foresees them grinding destruction. Should the coopera- tive commonwealth be other than the expression of a general will very different from that of today, it would be an unbearable tyranny. The only comfort is that it program of cooperation in distribution of goods, and also within certain limits in production. Originating in England in the well-known Rochdale Experiment in 1844, it aimed to reduce the prices of commodities of common use, through coopera- tively managed stores. The plan of organization is that the consumers are themselves the shareholders, receiving dividends in proportion to amounts purchased. The movement thus rests on an idea of a real union of producers and consumers. Its primary objective being to lower the cost of commodities, it makes no attempt to eliminate the wage system, though encour- aging trade union activity. Within certain limits at least it clearly rests on the principle that the advantage of each is not opposed to, but bound up with, the advantage of all. As the movement developed it was found necessary to have not only stores but farms, plantations, and factories to supply the stores. Now it is also developing banking and investment facilities. In the United Kingdom the movement has a member- ship of about 3,500.000. In the United States it has made slower development, but there are evidences that it is gaining here. It is estimated that throughout the world there are at least 10,000,000 members, and, as most of them represent families, probably 40,000,000 people are actively interested. Its annual sales amount to upwards of $1,000,000,000. For a brief history of the move- ment, especially in the United States, see The Monthly Labor Review of the U. S. Department of Labor, March, 1919, pp. 132-144. QUESTION OF THE LONGER FUTURE 179 could not endure. It might quite conceivably be ushered in suddenly, forced by revolution or by the proletariat vote on an unprepared world which had undergone no inner change; it could never be so maintained. For no social order can be even relatively stable if mechanically introduced. It must be a growth ; and growth has to root deeply underground before it shows much in the light of day."8 That only as an evolutionary transition from*our pres- ent society would socialism ever be possible is taken as the definite basis of the influential group that constitutes the Fabian Society. The most widely known representa- tive of the group frankly says: "It was against all thinking and teaching of this catas- trophic kind that the Society gradually came to set its face — not, as J believe, because we were any less in earnest in our warfare against existing evils, or less extreme in our remedies, but because we were sadly and sorrowfully driven to the conclusion that no sudden or simultaneous transformation of society from an individ- ualist to a collectivist basis was possible, or even think- able."9 What we have been saying is, in a word, that social ownership is at any time practically advantageous only in the degree to which men have become educated to cooperative living. An increasingly democratic control over the processes of industry is an essential part of such ^Vida Scudder, "Socialism and Character," Boston, 1912, pp. 187-188. (Italics are ours.) Cf. H. G. Wells : "I have tried to let it become apparent that while I do firmly believe, not only in the splendor and nobility of the socialist dream, but in its ultimate practicability, I do also recognize quite clearly that with people just as they are now, with their prejudices, their ignorances, their misapprehensions, their unchecked vanities, greeds, and jealousies, their untutored and misguided instincts, their irrational traditions, no socialist state can exist, no better state can exist, than the one we now have with all its squalor and cruelty." "New Worlds for Old," New York, 1913, p. 203. ■'Sidney Webb, "The Basis and Policy of Socialism," London, 1909, p. 51. Cf. H. G. Wells, "New Worlds for Old," quoted above : "An educational process and a moral discipline are not only a necessary part but the most fundamental part of any complete socialist scheme." i8o INDUSTRIAL RECONSTRUCTION an educational process. And the extent to which social ownership may be required to make such control possible can be answered only in the light of enlarging ex- perience. There is no way of defining in advance the amount of change that may be necessary. What we have to do is to go forward as rapidly as possible, in the confidence that as we do so the more distant path will become increasingly clear. As Christians, then, we are not committed either to the present industrial system or to any other. In fact^ as we discovered in a previous chapter, industrial sys- tems are such complexes of gradually changing elements that it may be impossible at any given time to say whether the social order should more truly be called individualist or collectivist. Our present order has already moved far away from an unrestricted laissez-faire philosophy,, so that we have a considerable degree of social control and even of ownership. Not even the most ardent advo- cate of individualism proposes that the highways and the mails should be operated for private profit. Where is the line that would mark such a transition from individualism as would warrant our saying that we had passed over into a new "system''? We cannot say. Nor does it matter. What we are concerned about is that the principles to which as Christians we are committed should find expression as fully and as rapidly as possible. The social order that will result will, we are convinced, be con- tinuous with the present one and developed along lines already clearly begun. Whether that system will be designated as capitalist or socialist or something else is 'of small moment. The practical impossibility of saying whether the realization of the Christian principles would require another industrial "system'' may be made clear by an illustration. Take the wage system, for example, which we have found to be a crucial point of attack. As it now is in the greater part of our industrial life, we have QUESTION OF THE LONGER FUTURE i8i been forced to conclude that it is largely out of harmony with our Christian ideal, causing a conflict instead of a mutuality of interests, and failing to afford to the work- ers due freedom to order their own lives or to share in a democratic way in matters of common concern. But in Great Britain a few months ago a reorganization of the building trade was proposed. A committee of eight employers and eight operatives was appointed by the Building Trades Parliament of Great Britain, "to con- sider the questions of scientific management and reduc- tion of costs, with a view to enabling the building in- dustry to render the most efficient service possible." The committee's report recognizes that the end desired cannot be attained except as the industry is democratically con- trolled as a self-governing unit and organized around the principle of public service. "We believe," the com- mittee says, "that given the vision, the faith, and the courage, our industry will be able to lead the way in the industrial and social readjustments that are imminent. We have glimpsed the possibility of the whole building industry of Great Britain being welded together into one great self-governing democracy of organized public service — uniting a full measure of free initiative and enterprise with all the best that applied science and re- search can render. Nothing short of this will produce the full development of the 'team spirit' in industry which is the key to the whole problem of production; nothing short of this is worthy of the high ideals for which our Industrial Council stands." The proposed program provides not only for democratic management through an industrial council, but also for limiting pay- ment of interest to a fixed guaranteed percentage and for using surplus earnings for such common interests as education and superannuation.^^ It is not, however, the ^"Malcolm Sparkes, "Memorandum on Self-Government in Industry, together with a Draft for a Builders' National In- dustrial Parliament," London, 1918. See also discussion on above in The World Tomorrow, December, 1919. i82 INDUSTRIAL RECONSTRUCTION details of the procedure with which we are here con- cerned. The significant thing is that a serious proposal of "a great self-governing democracy of organized public service'' has been made by a committee of employers and employes representing an industry as a whole. Such a plan w^ould so change the present character of the wage system, while the employer-employe relationship would remain, that it is hard to say whether it should more correctly be called a part of a capitalist or of a socialist industrial order. Such changes as these, now beginning to take place, make it clear that the industrial organization of the future is a matter for progressive modification and experiment. How far the change in formal organization will go we cannot say. Nor do we need to say. One thing, how- ever, is needful — that the central ethical principles of the better social order should be unmistakable, that they should be the standard for judging our present order, and that we should continually modify our economic system in whatever ways will make possible their fuller realization. As to what these guiding principles should be we have no doubt. They are inseparable from the religious faith which was the starting point of our discus- sion. They demand that the development of personality, not the possession of material goods, be the goal of our industrial life; that brotherhood, not class domination, be our social relationship; that the degree of service to society, not economic strength, shall determine the re- ward which any factor in industry should receive. 3. A New Motive in Industry the Supreme Need Our conclusion that we can advance into a more co- operative order only as we can develop more cooperative men has led us back, in the last analysis, to the Christian teaching that the primary motive in all social action must be love. The one thing now most essential Is to have done with the idea that the chief purpose of an industry is the QUESTION OF THE LONGER FUTURE 183 private profit of those by whom it is carried on. Industry must be regarded primarily as a social function, carried on to serve the community. Instead of an "acquisitive society," organized around the promoting of individual wealth-getting, we must have what an English economist has lately called a "functional society," aiming to make the acquisition of wealth contingent upon the discharge of social obligations, to proportion remuneration to service and deny it to those by whom no service is per- formed, to inquire always "not what men possess, but what they can make, or create, or achieve."^ ^ Or, to use the language of recent psychological studies, we must subordinate the acquisitive impulses to the creative.^ 2 In any case, whether we use the language of the Christian teacher, of the economist, or of the psychologist, the central point is the same — the path of advancing civiliza- tion lies along the lines of a deliberate seeking of the common good. As incentives to production, as we have discovered in an earlier chapter, we have hitherto generally relied on some form of the desire for private gain. Hence if a personal advantage is to be derived from curtailing production, whether by employer or employe, it is curtailed. Selfishness is therefore seen to be not only unchristian but socially ineffective as well. For self- interest vv^e must substitute the Christian motive of service for the common weal. Only as the good of the individual is found in the larger good of all can we "R. H. Tawney, "The Sickness of an Acquisitive Society," London, 1920. With this may be compared the words of a dis- tinguished American industrial engineer: "A nation whose busi- ness system is based on service will in a short time show such advancement over one whose business system is operated pri- marily with the object of securing the greatest possible profits for the investing class, that the latter nation will not be long in the running." — H. L. Gantt, "Organizing for Work," New York, 1919, p. 14. "See, e. g., Bertrand Russell, "Principles of Social Reconstruc- tion," and Helen Marot, "The Creative Impulse in Industry." i84 INDUSTRIAL RECONSTRUCTION have a harmonious and efficient society. In the words of the head of a well-known English firm : "Unless industry is really recognized as primarily a national service, in which each individual is fulfilling his function to the best of his ability for the sake of the com- munity, in which private gain is subordinated to public good — unless we build on this foundation, there is no hope of creating the House Beautiful. If each man thinks of making his pile by all the means that economic individualism allows, if class bands itself against class, trade union against employers' federation, firm against firm, to secure the greatest share of the world's goods in unrestricted competition, social life must inevitably break down and anarchy reign supreme."^ ^ So when all is said and done, our one hope for a better industrial order is found to be in the development of the Christian motive. The supreme change needed in our economic life is one of spirit and of purpose. Without this no change in external organization will suffice, and any outer change is significant only as it ministers to the development of the new spirit. Our present industrial system is wrong because men's motives are wrong, and it cannot be made really right until the controlling motive is right. If the question of securing a Christian social order is finally reduced to the realm of motive, the main question becomes this, "Can men's motives be changed?" There are many who say that economic self-interest is the only impulse universal and basic enough to afford a permanent foundation for industry. To this the Christian's answer is that our faith in men as the children of God means that they are capable of responding to the noblest motives. To deny this is to deny Christ's view of man.^* And this **W. L. Hichens, "Some Problems of Industry," London, 1919, p. 27. "Cf. the discussion in "Competition: A Study in Human Motive," op. cit. p. 163 ff., in which it is emphasized that "Chris- tianity, at any rate, stands or falls with a faith in the redemption of man/' QUESTION OF THE LONGER FUTURE 185 faith in human nature we find corroborated by the facts of human experience itself. For motives develop power to control in proportion as they are appealed to. Ac- quisitive impulses are now strong because we organize our industrial life around an appeal to this motive. If other motives were really appealed to, they would develop equal power to control. In the words of John Stuart Mill, "the deep-rooted selfishness which forms the gen- eral character of existing society is so deeply rooted only because the whole course of existing institutions tends to foster it."^^ We have an elusive circle in which men are selfish largely because our social order appeals to selfishness, and in which our present social order has so many evils because men are selfish. We shall effectively break the circle only as we definitely undertake to center our industrial life around another motive than the pursuit of private profit. As a matter of fact, where another motive is genuinely appealed to, we do find it developing power to control. In the professions of the ministry, of teaching, and of medicine this is clearly seen to be the case. This is also true in industry where personal contacts and opportunity for individual self-expression have not yet been lost. Of the salaried managers of large industries, as contrasted w4th the owners, profit is not the chief incentive. They give themselves to their work because they find in it the satisfaction of the instinct of workmanship and of the desire to do things worth while. In such situations, wiiat men really want is not so much to acquire wealth as to find full self-realization through doing the biggest job of which they are capable, in the best way that they can, and so to fill the largest possible place in the social order. So the president of the United States works just as hard as the president of a vast corporation for a fraction of the latter's income, and the stupendous achievement of the ^^Quoted in "Competition : A Study in Human Motive," pp. 168, 169. i86 INDUSTRIAL RECONSTRUCTION Panama Canal is carried through by an army offi- cer on an army officer's modest salary. But in most modern industry and business these higher motives are very inadequately appealed to. We do not know what resources of human nature are latent and unused, because we constantly assume that competitive seeking of private profits is the only foundation for our economic life. Have we learned nothing in this matter from our ex- perience in the war.? Surely we discovered then that human nature would respond to other appeals than that of personal gain. The men in the army were not dominated by the money motive. Even in industry we found a new spirit, in spite of much conscienceless profiteering. Con- tractors would work on a cost-plus basis, and employes would forgo the right to strike, because the goal of industry was then the meeting of a public need. We must find some way of perpetuating this spirit in times of peace. But this we cannot hope to do so long as private profit is the accepted idea around which our industrial organi- zation is to be reared. Men rightly desire success, and success in business is now identified with money-getting* What we need is a new standard of success. What we must have, then, if there is to be a better social order is a new heart. But this does not mean that we may be unconcerned with the economic environment. For the sake of the better motive itself outer changes are necessary, because either for good or ill the surroundings affect the inner spirit. The development of the new motive and the external reorganization of society are interdependent. The individual and the social environ- ment constantly act and react on each other. So the individual cannot be fully Christian until the social or- ganization is Christianized. On the other hand, until men themselves are Christian no ideal social scheme is workable. The new motive and the better organization must therefore develop together. The transformation QUESTION OF THE LONGER FUTURE 187 of character should lead to transformation of environ- ment and the bettered environment in turn minister to further transformation of character. In concluding that the industrial problem is insoluble unless we can develop in men's lives the motive of seek- ing the common good, we find ourselves again at the point at which we began — namely, Christianity. It has always declared the way of love to be the true way of life. It has always held up the ideal of brotherhood as the true relationship of men and mutual service as the law of that brotherhood. In the Cross it has had a perpetual symbol of this message, to call men back when they have for- gotten it. Upon Christian men and women and upon the Church, therefore, there rests a peculiar responsibility. What their distinctive contribution to the securing of the better social order should be we shall consider in the two final chapters. CHAPTER VII WHAT INDIVIDUAL CHRISTIANS CAN DO TO CHRISTIANIZE THE INDUSTRIAL ORDER The previous chapters have undertaken to analyze some of the constructive measures needed to secure a more Christian social order. It is clear, however, that they can be brought about only as men and women, whose conscience approves and whose motives are stimulated by the Christian ideal, bring their energies practically to bear upon these tasks. The present chapter, therefore, undertakes to answer in some measure the question. What obligations under existing conditions are laid upon those who have accepted the principles of Jesus? A program as comprehensive as that suggested in the preceding chapters seems to be so far-reaching and to demand so much united effort that the individual nat- urally tends to throw off responsibility from his own shoulders. He is convinced that all workers should receive sufficient income to afford full development of the higher life, but for him, as a single employer on a small scale, to apply the principle in the payment of his own few employes seems too much like a drop in the bucket to be of any consequence. Or he is convinced that stockholders have no moral right to receive as divi- dends funds that were needed to pay a living wage, but as a single petty stockholder himself there seems to be little or nothing that he can do to influence the policy of a great impersonal corporation. Or he is convinced that labor unions should honestly fulfil their contracts and seek to render the fullest service possible in produc- tion, but as a single member of a union with a member- ship of thousands his own contribution to that end appears to be insignificant. i88 WHAT CHRISTIANS CAN DO 189 It is undoubtedly true that the difficulties of the present order are in large measure beyond the power of the individual to overcome. They arise, as pointed out in a previous chapter, not simply from the faults of individ- uals, but from certain wrong general assumptions on which our economic system rests. An individualistic ethics such as has generally been held up in the past is, therefore, inadequate for the present day. Modern busi- ness and industrial collectivism demand a collective morality. A Christian social order can be fully secured only as such a social conscience and such a social will are developed that the community as a corporate body will undertake to attain what individuals acting independently cannot hope to secure. The difficulties that confront an individual who, in the midst of an environment only partially Christianized, undertakes to apply the Christian motive in a thorough- going way in all his social relationships is well illustrated by the experience of the great Quaker, John Woolman, as much as a century and a half ago : ''Woolman experienced to the full that horror of sharing in social guilt which we are wont to deem wholly modern. With no notion of running away, from civiliza- tion, remaining in ordinary industrial and social rela- tions, he bent his energy to avoid injuring his brother. To this end, he traveled steerage in unimaginable horrors, because his ship's cabin had been decorated by slave- labor; walked from end to end of England to avoid countenancing the cruelty shown the post-boys in the chaises; and on his death-bed refused medicines till assured that none had suffered in compounding them. As amusing as pitiful were his efforts to abstain from evil and to lead the Christian life of 'plainness,' mercy, meek- ness, in a world where all the threads ran the other way."^ But we must not let the limitations that surround the individual blind us to his responsibility and real oppor- *Vida Scudder, "Socialism and Character," p. 229. I90 INDUSTRIAL RECONSTRUCTION tunity. That he is powerless to do as much as he would like is no reason for failing to do as much as he can. And, as a matter of fact, there is far more that individual Christians and groups of Christians can do to make their influence effective than is usually appreciated. Single men or groups of men possessed of ability and daring have wielded, and still wield, a tremendous power. One can hardly measure, for example, the influence that the handful of British Quaker employers have already had upon bettering industrial relations through their delib- erate acceptance of their personal responsibility to take the next steps now possible. But even more im- portant than the action of the occasional outstanding personality is the influence of the rank and file of so- called "ordinary" men and women who are impelled by the Christian motive. For the individual who so acts as to further the Christian social goal does not act in isolation. He is one of a company whom he may not know but who are Inspired by the same ideal and whose cumulative influence is far greater than Is ever realized. "Each separate star seems nothing: A myriad scattered stars break up the night And make it beautiful." It is by individuals that In the last analysis the world has to be transformed. However much we may empha- size the need of a social conscience and social action, there is no way by which we can ever get a better social con- science except as individuals who realize their own re- sponsibility lead their fellows to share the same point of view and join them in social effort. To criticize the inadequacy of an "individualistic morality" or an "in- dividualistic Christianity" is not at all to minimize the significance of the Individual. It is only to insist that the individual is a social being, and therefore can become truly moral, truly Christian, only as he becomes so in all his social relationships. WHAT CHRISTIANS CAN DO 191 For the individual Christian to step out in advance of the prevailing standards of business morality will be an act of faith. But faith is the foundation of the Christian v^ay of life. However skeptical others may be as to the possibility of securing any real social advance, the Chris- tian's faith in God and in the potential capacities of men as children of God will give him assurance that any ex- periment which he may make in a further application of the Christian motive will be seed sown in good ground and will eventually bring forth fruit. This, of course, does not mean that one can ignore all practical considera- tions. It does mean, however, that we are not to modify Christianity to meet the so-called practical demands of business, but rather to seek progressively to adapt busi- ness to Christian principles. For the Christian to adopt higher social standards before others are willing to do so may involve financial loss and sacrifice, but to be ready to make sacrifice for the good of mankind is an essential part of the Chris- tian way of life. Why should not Christians today run the risk of diminished financial returns in the same spirit in which a few months ago they were ready to make the sacrifice of their lives for the sake of securing a better world? If we are not as willing to sacrifice our property as we were willing that men should sacrifice their lives, does it not indicate that we still fail adequately to lay hold of the Christian principle that human values are always superior to material ones? At least as Christians we must be constantly on our guard lest self- interest warp our moral judgments, for this is what self- interest always tends to do. Good men who held slaves a generation ago could not see that it was wrong. Re- spectable employers who in our own day maintain in- dustries that depend upon child labor are often honestly of the opinion that industry could not go on without it. As Christians in our several economic spheres we must make the deliberate effort to think through our responsi- \ 192 INDUSTRIAL RECONSTRUCTION bilities in the light of our religion quite apart from their bearing on our own private gain. In the ensuing section the attempt is made to indicate the point of view from which individual Christians in their various economic capacities as employers, employes, investors, and consumers, should approach their prob- lems, and to make certain concrete suggestions of next steps that may be worth consideration. In no case is it presumed that any one can determine another's duty, but in each case we start with the assumption that it is the personal responsibility of all Christians to seek a further application of the Christian motive in their particular economic fields. Only in this way can we progress toward a more Christian social order. I. Christians as Employers Those who are in a position of greater privilege or ad- vantage have thereby, in the Christian view, the greater responsibility. "To whom much is given, of him shall much be required.'' The responsibility of the employer is, therefore, considered first, not because it is a different kind of responsibility but because it brings special oppor- tunity. In the words of a recent statement by the Merchants' Associatio'n of New York on industrial re- lations : "Employers must take the lead in the effort to apply sound principles to the improvement and advance- ment of industrial relationships. Much in the way of leadership is properly expected of them." The Christian employer, regarding the industry with which he is connected as not only a means of livelihood but a service to society, will endeavor to think of all the problems of the industry in terms of their bearing upon the personality of those engaged in it. Realizing that in his employ are human souls, entitled to equal opportuni- ties with himself for full self -development, he will see to it that wages sufficient to support a family in comfort, and hours short enough to allow leisure for family life, are WHAT CHRISTIANS CAN DO 193 the first charge against the industry. By disregarding his responsibilities he may gain an advantage over a competitor, and, conversely, by acting on Christian prin- ciples he may place himself at a disadvantage in respect to a self-seeking rival. Nevertheless, many men have suc- ceeded in applying Christian principles to business v^ith- out economic loss. It would seem to be the duty of every Christian to make the trial. He may thus succeed in show^ing that the fullest consideration of human values is not only possible without economic loss but is itself the truest economy. The responsibility of the employer is more easily met in a small-scale industry in which the employer is per- sonally at the head of the business, provides most of the capital, and assumes the financial risk. When we come to the employer in large-scale industries it is often not easy to say who the employer is. In any great industry the technical side is under the direction of engineers and experts, who are themselves employes and are not allowed full independence in directing (the processes of pro- duction. Above them are the directors, who pass on questions of general policy, select officers, and criticize or approve reports. The real control is in the hands of a few active directors, high officials and large stock- holders, and often certain financial officers and legal counsel. But while responsibility in such a corporation cannot be as sharply determined, personal moral responsi- bility cannot be evaded even if legal responsibility can. Every Christian in any position of control is by that very fact made responsible for using his influence to the full- est extent possible to secure Christian social ends. In industrial relations no less than in international relations one of the greatest sources of suspicion and antagonism is "secret diplomacy*' and control exercised in the dark. Frank consultation based on knowledge of the actual facts will go far toward creating mutual under- standing and good will. The Christian employer will, 194 INDUSTRIAL RECONSTRUCTION therefore, seek ways of promoting among his employes an intelHgent understanding of the status and problems of the industry. If dispute arises as to whether higher wages, shorter hours, or better conditions are practicable, he will be willing to open his books and reveal, at least to an impartial arbitrator, the cost of production and the size of the profits. We have had recent examples of mill owners who insisted that higher wages were impossible and who refused to submit their books to an impartial investigation, but who, a few months later, made the ad- vance in wages which they had declared to be impossible. In the face of such a situation it can hardty be regarded as surprising if the workers distrust the management and feel that they are being treated as mere items in the cost of production. On the ather hand, such an attitude as that of the late William H. Baldwin, who, when in control of a large railroad and confronted by a demand for higher wages, offered to submit the financial condition of the road to proper investigation by a disinterested party, is thoroughly conducive to mutual confidence and cooperation. There are employers who believe that a regular system by which the financial condition of the industry becomes the rightful knowledge of the workers, as well as of the management, is economically efficient because of the cooperation and good will which it enlists. The group of British Quaker employers, so often referred to in this report, have recorded their conviction that it is desirable to give full information as to wages, average costs, and average profits in industry as a basis for effective collec- tive bargaining and "as a recognition of the public char- acter of our industrial functions." Nor is this procedure M confined merely to the realm of recommendation; the experiment is being made successfully in this country, In at least one "shop committee" plan there is a sys- tematic method of reporting monthly to the workers as well as to the board of directors the company's net I WHAT CHRISTIANS CAN DO 195 earnings, which constitute the basis for a profit-sharing program. 2 In small-scale industries it is possible for the employer to establish such personal contacts with his employes as to promote a feeling of brotherhood and practically to eliminate suspicion and ill will. Industry is by its nature a cooperation between employer and employed, and the economic partnership ought to have a moral and spiritual value in personal relationships created thereby. An em- ployer who keeps in sympathetic touch with those who work for him helps to make the ideal of brotherhood which he professes seem more concrete and real. One of the chief reasons for the antagonism of employer and employed in our modern large scale industry is undoubt- edly the lack of such personal contacts.^ The employer sits behind a closed door and knows his men only as* he knows his machines. Or perhaps he is a thousand miles away and knows them only as those who make possible the coupons that he clips. But even in an industry where the number of workers is too large to admit personal contacts with all, it is possible for the employer to main- tain constant contacts with representatives of the many. This is one of the significant aspects of the shop commit- tee plan. Without such contacts neither employer nor employe is likely to think of the other as a partner in any vital sense. The employer of today has no finer opportunity for Christian service than to experiment in the democra- tizing of industry. That future industrial development lies in this direction our previous discussion leaves no room for doubt. We cannot glorify democracy in politics "See article on "How the Shop Committee Plan Actually Works in America," by Ray Stannard Baker, New York Evening Post, Feb. 6, 1920. Cf. p. 167 of this volume. 'Compare the statement of W. L. Mackenzie King : "In the dis- appearance of the personal relationships between the parties to industry, and in the growth of impersonal attitudes, occasioned by vast and complex organizations, lies the crux of the Labor Problem." — "Industry and Humanity," Boston, 1918, p. 59. 196 INDUSTRIAL RECONSTRUCTION and oppose it in industry. But although the principle is clear, the particular method by which it may best be achieved is still a matter for progressive experiment. If democracy in industry does not come with the coopera- tion of employers, it will probably come in spite of them. What a superb opportunity, then, the situation presents to the Christian employer! He may illustrate Christian social principles in action by aligning himself heartily with a movement which may for the moment be out of line with his own private material interest, but which is clearly in the direction of the Christian ideal. The class consciousness of which the socialistic program makes so much rests upon the assumption that only those can be enlisted in the betterment of the economic order who will personally profit thereby. That this cynical attitude is unwarranted can be shown only by a readiness on the part of the dominant classes to give up their position of per- sonal power in the interest of the common good. By his own active acceptance of the principle of democracy in industry the Christian employer may show that the Chris- tian way of life and sacrifice is not something alien to humanity but an actual factor in economic life. Who knows but that at the same time he may also show that democracy and industrial efficiency go hand in hand ? 2. Christians as Investors To a far larger extent than is commonly realized in- vestors control business policies. In our highly complex economic life the carrying on of industry is dependent upon loans secured from large numbers of people, who constitute the investing public and who by their invest- ments become practically the employers. To be an investor means, therefore, to be a direct participant in our indus- trial system and to share in responsibility for its results. The Christian investor, conceiving wealth as a trust, will make investments in the spirit of service. His money he will regard not as a means of exercising selfish control WHAT CHRISTIANS CAN DO 197 but as an opportunity for further social usefulness. In all his investments, therefore, he will consider first the industrial conditions that lie back of securities and refuse so far as possible to become part owner in industries that exploit human beings by failure to pay living wages or otherwise to protect human values. In a previous section of this report we came to the conclusion that from the Christian standpoint the receiving of interest finds its justification only when it is a reward for actual service rendered to society. And the investment of capital is not a social service unless it is placed in an enterprise whose results, both direct and indirect, are socially beneficent. That the task of making investments in a way that shall conform to the Christian principle of service is one of tremendous difficulty is undeniable. The individual in- vestor who undertakes it has a problem even more difficult than that of the individual employer or employe in large- scale competitive industry. As a single stockholder he finds himself well-nigh powerless if his holdings are small. Suppose he discovers that his corporation is an employer of child labor or is guilty of other methods of exploiting humanity. What is he to do? Of course he should protest. But if his protest fails to effect any change, has he a moral right to sell his stock at the market price and invest the money elsewhere ? In that case the conditions in the industry are not bettered — perhaps they become worse. Shall he then still hold his stock and continue to protest? The question is confessedly difficult, and yet the principle of personal responsibility and the need for holding stockholders responsible is clear. In the words of Professor John Dewey: "If society holds stockholders responsible, they will soon cease to elect managers merely on an economic basis and will demand morality." There are inspiring instances of investors who have made deliberate efforts to assume full personal responsi- bility for the consequences of their investment. In 191 1, after the report of the Pittsburgh Survey was printed,^ 198 INDUSTRIAL RECONSTRUCTION Mr. Charles Cabot, an influential broker in Boston, wrote to the editor of The Survey a vigorous protest against the statements concerning working hours, and conditions in the steel industry in Pittsburgh, insisting particularly that it could not be true that men and boys worked twelve hours a day and that once a fortnight they worked twenty-four hours at a stretch. When, however, those statements were all substantiated to his complete satis- faction, he decided that the facts ought to be made known to every stockholder and bondholder connected with the industry. For this purpose the first thing that he needed was a list of stockholders. Although he was himself among the number he spent three years in the effort to secure such a list, having to resort to procedure in the courts on two occasions. As a matter of fact, the changes which Mr. Cabot sought to bring about have not been secured, but at least he succeeded in securing the facts and making them known to the stockholders in a way that still challenges their consciences to secure better conditions. The illustration also indicates how little op- portunity the average stockholder has had of actually knowing the conditions in the industry from which his dividends have been derived. The question of investments is so important that fur- ther illustrations may not be amiss. The holder of a large amount of stock in a certain company learned that men were employed to scrape lead paint from walls of small compartments in which there was no ventilation, and then to repaint these compartments with white lead paint. Lead poisoning was common and the workmen had no such compensation for illness from this poisoning as they would have received from a so-called industrial accident. This stockhalder presented the exact facts to the president of the company and insisted that the use of white lead be abandoned and zinc substituted for it. After a thorough discussion of the subject the stockholder informed the president that the sole choice lay between the immediate WHAT CHRISTIANS CAN DO 199 substitution of zinc for lead or the fullest possible pub- licity, accompanying the throwing of a vast block of the company's stock on the market, with an explanation for the stockholder's unwillingness longer to hold the stock. It was then found possible to substitute zinc for lead. A single further illustration is worthy of note. A widow inherited a considerable fortune from her father and husband, the whole capital being left in the hands of administrators who continued the investment in cotton mills. The income alone, therefore, was subject to her personal decision. She spent a large part of this income in acquainting herself with conditions in the industry and has for several years systematically made every possible personal economy in order to give generously to organiza- tions devoted to improving conditions in textile factories. These instances illustrate the power which it is possible for large investors to exert in the interest of securing better industrial conditions, if they will take the necessary trouble to inform themselves and fully realize their per- sonal responsibility. Small investors can at least return their proxies for annual meetings with a definite statement that they are more interested in working conditions than in large dividends. And if Christians generally would refuse to lend money to business or industrial concerns which seriously violated Christian standards and would seek to make investments in concerns that honestly at- tempt to safeguard the interests of the workers, even if the interest return be not so large, this one thing alone would go far toward effecting great change for the better. It has been well suggested that we need a "white list" of firms that best conform to Christian standards in wages, hours, and industrial relationships, and a league of in- vestors who would seek to place their investments in the firms of the largest social outlook.^ Even the conserva- tive London Times recently suggested that in the stock 'See Vida Scudder's, "The Church and the Hour," pp. 55-58, New York, 1917. 200 INDUSTRIAL RECONSTRUCTION exchange list "a distinguishing mark should be appended to the name of every British company paying a standard of wages not disproportionate to its dividends/' the oc- casion of the suggestion Leing a strike that disclosed the fact that labor was sweated to provide 350 per cent profit.^ A Committee of the London Yearly Meeting of the So- ciety of Friends in 1916 undertook to make certain con- crete suggestions in the matter of investments. On the negative side they suggested that there were certain con- cerns in which there could be general agreement that Christians should have no part, such as businesses making or dealing in munitions of war or intoxicants, connected in any way with the employment of slave labor in tropical lands, employing sweated labor, or engaged in making articles that could clearly be classed as luxuries. On the positive side they took the position that they should by their investments give both financial and moral support to concerns that manifested a definite social conscience by organizing along democratic and cooperative lines, even if the rate of interest should be lower.^ A journal in this country has recently gone so far as to make the fol- lowing proposal as a basis for a league of Christian investors: "We, the undersigned, in view of our re- sponsibility as stockholders and beneficiaries through shares in corporations, feel compelled to state our convic- tion : ( I ) That the first charge on industry should be the adequate and honorable compensation of those engaged in it ; (2) that the ultimate control in industry should pass from the owners of capital to those who work by hand or brain. In so far as we may have power or influence we will use it to carry this belief into effect in the determina- tion of questions concerning wages and working condi- tions in those companies in which we hold stock. Furthermore, we will seek and support such reorganiza- ^Quoted in The World Tomorrow, Feb., 1920. •"Whence Come Wars?" London, 1916, pp. 93-95. WHAT CHRISTIANS CAN DO 201 tion of industry as will promote the highest good of the workers and of the community at large, even though it may mean the ultimate disappearance of any separate class of shareholders, and we are prepared to accept such personal loss as may arise from this process of reorgan- ization/"^ For investors seriously to face the responsibilities of the use of their wealth in investments will require the same spirit of faith and willingness to sacrifice which we have found to be required of employers in experimenting in industrial democracy. But in the case of the investor, as in the case of the employer, the Christian challenge is also an opportunity. For those now in the position of privilege to deal with our economic questions not from the standpoint of protecting their own present power but of seeking the welfare of the human family would be the most convincing witness to the Christian Gospel that can possibly be imagined. 3. Christians as Employes The foregoing discussion of the responsibilities of the employer and the investor may seem almost to sug- gest that the securing of a more Christian social order rests in their hands alone. But nothing could be further from the truth. Labor has its duties no less than its rights, and concerning these we must speak with the same frankness with which we have considered the functions of those who furnish the capital or are responsible for the organization of the plant. The same Christian prin- ciples apply to all alike. Each is required to think of the industry as a whole, and of his part in it as not simply an opportunity for private gain but as a service to the common good. To differing functions identical principles must be applied. "^The World Tomorrow, Feb., 1920. 202 INDUSTRIAL RECONSTRUCTION The Christian employe will perform his work with honesty, diligence, and genuine interest, conceiving his task as his personal opportunity to minister to the well- being of the community. He will realize that he can show himself qualified to assume larger responsibilities in the industry only in proportion as he does his present work in a hearty and efficient way. He will, therefore, himself produce to his full capacity and will oppose any deliberate limitation of output on the part of other workers. He will do so because the Christian principle of service de- mands of him the best effort that he can give. He will admit that it is as unjust for the workers to rob society of its rightful measure of needed goods by withhold- ing a part of their productive power as it is for manu- facturers to do so for the sake of making prices high. While thus urging upon the workers a refusal to adopt the policy of limitation of output, which has sometimes been advocated by labor unions, we think it important at the same time to make it clear that the restriction of pro- duction which is now found in many industries is not due simply to the indifference, carelessness, or apathy of the workers. In great measure the existing system of pro- duction, which affords to the workers too scant oppor- tunity for genuine interest or initiative in their work, is responsible for it. The report of the Industrial Council for the Building Industry of Great Britain showed that there are four main factors that tend to limitation of out- put, namely, (a) the fear of unemployment, which natur- ally inclines the worker to make his job last as long as possible; (b) disinclination to make unrestricted profits for private employers ; (c) a lack of interest, due to non- participation in the management of the industry; (d) inefficiency.^ The statements of Robert Smillie, one of the outstanding labor leaders in Great Britain, on this *See the discussion of this report by Malcolm Sparkes in The World Tomorrow, Dec, 1919. i WHAT CHRISTIANS CAN DO 203 point are significant: "I know that in many cases the workers are not doing what they might do, and what they would do if they were working under a different system. They do not take pride in their work, not the pride that used to be taken by the workmen of the past in turning out the best possible material. Our present sys- tem aims chiefly at getting the most possible out of the worker, and that does not lend itself in my opinion to the best relationship, nor does it lend itself to employers* doing for their workers what otherwise they would do for them."^ Nevertheless, in spite of the extenuating circumstances connected with the industrial system, we cannot too em- phatically insist that the Christian motive of service plainly requires that the workers give themselves heartily to the task of efficient production. We should point out also the fallacy of the assumption that the workers are in the long run protecting themselves by any limitation of output. For curtailed production, from whatever cause, means an economic loss to the comrnunity and therefore to the working classes who constitute so large a part of the community. A recent illustration of this is the reported discontinuance of a large piano factory in England because, if the facts are as reported, a force of more than a score of men now shows a smaller productive capacity than a third of that number showed a few years ago.i^ The greater the productivity, the greater the pros- perity for all. For increased output means lower prices, lower prices bring increased demand, increased demand means more work and higher wages. Decreased pro- ductivity, on the other hand, means higher prices, lowered demand, lessened opportunity for work, and lower wages. We are so much members one of another ""Facing the Facts," Being the Report of the Conference on The Society of Friends and the Social Order, London, 1916, pp. 56, 57. '"'See the New York Times, Feb. 6, 1920. 204 INDUSTRIAL RECONSTRUCTION that to do unjustly by others is ultimately to harm our- selves. The Christian employe will use his influence to promote honesty in the fulfilment of contracts, always insisting that agreements once entered into by a labor organization for a specified time must be strictly and con- scientiously adhered to. The violation of such contracts destroys the very foundations on which collective bar- gaining rests and makes it far more difficult to secure further agreements for the bettering of working con- ditions. If the frequent charge that labor will not keep its contracts be justified by the facts, there is very little hope of labor's securing the needed support of the general public. The honor and stability of labor or- ganizations are at stake in the way in which they fulfil their business obligations. Not only in relations with his employer but also in his relations with his fellow-workers does the Christian em- ploye have a special responsibility. He is committed to the ideal of brotherhood. He will, therefore, promote a brotherly attitude, not only toward the men above him but also toward the foreign or colored laborers below him. Workers who demand greater justice and a fuller degree of cooperation in the management of industry cannot consistently hold the attitude that they have often taken toward lower grades of labor. A recent convention of a labor organization which adopted resolutions demanding a greater degree of democracy in industry refused to admit Negroes to membership in the union. Such action is a denial of labor's own ideal. The attitude of organized and highly skilled workers toward unskilled and foreign labor has sometimes been almost as selfish. The antago- nism of men to women in industry has also been inconsist- ent with any profession of brotherhood. A democratic fellowship within industry cannot be secured by em- ployers alone. The workers must themselves bring to it an honest purpose to seek the good of all men. Surely a :i:^ WHAT CHRISTIANS CAN DO 205 democratic attitude within the ranks of labor itself is an indispensable first step in this direction. If the rising class-consciousness of the workers is not broad enough to include the less favored of their own ranks, there is small hope indeed of developing a consciousness of human solidarity. In large-scale industry the employes are hampered by the impersonal character of modern industry, which makes their moral problem as difficult, to say the least, as those of the typical stockholder or director. In trans- portation approximately one hundred per cent of the wage earners are employed by corporations; in mining ninety per cent and in manufacturing seventy-five per cent. It is under this form of organization that the great problems of industrial relations have developed. The employer is an absentee whom the workers have never seen. Inevitably they think of their employers as "capi- tal," just as the employers in such industries think of their employes as "labor." The system has become almost completely impersonalized. Furthermore, the Christian employe who is a member of a union organiza- tion has as much diffiiCulty in controlling his labor leaders and union committees as has the individual stockholder in controlling his directors or high officials. Yet, how- ever difficult the situation, the individual workman can- not evade his responsibility any more than can thci stockholder in a corporation. Most of all is it essential that the workers, who now possess but little, should seek a higher aim than their own material advantage or class power. They now criticize the capitalist and the employer as self-seeking and jealous to maintain their power. If they condemn these things in the capitalist, let them beware lest they themselves fall under the same condemnation. They must not so act as to make it clear that, if only they were in the capitalist's place, they would do exactly the things for which they now criticize him. This report has insisted that the 2o6 INDUSTRIAL RECONSTRUCTION majority of the working class, for the sake of their full self -development, should have a larger share in the joint product and in the control of the process which pro- duces it. But these things are only means to an end, and must not be allowed to obscure the goal of a society of spiritual personalities united by ties of brotherhood. 4. Christians as Consumers Some Christians are employers, some are employes, some are investors — ^but all are consumers. And it is the consumer who is the deciding factor in all business. The shopkeeeper, the wholesaler, the manufacturer, the work- man, all depend upon him. Consumers could, therefore, if they would, bring about great improvements in indus- trial conditions. Yet, generally speaking, the consumer takes no responsibility — all he does is to pay the lowest price he can find. His demand for cheapness, or for speed, or for special services of various kinds, may even be the decisive factor in bringing about industrial con- ditions that mean depriving the workers of their right to adequate income, health, and rest. Demand for "bar- gains" is, in part at least, responsible for sweatshops. Thoughtless delaying of Christmas shopping till near Christmas day means unnecessary strain and overwork for hosts of saleswomen. Our insistence on uninter- rupted service in many lines robs millions of a weekly day of rest. It is not deliberate selfishness that is responsible for such facts as these ; it is rather a lack of the imagina- tion which would enable us to see the indirect effects of our demands. We need to come to a fuller realization of the extent to which our living is bound up with the lives and fortunes of others in the intimate way which Professor George A. Coe describes : "In every bargain that I make, in every article that I use or consume, I traffic in human energies as well as in things, I relate myself to the health and happiness of men and women whom I have never seen, I take part in WHAT CHRISTIANS CAN DO 207 making their children what they become. To assume full responsibility for these acts of mine, to form a habit of seeing society as it is, and of tracing social causes and effects, and to think my very own moral life in com- munity terms — these are the rudiments of an awakened, mature Christian conscience."^^ The Christian as a consumer will, therefore, so far as he can, be concerned about the labor conditions involved in the production of goods which he uses and in the ren- dering of services of which he takes advantage. It is, of course, always difficult and often impossible for a pur- chaser to distinguish between competing wares, and generally so small a sum of money is involved in any one purchase that the incentive to investigation is weak. There is, however, at least the opportunity of cooperating with other consumers in such an organization as the Con- sumers' League, which investigates conditions under which goods are produced, and so helping to create a public sentiment that will put human values above the cheapness of goods. The Christian consumer who has the ability to purchase luxuries will maintain standards of simplicity in expendi- ture, asking himself how much he may consistently spend upon himself, in view both of the needs of the many who under existing social conditions lack even the necessities and of the appeals of many worthy social causes for his help. The homely maxim that none ought to have cake while any lack bread is thoroughly Christian. Inequal- ities of possessions there will no doubt always be so long as men have varying abilities, but self-indulgent luxury side by side with grinding poverty certainly has no place in a Christian society. The lack of brotherhood involved in needless extravagance is conspicuously clear in the case of the few who now spend ostentatiously the war profits that they gained at the expense of the nation's ""A Social Theory of Religious Education," New York, 1917, p. 103. 2o8 INDUSTRIAL RECONSTRUCTION necessity, while others were laying down their lives for the common good. But the same kind of failure in brotherhood is manifested in all extravagant expenditure in a day when there are so many clamant human calls, and when it has become clear that luxuries and trivialities can be produced only at the cost of not producing other things that humanity needs. To criticize the very rich for their extravagance is easy. It is harder, but just as important, to realize that the inequality in the distribution of wealth, which is re- sponsible for most of modern poverty, is partly caused also by the amount of wealth held by the comfortable upper-middle class. As to what one's standard should be, no one can determine for another. We live in varying circumstances and under varying responsibilities. One cannot suddenly break away from his established order of life or cut himself off from the society in which his life is involved. But the ideal of "Christian simplicity" is one that needs constantly to be held before us all. Ex- pensive habits of living create disastrous barriers between the classes who can afford them and the classes who can- not. The words of John Woolman are still pertinent: "People may have no intention to oppress, yet by enter- ing on expensive ways of life their minds may be so entangled therein, and so engaged to support expensive customs, as to be estranged from the pure sympathizing spirit."^2 Certainly there is so much truth in Woolman's view that "luxury is the seed of war and oppression," that one who is committed to an ideal of brotherhood cannot thoughtlessly follow standards of expenditure set up by others who have never even thought of determining their lives in the light of Christian principles. 5. Christians as Citizens As a citizen in the community the Christian, more than any other, should desire to know the social conditions in ""Remarks on Sundry Subjects," (1773). WHAT CHRISTIANS CAN DO 209 which his brothers live. But to understand any social situation in our complex modern life requires serious and deliberate effort. He will, therefore, study our social problems sympathetically, .seeking to ascertain the underlying causes of poverty, industrial conflict, and other unchristian aspects of our present society, and to discover constructive measures for bringing it into in- creasing conformity with the Christian ideal. Realizing that in the midst of our present uncertainty and differ- ences of view we need, above all things, untrammeled consideration of economic, industrial, and political ques- tions, he will use his influence to safeguard the right of free discussion, without which any thorough-going study or investigation is impossible. But study is of importance only as it furnishes a basis for action. Some of the steps toward a more Christian order we have considered in previous chapters. In every case it was clear that they require collective action. Evils that are produced by social forces cannot be cured by individual effort alone. They require the cooperation of Christian citizens. The direct responsibility of the individual as a citizen appears most clearly in matters that require legislation, for legislation is the action of the citizens themselves working through the representatives whom they have chosen. Laws to safeguard the health and safety of the workers, to fix maximum hours of work and minimum wages, to secure protection against old age or unemployment, or other forms of social legislation that seem to lead to a further application of Christian principles, all depend both for their enactment and for their enforcement upon the strength of public opinion which the citizens create. The general welfare of the community can be furthered by the Government only if socially-minded men and women take an adequate inter- est in it. Such legislation as seems to the Christian citizen to be conducive to a larger realization of the Christian goal 2IO INDUSTRIAL RECONSTRUCTION he will support, even of it appears to run counter to his own private interest. As a matter of fact, however, legislation directed to the conservation of the human values imperiled by the impersonal character of modern industry should be of direct help to the individual employer or investor who is trying to put his Christian principles into practice. In a world of unrestricted competition the Christian who experiments in a further attainment of Christian standards may find himself pushed from the markets by unscrupulous competitors. As citizens Christians can enact legislation which will protect their fellow-Christians who as individual em- ployers or investors undertake to act in fuller conformity with the Christian ideal. Thus far we have considered the particular responsi- bilities of individual Christians as employers, investors, employes, consumers, and citizens. The responsibility of the individual Christian as a churchman remains for us to discuss. This we cannot do apart from a consideration of what the Church should do in its corporate capacity, which will concern us in the following chapter. But what the Church as an institution is and does will be de- termined in the last analysis by the individual Christians who compose it. The individual, therefore, as a church- man, has a definite responsibility to use his influence to secure such an organization of the life of the Church and such an administration of its agencies as will most effec- tively hold up the Christian ideal and inspire its members to apply the Christian motive in all social relationships. CHAPTER VIII WHAT THE CHURCH CAN DO TO CHRISTIAN- IZE THE INDUSTRIAL ORDER One of the conspicuous characteristics of the present day is a widespread criticism of the Church. On many sides it is said that the Church is not sufficiently ac- quainted with the things that touch men's daily lives most closely; that it is indifferent to social needs, or if concerned about them unable to make its interest effective; that its social outlook is unprogressive, de- termined by those who have themselves prospered in the existing order and so are blind to its injustices and defects; that it is unduly subservient to employing and property-owning interests; that Jesus was profoundly moved by the social evils of His day but that the Church has not appreciated the social significance of His teach- ings nor borne convincing witness to them; that even within the Church itself there is a conspicuous lack of a genuinely democratic fellowship. So the more radical- conclude that the Church, like other established institu- tions, is a bulwark of privilege, an unthinking defender of the status quo, while the more sympathetic critics re- gretfully decide that, however well-intentioned the Church may be, it is practically a negligible factor in the great task of securing a better social order in the world. In all this criticism, however, there is a hopeful side. For it does not come merely from outside the Church but also from within. Those who owe their religious life to its nurture, many even of its own ministers and priests, are among the critics who voice this dissatisfac- tion. Such self-criticism is always an encouraging sign. It means that there is social vision and vigorous life within the Church, a conviction that it has a real social 211 212 INDUSTIIIAL RECONSTRUCTION mission to perform and a desire that it should fulfil that mission in the largest way. Even when criticism comes from outside the Church it is still a hopeful sign, for the very fact that the Church is criticized for not doing what men think it should do indicates that they have some appreciation of the Church's Gospel and realize what a social force the Church may be. We need not raise the question here whether the con- tacts of the Church with the so-called "laboring masses" are growing stronger or weaker. We are not here considering how the Church can best commend itself to groups with which it is now out of touch. Our concern is rather with the Church's responsibility for fulfilling its own proper mission and being true to the social implica- tions of its Gospel. The questions that we are called upon to answer, therefore, are these: What have men and women a right to expect of the Church as its dis- tinctive contribution to the solution of our industrial problems? How is it to render that service effectively? In the preceding chapter we have inquired what in- dividual Christians may do in applying the Christian motive to their practical relationships as employers, em- ployes, investors, consumers, and citizens. In the present chapter we are to consider Christian men and women in their organized corporate capacity as the Church. We wish to know how the Church as a social institution should function for the betterment of society. When we raise the question of the function of the Church in human life, the general answer is a very simple but a very far-reaching one. As the institution of re- ligion, the primary purpose of the Church's existence is to bear witness to the fact of God as revealed by Jesus Christ. This is its distinctive mission in the world, as compared with that of other institutions. Whatever else the Church may or may not do, this is the foundation on which all its other service to the individual or to society must be built. WHAT THE CHURCH CAN DO 213 But we must go further and inquire what it means to be conscious of the kind of God whom Christian faith sees revealed in the person and work of Jesus Christ. It cannot mean simply a certain emotional attitude or in- tellectual belief, which can be detached from the rest of one's experience. For the Christian, God is One who has a definite purpose for mankind, a purpose that includes all aspects of life. That purpose is the transforming of human society into what Jesus called the Kingdom of God, a social order in which all men, conscious of their sonship to God, will live with their fellows as brothers and seek the common good. To worship God, therefore, is to commit oneself to this divine goal for the whole family of men. To be truly aware of Him as Christ has made Him known is to have a socialized outlook and a socialized will. A conviction of the reality of God means also the assurance that the Christian ideal of society organized around the principle of brotherhood is more than a fanciful picture of what we would like to have if it were possible. It means that this ideal is rooted in reality, and that it is, therefore, a practicable program for mankind. Faith in God is thus an immeasurable dynamic for social action, challenging men to share in a task which is not merely of men's weak contriving but one which humanity may confidently hope to achieve because it is woven into the warp and woof of creation. It is because we are laborers together with God that we know that our labor will not be in vain in the Lord. What is involved in the Church's mission to witness to the fact of God is only partially appreciated. The institution that would interpret man's relation to God in its fullness must be interested in every question that affects personality. And since personality can fulfil it- self only in a social environment, the Church cannot per- form even its primary function with any adequacy with- out including in the range of its interests all aspects 214 INDUSTRIAL RECONSTRUCTION of our social life — industrial, economic, and political — since all these bear upon the development of human personalities and are a part of that many-sided life which the Church must interpret in the light of the fact of God and His purpose for the world. In order to discharge this function effectively, there are three things which the Church must do: First, it must win men to the Christian social ideal ; second, it must help men to understand the present conditions to which the Christian ideal must be applied ; third, it must illustrate in its own corporate life the social ideal that it proclaims. I. Winning Men to the Christian Ideal The supreme contribution which the Church in any age can make to a better social order is to win men to the Christian ideal. For neither measures nor policies are men's first need, but a clearly perceived goal, a vision of what is most to be desired and sought. This the Church has in its Gospel. The Kingdom of God gives us Jesus' picture of social relationships as they ought to be. It furnishes us, therefore, with our standard for judging the things that now are. The Church will make its most fundamental contribution to social betterment by inspir- ing men with a vision of the social ideal, by creating in them motives that lead them to work for its achievement, and by keeping alive their faith that it is attainable. The Church should be the well-spring of social idealism, of passion for brotherhood, of the spirit of sacrificial service, because its Gospel reveals to men the City of God that is being built upon the earth. Here is the moral dynamic that is the indispensable condition of genuine progress. The Church possesses not only the ideal of the social goal, but also the revelation of the way of life that makes its attainment possible.^ In the life and teaching of Jesus *See Chapter I. WHAT THE CHURCH CAN DO 215 Christ we have found the principles which would, if applied, solve our social problems. It is only as we make earnest with His teaching concerning the sacred worth of every personality, brotherhood as the primary rela- tionship among men, the obligation of mutual service, love as the controlling motive, and faith in God and in humanity, that the problems of collective living can be fully solved. To make known this way of social salva- tion is the Church's unique part in the building of the better world. Whatever else it may do is incidental to this fundamental task. To discharge this effectively it is not enough to go on repeating the words of Jesus in a conventional way, assuming that we already know all that they involve. We need to re-study His Gospel as if we had never done so before, to examine His simple teaching in a fresh effort to lay hold for ourselves of more of its present implications. A recent memorable address well declared : *'The prime function and duty of the Church today are not to evolve new ideas, but to carry to their very roots ideas with which it has long been familiar. This is the kind of radicalism that we need today and the only kind. To this degree every Christian preacher and dis- ciple should be a religious radical in our modern world."^ A fresh and vital apprehension of the meaning of the Christian Gospel and a confident and courageous procla- mation of that Gospel — this is the Church's great and distinctive contribution to the securing of a better social order. It must truly understand and make known the height and depth and length and breadth of the love of God revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord. If it will do this, it can inspire the social movement of our day with religious faith and the spirit of sacrifice. It can be the mother of hosts of social efforts that may not be con- -Raymond Calkins, "The Church and the Social Conscience," The Congregationalist, Nov. 6, 1919. 2i6 INDUSTRIAL RECONSTRUCTION nected with its name, but which are born of it and nourished at its breast. If the Church is to be effective in winning men to the Christian social ideal, both evangelism and religious edu- cation must be directed to this end. We cannot hope to Christianize social relationships unless in these two great phases of the Church's work we have a definitely social outlook and understand the social nature of our goal. a. Social Evangelism, The field of evangelism is probably less aflfected by the social movement of the present day than any other great phase of the Church's activity. Too often evangelism is still contrasted with social service, as though they were entirely separate, or even mutually exclusive, programs. The need is urgent for what has been well called "social evangelism.''^ For evangelism and social service are interdependent, each being the complement of the other. We must have evangelism because we must win men and women to Christianity. There can be no such thing as a Christian "social order" except as the men and women who live in it are Christian. And we must have social evangelism both because the individual whom we are to reach is himself a social being, placed in a social setting, and because the Christianity to which we seek to win him has a definite social goal. This means, in a word, that men must be evangelized as social beings. For that is what it means to be a man. The bare individual, as such, is an abstraction ; he exists only in relationships. Hence to win men to discipleship to Christ must mean to win them to following Him in their social relationships — in the family, in their political, and in their industrial life. "To accept Christ" must be definitely made to mean to accept Him as one's Master in "See H. F. Ward's "Social Evangelism," Missionary Education Movement, New York, 1915. WHAT THE CHURCH CAN DO 217 all one's social life. "To get right with God" must mean to square oneself with His purpose, which is a social purpose for mankind. We are not proclaiming the whole Gospel, if we allow its social content to be separated from its message to the individual soul. And men must be evangelized not only as social beings, but as social beings with specific functions in society. If they are to be won to discipleship to Christ in their indus- trial life, they must be shown what it means to follow Him in the particular work which they themselves have to do. We must therefore present the challenge of the Christian Gospel not simply to men engaged in industry, but to men as employers, as investors, as merchants, as employes, in each case interpreting the significance of the Gospel for their own functions in the social order. Within certain limits Christian evangelism has always been social in its appeal and in its results. It has appealed to men along the line of certain group relationships, par- ticularly those of the family. It has uncompromisingly declared that to be a Christian meant sexual purity, care for childhood, the dignity of womanhood, the supremacy of love. And the glory of the Christian family is the result. We must go on to make clear that to be a Chris- tian means also a certain way of life in business and in industry. Our evangelism has already had a considerable part in abolishing the liquor traffic, in attacking the social evil, and hence in securing more Christian communities. It needs now to become more conscious of its wider social goal and to aim with no less definiteness at Christian- izing all the economic and industrial and political as- pects of our community life. ^ Such an evangelism, social as well as individual in its appeal, will be able to convince men of sin and righteous- ness and judgment. For many the sense of sinfulness has grown weak because our conception of sin has not enlarged with our expanding social life. We must make all unsocial conduct appear as sin. We must make men 2i8 INDUSTRIAL RECONSTRUCTION feel their personal responsibility for the sins of the com- munity against which they have failed effectively ta protest. Men who are conscious of personal probity and rectitude must be led to realize that they participate, often unwittingly, in corporate wrongs — in our social injustice,, our poverty, our wars, our unbrotherly social order. When a man really appreciates his share of responsibility in creating or tolerating such conditions, he will cry with new conviction, ''Lord, be merciful to me, a sinner." And when we have really set before men the- Christian social ideal and have shown them the part they may have in securing it, we shall be able to proclaim with new power Jesus' own message, "Repent, for the Kingdom of God is at hand." The implanting of the Christian social ideal is, how- ever, more than an evangelistic task. It is a fundamental task of education. In a general sense the whole work of the Church, evangelism included, may be regarded as educational, since it is concerned with growing, develop- ing persons. But in a more specific sense certain aspects of the Church's work may be marked off as directly edu- cational, since they deal with the more immature members of society and employ special methods of teaching for the development of personality. It is of education in this narrower sense that we are now to speak. b. Religious Education, Few things are more characteristic of the present gen- eration than our enthusiasm for education. Since the war we have come to realize even more fully its far- reaching effect upon society. Germany was a concrete example of the fact that the civilization of a whole country can be transformed by a conscious educational process, even within the limits of a single generation. Japan also presents a similar illustration of the power of education when it is definitely directed toward molding WHAT THE CHURCH CAN DO 219 the rising generation along the lines of a definite educa- tional program.^ Education, however, is not in itself a solvent for our social ills. Everything depends upon the type of charac- ter at which the educational process aims. Unless it has a vision of the Christian ideal and is directed to Christian ends, we may be far worse off than before. Our state system of education gives no place to training in religion and the almost inevitable effect is that to the youth, who are thus being trained under the direction of the state, religion does not seem an integral part of education. Upon the Church, therefore, rests the tremendous respon- sibility of supplying the vital elements of education that our general educational system does not provide. It must interpret life in terms of a divine purpose, must develop personalities with Christian social vision and wills directed to Christian social ends, ready to act from the Christian motive of seeking the common good. In providing religious education, therefore, the Church is not simply supplying a means for its own perpetuation. It is rendering a fundamental community service, doing what secular education cannot do to lay the foundations for a better social order. The problem of Christianizing society is at heart an educational problem. Hence all the teaching agencies of the Church, the pulpit, the Sunday school, the young people's societies, the religious press, must be conscious of the Christian social goal, and be directed to securing it. When seen in this light, how pitifully inadequate our present program of religious education is found to be. The experience of the war has given us a new disclosure of the failure of the Church in its teaching capacity. In the evidence of chaplains and others who have been in close touch with that cross section of average male American humanity that we called the Army, nothing is *See Benjamin Kidd, "Science and Power." 220 INDUSTRIAL RECONSTRUCTION more striking than their almost unanimous testimony con- cerning the widespread ignorance of the men as to the meaning of Christianity. We are told, in a way that leaves little room for doubt, that the average American man does not know what we mean by the Kingdom of God as a social order that is to come upon the earth. He does not know that the Church has a social gospel and a social mission. Evidently the Church has failed to teach even those within its own membership, to say nothing of those outside its doors, the social significance of the Gospel.^ In any program of education it is the young who pre- sent the great opportunity, for they are characterized by a receptivity that diminishes with advancing years. Those who have reached maturity and have become involved in our present business and industrial order have had their point of view and social habits already largely fixed by the conditions in which they then find themselves. The young, therefore, constitute our great hope of securing a Christian social order. But the disclosures of the Army concerning the religious life and ideas of American men would seem to indicate that one may go to Sun- day school for many years, and receive instruction in the Bible, without ever coming really to understand and appreciate the Christian way of life, as opposed to other ways, or being led actually to practice it. Too often it has been considered that the Sunday school has ade- quately dealt with the social problem simply by having an occasional adult Bible class on the social principles of Tor fuller discussion of this subject see the report of the Com- mittee on the War and the Religious Outlook entitled "Rehgion among American Men ; as Revealed by a Study of Conditions in the Army," Association Press, New York, 1920. For similar conclusions reached as a result of a study of the British Army see the report of the interdenominational committee convened by the Bishop of Winchester and Professor David S. Cairns entitled, "The Army and Religion : An Inquiry and Its Bearing upon the Religious Life of the Nation," London, 1919. WHAT THE CHURCH CAN DO 221 Christianity. This is merely playing with the task. We must deliberately aim to train children and youth in habits of unselfishness and service in their present environment, and influence them to apply the same principles in the en- larging environment which is progressively opening up before them.^ In the widest sense, of course, education is simply another term for the total influence of social surround- ings upon the personality. The present unchristian economic and industrial standards are part of the sur- roundings that are influencing the formation of character. In this large view it is clear that there can be no complete Christian education until we have a Christian social en- vironment. All the more important, therefore, is it that in the educational processes which we can consciously control we should use to the full our opportunity for modifying the existing unsocial attitudes. It is through' the saving influence of the Christian home and the Church that men and women are to be raised up who will be so committed to the Christian way of life that they will gradually change the existing economic environment into conformity with the Christian ideal. Such a program of religious education as that of which we have been speaking can be carried out only as the Church can secure trained leadership. Hence the great importance of the theological seminary. In connection with every institution for the training of ministers there should be provision for courses which interpret the present problems of sociology and of economics in the light of Christianity and reveal the significance of the Gospel in its application to modern industrial problems. ®This whole question of religious education is to be discussed in detail in another report of the Committee on the War and the Religious Outlook, entitled, "The Teaching Work of the Church in the Light of the Present Situation." A pamphlet by Presi- dent W. D. Mackenzie, entitled, "The Church and Religious Education," issued by the Committee, treats the subject in a pre- liminary way. 222 INDUSTRIAL RECONSTRUCTION In the words of Professor Peabody, ^'Neither ethical passion nor rhetorical genius equips a preacher for economic judgments." If we are to have ministers capable of making sound judgments on economic and industrial questions, we must deliberately provide train- ing to this endJ To add another department of study, however, is far from enough, for much of our theological teaching is now at fault in conceiving its task as the giving of instruction in certain more or less detached departments of knowl- edge, instead of as a single process for training men to work for a Christian world. Our seminaries must not merely impart instruction in various subjects and give ac- quaintance with the methods of technical scholarship, but must give to students a vital preparation for the social task before them. They must, therefore, make clear what the Christian way of life involves under existing conditions, what a Christian society is, and how the knowledge that the students have gained in various courses is to be used in developing Christian motives and securing Christian community life. The primary contribution of the Church to securing a better social order we have found to be the holding up of the social ideal. But it is not enough to proclaim the ideal in the abstract. Its significance becomes apparent only when seen in its bearing on concrete conditions of present-day life. We need to go on, therefore, to cou- sin this connection, compare the recommendation of a commit- tee appointed by the Archbishop of Canterbury to inquire into "the ways in which the clergy, Church-workers and Church peo- ple generally of England can best cooperate with the state in all matters concerning the social life of the community": "The clergy, before they are ordained, should have received a grounding in the elements of economic and industrial problems, and after they have been ordained they should continually re- *fresh their memory and increase their knowledge by keeping themselves up to date. . . . Provision should at once be made in or by every theological college for suitable instruction, during a period of two terms at least, in the history and outline of economic and industrial problems, with special reference to the ] present day." Quoted in The Christian Work, March 20, 1920, pp. 355, 356. WHAT THE CHURCH CAN DO 223 sider the responsibility of the Church for understanding the economic and social situation in our day. 2. Promoting an Understanding of the Social Con- ditions TO Which Christian Principles Are TO Be Applied The principles of the sacredness of personality, of brotherhood, and of service have little meaning till one sees what they signify in the practical problems that he is facing every day. The Church must, therefore, speak to men where they now are and bring its principles to bear upon the life that they are actually living. It cannot Christianize them in isolation from their ordinary life. The principle of personality has to be applied in a world that still tolerates great human waste in the piling up of material goods. The principle of brotherhood has to be recognized in a society in which there is international and industrial war. The principle of service has to be brought to bear upon an economic order in which the ob- jective is generally regarded as getting as much for one- self as one can. The Church cannot develop sensitiveness of social conscience, which is the urgent need of the day, unless it takes these facts into account. We cannot effec- tively face the modern world with the standards of our Master unless we know what kind of a world it is. And the knowledge which the Church must have in order to hold forth the Christian ideal effectively must be more than a general impression of the present situation. It must have a specific knowledge of economic and in- dustrial conditions, a clear insight into the problems involved, and an intelligent understanding of definite proposals for betterment. The Church has in the past been too inclined to suppose that good will is sufficient. [But the conscience needs guidance on particular ethical pproblems quite as much as inspiration to moral purpose. rWe need not only good will but knowledge to apply it. |ln the words of the Reconstruction Program of the 224 INDUSTRIAL RECONSTRUCTION British Labor Party, "Good will without knowledge is warmth without light." It has been well said that "the Church has in every age done about what it conceived to be its duty; the trouble has lain in its understanding of its duty." It is this failure really to know the facts and to keep pace with the more complex problems of modern life that has led many men with a passion for social service and brotherhood to seek to realize their ends apart from the Church. It is this which has kept the Church content to walk in paths already well blazed, to devote itself to dispensing charity rather than to securing justice, to relieving need rather than to removing the causes that made relief necessary. It has cared for the sick and the maimed, but has not been concerned about securing work- ing conditions that would safeguard human values in the factory. It has fed the hungry, but has not struck at the industrial conditions that were chiefly responsible for poverty. It has established missions for those who were "down and out," but it has not directed its energy to modifying the system of casual labor that every year throws hundreds of thousands of men out of work and helps to replenish the ranks of the "down and out" faster than the Church can rescue them. The problem of social justice is the one great ethical problem which the Churches have not seriously touched. And this has been because they did not really understand the economic forces that were at work. In the measure that the Church truly understands social conditions it will understand its opportunity. Its failure, for example, to reach the labor movement more directly has been in large measure due to its failure to appreciate the significance of that movement. The j Church has generally condemned it as materialistic, fail- i ing to see the genuine spiritual undercurrent that lay be- neath much of the demand for better wages and hours ! and status. It has not understood that, although the im- WHAT THE CHURCH CAN DO 225 mediate and conscious objective of the workers was more material goods, they were really craving these because they are the means to more complete self-realization and more abundant life. Not until the Church perceives this fact will it have a point of contact for leading the workers into a fuller appreciation of spiritual values. The Church has also failed to recognize the interest of the labor move- ment in securing a greater equality of opportunity and a more democratic fellowship, as expressed, sometimes crudely, in its insistence on the right of collective bargain- ing. We have not realized that labor's dissatisfaction with an autocratic control is the kind of dissatisfaction that we hailed as religious when it was directed against its political expression in a Prussian type of government. Unless we appreciate the significance of these democratic aspirations of labor, how can we show that Christian democracy means duties as well as rights, that power to control means to the Christian not dictatorship but service, that democracy itself is possible only on the basis of mutual good will and readiness to seek the common good? In all such cases, it is only by understanding what the labor movement dimly seeks that we can make it see that it can find in the Gospel to which the Chris- tian Church is committed genuine fullness of life. When the Church does thus appreciate the significance of the organized efforts of the laboring group, then, and only then, will it be in a position honestly to rebuke what- ever in them is wrong. If it be true that the Church fails to be more effective in social betterment because of lack of definite knowl- edge of existing conditions and problems, one of the greatest needs is for organized research to discover and make known the facts. So important is this need, and so largely neglected, that we shall here emphasize it. a. Organized Research, Since all economic, industrial, and political problems 226 INDUSTRIAL RECONSTRUCTION are also problems affecting the development of spiritual personality, it is imperative that the Church understand them. This it can do only by a deliberate effort in that direction. There are many research agencies concerned v^ith the technical aspects of industrial questions, few or none that aim primarily to ascertain the right and wrong of them in their bearing upon human values. This, then, is the peculiar sphere for the Church's research. When, because of bias or propaganda, the facts in the case are not really known it may be necessary for the Church to discover them. More often the facts are known but need interpretation from the standpoint of Christian ethics. The Church must, to the best of its ability, tell the truth and the whole truth about the right and wrong in all industrial conditions and relations. If it be objected that to do this might mean that the Church would appear to be taking sides, we must insist that not to act at all, tolerating things as they are, is itself taking sides. Can we blame the labor leader who said that after going to Church all during a great strike in which a decent standard of living was at stake, and hearing no word of reference to the situation, he had concluded that the Church was entirely indifferent? The need for definite knowledge and Christian inter- pretation becomes particularly acute in time of strikes and other specific manifestations of class conflict. At such times simply to publish the facts in the case, to make known the conditions out of which the conflict has arisen and the ethical issues that are at Stake, is to render an important service. In such times of industrial dispute, feeling runs so high and prejudices are so strong that the public often fails to realize the actual conditions and ethical issues involved unless some impartial body carries out a careful inquiry, seeking only to know the truth and to see that justice is done. But not merely in times of crisis is research into industrial and social condi- tions needed. It is needed before the trouble begins, WHAT THE CHURCH CAN DO 227 in order that the causes that give rise to hostilities may, so far as possible, be removed by the force of enlightened Christian opinion. Such systematic study cannot usually be carried on adequately by a single local church. Hence the need for fully supported social service commissions both denom- inational and interdenominational. The denominational agency is needed because its findings v^ill carry v^eight vi^ith its own constituency. But a single denomination cannot deal adequately with a social situation that is of nation-wide significance. Hence the need for an inter- denominational social service commission, or some similar agency, that shall be properly supported by the Churches and be in a competent position to carry on research for the Church as a whole. The editor of the American Journal of Sociology well summarizes the present challenge: "Whatever may be the incidents of the next stage of relations between economic classes, there is little room for doubt that the issues will be presented by the opposing interests more or less clearly in terms of ^justice.' In so far as the churches come into notice in connection with these issues, each side will demand that the churches throw their weight on the side of 'justice,' as the respec- tive sides understand 'justice.' On such a general issue as this, the churches will be in a deplorable plight if they are unable to speak, not only positively and emphatically, but with substantial unanimity. It would be an exhibit of pitiful incompetence if, in this critical period, bodies of the ability and resources of the Protestant churches of our northern states should default their special respon- sibility for interpreting Christian justice in the circum- stances peculiar to the times. . . . Next to fundamentally upright purpose the most essential prerequisite to judicial conclusions is adequate information. ... It is within the power of our churches to command the information nec- essary to give religion its appropriate influence upon the issues we are discussing. ... A church which has no positive attitude, no definite policy, toward the group of problems thus indicated, can scarcely hope to impress men 228 INDUSTRIAL RECONSTRUCTION whose lives pivot upon these problems as dealing with anything very close to reality."^ The writer concludes by recommending the estab- lishment of "a permanent commission for investigation into, and report upon, near and remote causes and details of any economic class conflicts . . . not as attempted arbitrators but as accredited representatives of associated churches, with the aim of, so far as possible, exhausting all the material facts in the given case, especially those which have any appreciable bearing upon principles of justice." Whether such a formal commission be estab- lished or not, the need of continued, patient, and well organized research into the ethical aspects of present in- dustrial problems by an expert agency of the Church is a fundamental need.^ While such central agencies are indispensable, they are not in themselves sufficient for the Church's whole task of research. The spirit of inquiry must be stimulated throughout the entire Church. Particularly important is it that Church members who belong to a given economic group should consider together how the Christian prin- ciples can be carried further in their application to their own economic field. An outstanding attempt in this direction has been made by the now well-known group of British Quaker Employers, who came together to con- sider their responsibility as at once Christians and employers. The plan which they have thus initiated might well be followed by similar groups of Christian manufacturers, merchants, laborers, bankers, farmers. ^Dean A. W. Small, "The Church and Class Conflicts," Ameri- can Journal of Sociology, March, 1919. *The Commission on the Church and Social Service of the Federal Council of the Churches of Christ in America is devel- oping a research department that has already done considerable effective work. Similar work has lately been carried on by the Industrial Relations Department of the Interchurch World Movement. The importance of the social service agencies is developed more fully in a later section. WHAT THE CHURCH CAN DO 229 and others, each seriously considering what is the special responsibility of Christian men and women engaged in these various lines of economic activity.^ ^ If we were really to have men seriously inquiring as to what Chris- tian principles imply, not simply for industry in general but for particular economic functions, we should have powerful influences at work for securing a better social order. For the Church really to keep in touch with industrial conditions and to understand industrial problems, how- ever, will require something more than research and study. There must be first-hand contacts between the Churches and the men and women in the ranks of in- dustry. These contacts the Church now has only to a pitifully meager extent. The methods by which wider and more intimate contacts can be secured cannot be pre- scribed in any definite way, but a brief mention of plans that have been found practically helpful, such as the Church forum, the exchange of fraternal delegates with labor organizations, and the activities of social service commissions, may well be made. 6. The Church Forum, Within the last few years the Church forum has begun to be used as an agency for discussing social questions affecting the community. It affords an important avenue both for bringing Church members into closer touch with conditions in the community and with proposals for social betterment, and for reaching unchurched groups. Its success has been found to depend largely on its being what its name implies, a genuine open forum. It ^°For a fuller discussion of this question see the pamphlet en- titled, "Christian Aspects of Economic Reconstruction," written by Herbert N. Shenton, Chief of the Reconstruction Research Division of the Council of National Defense, and issued by the Committee on the War and the Religious Outlook in the series of pamphlets under the general heading "The Religious Outlook." 230 INDUSTRIAL RECONSTRUCTION is not a propagandist agency, but a platform for the pre- sentation and discussion of any plan affecting the public welfare, an opportunity to hear all sides of the question and to learn the facts. Only as there is a spirit of fearless inquiry and freedom to express differing points of view can it fulfil the distinctive purpose for which it exists. Such a forum may often seem to deal with problems not directly connected with the Church. But it is better to discuss any social question in the atmosphere of re- ligion than in an atmosphere entirely apart from religion. And there is always an opportunity for members of the Church to interpret the problem under discussion from the standpoint of Christianity. In this way the message of Christianity may indirectly be brought home to the minds and hearts of many who are not reached by the usual services held under the auspices of the Church. The significance of the Church forum has been well summarized by the minister of the Broadway Tabernacle in New York, in closing a recent series of sermons : "It is the urgency of social and industrial problems which explains the rise and progress of the Church forum. Church leaders are coming to see everywhere that we must have discussion meetings, as well as meetings for Bible study and worship. The Sunday school came at the close of the eighteenth century in response to a crying need. The forum has now arrived because we cannot well get on without it. The time has come when in all our large city Churches the forum will be con- sidered every whit as important as the Sunday school.''^^ "The Ford Hall forum in Boston, organized by the Boston Baptist Social Union, is one of the best known communitj- forums in the country. Of the forums carried on under the auspices of a congregation, that of the Church of the Ascension in New York is one of the best known. For further informa- tion concerning the forum plan address George W. Coleman, president of the Open Forum National Council, 80 Boylston Street, Boston, or The Commission on the Church and Social Service of the Federal Council of the Churches of Christ in America, 105 East 22nd Street, New York. WHAT THE CHURCH CAN DO 231 ! r. Fraternal Relations with Labor Organisations, The general impression held by many labor leaders that the Church and its ministers have no real concern for working men is due in large measure not to the indiffer- ence of the ministers, but to the fact that they do not know how to find practical contacts with the workers. That such contacts are needed in order to develop ac- quaintance, appreciation of each other's ideals, and mutual understanding is obvious, but how are the points of contact to be had? A plan that has been found of practical value is the sending of fraternal delegates by Churches or Church assemblies to labor union meetings covering correspond- ing areas. The courtesies thus extended by Churches in sending representatives to the labor unions have often been cordially reciprocated by the labor conventions' sending their own representatives to the Churches. This plan, frequently tried both by denominational assemblies and by the Federal Council of Churches, has served to further the desired end of better mutual acquaintance and understanding.^^ The fraternal delegate has a unique opportunity to express to the workers his own interest in their problems and the interest of the religious body that he represents. This may go far toward removing misunderstandings concerning the Church's real motive and attitude on the part of working people, as well as the uninformed preju- dices of the Church against organized labor. The pres- ence of a representative of the Church at the councils of labor is generally heartily welcomed, since his participa- tion in their deliberations is an assurance to the public "Opportunities of contacts, not only with labor organizations but also with other groups may wisely be sought. Chambers of Commerce, Rotary Clubs, and, more particularly, organizations of social workers such as the Consumers* League and the Na- tional Child Labor Committee, all afford opportunities for fuller understanding of social conditions and cooperation in meeting social needs. 232 INDUSTRIAL RECONSTRUCTION that their proposals are of a worthy character. On the other hand, the Church is afforded an unusual oppor- tunity to gain insight into the significance of the labor movement and to appreciate its endeavors to better in- dustrial conditions and to attain a status of self-respect in industry. Although the fraternal delegate to a labor union con- vention will usually not feel free to make a direct evan- gelistic appeal, he has a genuine opportunity . for great religious influence. His own personal character and his interest both in religion and in the bettering of the social order may go far toward bringing to the workers a new conception of the significance of the Church and of their own need of religion. d. Social Service Commissions, If this report is right in its interpretation of the sig- nificance of Christianity for our modern social life, the importance of well-supported and effective social service commissions or similar agencies in the Churches can hardly be exaggerated. We have ^already referred to the necessity for such organizations, in order to carry on thorough study of industrial problems to which Christian principles are to be applied. Such commissions also afford a means for educating the Church in its social responsibility. They provide natural points of contact with organized labor, expressing to the labor movement the interest of the Church in all problems affecting human welfare and destiny, and helping to lead the Church into a fuller appreciation of the aims and ideals of the labor movement. Most important of all, they are a concrete visible embodiment of the Church's vital concern for securing more Christian social relationships and a social order based on justice and brotherhood. All the important tasks of the Church need specialized agencies. We do not assume that the task of carrying the Christian Gospel to other lands will be achieved WHAT THE CHURCH CAN DO 233 without the building up of missionary organizations for Ihis purpose. No more can we expect that the fuller application of the Gospel to wider areas of our social life will be realized without a similar deliberate effort to promote the movement in the Church. Yet, as a matter of fact, our social service commissions are among the most poorly supported agencies of the Church. The work that they have done has usually been the result of the devotion of a few men, rather than of the rank and file of the Church. In spite of these limitations, the educational value of the social service commissions has been very great. Their value and sig- nificance have been abundantly demonstrated and claim from the Church a more hearty and generous recognition than they have yet begun to receive. But any social service commission, however well or- ganized, can achieve significant results only to the degree that it is really representative of the spirit of the Church itself. If we are most effectively to hold up the Christian ideal, it must be embodied in the life of the whole Church. The Word must become flesh and dwell among us if men are to behold its glory. That which has given the Chris- tian ideal its power has always been its incarnation in Jesus Christ. So today its greart appeal must be through its incarnation in the Church as the corporate body of Christ. We need, finally, to consider the ways in which the Church in its own life as an institution can illustrate the working out of the social ideal that it proclaims. 3. Illustrating the Christian Idfal in the Churches Corporate Life The extent to which the Church as an institution shall itself engage in practical activities of social betterment is one which cannot be answered by a generalization. This must necessarily be determined in large measure by the special conditions in which a given church finds itself. Every local church should have its own forms of social 234 INDUSTRIAL RECONSTRUCTION ministry, which it carries on in the interest of the com- munity welfare, and the particular conditions in certain communities may lay upon the Church the responsibility for a great program of practical service. Certainly if there are human needs which are not being met by other agencies, they present to the Church a clear call either to undertake a program of special effort in its own name or to see that other means of meeting the need are called into being. The distinctive function of the Church, however, in the securing of a better social order does not lie in a multitude of independent administrative efforts, but in being the never-ceasing inspiration of such efforts by all Christian men in their various capacities as employers, employes, or socially-minded citizens. The Church should by its preaching so effectively hold up the Chris- tian ideal, and make so clear what is involved in its appli- cation to the existing social conditions of the present day, that it will be constantly sending out its members to give themselves whole-heartedly to social betterment and thus be the great dynamic of a host of practical endeavors toward a more Christian society. In downtown centers in most of our industrial cities there is beyond question a tremendous need for strong, well-equipped, highly socialized churches. The present failure of the Church to touch industrial groups more effectively is due, in considerable part at least, to the failure of the Churches to go where the workers are. The Churches have tended to move away from the areas of the cities where the working people live to the more attractive residential sections. It therefore comes about that when the laboring classes are reached by organized religious forces at all, it is often only through some unattractive mission or chapel on a side street, with no facilities for ministering to community needs. Under such conditions it is small wonder that the Church does not reach the rank and file of the working people, and that they feel the WHAT THE CHURCH CAN DO 235 Church is too much concerned with the prosperous and dominant classes of society to embody very effectively the spirit of the Master. The situation clearly calls for the establishment of well-supported, democratically organ- ized, and serving churches in congested neighborhoods, led by men with social vision who appreciate the aims of the labor movement and are ready to cooperate with its efforts to secure living wages, reasonable hours, and a better status in industry. Such churches should repre- sent all churches in the city and be the channel through which their common interest is expressed. ^^ Not only the individual churches but also the denom- inations in their organized capacity have ways in which they can illustrate their own ideals. Most of the de- nominational organizations carry on business activities on a considerable scale. They are often employers of hun- dreds of men and women, particularly in building enter- prises and printing establishments. They are also in- vestors of large funds. In each of these fields the Church has, therefore, a magnificent opportunity to set an example of the application of Christian principles to business, which will not only reveal to men the sin- cerity of the Church's professions, but also serve as a model for imitation by others. As an employer the Church can and should stand heartily for the right of labor to organize and bargain collectively as a means of bettering working conditions. Unless the Church is to do this, it is futile for it to make commendable pronouncements on industrial problems. Whatever ground there is for the charge, sometimes heard in labor circles, that the Church is an unsatisfactory employer ought to be removed once for all. Moreover, ^'The Labor Temple in New York City, maintained by the Presbyterian Board of Home Missions, is a well-known example of such a church. In this conection William P. Shriver's mono- graph on "The New Home Mission of the Church," issued by the Committee on the War and the Religious Outlook, is signi- ficant. 236 INDUSTRIAL RECONSTRUCTION the Church might well experiment further than other employers in the democratic organization and manage- ment of industry. It would thus convince labor of its genuine concern for a better status for industrial workers and might prove a pioneer in effort to secure an organiza- tion of industry that will be more consonant with the Christian ideal of brotherhood. As an investor of funds the Church has another opportunity, particularly in these days of great financial campaigns, to set new standards by making its first con- sideration not the size of the financial return from the investment, but the extent to which it ministers to social welfare. The Church may even be called upon to accept a lower rate of interest for the sake of encourag- ing projects of distinct social utility. Certainly it should deliberately refuse to accept dividends that should go into better tenements, higher wages, or better conditions of labor.i^ The comment of a distinguished economist upon the discovery that a church in New York was deriv- ing a part of its revenues from the ownership of un- satisfactory tenement houses is pertinent : ''When those charged with funds to further the mission of Christ can permit them to be invested in insanitary and immoral tenements, not much regard for public welfare is to be expected from ordinary investors."^^ When all is said and done, it remains true that what- ever else the Church may do to secure the adoption of Christian principles in social relationships, its greatest opportunity in this direction lies in actually being, in its own corporate life, the kind of a brotherhood which it proclaims as the social ideal. If it is not itself a truly democratic fellowship, it will have pitiably small influence in securing a brotherly fellowship in the world at large. "For fuller discussion of this subject see the pamphlet entitled "Christian Principles and Industrial Reconstruction," written by- Bishop Francis J. McConnell and published by the Committee on War and the Religious Outlook. ^^H. R. Seager, "Introduction to Economics," p. 251. I J WHAT THE CHURCH CAN DO 237 A group of our fellow-Christians in England have well summarized this challenge to the Church : "The Church ought to be distinguished from the world by the type of common life into which her members are drawn, a life of simplicity and discipline, of practical fellowship and brotherhood, in which the joyous and affectionate atmosphere of a Christian family is extended to the congregation worshiping at a common altar, and, beyond that, to the whole body of the Church. This must be her challenge to the present social order — no more denunciation of wrong, but the exhibition, in the communities, of men and women worshiping in her Churches, of the power of Christianity to establish a new earthly relationship, reflecting a spiritual unity which transcends all social distinction of class or wealth. Through such a divine esprit de corps she will convince the world of the presence of Christ in His Church and will rebuke by life as well as by word the social in- justices unworthy of a Christian nation."^^ If the Church is itself to incarnate its social ideal, it must also be characterized by the spirit of freedom which we have found to be inseparable from the Christian method of social betterment. The Church has always declared that "where the spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty." This must be true of its attitude toward social questions. In its fellowship there are, and will continue to be, men and women united in loyalty to the Christian social ideal but holding widely divergent views con- cerning practical procedure. The Church itself, in its corporate capacity, cannot tie itself to any formal economic program. But within the Church there must be full freedom for individuals to champion the par- ticular points of view and to work for the particular pro- grams that they believe to be wise and right. Within its fellowship there must be room, therefore, for the more radical and prophetic spirits whose acceptance of the Christian ideal leads them to espouse a more extreme '"Archbishops' Third Committee of Inquiry, entitled "The ' Evangelistic Work of the Church," London, 1918. 238 INDUSTRIAL RECONSTRUCTION program than most of their fellow-Christians are now ready to follow. However divergent their judgments as to practical ways and means, those who profess the Christian faith are bound together by loyalty to a com- mon goal. One is their Master, even Christ, and hence they all alike have a place within the Christian family. And, finally, the Church that in its own life would fully illustrate the Christian social ideal must recognize its own unity and find ways to give it practical expression. A divided Church cannot convince the world of the oneness of humanity. If human solidarity be the Christian goal, surely the Church first of all must incarnate that ideal in its own corporate life. How else can it bear full witness to the one God whose purpose all the Churches seek to realize? How else can it bring the ideal of Jesus effec- tively to bear upon the conscience of the world ? ■ APPENDIX I THE HISTORIC ATTITUDE OF THE CHURCH TO ECONOMIC QUESTIONS REV. FRANK M. CROUCH I. The Economic Teaching and Practice of the Early Church Just how poor Jesus and the original twelve were has long been a matter of controversy. Whether, as some commentators maintain, on the acknowledged basis of several statements of his own, he and his disciples lived a practically hand-to-mouth existence, or whether, as has been maintained on the basis of other passages in the gospel story, they were not actually below the poverty line^ — to use our modern terminology — it is clear that the original Messianic community which grew up in Jeru- salem after the Ascension could not have been super- abundantly endowed with this world's goods. Consider the situation. The earliest evangelistic efforts of the apostles were carried on at a time when the population of the Holy City was reenforced by the annual increment represented by the pilgrims arriving at the religious capital for the celebration of their deliverance *The controversy on this point especially involves what some critics have called the "Ebionitic" character of the Third Gospel — with its evident animus against wealth and the wealthy, as evidenced by the episode of the rich young ruler and by the drastic form of the first beatitude ("Blessed are ye poor," in contrast with Matthew's "Blessed are the poor in spirit'') y and in favor of the dispossessed classes. Was this Ebionitic element an "importation," under the influence of the Jewish-Christian cult of poverty, which affected one section of the converts to the new faith, or an original element of the Gospel? It is significant that all the Synoptists give the pertinent logion: "It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God" — which recent commentators are dis- posed to interpret in a less metaphorical sense than has long been the fashion — as also "Sell that which thou hast and give to the poor" (Matt. 19:21, Mark 10:21, Luke 18:22, 12:33). Two of the Synoptics also contain the logion: "The Son of man hath not where to lay his head" (Matt. 8:20, Luke 9:58). 239 240 INDUSTRIAL RECONSTRUCTION from Egypt. The fact that so many Jews of the Dis- persion came from what must have been, in that day, considerable distances, and at considerable expense, would seem to indicate that these particular devotees had some surplus income, yet the analogy of modern religious pilgrimages should be sufficient to prove beyond reason- able doubt that a large proportion of these returning Jews must have made considerable financial sacrifice for the purpose. In many instances, doubtless, they pledged their household goods, and in other cases trusted to the help of the faithful along the pilgrim route. It was, it must always be remembered, as much from the ranks of these expatriates and from those living in the outlying regions of Palestine, as from the resident population of Jeru- salem, that the recruits of the new religion came. From the very nature of the case many of these, transported by their enthusiasm, made, like the apostle Paul, sub- stantially a clean break with their former lives and liveli- hood and settled down in Jerusalem to learn more of the new teaching and to give practical proof of their soli- darity with the blessed company of all faithful people. Though many of these no doubt found work in their new habitat, yet it is evident that there must have been some difficulty in their industrial absorption, and probably many of the recent converts from the ranks of the Dis- persion were unable to secure employment. It is these considerations which give significance to the two experiments recorded in the early chapters of the Book of Acts — the holding of all things in common and the appointment of the seven, who by earlier com- mentators were inaccurately identified with the later diaconate. It has long been the fashion, at least until recently, to depreciate the former of these expedients and to assume, on a priori economic grounds, that this tenta- tive practice of Christian communism must necessarily have been of short duration. Whether the obvious lapse of the experiment, however, is to be explained in this way I HISTORIC ATTITUDE OF THE CHURCH 241 or, on the other hand, as a result of the later corruption of the faithful is a matter with which we need not here concern ourselves. The fact is, as the biblical records show, that these early Christians did pool their resources, frankly accepting as their economic program, "From each according to his ability, to each according to his need." To say that this practice on the part of the early Church is to be explained largely through the preoccupa- tion of the primitive Christian community with the imminent Second Coming of their Lord is perhaps to bring a more serious objection against the validity of the experiment for the modern Church. When, such critics point out, the Church lost its original Messianic char- acter, ceased to believe in the imminent return of Christ, and settled down into a family Church, whose members married and gave in marriage and in process of time brought their children into their own membership, neces- sarily the spontaneous surrender of individual posses- sions had to be revoked in favor of a common sense economic program. These critics, however, leave out of consideration the very drastic comment made upon the institution of private property by the most representative leaders and fathers of the early Church up to and even through the Nicene period. Such teachers as Clement of Alexandria, Chrysostom, Ambrose, Lactantius, and their medieval successors, with some qualifications, main- tained that the institution of private property is inde- fensible. A frequent term applied to private property by the Latin fathers was usurpatio — robbery.^ The com- ^Readers who wish some of the loci classici on this point are referred to the Ante-Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers (English translation), passim; Conrad Noel, "Socialism in Church History," Ch. IV (Milwaukee, 191 1) ; Bishop Charles Gore, et a/., "Property; Its Duties and Its Rights," Ch. IV (London, 1915) ; The Report of the Archbishops' Fifth Committee of Inquiry on "Christianity and Industrial Problems," Ch. Ill (London, 1918) ; Boehm-Bawerk, "Capital and Interest," (English translation, 1890) Chap. I. 242 INDUSTRIAL RECONSTRUCTION mon refrain of these and other Church leaders was that God had made all things in common for all men, that the earth was the Lord's and the fullness thereof — for the benefit of His creatures.^ That personal wealth was viewed by at least some early Church leaders as the root of all evil is patent to the modern reader who reads what St. James has to say with reference to the rich men whom, because they dared to thrust themselves into the front pews and oust their poorer brethren, he bids "go howl/' The "intrusion of riches" is in fact the burden of a great part of this par- ticular epistle. Its writer views private wealth as tend- ing to negate the original unity and coherence of the early Christian household, and sees in the rich pewholder a menace to the continued integrity of the newly established religion. As a counterbalance to this theory of the early Church that property was meant not for individual enjoy- ment but for social utility, may be set another theory of the same Church — namely, that idleness and vaga- bondage, social sycophancy or parasitism, had no place in the Christian economy. "He who will not work neither let him eat" was a Pauline dictum which found an echo in the famous Didache (Teaching of the Twelve Apostles) and in other utterances.^ Every able bodied Christian was expected to find an occupation which would enable him both to support himself and, if passible, to have some surplus to contribute to the needs of his less ^In the Middle Ages, as we shall see, this doctrine was some- what mitigated in effect by concessions — on the part of repre- sentative canonists and theologians of the Church — allowing a limited amount of private property in view of the weakness of the flesh. See Sections II and III below. *So common did the practice of what may be called "Chris- tian parasitism" become that it was found necessary for bishops to issue letters of recommendation of visitors to neighboring churches. If a Christian "traveler" could not produce his credentials he could not claim hospitality or support by the local congregation for more than three days. See the Didache, Chs, XI-XIII. HISTORIC ATTITUDE OF THE CHURCH 243 fortunate brethren. As the Master of them all had been a carpenter, and the great Apostle to the Gentiles a tent- maker, glorying in his capacity for self-support, so the vast majority of the rank and file of Christendom in these early days were manual toilers. Not only was this the result of Christian teaching, but the outcome in great part of primitive Christian evangelistic methods, which without much doubt may be held to have been largely analogous to those of the Salvation Army. Street-corner preaching would naturally draw recruits not from the social and intellectual elite, but from the lower grades of the society of the day, to whom in their outcast and down- cast state the Gospel came with a new message of hope.^ The good news, indeed, was preached to the slaves of Caesar's household before it was preached to Caesar him- self ; it was not until a later day that the upper social strata were permeated by the new teaching, which then drew recruits from the aristocratic and plutocratic ele- ment. The proletarian character of the primitive Church — so marked that a modern student has observed that the original Church councils might have been looked upon as labor conferences^ — not only accounts for but enforces the solemn duty laid upon the primitive Christians of working for their own livelihood and the relief of their indigent fellows. The result, however, of the impact upon their daily industrial exertions of a religion which laid primary stress upon rectitude, probity, integrity, sobriety, and industry, was an increased efficiency in productive enterprise which brought them into cornpeti- tion with the non-Christian elements of urban popula- tions '^ and ultimately drew down upon them active '^The common meal or love feast (agape), for a considerable time associated with the Lord's Supper (Eucharist), may be taken as a historic evidence of the eleemosynary character of the early Church, rendered necessary by the practical destitution of so many of the original members. 'C. Noel, op. cit. ^"Wherever there has been a pure and elevated type of Christi- anity, there Christians have exhibited these virtues (industry. 244 INDUSTRIAL RECONSTRUCTION persecution, which, though it appeared as religious, was probably largely determined by economic and social con- siderations. What has just been said refers, of course, to the mem- bers of the primitive Church who did not belong to the servile class. It is a commonplace that the new religion at the outset accepted the institution of slavery, which later fell before the impact of the principles of democ- racy and equality implicit in the Christian faith. St. Paul's counsel to masters to treat their slaves kindly and to slaves to render faithful service is too familiar to need any emphasis here. Yet though the early Church did not challenge slavery as wrong in itself, there was an increasing tendency on the part of Christian masters to liberate their slaves. In the immediate period with which we are concerned it does not appear that any par- ticular stress was laid upon the necessity or virtue of this process ''unless such liberation seemed necessary to the end of Christian living by the specific bondsmen. The fathers in fact were prone to discount earthly, as opposed to heavenly or spiritual, freedom (though this must not be pressed too far). Made free in Christ, why should the slave desire to be released from his temporal bonds, especially since the Christian thought of that day con- sidered the slave better oif with a Christian master than free, that is, without desirable restraint?"^ As time sobriety, thrift, forethought, mutual helpfulness) in somewhat greater degree than non-Christians. This simply means that they have wasted less of their energy in vice, dissipation, brawling, or in riotous living, than their non-Christian neighbors. Econo- mizing their energy, they were able to prevail over those who wasted theirs. Sometimes, however, war and persecution (italics ours) have been resorted to to check this economic growth" (Thomas N. Carver, "Principles of Rural Economics," pp. 348-9, New York, 1911). Wesley, noticing the phenomenon implied in this excerpt, feared that the very commercial success of his converts would corrupt their faith. ^Quoted from "Social Aspects of Church History: the Early Period" (issued by the Joint Commission on Social Service of the Protestant Episcopal Church) New York, 1917. "The slave once inside the Church was accorded, in the eye of the faithful, the same privilege and honor as the free member." HISTORIC ATTITUDE OF THE CHURCH 245 passed, however, the conscience of the Church and of individual members became more sensitive on the ques- tion, and the practice of manumission not only spontane- ously increased but v^as deliberately encouraged by Church leaders. Church property, including even com- munion plate, was sold or pledged to ransom slaves as well as prisoners in general. This, however, did not prevent the Church of the post-Constantinian day from accepting the institution of serfdom into which slavery passed on the fall, and even before the fall, of the Empire. It remained for the German peasants in Luther's day to state the true Christian position : "It has been the custom hitherto for men to hold us as their own property, which is pitiable enough, considering that Christ has delivered and redeemed us all, the lowly as well as the great, by the shedding of His precious blood. Accordingly it is consistent with Scripture that we should be free and should wish to be so. . . . We therefore take it for granted that you will release us from serfdom as true Christians, unless it should be shown us from the Gospel that we are serfs."^ 2. The Influence of the World (Empire) on the Church's Economic Doctrine When Christianity triumphed the right of private prop- erty, as appertaining both to individual Christians and the corporate Church, was admitted and encouraged. This was partly the result and partly the cause of the entrance into the Church, through genuine conversion or for pur- poses of policy, of the upper classes, particularly after Constantine's espousal of the new religion. To say that the Church conquered the empire is but to say in effect, with reference to the present issue, that the empire conquered the Church. In other words, the economic "Article 3 of the Twelve Articles (reproduced in J. S. Schapiro, "Social Reform and the Reformation," Columbia University- Studies in History, Economics, and Public Law, vol. xxxiv, 1909). 246 INDUSTRIAL RECONSTRUCTION theory and practice upon which the imperial pagan society had been based got the upper hand of the original Christian principle. In this process the Roman law, based as it was upon a frank recognition of the sacro- sanctity of private property, was largely influential.^^ On no side more than the economic is the deleterious influence of the whole pagan civilization on the Church perceptible. Wealth, coming into the victorious Church, either through conversion or through inheritance, affected the original simplicity of the Christian ideal by splitting the strong social solidarity of the primitive Christian community and, in effect, negating the idea of the Church as a company of faithful people whose individual inter- ests were the interest of all. We can scarcely credit any substantial equality of position inside the ranks of the now enlarged Christian communion as between the pro- letarian and the patrician classes. The conversion of Caesar did not necessarily make for the liberation of the slaves of his household or for any perceptible change in their relations, though in many instances this effect is known to have taken place. But when there came into the Church a class of idle, profiteering, or ex- ploiting rich they did not cease to maintain their posi- tion as against their "inferior" brethren — with the result that the effort to apply Christian principles to social and economic relations, possible so long as the Church grew by smaller accretions, was now defeated. As a matter of fact, for reasons connected with the persecu- tions, the Church was now not so much concerned with these things as in the earlier days when, though haled before magistrates in Jerusalem, its members were not decimated as under the later drastic efforts of the passing empire to suppress a religion which struck at its vitals. When martyrdom was a probable result of professing the I *®It must never be forgotten that the codification of the Roman law which we associate with the names of Theodosius and Justinian was the work of nominally Christian emperors. HISTORIC ATTITUDE OF THE CHURCH 247 new faith, economic relations naturally were shunted into the background and other-worldliness in a very practical sense usurped the stage of consciousness, whether of the individual Christian or of the Church at large. When, on the other hand, the persecutions passed it was under conditions which threw into dominance inside the Church the governing and possessing class, which had been but a negligible minority of its membership in the earlier days. Not only did the lay members of the Church thus re- verse its primitive economic teaching, but its leaders suffered from a corruption of motive and aim. Benefac- tions — in the shape of legacies, subventions, gifts, endow- ments showered upon the Church by emperors, wealthy widows, grateful convalescents, and others — by the very force of economic gravity deflected the Church from her original purity of purpose and not only turned many of the clergy into legacy-hunters, as Jerome laments, but bound her to the treasures which moth and rust corrupt. At a later date monasteries and abbeys fell a victim to this process of "secularization." Meantime, in the period with which we are now concerned, the clergy, as at least a partial result of the growing opportunity for the ac- quisition of property both individual and collective, turned increasingly to lucrative investment of their funds — in such measure indeed that, in order to avert scandal. Church councils and popes had to pass decrees forbidding the clergy to engage in commercial activity. No decrees, however, were potent to dispel the growing pomp and ostentation which became the normal accompaniment of ecclesiastical offices and ceremonies and helped to divert the mind of the Church from the fundamentals of her religion The result was that the Church, which had originally sided with the downcast and downtrodden, now inevitably tended to align itself with privilege and to emasculate the original teaching, "From each According to his ability, to each according to his need," into a doctrine of so-called 248 INDUSTRIAL RECONSTRUCTION "stewardship" whose practice depended upon "super- fluity" of personal possessions. At the same time a growing tendency, as the Middle Ages came in, to recog- nize social castes and varying economic resources as necessary for the maintenance of the dignity attached thereto, introduced disturbing elements into the original Christian attitude on economic questions. Meantime the Church as an institution found itself in the contradic- tory attitude of maintaining feudal estates worked by its own serfs^i for the purpose not only of filling its coffers for necessary works of charity, but of increasing its own pomp and circumstance, and of contributing in all too many instances directly to the selfish aggrandisement of ecclesiastical overlords, who too frequently vied with the secular feudal dignitaries in power, wealth, position, and worldly ambition. 3. Reaction in the Middle Ages toward the Prim- itive Christian Teaching with Regard to Economic and Industrial Relations ^The decline of trade following the fall of the Western empire resulted in the triumph of Christian social ethics over the imperial. When the Western empire finally went to ruin it carried with it the whole imperial economy. The prosperity of Rome, which had de- pended under the Republic on the cultivation of the soil mainly by free farmers, had gradually, under the im- perial regime, come to rest on an agrarian system based upon slave labor — as the result of the killing off of the original cultivators, who had been drafted progressively "The original monastic orders in the West, it must be remem- bered, through insistence on the gospel of daily labor were able — and indeed made it a virtue — to subsist on the personal work of their individual members, among whom different tasks were apportioned on the basis of adaptability or convenience, agri- culture being the fundamental monastic work. Later, as the orders acquired wealth and the towns and trade revived or sprang up de novo, it was possible to relieve the monks of the harder forms of manual labor except for disciplinary purposes. HISTORIC ATTITUDE OF THE CHURCH 249 into the conquering legions. But agriculture carried on by helots has never proved successful in the long run, and Rome found it so. In the later days of the empire, it was necessary to replace, so far as possible, slave labor on the farms by semi-free tillers of the soil (coloni). The colonate thus established did something to delay the de- cline and fall of Rome, but could not permanently hold the decay of the imperial order in check, and when the barbarian inroads occurred in successive waves the new agrarian institution offered the means of a facile transi- tion to the serfdom on which the medieval rural economy was founded. The coloni, part free, part slave, passed into the serfs attached to the soil, who still had certain recognizable privileges. On this basis the medieval manor as the successor of the Roman villa became a self- subsisting economic unit, producing substantially all the commodities required for its own consumption and ulti- mately acquiring a surplus which lay at the base of medieval exchange or commerce. The Church, as the heir of the empire, came into possession of manorial holdings under prelates as potent as the secular lords or monastic orders, whose fields, not only through free gift but frequently through actual en- croachment, acquired an area rivaling that of the secular demesnes. These ecclesiastical holdings, accepting the feudal basis as their necessary substructure even though in many instances mitigating the condition of the serfs, reenforced the status quo and encouraged its continu- ance.i2 jn other words, so far as the rural economy was concerned, the Church accepted the existing regime and profited by it. "It may be noted that no general council or synod of the medieval Church ever officially condemned serfdom or slavery, though local synods and individual churchmen opposed both institutions. On the monastic holdings at a somewhat later date, see the striking chapter (VIII) in A. Luchaire, "Social France at the Time of Philip Augustus," (translated by E. B. Krehbiel, New York, 1912). <2So INDUSTRIAL RECONSTRUCTION In the towns the situation was somewhat different.^* Many of these had either dedined or passed out of ex- istence with the fall of the Western empire, but in course of time others took their places and some decadent com- munities revived. This was partly the result of the splitting off from former manorial estates of groups of serfs who set up as urban artisans. As government be- came more stable, however, and western European society in general recovered from the shock of the fall of Rome, industry began once more to get on its feet, and in the process the Church played a not negligible role. Just as the monasteries were a contributing factor in the development of medieval agriculture — so much so that when they declined agriculture declined — they had a perceptible effect upon the development of industrial life through their revived gospel of work. Not only were the monks tillers of the soil but they became artisans, making clothes and the tools of husbandry, manufacturing books, erecting their cloistral buildings. In this way monastic labor, though the ascetic motive was largely dominant, substantially tended toward the revival and development of manual work.^** But a more direct effect of the medieval Church on the new urban economy may be found in its attitude on the following subjects : a. Usury, The Justinian code had frankly accepted usury or interest as the penalty {poena conventionalis) inflicted upon the borrower who defrauded the lender of his loan — interest {inter esse) in this case representing the difference between what the creditor's position actually was and what it would have been if the borrower ^'On this matter, cf. William Cunningham, "Christianity and Economic Science," Ch. IV (New York, 1914) ; also Mrs. J. R. Green, "English Town Life in the Fifteenth Century." "Other aspects of monastic labor have been indicated in a fore- going note. Moreover, the monasteries became the first trade schools. See Joseph Husslein, "Democratic Industry," Ch. XVI (New York, 1919). J HISTORIC ATTITUDE OF THE CHURCH 251 had not defaulted. Later a percentage based upon time was charged. Against this conception and practice the Church set the Lukan precept, "Lend, hoping for nothing again" — the idea being that property was not one's own but was entrusted to one for the benefit of others more needy than oneself. Throughout the Middle Ages the Church vigorously maintained that interest or a percent- age charge for the mere use or loan of money was illegitimate.^ 5 As Aquinas phrased it, using the argument which became classic with the Schoolmen, "Money is barren.'' Moreover, it was said, interest is based upon time, which is nobody's property but belongs to God and to humanity generally. The only justification the Church would admit for the lender's effort to recoup himself was when he could prove an actual loss incurred through the debtor's default {damnum emergens) or a probable loss of profit through inability to invest that same capital in lucrative enterprise (lucrum cessans). In the one case, according to the strict doctrine of the Church, it was necessary for the claimant to prove that he had sustained real damage; in the second, that the profit he had fore- gone was not merely possible but probable. Coupled, in the Church's view, with interest was rent, which was also brought to the same test : "Did they or did they not enable men to live . . . upon the wealth produced by the work- ing communities, and to give no adequate service for wealth so extracted from the producers ?"^^ Despite the Church's prohibition of usury, however, evasions were not uncommon, especially in the later Middle Ages, and became increasingly frequent as trade recovered, while ^'By the sharp practice of business men, if not their open de- fiance of the canonist position, and by the casuistical arguments of the later Schoolmen in sympathy with the growing lay opposi- tion, the rigor of the Church's prohibition was gradually miti- gated and the prohibition itself ultimately nullified. ^•^See Noel, op. cit., p. 199. The irony of the situation con- sisted in the fact that the Church herself, as a fief-holder, fre- quently did not practice her own rede. 252 INDUSTRIAL RECONSTRUCTION at the same time some of the Church's spokesmen sided with the commercial class. It should be noted, however, that the medieval Church even in the heyday of its power never sought to discountenance legitimate enterprise, in which the lender took a real business risk with the borrowen^*^ Over against the Church's negative attitude towards interest was set its positive attitude in favor of b. A just price and the protection of purchasers from sJiarp business practices. Trade could not be carried on for profit first and foremost. There was such a thing as a recognized standard price for commodities, which was practically fixed by the public authorities after due con- sideration of cost of production and distribution.^^ A merchant could not be a Christian and charge all the traffic would bear. As a matter of fact, the civil law would not permit him to do so. Nor could he who at- tempted to trick a prospective purchaser by concealing defects or faults in the commodity offered receive the sanction of Church or State. This did not mean that the seller was compelled to go out of his way to point out a defect which was obvious to a reasonably acute buyer. The medieval attitude on this matter may be expressed by some such illustration as that one could 'W. J. Ashley, "English Economic History and Theory" (New York, 1905) ; cf. the Third Triennial Report of the Joint Com- mission on Social Service of the Protestant Episcopal Church, p. 164 (New York, 1919). "When such cost could not be ascertained "either because the wares had been brought from a distance or for any other reason, 'common estimation' afforded the best approximation to the just price, and common estimation was indicated by the prices offered and accepted in the open market, where those who purchased for their own consumption were accorded primary rights over deal- ers." At the periodical medieval fairs, however, the law of supply and demand was freely operative, and it was the extension of this principle to the towns which marked the fall of the medieval and the rise of the modern economy. Cf. Cunningham, "Christianity and Economic Science," Ch. IV; also "Growth of English Commerce and Industry," vol. I, Pt. II., Ch. VI (Cam bridge University Press, 1910-1912). J HISTORIC ATTITUDE OF THE CHURCH 253 not offer a three-legged horse for purchase by a blind man, without pointing out the loss of the fourth leg. The medieval position, in a word, was that of throwing a reasonable safeguard around the purchaser without at the same time unreasonably interfering with sales. Translated into modern terms, the medieval merchant or contractor, if he desired to be admitted within the pale of Christian society, could not have njanufactured or sold shoddy clothing, rotten meat, infected milk, or houses which were likely to fall upon the heads of the tenants. c. Property and personal resources, in other words, were regarded as the means of stewardship — not as the means primarily of private profit. Maintaining, as the earlier fathers of the Church had maintained, that private property was strictly indefensible, nevertheless the medieval Church admitted it as necessary in view of the infirmity of the flesh, but accorded to it no such wide latitude as the modern world has become accustomed to or as antiquity had practiced. The Church's precept, unfortunately, did not by any means coincide with her own practice, and the spectacle of wealthy prelates and poor priests, of fief- and serf-holding churches and convents which oppressed their bond slaves and the poor generally as iniquitously as any secular lords of the times, brought from the more spiritually minded of her children recurrent protests, most of which were branded as heresies and rigorously stamped out. One such pro- test which in its origin escaped the charge of heresy only to fall before it later, the movement led by Francis of Assisi, gave indeed a compensating ideal through d. The cult of poverty. The original movement, in view of its wide popularity, was astutely taken under the aegis of the papacy. When shortly after its founder's death it split into two parties, the Conventuals and the Spirituals — the one giving a liberal and the other a strict interpretation to the Franciscan vow of poverty — the 254 INDUSTRIAL RECONSTRUCTION papacy seized the opportunity to put down a dangerous enemy by suppressing the Spirituals, through John XXII, and throwing the weight of its authority with the Con- ventuals.^^ The Franciscan movement, however, was only one of a series of monastic orders which — at least in origin — stressed the duty of personal and collective poverty, though it remained for St. Francis to set this particular clause of the triple monastic vow in high relief as a protest against the increasing secularization of the Church. Even though the more radical wing was sup- pressed after Francis's death, it bore fruit in subsequent movements which were directly recognized and branded as heretical — such as the Waldensians, for example, and also later religious communities like the Brethren of the Common Life. This cult of poverty — a protest in favor of the Church's original ideal with reference to property and against the wide defection therefrom on the part of the official hierarchy — took direct issue with the increas- ing tendency on the part of business men and traders to treat property, commerce, and industry as the means of personal private gain, in which many of the clergy and the Church at large, despite their theoretical position out- lined above, were themselves implicated. e. The Church and the gild system. The medieval Church had still other relations to contemporary industry through the gild system, which has recently received re- newed attention from both Christian and secular students. Though the system was largely secular, arising and developing in various communities as the most con- venient way of organizing production and distribution, at the same time its relation with organized Christianity was of such a nature as to redeem it from entire commercial- "The downfall of the Spirituals meant increasing degeneracy of the order, which, in the Reformation and post-Reformation period, acquired "popularity . . . with the business men and financiers of the time" by frankly repudiating their founder's principles and espousing the rising commercial movement (Noel, op. cit, p. 201). HISTORIC ATTITUDE OF THE CHURCH 255 ism. The ideal of the individual gild^^ was that of a religio-socio-economic unity — involving a combination of relations which, it should be obvious from the foregoing discussion, were conceived by the medieval Church as being but so many phases of a general unity. Medieval Christianity recognized no fundamental distinction be- tween what we speak of as (ethical and religious values in contradistinction to social and economic values. The gild family — for such this industrial unit really was in its heyday — was set in a quasi-religious or ecclesiastical framework and enveloped in a Christian atmosphere. The master craftsman occupied toward his journeymen- workers and apprentices the position of a Chris- tian paterfamilias who, in the Church's view, was held largely responsible for the welfare, in the largest sense, of those with whom he was daily sustaining industrial rela- tions. The patron saints of the gilds and their religious rites were borrowed from the Church, and altogether did much to effect a rapprochement of religion and business at a time when other influences were working in the direction of a divorce of religious and commercial ethics. It should be further noted that the idea underlying the gild system as such was, in its earlier and better days, frankly that of public or social service. The gilds aimed, in theory at least, at supplying the best possible production at the fairest price, and if, at times, like all human institutions, they erred in the direction of their own ad- vantage they were rebuked by both the political and the religious power. The whole tendency of the gild system until the dawn of the modern period was, in short, in the direction of fair play, not only as between producer and consumer but as between "management and men." The single master craftsman or personal employer in the *It IS not the merchant gilds which are here in mind, but the craft gilds — which have been called by a recent writer "the first Christian trade unions" (Joseph Husslein, "Democratic Industry"). 256 INDUSTRIAL RECONSTRUCTION nature of the case sustained the closest of relations with his working force and took what was under such circum- stances a natural pride in their skill or their progress in attaining it.^i In other words, medieval production was more Christian in spirit than our modern manufacturing process, which has de-personalized the relations between employer and employe and placed profits above human values. 22 4. Secular Economic Forces Triumphant over the Church in Modern (Protestant) Period The continued growth of the towns, involving and in- ^^Among the best recent statements on the subject of gilds are those contained in Ashley, "English Economic History and Theory/' Bk. I, Ch. I, Bk. II, Chs. I, II ; P. Kropotkin, "Mutual Aid: a Factor of Evolution," (London, 1902) ; James E. Thorold Rogers, "Six Centuries of Work and Wages" (London, 1912) ; Pasquale Villari, "First Two Centuries of Florentine History" (New York, 1912) ; Cunningham, "Growth of English Com- merce and Industry," also his chapter in the "Cambridge Modern History," Vol. I ; E. R. A. Seligman, "Two Chapters on Medieval Gilds" (American Economic Association Publications, Vol. II, 1888) ; Stella Kramer, "English Craft Gilds and the Government" (Columbia University Studies in History, Economics and Public Law, Vol. XXIII, 1905) ; Lambert, "Two Thousand Years of Gild Life"; L. Lamprey, "In the Days of the Gild" (popular narrative) New York, 1919; A. K. Coomaraswamy, "The Indian Craftsman" (London, 1909) ; L. F. Salzman, "English Industries of the Middle Ages" (Boston, 1913) ; Johannes Janssen, "History of the German People" (Trench, Trubner & Co., 1896-1909) ; Mrs. J. R. Greene, "English Town Life in the Fifteenth Century" (New York, 1907). It should be noted that in current industrial discussion the gild idea has been revived — as by the English Guild Socialists and the Syndicalists. "It seems to have been an accepted principle of medieval economics, whether or not under direct Christian influence, that the maintenance of labor in reasonable health and comfort was a first charge upon industry. See William Cunningham, "Chris- tianity and Economic Science," Chapter IV. The medieval principle of payment, as exemplified in the monastic establish- ments, was based upon the need of the workers rather than on in- dividual quality or amount of labor. This principle the urban industries adopted with some modifications, including the sub- stitution of money payment (wages) for payment in kind. The increasing division of labor in urban industry, as compared with its essential homogeneity and unity in the cloister, tended, how- ever, to the replacement of standard wages by pay in accordance with special skill of performance and value of output. HISTORIC ATTITUDE OF THE CHURCH 257 volved with the growth of industry and trade, especially toward the end of the medieval era, sharpened the grow- ing opposition to the long accepted Roman Catholic atti- tude toward property, interest, and other phases of economic life. Both evasions and defiance of the Church's prohibition of interest-taking became in this period increasingly numerous. ^^ In a word, after the long chaos of the period following the fall of Rome, the world was again coming into its own and was successfully challenging the right of the Church to dictate in so-called secular affairs — a challenge too commonly accepted as wholly valid. At this point, indeed, there was perceptible the beginning of the separation between ethics and economics which has been so marked a characteristic of our modern age and to which so many contemporary students and thinkers are ascribing our present diffi- culties. The tendency, as a matter of fact, was facili- tated by influences within the Church, especially in the last century or so before the Protestant Reformation. Casuistry was increasingly invoked to prove that interest- taking was legitimate.2^ Though this internal opposition was partly sincere, there is ground for grave suspicion that it was invoked for pecuniary considerations by the secular forces with which it agreed. Attacked from within and without, the Roman Church was unable to maintain its traditional position and lost its grip on the economic sphere. Side by side with the relaxation of the Church's prohi- bition of usury and her loss of control over commercial practices, such as selling at a just price and other economic principles noted above, went the decline of the "It may be noted that the Rockefellers of that period — the Fuggers — as bankers of the Papal See collected papal dues and perquisites for a given percentage, often extremely high, a direct flouting of the Catholic position. "For a somewhat detailed study of these defections inside the Church's own family the reader is referred to Ashley, op. cit., Bk. II, Ch. IX. 258 INDUSTRIAL RECONSTRUCTION gild ' system and the placing of industry on a frankly secular basis. The personal nexus between master craftsmen on the one hand and their journeymen and apprentices on the other was broken under a new in- dustrial system, which put increasing numbers of workers under the autocratic direction of an employer. Business progressively ceased to be recognized as a means of social service and profit-seeking gradually acquired the position of a dominant motive. Instead of the small industrial family involved in the passing gild unit, the new system meant the throwing of increasingly large numbers of workers under a single factory roof, subject to the dic- tates of a manager or employer — who no longer had any personal consideration for the employes, but was increas- ingly prompted by the desire to extract from them the greatest possible amount of labor at the lowest possible price.25 In the development here noted the rising com- mercial instincts of the towns, together with the art of commercial and financial calculation on a systematic basis and the practice of ''business economy,'' played their due part. In this industrial transition the direct influence of Protestantism itself may be largely traced — not so much in its Lutheran as in its Calvinistic form.^^ The Genevan ^'The factory system did not, as has been frequently but erro- neously supposed, wait upon the so-called "industrial revolution." Already before the application of steam and, later, electrical power to the processes of production the factory had begun to assume the characteristics which we now associate with it : the main difference being that in the earlier stage of development factory workers actually made by hand (manufactured) what was later produced by elaborate machinery, of which the erst- while artisans became merely the tenders. It may be noted, further, that there was a brief transitional period between the passing of the gild system and the coming in of the factory system — the domestic system, under which the former gild crafts- men, instead of making in their own shops commodities directly for the market, contracted with private producers for goods which were then placed on sale by the latter. See on this matter Ashley, op. cit. ^^Though Calvin is charged by Bossuet as the first theologian to distinguish between usury and interest, his defense of interest HISTORIC ATTITUDE OF THE CHURCH 259 Church, by substituting for the "inner asceticism" of Catholicism as practiced in the cloister and in the hermitage an "outer asceticism" which viewed daily work as necessary discipline, promoted the growing preoccupa- tion with business as such. The Calvinist was, in a word, encouraged by his Church authorities to engage in daily productive labor both for the sake of keeping out of mischief and of providing for the needs of his own family or other dependents. Profits accumulating by virtue of the abstemiousness and general sobriety of CalvinistiQ-5 business men before long caused the supplanting of the - original motive of such daily labor with the new motive of direct profit-seeking.^'^ The espousal by Calvinism of what came ultimately to be recognized as capitalism was due, however, partly to another motive than that already indicated. The revival of Old Testament ethics has been a marked tendency on the part of the more rigorous element of Protestantism, and has had a perceptible effect in the realm of com- mercial morality and business and industrial practice. It was largely because, as has been strikingly pointed out by a modern student,^^ the New Testament, by virtue of the special circumstances into which the early Church was born, is silent on many problems of modern life, that the Protestant bodies, especially that of Geneva, felt called upon to fill in the lacunae in the original Christian teach- ing on social and economic questions by appealing to Hebrew and Jewish doctrines. The nascent Church had was itself qualified in his confidential communication to his friend Oecolampadius. ^"Religion," said Wesley, "must necessarily produce both industry and frugality, and these cannot but produce riches. But as riches increase, so will pride, anger, and love of the world in all its branches" (quoted by Cunningham, "Christianity and Economic Science," Ch. Ill) — applicable, with some reservations, to the phenomenon noted in the text. '^^Cunningham, "Christianity and Economic Science," Chapter V, on which the remainder of the paragraph in the text is based. 26o INDUSTRIAL RECONSTRUCTION none of the larger problems of social, economic, and political life to deal with which confronted later Christi- anity.29 But the Hebrew theocracy afforded a prototype of that which Calvin and Beza reared in the Swiss capital, and nothing seemed more germane to the specific problem of the thriving commercial center in which Presbyterian- ism began — and, subsequently, of others into which it was introduced — than the Hebrew and Jewish attitude toward usury or interest. The Deuteronomic code had expressly allowed usury in the case of aliens, and medieval Jews took full advantage of the permission in relation to con- temporary Christians. By the irony of events, their attitude was accepted by the Reformed Churches — though Calvin must be exonerated from the common charge that he directly encouraged the new tendency. The movement which he founded, however, ultimately "allowed free play to the commercial spirit,*' largely be- cause it was in a commercial center that it grew up. It was notably in Scotland under the Knoxite movement that the alliance between Calvinism and capitalism be- came conspicuous, as a determining factor in the develop- ment of the national religious life, whereas in Geneva and the Huguenot cities it had had a merely local manifesta- tion.^^ In Scotland under the Presbyterian regime capitalism was hailed as the saviour of society from idleness and economic apathy. "Enterprising men who ^^This implication of Professor Cunningham's is perhaps an overstatement. In his notable study, first published thirty years ago, "The Ancient Lowly," Osborne Ward, utilizing monumental inscriptions then recently brought to light, sought to prove that there was a world-wide proletarian organization in antiquity and that it was in the Graeco-Roman trade unions, traced to the Solonic jus coeudi-la.w of free association, that Christianity was first planted. This theory, ignored but never refuted by Church historians, would give the primitive Church more direct and far- reaching influence on contemporary industrial conditions than Cunningham implies, or even than is hinted in Section I above. ^•^In Holland, as in Scotland, it was on the national, rather than the local, life that the effect of Calvinism was most apparent. t HISTORIC ATTITUDE OF THE CHURCH 261 set up manufactures were empowered to impress any vagrants,3i and employ them for their service for eleven years without wages except meat and clothing/'32 fj^e same applied to "poor and indigent children'* until the age of thirty. Acquiescence in this attitude was made easier for the Calvinist conscience because the "dangers of sweating and other forms of oppression by moneyed men were so remote that they were not taken into account. . . . Capital appeared in a friendly guise as the greatest of social benefactors. Religious reasons could ... be adduced in favor of cultivating the type of conduct . . . favorable to capitalists" — ^partly at least under the in- fluence of the prudential counsels of the Book of Proverbs. But this commercial development was equally the re- sult of the extreme individualism into which Protestant- ism ran by reaction from the more socialized Roman Catholic position. Successful assertion by the Lutheran revolt of the freedom of the personal conscience from papal and hierarchical tyranny involved also a like declar- ation of economic independence by the individual from an ecclesiastical and ethical control which fretted his rising commercial instincts. In this sense it has been asserted that "Protestant individualism is the mother of modern commercialism."^^ What is meant is that Protestantism denied two cardinal conceptions of medi- eval Catholicism, largely shared by modern Christian social thinkers, that Christianity is concerned with men's bodies as well as their souls and that "the individual is not redeemed, built up into a rich and generous person- ^'In justice it should be noted that vagabondage and mendicancy had been enormously increased by the enclosure of the common lands during the later Middle Ages. Cf. G. Slater, "English Peasantry and the Enclosure of Common Fields," (London, 1907). ^^Cunningham, op. cit, Ch. V. ^^Noel, op. cit, p. 198. 262 INDUSTRIAL RECONSTRUCTION ality, in isolation but in association."^^ These truths the Reformed Churches ignored. Men whose bodies did not. count — according to the Protestant doctrine — might with impunity be exploited by others. So not only the ease- loving landlord, but the driving urban entrepreneur found justification in a view which in effect took the hands of religion off commercial life and left the world of business to the devil, from whose clutches the individual Prot- estant had originally sought escape through the discipline of daily toil.^^ Some may object that this is too dark a view of the economic results of Protestantism, and in justice it must be admitted that an opposing theory^^ has been advanced by representative modern students to the effect that the Protestant other-worldliness was really inimical to the development of business initiative and enterprise. One effect Protestant other-worldliness and excessive indi- vidualism certainly had : by theoretically ignoring secular affairs and concentrating attention upon the future life it materially tended to eliminate the Protestant Churches as determining factors in the development of commercial ethics. It is only in the light of the individualistic attitude of these Churches that we can fully understand the rapid and easy development of economic laissez faire as it came to be represented in the famous Manchester school of political economy in the first part of the nineteenth century. The modern divorce between religious ethics ^*Ibid., p. 197. Preoccupation of Protestant students and historians with the ascetic and monastic aspects of Catholicism has largely prevented them, until recently, from recognizing the concern of the medieval Church with man's physical conditions. ^""Ernst Troeltsch, "Protestantism and Progress (New York, 1912), based upon a larger German work by the same writer, which in turn is indebted to an exhaustive study by Max Weber, their views being echoed by Archdeacon Cunningham in his "Christianity and Economic Science." '^*'As pronounced by Werner Sombart, "Quintessence of Capitalism" (New York, 1915). HISTORIC ATTITUDE OF THE CHURCH 263 and industrial life is clearly responsible in large measure for the rise of this economy.^'^ The prestige of Adam Smith has been used throughout the modern period by the advocates of his principle of free competition, unquali- fied by certain compensating principles and doctrines which these advocates have found it convenient to ignore.^^ It must not be forgotten that Smith's championship of individual initiative in production and distribution represented what was at that time a justifiable reaction against "mercantilism" — the attempt, largely suc- cessful, of European governments, following the break- down of the medieval economy, to regulate commerce in their own interest, rather than that of the peoples whom they in great degree controlled. Under the influence of Smith's doctrine of surplus production and free competi- tion. Parliament through the greater part of the nine- teenth century, indeed beginning in the last quarter of the eighteenth, undid much of the protective legislation passed in the Middle Ages and put the workers practi- cally at the mercy of the employing class,^^ except in so '"See Chapter III of the report of the Archbishops' Fifth Committee ^f Inquiry on "Christianity and Industrial Problems" on which the passage in the present text is partly based. "For instance, his "uncompromising denunciation of the corn laws and other protective duties, of combination laws against workmen, and Settlement Acts restricting the freedom of labor, his proposal to tax ground rents and not food, and his con- demnation of the 'payment of wages in truck,' not to mention his emphatic declaration on the affirmative side 'that high wages in- creased population, industry, and production'; that 'the dictates of reason' ought to moderate the hours of labor; that 'our merchants who complain of the bad effect of high wages say nothing of the bad effect of high profits.'" ("Christianity and Industrial Problems," p. 41.) ^Through "freedom of contract," associated with the theory of laisses faire as a reaction against governmental and gild regu- lations of employment, and coinciding with the presence in the manufacturing centers of large numbers of "dispossessed" tillers of the soil. Under this principle the cognate "law" of supply and demand beat down wages, lengthened hours, and dehuman- ized conditions of toil until the workers, learning wisdom, organized and enforced collective bargaining. Recent animus against collective bargaining on the part of the public ignores these historical facts. 264 INDUSTRIAL RECONSTRUCTION far as the reform agitation and legislation that centered around Lord Shaftesbury's crusade and the efforts of later Christian Socialists and trade unionists mitigated their almost intolerable condition.*^ Adam Smith's maxim, divorced from its qualifying context, was reenforced by Ricardo's "iron law of wages/' which played directly into the hands of the capitalist class. "The laws regulating profits and wages were, like all scientific laws, fixed. The price of labor depended upon the supply of it and the demand for it; this market price of labor tended towards the natural price of labor — that is, the minimum of subsistence." Combined with Malthus's equally famous law of population, Ricardo's doctrine produced the "wages fund theory" of "a fixed fund devoted to wages, the amount available for each individual being simply the quotient of the total sum divided by the number of recipients. No human effort could alter this, for at any time it was a mere ratio of capital to population. All that human effort could do was to alter the relative distribution or share — that is, to interfere between the recipients, and this interference would be unjust f*'^'^ The result of the wages fund theory during the half-century between 1820 and 1870 was "in- ^¥oY a comprehensive view of English factory and general industrial legislation throughout the nineteenth century see F. A. Ogg, "Economic Development of Modern Europe" (New York, 1917), Ch. XVII, also Usher, "Industrial History of England," (Boston, 1919). ""Christianity and Industrial Problems," p. 46; cf. John Kells Ingram, "History of Political Economy," pp. 133-4 (New York, 1916). It should be noted that Malthus, like Adam Smith before him, qualified the rigor of his doctrine, especially in the new edition of his work published in 1803, so that the crude struggle between population and food — for which his first edition (1798) had found a solution in "famine, disease, and vice . . . the sharp surgery of Providence" — was viewed as modified by the "human qualities of foresight and reason." The effect of his work was to strengthen the hands of English wealth and privilege against the poor and poor-relief, since it afforded the comforting anodyne that poverty is the result of personal improvidence and that efforts to mitigate it will merely extend it. HISTORIC ATTITUDE OF THE CHURCH 265 calculably great in staying social progress, in lulling the conscience of the educated classes, and thereby encourag- ing a violent class antagonism."^^ During this whole period in England, at least, and the situation might be largely paralleled on the Continent and in America, the Church with slight exception raised no voice of protest against the new dehumanized economics, but acquiesced in it as the ultimate statement of a "scien- tific" position, ill-advised attempts to alter which would result not only in the unsettlement of society but in further harm to the downtrodden classes whom such efforts would propose to assist. 5. Modern Protests against the Secularization OF Industry It must not be taken for granted, of course, that the tendency to divorce religion and business ethics and thus secularize industry went without protest. As a matter of fact, protest was recurrent throughout the Middle Ages and though less frequently, in the modern period until the present day. As has already been hinted, vari- ous heretical movements to which attention has above been called found their raison d'etre not in mere religious animus on the part of their supporters against "orthodox" Christianity so much as in the conviction widely held by the masses throughout the Middle Ages that, despite its theories, the Church of Rome was in practice largely on the side of the governing or possessing classes, of which its officers really formed an influential part. The Fran- ciscan movement in origin — and in its later development *^Ibid., p. 46. Important for an understanding of the divorce between re- ligion and business in the modern era is a more detailed view of the historic development of economic doctrine than space here permits. For a fuller discussion see Ingram, op. cit., and Gide and Rist, "History of Economic Doctrines," (English version. New York, 1915). The latter volume is especially valuable as revealing various significant protests against the rise of laissez- faire. 266 INDUSTRIAL RECONSTRUCTION on the Spiritual side — as well as the Albigensian and Waldensian movements, and the still later protest voiced by such groups as the Brethren of the Common Life, v^ere all in considerable measure animated by the desire to secure for the dispossessed and downtrodden classes a more equitable distribution of human resources, even though the protest assumed the form of an entire rejec- tion of individual in favor of communal possessions. In the Reformation period, social and economic forces were not only at work on both sides of the general con- troversy between the Roman and Protestant Churches, but inside the Protestant revolution itself as between the privileged and the unprivileged classes. Recent research has made it evident that the Protestant movement was heralded for a time by various popular parties as an op- portunity for substantial economic reform and recon- struction. Though some of these reform demands and programs were attributed to emperors and princes, they really voiced the desire of the common people, especially the serfs and peasants, for a substantial amelioration of their hard lot.^^ Luther's ultimate shift from the popular cause to the side of the German princes proved one of the hardest blows to the position of the economic reformers who had at first flocked to his standard.^^ The suppres- *'Not only the famous twelve articles of the German peasants but other programs, accredited to the Emperors Sigismund and Frederick III, and to Eberlin, Hipler, and Geismayr, may be found in the text and comment in Schapiro's "Social Reform and the Reformation." **This rejection by Luther of the popular cause has been noted by various recent students : e. g., "Cambridge Modern History," II, p. 272 ff. ; Willston " Walker, "History of the Christian Church" (New York, 1918), Period VI, § II; T. C. Hall, "Social Solutions in the Light of Christian Ethics" (New York, 1910) ; Henry Clay Vedder, "The Reformation in Germany" (New York, 1914) ; Ernst B. Bax, "Social Side of the Reformation in Germany" (New York, 1899) ; Karl Kautsky, "Communism in Central Europe at the Time of the Reformation" (London, 1897) ; J. S. Schapiro, "Social Reform and the Reformation." The last pamed writer gives a very clear statement not only of Luther's position but of the peasants* grievances — including espe- HISTORIC ATTITUDE OF THE CHURCH 267 sion of the German peasants' revolt and of the parallel movements in England and France defeated temporarily the common aspirations for better status and more humane conditions of life and labor. It should be noted in connection with these various heretical and reform movements that their motive was largely professedly religious, their complaints being prefaced by preambles couched in scriptural terms and based upon gospel prin- ciples, and that the leaders as well as the members were in great measure priests of the Church — usually described by the governing classes as "renegades/'^^ These various movements, on the whole, however, failed, and the tendency towards a practically complete separation of Christianity and business went on in the main unchecked. After the suppression of the later medieval and earlier modern movements above noted there was scarcely a single protest on a large scale against cially protests against the seizure by the nobility of the former common lands, with water and forest rights, and the invoking of the revived Roman law as warrant therefor (the canon law having protected the agrarian population), the increase of im- posts, tithes, and services unknown to the Middle Ages. Luther's initial rebuke of the princes for their oppressive conduct towards the "common man*' was apparently provoked by resentment at their objections to his preaching, as his later denunciation of the peasants was largely the result of pique at their repudiation of his early exhortations to obey the law and their rulers, even though unjust. ^'^Passing reference should be made to Anabaptism as a radical social and economic movement, in some cases involving com- munity of goods, especially during the Munster revolt of 1533-5. The movement itself was due largely to great popular misery after the failure of the Peasants' Revolt, which had been ferociously suppressed (Schapiro, Ch. Ill), and by reaction it **made Lutheranism even more positively than before a party of princely and middle class sympathies" and caused Luther to be attached "more strongly to the conception of princely and magistrate ruled churches as the only guarantee of good order and of effective opposition to Rome" (Walker, "History of the Christian Church," especially pp. z^j, 369, 375). The Mennonites revived the Anabaptist doctrines in modified and less revolution- ary form. For a detailed study of the economic aspects of this significant movement cf. Bax, "Rise and Fall of the Anabaptists," (published separately as Part III of the author's "Social Side of the Reformation"). 268 INDUSTRIAL RECONSTRUCTION the prevalent conception that religion had nothing to do with business/^ until the Chartist movement, following the English Reform Bill of 1832, which aroused a con- certed protest by the lower classes, a protest in which many clergy and members of the Church of England and non-conforming bodies participated.^"^ This movement, which was crassly misunderstood by contemporary "re- spectable'' English society, based the demands of what we would call the proletariat upon Scripture and found in the emotional fervor generated by their movement a substitute for the orthodox Christianity of the upper and middle classes, with its antagonism to anything like real democracy.^^ The Chartist movement was followed by, and indeed in large measure produced, the English Christian Socialist movement under the leadership of Frederick D. Maurice, Charles Kingsley, and other members of the Anglican Church and other religious bodies. **The name did not imply any coUectivist economic theory; in Maurice's words : 'Anyone who recognizes the principle of coopera- tion as a stronger and truer principle than that of compe- tition has a right to the honor or disgrace of being called ^'^Ineffective protests against the commercial tendencies of Puritanism had been made by Cranmer, Latimer, Laud, and others (cf. Noel, op. cit, Ch. VIII). *'For a clear study of the Chartist movement as related to the English Churches reference should be made to H. U. Faulkner, "Chartism and the Churches" (Columbia University Studies in History, Economics and Public Law, Vol. LXXIII, No. 3 — 1916) ; also F. A. Ogg, "Social Progress in Contemporary Europe," Ch. X (New York, 1912) It is significant that Chart- ism was born and developed in the twelve-year period between the Parliamentary ''act of 1834, abolishing outdoor relief to the able-bodied" and the repealing of the corn laws in 1846 — "an in- terval ... in which the laborer was thrown upon his own earn- ings, while the price of bread was increased threefold by legal enactments supposed to be for the landed interests." ("Chris- tianity and Industrial Problems," p. 45.) *^Faulkner, op. cit. The Chartist substitutes for contemporary Christianity were Chartist churches, education, temperance and "teetotalism," an incipient feminism, anti-militarism, etc. (Faulk- ner). The true "inwardness" of the movement may be found expressed in Carlyle's essay on Chartism. HISTORIC ATTITUDE OF THE CHURCH 269 a Christian Socialist/ "^^ Though unsuccessful and in a sense unscientific, nevertheless by concentrating attention upon the wrongs of the lower and working classes gener- ally and by enlisting on their behalf the efforts of the middle and upper classes, this movement did much to mitigate evil conditions and renew something like the early and medieval religious attitude towards questions of property and industry. The Christian Socialists, it is true, attempted to establish "workingmen's associations" of a type different from the nascent trade unions, which seemed to be ''exclusively concerned with professional matters, with the struggle for employment and the ques- tion of wages, and altogether did not seem very well fitted to develop the spirit of sacrifice and love . . . indispen- sable for the realization" of the Christian Socialist ideal. Nor were these associations of the type of consumers' cooperative societies, which, as inspired partly by Owen, appeared too little Christian and rather too stoical "to be the chosen vessels of the new dispensation." The Chris- *°"Christianity and Industrial Problems," p. 48. It should be noted that the Christian Socialist movement was paralleled by a Catholic social movement indebted in some ways to the reform scheme advocated by Le Play (1806-82), which had been based upon the attempt to revive the family group as the basis of social progress. Le Play had laid it down as a maxim that the amelio- ration of the workers, as opposed to Socialist doctrine, could come only from above, i. e., from the masters or employers. The Catholic social movement, adumbrated by Bouchez's essay (1830-40), and Lamennais' "Problem of Labor" (1848), frankly adopted a paternalistic or hierarchical plan. In general the Catholic movement has been a staunch opponent of Socialism, which it has interpreted as largely if not purely atheistic, though recently a left wing has arisen under the leadership of Loesewitz, who "made the first violent attack upon the so-called productivity theory of capital" (1888), which term he characterized as "nothing better than a word invented to hide the real fact, namely, the appropriation of the fruits of labor by those who possess the instruments of labor" (quoted by Gide and Rist, "History of Economic Doctrines," tr., R. Richards, 1915). An- other group of radical Catholics, the Sillon, founded in 1890, has attempted the "reconciliation of the Church and democracy and even republicanism" and aims at "the abolition of the wage earner and his master." Though banned by the Pope this "essentially syndicalist movement is still in existence" (Ibid.; cf. Francesco S. Nitti, "Catholic Socialism," London, 1908). 270 INDUSTRIAL RECONSTRUCTION tian Socialists, like the earlier Catholic social party, turned later to producers' associations, which seemed destined to produce fruit that, by the irony of history, did not come to maturity until after Christian Socialism had ceased to be a vital force. The later tendency of the movement was to lay decreasing stress upon both the mental and moral education of the workers. Recently Christian Socialism, which "has survived its founders, has been obliged to change its program" — having lost its momentary interest in producers' associations — and now turns to other forms of cooperation, particularly stressing the need of redistribution of land and other private property.^^ Following the Christian Socialist movement there was organized in 1889 the Christian Social Union, composed of members and leaders of the Church of England, which has endeavored to carry on a a consistent campaign, primarily educational, through local and sectional unions, with such success that the example has been followed by other Christian bodies in England.^^ It would be easy to ^Continental movements allied to Christian Socialism arose in the last quarter of the nineteenth century in Germany, in Switzer- land, in France, and in other European countries. An attempt in Germany toward the end of the last century "to win the adher- ence of the working classes by endeavoring to give the Protestant churches a more distinctively socialist bias" proved abortive, being condemned by the Lutheran Church and the employers, and securing only little support from the Social Democrats. In France the movement is weak. On the Christian Socialist move- ment in the country of its origin cf. Arthur W. Woodworth, "Christian Socialism in England" (New York, 1903) ; Charles William Stubbs, "Charles Kingsley and the Christian Social Movement" (London, 1904) ; C. F. G. Masterman, "Life of Frederick Denison Maurice" (London, 1907) ; Noel, "Socialism in Church History," Ch. X ; Moritz Kauf mann, "Charles Kingsley and Christian Socialism" (London, 1888) ; Ogg, "Economic De- velopment of Modern Europe,*' Ch. XXI ; Gide and Rist, "History of Economic Doctrines," p. 503 ff. ^^The threefold aim of the Christian Social Union is thus pre- ocnted in its own words: "(i) To claim for the Christian law the ultimate authority to rule social practice. (2) To study in com- mon how to apply the moral truths and principles of Christianity to social ^and economic difficulties of the present time. (3) To present Christ in practical life as a living master and king, the HISTORIC ATTITUDE OF THE CHURCH 271 exaggerate the significance of these movements, since they hardly represent a generally accepted point of view in the Churches, but at least they indicate a growing interest in the Church's social task. In the United States the conviction has been forced increasingly upon the Churches that Christian principles must be applied to the whole industrial and economic realm. The Congregational, the Presbyterian, the Baptist, the Episcopal, the Methodist, and the Quaker Churches have for several years had definitely organized agencies for studying social problems and promoting an understanding of them. The Commission on the Church and Social Service of the Federal Council of the Churches of Christ in America has for more than a decade been bringing Christians of various bodies to- gether in significant cooperative effort along these lines. The so-called "Social Creed of the Churches," adopted by the Federal Council in 1908, has had widespread influ- ence in developing an appreciation of the Church's pres- ent social responsibility. Within the past year this state- ment has been definitely approved by the International Committee of the Young Men's Christian Association and the National Board of the Young Women's Christian Association. The Industrial Relations Department of the Interchurch World Movement, recently organized, has also been doing an important work. Especially since the war has there been vigorous think- ing on the necessity of social reconstruction along Chris- tian lines. Foremost among the issues of the day is a enemy of wrong and selfishness, the power of life and love." The Christian Social Union was reproduced in this country by the Protestant Episcopal Church in the year 1891, continuing its educational activities until 191 1, when it voluntarily disbanded and handed over its work to the Joint Commission on Social Service of the Protestant Episcopal Church. There has also been for some years an Episcopal Church Socialist League, and within the past year a voluntary Church League for In- dustrial Democracy has also been organized by members of the Episcopal Church. 272 INDUSTRIAL RECONSTRUCTION fuller expression of the principles of democracy in the organization of industry. The many recent pronounce- ments by religious bodies on social questions, particularly industrial relations,^^ constitute unmistakable evidence of the new spirit that is stirring in the Churches. "See Appendix II of this volume. I APPENDIX II SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY ON THE CHURCH AND INDUSTRIAL RECONSTRUCTION The following bibliography aims, first, to present as full a list as possible of the various pronouncements made by religious bodies on the subject of industrial relations since the beginning of the war, and, second, to suggest a few of the more important publications dealing with the industrial situation after the war from the standpoint of the human values involved. The general material on the social message of Christianity, the relation of the Church to the community, and movements for social betterment is so extensive and listed in so many bibliog- raphies that no attempt is here made to present reading lists on these subjects.^ Nor are references given con- cerning the more technical problems of industry or economics. A. The Church and Industrial Reconstruction (Pronouncements by religious groups, of an official or semi-official character.) Archbishops' Fifth Committee of Inquiry. Christi- anity and Industrial Problems, Society for Promot- ing Christian Knowledge, London, 1918, 147 pages. Can also be secured from Macmillan Company, New York. The most comprehensive and probably most far-reach- ing pronouncement made by any religious group since the beginning of the war. Canadian Methodist Church I. Evangelism and Social Service. Adopted at the General Conference, 1918, 11 pages. *For carefully selected references along these lines sec "A Bibliography of Social Service," issued by the Commission on the Church and Social Service, 105 East 226. St., New York. $.15. 274 INDUSTRIAL RECONSTRUCTION 2. The-Church, the War and Patriotism. Adopted at the General Conference, 1918, 10 pages. Can be secured, upon request, from 518 Wesley Build- ing, Toronto. Collegium. Competition: A Study in Human Motive. Macmillan Company, London, 191 7, 232 pages. The Collegium is a group in England aiming to pro- mote the study of social problems in the light of Chris- tianity. Committee on the War and the Religious Outlook 1. Christianity and Industrial Problems, by Bishop F. J. McConnell. Association Press, New York, 1919. 2.2. pages. A valuable brief treatment based on the theme of the supremacy of human values, and pointing out particularly the Church's responsibility for expressing its industrial standards in its own corporate organization. 2. Christian Aspects of Economic Reconstruction, by Herbert N. Shenton. Association Press, New York, 1920. 30 pages. Insists that every economic problem has an ethical aspect in which the Church must be vitally concerned and illustrates this thesis by analysis of present problems. 3. The New Home Mission of the Church, by Wil- liam P. Shriver. Association Press, New York, 1919. 34 pages. An interpretation of home missions as meaning the enterprise of securing a Christian social order in America. Congregational Education Society; Department of Social Service. Christian Principles and American Community Problems. 14 Beacon Street, Boston. 16 pages. A statement adopted at the National Council of Con- gregational Churches in 1919. Congregational Churches, Bay State Association of. Report of Commission on Industrial Relations. 19 19. Pamphlet. SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY 275 English Church Socialist League. Manifesto. Re- printed in Reconstruction, January, 1919, and in The World Tomorrow, January, 1919. Federal Council of the Churches of Christ in America; the Commission on the Church and Social Service. 1. Social Ideals of the Churches. Adopted (in ex- panded form) at Quadrennial Meeting, Dec. 11, 1916. A condensed statement of sixteen social standards, the so-called "social creed of the Churches'*; has been the basis of many other statements by religious bodies. 2. The Church and Women in Industry. Message for Labor Sunday, 1918. 12 pages. 3. Democracy in Industry. Message for Labor Sun- day, 191 9. 4. The Church and Social Reconstruction. 1919. 23 pages. The above can be secured from 105 East 22d St., New York. 5. To the Presidents of the Constituent Companies of the U. S. Steel Corporation. Statement by Edward T. Devine, Dec. 18, 1919, representing the Commis- sion on the Church and Social Service. Reprinted in The Survey, March 13, 1920, and elsewhere. An able brief presentation of the Church's interest in wages, hours, and democracy. Fellowship of Reconciliation (English). Manifesto to the Labor Movement. Reprinted in The World Tomorrow, April, 191 8. Friends, English Society of. I. Quakerism and Industry. Being the Full Record of a Conference of Employers, Chiefly Members of the Society of Friends, 1918. North of England Newspaper Co., Priestgate, 152 pages. The conclusions of this notable conference have been reprinted by The Survey, November 23, 1918, under the 276 INDUSTRIAL RECONSTRUCTION title, ''Summary of Some of the Conclusions reached by a group of Twenty British Quaker Employers." No one who is seriously concerned about the relation of Christian principles to modern industry should fail to read this significant and widely-quoted statement. 2. Eight Points. Reprinted by the Social Order Committee of the American Friends. Can be secured from 304 Arch Street, Philadelphia, Pa» 3. Whence Come Wars? First Report of the Com- mittee on War and the Social Order, appointed by the London Yearly Meeting. Headley Bros., London, 1916. 193 pages. 4. Facing the Facts. Being the Report of the Con- ference on The Society of Friends and the Social Order, held in London, October 19-22, 1916. Headley Bros., London. 160 pages. 5. The Next Step in Social and Industrial Recon- struction. Being papers prepared for Meetings of the Committee on War and the Social Order, ap- pointed by the London Yearly Meeting. 104 pages. Headley Bros., London. 6. Cooperation or Chaos? A handbook by Maurice L. Rowntree, written at the request of the War and Social Order Committee of the Society of Friends. Headley Bros., London, 1918. 108 pages. 7. Personal Life and Society. Being the Report of Commission III., issued by the Committee of the Peace Society of All Friends. 136 Bishopsgate, London. 26 pages. Friends, Philadelphia Yearly Meeting. A Message from the Social Order Committee. 1918. Pamphlet; can be secured from Friends' Book Store, 304 Arch Street, Philadelphia, Pa. Interchurch World Movement of North America. Findings of National Industrial Conference. Oct. 2, 3, 1919. Printed in the religious press generally. SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY 277 Interdenominational Conference of (English) Social Service Unions. Christian Social Recon- struction. 8 pages. Can be secured from the secretary, 92 St. George Square, London, S. W. I, I i/2d. Massachusetts Federation of Churches, Committee ON Industrial Relations. A Statement of Prin- ciples. 1920. 53 Mt. Vernon St., Boston. Methodist Episcopal Church. Resolutions Adopted by the Board of Bishops, May 10, 1919. Reprinted in The Survey, July 5, 1919. National Catholic War Council. Social Reconstruc- tion. A General Review of the Problems and Sur- vey of Remedies, Washington, D. C, 1919. 24 pages. Northern Baptist Convention, Social Service Com- mittee. Principles of Social Reconstruction, 1919. , Pamphlet. American Baptist Publication Society, Philadelphia. Protestant Episcopal Church, Joint Commission on Social Service. 1. Third Triennial Report, submitted to the General Convention, 1919. Part II deals with industrial relations and with the historical attitude of the Church at considerable length. 2. Reconstruction Programs: A Bibliography and Digest. 281 Fourth Avenue, New York, 1919. Presbyterian Church in the U. S. A., Board of Home Missions. The Church and Industry. 1920. Pamphlet. 156 Fifth Avenue, New York. St. Andrew, Brotherhood of. Pronouncement by the National Council. Can be secured from Church House, 1 2th and Walnut Sts., Philadelphia. 278 INDUSTRIAL RECONSTRUCTION Unitarian Association. The Social Duty of Unitarian Churches. 1919. Pamphlet. American Unitarian Association, 25 Beacon Street, Boston. Y. W. C. A. War Work Council, Industrial Com- mittee. Announcement on Industrial Readjust- ment. Can be secured from 600 Lexington Ave., New York. Y. W. C. A. Industrial Standards. Association Monthly, March, 1919. B. The Problem of Industrial Relations (Special attention is given to so-called "reconstruction programs'* and to publications dealing with the ethical problems of industry.) Alford^ L. p. The Status of Industrial Relations. American Society of Mechanical Engineers, 29 West 39th St., New York. 39 pages. An effective presentation, from an engineer's stand- point, of the need of a more democratic industrial organ- ization. American Federation of LabOr. Reconstruction Pro- gram. Printed in American Federationist, Febru- ary, 191 9, and in National Civic Federation Review, Jan. 25, 1919. American Labor Party of Greater New York. Plat- form. Adopted January 11-12, 1919. Can be secured from 32 Union Square, New York. Baker, Ray Stannard. The New Industrial Unrest. Doubleday, Page and Co., New York, 1920. 231 pages. A popular presentation of the causes of present unrest and an interesting narrative of several experiments in democratizing industrial relationships. British Labor Party. I. Labor and the New Social Order. A Report on SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY 279 Reconstruction. Reprinted in The New Republic, as a special supplement, February 16, 1919. A widely-quoted document whose effect has already been far-reaching. 2. Resolutions on Reconstruction. Adopted by a Conference on June 26, 1918. Reprinted in The Survey, Aug. 3, 19 18. Brown, William Adams. Christianity and Industry. Lectures given to the Industrial Secretaries of the Y. W. C. A. Womans Press, 1919. Bureau of Industrial Research. American Shop Committee Plans, 465 West 23rd St., New York. A digest of twenty plans for employes' representation through joint committees introduced by American com- panies. Bureau of Industrial Research. How the Govern- ment Handled Its Labor Problems during the War. Handbook of Federal War Labor Agencies, 1722 H St., N. W., Washington, D. C. 48 pages. Chamber of Commerce of the U. S. A. Reconstruc- tion Conference, Dec. 3-6, 1918. Summarized in U. S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Monthly Labor Review, January, 1919, pp. 41-49. Chicago Federation of Labor. Labor's Fourteen Points. Reprinted in The Survey, Nov. 30, 191 8. Coffin, Henry Sloane. A More Christian Industrial Order. Macmillan Co., New York, 1920. 86 pages. A popular discussion of the Christian as producer, as consumer, as owner, as investor, as employer, and as employe. Cole, G. H. D. Self -Government in Industry. Bell and Sons, London, 1918. 329 pages. See also his World of Labor, Labor in Wartime, Labor in the Commonwealth. Expositions of the principles of gild socialism. 28o INDUSTRIAL RECONSTRUCTION Commission on Industrial Relations. Final Report. Washington, D. C, 1915. 448 pages. Valuable summaries of conditions in American in- dustry, with special reference to the problem of industrial unrest. Ellwood, Charles A. The Social Problem. Macmil- lan Co., New York, 1919. (Revised edition.) 289 pages. A study of the historical, biological, economic, and spiritual elements in the social problem, with special emphasis on the latter. Farmers' National Conference on Reconstruction in America and International Reconstruction. A Program. Summarized in The Survey, January 25, 1919. Filene, E. a. Why the Employees Run Our Business. System, December, 1918, and January, 1919. Fisher, Irving. Humanizing Industry. Annals of American Academy of Political and Social Science, Philadelphia, March, 1919. An effective presentation, from an economist's point of view, of the need of organizing industry in such a way 'as to allow expression to men's normal instincts. Fisher, Irving. Economists in Public Service. Pro- ceedings of the American Economic Association. March, 1919. An inquiry as to whether the present profit system does not need modifying and as to how larger expression of the creative impulses can be afforded the workers. French Labor, Minimum Program of. Summarized in The Survey, January 11, 1919. Gantt, H. L. Organizing for Work. Harcourt, Brace and Howe, New York, 1919. 109 pages. An industrial engineer's analysis of industrial democ- racy as essential to efficiency. SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY 281 Garton Foundation. Memorandum on the Industrial Situation after the War. London, October, 1916. Reprinted by the U. S. Shipping Board Emergency Fleet Corporation, Philadelphia, 1918. The result of an exchange of views between repre- sentatives of employers and employes in Great Britain. Hart, Hornell. The New Social Order in America. A Study Syllabus. 38 pages. Helen S. Troustine Foundation, Cincinnati, Ohio, 1918. Husslein, Joseph. Democratic Industry. Kennedy and Sons, New York, 1919. Emphasizes the significance of the medieval gilds in their bearing upon democratizing industry today. Inter-Allied Labor and Socialist Conference. Memorandum of War Aims. Agreed upon at a Conference, London, February, 1918. Reprinted as a supplement to The New Republic, March 23, 1918. International Labor Organization of the League OF Nations. New Labor Code of the World. Con^ ,ventions and Recommendations adopted by the General Conference, 1919. Reprinted in The Survey, Dec. 20, 19 19. Johnson, F. Ernest. The New Spirit in Industry, Association Press, New York, 1919. 95 pages. A handbook of information on present-day labor move- ments, prepared especially for ministers: Kellogg, Paul U. and Gleason, Arthur. British Labor and the War. Boni and Liveright, New York, 1919. 504 pages. A comprehensive discussion of the developments in British labor circles during the war. Has fourteen valuable appendices, reprinting significant statements of various labor groups or reconstruction proposals. King, Willford I. The Wealth and Income of the 282 INDUSTRIAL RECONSTRUCTION People of the United States. Macmillan Co., New York, 191 5. 278 pages. Probably the best discussion of the present distribution of wealth in this country. MacIver, R. M. Labor in the Changing Order. Button and Co., New York, 1919. 233 pages. An effective presentation of the changing attitude of labor and its insistence on a democratic industrial order. Marot, Helen. The Creative Impulse in Industry. Button and Co., New York, 1918. Argues ably that the fundamental solution of the labor problem is through stimulating the creative impulse of the workers. National Association of Manufacturers. Beclara- tion of Labor Principles. Printed in American In- dustries, Jan., 1919. See also How American Manu- facturers View Employment Relations, Annals of American Academy of Political and Social Science, March, 1919. National Industrial Conference Board. Works Councils in the United States. Boston, 1919. 135 pages. An appendix gives a useful bibliography on the subject. National Industrial Conference Board. Problems of Industrial Readjustment in the United States. Boston, February, 1919. 58 page National Women's Trade Union League. Program of the Committee on Social and Industrial Recon- struction. Printed in Life and Labor, March, 19 19. Parker, Carleton. The Casual Laborer. Harcourt, Brace and Howe. New York, 1920. 199 pages. Represents pioneer study in the psychological back- ground of industrial unrest, particularly as a result of in- vestigations among the I. W. W. SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY 283 Property: Its Duties and Rights. By several writers. Macmillan Co., London, 1917. A significant study of the institution of property from the historical, the economic, and the religious approach. Renold, C. G. Workshop Committees. The Survey, October 5, 1918. Report of the President's Second Industrial Confer- ence. Reprinted in The Survey, March 27, 1920; also in The Monthly Labor Review, U. S. Depart- ment of Labor, April, 1920, pp. 33-40. Particularly significant for its proposal for establishing boards for the voluntary adjustment of labor disputes. Rockefeller, J. D., Jr. Representation in Industry. Reprinted in The Forum, Feb., 1919, and elsewhere. Also privately circulated from 26 Broadway, New York. Outlines his "industrial creed*' and his plan for em- ployes' representation. Russell, Bertrand. Principles of Social Reconstruc- tion. London, 1917. Published in the United States by the Century Co., under the title, Why Men Fight. An important section insists that the progress of civil- ization depends on the subordination of acquisitive to creative impulses. ScuDDER, ViDA. The Church and the Hour : Reflections of a Socialist Churchwoman. Dutton and Co., New York, 1917. 133 pages. Small, Albion W. The Church and Class Conflicts. American Journal of Sociology, March, 1919. Appeals to the Churches to come to realities in dealing with the present economic situation. Albion W. Small. Christianity and Industry, American Journal of Sociology, May, 1920. ;284 INDUSTRIAL RECONSTRUCTION Social Democratic League of America. A Program of Social Reconstruction. 2yj Broadway, N. Y. Sparkes^ Malcolm. A Memorandum on Self-Govern- ment in Industry together with a Draft for a Build- ers' National Industrial Parliament. Reviewed in U. S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Monthly Labor Review, October, 1918, pp. 54-61. Tawney, R. H. The Sickness of an Acquisitive Society. Allen and Unwin, London, 1920. 86 pages. A stimulating analysis of the contrast between **an acquisitive society organized around the promoting of individual wealth-getting" and a "functional society," aiming to make wealth contingent upon the discharge of social obligations. Tead, Ordway. Instincts in Industry. Houghton Mif- flin Co., Boston, 1918. * Insists that industry at present represses normal in- stincts. Urges experimentation in the assumption of greater control by workers and acquainting them with the significance of industrial processes. Ward, Harry F, The New Social Order: Principles and Programs. Macmillan Co., New York, 1919. 384 pages. A thoroughgoing discussion of what this well-known student of the labor movement considers the essential ele- ments in a Christian social order, equality, universal service, the supremacy of personality, and solidarity. Has a valuable discussion of various programs proposed, with a significant chapter on the Russian Soviet Republic. Ward^ Harry F. The Labor Movement. Sturgis and Walton, New York, 191 7. 199 pages. An analysis of the significance of various phases of the labor movement. Ward^ Harry F. The Gospel for a World of Work. Missionary Education Movement, New York, 1918. 260 pages. A mission study book on industrial conditions. SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY 285 Weeks, Estella T., Editor. Industrial Notebook. In loose-leaf form. Limited number for free distribu- tion. National Board, Y. W. C. A., New York. Contains valuable information concerning industrial reconstruction. Weeks, Estella T. Reconstruction Programs : A Com- parative Study of their Content and of the View- points of the Issuing Organizations. Womans Press, New York, 1919. 95 pages. A helpful analysis of leading declarations on the subject. Reconstruction Committee; Sub-Committee on Re- lations between Employer and Employed (Eng- lish). "Whitley Reports." 1. Interim Report on joint Standing Industrial Coun- cils. London, 1917. Reprinted by the U. S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Bulletin No. 237, pp. 229-237. 2. Second Report on Joint Standing Industrial Coun- cils. London, 1918. Reprinted in U. S. Bureau of Labor Statistics Monthly Labor Review, Sep- tember, 1918, pp. 53-58. 3. Supplementary Report on Works Committees. London, 1918. Reprinted in the U. S. Bureau of Labor Statistics Monthly Labor Review, June, 1918. pp. 163-165. 4. Memorandum by the Minister of Reconstruction and the Minister of Labor on Industrial Councils and Trade Boards. London, 1918. Reprinted in U. S. Bureau of Labor Statistics Monthly Labor Review, September, 1918. WoLF^ R. B. Individuality. The Survey, February i, 1919. Also in The American Economic Review, March, 1919. Sets forth results of striking experiments made by the 286 INDUSTRIAL RECONSTRUCTION manager of a large pulp mill to elicit initiative and call into play the creative impulses of the workers. WoLFE^ A. B. Works Committees and Joint Industrial Councils. Philadelphia, 1919. 254 pages. Can be secured from the Industrial Relations Division of the Emergency Fleet Corporation, U. S. Shipping Board, for w^hich the report was prepared. Describes English and American experience in indus- trial relations under wartime conditions, with special reference to recommendations of the Whitley Reports. A useful bibliography is appended. APPENDIX III THE COMMITTEE ON THE WAR AND THE RELIGIOUS OUTLOOK AND ITS WORK A brief statement concerning the history and the work of the Committee on the War and the Religious Outlook, by which this volume was prepared as one in a series of reports, may be of interest. The Committee was constituted, while the war was still in progress, by the joint action of the Federal Council of the Churches of Christ in America and the General War-Time Commission of the Churches and was an expression of the conviction that the war had laid upon the Churches the duty of the most thorough self-examina- tion. The Committee consists of a small group of representative men and women of the various Protestant Churches, appointed "to consider the state of religion as revealed or affected by the war, with special reference to the duty and opportunity of the Churches, and to prepare these findings for submission to the Churches." While created through the initiative of the Federal Council and the General War-Time Commission, it was given entire freedom to act according to its own judgment and was empowered to add to its number. The Committee was originally organized with President Henry Churchill King as its Chairman and Professor William Adams Brown as Vice-Chairman. On account of prolonged absence in Europe, President King was com- pelled to resign the chairmanship in the spring of 1919 and Professor Brown became the Chairman of the group, with President King and Rev. Charles W. Gilkey as Vice-Chairmen. Rev. Samuel McCrea Cavert was chosen to serve as Secretary of the Committee and Rev. Angus Dun was an Associate Secretary for several 287 288 INDUSTRIAL RECONSTRUCTION months. The membership of the Committee is indicated in the Editorial Preface of this volume. The peculiar significance of the Committee lies in the fact that it was appointed to do nothing except to study. It has proceeded on the assumption that the Churches need first of all to do serious thinking and to think together. When the Committee began its work four main lines of inquiry suggested themselves as of chief importance: 1. What effect has the war had upon the personal re- ligious experience ? How far has it reenf orced, how far altered the existing type of religious life and thought? 2. What effect has the war had upon the organized Christian Church? What changes, if any, are. called for in its spirit and activities ? 3. What effect has the war had upon Christian teach- ing? What changes, if any, are called for in the content or method of the Church's teaching? 4. What effect has the war had upon the duty of the Church with reference to social problems of the time? What reconstructions are needed to make our social order more Christian ? As the Committee proceeded with these inquiries, sev- eral distinct fields of investigation emerged and led the Committee to adopt the plan of bringing out a group of reports instead of a single volume. Two of these studies have already appeared. The first was entitled "Religion among American Men: as Revealed by a Study of Conditions in the Army," and dealt with the lessons learned from the experience of chaplains and other religious workers in the army. The second volume, entitled "The Missionary Outlook in the Light of the War," considered the bearing of the new international situation on the significance, the policies and the oppor- tunities of foreign missions. The present study is con- cerned with the Church and Industrial Reconstruction. Two forthcoming reports will deal with the Teaching THE RELIGIOUS OUTLOOK 289 Work of the Church in the Light of the Present Situation and Principles of Christian Unity. Earlier preliminary publications of the Committee con- sisted of a comprehensive bibliography on the War and Religion and a series of pamphlets under the general heading "The Religious Outlook," of which the following numbers have thus far appeared : "The War and the Religious Outlook," by Dr. Robert E. Speer ; "Christian Principles Essential to a New World Order," by President W. H, P. Faunce; "The Church's Message to the Nation," by Professor Harry Emerson Fosdick; "Christian Principles and Industrial Recon- struction," by Bishop Francis J. McConnell ; "The Church and Religious Education," by President William Douglas Mackenzie; "The New Home Mission of the Church," by Dr. William P. Shriver; "Christian Aspects of Economic Reconstruction," by Professor Herbert N. Shenton; "The War and the Woman Point of View," by Rhoda E. McCulloch; "The Local Church after the War," by Rev. Charles W. Gilkey. Our special thanks are due to Association Press, which has assumed responsibility for issuing the publications of the Committee. INDEX American Federation of Labor, Reconstruction Program of, 78. Anglican Report, cited, 3, 51, 65, 79, 105-106, 137, 140-141, 148, 149. Arbitration of disputes, 154-155. Archbishops' Fifth Committee of Inquiry; see Anglican Report. Archbishops' Third Committee of Inquiry, cited, 237. Army, evidence of, concerning religion, 219-220. Autocratic control, 62-63, 74-76, 95, 164-165; see also Indus- trial democracy. Baker, Ray Stannard, cited, 162, 195. Baldwin, William H., referred to, 194. British Labor Party, quoted, 77, 79, 118, 139,224. British Quakers; see Quaker em- ployers. Brotherhood, Christian teaching of, II, 17-23, 29-30; present denials of, 58-68. Building Industry, Industrial Council of, 181-182, 202. Cabot, Charles, referred to, 198' Cadbury, George, Jr., cited, 164. Calkins, Raymond, cited, 215. Canadian Methodists, cited, 79. Capital, the rights of, 176; see also Capitalism and Property. Capitalism, 81-107. Casual labor, evils of, 40; reme- dies for, 136-137, 224. Catholic War Council, cited, 78, 94. Charity, not the chief virtue, 28-29. Child labor, 51-53, i47-i49- Children's Bureau, investigation cited, 44. Christianity, its interest in in- dustrial problems, 1-4; its ap- proach to industrial problems, 4-7, 83, 113-114; its social ideal, 9-33; its practicability in industry, 32, 81, 113-117; its method of social better- ment, 108-13 1. Christian social order, meaning of a, 33. Christians, responsibility of, in industry, 188-210. Church, challenged by indus- trial situation, 1-3, 39, 42, 46; significance of, in society, 20 n.; present criticisms of, 21 1-2 12; part in social better- ment, 212-238; as employer, 235-236; as investor, 236; to incarnate the social ideal, 233- 238; historic attitude to eco- nomic questions, 239-272. Citizens, Christians as, 208-210. Class consciousness, relation of, to brotherhood, 20-22, 61-62. Class struggle, 58-60, 62, 70, 89, 92-93, 104-105, 125-127. **Closed shop," 153. 291 292 INDEX Coe, George A., quoted, 206. Cohen, Julius H., cited, loi. Cole, G. H. D., quoted, 177. Collective bargaining, 153-157; see also Unions. Colorado Fuel and Iron Co., referred to, 161. Commission on Industrial Rela- tions, report of, cited, 41, 42, 43, 44, 64, 73, 129. Commission on the Church and Social Service; see Social Serv- ice Commission. Committee on the War and the Religious Outlook, referred to, 220, 221, 229, 235, 236, 287- 289. Commons and Andrews, cited, 40, 48, 49, 50, 147. Communism, 86. Community as a party to indus- try, 92, 168-170; see also In- dustrial democracy. ^ Common ownership; see Social ownership* >- Competition, ethical aspects of, 18, 23, 59, 95-103. Consumer, the Christian as, 206- 208. Consumers* League, 141, 142,207. Contracts, violation of, by imions, 204-205. Control of industry; 5e« Auto- cratic control; aiso Industrial democracy. Cooperation; see Industrial de- mocracy. Cooperative Movement, 177- 178 n. Creative impulse in industry, 22, 31, 38, 93-94, 164-165. Cross as symbol of Christian way of life, 23, 120, 187. Democracy, Christian emphasis on, 16-17, 1 19-120; in indus- try; see Industrial democracy. Dennison Mfg. Co., referred to, 160. Devine, E. T., quoted, 49. Dewey, John, quoted, 197. Distribution, of wealth, 63-68, 87-88; of income, 65-66; of profits, see Profit-sharing. Drummond, Henry, referred to, 18 n. Dutchess Bleachery, referred to, 162, 167. Economic conditions, need for knowledge of, by the Church, 223-225; historic attitude of Church toward, 239-272. Economic determinism, 5, 82. Education, Christian emphasis on, 123; need for, in coopera- tion, 1 1 7-1 19; of the workers, 163-164; religious, 218-222. Eight-hour day, 48, 143-146. Ellwood, C. A., quoted, 66, 171. Employe, the Christian as, 201- 206. Employer, the Christian as, 192- 196. Employes* representation, 157^ 165, 194. Endicott- Johnson Co., referred to, 159. Environment, effect of, on per- sonality, 5-6, 15, 22, 186, 221. Equality, Christian view of, 216- 218. Evolution, mutual aid as a factor in, 18 n. Experiment, need of, in indus- trial organization, 182. Extravagance, condemned by Christianity, 207-208. Factory production, 38, 83; see also Impersonal view of labor. Faith, Christian emphasis on, 11-12, 32, 113-115, 213; present lack of, in industry, 115-117. Family spirit as the social ideal, 9, 17. Federal Council of Churches, 231; see also Social Service Commission. INDEX 293 Feudalism, ethical aspects of, 82. Filene Cooperative Association, 163. Filene, E. A., quoted, 142. Fisher, Irving, quoted, 47. Ford Motor Co., referred to, 142. Foreign missions, social signifi- cance of, 175. Forum, church, value of, 229- 230. Fraternal delegates to labor unions, 231-232. Freedom, Christian emphasis on, 1 19-12 1 ; of workers, 87-88, 90-91 ; essential to social pro- gress, 129-13 I. Friends, British, referred to, 62, 200; see also Quaker em- ployers. Gantt, H. L., quoted, 76, 165, 183. Gamer Print Works, referred to, 168. Carton Foundation, quoted, 93. Growth, as the Christian method of progress, 117-119, 177-182. Guild Socialism, 176-177. Hart, Homell, cited, 41. Hart, Schaffner, and Ma:rx, re- ferred to, 162. Hichens, W. L., quoted, 184. "Historic Attitude of the Church to Economic Questions, The," 239-272. Hobhouse, Prof., quoted, 87-89. Holmes, Justice, quoted, 130. Hours of work, 46-50, 55, 143- 147. Human values, supremacy of, 14, 37; see also Personality, Chris- tian emphasis on. Hunter, Robert, cited, 68, 128. Husslein, Jos., quoted, 69, 70. 39, 205; see a/50 Factory pro- duction. Income, 42-46, 65-66, 138-143. Independent Labor Party, 79. Individualism, economic, 171- 173. Individualistic ethics, inade- quacy of, 34-35, 189-190. Industrial Conference, Pres- ident's Second, 154, 156. Industrial conflict; see Class struggle; a/50 Strikes. Industrial democracy, 16-17, 62- 63» 74-76, 152-165, 195-196. Industrial problems. Christian interest in, 1-4; Christian approach to, 4-7. Industrial system, ethical char- acter of, 83-107; meaning of - a, 81-82. Industry as a social service, 25, 70, 103, 192; see also Service, Christian emphasis on. Interchurch World Movement, referred to, 228. Interest, validity of, 25-26, 73, 197. International Labor Congress, 143. Investor, the Christian as^ 196- 201. I. W. W., referred to, 21. Jesus, social teaching of, 9-33, 109-118, 214-215; see also Christianity. Justice, social, 16, 28-29, 92. Kidd, Benjamin, referred to, 219. King, W. I., cited, 44, 63-65, 67. King, W. L. Mackenzie, cited, 37, 195. Kingdom of God, 7, 9-12, 18-19, 24, 31, 117, 213-214. Kropotkin, P., referred to, 18 n. Immortality, social significance of belief in, 6. Impersonal view of labor, 36- Labor, not a commodity, 36-39, 66 ; duty of, see Employe. Labor legislation; see L^slation. 294 INDEX Labor movement, spiritual vsig- nificance of, 1-2, 74-80, iii, 224-225. Labor Temple, referred to, 235. Labor unions, see Unions. LaisseZ'fairej inconsistent with Christianity, 172-180. Lansbury, George, cited, 62. Lauck, W. J., cited, 45, 142. Lauck and Sydenstricker, cited, 41 » 42, 44. Legislation, labor, 55-56, 122- 124, 141, 146, I47-I49, 150- 151, 208-210. Leisure, importance of, 46-50. Leisure class, inconsistent with Christianity, 73-74. Leverhulme, Lord, quoted, 94, 144, 167. Living wage, 43-44» 45, 46, 138- 141, 150-151. Limitation of output, 68, 70, 94, 202-203. Love, the ruling motive, 11, 18- 19, 23; the way of social progress, 108-113. Luxuries, manufacture of, ques- tioned, 72-73, 207-208. McConnell, Francis J., cited, 236. Machinery, effect on human values, 38-39. Mackenzie, W. D., cited, 221. Means of production, ownership of, 30, 60, 87-88, 104-105, 172-177. Merchants' Association of N. Y., quoted, 140, 192. Method of social betterment, 108-13 1. Mill, John Stuart, quoted, 185. Milton, John, quoted, 130. Minimum wage, see Living wage. Ministers, need for training in social sciences, 221-222. Moral factor in industrial prob- lems, 4-5, et passim. Motive, Christian emphasis on, • 109-111; in industry, now wrong, 103-107; need for new, 182-187. Nasmyth, George, cited, 18 n. National Catholic War Council; see Catholic. National Child Labor Commit- tee, cited, 52, 53. National Consumers' League; see Consumers' League. Nationalism, relation of, to brotherhood, 20-22. Natural resources, ownership of, 60, 87-88, 104-105, 173. Negroes, attitude of organized labor to, 61, 204. Night work for women, 56, 150. Obstacles to Christian princi- ples in industry, 112, 121- 126, 184-186. Organization of labor, see Unions. Ownership, see Means of pro- , duction; Property; Social ownership. Pacifism, 125. Personality, Christian emphasis on value of, 11, 12-17, ^7t 31; dwarfing of, in modem indus- try, 39-58. Pittsburgh Survey, referred to, 197. Poverty, Christian view of, 43; causes of, 68, 148. Private property, see Property. Production, limitation of, 68, 70, 94, 202-203; incentives to, 183-186. Profits, Christian attitude to- ward, 25-26, 37, 69-70, 73, 75, 102-107; sharing of, 166-168. Profiteering, 69, 186. Property, Christian view of, 26- 29, 67; validity of private, 85- 90, 174-175; see also Means of production. Public ownership; see Social ownership. INDEX 295 Quaker employers, quoted, 40, 135, 141-142, 153, 164, 169; referred to, 190, 194, 228. Race, relation of, to brother- hood, 20-21. Religious education, social view of, 218-222. Repentance, Christian emphasis on, 5, 10, 218. Representation in industry, see Employes' representation. Research, need for, by churches, 225-229. Rest day legislation, 49-50, 146- 147. Rockefeller, J. D., Jr., quoted, 37.. Ruskin, John, quoted, 143. Sacrifice, demanded of Chris- tians, 190, 196, 201. "Scientific management," 164- 165. Scudder, Vida, quoted, 178-179, 189, 199. Seager, H. R., quoted, 236. Self-interest, unchristian em- phasis on, 68-71, 102-107, 191. Service, Christian emphasis on, II, 23-31; present failure to recognize, 68-76; the needed motive in industry, 182-187. Shenton, H. N., cited, 229. Shop committees, see Employes' representation. Shriver, W. P., cited, 235. Simplicity in living, commended to Christians, 207-208. Sin, social meaning of, 119, 217, 218. Slavery, a denial of Christianity, 13, 61; see also "Wage slav- ery." Small, A. W., quoted, 227-228. Smillie, Robert, quoted, 202-203. Smith, Adam, referred to, 10 1. Social control, 171-177. Social ownership, 172-180. Social Service Commission, cited, 128, 172-173, 230; importance of, 227-228, 232-233. Socialism, 84, 171-182, 196. Solidarity, human, 18-20; see also Brotherhood. Spargo, John, quoted, 174. Sparkes, Malcolm, cited, 181, 202. Steel industry, see U. S. Steel Corporation. Stewardship, Christian, 26-29. Stockholders, responsibility of, see Investor. Streightoff, F. H., cited, 43 n. Strikes, justification of, 125-127, 153-155. Suffering, significance of , 1 19-120. Sunday rest, 49-50, 146-147. Surplus profits, distribution of, 166-170. Tawney, R. H., quoted, 71, 183. Taxation, 169-170. Theological seminaries, social teaching in, 221-222. Trade unions; see Unions, Unchristian aspects of industrial order, 34-80. Unemployment, extent of, 39- 42; prevention of, 134-137; insurance against, 137-138. Unions, labor, 153-159, 202, 204, 205. U. S. Department of Education, cited, 149. U. S. Department of Labor, cited, 41, 44, 45, 48, 145. U. S. Employment Service, 137. U. S. Public Health Service, cited, 145-146. U. S. Steel Corporation, con- ditions in, 48-49, 66, 198. Unity of mankind, 17-19; see also Brotherhood. Unskilled labor, attitude of unions toward, 60, 204. Violence, Christian protest against, 127-129. 296 INDEX "Wage slavery," 93. Wage system, ethical character of, 90-95, 181-182. Wages, 42-46, 139-143; see also Living wage. War, between nations, 116, 125- 127; between classes, see Class struggle, War Labor Board, cited, 45, 48, 154. Ward, Harry F., cited, 216. Wealth, Jesus' attitude toward, 24-31; distribution of, 63-68, 87-88. Webb, Sidney, quoted, 179. Wells, H. G., quoted, 179. Whitley Committee, 158. Women in industry, 53-57, 149- 152, 204. Woolman, John, quoted, 189, 208. Workers' Educational Associa- tion, 164. Works Councils, see Employes' representation. — _^___ ^ ^^" ^«te stamped below /MAR 27 1948 MAR 28 19481 r.£S. C!R. j'jN 6 0reb'64Dil Xi^W 641^ MR 6*64-:ri -100m-9,'47(A5702sl6) 476 m 07(83 601014 '^. UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LIBRARY