THE CHALLENGE OF SAINT LOUIS BY GEORGE B. MANGOLD DIRECTOR, MISSOURI SCHOOL OF SOCIAL ECONOMY NEW YORK MISSIONARY EDUCATION MOVEMENT OF THE UNITED STATES AND CANADA 1917 COPYRIGHT. 1917. BY MISSIONARY EDUCATION MOVEMENT OF THE UNITED STATES AND CANADA CONTENTS CHAPTER PAGE I THE RESOURCES AND LIABILITIES OF THE CHURCH i II THE PEOPLE 33 III INDUSTRIAL PROBLEMS 63 IV EDUCATION 93 V THE FAMILY 121 VI POVERTY AND DISEASE 149 VII VICE AND CRIME 181 VIII LEISURE AND RECREATION .... 213 IX GOVERNMENT 241 X ACCEPTING THE CHALLENGE .... 267 ILLUSTRATIONS PAGE A Scene on a Playground . . . Frontispiece Chart No. i, Distribution of the Population of St. Louis by Denominations 5 A Rear House on Eighth Street .... 42 A Back Yard on Twelfth Street .... 58 A Cheap Dormitory for Single Men ... 74 Servian Children Who Attend the Public Library 90 The Typical Home of the Neglected Child . . 106 Chart No. 2, Distribution of Tuberculosis in St. Louis 122 A Yard Hydrant and Drain 138 A Typical Lodging-house Office . . . .154 A Visiting Nurse at Work 170 At the Fresh Air Camp 186 Chart No. 3, Distribution of Saloons and Pool- rooms by Wards 202 Find the Leader of the Gang and the Library Champion ........ 218 Chart No. 4, Organization of the Local Government : Municipal . 250 Educational and County . . . . . .251 THE RESOURCES AND LIABILITIES OF THE CHURCH " By their fruits ye shall know them." /. The Opportunity of the Church One of the most serious crises of all Christian his- tory faces us to-day. Men have begun to measure the advance of Christian civilization by such objec- tive and beneficent results as greater democracy, good- will among men, better living conditions, happy homes, the reduction or elimination of misery, pov- erty, vice, crime, intemperance, class hatred, and divorce, the development of character, and the pro- motion of unselfishness and love. Is not the essence of Christian faith found in Christian living, ex- pressed in results such as these ? Otherwise why did Jesus, in portraying the judgment day, emphasize the importance of feeding the hungry, giving drink to the thirsty, clothing the naked, visiting the sick, exhibit- ing hospitality to the stranger and kindness to the prison inmate? Never before in the history of the world has op- portunity knocked so loudly at the doors of the Chris- tian churches. Our population is greater, our wants are more diversified, and our temptations more far- reaching, yet the direct influence of religion is gain- ing but little ground. There are most unhappy con- trasts in the fulness of our moral, intellectual, and 2 THE CHALLENGE OF ST. LOUIS economic life, and there is a very serious maldistribu- tion of spiritual vigor, as succeeding chapters will clearly show. To-day the churches must face their problems in the light of the new vision of Christianity. Principles have not changed; they are as old as the day when Jesus taught on the shores of Galilee, but the moral and spiritual regeneration of mankind re- quires that we vitalize the life and teachings of Christ so as to make them a power for our social sal- vation. We must teach the first commandment, " Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength." Men must have the love of Christ and the faith that makes them whole. To get right with God is a duty of the ages that can never pass away. But we must also teach the second, " Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself," and obedience to the second is a witness of the love demanded in the first. Let us not forget that in saving men God does not take upon himself all responsibility for their future actions and forcibly prevent them from falling into sin. He expects them to carry part, at least, of the burden themselves. " Stand fast in the faith, quit you like men, be strong," enforces the apostle Paul. Nevertheless, man is weak and suffers from the temp- tations about him so that he may lose his spiritual power and life. He is not independent of the condi- tions that surround him, and he grows in grace and love as the new spirit within him reacts favorably upon the environment, physical, mental, and moral, about him from day to day. To reach these influ- ences should be the aim of every church. In other RESOURCES AND LIABILITIES 3 words, no church completes its task with any man until it supplements faith with opportunity, and the love of Christ with a chance to live under conditions that make right living possible; that is, until it sup- plements evangelism or personal appeal with service. God changes man, but man changes the environment. God has left much for us to do. It is not common sense to place the church on a pedestal and to worship it instead of using it as a divinely ordained institution to make the world a better and happier place in which to live. Its mission to uplift and to regenerate re- mains the same, but its tasks are as various as the dif- ferent impulses and influences that play upon the soul of man. The first task of the earnest Christian worker should be to take stock of the forces for righteousness in his community. He should know of the churches, their aims, and their work. Then he should learn the mag- nitude of the task that awaits him. In view of these needs, this book proposes, first, to set forth the moral and spiritual assets of the community. Second, to deal in subsequent chapters with the life and conditions of the people and the evils that must be overcome. The triumph of Christianity is more than the triumph of a creed ; it involves the overcoming of evil with good. II. Religious Organisation of St. Louis i. Communicants and Adherents Let us then consider how St. Louis is organized from the religious standpoint to cope with the problem of evil. In 1906, according to the federal Bureau of the Census, 31 per cent, of the population of the city 4 THE CHALLENGE OF ST. LOUIS were Roman Catholic adherents, 14 per cent, were members of various Protestant denominations and 2 per cent, belonged to other churches. More than one- half of the population were not directly connected with any church. Officially, then, the forces of the church represented a minority of the people. However, if small children are excluded, a majority of our people were identified with various churches. The estimates of ten years ago have been supple- mented by computations made by the Church Federa- tion of St. Louis. According to its figures, the Prot- estant and evangelical church-membership, by com- munions and the number of churches respectively, is as follows: Number of Number of Communions churches members Adventist 4 250 Baptist 64 14,205 Congregational 15 3,425 Disciples of Christ 12 4,550 Lutheran 29 15,654 Evangelical 30 16,780 Methodist 55 21,956 Presbyterian 42 1 1,890 Episcopal 24 5,911 Unclassified Protestant Churches. 9 1,000 Total (White 218, Colored 66) . 284 95,621 The method of many Protestant and evangelical churches in counting as church-members only those persons who definitely unite themselves in some for- mal manner makes the church-membership much less than the body of adherents. Probably the proportions are about one to three. If so, the actual number of adherents would total 286,863. Considering the gen- eral church affiliation of the people of St. Louis, the Church Federation made the following estimate : RESOURCES AND LIABILITIES Per cent, of Number Adher- Number population of churches ents 2,684 Roman Catholics 255,000 33.0 95 Protestants and evangelical. 286,863 37.2 284 East European churches.. 1,445 .2 3 Christian Scientists 5,ooo .6 5 Latter Day Saints 1,000 .15 6 Miscellaneous ^ 800 .1 3 Total 550,108 71.25 396 Jewish population (esti- mated) 60,000 7.85 610,108 79.1 Number non-adherents.... 161,892 20.9 Total population of city (1916) 772,000 100.0 1,010 482 1,000 116 266 Protestant Adherents 37.2^ Norf Adherents 20.9%, jr Roman Catholic Adherents 33% Chart I. Distribution of the Population of St. Louis by Denominations 6 THE CHALLENGE OF ST. LOUIS These figures show that about one third of the pop- ulation of this city is Roman Catholic. It appears also that about three eighths of the total are Protestant adherents. The Jewish population, estimated at one out of every fourteen, consists of a large number who do not in practise affiliate with any religion. Although there are about a dozen large synagogs, there are many congregations that meet in private houses and modest rooms, and therefore the number of so-called churches cannot be definitely ascertained. More than one fifth of the people of this city are without religious connec- tions of any kind and practically nothing is known of their respective beliefs. But the number who profess religion or Christianity is no criterion of the character of a city. Not every person who is counted, whether Catholic or Protestant, is a genuine member of Christ's invisible church. In fact, the nominal Christians, whether church-members or no, comprise a large proportion of the groups that have been discussed. Otherwise why has sin and wick- edness not been wiped out, and why does the church face such a tremendous problem as it does to-day? Why do we suffer from such miserable conditions of poverty, pauperism, crime, and delinquency? Why are divorces, desertions, and unfaithful marriages so common ? Why must evils, such as child labor, indus- trial accidents, unemployment, and the like, curse our city and its people? Were all so-called Christians true Christians, then these evils would be wiped out of ex- istence. The real assets of our religious forces are the genuinely good people of the community. The first line of potential assets are the half-way Chris- tians that affiliate with the churches. The unchurched RESOURCES AND LIABILITIES 7 constitute a problem, but often not more serious than that of the nominal Christians. 2. Communicants per Church St. Louis is well provided with churches, and these must be considered an important part of the equip- ment with which to fight evil and its manifestations. The machinery and weapons are a very necessary fac- tor. The Roman Catholics have relatively the smallest number. They have divided the city into parishes and located their churches in well selected places. Catho- lics residing in a parish are expected to attend the church in that community, and if they move, their membership is also transferred. With nearly 2,700 adherents per church, it is clear that a considerable equipment is necessary. There are about 1,000 per- sons for every Protestant church, but the actual mem- bership per church is less than 350. 3. Lack of Unity Protestantism has covered the city in a most ridicu- lous hit-and-miss fashion. Until recently the various denominations have hardly considered each other in the establishment of new churches, and accordingly many crowd into the same block or within a short dis- tance of each other. Each denomination has sought to strengthen itself and none has had an effective vision of the larger Protestantism that unifies all Protestant work in its essential religious aspects. Nearly every denomination, therefore, has its struggling churches, and the question may well be asked whether or not they are a drag on the denomination and prevent it from doing the larger tasks that face the city. Not 8 THE CHALLENGE OF ST. LOUIS until the Church Federation promoted the idea and made practical suggestions has any effort been made to prevent unnecessary overlapping. The great bulk of the Protestant churches are too small to do much effective community work separately; consequently much of this service must be carried on through gen- eral denominational organizations or by the Church Federation, and federations of individual church groups, such as local brotherhoods, ladies' aid, and missionary societies. Collectively, Protestantism should be a power, and through its churches, members, and adherents it can profoundly affect our moral con- ditions, but to-day it is deficient in strength and solidar- ity. In union there is strength, and in common pur- pose there is power. Furthermore, the resemblances between Protestant- ism and Catholicism are greater than their differences. Why should not both groups exhibit sufficient breadth of view to discover the things they hold in common, and to this extent, at least, unite for the promotion of the common good and for the development of ideals and character? What an array of men and women if all the church-members or adherents in this city should stand shoulder to shoulder for righteousness ! 4. Minor Church Organizations Next in importance to church affiliation is the or- ganization of men and women into minor groups or societies subordinate to the church. Here may be banded together persons striving for some particular purpose or ideal for example, the women that con- duct a missionary society or the churches may foster certain societies without definitely limiting or special- RESOURCES AND LIABILITIES 9 izing their functions, such as young people's societies and men's brotherhoods. A vast amount of spiritual energy can be developed or wasted according to the methods and leadership of these organizations. The spiritual leakage is most abnormal, however, and great savings can be effected. The Catholic laymen are banded together in various organizations with excellent effect. More than 1,000 men work faithfully in the St. Vincent de Paul So- ciety. The Federated Catholic Societies have been instrumental in repressing various forms of vice, espe- cially vicious post cards and pictures, salacious litera- ture, unwholesome picture films, etc. Although their work has been largely limited to this field of endeavor, their power must be felt as they gradually widen the scope of their operations. Many of the women are members of the Queen's Daughters and carry on va- rious benevolent enterprises. In fact, the genius of the Catholic Church in making its members serve is partly shown in the vast system of charity operated under the direction of Catholic laymen and conducted as Catholic charities. The self-denial represented in contributions for worthy purposes and in the volume of service given, challenges the Christian service car- ried on by Protestants and demands a more serious self-consecration on their part. The Protestant churches each have their special or- ganizations, the young men and women being organ- ized in Christian Endeavor Societies, Epworth Leagues, Baptist Young People's Unions, Evangelical Leagues, and other groups. Ordinarily they meet every Sunday evening for forty-five minutes before the regu- lar church services. According to the best estimates ip THE CHALLENGE OF ST. LOUIS there are 215 of these societies, 138 of which are senior or intermediate, and 77 junior, with a total membership of over 9,000 persons. Their program usually consists of a topical discussion based on Scrip- ture, and frequently does not include a practical appli- cation of the message either to the individual, for the improvement of his character, or to the local moral problems that require collective action to secure re- sults. Nevertheless, some young people's societies have set apart one or two Sundays per month for the discussion of these subjects that are of such vital im- portance to our moral welfare. What a gain, for example, if the various societies seriously considered the need of controlling commercial recreations and to- gether used their influence directly to promote better conditions ! Then we have organizations among older persons. In many churches there are men's societies known as brotherhoods, which usually meet once a month and carry out some program or enjoy a social evening. This program presents a considerable variety of inter- ests and occasionally includes the discussion of prac- tical social service topics, but the work done has not been sufficiently systematic to result in definite action along the lines suggested by the discussion. Large numbers of men are enrolled in these organizations, and they could be a considerable power should they act as a unit in favor of some moral reform. In a similar way the women are organized in various capaci- ties, such as the missionary and the ladies' aid socie- ties. Splendid possibilities are in store for each of these groups of organizations if they would federate and work toward some definite worthy objects. RESOURCES AND LIABILITIES 11 5. Secular and Fraternal Organizations The influence of secular women's clubs is well known. Could the same enthusiasm be displayed in wiping out some moral sore, surely the thousands of women in these church organizations would become a mighty power. One of the most powerful forces in the community is the fraternal organization. Founded on moral prin- ciples, it is also semi-religious in character. Besides the features distinctive and peculiar to each type of organization, there are general features, such as sick benefits, benevolent or charitable work, recreational features, etc. The strongest organization in this city is the Ma- sonic order, having a membership of 13,500. The Woodmen of the World comes next with about 8,500. Among the remaining orders are the Modern Wood- men of America, Independent Order of Odd Fellows, Knights of Pythias, the Elks, etc. The Knights of Columbus, with a membership of 6,000, is a Catholic order and a very influential body. 6. Types of Protestant Churches Protestant churches belong to one of three types. They may be city-wide churches, appealing to men and women from all over the city and not attempting par- ticularly to carry on intensive work in the community near by. Such churches content themselves largely with the old way of conducting church work. There are the usual church organizations with their regular meetings, the Sunday-school, two church services each Sunday, a mid-week prayer meeting, and meetings of auxiliary societies. This type of church no doubt has 12 THE CHALLENGE OF ST. LOUIS its place and can accomplish much good; nevertheless, a feeling is beginning to prevail that something more must be done to make the investment worth while. Does it pay, not in cash or property, but in souls, in human lives? Are the work of the preacher and the languid efforts of organizations that pay no attention to the problem of Christian contacts sufficient to meet the needs ? Is it not necessary for the churches to har- ness the energy of their members and direct it upon the community or a part of it? This feeling has re- sulted in increasing the activities of many churches and compelling them to engage in some form of com- munity service. Nevertheless the great majority of churches in the city belong to this general group. They fitted very well into the individualistic communities of bygone days, but the teeming interrelated life of to- day demands new methods. Yet the need of social salvation, the salvation of our contacts, human and otherwise, is hardly recognized, and in some cases di- rectly ignored. Nevertheless the Master set the ex- ample in building up the body and the environment of jmen as part of their better spiritual life. A second type carries on the traditional church, but extends its services so as to promote the community welfare and to minister to the social needs of its people. In many localities this represents a fairly satisfactory adjustment. The third type, the institutional or socialized church, aims especially to minister to the community need. It may draw its membership from all parts of the city, but its distinctive service is as a neighborhood church. This church not only preaches the love of Christ but is itself the good neighbor. Love expresses itself in RESOURCES AND LIABILITIES 13 the desire to win men and women to the higher life, but its best expression is in the form of service, since that alone convinces of the reality of the religion that is professed. As an illustration of their work, we classify below some of the services which they perform. In no one church, however, do we find all of these activities. Religious Service : Regular Sunday worship. Sunday-school. Mid-week prayer meeting. Services for various nationalities and groups. Colporteurage and visiting. Educational Service : Kindergarten. Circulating library. Classes for immigrants. Direction of students in industrial, cooking, and sewing classes. Penny savings bank. Civics. Open forum. Vacation Bible school. Recreation : Boys' and girls' clubs. Boy Scouts or Camp Fire Girls. Games. Gymnasium activities. Swimming pool. Baths. Summer outing. Medical Assistance : Clinic and dispensary. 14 THE CHALLENGE OF ST. LOUIS Milk distributing station. Headquarters for district nurse, physician, etc. Philanthropic : Day nursery. Employment bureau. Lunch club. Incidental relief. Cooperation with social agencies. Here is a formidable program, every phase of which is necessary to build up the right kind of men and women. Let us not forget that the soul dwells in the body and both live together in an environment. Let us not forget that man has body, mind, and soul, closely interrelated and interdependent. Man needs nothing less than spiritual nurture, supplemented by education, recreation, physical care, and opportunity. No church can see any man suffering from the lack of any one of these needs and consistently refuse to help. For this reason does the socialized church carry on a pro- gram that touches man seven days of the week. True religion is not a Sunday recreation enjoyed once a week. It is a daily occupation gifted with long hours and strenuous labor. The socialized church recognizes that misery and crime are partly a result of lack of opportunity. Therefore it supplements the public school activities with industrial classes for boys and girls and other forms of training. These classes not only afford prac- tical training, but they inevitably lead to improvement in the morals of the pupils, thereby accomplishing a double gain. The socialized church understands the bad influ- ence on boys and girls of congestion and lack of op- RESOURCES AND LIABILITIES 15 portunity for wholesome play and recreation. It rec- ognizes recreation as a character-builder and proceeds to carry out its theory. An interesting and valuable institutional feature of church work, involving faith in education and in the proper use of leisure, is the daily vacation Bible school. The evil of child idleness during the summer months is a serious factor in promoting delinquency and bad habits. Accordingly it has become worth while to gather children from the streets and afford them an opportunity for recreation and for the use of their time in such "helpful occupations as sewing, cooking, toy making, saw work, and aeronautics; and to these services have been added instruction in the Bible, in love of home and country, order, respect for authority, and the singing of good hymns and songs. The effect on the character of the boys and girls leaves no room for doubt. In 1916 the Presbyterians entered on their fifth year of vacation school work, and operated six such schools in the city, each in connection with some church or mission. Affiliated with these were eight other schools representing the Congregational, Evan- gelical, and Methodist churches, besides a Presbyterian school in East St. Louis. In addition to these the Bap- tists, who established their work in 1912, conducted two independent schools with an enrolment of 498. The attendance at these schools varied, the highest ex- ceeding 300 children. The enrolment for the thirteen affiliated schools in St. Louis, for which information was available, was 3,241, with an average attendance, counting the children who came ten days or more, of 84 per cent. Nearly one hundred young men and women were employed or volunteered to carry on this 16 THE CHALLENGE OF ST. LOUIS work and make it successful. Their influence on the children, in addition to the recreation, games, hand- work, song, and instruction, results in a genuine form of Christian social service. The work represents a part of the great movement that sees in the daily lives of the children the constructive or destructive forces that respectively make or unmake character. The socialized church believes that bodies must be well and fit to do their daily work. Dispensaries, clin- ics, milk stations, visiting nurses, and other forms of medical service may be found connected with such churches, and these go far toward teaching the story of the Christ. In heathen lands to-day medical social service is one of the most important essentials of the missionary program. Eight of the nineteen milk sta- tions operated by the St. Louis Pure Milk Commis- sion during the year 1915-16 were located at institu- tional churches or Protestant religious settlements, and a similar fact is true for six of the eleven feeding clin- ics maintained; while two stations were located in Ro- man Catholic institutions. In all, 1,055 f tne 1.668 babies cared for were relieved at these eight stations. Recently a number of these downtown religious cen- ters have been selected as headquarters for the district nurse work so necessary in the congested sections of our great cities. The socialized church wants men to enjoy an oppor- tunity to earn their daily bread. Consequently it is interested in their employment and helps them if they are in poverty. It works toward the amelioration of their lot, helps them to better housing, to the wiser expenditure of money, and endeavors to increase their earning power. RESOURCES AND LIABILITIES 17 In short, the socialized church tries to serve the many-sided wants of man, believing that in doing this it will tend to develop character and to build better and nobler lives ; and that is surely the essence of Chris- tianity. Although a large proportion of St. Louis churches have some institutional features, not more than eight- een may be properly classified as institutional or social- ized churches. 7. Neglected Neighborhoods In spite of the 284 Protestant churches in the city, one for every 1,500 of the Protestant and non-church- going population, and a sufficient number to establish four in every square mile of area, there are large sec- tions of the city without adequate church facilities. Examples of this condition are indicated by the fol- lowing extract taken from a report of the executive secretary of the Church Federation : " Let me mention three neighborhoods. In the first there are five churches. One is about to leave; three of them are so poor in equipment and so inadequately maintained that year after year they struggle, but never make a vital impression. They are badly located, so that they become rivals for part of the section, while a population of 20,000 is untouched." In some parts of the city such a population would have thirteen churches. " The second field will soon be practically with but one neighborhood church. It teems with the most migratory population, largely English-speaking, with every form of vice within its bounds. " The third field has just one constructive force i8 THE CHALLENGE OF ST. LOUIS a public school. It is full of poverty-stricken, aimless, sinful, broken people. They have no church, mission, organized Sunday-school, or social center." Churches in such localities, of course, will not be self-supporting for many years and perhaps never will be. Nor should this be expected. Stronger churches must accept responsibility for some neglected district and provide for it the form and amount of church service necessary. Otherwise we will find that a large number of churches will compete for service in over- churched localities, while many districts are almost en- tirely neglected. 8. Physical Equipment An additional religious asset is the physical equip- ment of our churches. The church plant is part of the machinery for the promotion of spiritual life. Two important points are involved adequate facilities and buildings constructed to meet the needs of the mem- bers and the community. Many church buildings are comparatively small and the world would be better served if some of them were abandoned and the congregations merged with others. Even outside of the negro churches, valued at approxi- mately $15,000 each, there are many buildings that have cost less than $20,000. It is probable that the total value of all the Protestant churches of the city is more than $9,000,000. What an opportunity for service such an investment affords ! In the main the buildings are not too elaborate in design and do not present the appearance of money wasted in unneces- sary ornamentation. Church buildings cannot appear to be the outcome of sensuous luxury and properly per- RESOURCES AND LIABILITIES 19 form their functions. They should be substantial, in- spiring, and promote reverence for God and love for man. The estimated value of the Roman Catholic churches, excluding the new Cathedral, is from $4,000,000 to $5,000,000, an average per church of perhaps $60,000. These churches, comparatively few in number, but calculated to cover the city, are usually of considerable size, with corresponding cost. The Young Men's and Young Women's Christian Associa- tions have plants with a combined value of more than $1,100,000. The money capital invested in religious enterprises in St. Louis is astounding more than $16,- 000,000, not including the Jewish synagogs, for which no estimates could be obtained. Surely such an invest- ment demands returns, not in material wealth but in spiritual capacity. Nor can this capital be allowed to stand idle a large share of the time if dividends in character are to be expected. The second item consists in buildings constructed to meet the demands made upon them. Probably not one out of every ten churches is equipped with a gymnasium, although the expenditure of a small ad- ditional sum would have gained this result. Many churches are in urgent need of such equipment. Separate buildings for social activities are rare. Again, too often the building has been constructed with special reference to the central meeting place or auditorium, and quite without regard for the ne"ces- sary provision to be made for men's and women's, young people's and children's organizations, for social gatherings, educational work, and other forms of service. As a consequence the church has not reached 20 THE CHALLENGE OF ST. LOUIS out into the community to touch the many individuals within potential range of its influence. ///. Cooperation The strength of evangelical Christianity is pro- foundly affected by the cooperation and get-together spirit that is manifested. The possible forms of cooperation are: Cooperation among ministers, Cooperation among laymen, Cooperation among churches. 1. The Ministerial or Evangelical Alliance Some advance has been made along each of these lines of federation. The Evangelical Alliance aims to bring together the ministers of all evangelical churches once every month, so they may know each other, learn of each other, and carry out certain plans as an alliance or association. At the monthly meet- ings addresses on various topics are given, and ques- tions of religious, moral, and occasionally of social interest are discussed. Standing and special com- mittees deal with the community problems that are considered. The Alliance is also the mouthpiece of the ministers when they wish to express themselves publicly on some important proposition, such as tem- perance, the social evil, public education, and the like. At present about 400 ministers are eligible to mem- bership. 2. Interdenominational Organizations The Young Men's Christian Association and Young Women's Christian Association are commonly re- RESOURCES AND LIABILITIES 21 garded as interdenominational organizations and are supported by the laymen of many churches. They best express cooperation among the membership of the various churches. Young Men's Christian Association. The St. Louis Young Men's Christian Association consists of six branch organizations, the Central, North, Railroad, Colored, Industrial, and Washington University, each under a separate secretary, and all under the super- vision of a general secretary. Among the services of the Association the follow- ing command particular attention. Vocational work is conducted and is exemplified by classes in salesman- ship and advertising. Technical training is also given to students capable of benefiting thereby, the principal lines covered being mechanical and architectural draw- ing, chemistry, and electricity. Besides these special- ties, general training is afforded in many practical fields, particularly in stenography, bookkeeping, col- lege preparatory work, business, and accountancy. The physical department touches more individuals, perhaps, than any other. The work is planned on the scientific and wholesome principle that men need a good body in order to lead useful and well-rounded lives. Accordingly lectures and instructions are given in sanitation and hygiene, and practical opportunities for recreative activities are emphasized, chief among them being the baths, swimming pools, games of va- rious kinds, such as basket-ball, indoor baseball, pool, billiards, chess and checkers, and cross country runs. The chief stress, however, is placed on the indoor sports. The Association, in its employment bureau work, 22 THE CHALLENGE OF ST. LOUIS aims to direct young men into suitable forms of em- ployment instead of merely finding jobs for them. The work among the immigrants, to be mentioned later, also produces valuable results, industrially, edu- cationally, morally, and spiritually. Much is made of the boys' work, that is, of the ef- forts connected with the groups under eighteen years of age. The aim here is particularly to surround them with wholesome personal influences, in the most ef- fective way through fine associations and helpful contacts. The varied activities are similar to those for the young men, but adapted to the needs of the boys. Several Boy Scout troops have been organ- ized and many clubs and classes offer opportunities for physical, mental, and moral development. Ob- servation groups have been organized, and these visit institutions and factories, and engage in frequent in- spection trips. Some attention has been paid to outdoor camp quar- ters and increased effort to enlarge this work is being made. The Association also emphasizes the religious needs, and approaches boys and young men by systematic personal work whereby not only the religious phases of life but other profound problems are discussed. Accordingly religion does not appear like some super- fluous outer garment, but as a necessary part of the wearing apparel. Young Women's Christian Association. The Young Women's Christian Association had a total membership in 1915 of 4,769. Its service has been most varied and touches many phases of human life. Its cafeteria provides wholesome meals at reasonable RESOURCES AND LIABILITIES 23 prices. Its physical department touches thousands of girls and women through gymnasium classes, the swim- ming pool, tennis, riding, rowing, hiking, playground work, pageants, and through extension work of va- rious kinds. The educational work enrolled nearly 1,400 persons in 200 classes covering such subjects as English, domestic science, sewing, music, first aid to the injured, etc. The Association has been helpful to women out of work. More than 8,000 applications for situations in miscellaneous and house work were received, and 51 per cent, of the women were placed in positions. The work of the employment depart- ment has also covered many cases of adjustment of difficulties between employer and employee, white slave cases, and individual problems of dishonesty, immorality, ignorance, sickness, destitution, and other allied conditions. In the clerical division of the em- ployment department the registration numbers 3,771, and positions were secured for 1,552. The industrial department has touched hundreds of factory girls within and without the establishments. Through its evening programs it has provided enter- tainment, inspiration, and also instruction, especially in dramatics, English, fancy work, first aid to injured, Bible, and gymnasium work. Philanthropic aid and good cheer were dispensed to many families from which the girls or working children were recruited. Factory welfare work was also attempted in two fac- tories and excellent service rendered the girls. The work with the younger girls was carried on through Hearth Fire groups, clubs, and spontaneous gather- ings. Concerts, entertainments, and outings were en- joyed, also a series of talks on religious, scientific, and 24 THE CHALLENGE OF ST. LOUIS social subjects. Many of the girls were visited in their homes. There is a branch for the colored women, which is gradually growing in importance and useful- ness. The Association, besides its dormitory provi- sions for young women, operates a special home for stranded and unfortunate girls or young women who have come to the city to find employment and are temporarily without living accommodations. More than 700 girls were registered, of whom nearly one fifth had neither money nor position. Many free lodgings were given. The keystone to this arch of human service is, of course, the religious work that is directly carried on. The vesper services, Bible classes, special services by noted workers, the Sunday after- noon meetings, and other phases of religious activity all supplement and crystallize the remaining work that is conducted. 3. The Church Federation The Church Federation of St. Louis exemplifies the effort at cooperation among the churches. It was or- ganized in 1912 at a meeting where thirty-five churches were represented, but it has grown until no churches have become members. At present thirteen denomi- nations are represented : Baptist, Congregational, Dis- ciples of Christ, Evangelical, Evangelical Lutheran, Methodist Episcopal, Methodist Episcopal, South, Presbyterian in the U. S. A., Presbyterian in the U. S., United Presbyterian, Reformed Presbyterian, Protestant Episcopal, and Reformed Church in the U. S. The Federation is controlled by a council made up of pastors and official delegates from the churches. RESOURCES AND LIABILITIES 25 These select an executive committee, which directs the activities of the executive secretary, who has charge of the work. The following objects of the Federation indicate not only the perspective of the founders but the im- portant needs that must be met : 1. To express the essential unity of the churches. 2. To avoid duplication and destructive competi- tion. 3. To know the task in St. Louis by adequate study. 4. To broaden the vision of church workers. 5. To establish Christian ideals in the social, in- dustrial, and political life of St. Louis. 6. To provide Christian work for neglected fields. 7. To render service to the community. 8. To evangelize the city. 9. To serve and evangelize the unchurched. 10. To cooperate in great church and social move- ments. These objects are of a varied character, but funda- mentally they involve cooperation among the churches to bring about personal and social regeneration in this city, and the extension of this work to larger commu- nities. The Federation soon after its establishment pre- pared a survey of the religious forces of the city, set- ting forth the facts in figures, maps, and charts, and made them accessible to the churches so that one of the first essentials in a forward program might be ob- tained an appraisement of the assets on hand with which the churches might carry on their business or program. A similar survey was made of the destruc- 26 THE CHALLENGE OF ST. LOUIS tive forces in the community. At the request of churches studies were made of particular local fields to indicate the problems to be met, in order that a scien- tific and efficient program might be instituted. Sum- mer tent-meetings were conducted in various parts of the city, many people were reached, and a spirit of comity was promoted among the churches. Religious meetings in shops and factories were organized; a magazine was started ; a study made of the problem of public morals; and, in conjunction with other or- ganizations, the training-school for Sunday-school workers was also begun. The next efforts included the following additional projects: a campaign of newspaper advertising which proved very effective; noonday, downtown, and theater meetings, and community service plans for the various churches; education in social service through free lec- tures given by experts, and by means of pamphlets or leaflets on different topics; promotion of sentiment for law enforcement; the gathering of information by means of surveys or investigations; missionary propa- ganda; and the promotion of occasional popular gath- erings to stimulate energy and interest in federated effort. The gradual development of the service of the Fed- eration through its various committees has resulted in the establishment of several special departments of work. I. The Department of Religious Education This aims to raise the efficiency of Sunday-school work and of other forms of religious education. It maintains a training course for Sunday-school work- ers, covering three years, thirty weeks per year. RESOURCES AND LIABILITIES 27 2. The Department of Comity This aims to promote scientific methods in provid- ing districts with church facilities, j. Department of Investigation of Appeals Givers are to be advised in regard to worthy enter- prises. Investigations are made on request, the Fed- eration cooperating with other agencies in this work. 4. The Department of Evangelism This aims to secure provision for adequate Chris- tian teaching and religious services in St. Louis. It has conducted street meetings in two places every pleasant evening during the summer. Leading pastors have assisted in this work and thousands have been addressed and made to feel the vital interest of the church in their spiritual welfare. Furthermore, about 300 noonday meetings have been held within a year in factories throughout the city. At these meetings short addresses of fifteen minutes each have been given to the assembled men. It has striven also to stimulate interest in neglected districts, so that various churches might become aroused to the need. 5. The Department of Social Service This department aims to interest individuals and churches in actual Christian service to the community. Among the results accomplished are the following: A representative of the Federation has appeared reg- ularly in the Juvenile Court to promote the interests of Protestant delinquent and neglected children by securing private homes for them, or by bringing them in touch with religious or philanthropic agencies, and in other ways. The department has pushed the " Big Brother " movement and finally incorporated it as part of its 28 THE CHALLENGE OF ST. LOUIS regular work. Big brothers are found for boys need- ing them, and contacts between the two varied classes of individuals are maintained. The department investigates social conditions, pro- motes law enforcement, advocates needed legislation, cooperates with other social agencies, and carries on a campaign of education in the churches, through lec- tures, pamphlets, etc. It has assisted in obtaining funds for the relief of the poor and has cooperated with several agencies to that effect. It promotes religious services in the municipal insti- tutions and conducts a system of pastoral visitation to the City Hospital. It cooperates in the work of the Conference of Fed- erations, where contact is established with representa- tives of Catholic and Jewish bodies and with various civic organizations. Other lines of work are being followed, the aim being to arouse the churches and their members to a consciousness of both the personal and impersonal con- ditions that interfere with the best ideals of living, and to inspire all to improve these conditions to the end that a vital, joyous, religious life may be implanted. It has just begun its work. The problems before it are immense, and it hopes to extend its services along every line until Protestantism will become a unified force working through the spirit of evangelism and that of social service for the promotion of righteous- ness and Christian ideals. We may hope for much and will gain much when pastors, church-members, and churches all work to- gether for the coming of the kingdom of God. RESOURCES AND LIABILITIES 29 IV. Problems for Christianity At present we are facing a crisis. Will Christianity meet the test? Let us summarize our resources and our liabilities so as to see the problem more clearly, for in this contrast lies the challenge of the world and of St. Louis to Christianity. i. Resources We have nearly 400 Christian churches in St. Louis, of which 95 are Roman Catholic, 284 evangelical or Protestant, while the remainder belong to various minor sects. About 47 per cent, of the population are church com- municants, but more than three fourths are church adherents. The Protestant clergy number about 400 and the Roman Catholic diocesan priests about 175. The property value of these churches may be esti- mated at about $15,000,000. St. Louis has 220 Sunday-schools, with about 75,000 pupils and students. The young people's societies, brotherhoods, and women's organizations enroll some thousands of mem- bers. The Young Men's Christian Association and the Young Women's Christian Association operate prop- erty valued at $1,100,000, and at least fifty paid work- ers are connected with them. In addition to these Christian resources are the Jew- ish synagogs and rabbis that minister to the Jewish people. There are, of course, many secular agencies working for our social and moral welfare; for exam- 3 o THE CHALLENGE OF ST. LOUIS pie, schools, philanthropies, improvement societies, and other organizations. . - 2. Liabilities St. Louis has 21,000 illiterates. Less than one half of the children finish the eighth grade. More than 10,000 children are at work. There are no proper facilities for the care of the feeble-minded. We have a high death rate from tuberculosis. Six per cent, of our dead are buried in the potter's field. Probably ten per cent, of our population are in poverty. One out of every twenty persons is arrested an- nually. We have no adequate system for the moral reforma- tion of criminals. The social evil is a constant menace. St. Louis has one saloon for every 100 men. There are practically 150 public dance halls. One out of every eight or nine boys is brought into the Juvenile Court. At least four per cent, of the births are illegitimate. The cost of living threatens the economic independ- ence of thousands of our citizens. There is marked antagonism between labor and capital. More than 200,000 persons never or seldom attend church. Many sections of the city are without adequate church facilities. RESOURCES AND LIABILITIES 31 There are no church representatives at the city courts. Domestic and family maladjustments are common, as indicated by divorces, desertions, separations, and neglected children. Our municipal government lacks the standards nec- essary for efficient service. On one side we have the forces that make for right- eousness. On the other we have the evidence of sin, wickedness, misery, and vice. Will righteousness pre- vail? Will the church meet the challenge and wipe out evil, its causes and results, or is it threatened with moral and spiritual bankruptcy ? Will it recognize the problems involved, the regeneration of the individual, the Christianizing of the environment, the removal of the temptations to sin and vice? In one important respect in the battle against intemperance the churches have already recognized the necessity of im- proving environment and contacts. They are not con- tent to reform the drunkard, but demand the control of the liquor traffic. Nevertheless the causes of all sin and vice must be attacked and nothing less than the complete program spells ultimate success. II. THE PEOPLE Jesus, the carpenter's son, loved the people, was fond of their association, and was often found with pub- licans and sinners. Nor was he degraded thereby, but they received an inspiration. So, too, must the church follow his example and come in touch with humanity in all its forms and phases. The soul of a city is in its people, and to them we must look for its hopes and its ideals. The extent to which they can be inspired by common sentiment depends on the intimacy of their mutual relations. To become a power for good the churches must come into close contact with the people. The old St. Louis spread along the Mississippi river and stretched back upon the hills beyond. The early settlers were almost exclusively French. They loved their religion, were bright and vivacious, and em- bodied a pioneer spirit akin to that of the early trap- pers and traders. Long after the city became Ameri- can territory the French still outnumbered all other races and imparted to St. Louis their characteristics, customs, and ideals. Furthermore, they acquired property which has multiplied in value and has added to the prestige and power of the families that were founded then. Sectional Division of City The topography of the site of St. Louis has easily led to the separation of the city into a North and a 33 34 THE CHALLENGE OF ST. LOUIS South Side, each with interests of its own and with a certain homogeneity of purpose and action. In the older days, when the connection between the various parts of the city was less immediate and direct, these sections developed quite independently of each other and looked with suspicion on proposals for the improve- ment of municipal conditions coming from the other side. This feeling has not entirely subsided, but is gradually declining as the ideal of a greater and better St. Louis is making headway. Surely it is important to foster a fraternal feeling between these two dis- tricts. There are two other sections, the East and the West End. The eastern part of the city, running as far west as 3300 block, north nearly to Palm Street, south to Chouteau Avenue, and stretching along the river be- yond either of these boundaries, includes the great bulk of the poorer quarters of the city. There are, however, a number of poor districts scattered about elsewhere. Many of the well-to-do have gradually abandoned their homes east of Grand Avenue and have moved westward until the West End has become synonymous with the fashionable section of St. Louis. Neverthe- less many wealthy families reside on the North and the South Sides. The people have pushed over the city limits and some thousands of persons live immediately beyond this boundary line. Economically and physically they are part of the larger city, but politically they are sep- arated from St. Louis. The suburban population proper is very small. The great majority of the people, therefore, have a direct interest in the moral and social problems which the city THE PEOPLE 35 must solve and have no reasonable excuse for evading their duty. Fusion of North and South St. Louis is a melting-pot of different character from most large cities. It is a meeting place of the North and the South, the gateway from the one sec- tion to the other. The Americans who first came to the city were largely former residents of Southern states and brought with them Southern customs and ideals. The development of St. Louis cannot be un- derstood without recognizing this historical fact. Gradually the city became strongly Southern in senti- ment, and slave conditions began to prevail. The with- drawal of the entire group of English-speaking Meth- odist churches from the parent body in 1845 typifies the state of feeling that prevailed. The immigrants, especially the Germans, were Northern in sentiment, and when the Civil War broke out an intense sectional antagonism developed. The majority of citizens fa- vored the Confederacy, and only after strenuous ef- forts was the city held by the Federal forces. Even to-day a large proportion of the inhabitants are de- scended from friends of the old South. The nature of the local negro problem is greatly influenced by South- ern thought and tradition, while the attitude on other questions is similarly affected. /. The Immigrant i. Early Immigration The migration westward of Americans was soon supplemented by the immigration of various European 36 THE CHALLENGE OF ST. LOUIS races. The French were followed by the Irish, who came to America in large numbers after the war of 1812 and until some years after the dire famine of 1847-48. Many found their way to St. Louis and eagerly entered into the growing economic and social life of this city. In religion, in politics, and socially as well, they have ever since played an important part, and as factors in the development of St. Louis they cannot be ignored. Bohemians. A small but important group of early immigrants were the Bohemians, who came soon after the European revolutions of 1848-49. They were val- uable industrial factors, but their chief contribution has been the example of their independent thinking. The spirit of Huss is still strong among the Bohemians and influences not only the Bohemian Catholics and those of independent thought, but has profoundly touched other races and groups as well. Germans. By far the most important immigrant group has been the German. Although a sprinkling of Germans arrived in the previous decade, the active immigration began with the failure of the revolution of 1848. Then came a large number of freedom- loving Germans, political refugees fleeing for their lives, and others tired of the oppression suffered in their native land. It was then that Carl Schurz es- caped to America and came to St. Louis. These Ger- mans were industrious, intelligent, cultured, filled with a love of freedom, and easily Americanized. Their bitter past rapidly transformed them into loyal Ameri- can citizens, and it was most natural, therefore, that they should stand by the American Union in the hour of its greatest trial. The German immigration has con- THE PEOPLE 37 tinned until recently, and even to-day this group is larger than any immigrant race residing in the city. Accordingly St. Louis has achieved the reputation of being a German-American city. Many of its churches carry on services in the German language and on the South Side it is still widely spoken. German thought, culture, and customs have profoundly affected the life of the city and continue to mold its ideals. German industry has manifested its vitality in our varied in- dustrial and commercial enterprises and has inculcated habits of thrift and saving. German tradition has clung to the brewery and the beer-garden and struggles for less personal restraint, whether on week-days or on Sunday. It has also handicapped women in their struggle for the ballot and for greater social and eco- nomic freedom. The German has contributed to our measurable genius for music and for art and adds to the impetus for recreation and amusement. He is a political factor of far-reaching importance and ex- hibits a racial solidarity which, while it is not neces- sarily a menace, must eventually, in the progress of Americanization, be lost. Nevertheless the German vote and point of view cannot be overlooked by the political parties in their plans and programs. To do so would spell disaster. 2. Recent Immigration The serious aspects of the immigrant problem grow out of the relative importance assumed by the character of the recent immigration. No longer do we receive in large numbers foreigners who in lan- guage, culture, and tradition are akin to the American, easily assimilated and finally amalgamated. To-day 38 THE CHALLENGE OF ST. LOUIS the bulk of our immigrants come from central, south- ern, and eastern Europe, where the languages spoken are alien to our own, economic life is comparatively undeveloped, education largely neglected, political freedom a dream, and participation in government an unrealized hope. At once it is evident that immi- grants of this class will tax the resources of our churches, social agencies, and governmental bodies, if they are to become identified with the mass of Ameri- can citizens and share their common ideals and pur- poses. Jews. The immigration since 1890 consists largely of three groups of Europeans. Of these the most nu- merous is the Jew. The older Jewish immigration was chiefly composed of German Jews, who, like the Germans, have been merged into the American pop- ulation, and furnish a large proportion of the leaders in manufacturing and mercantile enterprises, banking, and the professions, such as medicine and law. The Jews now coming to St. Louis are principally from Russia, Roumania, and Galicia. They have had little contact with Teutonic civilization and came from coun- tries where oppression and despotism prevail. They are not skilled in government, not versed in politics, are orthodox, and very poor. A large proportion are illiterate, but high ideals of home and family life pre- vail. Although it is estimated that St. Louis contains 60,000 Jews, probably not more than 35,000 belong to the non-German group. Italians. Another type of immigrant is the Italian. As he can speak neither English nor German, it is difficult for him to come into touch with American ideals and customs. Again, the Italians lack solidarity THE PEOPLE 39 because of the different race strains among them and of their provincialism at home. The north Italian is closely allied physically to the French and the inhab- itants of central Europe, while the south Italians and Sicilians are decided physical contrasts, being long- headed, very short, and extremely brunette. They are industrious, thrifty, and artistic, but their foreign cus- toms, illiteracy, emotionalism, and scant assimilability challenge the best blood in this republic to complete their Americanism and inspire their lives with Chris- tian ideals. Nominally most of them are Roman Cath- olics, but in practise a large proportion are not con- nected with any church. At the beginning of the Eu- ropean War there were probably about 10,000 Italian immigrants in St. Louis, besides the American-born children, who also number thousands. The great ma- jority of these are south Italians. Slavs. The third group consists of Slavs and re- lated races, excluding the Bohemians. They speak languages very different from ours and acquire the English tongue with difficulty; they have had little or no political training; industrially they are backward because of undeveloped economic conditions of their native lands; mentally they suffer from interference with free thought, while socially they lack competent native leaders. Furthermore, they are not a homo- geneous group, for, while their dialects are similar, they cannot readily understand each other; but they are sturdy, thrifty, and capable of heavy work. They come from Russia, Austria-Hungary, and the Balkan states. Unfortunately, the Bureau of Immigration does not give us figures stating the number of Slavic immigrants from these various countries. Neverthe- 40 THE CHALLENGE OF ST. LOUIS less, there are many thousands. In 1910 there were nearly 20,000 natives of Austria-Hungary, most of whom were undoubtedly Slavs. There were also a large number of Poles, Roumanians, Greeks, and Macedonians. The Slavs from Russia and the Balkan states usually belong to the Greek Orthodox church, while the Poles and various groups from Austria- Hungary are predominantly Roman Catholic. Distribution of Population by Nationality. The following table, showing the composition of the popu- lation of St. Louis in 1900 and 1910, gives a picture of local conditions and serves as a starting-point for our work : 1900 1910 1910 Race and Nativity Per cent. Per cent. Number Native white, native parents.. 32.9 39.3 269,836 Native white, foreign parents. 41.6 35.9 246,946 Foreign born 19.3 18.3 125,706 Negro 6.2 6.4 43,960 We see from the foregoing table that the percentage of foreign-born is declining; that in 1910 nearly two out of five persons were of native parentage and less than one out of five of foreign birth. But the actual number of foreign-born is steadily increasing, and these plus those of foreign parentage comprise the bulk of our population. Many are not in the least assimilated; and thus when our problem is expressed in figures we realize that we are facing a tremendous situation. The immigrant groups contain 23,000 per- sons from Canada and the British Isles who are pre- sumably conversant with the English language; the remainder, or over 100,000, belong to non-English- speaking groups. Since knowledge of our language is an important requisite of assimilation, the need of a constructive policy becomes most evident. THE PEOPLE 41 The needs of the immigrant social, moral, educa- tional, and economic are so urgent and compelling that the churches could well afford to assist in solving the problem. In fact, if the love of Christ is to be transmuted into real religion, what better opportu- nity for doing good than by working with the immi- grant ? 3. Conditions Among Immigrants In order to learn the nature of the tasks we face, our Christian people must first consider some of the con- ditions under which the immigrant lives and some of the problems that he brings. Illiteracy. Many immigrants are illiterate, that is, they cannot read or write in their own language, much less in ours. Their only way of communicating with the world is through the spoken word. How can they expect to become assimilated, to absorb the essen- tials of American civilization, when the greatest molding force is the printed page? The census of 1910 shows that of the foreign population over 15 years of age, 11.4 per cent., or about 14,000, were illiterate only one per cent, less than the illiteracy among the colored people. Furthermore, this propor- tion is growing, having risen from 9.1 per cent, in 1890. Besides these, there are thousands who, al- though they pass as literate, have not sufficient educa- tion to enable them to make use of it to advantage. There are also about 23,000 who are literate but not familiar with the English language. The great dan- ger to-day lies in the heavy percentage of illiteracy among the immigrant groups that have recently ar- rived. For example, in 1914 the percentages among 42 THE CHALLENGE OF ST. LOUIS immigrants 14 years of age and over were as follows for certain groups: South Italians, 47.4; Ruthenians, 35.9; Russians, 34.8; Poles, 31.3; Greeks, 20.3; He- brews, 20. Although these figures are representative of the entire United States, there is no reason why the illiteracy among the immigrants coming to St. Louis should differ much from the average for the entire number. Excess of Males. A serious condition arises from the disproportions between the sexes. A large majority of the immigrants are males, with propor- tions about as follows: South and North Italians, three fourths; Greeks, eight ninths; Poles, three fifths; Russians, Bulgarians, and Servians, nine tenths. When such disproportions exist, wholesome family life becomes almost impossible. Many immigrants enjoy no opportunity whatsoever for female compan- ionship, while chances for marriage there are none. Must we not expect perverted leisure and recreation and immorality in most serious forms? Again, the bulk of our immigrants live in localized districts, separate from the American population. This is due to various causes, among which are the desire of the immigrant to live among like-minded individuals, the reluctance of native Americans to mingle with the foreigner, and the low economic status of the immigrant. Accordingly we find the Italians living principally in two sections of St. Louis, in the neighborhood of Eighth Street and Cass Avenue, and on " Dago Hill," in the southwestern part. The bulk of the Jews live west of Tenth Street as far as the 3000 block. To the northeast of this section lies the Polish district. A short distance south of Market THE PEOPLE 43 Street, near Broadway, is a large colony of Greeks, and farther south from Chouteau Avenue for twenty blocks or more we find Slavic groups of various kinds. Nestling quietly in other sections of St. Louis are smaller groups of immigrants. Usually they are lo- cated near some important manufacturing plants and are the outgrowth of small colonies planted here and there. Among these groups are colonies of Rou- manians, Bulgarians, Croatians, and other Slavic peoples. Bad Housing. Bad housing conditions are par- ticularly prevalent in the immigrant sections. In the first place, the single men and the married who have left their families abroad tend to herd together in a manner that necessarily precipitates bad social and moral consequences. Hundreds of immigrant men live in cheap lodging-houses or in overcrowded, stuffy rooming-houses. An investigation made of some of these resulted in the discovery that over 4,000 roomers lived in 408 houses; that each room averaged more than three persons, while in some houses particular rooms were occupied by two shifts of men, one using them during the night, the other, engaged in night work, using them during the day. The filth here is indescribable; the rooms are quite unventilated, while the food that is frequently found lying about on win- dows, cupboards, and boxes lacks every protection necessary to insure health. Where many rooms each hold as many as a dozen immigrant men the general effect cannot be good. Moral and physical deteriora- tion will follow. An illustration of the economic dan- gers may be cited in the arrangement of seven Greeks who together occupied one room, each sleeping on a 44 THE CHALLENGE OF ST. LOUIS separate cot, and paying one dollar per month for rent. These men, whose housing quarters cost them twelve dollars per year, are industrial competitors of men with families, who, if they desire decent ac- commodations, will be obliged to pay as much in a single month. Is it any wonder that wages are fre- quently only sufficient to maintain single individuals and that a family will not have adequate income unless the mother and perhaps some of the children are added to the wage-earning classes ? In the second place tenement conditions are very depressing among the immigrant families. There is serious overcrowding, especially as measured by the number of persons per sleeping-room. This is par- ticularly true among the Jews, Italians, and Poles. Although the Jews keep few boarders, the other two groups keep many roomers and often turn over a large part of their miserable apartments to lodgers of the same race, thereby driving the family into the kitchen and sitting-room, where they live, eat, and sleep, and are huddled together without the privacy that makes for morals. Excessive thrift, economic pressure, and low ideals are largely responsible for this condition, and increased prosperity enables a considerable num- ber of families to move to better quarters. Although the immigrant is the chief victim of bad housing, many American families live in the congested sections. The living and housing conditions of the immigrant greatly affect his opportunities for recreation. The single men must find an outlet somewhere or in some way. Parties of Greeks and others may carry on a dance without the presence of a single woman. Immi- grant men frequently drift into immorality by the THE PEOPLE 45 squad, while gambling and kindred evils abound. Con- gestion in the home forces the children into the streets, where a large proportion of the time is spent, and certain groups, especially the Italians, tend to camp in the alleys. Unless wholesome recreation with oppor- tunities for self-improvement are offered, great moral dangers face a large proportion of persons living in this way. Should not a vitalized Christianity recog- nize the moral needs of these groups and attempt to serve them better? 4. Betterment Work Schools. The public schools perform an important service in the Americanization of our foreign ele- ments. Their service, however, is largely confined to the education and training of the children of immi- grants instead of the foreign-born themselves. Less than 6,000 of the total number of immigrants are be- tween 6 and 14 years of age. Since the great ma- jority are beyond the age of compulsory school at- tendance, the public school can and does operate night schools which they as well as others may attend. During the year 1914-1915 classes in English for immigrants were held in fourteen different schools. Nearly 4,50x5 immigrant men enrolled, but the majority gradually dropped out and thus lost the value of the training af- forded them. It should be clearly understood that unless special effort is made to meet the precise needs and to adapt plans and work to the peculiarities of the immigrant a continued attendance cannot be ex- pected. With so large an amount of illiteracy or of meager educational attainment among our foreign- born population, special efforts to attract them to the 46 THE CHALLENGE OF ST. LOUIS night schools should be made. If funds are lacking, money should be provided. If the adaptation is not satisfactory, it should be made so. If qualified teach- ers are not at hand, they should be sought for and found, and above all a sympathetic attitude toward the immigrant should be assumed. A considerable number of parochial schools are lo- cated in immigrant sections, and these accordingly attract many children of foreign parentage. Their work is similar to that of the public schools, except that religion is a part of the curriculum, and that in some of the schools German is taught as well as Eng- lish. The parochial schools offer no evening classes and therefore reach very few among the large immi- grant population. Y. M. C. A. The Young Men's Christian Asso- ciation has also interested itself in the education of the immigrants. Classes were started in 1913, and in the winter 1915-16 forty-six classes were conducted, with an enrolment of i, 080 persons, a small number of whom were women. English and citizenship were taught, both very necessary if the immigrant is to be prop- erly assimilated and Americanized. The demand from the naturalization office that educational facilities be extended has been specially insistent because a large number of applicants for citizenship must, at present, be rejected. Volunteers are needed to assist the Young Men's Christian Association in this work, which must be made so elastic in its method and or- ganization that the great bulk of the foreigners will be reached. Educational work of a varied character is conducted by the Jewish Educational and Charitable Union. THE PEOPLE 47 While classes in English have been abandoned, in- struction in other needed branches is being given. Public Library. The Public Library likewise has served to add to the educational advantages of the foreigner. The Crunden and Soulard branches have been of special service, and thousands of books, a large proportion of serious nature, have circulated among Jews, Poles, Hungarians, Bohemians, and others. Books in fifty-four languages belong to the library collections, indicating the demand by immigrants for reading matter. Furthermore, the use of the club and lecture rooms of the various libraries by organized clubs or by individuals inter- ested in some radical propaganda has gone far to make cautious many men who otherwise might become dan- gerous citizens. In fact, the library has quietly served to foster an appreciation of America and American op- portunity. The social and physical needs of the immigrant are so grave that they cannot receive too much attention. Jesus recognized the relation between spiritual and physical on many an occasion ; should not we in the twentieth century, when this relationship is self-evi- dent, strive to minister to the many-sided wants of man and thereby accelerate his spiritual growth ? Mullanphy Fund. Among secular agencies, apart from societies organized by descendants of a given race for the benefit of that race, the one capable of best service to the immigrant is the Mullanphy Fund, orig- inally designated to furnish " relief to all poor immi- grants and travelers coming to St. Louis on their way, bona fide, to settle in the West." Recently, however, few persons have been aided, since most of the immi- 48 THE CHALLENGE OF ST. LOUIS grants coming to St. Louis remain here. In 1915 the Mullanphy Board established a travelers' aid depart- ment in Union Station, and somewhat expanded its functions by adding several social workers to its corps of officials. The property includes many dwellings and the Board hopes to improve the standards of the tenants. Educational work among other immigrant groups is also being planned. Because the needs for the original purpose are quite negligible, while those of the immigrants within our gates are beyond meas- ure, attempts are being made to secure a court decree whereby the income of the property, valued at nearly $1,000,000, may be used for a purpose allied to that specified by Bryan Mullanphy. Such service would release the churches from this task and enable them to deal more effectually at once with the spiritual needs of the immigrant. Church Activities. Our home mission field needs intensive cultivation. Among the Roman Catholic churches there are fourteen that serve communities composed largely of foreigners of non-Teutonic stock, and the parochial schools in these districts reach large numbers of children. Unfortunately the church work is not sufficiently related to the task of Americaniza- tion to develop many of the important social needs. The efforts, however, are systematic and the work is well organized. Much superior in its results from the broader point of view is the work of the two re- cently established Catholic social settlements, where social wants are being met and the forces of assimila- tion put to work. Among the Protestants the Presbyterians are the only group with a well defined plan of work. This THE PEOPLE 49 plan involves the establishment of centers at suitable points throughout the eastern part of the city, which engage in community service and carry on extension work among foreigners. Four of these churches, set- tlements, and missions reach into immigrant dis- tricts and minister widely to their inhabitants. The Congregationalists have a Bohemian church and also carry on some visitation work among the Armenians. A Methodist and a Disciples of Christ church have each regularly conducted a Chinese Sunday-school, but in one case the teachers have come from several de- nominations. The work of the Baptists has been lim- ited to a struggling mission among the Italians and to some slight service among the Hungarians as branch work of one of the regular churches. The remaining denominations do not attempt to serve immigrants directly, but some, through their institutional church activities, do touch many immigrants. There are Ger- man and Swedish churches, but they are self-support- ing and not to be considered as part of the service ren- dered to our recent immigration. The churches so far have signally failed to appre- ciate the pressing problem of our recent immigrants and their children and, beyond a little individual work, only a few churches and missions are striving to inter- pret these people, to make them a part of us, and to build up their lives, their contacts, and associations so as to inspirit them with Christian ideals and purposes. The foreigners need friends, they need sympathy, they need justice in the courts; they are in want of knowledge and ignorant of our laws and customs ; they do not understand hygiene; therefore their chil- dren die and men in the prime of life contract tubercu- SO THE CHALLENGE OF ST. LOUIS losis; they need recreational facilities and industrial opportunities; they should be taught the duties of parent to child and father to mother; they need better housing and clean streets and more attention by the city. If they lack in moral and spiritual qualities, the blame is in large part on us. In the great work that must be done shall not the church and the Christian do their part? IL Native American Groups Although the immigrant suffers from certain dis- advantages which are peculiar in his character, there are many native Americans who offer a most serious problem. This is due to a variety of conditions. I. Persons from Outside the City In the first place there is the normal individual born elsewhere. About one third of our native American population was born outside of the state of Missouri and at least one half outside of the city. All of these were once strangers in St. Louis and were forced to develop new friendships and relationships. It is a serious thing for the outsider to migrate to a large city and establish himself under wholesome moral con- ditions. Single men and women live in rooming- houses scattered over the city, but located principally in decadent communities where church facilities are poor and opportunities for profitable companionship are few. The large rooming-house section east of Grand Avenue is neglected by the churches, yet it is composed largely of native Americans of Protestant antecedents. Is it any wonder that few persons from this locality are found in any church, that wild, rough, THE PEOPLE 51 and reckless young Americans abound, that many of the women accept the vice that constantly offers itself before them, and that moral degeneration occurs? The churches need to know where these people come from so as to understand their previous environment, to send visitors to their rooming-places to guide them to respectable quarters, to help them find good com- panions, to direct them in the choice of their recrea- tional activities, to supplement their social life, to in- terest them in the church, and in other ways to provide them with a constructive environment so as to give them the impulses that will ripen into a useful and religious life. 2. Poor Whites Among these outsiders are several groups needing separate attention. St. Louis has been receiving a considerable number of incomers from the mountains and hills of the Southern states. Many of these peo- ple have little or no education; some of them have lived careless, shiftless lives and have migrated to St. Louis with no clear notion of the problems facing them. Many of the native charity cases are so-called " poor whites," that is, persons belonging to this group of people. So little morality has been taught many of them that shocking conditions exist in their families; sex irregularity of the most shameless variety, unmar- ried mothers, bigamous relations, juvenile delinquency, truancy, drunkenness, and utter improvidence. 3. Rural Group Another element is the rural group. Although a large number of the outsiders have come from other 52 THE CHALLENGE OF ST. LOUIS cities, a considerable proportion are farmers' sons and daughters. To them not only is the city strange, but city life itself is a novel and thrilling experience. Many of these young people dream of possibilities that are not realized, but struggle hopelessly on in a situation utterly different from what they had expected. The educated class, of course, become leaders and attain positions of responsibility, but the great majority fail to reach their goal. The unfriendliness of the city, the pitfalls, the glamour and glare, the new modes of liv- ing, and the readjusted budget of expenditures all make it difficult for the country boy and girl to be- come assimilated and at the same time retain their high ideals. Many of them are clearly unsophisti- cated, are easily duped and demoralized by the blase life of the city. To reach and to help this promising and ambitious group is a most worthy object and its accomplishment will impose a duty on our religious agencies that cannot be avoided. The Young Men's Christian Association and the Young Women's Chris- tian Association are doing a little for this class, but the surface of the problem has barely been scratched. The strenuous efforts of many organizations are needed to complete the task. It must not be assumed that because special atten- tion is given in these pages to the immigrant, the na- tive American from without the city, and the negro, that the native St. Louisan offers no problem. In this respect, however, we have no special conditions to face, but all of these groups can be studied together in regard to the questions that relate to the moral and social welfare of the city as discussed in the following chapters. THE PEOPLE 53 ///. The Negroes The Christian can hardly contemplate the vast mis- sionary enterprises that the Protestant churches have undertaken among the negroes in Africa without won- dering how far we are performing our Christian duty to this race in America and in St. Louis. Without question no other special group in this city offers such serious practical difficulties and problems as does the negro. And it is not his fault, but is due largely to a milk-and-water Christianity that forgets that God is no respecter of persons, but remembers the physical, social, and mental differences that separate the white race from the black. i. Number In 1910 the negroes in St. Louis numbered 6.4 per cent, of the entire population, and if this proportion holds in 1916, as is very probable, then the total number of negroes is approximately 48,000, or an increase of over 4,000 since 1910. They have been slowly gaining in relative numbers, a fact which drives home the pressing need of applying sound Christian common sense to the solution of the prob- lem. The growing numbers are due in part to the constant stream of negroes coming from the South. A large proportion of these come from the rural dis- tricts and are unacquainted with many ugly details that are faced in city life. The heavy death-rate among the negroes, twenty-six per one thousand of population, compared with fourteen among the whites, and the comparatively low birth-rate prevent a rapid increase in the number of natives of St. Louis. This 54 THE CHALLENGE OF ST. LOUIS excessive death-rate depends especially on the preva- lence of such diseases as tuberculosis, pneumonia, can- cer, heart disease, diseases of the digestive system (particularly among children), and diseases of early infancy. The investigations of these unhappy facts indicate that a large share of their excessive mortality is due to ignorance, poverty, and immorality, and that race vigor or physical inferiority has relatively little to do with the differences between the white and colored. A large majority of the young negroes coming from the South are single men who are looking for oppor- tunities to work in a city. There are children in the negro families, but the number under five years of age forms only 6.1 per cent, of the total. Similar pro- portions among our native whites are represented by 10.9 per cent. In other words, there are comparatively few negro children. This is due to the heavy child mortality even more than to the meager birth-rate. Christian love must reach the parents and teach them successful methods of child care. 2. Location As is customary and perhaps natural with special groups, the negroes are living in a number of rather definitely localized residential districts. These dis- tricts are five in number. Three of them are popu- lated largely by the ignorant and poorest class of ne- groes, to whom have been surrendered the most un- sanitary quarters, the most dilapidated houses, and the most morally hazardous sections of the city. Here there is excessive overcrowding, the bad features of our slums are aggravated, sanitary conveniences are THE PEOPLE 55 sparse, rents are high, and the city is relatively neglect- ful of its duties. The remaining two districts are in better sections and have grown into negro quarters through the tendency of white families to move from a locality in which a number of negro homes have been established. Gradually the whites have relin- quished entire blocks in these localities to the incoming negroes. In these districts a large proportion of the dwelling-houses are private homes or two- or four- family flats, and these serve very well that growing class of intelligent negroes anxious to found homes under favorable auspices and in good environment. The people of St. Louis in February, 1916, voted by a three to one decision in favor of the segregation of negroes from the whites, the ordinance providing that no residents, whether white or black, are to be mo- lested in their present living quarters, but when they move no families may enter any block in which seventy-five per cent, or more of the residents belong to the opposite race. The constitutionality of this ordi- nance is now being tested in the United States courts. 3. Occupations According to the best estimates, about seventy-nine per cent, of the negro males ten years of age and over are engaged in gainful occupations. This is a slightly lower percentage than that among the whites and is due partly to the inability of negro boys between four- teen and sixteen to get positions and to the relatively large number of old men who must be supported by friends or relatives. Because of these conditions an unusually large number of negro women are forced to work for wages, the figures showing that in 1910 56 THE CHALLENGE OF ST. LOUIS forty-five per cent., or nearly ten thousand, of all the females over ten were engaged in breadwinning. This rate is twice as high as that among the whites. Were it not for the efforts of the women to supple- ment the family income a much larger proportion of the negro population would drift below the poverty line. The careful study of the negro made by Crossland shows that the 17,348 negro males employed in 1910 were distributed practically as shown in the following table: 1 Group Males at work. . Number 17 148 Per cent, of total IOO Daily Wages Q-l O 5 $4 06 Business 304 IJ 275 Clerical 2Q7 i 7 3 21 ej4 o 2 74 Personal service 6,400 i C24 374 20 3 1.81 2 2O Common labor 5 050 29.1 2.31 Bovs' work . 1.076 6.2 .80 It will be seen at once that the professional class comprises a mere handful, and of these the teachers and ministers form more than one half of the total number. There are also a score of physicians, several dentists, and a number of lawyers. Outside of the opportunity in church and school the professions at present offer little encouragement to ambitious ne- groes. Several hundred negroes operate business en- terprises of various kinds, these enterprises in the order of their numerical importance ranking as fol- lows: Ice and coal dealer, barber, pool room, restau- rant, pressing and cleaning, saloon, draying, grocery 1 Missouri School of Social Economy. " Industrial Conditions of the Negro in St. Louis." THE PEOPLE 57 store, etc. Almost without exception the capital in- vested is small and the profits are not excessive. In fact, the larger share of the negro trade is with the whites and not with the negro merchants, thus limit- ing seriously the scope of the negro business man. It is significant that the income of the professional man is higher than that of the business man, a situation quite the reverse of the relative incomes among the whites. Quite a number of negroes are employed by the federal and city governments, but they are practically shut out from clerical positions in the commercial world. Clerks, bookkeepers, and stenographers find no occupation with white employers except in those occasional instances where race identity is not sus- pected, the outstanding physical characteristics of the negro having been lost. The negro has entered the skilled trades, but with wavering success. There are a considerable number of chauffeurs, some mechanics, and scattered members of the building trades, but the lines of race antagonism are drawn so tight that this field of economic endeavor offers little to the negro at the present time. In Southern cities the trades are usually open to the negro, because white men have shunned the manual activities. Accordingly the negro and the mule have been permitted to do the work. Not so in St. Louis ; for example, a young man learned the machinist trade in the South and became a loco- motive engineer; later he came North, but here his trade was closed against him. He was permitted to become a fireman if he wished. He followed several occupations and finally found it necessary to become a barber. 58 THE CHALLENGE OF ST. LOUIS Negroes are used as porters, janitors, waiters, in of- fices, banks, hotels, saloons, and stores, and cooks in the Pullman service, and in other forms of personal service. Here are retained to some extent the personal relations that once existed between the negro and his master or employer. The heavy work in our factories offers another field. The brick and tile factories, iron and steel mills, the disagreeable tasks in our lead works, hod-carrying and the hard labor connected with the erection of buildings these and similar occupa- tions absorb a large number of negro laborers. Dur- ing the summer months many negroes are employed on the steamboats. There are also about 1,400 team- sters and hundreds of men employed by the city. The less desirable forms of work pay fairly remunera- tive wages, but the general standard of pay is low. Unless work is regular, a hand-to-mouth existence is forced upon the bulk of this group of laborers. For- tunately a large proportion of them can easily pass from one occupation to another and thus continue at work during the greater part of the year. Thus we find that the great bulk of male negro workers, at least 93 per cent., are engaged in the more menial occupations, most of which offer precarious wages and scanty living. 4. Women Workers The negro women likewise are limited to a very narrow economic sphere. More than one half of those at work are laundresses, who go out from day to day to wash in private homes. Usually they receive one dollar and sixty cents for such service. The mext largest group is engaged in domestic service, the negro THE PEOPLE 59 servant being especially popular among the old South- ern families. Although a few women are engaged in factory, commercial, and clerical work, very little op- portunity for remunerative employment is found in these occupations. 5. Prejudice Practical Christianity has a long way to travel be- fore the negro is accorded the treatment that implies real brotherly relations. There is no doubt that many negro workers are ignorant and inefficient. It would be miraculous if that were not the case. On the other hand, many boys and girls can make almost no practical use of their education; the professions yield no op- portunity, business requires capital, the clerical field is closed, the skilled trades are barred, while only menial occupations remain for their choosing. It therefore happens that many educated negroes are engaged in occupations in which their white competi- tors are chiefly uneducated and ill-trained. Recently a well educated negro woman bemoaned the prospects of her two sons. They were being trained as best the schools can train them, but after that what shall they do? Everywhere they meet the barrier of race prejudice. 6. Labor Organizations The labor unions in most cases actively or passively exclude the negro from membership. In some cases separate locals for the negroes are advised and at present there are about 900 colored unionists in the city. The discrimination is not merely race prejudice, but represents the desire of the white unionist to bet- 60 THE CHALLENGE OF ST. LOUIS ter his own economic conditions, which is jeopardized by too numerous competitors or by men ready to work for lower wages. The negro strike-breaker has often demoralized a union and thereby developed antag- onism to his race. Nevertheless, permanent success depends on organization and cooperation of workers regardless of race or creed. The laborer is worthy of his hire and to obtain it he cannot now rely on the vol- untary generosity of his employer. 7. Needs Poverty, bad housing, and poor environment have inevitable social effects. The negroes furnish three times their numerical proportion of the arrests made in this city, four times their quota of juvenile offend- ers, from two to three times their proportion of de- pendent families, and more than one half of the women in the workhouse are colored. Race may be a factor, but if so it is of minor importance only. The right of the negro to improve his condition should be as inalienable as that of the white. Immorality and dis- ease, planted in any locality, tend to spread their de- moralizing influence until an entire neighborhood has been contaminated and opportunity must be given to escape from such an environment. If we should con- demn the negro to the slums, to disease and to poverty, and thus interfere with his freedom to improve, we do not follow the teachings of the Master, who taught us to be a neighbor to the despised Samaritan and not, like the priest or the Levite, to pass on the other side. Without better industrial advantages the negro cannot develop adequate standards of living. He needs education and opportunity, and then, with his soul THE PEOPLE 61 vitalized by the spirit of Christianity, he will contribute to our civilization in larger measure. Again, the home for the aged, orphan asylum, hos- pital, and settlement are all struggling along on an impecunious budget and sufficient funds cannot be secured. There are too many churches, and a smaller number with better parishes would be very beneficial, but this condition is not easily realized. To-day leadership among the negroes is largely lim- ited to the professional classes, but denominational differences must be minimized, the social mission of the church magnified, and the clergy become more effi- cient leaders. The negro needs business leadership as well leadership that will crystallize and capitalize his economic opportunities so as to make him a real and indispensable industrial factor. He needs the counsel and assistance of his white brethren. Practical Christian relationships between the two groups must be established. The white minis- ters and churches must cooperate and work with the colored in such ways as will 1. Show that Caucasian Christianity is as broad as this globe. 2. Establish relations of mutual helpfulness. 3. Train colored ministers to become more capable leaders. 4. Broaden the vision of both groups. 5. Result in such unified effort as may be required to regenerate the city. At present there is little formal cooperation, and as a result the negroes do not receive the advantage of the experience enjoyed by the religious leaders of the white race. This is unfair to both. 6a THE CHALLENGE OF ST. LOUIS IV. The Church and Its Duty Among all of our people native and foreign, white and black we need to develop a Christian charity that recognizes in each the essential qualities of human souls, and that strives for the realization of human brotherhood. Whatever some doctrinaires may think and do, the great mass of our people consider true religion something that will wear seven days per week, will make men and women better, will make them brotherly in spirit, and will hold up for them ideals and hopes that are an inspiration to their lives here and a promise of a better life to come. We cannot clamp religion on a man as we fasten a knob to a door. Religion is largely a process of absorption. Therefore every influence that promotes democratic ideals paves the way for religion. Actual contacts by the rich with the poor frequently make Christians of the former. The church must promote these con- tacts, become a real democratizing agency, and in a concrete way develop human brotherhood. It is worth while to bring various classes and groups together and to break through the narrow bonds that enfetter so many self-styled Christians. The churches and church-members must work with the poor, the illiterate, the foreigner, and> the negro, instead of working for them only. Otherwise people do not see the real picture of the Christ-life that we hope will inspire them. III. INDUSTRIAL PROBLEMS There is a close relation between our moral and religious life and our daily work. The business of making a living profoundly affects the soul and al- ways will do so. A religious program that discards industry discards one of man's chief interests. In fact, the struggle to gain a livelihood forms so large a part of the environment and the character-building forces of men that the development of decent and uplifting labor conditions must absorb a great deal of religious effort. Industry may affect religion, but religion must humanize and elevate industry. A re- ligion that is willing to see a child come into the world is not sane nor consistent if it does not strive to give that child an opportunity for a wholesome spiritual life. The ideals of the carpenter's Son, when realized, coordinate the body and soul and give us human be- ings glowing with the joy of life, eager in their desire for service, and filled with the love of God. /. Industrial Conditions i. Important Industries St. Louis is an important manufacturing center and ranks fourth in the United States in population. In 1914 it had 2,786 factories. The boot and shoe business ranks first in respect to output and the number of employees. Proximity to the South- 63 64 THE CHALLENGE OF ST. LOUIS west and West makes the city a natural location for this valuable industry. Next comes the to- bacco industry with its big factories and large roll of employees. Meat-packing follows, because of the cattle and hog raising territory that surrounds us. The brewing industry formerly stood second, but in ten years has fallen to fourth place. Years ago German enterprise made this city noted for the manufacture of fermented liquors. There are now in operation twenty-six different breweries, with an investment of $34,000,000 and a labor force of about 6,000 persons. Millions are invested in trade and commerce. There are a number of splendid department stores and count- less small establishments. There is a large jobbing and wholesale trade, and the city is a distributive center for the Southwest. It is a radiating point for a magnificent network of railroads, twenty-two dif- ferent lines entering the Union Station. Accordingly it supports a flourishing railroad branch of the Young Men's Christian Association. It is a terminal point ; lines from the West and from the East meet and their trains stand side by side. 2. Number of Laborers Industry is of interest, however, chiefly owing to the human elements involved. Capital does nothing except as it is directed by men. In 1915 St. Louis had an estimated population of 750,000 persons, and of these about 264,000 males and 83,000 females, or a total of 347,000 persons, were engaged in some gainful occupation. Nearly one half of the population is earn- ing food and raiment for the whole. A considerable number of the workers are employers, independent INDUSTRIAL PROBLEMS 65 business men, professional men and women, such as lawyers, physicians, teachers, and salaried employees holding responsible positions. Their labor is consid- ered dignified, worthy, and inspiring. It is the so- called " laboring classes " that constitute the serious problem. Their labor has by many been valued merely as a commodity, as so much service, and the human being who sells his labor has been overlooked. Jesus always saw the man or the woman in the fisherman, in the beggar on the streets, or even in the thief and the harlot. . Not only does the laborer need inspiration, but his work must make him better; and if the com- munity disparages his labor and makes it produce un- ethical results, it lacks the Christian ideals that can make industry an inspiration. The " laboring classes " comprise the great majority of all workers perhaps seventy-five per cent, of the total. In manufacturing alone there are over 100,000, the largest number oc- curring in the boot and shoe industry, foundries, ma- chine shops, breweries, and clothing factories. The building trades absorb thousands of men, the carpen- ters alone numbering more than 7,000. 3. Labor Organizations The improvement in labor conditions depends in large part on the organization of labor. The facts indicate that, while the number of different organiza- tions varies from year to year, the average is slightly above 200, representing about 100 trades or occupa- tions, and that the number of members approximates 45,000. There were, however, 53,000 members in 1903. After that an irregular decline occurred until 1911, but at present there are signs of increased mem- 66 THE CHALLENGE OF ST. LOUIS bership. However, even this number does not repre- sent more than one fourth of the potential member- ship. The important trades represented in organiza- tions are the following : Carpenters, brewery workers, teamsters, bricklayers, cigarmakers, barbers, bar- tenders, musicians, painters, and printers. Many local unions have organized the entire labor force in the establishments entered by them, but in the majority of cases this control is far from complete. Among the larger trades the best organized are the printers, brick- layers, brewery workers, and musicians. Here nearly all of the workers are organized. Counting the occu- pations partly organized, it is estimated that about seventy per cent, of the workers therein belong to the unions, but many occupations are entirely unorganized and therefore the possible membership is much greater. Organization is largely confined to the skilled trades, but a foothold has also been obtained among unskilled occupations. Unfortunately the majority of workers belong to unskilled groups. Trade Agreements. About two thirds of the local unions have trade agreements with the employers, and in the majority of cases all of the members are em- ployed according to the rules of the agreement. In many instances, however, the agreement does not cover the operations of every worker. The subjects con- sidered are in most cases wages, hours, and union rules, but occasionally questions relating to strikes, arbitration, and the closed shop as well. In practi- cally all cases union labor seeks to establish a definite scale of wages to which both employer and employee are expected to adhere. Similar attempts to standard- ize the hours of work have also been very successful. INDUSTRIAL PROBLEMS 67 The difficulties of greater theoretical seriousness are those relating to the demand that only union men shall be employed. So long as the employer does not use the non-union man to break down standards no social harm is occasioned, and the only grievances that the union may have against the non-union men are failure to support the cause of good conditions and remaining content to benefit from the work of others. When an attempt is made with strike-breakers or non-unionists to demoralize the wage scale or other humane condi- tions of labor, the worker's struggle for existence is vitally affected and his activities follow the line of least resistance. How can he best protect himself from ungenerous competition? How can the conditions of labor be improved ? A failure to recognize these fun- damental facts results in much unreasoning interpre- tation of the activities of union labor. Excesses and unwise action may be expected from time to time just as they are regularly observed in other fields of the economic world. Nevertheless the great majority of strikes are for the distinct purpose of directly improv- ing conditions in respect to wages and hours. There are frequent demands for the recognition of a union, objections to discrimination against it, and occasional strikes to gain a closed shop. The majority of strikes within the last few years have been settled satisfac- torily to labor, but some of the larger strikes, involv- ing considerable numbers of men, have been lost. Examples of Strikes. The following examples may throw light on the conditions in which the churches must interest themselves and which they must aim to improve. In 1916 the workers in a fac- tory appealed for higher wages. The demand was 68 THE CHALLENGE OF ST. LOUIS granted. They came back asking for shorter hours, and again they obtained their request. Once more they returned and asked for the reinstatement of a worker discharged for incompetency. This time the demand was refused and the men struck. No good spirit had animated these men in their dealings, for the fundamental desire was to make trouble. In 1913 garment workers to the number of about 1,100 struck in thirty-eight factories in the city. The workers justly complained of many grievances. There were two active seasons of from eight to ten weeks each and light work at other times ; yet the men worked long hours and on Sundays. Women sometimes vio- lated the nine-hour law. Conditions in some shops were unsanitary, and many workers suffered from tu- berculosis. The wages were indefinite and unsatis- factory. The subcontract system was in use among some shops, also a deposit system whereby workers deposited a certain sum for insurance against damag- ing goods. Individual contracts were in vogue and unions were not recognized. During the strike several of the police interfered with the strikers, and the state board of arbitration attempted twice to settle the dif- ficulties, but without success. When a citizens' com- mittee requested both sides to present their case, so as to make an adjustment possible, the workers ap- peared, but the employers refused. The strikers were merely asking for conditions similar to those enjoyed by workers elsewhere. Eventually some of the shops settled amicably with the strikers, but the majority refused and the strike was lost. Many of the men moved to other cities to find employment. Unfortu- nately for St. Louis, the business men of the city failed INDUSTRIAL PROBLEMS 69 to meet the emergency and, while they are clamoring for more trade and industry, did not seriously attempt to prevent this damaging conflict between capital and labor. Both sides are guilty of excesses. Laborers often use physical violence because that is their only means of defense. Employers pharisaically protest against violence, but use starvation, importation of strike- breakers, and refusal to employ as clubs to beat labor- ers into submission. Benefit Funds. About six sevenths of the labor unions have established benefit " funds," and partake of the nature of fraternal bodies. The amount paid annually to members from these funds approximates $100,000. No opposition is expressed to this feature of trade unionism, and many employers would have the unions limit themselves to this activity. The labor unions, by keeping in constant touch with their members, know how many are employed and also serve as employment agencies. Usually the men out of work are recommended for new positions in the order of their registration. This arrangement se- cures to the persons longest unemployed the first opportunity for reemployment, but makes no selec- tion of workers possible on the basis of merit or ability. Program of Organized Labor. The activities and program of organized labor may be summed up under the following heads : 1. To protect members through a benefit system. 2. To find employment for those out of work. 3. To improve the working conditions of the la- borer through better wages, shorter hours, etc. 70 THE CHALLENGE OF ST. LOUIS 4. To gain more rights for labor before the law. 5. To secure social justice. 4. Industrial Accidents The effects of industrial accident are particularly demoralizing. Fatal accident usually means a broken home, with responsibility thrown upon the mother and minor children. Often it results in neglected children or in recruiting the orphan asylum. Non-fatal acci- dents among single men frequently lead to vagrancy and mendicancy. In 1911-12, according to investiga- tions by the School of Social Economy, 220 industrial accidents occurred in St. Louis. The reports of St Louis labor organizations account for from sixty to seventy per year among union men alone. It is clear, therefore, that more than one hundred persons are killed every year through some industrial accident In addition there are many non-fatal accidents. The number reported by the labor unions is from ten to eleven times that of the fatal accidents, but if the minor accidents, involving disability of one week or more, are included, the proportion is much greater. Possibly 5,000 accidents occur annually in this city. The blame for fatal accidents is well distributed. The investigation referred to credits the workmen with the sole blame in 22.7 per cent, of the cases proportions similar to those ascertained by investiga- tions elsewhere and as partly to blame in about one half of the accidents. But in three quarters of the cases the fellow-workman, defective equipment, care- lessness of employer, and the uncontrollable hazards of industry are either chief or contributory causes. With the bulk of accidents due to these reasons, where INDUSTRIAL PROBLEMS 71 is the justice in a system that compels the victim of accident to suffer alone or imposes poverty on the unfortunate family? The state has no workmen's compensation law, but staggers along under the old system, which presses the unfortunate down into a life of poverty and deg- radation and defeats justice, or gives some lawyer what the widow ought to have and leaves her no alter- native except the wash-board or the mop. Within five years thirty-one states have enacted such laws. It is most unjust to place the burden of accidents upon the worker; it must be shifted to society so that the suf- ferer or his family may enjoy another opportunity. 5. Unemployment A twin evil of accident is unemployment. It does not always follow that the annual earnings of the un- employed are less than those who are steadily at work, but it usually happens that their moral standards are lower and that their families suffer more from want and neglect. Why? Because long continued idleness begets a desire for idleness and develops habits of shiftlessness and of vice. Many men seeking employ- ment begin with a full assurance of their capacity. Several consecutive failures to find work, however, destroy their confidence in themselves, and soon their diffidence and hesitation result in lost ambition and inability to obtain a position. Few industrial condi- tions are more demoralizing than involuntary unem- ployment. If, therefore, we want to hold families to high ideals, protect the morals of the children, and develop stable family life so as to give the religious impulse fertile ground for development, we must, 72 THE CHALLENGE OF ST. LOUIS among other things, make employment regular. Our missions and our relief societies are both constantly beset with men whose moral decline began with the irregularity of habit and the discouragement that fol- lowed a period of forced unemployment. Usually they want a job, or at least ask for one, but often they have become utterly unfit to hold any position. Unem- ployment, like a double-edged sword, cuts both ways. It is caused by defects in the individual and also causes defects to developed within him. Industrial Depression of 1914-1915. Slackness of work is not uniform throughout the year, nor from year to year. Our industrial system forces a serious depression at almost regular intervals. At these times the labor situation is aggravated, poverty becomes marked, the relief societies are overtaxed, crime in- creases, evictions are numerous, and other ills abound. Such a condition was witnessed in St. Louis during the year 1914 and continued until the summer of 1915. Thousands of men were out of employment, others were working on part time two or three days per week and all the while the cost of living was grad- ually increasing. Several brief investigations of con- ditions were made in the winter of 1914-1915, and estimates of the amount of unemployment were placed as high as 80,000 persons. Probably 50,000 repre- sents a more nearly accurate figure. At any rate the situation was unprecedented in the history of St. Louis. Men begged for opportunities to work, but no work could be secured. The St. Louis Provident Associa- tion relieved more than twice the number aided the previous year and operated a rock pile, where limited employment could be obtained. The St. Vincent de INDUSTRIAL PROBLEMS 73 Paul Society more than doubled its work, while other societies were similarly overtaxed. The philanthropies handled the situation as well as possible. Little con- structive work was done by other agencies, although the municipality continued some of its employees longer than usual and carried on work which would otherwise have been postponed. Some of the em- ployers kept their men on a part-time basis instead of shutting down, and a special appeal to citizens to give opportunities for employment about their houses and yards yielded some results. Beyond these efforts little was done, and the suffering was borne by the un- employed. A Mayor's Committee on Employment was appointed, but too late to deal effectively with the situation. This committee has hoped to develop per- manent plans for holding in check severe crises such as this, but its program has not yet matured. The full cooperation of employers, employees, the munici- pality, and philanthropy is necessary for success. Seasonal Trades. The persistent unemployment occurring from year to year must also be checked. Certain occupations are necessarily seasonal and little can be done to change them. Among these are brick- laying, carpentering, plastering, sign-painting, etc. Occupations depending on climatic conditions, fruit season, and holiday trade are very irregular and can with difficulty be adjusted. Perhaps in some cases it is impossible. Even in a comparatively normal year such as 1913 the reports of labor organizations indi- cate much chronic unemployment, the figures showing that in some trades there is practically no work for several months. Evidences as to the general situation in the United States indicate that in a normal or even 74 THE CHALLENGE OF ST. LOUIS good year nearly ten per cent, of the workers are un- employed at any one time and about thirty per cent, at some time in the year. This situation is one we must face here, especially since it appears in aggra- vated forms in certain industries, notably the garment trade. Social Legislation. Social legislation has operated to increase the length of a season by limiting hours of work, and by other laws; labor organizations have assisted through their rules regulating pay for over- time, and the public by demanding a longer season. The " Shop Early " campaign of the Missouri Con- sumers' League has naturally lengthened the Christ- mas shopping season and enabled all of the leading department stores to eliminate the physically injurious evening shopping hours. The great problem is that of making work regular throughout the year. Instead of a large force operating six or nine months, a smaller force working at least eleven months would be a great advantage to the working class. But to regularize industry is a mammoth undertaking and will require years to accomplish through a complicated program of endeavor. What success will mean for the morality of the workers and the general stability and well-being of families is evident and must challenge the hopes of every humanitarian. Employment Bureaus. To some extent unem- ployment can be relieved by the operation of success- ful employment agencies. There are many commer- cial bureaus in this city, but their dealings are for profit only, and frequently they exploit the laborer to his great moral and social harm. St. Louis is provided with a number of public and INDUSTRIAL PROBLEMS 75 philanthropic bureaus. The federal government has recently utilized the post-office and the local branch of the immigration bureau to bring laborers in touch with opportunities for work. The state free employ- ment bureau has a branch here that renders aid to both sexes. The Young Women's Christian Associa- tion annually finds positions for thousands of women; while the relief societies also find employment for many applicants, and the labor unions endeavor to care for their own. Nevertheless the ground is not adequately covered. The private societies are some- what handicapped, the federal work is new, and the state bureau has opportunities for expansion and greater service. Although many individual jobs are filled in the city, the chief service still unperformed is that of sending workers to fill positions opening else- where. Employment bureaus, however, can only bring the unemployed in contact with the job; they cannot create jobs ; yet it is clear that at present there are not sufficient positions for all. Some must be idle part of the time. All cannot be employed. This being true, the remedies suggested are still inadequate, be- cause the elimination of unemployment involves the development of opportunities for work for all. While this is an economic question, it is an ethical one as well. As to its solution, opinions differ, and pro- grams have not been fully developed; so it would be unwise to attempt a practical proposal here. It is necessary, however, for all to consider the seriousness of this situation and to approach the problem with a Christian spirit and a desire to give an opportunity to all. 76 THE CHALLENGE OF ST. LOUIS //. Child Labor 1. Age Limits The Federal Council of the Churches of Christ in America has officially pronounced against child labor and has realized the moral significance of the problem. The Missouri child labor law is a comparatively advanced one, but certain imper- fections remain. Boys under ten may not sell newspapers, but there is no definite provision as to the enforcement of the law. The age limit should be raised at least to fourteen and work after a certain evening hour prohibited. At best, the newsboys are a problem. A majority are at some time or other brought into our juvenile court, irregu- larity of school attendance is common, truancy is fre- quent, while bad habits develop among them. They find the work a blind alley occupation one that leads nowhere and that must be discontinued. Boys do not usually sell papers longer than three years, but find other jobs after they have reached the regular working age of fourteen. Children may not engage in other gainful employment, if less than fourteen, except in ag- riculture and domestic service; and if they are between iourteen and sixteen they must obtain work certifi- cates. In two years over 8,000 certificates have been granted in St. Louis. The children with working pa- pers added to those engaged in domestic service and the street trades number at least 10,000. 2. Inadequate Educational Tests The law makes no educational requirement except that the child must be able to read and write simple INDUSTRIAL PROBLEMS 77 sentences in English. Accordingly very few applicants for working papers are rejected and a large proportion have not finished the fifth or sixth grades. Child labor, accompanied by serious educational deficiency, is a system that practically destroys all real opportunity in life for its victims. The educational requirements should be raised to the eighth grade; and if children are pressed by poverty the community should make whatever provision is necessary to enable them to gain at least that much education. 3. Physical Examinations Again, the law does not provide for compulsory physical examination, and as a result, with the excep- tion of a few cases of obvious defectiveness which are turned over to the physician, a cursory examination by the official granting the certificate is all that is received. Many children are not physically capable of working an eight-hour day, and ought not attempt this until sufficiently strong to endure the tax of labor without danger to themselves. Many children should be rejected outright, while others should be strictly limited to certain occupations; and all weak, subnor- mal children should receive the physical training and the care necessary for the proper development of physique. 4. Demoralizing Results The law fixes the working age at fourteen, limits hours to eight per day, and prohibits work after 7 p. m. ; but it would be better to raise the minimum age to sixteen, in order to give the child a better chance. Most child labor consists of work in menial 78 THE CHALLENGE OF ST. LOUIS and unpromising positions. Estimates place the per- centage of unskilled work at from ninety to ninety- .five; that is, nine tenths of the children make but little advance except by changing their occupations when they become old enough. They simply mark time from fourteen to sixteen and earn a small sum of money, but they get no training for their subse- quent industrial life. Every one should understand that child labor involves the sacrifice of future possi- bilities for a petty present gain a gain often so small as to make any defense of the system seem ludicrous. ///. Female Labor i. Number of Women Employed Women's labor is a serious problem, partly because of the many married women at work, partly because of the thousands receiving less than a living wage, partly because of the limited stay of the average woman in industry. Out of the 80,000 females of ten years and over in St. Louis industry about 25,000 are engaged in manufacturing and mechanical pur- suits; 7,000 in trade, most of them being clerks in stores and saleswomen; over 10,000 in clerical occu- pations, such as stenography, bookkeeping, etc.; 6,000 in the professions, mostly teachers, and over 28,000 in domestic and personal service. More than one fourth (27.4 per cent.) of all females ten years and over are at work, and woman as an economic factor cannot be ignored. She is found in almost every oc- cupation, and the proportion of women at work is steadily increasing. Unfortunately this is also true about the married women, a result due largely to the economic pressure on the immigrant and the negro. INDUSTRIAL PROBLEMS 79 By just so much are homes neglected and children given an opportunity to go wrong. It has been esti- mated that twenty per cent, of the women engaged in manufacturing and mercantile occupations are self- supporting, but the proportion among the remaining women is uncertain; nevertheless it is probable that at least 8,000 working women, not including the pro- fessional women or the servant class, are dependent on themselves. The great majority of working women (from 75 to 80 per cent.) live with their par- ents or other members of the family and turn over all or part of their earnings into a common family treasury. Their wages are not regulated by their in- dividual cost of living, but by other considerations. 2. Wages of Women A study by the Missouri School of Social Economy of six selected industries shows some interesting facts in regard to the wages paid in 1912 to women sixteen years of age or over. The industries studied were tobacco, cotton, drug, bakery, paper box, and candy. Grouping these industries, we find that fifteen per cent, of the women received less than $5.00 per week; forty per cent, received between $5.00 and $7.00; twenty- five per cent, between $7.00 and $9.00, and the re- mainder, or eighteen per cent., received $9.00 or over. More than one half of all the women earned less than $7.00 per week; in fact, about three quarters received wages lower than the figure hereinafter given as a minimum wage and the industries vary widely among themselves. The drug, cotton, and candy industries employ but few at the $9.00 rate, the great majority receiving less than $7.00. The remaining industries 8o THE CHALLENGE OF ST. LOUIS employ considerable cheap labor, but they also carry a quantity of high-priced labor and therefore make it possible for workers to advance into a series of de- sirable occupations. Girls of the former group are practically compelled to remain at a low wage level or change their occupations by entering some other industry or occupation that involves considerable tem- porary loss. A separate study made of the men's clothing industry indicated that out of 1,569 women whose earnings were examined, 50.2 per cent, received wages of less than $7.00 per week, although 27 per cent, received $9.00 or over. Naturally the higher wages are usually paid the older women and not to the girls of from sixteen to twenty years; still it seems reasonable to assume that a young woman of eighteen, with one year of experience in industry, should com- mand a living wage. The majority of such persons, however, receive less than $7.00 per week, which roughly approximates the average wage received in manufacturing and mercantile occupations. 3. Irregular Employment Again, work is not steady throughout the year, and the weekly wage is no real index of the annual in- come. Usually work is not regular, a factory either not operating fifty-two weeks in the year or run- ning part-time for a limited period. Frequently more women are employed than are necessary to operate on a full-time basis, especially where the piece-work system prevails. Female labor is so shifting that in the men's clothing factories, for example, less than one half of the women employed have served for six months or more. Other industries also indicate the INDUSTRIAL PROBLEMS 81 presence of much casual or irregular labor. Wages in the department stores are lower than in many fac- tories and therefore constitute a serious problem. The social desirability of this form of labor results in at- tracting women at lower wages than they might re- ceive elsewhere. From $6.00 to $7.00 represents the amount usually paid. On the whole it is apparent that female labor is specially characterized by low wages and irregularity of service. IV. A Living Wage i. Cost of Living for the Working Girl The cost of living is a serious problem for the work- ing girl. It has become necessary to consider her as a separate individual instead of part of a family, for whom a properly adjusted family budget will solve the question. The difficulties arise partly from the fact that thousands of the working women are compelled to subsist on their own earnings and partly from the lack of standards due to the irregular competition of girls who are partly supported by other members of the family. It is at once apparent that the self-sus- taining woman must earn a living wage, but a wage which merely holds body and soul together for the time is not a living wage in the enlightened sense of the term. An adequate wage should enable a woman to live decently under conditions which will insure her physical health, keep her intellectually advancing, and enable her to live in parts of the city having a good moral environment. That is, it must safeguard her physically, mentally, and morally; and every wage which, while it may be adequate for the body, con- demns a woman to an environment which debases and 82 THE CHALLENGE OF ST. LOUIS degrades, is not a living wage which the Christian can accept as just and fair. Various attempts have been made to estimate the amount of a proper living wage in the large cities. Singularly enough the estimate made by Miss Ruth Crawford for the Missouri School of Social Economy is sufficiently similar in amount to estimates made elsewhere to justify the conclusion that it is a reasonably fair computation. The esti- mate is as follows: WEEKLY COST OF LIVING. Food $3.50 Rent 2.00 Clothing 1.53 Laundry 25 Carfare 60 Amusement 1 Church Insurance ? 65 Vacation Medical attention. J Total $8.53 The prevailing high prices of food make an expendi- ture of less than fifty cents per day for meals a virtual impossibility. Tests by philanthropic organizations have resulted in similar conclusions. It frequently happens, however, that a number of girls carry on a scheme of cooperative housing at a lower cost; but usually they stint themselves, eat insufficient and poorly prepared foods, and in the long run must compensate for the apparent saving in some other way. In the better sections of the city rooms cannot be secured for $2.00 per week, and this figure affords accommodations none too good and often only too close to an uncongenial and morally hazardous en- vironment. It is not low wages so much as the bad INDUSTRIAL PROBLEMS 83 surroundings which such wages impose that cause so many girls to become immoral. The experience of the organized (philanthropic) boarding-houses of this city indicates that it is difficult to provide both board and lodging for a less amount than $5.50. To do so means to draw upon philanthropy for a subsidy or to sacrifice the physical and moral self. Young women enjoy dainty and sufficient clothes. Those engaged in certain occupations must appear well dressed or they forfeit their positions. The coer- cion of fashion also has a driving power that means the expenditure of definite sums for clothing. Actual accounting for every cent spent on clothing by work- ing women in New York City showed that $74.00 per year did not meet the need adequately. An allow- ance of $80.00, therefore, is reasonable and ought to be granted without argument. Laundry and car fare swell the expenditures eighty-five cents per week, and these items added to the preceding ones make a total of $7.88. It must be distinctly understood that food, lodging, clothing, laundry, and car fare do not consti- tute the complete set of items going into the compu- tation of a minimum wage. Recreation must have a place; without a vacation, efficiency is impaired; with- out a chance to read books, magazines, and other lit- erature, mental lethargy results; some money must be spent for medical and dental attention; contribu- tions to religious organizations are practically neces- sary if a religious life is to be made possible, and a little fund should be set aside as insurance against a rainy day. Failure to consider any and all of these necessary expenditures means the depreciation of the human being and is paralleled in the industrial world 84 THE CHALLENGE OF ST. LOUIS by neglecting to make allowances for interest on capi- tal and for the depreciation of the plant. To allow sixty- five cents per week for all of these important considerations is indeed parsimonious economy and a larger sum should be granted. Nevertheless by adding this figure we find our minimum wage to be slightly more than $8.50. How many of our working women earn this minimum? No one knows, but we do know that the majority do not, and that they are steadily encroaching on their physical and moral capital. A living wage is not a mere economic ques- tion. It is a moral problem of deepest significance, and that is why the Federal Council of the Churches is so concerned about it. Working Women's Organizations. Efforts have been made to improve the lot of working women through organization. So far this has not yielded very successful results. In 1913 there were 2,940 women connected with organizations, but for several years the average has been about 2,000, the chief oc- cupations represented being bookbinding, boot and shoe workers, garment-making, waitresses, and brew- ery workers. The organizations have struggled for better wages, shorter hours, the right to organize, and the recognition of collective bargaining. However, less than five per cent, of the potential membership is organized, and therefore little can at present be done. The telephone strike of 1913 was badly defeated, the chief issue at stake being the recognition of the union. Women must organize for self-protection, but the public must assist them in their efforts to receive jus- tice and good working conditions, or serious physical and moral harm will result. The Missouri law limit- INDUSTRIAL PROBLEMS 85 ing working hours to nine per day and fifty-four per week is a case in point. Its rigid enforcement should be demanded by the good people of the city for the sake of its beneficial consequences. Furthermore, the state should provide for a minimum wage commission or similar body to inquire into wage conditions and to bring about, by compulsory decree if necessary, read- justments to the advantage of the working girl. 2. Standards for a Family The wages of labor are necessary to give the work- ingman his daily bread, but the increase in wages has not kept pace with the rising cost of living. The labor organizations have in most cases a fixed schedule of wages. In very few occupations is the standard wage for men less than $2.00 per day, and the maxi- mum rises in the case of engineers to $6.60. According to their figures, the average wage paid union men in 1913 was $3.82 per day for 282 days. The annual income would therefore approximate $1,000, but the larger number of workers are outside the unions and their average annual wage can hardly be more than $600, while in many cases it is considerably less. Many teamsters receive only $2.00 per day, while a good pro- portion of the common labor receives $1.75. Even the city pays its garbage haulers only $65.00 per month and its street cleaners $1.50 per day. Accord- ingly, a large number of men must rely upon help from their families in order to obtain an income adequate for the family needs. Child labor is therefore pressed into service, and some labor by the wife also provides a supplementary income. This creates a vicious circle, since low-paid labor forces down the wages of the 86 THE CHALLENGE OF ST. LOUIS head of the family; and because of this low wage ad- ditional members of the family are compelled to enter industry. The Missouri School of Social Economy in 1910 estimated that at least $750 per year was necessary to maintain a family of five in decent circumstances. On this basis about 45 per cent, of the income can be spent for food, 15 for clothing, an equal amount for rent, 5 for fuel and light, and 20 per cent, for sun- dries, such as education, insurance, church, and recrea- tion. The significance of these figures becomes more apparent when they are stated in terms of dollars. Consider clothing a man, a woman, and three children on $115.00 per year and make them appear respect- able; require this family to limit monthly rent bills to less than $10.00 and its annual light and fuel bill to $40.00; compel them to spend less than $1.00 per day for food, and then allow them $150.00 per year for various forms of self-improvement. What will happen? Food is the most important essential but steak has risen twenty-five per cent, since 1910; pork, eggs, butter, and cornmeal are dearer; sugar has be- come a luxury, and other foods have increased in cost. Figures covering the years January, 1912, to March, 1916, show that all foods cost more at the latter date than the former, with the exception of pota- toes. But prices in 1916 were nineteen per cent, higher than the year before, and the rise in the cost of pota- toes is too recent to require comment. As a result of this increase in the cost of living a heavy inroad is being made on the money set aside for moral and intellectual improvement. Often this is practically jyiped out. Clothing, furniture, and fuel have become INDUSTRIAL PROBLEMS 87 more costly, and either less can be purchased or the family must stint itself along some other line. While the prices of food articles have risen tremendously since 1890, the wages of labor have hardly kept pace, and as a result many wage-earners are living a most precarious family life. The more nearly hand-to- mouth an existence, the less money and energy are ex- pended in cultivating the higher self. So long as this is true our economic order does not make for spiritual ends or life; yet in the very nature of human destiny this purpose must be achieved. V. Radicalism and Reform The hardships of the laboring man have developed two definite lines of thought: first, a radical attitude toward the present order; and second, distrust of and opposition to the Christian church. Radical economic thought expresses itself in the socialist and single tax movements, and political revolution in violence and anarchism. Many men violently attack the existing economic system and clutch wildly at impossible doc- trines without the slightest mental grasp of their true significance. i. Socialism Socialism stands for the elimination of private capi- tal and for a socially determined basis for the dis- tribution of income. A gradual increase has occurred in the number of self-styled socialists, and in 1912 the total socialist vote cast in St. Louis was over 9,000. Although there are exceptions, the greater part of the socialists is recruited from the laboring classes, and especially from the foreign element. The single 88 THE CHALLENGE OF ST. LOUIS taxers would abolish the tax on improvements and limit taxes to land values, with the purpose of appro- priating to the public the values which it Has created and which the individuals now profiting thereby have not earned. 2. Anarchism The most radical movement takes the form of an- archism, which objects to private property and to government and considers both as instruments of op- pression. That wealth and economic power have frequently exerted themselves in unchristian ways, have robbed labor of its deserts, and have brutally created poverty is well known. As a parallel to this method, but from the side of labor, has developed a plan of violence fostered by the Industrial Workers of the World. This group is extreme in thought and action, and uses violence, especially in subtle ways, to compel submission to the demands of labor. 3. Social Platform of the Federal Council Opposition to the Christian churches comes partly from the teaching of pronounced opponents of Chris- tianity and partly from the belief that the church is an instrument of the privileged classes. Many la- borers revere the man Jesus or even think of him as God, but do not believe that the church which claims Jesus the Christ as its head is true to its Lord. If it were, why do respectable church-members exploit child labor, pay low wages, overwork women, and foster sweatshops? By confusing the purpose of the church with the actual life of many church-members they develop a biased point of view which ripens into oppo- INDUSTRIAL PROBLEMS 89 sition to the church itself. Although misguided in part, and also unwilling to credit the church with the benevolent spirit that it has evidenced, they are not entirely wrong. The church has not exerted itself to the utmost to bring about conditions of life that con- duce to spiritual development, and it has allowed selfish and unwholesome men to gain remarkable power in its councils. The laborer is both right and wrong; and the church must work out the eternal purpose of God or it cannot win the laboring man. Happily it has been making history in recent years through its en- deavor to gain a clear vision of its social mission. How fully it recognizes the inevitable reaction of so- cial conditions on the spiritual outlook of man is evi- dent in the following platform adopted by the Federal Council of the Churches of Christ in America in 1912. Nearly all of the planks relate to industrial problems, but the entire platform is presented below. The churches must stand : 1. For equal rights and complete justice for all men in all stations of life. 2. For the protection of the family by the single standard of purity, uniform divorce laws, proper regulation of marriage, and proper housing. 3. For the fullest possible development for every child, especially by the provision of proper education and recreation. 4. For the abolition of child labor. 5. For such regulation of the conditions of toil for women as shall safeguard the physical and moral health of the community. 6. For the abatement and prevention of poverty. go THE CHALLENGE OF ST. LOUIS 7. For the protection of the individual and society from the social, economic, and moral waste of the liquor traffic. 8. For the conservation of health. 9. For the protection of the worker from danger- ous machinery, occupational diseases, and mortality. 10. For the right of all men to the opportunity of self-maintenance, for safeguarding this right against encroachments of every kind, and for the protection of workers from the hardships of enforced unemployment. 11. For the suitable provision for the old age of the workers and for those incapacitated by injury. 12. For the right of employees and employers alike to organize for adequate means of conciliation and arbitration in industrial disputes. 13. For a release from employment one day in seven. 14. For the gradual and reasonable reduction of the hours of labor to the lowest practicable point, and for that degree of leisure for all which is a condition of the highest human life. 15. For a living wage as a minimum in every indus- try and for the highest wages that each in- dustry can afford. 1 6. For a new emphasis upon the application of Christian principles to the acquisition and use of property, and for the most equitable divi- sion of the product of industry that can ulti- mately be devised. A platform, however, is meaningless unless efforts INDUSTRIAL PROBLEMS 91 are made to give it vitality, and that is precisely the duty that faces the church. It must master the indus- trial problem. It must spiritualize both capital and labor, and to spiritualize capital means to touch the holders of capital. It must inspire men to a recogni- tion of the spark of divinity in each of us and to a desire for human brotherhood. The Christian spirit is not present in men who do not desire justice for all and who do not attempt to eliminate such evils as poverty, injustice, and lack of opportunity. But the Christian spirit stops not here, for it is not mere cold justice that Christ desired. He asked for love love that transcends justice, that is more than justice, and that binds men together into a bond of human brother- hood. IV. EDUCATION It is difficult to overestimate the spiritual value of popular education. Compare the United States with the relatively illiterate countries of southeastern Eu- rope or of South America, consider our superiority in nearly every way, and a partial answer is made. Crime, vice, poverty, and defectiveness abound in unparalleled quantity wherever high educational development is lacking. Let us then protect and advance popular edu- cation, for in this way we help to make ours a better and happier country in which to live. I. The 'Educational System i. Number of School Children According to the 6ist Annual Report of the Board of Education, St. Louis in 1914 had 159,285 children between six and twenty years of age; they comprise the school population of the city and are about 21.4 per cent, of the total population. It is for this group that the day schools are organized and developed. The compulsory education law does not cover the entire number, but applies only to children from eight to fourteen years of age, except those too poor to obtain suitable clothing, and to those children from fourteen to sixteen who are not regularly employed at least six hours per day. The actual enrolment is considerably less than the school population, the day pupils num- 93 94 THE CHALLENGE OF ST. LOUIS bering about 100,000 children, more than nine tenths of whom are in the elementary schools. About seventy per cent, of the entire school population are enrolled for either the day or the night school classes. That the public school has a tremendous opportunity is, therefore, at once apparent. Many children attend parochial schools. There are eighty of these conducted by the Roman Catholics, with an enrolment of nearly 25,000. In ten years the number of these schools has risen from fifty-four, or an increase of twenty-six. The enrolment during this time has increased thirty-six per cent., represent- ing 6,561 pupils. The Lutheran church maintains twenty parochial schools, with a registration of about 2,000 children. The private schools, for which data were not obtained, are not numerous, but their enrol- ment will swell the total number of pupils by a not inconsiderable sum. The day pupils enrolled in public and parochial schools number more than 125,000, or eighty per cent, of the entire school population. Be- sides these there are the children attending evening classes. 2. Regularity of Attendance It is one thing to register as a pupil, but another to attend school. Success in education requires constant attendance. The full school year in St. Louis consists of 200 days; investigation snowed that only one out of sixteen children attended every day. Nearly three fourths came 150 days or more. It is not those who come but those who stay away that are the subjects of concern. Absence burdens the pupil with two prin- cipal disadvantages; he loses his day's work and also EDUCATION 95 the connection between the daily recitations, and there- fore fails when he does attend. For this reason irreg- ular attendance has a cumulative effect. One out of every six day-pupils attended less than one half of the time. From this group especially come the ill- trained, semi-illiterate men who are only too common and who turn out to be economic and moral failures. While a constantly increasing attendance has marked the history of recent years, much yet remains to be done. Irregular attendance produces the most unfortunate results, among which are failure to advance normally, leaving school before finishing the elementary grades, and the development of habits of irregularity which injure the morals of children as well as their capacity for work. It appears that although there are more than 10,000 children in the first grade, this number has been almost exactly cut in two in the eighth and for the graduates. The chief explanation of the smaller number in the upper grades is the deaths that occur, sickness, and the retardation due to irremedi- able defectiveness. Other causes, such as the gradual dropping out of pupils, losses from transfer, and un- necessary absence, are not inherent and must eventu- ally be prevented. The gain made by the schools in fifteen years is indicated from the figures presented by the Board of Education, according to which in 1900 only fourteen per cent, of the children entering the second grade remained to the eighth; in 1915, forty- seven per cent., or nearly one half. This wonderful improvement indicates possibilities that are not yet exhausted. In spite of progress approximately one half of the children in the public schools do not finish -;6 THE CHALLENGE OF ST. LOUIS the elementary grades. The children receiving work certificates indicated an average grade standing of 6.9. It is evident that more drop out while in the sixth or seventh grade than in any other, but a large number is still left in the fourth and fifth grades; and the education which they have re- ceived merely saves them from the classification " il- literate," without giving them any practical and worth- while advantages. Too many of the boys and girls leaving school lack the ability to make reading a pleas- ure, and as a consequence they do not get into touch with the problem of living and of citizenship in a vital manner. Unless they have supplemented their train- ing with evening school or business college training they are incapable of clerical occupations and must remain in the class of unskilled manual labor, with poverty constantly facing them. An important result of irregular school attendance and truancy is moral delinquency. Any irregularity develops bad habits, and these soon ripen into open offense against the law. Truancy means retardation; the latter causes dissatisfaction, which in turn spells truancy. Although it causes delinquency, truancy is also a result of delinquency. Many of the children brought to court are charged with truancy, while a large number, perhaps a majority of those under four- teen, charged with other offenses, are either truants or irregular in school attendance. The uncontrolled leisure of boys in the large cities is a most injurious condition, for idleness in the congested districts leads to immoral habits. EDUCATION 97 3. Special Schools Education is preparation for life and training for effective service in society. Although the schools must endeavor to meet the needs of every class, their chief concern is the normal children of the community. The great majority belong to this class; nevertheless a con- siderable number are retarded that is, are one or more years behind the normal grade. For such, indi- vidual treatment in the regular schools or special classes of instruction are needed. St. Louis has 102 public elementary schools, nine of which are for colored children. It also conducts twelve special schools for backward children, one for the deaf, and two open-air schools for anemic chil- dren. Besides these it carries on educational work in the Industrial School and has a boys' truant class to take care of certain children of irregular habits. In other words, the city makes provision for the edu- cation of normal children, the backward, deaf, delin- quent, anemic, and truant. The training and education of the special groups is an important consideration, since they fall most easily into misery and poverty. The public school is a great social agency engaged in preventive and con- structive work with the great mass of children, but it cannot neglect the unfortunate and subnormal classes. These, however, are the latest to receive at- tention, and provision for them advances more slowly. The elementary schools are supplemented by six public high schools (one for colored students) and a teachers' college. In addition there are twenty-four evening schools, five of which are for the colored people. Of the entire number, nineteen are of elementary and five 98 THE CHALLENGE OF ST. LOUIS of high school grade. These schools accommodate persons employed during the day who seek a practical education. In 1914-15 the evening high schools en- rolled over 13,000 persons, whose average age was twenty-two years'. Deaf children are brought together in one school where both the sign language and lip reading are taught. The work of the public school is ably supple- mented by a Catholic school for the deaf and by an- other private institution. 4. Illiteracy Illiteracy is everywhere an undesirable condition and usually means degradation, economic and mental, and often moral as well. We have an illiterate popu- lation comprising 3.2 per cent, of the persons ten years of age or over. In 1910 there were over 21,000 in this group, and it has probably increased since then. Few of the native whites are illiterate, but the number among the foreign-born population is considerable, although the proportions are highest among the ne- groes. Very few of the young men and young women in the city are completely deprived of education. Even among the colored the proportion of illiterates has rapidly declined. Among the immigrants, how- ever, this condition does not hold and persons of all ages are illiterate. Lack of facilities abroad has handi- capped both old and young, and on coming to America they lack either the ambition or the opportunity to gain a regular school education. It is for these groups that the evening schools and the classes conducted by settlements and other agencies are carried on. An army of over 21,000 illiterates imposes on St. Louis EDUCATION 99 an important moral and social problem. It is not pos- sible for an illiterate man to carry on his civic duties wisely and well; but if he is not a voter his economic handicaps still remain. The home cannot afford illit- erate parents these days, since lower wages, lack of parental authority, and juvenile delinquency are among the definite results. The church cannot afford to allow a condition of illiteracy to exist, because it means moral and religious stagnation as well as social and economic enslavement. 5. Manual Training and Domestic Science The service of the school to society may conven- iently be thought of under the heads of educational, physical, and moral. Formerly the educational was considered the chief aim, but its relation to the physical has become so apparent that the latter can no longer be neglected. The regular course of study includes the branches commonly taught everywhere, also music, calisthenics, and ethics. Furthermore, manual train- ing is taught in some form in the first three and the last two grades, and domestic science has a place in the seventh and eighth grades. The high schools, be- sides providing the usual courses covering four years of work, offer two-year courses in manual training, domestic art and science, and commerce and business. A one-year course in the last-named subject is also offered. There is considerable significance in this develop- ment which indicates a real effort to meet modern needs in education. In one elementary school hand- work has proved itself of the greatest advantage and interest to the pupils, and as a consequence the girls ioo THE CHALLENGE OF ST. LOUIS of the graduating class not only could but did make their own graduating dresses. The teaching of cook- ing has been carried on with a degree of success, espe- cially in the high schools. But the great majority nine tenths of the girls never enter high school and must be reached in the grades if at all. Here, then, we find a special need for an efficient course. Its meaning for the preservation of the family, for the care of children, the decline of intemperance, and the promotion of morality is so clear that every effort to train girls for the duties and functions which more than ninety per cent, will later perform has its com- pensation in better homes and greater happiness. The manual training exercises also occupy an im- portant place. The extent of this training in the grades is indicated by the successful printing done in a number of the schools. The work in the high schools is much more advanced, while the evening schools conduct extensive industrial training features. Greater facilities for trade education are needed in this city, and, although an excellent private institution is fur- nishing such training, a serious question arises whether the public schools should not provide some such train- ing in a special trade school. 6. Clinic The psychopathic clinic conducted by the school board distinguishes the backward and feeble-minded children from the rest and suggests the plan of treat- ment and education. Some children are recommended to the state colony for feeble-minded, others are sent to special schools where they obtain individual instruc- tion in ungraded classes, while still others are returned EDUCATION 101 to the regular grades with appropriate recommenda- tions. 7. Physical Care In all the schools exercises in calisthenics are given to the pupils, and in about one fifth posture tests are also given. These are of great value in promoting health and good habits. The majority of schools have playground rooms used during the school hours, and carry on after-school activities, such as basket-ball, volley-ball, etc. To some extent these games are su- pervised. Fifteen district schools are equipped with gymnasiums and fourteen more have suitable rooms but lack the apparatus. A number have shower baths for both boys and girls. Athletics, physical exercises, and games are gradually being recognized as an essen- tial part of the training of every child. Not only do they develop strength and promote sound physical con- dition but they react favorably on the mind and morals of the child. Physical Examination. The Department of Hy- giene, with its force of twenty nurses and eleven in- spectors, practically covers the city for routine physical examination of children. The magnitude of the work is indicated by the fact that in one year over 6,000 cases of non-communicable and 3,000 cases of com- municable diseases were detected and 73,000 cases of physical defect were noted, an average of practically one defect per pupil. Defective teeth, defective eye- sight, enlarged tonsils and adenoids these were the principal abnormalities discovered. The parents were notified of the defects and urged to have them cor- rected, but the aid of philanthropy was also gained. 102 THE CHALLENGE OF ST. LOUIS The relation between physical defects and retardation, behavior, and general health are so close that the value of a sound body in the promotion of mind and morals can no longer be questioned. The need of physical care is further emphasized by the establish- ment of open-air schools accommodating about 175 weak and anemic children or those in danger of contracting tuberculosis. After admission they are given a routine of care which usually restores them to health. The food consumed is paid for by the local antituberculosis society. A great need of all schools is the best system of ventilation, open-air rooms, and a certain amount of outdoor class work and exercises. 8. Character Development Next to the home the public school is the great insti- tution of child nurture. It has a profound effect on the morals of our children, owing to the influence of teachers, the character-forming power of routine and discipline, the cultural effects of many of its contacts, and the direct teaching of morality and ethics. The Teacher. First in importance is the charac- ter of the teachers. Their unconscious influence on pupils through their proper deportment, in class and out, is incommensurable. Not direct precept but life and conduct are the great character determiners. No greater task falls on the school board than the selec- tion of that noble group of over 2,000 men and women who serve as patterns for the school child. Not nar- row denominationalism, but a broad and tolerant out- look on life, supplemented by nobility of purpose, will achieve the best results. Ethical Instruction. Ethical instruction has a EDUCATION 103 place in the curriculum of the schools once a week, and in some schools in the higher grades improvement clubs have been organized to continue the work of moral training. Among the objects attempted are : to apply ethical rules, to improve conduct within and without the school, and to develop better citizens. The formal work in this field is comparatively limited and room for its expansion may indeed be found. In some schools the work is practically neglected. The Bible is not read in the public schools, but is not forbidden. Mere reading, however, has a limited value, and un- less there is instruction and a chance to apply it little gain is to be expected. Indirectly, through story-tell- ing and the study of history, moral lessons of great value may be inculcated if the subject is handled ju- diciously. Training of Delinquents. The school board is directly concerned with two groups of delinquent chil- dren. The educational work in the Industrial School is conducted by the board. Here the chief problem is instruction and training that will fit not only for gain- ing a livelihood but that will first develop character. An adapted course is therefore offered. The boys' truant class assembles boys from various parts of the city and attempts to build up their morals. Manual training is emphasized, other adaptations are made, and the boys are fitted to return to their regular grades. Day truant classes have developed much more in some other cities than here, and much could be accomplished for a higher standard of morals among our children if more classes of this variety were afforded. The contaminating elements of the school population would be temporarily segregated and only when fit to return 104 THE CHALLENGE OF ST. LOUIS to their erstwhile companions would they be sent back. Attendance Department. A potential moral force is the attendance department. Its chief duties are to prevent truancy and irregular attendance and to issue employment certificates. The first of these duties con- cerns us here. Truancy and irregularity are both causes and effects, to be handled accordingly. This department is the most specialized social service arm of the schools. It is not a police force for children, but a rehabilitating agency aiming to improve and cor- rect the conditions that lead to irregular school attend- ance. In so far as the causes lie outside of the school, it can accomplish much by removing unfavorable con- ditions, but causes within depend on the board directly. Sometimes the trouble is with the child, again with its parents, or with a congenial but debasing environ- ment of street or alley. Cooperation with the Juvenile Court and charitable and social agencies simplifies the problems and makes beneficent results possible. 9. Promotion of Democracy The public school is the great modern engine of democracy. Religion needs the leaven of democracy, and is itself a promoter of democracy, which in its pure form is quite akin to the brotherhood of man the chief human goal of religion. It is here that all classes may meet, cooperate, and learn of the funda- mental humanness of every individual. Here children of different classes and circumstances constantly touch each other and, under the direction of noble teachers, appreciate the good qualities in each. Here, too, the aristocracy of clothes gives way to the aristocracy of brains. Cliques may be formed, but they are contrary EDUCATION 105 to the spirit of the school, whose natural fruit is tol- eration, cooperation, democracy. 10. Secondary Education The secondary education provided is important and it gives us our leaders. Our high schools enroll about 10,000 boys and girls and train them according to their educational ideals. A large majority of the students are girls, a fact which indicates that many boys after finishing the grades at once enter the industrial field. Perhaps the failure of the boys to continue their edu- cation is a significant evil of the day. The Roman Catholic high schools and convents are a part of the educational chain of the work of that church. In ad- dition we have academies and private schools of va- rious kinds. Beyond the high schools are the colleges and universities, of which St. Louis and Washington Universities are the chief representatives, the former a Catholic institution, the latter non-denominational. These and lesser institutions give abundant opportu- nity for the higher education of our young men and women, and also bring this opportunity within the reach of a large proportion of our high school grad- uates. It is here that the Protestant churches have recognized a need. Higher education under good re- ligious influences is strongly approved. Here the im- portance of an opportune environment is recognized even by the religious standpatter who does not under- stand or favor social service. Accordingly a number of colleges have been supported, which in most cases, however, are situated outside the city limits. Our college men and women are the leaders in religion, edu- cation, and social service. io6 THE CHALLENGE OF ST. LOUIS //. Special Educational Agencies i. The Public Library In addition to the schools there are several other educational agencies, among which the library is one. Our splendid public library has seven branches and operates seventy-six delivery and deposit stations, be- sides placing books on deposit in forty-five schools. The newspaper and open-shelf rooms offer opportuni- ties to all readers, while the home issues have reached a stupendous figure. The children's department through its various branches is circulating good books among the children and through its story hours it touches them directly. Books have been issued at fif- teen playgrounds, and the story hour has been carried to even more. The branch libraries have specialized in books and languages required by the various com- munities and thus opened the way for the booklover of every race. The Municipal Branch serves the va- rious groups of public officials and constantly collects valuable information on social and civic subjects. The traveling library department sends thousands of books to the different stations, especially large numbers going to the City Hospital and to schools serving as social centers. The pictures and maps exhibited and the lan- tern slides circulated are interesting features of the work, and an impetus is thus given to the study and appreciation of art. The halls, clubrooms, and meet- ing-places in the various buildings are constantly used by clubs, organizations, and informal groups. Of the books taken from the different libraries by readers nearly fifty-nine per cent, are fiction, while the remain- der are scattered among many classes children's non- EDUCATION 107 fiction, fairy tales, history, and sociology coming in the order named. The home issue numbers more than two books for every man, woman, and child in St. Louis. More than 100,000 library cards are held by the people of the city. The opportunity of the library to improve the standard of our citizens is therefore at once apparent. 2. The Art Museum The education of St. Louis through the museum has made little progress. The Art Museum has been removed from a downtown location to Forest Park, where it is quite inaccessible to the mass of citizens, being far from the center of population as well as lacking good transportation facilities. The exhibit in paintings and sculpture is good and a splendid col- lection of relics may be seen at the Jefferson Memo- rial. The policy of the museum in sending paintings to the public libraries for temporary exhibit and pro- viding for the discussion of some of them with the children is highly commendable, as is every other at- tempt at museum extension. The noblest in art of every form should be made accessible to the people and become a source of inspiration and culture. 3. The Press In a sense the newspaper can also be regarded as an educational agency. It furnishes information and advocates certain principles and policies; nevertheless its educational program is not of a general nature. To begin with, the St. Louis newspapers reflect local pub- lic opinion rather than mold it. They are mouthpieces rather than pathfinders. Some principles, however, io8 THE CHALLENGE OF ST. LOUIS are tenaciously advocated, and in so far as their reali- zation is desirable the work may be considered educa- tional. Some excellent service has been performed in unearthing governmental abuses and in promoting re- form, some also in eliminating undesirable politicians; but a consistently progressive attitude along every line is perhaps too much to expect. If, however, our social and moral program received the aggressive support of our papers at all times, a great advance would be made. 4. The Missouri School of Social Economy A valuable form of training is that of preparing individuals for public and social service in order to produce efficiency among this important group of lead- ers. So far but little has been attempted for public service apart from those forms included under social service. The majority of important public positions are filled by direct personal appointment, but a grow- ing number must be selected from eligible lists pre- pared by the efficiency board. Among these is the social service group. The bulk of the social service positions, however, are connected with private philan- thropy, there being perhaps about two hundred of these in the city. If it is important for teachers to have character and ideals, it is even more important for social workers, who are constantly dealing with the weak and easily tempted, to exercise a wholesome moral influence. In fact, the great task of those deal- ing with individuals and families is the development of character. The art of developing character is, therefore, one of the most important requisites of the successful social worker. Opportunities in social serv- EDUCATION 109 ice include the following pertinent lines of work: Charity organization, children's institutions, medical social service, probation, attendance officers, settle- ment, social center, institutional church, employees' or factory welfare, sanitarium, recreation, and public welfare. A wonderful chance for loyal, devoted, and high-minded persons to do a genuine service to human- ity presents itself here. To become competent, how- ever, a person needs to supplement his character and religious ideals these he must have with actual training. This should cover a knowledge of the meth- ods of handling families or individuals in need of moral and economic upbuilding, or of handling groups of individuals such as one finds in settlements, institu- tional churches, playgrounds, and factories or stores. Of course, a knowledge of the field and principles of applied philanthropy and social economy is also neces- sary. St. Louis offers an opportunity for the training of social workers through the avenue of the Missouri School of Social Economy, conducted by the Univer- sity of Missouri and assisted by a local board. The school is non-denominational, but emphasizes the im- portance of religious ideals. It trains workers not only for paid and professional social service but also for volunteer service, and it instructs those anxious to learn of this great field that appeals so much to the sociologists and humanitarians. Persons desirous of serving humanity need first to know of the prob- lems of humanity and then to learn how to deal with them through direct contact under trained direction. The School of Social Economy endeavors to meet this need and to give those attending it a heart that surges with love for mankind and a head and hand that will no THE CHALLENGE OF ST. LOUIS guide each benevolent impulse aright. Social service aims to make men better. Social service is religion at work. ///. Religious Training and Instruction i. Purpose of the Sunday-school The general educational work of the community should be supplemented by that of the religious bodies. The church, the Sunday-school, and other church or- ganizations all serve to develop moral and religious ideals. For the children and young people the work of the Sunday-school is particularly important. If the development of habit and of morals is largely the outcome of the first eighteen years of life, it is essen- tial that the churches reach, hold, and teach children during this period. It requires an efficient Sunday- school to accomplish this end. The modern Sunday-school has only begun to realize a small portion of its wonderful program. Its mission comprehends at least three most important forms of service : First, the Sunday-school rather than the regular church service is the place where character and spir- itual ideals are formed. The former catches the plas- tic child and develops habits of virtue and morality; the latter can do but little with him. The Sunday- school builds up, the church maintains. Second, the social vision can be best imparted in the Sunday-school, where young lives, gifted with un- selfishness, can be inspired to think in terms of hu- manity and social welfare. Third, the Sunday-school must lead its scholars into the church, united in which they can best make of EDUCATION in themselves a spiritual power in the community. The Sunday-school is the forge in which effective Chris- tianity must be made. Spiritual ideals, character, personal virtue, humani- tarianism, the desire to serve these are qualities which the Sunday-school must contribute to our Prot- estant young people. 2. Present Status of the Sunday-school It is estimated that the Sunday-school membership in St. Louis approximates 75,000. Of this number about sixty per cent, are less than eighteen years old, a situation which illustrates the growing conviction that the Sunday-school is really the institution that lays the foundation of the Christian life. In the old days there was little attempt to adapt the work of the schools to the capacity of the children and to make it bear fruit in the form of love and healthy human relationships. Wherever these methods still continue, there the unfortunate pupils learn little of the content of true religion, although they may become saturated with formalism and creed. Even to-day the Sunday- school pupils are poorly graded in the majority of St. Louis churches, and the quality of instruction suffers seriously from the lack of teachers trained for service and with a vision of a better humanity. This condition runs throughout the grades, and is perhaps particu- larly serious among the senior and adult classes, in which the application of religion to personal and social life must be emphasized. Frequently the opportunity for religious training is not effectively used. This is true both in the smallest and in some of the largest churches of St. Louis. In H2 THE CHALLENGE OF ST. LOUIS the one the standards are low ; in the other the attend- ance is too small. The children of the rich and poor alike need the beneficent power of religion to guide their lives aright and to use their influence in an un- selfish manner. Less than one half of the possible Sunday-school membership is now enrolled in the various schools and the majority of the 5,600 teachers are in need of addi- tional training for their tasks. Many young men and women are lost to the Sunday- school because the instruction is inane and fruitless and fails to put into concrete form the splendid lessons that deal with purity, honesty, reverence, unselfishness, and other needed personal virtues. Others are dis- satisfied because of the apparently remote connection of the lesson in the mind of the teacher with the moral and social problems that cry for a solution, particu- larly when the gospel message teems with the social spirit. 3. Reorganization and Improvement of Work Training School for Sunday-school Workers. In view of the great need, a training school for Sun- day-school workers was organized in 1913 by the Mis- souri Sunday-school Association and the Church Fed- eration. The Evangelical Alliance, St. Louis Sunday- school Association, St. Louis Superintendents' League, St. Louis Graded Union, Young Men's Christian As- sociation and Young Women's Christian Association cooperated in establishing the school and in making it a success. It is now conducted as a part of the work of the Department of Religious Education of the Church Federation. EDUCATION H3 The school holds its sessions in the Young Women's Christian Association building on Monday evenings for a consecutive period of thirty weeks. The train- ing school is a permanent institution, with a compre- hensive curriculum and strong faculty, and applies pedagogical principles in its work. Its chief purpose is to make Sunday-school workers efficient, but in ad- dition it hopes to stimulate the organization of teacher training classes in local Sunday-schools by training leaders for such work. The curriculum includes courses in Bible, pedagogy, psychology, Biblical geog- raphy, church history, community or social service, and organization and management of the Sunday- school. There are classes for graded work, covering the following groups : Beginners, primary, juniors, teen-age girls, teen-age boys, adults, officers, leaders of parents' classes, and leaders of training classes. The courses cover a period of three years, and the first graduating class secured its diplomas in May, 1916. For the season 1915-16 there were 247 students enrolled from seventy-five different churches. The school has been declared one of the best in the country, for it commands the time of experts and presents a course of study based on modern needs and recognizes the principles of pedagogy applied in the public schools. The service of this school to the community is im- measurable. No form of church work has been so slipshod, so incompetent and beside the mark as has that of the Sunday-school, and probably no form is so full of meaning and possibilities for true religion as is this. Formal training will result in standardized work in the schools, in standard qualifications for teachers, and in the elimination of the incompetent 114 THE CHALLENGE OF ST. LOUIS teachers with whom the Sunday-schools have hereto- fore been overstocked. Standardization of Sunday-schools. The general efforts to improve the work of the Sunday- schools resulted in the adoption of a minimum standard by the executive committee of the Interna- tional Sunday School Association and the Sunday School Council of Evangelical Denominations at Day- ton, Ohio, in 1913. This was revised by the Joint Committee on Standards in 1916. Some evangelical denominations have adopted these standards verbatim; a few have included certain additional requirements, while several have adopted independent standards ap- proximating those given above. The great difficulty has consisted in persuading the individual churches to rise to the standards set by their denominations. Sun- day-school work still has a long road to travel before it catches up with the leaders in such work, and these leaders, though they are far in advance of their con- stituencies, still need to do much more than heretofore to develop standards that make for character building and for the highest religious efficiency. The standards themselves fail to meet the best social ideals. A Sunday-school might be perfect, measured by these standards, and fail utterly to accomplish its mission. Unless the lessons of the Old and the New Testament are applied to the life of to-day, and are so interpreted as to transform eager pupils into vir- tuous, wholesome, unselfish, true, and socially-minded boys and girls, little good has been done. Youth and adolescence are the periods of life when high ideals are most readily accepted. It is then that lives can be trained so that they will assume Christian attitudes EDUCATION 115 toward problems of capital, labor, family, and govern- ment. One of the most important steps in efficient methods has been the standardizing of the grades and the issu- ance of thoroughly graded curricula based on sound pedagogical principles. The recognized departments at present are: Cradle roll, birth to 3 years. Beginners, 4 and 5 years. Primary, 6-7-8 years. Junior, 9-10-11-12 years. Intermediate, 13-14-15-16 years. Senior, 17-18-19-20 years. Adult, 21 and up. Home Department (non-attendants, any age). There are several courses of graded lessons issued independently, but by far the largest use is made of the International Graded Series, handled by the denomi- national publishing houses. A number of Sunday- schools have begun to grade their pupils after the pat- tern given above. The appointment of directors of religious education is another hopeful step. One such director conducts a training class for actual and prospective teachers, supervises the grading of the pupils, suggests the choice of guides and text-books, and definitely labors to promote the efficiency of the Sunday-school peda- gogically, morally, and spiritually. Unfortunately but few schools are equipped in this way; in a number of schools teachers' training classes have been established and organized efforts have been made to apply peda- gogical principles. Furthermore, the Missouri and St. Louis Sunday School Associations are both actively en- Ii6 THE CHALLENGE OF ST. LOUIS gaged in developing higher standards among the local organizations. The Widening Field of Instruction. There are other signs of progress. In one Sunday-school class the community life that touches our moral and spir- itual welfare is studied from week to week. In an- other, every fourth lesson is devoted to the social as- pects of Christianity. All of the older classes in one Sunday-school engage in some definite form of Chris- tian social service requiring either individual or col- lective action and bringing the members in personal touch with conditions that promote feelings of charity, love, and unselfishness. This slight beginning in har- nessing the spiritual energy of eager men and women and directing it against organized evil in the world can- not be too highly commended, but there are more than two hundred schools in our St. Louis churches that must get this idea. Again, there is a growing tendency to widen the scope of religious education through the selection of topics for study such as the following: the social teachings of Jesus, history of the Reformation, mod- ern religious leaders, and practical ethics subjects that assist not only in interpreting the religious movements of recent times but also in awakening men to the grave needs of the hour. And why not? The Sunday-school owes its pupils the duty of instructing them against the sins of intem- perance, vice, sex immorality, disrespect for women, lying, dishonesty, shiftlessness, and other weaknesses each of which not only injures personal character but inflicts harm on the community as well. The Sunday-school must train in cooperation, in EDUCATION 117 worship, and worshipfulness. It must inspire to love for fellow-man, it must contribute to the upbuilding of a church membership that will insist on using the church as an engine for individual and social right- eousness. To make its work modern and practical so that it will count in the ideals and lives of men and in the betterment of the community that is the vision of those who expand the work of the Sunday-school beyond the traditional field so long occupied. 4. Summary of Needs The Sunday-school does not now adequately meet the needs for religious training and must make more effective use of its opportunities. Among the lines of effort that must be more fully developed the following are very important: 1. The grading of Sunday-school pupils. 2. Graded work adapted to pupils. 3. Competent teachers. 4. Pedagogical methods of work. 5. Systematic Bible instruction. 6. Application of the lessons to the life and charac- ter of the pupils. 7. Instruction in character building. 8. Instruction in the social and ethical message of the gospel. 9. Education in the Christian's duty to the poor, the foreigner, the friendless, and to the com- munity. 10. Correlation of Sunday-school with other church work. 11. Development of forms of Christian service to supplement and enrich the instruction. Ii8 THE CHALLENGE OF ST. LOUIS This complete program is necessary to realize the full opportunity of the Sunday-school, but the most important factor is the teacher. No persons should be accepted as teachers unless they have received a cer- tain amount of training for the work. The acceptance of practically every volunteer, as was formerly done, discredits the Sunday-school and plays havoc with suc- cessful service. The new training school for teachers opens the way for qualified instructors and will enable the Sunday-school to be reorganized on a reputable pedagogical basis. If education for secular life must be standardized, how much more important to stand- ardize training for the spiritual! 5. Week-day Religious Training Religious education may supplement the secular in various ways. The Roman Catholic Church has its own parochial schools in which both are a feature of the work. This method, however, is costly, as it in- volves separate schools and, at present, more than 500 teachers. Furthermore, the elementary schools can hardly hope to attain the high standards of efficiency that obtain among the public schools. Similar work, but on a smaller scale, is carried on by the Lutheran Church. The Jewish people support a number of schools in which special religious instruction is given to Jewish children outside of public school hours, on Sundays, and, in one instance, on Saturdays. The public schools, however, are used for the secular education. The majority of Jewish children are being taught in this way. Many Protestants believe that efforts should be EDUCATION 119 made to provide religious instruction for Protestant children on week-days after public school hours. Others advocate the plan recently tried in Gary, In- diana, where religious instruction may be given the child on some regular school day. The schools allow the child several hours for this opportunity and grant him credit for the work done. This system, however, has not been carried on long enough to warrant con- clusions as to its success. Whatever be the method ultimately devised, ade- quate religious education must be given. If the Sun- day-school cannot satisfactorily meet the situation under existing conditions, more time must be employed to do the work. Religious ideals must be created and as a result men must obtain a Christ-like attitude toward their fellow- men. No training is complete which limits itself to personal virtue. All education, secular or religious, must be impreg- nated with the spirit of service. Wherever we have groups we have an opportunity for the contagion of democracy, the definite effects of which are coopera- tion, neighborliness, and brotherly love the great es- sentials of a religious life. Morality is a habit; conduct depends partly on ex- perience, and unselfishness is an outgrowth of im- planted ideals put into practise with human beings. Education, therefore, is more than instruction; it is the development of the Christ-life through the direct application of the principles that govern it. Accord- ingly it is most important to watch the machinery the public school, the private school, the Sunday-school, and other educational agencies to see whether it ac- 120 THE CHALLENGE OF ST. LOUIS complishes this noble purpose. If not, our influence must be used to perfect the machinery as far as we can. Human beings cannot build perfect organiza- tions, but it is possible to throw ideals into the service and the result will be good. V. THE FAMILY The family is as old as man. It is the sacred institu- tion through which the continuity of the race has been guaranteed and the edifying influences of the home have been perpetuated. The Jewish family was for- merly patriarchal, and at one time polygamy was sanc- tioned and practised. The principle of monogamy, however, gradually won and at the time of Christ was the generally accepted practise throughout the Jewish realm. Jesus himself gave the family his unstinted approval and regarded it as part of a divinely ar- ranged plan. " For this cause," said he, " shall a man leave father and mother and shall cleave to his wife and they twain shall be one flesh." To build up and preserve the family, to maintain its integrity, to utilize the graces of the home and to develop moral and re- ligious ideals therein these are some of the tasks that fall unavoidably upon the church. Family and home are fundamental, as much so as the church itself. They must be safeguarded, purified, ennobled. I. Marriage i. Number of Married The problem of the family is, however, one of the gravest that faces us to-day. So many abnormal con- ditions have developed that the ingenuity of the church is being challenged to work out a solution. In St. 122 THE CHALLENGE OF ST. LOUIS Louis in 1910 among the males fifteen years of age and over 52.5 per cent, were married, but, counting the divorced and widowed, we find that nearly three out of every five had experienced family life, while of those forty-five or over the proportions are seven out of eight. Among women the percentage was some- what higher; eleven out of twelve who are forty-five or over have been married. More than 136,000 mar- ried men were counted in 1910, and an approxi- mately equal number of married women. Widows are more numerous than widowers, every eighth woman fifteen and over being a widow three times the proportion found among the men. The natural vitality of woman, added to the deaths among men because of accident and industrial disease, pattly ac- counts for this difference. An important cause, how- ever, is the tendency of widowed men to marry again. Formerly most families lived in houses by them- selves and enjoyed the maximum amount of privacy, and perhaps loneliness as well. In 1910 there were 105,000 dwellings in St. Louis inhabited by approxi- mately 135,000 couples. There are many single houses, but flats are more numerous, while the great bulk of the population east of Grand Avenue live in buildings containing three families each or more. The use in common of certain conveniences is an advan- tage if enjoyed under a favorable environment; but if this is not possible, then grave social and moral con- sequences follow. Good housing is conducive to good morals and to wholesome family life. Bad housing aggravates immorality, lowers the ideals in the home, and fosters abnormal home life. A preventive pro- gram for better family life must include good housing. \ I THE FAMILY 123 Two- and three-room apartments predominate among the poor of our city. To place families ranging from four to eight or ten persons in such apartments means a dangerous loss of privacy and spells blunted moral sensibilities for the sons and daughters, while for the parents it means moral degradation. 2. Restrictions All Christian churches recognize the holy state of matrimony, the Roman Catholic Church going so far as to consider it a sacrament; and the churches may well emphasize the spiritual union which should exist. Marriage ought to be more than a legal relation be- tween man and woman; it should be a spiritual bond as well. Nevertheless, the legal side needs careful con- sideration. In Missouri marriage is treated lightly by the law and its administrative officials. The only restrictions of importance on the statute-books of the state are the following: Whites and negroes may not intermarry. The intermarriage of close relatives, including first cousins, is forbidden. ," Males under twenty-one and females under eighteen must receive their parents' consent. The marriageable age is fifteen for males and twelve for females. Bigamous marriages are prohibited. The law provides that, before marriage, a license shall be obtained, a fee of $1.50 being charged for the same. The marriage may be solemnized by an or- dained or licensed preacher, a judge of a court of rec- ord, or a justice of the peace. No particular form is prescribed. The person solemnizing the marriage must 124 THE CHALLENGE OF ST. LOUIS not only keep record of the marriage but report the fact to the licensing official within ninety days of the marriage. It is a matter of serious social and spiritual conse- quence for a man and woman to assume the relations of husband and wife, for the home is tied up with every form of social organization. It is of no small concern to consider the fact that the average annual number of marriage licenses granted in St. Louis dur- ing the five years 1911-15 was 7,655, with a maximum of over 8,000 in 1912. With more than 15,000 persons beginning family life every year, we may well pause to inquire whether these young people are fitted to assume the responsibilities they have undertaken. 3. Common Law Marriage In about fourteen states no marriage is valid unless it has been entered into according to the expressed provisions of the law as stated above; but in the ma- jority of states, including Missouri, a man and woman may live together without formal ceremony of any kind whatsoever. Simply by recognizing each other as husband and wife they are constituted a married couple. There are hundreds, if not thousands, of such common law marriages in this city. No license was secured; no ceremony performed; no official record of the marriage was made. In many cases no serious social or moral harm is apparent, but the system is abhorrent and leads to a multitude of unhappy and immoral situations. Clever, designing, and immoral men frequently per- suade innocent women to contract this form of mar- riage, live with them a few weeks, and then desert THE FAMILY 125 them. This is little more than a species of white slavery. Men and women live temporarily with their mates, but regard the experience as a sort of trial marriage to be broken whenever the inclination occurs. In spite of a legal recognition of common law mar- riage, courts usually require proof of marriage in cases of child desertion, non-support, and those in- volving transfer of property. Accordingly children frequently find that their status before the law is really that of the illegitimate. Unions are often so irregular that children become the victims of neglect and fall into delinquency and crime. To summarize : Common law marriage places a serious handicap on the children of such marriages, frequently subjecting them to economic and moral dis- advantages, while the effect on parents, in addition to the material handicap, is degrading and productive of low ideals, immorality, and broken homes. Should not the church, for the sake of the family and the moral development of the growing children, labor to root out this evil? 4. Unlawful Parenthood Just as marriage involves the husband and wife, so the little child becomes the center of the home. " Suf- fer little children to come unto me, for of such is the kingdom of heaven." Nevertheless, many little babies at once confront a hard, cold, and unyielding world because of the serious sins of their unmarried parents. Out of about 15,000 births occurring annually in St. Louis at least 750 are unsanctioned by the law; that 126 THE CHALLENGE OF ST. LOUIS is, one out of every twenty babies is from the very beginning without the refining influences of a home. Some of the mothers come to St. Louis from other states and cities; likewise many unhappy girls leave the city to hide their shame. The knowledge that more than one half of these girls are less than twenty-one years of age and one fifth are actually under eighteen goes far to show how neglectful have been the agencies that develop character and will-power in our young people. Most of these girls are engaged in domestic service, and many of them suffer from the discrimi- nations and loneliness, lack of opportunities for com- panionship and recreation, and other handicaps that frequently characterize household service. But what of the causes: has the home performed its duty? Has the school? How about the church? Here a few specialized institutions, such as the Sal- vation Army Rescue Home, St. Ann's Foundling Asy- lum, St. Louis Maternity Hospital, and the City Hos- pital serve such unfortunate women and their babies; but the assistance and relief afforded is but a small recompense for the virtue that has been lost and the lives that have been all but wrecked. Many of the babies are abandoned and left on the streets or on door-steps. When found they are turned over to the Board of Children's Guardians, which first tries to find their parents. Failing in this, it cares for the babies temporarily, either directly or by placing them in some institution until good family homes can be found for them. Missouri is one of the few states that places the re- sponsibility for the sins of the two parents upon one the mother and makes her carry the entire burden. THE FAMILY 127 The community well knows that the man is at least as blameworthy as the woman; nevertheless in our state and in our city this fact is not recognized. We need laws that will place responsibility for their chil- dren, whether legitimate or not, upon their parents, father and mother alike. We cannot afford to allow men to continue a life of sin because they can shift the human responsibility to the shoulders of some help- less girl. Nor can we allow children, innocent of wrong, to suffer simply because their parents have sinned. They must be given rights and opportunities similar to those enjoyed by children born in lawful wedlock. We must strive for the moral upbuilding of the mother and, if possible, keep her and her baby together. We must place financial and moral responsi- bility upon the father and strive to improve his morals. Furthermore, under certain conditions, parents should be required to marry. Not every child becomes the center of a home, nor are its parents spiritually united so that they may be allowed to found a common home. Besides improved laws, we need to guard more care- fully, perhaps segregate, the weak-minded and weak- willed girl, the easy victim of temptation. We need, most of all, ethical and religious ideals ground into the very being of our adolescent boys and girls. Fa- therhood and motherhood must be ennobled. Each is a social responsibility; each is a moral trust, and both are eternally subject to the purpose of marriage and home. The faith that makes men whole must be made concrete, and the church and the preacher cannot consistently avoid dealing with these weighty problems. If the family is an institution ordained and approved 128 THE CHALLENGE OF ST. LOUIS by God, then it becomes the duty of the church to preserve it as far as this is humanly possible. If the home embodies the most sacred of human relations, then nothing should be left undone to maintain its integrity. //. Disrupted Family Relations i. Divorce Broken family ties take various forms, and of these perhaps divorce presents the most serious problem. It is both cause and effect, for in a majority of cases it merely makes legal a separation that has already been physically and spiritually made; that is, most divorces are granted to persons who are living apart from each other. Divorce, therefore, registers unhappy home life and indicates what an enormous number of un- wholesome homes are actually existing to-day. But divorce is also an avenue through which men and women can avoid the obligations which have been laid upon them. Number of Divorces. In twenty years, ending 1906, nearly 1,000,000 divorces were secured in the United States. Nearly 1,000,000 homes were broken up by the complete severing of conjugal relations; and in the twentieth year for every twelve marriages there was one divorce. In St. Louis during this time there were 9,677 divorces; in 1906 the number was 747, and in 1915 it had practically doubled. What becomes of the divorcees, their children and families? What impress do they make upon their fellow-men? No one knows, but we do know that the conditions, whether existing in the individuals or in the environ- ment and affecting the disagreement which brought THE FAMILY 129 about the divorce, must be removed. Evil must be torn up by the roots and not pruned or trimmed. Divorce Law of Missouri. The state of Mis- souri suffers from lax divorce laws. South Carolina has no divorce law, and New York allows one cause; but Missouri specifies eleven causes for absolute di- vorce, no limited divorce being granted. The causes are worth enumeration, and are as follows : 1. Impotence of parties marrying. 2. When either party had spouse living at time of marriage. 3. Adultery since marriage. 4. Desertion for one year. 5. Felony or infamous crime since marriage. 6. Habitual drunkenness for one year. 7. Cruel or barbarous treatment. 8. Indignities offered so as to make life intolerable. 9. When the husband is a vagrant within the mean- ing of the law. 10. Person convicted of felony or infamous crime before marriage and fact unknown to other party. 11. When intended wife was pregnant by another man at time of marriage and fact unknown to husband. Attitude of Churches on Divorce. It follows from these laws that the doors of marriage swing easily either way. Few bars to marriage few impedi- ments to divorce. The divorce evil must be met frankly and fearlessly, but we should not deceive our- selves into believing that the elimination of divorce will restore ideal family relations. Jesus spoke earnestly on this important practical problem in the 130 THE CHALLENGE OF ST. LOUIS following words, " Whosoever shall put away his wife, except it be for fornication, and shall marry another committeth adultery," and " What God hath joined let no man put asunder." The passage in Luke reads : " Whosoever putteth away his wife and mar- rieth another committeth adultery, and whosoever marrieth her that is put away from her husband com- mitteth adultery." A passage from the pen of Paul (i Cor. 7:1015) has been regarded by some as justi- fying divorce on the ground of desertion. Various Christian denominations have adopted a working platform on divorce and apply it to their members. The most drastic attitude is that taken by the Roman Catholic Church, which opposes absolute divorce for any cause, but allows a judicial separation that does not legalize a remarriage. The principle, however, applies only to persons united by the clergy of their faith. The Protestant Episcopal Church justifies divorce on the one ground mentioned by Jesus; that is, for adultery. The clergy of this church may not bind in marriage any persons divorced on other grounds, nor the guilty party in this instance. The position of the Reformed Church is similar, and a like attitude is held by the Methodist Episcopal Church and the Con- gregationalists. The Presbyterian Church in the U. S. A. holds that divorce may be admitted for both adultery and deser- tion, a scriptural basis being assumed for each. The Lutheran Church takes a more liberal view on this subject and would allow divorce on three grounds. The reaction from Roman Catholic theology and pol- icy at the time of the Reformation no doubt contrib- THE FAMILY 131 uted largely to the position eventually assumed. The causes for divorce recognized as legitimate are: Adultery. Wilful or malicious desertion. Extreme cruelty. The Evangelical Church recommends to its clergy that they marry no divorced persons except the inno- cent party in case of adultery, but is otherwise gov- erned by the laws of the respective states. The Protestant Episcopal Church has attempted to secure interchurch activity against divorce. Several interdenominational conferences have been held, but no definite or decisive results were achieved. All of the churches with public positions on the subject are opposed to such lax restrictions as those obtaining in the Missouri law. Therefore, in spite of the disagreement existing among them, a united effort in favor of stricter laws should be expected. National Congress on Divorce Laws. The Na- tional Congress on Uniform Divorce Laws decided to favor the granting of absolute divorce on the follow- ing grounds: 1. Adultery. 2. Bigamy. 3. Conviction and sentence for serious crime with punishment for two years, or indeterminate sentence of at least one. 4. Extreme cruelty. 5. Wilful desertion for two years. 6. Habitual drunkenness for two years. This Congress would also grant limited divorce on any one of these grounds, and, in addition, in case of the hopeless insanity of the husband. 132 THE CHALLENGE OF ST. LOUIS Why should not the Christian people of this city and this state unite in making the Missouri law con- form to the practical standards established by experts on the subject? Whether we should labor for the limitations imposed by Scripture, when this goal has been achieved, depends on the moral and spiritual advancement of the people. Whatever may be our ideal, we cannot overlook the practical nature of the problem. Otherwise we may impose untold hardships on large numbers of our people. Improvement in Administration of Law. An important part of our reform program consists of an improved system of dealing with divorce before the courts. In St. Louis the cases are handled in a hap- hazard way and are decided on the basis of evidence wholly inadequate to meet the situation properly. A large majority of the cases perhaps 80 to 85 per cent. are not contested by the defendant. Evidence that the case is genuine and that there is no collusion need not be strong, since no contrary evidence is presented. In contested cases the facts at issue must be more carefully and accurately determined, but in neither group of cases is the evidence supplemented by the independent investigation of trained workers whose sociological acumen will bring to light the fundamental psychological or social causes responsible for the dis- sensions. Cases might, under these conditions, fre- quently be kept out of court and reconciliations ef- fected. Furthermore, the tendency to separate and sue for divorce would be reduced. An urgent need in St. Louis is the sympathetic handling of divorce cases from the standpoint, not of the lawyer, but of the friend of family and home. Probably a domestic THE FAMILY 133 relations court and certainly a system of social in- vestigation are necessary to complete our legal machinery. The question is not whether the evidence justifies divorce, but whether wholesome family re- lations are once more possible. The great task for practical Christianity, however, is not the enactment of laws that prevent souls that are severed from establishing a home, but the develop- ment of ideals and conditions that will render mar- riage stable. In this respect the problem presents the same aspect as do other phases of family life; therefore the preventive programs for all may be discussed together on a later page. 2. Desertion and Non-Support Nature of Offenses. While some families are broken by divorce, others are destroyed simply by desertion. By many desertion is called the poor man's divorce, and, although it is not accorded the same legal privileges, it does absolve the deserter from family responsibility. Desertions occur among all classes, but particularly among the poor, and here it becomes a grave economic as well as moral problem. Desertion of a wife if there are no children, while a serious offense, lacks the gravity of abandonment of art entire family with the burden of support thrown upon the wife. Usually the man is the chief wage- earner, and his disappearance places the family in desperate financial straits, to the untold detriment of mother and children. In Missouri wife and child desertion refers to the abandonment by a man of his wife and his lawful children under fourteen years of age. The penalty 134 THE CHALLENGE OF ST. LOUIS for the crime consists of six months' imprisonment in the county jail or workhouse, or a maximum fine of $1,000, or both, at the discretion of the court. Under certain conditions the man may be placed on probation or paroled on a suspended sentence. Closely allied to desertion and almost equally ag- gravating is the crime of non-support. Many men deliberately refuse to provide for their families, but spend the major portion of their earnings directly on themselves and their debasing associates; while much of their time is consumed in lounging about saloons and places of amusement or recreation. A complaint from the wife results in a mild form of repentance, but this is soon forgotten and the family suffers as before. Often men of this character exhibit such characteristics of genuine worthlessness that they be- come subject to the charge of vagrancy. Treatment of Cases. The aggrieved wives and mothers of St. Louis must bring their complaints to the attention of the prosecuting attorney an official elected by the people and working in connection with the Court of Criminal Correction. The complaints, oral or written, come at the rate of about ten per day (there is no accurate statistical tabulation) and therefore number upwards of 3,500 during the year. Some of these, of course, are repetitions, but this figure nevertheless represents the cases of serious family trouble. In about nine out of ten cases the prosecuting at- torney attempts to adjust the difficulty without further recourse to law. Husbands are sometimes sent for, wives are urged to compromise differences, and other means of making adjustments are employed; but the THE FAMILY 135 officials have no investigators to follow up a case to discover the results of an attempted adjustment. Be- cause the woman does not return is no proof of the success of the efforts. Unhappily many disgusted women simply despair of relief through the agency of the public officials and abandon their attempts to secure justice. In 1914, 355 cases of desertion, non-support, and vagrancy were listed, but eighty-five of the men were not found; and of the 268 actually brought to trial, convictions were secured in only 174 cases. 1 In view of the ridiculously inadequate machinery to care for the convicted men, little was accomplished. One half of them were released on good behavior, a few pa- roled, and some continued from week to week so as to place them under regular obligation to the court. But we have no system whereby the man can be sent to the workhouse and the family receive a stated sum while the man is partly supporting them with hard labor. Nor have we an adequate probation force to follow up men guilty of non-support in order that their good intentions may be transmuted into actual service to their families. In some states a specified sum is paid to the families of such men for every day that the men serve in the jail or workhouse. Usually such men soon prefer to support their families while out of jail instead of within. Punishment of this sort is additional punishment for the family; since while the man languishes in jail the family is suffering from want of food and shelter. Defects in Law and Administration. The Mis- 1 Facts collected by Miss Laura Kinkead for Missouri School of Social Economy. 136 THE CHALLENGE OF ST. LOUIS souri desertion law makes no provision for the return of deserters. When a woman prefers a charge she must pay the cost of bringing the man back to the place of trial. If he has left the state or gone to a distant town, this cost is prohibitive; and even though this were not the case, she has little or no assurance that the action of the court will bring her the desired relief. Again, the officials do not exert themselves to the utmost to discover men who have abandoned their families, thus aggravating the situa- tion. A tendency to deal lightly with the man who neglects his family places a heavy burden of sorrow on the victims of his unworthiness. In 1915 the cause given for the relief of 158 families by the St. Louis Provident Association was "disregard of family ties," but 400 cases of desertion were tabulated. No doubt other cases of such disregard existed where non-sup- port was a contributory cause. The best experts esti- mate that from 10 to 12^2 per cent, of all families granted relief suffer because of desertion or non- support. This form of broken family deserves serious consideration from the Christian churches because of its relation to poverty, child neglect, and its moral menace. Desertion Among Jews. We may well take les- sons from our Jewish brethren as to how to deal with the deserter. At least two thirds of all Jewish de- serters are apprehended and cured through the agency of the National Desertion Bureau, and large quantities of money are annually collected from delinquent hus- bands and fathers for their wives and children. More than $1,200 was gathered in St. Louis in 1915 for this purpose. THE FAMILY 137 3. Widowhood A family broken by the death of one of the parents may not suffer moral degradation, because of inherent qualities of worth or because of the age and stability of the children. But broken homes are hazardous, and if there is no father or no mother, an essential part of the home is missing. When the husband and father is gone, then, among the poor, the mother must become a wage-earner and help to support the family instead of carrying on that most necessary function making a home for the children. Is it any wonder, then, that so large a proportion of juvenile delinquents come from such homes ? Especially are the girls with- out proper guidance and parental discipline, and the sad consequences are delinquency or immorality. Girls are particularly susceptible to influences within the home, while boys are affected to a large extent by their companionship without. Under any condi- tions a bad situation develops. In an effort to meet this need, widows' pension laws have sprung up all over the United States and a local ordinance empowers the Board of Children's Guardians to administer aid to worthy mothers who are dependent on the public for support. During the year 1915-16 the board main- tained 210 children with their mothers, 100 of whom were new cases of the year, while the remainder were arranged for previously. The great handicap to-day is the difficulty in reach- ing and helping the large group who are not in dire poverty but who can no longer maintain a home under good conditions. They must be found before they become destitute, for when they have descended to this plane, few of them are worthy of and eligible to 138 THE CHALLENGE OF ST. LOUIS public aid. The Provident Association in 1915 aided 1,8 1 8 widows with families, but this aid came only after application for relief. Small wonder that many widows live irregularly with nondescript men and re- ceive from them partial support, while their moral decline makes rapid headway. Without a sympathetic interest in the widows and the fatherless a high level of moral and religious life is not likely. To-day we have reached a stage of advance in medicine and in the control of nature and industry where premature death is a disgrace to society. To kill fathers of young children by industrial accident and make no systematic provision for the latter's sup- port, as for example through a workmen's compensa- tion law, is criminal negligence, if not a moral crime. Much widowhood is unnecessary, and we are to blame for the moral consequences that follow. The indus- trial disease that kills men and leaves the struggling widow to starve, or collapse from overwork, repre- sents an unchristian phase of industry that religion, even if only in self-defense, must destroy or it will become the object of contempt. 4. Child Neglect Value of Home Training. An eminent Roman Catholic divine once said : " Give me the child until he is seven years of age and I care not who has him later." Perhaps the time allowed is a little too short, but the statement suggests a great truth. Whoever cares for the plastic child determines its future. Most children are entrusted for care and guidance to the home. Upon the nature of that home depends the future of the boy and girl. What a tremendous task THE FAMILY 139 is laid upon the church to keep that home a fit place for the determination of character and conduct! In the city the burden is greater than ever before because temptations abound like the leaves of autumn and destroy souls without compunction. To-day many parents allow their children to grow up without sympathetic and effective guidance. This fact is evi- denced in the hoodlum spirit that pervades the leisure and recreational life of so many boys' in the neg- lected sections of the city, and often among the well- to-do families as well. Often, however, indifference ripens into outright neglect and cruelty, and the beneficent advantages of home disappear utterly. Again, mothers fail utterly to supervise the leisure time of their daughters; they do not know nor care how it is spent make no inquiries nor suggestions. They do not understand the dangers of the street, the parks, the dance-halls, the clandestine gatherings, and the easily made companionships. As a brutal conse- quence girls become wayward, uncontrollable, and only too often dip so deeply into vice that their career is endangered if not entirely wrecked. Number of Neglected Children. Here, as in every city, many parents must be brought before the courts because they neglect their children. During the seven years 1909-15 inclusive, more than 3,900 children were handled in the juvenile court as a result of the neglect of those responsible for them an aver- age of about 560 per year. The Missouri law con- siders, as neglected, children who, if under ten, sell newspapers or other articles on the street, or, if under seventeen, suffer from the cruelty or depravity of their parents, are thrown on the public for support I 4 o THE CHALLENGE OF ST. LOUIS and beg, or perpetrate acts of various kinds that in- dicate general indifference on the part of parents to their children's welfare. Since only the more serious cases are brought into court because of the disinclina- tion of judges to interfere with parental functions, the actual number of socially neglected children far exceeds the figures given. It has been the practise to remove about sixty per cent, from their homes and provide for them in various ways, such as giving them institutional care or finding private homes. About one third are placed under supervision, and the remainder are dismissed. Imagine one probation officer attempting to supervise two hundred children and to reconstruct their parents' conception of re- sponsibility, and then consider the task that we have imposed on our public officials! The impossibility of marked success under these conditions is perfectly obvious to all. Unless aid can be secured from out- side agencies or individuals for the process of moral reconstruction, the fate of the children is indeed doubt- ful. Fortunately the Church Federation of St. Louis has already perceived the duty of the churches to the neglected child and its incompetent or immoral parents, and has placed one of its officials in the court to serve Protestant children by bringing them in touch with ministers, churches, Protestant "big brothers," or other agencies and individuals whose ministrations in their behalf and that of their parents may be assured. For many years the Catholics have maintained a repre- sentative at the court to guide and guard the interests of Catholic children. But this prodigious task has only begun. Hundreds of children, hundreds of parents need the firm but sympathetic aid that only THE FAMILY 141 religious devotion can inspire. Until our churches realize more fully this serious need these parents and children will be neglected. Illustration of Neglect. Perhaps the following illustration presents in graphic form the situation with which we must deal : The four Lawrence children were found living in one dirty basement room on North Fifteenth Street. Both parents were habitual drunkards. The father worked rather steadily, but the mother lay in a drunken stupor a good part of the time. The parents were confirmed charity seekers and had been aided for years by relief -giving societies. The oldest child, a girl of about fourteen years, was found in one of the rooms of an immoral house with several immoral women. Causes. Here we see what may be wrong, for this illustration is typical of many. The Missouri School of Social Economy, in an effort to discover why children are neglected, studied 1,000 cases of children passing through the juvenile court. The formal charges were as follows: broken homes, 42 per cent.; parents intemperate, 23 per cent.; mothers immoral, 1 5 per cent. ; parents generally incompetent, 20 per cent.; but back of these formal causes lie the true conditions that necessitated court procedure. Broken homes do not necessarily imply neglect. They may mean poverty, immorality, or some other hideous prospect for the child. It is the actual life and morals of these parents that mirror the true causes of neglect. The investigation disclose^ that practically one half of both the fathers and the mothers were intemperate. Drink was the principal direct cause of the neglect. 142 THE CHALLENGE OF ST. LOUIS A much larger proportion of the mothers were im- moral than the statistics showed, and if young girls are forced to endure the sight of immorality, how soon will they themselves lapse into sin? Abnormal family conditions are indirectly the most serious factor, it appearing that seven out of every ten homes were partly broken up. Nearly half of these unhappy households suffered from desertion or divorce, and in most of the remainder the causes of neglect were igno- rance and poverty. Here, then, are a train of causes bearing upon the home, disrupting and ruining it, and driving the children, through the court, into alien homes or institutions. Intemperance, immorality, ignorance, poverty, and family dissensions, these are the primary causes that blast the lives of so many unfortunate boys and girls. We do not solve the problem by court action and by ministering to the needs of unhappy children. It is only as we ennoble and perfect the home that a perma- nent solution will be reached. Many homes are broken by desertion or divorce, or are rendered most unhappy and insecure because men do not appreciate the fact that women have a right to life and self equally with men. Woman is becom- ing more independent; she can make her own living; she is obtaining a better education than the man; she properly claims consideration as a human being, and therefore, as wife and mother, she no longer submits meekly to the oppression and indignities of former days. Temporarily it means an unhappy home, but in the long run it involves full rights before the law for women; rights to property, to the ballot, and to herself, and it insures the recognition by men of the THE FAMILY 143 justice and expediency of rights for women. Then men and women, by living on a similar level, can marry, found stable homes and rear children that will grow into intelligent, law-abiding, noble citizens. Then women will no longer be prevented from hold- ing positions in the churches to which their loyalty and industry entitle them. Consider the divorces, desertions, separations, broken homes, and other abnormal forms of family life that will occur among the stream of annual re- cruits to matrimony. Then remember that the control of these evils is largely a control of manifestations or effects, but that the profoundly Christian service is that which destroys the springs from which flow these multiplied evils. The newspapers constantly remind us of reckless marriages conceived during a fitful passion that swayed the parties after a few days' or weeks' acquaintance. Without really knowing and understanding each other, two people take a step that should never be retraced, but this short-sightedness soon reflects itself in our statistics, since broken homes are the almost inevitable result. 5. Insufficient Income Much unhappiness is due to the inability of the husband to support his family. More than 10,000 working children adding something to the family budget and thousands of young women, besides a con- siderable number of married women and mothers, these are evidences of the need of a greater income. The hand-to-mouth existence that forces one tenth or more of our people into precarious living severely 144 THE CHALLENGE OF ST. LOUIS strains the family relation and often disrupts it entirely. The train of evil that follows is expressed in divorce, desertion, non-support, the neglect of children and other ills. ///. Immorality Perhaps no cause of marital unhappiness is more menacing or persistent than immorality among men. The amount of such immorality is stupendous and appalls the most optimistic. How large a proportion of the diseases among married women is due to in- fections innocently acquired from their husbands no one can tell; but if the figures for other cities hold for us, then the absence of a single standard of morals is the deepest blot on our much bespotted civilization. A few facts such as the following, however, indi- cate that we are no exception. About one out of eleven cases treated in the City Hospital is for social disease, and of course many others are infected. More than 1,400 similar cases were treated in the city dispensaries in the year 1915-16. About two thirds of the insane patients tested showed evidence of venereal disease and practically one half of the almshouse patients were also infected. One fourth of the deaths among the insane are due to causes that are aggravated by social disease. Probably no greater evil faces mankind to-day than the so-called black plague the diseases contracted through immorality. The misery resulting manifests itself in sterility, premature births, lifeless bodies that should have been babes, deformed and dwarfed chil- dren, diseased organs, weak-minded offspring, in- sanity, and the transmission of certain forms of de- THE FAMILY 145 fectiveness. Furthermore, an inevitable effect, when wives learn more about the causes of these condi- tions, will be the estrangement of husband and wife and the complete disruption of the home. Happily the growing independence of woman enables her to choose more wisely in the selection of a mate. She must eventually demand of him a standard of morality equal to her own. Otherwise stable homes cannot be founded. Undoubtedly city life, with its absence of owned homes and its relative lack of privacy, operates to undermine the integrity of the family. There are so many interests drawing both husband and wife away from the home that often they begin to neglect each other. Until they enjoy interests in common, this tendency is likely to continue. The ideals of our young men and women need attention. In the first place there is an absence of those religious ideals necessary to make marriage and home the fundamental bulwark of public and private morality. Too many plunge into marriage without considering adequately their rights and duties and the obligations society now imposes on them. In the second place there is a lack of ideal relations between husband and wife. IV. Summary The problem of the family challenges the ingenuity of the church and tests its capacity to regenerate the world. It is merest nonsense to assume that every family has the perfect liberty to develop as it pleases, regardless of the effect on the constituent members. We must recognize our duty to each other, our obli- 146 THE CHALLENGE OF ST. LOUIS gations to give every individual an opportunity to enjoy the beneficence and beauty of an uncorrupted family life. It is not enough to peck away at man- kind, by saving an individual here and another there and expecting the family problems to right themselves without further attention. We must grasp the situa- tion firmly, as we would a nettle, and deal with it ac- cordingly, omitting neither causes nor effects. Among the results to be achieved are the following: 1. More stringent divorce laws. 2. A better system of court procedure. 3. More effective desertion, non-support, and va- grancy laws. 4. Protection of illegitimate children. 5. Better marriage laws. 6. Training in home and church of our young people in the meaning, duties, and responsi- bilities of marriage. 7. The development of ideals of sex morality, especially in men, so that a single standard of morals may be attained. 8. Sex harmony between husbands and wives. 9. The removal or control of the economic and social conditions that threaten the integrity and sacredness of the home, such as Insufficient income. Lack of industrial capacity. Absence of recreation facilities for families. Lack of opportunities among qualified young men and women to associate with each other. Low mentality. 10. The elimination of the social diseases. THE FAMILY 147 II. A vitalized religion that can be intelligently applied to concrete problems of family and home by " social evangelism." Here we have a program upon the completion of which depends the solution of the problem ; and most of the work deals with the causes of the imperfections that exist. The program has a three-fold character: we must legislate, we must educate, we must spiritu- alize, and no one of these three can accomplish much without the others. They are all parts of an indi- visible whole and must ever be related to each other. Why should not the church inspire this program of human uplift and work directly or indirectly to make it a genuine reality? VI. POVERTY AND DISEASE " Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, to visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world." When James wrote this passage he must have had in mind a panorama of the life of Christ. Did not Jesus spend a large part of his ministry in healing the sick, caring for the afflicted, feeding the hungry, and doing good to the friendless and alone ? We find him concerned with practically every phase of modern philanthropic endeavor and considering it a part of his task, for he cured the blind, the deaf and dumb, the insane and epileptic; he healed the palsied and those suffering from fever and disease; he interfered with death, and the burden of the poor lay heavy on his heart. " He went about doing good." Shall the church then, on principle, attack disease and poverty? In a way it has already answered the question, and is undertaking these tasks to-day. Do not the hospi- tals at home and those in every missionary field at- test to the duty and the beneficence of service? But the church must redouble its energies and apply them in more efficient manner. /. Disease i. Deaths Among Infants St. Louis has its sorrows and sufferings much that is needless and without excuse. On the other hand, it 149 ISO THE CHALLENGE OF ST. LOUIS compares favorably with other large cities in its death rate and the number of its poor. In 1915 there were 10,269 deaths and 14,742 births, a considerable ex- cess of the latter. Splendid progress has been made in saving infant lives. In 1906, 134 babies died during the first year of life out of every 1,000 born, but in 1915 this proportion was reduced to 82. Formerly when one quarter to one third of the children died before they were one year old, many parents meekly and submissively resigned themselves to the inevitable, saying " God's will be done," as though the God of Love really wished to have it so. Men, there- fore, ignorantly continued to put babies in the path of disease and death. In the most healthful localities and among the most intelligent people the infant death rate has been reduced to less than five per cent. St. Louis, therefore, needs to cut its rate practically in two before it touches the bed-rock of unavoidable mortality. In other words, one half of the babies are still needlessly dying dying because of parental igno- rance or social neglect. The fact that we are ahead of many cities does not justify a failure to do our best. 2. Tuberculosis Possibly one of our most serious health problems is that dread disease, tuberculosis. For many years this city has suffered from a heavy death-rate due to this disease. In 1914 the St. Louis rate was hardly exceeded by any of the larger cities. In that year 1,502 persons died of tuberculosis, but the number in 1915 fortunately fell to 1,207. One out of every nine funerals was caused thereby. Furthermore, one out of every three persons dying between the ages of POVERTY AND DISEASE 151 twenty and thirty, the very prime of life, is a victim of tuberculosis. Formerly, before much was known about this disease, people cowered in helpless fashion before its attacks, and if they were infected aban- doned all hope, thereby hastening their death. Modern medical knowledge has greatly relieved this tension; nevertheless, tuberculosis stands next to pneumonia as the greatest life destroyer. It runs an average course of perhaps three and one half years; therefore, the number of persons afflicted with the disease at any one time is from three to four times the deaths occur- ring in a year. During the last year of life the patient is usually incapable of systematic work, and becomes dependent on relatives, friends, or philanthropy. 3. Unchecked Diseases There are other diseases that deserve mention be- cause of their prevalence or gravity : pneumonia, which causes the largest number of deaths; cancer, which is apparently increasing and has not been brought under medical control; Bright's disease, which is also in- creasing; and the heart diseases, which are a mani- festation of overstrain. Apoplexy is also becoming more common. Although civilization and medical knowledge are coping successfully with many ugly diseases, for ex- ample, smallpox, diphtheria, and typhoid fever, and rapidly reducing the danger from them, there are others constitutional diseases especially that are actually increasing. Modern life brings with it a seri- ous vitality problem. Fast living, too much worry, overeating, overstrain physical and mental and other causes operate to produce these results. Too 152 THE CHALLENGE OF ST. LOUIS much materialism, too little idealism and spiritual life reflect their consequences in our mortality records. As in the case of infants, so with adults, premature deaths are largely a result of controllable conditions. Over- indulgence, ignorance, unsanitary homes and foods, excessive work and worry are all preventable. II. Poverty i. Charitable Relief Not so unrelenting as disease, but persistent and ever chronic, is the poverty of many communities, and St. Louis has its share. The number of families and persons aided in 1914 and 1915 by the principal chari- table agencies throws light on the problem, but does not adequately represent the work actually done. Fami- individ- Fami- individ- lies uals lies uals Provident Ass'n 4,847 14,897 10,443 32,083 Jewish Charitable Ass'n.. 295 1,427 276 1,900 St. Vincent de Paul 1,762 5,459 4,078 15,044 Total 6,904 21,783 14,797 49,927 In addition to the work of these general societies is that of specialized organizations such as the Chil- dren's Aid Society, Board of Children's Guardians, Infirmary, Municipal Lodging House, Milk and Ice Fund, and the relief extended by churches, labor unions, lodges, and private individuals. It is probable that these groups touch at least one half as many families as do the three organizations whose figures are given above. POVERTY AND DISEASE 153 2. Medical Aid The number of persons receiving free medical aid is still larger. The City Hospital alone registers more than 17,000 cases annually. In addition, there are more than twenty private hospitals that each provide some free beds, and here thousands of persons are annually accommodated. The clinics and dispensaries treat cases of minor ailment. In the year 1914-1915 the municipal dispensaries alone treated 53,480 cases, while the Jewish and Catholic dispensaries treated about 7,500 and 10,568 cases respectively. During the year the Washington University Dispensary recorded 115,541 treatments, but since many patients were treated more than once the number of different per- sons is much less than the figures given. There are other dispensaries that provide free service. It is probable that about 150,000 persons were aided in 1915, or more than fifteen per cent, of the entire population. This aggregate is so staggering as to arouse the righteous discontent of any progressive people. Nor must it be forgotten that six per cent, of those who die in St. Louis are buried in the potter's field, and we know that every effort is usually made to prevent this humiliating culmination of human life. It Is safe to conclude that in ordinary years at least ten per cent, of the population receives some free charitable or medical aid and that in years of depres- sion the proportion rises to fifteen per cent, or more. To-day science and education enable us to grasp these problems with a new significance. If it is Christlike to heal the sick and succor the poor, is it not equally Christian to work for the prevention of sickness and the abolition of poverty? If it is, then the causes of 154 THE CHALLENGE OF ST. LOUIS poverty and of disease are pertinent problems to be considered by the church. ///. Defectiveness 1. Insanity Allied to disease are those unfortunate conditions of defectiveness which have grieved all good men through the ages. In the first place there is insanity. More than 2,000 insane are included among our popu- lation, and of these the bulk are inmates of our city sanitarium. Intemperance, social disease, poverty, and bad heredity are largely responsible for this condition. 2. Feeble-mindedness Then there is feeble-mindedness. No one knows how many are affected, but they are undoubtedly as numerous as are the insane. Most of them are socially and morally irresponsible, and many become delin- quents or criminals. Others are intemperate or im- moral, and few, if any, can properly fulfil the im- portant duties of father or mother and support them- selves or their families under decent physical and moral conditions. The great bulk of our feeble- minded are at large; but a small number are in our state colony at Marshall, while a few are held in various local institutions. Probably two thirds of the feeble-minded have ancestry that is defective, but the actual amount of feeble-mindedness is greatly ac- centuated by the intemperance and immorality of persons who are weak-willed and without normal mental powers. A serious fact one that the public has hardly dared to give frank consideration is the low level of men- POVERTY AND DISEASE ISS tality that prevails among a certain percentage of the population that may not be classed as feeble-minded. For these, poverty is almost inevitable, for they lack the prudence, foresight, and intelligence to conserve their strength, to save their surplus earnings, to make provision for the future, or to maintain positions they may hold. In general, they lack the mental alertness necessary for success. They are social failures and their children, who are very numerous, will be like them. They come from the groups that fall behind their grades in school and have failed to grasp the facts as to the complexities and tension of modern life. 3. Blindness Blindness represents a different form of defective- ness, but is also most serious in its outcome. In 1910 there were nearly 700 persons in St. Louis either totally or partially blind. The great majority of these are adults, but many acquire the defect in childhood, some as mere babes suffering from the consequences of their parents' sins. Unfortunately it is difficult for the blind to support themselves. Most occupations require eyesight and therefore the lot of the blind is most unhappy. Christian charity is necessary to rescue them from the morbid gloominess that the perpetual loss of vision entails. Piano-tuning, broom- and car- pet-making, newspaper-selling, basket-weaving and a few similar occupations practically exhaust the indus- trial field open to the blind. Nor is there an atti- tude of helpfulness among the general public, and therefore great difficulty is experienced in finding and holding the positions which they are capable of filling. 156 THE CHALLENGE OF ST. LOUIS IV. Causes of Distress 1. Sickness Although the immediate duty of humanity is to comfort those in suffering or want, the first question that suggests itself is, what has brought about these conditions; or, who is to blame? No easy answer can be given. Disease is one of the most important factors. Sickness of the father or mother, and es- pecially of the wage-earner in the family, was responsi- ble, in 1914, for nearly one fourth of all the applica- tions by families for relief from the Provident Asso- ciation. But this is not the whole story. While sick- ness causes one fourth of the poverty, it has been esti- mated that physical disability, including sickness, the weakened condition following sickness, and the crip- pled state due to accident or disease, is a factor in three out of every four cases. In other words, a better control of disease and accident and the elimination of their preventable causes would at once remove a large proportion of the poverty. 2. Unemployment Unemployment is responsible for from two fifths to three fifths of the relief problems, but sometimes unemployment is also a cloak for personal sins and shortcomings. In 1915 a large part of the poverty was due to the fact that work did not exist. Capital was not in active operation and at least five sixths of the unemployed simply were unable to find work. Again, as a previous chapter points out, chronic con- ditions of unemployment exist in the United States. Accordingly the men whose wages allow merely a POVERTY AND DISEASE 157 hand-to-mouth existence are often compelled to ask for aid Curing the period of hopeless unemployment. On the other hand, the incompetent workman is the first to lose his job, and the man of irregular habits the drunkard, the shiftless man, and the unwilling worker all easily join the ranks of the unemployed. Inability to secure work, therefore, is due to two varie- ties of causes absence of work and defects of char- acter. Of the two the former is the more important, but neither can be overlooked. 3. Desertion; Intemperance; Shiftlessness Although disregard of family ties, that is, deser- tion, and chronic non-support are given as a cause of poverty in less than five per cent, of the cases, as a contributory cause it undoubtedly operates to a much greater extent. A similar observation may be made about intemperance. It is not this so much as the condition which it produces that is the immediate cause of want. Drunkenness produces disease, un- employment, thriftlessness; and these conditions force the family to seek aid. Edward T. Devine estimates the proportion of poverty in the United States directly and indirectly due to intemperance at twenty-five per cent. Idleness, lack of thrift, and want of energy are defects of character that also play an important part. These traits are often produced by adverse social con- ditions, and so far as this is true, society must blame itself for the individual shortcomings. Old age is a serious condition frequently attending poverty, but it should never be considered a cause. Possibly mis- fortune has prevented men from providing for their old age, or perhaps their income has never made sav- 158 THE CHALLENGE OF ST. LOUIS ings possible. Whatever the facts, it is not the old age, but the conditions that force a man into a penni- less old age that should be faced. Christian charity has been peculiarly solicitous about the case of orphans and the aged, but why should not the prevention of distress among the aged claim an equal place in its program ? 4. Inefficiency Inefficiency causes poverty, for it means either low wages or unemployment. It may be due to defects of character or to want of opportunity. To-day our boys and young men hardly receive creditable indus- trial training. How can we expect them to become efficient workmen? Many are thrown out into the industrial world while mere children, and never ac- quire the efficiency necessary to maintain a home and household. This ignorance frequently is wholly un- invited and is due to conditions over which they have no control, but once in the industrial stream, it is impossible to turn aside for the training and education that makes for efficiency. 5. Bad Housing Conditions Again, " the destruction of the poor is their poverty," as Proverbs well says. Poverty is frequently part of a vicious circle of causes and effects. Ignorance is a precipitating condition with poverty as a result. Disease and bad housing act in similar manner. Poverty in turn means lack of opportunity for the children, that is, it begets ignorance, ill-health, and im- providence. Again, it forces families into depressing, dilapidated, and unsanitary homes. In 1908 a study POVERTY AND DISEASE 159 of nearly 4,000 families living in the Italian and Jewish sections of St. Louis brought to light the fact that for every sleeping-room there were an average of two and three-fourths individuals. To-day, with a higher cost of living, overcrowding remains as serious a factor as before, and the two- or three-room apart- ments still predominate among the poor. Further- more they lack conveniences. There are inadequate toilet facilities. Thousands of vaults continue to exist ; nuisances abound; yards and courts are filled with rubbish and vermin; the streets and alleys are par- tially neglected; running water, although supplied in a measure in accordance with the law, is not adequate, and many dark, unventilated rooms are still to be found. Poverty means bad housing, but this in turn means disease or disability, and frequently, moral de- generation. These once more result in poverty and our circle continues as before. Cheap Lodging Houses. The same conditions face the drifting single man who lives in the cheap lodging houses. About 125 in number, they can ac- commodate 10,000 persons, but during the winter months they are usually overcrowded. The five- and ten-cent lodgings do not provide very fastidious quarters, and in the absence of proper regulations often do not give the lodger a healthful place to sleep. An investigation recently made of the lodging houses disclosed much serious overcrowding of which the following condition is an example : One lodging house keeper used the second and third floors as dormitories, placed " double-decker " beds in the rooms side by side, and actually packed the lodgers so close together that the air space per guest was not more than 148 160 THE CHALLENGE OF ST. LOUIS cubic feet. Furthermore, the only windows were those at each end of the dormitories, the building being wedged in between two others and having no windows on the sides. These men should have at least five hundred feet of air space or three times the amount actually furnished. The lodging house ordinance of 1916 will undoubtedly improve these conditions. Is it any wonder that men sleeping in such overcrowded and unsanitary quarters lose much of their vitality, become incapable of the best work, frequently con- tract serious disease, and remain in poverty? 6. Causes of Disease There are causes of disease that seriously affect our welfare. Tuberculosis results partly from the use of unsanitary foods and from living in airless, lightless houses. Frequently it is due to contact with afflicted persons either in the home or the factory and work- shop. In fact, occupation is a vital factor, and is often responsible for the breakdown of an individual. Some of these apparent causes are in reality effects of poverty. Diseases of the digestive system, especially among small children, are due largely to underfeeding, or improper feeding, coupled with the effects of heat. Usually the unwholesome food is cow's milk which is either produced under bad conditions or handled care- lessly so that there has been an enormous increase in the number of germs that it contains. The lack of care may.be due to the dairies or to the mothers who do not understand about bacteria and spoiled milk. In hot weather milk spoils rapidly, and as a consequence the children suffer in large numbers. POVERTY AND DISEASE 161 Some years ago forty-five per cent, of the entire infant mortality in St. Louis occurred during the four sum- mer months, but the preventive work has been so well developed that in 1915 this proportion had fallen to thirty-five per cent, or little more than the average for the year. A better milk supply and the system- atic education of parents largely account for this result. V. Philanthropic Agencies i. Public Medical Aid St. Louis has a network of philanthropic agencies that ministers to the needs of its people. To begin with, the municipality has its departments of service. The City Hospital is a tremendous institution capable of accommodating about 850 persons at one time, and provides for nearly every variety of disease except those which are contagious. Persons suffering from these, if brought to the hospitals, are transferred to the Isolation or Koch Hospital according to the par- ticular ailment. With over 17,000 admissions an- nually to the City Hospital and an average period of nearly sixteen days of hospital care each, the magnitude of the work of this institution becomes apparent. All cases received here are cared for free of charge. There is an excellent visiting staff of physicians, but no special department through which medical service can be extended to the homes of those who have either left the hospital or who do not really require institutional care. An important branch of the work is the Social Service Department, which, in the year 1914-15, dealt with 1,809 new cases and about two thirds as many old ones. This department is concerned with the social i6a THE CHALLENGE OF ST. LOUIS and economic conditions of the patients and serves them in whatever way best meets the individual needs. Charity cases are brought in touch with relief socie- ties ; the wants of many are met by private individuals ; employment is secured in some cases; unmarried mothers are guided and supervised ; clothing is obtained from private sources for the needy; and other help- ful services are performed. This work should be greatly extended in order better to fit the patients into their moral and social environment. The Isolation Hospital during the year received 1,235 patients, nearly one half of them children under ten years of age. Diphtheria, scarlatina, and measles are the chief trouble-makers, being responsible for nearly sixty per cent, of the cases. Koch Hospital receives consumptives in the advanced stages of the disease, and, therefore, a large proportion of the inmates die in the institution. About 580 different consumptives were treated in the latter institution dur- ing the course of the year, while not more than 132 were present at any one time. Advanced cases are, and should be, removed from their homes if there is danger of infecting other members of the family. In this way the prevalence of the disease can be greatly reduced. The city now makes some provision for incipient or moderately advanced cases of tuberculosis at Koch Hospital and sends no cases to the state sanitarium at Mt. Vernon. The city dispensaries carry on a tremendous work. There are four of these institutions, one of them with a clinic for tuberculosis work. Although every vari- ety of disease is discovered, the principal complaints are of a relatively minor character and do not require POVERTY AND DISEASE 163 hospital care. Alcoholism, wounds and lacerations, rheumatism, tonsilitis, bronchitis, influenza, and con- stipation are the chief affections treated. The munici- pal visiting nurses go to the homes and endeavor to develop plans for poor tubercular patients as well as to provide them with such care as may be necessary. They also assist in baby welfare work and have charge of a number of baby clinics located in appropriate districts of the city. The Health Division is another branch of the municipal government that deals with this problem, although in an entirely different manner. It detects disease among the children in the schools. It quaran- tines and disinfects houses when cases of contagious or communicable disease have occurred. Its chief service, however, is in the field of prevention. It is the public agency empowered to improve the sanitary conditions of the city and enforce the health regula- tions. It inspects our commercial milk supply, our tenement houses, yards and alleys, our bakeries, restaurants, meat shops, and other establishments. It fights the flies and mosquitoes and promotes the public health by attempting to kill the causes of germs. Un- fortunately it lacks the appropriations necessary for the proper carrying on of its work. 2. Public Charitable Agencies Besides the medical charities conducted by the city, several forms of relief work should be mentioned. The City Infirmary is the public almshouse, or home for the aged and infirm, and has an institution popu- lation that in 1914-15 averaged 743 throughout the year, excluding the persons from St. Louis County. 164 THE CHALLENGE OF ST. LOUIS The great majority are men. More than 300 indi- viduals were admitted during the year and nearly half that number died. Although a well-kept institu- tion, it needs cheer brought to it to lighten the hearts of the lonely old people whose lives have left in them so little of brightness and hope. The Municipal Lodging House is operated only during the winter months. It has heretofore been located in the old Four Courts Building a gloomy structure that was thoroughly unadapted for this pur- pose and was recently torn down. It was kept in a fairly sanitary condition, and a very limited medical examination of lodgers was made ; some bathing facili- ties were provided ; breakfast and supper, consisting of bread, coffee and sausage, were furnished. The cots were without mattresses and the lodgers rested on them without removing their clothes, no bed covers being on hand. A work test, applied after the winter of 1914-15 was partly spent, greatly reduced the number of lodgers; and the application of this test the succeeding winter prevented much of the migration to this city that had regularly occurred heretofore. The largest number of lodgers accommodated on any night was in December, 1914, when 1,333 were cared for, the average for the season being 805, but last winter the average fell to less than 300. The free soup- kitchen, privately supported in connection with this institution, had a record-breaking attendance of nearly 4,000. At least one fifth of the lodgers suffer from physical debility and the majority do not long for work. Intemperance and shiftlessness have brought most of them to their present status. The re- duction in the number of lodgers in 1915-16 was partly POVERTY AND DISEASE 165 due to the fact that a rescue mission practically operated as a free rooming house without applying work tests. As a consequence hundreds of men used its quarters instead of going to the Municipal Lodging House. It is greatly to be regretted that any agency should neglect to apply the definite principles necessary for successful work with homeless men. The mission, however, has discontinued this form of work, and the municipal institution, when reestablished, will no doubt improve the character of its service. There is little excuse for such institutions unless they deal construc- tively with homeless men through adequate work tests, proper medical examination, cooperation with other agencies, provision for work, and whatever recon- structing influences need to be brought to bear upon the men to aid in building up their character and con- duct. The Board of Children's Guardians represents an endeavor to meet the problem of child placing. All children dependent on the public for support may be referred to this Board for disposition. Children are received from three sources from the Juvenile Court in certain cases of neglect, from their legal custodians after direct application, and from the police or other authority if the child is abandoned or a foundling. Pending their disposition the children are maintained in the home department of the Industrial School ; but as soon as possible, boarding homes with private fami- lies of the same religious faith as the parents or guardians of the child are found. These homes must be located either in the city or within fifty miles thereof. In case the father is dead, insane, in an institution for the epileptic or in a state penitentiary, 166 THE CHALLENGE OF ST. LOUIS the child may be boarded with its mother an arrange- ment practically equivalent to a mother's pension. Foundlings were formerly turned over directly to several private child caring institutions and $12.00 per month was paid for each until it reached the age of three or was disposed of by the institution. The new regulation vests the authority in the Board of Guardians, which may then place the child temporarily in an institution, but may also find a family home if that seems desirable. This plan is much superior to the former, and insures adequate care for a group of children that have long remained the victims of unwise philanthropy. The Board makes a careful investiga- tion of the family with which the children are placed and finds that satisfactory families are none too plenti- ful. A good home is the making of hundreds of orphan or destitute children, and there is need of more volunteer Christian homes that will accept and help such unfortunates. With nearly 500 children under its constant care the Board controls the future of many a young citizen. VL Religious Agencies i. Roman Catholic Charities Private philanthropy expresses in a peculiar way the spirit of religion at work. Every denomination attempts to carry on some form of charitable endeavor. Perhaps the most elaborate system of religious agencies is that of the Roman Catholic Church. According to the report of the Catholic Charities of St. Louis at the Fifth Annual Conference, the following services were performed in 1915-16: POVERTY AND DISEASE 167 Number Cost of Service Institutions furnishing a permanent home for children or aged 13 $206,130.07 Hospitals 8 112,990.85 Institutions aiding poor at head- quarters or own home 10 25,755.13 Organizations carrying on general re- lief work for families 4 69,071.94 Total 35 $413,947.99 Connected with these agencies are 212 special re- ligious workers who receive no salaries; if they did, the cost would be increased to $573,387, more than half a million dollars. The ramifications of Roman Catholic charity are not the least remarkable part of the system. The forms of service include homes for dependent children, for delinquents and for the aged, education of the deaf, an outing farm, settlements, low-priced hotels for men and women, hospitals one being for the tubercular and another for the insane and extensive relief work among private families. The agency whose service reaches the largest number of the poor is the St. Vincent de Paul Society, which aids almost exclusively families affiliated with the Catholic Church. Branches of this society have been organized in sixty-eight parishes in the city, and the members of the different local conferences meet weekly for consultation and discussion. More than one thousand members all men have investigated fami- lies and visited the poor. The volume of the service is represented by the fact that help was given to more than 15,000 persons and that $50,000 was expended during the year 1915. Nearly all of this money was spent directly for the poor, mostly in the form of material relief. The society has its lessons, both good 168 THE CHALLENGE OF ST. LOUIS and bad, for other agencies. Nearly a thousand men meeting every week to perform some charitable service represents religion translated into action in a way that must challenge the membership of the Protestant churches. These men give of their time and of their money and cheerfully carry on this work. On the other hand, the day of the trained social service worker has arrived, and investigations of relief problems can best be made by persons who have been prepared for so difficult and delicate a task. The questions involved are so numerous that enough remains to be done by all the volunteers that any church can inspire to serve. Furthermore, woman is needed in philanthropy, not in separate council, but frequently about the same table with men. The net results are better. Some of the institutions do not limit their services to members of the Roman Catholic Church, but admit individuals without distinction of class, nationality, or creed. This applies particularly to the hospitals, but also to several of the other forms of charitable and correc- tional work. The work of the two settlements extends beyond denominational lines. Among their activities are a day nursery, kindergarten, sewing school, lunch rooms, clubs, and classes of various kinds. Systematic religious work among the Catholics in the city institutions is carried on by the Franciscan Fathers. The service includes confessions, oppor- tunity to receive the sacrament, mass, distribution of reading matter, visitations, and advice. Special Sun- day-school work is carried on in the Industrial School by a separate organization of lay members of the church. In spite of their many points of excellence, such as POVERTY AND DISEASE 169 their organization, system, and munificence, the Catho- lic charities have ample opportunity for improvement. They need workers trained in social service. They can afford to cooperate better with other agencies. They must become more willing to welcome public official inspection and to give an account of their stewardship to the public, especially when they receive funds from popular appeal; and they must place greater emphasis than heretofore on the prevention of misery and other social ailments. 2. Jewish Charities The Jewish people have systematized their charitable work in most excellent fashion. The Federation of Jewish Charities is an organization consisting of eight constituent local organizations, and in addition two others outside the state are members. The Federa- tion is the central organization for the collection and distribution of the funds for the maintenance of the local institutions and allotments to others. It collects nearly $100,000 annually, and apportions the receipts among the various organizations according to their respective needs. The greatest economy is obtained by this method; the work is simple and efficiency is obtained. Instead of eight appeals from eight organi- zations, one appeal from the Federation is all that the Jewish contributor receives. He subscribes an amount equivalent to what he would have given to all the organizations ; he pays this sum to the Federation treasury in semi-annual installments ; and he depends on the central body for a just distribution of the funds. The solicitation of funds the bugbear of charity is thus greatly simplified and cost reduced. The com- i;o THE CHALLENGE OF ST. LOUIS mon collection of charitable funds, however, is pos- sible only when subscribers have attained a general unity of purpose and are bound together by coopera- tive ties religious, fraternal, or otherwise. The Jewish Charities cover such fields of endeavor as the following: relief work, settlement activities, hospital, dispensary, day nursery, institution for dependent children, home for aged, home for invalids, convales- cent home, and hospital for consumptives. They in- clude all the important lines of charitable endeavor, and make it possible, with the aid of public philan- thropy, to leave very little to the resources of other private or denominational agencies. The Jewish charities recognize the importance of trained service and have been foremost in insisting on this when- ever possible and in getting volunteers to work under the guidance of experts. 3. Secular Agencies St. Louis Provident Association. Among the non-sectarian agencies the St. Louis Provident Asso- ciation stands foremost. It is the general relief society for the whole city, but it is more than that; it aims to assume the functions of an associated charities and to serve as the clearing-house for the philanthropy of the city. It gives relief to the poor without distinc- tion of race, creed, or color, but cooperates with the special or denominational societies that handle certain types of cases. Besides the central downtown office, it has four district offices so as to cover the city more effectually. Although its first function is to give in- stant relief to the needy, it supplements this service with efforts to place the unfortunate on a permanently A VISITING NURSE AT WORK (PAGE 173) POVERTY AND DISEASE 171 self-supporting basis. To accomplish this end, careful investigation is necessary, as well as the development of a judicious plan of family reconstruction. Among the special departments of work are the day nursery, sewing room, and laundry for the temporary employ- ment of needy women, the lodgings for homeless men and women, the woodyard for the employment of destitute men, and the employment bureau. The records of the Charities Registration Bureau are kept at the Provident headquarters and are consulted by this and other organizations. Volunteer committees work- ing in connection with the agents have been organized in the various districts. Although the emphasis is upon family work, the Association also cares for homeless adults and for children. Anti-Tuberculosis Work. The Anti-Tuberculosis Society aims to help those suffering from tuberculosis and to develop a program and methods of prevention. It assists the Board of Education in handling the children received at the open-air school, conducts a night and day camp for anemic and pre-tubercular women, does extensive social service work with tubercular families, and carries on an educational propaganda. Nevertheless, we have just made a be- ginning in the war against tuberculosis. Child Care. The Missouri Home Society is con- cerned largely with children from outside the city, but the Children's Aid Society places or boards de- pendent children in private homes and supervises them while there. The importance of home care is a socio- logical as well as a religious fact, and the society, there- fore, emphasizes this feature of work. The Missouri Association for the Blind has relinquished part of its 172 THE CHALLENGE OF ST. LOUIS work to the state, which conducts a workshop for blind men, helps the blind in various ways, and car- ries on preventive work; but much remains for the Association especially in the form of social service and educational work. Homes for Aged. Somewhat allied to the relief agencies are the homes for the aged, of which there are sixteen. They accept applicants on the payment of certain sums of money and insure the permanent care of the individual, thus preventing his gradual drifting to the almshouse. Many aged persons can- not be cared for at present because of the lack of space and accommodation. Private Medical Charities. The medical chari- ties are well represented in this city. In addition to the hospitals conducted by Roman Catholic groups, there are more than a dozen other hospitals, some of them specializing in certain diseases, others of a general nature. A group of these institutions, thirteen in all and including two Catholic hospitals, form the Satur- day and Sunday Hospital Association, which during two days every November collects funds from our citizens and distributes them among the constituent members of the Association. In order to belong to the Association and become its beneficiary a hospital must maintain a certain number of free beds. In spite of the number of hospitals, we lack adequate facilities, especially for persons suffering from tuberculosis, rheumatism, nervous troubles, and social diseases. A valuable feature of allied work is the social service performed by Barnes Hospital and the Washington University Dispensary. At present several full-time workers are employed in handling the cases of those POVERTY AND DISEASE 173 applicants who need economic and social reconstruc- tion. The work is of untold value in improving the status of the applicants, in preventing a recurrence of disease, and in guarding them against immorality and shiftlessness. Not the least valuable part of this service is the prenatal and postnatal work that is carried on. Mothers and prospective mothers are instructed in care of self and baby, and as a natural result the number of still births is greatly reduced, as is also the mortality of infants. Furthermore, a wholesome view of family life is inculcated. The Visiting Nurses' Association sends nurses to patients in their homes, who would not otherwise secure skilled service. It labors to prevent disease, conducts clinics for babies, and gives prenatal instruc- tion. Closely cooperating with it is the Pure Milk Commission, which provides modified pure milk for infants and for the needy sick and poor. Social Settlements. Social settlements are few. Most of the agencies carrying on the activities asso- ciated with settlements are really institutional churches or missions. Nevertheless, the Neighborhood Asso- ciation and the Mound City Settlement are secular agencies. Day nursery work is a feature of their service and of some of the institutional churches as well. There are eight day nurseries in the city. Needs of Secular Charities. The secular philan- thropies need greatly to increase their efficiency. Again the trained worker is not sufficiently in evi- dence. The unnecessary overlapping of effort must cease and the uncovered fields of service be occupied. The charities still suffer largely from the pernicious sentiment that emphasis must be placed on physical 174 THE CHALLENGE OF ST. LOUIS and material aid rather than upon the use of workers for the moral and economic upbuilding of the unfortu- nate and distressed. They need to emphasize the social causes of poverty and work more effectively for their removal. 4. Protestant Philanthropy Relief. The philanthropic work of the Protestant churches is not conducted as is that of the Catholics or Jews. Each denomination has plans and ideas of its own and frequently acts without reference to the others. Most of the churches give some relief, usually to members, or to persons indirectly connected with the church. Such aid is generally administered through a small board of deacons who make the in- vestigation and grant the relief. Institutional churches, of course, usually practise more advanced methods. There is no way of ascertaining the amount of relief granted in this manner, since the churches have cooperated but little with the organized charities of the community, and make practically no use of the Registration Bureau. Child Care. One of the fields of work that re- ligion has long considered legitimate is the care of orphans and dependent children. As a consequence more than thirty of the institutions caring for children are connected with some denomination. Several of these are part of the Roman Catholic system, but the majority are allied to some Protestant church. In spite of the theoretical position that the home is the place best fitted for the care of children, these institu- tions, with several exceptions, make very inadequate efforts to place their proteges in private homes. POVERTY AND DISEASE 175 Furthermore, there are types of children needing institutional care for whom, in spite of this maze of children's institutions, no provision has been made. Hospitals. The majority of the non-Catholic hospitals were founded either directly by some de- nomination, or by men whose benevolent impulses sprang from their religion. Apart from the hos- pitals, however, little medical charity is provided, except the dispensary service connected with several churches or hospitals. Little social service is at- tempted, and practically no convalescent facilities have been provided. Only too often the patient, upon dis- missal from a hospital, needs several weeks' con- valescent care in order to be able to return to his work without the probability of relapse or breakdown. The city, in all its hospital work, public or private, whether Catholic, Jewish, or Protestant, offers almost no privileges for persons of this type. Probably no form of service is so educative to the Protestant pastors of this city as the visitation work carried on under the auspices of the Church Federa- tion. Every day some pastor spends several hours at the City Hospital, ministering to the sick. Many ministers appreciate the broader aspects of the work, and having set out to reach the religious and moral life of the patient, try also to improve his social condition. In no other way can some of these pastors be so strongly impressed with the demands of a mili- tant Christianity. Missions. The institutional churches and missions carry on a limited amount of social work. Some of them give relief, employment, and dispensary or medi- cal service, and several have been used as depots for i/6 THE CHALLENGE OF ST. LOUIS milk stations or centers for baby clinics. Some care for the homeless is provided, but usually with little idea as to the constructive value of a proper program. Salvation Army. The Salvation Army, although it is not a representative or federated body, is in a sense a Protestant organization that carries on several forms of social work. Its industrial home is self- supporting, and temporarily lodges homeless and un- employed men. The hotel operates in connection with this home. The dinners for homeless men illustrate a form of relief without preventive value and have little to commend them. The day outings for children are wholesome and give a little joy to the boys and girls. Probably the best and most effective work carried on by the Army is the Rescue Home. Young women about to become mothers are temporarily cared for, are inspired to better living, and are placed in employ- ment where they can remain with their babies. Ef- fectual moral rehabilitation of these women and mothers is accomplished in a large proportion of cases. There are other rescue homes, carried on mostly by radical religionists who insist on forcing religion on the unfortunates, instead of wisely combining re- ligion with an effectual development of social and economic capacity for life. Their methods should be improved. Defects. On the whole the philanthropic work of the Protestant churches is not satisfactory, although this is not to be understood as applying to the greater part of what is being done by the various institutional churches. The relief work is done in a haphazard man- ner, with little appreciation of the value of the trained POVERTY AND DISEASE 177 worker. The method is not constructive, but is usually remedial in character. There is still too much talk about expenses of administration and small amounts given for relief, when the trained worker well knows that relief represents the lowest form of charity, and that the best method consists in developing character and helping to make men self-sustaining without giv- ing them material aid. Consequently there is much waste of unselfish energy. There is the tendency to give to the man at the door without inquiry and with- out endeavoring to follow up his case so as to help him permanently. We are still too ready to buy peace of mind with a petty dole of relief, and we do not inquire what its effect has been on the recipient. The Protestant churches have not systematically studied the philanthropic needs of the city, but have merely hit upon certain forms of service without correlating them with other needs. They have permitted their membership to act almost entirely as individuals, rather than as members of a larger body, and therefore have neither developed high standards in their own chari- table work nor become the source of inspiration that has improved the secular charities. The so-called Protestant philanthropies merge into general or non- sectarian philanthropy, and therefore the amount given by Protestants cannot be definitely determined. Out- side of the Catholic and Jewish charities, there are about seventy-five charitable and philanthropic agen- cies spending nearly $1,000,000, the bulk of which comes from the public, although part is paid by the beneficiaries. Most of the funds secured through voluntary contributions for these agencies come from the Protestant groups. i;8 THE CHALLENGE OF ST. LOUIS 5. Federated Effort We should not overlook the fact that fifty-two social organizations in St. Louis, comprising the principal non-sectarian agencies, many Protestant, some Catho- lic, and the Jewish Charities, form a federation known as the Central Council of Social Agencies. This organization aims to improve the standards and methods of social work, to prevent duplication or over- lapping, to provide for the extension of work when necessary, and to eliminate harmful charitable enter- prises. Individuals interested in social service may join the Social Service Conference, an organization consisting of 300 members whose purpose in meeting is to learn of the social and moral problems and needs of the community and the methods of meeting them. The conference is also interested in legislative matters and carries on its campaign work before the municipal and the state legislative bodies. VIL Conclusion Although every important denomination, including the three primary groups, Catholic, Protestant, and Jewish, are concerned with philanthropic problems, the work accomplished is largely that of helping those in misery or distress. The moral problem of prevent- ing these conditions and of dealing with causes has hardly been appreciated. It is not good policy, even from a narrow religious standpoint, to wait until people are visibly and humanly wrecked before help is extended to them. If it is a holy duty to plead for orphans, is it not holy also to plead for the prevention of orphanage? If it is true religion to care for the POVERTY AND DISEASE 179 homeless, why not also to prevent poverty and home- lessness ? The fight against poverty and disease has only begun. We have not attacked tuberculosis at its roots. We have a recurring problem of unemployment, but a mayor's commission appointed to develop a plan to meet the problem has failed to do its work. Vice scatters disease abroad, but we have failed so far to secure an injunction and abatement law the best weapon to fight the evil. Less than one fourth of our people own the homes in which they live; thousands of apartments are empty, but rents are high; in parts of the city housing conditions are very bad; and several thousand vaults are still in existence. The volume of poverty indicates no hopeful decline; the cost of living has increased more rapidly than wages, the thraldom of certain business and financial interests still rests heavy on our city, while the progress of opportunity is slow. Even a reform so generally ac- cepted as workmen's compensation has suffered from the well-calculated opposition of a group of unfriendly employers. Efforts to make our factory inspection department equal to its task have failed. The law limiting women to nine hours of work per day enough for any woman is still being violated. In short, property values are considered of more im- portance than human values, and the development of a community filled only with wholesome and contented people is an ideal far from realization. Misery, as represented by poverty and disease, is morally and spiritually degrading. Its prevention and abolition release spiritual energies. Accordingly, the church must not only formulate, but carry out a social i8o THE CHALLENGE OF ST. LOUIS program. The platform of the Federal Council covers much of the ground, but a clearly defined attitude on bad housing, preventable disease, ignorance, intem- perance, social diseases, the reduction and elimination of poverty, and the menace of feeble-mindedness is necessary to enlarge properly the social program. But a " platform " means nothing and is a mere scrap of paper unless the spirit of the church vitalizes the plan and makes it a working program of action. Then, by improving contacts and environment and character through social service and by inspiring the individual with the love of Christ, moral and spiritual standards can be established and maintained. VII. VICE AND CRIME The church has always thundered against sin and vice, but less has been said about crime, because this is an offense against the state and does not directly concern religion as such. It happens, however, that nearly all crime is sin, and, therefore, not to be omitted from discussion. Vice refers largely to private prac- tises and usually constitutes an offense against one- self; for example, overeating, intemperance, and im- morality are vices. Without doubt many, if not all, vices are also sins. To injure oneself is at least socially, if not morally, wrong. Crime constitutes those offenses that are declared so injurious to society that their occurrence and recur- rence must be prevented. Vice and crime offend not only man himself and men taken collectively, but they create an environment of a low plane of morals ; and the human contacts made in this environment lead constantly to increasing sin. The struggle against sin, therefore, involves a new man and a new morality. It is clear that Christianity has not reached its goal so long as sin, whether as vice, crime, or in other form, exists in the world. True religion involves com- munion with God, but an absolutely necessary outcome is a high ethical plane of living. What about St. Louis? Its harvest of sin is constant, but not over- 18: 182 THE CHALLENGE OF ST. LOUIS whelming unless religion loses its vigor and fails to go forward. /. Crime and Its Treatment i. Amount of Crime Crime depends essentially on two factors, the person and the stimulus. Both are necessary for the perpetra- tion of the offense. In 1915-16, 39,095 persons were arrested, less than 2,000 of whom were under sixteen. One out of every fifteen individuals over sixteen years of age was arrested for some offense. Of those ar- rested, the foreign-born formed somewhat less than their proportion in the general population, but among the negroes there were more than three times their numerical proportion of the population. The great majority of all offenses are of a minor nature, that is, violations of municipal ordinances and not of state laws. About sixty-two per cent, belong to the former, and thirty-eight per cent, to the latter, group. Many persons, especially foreigners, offend through igno- rance. Chief among the offenses is disturbance of the peace, which may assume the greatest variety of forms, but which, in the majority of cases, is largely a result of intemperance. Second, comes drunkenness itself. Over 5,300 ar- rests were made during the year of persons " drunk on the street." Nor does this constitute the full ex- tent of the evil in St. Louis, since more than 3,000 intoxicated persons were sent home by the police or taken to the dispensaries, but not to the station. These two causes of arrest constitute nearly sixty per cent, of the arrests made for violating municipal ordinances and nearly three eighths of the arrests for any cause. VICE AND CRIME 183 Other important causes among minor cases were petty gambling, such as playing cards, dice and craps, solici- tation by immoral women, begging, trespassing, driv- ing unlicensed vehicles and careless driving. Over 15,000 serious cases of crime occurred in 1915-16. The most important cause was larceny, of which nearly 6,000 cases were reported. Violating the speed laws reckless auto driving comes next. An average of three men were killed every week one nearly every second day. Assault and battery were next in number, while other crimes of serious or hor- rible character were committed. 2. The Police To meet this situation we have 1,400 police patrol- men and a goodly number of detectives. Our police board is under state control, and so long as it can be kept out of partisan politics, it is a fairly success- ful institution. There are a sufficient number of police stations to hold arrested men, but as the courts are now centrally located, prisoners must all be taken to the Municipal Courts Building for trial. There are located the three court-rooms of the Circuit Court, which handles felony cases; the two branches of the Court of Criminal Correction, dealing with misde- meanors; and the two police, or city, courts in which violations of municipal ordinances are handled. The police are a powerful force for good or ill in this or any city. While physical qualifications are im- portant, social and moral requisites are even more so. Unfortunately we emphasize the physical, and require certain education and knowledge of the city, but do not look upon the police as a great social service i&j THE CHALLENGE OF ST. LOUIS institution, capable not only of arresting law violators but of conserving peace and order and actually raising standards in a community. The police might make us all better men and women. However, we do not insist on qualifications commensurate with their duties and opportunities. Many men are needlessly rough ; others have low ideals and cannot inspire good con- duct. Nevertheless, the police are a more competent body at present than ever before in the city. They cling more tenaciously to duty, and are less influenced by political or other external influences than formerly. But we need to look forward. Although we require a civil service test of applicants, we must insist that politicians keep away; and we must develop a right attitude of mind, that of recognizing the police as a useful social agency to be respected and regarded with a dignity appropriate to their position. Policemen would not then be humiliated in our courts or become reluctant to arrest dangerous law-breakers. Some progress has recently been made by the appointment of five policewomen. Their work will include much social service and they may become the leaven that will benefit the entire system. 3. City Courts Serious complaints have been made against our city courts. The judges are appointed by the mayor and their powers are limited to the imposition of fines. All arrests for city cases, except those released, are brought before these courts. The records show that the great majority of offenders are dismissed and, therefore, that crime goes unpunished. Every arrest represents some crime, whether the guilty individual is VICE AND CRIME 185 caught or not. Nevertheless the fines indicate that the great majority of perpetrators of petty crimes go en- tirely unpunished. If, therefore, punishment is either a constructive factor or a deterrent of crime, we are simply aiding lawlessness by refusing to deal ade- quately with our problems. The situation is partly complicated by laws that deal unfairly with the poor. If a poor man is convicted of crime and fined, he must either pay the fine or accept a workhouse sentence at the rate of one day for every $3.00 of fine. Usually he cannot pay; so he goes to the workhouse, starts a prison record, and begins on his downward career. The rich man draws the fine from his pocket and violates the law as he races homeward. The police court is an adventure for the well-to-do, but a system of imprisonment for debt for the poor. For this reason the poor frequently are given another chance without fine. The judges of the Courts of Criminal Correction are elected by the people. They handle misdemeanors, that is, the less serious state offenses, and also appeals from the city courts. The wife desertion and non- support cases belong here, but owing to the lack of a proper system of investigating them, little constructive work is done for the unfortunate women concerned. Immoral women whose cases are appealed from the lower courts are retried here as entirely new cases, and in the majority of instances acquitted, although convicted in the city court. The chief needs in this court are better machinery for securing information, and judges with a greater appreciation of the socio- logical value of their service. The great majority of arrested men are dismissed, either before or after 186 THE CHALLENGE OF ST. LOUIS trial. The remainder are punished with fines, proba- tion, workhouse, or parole. 4. Board of Parole and Probation The Board of Parole and Probation was established in 1913 in order to give more systematic and scientific treatment to the offender against municipal ordinances. A chief probation officer and several assistants have since been appointed. This staff has charge of the probation and parole cases. Offenders who are very young, have not committed crime before, have families dependent on them, or have other circumstances in their favor are usually placed on probation rather than sent to the workhouse. The law unfortunately allows the man to remain on probation only so long as he would otherwise have been retained in the workhouse. In no case of a violation of municipal ordinance can this be more than one hundred days. Therefore the probation period is all too short for effective work. In most cases the fines are low, and at the rate of $3.00 per day, the workhouse sentence or probation period is hardly more than two weeks. Offenders who have been jarred into a state of reasonable introspection in the workhouse are frequently released on parole before the expiration of their sentence, when such action seems generally advisable from the standpoint of the dependent family and from the probable effect on the character of the offender. During the year 1915-16, 1,295 persons were placed on probation, and including the paroled and special cases, the total number handled by the Board was 1,469. The great majority of these persons, through the systematic friendship afforded by the probation officers, the new routine of their VICE AND CRIME 187 lives, and the responsibilities placed on them, were clearly improved morally. A small number were not, and other methods of care are necessary for these. The Board has also been instrumental in collecting money from men who fail to support their wives and families. In one year over $2,000 were collected in this way and turned over to the wives. An exten- sion of this system, so as to make more preliminary investigations possible and more frequent " follow-up " work, would improve most effectually the treatment of these men, and would mean much to humanity in improved character and better modes of living. Legis- lation which would enable the judges to place men on probation long enough to give the Board a real oppor- tunity to reform or improve them is another urgent need. 5. The Workhouse Perhaps the most conspicuous handicap in our entire local system of penological treatment is our antiquated workhouse. Situated on the South Side near the Mississippi river, it comprises about seventeen acres of land. The chief industrial operation is that of the quarry. As is well known, many workmen are not physically capable of this kind of work and its value for character development is uncertain. As a natural consequence some prisoners have no opportunity at all for work, and those who do are not highly successful. In fact, a low level of efficiency is reported from the quarry exactly what should be expected. Further- more the serviceability of the quarry is almost at an end. Apart from the buildings and the yard, most of the remainder of the grounds is devoted to garden. 188 THE CHALLENGE OF ST. LOUIS Here there is opportunity for a limited amount of work, but not for the development of a general plan of employment. Furthermore, the buildings are not adequate for the care of inmates. Proper hospital facilities are wanting; and the recently built cellhouse, with its cells through the middle of the room and the aisles around the outside along the walls an arrange- ment that forces the inmates to live in the darkest part of the building is a reproach to the city and a former administration. Again, the institution offers but little for the rehabilitation of the women, thus making an enlightened plan of care for them absolutely impossible. The workhouse receives from the city courts persons unable to pay their fines ; from the Courts of Criminal Correction, similar groups, as well as persons guilty of minor state offenses; and from the Circuit courts persons whom it is not judged wise to send to the state prison. During the year ending April 30, 1915, the total number of commitments was 2,600, with a daily average population of 426. The great majority were single men and gave their occupation as " la- borer," a fact which indicates the close dependency of crime on economic and conjugal conditions. During the three years 1913-16, out of 2,738 different persons entering the workhouse, 1,120 were sent two or more times, one man actually coming for the thirtieth time. Is it not time that we remedy the defect in our system which makes such successive demoralization possible? 6. Clinic Among the needs are a psychopathic clinic to which all cases of doubtful mentality and sanity can be re- VICE AND CRIME 189 ferred for proper diagnosis. Many of the repeaters are feeble-minded and should be treated accordingly. One can practically predict the repetitions in these cases. Persons suffering from disease need appro- priate care and treatment also. The drunkard, the immoral woman, the kleptomaniac, and other classes all need the careful attention of the expert, and if that is given, the handling of the cases is greatly simplified. The Police Board has recently considered establishing such a clinic on a small scale. 7. Municipal Farm In the second place we need a municipal farm. Perhaps no one need in our whole plan of care for criminals would mean so much for the morality of the unfortunate ones. A farm of a thousand acres or more with suitable buildings, similar to the institution at Occaquan maintained by Washington, D. C., would accomplish real reforms. Men and women would be physically rehabilitated ; their country life would result in mental and spiritual exuberance ; the occupations would be elevating and helpful; and when they left the institution they would show signs of a genuine reformation. The best type of municipal farm re- quires no prison walls but practically places the men on their honor; and by so living, men begin to believe in themselves as well as to respect the rights of society. Experience furnishes conclusive evidence of the good effect of enlightened treatment of offenders in institu- tions of this kind. The efficient superintendent of our institution has long recognized the need, but the city has not given him the equipment and facilities required to make the workhouse a success. Meanwhile we con- igo THE CHALLENGE OF ST. LOUIS tinue to deform character instead of making men and women. Has the church a natural or logical part in the development of agencies that will improve the morality of the minor offender? If so, here is an opportunity. 8. State Prison In a similar way we do not deal fairly with the serious offender or penitentiary case. We have no reformatory for adult first offenders, but throw them together with the hardened criminals into the largest penitentiary in the United States. It has more than 2,500 inmates and occupies only fourteen acres. Here the contract system of prison labor, with its demoraliz- ing effects, prevailed until January, 1917. Cruel punishments within recent years have been reported. The last governor did not allow the State Board of Charities to investigate conditions and report publicly thereon. Here the spoils system is in vogue and modern prison reform has hardly obtained a footing. Here tuberculosis claims its many victims. Nor do we have an indeterminate sentence to enable us to handle the criminal according to his character. Our system of fixed sentences has its exact analogy in such a situation as would be involved if a man were sent to a hospital for a fixed number of days and then dis- missed whether sick or well. Is it any wonder that revolt against such conditions is spreading? Can the Christian people remain quiet while ruthless spoils- men wreck and ruin men? After waiting until men are almost destroyed in character and in soul we inconsistently work through the Society for the Care of Discharged Prisoners to VICE AND CRIME 191 help those whom we have nearly ruined. The state Society has had a branch in this city, supported largely by contributions from Protestant sources. It has found employment for many men and extended aid in other ways, but has recently been discontinued. The Protestant Episcopal Churches have detailed one of their clergy to visit the city institutions. This man meets many prisoners and aids them to opportunity and better living. There is a Roman Catholic society also, which comes in touch with the men at the peni- tentiary, but its results have been unimportant. //. The Social Evil i. Abandonment of Segregation The social evil has ever been a serious problem and the end is not yet. St. Louis has, however, made tre- mendous strides within the last few years. Formerly there were two segregated districts, but one of them was closed by the police board in 1912. The other and larger district was gradually brought under more rigid control, and finally, on March I, 1914, it was also closed. Final closing was brought about partly as a result of the then newly formed Committee of One Hundred for the Suppression of Commercialized Vice. This organization published a memorial setting forth the facts and presented a strong argument in favor of the abolition of the district. The action taken has been duplicated in most of the large cities in recent years and for similar reasons. It has been shown that so-called segregation was a farce, that the district was a clearing house for vice, that immoral women lived throughout the city and plied their trade widely, that such a system accentuated the evil, encouraged white 192 THE CHALLENGE OF ST. LOUIS slavery, and made immorality a tolerated vice. Ex- perience in Europe and America has everywhere been the same, and the presence of a tolerated district in defiance of law is now clearly known to be demoraliz- ing to the ideals of the community and the habits of its people. 2. Action of the Courts Of the 309 women affected by the closing order the majority left St. Louis, but many moved to other portions of the city. Efforts to reach the women and to reform them proved quite abortive. Here, if any- where, the maxim holds that " an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure." The police have tried to carry out their part of the task faithfully and between March i and October 22, 1914, arrested 1,294 persons, mostly women, for offenses connected with the evil, but their efforts were largely unsuccessful because of the disposition of the cases. Less than one fourth of the women were convicted. While fines were as- sessed to the amount of $5,300, less than $350 was actually collected, most of the fines being remitted by the judges. Furthermore, the ease with which persons convicted in the city courts could secure acquittal on appeal to the Courts of Criminal Correction gave the forces of evil such boldness and resisting power that our advance has been much slower than it would be if progressive, law-enforcing judges were on the bench. The action of the attorneys handling cases for the city is subject to severe criticism. Frequently the prosecuting witness, especially if a policeman, has been subjected to a cross-fire of questions as though he were the defendant instead of a witness. The atti- VICE AND CRIME 193 tude of the courts and officials in connection with the solution of the social evil needs the careful attention of the religious forces of the community. The figures for 1914-15 show that during the year 1,197 different women were arrested on charges con- nected with immorality. Again, only a small number, 26.8 per cent., were convicted; then the fines of the majority of these were stayed, so that the percentage of the arrested women that were punished was only eight, that is, one out of every twelve. The fines assessed amounted to $15,000, but the amount collected was $2,320, less than one sixth of the total. Particularly significant is the fact that only one third of the cases appealed to the higher courts resulted in conviction and that in the majority of these cases, fines were stayed, less than seven per cent, being punished. Why should there be such discrepancy between the city courts and the Courts of Criminal Correction? St. Louis is deficient in its provisions for the care of the female offenders. It is of little value to send convicted women to the workhouse for a few days or weeks. We need a modern municipal reformatory where women can be physically and morally improved, and we need legal power to send them there for a year or more, so that reformatory influences can be- come effective. Good results have been achieved in New York, Massachusetts, and elsewhere. Why not in St. Louis? In a large number of cases, depraved and immoral men derive much profit from the operations of the women in fact, compel them to turn over the major portion of their earnings in compensation for alleged 194 THE CHALLENGE OF ST. LOUIS protection in court, and perhaps from the police. Wherever such protection exists the conviction of the women is difficult, and, furthermore, the morally guilty offenders are the men who force the women into a life of shame. Nevertheless, the conviction of these men has heretofore been practically impossible. 3. Reformatory Measures One of the greatest needs in this state is an injunc- tion and abatement law whereby houses of ill repute can be forced out of existence by the simple applica- tion of injunction proceedings. By this method the burden is placed on property, and, as a result, property owners favor making a district respectable instead of disreputable. When business fights on the side of morality the goal is more easily attained. About fifteen states have enacted such laws, and their moral con- ditions have been greatly improved. The local Com- mittee of One Hundred, the Church Federation, and kindred organizations in the other large cities of the state attempted to secure the passage of such a bill in the Legislature of 1915, but were unsuccessful, because moral sentiment was not definitely crystallized. The conscience of the community must be aroused : 1. To secure the enactment of an injunction law. 2. To insist upon proper reformatory provision for delinquent women. 3. To make the courts enforce the law. 4. To secure the conviction of the immoral men who corrupt women. 5. To develop sentiment against the social evil in all its forms. 6. To find proper recreation and social opportuni- VICE AND CRIME 195 ties for young men, so that they will not come in contact with the demoralizing women of the street, nor yield to their temptations. 7. To provide boys and girls with appropriate sex education. 8. To remove the social as well as the individual causes of sex immorality. 9. To promote the single standard of morality. ///. Intemperance i. Magnitude of Evil Intemperance and its chief ally, the saloon, are problems of such magnitude that they require an ex- tensive consideration. During the four years ending January 31, 1914, 31,197 arrests were made in St. Louis on the charge of drunkenness, or an average of 7,799 per year. Furthermore, 10,012 drunken persons were sent home and many were taken directly to the City Hospital ; while hundreds were arrested on other charges, such as disorderly conduct. In 1915-16, 5,359 persons were arrested for drunkenness, but more than 3,000 were either sent home or taken to the dis- pensary. Many drunken persons also are either not seen or are not molested by the police, and therefore we have no knowledge whatever of the actual amount of drunkenness that occurs. Intemperance is an in- calculable vice and the most common crime. Its rela- tion to poverty, feeble-mindedness, insanity, and dis- ease make it an appalling curse. Nevertheless we must not forget that besides being a cause it is also an effect. Again we have the fact of the personality and the stimulus. Some men become intemperate because the constant contact of a bad environment develops in them ig6 THE CHALLENGE OF ST. LOUIS an insatiable appetite for liquor. Here the external stimulus has been the decisive factor in a man's down- fall. There are other men whose lack of will-power and whose perverted appetite are reflected by a con- dition of alcoholism. Here constitutional weakness or personal defects are the important factor, and alco- holism merely reflects a subnormal state of body and of mind. The evils of intemperance can hardly be exaggerated, but sins not chargeable against them must not be improperly classed as a result. Wipe out in- temperance to-morrow much poverty will remain, people will still become insane, and children be born feeble-minded. To improve mankind it is necessary to give proper weight to every influence that depraves or degrades, and not to allow our prejudice to play havoc with scientific accuracy. 2. Treatment of Drunken Persons Intemperance as a practical problem takes several concrete forms: first, the treatment of the drunkard; second, the elimination of drunkenness; third, the elimination of intoxicants. Drunken persons when arrested, except the women, are gathered into a central place known as the " In- ebriate Ward." Here they remain over night or until they have become sober. Formerly some of the men were made suddenly sober by artificial medical means, but this painful process has been abandoned. The advantages of the present system are : medical care can be given to all ; repeaters are recognized more easily ; drunken men are separated from other criminals ; and better records, giving social facts and histories of the men, can be procured. VICE AND CRIME IQ7 Notwithstanding this good beginning, an excessive leniency continues in the dismissal of practically two thirds of the men when they have become sober. They are freed, the city having done nothing except take them in charge and assist them to a condition of so- briety. The remaining one third are brought into the City Court for trial. Of this number about four out of five are convicted, but the judges remit the fines of practically one half, or merely require the payment of costs (usually $3.00). A considerable number are asked to leave town, this group being composed of transient, single, or deserting men ; and other localities are expected to grapple with the problem. A few are placed on probation and about one out of four is sent to the workhouse. The remainder, with the exceotion of the few placed on probation, are released. True, in many cases, fines are stayed on good behavior, but there is no machinery to observe and judge the be- havior, and nothing happens unless the man generously allows himself to be caught again. Fines are limited to $20.00 each, a sum which, with the costs, limits the workhouse sentence or the probation period to seven days. How much can be done in that time to reform a drunkard is a question that needs no dis- cussion. The absolute folly of the present system is at .once apparent. We need legislation whereby a drunkard may be committed to an appropriate insti- tution on an indeterminate sentence of not to exceed three years, with provision for the permanent deten- tion of incurable alcoholics similar to our provision for the insane. Probation cases should be under con- trol, not seven days, but for a minimum period of one year ; then results might be obtained. Finally, we need 198 THE CHALLENGE OF ST. LOUIS an appropriate institution a municipal farm under skilled management, as suggested elsewhere , in this chapter. 3. Social Conditions of Arrested Persons Manual laborers comprise three fourths of the men arrested for drunkenness, a proportion twice that of the same group to the employed population. Most of them are single and many live in the cheap lodging houses. Intemperance is clearly one of many vices contracted by most of these men. Among the women, however, we find that a large majority have been married, but many are widowed, divorced, separated, or deserted. Frequently they live alone, but often in immoral ways with low-lived men. Drunkenness is not so prevalent among either the negroes or the foreigners as among our own native Americans, al- though certain immigrant groups are strongly inclined to drink. The development of temperate habits rests partly on the foundation laid in family and home, and on the preparation made for gaining a livelihood. In- temperance breaks up families, but ill-founded homes promote intemperance. Intemperance causes poverty but poverty leads to intemperance. 4. Saloons Number. The saloon is the most important ex- ternal influence affecting intemperance. St. Louis has nearly 2,300 saloons one for every 335 persons, prac- tically a saloon for every 100 men. The laws of Mis- souri do not prohibit saloons within a certain distance of churches and schools, as is the case in many states, VICE AND CRIME 199 but local ordinances do protect certain parks. Beyond this regulation all power rests with the excise com- missioner who may, at his discretion, regulate these conditions ; thus the people are left at the mercy of the public official. Dramshop License. In order to obtain a saloon or dramshop license, an application for such license must be supported by a majority of assessed tax-pay- ing citizens (males) and guardians of minors owning property in the block where the saloon is to be located. Each block, therefore, has the power to determine whether it shall have a saloon or not, but people in an adjoining block across the street from a saloon have no voice in the matter. The citizens may present a counter petition signed by persons objecting to the saloon, and the excise com- missioner may, although the affirmative petition has the names of the majority of qualified signers, decide that the opposition is sufficiently extensive to justify withholding the license ; but if two thirds of the tax- paying citizens who are registered voters sign a peti- tion, the license must be granted. We have, therefore, a form of local option, using the smallest possible unit as a basis, one that does not deter or prevent any one from obtaining intoxicating liquor and that has mean- ing chiefly as it affects property values. As a result, saloons are thickly concentrated in the downtown sec- tions and along certain thoroughfares and at con- venient corners ; but many residence sections are also liberally sprinkled with them. How large a propor- tion of licenses are secured after full compliance with the law, or how many signatures by citizens are un- authorized, it is difficult to say. The excise depart- 200 THE CHALLENGE OF ST. LOUIS ment cannot authenticate signatures, but citizens should watch such proceedings most carefully. Inasmuch as a petition must be signed before a saloon can be estab- lished, a majority of the property owners in the block must know of the intentions of the applicant. The annual license fee required in St. Louis is ridiculously small. The state fee is $500 and that for the city, $300, a total of $800, besides the small tax of $25 paid to the federal government. A license of $1,200 to $1,500 is the least that should be required. Closing Hours. Again, many advantages are given the saloon in regard to closing hours. It may remain open from 5 A.M. to i A.M., but must be closed on Sunday. Many saloons open at midnight on Sunday and operate for one hour. Thirsty men in various parts of the city eagerly await the stroke of twelve so that their thirst may be abated before the morning. These hours are all too long. Other commercial enter- prises, except those that meet a never-ending neces- sity, such as hotels and restaurants, do not maintain such hours. There are many good reasons for assum- ing that an eight, nine, or ten o'clock hour is late enough. Such regulations have been established else- where. Why not here? Social Clubs. This city has long suffered from a variety of social club commonly known as a " lid club," where intoxicants may be obtained on Sundays when the regular saloons are closed. The law courts and administrative officials have gradually restricted the activities of social clubs until conditions such as the following obtain: Clubs that sell liquor, whether it is served only on a table with food or at a bar, are required to secure a VICE AND CRIME 20! license. Many respectable clubs have discontinued the handling of liquors. , _,. A second variety of club allows each member to deposit liquor in a private locker in the club rooms. Waiters will bring to a member a glass of intoxicants from this locker ; but since the man technically does not buy any liquor at the club, the dramshop license is not required, and service on Sundays is not prohibited or at least not prevented. Again, a group of men may regularly buy and pay for quantities of liquor on Saturdays to be consumed at the club headquarters on Sundays; and as a conse- quence they are frequently transformed into a bois- terous set of ruffians. Although the law aimed to prevent traffic in intoxi- cants on Sundays, it is clear that the methods of eva- sion practised by some social clubs are demoralizing and conducive to intemperance. Furthermore, they often result in the committing of serious crime. Wine Rooms. Another problem of long standing is the " wine room " evil. Connected with many saloons by a rear door is a separate room with tables where liquor is served, but no food. This room usually has a door opening directly to the street. Here congregate men and women who sit down at tables and are served with intoxicating liquors. In actual practise these places are recruiting stations of vice, being frequented by few women except the immoral women of the street. Some years ago, by ruling of the excise commissioner, no women were allowed in these rooms, on the ground that their presence practically made such saloons disorderly houses, although there is no provision of law forbidding the presence of 202 THE CHALLENGE OF ST. LOUIS women in wine rooms and saloons. As a result the wine rooms disappeared, and the moral conditions of saloons were much improved. A reversal of this rul- ing brought many so-called wine rooms into exist- ence, a condition which bodes no good for the morals of the young men of the city and directly conduces to a continuation of the social evil. The return to the wine room marked a serious retrogression in policy, and indicated the ascendency of the liquor forces and lack of interest or of influence on the part of the churches. The present excise commissioner has adopted a progressive policy, thereby practically eliminating the " wine room " evil for the time being. Saloons and the Sunday Closing Law. During the spring of 1916 evidence collected by a Committee of the Evangelical Alliance showed that many saloons were operating on Sundays, in clandestine ways, to be sure, but nevertheless serving customers who under- stood how to find doors open. The police arrested a considerable number of dramshop keepers. In one case they found three men crouching down behind the bar in a saloon, one of them holding a lighted candle. The keeper said he was showing his friends the plumb- ing, but the police explained the situation otherwise. Additional Features. The most orderly type of saloon is that which is connected with a grocery store. Here one does not find crowds engaging in boisterous carousal ; such establishments are patronized to a large extent by families in the neighborhood who send for a pail of beer to drink at home. Nevertheless, many small children thus get glimpses of saloon conditions and become callous to the sights. One inducement offered by many saloons is toilet facilities, the function VICE AND CRIME 203 of a comfort station. Too often there is no other pro- vision, and men are obliged to turn to the saloon. Many down-town saloons furthermore provide lunches at nominal cost and appeal by this means to certain types of individuals. The summer beer garden, or pleasure garden as it may be called, is an additional attraction provided by many saloon-keepers, an at- tempt to appeal especially to young couples and also to family parties. Liquor is sold in connection with some dance halls. Apart from the drunkenness that the saloon directly occasions, the greatest evil brought on by the liquor traffic is political control. The saloons and the brewer- ies back of them are in politics. They can depend on a set of " rounders " and patrons, and together they exert a strong influence on the political parties. Di- vorce the saloon from politics, and the most degrad- ing influence to which politics is subjected has been removed. Control of the Liquor Traffic. The churches must face this question fearlessly ; but in this city they have thus far attempted neither to formulate nor to carry out a definite program except as the Anti-Saloon League may be considered an arm of the churches. As far as the final fate of the liquor traffic is con- cerned they can give but one answer : the commercial saloon must be abolished and the liquor traffic de- stroyed. In 1910 the prohibitory amendment to the state Constitution was rejected by a majority of 218,000, and in 1916 by about 122,000. Although considerable sentiment in favor of the amendment has developed throughout the state, there has been little change in 204 THE CHALLENGE OF ST. LOUIS St. Louis. The affirmative vote was but slightly in- creased. In a large city restrictive measures must be consecutive and progressive. Elimination of the liquor traffic is not an immediate probability, but more rigid control is. Therefore, measures such as the following should certainly receive immediate con- sideration : 1. Strict enforcement of present law. 2. Increase of the annual license fee. 3. Limitation of number of saloons. 4. Reasonable opening and closing hours. 5. The abolition of " wine rooms." 6. Prohibition of music and mechanical players in saloons. 7. Removal of screens from windows. 8. Separation of dance halls and saloons. 9. Restrictions against saloons near parks, schools, and transfer points. 10. Local option by wards. So long as the enlightened people of St. Louis do not require any and all of these restrictions, more radical measures are merely illusions. Furthermore, local public sentiment must become definite and earnest, otherwise no progressive policy can be carried out. We have drifted for six years without change or improvement. Surely, a problem so vital to the church as this is one that should be given most serious con- sideration. IV. Juvenile Delinquency The most easily curable form in which vice and crime are discovered is juvenile delinquency. The bad VICE AND CRIME 205 boy is a young and largely unformed creature whose moral status can be improved, and whose delinquency can be largely, if not entirely, remedied. The case of the girl is less hopeful, but strenuous efforts can do much for her. 1. Number of Delinquents That we have a serious problem is indicated by the fact that in six years, 1909-15, about ten thousand children, of which nearly 3,500 were repeaters, were brought into the Juvenile Court on the separate charge of delinquency. This means that one out of approxi- mately every fourteen children between ten and sixteen years of age was brought into court. This computa- tion includes girls, of whom there were not more than a thousand. Considering the boys separately, it ap- pears that from one ninth to one eighth are brought into the Juvenile Court some time or other ; but certain sections of the city seldom send boys to the court, while the great majority come from the congested dis- tricts, some of which apparently contribute every third or fourth boy. Think of a condition in which one member of every other family must be placed in charge of the Juvenile Court for the improvement of his morals, and training by father and mother must be superseded or publicly supplemented. That is the actual situation in parts of the city. 2. Causes If asked, Why did the children go wrong? we answer, Because of lack of moral stamina; but that gives little clew to the actual problem involved. Cer- tain fundamental personal and social conditions destroy 206 THE CHALLENGE OF ST. LOUIS our youths and must be removed if we would abolish delinquency. Among the important demoralizing conditions is abnormal family life. For many years it has been observed that in only slightly more than one half of the cases were the natural parents of the child living together at the time of the child's delinquency. That is, nearly one half of the children must cope with such disadvantages as orphanage, the lack of a father or a mother, and the presence of a stepfather or step- mother. These broken homes may be due to death, divorce, desertion, or separation of parents ; but what- ever the cause, the child soon loses the good effect of proper parental discipline. Furthermore, the in- fluence of step-parent is frequently unwholesome. Many unbroken homes, however, are demoralizing because of the low ideals, the evil habits, and vicious practises of father or mother. Intemperance, dis- honesty, shiftlessness, immorality, and other sins infect the entire family, and soon the son or daughter falls into evil ways. If the family is a sacred institution, shall not every influence and movement that protects and preserves the family be considered a religious service ? A bad physical environment overcrowding in the homes, dirty back yards, filthy alleys, dilapidated dwell- ings, neglected streets, and inadequate opportunity for play and recreation is a second serious factor. We are part of the environment of our children; and so are the family Bible, the church and school, Shake- speare, Mother Goose, the teacher, the cook and maid, the flowers, the park, the pet dog, the boys and girls on the street, and a thousand influences from the VICE AND CRIME 207 physical, mental, moral, and spiritual forces that sur- round us. The fact that delinquents are chiefly from certain sections goes far to prove this point. Experi- ence has shown that proper facilities for the use of leisure are an important preventive of delinquency. Give the boy an opportunity to use his surplus boyish energies in wholesome ways and he is not likely to commit crime; otherwise, street associations produce disorderly conduct, disturbance of the peace, or wanton destruction of property, and " gangs " are formed which meet in forbidden places and engage in mis- chievous or demoralizing conduct. The leader of a gang often is the key to the morals of an entire group and may lead them up or down. One plotter may ruin a score ; one honest boy may save a gang. The young girl suffers principally from the environment within her home. If she has no privacy, no place for com- pany, and is brought into too close contact with the male members of the family, her demoralization is easily accomplished. Many children go wrong because they are weak- minded. They lack the will-power to resist tempta- tion, and therefore become delinquent. Many of them are hardly responsible for their acts; and if such chil- dren come from unfavorable homes, their downfall is practically inevitable. Defectiveness is many times as frequent among delinquents as among normal chil- dren. Poverty and child labor are contributory causes of delinquency. There is a direct relation between de- linquency and family income, especially where girls are affected. Although poverty leads to larceny, which is the most common offense, it causes delinquency 208 THE CHALLENGE OF ST. LOUIS chiefly by interfering with opportunities for play, recreation, and education, and by forcing children into premature employment. Those forms of child labor which involve little or no supervision by the employer lead distinctly to delinquency ; investigations in various cities have brought out this fact. Accordingly the street trades, messenger service, and similar occupa- tions are particularly hazardous. A study made in St. Louis in 1910 showed that sixty per cent, of 507 newsboys whose histories were secured had come in touch with the Juvenile Court. Irregular employment also has a demoralizing tendency. Other causes play an important part; but broken homes, bad homes, lack of training, unwholesome asso- ciations, lack of recreational facilities, mental defect, poverty, and child labor are the principal evils with which we must contend. 3. Treatment The Missouri law requires delinquent childien under seventeen to be sent to our Juvenile Court, and its pro- bation force makes an investigation of each case before judgment is passed. Usually from one fourth to one third of the cases are dismissed. This fact does not imply innocence of the charge, but means that the child is given another chance without qualification, although he may be reprimanded by the judge. The most popular plan is to place the child on probation. Lesser and first offenders are favored in this way, but hard- ened repeaters are generally sent either to the Indus- trial School or to one of the three state training schools. At present there are fifteen probation officers, two VICE AND CRIME 209 of whom limit their work to investigation, while some are required to supervise neglected children, for in St. Louis these cases are also handled by the courts. As a consequence the officers have a heavy program on hand. On August i, 1916, there were 864 delinquent and 674 neglected children under probation or supervision by thirteen officers an average of more than 100 for each official. Here is a big field for constructive work, since prac- tically every child under the care of the court implies a family that needs attention. Juvenile delinquency is partly the manifestation of defective family condi- tions, and to that extent becomes a family problem. The probation officer must work with the children,, but especially with the parents. The church, the Sunday-school, the public school, the playground, set- tlement, and other agencies must all cooperate to re- construct the child, his home, and his environment. What a wonderful opportunity for good this becomes! Already the religious denominations have begun to recognize the need of their services. The Roman Catholic representative at the court, maintained by the St. Vincent de Paul Society, makes plans in regard to the handling of certain Catholic cases; the repre- sentative of the Church Federation does the same for Protestant children ; and a Jewish representative is also occasionally present. Only a small proportion of cases come directly within the province of these agents; nevertheless, the use of religion as a constructive force should be made universal, but the churches have hardly begun to perform the services of which they are capable. 210 THE CHALLENGE OF ST. LOUIS 4. Big Brother Movement The work of the Protestant Big Brother move- ment is especially noteworthy. The organization was founded in 1914 and carried along on a volunteer basis for some time, but in March, 1916, it was made a de- partment of the Church Federation and assigned a paid secretary, who spends part of his time at the Juvenile Court counseling and directing the boys, and correlating the work of the men, or " big brothers," who agree to befriend a boy. These men are recruited from the churches or church organizations and agree to help in providing opportunities and moral guidance for the " little brothers," who may be boys referred from the court or other boys in need of some good friend outside their families. The service for such boys frequently results in bringing entire families in touch with some church organization a result well worth the effort. The number of big brothers is ap- proximately 125, but with the continued organization of the work an indefinite expansion is possible. The befriending of adult offenders is also a very necessary work. The Catholic and Jewish groups each have a Big Brother organization, but on a volunteer basis. A Big Sister movement has sprung into existence, but it is likewise guided by volunteers. This aims to do for girls what the Big Brother movement does for boys. At present there are forty pledged big sisters, some of whom have been called to service. Delinquent boys and girls need not only public guardians; they need the help and good-will of the religious forces of the community, and we, as private individuals, cannot rest until they have it. Nor can VICE AND CRIME 211 we be content as long as the causes of delinquency remain. Much immorality among boys and girls is never uncovered by the courts. Usually the public does not realize the situation, although occasionally it manifests itself in the form of unlawful parenthood. Sex morality among adolescents, as well as among adults, is shamefully low and higher standards must be at- tained. V. The Task of the Church This brief account of crime and vice in St. Louis merely suggests the problem. Here we have the most extensive objective expression of sin and wickedness. The conflict with sin has always been the peculiar function of the church. What shall we say when we face the facts as they exist? Again, our program must be comprehensive. The individual appeal is primary, but the contagious in- fluence of sinful contacts must be removed. It is not enough to reform our courts, improve our probation system, construct a new workhouse, make provision for delinquent women, train our police, and appoint additional policewomen. Surround people with in- fluences that are wholesome and inspiring; otherwise, the spiritual life that has been implanted will not grow or bear fruit. Bring home to every man his short- comings so he may be convicted of sin, and offer him the gospel of Christ; but remember that part of this gospel requires that every man be granted an oppor- tunity to be good, just as every seed has a right to demand fertile soil if it is expected to bear good fruit. 212 THE CHALLENGE OF ST, LOUIS The prevention of crime and vice through an appre- ciation of their causes, social and individual, and their utter removal this is the constructive and permanent program which humanity demands that the church contribute to the world. VIII. LEISURE AND RECREATION The enjoyment of regular periods of time for rest and recreation is a custom the origin of which is lost in the unwritten story of antiquity. Moses required the Israelites to set aside every seventh day for rest and worship, but long before the Mosaic code many people enjoyed a similar holiday or Sabbath. Jesus was a most busy man who found it wise to observe the Sabbath, but who also insisted that the Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath. That is, the use of the Sabbath must be made consistent with the rules of common sense, and an iron-clad routine of Sabbath observance cannot be followed. Jesus rested at other times and made similar require- ments of his disciples. " And he said unto them, come ye yourselves apart into a desert place and rest awhile ; for there were many coming and going and they had no leisure so much as to eat." Rest from the work of the day or the week involves two important problems: first, the setting aside of a reasonable amount of time for the conscious develop- ment of the moral and spiritual qualities; second, the use of leisure hours for recreational purposes in such a way as will stimulate the body to speedy recovery from the fatigue produced by the monotony of work. 213 214 THE CHALLENGE OF ST. LOUIS /. Sunday Observance The first of these problems centers about the ques- tion of Sunday observance. The use of our Sundays in unwholesome and desecrating ways necessarily lowers the spiritual plane of the people ; but it is use- less to consider a return to the so-called Sunday blue laws with their trail of unhappiness for children and young people. We must aim, however, to preserve this day for the noble purposes to which it is dedi- cated. Sunday observance does not depend on frantic resolutions passed by religious bodies, but is deeply affected by several important considerations, chief among which are the following : 1. The number of hours of work and the intensity of labor. 2. The opportunity during week-days of sufficient wholesome and refreshing amusement and recreation. 3. Attractive facilities for recreation on Sundays. 4. Churches so vitalized that people feel the need of their help. 5. Indifference to the use and fate of the weekly rest day. Here, as in other cases, it is a problem of personal inspiration and of opportunity to gain the ideals. There will be no return to proper Sunday observance until opportunities for needed relief from the physical and mental tension of the work of the week are provided. Again, a line must be drawn between justi- fiable recreation and actual desecration of the Sunday. Finally, the churches must prove their value and make themselves indispensable. LEISURE AND RECREATION 215 We have gone too far in surrendering Sunday to commercial recreations of various kinds. We are too willing to allow thousands to toil for our advantage on Sundays. We have not given due credit to recreation for its virtue in supplying that indispensable exhilaration to life, obtained in no other way. This problem needs most serious consideration, and the energy of the churches should be employed to work out a solution. The factors involved are in- dustrial, social, recreational, mental, and spiritual, and there is no short cut to the goal. //. The Value of Recreation Modern industrial life is entirely too monotonous for the comfort of the individual. There are also the hurry and bustle and the nerve-racking noises of wheels, machines, whistles, typewriters, and other mechanical appliances. Added to this are long hours of work coupled with the demand for such speed of hand or foot that the toiler becomes almost machine- like in the regularity and automatism of his move- ments. Such an individual needs relaxation from this strenuous routine. He needs something to relieve the physical and mental tension that has been developed, and his mind must be brought to bear on other things. He may not require a cessation of physical or mental activities; but he should have exercise and thought in different forms and for different purposes. Beyond a limited amount of physical rest, the remedy for a tired body is not total inactivity, but enjoyable and refreshing leisure or recreation. A working girl may use her leisure in skating or in basket-ball and serve 216 THE CHALLENGE Ot ST. LOUIS her purpose well. A hard-working man may find that the moving picture relieves the tension and gives him zest and spirit. Recreation may be active or passive in form, but either will partially serve the needs of the man and woman of to-day. The general principle that hours of work should be limited and leisure time allowed is so well established that vacations are regularly granted to a large propor- tion of the working population, and various forms of recreation have been introduced into factories, stores, and workshops. Furthermore, provision is made for the recreation of the community by three types of agencies ; the public, through the municipality ; philan- thropic organizations, through settlements, social cen- ters, churches, and other institutions ; and the com- mercial agencies, which sell recreation to the public. At the outset several important principles must be laid down to guide us in our discussion. Recreation produces important moral results. The reduction of juvenile delinquency by the establishment of play- grounds serves as an illustration. The social effects of wisely used recreation are good. Recreation is a human necessity and is a developmental influence or factor just as is education; therefore it must be so- cialized, that is, provided from public or philanthropic sources and not be made dependent on commercial agencies. ///. Public Recreation i. Parks and Playgrounds The Christian can well afford to inquire into the public provision for recreation, since it affects so LEISURE AND RECREATION 217 vitally the character level of our population. St. Louis has a variety of splendid parks with a total area of 2,766 acres. A number, including Forest and O'Fallon Parks, are not convenient to the mass of citizens, but nevertheless serve an important function. In the larger parks are numerous picnic grounds and pro- vision for boating, skating, tennis, golf, baseball, and other games ; while the smaller ones afford opportunity for rest and lounging. The congested parts of the city have few parks and these are small and afford no definite forms of recreation. Accordingly, the work- ing men and women, especially the immigrants, have few opportunities to enjoy the fine parks of the city and particularly to engage in the games. To them a visit to our large parks is an exceptional occasion to be enjoyed in common by the entire family, parents and children; and as car- fare is a consideration, the excursion will not be repeated except at infrequent intervals. Two large outdoor swimming pools have been estab- lished, one operating in 1916 for the third year, the second just established. The pool in Fairgrounds Park is the largest artificial public pool in America, having a diameter of 440 feet and being capable of serving thousands of persons during the day. Swim- ming and bathing has proved a pleasant and useful diversion for individuals of all ages, both men and women, and has diverted many from amusements of doubtful character. The city also maintains three public baths, all in the congested districts. The pur- pose of these, however, is utilitarian rather than recre- ative. Few of their patrons find such facilities in the antiquated equipment of the houses in which they live, 2i8 THE CHALLENGE OF ST. LOUIS and therefore they must turn to these public agencies for relief. For the boys and girls and small children, a chain of public playgrounds has been provided. These grounds are located principally in the congested districts and are intended to serve those who cannot readily take advantage of the larger parks. In 1916 there were eighteen playgrounds in operation. They are nearly uniform in size and their total area is twenty-three acres, or 1.2 acres per playground. They are under the control of the Division of Parks and Recreation, which, as soon as the public schools close, begins its season of directed and supervised recreation. Each playground is equipped with apparatus, the principal forms being see-saws, swings, horizontal and vertical bars, and slides. The grounds are regularly open from 9 A.M. until 5 P.M., during which time a play director is constantly present. Night work has, however, been introduced on some of the playgrounds for the benefit of older children. In addition to the active physical forms of recreation, raffia, basket-making, and similar work are enjoyed by many of the children. In fact, it becomes restful to alternate activities and this plan likewise tends to keep children from drifting back into the streets. On many of the playgrounds some of the simpler apparatus is allowed to remain throughout the year. Accordingly, on Saturdays, Sundays, and outside of school hours children may be seen enjoying themselves at all seasons of the year, except in time of inclement weather. Furthermore, during the win- ter of 1915-16 a number of playgrounds were fitted out for winter sports, and arrangements were made for a director to be stationed at each of these grounds FIND THE LEADER OF THE GANG AND THE LIBRARY CHAMPION (PAGE 223) LEISURE AND RECREATION 219 during certain hours of the day when the schools were not in session. For two consecutive seasons moving pictures were exhibited at several of the playgrounds. The shows lasted until about 9 130 o'clock, after which the crowd rapidly dispersed. The films were carefully selected so as to include both educational and humorous subjects, and have proved a great delight to the thousands who have seen them. Vigorous opposition by the com- mercial moving picture shows to the splendid service rendered by the city to the various communities that were thus benefited forced the park department to discontinue this form of recreation. The St. Louis playgrounds make little special pro- vision for small children, who must be accompanied by some caretaker such as mother or sister; nor do they meet the needs of the boys who prowl about the streets after dark in search of some method of interest- ing themselves. Special Need During the Winter. Again, but lit- tle is done to lighten the long tedious hours of the winter months when mischief claims so many victims. Furthermore, the playground facilities are far from adequate. More play spaces are needed and those already in use should be operated more hours and days throughout the year. The colored children have but two playgrounds two definitely set aside for them and several others on which they may play but not interfere with the white children. When we recog- nize how widely scattered is the colored population we readily understand why the majority of colored children are condemned to the streets, yards, and alleys. We have no civic centers or field houses simi- 220 THE CHALLENGE OF ST. LOUIS lar to the fine institutions in Chicago and several other cities, where, besides the children, young men and women may come to participate in the recreational activities afforded; where books, gymnasium, swim- ming pool, club rooms, and even parties may be en- joyed. The city provides but little for that large group who are breaking from youth into manhood and womanhood and who should be kept from patronizing amusements that particularly promise to effect their downfall. In two summer seasons a number of the streets in the congested districts were set aside for a very short time to be used within certain hours as temporary playgrounds. One only needs to see some of the streets in New York to realize how thoroughly they have become homes of the people. So here an at- tempt was made to give municipal sanction to the use of the street for recreational purposes. The ob- jections of unsocial residents and property owners have prevented this plan from giving the much-needed relief from the over-congestion of our play spaces. 2. Social Centers Experiment has also been made with several public school playgrounds which were temporarily set aside for play activities during the summer. The Park Department provided the grounds with some equip- ment and carried on the same routine as on the other playgrounds. This plan of cooperation between the School Board and the Park Department should make more rapid headway. It is most unfortunate that the splendid play spaces connected with so many of our public school buildings are not utilized to greater LEISURE AND RECREATION 221 advantage during the summer months. Here is a valuable moral asset functioning at only a small pro- portion of its possible service to the community. The obstacles to the efficient use of this property should be overcome. The public school buildings would make admirable social centers for our people. There are more than one hundred of these buildings each located in a place selected because of the proximity of numerous school children. Opportunities for recreation, for cultural improvement, and for social life are not sufficiently numerous in a large city unless extensive provision is made by the public. Many of our school buildings should be used in a limited way for such purposes. The use of Franklin School by a neighborhood associa- tion affords an illustration of the service which can be rendered. Among the activities carried on are the following: in the afternoon basket-ball for boys and for girls ; folk dancing for girls ; mixed dancing club for children from fourteen to sixteen ; sewing, crochet- ing, embroidery, choral clubs and orchestra ; and in addition the teachers directly supervise such games as captain-ball and volley-ball. In the evening there are basket-ball, gymnasium activities, dancing, concerts, and a woman's club program. Five other schools were used as social centers during the winter of 1915-16. Gradually, meetings of vari- ous kinds are also being held in many school buildings. Emphasis must be placed on the fact that the majority of young people in our cities do not live in such spacious houses that they can enjoy social gatherings in their homes. Clubs, classes, musicales, debating societies, and even parties are hardly possible in the 222 THE CHALLENGE OF ST. LOUIS compressed parlors and sitting-rooms of the city homes. It is necessary for young people to find oppor- tunity for occasional gatherings under good physical conditions. Therefore, social centers must be de- veloped or boys and girls will drift into the habit of patronizing commercial amusements. In whatever locality the need exists, the schools should be open to the public for use as recreational, social, and civic centers. They are the property of the public and should serve the public. Allowance must be made for apparent indifference to the value of such a center. Individuals will not at once take advantage of the opportunity when a school is made a social center. It requires time to teach people that these institutions are for wholesome service. Patience must triumph, and then morality will also. After several years men will find the social center indispensable and it will justify the faith in its possibilities. New York has hundreds of groups of young people meeting regularly in its school buildings and even allows clubs or groups to enjoy occasional parties and social evenings. Here an extension of this service would greatly increase the opportunities for wholesome leisure and recreation. Heretofore in St. Louis the schools used as social centers have enjoyed only a limited amount of super- vision. It must be understood that successful work requires the guidance of a director, anxious to promote the physical, moral, and social welfare of the com- munity. The limitations imposed on the use of the civic centers in Chicago serve to illustrate the method necessary to gain successful results. Social gatherings are not open to everybody, but various groups each enjoy their turn. The promiscuous intermixture of LEISURE AND RECREATION 223 all classes, the chief charge made against public insti- tutions, is thereby avoided and the social function has the same standing and character as though occurring in a private hall or room. Opportunities for boys four- teen years old and upward are seriously needed. 3. The St. Louis Public Library The Public Library serves as an important recrea- tional agency. To begin with, the reading of fiction represents one form of recreation, and this class of literature constitutes more than one half of the total number of books issued for home reading. Again, the service of the children's department is noteworthy. Ten per cent, of the books taken home are children's books. The interest in such books is stimulated by the story hours conducted in the various libraries which familiarize the children with stories, characters, legends, and authors, and are a source of enjoyment directly, besides serving to stimulate interest in the books. The extension work of this department has carried the story hour to seventeen parks and play- grounds where in the summer months the children have been delighted with the stories told. The story hour tends to drive out the dime novel; it probably triples the number of books read by the children, and it popularizes good literature a condition not only directly helpful to the children, but one that raises standards in the theater, picture show, and elsewhere. The use of the library buildings for social center purposes is an additional part of the recreational pro- gram. In the fifteen rooms available for club meet- ings, there were 3,817 gatherings during the year 1914- 15; some of these were for educational, others for 224 THE CHALLENGE OF ST. LOUIS social purposes. Dancing clubs, boy scouts, reading circles, and other groups regularly gathered to carry out their programs. IV. Recreation Furnished by Philanthropic Organisations A considerable amount of recreation is already directly afforded through church organizations. The institutional churches and missions all have clubs, classes, and groups which provide recreation or com- bine it with forms of self-improvement. The extent of this service may be indicated by the activities of one church which has boys' clubs, gymnasium activities for boys and men, game rooms, circulating library, reading rooms, baths, girls' lunch club, crocheting and cooking classes for girls, social and literary clubs for boys and girls, moving pictures, girls' gymnasium classes, etc. Practically all churches offer a certain amount of recreation. A goodly number of Sunday- schools have an annual picnic and occasional evenings for pleasure, usually coupled with a formal program of a literary character. Furthermore, the young people's societies have their social gatherings and " get together " meetings, while men's and women's organi- zations sometimes depart sufficiently from their fixed plan or program to indulge in harmless and helpful social amenities. Again, out of some one of these organizations, or independently among the younger people, arise the basket-ball and baseball teams and other athletic groups. The Sunday School Athletic Association is an organization the object of which is to provide properly supervised athletics for boys who are members of LEISURE AND RECREATION 225 Sunday-schools, with the double purpose of improving the conditions under which they carry on their recrea- tion and to use these physical activities as a means of bringing into the Sunday-school, and retaining under its character-forming influence, boys who would other- wise remain outside. The organization is now in its fifth year. About sixty Sunday-schools of various denominations have cooperated with it, some continu- ously and others intermittently, some officially and others quite informally through groups of boys. About i, 600 different boys have been registered during that period, as many as six hundred in a single year. The work of the Association is becoming better under- stood and a larger number of men from a greater number of Sunday-schools each year enter into its active management. The Association aims to have every Sunday-school in the city recognize the im- portance of supervising the physical activities of the boys as a means of character development and char- acter preservation, and to appoint some responsible adult as head to such boys' work in that school. By following this line of development the Association has made substantial progress in educating Sunday-school officials to a realization of the importance of the work. Private philanthropic and religious agencies are filling an important recreational need. The Young Men's Christian Association, through it various branches, is giving wholesome leisure to a large number of young men. Among its activities are the following: gymnasium work, basket-ball, in- door baseball, swimming, boxing, fencing, wrestling, and games of various kinds. Club rooms have been established in the Central Branch and a 226 THE CHALLENGE OF ST. LOUIS good equipment has also been provided in the Rail- road and North Side Branches. The recreational activities of the Young Women's Christian Association reach all classes, and thousands of girls receive benefits of untold value. A well-developed department of physical education has provided gymnastics, physical training, and recreation for girls, and came in touch with 4,247 girls during the year 1914-15. The swim- ming pool is a well-patronized institution and frequent parties form a pleasant diversion. These two interdenominational movements have long since grasped the significance of recreation as a moral and religious factor and have made a special appeal to this side of life and, of course, with excellent results. The Boy Scout movement has a most wholesome moral purpose and effect. Practically divested of its military aspects, it now develops body and mind in most creditable manner. Scouts must be twelve years old, and on joining agree to accept the twelve Boy Scout laws, which require them to be trustworthy, loyal, helpful, friendly, courteous, kind, obedient, cheerful, thrifty, brave, clean, and reverent. The boys organize and gain the discipline that organization effects. They make frequent trips to the country and come in touch with nature, at the same time improving their general health and physique. They learn to swim and to do many practical things in the field of wood- craft; also to become kind and humane, to be polite, and to do good deeds from day to day. It is not to be inferred that becoming a boy scout at once transforms a ruffian into an exemplary youth, but it does at once set good influences at work upon LEISURE AND RECREATION 227 the boy. In St. Louis the troops are largely conducted in connection with church organizations, but not under church control, although there is some responsible, older member of the church usually as master of the local troop. These elementary groups are federated into a larger council, covering the city, and a scout commissioner stands at the head. There are about 3,000 scouts in St. Louis, and many more boys should join the troops. There are two corresponding organizations for the girls, the Camp Fire Girls and the Hearth Fire Girls. The former has about 330 and the latter about 500 members. Their purposes are similar, but differences exist in the detail of management and of methods. The Hearth Fire Girls, for example, promise to live uprightly, laugh heartily, labor cheerfully, and love sincerely. They are organized into groups averaging about fifteen each and are officered in a manner similar to the Boy Scout organization. The activities are classified under the following heads : home craft, health craft, camp craft, business craft, and miscellaneous. The girls come in touch with the great out-of-doors, develop physically and industrially, increase their ap- preciation of domestic life, develop the inevitable social-mindedness that results from democratic con- tacts, and are led to attend churches, Sunday-schools, and other institutions that insure moral and spiritual growth. The enlargement of this work is also greatly to be desired. V . Commercial Recreations The commercial recreations of this and every other city present a serious social problem. We cannot pre- 228 THE CHALLENGE OF ST. LOUIS vent recreation. We would not if we could, for we are well aware of its importance to our physical and moral life. But we permit recreation to be bought and sold, and pay scant attention to the quality of the article. i. Dance Halls One of these forms of recreation is dancing. Ac- cording to unofficial reports there are about 150 public dance halls in St. Louis. In addition there are a con- siderable number just outside the city limits. These halls are open usually three or four nights per week during the major portion of the year, but some operate practically every evening, including Sunday. They are scattered about the city where they can easily be reached by persons in quest of recreation. Charges are as low as ten cents for men, with admission free for women. Furthermore, in cases where charges are made for women, it frequently happens that clubs or special groups using the hall for an evening distribute tickets of admission rather generously among the fair sex in order to secure a satisfactory attendance. Some of the halls are connected with saloons, so that intoxi- cating liquors may be secured without leaving the building. Usually, however, in such cases the dance hall is on the second floor and the saloon is on the floor beneath. The public dance halls receive a non- descript patronage. Many shop and department store girls are regular attendants, and women from the streets also appear quite frequently. The men like- wise are a heterogeneous group, some coming by auto- mobile, others by street-car. On the whole, lack of acquaintanceship does not seriously interfere with the LEISURE AND RECREATION 229 pleasure of an evening. Many visitors, it is true, come in groups and dance only with members of their group, but official introducers and self-appointed men act as " go-betweens " and soon bring strangers together. Dancing partners are, in many cases, entirely unknown to each other, the names actually given being false. It therefore becomes easily possible for misguided, pleasure-loving girls to come in contact with vicious, low-minded men, and there is also no doubt that immoral women use the dance as a means of cultivat- ing " friends " and of increasing their earnings. In some dance halls attention is given to the manner of dancing and improper positions are prohibited. One hall has, during the recent winter, maintained an in- spector, a young woman who has greatly improved the conduct of the women and shielded them from the more obvious temptations. While the prevailing dance positions are demoralizing, there is little evidence that they are practised to a greater extreme in public dance halls than elsewhere. The one-step and its variations have driven out the more venerable waltz and two-step, and the results of the bodily contact of the dancers cannot be other than demoralizing. Again, the vile and indecent language that frequently falls upon inno- cent ears must bear shocking results, especially in the case of the younger girls. The chief evils of the St. Louis dance halls may be briefly stated as follows: Intoxicating liquors can be obtained in connection with some. Young girls who ought not to attend dances patron- ize these places. The indiscriminate associations are demoralizing. 230 THE CHALLENGE OF ST. LOUIS Vile language is common. They are in some cases recruiting stations of vice. They develop a craze for dancing. Dancing frequently continues until early morning hours. Girls are seldom chaperoned. Regulation of Dance Halls. Opinions differ as to the propriety of dancing. Suffice it to say that dancing as a recreation will be carried on for years to come. Accordingly, the first task of the man who really wishes to uplift his fellow-men is to improve the conditions under which young people enjoy their recreation. We must regulate all commercial dance halls and compel them to subscribe to a regime which will reduce to a minimum the evils that are present. Such control should include the following points: All dance halls should be licensed. Girls under eighteen should not be allowed unless chaperoned by parent or relative. Girls and boys under sixteen should not be allowed. Unattended women should not be allowed to enter after certain hours. The hall should be closed at twelve o'clock, unless special permission has been obtained to continue longer. No liquor should be sold in the same building (or an adjacent one, if closely connected with the dance hall). Disorderly conduct must be prevented. Moonlight dances must be prohibited, and an ade- quate corps of supervisors should be appointed to en- force these regulations. The manifest evils incident to public dance halls would thereby be largely eliminated. LEISURE AND RECREATION 231 2. Motion Pictures The next problem is that of the moving picture show, which has in recent years become most popular. In St. Louis the number has varied from 140 to 225; some of these operate throughout the year in well- constructed buildings, while the so-called " air-domes," which are out in the open, can only be conducted dur- ing the summer and in fair weather. The actual num- ber of shows operating at one time, therefore, differs much from season to season. The best estimates indi- cate that about 40,000 persons visit our picture shows daily, and that of this number about one fifth are children. The shows located in the residence sections tend to become family theaters, that is, places to which come entire families, or at least several representatives, while those located in business sections are naturally patronized more largely by men and women coming singly. Moving picture shows have splendid educational and recreational possibilities. In actual practise a show usually consists of from three to five films repre- senting several varieties of subjects educational, travel, comic, farcical, melodramatic, historical. In many cases a very clever combination of film subjects is presented. Mixed with the desirable films are one or perhaps two which either suggest immorality or low ideals, or deal in a flippant or demoralizing manner with such questions as love, marriage, police, law, and crime. No chain is stronger than its weakest link and no picture show is better than its most demoralizing film. It is that the presence of one improper film among the three or five that threatens to corrupt the spectator. Perhaps the following characterization of 232 THE CHALLENGE OF ST. LOUIS the films formerly presented in a local show illustrates this problem. 1 Film No. i. " Taming a Husband." Harmless. Film No. 2. " Back Among the Old Folks." Good. Film No. 3. " The Masterpiece." Beautiful. Film No. 4. " The Incorrigible Umbrella." Non- sense mixed with coarseness. Film No. 5. " The Drunkard's Dream." Impious and vulgar. An additional feature introduced in certain shows is the vaudeville performance that either alternates with the films or is given one or two times. This is frequently of a debasing character; the language is vulgar, the allusions are insinuating, while the postures and motions of the actors are anything but elevating. On the other hand, vocal solos of good character and instrumental music that is measurably enjoyable often fill the time between the presentation of the film sub- jects. One of the distasteful features of the darkness com- mon to all picture shows is the annoyance from which young girls and women frequently suffer. A large proportion of the films shown in St. Louis have been passed by the National Board of Censorship, which is a voluntary body without legal authority and which has secured the cooperation of the bulk of the film manufacturers. The work of this board, how- ever, is not final, nor can parents allow their children to see all the films that it has passed. For example, out of ten films passed by the board and examined by a representative of the Hearth Fire Girls for display before this group, nine were rejected because they were 1 Information supplied by Miss Helen Bowyer. LEISURE AND RECREATION 233 considered undesirable. In St. Louis many of the films presented have not passed the National Board. Furthermore, we have no assurance that the parts cut out are not reintroduced. In Kansas City it was dis- covered that this was being done, but a system of local censorship finally stopped this imposition. St. Louis has neither a public nor a voluntary system of censorship, and the habitues of the moving picture shows, therefore, become the victims of anything that operators may present, and it must not be forgotten that most managers are compelled to accept for display the pictures which the companies furnish them. The moving picture has come to stay. Its elimina- tion is impossible. Furthermore, it can and should be used in schools and churches for educative and uplift- ing purposes. It also has its purely recreational aspects. It fills an important need; one that must be recognized, even though its dangers are many and serious. If we would conserve the morals of our people, we must either supply the essentials gained through the moving picture show from wholesome and thoroughly moral sources, or we must make the shows themselves a wholesome form of recreation. Perhaps it is necessary to do both. The moral forces of the community should endeavor to develop a comprehensive program for the redemp- tion of the moving picture. The churches through the pulpit, and through their various subsidiary organiza- tions, should develop effective sentiment in favor of clean pictures. This sentiment must next be crystal- lized into laws controlling moving picture shows and providing such censorship as will protect the patrons of these establishments. The present practise whereby 234 THE CHALLENGE OF ST. LOUIS pictures can be condemned only after they have been exhibited and then only by the police is thoroughly vicious, because it enables the film owner to capitalize the results of such inspections to tremendous advan- tage. For example, film exhibitors have applied for injunctions against decisions by censors and have thus gained enormous publicity for the film presented. Adequate censorship makes possible a system of in- spection whereby the film is reviewed before it is presented and the objectionable parts cut out at once. Responsible persons must be selected for the work. They must have high ideals and yet recognize the necessary part that the comic and humorous films play in the economy of a people. The further details must be fitted into the practical organization of our munici- pal government. No system of censorship is self- operating. Unless sentiment approves and insists on presentable subjects, little will be done. The greatest good will be accomplished when public and philan- thropic agencies, including the churches and schools, grasp the opportunity which moving pictures afford and use them to best advantage. 3. The Theater The theaters, especially the cheap theaters, offer a similar problem. There are several of the latter in the city and their appeal is in large part to the lower ele- ments in man. In these houses vaudeville predomi- nates and vulgar presentations are common. Many of the advertisements of the plays emphasize the sensual and appeal directly to sex passion, while the plays are as vulgar and suggestive as the police will allow. One theater is frequented almost entirely by men, and LEISURE AND RECREATION 235 women are not expected. The remainder are patron- ized by both sexes, but principally by working girls and doubtful groups of men. On the other hand, the low- priced theater may present high grade vaudeville per- formances, and in frequent instances does so. Many of these are distinctly educative, or at least gratifying, to behold and wholly devoid of evil; and with them may go a series of musical numbers that are profitable to the audience. The unfortunate feature of many of the performances, however, lies in the injection of some doubtful or demoralizing number so as to give " flavor " to the program. These houses possess a real opportunity to serve the public beneficently. The one-act play, the farce, feats of physical prowess, unique exhibitions, and innocent fun can be a source of pleasure and educative uplift and receive the plau- dits of an appreciative public. The high-priced theater cannot reach the masses; but the theater-going public should be provided with the most wholesome things that the stage can afford. Great interest is attached to the so-called " legiti- mate " stage. Prices vary from fifty cents in the gallery to two dollars in the parquet. Here may be seen the Shakespearian actors and the celebrated stars in more recent types of dramatic art. There are few people who would not approve of thoroughly high class artistic performances. The power of dramatic portrayal and of scenic presentation necessary for the adequate production of the serious drama of the last quarter century is highly inspirational and cultural. Heavy drama, however, is not the daily fare here, as it is on the Continental stage, because the American people are not willing nor able to assimilate this variety 236 THE CHALLENGE OF ST. LOUIS of art in large consecutive doses. Accordingly, lighter plays and comedy are introduced to alternate with the drama. These may be delightful and a perfect antidote for the careworn man or woman, and if so, are worthy of our praise. But they are not always of this variety. Only too often they contain a spice and glamour similar to that in the low-priced theater and with effects that cannot be much different. In other words, the patrons of high-priced dramatic art run a moral risk similar to that of the man with only a quarter or less to spend. An interesting development of recent years is the sociological play. The recognition by theater mana- gers of the opportunity for this type of play is signifi- cant. Nevertheless, the purpose has been, in part, perverted. Too often the play has been saturated with morbid details and relentless scenes that stalk spectre- like into the minds of hearers and spectators, and give a sum total of effects different from that intended by the playwright, although not necessarily other than that deliberately planned by the theater management. Playhouses are not operated to educate or uplift the public. Their prime purpose is to return dividends to the stockholders. Therefore, the plays and per- formances presented are expected to draw profitable crowds, and if they fail, the performances are termi- nated. If, therefore, the sensual and suggestive are emphasized, it indicates that the people tend to enjoy this variety of production. Unwholesome plays are an effect, not merely a cause. Still, immoral plays are forced upon a people, and all plays that do not represent popular desire can be eliminated. Christian people, however, can well afford to consider the LEISURE AND RECREATION 237 modern stage as a sort of mirror; and if the stage is to be improved, as it must be, their practical standards must be raised and be resolutely applied to every form of dramatic art. 4. Music A further form of recreation is music. A city with so large a population of music-loving foreigners and their descendants as St. Louis is well supplied with bands, orchestras, music teachers, and music masters. During the summer months free band concerts of excellent quality are given periodically in a number of the large parks, and thousands of people come forth to enjoy the music. Excellent music is also frequently rendered at several of the various private pleasure gardens of the city, although other features of these amusement places are not always so stimulating or helpful. The city is distinctly backward in regard to grand opera. Until the winter of 1915-16 it had been a regu- lar feature of the winter's enjoyment, but the absence of a suitable hall for the presentation of the operas is most regrettable. Grand opera should afford an opportunity to hear some, at least, of the world's best singers, but in St. Louis no building is properly equipped, and the prices charged are prohibitive to the great mass of citizens. The idea that grand opera must be made democratic has not gained any foothold among the promoters of the institution. It is a luxury of the wealthy and the common people are shut out. The same situation practically exists when some noted artist is presented for any afternoon or evening pro- gram. The masses, are, therefore, forced to content 238 THE CHALLENGE OF ST. LOUIS themselves with the relatively inferior artists or with the phonographic reproductions of grand opera. The most ambitious musical project is the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra. This organization carries through an elaborate program every year, and secures famous singers, violinists, and pianists. It also offers a popular concert which is well attended and very successful, but lacks the presence of eminent soloists. There are practical handicaps in the way of the popu- larization of the best music, but they must not be per- mitted to interfere with the purpose to make music and song yes, the best music and song an instru- ment for the culture and inspiration of the masses. VI. Recreation and the Church It is not possible to determine accurately what pro- portion of the recreation enjoyed is furnished by public, philanthropic, and religious organizations, and by the commercial agencies. It is true that the public and non-commercial agencies have not developed a complete and consistent program to meet the popular need and that the commercial agencies have entered every field where a profitable venture was likely. Ac- cordingly, a large proportion, perhaps one third of all the recreation, is still furnished by the latter group. If recreation is a character builder and an indis- pensable factor in one's development, then its social control becomes absolutely necessary. That is, we cannot afford to allow the development of our morals to depend on the caprices of the manipulators of com- mercial amusement. It must become the concern of the Christian people, and, if so, recreation must be guided into the proper channels. As a result the moral LEISURE AND RECREATION 239 and religious elements in the community must ef- fectively consider the problem and develop an adequate program to meet the legitimate demands for recrea- tion and amusement. Why should not .the municipality provide more parks, playgrounds, swimming pools, and public meet- ing places? Why should not the schools be used as social centers, thereby meeting recreational needs and promoting democracy? Why should not the churches supplement these activities and provide such as may be consistent with their work and helpful to the community? Can other social agencies afford to neglect this service? When these groups perform their duty, the commercial recreations will dwindle to a minimum and will probably serve the least moral groups only. As a real factor in the recreation prob- lem they will have disappeared. But this will not occur until the Christian people of the community, inspired by a realization of the human value of whole- some leisure and recreation, demand and make ade- quate provision for this important influence on char- acter and ideals. IX. GOVERNMENT I. Value of Self -Government Government is merely ourselves as citizens, acting together in an organized way to do certain things that we cannot leave to voluntary action. We are the government, and therefore it expresses, to a large ex- tent at least, the state of public opinion; but govern- ment is machinery which does not always run smoothly according to our wishes. To some extent it may not reflect the will of the people. Ours is the form of government founded on the principles of democracy with all its advantages and disadvantages. Having chosen to rule ourselves instead of delegating this task to some benevolent despot, we must pay the price as well as reap the gains. It is better to think for ourselves than to pay an overlord to think for us. American manhood is better because of responsibili- ties imposed on it. We gain by receiving power and carrying duties. Rather than having prohibition handed to us by some well-meaning autocrat, we should wait until our citizenship demands it. Instead of being presented with a workman's compensation, old age insurance, or modern child labor law, we can afford to wait until the people insist on such laws. We will have a better and more virile citizenship as a result. Democracy not only gives expression to public opinion, 241 242 THE CHALLENGE OF ST. LOUIS but it naturally and inevitably develops the people. A democracy cannot stand still; it must move, forward or backward. i. Virtues of Democracy Democracy is itself a form of discipline. The reign of the brotherhood of man cannot take place except in a democracy, and therefore this form of govern- ment is the greatest asset that the Christian religion can enjoy. Furthermore, the individual Christian can find no better way of promoting the kingdom of God than by resolutely supporting democracy and using his efforts to make it realize its ideals. For these reasons our government is of fundamental concern to every Christian. What, then, is the religious value of democracy? First and foremost, it promotes unselfishness. To rule ourselves means to limit ourselves voluntarily so as to promote the interests of all. " Now we that are strong ought to bear the infirmities of the weak." " Let no man seek his own, but each his neighbor's good." Only in a democracy can men rise to a volun- tary and willing subordination of themselves to the interests of the community. It is, therefore, a dis- cipline which makes better men and more unselfish, disinterested human beings. The failure of Christian- ity to vitalize religion in many countries of the world, both in the past and at present, is partly due to un- democratic principles of government. In a similar way, democracy promotes the spirit of cooperation, self-denial, concern for the weak, oppor- tunity, and justice. It develops personal moral quali- ties through the multitudinous contacts that take place GOVERNMENT 243 and that necessarily affect our relationship with others. A Christian government creates an environment and develops relationships so wholesome that it becomes at once an important spiritual asset. A vital problem for the individual Christian, therefore, is to make our government as much of a spiritual power as possible. The Christian must not simply go to the polls on elec- tion day; he must make government his moral agent rather than allow the unprincipled to make it a curse. 2. Development of Standards Practical government to-day can accomplish certain important ends. In actual fact it is not the people, but a certain influential portion of the people, who rule. This ruling class can make the government its instrument for creating ideals. While, in the main, government crystallizes the past, it can, in the hands of progressive citizens, forecast the future. For ex- ample, successful governmental control of the light or gas industry may show what our citizens in their corporate capacity can accomplish, or mothers' pen- sions, on a small scale, may indicate the possibility of successful philanthropic work on a large scale. Furthermore, government establishes minimum stand- ards. The majority of the ruling class adopt an ideal and soon all will agree to its practicability. Laws aim- ing to prohibit littering the streets and sidewalks, spit- ting in public places, and the maintenance of nuisances are cases in point. Probably the laws, when enacted, were not definitely supported by a majority of voters. In a short time, however, the regulations justified themselves and the public accepted them without re- serve. The essential good is this: higher standards 244 THE CHALLENGE OF ST. LOUIS of conduct have been accepted by the masses and a real gain in morality has been achieved. II. The Home Rule Problem i. Realm of State Government Some knowledge of the relation of St. Louis to the state government is very important. As is well known, state law covers all of the important governmental matters, while the minor ones are left to the city. Such essentially moral problems as marriage, divorce, desertion, juvenile delinquency, age of consent, major crimes of all sorts, the merit system, and many others all of them directly affecting St. Louis are the ob- jects of state and not municipal legislation. If we want better laws for the care and treatment of bad boys and girls, we must secure them from the state legislature. If we want to add important restrictions to our present liquor laws, we must enlist the interest of the state, although the city is empowered to add certain minor restrictions directly. Moral advance in St. Louis is therefore closely bound up with the moral progress of the whole state. Usually the rural and the urban districts differ from each other on certain points, and the resultant compromises are satisfactory to neither. The struggle between the " wets " and " drys " in the legislature of 1915 practically paralyzed all of the social legislation proposed. The cities may want better child labor and school attendance laws, while the country districts oppose them. As a city we are but part of a larger body, the state, with five times our population. We need, therefore, not only to send good men to our legislature and to vote for honest, efficient, God-loving candidates for state office, GOVERNMENT 245 but also to consider the responsibility for St. Louis of the remainder of the state. 2. Local Self-Government In America we have long lingered under the benevo- lent principle of local self-government, which, if car- ried to the extreme, however, becomes anarchy. Ap- plied to the cities, this principle is called " home rule." At the outset we must realize that local self-govern- ment has definite limitations. In isolated communi- ties it might properly be complete, but in our modern civilization where people move freely from one com- munity to another, and where the standards and methods of one section inevitably affect another, com- plete local self-government becomes provincial and sadly retards the march of progress. Those matters that are of general or community interest must be dealt with by the larger political unit; those that are ex- clusively local, by the local unit; but the enforcement of general laws must frequently be left to each sep- arate community. Home rule has different meanings in different cities, owing to the varying powers granted by the states to their municipalities. St. Louis is one of the few cities that may make its own charter without state in- terference, and to this extent we enjoy home rule. The home rule issue in this city relates particularly to the control of the police, election, and excise de- partments. The chief problems involved are proper enforcement of law, efficient officers, honesty, elimi- nation of partisanship, and local self-government. The Police. At present, our police board, with the exception of the mayor, who is an ex-officio mem- 246 THE CHALLENGE OF ST. LOUIS her, is appointed by the governor, and frequently as- sumes a partisan complexion. The active police offi- cials are selected by the board and the whole police system is under its control. Many believe that the board should be abolished and a commissioner ap- pointed by the mayor and made responsible to him. Others would adopt a compromise by having the com- missioner selected locally, but removable by the gov- ernor. The opponents of complete home rule point to the fact that 15,000 arrests made annually are of state cases and that the police may be used in unlaw- ful ways to affect the election results. This argument is based partly on principle, but to some extent on ex- pediency, since Missouri is normally Democratic while St. Louis is Republican. That the state has a com- pelling interest in the efficiency of the police is evident from their duties. It seems reasonable, therefore, to conclude that absolute home rule, in this respect, is inconsistent with our best interests. Excise Commissioner. The excise commissioner is one of the chief factors in the enforcement of our liquor laws. Since all liquor dealers are required to pay federal, state, and city licenses, the state is quite naturally an interested party. The commissioner is appointed by the governor and is frequently controlled by him. The recent lax enforcement of law has been attributed by many to the influence of the state ad- ministration. On the other hand, it is held that if the excise commissioner were appointed by the mayor, a less efficient officer would be obtained, and the state laws, which are not very popular in St. Louis, would not be rigidly enforced. Experience under the last ad- ministration, however, practically destroys this argu- GOVERNMENT 247 ment, because many violations of law were discovered and wine rooms had again begun to flourish. Probably a system of joint control is the more desirable at the present time. We must always remember, however, that we gain in morality and self-control by being granted the largest possible amount of freedom con- sistent with the general welfare. Election Commissioners. The elections and the registration of voters are supervised by a commission of four persons, two from each of the two leading parties. This plan practically assures non-partisan ad- ministration of the law, although there remains the opportunity for discrimination against the minor parties. Probably these parties, if of sufficient signifi- cance, should also have representation on the board. The elections in a large city lend themselves so easily to ballot-box stuffing, intimidation, and other manipu- lations that the interest of the state cannot be neg- lected. A dishonest vote in this city might upset the results for the entire state or even for the nation. No plan of control, whether under the direction of the local or the state government, is likely to work well unless organized on a bi-partisan or non-partisan basis. Temporarily at least, the { former plan is better, for so-called non-partisan boards frequently degenerate into violently partisan bodies. A careful study of the situation indicates that home rule is not a simple question to be decided affirma- tively or negatively, but that important social, politi- cal, and moral results are at stake. The great essential is to move forward, to uplift the body of our citizen- ship, to promote the general welfare, and to create better standards and ideals. 248 THE CHALLENGE OF ST. LOUIS ///. The Municipal Government St. Louis has been an incorporated city for nearly one hundred years. It has enjoyed and suffered many charters granted to it by the state, and in 1875 it was given the right to make its own. Accordingly a charter was adopted in 1876. As this became inade- quate, a board of freeholders was elected in 1909 which drafted a proposed charter for the city; but its provisions were thought by many to permit so much corporation control of municipal affairs and to grant so little power to the people that it was badly defeated at the special election held in 1911. The people, how- ever, were weary of the old charter and a new board was elected in 1913, which, after many months of service, submitted a new charter which was ratified by the people in 1914. i. The Recent Charter The following are some of the more important pro- visions of this new instrument of government : The elective city officials are : the mayor, comptrol- ler, and board of aldermen. Responsibility is thus centered, with advantage, on fewer officials. The former two-house system has been displaced by a single board of aldermen, one man to be selected from each of the twenty-eight wards, but voted on by the entire city. Since the whole city cannot be cor- rupted so easily as can one ward, a better class of offi- cials will be chosen. A new danger, however, has made itself evident. It is almost inevitable that the entire board of aldermen will be composed of men belonging to the same political party, and the minority GOVERNMENT 249 party will have no representation whatever. This result is quite at variance with the just principle of pro- portional representation, according to which each party would be represented in the board by the same pro- portion of the whole number of officials as the votes cast for that party form of the entire number of votes registered. Elected officers may be recalled. A recall petition must be signed by twenty per cent, of the registered voters before the people may vote upon the question. Provision is made for the initiative, five per cent, of the voters being required for a general, and seven per cent, for a special, election. This enables the citi- zens to enact legislation directly if their wishes are opposed by the city administration. The referendum may be made effective. No bills except emergency measures become laws until thirty days after their adoption, and if, within that time, two per cent, of the voters desire an opportunity to ex- press their views, they can delay the adoption of the ordinance for forty days, but five per cent, are neces- sary to submit the ordinance to the people for con- sideration. The new charter abruptly repeals the restrictions of the old one relative to public utilities and gives the city ample power to buy, control, and operate them if it desires. This most wholesome provision goes far to relieve us from corporate oppression, and opens the way for the gradual ownership and control of munici- pal public utilities. The right to regulate utilities is equally clear. The creation of the efficiency board was one of the greatest forward steps. Elective officials, the heads 250 THE CHALLENGE OF ST. LOUIS MUNICIPAL THE CITY ORGANIZATION UNDER THE CHARTER GOVERNMENT 251 EDUCATIONAL THE SCHOOL DISTRICT ORGANIZATION ORGANIZATION CORRESPONDING TO THAT OF A COUNTY of departments, and their secretaries are exempt, but all other employees of the city are required to take the competitive examinations conducted by the board. Eligible lists of successful candidates are prepared and appointing officers are required to choose one of the three highest persons on the certified list. The mayor may veto particular items in a bill with- out vetoing the entire bill. The budget system is introduced into our financial 252 THE CHALLENGE OF ST. LOUIS operation, thereby lessening the opportunity for municipal graft. The complete outline of our municipal government is given in the accompanying table prepared by the Board of Public Service and the Civic League. St. Louis is one of very few cities with a school organization separate from the municipal government. Formerly the school board was a department of the government, but the corruption became so grave that the voters overthrew the old system and established the school administration on an independent basis. Politics has been almost eliminated as a result, for usually the two parties agree upon a ticket which divides the offices between them. Without doubt, the schools have greatly increased their efficiency. Per- haps the chief drawback is the difficulty in securing close cooperation between the board of education and such municipal agencies as the park, health, and hospi- tal divisions. With these departments all closely co- ordinated under the same general head, better coopera- tion could be effected. 2. The City Budget Although every department is important and care- fully related to the remainder, the interest of the citi- zen, from a Christian standpoint, centers largely in the boards and departments engaged in health, philan- thropic, educational, and correctional work. Most of these features of our government are grouped together in the department of public welfare. The various lines of work and the cost of each for the year 1915-16 are given in the following table: GOVERNMENT 253 Director of public welfare and expenses.. $8,556.76 Legal Aid Bureau (part of year) 2,491.00 Health Commissioner . .. 26,051.19 City Chemist 14,360.44 Sanitary Division 118,250.99 Exterminating Mosquitoes 5,010.93 Union Market Comfort Station 3,613.27 Court House Comfort Station 3, 2 33-79 Hospital Division 813,516.51 Parks and Recreation 508,933.17 Division of Correction 134,692.65 Miscellaneous charities and pensions 191,517.48 Total $1,830,228.18 Courts dealing with juvenile or adult offenders (city and state) 464,094.90 Police Department 2,148,932.63 Total $4,443,255.71 Board of Education $4,379,246.06 Out of a total expenditure of over $16,000,000 by the school board and the municipal government in all its departments, more than $4,000,000 is expended for four general purposes health, recreation, charities, and crime. One half of the amount is spent on the police; the health and hospital work costs nearly one million, and the remainder goes to charity or is spent on correctional work. There is an enormous expendi- ture bearing particularly on the moral and social con- ditions of the city. At once several questions suggest themselves. Is this money wisely apportioned? Is it efficiently used? Are we simply relieving bad condi- tions, or are we preventing them? How much of this expenditure should finally be wiped out? Christian citizenship demands that we attempt to answer these questions, that we inquire whether we have capable officials at work men with vision and power who are reducing disease, vice, poverty, and crime. If they are not, the fault lies largely with us and we are fail- 254 THE CHALLENGE OF ST. LOUIS ing to use government as an effective instrument of religious effort. 3. The City and Social Welfare The Department of Public Welfare is composed of four divisions, health, hospital, park and recreation, and correction. The health division has charge of birth and death registration, markets, quarantines, and the morgue; it enforces laws relative to public health, and works in general for the promotion of health. In this work the police are expected to give some as- sistance by reporting any disease or nuisance they may find in their daily patrol of the city. The sanitary officers of the health division are not sufficiently nu- merous to enable them to inspect tenement houses, yards, courts, and alleys with sufficient frequency to gain good results. The hospital division includes the hospitals, city in- firmary, medical laboratories, dispensaries, sanitarium or hospital for the insane, and the municipal nurse work. The care of the sick is a tremendous task, and the development of methods of control that will safe- guard the public money against the imposition of those able to pay for their service is likewise no easy matter. On the other hand, it is difficult to maintain public hospitals on a plane that prevents people from shrinking at the thought of public philanthropy as compared with that of private institutions, although both may be entirely free. Care of Criminals. The charter provides for a commissioner of correction to have charge of and supervise our detention, penal, and correctional insti- tutions, such as the jail and workhouse; but no ap- GOVERNMENT 255 pointment has as yet been made. This division of work is one of the most unsatisfactory in the city. The new jail is almost completed, but the prospect of a municipal farm to replace our antiquated workhouse is still far in the future. Meanwhile our court system is handicapped. Criminals cannot be properly handled and judges may be influenced on the side of leniency by this fact. The charter provides a maximum fine of $500 for violations of ordinance, and a maximum workhouse sentence of 100 days for such violation; and it permits the city to enact a law whereby the drunkard or other habitual delinquent may be detained in some suitable institution on an indeterminate sen- tence not to exceed one year with a view to his reform and cure. Such an ordinance has actually become a law, but it seems to interfere with the state law and no attempt to put it in operation has yet been made; consequently no effective method of reforming delin- quents is possible. Social Investigation. One of the important powers of the Department of Public Welfare has hardly been touched. The Board of Aldermen may provide funds to enable the department to study the causes of poverty and publish the results, and to make similar investigations of delinquency, crime, disease, and other questions relating to the public health, morality, and welfare. It was the aim of the writers of the charter to make the Department of Public Welfare an educational agency which would enlighten the city in regard to its conditions and needs, thus enabling the citizens to carry out a program of preventive work which would be to our moral and social advantage. So far, however, no attempt to accomplish this has been 256 THE CHALLENGE OF ST. LOUIS made, and our city government has done but little to throw light on our problems. Quite to the contrary is the record which Kansas City has made in recent years: provision has been made for a free legal aid bureau which is now conducted by the city, and for a municipal lodging-house which has been operated each year during the winter months. Although the St. Louis charter permits the establishment of a free employment bureau, this institution has not been authorized, and may not be necessary because of the federal and state bureaus operated here. Lack of Published Reports. The failure of the city government to study conditions is, however, less inexcusable than its failure to give to the people those facts that are easily accessible. Our governmental agencies do not even provide our citizens adequately with published information as to their work and services. Our court system is particularly delinquent, and lacks an appreciation of the sociological signifi- cance of proper reports. We are not told how many divorces are granted annually; we do not know how many arrested men are convicted of felony or mis- demeanor, how many are acquitted, nor the proportion of convictions or acquittals; we are not told what is done with the drunkard or immoral woman ; we know but little about desertion and non-support cases; the work of the juvenile court is occasionally reported and that of other courts not at all. Our vital statistics tell us little about illegitimacy, we have no information about common law marriages, and the volume of social disease is not revealed. Knowledge is the first step in a program of reform; yet much of the information necessary to point the way to better things is not GOVERNMENT 257 summarized nor published and the undigested mass of facts remains hidden in ponderous volumes of records or in inaccessible filing-cases. The Efficiency Board. Some evidence of the standards prevailing in St. Louis is seen in the fight made on the Efficiency Board. This board has faith- fully attempted to carry out the provisions of the charter; and, guided and helped by experts in various departments of work, has given eminently practical examinations. No small board can be acquainted with the practical phases of every existing occupation; nevertheless, it can meet the problem in the way sug- gested. One of the results of the work of the board is the decline of the system of passing out " jobs " to the " boys." Many men vote a certain way on the promise of a position and then receive it whether they are fit or not. This low ideal of municipal gov- ernment has had control of many cities for many years, and the present opposition to the board indicates that we have not reached a stage where public opinion demands good, competent men. The failure of the Board of Aldermen to make adequate appropriations is not to their credit, and the other attempts to pre- vent the Efficiency Board from establishing eligible lists reflects seriously on the high-mindedness of those who have objected. Already various municipal agen- cies have expressed their delight over the efficiency of the men now secured for work. Give the board a chance to develop standards of service, and soon our expenditures will mean much greater results, and the caliber of our city employees and all employees will be raised. To drive out the vicious spoils system means not only better government but better men. When 258 THE CHALLENGE OF ST. LOUIS good men only are selected, the rank and file must qualify or they can find no work. Tax Dodging. When the Pharisees asked Jesus about the Roman taxes he took a penny, and, showing them the superscription of Caesar, answered them by saying, " Render therefore unto Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and unto God the things that are God's." It was a lesson in honesty and aimed particularly against tax dodging an evil that is almost universal and practised by many " good " citizens. The local situation is a serious one. The assessed valuation of St. Louis property was, in 1916, fixed at $630,000,000 and the tax rate at $2.35 per $100.00. Less than one sixth of this amount is personal property, which has an unusual capacity for escaping the eyes of the as- sessor. There is no doubt for the discrepancy be- tween the tax returns and the probate record of es- tates proves it that many men do not accurately record their personal belongings. In the country dis- tricts tax dodging usually takes the form of under- valuation of farm lands and of livestock, but taxes are paid on the evaluated property. In St. Louis the dodging is deliberately executed by property owners who fail to give a correct return of their property. Before we can expect the country districts to act fairly, we must sweep before our own doors. A policy of Christian morality must eventually force us to be honest with ourselves and the remainder of the state. Tax dodging involves individual morality, but is in part induced by defects in government or administra- tion which make a correct return of property values an injustice to the taxpayers. The Christian must work out two problems : first, the system of taxation GOVERNMENT 259 must be made ethically right, so as to reduce the in- justice to honest taxpayers; and second, the tax- payers must be inspired with honest motives. Partisanship. A severe handicap to the promotion of morals through government is undue partisanship. Men follow the political inclinations of their fathers and often fail to practise the fundamentals of Chris- tian common sense. Men are not angels or devils be- cause they are Republicans or Democrats; yet all of the men on one ticket are likely to win on election day. In a municipal election the parties seldom pre- sent definite issues. As far as the conduct of the local government is concerned, it would make little differ- ence which ticket was elected, but on each ticket there is the widest difference in the character of candidates. The municipal government will be a power for good only when men of ability, probity, and character are chosen. Good government leagues and municipal voters' leagues should have the support of our best citizens at all times. Their aim is to determine the moral fitness and skill of men for office so that voters may choose wisely. So far these organizations have scarcely influenced our local politics; nevertheless, we must listen to their advice if we are to continue to improve our local administration. The corruption of fifteen years ago is history, but we cannot now boast of a corps of officials whose sole ambition is to serve the people through the positions to which they have been entrusted. Otherwise, why are questions not answered on their merits instead of on the basis of the effects on this or that group of citizens? Why is public interest subordinated to private ? Why has our city wrestled with the Terminal Association, with the 260 THE CHALLENGE OF ST. LOUIS wine room, tenement house, and clean milk problems for many years without coming to satisfactory de- cisions? Too many citizens, however, do not even take the trouble to vote. In 1912 more than 140,000 votes were cast, but in 1915 there were only 103,000, or three fourths of the number of registered voters. Equal Suffrage. Municipal government, in its finer sense, is community house- and home-keeping. We are all members of a large family dwelling in close proximity. We cooperate with each other, perhaps exchanging our services and labor. So much of the work formerly done in the home has passed to the factory and workshop that the services and duties of women have greatly changed; but they are as keenly interested as ever in clean bread, although it is made in a bakery ; in garbage disposal, although the garbage is not disposed of directly at home; and in screened food, no matter where it may be. In other words, women have lost control of the care and disposition of much household service, and they and their families are being victimized. They can regain such control only by being granted a right to vote. Arguments are presented on both sides, but a conclusive discussion of this problem is imminent, and many women may well feel that they are suffering from serious discrimination, when our laws are so lenient to males, and draw lines of discrimination on a sex basis. Equal suffrage is a moral issue, and does not depend for justification on expediency, economic necessity, or intellectual capacity. Demands of Social Welfare. We burn the can- dle at both ends by appropriating money for unneces- sary purposes, employing inefficient labor, and neglect- ing to make improvements that yield permanent re- GOVERNMENT 261 suits. People object to improvements because they cost money. We know that playgrounds promote health and morality, but we refuse to equip a sufficient number even though we realize that eventually poverty and crime will be reduced. We want laws, but pro- vide no machinery for enforcement, because that costs money. Our tenement house law has no ade- quate enforcing body. No one is specially deputized to insure clean milk for the city. Children under ten may not sell newspapers, but the law provides no method of enforcement. We have a totally insufficient number of factory inspectors, and women work longer than the law allows. We do not have officials to investigate cases of desertion, non-support, and va- grancy, but these offenses cause much suffering to the victims and cost the people large sums of money. In a similar way many civic improvements have not been made. St. Louis suffers from a miserable system of street lighting a disgrace to a city of its size. Unsightly beggars are permitted on the streets. Speed- ing autos kill and wound many people annually. The heating and ventilation of street-cars should be im- proved. The problem of smoke abatement has not been solved. Unsavory smells pervade the city and reduce the charm of living. Our garbage is not care- fully collected in certain sections; ashes and rubbish are not collected at all by the city, but private in- dividuals dispose of them as they please. A city becomes great because of the character and quality of its citizens. Its churches, schools, saloons, slum areas, and civic spirit, rather than its taxable property and millionaires, determine its desirability as a place of residence. Every city needs a whole- 262 THE CHALLENGE OF ST. LOUIS some optimism as well as a conservative discontent. To be clamoring for a million people, and to con- tinue killing thousands with unnecessary tuberculosis, children's diseases, and accidents is contradictory and prevents emphasis on wholesome living. To invite industries to our city and oppress the workingmen spells labor troubles and unhealthful discontent. To make the city grow, it must be made a pleasant, whole- some, moral, and profitable place in which to live. The foundations must be laid on which a permanent build- ing can be erected. Real loyalty to St. Louis implies, first of all, loyalty and undivided support for a pro- gram which will realize a better and happier city. Then the ends sought can more easily be gained. An unnatural, hothouse growth is unfortunate and only adds to the misery and wo of disaffected members of our citizenry. IV. The Improvement of Civic Life What is being done to promote good government in St. Louis and to interest men in this subject ? Several years ago a League of Good Citizenship was formed, but it promptly died. The interest was not sufficient to carry it on. Good government works in a circle ; it makes good citizens, and the latter in turn make good government. If the Christ-life stands for perfect morals and bodily health and vigor as necessary ac- companiments of spiritual ideals for a better order of things, should not we, in imitating that ideal, strive to realize at least part of the result? To do this we must demand the enactment and enforcement of such legislation as is needed to inspire and uplift our people. Laws actually in force are a part of our spiritual en- GOVERNMENT 263 vironment and soon leave their definite impress on us. If they are wholesome and we are mentally normal, we will be elevated by the interaction. Unselfish men must see the possibilities that government affords for human betterment and aim to raise its standards. Various agencies have arisen to afford our citizens an opportunity to perform real Christian service. The evangelized citizen must Christianize his environment he must capture government for God. The Anti- Saloon League, a federated movement founded by the churches, furnishes an opportunity for service. The Church Federation, through its Committee on Social Service, champions the cause of better gov- ernment. The Catholic laymen have several organi- zations through which they can express their interest in our public welfare. Many secular organizations aim to accomplish benevolent objects and are Christian in their ideals of service. The Municipal Voters' League was founded in 1908, and has since made investigations of all candi- dates for municipal office. The records of the candi- dates have been ascertained and public recommenda- tions have been made accordingly, thus giving the voter an opportunity to discriminate wisely. In this work the League has enjoyed considerable newspaper support. The Civic League has for years striven to improve the physical conditions of the city, and has also given our citizens extensive opportunities to shape our moral and social growth. Its program has covered the most important current civic needs, but the fulfilment of that program awaits the support of interested and enlightened men and women. The Social Service Con- 264 THE CHALLENGE OF ST. LOUIS ference aims to improve the philanthropic functions of our city government and to secure needed legisla- tion. The social education of the public is also one of its objects. The civic improvement associations, school patrons' organizations, clubs, and specialized trade or professional societies can all be utilized for good. The various ward and district improvement associations usually interest themselves in matters re- lating to their particular sections and confine that in- terest to questions involving property values or physi- cal conditions. The business men's organizations established to promote industry have heretofore ac- complished but little to promote social betterment a fact which is most regrettable and does them little credit. Why should they not divert some of their energy to improving the social and moral conditions of the city? The civic organizations are federated in a central body and are therefore capable of exerting considerable pressure on the Board of Aldermen and the administration. An institution such as the City Club is a decidedly wholesome influence. It commits itself neither to men nor measures; but it permits and promotes discussion, and this is half the battle. The labor unions are numerically a very important factor and can, because of their influence, accomplish wonder- ful results. Some of the church organizations have also directly interested themselves in good govern- ment and have striven to educate their members so as to enable the men to vote intelligently. On the whole, the nature of the problem is clear. Vitalized, effective Christian citizenship cannot stand still and allow the lobbies and lobbyists at the council chambers of the city to consist of the unchristian ele- GOVERNMENT 265 ments of the population. Religion is meaningless if such conditions exist and if unwholesome contacts are permitted to ruin the spiritual life of a community. Unless Christian men possess the stamina to stand publicly for better conditions at all times and to support moral legislation when legislative crises ap- pear, their so-called Christianity is a sham. In the realm of government their work can probably be best accomplished through existing secular organizations with noble motives. Every Christian should belong to an agency that aims to promote the cause of good government in some form. No one man can be in- terested in every phase of work. Therefore the vari- ous associations should each find a sufficient number of supporters to make our municipal administration thoroughly amenable to Christian citizenship ; to insure the enactment of laws Decause of the public service that they will render^ and to increase the area of interest in the beneficent power of that organization, which, after all, is the people acting in a corporate capacity. V. Summary What can we do? The foregoing chapter, it is hoped, has pointed out some needs. We must stand for the ideal of democracy and work consistently toward that end. We must center responsibility on a few persons, and then hold them strictly accountable for their acts. We must simplify the machinery of government so as to make it amenable to popular will. We must consider government a means and not an end. 266 THE CHALLENGE OF ST. LOUIS We must appreciate the fact that local conditions are partly dependent on state administration. We must focus attention on the reluctant branches of our local government, so as to secure better en- forcement of law. We must prevent the privileged classes from plun- dering the weak and powerless. We must insist on being provided with more knowl- edge about conditions and also about the actual ac- complishments of the various public departments and agencies. We must make government a force that extends opportunity to the helpless and tempers justice with mercy. We must remove, as far as possible, the incentives to dishonesty. We must make our governmental machinery and agencies capable of caring properly for the dependent, criminal, and defective classes. We must struggle for a clean city, a moral city, an intelligent city, a city worth while, and one whose corporate efforts result absolutely in the promotion of genuine opportunities for the development of indi- vidual character and virtue. What citizen who professes to do his duty can fail to participate in the duty of promoting good govern- ment? To avoid this responsibility because the so- called " mire of politics " soils unstained hands is merely the plea of a spineless citizen and is not becom- ing to virile men and women who recognize the true functions of government. The state is not outside of us. We are the state. X. ACCEPTING THE CHALLENGE The social and moral conditions of St. Louis must rest so heavily on the consciousness of the religious forces of this city that a definite program of individual and collective effort can no longer be delayed. Such effort involves the genuine expression of a fraternity which manifests itself in a Christlike life, in character, and in service. Not mere soul buoyancy, but deeds that transform men and society are needed. Every church-member, every church, every church organiza- tion should recognize the dual aspect of the influences on every human soul ; first, the inspiration that draws the soul to God; second, the temptations for weal or wo that the contacts of daily life afford. The way- farer in the mission may rise for prayer, or even kneel at the altar, but unless the change of heart is followed by an opportunity for a decent job, for a decent lodg- ing place, for a companionship that uplifts, for recrea- tion that is wholesome, and for temperate living, the results will be discouraging. Experience proves that few are permanently reclaimed who are not made steadfast by intelligently applied Christian service that fearlessly touches the daily life and environment of the sin-tired soul. A program of service may follow several lines of action: first, the individual with a faith that speaks in terms of constructive Christianity goes about doing 267 268 THE CHALLENGE OF ST. LOUIS good. Opportunities are legion. Unorganized service to our fellow-men will always demand a large share of Christian energy. Every individual should also be connected with one or more welfare agencies, and as a volunteer should give some of his life and spirit for the benefit of the hungry, the sick, the wearied, the dis- consolate, whether rich or poor, and the strangers. Many workers, as directors of philanthropic organiza- tions, should endeavor to make the Christian spirit express itself definitely through those agencies to the community. The most significant form of personal service can be written in the daily lives of men and women as they touch others in their vocations as employee or em- ployer, in their relationships as parent and child, or in their associations as neighbor and friend. To look beyond the business and mechanical to the human and spiritual side of industry is to make service the rule of life rather than an avocation pursued once or twice a week. Real human sympathy for one's employees and colaborers and an appreciation of the problems which they must face soften the asperities of busi- ness, and promote the cooperation and fraternity so necessary for spiritual realities. To be a dutiful Christian parent or child and to be a real neighbor to one's neighbor is to work for God in the truest sense. Daily lives that silently achieve fraternity are a bene- diction to every being touched. It must not be for- gotten that we as persons are a large part of the en- vironment of our associates. In the second place, organized groups of men and women in the churches must use their machinery for the moral and spiritual upbuilding of the community. ACCEPTING THE CHALLENGE 269 Each organization must accept some task and faith- fully assist in at least one respect in making better and happier living. Here the greatest variety of activity is possible, from providing flowers for a sick person to active propaganda for some important political or moral reform. Among these organizations are the Sunday-school classes, Bible classes, men's brother- hoods, young people's societies, and women's organiza- tions. Nothing will strengthen the spirit of unselfish- ness and of service so much as personal contact with the recipients of love and service. Givers receive as much as they have given and all are enriched thereby. Again, there are forms of work which the religious forces must contribute, but which require financial support and trained direction in addition to personal effort. A single organization may not be able to deal effectively with some important problem ; therefore, a group of societies such as the men's brotherhoods or women's missionary societies of the various churches might unite to foster some helpful service the Big Brother or Big Sister movement, or other equally im- portant causes. By definitely engaging some paid secretary or directing official, a group of societies not only insure effective results, but gain an opportunity for volunteer work along some special line, and in addition come to appreciate the public or social aspects of the problem. Church groups that support the Big Sister movement must inevitably learn the social and individual causes of immorality and vice. Ever after- wards they will have a vigorous and effective interest in promoting general morality and in improving the conditions that degrade unfortunate girls and women. In an organized capacity groups of men and women 270 THE CHALLENGE OF ST. LOUIS can promote political, social, moral, and industrial reform with the constant aim of bettering the oppor- tunities of all for a virtuous life and for the develop- ment of character and conduct. Again, the church through the pulpit can sound the call for righteous living and summon its hosts for an onslaught against the mammon of unrighteousness. The unfriendly, the lukewarm, and the spiritually filled must all alike sense the need of social salvation, of Christianizing the environment, of making every form of contact physical, mental, and spiritual en- nobling and directed toward the kingdom of God. One of the most valuable methods of promoting Christian service is through such cooperation among the churches as is indicated by the Church Federation. This organization serves as the logical instrument for carrying out under its general supervision many of the most significant forms of service. Although it needs paid officials to direct the work, it offers the greatest opportunity for volunteer effort as well. The resources of religion must be turned to good account. Every force that is positive and constructive in character and that makes for righteousness must be upheld, even as in days of old the hands of Moses were held up so that victory might be assured. Good laws, good officials, good schools, good institutions of all kinds must be supported. All conditions that are unwholesome and destructive must be fought and overcome, such as unethical and demoralizing indus- trial life, prejudice, injustice, ignorance, poverty, suf- fering, disease, disrupted family relations, bad housing conditions, immorality, intemperance, crime, ineffi- ciency, unwholesome recreations, inefficient govern- ACCEPTING THE CHALLENGE 271 ment, incompetent officials, dishonesty, shiftlessness, and other ills. Not until these ideals are realized can we hope for the coming of the Kingdom. When these causes of sin and wo are removed, then the soil is prepared for the full fruitage of a soul inspired by faith in God. Then can the spirit hold the divine life that it has received. So long as this work remains undone, the spiritual growth of men must be sadly blighted. Nor will this happy day arrive so long as we content ourselves with restoring the fallen to char- acter and virtue. Our best work is that which strikes at the root of sin and wickedness and as far as is humanly possible removes their causes, both individual and social. The opportunity is at hand ; " Look on the fields; for they are white already to harvest." Christianity vitalized and socialized can regenerate the world. THE CHALLENGE OF THE CITIES SERIES A new series of popular text-books on the religious, social, economic, and political problems of the great American cities, from the Christian point of view. The distinctly local problems of the cities are thus treated in a way that was impossible in Dr. Josiah Strong's The Challenge of the City, the pioneer book in its field. PUBLISHED The Challenge of St. Louis, George B. Mangold, ready June 15, 1917 The Challenge of Pittsburgh, Daniel L. Marsh, ready July 1, 1917 FORTHCOMING Negotiations are now in progress for the following additional units in the Challenge of the Cities Series : Cleveland, Cincinnati, Chicago, Boston, Baltimore, San Francisco. Price : cloth, 60c ; paper, 40c ; prepaid MISSIONARY EDUCATION MOVEMENT OF THE UNITED STATES AND CANADA 156 FIFTH AVENUE NEW YORK OTHER NUMBERS WILL FOLLOW University of California SOUTHERN REGIONAL LIBRARY FACILITY 405 Hilgard Avenue, Los Angeles, CA 90024-1388 Return this material to the library from which it was borrowed. A 000028757 3 II I!