The industrial situation; its effect upon the home, the school, the wage earner and the employer

Front matter

THE :i

INDUSTRIAL SITUATIOlsil

FRANK TRACY CARLTON i if ill

Introduction

THE social question is the outstanding question of our day. In the providence of God and the processes of history we are brought face to face with this question. The issues involved are here to challenge the intelligence and the faith of men. The social question includes the question how to secure a more just and equitable distribution of the resources of society, the question how to bring larger opportunity and more happiness into the lives of many, the question how to moralize wealth and humanize industrial processes, the question how to bring the disinherited into the family circle and give them an heir's portion in life, the question how men can live together on terms of justice and brotherhood. These questions cannot be evaded. It is for the churches to give men the clue to their solution.

That the churches are earnestly seeking to indicate their solution is one of the most hopeful signs of our times. Especially are the churches at present concerned with what is perhaps the most insistent phase of the social problem — the problem of industry. Much has been said and much has been written concerning the workers' alienation from the churches and the churches' lack of sympathy with the workers. How far

8 Introduction

these complaints have been justified in the past we need not here consider ; the fact is that to-day the churches are seeking to expre^ the mind of the Master upon questions which vitally affect the welfare of the workers and of society at large. Various religious bodies in this country have already formulated declarations of industrial principles. More significant than any of these is the united declaration put forth at Philadelphia in 1908, and reaifirmed at Chicago in 1912, by the Federal Council of the Churches of Christ in America, representing several million Christians. This platform, which embodies what has been called the '^social faith'' of the churches, has been ratified by several of the leading denominations of the country.^

" The Churches must stand :

*< I. 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.

** 7. For the protection of the individual and so-

*See ''Cbristian Unity at Work," Macfarland. Published by the Federal Council of the Churches of Christ in Amerioa*

Introduction 9

ciety from the social, economic and moral waste of th€ liquor traffic.

*< 8. For the conservation of health.

*<9. For the protection of the worker from dangerous machinery, occupational diseases, and mortality.

<* 10. For the right of all men to the opportunity for self-maintenance, for safeguarding this right against encroachments of every kind, and for the protection of workers from the hardships of enforced unemployment.

**ii. For suitable provision for the old age of the workers, and for those incapacitated by injury.

'* 12. For the right of employers and employees alike to organize ; and for adequate means of conciliation and arbitration of industrial disputes.

**i3. 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 industry, and for the highest wage that each industry can afford.

*' 16, For a new emphasis upon the application of Christian principles to the acquisition and use of property, and for the most equitable division of the product of industry that can ultimately be devised."

As will be seen, most of the '^ planks " of this platform have to do with aspects of modern industrial reform. Valuable though they are as expressions of the churches' changed attitude towards labor, they are scarcely specific enough for the average reader. In order that the various Christian bodies of this country may take effect-

10 Introduction

ive action looking towards the reform of industrial conditions of the present and the institution of justice in the relations between the employer and the employee, it is essential that these different constituencies should know just what are the facts concerning our modern mechanism for the production and the distribution of the necessities of life.

A clear statement of a problem is a first step towards its solution. In the following pages Prof. Frank T. Carlton, who has already contributed a valuable study of '^ The History and Problems of Organized Labor," attempts to show the basic factors and the principal phases of the recent industrial situation. The author has endeavored to put the facts in a way which should prove helpful to the average member of the Christian Church who may have had no opportunity to learn the facts at first hand. His statement of the problem may be recommended as both clear and concise.

It is hoped that the summaries and questions appended to the various sections may prove of value in adapting the book to the purposes of study classes as well as of private readers.

S. Z. Batten, P. M. Crouch, Special Cmnmittee on Puhlication.

Contents

I. The Evolution of Modern Industry i 5

1. Social Progress and the Work of the World.

2. The Relation Between Social Progress and