The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1875-07-11

n thcy cruld. n NAV be s'f, % assume that
90 Ooj OF these are ager OF lnfirln or cuIdren
aun TER parsnts. srrl alts or iricnds Obliged 10
remain az hO.ce 90 care Tor Them. But with this
allowance W. ssni DaY jji,WO o. more ." account
Ior. Perhaps nor less tndn 2jO.O'U OF thus re-
nalnder leave the ctV every sunday ior the green
1eus OF ;he country or tie cooling breezes OF toe
ocean. Tie problem That the pbilanthropists and
lenaIOus men OF THIS day nave discussed longer
aud been puzzled over more tnan an the rest Is
how 10 gel THESE thousands and hundreds OF thous-
ands In all our large cities un Ter religious
nuences. hut Notwithstanding all their discus
slOns aud plans the problem remains unsolved
aad tue puzzle unreveaIed. Without doubt many
OF the 100000 or more Tor whom We have not &C
counted spend lhelr saboatns IN drinking places
anu cruz anu reading rooms. where they ma
more room ana Deiler air. and, perhaps, more
congehia associations than they can in their own
clfcumscrlbed homes and limited apartments
Ana now. by way OF Illustration, 1t may be well
togve lew statisfics. IL mas oeen already
stated That tGere are over 400 churches ana
places or worship IN the CITY, and the distribution
oil tnese may help us TO understand the problem
little Deuer. II We DIVIDE the city into four
sections. nancy. from the Battery to Houston
street, No. from houston TO Fourteenth street,
No. q from Fourteenth street TO Fiiiy-ninta
street No. 3 aud ali north OF Fifty mint street
No 4, We snail 1nd that In the FIRST section there
are 95 churches, cnapcls, &C.; IN tue second 81,
seen from these figures mat the churches ana
the population are removed and separated one
from tue other. About 800 900 persons live In the
n ST section Indicted, l0l, 400 IN the second,
800. 062 III the thfd ana Ia, $50 in tile fourth.
These bg ires are Of course only proXtmately
correct. Tney are the result OF compaI lson
Of different authorities on the subject, none OF
winch agree. Incy give US al OF dDOus
94O 900 souls and are sufficiently correct for pres
enL purposes. Tne hst and second sections OF
the city contain the bulk OF
THE TENEMENT HOUSE POPULATION,
and the estimate OF city ssatstclans Is tnat half
millIoa OF the people reside IN 10000 tenement
houses. The numUer VI dwelling houses in Tue
city Is 81, lao. Now, Whine there less than 500
cnurcues IN the city there ure nearly 1900 drink
ing Places where from $40 0J0 900 10 500, 600 900
are annually spent lot liquor, and II to these we
adn the denS Of prostitution, the gambling nes
anu the ten thousand vicious attractions that
IL
seen that the churches couiu have their hands full
every Gay IN the week MS well as on SUNDAY. and
the call Is Tor open cnurcheS ana 4 preached
The winter: Take, Ior example, few
wards have population Of 1919. for whose re-
hgiOus accommodation anu Improvement there
are SIX churcnes and missions, and Tor whose
moral degradation there are ZIG grogshops. Inns
gives the minister parish averaging 1850 souls,
and the rulnseller daily constituency OF 46.
Now, can any one oouot whose apostles exercise
the greatest influence Tor veal or woe over TINS
community. Take, again, the Third and Fifth
nine churcnes and AIS liquor shops Tor their ac-
commodatlon. SO tbat vnlie the minister is
goiAg once around his parish the rumseller can 90
around "A lines. In otner words the congrega-
ton oil the former numbers IBIS; of the latter 3d.
ANA this Is ABOUT the proportion OF rum ana re-
ligion IN the first section. In the next section,
taxing the Ninth, Eleventh and Talrteenth wards,
win population OF 10000, we find 900 Rrog-
shops and IL churches, cnapels ana missions OF
81 sorts. But what are these among SO many.
They merely allow one church for every 7, $40 per-
dispense its wares Is 1t better tho third or
Iourtn sectIonsS Take the Sixteenth, Eighteenth
They nave an agEreR ate OF 93 churches ana l. 1856
liquor stores. Divided up among the population,
TINS gives us
GRoasHoP FOR EVERY DOZEN PERSONS,
and church Tor every 1878 sous. Take, again,
The Twelfth, The Nineteenth and Twenty-second
wards AZ lar samples vi the fourth section tnar
has been Indicated. Here we nave popula lion OF
204, 844, for whose delectaion there 905 liquor
shops and 100 churches-ess than seven persons
1OI every or the lOrmCr. and 1875 Tor
oil the latter.
The Roman Catholics, out OF their 1fty-odd
churches, nave completely overlooked the Fifth
ward. winch IS left without q church, chapel or
mission oil theirs. The Presbyterians nrst begin
goes norinward. llers they have two churches, q
German and English one. The Baptists HAD
passed quietly OUT OF existence, and the denomina-
lion is now unreprcsented in the ward. The Ninth
ana Fifteenth wards contain population in which
Inc native born element Largely preponderates
over the foreign born. The Freshly terIans
appear 10 have the strongest hold on the
people OF the Ninth ward where they Aave seven
churches aud mission. The Jews have neither
synagogue nor congregation in this ward. In the
fifteenth ward the Episcopatans ana Pres0yte-
rians nave he same number Of churches, five
each The 1eath ward IS, ike the Fifth, minus
Catholic church or society An examination OF
city statistics VIII show tha the larger tRe num-
Der OF cnurcnes In any ward, the fewer Will be the
rnmsaops. 30 tnat Inc relation OF the Church to
Christian morality may be readily traced, and II
only in scli-delencc. The wealthy Christians OF this
city ought to be hui ding more ana less costly
Twenty-second wards VIII fully hear out the prep
osltion here laid down. And ministers ana other
Christian people woula do well 10 examine this
question once again, and see II something prac-
tcablc cannot be devised for the evangeizauon
of the city's mass s. Instead OF running away
and sbutting ~ church, as they used to do, many
city pastors now get country ministers 10 eX-
cnange with them; Others employ those who are
without pastorates, or whom the Presby te dams
have abont one-tnlrd OF their clerical members hip
and the Baptlsts Larger proportion.
THE HETHODlSTS NEVER CLOSE TdEIR CHURCHES
except lor repairs, and when pastor wants va
catlon the poitv OF Methodsm Is such that no
church need be without a mister for one Sab
bath and no minister without congregation.
The Catholics never close their churches either;
nor, indeed, do any or hem close now except
lew ''hlgn" churches among the Episcopalians
aud PTesbvterlaRS. But since the people do not
and will not go 70 church, now are they to be
reached The EVANGELIST moody was once asked
that question by a counc OF ministers in Chicago
and his annwer was very simple but emphatic
go for 'em.n It was another way OF putting the
Savour's command, go out into the highways
and hedges AMI compel them to come inn &c.
go ye into all the world and preach the gospel
70 every creature" In London where TINS matter
Ras been very thoroughly Diseased especially In
connection with Sa0Datn observance, halls have
either Tree or al u small admission lee These have
been well p2tronzed and nave been attend ed with
great moral success and social Improvement. Let
them be tried here and the result be noted.
,YDT nxyr.1T r,ry