The Providence news. (Providence [R.I.]) 1891-1906, 1892-02-29
The CHURCH SERVICES.
A Very interesting Address on In
dustriaI Reformers.
THE RACE PROBLEM DISCUSSED.
The Rev. A. Nj. Lords Sermon ON the
Relation of tho Church To the World
AT the Stewart street Baptist Church
Services at Other Churches.


setts Institute of Technology gave the
thirteenth in the series of lectures on
"Leaders of Thought and Heroes of Moral
Reform" at the Bell street Chapel yester-
day afternoon. His subject was Heroes
of Industrial Reform; Robert Owen. the
advocate of better education for the labor
ing classes Ashley, the champion of gov
ermental protection 10 working women
and children Leclaire, the successful ex-
ponent of proiit-sharing.
Prof. Dewey referred to "a category or
heros as given by Carlisle in which was
none OF industrial reform which the
speaker said was a subject wider anu
deeper than individual personality Vari-
Gus emergencies have called out persons
TO meet them. The first biography OF
hero Of industrial reform is that Of Robert
Owen, who was born in l!7l In England;
lie was the son of n saddler who died
while he was yet but "A boy. Owen became
the assistant TO shop keeper in "A proyin
cal town. BY earnest dfIIgence he AT last
succeeded in striking out Tor himself.
His business took him To London and Glas-
gov and IL was at this latter place that in
l779 he married the daughter OF David
Dale. n manufacturer. From Mr. Dale
Owen purchased the New Sanark cotton
mills. The property was dilapitaied. the
help was continually warning with the
employers and there were many other evils
to be overcome.
Owen gradually changed his assistants.
The gin shop was removed, cooking was
taught, houses were repaired aud rendered
habitable, the streets iwerc improved,
goods were sold ut cost price and the cost
of living was reduced 20 per cent. Little
by little the prejudices of the people were
removed and finally swept away. Schools
were founded. Ovens book on New
Views of Society" was published in 1872
In IL was given the opinion that character
was the result of environments and sur
roundings. Owen started an industrial
community in this country where employ
ment was To be fonnd for all. This proved
failure but he never let 20 OF his beliefs
in regard TO such "A community. For the
work that Owen did he is most worthy OF
our respects.
Anthony Ashley Cooper, seventh earl of
Shaftesbury or Ashley as he was com.
monty called, was born in 1901. His
father was prominent in political life
Young Ashley at the age OF seven began
TO go TO school. When NJ Harrow he
witnessed "A drunken row and then deter
~.<nined to spend his life in doing what he
could towards alleviating the ills ~rOf
suffering humanity. He graduated from
Oxford in 1922, and entered parliament in
1926. Here he stood as a friend Of the
friendless and helper, OF the poor
Among other bills which were put for
ward and whose passage was in a great
measure due To him, was the bill limiting
the working hours of children in factories,
the bill for the relief of children, the ten
hour bill and the bills restricting labor in
mines and in pits. lie refused many
offices OF honor and worked for numerous
bills preventing ills in the English fac
tory system. When Ashley lay at home
sick nearly 400 persons, most OF them be-
ing of the poorer classes, called at his
door, and when he died the like of his
funeral was never seen before Ashley's
work was TO improve the condition of the
laboring classes.
In the modern times it has become al
most impossible for the employer TO ex-
press his obligations to his employees, and
this has been remedied in great measure
by the system OF profit sharing. OF which
Leclaire was the father. Leclaire WAS
born in France in 1901. His parents were
poor and humble. At IL he went to Paris
and worked for a sign painter. At % he
set up for himself and his pecuniarv sue
cess was great. lie established Il mutual
aid society and a system of profit sharing.
believing that the laboring man should
share the profits.
The system has had various modifica-
tions and changes from TINE To time, but
still is in use. I'm 1872 Leclaire died but
his system is as successful now as IL was
twenty years ugo.
The Race Problem.
The. Rev. j. c. Price of Salisbury, y.
c., spoke at the Beneficieut Congrega-
tional Church last evening on, " The Race
Problem from the Freedmen's Point of
View" He said in part: "You well
know that the American atmosphere Is
full OF the race problem. The leading
daily papers crowd their columns with 1t
and there are discussions in the magazines
regarding IT, The negro is misrepresented
as TO his unbiased position i'll the race
problem, and il is necessary TO take testi-
mony from both sides before deciding the
question. There are vital issues at stake
which involve certain inalenable princi-
pies, and these principles involve the hap
piness of whole race of people, the pros
perity of Il section and the safety and
prosperity OF the entire country. whose
beckoning hand is reached out to every
nation on the globe. With such issues at
stake cannot be insensible of the gravity
of the situation. Permit me 10 say in the
beginning that the race problem in the
South is not unnatural, NEITHER is il of
negro origin. II really finds its beginning
In 1G2O, ana the present negro problem i,
the last. unsettled phase of the slave ques-
tion. The slave question is settled for
ever, because il is settled right. The South
today would vote no on the question OF
reins,ating slavery, but this attitude is
evidently matter OF development. The
Coufederacy surrendered its sword at
Appommattox, but did not surrender its
convctious. IL has taken - years to con-
vince theSouth that free u is moe profit
able than slavery, and, therefore, better.
II has taken . years TO produce Henry
w bfaty.
The question OF negro citizenship is the
knotty element in the problem. IL is that
and its consequent eligibility 10 Office that
form the centrpetal aud centrifugal for
ces of the problem. IL is not strange that
some of the Southerners say this final
consummation of all not be realized. This
is to them the uukindest cut of all. The
discrimination on lines OF public travel
against negro men ana women is also "a
reminder of the race issue. The Southern
question is simply this: How long can
we deny to men their inalienable and Con
stitutional rights without a serious con
fict involving not only one section, but
the whole nation at large Will the
South ever concede to the negro his previ-
leges as "a citizen and solve this problem.
believe it will. There must be time for
the growth Of new ideas The prejudices
Of centuries are not TO be removed in n
day They will not disappear until the
conditions are changed that produce them.
The South must see the moral, truly in