Pine Bluff daily graphic., 1905-09-17

The Home Mission society will meet
at Lakeside church at I p m. Mon
cay. Meeting of the local work All
members are invited TO be present.
The subject for September of the
Home Mission society is Our Factory
Topulation This subject requires
careful study and patient investiga-
ton. and we will try to so present it
that no injustice may be done the mill
owner or the superintendent, but at
the same time to show clearly the
ev1i which threatens our factC'y popu=
lation unless certain abuses are cor
rected and the eyes and conscience of
the employer and employed. the
church and the state be opened to
those evils that threaten the south
from its unparalleled industrial revival.
Our Woman's Home Mission society
in the different states where the man
ufacturing is greatest have a very per
sonal call to a we'll defined duty in
connection with them. They should
study the conditions of mill life. know
ifs evils, and be prepared to use voice
pen and influence toward righting or
dt least ameliorating those evils. We
may not vote at the polls. or in the
FH$lslature, but we may bring facts,
figures and persuasion to bear upon
men in our homes, and thus awaken
an acllVe interest that will lead them
tc vote for the best factory laws and
thus save our beloved land from that
which threatens it if the children and
young girls are physically or morally
perverted or degraded. As a society
representing one Of the largest and
most influential churches in the south
we must make an active effort TO anne
llorate bad conditions bv personal
work as we'll as trying to secure legal
restrictions. In several places our
city mission boards have opened nm
settlement homes. where fine work is
being done for factory people hrouah
different lines of institutional work
The largest is in Atlanta. Ga.
bf. Watson says: 'The mill COM
munity affords the finest possible field
Ter institutionaI or educationa,
ioh{
nurseries, athletics, reading rooms,
lectures, culture courses-all these
with the preaching of the gospel arc
peculiarly needed in most mill com
munlties. There is opportunity here
meantime for the work of the Wo.
man home Mission SOCIETY. for the
deaconnesscs, and for the Enwcrth
league. A great and efYectua] door is
open to us through this growing in.
/: drs'rN n1assing so many thousand I'M
der conditions which while dangerous
IN their newness and in our Ignorance
OF them, affords splendid Onnortunitios
for the steady up]ft of the peop1e
With steady earnestness. adequate
provision. the church may enter this
omen door. IF we seize this opportu-
nitv and do our duty to the mill COM
munltles the new south rising from
the ashes of the old may be made
WORTHY Of the old and true to its hest
locals. # Christ and his gospel arc
made renaissance. and if character is
nlaced ahnvo gold. our southland
"'''ch was once nrnsnerous. rich and
haopy NAV still become the pride
of the world. In the ten vears imre-
diate1v nrocedino tho civil wa, wo find
q marked and ranid 1evolnmen, in tic
so"fh's general AGRICULTURAL manufac.
tnrine interest. According To tho con
sus OF 1SGo. the south with one-third
of the countrv's ponulation. and les.
than one-fonrth of the white popuIa-
ton. had raised more than one-ha]f of
tie total Agricultural products Of 4,,e
country. The total number of its fac
tories was 24.59O In 1860 th,, south
lad 387 miles of railroad mere than
the total cor9hined MILEAGE Of New
Nn"land and the middle statos. Then
came the war and the more bitter
vnars that followed the war. In 1860
tho wealth of the south exceedod lhe
combined wealth &c Now Fvo,and and
the middle etatns by $3.50 OGO. .0nO ba+
in 1870 We find conditions reversed.
and the wealth of these states exceed
Ing the wealth of the south by go SOS
'''H eco. So you see the Yankees made.
'he war nav very well and bv 1870
h"v had time to put their money
f'vhich they had stolen in the south
during the war) in good working or.
der. and with the aid of nension live
'Ncrv comfort ahle in their old ace.