The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1906-05-04


We find also in many parts OF the con-
nection a desire with which we sympa-
thi5e to restore to the quarterly confer
ence the authority to license preachers
The matter is respectfully referred for
your patient consideration.
Certain Problems of Southern Meth
odism.
Certain grave problems that have been
prominent, and more or less perious, in
other sections of our country, have only
recently become acute in the south. The
problems of the city, of rapidly increas-
ing wealth, of the employer and the en-
ployed, of factory districts, of congested
foreign populations and of the forsakeh
rural sections have been transferred to
these parallels We have been a rural
and pastoral people. But now conditions
are rapidly changing. Foreigners from
southern Europe are coming by the thou
sand, factories are multiplying, village
and country neighborhoods are breaking
up, and people are drifting into town
and city. A wise. constructive statesman
ship suggests that we now prepare for
the inevitable tomorrow.
The amazing industrial development of
the states where our church is strongest
and our responsibility greatest brings be-
fore us new and urgent issues. The whole
of our vast territory in the south and
west is feeling the thrill and pulse-beat
of great industrial activities. new COM
mercial era gladdens and brightens the
long-prostrate land. But few harps now
hang upon the willows. Every one is
ringing out the notes of progress. Fac
tories of various kinds are being built;
railway lines, at the cost of many millions.
are stretching out in every section. OF our
southern country it may now be said:
Their land also is full of silver and
gold, neither is there any end of their
treasures Hopeful Is the spirit of our
people and wonderfully bright the future
of this section The star of a new indus
trialism has turned southwark and fingers
In the skies that bend over the lower
Mississippi Valley. Within the near fu-
ture there is sure to be a shifting of the
centers of trade and manufacture. The
completion of the isthmian canal will
bring the orient close to our very doors.
Down In Mississippi and over the gulf
the products of the great northwest will
float at less cost than over the steep
grades of the Alleghanles to the Atlantic
or the Rockies to the Pacific.
The south today has a population of
25.0O0000, as against 33.S55,000 for the rest
OF the country in 1880. The south has
more money invested in cotton mills than
all the rest of the country in 1880. The
consumption in its own mills is 100000
bales greater than that of all the rest of
five years ago. Its production of btu
minous coal is almost twice as great
70OO0,00O tons. as against 350O0,000; its
petroleum output, az, 900, against &c.
900. 1t is freely predicted, and with
reason, that this section, with its album
dant stores of ore and coal and limestone
in such close proximity. bids fair in the
next quarter of century. to dominate
the basic steel industry of the world.
The total value of its farm products is
$200,O00000 greater than in all the rest of
the country in 1880. New Orleans now
ranks second only to New York among
American exporting ports, and Galveston
is third Gulfport, Miss, leads all do
nestle ports in its shipments of lumber,
Pensacola in sawed timber and Mobile
in crossties.
Now In the midst of these activities the
church must be active. A new and larger
programme of missions must be provided.
Every toiler must be in the field, every
sentinel at his post, every watchman
on the wall. This amazing ndustrialism
has developed materialistic spirit hith-
erto unknown among us that menaces
the very kingdom of Christ. Material
prosperity may be the peril of the
church The fiber of her strength,
toughened through years of adversely,
may be weakened by wealth. The pa
triarchs pillow was stone, but he had
visions of angels and the glory that fol-
low. Wealth, luxury, ease may enfeeble
energy and dull the spirit of a divine
compassion. 1.-THE smoothness of con-
ventional routine deadens the soul.
Thus affected the church Is in danger of
becoming the priest and the Levite that
pass by on the other side.
Along with these rapidly accommodating
fortunes there must be developed a
loftier appreciation of the stewardship of
wealth.. Bitter prejudice, born of pow
erty, can be removed only by the re-
demptive agency of the gospel and the
slow processes of education on the one
hand and the beneficent use of wealth
on the other. If the vast triumphs of
commercial genius are converted into
means for the oppression of the poor,
hostility will cease and the spirit of
brotherhood will prevail. The courageous
application of the fundamental laws of
righteousness and love to every great so
cial and Industrial problem is the chief
duty of the church.
Another factor has entered into the
problems that demand the attention of
our Methodism-the question of foreign
immigrants. During the year 1903 the I'M
migration records show that 1,0264 I'M
migrants landed on our shores, 100000 of
whom were from Southern and Eastern
Europe Vast numbers were totally Hit
crate and alien to our national customs
and ethical standards and public spirit.
This enormous and miscellaneous mass
of foreign Ignorance and poverty Sc
yerely strains the assimilating power Of
our social institution, and constitutes
perlous menace to our Christian civilza-
ton. Until very recently the south has
been but slightly affected by foreign
immigration. The vast thousands coming
annually from Southern Europe have
been distributed over the north and west.
Now, however, the tide has turned south
ward, with Galveston and New Orleans
as popular ports of entry. The Italian
ambassador at Washington has endorsed
an organized movement to turn Italian
immigration southwark, as agricultural
and other laborers; and certain, legis-
laton Is pending in Congress looking to
the distribution of immigrant population
over the entire south. Near Tampa, fla
there is Little italy with 800 in
habitants. Already In some of our states
there are large foreign communities, as
yet ignorant of our language and UNI
acquainted with our national genius. 10
meet these coming thousands with the
educative and redemptive agencies OF the
gospel is the urgent duty of the Chris
tian churches of these southern states.
When the Lord saw the multitudes who
were as sheep without a shepherd. 1T is
said that He was moved with compass
sion.'' That same compassionate love
for neglected peoples and the Christless
multitudes must stir the energies of the
church today.
And with these come the enormous
problem of the city. We can scarcely
appreciate the tremendous Significance Of
the city in modern life. There is an old
"a vinq. "Whaf Lancashire thinks today