The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1909-07-31
BY WILLIAM T. ELLIS.

that at least once every few months he
make quiet tour of all phases Of CIT
Hfe-through the ''tenderloin," with its,
to him, shocking amusements; the Va
rtety theaters. the dance halls, lIl-
Chinese restaurants, the mill districts
the foreign quarter. the fashlonabte
hotels and the aristocrRtic clubs. For
the first problem of our day IS the
problem of the city; and it cannot be
solved by men who have only a second
hand knowledge Of it. An open-eyed
view of things as they are Is the hrSt
essential equipment OF a retorrner.
Whoever would improve the existing
order must make all his theories bend
to the ascert tanned facts.
Only of late is the Christian church
awakening to the fact that this trc-
mendous and increasing city problem
requires new methods and new men. 1t
is IN vain that We endeaVor to meet the
exigencies of this extraordinary occa-
sion by country church methods of sew
eraI generations ago. An entire new
book of tactics needs to be written by
the leaders of the armies of righteous
ness. For the church simply must
make good at urban centers. If sns
fails there. she meets her Waterloo:
The tide of emigration on the part or
metropolitan congregations from the
districts where there are the most Peo-
pie. simply because these people are no
longer of the oId-fashioned. church
going type of nat1Ve-born Americans
is an almost incredible blunder. The
city problem. We find Paul face to
face with Corinth and all that II in
Volved. The church Of today cannot be
behind the church of the first century.
The Wickedest City.
There has been more than a little talk
as to which city on this western CONT
nent merits the unenviable distinction
of being the wiclkedest- I think
know, but the mention names Wo1Id
serve no good purpose. On this point
he. 7fGn.1fp lint II IS rRn6T2I-
ly conceded that in the world at me
time of the apostles, Cordnth held the
palm for depravity. It's very name had
been changed into an adjective, and TO
Corinthianize" meant to debauch- With
a mixed population, like present-day
Port Said, and, like the latter city, SIT
uated at a crOSSWdy or commerce,
Corfnth extended hospitality to all the
vices of all the people of its day. 1t
was the commercial and political cap
itaI of Greece, and its games were
famous so that the apostle who dWet
in the midst of this multiform life for a
year and a half more than once used
the figure of the COrinthian games TO
typify the Christians struggle with
evil.
Nothing is wholly bad, and whenever
one is tempted to utter a jeremiad con-
corning a modern city it is to be re-
membered that even in depraVeG
Corinth the Lord said. Il have much
people in this city, Some persons go
to a modern city and discover only
vice Others go and find themselves i'll
touch with powerful and inspiring
forces representing the highest ele-
uentS in human life Paul had no Diff
ficulty in allying himself with a COM
munity of fellow craftsmen-for his
problem, like that of many another
stranger going TO a city, was the one OF
self-support-and he discovered the
Jewish synagogue as a lighthouse of
the one true God amid all the heather
blackness that envirOned it.
The City as a Playground.
Paul was a city man. Yet he
never became wholly Injured to the
wickedness and the emptiness of city
life. He was as greatly affected by the
frivolity of this metropolis as by its
vices. The city is not only the work
shop of the twentieth century. but
also its playground. Men and women
go to the city for good time"
How empty and inane is much of the
pleasure that is provided for these
residents and visitors every Thought
full observer has remarked. There
are few things more discouraging
than a night spent on New York's |
"Great White Way" 1t is not only
wicked, but also that they are
frivolous and unsatisfactory.
Our urban civilization has created |
artificial standards which are vicious |
The newspapers told the other day
how a certain woman testified in |
court-this kind of people easily find
their way into court-that her social
standing required her to wear at least
three different dresses day, each |
costing about $500, and that she |
never wore the same dress twicei In |
the face of such facts one cannot
wonder at the presence of Sullen !
anarchy or rampant socialism. Con- |
slider how we have multiplied the |
forms and accessories of What we
call good society" The modern |
table is not well furnished unless it |
T-e-1
and spoons and curious implements |
until one has more pity for the state |
of mind which has so burdened itself |
with useless encumbrances of an IN |
real Journalism than with the con-
sternation of the country visitor who |
finds himself helpless among his
array of table accessories.
The Good Amidst the Bad.
Beneath all this Overlay Of foolish !
and needless eXtravagances which |
there yet remains, even as Paul found |
in Corinth, a thirst for religion. Re
Gently a Young Woman's Christian
association worker was making a |
people in a training school. BY
chance, a wealthy woman and |
leader In aristocratic school circles |
entered the meeting and heard her.
She requested that the association !
secretary spend the next Sunday at
her home. a palatial residence sub
urban to New York. There the |
visitor found that she was called upon
to meet some thirty of her hostess's
neighbors. men and women of wealth |
and position, some of them known
the world around as social leaders.
To this gorgeously arrayed company
she was asked to teach the Bible. So
real was their interest, that they |
urged that she come every week TO
teach them in a Bible class which |
they would form. Instances are not |
wanting to illustrate that even the !
men and women who are dizziest with