The Washington herald., 1912-08-03
The Trend OF Things

INV ANooeo Se
The southern Sociological Congress'
which Gov. Hooper called In Nasnviiie
last May, and which maryelousiy sumu-
lated Southern interest in social reiorm'
has now been made permanent ihsutu
tIon through an endowment bestowed
,r.on n nv Mrs. E. w. Cole, Of Nashville.
The endowment win yield $500 year.
and will nay the expenses not only OF
the annual convention but Of permanent
Office and secretary.
Something Of the vast throb Of modern
city life suggested another stanza OF
America" to Rev. William Hiram
Foulkes, who, on the Fourth of July, read
to his hearers this supplemental urban
stanza for DR.. Smiths honor:
] hail thy cities great.
Rock pillars Of the State
The throne OF men.
There would / fight the wrong;
There labor with the strong:
There crown earth's struggle
With heavens amen!
/ There seems to be a scheme afoot in
Congress to wipe out that naval regula-
ton which now provides that whenever
divine service is in progress aboard
naval vessel a pennant bearing the cross
This is the only sort of occasion when.
anywhere within all the reach Of the
United States government. any other en-
blem is allowed to go up higher in the
air than the national nag. and the SYM
bolism of 1t has appealed deeply to devout
Americans But now there's threat TO
wipe out the custom-doubtless on account
Of that very symbolism. IF the custom
had any flavor of secarianism about II"
.kN
would deserve 10 be abolished. But since
the meaning OF the flag of the cross Is
an equal meaning for all Christian men
OF whatever sect or name. all Christian
men should have an interest in sustaining
the existing regulation
Baptists started the plan Of fitting OF
railroad cars as chapels for public wor-
ship and the conduct of Sunday schools.
and asking the railroads to haul them
from town to town, remaining short
time in each. Later the plan has been
followed by others, including the Roman
Catholics, who, under their Church Ex-
tension Society, have just dedicated a sec
ond car at Dayton. intended for services
in towns of the Southwest and Rocky
Mountain Region. In England the auto
mobile has been utilized for services In
rural districts, where the Catholic Church
is weak, but, so far as can be learned.
the automobile has not yet been brought
into use in America. Baptists have six
cars in service. Catholics two.
Prof Edwin D. Starbuck. Phi. D., of the
University of Iowa, has been engaged by
Rev. William I. Lawrence, secretary OF
the department of education. American
Unitarian Association, as 4 co-worker.
He will be available for conference and
Sunday school addresses after the first
of September.
The Lowell CMass) Courier-Citizen, in
commenting on Rear Admiral stockton's
article on Religious Forces in the United
States Navy" reproduced in last Sundays
WASHINGTON Herald. has this to say:
Charles II. Stockton, retired rear ad-
miral in our navy. writing in the Church
man, notes that in 1872 there were twen-
ty-four chaplains in the service, and that
this is the number on duty to-day, al
though the navy has expanded to $1,000
men. The attendance upon religious ser
vices in the navy being entirely voluntary.
II follows that on many. ships there is
no service at all, although the traditions
require that each commanding officer
shall hold divine service on board ship
every Sunday.
I'VE assume that the population Of
modern battle ship is between loo and
l5OO men. This would fill one of our
larger city churches; and what a condi-
ton it would be to have such a church
permanently without a pastor! Even the
small cruisers and the gunboats carry
enough men TO more than fill country
church: and here, again, a cessation of
Sunday services would not be tolerated.
The rear admiral appears to have rails
ed a good point and one is surprised that
the churches themselves have not brought
the matter to the attention of Congress.
II cannot be that there are not men will
ing 10 serve as chaplains. The service
ought TO be one peculiarly attractive TO
young men of education both for its op-
portunity to do missionary work in home
waters. so to speak, and its broadening
influence upon the clergyman himself. A
live chaplain on every naval vessel ought
to save many an enlisted tar from going
astray when he wanders ashore with his
pay envelope in his pocket.
A new form of educational work to be
undertaken by the Episcopal Church in
Massachusetts is instruction in agricul-
ture. A farm school for boys has recent
Iy been opened at South Lee. 1t consists
of 27s acres donated by Miss Edith NJ.
and Miss Amy NJ. Kohlsaat, of New York.
1t is the plan of the donors to instruct
boys of the Diocese Of Western Massa-
chusetts in practical and scientific farm
ing and thus make them better workers
OF the soil.
Minor stockholders in great corpora
tons usually consider themselves obsolv-
ed from any responsibility for the way
the business is run. They argue that their
insignificant interest in such aggrega-
tions of capital gives them no influence,
and any suggestions which they might
offer about the conduct of affairs would,
Of course, be received with contempt. But
Mrs. Joseph T. Bowen. of Chicago. did
not argue that way about her shares OF
stock in the Pullman Company: she felt
she could not own any of the company's
capital without being bound to take con-
Germ about the way 1t treated its men.
So she investigated the Pullman factory
She then went and told the managers of
reforms she thought they ought to in
stitute. And though they objected at
first, Mrs. Bowen at length had her way.
The Pullman Company has now employ
ed more physicians to care for the health
of its men, and all the safeguards that
can be devised against occupational dis
eases are going into the works The
whole story seems to be a nara bile oIt of