The labor world., 1921-09-03
CHURCH LEADERS =
Define POSITION
\ ON LABOR ISSUE
Council Of Federated Churches
Sends Strong Labor Cunday
Message to Preachers.
Continued from. Page. I.

Continued from Page. I.
church as any other phase Of their
moral environment
IAN; Industrial practice that cramps
and devitalizes human beinss in body
or in spirit Is as much foe of relig-
ion as Is the liquor traffic. The
church cannot ignore the one any
more than it can ignore the other"
mot only 80. but the charter Of
the church. received directly from its
Leader. requires that it proclaim the
Gospel Of the Kingdom. Jesus said
of this Kingdom that it is like leaven
hidden in meal-it works until "the
whole lump" is leavened. There are
no areas Of Iife which Jesus excluded
from the ultimate operation Of the
law Of the Kingdom.
"A gospel that Is susceptible Of only
partial application Is not a gospel
which can save the world: A church
which is content to- recognize limits
to the proclamation Of its message is
a defeated church.
Men to Live as Brothers.
There are at least three funda-
mental principles in the teachings Of
Jesus that the church must apply to
industry: Unless we can learn to
conduct industry according to these
basic principles the Kingdom Of God
cannot prevail in the modern indus
trial world.
''ThHt God is our common Father
81 HryA
together as brothers is the very foun-
dation of Jesus message. To the
more simple social and business re-
lationships the application Of this
teaching is at once apparent. The
storekeeper and his clerk. the farmer
and his hired man., the mistress and
her maid. find no obstacle outside
their own Wills to tho maintenance
Of Christian relationships.
"But between several hundred ab-
sentee stockholders on the one hand
and several thousand wage earners
on the other. relations are so imper-
sonal and distant that the RESPONSE
bilities which brotherhood implies are
more difficult to grasp and are too
seldom regarded with seriousness. In
tho administration Of a large industry
policies are frequently inaugurated
which,, would not have been deter
mined upon If their full human con-
sequences could have been instantly
visualized.
1.-The investors in an industry ex-
pect its managers, first and princi-
pally, to produce profits. The direc-
tors scrutinize the records but rarely
visit the work shops. In consequence
men smd~~material are Jumped to-
gether al accommodates. labor il bought
in the: market. like goods, and, the
personaf eduat1on is lost in mechah-
ical system.
TO Register His VIII.
democratic relationships in large
scale industry do not necessarily pre-
suppose a restoration of the early in
timacy; between employer and en-
ploye. Such intimacy Ia impossible
in largo plants, and where It actu-
ally obtains Il 10 by no means q guar
antee of aquare deal. Democracy
requires rather. that every individual;
shall have his point Of view repre-
sented and shall have opportunity ef-
fectively to register his will:
What really MASTERS is that tho
life interests Of the workers should
be tho first considerations! not that
they should be called by their first
names. But whore there can be added
relationships of personal friendship
between employer and employe, the
human possibilities Of the situation
are greatly increased. Significant in
this connection is the fact, not widely
reallzed. that according to tho most
recent available figures more than
one-thiFd Of the factory workers in
America are still employed in plants
having fewer than one hundred en-
ployeS. The employers of these small
group1 Of workers have superior ad-
vantages too little utilized. for the
promotion Of fellowship.
No Real Brotherhood.
I'm an industrial age there can be
no real brotherhood Of man unless
there IL q brotherhood in industry.
Mr.. John d. Rockefeller, Jr., has put
tho matter we'll: Surely, it Is not
consistent for us as Americans to de-
A~ NSaA!CSA <1s2y.. - 1A' government ana
practice autocracy in Industry OF
similar import is the recent statement
Of one OF our foremost labor leaders
that to political citizenship must now
be added industrial citizenship.
"Political democracy leads to in
dustr1al democracy because a nation
trained5 in school and church and
state to: democratic relationships. will
inevitably carry these same PRINCIPLES
into industry.
'Ths growing sense of 1namhood
and responsibility In the workers tends
in tho same direction. There can no
longer. be satisfactory relationships
under IN autooratic shop rule. any
moro than in an autocratic state. Ar
bitrary control leads to class war,