The Waterbury Democrat., 1943-08-16

moving events and shattered ideals No wonder the police authorities are predicting the worst era of crime ever known. After the last ! war crime was increased by the au- tomobile. But now we will have the more rapid transportation by the helicopter. Lawlessness will rise to new high.
 Social standards have been revo- lutionized. The nervous tension de- manding an easy outlet will not be readily reversed. Girls and women, who now after work-shifts gather on street corners, have become rest less and careless. The adoption of masculine distinctions, rough man. nerisms, cigarette smoking, reckless rhetoric and drinking at saloon bars are things that will not cease when the war ceases.
 Life's Values Ignored
 There is the labor problem. Today we have abnormal wages with ab- normal costs of living. The demand for labor has been so terrific that even minors have become involved and society has been twisted into chaos. Yielding to the lure of gain, boys and girls are rapidly ignoring the true values of life.
 But the collapse will come. Even now industries are wisely looking forward to the break down to lower wages. Business will be ready. Ma turally the most reliably efficient employees will be retained while the others, with men released from military service, will become a horde of job seekers. Unemployment in surance and kindred measures will not solve the problem. It is not enough to prevent poverty. There will be the dangerous condition of idleness with all of its defiance of law and human rights.
 Then will be enacted Sinclair Lewis story of The Great American Tragedy. The home will show the result of neglect. Young people will be reluctant to give up big wages for school routine. Children of working mothers will have lost much paternal restraint and culture. | Juvenile delinquencies and disorders will assume ghastly proportions.
 The impact upon the Church is startling. The Bible is forgotten. Family worship has almost vanish ed. Church attendance has sharply declined, the Sunday School is re- treating and moral standards are crumbling. The prospect is not very attractive.
 What is the remedial hope? The easy reply is our Government. What will our law-making and law en- forcing agencies do? What have they done? The more we have re- lied upon them the more our pri- sons have become over crowded. They are dominated by politicians and politicians of their own initia- tive have never reformed wide spread evils. Some depend on our schools. They train the mind to keenness but not the character to nobility. Once we were startled when we learned that 1000 college graduates were inmates of our peni- tentiaries. But since then the num- Der has radically increased. There is the home. Too many, not all, but too many homes have lost their grip upon childhood and such families have become deficient if not demor- alized. All through the centuries human facilities alone have failed to prevent such disasters as those now impending.
 The only reliable hope is the never refuted and seldom enacted program of Christ. Plainly He taught that society and nations would never be sawed en masse but by the transformation of individual character. That is our challenge to- day.
 Aggressiveness Needed The Church must be more ag- gressive than ever before. It must insist upon the fact that not only had God created man but that through Christ God has shown man how to live in peace with his fellow men. Will the Bible help? Recently Henry Ford revealed solemn agreement. He said-"During the First World War Woodrow Wilson and l took pledge together to read a chapter of the Bible every oay. l nave kept that pledge and I understand he did until his death" Over on the other side of the globe there is a man guiding the destiny of four hundred million Chinese through war, betrayal into triumph. How is he able to do it? Chiang Kai-Shek, every day, before beginning his gigantic tasks spends one hour in Bible study and prayer. What three men in these latter days have left better imprint on the world of today?
 The call to every Christian was never more commanding and time ly. Let family worship adorn your home. Let your reliance upon Gods word be implicit. Let your Church attendance be regular, Let your loy- alty to Christ's leadership be un- challenged. Let your moderation be