tianity or the name of Socialism.

But it will

be necessary for all concerned to understand one another better than at present. Christian men must give unprejudiced hearing to the cause of the Socialists and must invite reciprocal candor toward the cause of Christ. The Christian must thankfully honor the Socialist's noble faith that the brotherhood of man can really be made to work. The Socialist must thankfully honor the Christian's faith that the Fatherhood of God will make it work. The Christian must unlearn his notion that Socialism proposes nothing but social conflagration in this world. The Socialist must unlearn his notion that Christianity proposes nothing but insurance against spiritual conflagration in the world to come. Each must recognize

in the other the witness of an exalted vision. Each must recognize in the other's vision his own from another angle. And finally both must seek the ways of working together in order that their visions at last may be embodied in the fact and substance of that co-operative commonwealth which will also be the new Jerusalem out of Heaven from God.

X

WHAT CHRISTIAN MEN SHOULD DO

"Christianity and the Labor Movement" is much more than a subject for thought. It is a call for action. As in the sacred story, so it is to-day: "While Peter thought on the vision, the Spirit said, Behold, three men seek thee;" after the vision, God's call to human service. And the book that tells the story is rightly called the book of Acts. And so, we now conIclude these studies of the labor movement with the question, What to do? and with the answer in the motto of the Wesleyan Union for Social Service, "See and Serve."

First, Christian men must see. It is no less than unchristian for us to act on prejudiced or partial views of the labor movement. Christian men should give to its study much of the same diligent attention which they apply to vital problems of their private business; for the King's business cannot be less vital.

One's attitude of mind is the first factor in a true understanding. A distinguished leader of the Church-brotherhood movement says with too much truth that "the average Church-man has been inclined to view the labor union merely

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as an organization of malcontents whose particular purpose it is to 'run the business of the employer,' to declare strikes, to commit acts of violence and to demand higher wages.' The Christian whose social environment is not that of the working-class, or he who has had some exasperating experience in dealing with that class, will confess to nothing worse than human nature in frankly recognizing that he probably has prejudices which he ought promptly to detect and dispel. He must recognize at the least that unionism has come to stay; that the present social order makes it inevitable. He should also recognize that the way to bring unionism to its highest possibilities of good is to meet it with respect, candor and Christian fraternity. One who is a leader in the church and in the union says it is too generally true that union-men have formed the habit of anticipating little else than harsh and unintelligent criticism from churchmen. This, of course, tends to react by provoking on the part of the unionists the very perversities which have first been imputed to them. On the other hand, according to a familiar trait in all men, an imputed virtue tends to become an imparted virtue. Hence Christian men by manifest good-will can do

1 W. B. Patterson: "Modern Church Brotherhoods," p.

much to elicit reciprocal good-will. And goodwill is prerequisite to a true understanding of the present social situation. To know the social problem we must know the men involved, and to know them we must first honor and love them.

The critical necessity of such an understanding appears when we consider that there are some sixteen millions of our citizens, half at least being in the churches, who must be the final arbitrators of the labor movement, the gravest responsibility which ever has been laid upon public conscience and judgment in any land. And it is not the unionist alone who fears that church-men are not yet competent to understand and judge the labor-movement. An accredited sociologist lately said: "It is a question in my mind whether those sixteen millions will serve as impartial arbitrators. In my opinion a good many of us who are now so solicitous about the rights of the workingmen will scurry to cover as soon as the real demands of the laboring-classes appear." 2 And Professor Earp adds the comment that the great task of the Church to-day is so to educate this neutral group in righteousness, peace, and Christian brotherhood that they will be compelled to judge impartially, what

2 Professor A. S. Johnson in "The Journal of American Sociological Society," 1908, p. 155.

ever may be the ultimate demands of labor.3

To this end the accredited representatives of the labor movement should be everywhere and frequently invited to address the brotherhood chapters of the churches. They should there be encouraged to set forth frankly and fully the ideals and the claims of the unions. On such occasions they should never be "badgered" or "patronized." In many places such chapters may do well to hold "open forums" in which, from time to time, the labor problem shall be treated in its various aspects by competent speakers, followed by a general discussion open to any and all who desire to participate, a plan already well-approved by experience. Mutual good-will has also been promoted where church brotherhoods have invited particular unions, or all the union officers in a city, to a supper followed by an evening of social enjoyment. To these social courtesies, as well as to the invitations for public hearings, the unions have sometimes reciprocated by like invitations given to the church-men. These courtesies will, however, be fatally vitiated if they are undertaken only as schemes to inveigle wage-earners into church attendance. Workingmen will not fail to "see through" such devices and will discount them accordingly. The only worthy and practical motive

8 See "The Socialized Church," p. 86.