before to social work. We have for a long time realized that there was
a reservoir in this country upon which we had drawn but little, but
few realized the extent of this surplus. At times of great distress
both here and abroad, our sympathy had been expressed by generous
contributions. We had annually contributed large sums for the support
of various philanthropies in this country, but as a nation we never
realized how much we could give until the test came. One drive is
hardly completed before another comes. We are surprised as a nation
and as individuals at the amounts we can repeatedly give and still
continue to meet our ordinary expenditures. This giving is getting to
be almost a habit with us and when the war is over, although we may be
helping to carry a huge national debt, I believe that our deserving
charities will be supported more adequately than before the war.
Second, we are getting more trained volunteer workers. One of the
principal problems of charitable organizations engaged in case work
has been to secure a sufficient number of capable volunteers who would
keep their interest in the work and be regular in their attendance.
The past few months have seen an increase in this volunteer service
which a year ago we should never have deemed possible. The Home
Service Section of the American Red Cross has enlisted the service as
visitors of thousands of our men and women who are anxious to do what
they can to preserve the homes from which some member has been called
to the colors. In a large number of cities this service has been
placed under the supervision of paid workers who had been connected
with charity organization societies and who brought with them the
experience of years in directing and training volunteer friendly
visitors. They recognized the advantage of classroom instruction for
these visitors, even if necessity compelled that it be extremely
limited. Accordingly training schools for these volunteers have been
started in many places in this country and the attendance has been
surprisingly large and regular. These volunteers are no longer timidly
inquiring whether there is some opportunity for friendly visiting in
the homes; they are demanding that some opportunity be given them.
After the war this vast army of workers with limited training will
demand work of a similar nature and the problem of finding
satisfactory volunteers should be solved for many years to come.
Third, the war is raising the standard of care in charitable work.
Most of these volunteers are visiting in soldiers' families. The
allowance from the Government, the State and the Red Cross makes
possible a good standard of living. While our soldiers are at the
front they do not need to fear that the standard to which the family
had been accustomed will be allowed to fall. At the close of
hostilities these volunteers, accustomed to this standard, will demand
that the same standard apply to the out-door relief given by
charitable societies. The result will be a considerable rise in the
standard of care. Professional social workers are not talking so much
as they did about "cases." They are talking more about "families."
This is the express desire of those who are directing the Home Service
Section of the Red Cross. It is felt that in this way a more personal
note may be brought into family rehabilitation in the future. It would
appear, therefore, that the future should find our charities more
adequately financed, better supplied with trained volunteers, and
inspired to a higher standard of work.
The habit of saving is likely to become much more firmly established
among our people. We may never be so thrifty as the French nation, but
we are progressing in that direction. Subscriptions to the Third
Liberty Loan were received from seventeen millions of our people. In
many of our public schools the purchase of thrift stamps by the
scholars has been almost universal. It is probable that a very large
proportion of those who are now purchasing liberty bonds never owned a
bond of any description before. The habit formed in this way will
continue in many cases. A banker a short time ago prophesied that upon
the conclusion of this war the savings banks would receive far larger
deposits than had ever been the case before. This habit of saving and
the ownership of bonds will not fail to have its influence upon the
rank and file of our people. At the close of the war we shall have our
troubles with those who will advance repudiation or some scheme by
which the burden of our national debt may be shifted and the necessity
for saving miraculously avoided in some way. But the common sense of
our people will assert itself and we shall realize that the only way
by which we can replace this capital is by spending less than we earn.
The plain word "thrift" seems likely to come into its own again.
Up to the present time social work has appeared to many persons to be
a fad. Some have felt that people with too little to do have spent
their time in interfering with the affairs of people who had too much
to do. The charge has been made that social service was only a
temporary phenomenon which would soon disappear. But the war has
taught us a lesson. The military authorities were among the first to
recognize the need of proper recreation for the troops, and the demand
for workers in the cantonments and at the front has been too great to
be met. We see now that the need for recreation is a real need. It
seems likely that commercialized recreation and amusement is likely to
play a smaller part hereafter, and that the community is going to
demand a share in this enterprise in the future. Assembly halls,
playgrounds, and similar provisions for the public will be required.
We have never had a caste system in this country and aristocracy based
upon birth has been unknown. It is probable that nowhere in the world
during the past two centuries has it been easier for a man to improve
his financial and social standing by his own efforts than in this
country. Land ownership has been widely distributed, we have had a
large middle class and men have been constantly changing from the
group of employees to that of employers. But notwithstanding these
factors, there has been a growth of class feeling in this country.
Employers have been mistrusted by employees. The growth of large
fortunes has given rise to envy and bitterness in many quarters. Many
have felt that ignorance was the principal cause for this growing
antipathy. Employer and employee no longer met upon a common footing.
Many attempts have been made to bridge this chasm. Settlement houses
have been erected in order that individuals who would not be likely to
meet in the usual course of business or social intercourse might here
become acquainted and learn one another's viewpoint. The industrial
service movement has been an attempt to link the interests of employer
and employee together. But these movements have only scratched the
surface. The distinctions based on difference have persisted. It has
remained for the war to bring the members of these opposing groups
together. Camp and trench life know no class distinction. Rich and
poor, educated and illiterate, rub elbows and share common life. It is
no uncommon sight to find four men with three different mother tongues
sharing a tent together. The effect of this close companionship, this
sharing of dangers in common, cannot help but breed a companionship
which will do much to bring together men of different birth, breeding
and social station.
Another effect of this war has been to lessen sectarian and religious
differences. Protestant, Roman Catholic and Jewish organizations are
working side by side in our military camps. The contributions to the
work of the Knights of Columbus and of the Y. M. C. A. have come from
the community as a whole. Men of different faiths have served as
members of the same teams in these drives. The lessons learned in this
way are not likely to be forgotten and the great charities to survive
this war will probably draw their support from a wider public
regardless of sectarian affiliation.
We often heard at the beginning of this conflict that it was a rich
man's war; that this country had been drawn into it through the
machinations of wealthy men who wished to make more wealth through
army contracts. This charge has been pretty thoroughly disproven, and
now little is heard of it. The rich have proved their patriotism as
conclusively as any class in this country. They have contributed
generously to our war charities, have submitted to unprecedented
taxation with very little grumbling, have bought Liberty Bonds
generously, and have seen their sons volunteer for military service
with commendable pride. Many of our most efficient executives have
contributed their time to the service of the Government. In fact, one
of the most interesting and inspiring features of this war has been
the service rendered by our men and women of wealth and social
position.
The war is also likely to change the extent and direction of the
social movements in this country. In the early days most of the
charitable work in this country was directed to the amelioration of
the condition of some particular group of unfortunates. A group of
their compatriots in this country would form a society for the
assistance of Scotch widows. No study was made of the causes of this
unfortunate situation. The widows were there and their helpless
condition called for aid. There was no attempt to reduce the number of
widows by safeguarding the lives of their husbands. In this assistance
there was much duplication as the number of these societies increased.
Then came the attempt to eliminate this waste by the formation of
societies to coordinate these charitable activities in our cities.
Although the idea of constructive work entered the minds of these
pioneers, the contributors were interested chiefly in the relief of
want.
It soon became evident that this want was the result of certain
well-defined causes. Sickness, unemployment, intemperance and child
labor were recognized as the causes of misery and the extent of these
causes was studied by societies which worked for their removal. These
activities soon brought the realization that many of these causes were
social rather than individual. Sickness is sometimes caused by
individual excesses, but it is also caused by unhealthful occupations
and life in miserable tenements. We had held property rights as
sacred, but when greed brought a train of social evils we directed our
attention to regulation. It may be meritorious to help a widow whose
husband has been killed at a machine, but it is equally meritorious to
safeguard the machine that it may cease to be the cause of widowhood
in the future. It is good philanthropy to assist those afflicted with
tuberculosis, but it is better to remove the disease-breeding "lung
blocks" from our communities.
This brought the realization that these are community problems which
must be met by community action. The state legislatures were appealed
to with ever increasing success, but Federal action was difficult to
obtain. The war has made us impatient with half-measures. The exigency
demanded immediate and drastic action. Things have been done to obtain
efficiency which we would have considered impossible five years ago.
The rights of private property have had to give way before community
need. We have begun to deal on a larger scale with ultimate causes and
less with the relief of apparent effects. This movement may receive a
temporary setback at the close of the war, but as a community we have
learned what is possible and this lesson will not be lost.
Certain social reforms are being hastened by the war. We have long
felt that certain practices were harmful or wasteful, but in our
easy-going manner had kept putting the matter off in the hope that the
evil would cure itself. The necessity of waging successful war has
compelled the immediate elimination of this waste. Take one or two
instances only.
For a long time we have been more or less familiar with the financial,
physical and spiritual waste resulting from the consumption of
intoxicants in this country. We have been interested in this problem
for a half century and various attempts have been made to eliminate
the most serious evils connected with excessive drinking without
interfering with a moderate use of alcohol. Our half-hearted attempts
were not very successful and finally, after we had experienced a coal
shortage, and had accepted wheatless and meatless days, the country at
last made up its mind that intoxicants must go and the liquor traffic
in this country appears to be doomed. It might have come sooner or
later in any case, but the war has hastened the day.
For a long time penologists have realized that it was poor economy to
shut prisoners into dark and dismal cells, giving them but scant
exercise with little or no employment and then to expect them, at the
expiration of their terms, to be returned ready to take their proper
places in society. We have realized that out-door labor on farms was
one of the best things for this class because in this way the
prisoners could be built up in health and be made more or less
self-supporting while serving their terms. But we had the jails on
hand and it was perhaps the easiest plan to lock the prisoners in
their cells with the assurance that they could be found when wanted.
The demand for farm labor has finally forced our jails and
penitentiaries to give up the labor so sorely needed on the farms. It
is probable that during the coming summer a million acres of land in
this country will be tilled by those undergoing sentence.
We had recognized for years the ravages of venereal disease upon our
manhood and womanhood, and a national society and a large number of
state societies had been organized to combat the evil. But when the
figures began to be published showing the incidence of these diseases
among our troops the public awoke to the seriousness of the situation.
The Federal Government has taken steps to remove diseased women from
the neighborhood of the army cantonments and naval bases. The
Government is footing the bills for the treatment of these women in
state institutions, where such exist, and is providing suitable
facilities for their care in the states where no such opportunity for
treatment existed. After the war the lesson we have learned in this
way is not likely to be forgotten. Another lesson we have learned from
the war has been that a considerable proportion of our young men are
physically below par. Poor care of the teeth and body, improper or
insufficient food, lack of proper exercise, unhygienic methods of
living, and various forms of excesses have produced a generation of
young men many of whom are physically unfit for active military
service. The importance of this fact has now been driven home, and
although much had been said and written upon this subject in recent
years, it will have added emphasis in the future.
We have always had a democratic form of government, and have in a way
considered this country an asylum for the oppressed of all nations.
For several years previous to the outbreak of the war in Europe, we
had been receiving into this country immigrants at the rate of about a
million a year. We had gradually increased the number of restrictions
until most of the undesirable types were excluded. We had made the
process of naturalization comparatively easy and had left it to the
individual immigrant to decide whether or not he would become a
citizen. We had recognized the desirability of Americanizing these
immigrants as soon as possible, but had proceeded about the
proposition in a more or less half-hearted way. The Y. M. C. A.,
through its industrial department, and through the industrial service
work in connection with the colleges, had done considerable to teach
English and civics to the non-English-speaking foreigners. Several
other organizations, some of them national in scope, had interested
themselves in this problem, but our country seemed slow to appreciate
the necessity of making true Americans from these various racial
groups at the earliest possible moment. The war has brought home to us
the fact that we have alien enemies in our midst and from this time we
may expect to make a much more thoroughgoing attempt to Americanize
these groups. The National Council of Defense is investigating this
question at present and we may with confidence look to a
well-considered plan of campaign from this body.
The very fact that we were receiving from the Old World annually a
gift of a million foreign-born, most of whom were in the active ages,
has led us to think that the supply of labor for this country was
assured. We were receiving from Europe all of the natural increase
from a population half as large as our own. The ships that brought
these hopeful workers to this country took back many who had been
maimed in our industries. We had paid too little attention to this
problem since the source of this supply of cheap labor seemed
inexhaustible. Upon the declaration of hostilities in Europe, the
stream of labor to this country suddenly ceased and it is a serious
question whether it will ever again reach its former proportion. Most
of the European countries are going to be so drained of their young
men that a large emigration from them is not to be expected for a long
time to come. The demands for raw material and finished products from
certain of the European countries has increased tremendously and a
shortage of labor in this country has been the result. Concerns have
bid against one another to secure sufficient labor and for the first
time in years we have a condition in which the demand for labor of all
kinds exceeds the supply. With the impossibility of securing this
needed labor from abroad, we have realized the necessity of conserving
the supply in this country. Every effort must be made to reduce the
toll from accident and injury and to decrease the amount of sickness
in the country. We may expect an increase in compensation insurance
and in health insurance among the states. This summer we are having a
campaign to save the lives of a hundred thousand children. This
movement for the conservation of life would undoubtedly have come in
time but has been hastened by the war. Thousands of our young men will
be returned to us from overseas more or less crippled and steps are
already being taken to give them expert training to fit them for some
useful occupation. It is only a step to provide the same sort of
training for those who are maimed in our industries.
No matter what may be the waste in life and property resulting from
such a conflict, if the people of this country can preserve in their
purity the ideals with which they have entered upon this crusade,
social workers may face the future with confidence.
IX
THE WAR AND CHURCH UNITY
WILLISTON WALKER
The great war has been conspicuously one of alliances. For its
successful accomplishment cooperation and individual subordination
have been manifested in military, political and economic fields in
heretofore unexampled fulness. Liberties, the result of long
struggles, and deeply cherished, have been laid aside, for the time,
that larger efficiency may be accomplished. Individual opinions
strongly held have been subordinated to a common purpose. The time has
witnessed a reappreciation of values in many realms. Much that in days
of peace has seemed of importance, has appeared in the fierce light of
war of relatively minor significance. A change of perspective has been
the consequence. Has this result, so apparent in most realms of
activity and of ordinary life, been manifest in the realm of religion?
Are the same forces at work there also? An answer to these questions
cannot as yet be fully formulated; but it is at least possible to
indicate certain influences which are at work.
The entry of the United States into the world-war has been in a degree
unexampled in the history of this country a response to the appeal of
righteousness. No action in which the nation has ever engaged has been
so unselfish. We have taken our part in the struggle without hate, and
with full consciousness of the prospective cost in life and treasure,
that certain principles of justice may prevail, and that despotism,
brutality and falsehood may not dominate the civilized world. We look
for no indemnities, no annexations, and no pecuniary rewards. The
American people has never more fully exhibited that idealism which, in
spite of frequent misapprehension by those unacquainted with the real
national spirit, is its fundamental characteristic. The consonance of
this attitude with some primary teachings of religion is apparent.
Self-sacrifice that the weak may be helped, that wrong may be
resisted, and that a truer and juster order may be established among
the nations, are aims that are closely akin to those of the Christian
faith in its aspect of love to one's neighbor. Nor is it without
evidential value to the essentially religious quality of American life
that no enterprise has ever so united the people, and that Americans,
whether so by long inheritance or immigrants who have more recently
caught the national spirit, have never before been so at one in a
common endeavor. Nothing less noble, less idealistic, less in a true
sense religious could so have fused them into one.
The war, furthermore, has been a revelation of the fundamental
purposefulness of the rising generation. The years immediately
antecedent to the struggle saw not a little shaking of older heads
over what were called the irresponsibility and pleasure-seeking of our
young people. The call to arms has shown them as patriotic, as
whole-hearted in devotion, as sacrificial as ever their elders were.
They need bow in reverence to none who have gone before them. The
cheerfulness with which a selective draft has been accepted, and in
thousands of cases anticipated, has shown the readiness of youthful
response to high appeal. This demonstration of the soundness, the
earnestness and the unselfishness of those who are soon to be the
leaders of the national life is full of religious encouragement.