Text
FORD HALL Ff)LKS
A
MAGAZINE OF
NEIGHBORLINESS
EDITED BY THOMAS DREIER
EnterPd as Second-Closs Matter October 18, 1914, at the Post Office at Boston, Mass., under tbe Act of March 3, 1879.
VOLUME
III
NuMBER
14
JANUARY 17, 1915
PRICE FIVE CENTS
THE NEW MORALITY*
BY RABBI HARRY LEVI
DO 'T think I deserve very much
thank God, to understand that we are not
here to bury children, but to keep them
credit for what I have had to say
alive. We have come to understand that to
in endorsement of Ford Hall. Yot\
make a little boy or girl work is to demoralcan't be less than honest and be a
l!,,;;;.A.;;m,11 man, and you can't be less than apize the home and industry, and to drag
down the child mentally, morally and physpreciative of what Ford Hall is doing and
ically, throwing him into the ranks of the
be any sort of man.
unemployed, the criminal, and the incapacThey say that Lord Roseberry was going
itated, at an age when he ought to be giving
to speak at a banquet once, and toward the
society the best that is in him. The vast
end of the dinner the chairman leaned over
majority of our paupers and juvenile delinand whispered to him, "Had we better have
quents knew no real childhood. Child labor
your speech now, or let the people go on
is a menace to the State. It is because of
and have a good time for a little while?" I
these things that we are beginning to ·a sdon't know that you are going to, have a
sume a totally different attitude toward the
very good time-until after the address.
·c hildren of today. "God puts children into
"To be an American," says Helen Keller,
the world, and He will take care of them,"
"is to be an optimist." And to be an optisays Luther-but not if we neglect them .
mist is to believe that this is the best
The child isn't a thing, it is a soul; and we
wo-rld that in history we have ever
are willing to take off our sandals before it
known, the war to the contrary notwithbecause we know the ground we are on is
standing. Some one has cynically said that
holy. That is the first expression of the
even war is becoming civilized in our day
new morality.
We are a better people than the world has
And the second is the changed attitude
ever known. If there is a moral purpose
that run s through life, it must make for
toward the adult. Time was when the inthe progress of life. That progress has
dividual was nothing, and the State and the
monarch were everything. That was the
never been permanently checked. We are
not merely the heirs of yesterday, we are
time of the divine right of kings. We are
its children. God not only spoke to Moses,
still demanding something of the individbut has never ceased speaking to men, and
ual; we are insisting that he show someis near all who seek him, and that is no rething of civic interest and be willing to
flection on the Bible. We have received all,
lay down his life for his country, but while
in order that we may stand upon all and
we. are demanding we are recognizing, and
grow and build. As the latest phase in the
while we are taking we are giving in turn.
evolution of life, the new morality which is
We are beginning to understand that a man
ours today is the highest level of morality
is a human being, fashioned in the divine
which the world has ever known.
image, and entitled to life, liberty and the
My purpose this evening is simply to call
pursuit of happiness. We are beginning to
your attention to certain directions in which
see that war is an economic waste and a
this new morality is conspicuously making
demoralization of industry, and a deterioraitself manifest. Once children who were detion of the morality of a people. The people
formed or crippled were left to die; children were considered the property of their
,··
parents; play was looked upon as a waste of - !
TEACH US NEW DUTLES.
time and education as a superfluity. Some1J
!hing of that old order ~till persists. These~
·
0 Thou who seest tomorrow as easmstances are as nothmg compared with
ily as we see yesterday, make us conthose that may be summed up under the
scious of the lapse of time. May we
head of child labor. There are more than
ever be ready to let new occasions
a million and a half boys and girls under 16
teach us new duties. Do not let us
in this country engaged in wage-earning cathink that it is no concern of ours
pacities. In New York, in New England, in
when men cannot find work and their
the cotton mills of the South, and in the
families are starving. Make us feel
anthaacite coal mines of Pennsylvania,
the responsibility for providing playchildren are working late at night, 16 and
grounds for the children of the streets.
18 hours a day. Some of these children are
Help us to feel a duty toward the old
as young as three or four.
people who have worked hard and
There are a great many people not confound themselves dependent in their
cerned with conditions such as these. When
old age. Teach us how to prevent
legislation against child labor was first proprivate property from becoming a
posed in England, the employers said it
public menace. Show us where our
was good for the child as it developed his
blessings come to us at the cost of
physical strength and made him self-dependinjustice to others, and let it give us
ent. A New Yol'k social wo,r ker tried to
no rest or peace. Help us to undergive some instructions to a tenement
stand that the increasingly complimother, and was answered by the statement,
cated relationships of modern life
"You can't tell me how to raise children·
hring in their train a whole range - f
o
I've buried nine!" We have come at last,
new duties toward our fellow men.
[ Amen.
*Speech and questions and answers reported
if=-"911
by Miriam Allen deFord.
who suffer from a war are the women and
children left behind, and we are beginning
to see that war is not marching in glittering uniform, but death, desolation and destruction, and that is an unenviable trinity.
Politically, the individual is beginning to
step into his own. What are the revolts
spreading all - ver the earth, except a propho
ecy of that larger demo cracy that one day
will give ns individual privileges as well as
responsibilities?
E'd u cational!y the individual is beginning to come into his own.
The time is coming when an elementary education will be placed within the reach of
every man and woman in the world. In a
democracy, unless the people know, the government cannot endure. And industrially
the individual is stepping into his own. We
are limiting his hours of labor, regulating
his wages, and providing for industrial accidents. We are not underestimating the
value of capital, but we are beginning to
belie"':r~ +bat ~1· 0 lql)or i:i1· !s: "t;.'0J."tt.,7 .:..f
~ ~ t' ___.._,
commensurate to the power he puts into his
labor. He is entitled to a wage that will
make a decent living for him and those dependent up on him. Today we look upon the
workingma : :i.s a co-worker with God in
making progress possible and real life
worth while.
The new morality is altering our attitude
toward women. There were beautiful tributes to women in the olden times, but they
were exceptions. And the church was not
very far in advance of the laity. Something of th Lt old situation also lingers within our own t' 1es. In the Orient woman is
almost a prisoner. Here, how long is it
since the woman who went out into th e
world to work was looked upon as unsexed;
and how long since women have insisted 011
giving the world the best that was in
them? Yet today we have 6,000,000 wome n
wage-earners, and some of us are beginnin g
to believe that if a woman gives equal work
she is -entitled to equal wage. Man is by no
means always the support of the household.
We are beginning to talk of mothers' pensions to keep the mother at home to rear
good sons and daughters, and that is n o
charity.
Most women" who work do so because th ey
must; but there are thousands of womc n
working hecause they want to give som(.
thing back to society, and are not content
to be parasites, consumers instead of producers. Much of the work they are doin g
is not of a wage-earning nature-it is cha r itable, civic and political. Today woman i ;
beginning to demand the suffrage, and, bftter still, she is getting it. Why not? With
the exaggerated form of the feminist movement of our o- n time, and with the m ' lj.
w
tant movement in England, we cannot ha ""
the slightest bit of sympathy. When Ellen
Key praises a woman who preaches and believes in free love, and when The Fn e
Woman says woman should have her flin "
and sow her wild oats, and when we
women sharing men's vices, there are som e
(Continued on Page 2.)
0
se;
FORD HALL FOLKS
THE NEW MORALJ . Y.
(Continued from Page 1.)
conservative souls who feel rather like cursing the movement th an bles8ing it. But with
the legitimate attempt on the part of woman
to obtain the rights to which she is entitled,
no reasonable person can do anybing but
approve.
We are changing our attitude toward marriage. We believe in marriage as much as
did the ancients, but we are coming to see
that loveless marriages are nothing but
legalized prostitution, and that it is not a
crime for a woman not to marry, and that
for her not to give herself to th e man she
marries until she is mature is to be commended. The marriage relation should !Je
one of equality. In olden times a man
bound his wife with a ring of iron; today
he puts a ring upon her finger to signify
that she is to share equally with him in all
bis goods. In olden times he bought his
wife, or was paid by her parents for takin&
her; today, he asks the girl bef(\re he asks
her parents, and in many maniages the
man as well as the girl puts on a ring. The
marriage must also be one of absolute moral
equality. We are sick unto nausea of the
double standard of morality. A single man
takes it for granted he is his own worst
enemy and no,body else will suffer, but for
a married man an immoral life i~ all wrong,
because everything he does, his wife and
children must share and pay the penalty
for. "Damaged Goods" was no exaggeration; fundamentally it told the truth. That
~t:> , ••
Uy a wt:c .i z justifii: 1.i i u
.
Ut1 ,·
... !.ztg
that
her husband be faithful to h er , a nd a girl
in demanding the same standard of the man
she marries as he of her. We reC'o il in horror at human sacrifice to the p us, hut what
can we say of parents who .: • ' heir daughters into marriages that are worse than
death? And thoughtlessness or ignorance
here is a crime.
The new morality is affecting our whole
attitude toward poverty. W e used to think
poverty was always an expression of lazin ess. Now we know it w ay be altogether
due to unemployment or sickn i::ss or social
neglect of duty. We are L ·, , n nin g to understand that if we gave m ore justice
we would not have to practi se so much
charity; that if we gave every man what
be deserves we would keep thousands of
men from the verge from which it is so
easy for them to fall into pauperism.
We are beginning to change our whole
attitude also toward defectives. At the St.
Louis Exposition I saw models of an old
and new style room in an insane hospital
that told the whole story of bow an insane
man was treated 100 years a go and now.
Today we believe that a guard who is cruel
toward a feeble-minded p,,"ent ought himself to be put behind the bars.
Then, too, the new morality is transforming our attitude toward the delinquent.
Time was when we thought every immoral
person was depraved by n ature. Now we
see it may be due to heredity, or a question
of fatigue, or a legitimate desire for enjoyment. We are altering ou, attitude toward
prostitution. We see that. there may be a
social reason for that vic;e; that if there
were not fallen men ther e would not be
fallen women; that there is a demand for
the supply; and that if we pilloried the man
as well as the woman the institution might
go by the board. We are beginning to see
that, after all, these cTeatures are human
beings, who, with the same opportunities as
our daughters, might be. as respectable, and
that when they fell the hearts of parents as
good as we are were broken. We are going
down into the very depths and taking these
poor creatures by the hand, and trying to
raise them to the position they should occupy.
"N obless oblige" :-that, my friends, is the .
new morality that is beginning to pervade
all ·our life, and this is only the beginning.
The promise is even hetter than the achievement. We are on the right track. We are
beginning to understand, with Tolstoy, the
claim that the submerged tenth has upon us.
A beggar asked Tolstoy once for money, and
he said, "I am sorry, brother, but I have
none." The beggar's eyes shone, as he answered, "Ah, but you called me brother!"
We are beginning to understand that society gives us everything we have, and if it
were not for society, we would not have or
achieve, and that we must give some return
for what we receive. We used to go about
our own selfish ways, but now we respond
generously and promptly to calls for help
from everywhere. Thank God, we are !Jeginning to understand at last that whatever
we are, or wherever we come from, in the
last analysis we are all one, and we shall
either rise or fall together. We shall either
all be saved, or we shall all go down together.
_ If only we do not become faint of heart,
if we keep up our courage, if we remain
hopeful and patient and unselfish, working
for the common good in which we shall all
share, the day will ·C'ome when we shall
enter the Promised Land.
THE QUESTIONS.
Q : ls it not tru e that preachers of your
calibre do not last long in the pulpit?
A: I don't know; I am still here, after
18 years, to tell the tale.
Q: Isn't it true that most of the evils
of the twentieth centur.v have come from
money, and what remedy have you?
A: I don't believe most of the evils are
due to the desire for money, and I ha vE:n·;.
any remedy for all the evils of life. I do
believe that if we followed absolute justice
prob~bly we would get about as far along
the lme as l111 ough any possible measure.
Q (Mr. Barnard): Would it not be advisable for preachers to pay a little more
attention to the necessities of life?
A: I would be sorry for the preac! .,7,
who didn't, but also for the preache,· ,,h o
lost sight of the necessities of those to
whom he preaches.
Q: Isn't it true that the people in th:
Orient are superior in morality to those in
the Occident?
A: As a sum total they are not.
Q: What advice could you give a girl
who works in a tl.epartment store for less
than it costs her to live?
A: There is no advice to give her exce 1
;;:to t ell her to stay straight to the last.
~. (Mr. Sackmary) : What is the prob'.1-billty of a loveless marriage ripening
mto love?
A: Only a man who bas had that experi_
ence C'Ould answer, and I haven't had it.
Q: Is what they call love nowad:i.y~ ,
real thing?
·
A: What we all mean when we say
want love is the real thing.
Q: . Isn't it a fact that capitalism is r1:1
sponsible for young men not getting mar•
n~d, and isn't the prostitute a necessary
evil?
A: _ I . doubt whether capitalism is responsible, though there may be a relation.
Q: !f God is fair and teaches us to love
our !leighbors, how is it He allows the people m Europe to hate each other?
·
A: There is a tremendous lot about Ood
0
and life I don't know. But how is a nation
to develop righteousness unless it has the
power of choice?
Q: Isn't morality a fashion?
A: Conventionality may be; but anyhow
i t is a mighty good thing.
Q (Mr. Cosgrove): You say that the human family is on the right road to the
P romised Land : what are the forces that
a re assisting-intellectual, spiritual, or mili- ·
tary?
A: The spiritual and intellectual are assisting, and the military is usually standing
in the way.
Q: If Moses were here today would he
not be a Socialist?
A: I don't know, but I don't think so.
Q (Mr. Carty): If the demand increases
the supply in the social evil, would not the
demand be minimized greatly if the industrial situation were such as to make it possible for every man to take a wife?
A: Yes, I think so.
Q: What is your conception of God?
A: As an infinity, whom it is impossible
fo~ us wholly to comprehend, an infinite
spirit and principle, wo·r king through all of
life and lifting us constantly to a higher
level.
Q: Are not government and capitalism
responsible for our evils, and what better
system of things would you recommend?
A: I think capitalism is responsible for
both evils an~ blessings, and go,v ernment
for. many blessmgs and a few evils. We are
going along the right lines; let us keep at
them in an evolutionary manner.
Q (Mr. Meltzer, Sr.) : How can one be
patient when so many people are out of
work and ch ildren a re starving?
A : By being patient I don 't mean being
s ubmissive. We must keep on working.
Q_ (Mr. Meltzer, Jr.): Do you consider it
a s!gn of the new morality when Bouck
White puts in his marriage ceremony the
words, " While love doth last?"
A : I should sa y it was a sign of the
n ew immorality.
Q (Miss deFord): Isn't it true that the
":'omen you decry, who have defied convent10nal morals, have been the ones who have
blazed ~he trail for everything women have
ever gained?
A : It doesn 't seem necessary to me for
: wom~n to b; immoral to do something
o OOd. :-: ou don t have to do wrong in order
to do nght. The means does not justify the
end.
·
Q (Miss Crawford): What would you
say about a woman like George Eliot?
_A: She was a remarkable woman, but I
wis~ she had not done what she did in a
manta! way.
·
Q (Miss Rogolsky) : Isn't it true, for exa:31ple, that the first suffragists were considered as r eprehensible as the women who
now break moral'laws?
A: .' .t is true that what is considered
wrong m one age is considered right in another.
Q (Miss Smith): Will you kindly tell
~is _how to vote to abolish child labor since
it is run for profit?
'
A: It would depend upon what I was
going to vote for or against.
Q: . Don:t you think women's votes will
help in this C'ondition?
A: I believe so.
Q (Mr.
Rush): Was
it
God
who
hardened Pharaoh's , heart against the children of Israel?
A: . God is always fair and just, although
sometimes we do unjust thino-s and bl
Go for them.
"'
ame
Q· Of the existing parties which one
would you advise us to vote for?
A: I would not advise you t~ vote for
(Continued on Page 3.)
3
FORD HALL FOLKS
THE QUESTIONS.
(Continued from Page 2.)
either, because I don't know . what either
party would particularly do. All that has
been done has been done outside of parties.
Q: If parents are not capable of teaching
their children the secrets of life, how would
you have them taught?
A: If the parents are not capable they
ought to get somebody to do it for them who
is capable.
Q (Mr. Fasscia): Won't the continuation of the capitalistic system gradually
crush the working class and bring about a
revolt on their part, so that they will destroy the capitalistic class?
A: No, I don't think it ever will, becau~e
I think democracy will learn the lesson m
time. Capital and labor will learn to work
together in harmony.
Q: How much chance is there under economic conditions for one to attain the love
that is life?
A: Love is only in a measure dependent
upon material conditions, and can rise far
superior to them. The more love we have
the more life we will get.
Q: Isn't prostitution an economic question?
A: No, I don't think so at all. Poverty
has mighty little to do with it.
Q: Would you favor divorce in the case
of a loveless marriage?
A: If the children would be affected, the
divorce should not be permitted.
Q: Is there more child labor in the
South or here?
.h..: Until quite recently Massachusetts
was the seventh worst State in the country,
and Rhode Island is today one of the worst.
But conditions have been greatly improved
here.
Q (Mr. Cedar): Is not prostitution necessary in the present state of society, with
man's limited economic condition?
A: I should be sorry for the man that
believed it.
Q: Do you believe that private ownership of land is wrong?
A: No, I don't; but I am not enough of
an authority to discuss the Single Tax.
Q · If the majority of marriages is
fou~ded on love, do you not think that wi_th
all the burdens of married life and the mcreased cost of living, the wife ought to be
sick of her selection?
A: Not if she has got the right kind _of
husband. I should be sorry for the wife
who got sick of her job because her husba_ d
n
had limited means.
Q: Isn't it an injustice for any man to
keep out of use large tracts of land that
would give employment to lots of people?
A: Yes, it does seem to me wrong, but I
must say again I don't know enough to talk:
about the Single Tax . .
Q: Do you wish to impress young people that the only requisite for a happy marriage is love?
A: Not if you are starving to death.
Love is the prime requisite, though.
Q: Who is more to blame for child labor
in the South, the foreign or native population?
.
A: The native population is more responsible.
Q ( Mrs. Blanchard) : Why isn't more being done to alleviate the ,condition of the
child worker?
A: Largely because we haven't as yet
got an enlightened public opinion, and employers of child labor are particularly interested in stopping such legislation.
Q (Miss Goldberg): What is
e reason
that so large a number of men in Massachusetts are op11osed to woman suffrage?
A: I don't know. I can't understand how
any reasoning being can be opposed.
Q: Isn't the man who gets married and
tells the girl he is earning more than he is,
worse than a ,c riminal?
A: I consider the man who lies· to the
girl he marries a criminal-whether he is
worse than other criminals depends on what
they have done.
Q: Isn't it true that today in the European war there are sovereigns who rule and
the masses must obey?
A: If I am not mistaken, this war will
mean more democracy in Europe than Europe ever saw.
Q (Mr. Margolis): Does the hope of
progress rest in religious democracy or dogmatic theology?
A: In democratic religion, which is the
kind I believe in.
Q (Mr. Browne): What percentage of
parents depend upon their children for support, and if you stopped their work, how
would the parents live?
A: Only 7 per cent. of widowed mothers
are dependent on their little children. 80
to 85 per cent. of the parents do not need
their children's labor.
Q: Do you appro,v e of sex hygiene being taught in the public schools?
A: That depends on the pupil's age and
the teacher.
Q: How do you define morality?
A: Morality is the doing of that which
is right.
Q: Are the liberal or orthodox factions
of religion more responsive to the new
morality?
A: The liberal, because religion is naturally conservative.
Q: What faction of the Jewish race, the
orthodox or reformed, more definitely carries out the doctrines of Moses, and which
will prevail?
A: Orthodoxy is much more loyal to the
details of his teaching. Unquestionably the
liberal form will prevail.
Q: If women are becoming more active,
are not the English suffragettes merely expressing their new energies?
A: If I advised you to become more actively interested in your fellow man I hope
you wouldn't go out in the street and hit
him with a brick.
Q: If the right cif suffrage were extended to women, would it purify politics?
A: No one reform would do· it, but suffrage would help.
Q (Mrs. Hoffman): Isn't it a fact that
sooner or later the workingmen will demand
the full product of their labor?
A: It is very likely, though, if they had
a fairer return they might not be so anxious
to do so. But the more we have the more
we want.
Q: Isn't race suicide due to economic
conditions?
A: Only in a measure; largely it is due
to the unwillingness of the woman of today
to do her duty by her children.
Q: Do you think that when the employee gets justice he will take advantage of
the employer?
A: It may well be, for our characters are
not necessarily improved because we get
more money.
Q: How can children of three or four
years have the strength to open oysters?
A: I really don't know. Mostly they dig
them and take them out of the shell after
it is opened.
Q: Can you tell us what to do with the
unemployed in New York, and isn't it wrong
to send money to Belgium instead of to
them?
A: If I knew what to do, I would do it
for the unemployed in Boston; unfortunately, I do not. It might be possible for
the State to create work for them. The
most necessary thing is to provide for those
both here and in E'urope. If we did our
duty there would not be so much suffering
in either place.
Q: What is your opinion of the relation
between love and religion?
A: Religion sanctifies and intensifies
love.
Q: How can the parents of a young girl
find out the character of a man when his
own parents do not know about him?
A: Go somewhere else-to the minister,
for instance.
Q (Mr. Fraser): Has the new morality
done much to take away prejudice against
the Jewish and other races?
A: Yesterday they took a club at the
man and now they don't want to associate
with him. That is an improvement for
which the Jew is graTeful.
Q (Mr. Schmidt): Do you believe a bet·
ter appreciation of the spiritual would help
along the new morality?
A: There is no doubt about it. The
larger the sway of religion the more moral
we will be.
·
Q (Mr. Gallup): Is
there
anything
financially unsound in the project to spend
the State money for forestry, and thus employ men?
A: I should say that if the State can afford it, even if it did not make money, it
should do it.
Q (Mr. Swisher): How do you explain
the churches' failure to extend more o.f a
helping hand to the ex-convict, or the wayward youn g man and
W Ulliii.~?
A: Though the chm•ch ought to do more,
it will never be better than the people who
belong to it.
Q (Mr. Drake): Is not a system intolerable which compels a man to support
his wife and yet does not supply him with
work?
A: I had never considered that phase of
it. I canno,t untangle the difficulty.
THE' MAN WHO THINKS BACKWARDS.
"A modern intellectual comes and sees a
poker. He is a positivist; he will not begin
with any dogmas about the nature of man
or any day-dreams about the mystery of
fire," cheerfully starts out G. K. Chesterton. "He will begin with what he can see,
the poker; and the first thing he sees about
the poker is that it is crooked. He says:
'Poor poker; it's crooked.' Then he asks
how it came to be crooked, and is told that
there is a thing in the world (with whicl\
his temperament has hitherto left him unacquainted) , a thing called fire. He points
out, very kindly and clearly, how silly it is
of people, if they want a straight poker, to
put it into a ·c-hemical combustion which
will very probably heat and warp it. 'Let
us abolish fires,' ·h e says, 'and then we shall
have perfectly straight pokers. Why should
you want a fire at all?' They explain to
him that a creature called Man wants a
fire, because he has no fur or feathers. He
gazes dreamily at the embers f.or a few seconds, and then shakes his head. 'I doubt
if such an animal is worth preserving,' he
says. He must eventually go under in the
cosmic struggle when pitted against wellarmored and warmly protected species
who have wings and trunks and spires and
scales and horns and shaggy hair. If Man
cannot live without these luxuries, you had
better abolish Man."
FORD HALL FOLKS
4
AS IT LOOKS TO ME
By GEORGE W. COLEMAN
Last Sunday night the doors had to be
closed before they were open, so to speak,
the crowd was so great; in other words,
the crowd standing in line was so large
that the doors were opened about quarter
of seven and the house was filled and the
doo-rs shut before seven o'cloek, the usual
time for opening. The ovation given Rabbi
Levi when he arose to speak was another
intimation of the special interest of the
crowd in the speaker of the evening.
t
t
t
Both Dr. ·and Mrs. Francis E. Clark, of
Christian Endeavor fame, were on the platform.
Mrs. Clark had never before attended a Ford Hall meeting. They wer e
greatly interested in and much pleased with
the address, and found the audience equally
engaging.
Mrs. Levi, who sat beside her husband,
was intensely alert in her responsiveness to
the very least detail of the evening's program, and eagerly anticipated the answer
to every question.
Mr. Phillips, one of Rabbi Levi's staunch
supporters at Temple Israel, together with
a number of other Temple Israel m embers,
were also on the platform. Mr. Phillips is
a long-time friend of ours.
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We all were glad to hear once more the
stentorian tones of our friend, Sam Sackmary, as he asked his usual pungent quest.ion. He had beP.n absent all +nrongh the
earlier part of our season, owing to his
absorption in the work of the West End
Young Men's Hebrew Association.
Ford
Hall would not seem quite the same without Sam.
Our good-natured but assertive Italian
friend, Senor Fasscia, exhibits a good deal
of courage and determination in trying to
make us understand his English, but if he
perseveres and embraces all his opportuni·
ties in the same enterprising fashion, he
will some day be talking English as well
as any of us. It is quite natur:1 1, of course,
for the audience to be amused by his struggle with the difficulties of our language. lt
is a perfectly good-natured amusement,
however, for a large proportion of the members of our audience have passed through,
or are passing through, that very same
struggle themselves. We can afford to be
patient and give "Toney" a little more than
the usual amount of time in - rder to help
o
him, for he is dead in earnest in his effort
to speak English, and also in his interest
in the great economic struggle of our day.
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The young lad in the gallery at my extreme right last Sunday night was the same
youngster who debated so earnestly with
me as to his right to a seat in Ford Hall.
On that last hymn we tried to sing last
Sunday the words did not quite fit the music, and it was a good deal like bumping
along over a corduroy road. It will seem
good to have Mr. Foster ba.::k on the job
as precentor next Sunday. The sharpness
of Mr. Foster's illness is measured by the
fact that he lost twenty pounds in ten days.
He says he could well spare the twenty
pounds, but would prefer not to lose it in
that way.
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Our "Jack" London was obliged to leave
the hall quite early last Sunday in order to
respo·nd to a sudden call to accompany a
young man to the George Junior Republic,
at Freeville, N . Y., where young London
himself had two years of splendid training.
Usher Herbert Greene and Citizen Leo
Meltzer, with Jack's regular assistants,
took care o·f the selling of the magazine.
We all apprec'iate very much the kindness
of those who freely assist in work of this
sort whenever occasion requires.
It is wonderful how smoothly the outside ushers are doing their work this season. The new system continues to work
most admirably, and by opening the doors
a little ahead of time, when the crowd is excessive, we avoid altogether any confusion
and disorder such as was almost inevitable
formerly. Last Sunday night, at quarter of
seven, the line on Ashburton Place had already turned the corner and was reaching down seventeen or twenty feet on Somerset Street.
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Mr. Rolfe Cobleigh, one of the editors of
'l'h e Congregationalist, has a very appreciative account of Dr. Gordon's night at
Ford Hall in his paper this week, January
14. Commenting on Dr. Gordon's address,
Mr. Cobleigh says that many a good sermon preached at Ford Hall is heard by a
more attentive audience than some church
eongregations. Mr. Cobleigh has watched
our meetings with sympathetic interest
from almost the beginning and says that he
has seen sure evidence - f splendid results
o
in the growth of go·o d will, tolerance, mutual understanding, high ideals of moral social, economic and political affairs and of
democracy.
In the contribution boxes recently a number ·of suggestions have been received. John
M. Weeks says, "Why would it not be a
good idea to close each Ford Hall Meeting
by the presiding officer bidding the audience
a Good Night and a response by the audience of another Good Night?" That sounds
pretty good to me. What do you think of
it?
Another brief ·c omment suggests that an
annex be built to, Ford Hall. I have often
thought of that when I have looked at those
two dwelling houses in the rear of Ford
Hall on Bowdoin Street.
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It is interesting to note what different
impressions different people get from the
same event. Th e Watchrnan-Exainin er of
New York, and Th e Stanclard, of Chic~go,
both Baptist papers, gave our Bouck White
meeting very fair and appreciative reports.
Zion: s Herald, of Boston, a Methodist paper,
ignoz:ed Bouck White's Sunday evening
meetmg at Ford Hall, and taking up
Mayor Curley's criticism of White's utterances at another meeting, holds Ford Hall
responsible for the utterances in Boston of
this "erratic and dangerous man." The
editor goes on to say, "We have yet to see
any reputable paper or publication that has
not severely criticised him. But the management of Ford Hall deliberately planned
to have him speak on that platform, and
persisted in it when attention had been
called to his dangerous utterances." W~
would respectfully commend Editor Parkhurst's attention to The Standard and The
Watchinan-Exarniner,
containing exactly
truthful reports of Bouck White's evening
at Ford Hall.
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Our good friend and one-time speaker a t
Ford Hall, Rev. L. M. Powers, D.D., of
Gloucester, startled that city and astonished newspaper readers throughout the
country at the time of the recent inauguration of the City Government of Gloucester
by a prayer that was so simple, direct, sin·
care and practical that it was regarded
everywhere as extraordinary. In case you
missed it in the daily papers, let me quote
the first paragraph of the prayer to give
you an idea of its style and content. "We
pray for the retiring mayor. He might
have done better, and he kno·w s it, and now
we are sending him to the State House,
where strength and grace, wisdom and devotion to the public welfare are more
needed even than in Gloucester. Help him
to be the representative he may be and
ought to· be." Dr. Powers said he had no
idea there could be so much interest in an
honest prayer and that it was not made
for the papers, but when the reporters said
they would have to make one themselves if
he didn't give it to them, he recalled it
from memory as nearly as he could. It was
unco·nventional, but by no means irreverent. It was its unconventionality that gave
it its force.
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Rev. John W. Ross, who is coming to us
next Sunday, says the forum in his chmch
is steadily gaining in interest and power
with the people. He tells me that meetings
on similar lines have been instituted already in two other churches in Buffalo. One
is conducted on Sunday evening and confined to distinC"tively religious topics, and
the other is held on a week-day evening
with a more general program. In writing of the Calvary Church Open Forum,
which you will remember is carried on Sunday nights, by Mr. Ross, in his own ch ....·ch, the managing editor of one of Buffalo's
foremost papers said, "It has become a feature of great interest and note in the city
and gives a hearing on live questions that
is hard to get in any other way." The
pastors of the city are visiting Calvary
Forum very frequently, and Mr. Ross reports that he has yet to hear from any one
of them anything but words of commendation, and some have expressed their .feeling
in terms of wo- derment, never before havn
ing seen anything of the kind.
We are working industriously on our
plans for the Italian Forum. It is a hard
task not only because of the difficulties in
regard to the language, but also because the
Italian Colony is made up of so many different groups and cliques. We hardly dare anticipate any such success for this Italian
Forum, Sunday afternoons, as we have had
with our English-speaking audience, Sunday evenings. If we can eventually gather
an audience of 500, it will seem very much
worth while, but we may have to start with
a very much smaller number. We must not
forget that there were only 150 present at
the first Ford Hall Meeting, and that it has
taken seven years to grow to our present
size and strength.
The Italian Forum
opens in Ford Hall, Sunday afternoon, February 14. Keep the date in mind and tell
your Italian friends everywhere about it
and extend them a hearty invitation to attend. Details of the program will be announced a little 1.ater.
"The man who puts ten thousand dollars
additional capital into an established business," said Marshan Field, "is pretty certain of increased returns; and in the same
:'ay the man who puts additional capital
mto his brains-information, well-directed
thought and study of possibilities-will as
surely-yes, more surely-get increased returns.
· ere is no capital safer and surer
than tha.,'
FORD HALL FOLKS
\\
II
COMMON SENSE IN THE SCHOOL
As
BROTHER
HooD
SEES IT
"I wonder whether Wirt will Garyize the
'"l'hat man Wirt is a regular Henry TurNew York schools," said Miss Earnest. "I
ner Bailey kind of a principal, isn't he?"
said the Flippant Youth.
hope so; they certainly have done great
"The socializing processes Bailey told so
things out in Indiana."
eloquently about two weeks ag·o," interrupt"Tdl us about it," said Mrs. Goodheart.
ed Mr. Social Mind, "are educating children
"It's t:oo long a story," said Miss Earnest.
away from blind alley jobs.
Socializing
"But it is just a case of that 'divine spark
standards
of common s ense' as someone said in speak- is workingplus an injection of common sense
wonders."
ing of Superintendent Wirt. He took the
"I felt sorry for the poor children Bailey
simple position that if the schools were to
talked about-drilled, drilled, drilled-little
serve the community, they ought to work at
machines, every one,'' said Mrs. Goodheart.
it as bard as they could as many hours
"Poor babies, taken before their muscles are
of the day as possible. So thP.y start in
ripe and chained to desks. We pour doses
early and work late."
of perfectly useless information into them
"That's too hard on the children," said
. and expect them to absorb knowledge by
Mrs. Goodheart.
the gallon. Then we are proud of our pP.r" It isn't the same -children 1,a ll the time.(' \ feet little intellectual p,rigs. The youngster
r eplied M{ss Earnest. "They come in relays.
who has the sleekest plaster on his hairThen they work double shifts besides-on
mentally speaking-is the greatest prodigy
the rooms, not the children. For instance,
of learning.''
when the pupils leave the fourth room
"No wonder t1lose doses of learning went
where they have been studying arithmetic,
wrong sometimes," said the Flippant Youth.
we'll say and go to the gymnasium for phys"They generally acted like ipecac on me.
ical culture, the fourth room doesn't lie
"To this day,'' he continued, "I feel cheatii.lie waiting for the class to come back. Aned when I think of my school work. I was
otber class files in and utilizes the space in
robbed. I had perfectly good wholesome
.heir absence. See? Just doubles up. When hours stolen from me, hours when I might
ne group is in the swimming pool, ano~he~
):l ~ .-- ·
n doing something useful like fish:011p takes its place in the laboratnrip.~ ·
tbe, or finding out why the wild
· Great! " saiu the Flipp2.nt Yo,.
w north or what the speakinir sif the night , vere trying· to sa.\ to
-~rn
" .:-i + 'lnd ?:Oing."
wasn't fair t c; ·waste ihose ho ud in
"As l rememl~~
J'~~ l nJ1 th
me with a l•>t of sawdust wX
tich
that way from • _
';t
• the wilaest stretch of the imagi·
in the afternoon,
could be of use. "
day and ·Sund ..
_ - !J. ~Jippant Youth says sudden things,"
Earnest. "The wl
said Dea"on Smugman, "but they won't
th e most efficient u~
stand analysis. The night hours he talks
" Then there is anothl,f way the Gary
about he wouldn't be in school anyway.''
s chools are common-sensed," said Brother
" No, Deacon," replied the Flip·p ant Youth.
Hood. "Mr. Wirt believEs that as the schools
"But I was in my 'little attic chamber' with
are a civic agency of the first rank, and the
my· tallow dip working like a Trojan to get
greatest democratic agency the community
has, they ought tci correlate every other .· next day's lesson. Guess again!"
"They are not doing that sort of thing any
civic agency in the community. So the Gary
more," said Brother Hood. "Educators are
plan says to the factories of Gary, 'Tea_ h
c
different somehow. They are real men and
our youth your craftsmanship.' It says t-o
women now who realize that their job has to
the art museums, 'Show them your treasdo with life not with an academic code of
urEs-show them how to relate the beauty of
theories."
art to the beauties of life.' It ties to the
"But dou •J ycu forget the cultural value of
service of the schools all the recreational
these abstract studies?" said Miss Prim.
advantages of the city. It welds all these
'Think of r e mental discipline!"
,'toTces into one co-ordil)· teer for ce for /better'. 'Oh that mental discip.Jine!" said the
ment.
Flippant Youth. "I can r.e member the way
"It even," continued Brother Hood, "essays
my mind quickened and my brain throbbed
to teach religion as part of the school's work,
when I realized that it was indeed true that
and this is how it does it. It prescribes a
The-Cat"Can-Catch-the-Rat. Then that epic
certain course in the Bible as a literature
which began Maine-Augusta-on-the-Kenneand a text book ·o f ethics. This study is not
bec; New Hampshire~Concord-on-the-Merrirequired. Each parent elects, first, whether
)Ilack."
he wants his child to take the course, and
"Educators see now there is as much culsecond, under what church he wants the
tural value in an onion root as in a Greek
study pursued. If he doesn't want the child
root," said Brother Hood. "It is as much a
to do any of the work, that settles it. If
mental drill for the boy in school to prehe does, be dictates whether it shall be
pare plans for a hencoop ·on ·the farm or in
Methodist, Baptist, Catholic, Jewish or what
the backyard as to safely, neatly and sanctinot. The plan has, in the meantime, asked
moniously diagram 'Of man's first disobedithe ministers of the vari-ous ·churches to orence and the fruits, etc.'
ganize schools for teaching this course, not
"It all comes back to the original propoon Sunday, no! .but on weekdays and as
sition," he went on. "Common sense in the
part of the regular school course.
schools-cutting out the useless, educating
"Do you get the point?" he went on. "The
for making a living and making a life too,
plan is only concerned in a certain aspect
preparing for service, realizing that it's ·a
of the study. The public school system of
real man-sized job to train citizenship when
Gary is only interested in certain fundait is in the sapling period. It is a hell broth
mental propositions. Priest, minister or rabbi
of a · theory or lack of theory which will
can give such denominational aspects to
allow or rather help the young growths to
these teachings as they choose; with that take on twisted, stunted, distorted shapes
the plan has nothing to do."
and expect them all at once by some miracle
7
of rebirth at adolescence to become strong,
erect, sturdy trees."
"What was it Bailey said?" he continued.
"The schools today are guiding children in
doing just those things the schools of yesterday punished them for doing. That's just
this same proposition-using plain common
sense. It takes the natural impulses of the
normal boy or girl and utilizes them instead
of seeking to crush them."
"'To treat them as little men and womP,n ! ' " said Miss Earnest.
"I keep thinking about stealing from these
children," said Mrs. Goodheart. To rob them
O"f the golden hours that never will mt urn!"
TOWN ME'ETING DEC. 14.
The Town Meeting was again a very earnest and sane body of citizens, discussing
from many angles the question of Unemployment Insurance.
The , dis cnss ion was open ed by the guest
of the evening, Mr. Ordway Tead, Secretary
of the State Committee on Unemployment.
It was pleasing to the citizens to learn that
their resolution had all of the essentials of
the bill now ready to be presented to the
Legislature by one division of the St.ate
Committee.
The citizens were all interested in th e
bill. The general trend of the arguments
was: It may not .be perfert._but U c.ertainl y
is a start in the 1 ; , J:'ilirection.
Adm on it.ions were: Don't qui... le over details, look
to the fundamentals.
'.Ln.ok at the for e.;t
and forget the underbrush, --.and the citizens did. The bill was pass d with a more
nearly unanimous vote than ,t r." most .;::-guine would expect at Ford Hc>,ll ~ Meeting. Mr. Meltzer, the proponeut, closed the
debate.
TOWN NOTES.
Next week look f er a c;omposite ·p rogram.
You can take your choice. Have a watchnot on the Rhine, but on the Government; or
an automobile, not speeding around the corner but resting at every white collared trolley post; or keep the women still,-voting
only for school committee!
Mr. Foster well named M'r. _Leven berg the
Roaring Lion and didn't he roar well! He
roared all around and through the qu estion
and then when the Capitalist looked into his
den he came out and r oared yet again and
missed not a morsel of falla c,\ but lore a il
into shreds. It was great! '
·
And the Capitalist-he made a mighty
strong defence of his kind, and as brave
as the lion, but he couldn't smooth us allperhaps after fifteen years it will go better;
he said fifteen years had changed him. Ar.yway, everyone enjoyed every word he S.<id
and hope he will come every night.
Our
citizens do not have to agree with one to
like him, thanks be!
And can't Miss Crawford ask questions?
-She goes straight to the point with fewer
steps and less waste than any citizen, and
everyone knows she has hit the point when
she arrives.
Everyone seemed intensely interested in
the Compensation Act.
Why not ask the
Selectmen to amend the pr.e sent Massach usetts bill?
Our Moderator reminds us of the witness
who would not answer yes or no, and wh en
the judge at · last said: "Can you answer yes
or no?" replied: " That depends." But " that
depends"-upon whether he is answering
Miss Crawford from the floor or presiding in
the - hair. He is certainly handling us unc
ruly citizens well.
(Continued on page 8.)
FORD HALL FOLKS
8
Well, it was a good meeting last week but the
THOl\iAS DREIER,
HELEN F. VEASEY, Su/Jscription Manager
JACOB LONDON,
Sales Manager
Home Cooking
Just Vi 1hat You Have
been Lo o kin R F o,
J .;.,
Tables Reserved for
Private
Parties
BP:1r:nr DiPin2: Rooms
.
_
doston , M·a~.H1t: husetts
.
...
.
1·
.
r,
~. r) C 1 a 1 _._""!i t 1 ' •
I .-.
"- \.
c{;jFreeThought
t- .,.. 1 \_, 1· • L . '
'-1
Published weekly by the Ford Hall
Offers room s with hot and cow water for $1.00
Associates, whose work is to create,
pe r day and up which includes rree use of pul.Jassemble, and distribute ideas that will
lic shower baths.
help men and institt: tions grow more
Nothing to Equal This in New England .
helpful in serving soC'iety, and which
Rooms with private baths for $1.50 per clay and
will promote "peace on earth, good
up; suites of two rooms and b at l! for $4.00 per
will toward m en:·
It is the official
dHy and up.
publication of th e Ford Hall MeetABSOLUTELY FIUE PROOF '
ings, held under the auspices of th e
Dos t.on R ptist E:icial Un ion and diStrictly a Temverance Hotel
rected by George '· Coleman . 'l'hese
s~nd to,· BooklPI
~eetings. are held 8Very Sunday eveSTORER F. CRAFTS G
M
mng dunng the mon ths of October to
'
en.
gr.
May, in Ford Hall, Asnburton Place,
Boston, Massachusetts . The subscrip- · Jo,
tion price o,f the magaz ine is $1.50 r
year.
When buying your
All business comm anications sho·o 7.t .il ',~
be sent to William H. Foster•.,{/
Cigars see that the
Huntington Ave., Boston, an<'.i. a!J 11i>1q il8Fiil.fi'!
munications intended for the edililq '.fit/
8o,
The Thomas Dreier Service, l
EJ,,,_l
·~ 1 ity P r ess, Cambridge.
is on the box, and
I
Meals Twenty - Five Cents
and S e r v e d from
6:30 a. m. to 8 p. m.
...&.Ll..
Editor-in-Chief
MARY C. CRAWFORD, Managing Editor
SARA H . BIRCHALL,
Reporter
WILLIAM H. FOSTER, Business Manager
D URANT F. L ADD, Adv ertising Manager
Kingsley Hall, 8 P. M.
'"I
BOSTON, MASS
,,
University Press, Cambridge
Telephone, Cambridge 1330
this coming Tuesday
will prove even more interesting to you. Come
P
._
Opposite State House
Published Weekly
Town Meeting
66 Bowdoin Street -:,. ~
-
Commonwealth Hotel, Inc.
FORD HALL FOLKS
l!\i..,..
B Q QM B Q ST Q N'
•
tt{{;/
'%tt}'
UNION LABEL
)U
-- -- - .
===-=;cc ·- --- - --
wiil help Boom
~"')n.
All
l:~~
hr~n<lc bear
TOWN NOTES.
ROOKS. b' I"4PERS
M .
An d e l m an
Boston, Mas ; act.uietts
291 Tremont Street
To .-luthors and P1tblishers:
\Vc> are printers of man y well know n
publi cations, amo ng t h em "'For d Hall
Ji'oll;s."" If you have a book "r a booklet,
a magazine or a newspaper tl• bring out,
-.nite us. Open day a nd night
E. L
(Continued f1om page ',.)
A numb er of n ew face s and a large
1,roportion of m en present this week.
Jack began to travel around that circle
again but was called to the chair where he
traveled straight away. He fi lled two offices
as well a s he usu all y uo£s but one.
We all acknowledge Mr. BJttorn is an ornam ent, but we do wish he would talk; we
kn ow he ca n '
And Freda nev er said a word!
Louis W . Richard
G 1 :1 11::s Co:11 1 .,NY.
{1
·
1~2 Pearl St., Boston.
Nathan Isbicsky can get you that
old book you have been looking for.
When near 303 Tremont street drop in
and tell him about it.
Don't forget
that he sells good c:gars, too.
THAT NE,W YEAR'S 1PART Y.
1
Dr. S. W. ETrfELSON
DENTIST
TEL. OX. 49•3
230 Tre m ont Street
Boston, Massachusetts
A. T. BLISS & COMPANY
UNION LABEL
PRINTING
MERCANTILE f5 SOCIETr
TEL. MA I N 1089
60 PcARL STREET
:
BOSTON, MASS.
In 1861, when the estate of James Burrougl1s of Hales Ford, Virginia, was appraised, o ne slave, Booker T. Was hington
by name, was valued at exactly $400. Someone wh o is n ow working for you a t $10 a
week may have in him th e possibilities like
th ese hidden in that lit t le black boy who
later l1ecarne the lEader of his race.
The ~ew Year's Pa rty of th e Ford Hall
Folks, to be held in Kings ley Hall of the
Ford Building, Saturday eve1
1ing, Janu ary
first, a t a quarter to eight, promises to be
as enjoyabl e a frolic as any of our pi cnics
have been. Whi ch is to say much.
Freda
Rogolsky, Ida Goldberg, Mr. Ladd , "Jack"
L oii.don, Mr. Niles· and Mrs. Mosher constitute the committee of young peop le in
charge of the games.
And Mrs. Sul'livan,
Mrs. Atwocd, Mrs. Parnell and Mrs . B lanchard are to preside over the cake, cmffee and
ice cream. Ford Hall Folks,-.believing iu
the pay-as-you-go policy,-will each dig out
twenty cents for these refreshments, the
Jg di es having it cannily in mind to make a
minute profit towards the expense of those
grand dishes in whi ch the Folks invested a
month or so ago.
E've r y member of the
Ford Ha'll audience is we lcome to the party,
but i t iooii ld be ni ce to know whether we
neEd to provide for one hundred people or
one thousand. Can't you drop a line lo
Miss Crawford, Ford Building, to say if
yo u '11 be there?
B. L. 8BUIES OOMPANY, PRINTEBS,
, .....
INSURANCE
TELEPHO N E MAIN 108 2
RES. T .
t<. O X. 512K V\
RO ') M > 2 1
60 State Stre et, Bost
A PLEASING LETTER.
Mr. Foster has just r eceived from Mi8~
E . May Caldwell this very pl easing lette r :
"This year I am spending in California ,
and have found it so inconveni ent having
my second-class mail matter forwarded to
different places that I discontinu ed all 1rn1Jli cations. It is a r ea l trial to give up Ford
Hall Folks, and I feel as if I wa nted to
send my subscription eve n if I cannot take
it myself, so I am go ing to ask you to please
send it to Mr. George E. Caldwell, 2423
R omeo Street, Los Angeles, California , and
I may be able to ·see it occasionally.
Enclosed please find my cheC'k for $1.50 to pay
for it.
" I expect to lie in San Diego soo n, ancl
am deli ghted to learn that tbey are to have
a Forum there."
12:2 PEA.BL STBE&T, BOl.'ITON.
FORD HALL FOLKS
5
FOR,D HAL L CALENDAR.
PERSPECTIVE, POISE, POWER
As
BROTHER
" No, my dear," said Mrs. .Goodhea r t,
" there is a lot of good in the world. Ther e
is a lot of happiness in the world."
"We mustn't ge t a cro ok ed point of view,"
said Brother Hood. "We sef:l s o mu ch diE·
tr ess we a r e likely to believe tha t life holds
nothing but suffering. We see m en and
women out of work and forget the thousand s
who have jobs. We see men and women
unhappy a nd for get t he m illions who are
ha ppy. There is mor e sun shine in the
world tha n g loom."
" Don't you sympathize with th e sorr owing?" asked Miss Prim.
"You kno w I do," sa id Br other H ood. " I
am only urging yo u a lso to r ej oice with t he
ha ppy, to see both sides of the picture. If
we ge t a disto rte d view of things we don 't
see straight. T o· change th e figu re a little,
we must be sure the len ses of our spectacl es
are correctly ground and of untinted cr ystal. Sad colored glasses m a ke everything
look sad."
"The world is a good place to live in," said
Mrn. Goodheart. " There a re lot s of good
people in t he world. They are living happy,
contented lives and helping others to live
the same way."
"How can any one be happy when th er i,
is so much m iser y ever ywh er e?" ask ed Miss
Earnes t.
"Life would be unb earable if we could no t,
in " cer tain sense, once in a while fo r get
the ' so,rrow a nd r evel in t h e joy about us .
Mother Nature is kind and gives our spirits
time to r es t from th e strain of the distress
whi ch bear s so hard upon us."
" Distress a nd joy are ve r y close together,
anyway," said Mr . Social Mind. "I have
seen little to ts gathering wo od in the s treets
when my h eart bled for them , a nd for the
hard n ecessity which for ced them to s ud1
work. At the sa me tim e th ese very y oungs ters would ma ke a gam e out of it. T he
wonderful m agic of childhood would transform the pitiful load of sticks into a chariot
and four , or a cava lcade from the wars."
"The best-loved dolls are a lways the bits
of wood, handker chi efs tied with a s tring,
or the like, which the loving imagina tion
of th e child has clothe d with a ll the cha rm
of the most expensive productions of the
toy-maker s," said Mrs. Goodheart .
" This is the proposition which concerns
us," said Broth er Hood . "We mustn't lose
sight of the fac t that ther e is more joy t h an
so• w in the wor ld. More people have a
rro
good time th a n have a h a rd time, a nd few
people ha ve nothin g but grief in their lives.
"Joy and sor ro w, ease a nd dis-ease, are
r elative t erms, anyway," con tinued Brother
Hood. "Wh at affords m e the k eenest distress m ay be to my fri end on the other
street a matter of utter indiffer en ce. Hunger kills the spirit in one m an, while h . s
i
partner at Hawkins Street crumples up under the cold. Then ther e is the other class
who can endure phys ical ha rdships with patience, but who chafe und er ills of the spirit
almost to the br eaking point, and most of us
kno,w nothing of it."
"I have al wa ys said I would organi ze a
s ociety for th e giving o f the g la d hand tu
the m an who k eeps his troubles to himself
until h e drops, if I ever went into phila nthropy as a business," said th e Flippa n t
Youth.
"Mr. Johnson or Mr. Fowler , or even Mr.
Elliott· or Mr. H elms, n ever know the ones
who n eed h elp the most," said Miss E'a rnest.
HooD
S EES I T
"They just die a nd no on e knows their needs
until t he doct or 's certificate tells the stor y."
" But there a r e lots of people whose needs
a r e dis covere d before it is too late," said
Brother H ood. "Tha t 's what I mean by
watchin g our perspective. We must, keep
our grip on ou rselves by seeing t o it that
we don't get out of foc us."
" Tha t sort of doctrine puts a premiuru
on the stand-patism which is so satisfied
with con dit ions as they are that it wo- 't
n
h elp to ch ange them, doesn't it?" asked the
Enthusiast.
" She is a God saker," said the F lippant
Youth . "You know t he type, 'For God's
sake, let's do somethi ng'."
"No, I don't believe it works out as the
Ent hus iast fears," r eplied Brother Hood.
" It h elps us h o-Id our minds in solution on
th e question s involved. We are not su.
likely t o t h r ow off ill-considered precipit ates. It helps our spir itual poise and
that's th e greatest asset-mental or morala ny wo r ke r fo r r ighteou sn ess can have."
"We don' t accomplish anyth ing by getting
excited," he went on . "People who run
a round in a circle rar ely get a n ywhere. Of
course we can excite ourselves into a fev er
but that kind of co mbustion is more likely
to co ns ume our own vitali ty than the evils
we a r e fi ghting."
"We've a ll seen t.he people who froth
abo ut and then have seen the sane fo lks
wh o quietly get a grip on things and
stra ighten t h em out w it h only a fraction of
the effort the fu ssy ones have used," said
Mrs. Goodheart.
"It's a naval maxim," said Miss Prim,
" 'When in doubt, steer straight a head.'
Tha t 's poise."
"Yes, said the F lippant Youth. "'When
in doubt, lead trumps'-same poise!"
"In other words," said B r other Hood,
"don't wander a round in an endl ess maze
of m en ta l questions or indulge in a frenzy
of effo rt. Keep cool and think a thing clear
through . Look a ll aro•
und it, not on only
one side of i t. P ut i t into its proper relation to othe r subjects. Don't distort it out
of its pro,pe r fo cus. When you can do that
you will have perspective and poise, as well
a s power.
"Power ," he went on, "is great. To be a
ma n of power in t h e world, to be forcefu l
because of yo ur men tal attributes and training, t h at's worth wh ile, if it is the power
of ri ght think ing, n ot the power begotten
of for ce or posit ion . T bere are lots of clever
m en ; t here are men of talent. There are
lots of m en delighful to talk to and pleasa nt to play golf or pinochle with. But m en
of power a r e scar ce. T he world needs them.
Suffering man k ind n eeds them."
"Wh en hard-th inking men organ ize th eir
powers t o ser ve huma nity as they have been
serving bus iness or statecraft, or possibly
g raft or gr eed," he continued, "then power
w ill find a new channel for its activities
whi ch will mak e a new heaven on earth.
Men a r e doin g i t every day. There is nc,
m o• hopeful sign of the t imes than the
re
way m en a r e fin ding k een delight in socializing th eir standards. Captains of Industry
a r e rechris tening t hemselves Captains c,f
Humanity.
T hey a r e finding themselves
anew."
"Wh y?" aske d Mrs. Goo dheart. "Because
they have fo und the ir dynam ic. T hey are
connecting th eir motors with th e generators
run by the everlasting power."
T uesday evening, Jan . 19, T o,wn Meeting,
K ingsley Hall, F ord Building.
Sunday evenin g, J a n . 24, R ev. John Ross
of Buffalo, "Modern Shifts in Emphasis."
T uesday evenin g, J an . 26, Town Meeting,
Kin gsley Hall, F ord Buil ding.
Sunday evening, Jan . 31, Prof. Waiter
Raus ch enb usch of Rochester, N. Y., " The
Economic Basis of Democracy.''
T uesday evening, Feb. 2, Town Meeting,
Kin gsley Hall, F ord Building.
Sunday evening, Fe b. 7, Father R yan of
St. Paul, Minn., "Minimu m Wage Laws in
Operation in Ameri ca."
THE PRAYER OF T H E TOILERS.
Rose· Mills P owers.
Lord of the peac-eful Toiler s, hark to the
toilers' plea:
The kings of t he earth assemble, pawns i.n
their hands a r e we,
Now as the bat tle t hi ckens, out of the
blood and fla me,
Lord of the Toilers, hear us: for give us who
play the game!
Lord of the chee r ful reapers, th e ha rvest
was fa ir a nd good,
Ha rd by our qu iet hea rt h-stones, t he yellowing wheat fie lds st ood,
But the scythe has become a sabr e in
mea dc,w and glebe and....glen.
Lord of t he Toilers, hear us : forgive as we
cut down men !
Lord of the cunn ing crafts men : t he v is ion
of 'J 1iee, a lad,
Working with pla n e and measur e, kep t us
content a n d glad,
Now, as we charge, r ed-handed, wielding t he
too ls t hat k ill,
Lord of t he Toiler s, hear us: fo rgive us
the blood we spill !
Lord of the visioning learners: ou t of our
cloistered halls,
Parchment and tome aban don ed, we mar ch
where t he bugle calls,
Death and destructi on hur ling, havoc to
babes and wives,
Lord of the T oilers, hear us; for give us
these broken lives!
Lord of th e keen-eyed trader s: o u r vessels
went up an d dow n,
Our shops wer e a live w it h traffi c in village
and mart and t own ,
But the harbors a r e red with s la ughter, the
markets i n r uins lie,
Lord of the Toiler s, hear us; forgive a s we
strike and d ie!
Lorcl of the peaceful T oilers, husbandman'.
craftsman derk
Student and sage a nd 'trader, torn fr om t he
world's good wor k,
Dead in the k ing's a r ena, pawn s who were
not to blame,
L ord of the Toiler s, h ear us; end no w the
awful game!
- The Survey.
- - -- - - --
"T he men wh om I h ave seen s ucceed in
life," remarks Cha rles K ingsley, " have always been ch eer ful a nd hopeful m en who
went about t heir business w ith a smile on
th eir faces and took t he cha nges and
ch a nces of this morta l life like men, facing
rough a nd smooth alike as it came."
FORD HALL FOLKS
6
Introducing Some Ford Hall Folks
By MARY C. CRAWFORD
GEORGE COLEMAN.
It is not only to young men that Ford
Hall and its message appeals.
On the
platform, every Sunday night, may be seen
George Coleman, the father of our Director; and, as he explains with a gleam ot
the eye which shows clearly that our
George Coleman comes honestly by his
keen sense of humor, "I don't have to come,
you know." Earlier in the season o·ur
Director referred, in the course of some
introductory remarks, to certain strenuous
and not altogether happy days which he
as a lad passed in his father's bookbinding
establishment. A temperamental difference
between father and son is established by
the fact that the elder Mr. Coleman is
neither regretful nor bitter as he tells of
his apprenticeship of six years to the
trade of a bookbinder, years during which
GEORGF; COLEMAN.
his wages for the most part remained at
the modest level of $1.50 a week.
The shop which served as the background
for all this labor was down at the end of
State street, opposite Broad street, within
easy walking distance of the Coleman home
on Prince street in the North End. (One of
the distinctions which the elder Mr. Coleman enjoys is that of having been christened at the Old North Church.)
Those were stirring times in Boston, however, even for a prentice lad. The subject
of our sketch witnessed with his own eyes
the rendition of the slave, Anthony Burns,
for whose rescue a band of Abolitionists,
led by Thomas Wentworth Higginson and
Lewis Hayden, organized a plucky but unsuccessful raid upon that old Court House
which stood, until lately, within a stone's
throw of Scollay Square, next to Young's
Hotel. When Burns emerged from th·e
Court House he was escorted to the wharf
(whence he was to be shipped back South)
in the centre of a hollow square composed
by a vast number of police and militia.
A lad who had witnessed this sight and
glowed for the personal freedom thus violated, would, of course, wish to fight for
the cause of the slave when Abraham Lincoln sent out his call for troops.
But,
though he drilled every night, George Coleman did not go to the war. He had recently taken upon himself the duties of a
husband and little children were beginning
to come to the newly-established household.
"Our George'' was the third of these ch-ildren; the war had been over two years
when he first opened his eyes upon the
world. But the very important period of
reconstruction was at hand and it is not
too much to suppose that some of that passion for organization, that burning zeal for
human rights which has found its expression in the Ford Hall Meetings was drunk
in by the younger George Coleman with the
very air that he breathed in that Boston of
the last century, which had poured out its
best blood for the cause of the slave and
was now giving its best brains to the task
of human betterment.
JOHN J. FRASER.
Another white-haired man who is always
on our platform on Sunday nights is John
J. Fraser. He, too, knew hardships as a
boy,-but seems not to have been hurt by
them. Son of a Nova Scotia farmer he
otten rose at three in the morning "to play
chambermaid to a cow," to use the phrase
Hawthorne employed in speaking of similar
bucolic experiences at Brook Farm. Not
caring to pass his life as a farmer young
Fraser learned the trade of iron building,
and as this called for travelling about,erecting bridges in various big cities,-he
s1.w a great deal of America as the years
wenc by. Later, when he had established a
connection with the Swift Refrigerating
business, he saw a good deal of England
alw , visiting London several times in the
course of his work.
Good radical talk, whether of pulpit or
platform, always appealed to this man. His
early training was that of a Presbyterian
and he says that he suffered a good deal by
reason of this fact. For he heard a great
deBl about the devil; and he liked the
Prince of Evil as little then as he does now.
Sq when he had the chance to hear Spurg-eon and Parker of the City Temple, London.-that big church whose present pas-
JOHN J. FRASER.
tor, Reginald Campbell, we heard with such
joy on our platform a few years ago,-he
made the most of his good fortune. Over
here he has followed all the forum movements of his day. He was a devoted attendant at the early labor forums, in which
debate took the place we at Ford Hall assign to questions, and more recently the
Morgan Memorial and the Christian Union
have claimed his interest. But he has been
a loyal follower of Ford Hall ever since the
days of our first series seven years ago.
In all this time he has missed only one or
two nights! His tributes to Ford Hall and
its workers would occupy all the rest of
·this page if I set out to print them. Let
this bit then, which chances to be impersonal, suffice: "In no place that I go, or
ever went, does there seem to me to be so
much that is refreshing and inspiring as
here."
TOWN MEETING, JANUARY
12.
Mr. Marple showed extraordinary ability
as a presiding officer.
Firmly, yet with
even-handed justice, he steered the Town
Meeting through one of the most turbulent
discussions it has ever bad. When the session was over he thanked the body for
their patience with him, though adding that,
for the first time ever, he bad failed to feel
at home in Ford Hall.
The cause of the excitement was Miss de
Ford's bill penalizing policemen for arresting people while indulging in their Godgiven right of "free speech." Mr. Victorson
h ad thrown a bomb into the camp by moving that the bill be rejected; and this, from
hini, disconcerted some of the citizens, offended others, and moved Miss deFord to, a
really magnificent burst of eloquence in behalf of down-trodden agitators everywhere.
Say, but that girl can tallc! One of these
days we shall be listening to her from the
platform upstairs if she continues to grow
in power and in eloquence as she bas during
the past two years.
What if her bill is too drastic? It was
emine~tly worth writing in that it called
forth remarkable discussion from a number
of different sources. Her statement that the
"free" press is owned by the business men
and the advertisers is incontrovertible and
her plea for an America that shall be "one
big Ford Hall" showed us a gleaming, if a
remote, ideal. Miss Crawford brought out
the fact that Socialism may not now be discussed in the lecture hall of Boston's Public
Library, Mrs. Hoffman that the evils of unemployment and the troubles of heckled
West End peddlers may not be discussed
on Boston's street corners, while Mr. Carty,
our white-bearded "Tipperary boy," testified that soap-box oratory is far more restricted in this land of the free ( ?) than in
Hyde Park, London.
Moreover, it would have been a great pity
to have missed Mr. Ewing's clarifying discussion of the bill with his admission of
human nature's proneness to error and his
i,lea that policemen are very human in this
and other matters. Mr. Rush, while declaring himself "all mixed up," likewise put in
a good word for policemen, whom Ile seems
to think are pretty good fellows on the
whole. And then Miss deFord made another defence of her measure-and saved it
for a third reading.
Mr. Gallup, who arrived a little late,
deprecated the omission from the order of
the day of constructive measures. But what
could be more constructive than Mr. Williams' bill on cobbling in the public schools?
To be sure, Mr. Brodhead, director ,of manual training in Boston, was able to assure
us in a splendid speech that this very thing
is now being done. But a lot of us did not
know it and were glad to be informed of the
fact. Glad also that an increased respect
for manual labor is growing out of the public schools' work in this and allied directions.
Altogether it was a good, an extremely
good Town Meeting. Though, of course, we
missed Mr. and Mrs. T. M. Moderator very
much!
Q.
FORD HALL FOLKS
THE CRADLE OF FRATERNITY.
A LONG HUNT FOR A JOB.
Of all the people who are helping to raise
the standards of living, one of the most
safe-and-sane is William Hard.
He has
the faculty of cutting straight through to
the heart of a subject and laying his findings before you with all the sure, unhurried
swiftness of the skilled surgeon performing
a difficult operation. His article in the January Ev erybocLy's, "What You and I 'Owe to
England, Germany, Russia and France," is
By Joseph A. Ivy.
A feeling that the enlistment of 2,000,000
men in England had probably made the
demand for labor greater than the supply
led me to take a Leyland Line steamship
for Liverpool in November. I must have
been a courageous voyager, for I believe my
sole capital on leaving East Boston consisted of three pennies, a postage stamp, unlimited stationery and a pleasant smile.
"Now," I said, "if I don't succeed in finding work in Liverpool, I'll enlist for service
in the British Red Cross. Failing there,
I'll go to France and try to get into the
American Red Cross." I did not admit of
any such thing as failure.
When the steamer docked at Halifax and
I had assisted in loading 876 horses for the
British Army I added another castle to my
collection. I'd go to Aldershot and get a
job as a trainer of horses. The Bohemian,
the ship on which I sailed for England, carried more optimists on her November trip
than I have ever seen before at one time.
In all there were ninety of us; every man
of us an expert builder of air-castle:;.
The day we steamed up the Mersey River
was a red-letter day for the Americans
aboard the ship. A typical English mist
WILLIAU HARD.
lay over the river, and our introduction to
England's great port certainly was accorda striking piece of literature. From it the
ing to custom.
following is quoted:
The smell of land acted like wine upon
French Reason gave the world, through
the horses. A number of soldiers had been
the F'rench Revolution, the idea of "Fratersent to take off the horses, but the sight of
nity. " It was not, and still isn't, a practhe horses wild to place their feet upon land
ti-:u.ble : dea. But it is one that can be
again was too much for the soldiers-they
reached only through Religion or else, as
simply disappeared; whereupon the steamin France, through Reason. It is not a natship officials hired our band of optimists
itral idea an instin ctive idea. Human beand paid us two shillings a man for unloadings, uul ~ss artificially instructed, do not
ing them.
regard themselves as brothers. It was the
The horses disposed of, we were free tu
French who, first among nations, anci last
go our several ways. I inquired my way to
ainong na, ions, in a whole movement of
t
the City Hall. Along the way and past the
thought, developed the conception of univerimmense docks I had ample proof that Livsal brotherhood.
erpool is the world's wheat and wool marDo we owe them nothing for that? Let
ket, for the warehouses were everywhere.
us grant that reason let loose is more exAfter leaving the City Hall I turned into
treme than instinct and more unreliable.
Old Haymarket, where Liverpool's main reLet us grant that the farthest flings. of reacruiting - ffice is located. Curiosity made
o
son cannot always be followed up m pracme enter its precincts. I inquired - f an
o
tise. Yet in the midst of constitutionR.l
affable lieutenant if I could enlist for serdemocracy and of opportunistic socialism,
vice in the British Red Cross. He told me
in the midst of minimum wages and municthat the Red Cross ranks were full, but
ipal lodging-houses and the seven-and-threethat I could enter any branch of military
quarters-hour work-day and special-low-railservice I cared to.
way - rates -for-working-men-on-their-way-toI purposely let the officer proceed with
try-to-find-work and food-for-their-wives-andmy enlistment into the army. When I
children- in the midst of all this detail,
reached the name and address stage I inand in the presence of a Socialist party
formed him that I was a native of M--,
which brings its immediate little reforms
Mass.
farther and farther toward the front and
"I am very sorry, young man," he said;
puts its r evoliition farther and farther to"under the English law we cannot enlist
ward the back in its public pronouncement:; ~ aliens. Are you sure you are an American
-in such an age, and for several ages to
citizen? Were either of yo r parents born
come, shall we not look back, with a painin the British Empire?"
ful sense of how far we have dropped from
My answer did not help out the situation,
even an interest in human brotherhood, to
and a very reluctant officer was forced to
the outright boldness of Robespierre:
give me up. If I could have passed into a
"It is only the si.verfliiity of foodstuffs
state of coma long enough to have forgotten
that should become articles of commerce.
my nationality I could have left that office
What is n ecessary belongs to all."
a dashing fusilier.
I don't care whether it can be cione toNo• of my air-castles becoming tangible
ne
morrow morning ,o r not, any more than I
structures and France being no nearer, I
care whether "blessed are the meek" can be
stolled into the American consulate and had
done tomorrow morning or not. I know it a heart-to-heart talk with the consul. After
can't. But, except in the fifth chapter of
telling him of my ambitions and hopes, he
St. Matthew's gospel, there cannot be
asked me if my agreement with the Leyfound a set of sayings that will so stretch
land Company included free return passage
the heart of the world on the rack of selfto Boston. I told him that it did.
questioning, now and henceforth, as the
"Well, young man," he said, "do not miss
essays and speeches of the relentlessly reathat steamer. England is no place for Amersoning men of the French Revolution.
icans just now."
7
When I walked aboard the Bohemian just
before she sailed those optimists who hadn't
been cajoled into enlisting were just as
anxious as I was to get back to the States.
I suspect that quite a few - ther air-castles
o
beside mine must have toppled down.
THE SCREEN DOOR.
By Bessie L. Russell.
The Society Woman slipped into her
pretty pink kimona to answer the bell, for
the maid was out.
Blase to her finger tips, she was, nevertheless, an attractive woman, save that her
hair and the way she wore it, gave her a
rakish look.
At the door, she saw, by peering through
the screen, that her caller was a girl plainly
down and out.
"What do you want?" queried the Society
Woman indolently, but yet not without
some show of interest. "I suppose you are
in want-that you are-"
"An outcast," came the quick retort.
"I'm sorry," said the Society Woman.
"Won't you come in?" This very tenderheartedly, for society women can be tender
hearted; they are not always hard.
"No, no," said The Other One. "You see
I cannot. Once I was like you are; then I
began being the other way. I fell you see,
and what's more, I kept on falling, till now
I am not only poor and disreputable; I am
hungry."
"You poor cTeature," returned The Society
Woman again tenderly. "But I cannot see
such a brink as you see There ic:_ gfhr :>!.J.,
between us, just this Screen Door. Society
has fashioned this door. I am inside, you
are out. But there is no startling difference
between us. No, no," she went on, as The
Other One was beginning to protest. "I am
a Society ·woman and I know what I am
saying. Do we not dance immoral dances,
think immoral thoughts and dress to defy
all decency? Do we not, I say, and if we
do not take the last step as you have done,
do we no,t go so far that it amounts to the
very same thing? . . .
"Now then, you will come in, won't you?"
"Thank you for your goodness," said The
Other !One, much moved, "but I-I cannot
come. There is always The Screen Door
and it can~ot be treated lightly."
"Well, well, perhaps you are right about
it," said The Society Woman, as she tossed
The Other One a coin.
.
Then she did a very strange thing, did
The Society Woman. She sat bolt upright on
her _ daintily tufted ,c ouch and rubbed her
eyes.
"How stupid of me," she exclaimed.
And to think it's long past time nowfor the Merriweather Hesitation Tea!
NEXT SUND A Y'S SPEAKER.
Another preacher from New York State,
Rev. John Ross, of the Presbyterian Church
in Buffalo, comes to us next Sunday night,
taking for his topic "Modern Shifts in Emphasis." Mr. Ross is a hard-working minister of the up-to-date type, a man who has
an office and a secretary, conducts a Forum
in connection with his church and makes
his ministerial function and his church
plant a distinctly felt force for the social
uplift of his city. He will bring us a message worth hearing.
Better see Mr. Foster about that offer of
the Jewett Players on the next page_
FORD HALL FOLKS
8
Would you like a school
oculist like a school nurse ?
D o you want to hear fre e
lectures in the schoo l ?
COME TO
T H E T OWN MEETING
Tow n Meeting
Com mittees at 7.30
Kingsley Hall
8.00o' clock
T el. H ay mar ket 24126.
MORTON BROTHERS
Cleansers and Dyers
52 ALLEN STREET
BOSTON, MASS.
M. ANDELMAN
Patriotic, Socialist, and Free Thought
BOOKS AND PAPERS
BOSTON
291 TREMONT STREET
SAMUEL B. FOWLER
Solicitor of United Sta t e s a.nd F oreign
PATENTS and TRAUE -l\IARK S
Inventions D eveloped
,.. ... .. . .... , o "";'~-!~.""~: , r ;,,.:.r .:n t':- ::-..c.. - -.·~t u 1; of
::t
inv ent.i o n s
JJ- relin1ina1·y cvns u ltation
withou1., uh a 1·g e
28 SCHOOL STREET, Room 35, B OS 'J'ON, MAS S .
Telep h on e Fort Hill 2355 .
When buying your Cigars see
that the
UNION LABEL
1s on the box, and you w ill help
Boom Boston!
A ll the leading brands bear the
label.
E. L. GRIMES COMPANY
Printers of Ford Hall Folks
122 PEARL STREET
BOSTON
SPECIAL NOTICE
HENR Y
JEWETT
PLAYERS
A Company wit h Civic Ideals
BOSTON OPERA HOUSE
Evenings at 8 . 00
Matinees, Wed. and Sat. at 2.15
Weeh Jan. 18 - Merry Wives of Windsor
Weeh Jan. 25-Julius Caesar
Price 50c to 15c
Ford H a ll p eople m a y sec ure special rate fo r parties
o f 1 0 o r m ore. F o r i n form a tion Tel. Bac k B ay 4491.
FORD HALL FOLKS
Published Weekly
THOMAS DREIER,
Editor-in-Chief
Unive rsity Press, Cambridge
Telephone, Cambridge 1330
C. CRAWFORD,
M anaging Editor
MIRIAM ALLEN DE F ORD,
R eporter
WILLIAM H. FOSTER, B usiness Man ager
JOH N P. WHITMAN,
A dv. Manager
JACOB LON DON,
Sal es Manag er
MARY
P ublished weekly by the Ford Hall
Ass ociates, whose w ork is to create,
assem ble, a nd distribute ideas that will
help men a nd institutions grow more
helpful in ser v ing society, and which
will promote "peace on earth, good
will t oward men ." It is the official
publi cation of th e Ford .!:fall Meeting s, h eld u nder th e a uspice s of the
Boston Baptist Socia l Union and dir e cted by George W. Coleman. These
meetin gs are h eld every Sunda y evening du r ing th e mon t h s of Octob er to
May, in F ord Hall, Ashburton Place,
Bost on, Mas sachusetts. The subscriptio n price of t h e m aga zine is $1.5 0 a
year.
All business co mmunications should
be sent to W illiam H Fos ter, 41
Huntington Ave., Boswn, and all communication s intend ed for the editor to
The Thomas Dreier Ser vice, University Press, Cambr idge.
FIG.HTING POVERT Y .
Wha t co uld be more wasteful than to su ppo rt in idleness, by charity, people who a re
willing and able to work-except , finally,
not to support them at all, editori a lizes t he
Saturday Evening Post. To a ny -one who
looks about h im, the statement that ther e
is less dema nd fo r labor this year tha n last
sounds abs urd . Everywhere, from th e biggest city to the smallest ha ml et , ther e a r e
a thousand and on e n eedful things to be
done, which yet go undon e year after yea r .
For example, just to put th e street s of
America n cities in as good condition as the
streets of Berlin w ould give employm ent to
a n ar my. To say t ha t we ha ve no use fo r
our labor is nons ense; but ever y m·oan
cha rity organ ization is straining its r es ources to meet calls fo r :::-elief a ri sin g fro m
un emp loyment. T hat t he gr eat , ever-recurring problem of unemploymen t can be much
r educed by inte llige n t fore th ought a nd organiz ed actio n see ms clear.
Who knows h ow m uch m ight be a ccomplished by sound t hought a nd better or ganiza t ion, to r educe pover ty that arises fro m
other causes? We said, in v iew of the
monstr ous crime in E urope, tha t povert y
co uld 11ot be abo lished. A cor r espondent r eplies that that appalling spect ac le may be
a n a ugury to the co ntrary.
If a firth of the scientific thought, money,
enthu siasm and social organiz ation Euro pe has directed this a utumn t o t h e making of miser y were di rect ed to it s relief
th er e might be a new wor ld .
C once ntration is ce r tainly a wonderful
thing. The natives of t he Is land of Shikoku,
Japan, have pro du ced, a fter a hundr ed years
of patient efforts, ta il feathers on r oosters
that m ea sure eigh teen feet in len gth. Those
ta ils probably add quite as much to the
e':Iiciency of the ro osters as do th e fortun es
of some of ou r m illion a ires t o t h e essenti al
worth of their owners.
BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS
'THE BANK OF SERVICE
General Banking and Savings
Departments
The person who has never had a banking
account is urged to consult us.
H STATE ST.
194 WASHINGTON ST.
Commonwealth Hotel, Inc.
Opposite State House
BOSTON, MASS.
Offers room s with hot and cold water fo-r $1.00
per day and up which includes free use of public sho wer ha tb s.
N oth ing t o E qua l This in N e w Engla nd.
R oom s with priva te b aths for $1. 50 per day and
u p; suites of t w o rooms a nd h a th for $4.00 per
•l a y a nd up.
ABSO LUTELY F I RE PR OO F
Sen d fo r Booklet .
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THE SOMERSET BATHS
A Men's Establishment
Turkish-BATHS- Ru ssian, Roman, Nauheim and Electric Lig ht.
Priva te Rooms for p a rties-day or night,
week or mont h. Better than a hotel-a nd costs
less.
5 Somerset Street
Corner of Pemberton Square
Boston, Massachusetts
Oppo site City Club a nd Elks' Clu b .
John H a ys Hammond, Jr., h as invented
a r a dio-cont roll ed torp edo boat, and United
Sta tes Navy investigators will soon report
on th e a dvisability of th e purchase of the
invention for the exclusive use of America.
'l'h e craft is directed from a wireless station by H ertzian waves . In t ests it has
been comple,te!y controlled from a distance
of t we nty-eight miles. Inventions like this
stren gth en the belief that every man
and woma n is controlled by invisible waves
emanating from th e mind of the Great
E xecutive. These inventions a re the a tt empts mad e by men to exercise power in
the m a nn er of the Great Executive. This
boa t , so far a s a n y-one can see, is free to do
what it wills. But from a distant tower
come the waves th at command its m echanism. So are m en controlled by the invisible
commands of a po we r whom men so often
call G od.
" The s ecret of success in life," remarks
Disraeli, "is for a man to be ready for his
opportunity when it comes."
E. L. G.RIM:ES Co., PRINTERS, ,~ , , 122 P EARL STREET, B 6STON.
A
MAGAZINE OF
NEIGHBORLINESS
EDITED BY THOMAS DREIER
EnterPd as Second-Closs Matter October 18, 1914, at the Post Office at Boston, Mass., under tbe Act of March 3, 1879.
VOLUME
III
NuMBER
14
JANUARY 17, 1915
PRICE FIVE CENTS
THE NEW MORALITY*
BY RABBI HARRY LEVI
DO 'T think I deserve very much
thank God, to understand that we are not
here to bury children, but to keep them
credit for what I have had to say
alive. We have come to understand that to
in endorsement of Ford Hall. Yot\
make a little boy or girl work is to demoralcan't be less than honest and be a
l!,,;;;.A.;;m,11 man, and you can't be less than apize the home and industry, and to drag
down the child mentally, morally and physpreciative of what Ford Hall is doing and
ically, throwing him into the ranks of the
be any sort of man.
unemployed, the criminal, and the incapacThey say that Lord Roseberry was going
itated, at an age when he ought to be giving
to speak at a banquet once, and toward the
society the best that is in him. The vast
end of the dinner the chairman leaned over
majority of our paupers and juvenile delinand whispered to him, "Had we better have
quents knew no real childhood. Child labor
your speech now, or let the people go on
is a menace to the State. It is because of
and have a good time for a little while?" I
these things that we are beginning to ·a sdon't know that you are going to, have a
sume a totally different attitude toward the
very good time-until after the address.
·c hildren of today. "God puts children into
"To be an American," says Helen Keller,
the world, and He will take care of them,"
"is to be an optimist." And to be an optisays Luther-but not if we neglect them .
mist is to believe that this is the best
The child isn't a thing, it is a soul; and we
wo-rld that in history we have ever
are willing to take off our sandals before it
known, the war to the contrary notwithbecause we know the ground we are on is
standing. Some one has cynically said that
holy. That is the first expression of the
even war is becoming civilized in our day
new morality.
We are a better people than the world has
And the second is the changed attitude
ever known. If there is a moral purpose
that run s through life, it must make for
toward the adult. Time was when the inthe progress of life. That progress has
dividual was nothing, and the State and the
monarch were everything. That was the
never been permanently checked. We are
not merely the heirs of yesterday, we are
time of the divine right of kings. We are
its children. God not only spoke to Moses,
still demanding something of the individbut has never ceased speaking to men, and
ual; we are insisting that he show someis near all who seek him, and that is no rething of civic interest and be willing to
flection on the Bible. We have received all,
lay down his life for his country, but while
in order that we may stand upon all and
we. are demanding we are recognizing, and
grow and build. As the latest phase in the
while we are taking we are giving in turn.
evolution of life, the new morality which is
We are beginning to understand that a man
ours today is the highest level of morality
is a human being, fashioned in the divine
which the world has ever known.
image, and entitled to life, liberty and the
My purpose this evening is simply to call
pursuit of happiness. We are beginning to
your attention to certain directions in which
see that war is an economic waste and a
this new morality is conspicuously making
demoralization of industry, and a deterioraitself manifest. Once children who were detion of the morality of a people. The people
formed or crippled were left to die; children were considered the property of their
,··
parents; play was looked upon as a waste of - !
TEACH US NEW DUTLES.
time and education as a superfluity. Some1J
!hing of that old order ~till persists. These~
·
0 Thou who seest tomorrow as easmstances are as nothmg compared with
ily as we see yesterday, make us conthose that may be summed up under the
scious of the lapse of time. May we
head of child labor. There are more than
ever be ready to let new occasions
a million and a half boys and girls under 16
teach us new duties. Do not let us
in this country engaged in wage-earning cathink that it is no concern of ours
pacities. In New York, in New England, in
when men cannot find work and their
the cotton mills of the South, and in the
families are starving. Make us feel
anthaacite coal mines of Pennsylvania,
the responsibility for providing playchildren are working late at night, 16 and
grounds for the children of the streets.
18 hours a day. Some of these children are
Help us to feel a duty toward the old
as young as three or four.
people who have worked hard and
There are a great many people not confound themselves dependent in their
cerned with conditions such as these. When
old age. Teach us how to prevent
legislation against child labor was first proprivate property from becoming a
posed in England, the employers said it
public menace. Show us where our
was good for the child as it developed his
blessings come to us at the cost of
physical strength and made him self-dependinjustice to others, and let it give us
ent. A New Yol'k social wo,r ker tried to
no rest or peace. Help us to undergive some instructions to a tenement
stand that the increasingly complimother, and was answered by the statement,
cated relationships of modern life
"You can't tell me how to raise children·
hring in their train a whole range - f
o
I've buried nine!" We have come at last,
new duties toward our fellow men.
[ Amen.
*Speech and questions and answers reported
if=-"911
by Miriam Allen deFord.
who suffer from a war are the women and
children left behind, and we are beginning
to see that war is not marching in glittering uniform, but death, desolation and destruction, and that is an unenviable trinity.
Politically, the individual is beginning to
step into his own. What are the revolts
spreading all - ver the earth, except a propho
ecy of that larger demo cracy that one day
will give ns individual privileges as well as
responsibilities?
E'd u cational!y the individual is beginning to come into his own.
The time is coming when an elementary education will be placed within the reach of
every man and woman in the world. In a
democracy, unless the people know, the government cannot endure. And industrially
the individual is stepping into his own. We
are limiting his hours of labor, regulating
his wages, and providing for industrial accidents. We are not underestimating the
value of capital, but we are beginning to
belie"':r~ +bat ~1· 0 lql)or i:i1· !s: "t;.'0J."tt.,7 .:..f
~ ~ t' ___.._,
commensurate to the power he puts into his
labor. He is entitled to a wage that will
make a decent living for him and those dependent up on him. Today we look upon the
workingma : :i.s a co-worker with God in
making progress possible and real life
worth while.
The new morality is altering our attitude
toward women. There were beautiful tributes to women in the olden times, but they
were exceptions. And the church was not
very far in advance of the laity. Something of th Lt old situation also lingers within our own t' 1es. In the Orient woman is
almost a prisoner. Here, how long is it
since the woman who went out into th e
world to work was looked upon as unsexed;
and how long since women have insisted 011
giving the world the best that was in
them? Yet today we have 6,000,000 wome n
wage-earners, and some of us are beginnin g
to believe that if a woman gives equal work
she is -entitled to equal wage. Man is by no
means always the support of the household.
We are beginning to talk of mothers' pensions to keep the mother at home to rear
good sons and daughters, and that is n o
charity.
Most women" who work do so because th ey
must; but there are thousands of womc n
working hecause they want to give som(.
thing back to society, and are not content
to be parasites, consumers instead of producers. Much of the work they are doin g
is not of a wage-earning nature-it is cha r itable, civic and political. Today woman i ;
beginning to demand the suffrage, and, bftter still, she is getting it. Why not? With
the exaggerated form of the feminist movement of our o- n time, and with the m ' lj.
w
tant movement in England, we cannot ha ""
the slightest bit of sympathy. When Ellen
Key praises a woman who preaches and believes in free love, and when The Fn e
Woman says woman should have her flin "
and sow her wild oats, and when we
women sharing men's vices, there are som e
(Continued on Page 2.)
0
se;
FORD HALL FOLKS
THE NEW MORALJ . Y.
(Continued from Page 1.)
conservative souls who feel rather like cursing the movement th an bles8ing it. But with
the legitimate attempt on the part of woman
to obtain the rights to which she is entitled,
no reasonable person can do anybing but
approve.
We are changing our attitude toward marriage. We believe in marriage as much as
did the ancients, but we are coming to see
that loveless marriages are nothing but
legalized prostitution, and that it is not a
crime for a woman not to marry, and that
for her not to give herself to th e man she
marries until she is mature is to be commended. The marriage relation should !Je
one of equality. In olden times a man
bound his wife with a ring of iron; today
he puts a ring upon her finger to signify
that she is to share equally with him in all
bis goods. In olden times he bought his
wife, or was paid by her parents for takin&
her; today, he asks the girl bef(\re he asks
her parents, and in many maniages the
man as well as the girl puts on a ring. The
marriage must also be one of absolute moral
equality. We are sick unto nausea of the
double standard of morality. A single man
takes it for granted he is his own worst
enemy and no,body else will suffer, but for
a married man an immoral life i~ all wrong,
because everything he does, his wife and
children must share and pay the penalty
for. "Damaged Goods" was no exaggeration; fundamentally it told the truth. That
~t:> , ••
Uy a wt:c .i z justifii: 1.i i u
.
Ut1 ,·
... !.ztg
that
her husband be faithful to h er , a nd a girl
in demanding the same standard of the man
she marries as he of her. We reC'o il in horror at human sacrifice to the p us, hut what
can we say of parents who .: • ' heir daughters into marriages that are worse than
death? And thoughtlessness or ignorance
here is a crime.
The new morality is affecting our whole
attitude toward poverty. W e used to think
poverty was always an expression of lazin ess. Now we know it w ay be altogether
due to unemployment or sickn i::ss or social
neglect of duty. We are L ·, , n nin g to understand that if we gave m ore justice
we would not have to practi se so much
charity; that if we gave every man what
be deserves we would keep thousands of
men from the verge from which it is so
easy for them to fall into pauperism.
We are beginning to change our whole
attitude also toward defectives. At the St.
Louis Exposition I saw models of an old
and new style room in an insane hospital
that told the whole story of bow an insane
man was treated 100 years a go and now.
Today we believe that a guard who is cruel
toward a feeble-minded p,,"ent ought himself to be put behind the bars.
Then, too, the new morality is transforming our attitude toward the delinquent.
Time was when we thought every immoral
person was depraved by n ature. Now we
see it may be due to heredity, or a question
of fatigue, or a legitimate desire for enjoyment. We are altering ou, attitude toward
prostitution. We see that. there may be a
social reason for that vic;e; that if there
were not fallen men ther e would not be
fallen women; that there is a demand for
the supply; and that if we pilloried the man
as well as the woman the institution might
go by the board. We are beginning to see
that, after all, these cTeatures are human
beings, who, with the same opportunities as
our daughters, might be. as respectable, and
that when they fell the hearts of parents as
good as we are were broken. We are going
down into the very depths and taking these
poor creatures by the hand, and trying to
raise them to the position they should occupy.
"N obless oblige" :-that, my friends, is the .
new morality that is beginning to pervade
all ·our life, and this is only the beginning.
The promise is even hetter than the achievement. We are on the right track. We are
beginning to understand, with Tolstoy, the
claim that the submerged tenth has upon us.
A beggar asked Tolstoy once for money, and
he said, "I am sorry, brother, but I have
none." The beggar's eyes shone, as he answered, "Ah, but you called me brother!"
We are beginning to understand that society gives us everything we have, and if it
were not for society, we would not have or
achieve, and that we must give some return
for what we receive. We used to go about
our own selfish ways, but now we respond
generously and promptly to calls for help
from everywhere. Thank God, we are !Jeginning to understand at last that whatever
we are, or wherever we come from, in the
last analysis we are all one, and we shall
either rise or fall together. We shall either
all be saved, or we shall all go down together.
_ If only we do not become faint of heart,
if we keep up our courage, if we remain
hopeful and patient and unselfish, working
for the common good in which we shall all
share, the day will ·C'ome when we shall
enter the Promised Land.
THE QUESTIONS.
Q : ls it not tru e that preachers of your
calibre do not last long in the pulpit?
A: I don't know; I am still here, after
18 years, to tell the tale.
Q: Isn't it true that most of the evils
of the twentieth centur.v have come from
money, and what remedy have you?
A: I don't believe most of the evils are
due to the desire for money, and I ha vE:n·;.
any remedy for all the evils of life. I do
believe that if we followed absolute justice
prob~bly we would get about as far along
the lme as l111 ough any possible measure.
Q (Mr. Barnard): Would it not be advisable for preachers to pay a little more
attention to the necessities of life?
A: I would be sorry for the preac! .,7,
who didn't, but also for the preache,· ,,h o
lost sight of the necessities of those to
whom he preaches.
Q: Isn't it true that the people in th:
Orient are superior in morality to those in
the Occident?
A: As a sum total they are not.
Q: What advice could you give a girl
who works in a tl.epartment store for less
than it costs her to live?
A: There is no advice to give her exce 1
;;:to t ell her to stay straight to the last.
~. (Mr. Sackmary) : What is the prob'.1-billty of a loveless marriage ripening
mto love?
A: Only a man who bas had that experi_
ence C'Ould answer, and I haven't had it.
Q: Is what they call love nowad:i.y~ ,
real thing?
·
A: What we all mean when we say
want love is the real thing.
Q: . Isn't it a fact that capitalism is r1:1
sponsible for young men not getting mar•
n~d, and isn't the prostitute a necessary
evil?
A: _ I . doubt whether capitalism is responsible, though there may be a relation.
Q: !f God is fair and teaches us to love
our !leighbors, how is it He allows the people m Europe to hate each other?
·
A: There is a tremendous lot about Ood
0
and life I don't know. But how is a nation
to develop righteousness unless it has the
power of choice?
Q: Isn't morality a fashion?
A: Conventionality may be; but anyhow
i t is a mighty good thing.
Q (Mr. Cosgrove): You say that the human family is on the right road to the
P romised Land : what are the forces that
a re assisting-intellectual, spiritual, or mili- ·
tary?
A: The spiritual and intellectual are assisting, and the military is usually standing
in the way.
Q: If Moses were here today would he
not be a Socialist?
A: I don't know, but I don't think so.
Q (Mr. Carty): If the demand increases
the supply in the social evil, would not the
demand be minimized greatly if the industrial situation were such as to make it possible for every man to take a wife?
A: Yes, I think so.
Q: What is your conception of God?
A: As an infinity, whom it is impossible
fo~ us wholly to comprehend, an infinite
spirit and principle, wo·r king through all of
life and lifting us constantly to a higher
level.
Q: Are not government and capitalism
responsible for our evils, and what better
system of things would you recommend?
A: I think capitalism is responsible for
both evils an~ blessings, and go,v ernment
for. many blessmgs and a few evils. We are
going along the right lines; let us keep at
them in an evolutionary manner.
Q (Mr. Meltzer, Sr.) : How can one be
patient when so many people are out of
work and ch ildren a re starving?
A : By being patient I don 't mean being
s ubmissive. We must keep on working.
Q_ (Mr. Meltzer, Jr.): Do you consider it
a s!gn of the new morality when Bouck
White puts in his marriage ceremony the
words, " While love doth last?"
A : I should sa y it was a sign of the
n ew immorality.
Q (Miss deFord): Isn't it true that the
":'omen you decry, who have defied convent10nal morals, have been the ones who have
blazed ~he trail for everything women have
ever gained?
A : It doesn 't seem necessary to me for
: wom~n to b; immoral to do something
o OOd. :-: ou don t have to do wrong in order
to do nght. The means does not justify the
end.
·
Q (Miss Crawford): What would you
say about a woman like George Eliot?
_A: She was a remarkable woman, but I
wis~ she had not done what she did in a
manta! way.
·
Q (Miss Rogolsky) : Isn't it true, for exa:31ple, that the first suffragists were considered as r eprehensible as the women who
now break moral'laws?
A: .' .t is true that what is considered
wrong m one age is considered right in another.
Q (Miss Smith): Will you kindly tell
~is _how to vote to abolish child labor since
it is run for profit?
'
A: It would depend upon what I was
going to vote for or against.
Q: . Don:t you think women's votes will
help in this C'ondition?
A: I believe so.
Q (Mr.
Rush): Was
it
God
who
hardened Pharaoh's , heart against the children of Israel?
A: . God is always fair and just, although
sometimes we do unjust thino-s and bl
Go for them.
"'
ame
Q· Of the existing parties which one
would you advise us to vote for?
A: I would not advise you t~ vote for
(Continued on Page 3.)
3
FORD HALL FOLKS
THE QUESTIONS.
(Continued from Page 2.)
either, because I don't know . what either
party would particularly do. All that has
been done has been done outside of parties.
Q: If parents are not capable of teaching
their children the secrets of life, how would
you have them taught?
A: If the parents are not capable they
ought to get somebody to do it for them who
is capable.
Q (Mr. Fasscia): Won't the continuation of the capitalistic system gradually
crush the working class and bring about a
revolt on their part, so that they will destroy the capitalistic class?
A: No, I don't think it ever will, becau~e
I think democracy will learn the lesson m
time. Capital and labor will learn to work
together in harmony.
Q: How much chance is there under economic conditions for one to attain the love
that is life?
A: Love is only in a measure dependent
upon material conditions, and can rise far
superior to them. The more love we have
the more life we will get.
Q: Isn't prostitution an economic question?
A: No, I don't think so at all. Poverty
has mighty little to do with it.
Q: Would you favor divorce in the case
of a loveless marriage?
A: If the children would be affected, the
divorce should not be permitted.
Q: Is there more child labor in the
South or here?
.h..: Until quite recently Massachusetts
was the seventh worst State in the country,
and Rhode Island is today one of the worst.
But conditions have been greatly improved
here.
Q (Mr. Cedar): Is not prostitution necessary in the present state of society, with
man's limited economic condition?
A: I should be sorry for the man that
believed it.
Q: Do you believe that private ownership of land is wrong?
A: No, I don't; but I am not enough of
an authority to discuss the Single Tax.
Q · If the majority of marriages is
fou~ded on love, do you not think that wi_th
all the burdens of married life and the mcreased cost of living, the wife ought to be
sick of her selection?
A: Not if she has got the right kind _of
husband. I should be sorry for the wife
who got sick of her job because her husba_ d
n
had limited means.
Q: Isn't it an injustice for any man to
keep out of use large tracts of land that
would give employment to lots of people?
A: Yes, it does seem to me wrong, but I
must say again I don't know enough to talk:
about the Single Tax . .
Q: Do you wish to impress young people that the only requisite for a happy marriage is love?
A: Not if you are starving to death.
Love is the prime requisite, though.
Q: Who is more to blame for child labor
in the South, the foreign or native population?
.
A: The native population is more responsible.
Q ( Mrs. Blanchard) : Why isn't more being done to alleviate the ,condition of the
child worker?
A: Largely because we haven't as yet
got an enlightened public opinion, and employers of child labor are particularly interested in stopping such legislation.
Q (Miss Goldberg): What is
e reason
that so large a number of men in Massachusetts are op11osed to woman suffrage?
A: I don't know. I can't understand how
any reasoning being can be opposed.
Q: Isn't the man who gets married and
tells the girl he is earning more than he is,
worse than a ,c riminal?
A: I consider the man who lies· to the
girl he marries a criminal-whether he is
worse than other criminals depends on what
they have done.
Q: Isn't it true that today in the European war there are sovereigns who rule and
the masses must obey?
A: If I am not mistaken, this war will
mean more democracy in Europe than Europe ever saw.
Q (Mr. Margolis): Does the hope of
progress rest in religious democracy or dogmatic theology?
A: In democratic religion, which is the
kind I believe in.
Q (Mr. Browne): What percentage of
parents depend upon their children for support, and if you stopped their work, how
would the parents live?
A: Only 7 per cent. of widowed mothers
are dependent on their little children. 80
to 85 per cent. of the parents do not need
their children's labor.
Q: Do you appro,v e of sex hygiene being taught in the public schools?
A: That depends on the pupil's age and
the teacher.
Q: How do you define morality?
A: Morality is the doing of that which
is right.
Q: Are the liberal or orthodox factions
of religion more responsive to the new
morality?
A: The liberal, because religion is naturally conservative.
Q: What faction of the Jewish race, the
orthodox or reformed, more definitely carries out the doctrines of Moses, and which
will prevail?
A: Orthodoxy is much more loyal to the
details of his teaching. Unquestionably the
liberal form will prevail.
Q: If women are becoming more active,
are not the English suffragettes merely expressing their new energies?
A: If I advised you to become more actively interested in your fellow man I hope
you wouldn't go out in the street and hit
him with a brick.
Q: If the right cif suffrage were extended to women, would it purify politics?
A: No one reform would do· it, but suffrage would help.
Q (Mrs. Hoffman): Isn't it a fact that
sooner or later the workingmen will demand
the full product of their labor?
A: It is very likely, though, if they had
a fairer return they might not be so anxious
to do so. But the more we have the more
we want.
Q: Isn't race suicide due to economic
conditions?
A: Only in a measure; largely it is due
to the unwillingness of the woman of today
to do her duty by her children.
Q: Do you think that when the employee gets justice he will take advantage of
the employer?
A: It may well be, for our characters are
not necessarily improved because we get
more money.
Q: How can children of three or four
years have the strength to open oysters?
A: I really don't know. Mostly they dig
them and take them out of the shell after
it is opened.
Q: Can you tell us what to do with the
unemployed in New York, and isn't it wrong
to send money to Belgium instead of to
them?
A: If I knew what to do, I would do it
for the unemployed in Boston; unfortunately, I do not. It might be possible for
the State to create work for them. The
most necessary thing is to provide for those
both here and in E'urope. If we did our
duty there would not be so much suffering
in either place.
Q: What is your opinion of the relation
between love and religion?
A: Religion sanctifies and intensifies
love.
Q: How can the parents of a young girl
find out the character of a man when his
own parents do not know about him?
A: Go somewhere else-to the minister,
for instance.
Q (Mr. Fraser): Has the new morality
done much to take away prejudice against
the Jewish and other races?
A: Yesterday they took a club at the
man and now they don't want to associate
with him. That is an improvement for
which the Jew is graTeful.
Q (Mr. Schmidt): Do you believe a bet·
ter appreciation of the spiritual would help
along the new morality?
A: There is no doubt about it. The
larger the sway of religion the more moral
we will be.
·
Q (Mr. Gallup): Is
there
anything
financially unsound in the project to spend
the State money for forestry, and thus employ men?
A: I should say that if the State can afford it, even if it did not make money, it
should do it.
Q (Mr. Swisher): How do you explain
the churches' failure to extend more o.f a
helping hand to the ex-convict, or the wayward youn g man and
W Ulliii.~?
A: Though the chm•ch ought to do more,
it will never be better than the people who
belong to it.
Q (Mr. Drake): Is not a system intolerable which compels a man to support
his wife and yet does not supply him with
work?
A: I had never considered that phase of
it. I canno,t untangle the difficulty.
THE' MAN WHO THINKS BACKWARDS.
"A modern intellectual comes and sees a
poker. He is a positivist; he will not begin
with any dogmas about the nature of man
or any day-dreams about the mystery of
fire," cheerfully starts out G. K. Chesterton. "He will begin with what he can see,
the poker; and the first thing he sees about
the poker is that it is crooked. He says:
'Poor poker; it's crooked.' Then he asks
how it came to be crooked, and is told that
there is a thing in the world (with whicl\
his temperament has hitherto left him unacquainted) , a thing called fire. He points
out, very kindly and clearly, how silly it is
of people, if they want a straight poker, to
put it into a ·c-hemical combustion which
will very probably heat and warp it. 'Let
us abolish fires,' ·h e says, 'and then we shall
have perfectly straight pokers. Why should
you want a fire at all?' They explain to
him that a creature called Man wants a
fire, because he has no fur or feathers. He
gazes dreamily at the embers f.or a few seconds, and then shakes his head. 'I doubt
if such an animal is worth preserving,' he
says. He must eventually go under in the
cosmic struggle when pitted against wellarmored and warmly protected species
who have wings and trunks and spires and
scales and horns and shaggy hair. If Man
cannot live without these luxuries, you had
better abolish Man."
FORD HALL FOLKS
4
AS IT LOOKS TO ME
By GEORGE W. COLEMAN
Last Sunday night the doors had to be
closed before they were open, so to speak,
the crowd was so great; in other words,
the crowd standing in line was so large
that the doors were opened about quarter
of seven and the house was filled and the
doo-rs shut before seven o'cloek, the usual
time for opening. The ovation given Rabbi
Levi when he arose to speak was another
intimation of the special interest of the
crowd in the speaker of the evening.
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Both Dr. ·and Mrs. Francis E. Clark, of
Christian Endeavor fame, were on the platform.
Mrs. Clark had never before attended a Ford Hall meeting. They wer e
greatly interested in and much pleased with
the address, and found the audience equally
engaging.
Mrs. Levi, who sat beside her husband,
was intensely alert in her responsiveness to
the very least detail of the evening's program, and eagerly anticipated the answer
to every question.
Mr. Phillips, one of Rabbi Levi's staunch
supporters at Temple Israel, together with
a number of other Temple Israel m embers,
were also on the platform. Mr. Phillips is
a long-time friend of ours.
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We all were glad to hear once more the
stentorian tones of our friend, Sam Sackmary, as he asked his usual pungent quest.ion. He had beP.n absent all +nrongh the
earlier part of our season, owing to his
absorption in the work of the West End
Young Men's Hebrew Association.
Ford
Hall would not seem quite the same without Sam.
Our good-natured but assertive Italian
friend, Senor Fasscia, exhibits a good deal
of courage and determination in trying to
make us understand his English, but if he
perseveres and embraces all his opportuni·
ties in the same enterprising fashion, he
will some day be talking English as well
as any of us. It is quite natur:1 1, of course,
for the audience to be amused by his struggle with the difficulties of our language. lt
is a perfectly good-natured amusement,
however, for a large proportion of the members of our audience have passed through,
or are passing through, that very same
struggle themselves. We can afford to be
patient and give "Toney" a little more than
the usual amount of time in - rder to help
o
him, for he is dead in earnest in his effort
to speak English, and also in his interest
in the great economic struggle of our day.
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The young lad in the gallery at my extreme right last Sunday night was the same
youngster who debated so earnestly with
me as to his right to a seat in Ford Hall.
On that last hymn we tried to sing last
Sunday the words did not quite fit the music, and it was a good deal like bumping
along over a corduroy road. It will seem
good to have Mr. Foster ba.::k on the job
as precentor next Sunday. The sharpness
of Mr. Foster's illness is measured by the
fact that he lost twenty pounds in ten days.
He says he could well spare the twenty
pounds, but would prefer not to lose it in
that way.
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Our "Jack" London was obliged to leave
the hall quite early last Sunday in order to
respo·nd to a sudden call to accompany a
young man to the George Junior Republic,
at Freeville, N . Y., where young London
himself had two years of splendid training.
Usher Herbert Greene and Citizen Leo
Meltzer, with Jack's regular assistants,
took care o·f the selling of the magazine.
We all apprec'iate very much the kindness
of those who freely assist in work of this
sort whenever occasion requires.
It is wonderful how smoothly the outside ushers are doing their work this season. The new system continues to work
most admirably, and by opening the doors
a little ahead of time, when the crowd is excessive, we avoid altogether any confusion
and disorder such as was almost inevitable
formerly. Last Sunday night, at quarter of
seven, the line on Ashburton Place had already turned the corner and was reaching down seventeen or twenty feet on Somerset Street.
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Mr. Rolfe Cobleigh, one of the editors of
'l'h e Congregationalist, has a very appreciative account of Dr. Gordon's night at
Ford Hall in his paper this week, January
14. Commenting on Dr. Gordon's address,
Mr. Cobleigh says that many a good sermon preached at Ford Hall is heard by a
more attentive audience than some church
eongregations. Mr. Cobleigh has watched
our meetings with sympathetic interest
from almost the beginning and says that he
has seen sure evidence - f splendid results
o
in the growth of go·o d will, tolerance, mutual understanding, high ideals of moral social, economic and political affairs and of
democracy.
In the contribution boxes recently a number ·of suggestions have been received. John
M. Weeks says, "Why would it not be a
good idea to close each Ford Hall Meeting
by the presiding officer bidding the audience
a Good Night and a response by the audience of another Good Night?" That sounds
pretty good to me. What do you think of
it?
Another brief ·c omment suggests that an
annex be built to, Ford Hall. I have often
thought of that when I have looked at those
two dwelling houses in the rear of Ford
Hall on Bowdoin Street.
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It is interesting to note what different
impressions different people get from the
same event. Th e Watchrnan-Exainin er of
New York, and Th e Stanclard, of Chic~go,
both Baptist papers, gave our Bouck White
meeting very fair and appreciative reports.
Zion: s Herald, of Boston, a Methodist paper,
ignoz:ed Bouck White's Sunday evening
meetmg at Ford Hall, and taking up
Mayor Curley's criticism of White's utterances at another meeting, holds Ford Hall
responsible for the utterances in Boston of
this "erratic and dangerous man." The
editor goes on to say, "We have yet to see
any reputable paper or publication that has
not severely criticised him. But the management of Ford Hall deliberately planned
to have him speak on that platform, and
persisted in it when attention had been
called to his dangerous utterances." W~
would respectfully commend Editor Parkhurst's attention to The Standard and The
Watchinan-Exarniner,
containing exactly
truthful reports of Bouck White's evening
at Ford Hall.
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Our good friend and one-time speaker a t
Ford Hall, Rev. L. M. Powers, D.D., of
Gloucester, startled that city and astonished newspaper readers throughout the
country at the time of the recent inauguration of the City Government of Gloucester
by a prayer that was so simple, direct, sin·
care and practical that it was regarded
everywhere as extraordinary. In case you
missed it in the daily papers, let me quote
the first paragraph of the prayer to give
you an idea of its style and content. "We
pray for the retiring mayor. He might
have done better, and he kno·w s it, and now
we are sending him to the State House,
where strength and grace, wisdom and devotion to the public welfare are more
needed even than in Gloucester. Help him
to be the representative he may be and
ought to· be." Dr. Powers said he had no
idea there could be so much interest in an
honest prayer and that it was not made
for the papers, but when the reporters said
they would have to make one themselves if
he didn't give it to them, he recalled it
from memory as nearly as he could. It was
unco·nventional, but by no means irreverent. It was its unconventionality that gave
it its force.
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Rev. John W. Ross, who is coming to us
next Sunday, says the forum in his chmch
is steadily gaining in interest and power
with the people. He tells me that meetings
on similar lines have been instituted already in two other churches in Buffalo. One
is conducted on Sunday evening and confined to distinC"tively religious topics, and
the other is held on a week-day evening
with a more general program. In writing of the Calvary Church Open Forum,
which you will remember is carried on Sunday nights, by Mr. Ross, in his own ch ....·ch, the managing editor of one of Buffalo's
foremost papers said, "It has become a feature of great interest and note in the city
and gives a hearing on live questions that
is hard to get in any other way." The
pastors of the city are visiting Calvary
Forum very frequently, and Mr. Ross reports that he has yet to hear from any one
of them anything but words of commendation, and some have expressed their .feeling
in terms of wo- derment, never before havn
ing seen anything of the kind.
We are working industriously on our
plans for the Italian Forum. It is a hard
task not only because of the difficulties in
regard to the language, but also because the
Italian Colony is made up of so many different groups and cliques. We hardly dare anticipate any such success for this Italian
Forum, Sunday afternoons, as we have had
with our English-speaking audience, Sunday evenings. If we can eventually gather
an audience of 500, it will seem very much
worth while, but we may have to start with
a very much smaller number. We must not
forget that there were only 150 present at
the first Ford Hall Meeting, and that it has
taken seven years to grow to our present
size and strength.
The Italian Forum
opens in Ford Hall, Sunday afternoon, February 14. Keep the date in mind and tell
your Italian friends everywhere about it
and extend them a hearty invitation to attend. Details of the program will be announced a little 1.ater.
"The man who puts ten thousand dollars
additional capital into an established business," said Marshan Field, "is pretty certain of increased returns; and in the same
:'ay the man who puts additional capital
mto his brains-information, well-directed
thought and study of possibilities-will as
surely-yes, more surely-get increased returns.
· ere is no capital safer and surer
than tha.,'
FORD HALL FOLKS
\\
II
COMMON SENSE IN THE SCHOOL
As
BROTHER
HooD
SEES IT
"I wonder whether Wirt will Garyize the
'"l'hat man Wirt is a regular Henry TurNew York schools," said Miss Earnest. "I
ner Bailey kind of a principal, isn't he?"
said the Flippant Youth.
hope so; they certainly have done great
"The socializing processes Bailey told so
things out in Indiana."
eloquently about two weeks ag·o," interrupt"Tdl us about it," said Mrs. Goodheart.
ed Mr. Social Mind, "are educating children
"It's t:oo long a story," said Miss Earnest.
away from blind alley jobs.
Socializing
"But it is just a case of that 'divine spark
standards
of common s ense' as someone said in speak- is workingplus an injection of common sense
wonders."
ing of Superintendent Wirt. He took the
"I felt sorry for the poor children Bailey
simple position that if the schools were to
talked about-drilled, drilled, drilled-little
serve the community, they ought to work at
machines, every one,'' said Mrs. Goodheart.
it as bard as they could as many hours
"Poor babies, taken before their muscles are
of the day as possible. So thP.y start in
ripe and chained to desks. We pour doses
early and work late."
of perfectly useless information into them
"That's too hard on the children," said
. and expect them to absorb knowledge by
Mrs. Goodheart.
the gallon. Then we are proud of our pP.r" It isn't the same -children 1,a ll the time.(' \ feet little intellectual p,rigs. The youngster
r eplied M{ss Earnest. "They come in relays.
who has the sleekest plaster on his hairThen they work double shifts besides-on
mentally speaking-is the greatest prodigy
the rooms, not the children. For instance,
of learning.''
when the pupils leave the fourth room
"No wonder t1lose doses of learning went
where they have been studying arithmetic,
wrong sometimes," said the Flippant Youth.
we'll say and go to the gymnasium for phys"They generally acted like ipecac on me.
ical culture, the fourth room doesn't lie
"To this day,'' he continued, "I feel cheatii.lie waiting for the class to come back. Aned when I think of my school work. I was
otber class files in and utilizes the space in
robbed. I had perfectly good wholesome
.heir absence. See? Just doubles up. When hours stolen from me, hours when I might
ne group is in the swimming pool, ano~he~
):l ~ .-- ·
n doing something useful like fish:011p takes its place in the laboratnrip.~ ·
tbe, or finding out why the wild
· Great! " saiu the Flipp2.nt Yo,.
w north or what the speakinir sif the night , vere trying· to sa.\ to
-~rn
" .:-i + 'lnd ?:Oing."
wasn't fair t c; ·waste ihose ho ud in
"As l rememl~~
J'~~ l nJ1 th
me with a l•>t of sawdust wX
tich
that way from • _
';t
• the wilaest stretch of the imagi·
in the afternoon,
could be of use. "
day and ·Sund ..
_ - !J. ~Jippant Youth says sudden things,"
Earnest. "The wl
said Dea"on Smugman, "but they won't
th e most efficient u~
stand analysis. The night hours he talks
" Then there is anothl,f way the Gary
about he wouldn't be in school anyway.''
s chools are common-sensed," said Brother
" No, Deacon," replied the Flip·p ant Youth.
Hood. "Mr. Wirt believEs that as the schools
"But I was in my 'little attic chamber' with
are a civic agency of the first rank, and the
my· tallow dip working like a Trojan to get
greatest democratic agency the community
has, they ought tci correlate every other .· next day's lesson. Guess again!"
"They are not doing that sort of thing any
civic agency in the community. So the Gary
more," said Brother Hood. "Educators are
plan says to the factories of Gary, 'Tea_ h
c
different somehow. They are real men and
our youth your craftsmanship.' It says t-o
women now who realize that their job has to
the art museums, 'Show them your treasdo with life not with an academic code of
urEs-show them how to relate the beauty of
theories."
art to the beauties of life.' It ties to the
"But dou •J ycu forget the cultural value of
service of the schools all the recreational
these abstract studies?" said Miss Prim.
advantages of the city. It welds all these
'Think of r e mental discipline!"
,'toTces into one co-ordil)· teer for ce for /better'. 'Oh that mental discip.Jine!" said the
ment.
Flippant Youth. "I can r.e member the way
"It even," continued Brother Hood, "essays
my mind quickened and my brain throbbed
to teach religion as part of the school's work,
when I realized that it was indeed true that
and this is how it does it. It prescribes a
The-Cat"Can-Catch-the-Rat. Then that epic
certain course in the Bible as a literature
which began Maine-Augusta-on-the-Kenneand a text book ·o f ethics. This study is not
bec; New Hampshire~Concord-on-the-Merrirequired. Each parent elects, first, whether
)Ilack."
he wants his child to take the course, and
"Educators see now there is as much culsecond, under what church he wants the
tural value in an onion root as in a Greek
study pursued. If he doesn't want the child
root," said Brother Hood. "It is as much a
to do any of the work, that settles it. If
mental drill for the boy in school to prehe does, be dictates whether it shall be
pare plans for a hencoop ·on ·the farm or in
Methodist, Baptist, Catholic, Jewish or what
the backyard as to safely, neatly and sanctinot. The plan has, in the meantime, asked
moniously diagram 'Of man's first disobedithe ministers of the vari-ous ·churches to orence and the fruits, etc.'
ganize schools for teaching this course, not
"It all comes back to the original propoon Sunday, no! .but on weekdays and as
sition," he went on. "Common sense in the
part of the regular school course.
schools-cutting out the useless, educating
"Do you get the point?" he went on. "The
for making a living and making a life too,
plan is only concerned in a certain aspect
preparing for service, realizing that it's ·a
of the study. The public school system of
real man-sized job to train citizenship when
Gary is only interested in certain fundait is in the sapling period. It is a hell broth
mental propositions. Priest, minister or rabbi
of a · theory or lack of theory which will
can give such denominational aspects to
allow or rather help the young growths to
these teachings as they choose; with that take on twisted, stunted, distorted shapes
the plan has nothing to do."
and expect them all at once by some miracle
7
of rebirth at adolescence to become strong,
erect, sturdy trees."
"What was it Bailey said?" he continued.
"The schools today are guiding children in
doing just those things the schools of yesterday punished them for doing. That's just
this same proposition-using plain common
sense. It takes the natural impulses of the
normal boy or girl and utilizes them instead
of seeking to crush them."
"'To treat them as little men and womP,n ! ' " said Miss Earnest.
"I keep thinking about stealing from these
children," said Mrs. Goodheart. To rob them
O"f the golden hours that never will mt urn!"
TOWN ME'ETING DEC. 14.
The Town Meeting was again a very earnest and sane body of citizens, discussing
from many angles the question of Unemployment Insurance.
The , dis cnss ion was open ed by the guest
of the evening, Mr. Ordway Tead, Secretary
of the State Committee on Unemployment.
It was pleasing to the citizens to learn that
their resolution had all of the essentials of
the bill now ready to be presented to the
Legislature by one division of the St.ate
Committee.
The citizens were all interested in th e
bill. The general trend of the arguments
was: It may not .be perfert._but U c.ertainl y
is a start in the 1 ; , J:'ilirection.
Adm on it.ions were: Don't qui... le over details, look
to the fundamentals.
'.Ln.ok at the for e.;t
and forget the underbrush, --.and the citizens did. The bill was pass d with a more
nearly unanimous vote than ,t r." most .;::-guine would expect at Ford Hc>,ll ~ Meeting. Mr. Meltzer, the proponeut, closed the
debate.
TOWN NOTES.
Next week look f er a c;omposite ·p rogram.
You can take your choice. Have a watchnot on the Rhine, but on the Government; or
an automobile, not speeding around the corner but resting at every white collared trolley post; or keep the women still,-voting
only for school committee!
Mr. Foster well named M'r. _Leven berg the
Roaring Lion and didn't he roar well! He
roared all around and through the qu estion
and then when the Capitalist looked into his
den he came out and r oared yet again and
missed not a morsel of falla c,\ but lore a il
into shreds. It was great! '
·
And the Capitalist-he made a mighty
strong defence of his kind, and as brave
as the lion, but he couldn't smooth us allperhaps after fifteen years it will go better;
he said fifteen years had changed him. Ar.yway, everyone enjoyed every word he S.<id
and hope he will come every night.
Our
citizens do not have to agree with one to
like him, thanks be!
And can't Miss Crawford ask questions?
-She goes straight to the point with fewer
steps and less waste than any citizen, and
everyone knows she has hit the point when
she arrives.
Everyone seemed intensely interested in
the Compensation Act.
Why not ask the
Selectmen to amend the pr.e sent Massach usetts bill?
Our Moderator reminds us of the witness
who would not answer yes or no, and wh en
the judge at · last said: "Can you answer yes
or no?" replied: " That depends." But " that
depends"-upon whether he is answering
Miss Crawford from the floor or presiding in
the - hair. He is certainly handling us unc
ruly citizens well.
(Continued on page 8.)
FORD HALL FOLKS
8
Well, it was a good meeting last week but the
THOl\iAS DREIER,
HELEN F. VEASEY, Su/Jscription Manager
JACOB LONDON,
Sales Manager
Home Cooking
Just Vi 1hat You Have
been Lo o kin R F o,
J .;.,
Tables Reserved for
Private
Parties
BP:1r:nr DiPin2: Rooms
.
_
doston , M·a~.H1t: husetts
.
...
.
1·
.
r,
~. r) C 1 a 1 _._""!i t 1 ' •
I .-.
"- \.
c{;jFreeThought
t- .,.. 1 \_, 1· • L . '
'-1
Published weekly by the Ford Hall
Offers room s with hot and cow water for $1.00
Associates, whose work is to create,
pe r day and up which includes rree use of pul.Jassemble, and distribute ideas that will
lic shower baths.
help men and institt: tions grow more
Nothing to Equal This in New England .
helpful in serving soC'iety, and which
Rooms with private baths for $1.50 per clay and
will promote "peace on earth, good
up; suites of two rooms and b at l! for $4.00 per
will toward m en:·
It is the official
dHy and up.
publication of th e Ford Hall MeetABSOLUTELY FIUE PROOF '
ings, held under the auspices of th e
Dos t.on R ptist E:icial Un ion and diStrictly a Temverance Hotel
rected by George '· Coleman . 'l'hese
s~nd to,· BooklPI
~eetings. are held 8Very Sunday eveSTORER F. CRAFTS G
M
mng dunng the mon ths of October to
'
en.
gr.
May, in Ford Hall, Asnburton Place,
Boston, Massachusetts . The subscrip- · Jo,
tion price o,f the magaz ine is $1.50 r
year.
When buying your
All business comm anications sho·o 7.t .il ',~
be sent to William H. Foster•.,{/
Cigars see that the
Huntington Ave., Boston, an<'.i. a!J 11i>1q il8Fiil.fi'!
munications intended for the edililq '.fit/
8o,
The Thomas Dreier Service, l
EJ,,,_l
·~ 1 ity P r ess, Cambridge.
is on the box, and
I
Meals Twenty - Five Cents
and S e r v e d from
6:30 a. m. to 8 p. m.
...&.Ll..
Editor-in-Chief
MARY C. CRAWFORD, Managing Editor
SARA H . BIRCHALL,
Reporter
WILLIAM H. FOSTER, Business Manager
D URANT F. L ADD, Adv ertising Manager
Kingsley Hall, 8 P. M.
'"I
BOSTON, MASS
,,
University Press, Cambridge
Telephone, Cambridge 1330
this coming Tuesday
will prove even more interesting to you. Come
P
._
Opposite State House
Published Weekly
Town Meeting
66 Bowdoin Street -:,. ~
-
Commonwealth Hotel, Inc.
FORD HALL FOLKS
l!\i..,..
B Q QM B Q ST Q N'
•
tt{{;/
'%tt}'
UNION LABEL
)U
-- -- - .
===-=;cc ·- --- - --
wiil help Boom
~"')n.
All
l:~~
hr~n<lc bear
TOWN NOTES.
ROOKS. b' I"4PERS
M .
An d e l m an
Boston, Mas ; act.uietts
291 Tremont Street
To .-luthors and P1tblishers:
\Vc> are printers of man y well know n
publi cations, amo ng t h em "'For d Hall
Ji'oll;s."" If you have a book "r a booklet,
a magazine or a newspaper tl• bring out,
-.nite us. Open day a nd night
E. L
(Continued f1om page ',.)
A numb er of n ew face s and a large
1,roportion of m en present this week.
Jack began to travel around that circle
again but was called to the chair where he
traveled straight away. He fi lled two offices
as well a s he usu all y uo£s but one.
We all acknowledge Mr. BJttorn is an ornam ent, but we do wish he would talk; we
kn ow he ca n '
And Freda nev er said a word!
Louis W . Richard
G 1 :1 11::s Co:11 1 .,NY.
{1
·
1~2 Pearl St., Boston.
Nathan Isbicsky can get you that
old book you have been looking for.
When near 303 Tremont street drop in
and tell him about it.
Don't forget
that he sells good c:gars, too.
THAT NE,W YEAR'S 1PART Y.
1
Dr. S. W. ETrfELSON
DENTIST
TEL. OX. 49•3
230 Tre m ont Street
Boston, Massachusetts
A. T. BLISS & COMPANY
UNION LABEL
PRINTING
MERCANTILE f5 SOCIETr
TEL. MA I N 1089
60 PcARL STREET
:
BOSTON, MASS.
In 1861, when the estate of James Burrougl1s of Hales Ford, Virginia, was appraised, o ne slave, Booker T. Was hington
by name, was valued at exactly $400. Someone wh o is n ow working for you a t $10 a
week may have in him th e possibilities like
th ese hidden in that lit t le black boy who
later l1ecarne the lEader of his race.
The ~ew Year's Pa rty of th e Ford Hall
Folks, to be held in Kings ley Hall of the
Ford Building, Saturday eve1
1ing, Janu ary
first, a t a quarter to eight, promises to be
as enjoyabl e a frolic as any of our pi cnics
have been. Whi ch is to say much.
Freda
Rogolsky, Ida Goldberg, Mr. Ladd , "Jack"
L oii.don, Mr. Niles· and Mrs. Mosher constitute the committee of young peop le in
charge of the games.
And Mrs. Sul'livan,
Mrs. Atwocd, Mrs. Parnell and Mrs . B lanchard are to preside over the cake, cmffee and
ice cream. Ford Hall Folks,-.believing iu
the pay-as-you-go policy,-will each dig out
twenty cents for these refreshments, the
Jg di es having it cannily in mind to make a
minute profit towards the expense of those
grand dishes in whi ch the Folks invested a
month or so ago.
E've r y member of the
Ford Ha'll audience is we lcome to the party,
but i t iooii ld be ni ce to know whether we
neEd to provide for one hundred people or
one thousand. Can't you drop a line lo
Miss Crawford, Ford Building, to say if
yo u '11 be there?
B. L. 8BUIES OOMPANY, PRINTEBS,
, .....
INSURANCE
TELEPHO N E MAIN 108 2
RES. T .
t<. O X. 512K V\
RO ') M > 2 1
60 State Stre et, Bost
A PLEASING LETTER.
Mr. Foster has just r eceived from Mi8~
E . May Caldwell this very pl easing lette r :
"This year I am spending in California ,
and have found it so inconveni ent having
my second-class mail matter forwarded to
different places that I discontinu ed all 1rn1Jli cations. It is a r ea l trial to give up Ford
Hall Folks, and I feel as if I wa nted to
send my subscription eve n if I cannot take
it myself, so I am go ing to ask you to please
send it to Mr. George E. Caldwell, 2423
R omeo Street, Los Angeles, California , and
I may be able to ·see it occasionally.
Enclosed please find my cheC'k for $1.50 to pay
for it.
" I expect to lie in San Diego soo n, ancl
am deli ghted to learn that tbey are to have
a Forum there."
12:2 PEA.BL STBE&T, BOl.'ITON.
FORD HALL FOLKS
5
FOR,D HAL L CALENDAR.
PERSPECTIVE, POISE, POWER
As
BROTHER
" No, my dear," said Mrs. .Goodhea r t,
" there is a lot of good in the world. Ther e
is a lot of happiness in the world."
"We mustn't ge t a cro ok ed point of view,"
said Brother Hood. "We sef:l s o mu ch diE·
tr ess we a r e likely to believe tha t life holds
nothing but suffering. We see m en and
women out of work and forget the thousand s
who have jobs. We see men and women
unhappy a nd for get t he m illions who are
ha ppy. There is mor e sun shine in the
world tha n g loom."
" Don't you sympathize with th e sorr owing?" asked Miss Prim.
"You kno w I do," sa id Br other H ood. " I
am only urging yo u a lso to r ej oice with t he
ha ppy, to see both sides of the picture. If
we ge t a disto rte d view of things we don 't
see straight. T o· change th e figu re a little,
we must be sure the len ses of our spectacl es
are correctly ground and of untinted cr ystal. Sad colored glasses m a ke everything
look sad."
"The world is a good place to live in," said
Mrn. Goodheart. " There a re lot s of good
people in t he world. They are living happy,
contented lives and helping others to live
the same way."
"How can any one be happy when th er i,
is so much m iser y ever ywh er e?" ask ed Miss
Earnes t.
"Life would be unb earable if we could no t,
in " cer tain sense, once in a while fo r get
the ' so,rrow a nd r evel in t h e joy about us .
Mother Nature is kind and gives our spirits
time to r es t from th e strain of the distress
whi ch bear s so hard upon us."
" Distress a nd joy are ve r y close together,
anyway," said Mr . Social Mind. "I have
seen little to ts gathering wo od in the s treets
when my h eart bled for them , a nd for the
hard n ecessity which for ced them to s ud1
work. At the sa me tim e th ese very y oungs ters would ma ke a gam e out of it. T he
wonderful m agic of childhood would transform the pitiful load of sticks into a chariot
and four , or a cava lcade from the wars."
"The best-loved dolls are a lways the bits
of wood, handker chi efs tied with a s tring,
or the like, which the loving imagina tion
of th e child has clothe d with a ll the cha rm
of the most expensive productions of the
toy-maker s," said Mrs. Goodheart .
" This is the proposition which concerns
us," said Broth er Hood . "We mustn't lose
sight of the fac t that ther e is more joy t h an
so• w in the wor ld. More people have a
rro
good time th a n have a h a rd time, a nd few
people ha ve nothin g but grief in their lives.
"Joy and sor ro w, ease a nd dis-ease, are
r elative t erms, anyway," con tinued Brother
Hood. "Wh at affords m e the k eenest distress m ay be to my fri end on the other
street a matter of utter indiffer en ce. Hunger kills the spirit in one m an, while h . s
i
partner at Hawkins Street crumples up under the cold. Then ther e is the other class
who can endure phys ical ha rdships with patience, but who chafe und er ills of the spirit
almost to the br eaking point, and most of us
kno,w nothing of it."
"I have al wa ys said I would organi ze a
s ociety for th e giving o f the g la d hand tu
the m an who k eeps his troubles to himself
until h e drops, if I ever went into phila nthropy as a business," said th e Flippa n t
Youth.
"Mr. Johnson or Mr. Fowler , or even Mr.
Elliott· or Mr. H elms, n ever know the ones
who n eed h elp the most," said Miss E'a rnest.
HooD
S EES I T
"They just die a nd no on e knows their needs
until t he doct or 's certificate tells the stor y."
" But there a r e lots of people whose needs
a r e dis covere d before it is too late," said
Brother H ood. "Tha t 's what I mean by
watchin g our perspective. We must, keep
our grip on ou rselves by seeing t o it that
we don't get out of foc us."
" Tha t sort of doctrine puts a premiuru
on the stand-patism which is so satisfied
with con dit ions as they are that it wo- 't
n
h elp to ch ange them, doesn't it?" asked the
Enthusiast.
" She is a God saker," said the F lippant
Youth . "You know t he type, 'For God's
sake, let's do somethi ng'."
"No, I don't believe it works out as the
Ent hus iast fears," r eplied Brother Hood.
" It h elps us h o-Id our minds in solution on
th e question s involved. We are not su.
likely t o t h r ow off ill-considered precipit ates. It helps our spir itual poise and
that's th e greatest asset-mental or morala ny wo r ke r fo r r ighteou sn ess can have."
"We don' t accomplish anyth ing by getting
excited," he went on . "People who run
a round in a circle rar ely get a n ywhere. Of
course we can excite ourselves into a fev er
but that kind of co mbustion is more likely
to co ns ume our own vitali ty than the evils
we a r e fi ghting."
"We've a ll seen t.he people who froth
abo ut and then have seen the sane fo lks
wh o quietly get a grip on things and
stra ighten t h em out w it h only a fraction of
the effort the fu ssy ones have used," said
Mrs. Goodheart.
"It's a naval maxim," said Miss Prim,
" 'When in doubt, steer straight a head.'
Tha t 's poise."
"Yes, said the F lippant Youth. "'When
in doubt, lead trumps'-same poise!"
"In other words," said B r other Hood,
"don't wander a round in an endl ess maze
of m en ta l questions or indulge in a frenzy
of effo rt. Keep cool and think a thing clear
through . Look a ll aro•
und it, not on only
one side of i t. P ut i t into its proper relation to othe r subjects. Don't distort it out
of its pro,pe r fo cus. When you can do that
you will have perspective and poise, as well
a s power.
"Power ," he went on, "is great. To be a
ma n of power in t h e world, to be forcefu l
because of yo ur men tal attributes and training, t h at's worth wh ile, if it is the power
of ri ght think ing, n ot the power begotten
of for ce or posit ion . T bere are lots of clever
m en ; t here are men of talent. There are
lots of m en delighful to talk to and pleasa nt to play golf or pinochle with. But m en
of power a r e scar ce. T he world needs them.
Suffering man k ind n eeds them."
"Wh en hard-th inking men organ ize th eir
powers t o ser ve huma nity as they have been
serving bus iness or statecraft, or possibly
g raft or gr eed," he continued, "then power
w ill find a new channel for its activities
whi ch will mak e a new heaven on earth.
Men a r e doin g i t every day. There is nc,
m o• hopeful sign of the t imes than the
re
way m en a r e fin ding k een delight in socializing th eir standards. Captains of Industry
a r e rechris tening t hemselves Captains c,f
Humanity.
T hey a r e finding themselves
anew."
"Wh y?" aske d Mrs. Goo dheart. "Because
they have fo und the ir dynam ic. T hey are
connecting th eir motors with th e generators
run by the everlasting power."
T uesday evening, Jan . 19, T o,wn Meeting,
K ingsley Hall, F ord Building.
Sunday evenin g, J a n . 24, R ev. John Ross
of Buffalo, "Modern Shifts in Emphasis."
T uesday evenin g, J an . 26, Town Meeting,
Kin gsley Hall, F ord Buil ding.
Sunday evening, Jan . 31, Prof. Waiter
Raus ch enb usch of Rochester, N. Y., " The
Economic Basis of Democracy.''
T uesday evening, Feb. 2, Town Meeting,
Kin gsley Hall, F ord Building.
Sunday evening, Fe b. 7, Father R yan of
St. Paul, Minn., "Minimu m Wage Laws in
Operation in Ameri ca."
THE PRAYER OF T H E TOILERS.
Rose· Mills P owers.
Lord of the peac-eful Toiler s, hark to the
toilers' plea:
The kings of t he earth assemble, pawns i.n
their hands a r e we,
Now as the bat tle t hi ckens, out of the
blood and fla me,
Lord of the Toilers, hear us: for give us who
play the game!
Lord of the chee r ful reapers, th e ha rvest
was fa ir a nd good,
Ha rd by our qu iet hea rt h-stones, t he yellowing wheat fie lds st ood,
But the scythe has become a sabr e in
mea dc,w and glebe and....glen.
Lord of t he Toilers, hear us : forgive as we
cut down men !
Lord of the cunn ing crafts men : t he v is ion
of 'J 1iee, a lad,
Working with pla n e and measur e, kep t us
content a n d glad,
Now, as we charge, r ed-handed, wielding t he
too ls t hat k ill,
Lord of t he Toiler s, hear us: fo rgive us
the blood we spill !
Lord of the visioning learners: ou t of our
cloistered halls,
Parchment and tome aban don ed, we mar ch
where t he bugle calls,
Death and destructi on hur ling, havoc to
babes and wives,
Lord of the T oilers, hear us; for give us
these broken lives!
Lord of th e keen-eyed trader s: o u r vessels
went up an d dow n,
Our shops wer e a live w it h traffi c in village
and mart and t own ,
But the harbors a r e red with s la ughter, the
markets i n r uins lie,
Lord of the Toiler s, hear us; forgive a s we
strike and d ie!
Lorcl of the peaceful T oilers, husbandman'.
craftsman derk
Student and sage a nd 'trader, torn fr om t he
world's good wor k,
Dead in the k ing's a r ena, pawn s who were
not to blame,
L ord of the Toiler s, h ear us; end no w the
awful game!
- The Survey.
- - -- - - --
"T he men wh om I h ave seen s ucceed in
life," remarks Cha rles K ingsley, " have always been ch eer ful a nd hopeful m en who
went about t heir business w ith a smile on
th eir faces and took t he cha nges and
ch a nces of this morta l life like men, facing
rough a nd smooth alike as it came."
FORD HALL FOLKS
6
Introducing Some Ford Hall Folks
By MARY C. CRAWFORD
GEORGE COLEMAN.
It is not only to young men that Ford
Hall and its message appeals.
On the
platform, every Sunday night, may be seen
George Coleman, the father of our Director; and, as he explains with a gleam ot
the eye which shows clearly that our
George Coleman comes honestly by his
keen sense of humor, "I don't have to come,
you know." Earlier in the season o·ur
Director referred, in the course of some
introductory remarks, to certain strenuous
and not altogether happy days which he
as a lad passed in his father's bookbinding
establishment. A temperamental difference
between father and son is established by
the fact that the elder Mr. Coleman is
neither regretful nor bitter as he tells of
his apprenticeship of six years to the
trade of a bookbinder, years during which
GEORGF; COLEMAN.
his wages for the most part remained at
the modest level of $1.50 a week.
The shop which served as the background
for all this labor was down at the end of
State street, opposite Broad street, within
easy walking distance of the Coleman home
on Prince street in the North End. (One of
the distinctions which the elder Mr. Coleman enjoys is that of having been christened at the Old North Church.)
Those were stirring times in Boston, however, even for a prentice lad. The subject
of our sketch witnessed with his own eyes
the rendition of the slave, Anthony Burns,
for whose rescue a band of Abolitionists,
led by Thomas Wentworth Higginson and
Lewis Hayden, organized a plucky but unsuccessful raid upon that old Court House
which stood, until lately, within a stone's
throw of Scollay Square, next to Young's
Hotel. When Burns emerged from th·e
Court House he was escorted to the wharf
(whence he was to be shipped back South)
in the centre of a hollow square composed
by a vast number of police and militia.
A lad who had witnessed this sight and
glowed for the personal freedom thus violated, would, of course, wish to fight for
the cause of the slave when Abraham Lincoln sent out his call for troops.
But,
though he drilled every night, George Coleman did not go to the war. He had recently taken upon himself the duties of a
husband and little children were beginning
to come to the newly-established household.
"Our George'' was the third of these ch-ildren; the war had been over two years
when he first opened his eyes upon the
world. But the very important period of
reconstruction was at hand and it is not
too much to suppose that some of that passion for organization, that burning zeal for
human rights which has found its expression in the Ford Hall Meetings was drunk
in by the younger George Coleman with the
very air that he breathed in that Boston of
the last century, which had poured out its
best blood for the cause of the slave and
was now giving its best brains to the task
of human betterment.
JOHN J. FRASER.
Another white-haired man who is always
on our platform on Sunday nights is John
J. Fraser. He, too, knew hardships as a
boy,-but seems not to have been hurt by
them. Son of a Nova Scotia farmer he
otten rose at three in the morning "to play
chambermaid to a cow," to use the phrase
Hawthorne employed in speaking of similar
bucolic experiences at Brook Farm. Not
caring to pass his life as a farmer young
Fraser learned the trade of iron building,
and as this called for travelling about,erecting bridges in various big cities,-he
s1.w a great deal of America as the years
wenc by. Later, when he had established a
connection with the Swift Refrigerating
business, he saw a good deal of England
alw , visiting London several times in the
course of his work.
Good radical talk, whether of pulpit or
platform, always appealed to this man. His
early training was that of a Presbyterian
and he says that he suffered a good deal by
reason of this fact. For he heard a great
deBl about the devil; and he liked the
Prince of Evil as little then as he does now.
Sq when he had the chance to hear Spurg-eon and Parker of the City Temple, London.-that big church whose present pas-
JOHN J. FRASER.
tor, Reginald Campbell, we heard with such
joy on our platform a few years ago,-he
made the most of his good fortune. Over
here he has followed all the forum movements of his day. He was a devoted attendant at the early labor forums, in which
debate took the place we at Ford Hall assign to questions, and more recently the
Morgan Memorial and the Christian Union
have claimed his interest. But he has been
a loyal follower of Ford Hall ever since the
days of our first series seven years ago.
In all this time he has missed only one or
two nights! His tributes to Ford Hall and
its workers would occupy all the rest of
·this page if I set out to print them. Let
this bit then, which chances to be impersonal, suffice: "In no place that I go, or
ever went, does there seem to me to be so
much that is refreshing and inspiring as
here."
TOWN MEETING, JANUARY
12.
Mr. Marple showed extraordinary ability
as a presiding officer.
Firmly, yet with
even-handed justice, he steered the Town
Meeting through one of the most turbulent
discussions it has ever bad. When the session was over he thanked the body for
their patience with him, though adding that,
for the first time ever, he bad failed to feel
at home in Ford Hall.
The cause of the excitement was Miss de
Ford's bill penalizing policemen for arresting people while indulging in their Godgiven right of "free speech." Mr. Victorson
h ad thrown a bomb into the camp by moving that the bill be rejected; and this, from
hini, disconcerted some of the citizens, offended others, and moved Miss deFord to, a
really magnificent burst of eloquence in behalf of down-trodden agitators everywhere.
Say, but that girl can tallc! One of these
days we shall be listening to her from the
platform upstairs if she continues to grow
in power and in eloquence as she bas during
the past two years.
What if her bill is too drastic? It was
emine~tly worth writing in that it called
forth remarkable discussion from a number
of different sources. Her statement that the
"free" press is owned by the business men
and the advertisers is incontrovertible and
her plea for an America that shall be "one
big Ford Hall" showed us a gleaming, if a
remote, ideal. Miss Crawford brought out
the fact that Socialism may not now be discussed in the lecture hall of Boston's Public
Library, Mrs. Hoffman that the evils of unemployment and the troubles of heckled
West End peddlers may not be discussed
on Boston's street corners, while Mr. Carty,
our white-bearded "Tipperary boy," testified that soap-box oratory is far more restricted in this land of the free ( ?) than in
Hyde Park, London.
Moreover, it would have been a great pity
to have missed Mr. Ewing's clarifying discussion of the bill with his admission of
human nature's proneness to error and his
i,lea that policemen are very human in this
and other matters. Mr. Rush, while declaring himself "all mixed up," likewise put in
a good word for policemen, whom Ile seems
to think are pretty good fellows on the
whole. And then Miss deFord made another defence of her measure-and saved it
for a third reading.
Mr. Gallup, who arrived a little late,
deprecated the omission from the order of
the day of constructive measures. But what
could be more constructive than Mr. Williams' bill on cobbling in the public schools?
To be sure, Mr. Brodhead, director ,of manual training in Boston, was able to assure
us in a splendid speech that this very thing
is now being done. But a lot of us did not
know it and were glad to be informed of the
fact. Glad also that an increased respect
for manual labor is growing out of the public schools' work in this and allied directions.
Altogether it was a good, an extremely
good Town Meeting. Though, of course, we
missed Mr. and Mrs. T. M. Moderator very
much!
Q.
FORD HALL FOLKS
THE CRADLE OF FRATERNITY.
A LONG HUNT FOR A JOB.
Of all the people who are helping to raise
the standards of living, one of the most
safe-and-sane is William Hard.
He has
the faculty of cutting straight through to
the heart of a subject and laying his findings before you with all the sure, unhurried
swiftness of the skilled surgeon performing
a difficult operation. His article in the January Ev erybocLy's, "What You and I 'Owe to
England, Germany, Russia and France," is
By Joseph A. Ivy.
A feeling that the enlistment of 2,000,000
men in England had probably made the
demand for labor greater than the supply
led me to take a Leyland Line steamship
for Liverpool in November. I must have
been a courageous voyager, for I believe my
sole capital on leaving East Boston consisted of three pennies, a postage stamp, unlimited stationery and a pleasant smile.
"Now," I said, "if I don't succeed in finding work in Liverpool, I'll enlist for service
in the British Red Cross. Failing there,
I'll go to France and try to get into the
American Red Cross." I did not admit of
any such thing as failure.
When the steamer docked at Halifax and
I had assisted in loading 876 horses for the
British Army I added another castle to my
collection. I'd go to Aldershot and get a
job as a trainer of horses. The Bohemian,
the ship on which I sailed for England, carried more optimists on her November trip
than I have ever seen before at one time.
In all there were ninety of us; every man
of us an expert builder of air-castle:;.
The day we steamed up the Mersey River
was a red-letter day for the Americans
aboard the ship. A typical English mist
WILLIAU HARD.
lay over the river, and our introduction to
England's great port certainly was accorda striking piece of literature. From it the
ing to custom.
following is quoted:
The smell of land acted like wine upon
French Reason gave the world, through
the horses. A number of soldiers had been
the F'rench Revolution, the idea of "Fratersent to take off the horses, but the sight of
nity. " It was not, and still isn't, a practhe horses wild to place their feet upon land
ti-:u.ble : dea. But it is one that can be
again was too much for the soldiers-they
reached only through Religion or else, as
simply disappeared; whereupon the steamin France, through Reason. It is not a natship officials hired our band of optimists
itral idea an instin ctive idea. Human beand paid us two shillings a man for unloadings, uul ~ss artificially instructed, do not
ing them.
regard themselves as brothers. It was the
The horses disposed of, we were free tu
French who, first among nations, anci last
go our several ways. I inquired my way to
ainong na, ions, in a whole movement of
t
the City Hall. Along the way and past the
thought, developed the conception of univerimmense docks I had ample proof that Livsal brotherhood.
erpool is the world's wheat and wool marDo we owe them nothing for that? Let
ket, for the warehouses were everywhere.
us grant that reason let loose is more exAfter leaving the City Hall I turned into
treme than instinct and more unreliable.
Old Haymarket, where Liverpool's main reLet us grant that the farthest flings. of reacruiting - ffice is located. Curiosity made
o
son cannot always be followed up m pracme enter its precincts. I inquired - f an
o
tise. Yet in the midst of constitutionR.l
affable lieutenant if I could enlist for serdemocracy and of opportunistic socialism,
vice in the British Red Cross. He told me
in the midst of minimum wages and municthat the Red Cross ranks were full, but
ipal lodging-houses and the seven-and-threethat I could enter any branch of military
quarters-hour work-day and special-low-railservice I cared to.
way - rates -for-working-men-on-their-way-toI purposely let the officer proceed with
try-to-find-work and food-for-their-wives-andmy enlistment into the army. When I
children- in the midst of all this detail,
reached the name and address stage I inand in the presence of a Socialist party
formed him that I was a native of M--,
which brings its immediate little reforms
Mass.
farther and farther toward the front and
"I am very sorry, young man," he said;
puts its r evoliition farther and farther to"under the English law we cannot enlist
ward the back in its public pronouncement:; ~ aliens. Are you sure you are an American
-in such an age, and for several ages to
citizen? Were either of yo r parents born
come, shall we not look back, with a painin the British Empire?"
ful sense of how far we have dropped from
My answer did not help out the situation,
even an interest in human brotherhood, to
and a very reluctant officer was forced to
the outright boldness of Robespierre:
give me up. If I could have passed into a
"It is only the si.verfliiity of foodstuffs
state of coma long enough to have forgotten
that should become articles of commerce.
my nationality I could have left that office
What is n ecessary belongs to all."
a dashing fusilier.
I don't care whether it can be cione toNo• of my air-castles becoming tangible
ne
morrow morning ,o r not, any more than I
structures and France being no nearer, I
care whether "blessed are the meek" can be
stolled into the American consulate and had
done tomorrow morning or not. I know it a heart-to-heart talk with the consul. After
can't. But, except in the fifth chapter of
telling him of my ambitions and hopes, he
St. Matthew's gospel, there cannot be
asked me if my agreement with the Leyfound a set of sayings that will so stretch
land Company included free return passage
the heart of the world on the rack of selfto Boston. I told him that it did.
questioning, now and henceforth, as the
"Well, young man," he said, "do not miss
essays and speeches of the relentlessly reathat steamer. England is no place for Amersoning men of the French Revolution.
icans just now."
7
When I walked aboard the Bohemian just
before she sailed those optimists who hadn't
been cajoled into enlisting were just as
anxious as I was to get back to the States.
I suspect that quite a few - ther air-castles
o
beside mine must have toppled down.
THE SCREEN DOOR.
By Bessie L. Russell.
The Society Woman slipped into her
pretty pink kimona to answer the bell, for
the maid was out.
Blase to her finger tips, she was, nevertheless, an attractive woman, save that her
hair and the way she wore it, gave her a
rakish look.
At the door, she saw, by peering through
the screen, that her caller was a girl plainly
down and out.
"What do you want?" queried the Society
Woman indolently, but yet not without
some show of interest. "I suppose you are
in want-that you are-"
"An outcast," came the quick retort.
"I'm sorry," said the Society Woman.
"Won't you come in?" This very tenderheartedly, for society women can be tender
hearted; they are not always hard.
"No, no," said The Other One. "You see
I cannot. Once I was like you are; then I
began being the other way. I fell you see,
and what's more, I kept on falling, till now
I am not only poor and disreputable; I am
hungry."
"You poor cTeature," returned The Society
Woman again tenderly. "But I cannot see
such a brink as you see There ic:_ gfhr :>!.J.,
between us, just this Screen Door. Society
has fashioned this door. I am inside, you
are out. But there is no startling difference
between us. No, no," she went on, as The
Other One was beginning to protest. "I am
a Society ·woman and I know what I am
saying. Do we not dance immoral dances,
think immoral thoughts and dress to defy
all decency? Do we not, I say, and if we
do not take the last step as you have done,
do we no,t go so far that it amounts to the
very same thing? . . .
"Now then, you will come in, won't you?"
"Thank you for your goodness," said The
Other !One, much moved, "but I-I cannot
come. There is always The Screen Door
and it can~ot be treated lightly."
"Well, well, perhaps you are right about
it," said The Society Woman, as she tossed
The Other One a coin.
.
Then she did a very strange thing, did
The Society Woman. She sat bolt upright on
her _ daintily tufted ,c ouch and rubbed her
eyes.
"How stupid of me," she exclaimed.
And to think it's long past time nowfor the Merriweather Hesitation Tea!
NEXT SUND A Y'S SPEAKER.
Another preacher from New York State,
Rev. John Ross, of the Presbyterian Church
in Buffalo, comes to us next Sunday night,
taking for his topic "Modern Shifts in Emphasis." Mr. Ross is a hard-working minister of the up-to-date type, a man who has
an office and a secretary, conducts a Forum
in connection with his church and makes
his ministerial function and his church
plant a distinctly felt force for the social
uplift of his city. He will bring us a message worth hearing.
Better see Mr. Foster about that offer of
the Jewett Players on the next page_
FORD HALL FOLKS
8
Would you like a school
oculist like a school nurse ?
D o you want to hear fre e
lectures in the schoo l ?
COME TO
T H E T OWN MEETING
Tow n Meeting
Com mittees at 7.30
Kingsley Hall
8.00o' clock
T el. H ay mar ket 24126.
MORTON BROTHERS
Cleansers and Dyers
52 ALLEN STREET
BOSTON, MASS.
M. ANDELMAN
Patriotic, Socialist, and Free Thought
BOOKS AND PAPERS
BOSTON
291 TREMONT STREET
SAMUEL B. FOWLER
Solicitor of United Sta t e s a.nd F oreign
PATENTS and TRAUE -l\IARK S
Inventions D eveloped
,.. ... .. . .... , o "";'~-!~.""~: , r ;,,.:.r .:n t':- ::-..c.. - -.·~t u 1; of
::t
inv ent.i o n s
JJ- relin1ina1·y cvns u ltation
withou1., uh a 1·g e
28 SCHOOL STREET, Room 35, B OS 'J'ON, MAS S .
Telep h on e Fort Hill 2355 .
When buying your Cigars see
that the
UNION LABEL
1s on the box, and you w ill help
Boom Boston!
A ll the leading brands bear the
label.
E. L. GRIMES COMPANY
Printers of Ford Hall Folks
122 PEARL STREET
BOSTON
SPECIAL NOTICE
HENR Y
JEWETT
PLAYERS
A Company wit h Civic Ideals
BOSTON OPERA HOUSE
Evenings at 8 . 00
Matinees, Wed. and Sat. at 2.15
Weeh Jan. 18 - Merry Wives of Windsor
Weeh Jan. 25-Julius Caesar
Price 50c to 15c
Ford H a ll p eople m a y sec ure special rate fo r parties
o f 1 0 o r m ore. F o r i n form a tion Tel. Bac k B ay 4491.
FORD HALL FOLKS
Published Weekly
THOMAS DREIER,
Editor-in-Chief
Unive rsity Press, Cambridge
Telephone, Cambridge 1330
C. CRAWFORD,
M anaging Editor
MIRIAM ALLEN DE F ORD,
R eporter
WILLIAM H. FOSTER, B usiness Man ager
JOH N P. WHITMAN,
A dv. Manager
JACOB LON DON,
Sal es Manag er
MARY
P ublished weekly by the Ford Hall
Ass ociates, whose w ork is to create,
assem ble, a nd distribute ideas that will
help men a nd institutions grow more
helpful in ser v ing society, and which
will promote "peace on earth, good
will t oward men ." It is the official
publi cation of th e Ford .!:fall Meeting s, h eld u nder th e a uspice s of the
Boston Baptist Socia l Union and dir e cted by George W. Coleman. These
meetin gs are h eld every Sunda y evening du r ing th e mon t h s of Octob er to
May, in F ord Hall, Ashburton Place,
Bost on, Mas sachusetts. The subscriptio n price of t h e m aga zine is $1.5 0 a
year.
All business co mmunications should
be sent to W illiam H Fos ter, 41
Huntington Ave., Boswn, and all communication s intend ed for the editor to
The Thomas Dreier Ser vice, University Press, Cambr idge.
FIG.HTING POVERT Y .
Wha t co uld be more wasteful than to su ppo rt in idleness, by charity, people who a re
willing and able to work-except , finally,
not to support them at all, editori a lizes t he
Saturday Evening Post. To a ny -one who
looks about h im, the statement that ther e
is less dema nd fo r labor this year tha n last
sounds abs urd . Everywhere, from th e biggest city to the smallest ha ml et , ther e a r e
a thousand and on e n eedful things to be
done, which yet go undon e year after yea r .
For example, just to put th e street s of
America n cities in as good condition as the
streets of Berlin w ould give employm ent to
a n ar my. To say t ha t we ha ve no use fo r
our labor is nons ense; but ever y m·oan
cha rity organ ization is straining its r es ources to meet calls fo r :::-elief a ri sin g fro m
un emp loyment. T hat t he gr eat , ever-recurring problem of unemploymen t can be much
r educed by inte llige n t fore th ought a nd organiz ed actio n see ms clear.
Who knows h ow m uch m ight be a ccomplished by sound t hought a nd better or ganiza t ion, to r educe pover ty that arises fro m
other causes? We said, in v iew of the
monstr ous crime in E urope, tha t povert y
co uld 11ot be abo lished. A cor r espondent r eplies that that appalling spect ac le may be
a n a ugury to the co ntrary.
If a firth of the scientific thought, money,
enthu siasm and social organiz ation Euro pe has directed this a utumn t o t h e making of miser y were di rect ed to it s relief
th er e might be a new wor ld .
C once ntration is ce r tainly a wonderful
thing. The natives of t he Is land of Shikoku,
Japan, have pro du ced, a fter a hundr ed years
of patient efforts, ta il feathers on r oosters
that m ea sure eigh teen feet in len gth. Those
ta ils probably add quite as much to the
e':Iiciency of the ro osters as do th e fortun es
of some of ou r m illion a ires t o t h e essenti al
worth of their owners.
BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS
'THE BANK OF SERVICE
General Banking and Savings
Departments
The person who has never had a banking
account is urged to consult us.
H STATE ST.
194 WASHINGTON ST.
Commonwealth Hotel, Inc.
Opposite State House
BOSTON, MASS.
Offers room s with hot and cold water fo-r $1.00
per day and up which includes free use of public sho wer ha tb s.
N oth ing t o E qua l This in N e w Engla nd.
R oom s with priva te b aths for $1. 50 per day and
u p; suites of t w o rooms a nd h a th for $4.00 per
•l a y a nd up.
ABSO LUTELY F I RE PR OO F
Sen d fo r Booklet .
STORER F . CRAFTS, Gen Mgr.
THE SOMERSET BATHS
A Men's Establishment
Turkish-BATHS- Ru ssian, Roman, Nauheim and Electric Lig ht.
Priva te Rooms for p a rties-day or night,
week or mont h. Better than a hotel-a nd costs
less.
5 Somerset Street
Corner of Pemberton Square
Boston, Massachusetts
Oppo site City Club a nd Elks' Clu b .
John H a ys Hammond, Jr., h as invented
a r a dio-cont roll ed torp edo boat, and United
Sta tes Navy investigators will soon report
on th e a dvisability of th e purchase of the
invention for the exclusive use of America.
'l'h e craft is directed from a wireless station by H ertzian waves . In t ests it has
been comple,te!y controlled from a distance
of t we nty-eight miles. Inventions like this
stren gth en the belief that every man
and woma n is controlled by invisible waves
emanating from th e mind of the Great
E xecutive. These inventions a re the a tt empts mad e by men to exercise power in
the m a nn er of the Great Executive. This
boa t , so far a s a n y-one can see, is free to do
what it wills. But from a distant tower
come the waves th at command its m echanism. So are m en controlled by the invisible
commands of a po we r whom men so often
call G od.
" The s ecret of success in life," remarks
Disraeli, "is for a man to be ready for his
opportunity when it comes."
E. L. G.RIM:ES Co., PRINTERS, ,~ , , 122 P EARL STREET, B 6STON.