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WHITE SLAVES
OR
THE OPPRESSIONS OF THE WORTHY POOR
BY REV. LOUIS ALBERT BANKS, D.D.
To My Father and Mother,
Who instilled into my mind and heart, in the days of a happy boyhood,
their own love for liberty and hatred of oppression, this volume is
gratefully dedicated.
TO THE MERCY AND HELP DEPARTMENT OF THE EPWORTH LEAGUE
Mr. Edison tells us that ninety per cent of the energy that there is in
coal is lost in the present method of converting it into a usable
force. May I, without being considered a croaker, say that almost the
same amount of spiritual power goes to waste in our average church
life? One is startled at times as he notes the manifestations of fervor
and warmth in the devotional meetings of the present day, and the
meagre results that follow in the transformation of society into the
likeness of the kingdom of heaven. Exactly what we have to do, however,
is to help hasten the answer to the prayer our Lord taught us, "Thy
will be done on earth as it is in heaven," and not to be forever
seeking to build tabernacles on some Mount of Transfiguration.
This book of Dr. Banks's is a positive stimulus to this work of social
transformation. The young men and women of our Epworth League could not
do better than to carefully and thoughtfully study its vivid pictures
of every-day scenes in our great, and even in our lesser, cities.
Such study will open their eyes to sad deformities in their own
communities, to which too many have become strangely indifferent
through custom and wont. True, it is not pleasant to consider these
distressing matters; but is it the business of the Christian to avoid
that which is unpleasant? Consideration leads to sympathy, and sympathy
wonderfully quickens the inventive faculties; and the aroused intellect
and active affection are leavening forces that alter social conditions
always for the better.
I take great pleasure, therefore, in commending this work, because it
stirs all who read it. It may make you indignant. What of it? Would
that more were alive enough to be indignant with the indignation of our
Lord at the forces of unbrotherliness at work in our midst! It will do
more than rouse your indignation; it will help you to utter the prayer
that gave the accent to the life of Paul: "Lord, what wilt thou have
_me_ to do?" When in works of Mercy and Help our tens of thousands of
Epworth Leaguers are loyally living this prayer, the problem of Edison,
as applied to spiritual dynamics, will be solved, and the latent forces
of spiritual energy used to their utmost. Then, as slavery has passed
away, war and tyranny and idleness and poverty will be no more, and the
end to which Christ leads us, and for which He died, will be attained.
WILLIAM INGRAHAM HAVEN,
_Vice-President for Mercy and Help Department_.
INWOOD LODGE, PINE ISLAND N.H. _August_ 1893
AUTHOR'S PREFACE
This volume had its origin in experiences which came to me in the daily
duties of a city pastorate. The inadequate wages received by some of
the members of my own congregation, and the impoverished and unhealthy
surroundings of many of the poor people who came for me to christen
their children, pray with their sick, or bury their dead, so aroused my
sympathy for the victims, and my indignation against the cruel or
indifferent causes of their misery, that I determined upon a thorough
and systematic investigation of the conditions of life among the worthy
Boston poor. By the word "worthy" I do not mean to indicate a class of
saints, but the poor people of the city who are willing and anxious to
exchange honest hard work for their support. I have not, in the series
of studies here presented, entered into a discussion of the vicious and
criminal classes. I have tried to perform, as it seemed to me, a far
more important task--to make a plea for justice on behalf of the
crushed, and often forgotten, victims of greed, who work and starve in
their cellars and garrets rather than beg or steal.
The larger part of the matter contained in these pages was originally
delivered in a series of discourses from the pulpit of St. John's
Methodist Episcopal Church, South Boston, and retains here the direct
form of the spoken address.
I desire to make a personal acknowledgment to some who have given me
great assistance in making the investigations, the results of which are
here recorded. I am greatly indebted to Mr. B. O. Flower, Editor of
_The Arena_, for many kindnesses, and especially for the use of several
interesting illustrations originally prepared for the magazine over
which he so ably and gracefully presides. The Rev. Walter J. Swaffield,
of the Boston Baptist Bethel, the Rev. C. L. D. Younkin, of the North
End Mission, the Rev. Geo. L. Small, of the Mariners' House, the Rev.
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