Here is where the church groups must cooperate with the working women themselves, and must assist them to secure some voice in determining the conditions under which they shall work. Legislation alone can never achieve the standards now demanded in common by the church and social workers; nor can they be realized by the benevolence of employers. If the health and morals of the community are not to suffer from the employment of women in industry, it can be accomplished only by the cooperation of working women to this end. The church must educate its community to think in terms of the greatest good to the greatest number. And this means that we must come to realize more than ever that the strength of the childhood of the nation is dependent upon the home; and that the strength of the home is dependent upon the physical, intellectual, and moral welfare of the women of the nation. It is possible for the church to accomplish much by arousing purchasers to the necessity of using their conscience in their shopping. Local white-lists of stores and factories which meet the Consumers’ League conditions can be made by representative groups. The Consumers’ League label and the labels of the organizations affiliated in the Women’s Trade Union League should be demanded. They will protect the conscience of the buyer and assure him that his comfort is not being secured at the cost of strain upon the health and morals of the women of his city or nation. It is for the churches to make this fight for the working women a community issue. It is a religious issue, and the pulpit may help to realize these religious values in the lives of the working women. When we pray “God save the people,” it would be well for us to use our heads in our prayers, and to remember that the people will perish if we do not protect the womanhood which is the foundation of the home. God cannot save the people if we destroy the mothers of men. CHAPTER XI THE WORLD OF THE CHILD WORKERS “No, we can’t go to school, much as we’d like to. You see, school holds only a few weeks each year and we have to help with the tobacco.” This was the reply of a twelve-year-old girl to a question regarding her school work. She also informed the visitor that helping with the tobacco meant doing everything that was necessary to be done from the time the plants are set out until the leaves are finally cured. While the conversation was going on, this girl’s eight-year-old sister came out of the barn, and the visitor said: “Do you help with the tobacco, too?” “Yep,” was her reply, “I jest now been out wormin’ it.” When asked what she meant by that she was utterly amazed that any one could be so ignorant as not to know that tobacco had to be wormed. To display her efficiency, she showed a tomato-can nearly full of worms that she had just brought in from the tobacco-field. To prove the quality of her catch, she held up a nice fat one and even offered to let the visitor take it if he so desired.