“Lord, when saw we thee hungry, or athirst?” is the question which we must ask. “Inasmuch as ye did it not unto one of these least, ye did it not unto me,” is the promised reply. The program of the church relating to the children is perfectly simple and plain. Each church should keep in close touch with the work of the National Committee on Child Labor. Information can be secured by writing to the Secretary, Owen R. Lovejoy, 105 East Twenty-second Street, New York. One Sunday in each year, the fourth Sunday in January, is set aside as Child Labor Sunday. Every church should take pains to observe this day and make it a time when the members of the church will be made acquainted with the work being done by the Child Labor Committee; and should strive to understand the conditions concerning the child laborers of America, and the plans and purposes that are being devised for meeting needs and for protecting our nation’s greatest asset. Child Labor Sunday was observed in nearly 10,000 churches last year. The child laborer suffers because we do not know about him. His life is lived in a world apart. While he is producing the things that we accept, we have forgotten or passed over lightly the needs of the producer himself. The war puts a new responsibility upon us. Its agony and suffering have made us seemingly callous to suffering and we stand in grave danger of losing our power to sympathize. It is during such periods as these that the hard won gains of generations may be lost. We have gone far in our legislation for the protection of children since the days when the Earl of Shaftsbury first began his work for the poor boys of London. Much remains to be done. The church cannot slacken its efforts nor clear its skirts of responsibility if it does not exert every effort and put forth all its strength to pass new legislation, and steadfastly to set its face against every effort to break down existing laws or set them aside even as a temporary measure. The battle for democracy cannot be won, and will not be won, even with the destruction of German autocracy if we allow the bulwark that has been built up for the protection of the children of democracy to be torn down. CHAPTER XII THE MESSAGE AND MINISTRY OF THE CHURCH TO A WORLD OF WORK