The children suffer from the hard circumstances in the laboring communities. The mothers have generally gone to work too early in life to give proper vitality to the child. The lack of conditions that make for decent home life brought about through inadequate incomes of the fathers and the overcrowded housing conditions taxes life heavily by infant mortality, and mortgages the future health and morals of the children, thus threatening the future efficiency of the state. Investigations conducted by the Children’s Bureau in Washington show that the chances of life for a baby grow appallingly small as the father’s earnings grow less. For instance, the cases of one thousand babies in eight representative cities were studied. The returns show that in families where the father earns less than $550 a year every sixth baby dies; while in families where the father’s income is $1,050 or more a year only one baby in sixteen dies.[2] [2] See “Infant Mortality,” a pamphlet issued by the Children’s Bureau, U. S. Department of Labor, Washington, D. C. [Illustration: The church in this age of steel must preach from the text, which interpreted in modern times will be, “A man is more precious than a bar of steel.”] =The Church and the Homes of the Workers.= The disorganizing influence on the social and industrial life incident to the war accentuates the importance of protecting mothers and children. The churches have a remarkable opportunity here, for it is to the homes that the church makes its first and strongest appeal. Jesus set a little child at the very center of his system for regenerating humanity and saving the world. The church must produce and train skilled leaders who can direct affairs; it must set in motion forces that will counteract the evil in these industrial communities; and must help to create public sentiment so that the city that allows bad housing to exist and the industry that forces it will be looked upon as murderers of little children. Playgrounds, recreation centers, and the strict enforcement of all the laws that protect the home must be urged upon the church as a part of its program. Without these the gospel fails.