The Lutheran Pioneer St. Louis — 1927, Page 72

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72

THE LUTHERAN PIONEER.

church in my life!” It is estimated that in Nevada
alone there are possibly 5,000 boys and girls under
twenty whose ideals are practically pagan!

From Arizona comes the report that there are in
that State at least twenty communities without the
privileges of a regular ministry. In one county of the
San Joaquin Valley in California, one rural pastor
is trying to serve a parish ninety miles long and
from twenty to thirty miles wide. On his letter-
head he is said to carry the names of no less than
fourteen towns which he is serving. It is claimed
that there are other regions in Southern California
where a similar spiritual need is to be found. In
Northern California more than 60 per cent. of the
school districts are entirely without religious minis-
trations.

Though the frontiers of a few years ago have
become prosperous communities and the struggling
mining towns have developed into thriving cities
with growing churches, it will be seen from the
above that there are still many areas almost or
wholly without Christian churches. <A great part
of our missionary labors must still be devoted to
those who have settled in new neighborhoods, where
they are now waiting to be gathered into Christian
congregations.

We have briefly shown that thousands of miles
of open country and hundreds of villages, especially
in' the West, have no churches and no church priv-
ileges. But it is not only in the West that frontier
conditions exist. As we view the vast area reach-
ing from the Pacific to the Atlantic and from the
Mexican Gulf to the frozen regions of the Arctic,
we find that frontier conditions in a spiritual sense
still exist over extensive regions. Along the vast
mountain region, from the Laurentians of Labrador
to the foothills of Alabama, primitive conditions
still prevail, though somewhat unevenly distributed.
The same is true of the well-nigh measureless region
of the Rocky Mountains and the vast stretches of
plains from the Yukon to the Rio Grande. The
call is still for men who, full of faith, courage,
enterprise, initiative, drawn by the Son of God and
impelled by love of their fellow-men who are still
dead in trespasses and sins, count their lives not
dear unto themselves if only they may make known
the great salvation which is in Christ Jesus. :

The New Frontier.

Years ago a man well acquainted with actual
conditions in the East End of London, declared
that the surroundings of the savages in New Guinea
were far more conducive to the leading of a decent

human life than those in which many of the East-
Enders of London lived. What this man said of
the slums of London is true of the slums of all large
cities of the world. So, too, the great cities of our
country have their slums, in which huddle together,
in festering and verminous filth, men, women, and
children. It is to these slums that reference is made
above under the designation of “The New Frontier.”

The modern city “slum,” with its ignorance, pov-
erty, sin, lawlessness, degradation, and shame, is
truly more destitute of spiritual influence than the
most remote frontier ever was. The population of
the slums is mixed, — some are native Americans,
and many more are foreigners, — but all of them
are held in the merciless grip of poverty. The con-
ditions under which these people live are most pitiful.
Writes one who knows from personal observation:
“To those who have not made personal investigation
the present conditions, in spite of laws and efforts
to ameliorate the worst evils, are well-nigh un-
believable. ‘The cellar population, the blind-alley
population, the swarming masses in buildings that
are little better than rat-traps, the herding of whole
families in single rooms, in which the miserable
beings sleep, eat, cook, and make clothing for con-
tractors, or cigars that would never go into men’s
mouths if the men saw where they were made, —
these things seem almost impossible in a Christian
land. It is horrible to be obliged to think of the
human misery and hopelessness and grind to which
hundreds of thousands are subjected in the city day
in and day out, without rest or change. It is no
wonder that criminals and degenerates come from
these districts; it is a marvel, rather, that so few
result, and that so much of human kindness and
goodness exists in spite of crushing conditions.”
(Howard B. Grose.) Food is scarce and of the
poorest quality. The clothing these people have is
hardly sufficient to cover nakedness in summer and
in winter offers very little protection against the
cold. Because crowded conditions make privacy
almost impossible, personal purity is constantly en-
dangered. The constant grind of poverty fills the
hearts of the slum-dwellers with the spirit of hope-
lessness. This hopelessness engenders neglect and
depression, which, in turn, bring forth vice, wicked-
ness, and crime. The recreation offered these people
is found in the low shows, where men, women, and
children witness lewd action and listen to smutty
jokes. The children must play in the streets with-
out proper supervision, where they absorb vulgarity,
obscenity, and profanity. This indiscriminate play-
ing in the streets with those who are already