tounded
to be told by the leaders of the Yale Y.M.C.A. that the chief end in
view was not the work but the worker. Yale's mission was to give the
student practice. Missions were to be laboratories--the specimens were
to be humans. The eternal questions of sin and poverty were to be
answered by the pious phrases and the cast-off junk of immature
students. I gave a series of talks on labour unions to a selected
group of students who were leaders.

I was a social evangelist then and, after the talks, took stock of the
results. Many fell by the wayside, but a group of strong men formed
themselves into a "University Federal Labour Union." Dick Morse,
captain of the 'Varsity crew, became president of it. Representative
union constitutions were studied. The following sentences from the
declaration of principles will illustrate how thoroughly these young
men got in line with the union movement:

"We believe it inconsistent and unworthy that a wage-worker should
take the benefits that accrue to a craft as a direct result of
organization and at the same time hold himself aloof from the
responsibilities and from his share of the expenses of that
organization.

"We believe that union men whenever possible should demand the union
label as a guarantee that the goods were manufactured under conditions
fair to labour. We believe that eight hours should constitute a day's
work."

In the preamble was this statement: "We do not look upon the labour
union as an ultimate conception of labour, but we believe that
whatever progress has been made in the lot of the labourer has been
due wholly to the organization of the wage-workers!"

The preamble concludes with this paragraph: "Believing, therefore, in
the cause of labour and desiring to add according to our ability to
the support of the union movement, we pledge ourselves to study it
intelligently and to support it loyally."

Here was the beginning of a splendid mission work among the students;
but the New Haven labour movement wasn't big enough to take it in; nor
was the American Federation of Labour. The labour men would have no
dealings whatever with the students. We managed to keep the big house
for a year, but we kept little else during that period. Twice we lost
the mental image of the monthly rent. Sam Read supplied it the first
time and Anson Phelps Stokes the other. These were my only borrowings
in New Haven. In that house I had one of the most bitter experiences
of my life