Charles Stelzle and the Roots of Presbyterian I ndustrial Mission -...

Charles Stelzle and theRoots of Presbyterian I ndustrial Mission

by Richard P. Poethig

IN 1903 THE BOARD OF HOME MISSIONSof the Presbyterian Church, U.S.A., orga-

nized the Workingmen's Department. It wasthe first officially endorsed program by anAmerican Protestant denomination to min-isterto working people in the United States.In its creation of the Workingmen's Depart-ment, the Presbyterian Church had not onlybroken new ground for its mission in theUnited States, but had entered the SocialGospel movement.1

The organization of a program to reachworking people came at a propitious time inthe history of the Presbyterian Church. It,among U.S. Protestant denominations, hadbeenslow in respondingto the conditions ofworking people in the burgeoning urban

centers and industrial cities of the nation.Prior to its action in 1903 the PresbyterianChurch had viewed the growing industrialworking class with distress and apprehen-sion. By the end ofthe nineteenth century itcould no longer avoid the dramatic changeswhich immigration and industrializationwere bringing to the nation.

As immigrants from Europe poured intothe cities of the northeast and midwest UnitedStates in the late nineteenth century, city

congregations were aroused to action. Theimmediate response of many city churcheswas to follow their displaced members tonew locations away from the working class

sections of the city. By the 1890s, the Boardof Home Missions began to take seriouslythe need for evangelization among the new-comers in the cities. The Home MissionBoard Report of 1 894 stated "what the citiesare, the country will be in all the phases ofnational i ife."z The report went on to reassertits fear of immigration and called forevange-lization as a strategy to curb that threat:"Every thoughtful man must have some con-ceptions of the peril that must arise from thepresence in our country of such multitudesof people, a large percent of whom werereared under institutions alien and antago-nistic to our own. We shall continue to seethe evils and fearthe perils until these peoplebecome Americanized and Christianized."3

As the century turned new leadershipwas brought into the Presbyterian Board ofHome Missions in the person of Charles L.Thompson. It was a fortunate choice for thePresbyterian Church. Thompson, after sev-eral successful pastorates, his most recent atMadison Avenue Presbyterian Church inNew York, was an effective city pastor. AtMadison Avenue he had led his well-to-docongregation in a ministry among the newimmigrants on the city's EastSide. In a breakwith the old ecclesiastical system, which hebelieved fostered the separation of the

classes, Thompson had setthe congregation'sministry within a larger social gospel con-

Mr. Poethig, a retired Presbyterian minister, served as director of the Institute on the Church in Urban-IndustrialSociety, Chicago, 1972-82.

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text. Thompson sawthe ministryofthechurchworking for "not merely salvation for eter-nity, but of the whole man in the regenera-tion of society."4 It was Thompson's fore-sight that set in motion a program to reachworkingmen in the United States. The au-thor of the plan was an evangelist namedCharles Stelzle. In 1903, under Charles

Thompson's urging, the Board of HomeMissions established the Workingmen'sDepartment and put Charles Stelzle at itshead. The Presbyterian Church was againfortunate in its choice. Stelzle was uniquelyequipped to carry out a ministry amongworking people.

Charles Stelzle had been born on thelower East Side of New York to Germanimmigrant parents in 1869.5 He was theeldest child and the only son born to Johnand Dora Uhlendorf Stelzle, who both camefrom middle class families. His mother'sfather had been a successful baker whosebusiness had a citywide reputation in NewYork. After making a substantial living hereturned to his native town in Hanover,

Germany. Stelzle's father John, who had hisown brewery, was an inept businessman.When the elder Stelzle died, he left thefamily deeply in debt. Stelzle's mother Dora,unwilling to ask help from her own family,moved with her five children to the tene-ment district of the lower East Side. At onepoint she considered sending Charles to liveand be educated with her family's help inHanover. At the last minute as Charles waspreparing to take the ship to Germany, sherelented and refused to let him gO.6

Thus it was that Charles Stelzle grew upin this lower East Side neighborhood with itspoverty and immigrant cultural traditions.During their life in the tenements the Stelzlefamily lived either in basement apartmentsor on the top floor because of the lower

rents. At the age of eight he went to workstripping tobacco leaves in a sweatshopacross from his family's tenement apart-ment. He left school at the age of eleven to

Journal of Presbyterian History

help the family with his meager earnings asa "cutter" in an artificial flowershop. Througha cousin's connections he was hired at agefifteen at R. Hoe's Company, one of thecity's largest printing press manufacturers.He worked at R. Hoe's for nearly nine years,rising to the position of machinist.

The only diploma Stelzle received fromany institution was the engraved certificatefrom the R. Hoe Company for the comple-tion of his apprenticeship. Although he at-tended night school, much of his educationwas informal, through self-study and thegenerous help of tutors. In Stelzle's ownwords: "By the time I was fourteen I had afairly good smattering of the arts and sci-ences. But what stayed with me longest andhad the greatest influence on me was theknowledge of the Bible which I acquiredone summer while I was convalescing froman illness."7

Early in his time at R. Hoe, Stelzle learnedthe meaning of the solidarity oftheworkforce.This was to undergird his later views ofunions. In one case, an industrious Yankeemechanic constantly began his work earlierthan the rest of his fellow workers. He startedhis machine at 6:45 when the beginning

time was 7:00 A.M. This brought on the ire ofthe rest of the shop. He increased their

hostility when he continued to work whenthe rest of the men went out on strike. Stelzlesympathized with his industry, but saw thathis conduct created discord and anger amonghis fellow workers who were adamant intheir solidarity against an arbitrary manage-ment. Stelzle summarized the situation:The average workingman is more afraid of beingout of a job than he is of going to helL. The

possibility of losing my job in the Hoe pressworks constantly hung over me, although therewas no particular causefor meto havefeared thatcatastrophe. Nevertheless the feel ing that for anyone of a number of reasons the boss could fire meif he felt so disposed made me almost bittertoward him.8

Besides his intense involvement in hisjob, Stelzle was regular in his attendance atSunday school in his teen years. He attendeda number of East Side chapels, but was mostattracted to the "warm and sympathetic"

Charles Stelzle and the Roots of Presbyterian Industrial Mission

environment of Hope Chapel, then underthe direction of Dr. W. J. McKittrick. Underthe tutorship of McKittrick, Stelzle studied

Engl ish grammar, plane geometry, and math-ematics three nights during the week. Be-sides h is stud ies with McKittrick, he broad-ened his learning in other fields. "I studiedLatin with a Jewish peddler, Greek with aBrooklyn lawyer, and Hebrew in an exten-sion course, and I could read each of thoselanguages fairly well."9

As Stelzle developed skills as a machin-ist, his industry impressed the superinten-dent at R. Hoe. Stelzlewas proud of his skillsand of his work at Hoe. He saw his timethereas "his training school, his university, hisseminary." But he longed for something

more. During these working years he re-mained active in church and in the Y.M.C.A.,conducting Sunday schools and initiating amission on the outskirts of Brooklyn. Afternine years as a machinist-one year as abeginner, five as an apprentice, and three asa journeyman-Stelzle made a decision toenter the ministry. The superintendent re-sponded with disbelief. He offered Stelzle ajob as his assistant and held outthe possibil-ity that he could be his successor. Stelzletooka weekto agonizeoverthe offer. Finallyhe returned to tell the superintendentthat hefelt the call to enter the "Gospel ministry."

Stelzle applied to Princeton, Union, andMcCormick seminaries, but none would ad-mit him without a college degree. FinallyMoody Institute in Chicago allowed him tomatriculate for the year 1893-94. For hissummer field work in 1894 he was sent toestablish Sunday schools in northern Min-nesota. By the end of the summer he hadorganized more Sunday schools than thecombined efforts of the five regular mission-aries in the rest of the state. On his way backthrough Minneapolis a prominent lumber-

man who had heard of his success hired himto take charge of a mission chapel in thenorth section of the city. Stelzle stayed longenough to revitalize the mission chapel andestablish one ofthe largest boys' clubs in thecity.lO

In 1897 Stelzle was called back to New

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York to conduct the program of the HopeChapel, the place of his religious begin-nings. Stelzle was soon in conflict with theelders from the uptown sponsoring congre-gation. They had instructed him notto changeanything in the chapel program. He foughtto have the mission congregation control

their own affairs. Unsuccessful in his efforts,he was on his way west again in 1899. Herehe was called to develop the work of theMarkham Mission Chapel, a workingman'scongregation in St. Louis. Stelzle's organiz-ing abilities were given free rein in St. Louisand by 1902 the Sunday school had grownto 1,400 people, the largest in the Presbyte-rian Church west of the Mississippi. Im-pressed with his work at the Markham

Chapel, the St. Louis Presbytery, after astrenuous four-hour examination of Stelzle,voted to ordain him in 1901.11

Stelzle's success with working peoplesoon came to the attention of others inMissouri. He was invited as a speaker at aministers' conference in Joplin, a miningtown in southwest Missouri. In his speech on"The Workingman and the WestminsterConfession of Faith," he called his listeners'attention to the scarcity of working people inJoplin churches, while the city streets werefilled with them. Someone in the audiencechallenged him to conduct an evangelisticmeeting on the streets of Joplin. Stelzle ac-cepted and announced an evening meetingon a busy Joplin street corner. Mingling inthe crowd of miners were a number of

d ign ified Presbyterian ministers from all overthe state. As he stood on the seat of a carriagehe saw the sign of a clothing dealer namedGottlieb. He told his audience that was histext for his sermon-the love of God. At theedge of the crowd was Dr. John Dixon, oneofthe secretaries from the Presbyterian Boardof Home Missions. He had come from NewYork to bring greetings to the Joplin gather-ing.lmpressed with Stelzle'sskillswith work-ing people, he returned to New York to tellCharles Thompson, the general secretary ofthe board, about Stelzle and the plans hehad outlined to reach workingmen in theUnited States.12

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Charles Thompson invited Stelzle to NewYork. For three days Stelzle explained hisviews of ministry to workingmen. Thomp-son was impressed with Stelzle's grasp of theproblems of working people and with hisunderstanding of their spiritual needs. Afterhearing Stelzle, Thompson made the deci-sion to organize a department strictly toengage in ministry to workingmen.

II

The Workingmen's Department was anew departure for the Presbyterian Church.The climate at the Board of Home Missionswas ready for an innovative ministry amongworking people. The Presbyterian Church'sreadiness for a new approach was reflectedin the report of the board to the GeneralAssembly in 1903:The past year has signally illustrated the power ofworkingmen at any moment to affect economicconditions. It is believed that only the Gospel ofChrist can solve the grave problem which is thuspresented to the country. It is of the utmost

consequence that the Church should be arousedto the necessity of doing more than she has everdone to strengthen her hold upon the workingc1asses.13

Stelzle came to his work at the newdepartment as a pioneer. Few ministers hadthe background or the experience to engageworking people directly. Stelzle was sig-nally aware of the chasm existing betweenthe church's middle class membership andthe working class. He personally knew thebias which existed among the entrepreneursin the church against the labor unions. Hismajor task, as Stelzle stated it, was "to inter-pret the Church to workingmen, to interpretworkingmen to the church and to interpretemployer and employee to each other."14

Stelzle was indefatigable in his efforts tobridge the gap between the church and theworking class. He instinctively knew theprejudices many working people had aboutthe church. Before he began his work withthe national church Stelzle had conducted asurvey in 1901 of two hundred labor lead-ers/ probing their attitudes on the church.Their response was overwhelmingly critical.

Journal of Presbyterian History

Theysawthe churches as "rich men's clubs."Summarizing the responses he received,Stelzle wrote: "To the average workingmanthe church seems to work in the interest ofthe capitalist. In fact, the preacher and thewealthy men run everything." The workers,Stelzle analyzed, see the hypocrisy of thechurch as a stumbling block. "We do notwant a man to tell us on Sunday that h is heartis bleeding for us and then on Monday refuseus living wages. How can we pray with himon Sunday, when he preys upon us duringthe week?"15

Stelzle's job was cut out for him. He setout in 1903 to break the barriers between thechurch and theworkingmen and their unions.His primary advantage was that he had beena workingman and he was basically sympa-thetic to the trade union movement. Hisillustrations from the workplace, which heused both in his writings and in his speeches,gave him an entree into the worker's world.He began with the premise that the workerwas sympathetic to the teachings and to thefigure of Jesus Christ. This premise was cor-roborated by a second survey Stelzle sent toworkingmen soon after he began his na-tional work. It showed that workingmendistinguished between the church of theearly 1900s and the church of Jesus Christ.Workingmen, in fact, held orthodox beliefsabout Christianity, but were repelled by theclass nature of the church. In his meetingswith workingmen throughout the country,Stelzlewas continually surprised atthe num-bers ofthose in the leadership of unions whohad remained faithful to the church.

One of his first official duties for theWorkingmen's Department took him toCripple Creek, Colorado. His experience atCripple Creek was to be a harbinger of theclimate he would continually contend within the Presbyterian Church. In 1903, CrippleCreek was the setting of a violent strugglebetween mine owners and the miners. Mem-bers of the Western Federation of Miners, aunion headed by Bill Haywood, were beingrounded up and thrown into a military "bullpen" by the troops of General Sherman Bell,a Spanish-American War veteran. General

Charles Stelzle and the Roots of Presbyterian Industrial Mission

Bell was in the pay of the State of Coloradoand the Mine Owners Association. Many ofthe miners were held for weeks on endwithout charge and without baiL. Strikingminers were deported from the region anddumped onto the prairie hundreds of milesfrom their homes.

In the midst of this struggle Stelzle dis-covered that the president of the local unionin Cripple Creek was a Presbyterian elder.Stelzle was continually being made awarethatthere were those among worki ng peoplewho took their religious identification seri-ously. When Stelzle returned to Denver hedelivered a speech on the role of the churchin modern industrial problems. His refer-encetothesituation in Cripple Creek arousedthe antagonism of the local press and theemployers who were members of Presbyte-rian congregations. Stelzle reflected on thesituation: "It was rather curious that wh i Ie iwas in Cripple Creek district the churcheswere afraid that in my public addresses Imight antagonize labor; but when I arrivedin Denver the churches were afraid I mightantagonize the employers."16

As he reviewed the Cripple Creek epi-sode some years later, Stelzle said that thelocal media had already prejudiced his mis-sion, which was to bring the miners and theemployers together. Stelzle knew that therewere Presbyterian elders both among theminers and the employers. Instead he wasperceived by one employer as an agent of"the American Federation of Labor assum-ing the guise of a Presbyterian preacher." Inresponding to this accusation Stelzle writes:

Apparently the only group that believed in mysincerity of purpose and in the genuineness andvalue of my work was the trade-unionists. Norwas this interest on the part of the workingmensecured by playing up to them. I spoke to theworkingmen in their labor halls as plainly as Icould regarding their responsibility toward theiremployers, the Church and the community. Butthey also knew that I was talking as frankly to theother crowd about their responsibility, and theyfelt confident that I was not trying to deceivethemY

Stelzle saw pastors as a main constitu-ency in helping the church understand the

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problems ofthe new industrial working class.The issue was not to win over workers whowere bitter against the church, but to reachthose who were indifferent. That indiffer-ence, Stelzle believed, was deepened by thefact that the pastors had little to say toindustrial workers. Stelzle accounted forthisin the largely rural background of most citypastors. In bridging this gap, he organizedshop floor meetings in workplaces as a meansof bringing local pastors together with work-ers. In 1906, this effort accounted for onethousand shop meetings in six cities whichreached an audience of 200,000 workingpeople. Stelzle also set in motion a plan toexchange fraternal delegates between cen-tral labor bodies and local ministerial asso-ciations. By 1910, 157 ministers were serv-ing as fraternal delegates to trade unions in117 cities.

Stelzle had come on the labor scene at acrucial moment. Samuel Gompers, who wasknown for his bias against religious leaders,recognized the need to develop allies withinchurch bodies. He saw in Stelzle a usefulspokesperson for the goals of the trade unionmovement. Stelzle's abilityto raise the causeof unionism to a moral level appealed tothose trade unionists who saw in the labormovement more than monetary goals. Itwas, in fact, this reality of the moral commit-ments of laboring people at the early part ofthe century that provided Stelzle with hismost effective avenue for reaching them.

Stelzle was soon writing a weekly syndi-cated column which appeared in over threehundred labor newspapers and other jour-nals. His articles provided religious insightsinto the everyday life of working people.Stelzlewrites: "The articles which containedthe most Scripture and the most frequent

references to Bible stories were always giventhe biggest headlines. Here again was ademonstration of the fact that workingmenresponded more eagerly to the rei igiousappeal."18 A number of city newspapersacross the country began picking up hiscolumns and printing them in their Saturdayeditions. Stelzle points out the effectivenessof his access tothe labor press forthe church:

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If the Board had been obliged to printthis mate-rial in pamphlet form or distribute it as effectivelyas these articles were distributed among indi-vidual working men through the labor press, itwould have cost more each week than the entireannual budget of the Department. A study of thesituation revealed the fact that the Departmentdistributed more literature for workingmen inthis manner than was printed by all of the tractsocieties ofthe United States combined, ofwhichthere were something like sixty.19

Stelzle's acceptance by the leadership of

the American Federation of Labor was con-cretized in 1905 by an invitation to addressthe A.F. of L. convention in Pittsburgh. Hewas received at the Pittsburgh meeti ng as thefirst fraternal delegate from the churches,representing the Presbyterian Church in theUnited States of America. He attended twelvesuccessive A.F. of L. conventions, in thelatter years as the representative of the Fed-eral Council of Churches. In linewith Stelzle'sefforts to develop fraternal relations betweenlocal unions and ministerial associations,the A. F. of L. at its 1905 convention madethe pronouncement: "Resolved that theAmerican Federation of Labor recommendsthat all affiliated State and central bodiesexchange fraternal delegates with the vari-ous State and city ministerial associationswherever practicable, thus insuring a betterunderstanding on the partofthe Church andthe clergy of the aims and the objects of thelabor union movement of America."20 The1906 convention of this labor body gaveofficial endorsement to Stelzle's ministryamong working people.

In 1906 the name ofthe Workingmen'sDepartment was changed to the Depart-ment of Church and Labor. In an effort tointroduce the issues of work within thechurches in the United States, Stelzle intro-duced the practice of Labor Sunday. Pastorswere asked to use the Sunday before LaborDay as an opportunityto explore the biblical

theme of work as it related to the U.S.industrial system. The American Federationof Labor immediately seized upon the cel-ebration of Labor Sunday and urged unionsto work with ministers in their areas inmaking the day a success. A report on Labor

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Sunday in 1906 tells of a larger number ofworkingmen attending "church than on anyprevious Sunday in the history of the labormovement. Many pastors write that the menare still attending the services."21

By 1907theworkofStelzle among work-ing people had become nationally known.In that year the General Assembly of thePresbyterian Church took official actioncommending his work as "one of the provi-dential movements of the day, to be sus-tained and encouraged by all who wouldwin the workingmen back to the Church."22The high point of Stelzle's ability to attractworkingmen to a church-sponsored func-tion occurred atthe 1908 General Assemblymeeting in Kansas City. Stelzle's work at-tracted fifteen thousand workingmen to amass meeting atthe Coliseum. Headdressedthe crowd on "A Square Deal" in which heargued for "a square deal for the boss, theworkingman, for the Church and for Jesus."Ajournal of the day called the occasion "thelargest mass meeting of workingmen everassembled within walls in the history oflabor unionism."23

III

Another of Stelzle's skills was his use ofsocial surveys and studies. Stelzle laid thefoundation for the use ofsociology in churchplanning by reinforcing his program throughsocial research and surveys, heavi Iy but-tressed by statistical information. Atthe 1907General Assembly action was taken autho-rizing the creation of a Department of Immi-gration. Recognizing the common issuesinvolved in immigration and in labor, Stelzlewas asked in 1908 to assume direction oftheDepartment of Immigration along with hiswork for the Department of Church and

Labor. Stelzle states that the work was givento him because, "first,...the Labor Depart-ment had proven to be so successful, second.. .practically all immigrants were working-men, and third... .for the most partthe immi-grant was a city 'problem' and practically allof my activities were centered in the city."24As outlined by the Board of Home Missions,

Charles Stelzle and the Roots of Presbyterian Industrial Mission

The Reverend Charles Stelzle, superintendent ofthe Department of Church and Labor, PCUSA.(Halftone image from The Congregationalist andChristian World/ 4 June/ 1910.)

the work of the Department of Immigrationwas to engage in sociological research on"the conditions of social and religious life inthe lands from which immigrants came."2S

Information gathering was to be done at theplaces of immigrant entry into the United

States in an effort to learn the destination ofthe immigrants. The Department of Immi-gration was to be a bureau of information inaiding local urban churches across the coun-try to conduct programs of Christian workamong immigrants.

In 1909, Stelzle's Department of Immi-gration carried out four one-day confer-

ences concentrating on work among fourgroups of immigrants: Hungarians, Italians,Ruthenians, and Jews. The sociological studyconducted by the department concentratedon the religious and social conditions of theimmigrant peoples on Manhattan Island.The department's sociological work was sodetailed that the charts and statistics it pro-duced were used by the New York StateCommission for the Study of the ImmigrantProblem as well as the Russell Sage Founda-tion Fund and the Young Women's ChristianAssociation workers. So thorough was this

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work that the 1909 General Assembly de-

clared thatthe departments ofthe Church andLabor and Immigration "shall in so far as maybe practicable, upon application of any localchurch, presbytery or synod, study such prob-lems in the locality to which the applicationrelates, outline plans for local work, and aid inmaking such work efficient."26

By late 1910 the combined work ofStelzle's two departments had so expandedthat the decision was made to separate them.On November 1,191 OWilliam Payne Shriverwas made the superi ntendent of the Depart-mentof Immigration, thereby relieving Stelzleto concentrate on work with the church andworkingmenY

IV

Early in his work Stelzle had establishedthe reputation as a practical "social gospel-ler" within the interchurch community. Hishelp was continually sought across denomi-national lines. In 1904 Stelzle had written abook about reaching boys on the streets.28This work came to the attention of Dr. EliasSanford, the secretary of the Open and Insti-tutional Church League, who asked him tospeak about organizing street boys' pro-grams to the league's 1905 annual meet-ing.29 The Open and Institutional ChurchLeague had been organized in 1896 bychurch leaders who were concerned that themajor denominations were continually de-serting the working-class districts of the cit-ies. The plan of the league organizers, pas-tors from large city churches, was aimed atcarrying out efforts on behalf of social salva-tion in "an aggressive evangelistic, educa-tional, and 'institutional' program" in theworking-class areas of the cities.3D Charles

Thompson, Stelzle's mentor, had been oneof the organizers of the league atthe time ofhis pastorate at Madison Avenue Presbyte-rian Church.

The work of the Open and InstitutionalChurch League and the energy of Dr. Sanfordwere instrumental in laying the groundworkfor the organization of the Federal Councilof Churches. The Federal Council had be-

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gun as a dream of Elias Sanford as he carriedthe message of interdenominational coop-eration and planning across the country.The organizing committee for the FederalCouncil of Churches heard its first report in1906. Stelzle was already a leading figure inthe organ izing efforts ofthe Federal Counci I.Atthis first meeting he was asked to speak on"The Church and Organized Labor."31 AtthePhiladelphia meeting creating the Federal

Council of Churches in 1908, a specialevent was convened on behalf of churchand labor to reach that city's workingmen.D. A. Hayes, fifth vice-president of theAmerica Federation of Labor, Bishop E. R.Hendrix, president of the Federal Council,and Charles Stelzle spoke to the assembledcrowd ofworking people. Hayes later statedthat the meeting was the largest gathering ofworkers he had ever seen in Philadelphia.

The organization of the Federal Councilof Churches brought together the represen-tatives of thirty denominations. The majorspeech to the assembled representatives wasmade by Dr. FrankMason North, chairoftheCommittee on the Church and Modern In-dustry. His speech on "The Church andModern Industry" included in its eighteenpages a paragraph in which he called for thechurches' support of social principles onbehalf of "the toilers of America."32 Follow-ing Dr. North's speech, Charles Stelzle wasasked to give a supporting statement on

behalf of the principles. Stelzle reports, "Itwas the only address given, and followingmy half hour speech the resolutions wereunanimously adopted by the Council."33The statement of social principles whichStelzle lifted from North's speech and whichwas passed by the assembled delegates thusbecame "The Social Creed ofthe Churches."

With the Federal Council of Churchesthus constituted, the body created commis-sions to deal with the central societal prob-lems the churches were facing in 1908.Stelzle became the voluntary secretary ofthe Commission on the Church and SocialService, of which Frank Mason North wasthe chair. "During the year that I was itssecretary," Stelzle writes, " I conducted the

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activities of the Commission in addition tomy responsibilities with the PresbyterianBoard of Home Missions. The work con-sisted largely of enlisting the interest of theother denominations in social service workand in making certain studies of social andindustrial conditions and problems."34

In 1910, soon after the Commission onthe Church and Social Service was consti-tuted, it was called to take part in an inves-tigation of a steel strike at South Bethlehem,Pennsylvania. It was the first such investiga-tion of an industrial conflict by a churchbody. The issue that called the strike to theattention ofthe comm ission was the firi ng ofthree machinists by Bethlehem Steel on Feb-ruary 4, 1910 for protesting Sunday work.The discharged machinists were immedi-ately joined by several hundred other steel-workers who supported their brother work-ers' stand against Sunday work. None ofthose who joined in the strike were membersof a union. The Commission on the Churchand Social Service saw the strike as directlyrelated to its concern over Sunday work-anissue highlighted by the Social Creed's advo-cacy of "release from employment one day inseven." More damning for the churches wasthe strikers' accusation that the local clergy ofBethlehem had supported management in itsaction. In response to the strike, the FederalCouncil of Churches appointed ChariesStelzleas chair of an investigating committee whichincluded Josiah Strong, renowned for his workon the church and social service, and PaulKellogg, editor of The Survey. John Fitch, whohad previously made a study of the Pittsburghsteel industry, was called upon to assist in thepreparation of the report. The committee'sinquiry into the Bethlehem strike produced atwenty-one page report-the first such studyof an industrial conflict by a church-relatedorganization.3s

Stelzle immediately recognized that theissues involved in the Bethlehem steel strikehad ram ifications beyond the churches' con-cern. The striking machinists, Stelzle pointedout, had "not only raised issues which con-cerned the nine thousand men employed inthe steel works, but brought to the attention