IMMIGRATION TO THE UNITED STATES 95 



pastor in New York makes a specialty of obtaining work for 

 his congregation, and boasts that a certain office building 

 employs as scrub-women, window cleaners, furnace men, all 

 sent by him. In one street in New York I counted sixteen, 

 labor bureaus or labor agencies within two avenue blocks, 

 mostly run by sharp-eyed, anaemic-looking Hebrews. Now, 

 if as many as these can be conducted for profit by private 

 persons, certainly some church charity could run it, too. It 

 might even be made self-supporting. One of the principal 

 things I saw offered in the signs was house-servants, and one 

 knows the scarcity of them. 



Another thing is to help the immigrant to get and keep 

 the opportunity of earning a living. That is almost a correla- 

 tive of the congestion in the large cities. A young woman who 

 is very much interested in church and charity work writes me 

 of the need of a day nursery in a crowded Italian quarter in 

 New York. There is one nearby run by a talented woman 

 who is unrelenting in her endeavors to wean the Italians from 

 their Catholic faith. The Italian mothers frankly say to this 

 young woman that they are obliged to place their young ' 

 children in the non-Catholic institution by the day if they are 

 to earn their livelihood. The children, and eventually the 

 mother and family, grow to appreciate the ones who care , 

 for them. A similar Catholic institution would prevent all ' 

 this. And this may be duplicated in any of our large cities, i 

 It could be avoided in large measure if willing Catholic hearts I 

 and hands would provide the like in quarters where they are I 

 needed. The loss to the faith through the lack of such oppor- f 

 tunities is simply incalculable. When we add to this clubs or 

 rooms where young women may meet and have innocent 

 amusement, we see another means of invading the Catholic 

 faith of the immigrant. They are taught moral lessons, 

 inculcated from the non-Catholic point of view, invited to 

 prayers, addressed and assisted in every way by those hostile 

 — whether consciously or not — to the teachings of the Catholic 

 faith. Something like this must be provided on our part \ 

 for the children of the immigrant if the tide in that direction 1 

 is to be stemmed. We must remember that Catholic mission- 

 ary work can be done most effectually sometimes in an indirect 

 manner and that the Church must supplement its direct wor- 

 ship and teachings by an appeal to the other qualfties of men 



