White Slaves

White Slaves

The Project Gutenberg EBook of White Slaves, by Louis A Banks
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Title: White Slaves
Author: Louis A Banks
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Language: English

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WHITE SLAVES
OR
THE OPPRESSIONS OF THE WORTHY POOR
BY REV. LOUIS ALBERT BANKS, D.D.

To My Father and Mother,
Who instilled into my mind and heart, in the days of a happy boyhood,
their own love for liberty and hatred of oppression, this volume is
gratefully dedicated.

TO THE MERCY AND HELP DEPARTMENT OF THE EPWORTH
LEAGUE
Mr. Edison tells us that ninety per cent of the energy that there is in
coal is lost in the present method of converting it into a usable force.
May I, without being considered a croaker, say that almost the same
amount of spiritual power goes to waste in our average church life?
One is startled at times as he notes the manifestations of fervor and
warmth in the devotional meetings of the present day, and the meagre
results that follow in the transformation of society into the likeness of
the kingdom of heaven. Exactly what we have to do, however, is to
help hasten the answer to the prayer our Lord taught us, "Thy will be
done on earth as it is in heaven," and not to be forever seeking to build
tabernacles on some Mount of Transfiguration.
This book of Dr. Banks's is a positive stimulus to this work of social
transformation. The young men and women of our Epworth League
could not do better than to carefully and thoughtfully study its vivid

pictures of every-day scenes in our great, and even in our lesser, cities.
Such study will open their eyes to sad deformities in their own
communities, to which too many have become strangely indifferent
through custom and wont. True, it is not pleasant to consider these
distressing matters; but is it the business of the Christian to avoid that
which is unpleasant? Consideration leads to sympathy, and sympathy
wonderfully quickens the inventive faculties; and the aroused intellect
and active affection are leavening forces that alter social conditions
always for the better.
I take great pleasure, therefore, in commending this work, because it
stirs all who read it. It may make you indignant. What of it? Would that
more were alive enough to be indignant with the indignation of our
Lord at the forces of unbrotherliness at work in our midst! It will do
more than rouse your indignation; it will help you to utter the prayer
that gave the accent to the life of Paul: "Lord, what wilt thou have me
to do?" When in works of Mercy and Help our tens of thousands of
Epworth Leaguers are loyally living this prayer, the problem of Edison,
as applied to spiritual dynamics, will be solved, and the latent forces of
spiritual energy used to their utmost. Then, as slavery has passed away,
war and tyranny and idleness and poverty will be no more, and the end
to which Christ leads us, and for which He died, will be attained.
WILLIAM INGRAHAM HAVEN,
_Vice-President for Mercy and Help Department_.
INWOOD LODGE, PINE ISLAND N.H. August 1893

AUTHOR'S PREFACE
This volume had its origin in experiences which came to me in the
daily duties of a city pastorate. The inadequate wages received by some
of the members of my own congregation, and the impoverished and
unhealthy surroundings of many of the poor people who came for me to
christen their children, pray with their sick, or bury their dead, so
aroused my