ed,
then we are brought to the question, "How may these innocents be kept
so?" The answer is, By training them to control their natural
impulses, good in themselves but likely to lead into wrong if not
properly directed; and by cultivating the natural tendencies to good
that find expression in every normal child. They must also be brought
to an understanding of what Christ means to them as their Saviour and
Guide. Then this must be supplemented as rapidly as possible by the
organization of group life, in such a way that evil influences will be
eliminated.

The saloon was not many years ago the center of corruption of
thousands--yes, millions--of the growing youth of this country. The
elimination of the saloon has made possible the development of
millions of young people free from the particular type of sinfulness
for which the saloon was responsible. In like manner, the elimination
of commercialized vice has rendered our cities incomparably safer for
our young men and women than they once were. The substitution of
wholesome amusement for young folks in good environment for the
unregulated commercialized amusements once the sole source of
recreation has exerted a moral influence too far-reaching to be
estimated. The introduction of cooperation in industry has eliminated
the sin accompanying the fights between capital and labor in those
industries where it has been introduced. These illustrations show how
it is possible, by continuing the improvement of social and economic
conditions to create such an environment as will destroy the sources
of individual corruption and degeneration and will make the growth of
the child a continuous succession of stages of spiritual improvement
and growth. "Conversion" can thus conceivably become a conscious
personal acceptance of Christ and of the principles of Christianity as
the normal basis for right living without a noticeable break in the
course or direction of life rather than the intense emotional
cataclysm that so often characterized the change in hardened sinners.

When children good by nature are brought up in an environment physical
and spiritual that has been brought into harmony with the laws of God,
then the problems of evil will be reduced to those arising out of
natural causes over which man has not achieved control; and children
will be looked upon as the natural and rightful members of the church
instead of being kept out of the church until they reach the age of
acco