7 OCTOBER 1911, Page 18

The Church Congress opened on Tuesday at Stoke-on-Trent. At the

services held in the morning the Bishop of London and the Bishop of Carlisle were the preachers. The former set himself to answer the question, Why has organized labour so little to say to organized Christianity as a whole? It was not a. question of church or chapel, and he thankfully admitted that in this country the labour movement was avowedly and definitely religious. Yet scarcely any of the labour leaders belonged to the Church of England, and in the recent strike that Church had but little influence. The Bishop found the answer in the continuanceof class prejudice and the subtle caste feeling which formed an intangible barrier between Church- men and the toiling millions of the people.