The purpose of this thesis is to analyze the ethics of Jesus and to describe conditions which have resulted from a failure to apply his teachings to an important phase of economic life. No attempt will be made to offer a panacea.
Some of the limitations of this study should be noted. Attention will be confined to the bituminous coal industry. As the main interest in this thesis is ethical, it has been necessary to neglect many economic aspects of the problem. We are fully aware of the existence and importance of such questions, but they seem beyond the scope of this paper.In order to gain first-hand acquaintance with the life of the coal-miners and the problems of the industry, the writer paid twenty-one visits to the Hocking Valley district in southern Ohio. These trips were begun in September, 1932, and were continued through February, 1933.