file was produced from images produced  
by ,core ,historical ,literature in     
,agriculture 7,,chla71 ,cornell         
,university7      ,transcriber's note   
,minor punctuation errors have been     
changed without notice4 ,printer errors 
have been changed and are listed at the 
end4 ,all other inconsistencies are as  
in the original4     ,,the ,,evolution  
,,of ,,the ,,country ,,community        
,,the ,,evolution ,,of     ,,the        
,,country     ,,community     ,a ,,study
 ,,in ,,religious ,,sociology     ,,by  
,,warren ,h4 ,,wilson       ,,the       
,,pilgrim ,,press    ,,boston   ,,new   
,,york   ,,chicago        ,copyright1   
#aiab1    ,,by ,,luther ,h4 ,,cary      
,,the ,,pilgrim ,,press    ,,boston     
,,to     ,,miss ,,anna ,b4 ,,taft       
,,who ,,found ,,the ,,way ,,of          
,,rural ,,leadership     ,,in ,,service 
,,on ,,the ,,neglected ,,borders ,,of   
,,new ,,england ,,towns     ,,preface   
,the significance of the most           
significant things is rarely seized at  

the moment of their appearance4 ,years  
or generations afterwards hindsight     
discovers what foresight could not see4 
,it is possible1 ,i fear it is even     
probable1 that earnest and intelligent  
leaders of organized religious activity1
 like thousands of the rank and file in 
parish work1 will not immediately see   
the bearings and realize the full       
importance of the ideas and the purposes
 that are clearly set forth in this new 
and original book by my friend and      
sometime student1 ,dr4 ,warren ,h4      
,wilson4 ,that fact will in no wise     
prevent or even delay the work which    
these ideas and purposes are mapping out
 and pushing to realization4  ,the      
,protestant churches have completed one 
full and rounded period of their        
existence4 ,the age of theology in which
 they played a conspicuous part has     
passed away1 never to return4 ,the world
 has entered into the full swing of the 
age of science and practical            
achievement4 ,what the work1 the        

usefulness1 and the destiny of the      
,protestant churches shall henceforth be
 will depend entirely upon their own    
vision1 their common sense1 and their   
adaptability to a new order of things4  
,embodying as they do resources1        
organization1 the devotion and the      
energy of earnest minds1 they are in a  
position to achieve results of wellnigh 
incalculable value if they apply        
themselves diligently and wisely to the 
task of holding communities and         
individuals up to the high standard of  
that ,good ,life which the most gifted  
social philosopher of all ages told us1 
more than two thousand years ago1 is the
 object for which social activities and 
institutions exist4  ,in one vast field 
of our social territory the problem of  
maintaining the good life has become    
peculiar in its conditions and difficult
 in the extreme4 ,the rural community   
has suffered in nearly every imaginable 
way from the rapid and rather crude     
development of our industrial           

civilization4 ,the emigration of strong1
 ambitious men to the towns1 the        
substitution of alien labor for the     
young and sturdy members of the large   
,american families of other days1 the   
declining birth rate and the            
disintegration of a hearty and cheerful 
neighborhood life1 all have worked      
together to create a problem of the     
rural neighborhood1 the country school  
and the country church unique in its    
difficulties1 sometimes in its          
discouragements4  ,to deal with this    
problem two things are undeniably       
necessary4 ,there must be a thorough    
examination of it1 a complete analysis  
and mastery of its factors and          
conditions4 ,the social survey has      
become as imperative for the country    
pastor as the geological survey is for  
the mining engineer4 ,and when the facts
 and conditions are known1 the church   
must resolutely set about the task of   
dealing with them in the practical      
spirit of a practical age1 without too  

much attention to the traditions and the
 handicaps of an age that has gone by4  
,it would not be possible1 ,i think1 to 
present these two aspects of the problem
 of the country parish with more of     
first hand knowledge1 or with more of   
the wisdom that is born of sympathy and 
reverence for all that is good in both  
the past and the present than the reader
 will find in ,dr4 ,wilson's pages4 ,i  
welcome and commend this book as a fine 
product of studies and labors at once   
scientific and practical4               
,,franklin ,h4 ,,giddings4     ,,table  
,,of ,,contents      ,,chapter          
,,page          ,,introduction          
,,ix        ,i ,,the ,,pioneer          
#a       ,,ii ,,the ,,land ,,farmer     
#ah      ,,iii ,,the ,,exploiter        
#cb       ,,iv ,,the ,,husbandman       
#dh        ,v ,,exceptional             
,,communities           #fb       ,,vi  
,,getting ,a ,,living                   
#gi      ,,vii ,,the ,,community        
#ia     ,,viii ,,the ,,margin ,,of ,,the

 ,,community      #ajh       ,,ix       
,,newcomers ,,in ,,the ,,community      
#abc        ,x ,,co-,,operation         
#adb       ,,xi ,,common ,,schools      
#aeh      ,,xii ,,rural ,,morality      
#aga     ,,xiii ,,recreation            
#ahi      ,,xiv ,,common ,,worship      
#bjh     ,,introduction   ,the church   
and the school are the eyes of the      
country community4 ,they serve during   
the early development of the community  
as means of intelligence and help to    
develop the social consciousness1 as    
well as to connect the life within the  
community with the world outside4 ,they 
express intelligence and feeling4 ,but  
when the community has come to middle   
life1 even though it be normally        
developing1 the eyes fail4 ,they are    
infallible registers of the coming of   
mature years4 ,at this time they need a 
special treatment4  ,like the eyes1 the 
country church and country school       
register the health of the whole        
organism4 ,whatever affects the         

community affects the church and the    
school4 ,the changes which have come    
over the face of social life in the     
country record themselves in the church 
and the school4 ,these institutions     
register the transformations in social  
life1 they indicate health and they give
 warning of decay4 ,in a few instances  
the church or school require the        
attention of the expert even in the     
infancy of the community1 just as the   
eyes of a child sometimes need the      
oculist1 but with normal growth the     
expert is called in for problems which  
have to do with maturity4  ,in these    
chapters the center of attention will be
 the church1 regarded as an institution 
for building and organizing country     
life4 ,it is not the thought of the     
writer that the church be treated in    
ecclesiastical terms4 ,it is rather as a
 register of the well-being of the      
community that the church is here       
studied4 ,the condition of the church is
 regarded as an index of the social and 

economic condition of the people4 ,the  
sources of religion are believed by the 
writer to be in the vital experiences of
 the people themselves4 ,in the process 
of religious experience the church1 the 
,bible1 the ministry and other religious
 methods and organizations are means of 
disciplining the forces of religion1 but
 they are not the sources of religion4  
,the church in the country above all    
other institutions should see what      
concerns country people as a whole4 ,if 
vision be not given to the church1      
country people will suffer4 ,the        
,christian churches are rich in the     
experience of country people4 ,the      
,bible is written about a ,holy ,land4  
,the exhortations of ,scripture1        
especially of the ,old ,testament1 are  
devoted to constructive sociology1 the  
building and organizing of an           
agricultural people in an ,asiatic      
country4 ,many of the problems are      
oriental1 but some of them are precisely
 the same as are today agitating the    

,american farmer4 ,religion is the      
highest valuation set upon life1 and the
 country church should have a vision of 
the present meaning as well as the      
future development of country life in   
,america4  ,the country church ought to 
inspire4 ,it is the business of other   
agencies1 and particularly of the       
schools and colleges1 to impart         
practical and economic aims4 ,but these 
will not satisfy country people4 ,no    
section of modern life is so dependent  
upon idealism as are the people who live
 in the country4 ,mere cash prosperity  
puts an end to residence in most country
 communities4 ,commercial success leads 
toward the city4 ,the religious leaders 
alone have the duty of inspiring country
 people with ideals higher than the     
commercial4 ,it remains for the church  
in particular to inspire with social    
idealism4 ,education seems hopelessly   
individualistic4 ,the schoolmaster can  
see only personalities to be developed4 
,it remains for the preacher to develop 

a kingdom and a commonwealth4 ,his      
ideals have been those of an organized  
society4 ,the tradition which he        
inherits from the past is saturated with
 family1 tribal and national            
remembrances4 ,his exhortations for the 
future look to organized social life in 
the world to come4 ,he should know how  
to construct ideals out of modern life1 
which are organic and social4  ,beyond  
these two duties ,i am not sure that the
 churches in the country have           
exceptional function4 ,the writer is not
 a teacher1 and what is said in this    
book about the country school is said   
solely because of the dependence of all 
else upon this institution4 ,the        
patient1 detailed and extensively       
constructive work in the country must be
 done by the educator4 ,it is well for  
the church to recognize its limits1 and 
to magnify its own function within them4
 ,vision and inspiration are the duty of
 religious leaders4 ,the application of 
these in a variety of ways to the       

generations of young people in the      
country is an educational task which the
 church can do only in part4  ,but the  
great necessity of arousing the church  
at the present time to its duty as a    
builder of communities in the country is
 this4 ,in all parts of the ,united     
,states country life is furnished with  
churches4 ,perhaps not in sufficient    
degree in some localities1 but in       
general the task of religious           
organization is done4 ,these religious  
societies hold the key to the problem of
 country life4 ,if they oppose modern   
socialized ideals in the country1 these 
ideals cannot penetrate the country4 ,if
 the church undertake constructive      
social service in the country1 the task 
will be done4 ,the church can oppose    
effectively2 it can support efficiently4
 ,this situation lays a vast            
responsibility upon all ,christian      
churches1 especially upon those that    
have an educated ministry2 for the      
future development of the country       

community as a good place in which to   
live depends upon the country church4   
,this is not the place to discuss       
whether a population can be improved and
 whether a community can be saved4 ,the 
pages that are to follow will discuss   
these questions4 ,it is the writer's    
belief that a population can be improved
 by social service1 that the community  
is the unit in which such service should
 be rendered in the country1 and that by
 the vision and inspiration of the      
church in the country1 this service is  
conditioned4 ,he believes with those who
 are leading in the service among the   
poor in the great cities that the time  
has come when we have sufficient        
intelligence to understand the life of  
country people1 in order to deal with   
the causes of human action2 we have     
sufficient resources wherewith to endow 
the needed agencies for the             
reconstruction of country life2 and we  
have a sufficient devotion among men of 
intelligence and of means to direct this

 constructive social service toward the 
entire well-being of country people and 
of the whole commonwealth4  ,the writer 
is indebted for help in the preparation 
of this book to ,miss ,florence ,m4     
,lane1 ,miss ,martha ,wilson and to     
,miss ,anna ,b4 ,taft1 without whose    
assistance and criticism the chapters   
could not have been prepared and without
 whose encouragement they would not have
 been undertaken2 also to his teachers  
in ,columbia ,university1 especially    
,professors ,franklin ,h4 ,giddings and 
,john ,bates ,clark whose teachings in  
the ,social ,sciences furnish the       
beginning of a new method in            
investigating religious experiences4    
,,new ,,york1 ,july1 #aiab4             
,,evolution ,,of ,,the ,,community  ,i  
,,the ,,pioneer   ,the earliest settlers
 of the ,american wilderness had a      
struggle very different from our own1   
who live in the twentieth century4      
,their economic experience determined   
their character4 ,they appear to us at  

this distance to have common            
characteristics1 habits and reactions   
upon life2 in which they differ from all
 who in easier times follow them4 ,they 
have more in common with one another    
than they have in common with us4 ,they 
differ less from one another than they  
differ from the modern countryman4 ,the 
pioneer life produced the pioneer type4 
,to this type all their ways of life    
correspond4 ,they hunted1 fought1       
dressed1 traded1 worshipped in their own
 way4 ,their houses1 churches1 stores   
and schools were built1 not as they     
would prefer1 but as the necessities of 
their life required4 ,their communities 
were pioneer communities3 their         
religious habits were suitable to       
frontier experience4 ,modern men would  
find much to condemn in their ways3 and 
they would find our typical reactions   
surprising1 even wicked4 ,but each      
conforms to type1 and obeys economic    
necessity4  ,there have been four       
economic types in ,american agriculture4

 ,these have succeeded one another as   
the rural economy has gone through      
successive transformations4 ,they have  
been the pioneer1 the land farmer1 the  
exploiter and the husbandman4 ,prof4 ,j4
 ,b4 ,ross of ,lafayette1 ,ind41 has    
clearly stated#a the periods by which   
these types are separated from one      
another4 ,it remains for us to consider 
the communities and the churches which  
have taken form in accordance with these
 successive types4  ,prof4 ,ross has    
spoken only of the ,middle ,west4 ,with 
a slight modification1 the same might be
 said of the ,eastern ,states1 because  
the rural economy of the ,middle ,west  
is inherited from the ,east4 ,his       
statement made of this succession of    
economic types should be quoted in full3
  ,the agrarian occupation of the       
,middle ,west divides itself into three 
periods4 ,the first1 which extends from 
the beginnings of immigration to about  
the year #ahce1 is of significance      
chiefly because of the type of          

immigrants who preempted the soil and   
the nature of their occupancy4 ,the     
second period1 extending from #ahce to  
#ahij1 had as its chief objective the   
enrichment of the group life4 ,it was   
the period in which large houses and    
commodious barns were erected1 and in   
which the church and the school were the
 centers of social activity4 ,the third 
period1 which began about the year      
#ahij1 and which is not yet complete1 is
 marked by a transition from the era of 
resident proprietors of the land to that
 of non-resident proprietors1 and by the
 fact that the chief attention of the   
land owners is paid to the improvement  
of the soil by fertilization and        
drainage and to the increasing of       
facilities for communication and for the
 marketing of farm products4  ,each of  
these types created by the habits of the
 people in getting their living1 had its
 own kind of a community1 so that we    
have had pioneer1 land farmer1 exploiter
 and husbandman communities4 ,indeed all

 these types are now found              
contemporaneous with one another4 ,we   
have also had successive churches built 
by the pioneer1 by the land farmer1 by  
the exploiter and by the husbandman4    
,the present state of the country church
 and community is explained best by     
saying that it is an effect of          
transition from the pioneer and the land
 farmer types of church and community to
 the exploiter and husbandman types4    
,the pioneer lived alone4 ,he placed his
 cabin without regard to social         
experience4 ,in the woods his axe alone 
was heard and on the prairie the smoke  
from his sod house was sometimes        
answered by no other smoke in the whole 
horizon4 ,he worked and fought and      
pondered alone4 ,self-preservation was  
the struggle of his life1 and personal  
salvation was his aspiration in prayer4 
,his relations with his fellows were    
purely democratic and highly            
independent4 ,the individual man with   
his family lived alone in the face of   

man and ,god4 ,the following is a       
description by an eye witness of such a 
community which preserves in a mountain 
country the conditions of pioneer       
life#b4  ,it is pitiful to see the lack 
of co-operation among them4 ,it is most 
evident in business but makes itself    
known in the children1 too4 ,i regard it
 as one reason why they do not play2    
they have been so isolated that they do 
not allow the social instinct of their  
natures to express itself4 ,this1 of    
course1 is all unconsciously done on    
their part4 ,however1 one cannot live   
long among them without finding out that
 they are characterized by an intense   
individualism4 ,it applies to all that  
they do1 and to it may be attached the  
blame for all the things which they lack
 or do wrongfully4 ,if a man has been   
wronged1 he must personally right the   
wrong4 ,if a man runs for office1 people
 support him as a man and no questions  
are asked as to his platform4 ,if a man 
conducts a store1 people buy from him   

because he sells the goods1 not because 
the goods commend themselves to them4   
,and so by common consent and practise1 
the individual interests are first4     
,naturally this leads to many cases of  
lawlessness4 ,the game of some of our   
people is to evade the law2 of others1  
to ignore the law entirely4  ,the       
pioneer had in his religion but one     
essential doctrine1--the salvation of   
the soul4 ,his church had no other      
concern than to save individuals from   
the wrath to come4 ,it had just one     
method1 an annual revival of religion4  
,the loneliness of the pioneer's soul is
 an effect of his bodily loneliness4    
,the vast outdoors of nature forest or  
prairie or mountain1 made him silent and
 introspective even when in company4    
,the variety of impacts of nature upon  
his bodily life made him resourceful and
 self-reliant2 and upon his soul        
resulted in a reflective1 melancholy    
egotism4 ,his religion must therefore   
begin and end in personal salvation4 ,it

 was a message1 an emotion1 a struggle1 
and a peace4  ,the second great         
characteristic of the pioneer was his   
emotional tension4 ,his impulses were   
strong and changeable4 ,the emotional   
instability of the pioneer grew out of  
his mixture of occupations4 ,it was     
necessary for him to practise all the   
trades4 ,in the original pioneer        
settlement this was literally true4 ,in 
later periods of the settlement of the  
land the pioneer still had many         
occupations and representative sections 
of the country even until the present   
time exhibit a mixture of occupations   
among country people most unlike the    
ordered life of the ,eastern ,states4   
,adam ,smith in ,wealth of ,nations     
makes clear that the practise of many   
occupations induces emotional           
conditions4 ,between each two economic  
processes there is generated for the    
worker at varied trades a languor1 which
 burdens and confuses the work of the   
man who practises many trades4 ,this    

languor is the source of the emotional  
instability of the pioneer4  ,the       
pioneer's method of bridging the gap    
between his many occupations was simple4
 ,when he had been hunting he found it  
hard to go to plowing3 and if plowing1  
on the same day to turn to tanning or to
 mending a roof4 ,when the pioneer had  
spent an hour in bartering with a       
neighbor he found it difficult to turn  
himself to the shoeing of a horse or the
 clearing of land4 ,for this new effort 
his expedient was alcohol4 ,he took a   
drink of rum as a means of forcing      
himself to the new occupation4 ,the     
result is that alcoholic liquors occupy 
a large place in the economy of every   
such pioneer people4  ,in the mountain  
regions of the ,south1 where the pioneer
 remains as an arrested type1 the rum   
jug occupies the same place in the      
economy of the countryman as it occupied
 in the early settlements of the ,united
 ,states generally4 ,these contemporary 
ancestors of ours in the ,appalachian   

region have all the marks of the        
pioneer4 ,their simple life1 their      
varied occupations1 and the relative    
independence of the community and       
household1 sufficient unto themselves1  
present a picture of the earlier        
,american conditions4 ,it is obvious    
among them that the emotional condition 
of the pioneer grew out of his economy  
and extended itself into his church4    
,this emotional instability of the      
pioneer shows itself in his social life4
 ,the well known feuds of the mountain  
people exhibit this condition4 ,feeling 
is at once violent and impulsive4 ,the  
very reserve of these unsmiling and     
serious people is an emotional state1   
for the meager diet and heavy continued 
strains of their economic life poorly   
supply and easily exhaust vitality4     
,the frontier church exhibited emotional
 variability4 ,it expressed itself in   
the pioneer's one method2 namely1 an    
annual revival of religion4 ,in the     
pioneer churches there were few or no   

,sunday schools or other societies4 ,in 
those regions in which the pioneer has  
remained the type of economic life      
,sunday schools do not thrive4          
,societies for young people1 for men1   
women and children do not there exist4  
,the church is a place only for         
preaching4 ,religion consists of a      
message whose use is to excite emotion4 
,preaching is had as often as possible1 
but not necessarily once a week4        
,essential1 however1 to the pioneer's   
organization of his churches is a       
periodical if possible an annual1       
revival of religion4 ,the means used at 
this time are the announcement of a     
gospel message and the arousing of      
emotion in response to this message4    
,there is little application of         
religious imperative to the details of  
life4 ,there is no recognition of social
 life1 because the pioneer economy is   
lonely and individual4 ,the whole       
process of religion consists in coming  
through3 in other words1 the procuring  

of an individual and highly personal    
experience of emotion4  ,beneath the    
surface of life in these people so      
conservative1 and so indifferent to     
change as it is1 there runs a strain of 
intense emotionalism4 ,when storms      
disturb the calm exterior1 the mad waves
 lash and beat and roar4 ,and in        
religion this is most apparent4 ,with   
them emotionalism and religion are      
almost interchangeable quantities1--if  
they are not identical4#c  ,it is in the
 revival service that you see the heart 
of the stolid mountain man unmasked4    
,the local mountain preachers know this 
fact well and use it with great effect4 
,a word must be said about these men who
 work all through the week alongside of 
their fellows and preach to them on     
,sunday4 ,in some places there is a     
custom of holding service on ,saturday  
and ,sunday4 ,these men have generally  
'come through'--a term used to describe 
the process beginning with 'mourning'   
and continuing through repenting and    

being saved4 ,and generally they are men
 of personality4 ,they have a certain   
power with men1 anyway1 and they are    
keen to see the effect of things on     
their audiences4 ,some of them have     
learned to read the ,bible after they   
have been converted4 ,it is not so much 
what they say that counts4 ,if people   
looked for that they would go away      
unfilled4 ,but they have another thing  
in mind4 ,they want to feel right4 ,they
 go to church occasionally during       
revival drought1 but always during      
revival plenty4 ,they go to get 'revived
 up4' ,the preacher who has the best    
voice is the best preacher4 ,he sways   
his audience4 ,the more ignorant he is1 
the better1 for then the ,spirit of ,god
 is not hindered by the wisdom of man4  
,the spirit comes upon him when he      
enters the pulpit4 ,he speaks through   
him to the waiting congregation4 ,of    
course they do not know what he is      
saying for the man makes too much noise4
 ,but they begin to feel that this is   

indeed the place where religion can be  
found and where it is being distributed 
among the people4  ,generally revivals  
occur as they have always done1 about   
three times a year4 ,at these services  
the method requires that exhorters      
should be present and perform4 ,several 
do so at the same time4 ,the confusion  
is great but the people breathe an      
atmosphere that begins to infect them4  
,sooner or later weeping women are in   
the arms of some others' husbands       
begging them to come to the mourning    
bench4 ,young girls single out the boys 
that they like best and affectionately  
implore them to begin the ,christian    
life4 ,all the time the choir is singing
 a swinging revival hymn2 the preacher  
is standing over his audience shouting  
',get busy1 sinners1' and two or three  
boys are scurrying back and forth       
carrying water to the thirsty ones1     
while little groups of the faithful are 
hovering over a penitent1 smothering    
sinner1 trying to 'pull her through4'   

,during this kind of a meeting which ,i 
attended at one time a woman 'got happy'
 and went around slapping everyone she  
could get her hand on1 and skipping like
 a schoolgirl4  ,the pioneer church has 
not fully passed away4 ,its one doctrine
 and its one method have still a place  
in the more elaborate life of the modern
 church4 ,like the rum jug which is     
preserved for medicinal purposes1 the   
revival has a use in the pathology of   
modern church life4 ,the doctrine of    
personal salvation which is of chief    
concern1 in the ministry to the         
adolescent population#d of the modern   
church1 is just as vital as ever2 though
 it is not the only doctrine of the     
church of the husbandman1 which has come
 in the country4  ,a relic of the       
pioneer days is the custom known as the 
,group ,system4 ,by this a preacher     
comes to a church once a month1 or      
twice1 and preaches a sermon1 returning 
promptly to his distant place of        
residence4 ,the early settlers of this  

country who originated this system were 
lonely and individualized4 ,they        
believed that religion consisted in a   
mere message of salvation1 so that all  
they required was to hear from a        
preacher once in a while4  ,but the     
districts in which the ,group ,system is
 used have grown beyond this religious  
satisfaction and the ,group ,system no  
longer renders adequate religious       
service4 ,religion has become a greater 
ministry than can be rendered in the    
form of a message1 however well         
preached4  ,like all outworn customs1   
this one breeds abuses as it grows      
older4 ,its value having passed away1 it
 has forms of offensiveness4 ,in        
sections of ,missouri where the farmers 
are rich they say with contempt1 ,none  
of the ministers lives in the country4  
,the ,group ,system1 in a territory of  
,missouri comprising forty-one churches1
 organizes its forces as follows3 these 
forty-one churches have nine ministers  
who live in five communities and go out 

two miles1 ten miles1 sometimes thirty  
miles1 in various directions1 for a     
fractional service to other communities 
than those in which they live4 ,each of 
the two big towns has more than one     
minister and none of the country        
churches has a pastor4 ,thus the value  
of the family life of the preacher is   
cancelled4 ,after all this organization 
and division of the men into small      
fractions among the churches1 there are 
sixteen of these churches which have    
neither pastor nor preacher4  ,this     
,group ,system can be improved1 as is   
done in ,tennessee1 by the shortening of
 the journeys which must be made by the 
minister from his home to his preaching 
point4 ,nevertheless1 it gives to the   
country community only a fraction of a  
man's time4 ,he can interpret religion  
in only three ways2 in the sermon1 the  
funeral service and the wedding4        
,unfortunately mankind has to do many   
other things besides getting married1   
buried or preached at4  ,the country    

community needs a pastor4 ,it is better 
for the minister who preaches to the    
country to live in the country4 ,there  
are some parts which cannot support a   
pastor1 but the minister to country     
churches should know the daily round of 
country life4 ,religion can never be    
embodied in a sermon2 and when religion 
comes to be limited to a formal act it  
is tinged with suspicion in the eyes of 
most men4 ,sermons and funerals and     
weddings become to country people the   
windows by which religion flies out of  
the community4 ,especially among        
farmers1 religion is a matter of        
every-day life4 ,what religion the      
farmer has grows out of his yearly      
struggle with the soil and with the     
elements4 ,his belief in ,god is a      
belief in ,providence4 ,his ,god is the 
creator of the sun and the seasons1 the 
wind and the rain4 ,the man who does not
 with him share these experiences cannot
 long interpret them for him in terms of
 scripture or of church4  ,the policy of

 the newer territories of the church    
must be to translate the ,group ,system 
into pastorates4 ,the long range group  
service should be transformed into short
 and compact group ministry2 the pastor 
should live in the country community and
 the length of his journey should never 
be longer than his horse can drive4 ,a  
group of churches which are not more    
than ten miles apart constitute a       
country parish4 ,some few active        
ministers are able to make thirty to    
forty miles on horseback on a ,sunday1  
among a scattered people4 ,this is well1
 but as soon as the railroad becomes an 
essential factor in the monthly visit of
 ministers to the country1 religion     
passes out of that community4  ,the     
service of the country preacher1 in     
other words1 is essentially confined to 
the country community1 and the bounds of
 the country community are determined by
 the length of the team haul or         
horseback ride to which that population 
is accustomed4 ,within these bounds     

religious life and expression are       
possible4 ,immersed in his own          
community1 the life of the minister and 
of his family attain immediate religious
 value4 ,the whole influence of the     
minister's home1 the service of his wife
 to the people1 which is often greater  
than his own1 and the development of his
 children's life1 these are all of      
religious use to his people4  ,a recent 
speaker upon this matter said1 ,i doubt 
if even the ,lord ,jesus ,christ could  
have saved this world if he had come    
down to it only once in two weeks on    
,saturday and gone back on ,monday      
morning4  ,the pastor1 then1 is the type
 of community builder needed in the     
country4 ,the pastor works with a       
maximum of sincerity1 while sincerity   
may in preaching be reduced to the      
lowest terms4 ,he is in constant1       
intimate1 personal contact4 ,the        
preacher is dealing with theories and   
ideals not always rooted in local       
experiences4 ,the pastor lives the life 

of the people4 ,he is known to them and 
their lives are known to him4 ,the      
preacher may perform his oratorical     
ministry through knowledge of           
populations long since dead and by      
description of foreign and alien        
countries4 ,it is possible to preach    
acceptably about kingdoms that have not 
yet existed4 ,but the work of a pastor  
is the development of ideals out of     
situations4 ,it is his business to      
inspire the daily life of his people    
with high idealism and to construct     
those aspirations and imaginations out  
of the daily work of mankind1 which are 
proper to that work and essential to    
that people4  ,an illustrious example of
 such ministry is that of ,john         
,frederick ,oberlin1#e whose pastorate  
at ,waldersbach in the ,vosges consisted
 of a service to his people in their    
every need1 from the building of roads  
to the organization and teaching of     
schools4 ,it would have been impossible 
for ,oberlin to have served these people

 through preaching alone4 ,being a      
mature community1 indeed old in         
suffering and in poverty1 they needed   
the ministry of a pastor1 and this      
service he rendered them in the         
immersion of his life with theirs1 and  
the bearing of their burdens1 even the  
most material and economic burden of the
 community1 upon his shoulders4  ,the   
passing away of pioneer days discredits 
the ministry of mere preaching1 through 
increasing variation of communities1    
families and individuals4 ,the          
preacher's message is not widely varied4
 ,it is the interpreting of tradition1  
gospel and dogma4 ,his sources can all  
be neatly arranged on a book shelf4 ,one
 suspects that the greater the preacher1
 the fewer his books4 ,on the contrary1 
the pastor's work is necessitated by    
growing differences of his people4 ,he  
must be all things to many different    
kinds of men4 ,in the country community 
this intimate intercourse and varying   
sympathy take him through a wider range 

of human experience than in a more      
classified community4 ,he must plow with
 the plowman1 and hunt with the hunter1 
and converse with the seamstress1 be    
glad with the wedding company and bear  
the burden of sorrow in the day of      
death4 ,moreover1 nobody outside a      
country community knows how far a family
 can go in the path to poverty and still
 live4 ,no one knows how eccentric and  
peculiar1 how reserved and whimsical the
 life of a household may be1 in the     
country community1 unless he has lived  
as neighbor and friend to such a        
household4 ,the preacher cannot know    
this4 ,not all the experience of the    
world is written even in the ,bible4    
,the spirit shall teach us things to    
come4 ,it is the pastor who learns these
 things by his daily observation of the 
lives of men4  ,the communities         
themselves in the country differ widely1
 even in conformity to given types1 and 
when all is said by the general student1
 the pastor has the knowledge of his own

 community4 ,it belongs peculiarly to   
him4 ,no one else can ever know it and  
there are no two communities alike4 ,in 
the intense localism of a community1 its
 religious history is hidden away and   
its future is involved4 ,the man who    
shall touch the springs of the          
community's life must know these local  
conditions with the intimate detail     
which only he commands who daily goes up
 and down its paths4 ,this man is the   
pastor4 ,except the country physician1  
no other living man is such an observer 
as he4  ,the end of the pioneer days    
means1 therefore1 to religious people1  
the establishment of the pastorate4 ,the
 religious leader for the pioneer was   
the preacher1 but the community which   
clings to preaching as a satisfactory   
and final religious ministry is         
retrograde4 ,in this retarding of       
religious progress is the secret of the 
decline of many communities4 ,the great 
work of ministering to them is in       
supplanting the preacher1 who renders   

but a fractional service to the people1 
by a pastor whose preaching is an       
announcement of the varied ministry in  
which he serves as the cur of souls4    
,the pioneer days are gone4 ,only in the
 ,southern ,appalachian region are there
 arrested communities in which1 in our  
time1 the ways of our ,american         
ancestors are seen4 ,the community      
builder cannot change the type of his   
people4 ,he can only wait for the       
change1 and enable his people to conform
 to the new type4 ,for this process new 
industries1 new ways of getting a living
 are necessary4 ,the teacher or pastor  
can do something to guide his people in 
the selection of constructive instead of
 destructive industry4  ,in ,east       
,tennessee and in the mountain counties 
of ,north ,carolina lumbering industries
 are for the time being employing the   
people4 ,the result will be a deeper    
impoverishment2 for the timber is the   
people's greatest source of actual and  
potential wealth4 ,the leaders of the   

mountain people should teach            
reforestation with a view to maintaining
 the people's future wealth4  ,in a     
mountain county of ,kentucky a minister 
seeing that his people needed a new     
economic life1 before they could receive
 the religious life of the new type1    
organized an annual county fair4 ,to    
this he brought1 with the help of       
outside friends1 a breed of hogs better 
than his mountain people knew4 ,he      
cultivated competition in local         
industries1 weaving and cooking2 and    
started his people on the path of       
economic success of a new type4  ,in    
conclusion1 the pioneer was             
individualistic and emotional4 ,these   
traits were caused by his economic      
experience4 ,while that experience      
lasted1 he could be made no other sort  
of man than this4 ,to this type his home
 and his business life and his church   
conformed4 ,within these characteristics
 the efficiency of his social life was  
to be found4  ,,footnotes3  ,footnote   

#a3 ,the ,agrarian ,changes in the      
,middle ,west1 by ,j4 ,b4 ,ross1 in     
,american ,journal of ,economics1       
,december1 #aiaj4  ,footnote #b3 ,rev4  
,norman ,c4 ,schenck4  ,footnote #c3    
,rev4 ,norman ,c4 ,schenck4  ,footnote  
#d3 ,youth1 by ,g4 ,stanley ,hall4      
,footnote #e3 ,story of ,john ,frederick
 ,oberlin by ,augustus ,field ,beard1   
#aiji4     ,,ii  ,,the ,,land ,,farmer  
,i shall use the term land farmer to    
describe the man who tilled the soil in 
all parts of the country after pioneer  
days4 ,he is usually called simply the  
farmer4 ,this is the type with which we 
are most familiar in our present day    
literature and in dramatic              
representations of the country4 ,the    
land farmer1 or farmer1 is the typical  
countryman who in the ,middle ,west     
about #ahce succeeded the pioneer1 and  
about #ahij was followed by the         
exploiter of the land4  ,in the ,eastern
 ,states pioneer days ended before      
#ahce4 ,the land farmer was the         

prevailing type throughout ,new         
,england1 ,new ,york1 ,new ,jersey and  
,pennsylvania as early as #ahjj4 ,in the
 ,south the contemporary of the land    
farmer was the planter or slave holder4 
,the modified type in the ,south was due
 to an economic difference4 ,the labor  
problem was solved in the ,south by     
chattel slavery2 in the ,north by the   
wage system4 ,it is true that throughout
 much of the ,south the small farmer    
held his own4 ,these men conformed to   
the type of the land farmer4 ,but in the
 ,south they did not dominate social and
 political life as the slave holder did4
 ,in the ,eastern ,states the whole     
social economy was1 until a generation  
after the ,civil ,war1 dominated by the 
land farmer4  ,the characteristics of   
the land farmer are3 first1 his         
cultivation of the first values of the  
land4 ,his order of life is             
characterized by initial utility4 ,he   
lived in a time of plenty4 ,the         
abundance of nature1 which was to the   

pioneer a detriment1 was to the land    
farmer a source of wealth4 ,he tilled   
the soil and he cut the timber1 he      
explored the earth for mines1 seeking   
everywhere the first values of a virgin 
land4 ,as these first values were       
exhausted1 he moved on to new           
territories4 ,all his ideas of social   
life were those of initial utility4 ,the
 rich man was the standard and the      
admired citizen4 ,the policies of       
government were dominated by the ideas  
of a land holding people4 ,individualism
 proceeded on radiating lines from any  
given center4 ,the development of       
personality is the clue to the history  
of that period4  ,the second            
characteristic of the land farmer was   
his development of the family group4 ,he
 differed from the pioneer1 whose life  
was lonely and individual1 in the       
perfection of group life in his period4 
,he differs from the exploiter who      
succeeds him in the country today in the
 fact that exploitation has dissolved   

the family group4 ,the experience of the
 land farmer compacted and perfected the
 household group in the country4 ,the   
beginnings of this group life were in   
the pioneer period1 but there was not   
peace in which the family could develop 
nor were there resources by which it    
could be endowed4 ,the classic period of
 ,american home life is that of the land
 farmer4 ,the typical ,american home1 as
 it lives in sentiment1 in literature   
and in idealism1 is the home of the land
 farmer4  ,third1 the land farmer owned 
his home4 ,he built upon his farm a     
homestead which in most cases           
represented his ideal of domestic and   
family comfort4 ,he built for           
permanence4 ,so far as his means        
permitted he provided for his children  
and for generations of descendants after
 them4 ,he consecrated the soil to his  
people and to his name by setting apart 
a graveyard on his own land1 and there  
he buried his dead4  ,fourth1 the land  
farmer had neighbors4 ,his              

well-developed family group would not   
have been possible without other groups 
in the same community and the           
independence of the family group was    
relative1 being perfected by imitation  
and economic competition4 ,the          
land-farmer type came to maturity only  
when the whole of the land was          
possessed1 when on every side the family
 group was confronted with other family 
groups1 and neighborliness became       
universal4 ,the family group is         
dependent through intermarriage and     
relationship upon other groups in the   
community4 ,family relationships thus   
came in the land-farmer communities to  
be very general4 ,some rough and crude  
forms of economic co-operation also grew
 up in this period1 as modifications of 
the competition on which the land-farmer
 type is based4  ,the farmer type       
produced a definite social life1 says   
,prof4 ,ross4 ,the second period1       
extending from #ahce to #ahij1 had as   
its chief objective the enrichment of   

the group life4  ,fifth1 the land farmer
 competed1 by group conflict1 with his  
neighbors4 ,property was regarded by the
 land farmer as a family possession4    
,competition was between group and      
group1 between household and household4 
,the moral strength as well as the moral
 deficiencies of this type of man flow  
from this competition4 ,he considered   
himself essentially bounden to the      
members of his own group by obligations 
and free from moral obligations to      
others4 ,the son received no wages from 
his father for work on the farm and the 
daughter did not dream of pay or of an  
allowance for her labor in the house4   
,the land farmer conceived of his estate
 as belonging to his family group and   
embodied in himself4 ,therefore he had  
no wage obligations to son or daughter  
and he felt himself obliged so to       
distribute his property as to care for  
all the members of his household4 ,this 
economic competition compacted the      
family group and formed the basis for   

the social economy of the country       
community4 ,the land farmer had no ideal
 of community prosperity4 ,his thought  
for generations has been to make his own
 farm prosperous1 to raise some crop    
that others shall not raise1 to have a  
harvest that other men have not and to  
find a market which other men have not  
discovered1 by which he and his farm and
 his group may prosper4 ,it is hard to  
convince the land farmer1 because of his
 immersion in this group conflict1 that 
the farmer's prosperity is dependent    
upon the prosperity of other groups in  
the community4  ,the presence of the    
small group is the sign of normal social
 life4 ,the group is not complete in    
itself1 but is a unit in human          
association4 ,so that the farmer economy
 had its social life and its own type of
 communities4 ,the economy of the farmer
 period represents the ideals born in   
the pioneer nation4 ,the community of   
the farmer is the destination of the    
life of the pioneer4 ,the farmer still  

practises a variety of occupations4 ,his
 tillage of the soil and his household  
economy are the most conservative in all
 ,american population4 ,he uses modern  
machinery in the fields1 but to a great 
degree his wife uses the old mechanisms 
in the kitchen and in the household4    
,the laborers employed on the farm are  
received into the farmer's family under 
conditions of social equality4 ,the man 
who is this year a laborer may in a     
decade be a farmer4 ,the dignifying of  
personality with land ownership has been
 such a general social experience in the
 country that every individual is       
thought of in the farmer period as a    
potential landowner4  ,the institutions 
of the rural community of the           
land-farmer type are the country store1 
the rural school1 and the church4 ,the  
country store deals in general          
merchandise and is a natural outgrowth  
of the stores of the pioneer period in  
which barter constituted the whole of   
the commerce of the community4 ,in the  

pioneer store but a few commodities were
 imported from the outer world4 ,the    
greater part of the merchandise was made
 in the community and distributed in the
 store4 ,but the farmer's rural economy 
is the dawning of the world economy and 
the general store in the farming        
community becomes an economic           
institution requiring great ability and 
centering in itself the forces of       
general as well as local economics4     
,the general storekeeper of this type in
 the country is at once a business man1 
a money lender1 an employer of labor and
 the manager of the social center4 ,he  
sells goods at a price so low as to     
maintain his local trade against outside
 competition4 ,he loans money on        
mortgages throughout the community1 and 
sells goods on credit4 ,judgment of men 
and of properties is so essential to his
 business that if he can not judiciously
 loan and give credit he cannot maintain
 a country store4 ,around his warm stove
 in the winter and at his door in summer

 gather the men of the community for    
discussion of politics1 religion and    
social affairs4 ,in addition to all     
else1 he has been usually the postmaster
 of the community4  ,the one-room rural 
school which is the prevailing type     
throughout the country is a product of  
the land-farmer period4 ,its prevalence 
shows that we are still in land-farmer  
conditions3 and the criticism to which  
it is now subjected indicates that we   
are conscious of a new epoch in rural   
life4  ,it fits well into the life of   
the land farmer because it gives        
obviously a mere hint of learning4 ,it  
has been the boast of its advocates that
 it taught only the three ,rs4 ,its     
training for life is rudimentary only3  
it gives but an alphabet4 ,the land     
farmer expected to live in his group4   
,secure in his own acres and believing  
himself as good as anybody1 he relied   
for his son and daughter not upon       
trained skill1 but upon native          
abilities1 sterling character1          

independence and industry4 ,of all these
 the household1 not the school1 is the  
source4 ,so that the one-room country   
school was satisfactory to those who    
created it4  ,in another chapter the    
common schools are more fully discussed4
 ,here it may be said only that the     
creation of such a system was an honor  
to any people4 ,the farmers who out of a
 splendid idealism placed a schoolhouse 
at every cross roads1 on every hilltop  
and in every mountain valley1 exact a   
tribute of praise from their successors4
 ,the unit of measurement of the school 
district1 on which this system was      
based1 was the day's journey of a child 
six years of age4 ,two miles must be its
 longest radius4 ,the generation who    
spanned this continent with the measure 
of an infant's pace1 mapped the land    
into districts1 erected houses at the   
centers1 and employed teachers as the   
masters of learning for these little    
states1 were men of statesmanlike power4
 ,the country school is a nobler        

monument of the land farmer than        
anything else he has done4  ,the rural  
academy was the most influential school 
of the land farmer's time4 ,situated at 
the center of leading communities1 in   
,new ,england1 ,pennsylvania and the    
older ,eastern ,states1 it was often    
under the control or the influence of   
the parish minister4 ,it generally      
exerted a great influence for the       
building of the church and the          
community4 ,its teachers were men of    
scholarly ideals4 ,its students were    
from the locality1 being selected by    
ambition for learning1 and by their     
ability to pay the tuition4  ,the       
development of the high schools has     
generally resulted in the abandonment of
 the academies4 ,a few have survived and
 have adapted themselves to new times4  
,but it is to be doubted whether the    
common schools have so far done as much 
for building and for organizing country 
communities1 for providing local        
leadership1 for building churches1 as   

did the rural academies of ,new         
,england1 ,pennsylvania and other       
,eastern ,states4  ,the farmer's church 
is the classic ,american type of church 
at its best4 ,the farming economy       
succeeded to the pioneer economy without
 serious break4 ,the troubles of the    
country church have their beginnings in 
the period of the exploiter which is to 
follow1 but the farmer developed the    
church of the pioneer with sympathy and 
consistency4 ,the church of the farmer  
still values personal salvation above   
all4 ,the revival methods and the       
simplicity of doctrine have remained1   
but the farmer has added typical methods
 of his own4  ,the effect of this       
individualism is exhibited in the       
multiplication of churches among        
farmers4 ,so long as it is admitted that
 the church is for personal salvation1  
it does not need to be a social         
institution4 ,a small group is as       
effective as a large one for securing   
salvation for individuals4 ,two churches

 or three may as well serve a community 
as one1 if personal salvation be the    
service rendered4 ,the gospel is for the
 farmer good tidings1--not a call to    
social service4 ,the result of the      
farmer period has been1 therefore1 the  
multiplication of competitive country   
churches4 ,an instance of this          
competitive condition is3 the community 
in ,kansas in which among four hundred  
people resident in a field1 there are   
seven churches1 each of them attempting 
to maintain a resident pastor4 ,in      
,centre ,county1 ,pa41 in a radius of   
four miles from a given point1 there are
 twenty-four country churches4 ,in the  
same territory within a radius of three 
miles are sixteen of these country      
churches4 ,this condition is            
satisfactory to the ideals of the       
farmer4 ,if the farmer type were        
permanent these churches might serve    
permanently for the ministry of personal
 salvation4 ,they are well attended by  
devout and religious-minded people4     

,their condemnation is not in the farmer
 economy but in the inevitable coming of
 the exploiter and the husbandman with  
their different experience and different
 type of mind4  ,in this period the     
minister frequently is himself a tiller 
of the soil4 ,many of the older churches
 had land1 ten or twenty or forty acres1
 which the minister was expected to     
till1 and from it to secure a part of   
his living4 ,a church at ,cranberry1 ,n4
 ,j41 had a farm of one hundred acres   
until the close of the nineteenth       
century4 ,but with the coming of the    
exploiter and the husbandman the        
minister ceases to be an agriculturist4 
,like unto the tillage of the soil by   
the minister was the donation to the    
minister1 of vegetables1 corn1 honey and
 other farm products4 ,at one time this 
filled a large place in the supply of   
the minister's living4 ,in various      
communities the custom has remained with
 fine tenacity in the presentation to   
the minister of portions of farm produce

 throughout the year4 ,but the portions 
so given are fewer1 as years pass1 and  
the total quantity small4 ,the donation 
of vegetables and farm produce has      
survived in but a few places4 ,the modes
 of life which succeeded to the farmer  
economy are dependent on cash for the   
distribution of values1 and the         
donation1 if it remain at all1 is a gift
 of money4 ,frequently the donation has 
survived as a social gathering1 being   
perpetuated in one of its functions     
only1 its earlier purposes and its      
essential form being forgotten4  ,the   
church of the land farmer corresponded  
by logical social causation to the      
social economy of this type4 ,it was    
seated with family pews generally rented
 by the family group and sometimes owned
 in fee4 ,in the ,south the             
slave-holding churches1 which have all  
passed away1 had galleries for the      
slaves1 who worshipped thus under the   
same roof with their masters4 ,the      
preaching of this period was directed to

 the development of group life4 ,its    
ethical standards were those of the     
household group1 in which private       
property in land1 domestic morality1    
filial and domestic experiences         
furnished the stimuli4  ,the            
land-farmer's church had some           
organizations to correspond to the      
differences in social life4 ,the        
presence of the children in the family  
group is represented in the ,sunday     
schools and parochial schools built     
during this period4 ,the schools are in 
many cases highly organized1 with       
separate recognition of infancy1        
adolescence and middle life4 ,in        
,protestant churches the particular     
concerns of women and the religious     
service rendered by them take form in   
women's societies in the churches1      
mostly charitable and missionary4       
,finally1 at the close of the           
land-farmer period1 about #ahij1 there  
sprang up the young people's societies1 
which in the ten closing years of the   

land-farmer period reached a membership 
of hundreds of thousands among the      
,protestant churches4 ,these societies  
of young people were organized in the   
churches to correspond to the growing   
self-consciousness among adolescent     
members of the land-farmer's household4 
,the young men and women in the maturing
 of the family group came to have a life
 of their own4 ,as frequently happens1  
the family group reached its highest    
development and perfection just before  
it was to pass away4  ,the church of the
 land-farmer is the typical ,protestant 
church of the ,united ,states4 ,so      
influential has the farmer been in      
national life that organized religion   
has idealized his type of church4 ,it   
has been transported to villages and    
towns4 ,it has become the type of church
 most frequent in the cities4  ,nearly  
all the ,protestant churches in ,new    
,york ,city are land-farmer churches2   
and that1 says a noted city pastor1 is  
what ails them4#f ,this church centers  

its activities in preaching1 rents or   
assigns its pews to families1 and       
organizes societies for the various     
factors of the family group4 ,it has    
,sunday schools1 women's1 men's and     
young people's societies1 with only one 
minister to supervise them all4  ,the   
transformation of this type of church1  
so deeply rooted in the idealism of the 
whole people1 into a church better      
suited to city1 factory1 town and mining
 settlement1 has been the problem for   
,protestant bodies to solve in the past 
twenty years4 ,the beginning of this    
transformation1 it is striking to       
observe1 came at the end of the         
land-farmer period1 about #ahij4  ,the  
land-farmer1 then1 whose period         
according to ,prof4 ,ross1 extended from
 #ahce to #ahij in the ,middle ,west1 is
 the best known agricultural type4 ,he  
is the typical countryman as the        
countryman is imagined in the cities and
 recorded in our literature4 ,it has    
been the ,american hope that he should  

be the land-owner of the days to come4  
,in ,east ,tennessee the farmer is still
 the type of landowner in country       
communities4 ,in some portions of       
,michigan and ,minnesota the farmer type
 gives character to the whole           
population1 but generally throughout the
 country the processes described by     
,prof4 ,ross have undermined the        
integrity of the farmer type and broken 
his hold upon leadership of the country 
population4 ,within the last two        
decades1 since #ahij1 the farmer has    
been gradually discouraged and has      
realized that his economy is not suited 
to survive4 ,the most representative    
farming communities today are those of  
,scotch or ,scotch-,irish people1 whose 
instinctive tenacity1 their             
clannishness1 has perpetuated longer    
than in other instances the rural       
economy and the country community4  ,in 
using the term land-farmer ,i am aware  
of its close resemblance to the term    
exploiter4 ,the word itself points to   

exploitation of land4 ,the land farmer  
has used the raw materials of the       
country4 ,he has tilled the soil until  
its fertility was exhausted and then    
moved on to the newer regions of the    
,west1 again to farm and to exploit the 
virgin riches of a plenteous land4 ,the 
planter in the ,south1 possessing       
frequently more than a thousand acres1  
was accustomed to till a portion of one 
hundred1 two hundred or four hundred    
acres1 until its fertility had been     
exhausted4 ,then he moved his slaves to 
another section1 cleared the land and   
cultivated it until its power to produce
 had also been exhausted4 ,the          
difference between land-farming and     
exploitation is the absence of          
speculation in land in the former       
period4  ,,footnote3  ,footnote #f3     
,rev4 ,charles ,stelzle4     ,,iii      
,,the ,,exploiter   ,the third type in  
,american agriculture is the exploiter4 
,between the farmer and the husbandman  
there is an economic revolution4 ,in    

fact the exploiter himself is a         
transition type between the farmer and  
the husbandman4 ,the fundamental problem
 in ,american economics always has been 
that of the distribution of land1 says  
,prof4 ,ross4 ,the exploiter is1 ,i     
presume1 a temporary economic type1     
created in the period of re-distribution
 of land4 ,the characteristic of the    
exploiter is his commercial valuation of
 all things4 ,he is the man who sees    
only the value of money4  ,it was       
natural that with the maturing of an    
,american population1 the exploitation  
of the natural resources should come4   
,we have exploited the forest1 removing 
the timber from the hills and making out
 of its vast resources a few fortunes4  
,we wasted in the process nine-tenths   
for every one-tenth of wealth           
accumulated by the exploiter4 ,we have  
exploited the coal and iron and other   
minerals4 ,the exploitation of the oil  
deposits and natural gas reservoirs has 
been a national experience and a        

national scandal4 ,the tendency to      
exploit every opportunity for private   
wealth has characterized the past two   
decades4#g  ,there are those who exploit
 the child vitality of the families of  
working people1 and the ,states have put
 legal checks in the way of child labor4
 ,the exploitation of the labor of women
 has gone so far as to threaten the     
vitality of the generation to be born1  
and laws have been passed which forbid  
the employment of women except within   
limits4 ,the ethical discussion of the  
past decade is largely a keen analysis  
of the methods of exploitation of       
resources1 of men and of communities1   
and an attempt to fix the bounds of the 
exploitation of values for private      
wealth4  ,there are those who exploit   
the farm4 ,farms which from the original
 entry until #ahij had been owned by the
 same family1 or which had changed      
owners but once or twice1 and whose     
owners were proud to assert that their  
broad acres had never been encumbered   

with mortgages1 since #ahij have been   
sold1 in some instances as often as ten 
times1 in more numerous instances four  
or five times1 and a large part of the  
purchase price is secured by encumbering
 the estates6#h  ,agriculture1          
especially of the ,middle ,west1 is     
affected in all its parts by the        
exploitation of land4 ,to a traveller   
from the ,eastern ,states1 the selling  
and re-selling of farm land1 without    
fertilization or improvement by any of  
the successive owners1 is a source of   
amazement4  ,the new lands opened under 
the ,homestead act of half a century ago
 were often exploited for temporary     
profit by soil robbers who were experts 
of their kind4 ,owing to such farm      
management1 the yield of the acre in the
 ,united ,states gradually decreased4   
,very little intensive farming was      
done4#i  ,the commercial exploitation of
 land dissolves every permanent factor  
in the farm economy4 ,the country       
community of the land-farmer type is    

being undermined and is crumbling away  
under the influence of exploitation4    
,the pioneers were a ,westward          
emigration1 pushing ,westward the       
boundaries of the country at the rate of
 fifty miles in a decade2 but since     
#ahij emigration has been eastward1 and 
it is made up of farmers who move to    
ever cheaper and cheaper lands to the   
,east1 the tide of higher prices coming 
from the ,west4 ,already in central     
,illinois the values of land seem to    
have reached the high water mark4 ,about
 ,galesburg the ,swedes have got hold of
 the land and they will not sell4 ,among
 the last recorded sales in this        
district were some at prices between two
 hundred and two hundred fifty dollars  
per acre4  ,it is not generally         
understood that this exploitation of    
farm lands has extended over nearly the 
whole country4 ,its spread is           
increasingly rapid in the last two      
years4 ,in the ,gulf ,states and the    
,carolinas and in ,tennessee and        

,kentucky prices of farm land have      
increased in the last five years from   
twenty-five to one hundred per cent4    
,even in the most conservative counties 
in ,pennsylvania the prices of farm land
 have increased twenty to twenty-five   
per cent4  ,the sign of this            
exploitation is a rapid increase in the 
market values of farm land1 due to      
frequent sale and purchase4 ,this       
increase is independent of any increase 
in essential value to the farmer4 ,the  
net income of the farmer may have been  
increased only five per cent1 as in the 
,state of ,indiana1 whereas the values  
of farm land have increased in the same 
period more than one hundred per cent4  
,that is1 the speculative increases have
 been twenty times as much as the       
agricultural increase4  ,along with this
 change in farm values goes the increase
 or decrease in the number of tenant    
farmers and the shifting of the         
ownership of land to farm landlords4 ,in
 some parts of the country this         

exploitation has taken a purely         
speculative form4 ,in all parts it is   
speculative in character1 but in some   
sections of the country the exploiters  
are themselves farmers and the process  
is imposed upon the farmers themselves  
by economic causes4 ,this is true of the
 ,illinois and ,indiana lands1 which are
 under the influence of a system of     
drainage1 but there are other portions  
of the country in which the process is  
chiefly speculative4 ,in some ,western  
,states the exploitation of farm land is
 in the hands of speculators themselves1
 doing real estate business purely as a 
matter of trade4 ,it would be a mistake1
 however1 to attribute a process so     
general as this one to the power exerted
 by a class of real estate agents4 ,its 
causes are deeper than the commercial   
process4 ,they go into the very roots of
 modern life4 ,this should be clearly   
understood1 because when frankly        
realized it compels the adjustment of   
social1 educational and religious work  

to the period of exploitation4  ,the    
effect of this process is upon all the  
life of country people4 ,it has created 
its own class of men4 ,there was no     
intention in the mind of earlier        
,americans that we should ever have a   
tenant class in ,america4 ,the          
assumption on which all our ideals are  
built has been that we would be a       
land-owning people1 but we are          
confronted with a tenantry problem as   
difficult as any in the world4 ,the     
process of exploiting land has added to 
the social and economic life of the     
country the farm landlord1 whose        
influence upon the immediate future of  
the ,american country community1 church 
and school1 in all sections will be     
great1 and in many communities will be  
dominating4  ,the exploitation of land  
has produced the retired farmer4 ,he is 
a pure example of the weakness of the   
exploiter economy4 ,originally he was a 
homesteader1 or perhaps a purchaser of  
cheap land in the early days4 ,he       

expected not to remain a farmer1 but    
hoped for removal to the ,east or to a  
college town4 ,the motives which        
animated him were varied1 but among them
 none was so prominent as a desire for  
better education than was provided for  
his children in the country community of
 the farmer type4 ,so that at forty or  
fifty years of age he seized an         
opportunity to sell his land1 as the    
prices were rising1 and retired to the  
town with a cash fortune for investment4
  ,immediately the economic forces to   
which he had submitted himself made of  
him a new type1 for the retired farmer  
in the ,middle ,west is a characteristic
 type of the leading towns and cities4  
,some whole streets in large centers are
 peopled with retired farmers4 ,the     
civic policies of scores of small       
municipalities are controlled in a      
measure by them1 so that journalists1   
religious leaders1 reformers and        
politicians have very clear-cut opinions
 as to the value of the retired farmer4 

,the analysis of this situation is as   
follows4 ,while the land which he sold  
continued to increase in value1 his     
small fortune began to diminish in      
value4 ,the interest on his money has   
been less every ten years2 whereas he   
formerly could loan at first for six and
 sometimes seven per cent1 he cannot    
loan safely now for more than five or   
six per cent4  ,meantime the prices of  
all things he has to buy are expressed  
in cash1--no longer in kind as on the   
farm2 and these cash prices are growing4
 ,in the past decade they have almost   
doubled4 ,this means that he is a poorer
 man4 ,his money has a diminished       
purchasing power and he has a smaller   
yearly income4  ,in addition to this1   
his wants1 and the wants of the members 
of the family are increased two or three
 times4 ,they cannot live as they lived 
on the farm4 ,they cannot dress as they 
dressed in the country4 ,the pressure of
 these increasing economic wants1       
demanding to be satisfied out of a      

diminished income1 with higher prices   
for the things to be purchased1 keeps   
the retired farmer a poor man4 ,the     
result is that the retired farmer is    
opposed to every step of progress in the
 growing town in which he lives4 ,he    
opposes every increase of taxation and  
fights every assessment4 ,he dreads a   
subscription list and hates to hear of  
contributions4 ,although an intelligent 
and pious man1 he has come to be an     
obstacle to the building of libraries1  
churches and schools and opposed to all 
humane and missionary activities4 ,he is
 suffering from a great economic        
mistake4  ,before leaving the exploiter 
it is to be said he also has his church4
 ,the exploiter has built no community4 
,he has contributed the retired farmer  
to the large towns and small cities of  
the ,middle ,west4 ,it is natural1      
therefore1 that few exploiter churches  
are found in the country4 ,but in the   
larger centers there are churches whose 
doctrine and methods are those of the   

exploiter4 ,indeed1 at the present time 
the exploiter's doctrine in ethics and  
religion is highly popular4 ,it is the  
doctrine of the consecration of wealth4 
,there are in the larger cities churches
 whose business is to give2 ,sunday     
after ,sunday they hear pleas and       
consider the cases of college           
presidents1 superintendents of          
charities1 secretaries of mission boards
 and other official solicitors4 ,these  
churches have systematized the          
discipline of giving4 ,their boards of  
officers control the appeals that shall 
be made to their people4 ,such churches 
are highly individualist in character1  
and the preacher who ministers in such a
 church has a doctrine of individual    
culture and responsibility4  ,the       
exploiter's doctrine of systematic      
giving has gone into all of the         
communities in which prosperous people  
live4 ,it has become a moral code for   
millionaires1 and the response to it is 
annually measured in the great gifts of 

men of large means to institutions which
 exist for the use of all mankind4  ,but
 not all the farm exploiters retired    
from the farm4 ,the stronger and more   
successful have become absentee         
landlords4 ,these men have invested     
their cash in farm lands4 ,distrusting  
the investments of the city market1 and 
fearing ,wall ,street1 they have        
purchased increased acreage in the      
country1 and when the local market was  
exhausted1 they have invested in the    
,southwest and the far ,west1 buying    
ever more and more land4 ,they have     
proven that ,it is possible to maintain 
a vicious economic method on a rising   
market4#aj  ,these landlords have leased
 their land in accordance with mere     
expediency4 ,no plans have been made in 
the ,american rural economy for a       
tenantry4 ,the lease1 therefore1        
throughout the ,united ,states generally
 is for only one year4 ,this gives to   
the landlord the greatest freedom1 and  
to the tenant the least responsibility4 

,neither is willing to enter into a     
contract by which the land itself can be
 benefitted4 ,the landlord is looking   
for the increase of the values of land1 
and is ever mindful of a possible buyer4
 ,moreover1 he is watchful of the market
 for the crop and of the size of the    
crop1 so that he desires to be free at  
the end of the year to make other       
arrangements4  ,the tenant on his part  
is somewhat eager to do as he pleases   
for a year4 ,he expects to be himself an
 owner1 and he does not expect to remain
 permanently as a tenant on that farm4  
,he reckons that he can get a good deal 
out of the land in the year1 and is     
unwilling to bind himself for a long    
period4 ,the ,american system of farm   
tenantry is the worst of which ,i have  
knowledge in any country4#aa  ,it is    
true that in some parts of the country  
leases of three and five years are      
granted to tenants by the landlords4 ,at
 ,penn ,yan1 ,new ,york1 a reliable     
class of ,danes secure such leases from 

the owners4 ,i am aware1 also1 that in  
,delaware1 in an old section dependent  
upon fertilization for its crops1 where 
the land is in the hands of a few       
representatives of the old farmer type  
who have held it for generations1 that  
the tillage of the soil shows           
specialization4 ,the landlord and the   
tenant co-operate4 ,the leases1 while   
they are for but a year1 specify how the
 land shall be tilled1 how fertilized4  
,they require the rotation of crops and 
the keeping of a certain number of      
cattle by the tenants4 ,the landlord    
personally oversees the tillage of      
several farms4 ,this seems the beginning
 of husbandry1 instead of exploitation  
of the land4  ,another instance of the  
landlord who is more than a mere        
exploiter is that of ,david ,rankin1    
recently deceased4 ,in the last years of
 his life ,mr4 ,rankin owned about      
thirty thousand acres of land in        
,missouri4 ,it was said in #aiaj that he
 had seventeen thousand acres of corn4  

,he had a genius for estimating the     
values of land1 the expensiveness of    
drainage1 and the possibilities of the  
market4 ,he was an expert buyer of      
cattle1 and a master of the problems    
entering into progressive farming on a  
large scale4  ,from his vast acreage    
,mr4 ,rankin sold not one bushel of     
corn4 ,all his crops went off on four   
legs4 ,he drove his corn to market1 as  
they say in the ,middle ,west4 ,he      
bought cattle from the ranches1 for none
 were bred on his own land4 ,he fattened
 them for the market1 translating corn  
into beef and he was well aware of the  
values of pork in the economy of such a 
farm4 ,nothing went to waste4 ,according
 to the formula in ,nebraska1 ,for every
 cow keep a sow1 that's the how4 ,mr4   
,rankin made large profits from his     
cattle and hogs4  ,it is true that he   
cared nothing for the community or its  
institutions4 ,on his wide acres family 
life was replaced by boarding-houses4   
,schools and churches were closed1 and  

many farmhouses built by the            
homesteaders rotted down to their       
foundations4 ,but ,david ,rankin was a  
husbandman1 if not a humanist4 ,his     
tillage of the soil was successful in   
that it maintained the fertility of the 
soil1 that it produced large quantities 
of food for the consumer1 and that it   
was profitable4  ,the following is a    
description of community life under the 
influence of such great landlords1 by a 
,western observer3--  ,the city of      
,casselton1 ,north ,dakota1 was         
originally started about the year #ahgi4
 ,thirty years ago the first settlers   
came to this great prairie region from  
the ,new ,england and ,central ,states4 
,it was shortly before this or about    
this time that the ,northern ,pacific   
,railroad was built across this western 
prairie4 ,the government gave to the    
road every other section of land on each
 side of the railroad for thirty miles  
as a bonus4 ,that land was sold in the  
early days by the railroad to purchasers

 for fifty cents an acre4 ,it was some  
of the finest farming land in the wide  
world4 ,out of those sales grew some of 
the immense farms that have been so     
famous over the country and while they  
are great business concerns managed with
 fine business ability1 yet they are not
 much of a help in the settling of the  
country4 ,here within one mile of       
,casselton is the famous ,dalrymple farm
 of twenty-eight thousand acres4 ,this  
farm employs during the busy season what
 men it needs from the drifting classes 
and puts no families on its broad acres4
 ,these men are here a short season in  
the summer1 then are gone4 ,they are    
rushed with work for that season1       
,sundays as well as other days from     
early morning to late at night1 making  
it almost impossible to touch their     
religious life or even to count them a  
part of the community life4  ,another   
farm is the ,chaffee farm of thirty-five
 thousand acres4 ,mr4 ,chaffee is a     
thorough business man but is a fine     

,christian and places a good family on  
each section of land4 ,he allows no     
,sunday work4 ,has a little city kept up
 in beautiful condition in the center of
 his land where he lives with his clerks
 and immediate helpers4 ,here they have 
a neat little ,congregational church and
 support their own minister4 ,his fine  
influence is felt all over the country4 
,the partners in this farm also have a  
land and loan corporation and also a    
large flour mill in ,casselton which    
employs about twenty-eight men1 running 
day and night during the busy season4   
,there are many farms smaller1 from one 
thousand acres and up4 ,many also of a  
quarter section4 ,casselton was built   
simply as a center for this beautiful   
and rich farming region4 ,it is in the  
center of a strip six miles long and    
twenty-five miles wide which is said to 
be one of the finest sections in the    
land4 ,there are other towns sprung up  
in the same section also4 ,through the  
past thirty years farmers have retired1 

well to do1 and moved into the city4    
,here are now maintained excellent      
schools4  ,in conclusion3 the           
exploitation of farm lands is a process 
with which the church in the country    
cannot deal by persuasion4 ,it is an    
economic condition4 ,they who are       
engaged in this process or are concerned
 in its effects are in so far immune to 
the preacher who ignores or who does not
 understand these economic conditions4  
,their action is conditioned by their   
status4 ,they will infallibly act with  
relation to the church in accordance    
with the motives which arise out of     
their condition4 ,that is1 they will act
 as tenant farmers1 as retired farmers  
or as absentee landlords4 ,they must be 
treated on these terms4 ,their whole    
relation to organized religion will be  
that of the condition in which they live
 and by which they get their daily      
bread4 ,this is a matter independent of 
personal goodness4 ,the church is       
dependent not on personal good          

influences1 but upon the response which 
a man makes in accordance with his      
economic and social character4  ,for    
instance1 in ,wisconsin a church worker 
found that thousands of acres in a      
certain section were owned by a         
,milwaukee capitalist4 ,he found that   
the tenant farmers on these acres were  
poor and struggling for a better living1
 and he could not1 among them1 finance  
an adequate church4 ,he promptly went to
 ,milwaukee and secured five minutes of 
the time and attention of the absentee  
landlord4 ,when he had stated the case  
and the reasons why this large owner    
should give to the country church on his
 acres1 the man promptly said1 ,you have
 stated what ,i never before realized   
and ,i will give you a contribution of  
one hundred dollars per year for that   
church until you hear from me to the    
contrary4  ,in contrast to this there is
 in ,central ,illinois a large estate of
 five thousand acres4 ,the owner lives  
in a distant city and his son tills the 

land4 ,it is known among the neighbors  
that the son has orders to oppose all   
improvements of churches and of schools1
 because there is no money for us in the
 church or the school4  ,it is useless  
to complain of the position in which a  
man is4 ,the minister's duty is to      
utilize him in his own status and to    
enable him to practise the virtues which
 are open to him4 ,the retired farmer   
can become an active and devoted        
evangelist1 preacher or organizer4 ,he  
should be made a leader in the          
intellectual development of the farmer's
 problem of the region4 ,he has leisure 
and intelligence and is often a devout  
man4 ,it is the business of the minister
 to transform this into religious and   
social efficiency4 ,the temperance      
movement in the ,middle ,west has had   
generous and devoted support from the   
retired farmers living in the towns4    
,the families of these one time farmers 
are seeking after culture4 ,the literary
 and aesthetic aspects of the community 

can well be committed to members of     
these families4 ,their value for the    
community is probably in these          
directions4 ,above all it is the        
business of the minister to sympathize  
with the life they are living and to    
enable them to live it to the highest   
advantage4  ,the energies of the church 
should be devoted to the tenant farmer4 
,of this more will be said in another   
place4 ,he also must be treated in      
sympathy with his social and economic   
experience and the religious service    
rendered to him must be the complete    
betterment of his life as he is trying  
to live it4 ,he is not a sinner because 
he is a tenant and what he does as a    
tenant is therefore not a misdemeanor1  
but a normal reaction upon life4 ,the   
church can help him in purging his life 
from the iniquities peculiar to a tenant
 and a dependent4 ,the noblest motives  
must be brought out and the life he is  
to live should be given its own ideals4 
,above all the period of exploitation   

must be understood by the teacher and   
the preacher to be a preparation1 a     
transition through which country people 
are coming to organized and scientific  
agriculture4 ,gradually the influence of
 science and the leadership of the      
departments and colleges of agriculture 
are being extended in the country4      
,little by little1 whether through      
landlord or tenant1 farming is becoming 
a profession requiring brains1 science  
and trained intelligence4 ,the country  
church should promote this process      
because only through its maturity can   
the country church in the average       
community find its own establishment4   
,the reconstruction of the churches now 
going on corresponds to the exploitation
 of the land4 ,the duty of the church in
 the process of exploitation is to build
 the community and to make itself the   
center of the growing scientific        
industry on which the country community 
in the future will be founded4  ,the    
religion of the exploiter moves in the  

giving of money4 ,consecration of his   
wealth is consecration of his world and 
of himself4 ,the church that would save 
him must teach him to give4 ,his sins   
are those of greed1 his virtues are     
those of benevolence4 ,his own type1 not
 the least worthy among men1 should be  
honored in his religion4 ,no man's      
conversion ever makes him depart from   
his type1 but be true to his type4      
,therefore the religion for the         
exploiter of land is a religion of      
giving1 to the poor at his door1 to the 
ignorant in this land1 and to the needy 
of all lands4  ,,footnotes3  ,footnote  
#g3 ,the ,conservation of ,natural      
,resources in the ,united ,states1 by   
,van ,hise4  ,footnote #h3 ,j4 ,b4      
,ross--,agrarian ,changes in the ,middle
 ,west4  ,footnote #i3 ,secretary of    
,agriculture1 ,james ,wilson at the     
,united ,states ,land and ,irrigation   
,exposition1 ,chicago1 ,nov4 #ai1 #aiaj4
  ,footnote #aj3 ,the ,rural ,life      
,problem in the ,united ,states1 by ,sir

 ,horace ,plunkett4  ,footnote #aa3     
,dean ,chas4 ,f4 ,curtiss1 ,state       
,college of ,iowa4     ,,iv  ,,the      
,,husbandman   ,the scientific farmer is
 dependent upon the world economy4 ,he  
is the local representative of          
agriculture1 whose organization is      
national and even international4 ,he    
raises cotton in ,georgia1 but he makes 
milk in ,orange ,county1 ,new ,york1    
because the market and the soil and the 
climate and other conditions require of 
him this crop4  ,he is dependent upon   
the college of agriculture for the      
methods by which he can survive as a    
farmer4 ,tradition1 which dominated the 
agriculture of a former period1 is a    
disappearing factor in husbandry of the 
soil4 ,the changes in market conditions 
are such as to impoverish the farmer who
 learns only from the past4 ,tradition  
could teach the farmer how to raise the 
raw materials1 under the old economy1 in
 which the farmhouse and community were 
sufficient unto themselves4 ,but in a   

time when the wool of the sheep in      
,australia goes halfway round the world 
in its passage from the back of a sheep 
to the back of a man1 the sheep farmer  
becomes dependent upon the scientist4   
,he cannot afford to raise sheep unless 
the scientific man assures him that in  
the production of wool his land has its 
highest utility4 ,the ,american farm    
land is passing into the hands of those 
who will use it to the highest          
advantage4#ab  ,the dependence of the   
scientific farmer or husbandman upon the
 world market and upon the scientists   
who are studying agriculture enlarges   
the circle of his life from the rural   
household to the rural community4 ,in   
the rural community agriculture can be  
taught2 in the household it cannot4 ,the
 only teaching of the household is      
tradition2 the teaching of the community
 is in terms of science4 ,the country   
school and the country church take a    
greater place as community institutions 
just so soon as the farmer passes out of

 the period of exploitation into that of
 scientific husbandry4  ,the husbandman 
is the economist in agriculture4 ,he is 
to the farm what the husband was to the 
household in old times4 ,one is tempted 
to say also that the husbandman is he   
who marries the land4 ,american farm    
land has suffered dishonor and          
degradation1 but it has known all too   
little the affection which could be     
figuratively expressed in marriage4 ,the
 ,bible speaks of marrying the          
land4--,thy land shall be called ,beulah
 for thy land shall be married4 ,side by
 side in this country we have the lands 
which have been dishonored1 degraded1   
abandoned1 dissolute1 and the lands     
husbanded1 fertilized1 enriched and made
 beautiful4  ,the husbandman or rural   
economist cares more for qualities than 
for quantity4 ,he works not merely for  
intensive cultivation of the soil1 but  
also for the preservation of the soil   
and use of it in its own terms1 at its  
highest values4  ,the principle at work 

is not the increase in the farmer's     
material gains or possessions4 ,the     
husbandry of the soil is not a mere     
increase in market values4 ,it is a     
deeper and more ethical welfare than    
that which can be put in the bank4      
,agriculture is a religious occupation4 
,when it sustains a permanent population
 and extends from generation to         
generation the same experiences1        
agriculture is productive in the highest
 degree of moral and religious values4  
,in the words of ,director ,l4 ,h4      
,bailey1 of ,cornell1 ,the land is holy4
  ,this is especially true at the       
present time1 when the land is limited  
in amount4 ,already the whole nation is 
dependent upon the farmer in the degree 
intimated by the statement of ,dean     
,bailey4 ,the census of #aijj showed    
approximately one-third of our people on
 farms or closely connected with farms1 
as against something like nine-tenths1 a
 hundred years previous4 ,it is doubtful
 whether we have struck bottom1 although

 the rural exodus may have gone too far 
in some regions1 and we may not         
permanently strike bottom for sometime  
to come4#ac  ,the service of the few to 
the many1 therefore1 is the present     
status of the husbandman4 ,the very fact
 that one-third of the people must feed 
all the people imposes religious and    
ethical conditions upon the farmer4 ,the
 dependence of the greater number for   
their welfare upon those who are to till
 the soil brings that obligation1 which 
the farmer is well constituted to bear  
and to which his serious spirit gives   
response4  ,this means that with the    
growing consciousness of the need of    
scientific agriculture there will arise1
 indeed is now arising1 a new ethical   
and religious feeling among country     
people4 ,the church which is made up of 
scientific farmers is a new type of     
church4  ,a notable testimony to the    
influence of the church in developing   
husbandry is by ,sir ,horace            
,plunkett1#ad who testifies to the      

religious influence that led to the     
agrarian revolution in ,denmark4  ,my   
friends and ,i have been deeply         
impressed by the educational experience 
of ,denmark1 where the people1 who are  
as much dependent on agriculture as are 
the ,irish1 have brought it by means of 
organization to a more genuine success  
than it has attained anywhere else in   
,europe4 ,yet an inquirer will at once  
discover that it is to the ',high       
,school' founded by ,bishop ,grundtvig1 
and not to the agricultural schools1    
which are also excellent1 that the      
extraordinary national progress is      
mainly due4 ,a friend of mine who was   
studying the ,danish system of state aid
 to agriculture1 found this to be the   
opinion of the ,danes of all classes1   
and was astounded at the achievements of
 the associations of farmers not only in
 the manufacture of butter1 but in a far
 more difficult undertaking1 the        
manufacture of bacon in large factories 
equipped with all the most modern       

machinery and appliances which science  
had devised for the production of the   
finished article4 ,he at first concluded
 that this success in a highly technical
 industry by bodies of farmers indicated
 a very perfect system of technical     
education4 ,but he soon found another   
cause4 ,as one of the leading educators 
and agriculturists of the country put it
 to him3 ',it's not technical           
instruction1 it's the humanities4' ,i   
would like to add that it is also1 if ,i
 may coin a term1 the 'nationalities1'  
for nothing is more evident to the      
student of ,danish education or1 ,i     
might add1 of the excellent system of   
the ,christian ,brothers in ,ireland1   
than that one of the secrets of their   
success is to be found in their national
 basis and their foundation upon the    
history and literature of the country4  
,every observer of these ,danish ,folk  
,high ,schools testifies to their       
religious enthusiasm1 their patriotism  
and above all to the songs with which   

their lecture hours are begun and ended4
 ,a graduate of these schools living for
 years in ,america1 the mother of       
children then entering college1 said1   
,those songs helped me over the hardest 
period of my life4 ,i can always sing   
myself happy with them4 ,the spirit     
which pervades the schools was          
influential in ,danish agriculture1 as  
expressed in the title of ,grundtvig's  
best known hymn1 ,the ,country ,church  
,bells4 ,under such an influence as this
 has the agricultural life of ,denmark  
taken the lead over its urban and       
manufacturing life4  ,the modifying     
influence of husbandry upon the church  
and its teaching is illustrated in the  
following incident4 ,a farmer in        
,missouri had a good stand of corn which
 promised all through the summer to     
produce an excellent crop4 ,abundance of
 sun and rain favored the farmer's hope 
that his returns would be large1 but in 
the fall the crop proved a failure4 ,the
 farmer at once cast about for the cause

 of this disappointment4 ,he had his    
soil analyzed by a scientist and        
discovered that it was deficient in     
nitrogen4 ,the next year he devoted to  
supplying this lack in the soil and in  
the year following had an abundant      
return in corn4 ,now that experience    
turned me away1 said he1 from the       
country church1 because the teaching of 
the country church as ,i had been       
accustomed to it was out of harmony with
 the study of the situation and the     
conquest over nature4 ,i had been taught
 in the country church to surrender     
under such conditions to the will of    
,providence4 ,the country church of the 
husbandman must therefore be a church in
 harmony with the tillage of the soil by
 science4 ,like the farm households     
about it1 the church will possess a     
large wealth of tradition1 but the      
church of the scientific farmer must be 
open to the teachings of science and    
must be responsive1 intelligent and     
alert in the intellectual leadership of 

the people4  ,a church of this sort is  
at ,west ,nottingham1 ,maryland4 ,the   
minister ,rev4 ,samuel ,polk1 had been  
discouraged by the inattention of his   
people to his message4 ,he had come to  
feel that this is an unbelieving age and
 had surrendered himself to the         
steadfast performance of his duties1 the
 preaching of the truth faithfully and  
the ministry to his people so far as    
they would receive it4 ,in addition he  
had the task of tilling forty acres of  
land which belongs to the church4 ,this 
he was doing faithfully1 but without    
much intelligent interest4  ,an address 
on the country church in an agricultural
 college sent him home with new ideas4  
,he saw that his life as a farmer and as
 a preacher had to be made one4 ,he     
determined to preach to farmers and to  
till his land as an example of          
,christian husbandry4 ,he began as a    
scholar by studying the scientific use  
of his land4 ,he found at once that the 
farmers about him were forced to study  

the tillage of their soil1 because it   
had been exhausted of fertility by      
methods of farming no longer profitable4
 ,in the first year the preacher raised1
 by means of a dust mulch through a dry 
summer1 a crop of one hundred and       
seventy-five bushels of potatoes4       
,meantime his preaching had been        
enlivened with new illustrations and he 
was enabled to enforce1 to the amazement
 of his hearers1 new impressions with   
old truths4 ,the ,scripture teaching    
which had become dull and scholastic    
became live and modern1 as he preached  
the ,old ,testament to a people who were
 recognizing the sacredness of land4    
,his audiences began to increase4 ,his  
influence on his people very shortly    
passed bounds and reserves4 ,when at the
 end of the season his potato crop came 
in1 the farmers gave sign of recognizing
 his leadership as a farmer and as a    
preacher4 ,within a year this man had   
taken a place as a first citizen1 which 
no one else in the community could hold4

 ,because he was a preacher he could    
become the leading authority upon       
farming and because he must needs be a  
farmer he found it possible to preach   
with greater acceptance4  ,this pastor  
gave up the methods of bookish          
preparation for preaching4 ,he preached 
as the ,old ,testament men did1 to the  
occasion and to the event4 ,he spoke to 
the community as being a man himself    
immersed in the same life as theirs4 ,on
 a recent occasion when a woman was very
 sick in one of the farm houses and had 
suffered from the neglect of her        
neighbors1 his sermon consisted of an   
appeal to visit the sick4 ,that         
afternoon the invalid was called on by  
thirty-eight people and sent a message  
before night1 begging the minister to   
hold the people back4  ,there are a few 
ministers throughout the country who are
 successful farmers4 ,many ministers are
 speculators in farm land4 ,they belong 
in the exploiter class4 ,one more       
instance should be given of the preacher

 who promotes agriculture4 ,in a recent 
discussion the writer was asked1 ,do you
 then believe that the minister should  
attend the agricultural college1 and he 
replied1 ,no4 ,the agricultural college 
should be brought to the country church4
  ,at ,bellona1 ,new ,york1 the         
ministers of two churches1 ,methodist   
and ,presbyterian1 united with their    
officers in a farmers' club1 to which   
others were admitted4 ,this club under  
the leadership of ,rev4 ,t4 ,maxwell    
,morrison1 makes the nucleus of its work
 the study of the agriculture of the    
neighborhood and the improvement of it4 
,lecturers from ,cornell ,university are
 brought throughout the year into the   
country community to take up in         
succession the various aspects of       
farming which may be improved4 ,the     
market is studied1 by chemical analysis 
the nature of the soil is determined1   
and the possibilities of the community  
are raised to their highest value by    
careful investigation4  ,this farmers'  

club has social features as well4 ,other
 topics besides farming are occasionally
 studied but the business of the club is
 economic promotion of the well-being of
 the community4 ,incidentally1 it has   
furnished a social center for the       
countryside4 ,the churches which have   
had to do with it have been enlarged1   
their membership extended and even their
 gifts to foreign missions have been    
increased in the period of growth of the
 farmers' club4  ,the elements of       
permanent cultivation of the soil are   
found in greater numbers among the      
,mormons1 ,scotch ,irish ,presbyterians1
 ,pennsylvania ,germans1 who are the    
best ,american agriculturists1 than     
among the more unstable populations of  
farmers4 ,those elements1 however1 are1 
simply speaking1 the following4  ,a     
certain austerity of life always        
accompanies successful and permanent    
agriculture4 ,by this is meant a fixed  
relation between production and         
consumption4#ae ,successful tillers of  

the soil labor to produce an abundant   
harvest4 ,they live at the same time in 
a meager and sparing manner4 ,production
 is with them raised to its highest     
power and consumption is reduced to its 
lowest4 ,this means austere living4     
,such communities are found among the   
,scotch ,irish farmers4 ,lancaster      
,county1 ,pennsylvania1 is peopled with 
them and their tillage of the soil has  
continued through two centuries4  ,a    
notable illustration is in ,illinois4   
,the permanence of the conditions of    
country life in this community is       
indicated by the long pastorate of the  
minister who has just retired4 ,coming  
to the church at forty-eight years of   
age1 after other men have ceased from   
zealous service1 he ministered forty-two
 years to this parish of farmers1 and   
has recently retired at the age of      
ninety1 leaving the church in ideal     
condition4 ,the ,middle ,creek ,church  
is distinctly a country charge1 located 
in the ,southwest corner of ,winnebago  

,township1 of the ,county of ,winnebago4
  ,the church was organized in ,june1   
#ahee1 in a stone schoolhouse4 ,the     
present house of worship was erected and
 dedicated in #ahfa4 ,five ministers    
served the church as supplies until     
#ahfe1 when the ,rev4 ,j4 ,s4 ,braddock1
 ,d4 ,d41 became the pastor and carried 
on a splendid work for forty-two years1 
when he laid down his pastorate in      
#aijg1 at the age of ninety4  ,this     
community was settled by homesteaders   
and pioneers in the early days of the   
,west4 ,many of them came from          
,pennsylvania and some of them were of  
,scotch descent4 ,the history of the    
community has been but the history of   
the development of a fertile ,western   
,prairie country4 ,it was settled by    
strong ,presbyterian men1 and their     
descendants are now the backbone of the 
community4 ,there has been little       
change1 but steady growth4  ,the second 
element in the community of husbandmen  
is mutual support4 ,professor ,gillin of

 the ,university of ,iowa has described 
to me the community of ,dunkers whom he 
has studied1#af being deeply impressed  
with their communal solidarity4         
,whenever a farm is for sale these      
farmers at the meeting-house confer and 
decide at once upon a buyer within their
 own religious fellowship4 ,in the week 
following the minister or a church      
member writes back to ,pennsylvania and 
the correspondence is pressed1 until a  
family comes out from the older         
settlements in the ,keystone ,state to  
purchase this farm in ,iowa and to      
extend the colony of his fellow         
,dunkers4 ,reference is made elsewhere  
to the communal support given to their  
own members who suffer economic         
hardship4 ,the serious tillage of the   
soil necessarily involves mutual support
 and the husbandman's life is in his    
community4  ,the third factor in        
communal husbandry is progress4         
,everyone testifies to the leadership of
 the best families in the transformation

 of the older modes of the tillage of   
the soil to the newer4 ,it is impossible
 for the scientific agriculturist to    
make much improvement upon a country    
community until the more progressive    
spirits and the more open minds have    
been enlisted4 ,thereafter the better   
farming problem is solved4 ,there can be
 no modern agriculture in a community in
 which all are equal4 ,the communities  
of husbandmen will be as sharply        
differenced from one another1 so far as 
,i can see1 as men are in the great     
cities4 ,leadership is the essential of 
progress4 ,gabriel ,tard has clearly    
demonstrated that only those who are at 
the top of the social scale can initiate
 social and economic enterprises4 ,the  
cultivation of the soil for generations 
to come must be highly progressive4 ,to 
recover what we have lost and to restore
 what has been wasted will exhaust the  
resources of science and will tax the   
intelligence of the leaders among       
husbandmen4  ,for this reason the       

ministers1 teachers1 and social workers 
in the country should be not            
discouraged1 but hopeful1 when          
confronted with rural landlords and     
capitalists4 ,the business of the       
community leader is to enlist in the    
common task those persons whose         
privileges are superior and inspire them
 with a progressive spirit4 ,without    
their leadership the community cannot   
progress4 ,without their privileges1    
wealth and superior education1 no       
progress is possible in the country4    
,if these pages tell the truth1 then    
agriculture is a mode of life fertile in
 religious and ethical values4 ,but it  
must be husbandry1 not exploitation4    
,religious farming is a lifelong        
agriculture1 indeed it involves         
generations1 and its serious1 devoted   
spirit waits for the reward1 which was  
planted by the diligent father or       
grandfather1 to be reaped by the son or 
grandson4 ,men will not so consecrate   
themselves to their children's good     

without the steadying influence of      
religion4 ,so that agriculture and      
religion are each the cause1 and each   
the effect1 of the other4  ,if this is  
true1 then the country church should    
promote the husbandry of the soil4 ,the 
agricultural college should be brought  
into the country parish1 for the        
church's sake4 ,indeed the minister     
would do well if his scholarship be the 
learning of the husbandman4 ,no other   
science has such religious values4 ,no  
other books have such immediate relation
 to the well-being of the people4 ,the  
minister is not ashamed to teach ,greek1
 or ,latin1--dead languages4 ,why should
 he think it beneath him to teach the   
farmer how to farm1 provided he can     
teach the farmer anything8 ,if he be a  
true scholar1 the farmer1 who is a      
practical man1 needs his learned        
co-operation in the most religious of   
occupations1 that the land may be holy4 
,,footnotes3  ,footnote #ab3 ,rural     
,economics1 by ,prof4 ,thos4 ,nixon     

,carver4  ,footnote #ac3 ,the           
,country-,life ,movement1 by ,l4 ,h4    
,bailey4  ,footnote #ad3 ,ireland in the
 ,new ,century1 by ,sir ,horace         
,plunkett4  ,footnote #ae3 ,professor   
,thomas ,nixon ,carver4  ,footnote #af3 
,see ,chapter ,v4     ,v  ,,exceptional 
,,communities   ,most of this volume is 
devoted to the average conditions which 
prevail throughout the ,united ,states4 
,the attempt is made to deal with those 
causes which are generally operative4   
,it is the writer's opinion that the    
causes dealt with in other chapters are 
the prevailing causes of religious and  
social experience in the most of the    
,united ,states4 ,as soon as the        
community1 after its early settlement1  
becomes mature1 these causes show the   
effects here described4 ,but there are  
exceptions which should be noted and the
 cause of their different life made     
clear4 ,these exceptions are represented
 in the ,mormons1 the ,scottish         
,presbyterians and the ,pennsylvania    

,germans4  ,the best farmers in the     
country are the ,mormons1 the ,scotch   
,presbyterians and ,pennsylvania        
,germans4 ,this sentence expresses a    
general observation of ,prof4 ,carver of
 ,harvard1 speaking as an economist4    
,the churches among these three classes 
of exceptionally prosperous farmers show
 great tenacity and are free from the   
weakness which otherwise prevails in the
 country church4 ,there is a group of   
causes underlying this exceptional      
character of the three classes of       
farmers4  ,these exceptional farmers are
 organized in the interest of           
agriculture4 ,the ,mormons represent    
this organization in the highest degree4
 ,perhaps no other so large or so       
powerful a body of united farmers is    
found in the whole country4 ,they have  
approached the economic questions of    
farming with determination to till the  
soil4 ,they distrust city life and      
condemn it4 ,they teach their children  
and they discipline themselves to love  

the country1 to appreciate its          
advantages and to recognize that their  
own welfare is bound up in their success
 as farmers1 and in the continuance of  
their farming communities4 ,this        
agricultural organization centers about 
their country churches4 ,they have      
turned the force of religion into a     
community making power1 and from the    
highest to the lowest of their church   
officers the ,mormon people are devoted 
to agriculture as a mode of living4     
,this principle of organizing the       
community consciously for agriculture   
results in the second condition of the  
life of these three exceptional peoples4
  ,they build agricultural communities4 
,the ,mormons are organized by an idea  
and by the power of leadership4 ,they   
have recruited their population through 
preachers and missionaries4 ,this new   
population is woven at once into the    
fabric of the community4 ,they are not  
merely employed in the community3 they  
are married to the community4 ,the      

organization on which the ,mormon       
community is based becomes embodied at  
once in a society1 with its own modes of
 religious1 family1 and moral feeling   
and thought4  ,these two principles are 
discovered in the ,pennsylvania         
,germans4 ,for more than two centuries  
they have continued their settlements in
 ,pennsylvania4 ,they are today a chain 
of societies loosely related to one     
another through religious sympathy and a
 common tradition1 but united only in   
the possession of certain               
characteristics4 ,they also are an      
organization for agricultural life1     
though not so consciously organized as  
the ,mormons4 ,their societies are older
 and they have replaced with instinctive
 processes that which is among the      
,mormons a matter of logic and shrewd   
application of principles4  ,the life of
 the ,pennsylvania ,germans is expressed
 in the community4 ,they have as much   
aversion to other people as they have   
fondness for their own4 ,their religion 

consists of a set of customs in which to
 them the character of the ,christian is
 embodied4 ,these customs can be        
expressed and embodied only in the life 
of common people working on the land4   
,they make plainness1 industry1 and     
patience1 austerity of life and other   
agricultural virtues constitute         
sanctity4 ,it is impossible to believe  
sincerely in their mode of life and not 
be a farmer4 ,it is easy to believe the 
,pennsylvania ,germans' code1 if one is 
a farmer1 and it is profitable as well4 
,the ,scotch and the ,scotch ,irish     
,presbyterians represent a third        
principle of agricultural success4      
,their churches are tenacious and their 
country communities outlive those of the
 average type4 ,in them is represented  
in the highest degree the principle of  
austerity4 ,by this ,i mean1 as defined 
by an economist1 the custom of living so
 as to produce much and consume little4 
,these people look upon life with       
severity4 ,they have little sympathy    

with the expansive and exuberant life of
 the young4 ,the men of the community1  
who are the producers1 occupy a         
relatively greater position than the    
women1 who are the consumers4 ,they     
exemplify to a slight degree the        
conscious organization for agriculture1 
and in a high degree the resultant      
social life which we have noted among   
the ,mormons and the ,pennsylvania      
,germans2 but to the highest degree the 
,scottish ,presbyterians represent this 
self-denial and rigidity of life--which 
appears in the others also--and they    
embody it in their creed4 ,this         
austerity gives to them a forbidding    
character1 and robs them of some of the 
esthetic interest attaching to the other
 two1 but it is possible that they are  
more nearly the ideal type of ,american 
farmer because of certain other traits  
possessed by them4  ,the ,scotch farmer 
has not in the ,united ,states settled  
in communities or colonies1 as he has in
 ,canada1 but the typical farming       

community of this stock is ,scotch      
,irish4 ,as ,prof4 ,r4 ,e4 ,thompson has
 shown1#ag the emigrants from the ,north
 of ,ireland1 who are themselves of     
,scotch extraction1 have colonized      
extensively4 ,that is1 they have settled
 their populations so as to cover a     
territory and possess it for themselves4
 ,but the ,scotch1 from whom they derive
 many characteristics1 have settled no  
colony in the world except in the ,north
 of ,ireland4#ah ,the peculiarity of    
these ,scotch ,irish farming            
settlements1 as shown especially in     
,pennsylvania1 is their capacity to     
produce leaders in sympathy with the    
whole of ,american life4 ,the ,mormons  
produce leaders1 but their influence is 
compromised by religious prejudices4    
,the ,pennsylvania ,germans have        
produced no leaders whom they can call  
their own1 and very few writers or      
educators4 ,the ,scotch ,irish1 on the  
other hand1 considered as farmers1 have 
contributed an extraordinary proportion 

of the leadership of the ,united        
,states4 ,they have been able to        
maintain their own communities in the   
country and to find for these           
communities a sufficient leadership1 and
 they have sent forth into the general  
population a multitude of men for       
leadership in the army1 in the          
legislatures1 in the colleges and       
universities1 and above all1 in the     
pulpit4  ,in these three types of       
successful farmers religion is an       
essential factor4 ,no history can be    
written of the ,mormons1 of the         
,pennsylvania ,dutch or of the ,scotch  
,presbyterian without recording their   
religious devotion1 their obedience to  
leaders1 to customs and to creed4 ,one  
cannot live among them without feeling  
the peculiar religious atmosphere which 
belongs to each of them4 ,they are      
admirable or obnoxious1 according as one
 likes or dislikes this religious       
character of theirs1 but it pervades the
 whole life of the community4 ,if it be 

true that there is no type of           
farmer--except the scientific farmer of 
the past few years--who has succeeded as
 these three types have succeeded1 and  
there is no country community so        
tenacious as their communities are1 and 
if it be true that these farmers more   
uniformly than other farmers are        
religiously organized1 then it follows  
that there is an essential relation so  
far as ,american agriculture goes1      
between successful and permanent        
agriculture and a religious life4 ,the  
country church becomes the expression of
 a permanent and abiding rural          
prosperity4 ,agriculture is shown by its
 very nature to require a religious     
motive4 ,an element of piety appears to 
be necessary in the makeup of the       
successful farmer4  ,in these three     
types of successful farmer there appears
 another principle which is common to   
them all4 ,they are not only organized  
for farming1 but they are organized as a
 mutual prosperity association1 based on

 their consciousness of kind4 ,prof4    
,gillin has called attention to the     
habit of the ,dunkers in ,iowa1 who are 
of the ,pennsylvania ,german sects1 by  
which they extend their farming         
communities4  ,the thing that is needed 
is to make the church the center of the 
social life of the community4 ,that is  
easier where there is but one church    
than where there are several1 but       
federation is not essential4 ,thought   
must be taken by the leaders to make the
 church central in every interest of    
life4 ,i know of a community where that 
has been done4 ,it is the community     
located south of ,waterloo1 ,ia41 in    
,orange ,township4 ,it is composed of an
 up-to-date community of ,pennsylvania  
,dutch ,dunkers4 ,from the very first   
they have made the church central4 ,when
 these great changes of which ,i have   
spoken began to occur1 the leaders of   
that community began to take measures to
 checkmate the attractions of the towns 
for their young people4 ,for example1   

,fourth of ,july was made a day of      
celebration at the church4 ,when the    
people of other communities were        
flocking to town by hundreds1 the youth 
of that community were gathering1 in    
response to plans well thought out      
beforehand1 to the church grounds where 
patriotic songs were sung1 games were   
played1 a picnic dinner was served1 and 
a general good time was provided for the
 young4 ,they have also arranged that   
their young people have a place to come 
to on ,sunday nights where they can meet
 their friends4 ,the elders look to it  
that provisions are made for the        
gatherings of the young people on       
,sunday so that they shall 'have a good 
time1' with due arrangements for the    
boys and girls to get together under    
proper conditions for their love-making4
 ,even their church 'love feasts' held  
twice a year1 are also neighborhood     
gatherings for the young people4 ,the   
church is the center of everything4 ,is 
a farmers' institute to be held in the  

community1 or a teachers' institute8    
,the church until very recently was open
 to it4 ,is a farm to rent or for sale8 
,at once the leaders get busy with the  
mail1 and soon a family from the ,east  
is on their way to take it4 ,this       
country church has not remained strong  
and dominant in the country just by     
accident or even by federation4 ,it has 
survived because it had wise leaders who
 have met the changes with new devices  
to attract the interest of the community
 and make the church serve the community
 in all its affairs1 but especially on  
the social side4 ,such thought takes    
account of the 'marginal man' too4 ,the 
hired man and the hired girl1 the       
foreigner and the tramp are welcome     
there4 ,no difference is made4 ,there is
 pure democracy4 ,with the growth of the
 class spirit ,i do not know how that   
can survive4 ,these hirelings are not   
talked down to2 they are considered one 
with the rest4 ,they will some day get  
enough to buy a farm and become leaders 

in the community1 perhaps4 ,the church  
is theirs as much as anyone's else4 ,it 
looks after their interest1 not only for
 the hereafter1 but here and now4 ,under
 its fostering care they form their life
 attachments1 it provides for their     
social pleasures1 it is the center to   
which they come to discuss their farming
 affairs or whatever interests them4    
,and in spite of the fact that the      
preaching has little contact with life  
and its interests1 so strong is the     
social spirit that the preaching can be 
left out of account4 ,what could be     
accomplished were the preaching as      
consciously directed to forwarding the  
social interests of the community one   
can only speculate4#ai  ,thus they work 
for the propagation and extension of    
their own community4 ,the ,scotch       
,presbyterians in like manner favor     
their own kindred and their kindred in  
the faith1 though1 ,i think1 in a lesser
 degree4 ,the ,mormons are consolidated 
both by formal organization and by      

instinctive preference for their own in 
a multitude of co-operating habits1     
through which they build up their       
communities and contend with one another
 against their economic and religious   
opponents4 ,it is not enough to say that
 this is clannishness2 it is a mingling 
of kinship and religious preferences4   
,it constitutes the strongest form of   
agricultural co-operation to be found in
 the ,united ,states4  ,a ,quaker       
community represents ideal community    
life4 ,there is none poor4 ,the margin  
of the community is well cared for by   
the conscious and deliberate service of 
the central and leading spirits in the  
community4  ,at ,quaker ,hill1 ,new     
,york1 there has been for almost two    
centuries a community of ,friends4 ,the 
,meeting has now been laid down but the 
customs and manners by which these      
peculiar people maintain their community
 life have been wrought into the social 
texture of the present population of    
,quaker ,hill4 ,during two centuries    

this community has cared for its own    
members in need4 ,it was not beneath the
 dignity of the ,meeting to raise money 
and purchase a cow1 early in the        
eighteenth century1 to loan to the widow
 ,irish1 and at the close of the        
nineteenth century1 the few ,quakers and
 the many ,irish and other world's      
people took part more than once in      
subscriptions by which the burden was   
borne1 which had fallen upon some       
workingman or poorer neighbor through   
the death of horse or cow1 or even to   
bear the expense incidental to the death
 of his child4  ,these ,quakers         
co-operated in their business life4     
,they made themselves responsible that  
no member of their ,meeting should be   
long in debt4 ,from #agdj for #ajj years
 and more1 the records of the ,meeting  
show that marriage was made impossible  
and other vital experiences were        
forbidden by the ,meeting1 unless the   
individual ,quaker paid his debts and   
maintained his business on a level      

dictated by the common opinion of the   
,quaker body4#bj  ,in #agfg1 ,oblong    
,meeting of ,quaker ,hill1 ,new ,york1  
began the legislative opposition of the 
,society of ,friends to the institution 
of slavery4 ,this great economic        
movement expressed the degree to which  
the ,quaker discipline merged the       
religious life in the economic life4    
,this consolidation of religious and    
economic life was essential in the      
community building of the ,quakers4  ,it
 is surprising to many to discover that 
the ,pennsylvania ,dutch were part of   
the same movement of population which   
brought the ,quakers into ,pennsylvania4
 ,william ,penn spoke ,german as well as
 ,english4 ,his mother was a ,german4   
,when he inherited his father's claim   
against the ,british ,crown1 and        
received from ,charles the ,second the  
grant of that extensive territory in    
,america on which he launched his ,holy 
,experiment1 he began to advertise and  
to seek for settlers on the ,continent  

as well as in ,england4  ,william ,penn 
was a ,quaker1 and on the ,continent he 
found immediate response in the greatest
 number of cases among the various      
branches of ,mennonites1 ,anabaptist1   
and other sects1 who shared a common    
group of beliefs and experienced at this
 time a common persecution4 ,william    
,penn1 therefore1 reaped a harvest of   
responses in the territory between the  
mouth of the ,rhine and the ,alps4 ,his 
proposal made its own selection1 and    
brought to ,america a population        
calculated like the ,quaker population  
for the building of communities4 ,the   
largest single contribution was made by 
the ,palatinates1 who were at that      
period undergoing extreme persecution4  
,the communities founded within the     
first century after the opening of      
,pennsylvania have remained to the      
present day1 and the earliest           
establishments of ,mennonites and       
,quaker communities in ,pennsylvania    
have been duplicated in the westward    

stream of immigration1 especially in    
,ohio and in ,iowa4 ,these people are   
roughly called the ,pennsylvania ,dutch4
 ,even when one meets them in ,michigan1
 ,iowa or ,minnesota1 this name clings  
to them1 and the form of social         
organization which they elaborated in   
,eastern ,pennsylvania still persists4  
,this social organization has varying   
characteristics4 ,it is somewhat        
difficult to analyze the intricate      
windings and entanglements of doctrinal 
and practical belief in custom among the
 ,mennonites1 ,amish and ,dunkers4 ,old 
school and new school have been formed  
in almost every one of these sects4     
,eccentric and peculiar principles of   
belief in organization have formed the  
lesser and the least permanent groups2  
but there is a common principle in them 
all4 ,their ability to form communities 
in the midst of hostile populations and 
adverse conditions has been due to the  
co-operation between their religious and
 their economic habits4  ,the           

,pennsylvania ,dutch have simple        
doctrinal characteristics4 ,they have   
never worked out in detail the logic of 
their beliefs4 ,they put the weight of  
their organization upon practical       
customs1 as the ,quakers did4 ,in some  
cases1 this applied to clothing2 in some
 or all of these sects to the manner of 
speech2 to family customs2 but1 the one 
peculiar principle in it all1 which has 
been vital to the success1 to the       
persistence1 to the wide extension of   
these sectarian groups has been that the
 religious life has penetrated the      
economic life4 ,they have not permitted 
members of their community to be poor4  
,they have turned the attention of their
 religious sympathies to the economic   
margin of the community4 ,they have     
enforced the payment of debts1 and they 
have governed and controlled marriage   
conditions4 ,by subtle enforcement of   
custom having the power of laws1 they   
have governed the community in its vital
 relations1 and perfected the system by 

which the poorest man shall make his    
living and by which the richest man     
shall make his fortune4  ,recently1 ,i  
was in ,lancaster1 ,penn41 and passing  
through a market ,i was told by a       
resident that all the truck farming of  
the market for that city had come into  
the hands of the ,amish1 and my friend  
added1 ,if you go at an early hour to   
buy1 and ask the price of certain       
vegetables1 you will probably be told1  
',we do not know the price yet2 we will 
have to wait until all the farmers come 
in4' ,that is1 after two hundred and    
more years of living as farmers in this 
section of ,pennsylvania1 these         
sectarians maintain their community     
life1 co-operate in the monopolizing of 
an industry1 and in fixing the price of 
the monopolized product in the markets  
of a ,pennsylvania city4  ,this survey  
of community-building peoples in        
,america may throw light upon the       
recommendations of ,sir ,horace         
,plunkett for the organization of       

country life upon an economic basis4    
,the present writer heartily agrees with
 him that the center of the community   
must be economic4 ,he says that ,better 
business must come first in constructive
 policies for ,american country life1   
but by failing to combine1 ,american and
 ,british farmers persistently disobey  
an accepted law4  ,social division is   
the impending danger which threatens the
 future of the ,american community in   
the country4 ,for if the analysis of    
agricultural success in this chapter is 
correct1 then the farmer is exceedingly 
dependent upon his neighbor1 and the    
permanence of rural populations depends 
upon the social unity of the farmers in 
the community4 ,the highest expression  
of this social unity is in the farmer's 
religion4 ,worship thus becomes a symbol
 of agricultural prosperity4 ,the       
writers and the orators have then truly 
spoken who symbolized the beauty of     
rural life in the church steeple4 ,the  
farmer himself seems to recognize1 in   

the church spire rising above the roofs 
of the hamlet1 the symbol of prosperous 
and satisfactory life in the country4   
,as the tillers of the soil come to the 
necessity of co-operation in the new    
order of life in the country1 as the old
 isolation passes away and the modern   
farmer comes to recognize his necessary 
dependence upon other farmers in the    
community1 a common place of worship    
will become necessary to the community4 
,one church will of necessity express   
the life of the community and the       
periodic meeting of all the people in   
one house of worship will be the highest
 and most essential symbol of the       
feeling and the thought and the         
aspirations of that community after true
 prosperity and permanence4  ,the       
purpose of this chapter has been to     
present the general characteristics of  
the most exceptional communities in the 
country4 ,these are ,mormon1 ,scotch    
,presbyterian and ,pennsylvania ,german4
 ,by their very names they indicate     

religious organization of the community 
and birthright membership associations4 
,they are grouped under the one         
principle1 that in them the religious   
organization is an expression of their  
social economy4 ,their social and       
economic life is under the domination of
 their religion4  ,these farmers are    
organized in the interest of            
agriculture4 ,the resultant social life 
constitutes a most intense organization 
in which voluntary and conscious        
combination matures in instinctive union
 embodied in blood relationship1        
neighborliness and economic union4      
,these populations show the             
correspondence between economic and     
religious austerity4 ,thrift takes the  
form of dogmatic repression and finally 
their organization and their            
relationship express themselves in      
organized efforts for the well-being of 
the community4 ,they deliberately as    
well as instinctively co-operate4  ,it  
is the writer's belief that these       

exceptional communities exhibit the     
principles on which ,american life must 
be organized1 if the farmer is to be a  
success1 if his schools are to progress1
 his churches to be maintained1 and if  
the country community is to be a good   
place to live in4 ,none of these        
populations can be imitated4 ,it would  
be impossible for a community to take   
over their modes any more than it could 
imbibe their motives4 ,the study of them
 throws light upon the problem of       
country life in ,america4 ,above all    
things it illustrates the especial union
 of the country church with the social  
economy of the farmer and his household4
 ,it shows that the life of country     
people is co-operative1 that it is      
undermined by division and disunion and 
that in the open country where man is   
least seen his society is most evident4 
,the dependence of each man upon his    
neighbor is increased in modern times by
 the thinning out of the rural          
population and the increased economic   

burden laid upon the farmer4  ,finally1 
the exceptional populations present an  
exceptional victory over economic and   
natural forces4 ,they abolish poverty   
within their own bounds4 ,every one of  
the communities just described turns the
 power of its common organization upon  
the problem of maintaining the lower    
margin of the community4 ,they who are  
in danger of falling behind are         
sustained and carried on4 ,none in these
 communities is permitted to fall into  
pauperism4 ,the workingman without      
capital1 whether he be in their meetings
 or only employed on their farms1 is    
kept from want4 ,the widow with her     
little house and one cow is insured     
against the loss of any feature of her  
small property4 ,this seems to me to be 
the greatest triumph of these           
communities4 ,it is the test1 ,i am     
convinced1 of their organizations and of
 their success4 ,in this they           
demonstrate one of the greatest         
possibilities of country life4 ,they    

show that in the open country it is     
possible for men to live without the    
suffering and degradation of poverty4   
,,footnotes3  ,footnote #ag3 ,history of
 ,american ,presbyterianism1 by ,r4 ,e4 
,thompson4  ,footnote #ah3 ,an exception
 to this statement must be noted1 in the
 ,scotch settlements in ,canada and     
,nova ,scotia4  ,footnote #ai3          
,professor ,john ,l4 ,gillin1 in        
,american ,journal of ,sociology1       
,march1 #aiaa4  ,footnote #bj3 ,quaker  
,hill1 by ,warren ,h4 ,wilson4     ,,vi 
,,getting ,a ,,living   ,the core of a  
community must be economic4 ,the main   
business of life is to get a living4#ba 
,the reason for existence of any        
community is found in the living which  
it supplies its residents4 ,men are     
attracted to a community by the         
increases in their living furnished by  
that community4 ,the first element in   
the getting of a living is the securing 
of daily bread1 shelter1 clothing and   
the satisfaction of physical needs4 ,it 

is a mistake to think of the community  
as beginning in religious               
institutions--narrowly understood--or in
 social gatherings or in educational    
service4 ,the initial human experience  
is the finding of food4  ,but the       
getting of a living is a long process4  
,a living is more than bread1 and a roof
 and a coat4 ,in quest of a living men  
go from the country to the town and from
 the town to the city4 ,they migrate    
from the small city to the large4 ,in   
each of these moves they secure a       
further element in their living4 ,each  
of these communities is characterized by
 the increase which it contributes to   
the living of its citizens1 but in every
 community the initial experience is the
 securing of daily bread1 shelter1      
clothing and material economic gains4   
,whatever is done1 therefore1 for the   
community in a service to all the people
 must have initial concern with the     
purely economic welfare of the people4  
,sir ,horace ,plunkett's book1 ,the     

,rural ,life ,problem of the ,united    
,states1 develops this principle very   
clearly4 ,he shows that in the ,country 
,life ,movement in ,ireland it was      
necessary to go into the very heart of  
the people's aspirations1 and organize  
their economic needs4  ,it is necessary 
to understand the word economic if one  
would read these pages aright4 ,economic
 matters are not those of mere money4   
,the word has a greater meaning than has
 the word finance4 ,it connotes poverty 
as truly as wealth1 and is greater than 
both4 ,the economic motive animates men 
in the quest of those vital             
satisfactions which the individual      
craves1 and the social group requires4  
,professor ,john ,bates ,clark has      
somewhere described this motive as the  
desire to preserve the present status1  
with slight improvement1 for oneself and
 one's children after him2 the desire to
 live on the same economic standard in  
one's own generation2 and to be         
reasonably assured of the same security 

for one's children4 ,this is not the    
desire to get rich1 though in individual
 cases it is changed into a desire for  
wealth4 ,but it is a far more general1  
indeed a universal aspiration1 which    
inspires most of the work of the world4 
,industry is based on it4 ,civilization 
is propelled by it4 ,it is the desire to
 get a living and the quest of a living4
  ,i believe that this economic motive  
is religious4 ,it is the quest of what a
 man has not1 but feels to be his4 ,it  
engages his utmost efforts4 ,it is labor
 for his wife and children and for all  
his group fellows1 and therefore is     
involved in his holiest1 most           
self-forgetting feelings4 ,it takes him 
back to his parents and reminds him     
constantly of his ancestors4 ,he forms  
his ideas of justice in his economic    
experiences4 ,his ultimate conviction as
 to the goodness or the badness of the  
world are the outgrowth of his          
experience in getting a living4         
,therefore his economic life is his     

wrestle with nature and with society4   
,it generates in him all the religion he
 has4  ,i suppose it was for this reason
 that ,jesus said ,i am come that they  
may have life1 and that they may have it
 abundantly4 ,probably his meaning was  
economic1 in part1 in the saying1 ,man  
shall not live by bread alone1 but by   
every word that proceedeth out of the   
mouth of ,god4 ,the quest of a living is
 a satisfaction of successive economic  
wants1 of which bread is but the first4 
,every truth that mankind knows involves
 men in an economic want4 ,education is 
one of the most general wants4 ,it comes
 in the series somewhat later than      
bread4 ,the love of music is an economic
 want1 which comes generally later than 
education4 ,but both are a part of a    
living4 ,i believe that the quest of    
education and the love of music are     
religious1 just as much as the desire   
for daily bread4 ,one might enumerate   
the whole series of economic wants1 to  
satisfy which is to live1 but religion  

is the total of the reflections1 and the
 complex of customs which result from   
the lifelong quest for a living among   
common folk4 ,at its highest it is      
expressed by ,st4 ,augustine1 ,o ,god1  
thou hast made us for thyself1 and our  
souls are not at rest until we find     
ourselves in thee4 ,bread is the first  
economic want1 and ,god is the greatest 
and the last4  ,economic wants among    
common folk are usually the source of   
religious feeling4 ,few people desire to
 be rich2 a lesser number strive to get 
wealth2 and very few attain a fortune4  
,the most of men seek and get a living4 
,the best of men1 and the most          
religious1 are those whose economic     
experience brings them a series of      
satisfactions1 beginning with bread1    
clothing1 shelter1 education in the     
essentials1 music and a little aesthetic
 culture1 and gradually extending into  
higher forms of human enjoyment4 ,the   
simplest religious craving is for       
economic assurance of supply4 ,the ,lord

 is my ,shepherd3 ,i shall not want1 is 
on the most thumbed page of the ,bible4 
,the play of these economic aspirations 
among poor people results in all the    
simpler and most general religious      
feelings4 ,with the rise of the         
aspirations of the individual1 and the  
ideals of the group1 toward higher      
satisfactions1 the religious experiences
 should become nobler1 more refined4    
,the penniless college student who prays
 for an education should be a nobler    
worshipper than the fisherman who asks  
his mud-divinity for a good catch4 ,the 
group of ,oberammergau players who      
present the ,passion ,play1 a highly    
complex satisfaction of wants1 should be
 nobler believers and worshippers than  
herdsmen who out on the hills pray for  
the increase of their flocks and for a  
better price for wool4  ,communities    
differ from one another according to the
 living which they supply1 or the wants 
which they satisfy4 ,modern men will not
 live in a community that does not      

satisfy a pretty long series of wants4  
,for instance1 a graduate of the        
,american common schools will desire    
bread1 clothing1 shelter--all of        
comfortable quality--and education for  
his children better than his own1       
musical enjoyment1 aesthetic culture1   
the possession of some books1 access to 
many magazines and the reading of a     
daily paper2 and varied opportunities   
for the exercise of the play spirit4    
,the country community satisfies1 in    
most of the ,united ,states1 only the   
first of these4 ,it is a place for      
securing food1 clothing and shelter of a
 comfortable sort4 ,country people have 
in the past ten years secured also a    
better supply of reading matter4 ,almost
 all the rest of the series is lacking4 
,the reason for the rural exodus is in  
the most of cases the quest of education
 and of music1 the craving for aesthetic
 culture1 and the desire for recreation4
 ,country towns and small cities        
therefore have come to be centers of    

education1 of amusement and of culture4 
,they are the first step upward on the  
series of economic satisfaction4 ,men   
who have made some money on the farm    
move into town1 for the satisfaction of 
the later wants in the series4  ,none of
 these wants is itself sinful1 for all  
of them make up life4 ,they are the     
steps on the way from bread to ,god4    
,the business of the teacher and        
preacher of religion is to know the     
wants of his people3 study those which  
are satisfied in his community1 and so  
to build the community that for most of 
its people and for the most desirable   
people1 all the vital necessities of    
life shall be satisfied1 in the         
community in which the desire for bread 
is satisfied4 ,the problem of amusement 
exhibits these principles clearly4      
,farming is austere1 and few farming    
communities have recreation adequate to 
the demand of the young people and the  
working people who live on the farms4   
,agriculture is becoming more systematic

 and more exacting in its demands3 and  
systematic work creates a demand for    
organized play4 ,as this demand is not  
satisfied in the country--indeed it is  
less generally satisfied now than in    
former times--the youth and workingman  
from farming communities go to the towns
 and larger villages for amusement4     
,these centers of population have a     
disproportionate burden therefore of    
cheap vaudeville shows1 saloons1        
professional baseball games1 and        
moving-pictures4  ,these amusements are1
 to a degree1 abnormal in character     
because those who enjoy them are away   
from their home community1 and are      
suffering a reaction from pent-up       
desires4 ,just as the lumberman or      
cowboy or sailor when he comes to town  
tears loose and paints the town red1 so1
 in a milder degree1 the farmer's son or
 hired man1 because he has at home no   
recreations supplied by his church or   
school1 patronizes in the town or small 
city a cheaper and nastier theatre than 

one would expect to find either in that 
town1 or in his home community4 ,the    
remedy is to make the country community 
adequate to the wants of those who live 
there4 ,the church should promote       
recreation4 ,the public school should   
supply entertainment of a high standard1
 both to satisfy the play instinct and  
to elevate the youth's ideals of        
amusement4 ,the community which works   
should be dependent on no other         
community for play4  ,common-school     
education is a function which country   
communities have surrendered to the     
centers of population4 ,the one-room    
country school has long been inadequate2
 but the farmer has not improved it1    
preferring to rely upon the town schools
 to which he will remove his family     
after he has made enough money on the   
farm4 ,i am told that about ,crete1     
,nebraska1 a recent census revealed that
 half the normal child population is    
missing from the country districts2 and 
double the normal child population is   

found in ,crete4 ,the quest of adequate 
schooling explains the condition1 which 
speaks ill for the country community of 
,nebraska4  ,in all these cases         
religious service consists in completing
 the community4 ,the supply of wants1   
which are widely and keenly felt1 is a  
religious act4 ,this has been the reason
 for the success of the ,du ,page       
,presbyterian ,church in ,illinois4#bb  
,the minister1 ,mr4 ,mc,nutt1 in a      
religious spirit so well supplied the   
recreative life needed in the community1
 that the community has been made whole4
 ,just as ,jesus made sick or maimed men
 whole1 as a religious act1 so the      
community builder who supplies to       
working farmers something besides labor 
on the land1 is making the community    
whole4  ,the perfecting of the common   
school system in ,mc,nabb1 by ,mr4 ,john
 ,swaney and other ,friends1 and in     
,rock ,creek by ,mr4 ,r4 ,e4 ,bone and  
other ,presbyterians1 was a religious   
act for their communities in ,illinois4 

,the farmers who have money can move to 
the town1 but to complete the country   
community is to satisfy the economic    
wants of the poor4 ,the wants of the    
poor are always of religious value4     
,moreover1 the satisfaction of all wants
 in the community itself is a moral     
gain4 ,if individuals live this life in 
the bounds to which their group and     
family associations are confined1 the   
steadying influence of society is at its
 greatest4 ,jacob ,riis#bc noted among  
immigrants the working of a lower sense 
of obligation due to absence from       
accustomed home associations4           
,communities are compacted of the       
strongest moral bonds4 ,if churches     
would make men righteous they cannot do 
better than to complete the community1  
especially in the country1 as a place to
 live in3 making it a place for         
education as well as profit3 of play as 
well as work1 of worship as well as of  
material comfort4  ,unfortunately       
churches in the country are too often   

recruiting stations for the cities and  
colleges4 ,the ministers are respectable
 pullers-in for the city show4 ,nothing 
rejoices them so much as to help their  
young men and women find a position in  
the city2 unless it be to have a bright 
lad or girl go off to college4 ,when a  
country minister was reminded that all  
these departures weakened the country   
community1 and that very few of them    
benefitted the lad or girl who goes to  
the city1 he replied you cannot blame   
them2 there is nothing here to keep     
them4  ,the rural exodus has had its    
,moses in the rural college student1 its
 ,aaron in the country minister1 and its
 ,miriam in the country school teacher4 
,these three have led a generation out  
of the country to perish in the         
wilderness4 ,for only a pitiful few of  
those who leave the country come to     
prominence in the city4 ,the most gain  
but a poor living there1 and very many  
go to ruin4 ,the church should be the   
savior of the community1 as her ,master 

is of the soul4  ,it seems to me that   
this is done in a church in ,ottumwa1   
,iowa1 of which ,dr4 ,w4 ,h4 ,hormell is
 minister4 ,it is in a stock-yards      
district1 and the daily occupation of   
many of the members is unclean1 of some 
revolting4 ,but the church is a dynamo  
of spiritual forces4 ,it supplies the   
experiences most opposite to those of   
the slaughter-house4 ,a half-dozen      
chapels in surrounding neighborhoods1   
most of them in the country1 are        
outposts of the church1 for each of     
which a superintendent is responsible3  
and thus a man who is an underling at   
the slaughter-house is a leader in the  
quest of eternal life4 ,the whole       
company of workers with the pastor1     
constitute a spiritual cabinet of the   
district4 ,it is not surprising that    
this church fascinates men4 ,the        
minister cannot be persuaded away1 and a
 like devotion pervades his group of    
workers4 ,the intensity of the          
industrial labor is matched by the      

intensity of ,bible study1 prayer and   
evangelism4 ,the degradation and        
repulsion of the leading industry of the
 place are equalled by the unworldly    
nobility and optimism of the leading    
church4 ,this church does not attempt to
 mend the community--which might be     
found impossible--but only to serve the 
community by supplying the satisfaction 
for spiritual wants4  ,according to the 
law of diminishing returns1 the first   
satisfactions of any want have infinite 
value4 ,what does this mean but that    
they have religious value8 ,the first   
drink of water to a famished man calls  
forth a fervent ,thank1 ,god4 ,the first
 book printed is a ,bible4 ,the first   
landing on ,american soil was a solemn  
religious occasion--and still is for the
 immigrant4 ,so the first gains of money
 are of religious value to the poor4    
,the first hundred dollars to a         
mechanic's family is invested in a dozen
 benefits4 ,the first thousand dollars  
which a working farmer saves go into a  

home1 a piano or books1 or an education 
for a child4 ,it is all moral and       
spiritual good4 ,later thousands have   
diminishing moral and spiritual values4 
,most of the churches and homes in      
,america were paid for out of the tithes
 of men and women who owned at the time 
a margin of less than a thousand        
dollars4  ,this is the reason for the   
religious character of economic life4   
,the most of people spend their lives   
with less than a thousand dollars4 ,they
 are poor1 and money does them good1 not
 harm4 ,they need to know how to use it4
 ,but the getting of their living is a  
process prolific in religious feeling1  
because economic matters have to them   
the infinite value of first             
satisfactions of all the simplest wants 
of life4  ,the salvation of the         
community will be accomplished in       
satisfying the higher wants of those    
whose lower wants are satisfied4 ,for   
those who have made money supply        
schools2 for those who work supply      

recreation2 for the sick hospitals2 for 
the invalid build sanitariums2 and for  
all men supply social life1 the greatest
 need of human life on earth4 ,for those
 who are thus united to the community1  
and to one another in the intricate     
network of associations1 the opportunity
 of worship together1 and of sharing    
common spiritual interests becomes the  
highest economic want4  ,,footnotes3    
,footnote #ba3 ,i come that they may    
have life1 and may have it              
abundantly4--,jesus1 in ,john #aj3aj4   
,footnote #bb3 ,modern ,methods in the  
,country ,church1 by ,matthew ,brown    
,mc,nutt4  ,footnote #bc3 ,the ,making  
of an ,american1 by ,jacob ,riis4       
,,vii  ,,the ,,community   ,the country 
community is defined by the team haul4  
,people in the country think of the     
community as that territory1 with its   
people1 which lies within the team haul 
of a given center4 ,very often at this  
center is a church1 a school and a      
store1 though not always1 but always the

 country community has a character of   
its own4#bd ,social customs do not      
proceed farther than the team haul4     
,imitation1 which is an accepted mode of
 social organization1 does not go any   
farther in the country than the         
customary drive with a horse and wagon4 
,the influence of leading rural         
personalities does not extend           
indefinitely in the country1 but        
disappears at the boundary of the next  
community4 ,intimate knowledge of       
personalities is confined to the        
community and does not pass beyond the  
team haul radius4 ,within this radius   
all the affairs or any individual are   
known in minute detail2 nobody hopes to 
live a life apart from the knowledge of 
his neighbors2 but beyond the community1
 so defined1 this knowledge quickly     
disappears4  ,men's lives are housed and
 their reputations are encircled by the 
boundary of the team haul4  ,the reason 
for this is economic and social4 ,the   
life of the countryman is lived within  

the round of barter and of marketing his
 products4 ,the team haul which defines 
the community is the radius within which
 men buy and sell4 ,it is also the      
radius within which a young man becomes 
acquainted with the woman he is to      
marry4 ,it is the radius of social      
intercourse4 ,within this radius of the 
team haul families are accustomed to    
visit with ten times the frequency with 
which they pass outside this radius4    
,indeed1 for most of them1 one might say
 that social intercourse is a hundred   
times as frequent within the team haul  
as without it4  ,the average man would  
define the community as the place where 
we live4 ,this definition contains every
 essential element1 locality1 personal  
and social relations1 and vital         
experiences4 ,the community is that     
complex of economic and social processes
 in which individuals find the          
satisfactions not supplied in their     
homes4 ,the community is the larger     
social whole outside the household2 a   

population complete in itself for the   
needs of its residents from birth to    
death4 ,it is a man's home town4  ,this 
conception of the community as a vital  
common possession explains the relation 
of religious1 educational1 ethical1     
economic institutions to one another4   
,the community is the clearing-house of 
all these influences4 ,it is the medium 
by which they exchange with one another1
 in the interest of human life4 ,the    
perfection of this exchange and the     
abundance of communal influences makes  
the community good and desirable1 or    
poor and undesirable4  ,sometimes one   
says that the community is a good place 
to live in4 ,when it is ample for the   
needs of individual lives men move into 
it1 and the average man finds there a   
contented and satisfied life4 ,the decay
 of the community is indicated by the   
departure of individuals and of families
 in quest of a better centre for the    
supply of vital human needs4 ,some go to
 make more money elsewhere1 some depart 

for educational advantages and some move
 away because social life is lacking or 
religious privileges are not suitable4  
,but these four vital essentials1       
economic1 ethical1 educational and      
religious1 make up the elements in the  
community's service to the individual4  
,the community is sometimes corrupted by
 vicious principles in its construction2
 and then its members are in proportion 
defective4 ,it produces in excessive    
degree idiots1 blind1 deformed1         
neurotic1 insane or criminal            
individuals4  ,the community1 thus      
defined1 is normally furnished with     
certain institutions essential to the   
life of the people4 ,in earlier days the
 community was sufficient unto itself4  
,very little was imported4 ,everything  
for use in the community was raised     
therein and manufactured in the         
households4 ,a system of exchange       
gradually was effected through the      
country store4 ,the country store of    
#aggj in ,duchess ,county1 ,new ,york1  

had an amazing relation to a wide       
population4 ,the radius of the life     
dependent upon it was the same as the   
radius around the ,quaker ,meeting1     
beside which this store was placed1 and 
all the goods used in the community with
 few exceptions were produced and       
manufactured in this radius of the team 
haul of ten miles4#be  ,nowadays the    
country community has normally a store1 
a blacksmith shop1 a church and a       
school4 ,in the recent past certain     
classes of peddlers regularly visited   
the country community1 though their     
place in the rural economy is           
diminishing4 ,the country store in many 
communities is already closed and its   
maintenance is surrounded with          
increasing difficulty4 ,so long1        
however1 as the horse drawn vehicle is  
the type of transportation in the       
country1 the elements of the country    
community must remain substantially the 
same4#bf  ,the economic life of the     
community is necessarily a part of the  

general economic life of the population 
as a whole4 ,the world economy has in   
the past hundred years1 with the        
perfection of the means of              
transportation1 taken the place of the  
communal economy4 ,in #ahaj every       
country community was obliged to        
manufacture its own raw products so far 
as possible within its own limits4 ,in  
#aiaj it was no longer profitable for   
even a country community to do so4 ,the 
result is that the economic life of the 
community is usually expressed in a     
specified industry to which the whole   
community is primarily devoted4 ,if it  
be a rural community this organization  
takes the form of a money crop4 ,in the 
corn belt there are other products      
raised from the soil besides corn1 but  
the world economy assigns to that       
fertile section the producing of corn as
 the most profitable and the simplest   
task4 ,in the coal region it tends to   
the highest efficiency for the labor of 
the region to be concentrated upon the  

supply of this fuel1 although in        
addition the surface of the soil may be 
cultivated and in the larger population 
centers other industries are coming in  
to exploit the superfluous labor4 ,none 
of these competes with the primacy of   
the coal industry1 which the world      
economy assigns to that community4  ,it 
is essential that in every community    
there should be one or more industries  
by which men may live4 ,it tends to the 
highest well-being of the community1    
that is1 to its possession of a maximum 
of vital attraction for individuals1    
that this industry should supply a      
variety of sources of income2 that is1  
wages1 profits and interest4 ,if the    
community can retain in its own bounds  
the owners of its industries1 at least  
in some numbers1 and the capitalists    
whose wealth is invested in these       
industries1 it is of great service4 ,if 
it can make life attractive for         
wage-earners in these industries1 the   
completeness of that community has its  

testimonial in this variety and wealth  
of attraction4 ,the weakness of many    
,american communities is shown in their 
inability to retain within their bounds 
the owners of the businesses and the    
employers of labor4 ,the ideal character
 of some communities in ,massachusetts  
is due to the fact that in the same     
streets there daily meet capitalists1   
superintendents1 foremen and            
wage-earners who are alike interested in
 the local industries4  ,this power of  
the community to attract and hold       
individual lives1 supplying them with   
the vital necessities for which the     
individual craves1 is dependent in      
,america upon educational institutions  
more than upon any other factor4 ,the   
,french philosopher ,desmoulin has said 
that the ,anglo-,saxon supremacy is due 
to the ,anglo-,saxon love of the land   
and of education4 ,the ,american        
represents these two passions1 and of   
the two the love of education is at     
present1 the stronger4 ,the community   

which is weak in its schools will not   
hold its people4 ,the generation who at 
present are the largest owners of       
,american wealth are eager for          
educational advantage3 and the incoming 
stream of immigration promises that in  
the days to come this craving for       
education will not diminish1 but will   
increase4  ,the country community has   
been peculiarly weak in its educational 
facilities1 by a strange dullness and   
inertia due to the economic prostration 
of the farming industry4 ,for the two   
decades following #ahhj the country     
schools have failed to keep pace with   
the city schools4 ,prof4 ,foght says1   
,while the public attention has been    
centered on work and plans for the      
improvement of the city schools a great 
factor for or against the public weal   
has been sadly neglected4 ,this is the  
rural school4 ,one-half of our entire   
school population attend the rural      
schools1 which are still in the         
formative stage4 ,the country youth is  

entitled to just as thorough a          
preparation for thoughtful and          
intelligent membership in the body      
politic as is the city youth4 ,the      
,state1 if it is wise1 will not         
discriminate in favor of the one as     
against the other1 but will adjust its  
bounties in a manner equitable to the   
needs of both4 ,heretofore the rural    
schools have received very little       
attention from organized educational    
authority4#bg  ,the effect of this      
neglect of the country school in the    
face of the constructive statesmanship  
which has led in perfecting the city    
school is seen in the exodus from the   
country community of very large numbers 
of the most successful farmers4         
,evidences are abundant that this exodus
 from the country community is primarily
 a quest of educational advantage4 ,not 
in every case would the departing family
 confess that they were seeking better  
schools3 but it is probable that the    
majority of them while giving a variety 

of primary reasons for moving would     
assign the desire for education as the  
uniform secondary reason for departing  
from the country community4  ,it is     
impossible for the country church to    
retain its best ministers4 ,many reasons
 enter into this1 but always at the top 
of the list is the desire for better    
educational opportunities for the       
ministers' children4 ,the advice has    
become proverbial in theological        
seminaries1 ,go to the country for five 
years4 ,it is said that in ,new ,england
 there are three classes of country     
ministers and the first of them is the  
bright young man who will not long be in
 the country4  ,the ethical1 sometimes  
called the social factor in the         
community's life1 is no less essential4 
,organized work requires organized      
recreation4 ,every community which has a
 systematic economy by which its        
residents get their living is found to  
have a systematic though usually        
informal and unrecognized provision for 

recreation4 ,somewhere in the bounds of 
every working town in ,america is a     
playground4 ,it is not the result of the
 playground movement1 but of the play   
necessity in human nature4 ,the open    
lots where the town is not built up1 the
 railroad yard1 the yard of a factory or
 the town common are used by common     
consent by the young people and the     
working-people of the town as a         
playground4  ,the departure of many     
persons from country communities is due 
to the lack of social life3 and the     
fascination of the city for bright and  
energetic young men and women is due to 
the variety of recreation and interest  
which it provides to those who expect to
 work and are willing to work4 ,regular 
work means regular play4 ,this fact     
cannot be too well learned by those who 
study the religious and moral life of   
modern men4 ,the need of play is as real
 as the need of food or of sleep4  ,this
 recreational life is highly ethical4   
,the craving of the young and of        

working-people for common places of     
recreation is a normal craving due to   
the development of conscience as well as
 to weariness of body4 ,the exactions of
 modern labor create a craving for free 
and voluntary movement4 ,those who are  
hired to work1 and those who if they are
 employers are bound to the routine of  
the desk or of the bench1 seek to       
breathe deeply the air of happy and     
self-expressive action4 ,the result is  
that play1 especially team work1 is     
highly moral4 ,it is not only personal  
and self-expressive1 but it involves    
co-operation1 self-surrender1 obedience 
and the correlation of one's own life   
with other lives in a glorious complex  
of experiences1 unexampled elsewhere in 
modern life for their ethical value in  
developing adolescent minds in the      
common humanities and moralities4 ,the  
playground is an essential field in the 
preparation of good citizens and it is  
not to be wondered at that in country   
communities1 where all provision of     

recreation is difficult1 and no public  
provision of playgrounds is thought of  
by those in authority1 that young people
 and working people1 indeed all classes 
of the population1 tend to move away4   
,the religious attraction of the        
community has just as real a value for  
the satisfaction of individual life as  
the economic or ethical or the          
educational4 ,mankind is incurably      
religious1 and the life from birth to   
death cannot be complete in average     
cases without religious experience4     
,indeed the conscious testimony of men  
to the community's religious value for  
them is greater than any of the others4 
,religious experience is indeed a form  
of community conscience4 ,to many men   
the church and the community are one4   
,we cannot within our definition grant  
this2 but the testimony to the religious
 character of the country community is a
 classic in ,american thought4 ,the     
early days of every community are       
hopeful and optimistic4 ,the tendency   

has been therefore for each religious   
communion to establish its own church4  
,these early ,protestant churches were  
expressions of the community sense on   
behalf of these people4 ,the average    
,american can best think of the         
community in terms of a church and a    
school4 ,for building up the community1 
therefore1 the maintenance of religious 
institutions is essential4  ,we are     
concerned in these chapters most of all 
with the ,american community in the     
country4 ,not because it is more        
important1 but because it is easier to  
understand and affords a better model   
for interpreting other communities more 
complex and highly organized4 ,in it one
 may see the processes which affect the 
town and city communities2 shifting of  
population1 economic changes1           
educational improvement or retrogression
 and the processes of social life which 
express themselves in moral conditions4 
,the community is the field in which may
 be observed the prosperity of the      

people as a whole4 ,it is the local     
exhibit in which the average man shows  
what has come to pass throughout the    
commonwealth as a whole4  ,american     
rural communities have been under the   
influence of swift and sudden changes   
during the years of railroad            
development4 ,this is exhibited in the  
country community very clearly4 ,there  
almost all the causes which are at work 
in the city are seen and their operation
 is easier to observe and to measure    
than in a city community4 ,it is the    
general impression that the country     
community has suffered greatly though   
the loss of population4 ,this is        
probably due to the diminishing         
agricultural activity of the country4   
,thirty-four counties in ,ohio are      
producing less than the same counties   
were producing before the ,civil ,war4  
,it is natural that the population of   
these counties should be on the whole   
smaller than at that time4 ,but it is   
more probable that the social1          

educational and moral life of the people
 of these counties who stayed in the    
country is slacker and less vigorous    
than in #ahfj4 ,sometimes the population
 of a community remains stationary but  
the economic weakness expresses itself  
in a retarded social1 ethical and       
religious life4  ,there is high         
authority for the statement that the    
sifting of the country community in     
recent years has on the whole improved  
it4 ,wilbert ,l4 ,anderson says1 ,if    
this emigration of the best were the    
whole story1 it would be impossible to  
refute the charge of degeneracy4 ,there 
is1 however1 another aspect of the      
matter4 ,the industrial revolution has  
put a pressure upon rural life that is  
more important even than the attraction 
of cities4 ,that pressure has aggravated
 the severity of the struggle for       
existence1 and this grinding of the mill
 of evolution has crushed the weaker    
strata of the population4 ,among those  
who have gone are laborers and their    

families1 the owners and occupants of   
the poorest lands--the famous abandoned 
farms1 and the weaklings and dependents4
 ,many of these have swollen the crowds 
of the factory towns2 others have       
supplied unskilled labor to the cities2 
in not a few cases they have gone to    
their destruction in the slums1 where   
residues of decadent folk finally       
disappear4 ,the human material that was 
most susceptible to alcohol has gone    
into the mills of the gods4 ,when all is
 summed up1 the clearance at the bottom 
is not less significant than the loss at
 the top of the social scale4 ,natural  
selection works as effectually in toning
 up the species by weeding out the worst
 as 'natural selection reversed' works  
for degeneracy through the removal of   
the best4 ,this purgation has been      
overlooked2 whether it offsets the      
injury in the highest stratum is a fair 
question1 but obviously no man is wise  
enough to answer it4 ,the opinion may be
 hazarded that when the two influences  

are compounded1 it will be found that   
the average child has moved but a little
 way up or down the scale4 ,this is a   
local question to which there are as    
many answers as communities4 ,the net   
result of these changes is a gain in    
homogeneousness2 in the country town the
 dream of equality is nearer realization
 to-day than ever before4#bh  ,it is the
 writer's belief that1 allowing for     
local variation1 this statement is the  
best generalization of the condition    
throughout the country4 ,the rural      
population has been specialized4 ,the   
country community is finding its own    
kind of people4 ,it has not yet1 through
 suitable institutions1 learned to      
cultivate its problems and to train its 
own leaders4 ,that is precisely what    
will be accomplished through the        
building up of the country community    
with which we are here concerned4 ,but  
already the country population is       
homogeneous and is selected with a view 
to fitness for the environment of the   

rural community4 ,as the city is        
breeding its own stock1 who are         
possessed with the problem of city life 
and devoted to the interests of the     
city1 so the country in the shifting of 
modern populations is coming to have its
 own kind of people2 among whom the     
problems of the country community are   
beginning to be discussed and the       
interests of the country community are  
being provided for by suitable          
organizations4  ,the building of        
communities1 therefore1 will provide the
 positive agencies requisite for the    
needs of the present population in the  
country4 ,the purpose of those who serve
 the country population shall be the    
construction of suitable institutions by
 which country life shall be made worth 
while4 ,these institutions must be      
economic1 for the securing of prosperity
 to country people1 social institutions 
which shall build up their moral        
character and life1 educational         
institutions whereby the problems of    

country life shall be understood in the 
light of all human life1 and religious  
institutions which shall crown the life 
of country people with hope and animate 
the individual with the spirit of       
self-sacrifice on behalf of all the     
people of the community and of the      
world4  ,the church should be a         
community center4 ,there may be other   
centers of the community where other    
functions are assembled1 but the church 
should lift up her eyes to the horizon  
in which she lives and comprehend all   
the people in her service and affection4
 ,this does not mean that they shall all
 be members of that church4 ,the        
community spirit is itself growing4     
,frequently the country community has   
attained a unity which the churches     
ignore4 ,for the church to become a     
community center means that it          
represents in itself the united life of 
the people4 ,whatever be their common   
interest that interest dwells in the    
church4  ,in ,hernando1 ,mississippi1   

the people are united4 ,the interest of 
one is the concern of all4 ,under the   
leadership of the families of old       
land-owners the whole community responds
 to common impulses and is organized    
under common ideals4 ,no poor child of  
either a white or a negro household is  
neglected or is overlooked4 ,yet in this
 community churches have no federation  
and ministers have no regular means of  
working together4 ,a charity            
organization was recently formed in this
 community as an organ by which the     
community should care for its poorer    
members4 ,this society was formed       
outside of the churches1 no one of which
 had the right to be a center for the   
community4 ,it is true that ministers   
and members of these churches were      
leaders in this community enterprise1   
but the churches as organizations were  
not a part of it1 although its purposes 
are purely ,christian4  ,prof4 ,alva    
,agee insists that ,the country church  
does not serve the community's needs as 

the community sees those needs4 ,his    
meaning is that when a community        
enterprise is to be launched the        
promoter of it finds it necessary in the
 country to avoid the churches1 lest his
 enterprise be entangled in their       
differences4 ,he is embarrassed also by 
their lack of a community spirit4       
,frequently the same persons who to the 
church contribute no community spirit   
are in the community itself leaders of  
common enterprises4  ,in contrast to    
these conditions the instance of ,du    
,page ,church at ,plainfield1 ,illinois1
 of which ,rev4 ,matthew ,b4 ,mc,nutt   
was recently the minister1 exhibits the 
power of a country church to make itself
 the center of a whole community4 ,this 
church1 which in a year became famous   
throughout the land1 has earned its     
repute by ten years of devoted service  
of its minister and the growing         
affection and union of its people4 ,the 
church serves so well the social needs  
of the community that a social hall once

 popular has been closed and three      
granges in succession have attempted to 
organize in the community and have      
failed4 ,yet ,du ,page ,church is       
passionately devotional and intensely   
missionary4 ,its social life is but a   
legitimate expression of its community  
sense4 ,the minister and his people have
 had the power to see and to inspire a  
common life among the people in the     
countryside4  ,this chapter has been    
intended as a definition of the country 
community4 ,its radius is the team haul1
 because the horse has been the means of
 transportation in the country4 ,the    
community is the round of life in which 
the individual in the country passes his
 days3 it is his larger home4 ,the      
definition of this greater household of 
the country must be flexible1 but       
however it be defined1 it is the        
characteristic unit of social           
organization among country people4 ,the 
map of the ,united ,states outside the  
great cities is made up of little       

societies bordering sharply upon one    
another1 differing from one another     
socially and religiously4 ,these little 
societies are the proper fields in which
 the life of the church and the school  
is lived4 ,of these small societies the 
church and the school are the           
expressions4 ,in church and school the  
country community has its highest life4 
,,footnotes3  ,footnote #bd3 ,the author
 expresses his indebtedness for this    
definition to ,dr4 ,willet ,m4 ,hays of 
the ,department of ,agriculture at      
,washington4  ,footnote #be3 ,quaker    
,hill1 by ,warren ,h4 ,wilson4          
,footnote #bf3 ,professor ,c4 ,j4       
,galpin of ,university of ,wisconsin has
 done precise work of great value1 in   
defining the country community1 as it   
centers in the village4 ,see his        
pamphlet1 ,a ,method of ,making a       
,social ,survey of the ,rural           
,community1 a bulletin of the           
,agricultural ,experiment ,station of   
the ,university of ,wisconsin4          

,footnote #bg3 ,the ,american ,rural    
,school1 by ,harold ,w4 ,foght4         
,footnote #bh3 ,the ,country ,town1 by  
,wilbert ,l4 ,anderson1 ,d4,d4          
,,viii  ,,the ,,margin ,,of ,,the       
,,community   ,the change of ethical    
consciousness among church people in    
recent years takes the form of a        
transference of interest from the       
individual to the community4 ,the       
literature of religious and ethical     
thought is full of appeal to serve the  
community4 ,the working out of any      
religious or ethical force in modern    
society is guided by the closely        
compacted and highly organic character  
of present-day social life4  ,in the old
 times in ,america1 which have so       
recently gone1 men were of one class2   
the community was homogeneous2 universal
 acquaintance prevailed4  ,the unit of  
value in ,american life until recent    
years was the successful man1 because we
 faced a continent unexplored4          
,unpossessed commercial resources were  

before the people4 ,the standard of the 
time of ,horace ,greeley was the        
standard of individual success1 of      
initial utility4 ,the town boasted of   
the man it had turned out4 ,the church  
measured its value by the rich and      
benevolent farmer or merchant1 and by   
the individuals whose piety or literary 
success seemed to express the life of   
the church4 ,there was an opportunity   
for all1 because crude resources1       
numberless openings offered themselves  
to every one who had character1 industry
 and brains4  ,within a decade the      
,american people have become conscious  
that their resources are numbered4 ,the 
free lands of the ,west are assigned4   
,the tons of coal under the ground are  
estimated4 ,the amount of timber1 of    
copper and of iron still unexploited is 
known1 and public discussion is centered
 upon the limits to the growth of the   
,american population1 and the           
possibilities of more economical        
organization of life4 ,we can no longer 

waste as once we could4 ,the problem is 
now a problem of economy4 ,instead of   
the standards of a time of plenty we are
 confronted with problems of bare       
subsistence4  ,in times of plenty1 when 
resources are not yet exhausted1 men's  
lives diverge and the individual is the 
unit of thought and feeling4 ,the       
natural result of a time of plenty is   
the development and the endowment of    
personality4 ,but in times when a bare  
subsistence is the condition with which 
many are confronted1 men are drawn      
together and the community becomes the  
unit of thought and feeling4 ,industry  
as it matures brings men together4 ,it  
becomes evident that they depend upon   
one another4  ,men who in a time of     
plenty would seek an independent        
fortune1 under conditions of bare       
subsistence are contented to secure     
employment and to become dependent upon 
others4 ,the problems of subsistence    
open opportunities for exploitation and 
the stronger become related to great    

numbers of weaker members of the        
community4 ,thus men's lives are        
intensified1 and the conditions out of  
which thought and feeling arise are     
social conditions rather than           
individual4  ,the country community     
under these circumstances rises into new
 significance4 ,in the early pioneer    
days the country community for a similar
 reason was much in thought and feeling1
 because then men were seeking a bare   
subsistence in the contest with nature4 
,this consciousness was lost as soon as 
the pioneer days were past and the      
abundance of nature began to enrich     
mankind instead of antagonizing him4    
,now1 again1 the country community has  
come into prominence because men are    
confronted with a struggle to maintain  
an acceptable standard of living4  ,in  
dealing with a social whole1 to         
accomplish certain purposes one must    
deal with it in social terms4 ,social   
service is not quantitative1 but        
qualitative4 ,ministry to a community is

 not uniformly applied to all the       
members4 ,in social service there is no 
such thing as equality of all the       
population4 ,the differing values of men
 in a social population are determined1 
as other values are measured1 by the    
working of the law of diminishing       
returns4  ,roughly stated1 this law is  
that successive additions of any valued 
thing bring ever diminished returns4    
,the first quantity of anything is of   
infinite value4 ,for later increments   
the value is measurable1 and ever less  
with the increase4 ,the application of  
this law in economics is stated as      
follows by ,professor ,john ,bates      
,clark3  ,labor1 as thus applied to     
land1 is subject to a law of diminishing
 returns4 ,put one man on a quarter     
section of land1 containing prairie and 
forest1 and he will get a rich return4  
,two laborers on the same ground will   
get less per man2 three will get still  
less2 and1 if you enlarge the force to  
ten1 it may be that the last man will   

get wages only4  ,modern studies of     
value1 show that doses of consumer's    
goods1 given in a series to the same    
person have less and less utility per   
dose4 ,the final utility theory of value
 rests on the same principle as does the
 theory of diminishing returns from     
agriculture2 and this principle has a   
far wider range of new applications4    
,we have undertaken to generalize the   
law that is at the basis of the theory  
of value4 ,in reality1 it is            
all-comprehensive4 ,the first           
generalization to be made consists in   
applying the law1 not to single         
articles1 but to consumers' wealth in   
all its forms4 ,the richer man becomes1 
the less can his wealth do for him4 ,not
 only a series of goods that are all    
alike1 but a succession of units of     
wealth itself1 with no such limitation1 
on its forms1 becomes less and less     
useful per unit4 ,give to a man not     
coats1 but 'dollars1' one after another1
 and the utility of the last will still 

be less than that of any other4 ,the    
early dollars feed1 clothe and shelter  
the man1 but the last one finds it hard 
to do anything for him4#bi  ,by this law
 successive deposits of immigrants and  
successive gains in the ,american       
population are reducing the valuation of
 men for religious1 moral and           
educational use4 ,the first man in any  
historic experience is of infinite      
value4 ,the first ,american1 ,columbus1 
will be famous forever1 but not because 
of any talents or enterprises of his4   
,as a matter of fact he blundered in    
discovering ,america and died ignorant  
of the feat he had actually             
accomplished4 ,but because he was the   
first white man on a new continent he   
had infinite historical value4 ,when the
 early ,europeans were increased to ten 
or to one thousand each of them entered 
into fame1 though men like ,john ,smith 
were commonplace enough in their        
performances4 ,their fame is measurable1
 but still great4 ,when the number of   

,americans was increased to eight       
millions everyone thought himself a     
great citizen1 the founder of a family  
and a potential millionaire4 ,those were
 still the days of exceptional          
personality4 ,the type of man in those  
times was the landowner1 the pioneer and
 the statesman4 ,but now there are      
ninety million ,americans1 all the      
valuable lands are assigned1 all the    
best positions are filled1 every job is 
taken1 and ten million of the population
 are concerned about the problem of     
daily bread4 ,these ten million people  
are the marginal ,americans4 ,they are  
breadwinners1 and the breadwinner is the
 unit of value on whom the standard of  
,american social and religious life is  
measured4 ,so far as there can be an    
,american type on whom policies in      
public life are measured1 that type is  
today the breadwinner4 ,in the city the 
breadwinner is a working man or an      
immigrant4 ,in the country the marginal 
man is the tenant farmer2 or a working  

farmer1 though he be the owner4 ,the    
marginal man represents the value of all
 men in the community4  ,the law of     
diminishing returns works in the factory
 for fixing the wages in any scale which
 prevails throughout a level of pay4 ,it
 is equally efficient in leveling men in
 the community4 ,the employer does not  
pay the working man on any level of     
wages in accordance with the value of   
the few brilliant1 trusty or inventive  
men in that group1 but he pays each man 
just that wage which he must offer to   
the last man he hires4 ,the marginal man
 standardizes the wage4 ,the religious  
values of men are standardized not upon 
the brilliant or saintly or             
accomplished1 not upon the well-to-do   
members of the community1 but upon the  
poor who are just able to stand and     
maintain themselves in the life of that 
community4  ,the working of this law is 
not a matter of persuasion4 ,it is the  
inflexible condition with which         
religious and ethical institutions are  

confronted4 ,churches should therefore  
estimate their policies by the responses
 of the marginal people of the          
community4 ,religious standards of value
 should be measured by final utility1   
not initial utility4 ,the complaint     
against the church today is reducible to
 this3 that she standardizes her ideals 
and her policies in accordance with the 
prosperous and well-to-do4 ,the         
eloquence and the character of her      
ministers1 the kind of music with which 
,god is worshipped1 the comfortable     
pews1 the carpets on the floor1 are all 
of them unlike the public hall which is 
supported by the dues of the poor4 ,the 
taste expressed in church matters is    
rather literary and aesthetic than      
popular4 ,the church which would appeal 
to the whole community must standardize 
her work upon the poor man1 and make her
 appeal to him4  ,this principle is not 
only scientifically correct1 but it     
works out in practise4 ,a minister who  
came into a well organized country      

community1 where there were a few       
land-holders1 many tenants and numbers  
of farm lands1 found that the only      
appeal by which the whole community     
could be reached was an appeal directed 
to the marginal people in the community4
 ,when he sought the tenant farmer1 he  
secured with him the land-holder1 and   
when he went after the hired man on the 
farm1 he secured the farmer who employed
 him4 ,when he gained the adherence of  
the boys and girls he secured the       
support of their parents1 and when he   
rendered service to little children1 he 
could safely rely upon the gratitude and
 loyalty of their mothers and fathers4  
,this was the kind of work which ,jesus 
did4 ,he frankly made a selection of the
 people to whom he should minister4#cj  
,he knew no phrases about all men being 
equal1 and he made no profession of     
impartiality such as today causes many  
ministers to loiter among the           
well-to-do1 who care not for them4      
,jesus said he had no time to spend with

 well people1 because he was sent to the
 sick4 ,but the philosophy of his action
 was seen in the fact that when he      
ministered to the sick he himself helped
 the well4 ,he preached the gospel to   
the poor1 but not because he had any    
prejudice against the rich4 ,by         
ministering to the poor he applied his  
gospel to the margin of the community4  
,that gospel has been of equal value to 
the rich man1 because the spiritual     
experiences of the poor are the         
experience also of the rich4 ,the modern
 minister who goes after rich men       
specifically1 or who goes after them    
with the same vigor with which he seeks 
the poor1 will receive but a grudging   
welcome4 ,but if he awakens the         
gratitude and support of the poor1 he   
will find himself sought by the rich1   
and sustained by their abundant gifts4  
,mr4 ,gilbert ,k4 ,chesterton1 the      
,english critic1 has somewhere finely   
said that the ,master in his words to   
,simon ,peter1 ,thou art ,peter1 and    

upon this rock ,i will build my church1 
clearly recognized that ,peter was a    
shuffler and a weakling and a coward and
 it was upon just such common material  
that the church was founded4 ,it was not
 to be an aristocratic organization4    
,its foundations were not laid upon     
skill and genius in human character1 but
 upon the weaker and commonplace traits1
 which universal mankind possesses4  ,so
 definite was the appeal of ,jesus to   
the marginal people of his time1 that he
 has been twice criticized unjustly2    
once in his own time by the ,pharisees1 
and again in our time by the            
,socialists4 ,the latter have claimed   
that ,jesus was class conscious1 that he
 was a partisan of the poor1 a          
proletarian radical4 ,the unscientific  
character of ,socialism is displayed in 
this comment upon ,jesus4 ,his appeal   
was to the whole community1 as through  
,christian history his message has come 
uniformly to men of all degrees1 rich   
and poor1 ignorant and learned1 bad and 

good4 ,the religious genius of ,jesus is
 shown in the fact that he recognized   
what the ,socialist does not1 that to   
appeal to the whole community a prophet 
must address his plea to the people on  
the margin of the community4 ,his       
measure of value must be final utility4 
,one may go at large into this tempting 
field in illustrations4 ,the artistic   
experience of mankind is abundant in    
illustration of it4 ,there is no beauty 
of the ocean save in its shores--the    
margin of the boundless expanse4        
,literary descriptions of the           
experiences of human love are made up of
 descriptions of the margins of love4   
,married life is depicted in courtship1 
and the sentiments of affection are     
described in scenes of parting and      
meeting1 which are the margins of       
companionship4  ,this principle should  
be fundamental in all policies of       
reconstruction of religious and ethical 
institutions4 ,in the training of men   
for religious service and for ethical   

leadership they should be accustomed to 
think in terms of communal wholes1 and  
this thinking will use as its units of  
measure the characteristics of the      
marginal life4 ,it is for this reason   
that temperance reform in ,america has  
been so influential within the past two 
decades4 ,it is a communal form of      
ethics4 ,it demands that the community  
should act together in safeguarding the 
weaker members of the community1 the    
young men1 and the working people4 ,the 
old temperance propaganda was           
individualistist4 ,it recorded its      
results in the number of persons who    
signed the pledge4 ,its results were    
almost as gratifying if the pledges were
 signed by well-doing and orderly people
 as if they were signed by drunkards4   
,the modern temperance movement draws   
its influence from its proposed effect  
upon the agricultural laborer4  ,the    
theological seminary of the past has    
been a literary institution4 ,during the
 period of its development the typical  

,christian was the bright and aspiring  
young man in a community of boundless   
resources4 ,to such a man books are the 
interpreters of life4 ,but in the modern
 period with the congested population   
and close social organization1 human    
fellowship is an experience of greater  
value to most men than books4 ,since the
 time of the invention of printing      
successive quantities of literature have
 been given to the world1 and under the 
law of diminishing returns literature   
has come to have for many very small    
returns4 ,at the time of the ,protestant
 ,reformation the value of books in the 
hands of the common people was infinite4
 ,for several generations along with the
 extension of universal education this  
infinite value of books continued for   
the people on the margin of the educated
 world4 ,but nowadays everybody in      
,american progressive communities can   
read and write3 and in a universally    
educated population we arrive at the    
final utility of books in human use4    

,great masses of poor people and also   
many people of means use books within   
narrow limits only4 ,they do not buy    
them1 they do not read them1 they do not
 think in literary terms4 ,yet they have
 access to books and they turn from them
 with a clear sense of intelligent      
preference for other human values4      
,books are to them but an alphabet and  
social life is the story4  ,my own      
impression is that the life of the      
marginal man is social rather than      
literary4 ,his religion will be a social
 religion rather than a biblical        
religion4 ,the weakness of              
,protestantism is that it stubbornly    
insists upon literary interpretation of 
,god and upon a biblical ministry1 while
 the population around these ,protestant
 churches exemplifies the diminished    
value of literature for spiritual uses4 
,the religious and ethical service of   
the days to come must interpret the     
social life of the people4 ,the great   
mass of the people care as little for   

wealth as they do for books4 ,the same  
argument as to the diminished returns of
 literature may be repeated to describe 
the diminished returns of private       
property4 ,the economic revolution since
 feudal days has exhausted the values of
 private property in satisfying human   
need4 ,the time was when property had an
 infinite value for expressing          
personality4 ,in days to come private   
property will still have this value for 
many individuals4 ,but among common     
folks generally private property does   
not seem to have boundless value for    
human satisfaction4 ,working men as ,i  
have known them do not take pains to get
 rich4 ,they know the way to wealth by  
economy and accumulation1 but they do   
not take it4 ,they have a vast          
preference for the social intercourse1  
friendly interchanges and mutual        
dependence by which their life is       
refreshed1 strengthened and sustained4  
,ethical policies of the future while   
using literature and private property as

 efficient implements must interpret    
social life itself as a flowing spring  
of religion and morality4  ,the training
 of religious and ethical leaders should
 be undertaken in the theological       
seminary and in the university in such  
manner as to standardize the influence  
of these institutions1 by the life not  
of the exceptional man1 but of the      
common man4 ,the influence of educated  
men must be used to reconstruct churches
 and societies upon the standards not of
 the wealthy1 the learned1 the genius   
and the well-to-do1 but by the          
experiences of the poor1 the workingman 
and the immigrant4 ,the standard in all 
religious and ethical institutions which
 profess to represent the community is  
today graded up to the professional and 
exceptional4 ,the reconstruction        
necessary is to grade down so that the  
appeal shall be to the poor and         
struggling man whose condition is in    
jeopardy1 and whose status in the       
community is as yet undetermined4       

,institutions which appeal to the       
community as a whole must standardize   
their policy to the level of the margin 
of the community4  ,the reconstruction  
of the theological seminaries is        
necessary1 if they are to fit men for   
service in communities4 ,they render now
 a service which is so valuable that one
 cannot pass over them lightly4 ,they   
train the candidate for the ministry by 
a process which develops and engages his
 piety4 ,other university courses either
 ignore his religious feeling1 or if    
they develop it1 do not harness it to   
the task of social improvement4 ,the    
theological seminary lays the yoke of   
service upon the neck of prayer4 ,this  
alone justifies its existence as a      
servant of the church in the community4 
,however1 the instruction in the        
seminary is rigidly grouped around      
courses in dead languages2 which are    
jealous of instruction in a living      
tongue4 ,the history of discarded       
doctrines and of discredited teachers is

 minutely taught through months1 to the 
exclusion of courses upon modern1 living
 people1 whose religious experience is  
rich and striking4 ,the purpose of      
seminary instruction is personal culture
 instead of efficiency4 ,it is the      
theory of the teachers wherein they     
disagree with all other professional    
teachers1 that ,we do not make          
preachers3 the ,lord makes them4 ,they  
try therefore to impart culture and     
personal distinction4  ,the seminaries  
need first of all flexibility of        
courses4 ,the whole traditional schedule
 should be made elective4 ,the demands  
of the time would then have free course 
in the seminary1 and would rearrange the
 instruction according to actual present
 need4 ,the cultivation of practical    
piety should receive more attention4    
,the social life of the students1 in    
close association with their professors 
and under religious stimuli1 should be  
made a more powerful force than it      
usually is1 in creating a common ideal  

of service to which the seminary should 
commit itself4 ,above all1 the seminary 
of theology should teach sociology and  
economics1 as a religious               
interpretation4 ,students should after a
 year's class-room work be made to      
investigate and report upon actual      
conditions1 should be delegated to study
 social movements1 report upon them1 and
 to lead in discussing them4 ,they      
should be trained in the use of         
statistics1 in graphic display of       
conditions1 and in the use of public    
reports4 ,in the senior year they should
 be employed definitely in practical    
work for populations1 under instructors4
 ,after graduation the young minister   
should1 more generally than now1 be     
employed as an assistant to an older    
minister1 in a large organization4  ,the
 influence of such social training would
 itself reform seminary instruction4    
,thrust into a present-day curriculum1  
social science is a foreign and alien   
intruder2 but its value would soon be   

demonstrated and other courses would be 
made over in new harmony with it4 ,if   
some courses be dropped1 even if whole  
chairs be abandoned1 it is better than  
that the whole theological seminary be  
abandoned by students--which is the     
apparent fate hanging over certain      
seminaries6 ,what has here been said is 
true of the schools of theology in all  
denominations1 and applies alike to both
 the conservative and the liberal4  ,in 
conclusion1 the writer believes that the
 church's future is with the            
self-respecting poor4 ,jesus and nearly 
every leader of a great religious       
movement was of the poor and labored    
with the poor4 ,the sources of religion 
are those named in the ,beatitudes3     
poverty1 meekness1 sorrow1 hunger1      
ostracism2 and those are all social     
experiences4 ,the service of the church 
should be to these2 and in serving the  
marginal people1 whose life is composed 
of the ,beatitudes1 the church will     
serve all men4  ,,footnotes3  ,footnote 

#bi3 ,the ,distribution of ,wealth1 by  
,john ,bates ,clark4  ,footnote #cj3    
,luke1 #f3bj ff2 #ae3a ff4     ,,ix     
,,newcomers ,,in ,,the ,,community      
,one general cause is bringing new      
people into the average country         
community4 ,the exploitation of land    
expresses the transition from the period
 of the land farmer to that of the      
scientific farmer or husbandman4 ,the   
signs of this exploitation are the      
retirement of farmers from the land1 the
 incoming of new owners in some numbers 
and of tenant farmers in a large degree1
 into the country community4 ,the       
influence of the absentee landlord      
begins to be felt in communities in     
which the landowner was until #ahij the 
only type4 ,in most of the older states 
immigration from foreign lands has not  
greatly affected the country community4 
,in ,wisconsin1 ,minnesota and other    
states of the ,northwest substantial    
sections of the community are invaded by
 people of sturdy ,germanic and ,norse  

extraction4 ,in ,new ,england the       
,poles1 ,french1 ,portuguese and some   
,jews are settling in the country4 ,but 
throughout the states of the ,union as a
 whole the population1 both the         
newcomers and older stock1 are          
,american4  ,the dates of this          
exploitation of land are1 generally1    
from #ahij onward4 ,reference is made   
elsewhere to the description of this    
process in the ,middle ,west4#ca        
,independent of these causes the same   
process has appeared in the ,south1 in  
,georgia1 ,mississippi and in ,west     
,tennessee1 as well as other states4 ,in
 sections in which the values of land   
have not been doubled1 as in ,illinois  
and in ,indiana they have1 the same     
exodus from the farm and invasion of the
 country community by new people has    
taken place4  ,one cause of this        
exploitation of land is the shrinkage in
 size of the older families4 ,everywhere
 the exploitation of land is the        
greatest where the soil is the richest  

and the farmers the most prosperous4    
,even in the exceptional populations    
such as the ,scotch ,presbyterians and  
,pennsylvania ,germans1 this effect of  
agricultural prosperity is slowly at    
work4  ,in ,chester ,county1            
,pennsylvania1 and in ,washington       
,county1 where the most substantial     
farmers in the country are found1 the   
families in the present generation are  
small4 ,many of the older stock have no 
children4 ,families which have retained 
the title of their land for eight       
generations are losing their hold upon  
the soil1 by the fact that they have    
none to inherit after them4  ,another   
cause of this exploitation of land is   
the increasing number of small farms in 
certain regions4 ,this means that in    
certain sections the farming population 
has a new element1 for the holders of   
these small farms are many of them new  
to the community4  ,the process1 which  
is made clear by the census of #aiaj1 is
 this4 ,the earlier retirement from the 

farms was by sale1 the farmer taking    
money instead of land4 ,the second stage
 of retirement from the farm was through
 absentee landlordism and the placing of
 tenants on the farm4 ,this process has 
come to an end in many sections of the  
,middle ,west1 with the return of the   
sons of the landlord to the family acres
 in the country1 so that there is a sort
 of rhythm in the flow of population    
from the country into the town and      
backward to the land4 ,in this process  
there is no invasion by new people1     
except the temporary residence of the   
tenant farmer in the country1 and some  
of these have in the process gained a   
footing by ownership of land4 ,but this 
ebb and flow of population out of the   
country community and back again has    
weakened and strained the country church
 and school and has not yet begun to    
strengthen them4 ,there is every        
evidence that with a pleasant and       
agreeable country life the country      
community can retain the best elements  

of this population1 which comes and     
goes4 ,the country church and school    
ought to take measures to retain the    
best of the country population through  
these changes4  ,through all these      
causes the presence of a large          
proportion of aliens in the community   
who are ,american born1 but locally     
unattached by birth or ownership1 has   
effected great changes in the country   
church1 and other community             
institutions4 ,the ,state of ,illinois1 
which has a tenant farmer population of 
more than #ej per cent in its richest   
sections1 has suffered severely through 
the loss of many country churches4      
,there is no precise measure of this    
loss1 but a sociological survey recently
 made in ,illinois indicates that in the
 past twenty years more than fifteen    
hundred country churches have been      
abandoned in the ,state4 ,this statement
 must be accepted as approximate1 but   
the number is likely to be greater      
rather than less4 ,this abandonment of  

country churches has come in the same   
period in which the proportion of tenant
 farmers has greatly increased4         
,reference is made elsewhere to a       
similar condition in the ,state of      
,delaware1 in which the churches of the 
old land-owners have been abandoned and 
replaced at heavy expense with poorer   
churches built by the incoming tenant   
farmers4  ,everywhere in the ,united    
,states this process has in some measure
 affected the country4 ,it does not much
 matter whether the proportion of       
tenants is increasing or decreasing1 the
 present effect is one of instability4  
,in ,new ,england where in the past ten 
years tenantry has been diminished ten  
per cent1 the country churches are      
weakened as elsewhere4 ,the churches    
have not yet had time to recover while  
the population is in a state of change4 
,the old order in the country is        
crumbling4 ,the church is an expression 
of stability4 ,the people on whom the   
church always depends for its audiences1

 its enthusiasm and its largest         
accessions1 are marginal people1 working
 men1 adolescent youths and those who   
are coming to a position in the         
community4 ,the exodus of these from the
 country community1 or the incoming of  
persons in these classes into the       
country community1 has been unfavorable 
to the country church at the present    
time4  ,it may be said at this point    
that a state of transition is for the   
time being unfavorable to ethical and   
moral growth4 ,moral conditions are     
sustained by custom1 and where customs  
are in change1 moral standards must     
themselves be in transition4 ,the       
country community is moral so far as    
adhering to the standards of the past is
 concerned4 ,but the population         
themselves who have to do with the      
country are undergoing extraordinary    
moral change1 with incidental loss1 and 
many of the problems of the ,united     
,states as a whole are made more acute  
by the waste of the country community4  

,among these should be cited the        
amusement question in the small town1   
the decadence of the theatre in the     
cheaper vaudeville1 the white slave     
traffic and the social disorders        
peculiar to unskilled laborers1 many of 
whom come from country communities of   
the ,united ,states and ,europe4  ,it   
must be remembered1 too1 that the rural 
free delivery and the telephone have    
entered the country community in the    
past twenty years and their effect has  
not yet been recorded4 ,it has probably 
been in the direction of chilling       
instead of warming the social life of   
the country4 ,the old acquaintance and  
the intimate social relations of the    
country community have not been helped  
by the telephone3 and along with the    
presence of aliens in the community1    
one-fourth or one-half or three-fourths 
of the population1 the telephone has had
 the effect of lowering the standards of
 intimacy and separating the households 
in the country one from another4 ,the   

rural free delivery has put country     
people into the general world economy   
and for the time being has loosened the 
bonds of community life4  ,in those     
states in which the trolley system has  
been extended into the country1 for     
instance ,ohio and ,indiana1 the process
 of weakening the country population has
 been hastened4 ,sunday becomes for     
country people a day of visiting the    
town and in great numbers they gather at
 the inter-urban stations4 ,the city and
 town on ,sunday is filled with         
careless1 hurrying groups of visitors1  
sight-seers and callers1 who have no    
such fixed interest as that to be       
expressed in church-going or in         
substantial social processes4 ,for the  
time being inter-urban trolley lines    
have dissipated the life of the country 
communities4  ,the duty of the church in
 the country under these conditions can 
be accomplished only under a widened    
horizon4 ,the minister and the leaders  
of the church must lift up their eyes4  

,they need not be discouraged if for the
 time being they accomplish little1 for 
the period of exploitation must come to 
an end normally with the exhaustion of  
its forces1 before the better day can   
come4 ,but this period is one of        
enlargement4 ,the units of social life  
will be spaced farther apart4 ,the      
country community will advance as       
soldiers say1 in open order4 ,this is   
true for the family life1 in which the  
father1 the mother and the children have
 greater freedom from one another2 as   
well as in the community1 in which      
neighbors become less intimately        
dependent on one another4 ,the church   
must therefore preach the world idea4   
,at this time of transition the country 
church should undertake its foreign     
missionary service4 ,the great causes of
 the ,kingdom which are world-wide      
should be presented to country people   
when they are lifting up their eyes from
 local confines to look at the world and
 the city and the nation4 ,as the daily 

paper comes into the farmer's household 
the farmer's church should interpret the
 history of the time in missionary      
terms4 ,the literature of the great     
missionary agencies should be           
distributed in the farm household4      
,wherever the catalogue of the big store
 in ,chicago or ,new ,york is found on  
the center table1 beside it should be   
placed a modern book expressive of      
missionary evangelism4 ,as the mind of  
the countryman develops to comprehend   
the world in his daily thought under the
 impetus of a daily newspaper1 his      
conscience and his religious experience 
should be expanded correspondingly4  ,in
 a time of exploitation of land the     
country church should regenerate its    
financial system4 ,the system of barter 
passes away in the day of speculation in
 farm land2 and the country church which
 can find means to endure the period of 
exploitation must put its financial     
system on a new basis4 ,the tenant      
farmer is crudely striving through      

problems of scientific agriculture4 ,he 
may1 indeed1 be a soil robber1 but by   
his waste of economic values he and     
other men are learning to conserve4 ,the
 financial system of the church should  
be placed at this time on a basis of    
weekly contribution1 for with the tenant
 farmer comes system1 cash payments1    
regular commercial processes4 ,the      
business administration of the church   
must be made to correspond4  ,the       
country minister and schoolteacher must 
therefore become prophets of the        
intellect and of the spirit1 in the new 
order4 ,if they cannot minister to the  
new intelligence of the farmer and his  
children1 their institutions will       
necessarily decay4 ,the farmer who      
succeeds in the new social economy of   
the country will not endure old sermons 
which were appropriate in his father's  
time4 ,the emphasis must not be placed  
on tradition1 but upon inductive study4 
,the preacher must not feed the people  
on special instances1 but upon          

representative cases4 ,the intelligence 
of the new type of farmer will not be   
satisfied with sensations and with the  
unusual2 but he demands to be trained in
 standards of the new day1 when science1
 system1 organization and world economy 
are making their demands on him and his 
very soul is concerned in his response  
to those demands4  ,the task of dealing 
with newcomers in the country community 
is educational1 financial and           
recreative4 ,one should add that it is  
also evangelistic1 but ,i have in mind  
the possibility that these newcomers may
 be ,catholics with whom ,protestant    
evangelism will not be successful4 ,it  
is possible also that they will be of   
another ,protestant sect from that of   
the reader of this chapter1 so that to  
evangelize them would mean proselyting4 
,the writer believes very heartily in   
rural evangelism4 ,it is an essential   
process in building the country church4 
,these chapters are devoted primarily to
 the building of the country community  

and in that process the securing of     
members for the country church is       
preliminary only4 ,leaving1 therefore1  
the question of rural evangelism for    
treatment in another place1 let us take 
up the educational treatment of the     
newcomer in the country community4  ,the
 proper machinery for this education is 
the common school and the ,sunday       
school4 ,as the common school is treated
 elsewhere1 the use of the ,sunday      
school in organizing the rural          
population belongs here4 ,few churches  
realize the power and value of          
,sunday-school training4 ,i am insisting
 that the life of country people is     
religious4 ,the use of the ,sunday      
school is to train the young of the     
community in religion4 ,all country     
people accept the ,bible as a holy book4
 ,they all believe in the education of  
their children and in much greater      
numbers than they will respond for a    
church service their children will      
respond to the work of religious culture

 on ,sunday at the church4 ,the         
,sunday-school organization is          
interdenominational4 ,its lessons and   
its methods are a common heritage of the
 churches at the present time4 ,the     
machinery is perfect1 but the           
,sunday-school leaders lack vision and  
they lack the progressive spirit4 ,if   
only the teachers and ministers realized
 the value of the ,sunday school and its
 acceptance with the people1 there would
 be needed no other machinery for       
building the country community4  ,the   
,sunday-school should be a close        
parallel to the day school4 ,if the day 
school in the community has any         
progressive features1 the ,sunday school
 should use these and improve them4     
,between the two there should exist the 
closest sympathy1 not formal or         
definitely organized1 but actual and    
expressed in parallel lines of work4    
,where the day school is graded1 the    
,sunday school should accept the same   
grading1 strongly organizing all its    

classes4 ,the pupils in the ,sunday     
school should pass by successive        
promotions from teacher to teacher and  
from grade to grade4  ,if the day school
 in the country is unprogressive and is 
taught by a succession of indifferent   
persons1 the ,sunday school should      
practise under the guidance of religious
 leaders those principles of modern     
pedagogy which should be used in the    
common schools4 ,graded lessons1 the    
organization of material and progressive
 development of religious truth from the
 simpler to the more complex1 should    
find their place in every ,sunday       
school4 ,the opportunity for service to 
the whole community thus offered through
 the ,sunday school is excelled by none 
in the country community4  ,the upper   
classes of the ,sunday school should be 
organized4 ,young men and women         
especially1 who are in danger of finding
 the ,sunday school irksome because     
their intelligence has passed beyond its
 control1 should be organized in classes

 which on week days have a club or      
society character4 ,the ,sunday school  
should use as an ally their tendency to 
organization and should satisfy their   
social needs by giving them regular and 
approved opportunities for meeting and  
for pleasure4  ,another principle which 
the ,sunday school can practise for the 
benefit of the community is the         
centralization of religious teaching4   
,even if the common schools are not     
centralized1 the children for the       
,sunday school should be brought to the 
church from outlying regions in hired   
wagons every week4 ,it is better that a 
large ,sunday school be maintained under
 efficient leadership than that a number
 of small schools with indifferent      
teachers should be maintained in various
 school districts4 ,the larger body can 
have better leadership4 ,it is more     
closely under the supervision of the    
minister1 who is generally the superior 
in education of the laymen1 and the     
social value of the meetings of the     

,sunday school will be greater in the   
larger body4 ,all the arguments which   
make for the centralization of the day  
school have force for the consolidation 
of ,sunday schools in one large school4 
,the ,sunday school offers a basis for  
church federation4 ,in the community it 
is frequently possible for ,sunday      
schools to be united and for the        
advantages of this common teaching to be
 made even greater because all the      
children of the various churches are in 
one body4 ,the best leadership and the  
best teachers are thus secured and the  
community spirit is cultivated through  
the young people and more loosely       
attached members of the community4  ,the
 older classes of the ,sunday school on 
a basis of study of the ,bible should be
 organized for practical ends4 ,the     
adult ,bible class can be made to have  
all the influence of the grange in the  
country community4 ,the fathers and     
mothers of the community may meet       
throughout the week socially4 ,they may 

undertake together the study of the     
economic life of the community4         
,lecturers from the agricultural        
college1 representatives of the ,play   
,ground ,movement1 of the county work of
 the ,y4 ,m4 ,c4 ,a41 of historical     
societies interested in the community's 
past and other representatives of       
national movements1 may be welcomed and 
heard by this organized class1 the basis
 of which is religious education4  ,what
 ,i am urging may be accomplished by any
 church in some measure1 however divided
 the community may be4 ,it is the       
business of the individual church which 
has a vision of the community as a whole
 to act as if it were a federation of   
churches4 ,frequently ministers are in  
favor of church federation1 as if that  
process were an end in itself4 ,the     
writer believes that the individual     
church can accomplish the ends of       
federation if the union of churches can 
do so4 ,the best means for effecting    
federation of churches is to practise   

the program of federation until it shall
 come about4  ,the community made up in 
a degree of new families and the        
community in which the newcomers are    
young men and women1 children of the    
residents1 are bound to educate these   
invaders of the community1 whether they 
come from without or whether they come  
by birthright membership1 in the spirit 
of benevolence4 ,the giving of money to 
public uses is one of the cherished     
social forces of our time4 ,the country 
community is just entering into the day 
of cash4 ,the period of barter is over4 
,the farmer therefore needs in his      
ethical and his religious training1 to  
have definite culture as a              
philanthropist4 ,the future of the      
farm-hand in ,america is still very     
hopeful4 ,the tenant farmer expects to  
be an owner4 ,the farmer's son believes 
himself to have a future4 ,these hopes  
from earliest years should be           
disciplined by the practise of giving4  
,for this end the church is a rarely    

well fitted means4 ,the financial system
 of the church must be made democratic4 
,the custom of renting pews belonged in 
the land-farmer period4 ,the writer does
 not suggest that it be abolished       
because it can often serve a more       
democratic purpose in its mature forms  
under careful supervision than any      
substitute1 but it is all important that
 the country church be a training-school
 in the consecration of money to the    
uses of the community and of the kingdom
 of ,god4  ,for the average countryman  
the kingdom of ,god should be embodied  
in the country community4 ,this is not  
to say that his vision should be narrow4
 ,on the contrary his vision is often of
 the spread-eagle sort4 ,he overlooks   
the opportunities for benevolence which 
are near at hand4 ,he believes in       
foreign missions sometimes1 and         
contributes impulsively to the support  
of men in ,china who are paid a better  
salary than the pastor in his own       
community4 ,he applauds the gifts of    

millionaires and of city people         
generally to hospitals1 but he ignores  
the ravages of disease in his own       
community4 ,the divine imperative is    
that the country community be first     
organized1 by those who live there1 for 
local well-being4 ,for this1            
contributions of money are necessary and
 they must be made by all in the        
community4  ,the question has been      
raised frequently whether an endowment  
is not necessary for the country church4
 ,the writer began his ministry in a    
country church which was generously     
endowed4 ,he still believes in the value
 of endowment for some country          
communities4 ,ex-,president ,eliot of   
,harvard recently commended the         
principle of endowment to the ,new      
,england ,country ,church ,association1 
as a solution of the rural problem4     
,president ,butterfield of              
,massachusetts ,agricultural ,college   
has emphasized the same principle4 ,it  
is quite likely that in the ,eastern    

,states where the country community has 
been depleted by the departure of an    
extraordinary number of families and    
individuals1 an endowment would be of   
value for the country church4 ,one must 
not hold to a theoretic opposition to   
such a method4 ,the important thing is  
to provide a trained pastor for the     
country community4 ,in these ,eastern   
communities a larger proportion of the  
former members of the community have    
prospered than in ,western communities4 
,many of them are very rich4 ,in these  
cases it is but natural that an endowed 
church in the country community express 
the ministry of the more prosperous     
citizen to his poorer brethren1 but     
everybody knows that these depleted     
communities--,i will not say these      
excessive fortunes--are among the most  
lamentable factors in ,american life4   
,the endowment of the church1 however1  
is a very poor apology for a bad        
situation4 ,it has but limited use1 and 
the creation of a large fund to be used 

in the country community necessitates   
careful supervision by men of such      
business ability as are not usually     
found in a country community4 ,to remedy
 such conditions as those with which    
,president ,eliot and ,president        
,butterfield are most familiar is a     
specific problem4 ,it is not the general
 situation throughout the ,united       
,states4 ,the purpose of these chapters 
is to make plain the way by which the   
average ,american community may escape  
depletion1 may retain the leadership of 
its best minds and may prosper in a     
democratic way4 ,i am interested more in
 training the country population for the
 future than in mending the mistakes of 
the past4 ,but ,i believe that for      
depleted country communities in ,new    
,england1 ,new ,york and ,pennsylvania  
an endowment of the country church would
 in many instances be effective3 and for
 them alone4  ,let the country church   
undertake its financial problem in a    
business-like way4 ,at the beginning of 

the year make a budget of all the monies
 needed for the year's work4 ,face the  
issues of the year frankly4 ,pay to the 
minister and to other employees of the  
church a sufficient amount to provide   
them with needful things throughout the 
year4 ,a living wage is not enough4 ,the
 minister especially needs a working    
salary4 ,with little variation          
throughout the country as a whole the   
minister in the rural community should  
have in order to minister to his people1
 to educate his children and to look    
forward without fear to old age1 twelve 
to fourteen hundred dollars a year and a
 house4 ,many country communities have a
 more expensive standard1 and there are 
a few in which less is required4 ,but in
 ,southern ,states and in ,western      
communities ,i have found the           
conditions1 created by the prices which 
prevail throughout the country as a     
whole1 at this standard4  ,when the     
budget of the year is prepared1         
including missionary and benevolent     

gifts1 it should be distributed by the  
officers through consultation with all  
the members of the church1 young and    
old1 rich and poor1 in such way as to   
secure a gift from every one and to meet
 the obligations of the church as a     
whole4 ,for the moral values of the     
situation the small gift of the poor and
 of the child are even more important   
than the large gift of the well-to-do4  
,for the securing of these gifts the    
envelope system1 especially the         
so-called duplex envelope1 is the best  
means which can be generally used by    
churches4 ,it is a method flexible      
enough to reach every member and it     
represents in its duplex form the double
 motive of giving to the community      
itself and to those larger national and 
missionary enterprises to which the     
country should contribute4  ,the third  
method of developing the country        
community is recreative4 ,i mention it  
here for completeness of statement4     
,another chapter is devoted to          

recreation in the country community4    
,the amusements and recreations of the  
country community are immersed in moral 
issues4 ,the ethical life of the        
community is the atmosphere in which    
social pleasure is taken4 ,therefore the
 recreations of the community are to be 
provided and supervised by those who    
would undertake to create a wholesome   
community life4 ,a maximum of provision 
and a minimum of supervision are        
required4 ,country life is devoid of    
means for recreation4 ,some one must    
provide it4 ,usually it is either       
neglected altogether1 and the result is 
dullness and monotony2 or it is provided
 for a price1 and the result is an      
organized center of immorality4         
,recreation requires but little         
supervision4 ,the presence of older     
persons1 and those of a humane friendly 
spirit1 is usually necessary to the     
games4 ,these are based on honor and    
with a few simple principles the young  
people and working people of the        

community will organize their own play  
and find therein a great benefit4  ,to  
summarize this chapter1 the acute       
problem in many communities today is the
 merging of the life of newcomers in the
 community into the organized social    
life which is older and more settled4   
,this task belongs above all to the     
country church4 ,many of the detailed   
applications are for the school to      
follow out1 but the business of the     
church is to see and to inspire4 ,if the
 church is not democratic1 the community
 will be hopelessly divided4 ,if the    
church welcomes the newcomer and finds  
him a place1 the community will be      
inspired with a democratic spirit4 ,the 
task of the church is indicated in the  
new prosperity of the country which     
tends from the first to remove from the 
community those who prosper4 ,the       
church's business is to win to the      
community all who come into it and to   
release from its hold as few as         
possible4  ,in a discussion of country  

life in a ,tennessee college town the   
question was asked of a professor of    
agriculture who was speaking about farm 
tenantry1 ,what should the church do for
 the tenant farmer8 ,borrow money for   
him and help him to buy land1 said the  
professor4  ,such a solution might be   
the church's task1 but the example of   
,england's policy for ,ireland shows    
that the professor commended a          
governmental rather than a religious    
service4 ,for it is found that the      
,irish farmer--a tenant on land whereon 
his ancestors have for centuries been   
tenants--when he secures the land in fee
 through the new policies of the        
,british ,government1 frequently deserts
 the country community1 selling his land
 to a neighbor4 ,some sections of       
,ireland are said to have a new kind of 
small tenantry and a new sort of small  
landlord4 ,the task of the country      
community begins where the task of      
government leaves off4 ,it is to inspire
 the resident in the country with a     

vision1 and to lay upon him the         
imperative1 of building up the country  
community out of the newcomers1 who     
enter it by birth or by migration4      
,,footnote3  ,footnote #ca3 ,the        
,agrarian ,changes in the ,middle ,west1
 by ,j4 ,b4 ,ross4     ,x               
,,co-,,operation   ,in contrast to other
 classes of the population country      
people have a marked preference for     
individual action and an aversion to    
co-operative effort4 ,the causes of this
 are historical4 ,in general these      
causes are of the past and they are not 
a matter of persuasion4 ,the ,american  
farmer has not co-operated in the past  
because3 first1 the necessities of his  
life made him independent and impatient 
of the sacrifices necessary in          
co-operating with his fellows4 ,we have 
still many influences of the pioneer in 
modern life4 ,so long as agriculture is 
solitary work and its processes take a  
man away from his fellows1 co-operation 
will be retarded4 ,so long as the       

countryman has to practise a variety of 
trades1 he will be emotional1 and the   
social life of the country will be      
broken up by feuds1 divisions1          
separations and continued               
misunderstandings4 ,no mere education as
 to alleged right and wrong can plaster 
over the old economy with new ethical   
standards4 ,until the loneliness and the
 emotion are taken out of farming       
country people cannot co-operate4  ,a   
good part of the ,united ,states is     
still in the land farmer period4 ,the   
characteristic of the land farmer is his
 cultivation of group life4 ,the        
historical process by which this group  
life is broken up is exploitation4      
,farmers whose lands have not been      
exploited and whose group life has not  
suffered the undermining influence of   
exploitation will not normally          
co-operate4 ,i am convinced that in most
 farming territories the loyalty of the 
countryman to his group is the second   
reason for his refusal to co-operate4   

,again1 this refusal of his is not      
subject to persuasion4 ,he is obeying an
 economic condition which shapes his    
life and controls his action4 ,striking 
instances are furnished in many regions 
of the amazing disloyalty of farmers to 
one another1 and to their own pledged   
word4 ,these are to be explained by the 
type to which the farmer in these       
sections conforms4 ,we must not expect  
the land farmer to obey the ethical     
standards of the husbandman4  ,a good   
instance of this conformity to type was 
furnished in the case of meetings held  
in ,louisiana and ,western ,mississippi 
among the farmers who raise cotton4 ,the
 occasion of the meetings was the       
approach of the boll weevil to their    
districts4 ,the attendance upon the     
meetings was large1 indeed universal4   
,the situation was clearly understood   
and the speakers secured from the       
farmers present a promise quite         
unanimous to refrain from cultivating   
cotton for a year4 ,the purpose of this 

was to meet the boll weevil with a      
territory in which he would find no     
food4 ,thus his march eastward across   
the cotton field would be arrested4     
,the farmers having made their promise  
and agreed heartily in the proposal1    
adjourned4 ,weeks and months passed and 
the time approached for planting cotton4
 ,farmer after farmer1 who had attended 
these meetings and given his promise1   
privately decided that he would plant a 
cotton crop and secretly expected that  
he would secure a larger price that year
 because so many of his neighbors were  
to raise other crops4 ,when the full    
season for planting cotton had come it  
was discovered that so many farmers had 
planted cotton that the plan of         
co-operation was a failure1 and the     
whole district went back to cotton1 with
 full prospect of assisting the boll    
weevil in his course toward the ,east4  
,the reasons for this action lie in the 
type of farmer who thus found it        
impossible to co-operate4 ,each of these

 farmers regarded above all other things
 the success of his own farm and his own
 family group4 ,in contrast to this     
interest no other claim1 no exhortation 
and not even his word given in public   
had any lasting influence upon his      
action4  ,the third element in the      
inability of country people to          
co-operate is the ideal of level        
democratic equality which prevails in   
the country4 ,where universal           
land-ownership has been the rule every  
countryman thinks himself as good as    
anybody else4 ,so long as this ideal    
prevails1 that subjection of himself to 
another1 and the controlling of his     
action by the interests of the          
community1 are impossible4 ,the farmer  
cannot co-operate when he thinks of     
social life in terms of pure democracy4 
,there must be a large sense of team    
work1 a loyal and instinctive obedience 
to leaders1 a devoted spirit which looks
 for honest leadership1 before there can
 be co-operation4 ,these things come not

 by persuasion1 but by experience4      
,co-operation is the act of a mature    
people4 ,not until country people have  
passed through earlier stages and       
discarded earlier ideals can the        
preacher and the organizer and the      
teacher successfully inculcate a spirit 
of co-operation4  ,country churches are 
highly representative in their present  
divided condition4 ,this multiplication 
of churches in the country is lamentable
 chiefly because it registers the       
divided state of country life4 ,it is   
true that divided churches are          
religiously inefficient1 but it is      
vastly more important that divided      
churches are embodiments of what one    
country minister calls the tuberculosis 
of the ,american farmer1 individualism4 
,it was natural for the pioneer to      
desire a religion in terms of a message 
of personal salvation4 ,personality in  
his lonely life was the noblest1 indeed 
the only form of humanity known to him1 
therefore the herald was his minister   

and emotion was his religion4 ,it is    
very natural for the land farmer to     
organize religion in terms of group     
life4 ,his churches were only handmaids 
of his household4 ,they had but the     
beginnings of social organization4 ,they
 taught the ethics of home life1 of the 
separate farm and of a land-owning      
people4 ,obviously the church for the   
pioneer and for the land farmer could be
 a very weak and indifferent            
organization1 but efficient for the     
religious needs of those independent1   
self-reliant types of countrymen4  ,for 
these reasons in all parts of the       
country the pitiful story is heard of   
divided communities4 ,one need not      
recite it here4 ,it usually is the      
account of three hundred or four hundred
 people with five or six country        
churches4 ,at its worst there is a small
 community in which missionary agencies 
are supporting ministers who do not     
average one hundred possible families   
apiece in the community4 ,the condition 

of ,center ,hall1 ,pennsylvania1 has    
been described in another chapter1 in   
which there are within a radius of four 
miles from a given point twenty-four    
country churches4 ,this community       
represents a condition of transition    
from the land-farmer type to that of    
exploitation4 ,some of these churches   
are the old churches of the land-owning 
resident farmers1 but the most of them  
are said to be the newer churches of    
tenants who have come into the          
community4 ,our present concern is to   
recognize the relation of the divided   
churches to the divided social life of  
the community4 ,the criticism of the    
country community must be made on an    
understanding of the stage of           
development to which that community has 
attained4 ,whatever is planned for the  
upbuilding of the country community must
 be planned in harmony with the         
well-known facts of rural development4  
,business life introduces into the      
community a new standard of values4     

,cash and credit take the place of      
barter4 ,the exchange in kind on which  
originally the community depended comes 
to an end4 ,business life very shortly  
induces combination4 ,the whole of      
modern business presents a spectacle of 
universal combination and co-operation4 
,the farmer who is most conservative is 
surrounded on all sides by the          
aggressive forces of business4 ,combined
 in their own interest they compete with
 him on unequal terms4 ,he stands alone 
and they stand combined4  ,americans are
 looking with growing interest on the   
experience of ,denmark where a multitude
 of co-operative associations represent 
the spirit of the people4 ,this spirit  
has been deliberately cultivated in the 
land for forty years4 ,it is the        
universal testimony of observers that   
the prosperity of ,denmark is dependent 
on these co-operative agencies and upon 
this united spirit4 ,the exodus from the
 country has been arrested1 agriculture 
has been made a desirable occupation1   

profitable for the farmer and most      
probable for the state1 and the people  
as a whole have taken front rank in     
social and economic welfare4 ,essential 
to this constructive period of          
,denmark's life is co-operation4#cb  ,in
 ,sir ,horace ,plunkett's recent book1  
,the ,rural ,life ,problem in ,the      
,united ,states1 he develops this       
principle clearly4 ,he says that in the 
organization of country life in ,ireland
 it was necessary to go into the very   
heart of the people's experience and    
organize their economic and social      
processes in forms of co-operation4     
,when farmers combine1 it is a          
combination not of money only1 but of   
personal effort in relation to the      
entire business4 ,in a co-operative     
creamery for example1 the chief         
contribution of a shareholder is in     
milk2 in a co-operative elevator1 corn2 
in other cases it may be fruit or       
vegetables1 or a variety of material    
things rather than cash4 ,but it is1    

most of all1 a combination of neighbors 
within an area small enough to allow of 
all the members meeting frequently at   
the business center4 ,as the system     
develops1 the local associations are    
federated for larger business           
transactions1 but these are governed by 
delegates carefully chosen by the       
members of the constituent bodies4 ,the 
object of such associations is          
primarily1 not to declare a dividend1   
but rather to improve the conditions of 
the industry for the members4  ,it is   
recognized that the poor man's          
co-operation is as important as the rich
 man's subscription4 ',one man1 one     
vote1' is the almost universal principle
 in co-operative bodies4  ,the          
distinction between the capitalistic    
basis of joint stock organization and   
the more human character of the         
co-operative system is fundamentally    
important4  ,in this matter ,i am here  
speaking from practical experience in   
,ireland4 ,twenty years ago the pioneers

 of our rural life movement found it    
necessary to concentrate their efforts  
upon the reorganization of the farmer's 
business4  #a4 ,we began with the       
dairying industry1 and already half the 
export of ,irish butter comes from the  
co-operative societies we established4  
#b4 ,organized bodies of farmers are    
learning to purchase their agricultural 
requirements intelligently and          
economically4  #c4 ,they are also       
beginning to adopt the methods of the   
organized foreign farmer in controlling 
the sale of their butter1 eggs and      
poultry in the ,british markets4  #d4   
,and they not only combine in           
agricultural production and             
distribution1 but are also making a     
promising beginning in grappling with   
the problem of agricultural finance4 ,it
 is in the last portion of the ,irish   
programme that by far the most          
interesting study of the co-operative   
system can be made1 on account of its   
success in the poorest parts of the     

,island4 ,furthermore1 the attempt to   
enable the most embarrassed section of  
the ,irish peasantry to procure working 
capital illustrates some features of    
agricultural co-operation which will    
have suggestive value for ,american     
farmers4  ,a body of very poor persons1 
individually--in the commercial sense of
 the term--insolvent1 manage to create a
 new basis of security which has been   
somewhat grandiloquently and yet        
truthfully called 'the capitalization of
 their honesty and industry4' ,the way  
in which this is done is remarkably     
ingenious4 ,the credit society is       
organized in the usual democratic way   
explained above1 but its constitution is
 peculiar in one respect4 ,the members  
have to become jointly and severally    
responsible for the debts of the        
association1 which borrows on this      
unlimited liability from the ordinary   
commercial bank1 or1 in some cases1 from
 ,government sources4 ,after the initial
 stage1 when the institution becomes    

firmly established1 it attracts local   
deposits1 and thus the savings of the   
community1 which are too often hoarded1 
are set free to fructify in the         
community4 ,the procedure by which the  
money borrowed is lent to the members of
 the association is the essential       
feature of the scheme4 ,the member      
requiring the loan must state what he is
 going to do with the money4 ,he must   
satisfy the committee of the            
association1 who know the man and his   
business1 that the proposed investment  
is one which will enable him to repay   
both principal and interest4 ,he must   
enter into a bond with two sureties for 
the repayment of the loan1 and needless 
to say the characters of both the       
borrower and his sureties are very      
carefully considered4 ,the period for   
which the loan is granted is arranged to
 meet the needs of the case1 as         
determined by the committee after a full
 discussion with the borrower4 ,once the
 loan has been made1 it becomes the     

concern of every member of the          
association to see that it is applied to
 the 'approved purpose'--as it is       
technically called4 ,what is more       
important is that all the borrower's    
fellow-members become interested in his 
business and anxious for its success4   
,the fact that nearly three hundred of  
these societies are at work in ,ireland 
and that1 although their transactions   
are on a very modest scale1 the system  
is steadily growing both in the numbers 
of its adherents and in the             
turnover1--this fact is1 ,i think1 a    
remarkable testimony to the value of the
 co-operative system4 ,the details ,i   
have given illustrate one important     
distinction between co-operation1 which 
enables the farmer to do his business in
 a way that suits him1 and the urban    
form of combination1 which is unsuited  
to his needs4  ,the traditional economy 
that centered in the farm household was 
independent4 ,the ethical standards of  
country life recognized but small       

obligations to those outside the        
household4 ,farmers still idealize an   
individual1 or rather a group1 success4 
,they entertain the hope that their farm
 may raise some specialty for which a   
better price shall be gained and by     
which an exceptional advantage in the   
market shall be possessed4 ,the         
conditions of the world economy are     
imposing upon the farmer the necessity  
of co-operation4  ,the prices of all the
 farmers' products are fixed by the     
marginal goods put upon the market4 ,for
 instance1 the standard milk for which  
the price is paid to dairy farmers1 is  
the milk which can barely secure a      
purchaser4 ,the poor quality1 relative  
uncleanness1 and the low grade of the   
marginal milk dominate the general      
market in every city1 and the farmer who
 produces a better grade gets nothing   
for the difference4 ,it is true that    
there is a special price paid by        
hospitals and a limited market may be   
established by special institutions1 but

 we are dealing here with general       
conditions such as affect the average   
milk farmer and the great bulk of the   
farmers4 ,it is on these average        
conditions alone that the country       
community can depend4  ,co-operation is 
the essential measure by which the      
producer of marginal goods can be       
influenced4 ,to raise the standard of   
his product it is necessary to have a   
combination of producers4 ,so long as   
the better farmer is dependent by       
economic law upon those prices paid for 
marginal goods1 the only way for the    
better farmer to secure a better gain is
 to engage in co-operation which shall  
include the poorer and the marginal     
farmer4  ,in the ,kentucky counties     
which raise ,burley tobacco1 a few years
 ago the tenant farmer was an economic  
slave4 ,he sold his crop at a price     
dictated by a combination of buyers4 ,he
 lived throughout the year on credit4   
,his wife and his children were obliged 
to work in the field in summer4 ,he had 

nothing for contribution to community   
institutions4 ,indeed1 he very          
frequently ended the year without paying
 his debts for food and clothing4  ,the 
organizations of these farmers which    
have been formed in recent years for    
self-protection have been blamed for    
some outrageous deeds4 ,persons in      
sympathy with these organizations have  
burned the barns of farmers unwilling to
 enter the combination4 ,they have      
administered whippings and threats right
 and left in the interest of the        
farmers' organization4 ,in their contest
 with the buyers to secure a better     
price they have reduced to ashes some of
 the warehouses of the monopoly to which
 they were obliged to sell their        
tobacco4 ,these public outrages are     
worthy of condemnation4 ,the writer     
believes that they were not essential to
 the process of co-operation by which   
the farmers fought their way to better  
success1 though the effect of these acts
 is a part of the historical process4   

,but the combination of farmers has     
redeemed the poorer1 the tenant farmer  
and the small farmer from economic      
slavery4 ,his representatives now fix   
the price of the product4 ,there is one 
buyer and one seller1 competition being 
eliminated2 and the price at which the  
tobacco is sold is the farmers' price1  
not the manufacturer's price4 ,as a     
result the farmers are able to hire     
help4 ,the wife and children no longer  
work in the field4 ,the bills are paid  
as they are incurred1 instead of credit 
slavery binding the farmer from year to 
year4 ,last of all this prosperity has  
taken form in better roads1 better      
schools and better churches4 ,it remains
 only to be said that among the farmers 
engaging in this co-operative union     
there were many preachers and pastors of
 the region4 ,they took a large part in 
the combinations of farmers which       
affected this great gain4 ,they         
recognized that the fight of the farmers
 for self-respect and for free existence

 was a religious struggle and that the  
church had a common interest in the well
 being of the population to which it    
ministered4  ,another instance of       
co-operation is seen in ,delaware and on
 the ,eastern ,shore where the soil had 
been exhausted4 ,methods of slavery days
 were unfavorable to the land and after 
the ,war it was long neglected4 ,in     
recent years a new type of farmer has   
come into this territory4 ,by intensive 
cultivation with scientific methods1 he 
is raising small fruits1 berries1       
vegetables and other products1 for the  
nearby markets in the great cities4 ,the
 success of these farmers has been      
dependent upon their produce exchanges4 
,they have learned1 contrary to the     
traditional belief of farmers1 that     
there is a greater profit for the       
individual farmer in raising the same   
crop as his neighbor1 than there is in  
an especial crop which competes in the  
market for itself4 ,that is to say1 in  
shipping a carload of strawberries the  

farmer gets a better price when the car 
is filled with one kind of berry than he
 would receive if the car was made up of
 a number of separate consignments under
 different names and of different       
varieties4 ,co-operation has been better
 for the individual than competition4   
,it at once becomes evident that        
co-operation is an ethical and a        
religious discipline4 ,as soon as the   
farming population is saturated with the
 idea1 which these farmers fully        
understand who have prospered by        
co-operation1 the religious message in  
these territories will be a new message 
of brotherhood4 ,the old gospel of an   
individual salvation apart from men and 
often at the expense of other men will  
be enlarged and renewed into a gospel of
 social salvation4 ,no man will be saved
 to a ,heaven apart or to a salvation   
which he attains by competition or by   
comparison1 but men shall be saved      
through their fellows and with their    
fellows4 ,the country church1 of all our

 churches1 will teach in the days to    
come the gospel of unity4  ,the writer's
 own experience as a country minister   
was a perfect illustration of this union
 of all members of a community4 ,in the 
community ,quakers1 ,irish ,catholics1  
,episcopalians1 ,presbyterians and      
,baptists were represented in nearly    
equal numbers4 ,with people widely      
diverse in their economic position1     
though dependent upon one another1 it   
became evident to all that the only     
religious experience of the community   
must be an experience of unity4 ,under  
the leadership of an old ,quaker who    
supplied the funds and of two others of 
gracious spirit and broad intellect1 the
 whole community was united1 on the     
condition that all should share in that 
which any did4 ,one church was organized
 to receive all the adherents of        
,protestant faith and one service of    
worship united all1 whether within or   
without the church4 ,even the ,roman    
,catholics once or twice a year for     

twenty years have been brought together 
in meetings which express the unity of  
the countryside4  ,other instances there
 are of co-operation among churches in  
the country1 but their number is not    
great4 ,there is a supplementary        
co-operation in the division of         
territory in some states4 ,the church at
 ,hanover1 ,n4 ,j41 has a territory six 
miles by four1 in which no other church 
has been established4 ,this old         
,presbyterian congregation has peopled  
its countryside with its chapels and has
 assembled the chapel worshippers       
regularly at its services in the old    
church at the graveyard and the manse4  
,in ,rock ,creek1 ,illinois1 the        
,presbyterian ,church has a community to
 itself1 and ministers in its territory 
with the same efficiency with which the 
,baptist church across the creek        
ministers to its territory1 in which it 
also has a religious monopoly4 ,these   
two congregations respect one another   
and have a sense of supplementing one   

another1 which is a form of             
co-operation4 ,the ideal expressed in   
these two instances is cherished by     
many4 ,it is hoped that religious bodies
 may agree in time to divide the        
territory1 to give up churches1 to sell 
or transfer property rights and to shift
 their ministers from communities which 
have too many to those communities not  
served at all4 ,but the way for this    
co-operation as an active principle has 
not yet opened4 ,its value is in those  
communities which have had it from the  
first as an inheritance4 ,it has so far 
not proven a remedy to be applied for   
the cure of existing evils4  ,the writer
 believes that the path of co-operation 
is the efficient and slow one of        
economic and social organization rather 
than the delusive short-cut of religious
 union4 ,people cannot be united in     
religion until they are united in their 
social economy4 ,the business of the    
church is to organize co-operative      
enterprises1 economic1 social and       

educational1 and to school the people in
 the joy1 to educate them in the        
advantages1 of life together4           
,co-operation must become a gospel4     
,union requires to be a religious       
doctrine4 ,it will be well for a long   
time to come to say but little about    
organic union of churches and to say a  
great deal about the union in the life  
of the people themselves4  ,,footnote3  
,footnote #cb3 ,rural ,denmark and ,its 
,lessons1 by ,h4 ,rider ,haggard4 ,see  
also the ,bulletins of the              
,international ,institute of            
,agriculture at ,rome1 ,italy4     ,,xi 
,,common ,,schools   ,the weakness of   
the common schools in ,american rural   
communities shows itself in their       
failure to educate the marginal people  
of the community1 in their failure to   
train average men and women for life in 
that community1 in their robbing the    
community of leadership by training     
those on whom their influence is        
strongest1 so that they go out from the 

community never to return2 and in their 
general disloyalty to the local         
community with its needs and its        
problems4  ,it is the boast of the      
people of the country school district   
that their school has sent out so many  
people of distinction4 ,on a rocky      
hillside in a ,new ,england town there  
stands1 between a wooded slope and a    
swamp1 an unpainted school building4    
,within and without it is more          
forbidding than the average stable in   
that farming region4 ,but the resident  
of that neighborhood boasts of the      
number of distinguished persons who have
 gone forth from the community1 under   
the influence of that school4 ,this is  
characteristic of country places and    
country schools4 ,the influence of the  
school1 so far as it has any1 is that of
 disloyalty to the neighborhood4 ,it    
robs the neighborhood of leadership4 ,it
 does nothing to cultivate a spirit of  
sympathy with the life that must be     
lived there4 ,for every one whom it     

starts upon the exodus to other places  
it leaves two at home uninspired1       
indifferent and mentally degenerate4    
,another fault of the one-room country  
school1 which makes it a weak support of
 the country community1 is its lack of  
professional support4 ,among four       
hundred teachers in such schools1       
throughout the country1 not one in a    
hundred expects to remain as a country  
schoolteacher for a lifetime4 ,there is 
no professional class devoted to the    
country school4 ,its service is         
incidental in the lives of men devoted  
to something else4 ,it is a mere side   
issue4  ,besides1 its building is       
inadequate4 ,too many needs1 impossible 
to satisfy1 are assembled in a single   
room4 ,too many grades must be taught   
there for any one child to receive the  
intense impression necessary for his    
education4  ,the third great fault of   
the country school is its total lack of 
intelligent understanding of the        
country4 ,its teaching is suited to     

prepare men for trade1 but not for      
agriculture4 ,instead of making farmers 
of the sons of farmers1 the majority of 
whom should expect to follow the        
profession of their fathers1 the country
 school prepares them for buying and    
selling1 for calculation and for store  
keeping4 ,it starts the stream of       
country boys in the direction of the    
village store1 the end of which is the  
department store or clerical occupation 
in a great city4  ,the improvement of   
the one-room rural school is possible   
within narrow limits only4 ,a recent    
book#cc gives most sympathetic attention
 to this problem of improvement1 while  
asserting that reorganization alone will
 be adequate to the situation4 ,but     
there are improvements which1 within the
 limitations of the one-room school1 are
 possible4 ,the supervision of these    
schools may be made closer and more     
efficient4 ,by bringing to bear upon    
them the oversight of experts in        
education the grade of teaching may be  

elevated4 ,the important principle is to
 discover the proper unit of            
supervision4 ,the town is too small and 
the county unit too large4 ,it is       
probable that with some rearrangement   
the county can be made the proper unit  
of supervision1 but the school should   
determine its problems on a principle   
independent of political divisions4 ,the
 first need of the country school at the
 present time is to be adapted1 by such 
supervision of the district as shall    
correlate the country school with the   
units of population resident in the     
country4 ,in some places the district to
 be supervised by one superintendent    
should be not much larger than a        
township1 in other places it might      
approach the bounds of a county1 but in 
all instances the supervising officer   
should have the relation of an employed 
expert to the problems of the country4  
,it is not enough that untrained farmers
 or tradesmen occasionally visit the    
school in an indifferent manner4 ,their 

indifference is the natural attitude of 
men untrained in the task assigned to   
them4 ,the officer who supervises should
 be well adapted to his task and should 
visit with frequency1 criticize with    
trained intelligence1 and train his     
teachers in a constructive educational  
policy suitable to the district4        
,another improvement in rural schools   
may be had in a better normal training  
of the teachers4 ,at the present time   
the normal schools are inadequate to the
 task of supplying teachers and beyond  
the supplying of teachers for the city1 
they stop short4 ,the training of       
teachers for country schools must become
 a part of the normal provision for the 
states4  ,the minimum salary for        
teachers is a most important            
consideration4 ,a primary difficulty in 
the present situation is that the       
country school teacher is ill paid4 ,it 
is therefore impossible to secure and to
 retain in the country persons of       
adequate mental and cultural value4 ,in 

order to secure funds for better payment
 of teachers1 a readjustment of the     
taxation in the various states is       
probably necessary1 but this will be    
slow of accomplishment4 ,some results   
may be effected in another way by a     
minimum salary for teachers throughout  
the ,state4 ,in this manner a better    
grade of teachers can be secured for all
 schools4  ,the most important          
improvement1 however1 in the country    
schools is almost impossible in the     
one-room school4 ,it is the teaching of 
the gospel of the land4 ,out around the 
country school lies the open book of    
nature4 ,first of books the pupils      
should learn to read the book of nature4
 ,the life of the birds and animals1 so 
familiar to the children yet so little  
known2 the growth of plants1 their      
beauty and their use1 and the nature1   
the tillage and the maintenance of the  
soil1 are all lessons easy to impart to 
those who are themselves instructed1 yet
 the present system of shifting teachers

 makes such instruction impossible4 ,it 
is the opinion of expert educators that 
the study of agriculture is impossible  
in the one-room country school4 ,with   
this opinion the writer agrees1 yet so  
great is the necessity of this very     
improvement and so slow will be the     
changes which look to consolidation of  
schools1 that effort should be made at  
once by those in charge of the country  
school to teach the children the lesson 
of the soil1 of plant life1 of animal   
and bird life and of the world about    
them4 ,these lessons are necessary to   
their economic success4 ,they are the   
very beginning of their happiness in the
 country and of love for the country4   
,in teaching them the country school can
 best perform its duty to the present   
generation4  ,the centralizing of       
country schools is the adequate solution
 of the present situation4 ,by this     
means the children from a wide area are 
brought to a modern school building     
suitably placed in the country4 ,when   

necessary they are transported to and   
from the schools in wagons hired for    
that purpose1 in charge of reliable     
drivers4 ,in this consolidated school   
building1 which has taken the place of  
three1 five or even seven one-room      
district schools now abandoned1 there   
shall be at least two and it may be five
 teachers4 ,this group of teachers forms
 a permanent nucleus and a center for   
the life of the country4 ,the children  
are assembled in a sufficient number to 
provide a large group1 and their social 
life is enjoyable as well as mentally   
stimulating4 ,the weaknesses of the     
one-room district school are in this    
institution corrected4 ,there is        
permanence in the teaching force1       
professional service1 cumulative        
influence1 and the interests of the     
community find in the school a loyal    
center of discussion4 ,the consolidated 
rural school is an institution for the  
first time adequate to the task of      
building up the whole population4  ,the 

first use to which the centralized rural
 school is adapted is to halt the exodus
 from the country4 ,the country         
community has now no check upon the     
departure of its best people4 ,the      
sifting of the country community is     
done1 not by the community itself1 but  
by outside forces1 unfriendly and       
unintelligent as to the interests of the
 country4 ,the centralized rural school 
will retain in the country those who    
should be interested in the country     
community4 ,this will be accomplished by
 the study of agriculture1 which can    
adequately be taught only in a graded   
school in the country4 ,but much can be 
done even by the supply of an adequate  
system of education in the country      
community4  ,at ,rock ,creek1 ,illinois1
 the retirement of farmers to the cities
 and towns had gone so far in #aije that
 the intelligent and devoted members of 
the community1 who did not desire to    
leave the place where their grandfathers
 had first broken the prairie sod1 took 

counsel as to the welfare of the        
community4 ,the superficial fact of most
 consequence was the presence of tenant 
farmers in the community4 ,these        
tenants1 however desirable personally as
 neighbors1 were of a short term of     
residence4 ,from one to five years was  
their longest term on one farm4 ,the    
social life of the community and its    
religious interests were beginning to   
suffer4 ,the sons of the early settlers1
 therefore1 laid their plans by which to
 control the selection of tenants4      
,their first plan was to form a farmer's
 union or syndicate1 which should       
undertake to run the farms of those who 
were retiring from the land4 ,this plan 
seemed promising and the makers of it   
congratulated themselves upon           
controlling the future of the community4
 ,but reflection showed that this method
 would have the effect of retiring more 
farmers from the land and turning over  
the hiring of tenants to the few        
remaining loyal owners1 who would come  

in a short time to constitute the local 
real estate agencies2 while the majority
 of the owners would enjoy themselves in
 towns and villages round about4  ,the  
result was that the farmers undertook   
not to control the tenancy1 but to build
 up the community itself4 ,they         
deliberately undertook the              
reconstruction of the schools4 ,three   
school districts were merged in one4 ,an
 adequate building in which a group of  
teachers is employed was erected4 ,the  
children are transported in wagons hired
 for that purpose4 ,the grounds about   
the school building are made pleasant2  
and the school1 located near the manse  
and the church which had most influenced
 the change1 forms now a strong         
community center for a wide region4     
,the result is all that could be        
desired4 ,the retirement from the farms 
has been checked2 the neighborhood has  
become specially desirable for          
residence4 ,farmers who had gone to the 
town find now that as good or better    

schools are to be had in the community  
where their property lies and where they
 pay their taxes4 ,the rental price of  
land has increased and it is difficult  
for tenants to come into the community  
unless they are willing to pay an added 
rental in return for better school      
privileges4 ,the whole countryside has  
received an impetus and the depression  
of country life has for this community  
departed4 ,mr4 ,r4 ,e4 ,bone1 the fourth
 red-headed ,presbyterian elder ,bone in
 the ,rock ,creek ,church1 takes great  
pride in the building up of the         
community which has been effected       
through the consolidated school4  ,a    
more mature example is the ,john ,swaney
 ,consolidated ,school in ,illinois4    
,here the leadership and generosity of  
,john ,swaney1 a member of the ,society 
of ,friends1 have effected the          
consolidation of four school districts  
at a point two miles from the village of
 ,mc,nab4 ,this purely rural            
consolidation was not effected without a

 contest4 ,indeed the ,mc,nab school has
 had to fight for the gains it has made 
from the very beginning4 ,the           
school-house stands by the roadside1 not
 even surrounded by a group of          
residences4 ,the grounds are peculiarly 
beautiful1 being shaded by great trees  
and extending in ample lawn about the   
building4 ,in the rear are stables for  
the horses which transport the children 
daily from the outer bounds of the      
consolidated district4  ,the school     
building contains four class-rooms with 
physical and chemical laboratories4 ,in 
one room are apparatus for cooking and  
sewing4 ,in the basement is a           
well-lighted shop where benches for     
manual training are placed at the use of
 the boys4 ,in the third story is an    
auditorium so ample as to accommodate a 
basket-ball game and about two hundred  
spectators4 ,frequent gatherings occur  
here in a simple spontaneous way4 ,this 
common school has all the social and    
intellectual power of the old-fashioned 

country academy which once was so useful
 in the ,eastern ,states4 ,a principal  
and four women teachers form the faculty
 of the ,john ,swaney school4 ,the      
number of scholars in #aiaj was one     
hundred and five1 the number of boys    
slightly exceeding that of girls4 ,of   
these about half were in the primary and
 the grammar grades and about half in   
the high school4 ,of the latter some    
twenty-five were tuition pupils from    
outside of the district1 so that the    
actual school group of the ,mc,nab      
consolidated school1 the children of the
 tax-payers1 was in that year eighty in 
number4  ,the difference between the    
social life of eighty young people and  
eight or eighteen young people1 which   
one may find in a one-room school in the
 country anywhere1 is very great4       
,needless to say that the ,john ,swaney 
school has athletic teams1 tennis       
tournament1 baseball games1 literary and
 debating contests and is a strong      
aggressive force lending life and       

vitality to the whole countryside4 ,the 
older families of the neighborhood are  
,quakers4 ,the newer half of the        
population is of ,germanic stock4 ,the  
influence of the school is upon all its 
pupils4 ,the high school retains        
practically all the sons of the ,quaker 
families and some of the newer          
population whose interest in education  
is less4  ,but the crowning distinction 
of the ,john ,swaney school is in its   
study of agriculture1 or broadly        
speaking in its industrial training4    
,for with agriculture must be classed   
manual training and domestic science4   
,by ,john ,swaney's generosity twenty   
acres of land were presented to the     
,state for an experiment farm4 ,this    
land adjoins the school grounds and a   
regular part of the curriculum for the  
young men is the study of agriculture4  
,the result of this interpretation of   
country life in forms of scholarship is 
that substantially all the graduates of 
the high school annually go to the      

,state ,university for training in      
scientific agriculture1 expecting to    
return to the farms and become rural    
residents of ,illinois4 ,at the present 
time no more profitable training could  
be given these young men and women4 ,but
 aside from this economic consideration1
 the social and moral value to the      
community in the return of these young  
men and women to their own soil and the 
scenes of their childhood is beyond     
estimation4 ,the ,quaker ,meeting in    
this community is not laid down2 the    
church is not abandoned4 ,indeed all the
 activities of the community are built  
up and the best of the community        
perpetuated through the medium of this  
modern consolidated school4  ,to sum up 
this chapter1 the improvement of the    
one-room common schools is possible1 but
 for the satisfaction of the needs of   
the modern country community that       
improvement is inadequate4 ,the one-room
 country school is an institution which 
in itself cannot be made to minister to 

modern community life4 ,it is simple and
 modern life is complete4 ,it is casual 
and irregular while the forces with     
which it has to deal are steady-going   
and cumulative in their power4 ,it is   
inexpert and served by no specialized   
professional class1 while modern life   
calls for the service of experts in     
every direction4 ,it has no social      
value1 while modern life is always      
social in its forms of action and       
requires social interpretation for its  
best effects4  ,a closing word should be
 said for a type of schools which has   
been perfected in ,denmark4 ,they are   
known as the ,folk ,high ,schools4      
,these are popular schools1 adapted to  
the teaching of adults to get a living4 
,denmark has an adequate supply of      
technical schools1 and these latter are 
not established to train scholars or    
scientists4 ,their use is to fit men and
 women to meet the issues of life1 at   
home1 hand in hand1 with skill and      
enthusiasm4 ,they use few text-books and

 have no examinations1 and six months   
are sufficient for a course of study4   
,the schools are religious and their    
foundation was the work of ,rev4 ,n4 ,f4
 ,s4 ,grundtvig4 ,in songs and in       
patriotic exercises1 all their own1 they
 idealize country life and the work of  
the mechanic4  ,the academies of earlier
 days in rural ,america were centers of 
a similar influence4 ,but with the      
growth of the public-school system these
 have been generally abandoned4 ,it is a
 question whether some of them would not
 serve a need which is felt today1 if   
only they would train men for modern    
country life with the same success which
 they once had in training leaders for a
 former period4  ,then all the people   
lived in the country4 ,now only a third 
of the people are concerned with the    
farm4 ,so that the education of the     
modern country boy or girl would require
 to be carried on in a different manner1
 in order to retain the best of them in 
the country4 ,the example of the ,folk  

,schools offers an analogy to what might
 be done in ,american country life1 if  
the academy could be transformed into an
 institution for the education of the   
young in the country4  ,all observers   
testify that the ,folk ,high ,schools   
have been the first influence in        
transforming ,denmark in the past forty 
years1 from a nation economically       
inferior to a nation rich and           
prosperous4 ,this change has been       
wrought through the betterment of the   
farmers and other country people1 by    
means of education in country life2 and 
this education has been economic1       
patriotic1 co-operative and religious4  
,so perfect has it been that it is hard 
to analyze2 but the acknowledged center 
of it has been a system of schools in   
which the problem of living is taught as
 a religion1 an enthusiasm and a        
culture4  ,,footnote3  ,footnote #cc3   
,the ,american ,rural ,school1 ,h4 ,w4  
,foght4     ,,xii  ,,rural ,,morality   
,the moral standards of the pioneer type

 and of the land-farmer type prevail in 
the country4 ,the world economy has     
precipitated on the farm an era of      
exploitation which has not yet reached  
its highest point4 ,meantime1 according 
to the ethical ideals of the pioneer and
 of the farmer1 country people are      
moral4  ,the investigations of the      
,country ,life ,commission brought      
general testimony to the high standards 
of personal life which prevail in the   
country4 ,in such a representative state
 as ,pennsylvania the standard of       
conduct between the sexes was found to  
be good4 ,the testimony of physicians1  
among the best of rural observers1 was  
nearly unanimous1 in ,pennsylvania1 to  
the good moral conditions prevailing in 
the intercourse of men and women in the 
country4 ,this indicates that the farmer
 economy had superseded the economy of  
the pioneer4  ,the moral problem of the 
pioneer period consisted of a struggle  
for honesty in business contracts1 and  
purity in the relation of men and women4

 ,the story of every church in ,new     
,england and ,pennsylvania1 until about 
#ahce at which ,professor ,ross dates   
the beginning of the farmer period1     
shows the bitter struggle between the   
standard accepted by the church and that
 of the individuals who failed to       
conform4 ,the standard was inherited    
from the older communities of ,europe4  
,the conduct of individuals grew out of 
the pioneer economy in which they were  
living4 ,church records in ,new ,england
 and ,new ,york ,state are red with the 
story of broken contracts1 debt and     
adultery4 ,the writer has carefully     
studied the records of ,oblong ,meeting 
of the ,society of ,friends in ,duchess 
,county1 ,new ,york1 and from a close   
knowledge of the community through      
almost twenty years of residence in it1 
it is his belief that there were more   
cases of adultery considered by ,oblong 
,meeting in every average year of the   
eighteenth century than were known to   
the whole community in any ten years at 

the close of the nineteenth century4    
,the farmer economy in which the group  
life of the household prevailed over the
 individual life had by the nineteenth  
century superseded the pioneer period1  
in which individual action and          
independent personal initiative were the
 prevailing mode4  ,the coming of the   
exploiter into the farm community brings
 a new set of ethical obligations       
concerning property and contracts4 ,the 
farmer has perfected the individual     
standards of the pioneer but he is not  
yet endowed with social standards4 ,he  
knows that it is right to give full     
measure when he sells a commodity1 but  
he does not yet see the evil of breaches
 of contract4 ,farmers of high standing 
in their communities for their personal 
character1 who are truthful and honest  
in such contractual relations as come   
down from their fathers1 have been known
 to use the school system of the town   
for their own private profit1 or that of
 members of their families1 and to      

ignore financial obligations which      
belong to the new period1 in which money
 values have taken the place of barter  
values4  ,a good illustration is that of
 a deacon in a country church1 whom ,i  
once knew4 ,his word was proverbially   
truthful4 ,as widely as he was known his
 reputation for piety and simple        
truthfulness1 for honesty and purity of 
life were universal4 ,i do not think    
that he was consciously insincere1 but  
as a trustee in administering a fund    
devoted to public uses he seemed to have
 a clear eye for only those enterprises 
through which he or members of his      
family could indirectly secure incomes4 
,entrusted with a public service which  
involved the improvement of the school  
system1 so far as he acted individually 
and without prompting by those who had  
been accustomed all their lives to      
modern methods1 his action was that of  
loyalty to his own family and           
relationship4 ,in so doing he regularly 
would betray the community and the      

public interest4 ,yet he seemed to do   
this ingenuously and without any        
conception of the moral standards of    
people used to the values of money4  ,i 
have known the same man1 whose standing 
among farmers was that of a blameless   
religious man1 to borrow money1 and in  
the period of the loan so to conduct    
himself as to forfeit the respect of    
people used to handling money4 ,to them 
he seemed to be a conscious and         
deliberate grafter4 ,the explanation in 
my mind is that he suffered from the    
transition out of the pioneer and farmer
 economy into the economy of the        
exploiter4  ,the history of the sale of 
lands in the country1 in the recent     
exploitation of farm-lands1 contains    
many stories of the breach of contract  
of farmers1 and the inability of the    
farmer to sell wisely and at the same   
time honestly4 ,contrasting the farmer  
in his knowledge of financial obligation
 with the broker in the ,stock          
,exchange1 the latter type stands out in

 strong contrast as an admirable example
 of financial honesty to contracts1 even
 if they be verbal only4 ,the farmer on 
the other hand has no conception of the 
relations on which the financial system 
must be built4 ,he is not an exploiter  
to begin with1 but a farmer4  ,the      
transition from the older economy to the
 new is illustrated in the dairy        
industry which surrounds every great    
city4 ,the dairy farmer has ideas of    
right and wrong which are purely        
individualistic4 ,he believes that he   
should not cheat the customer in the    
quantity of milk4 ,he recognizes that it
 is wrong1 therefore1 to water the milk1
 but he has no conception of social     
morality concerning milk4 ,he gives full
 measure3 but he cares nothing about    
purity of milk4 ,he is restless and     
feels himself oppressed under the       
demands of the inspector from the city1 
for ventilation of his barns and for    
protection of the milk from impurity4 ,i
 have known few milk farmers who        

believed in giving pure milk and ,i     
never knew one whose conscience was at  
ease in watering milk4 ,that is1 they   
all believe in good measure and none    
believes in the principle of sanitation4
 ,they stand at the transition from the 
old economy to the new4  ,a story is    
told among agricultural teachers in ,new
 ,york ,state to the effect that an     
inspector following the trail of disease
 in a small city traced it to impure    
milk supplied by a certain farm4 ,in the
 absence of the man he insisted on      
inspecting the dairy arrangements1 being
 followed from room to room by the      
farmer's indignant wife4 ,finally he    
said1 ,show me the strainer which you   
use in the milk1 and she brought an old 
shirt1 very much soiled4 ,looking at it 
in dismay the inspector said1 ,could you
 not1 at least1 use a clean shirt8 ,at  
this the woman's patience gave way and  
she declared1 ,well1 you needn't expect 
me to use a clean shirt to strain dirty 
milk6  ,the packing of apples for market

 illustrates the transition from the    
farmer economy in which the ethical     
standards are those of the household1 or
 family group1 to the world economy in  
which the moral standards are those of  
the world market4 ,apples are packed by 
all classes of farmers1 regardless of   
varying religious profession1 in an     
indifferent manner4 ,the typical farmer 
hopes by competition with his neighbors 
to gain a possibly better price4        
,instances of such successes as come to 
certain family groups are endlessly     
discussed by farmers2 and the highest   
ideal that one meets among farmers who  
sell apples throughout the ,eastern     
,states is expressed in the instance of 
some family who have improved their own 
farm and their own orchard1 so as to win
 for the family or the farm a reputation
 in some particular market and thus to  
gain a higher price4  ,contrast with    
this the marketing of apples by the     
,western fruit growers' ,associations4  
,among them1 as for instance in the     

,hood ,valley1 ,oregon1 apples are      
packed not by the farm owner with a view
 to competing with his neighbors1 but by
 the committee representing the whole   
district4 ,the individual farmer has no 
access to the market4 ,he cannot hide   
his poor fruit in an envelope of his    
best fruit1 so as to deceive the buyer4 
,the committee has a reputation to      
maintain on behalf of the association1  
not of the individual4 ,the apples are  
marketed on their merits in accordance  
with a certain standard4 ,the impersonal
 demands of the world economy are kept  
in mind4 ,the individual farmer and farm
 are forgotten4 ,the result is that     
these far western growers1 whose fruit  
is said in the ,east to be inferior in  
flavor to the apples of ,new ,york and  
,new ,england1 can sell their product in
 the eastern market at a higher price   
per box than the ,new ,york or ,new     
,england farmer can secure per barrel4  
,the transition from farming to         
exploiting has brought out in full view 

the wastefulness of the farmer economy  
which is being succeeded by             
exploitation4 ,the whole doctrine of    
conservation belongs in this transition4
 ,economy means1 literally1             
housekeeping4 ,the same meaning appears 
in the word husbandry4 ,it is a         
principle of saving4 ,its extraordinary 
value at the present time is due to our 
sudden sense of the wastefulness of farm
 life in recent years4 ,edward van      
,alstyne1 an agricultural authority in  
,new ,york1 says1 ,we farmers think we  
are most economical1 but we are the most
 wasteful of all men4 ,the wastefulness 
of ,american farming begins in the      
tillage of too many acres4 ,the farmer  
prefers wide fields even at the cost of 
poor crops4  ,the ,new ,york ,central   
,railroad1 which is carrying on a       
propaganda of husbandry1 has appointed a
 man as expert farmer who increased the 
yield of potatoes on his land from sixty
 to three hundred bushels per acre4     
,this brings out clearly that his       

neighbors are still producing sixty     
bushels per acre1 wasting four-fifths of
 their land values4 ,this waste is a    
wrong that should be denounced in the   
country church just as sternly as       
doctrinal sins1 which have occupied the 
attention of country ministers in the   
past4  ,expert farmers say that if      
corn-stalks for fodder are left out in  
the field until they are fed to the     
cattle they lose forty to fifty per cent
 of their food values4 ,this waste is   
sinful1 but the sin is visible only in  
the new economy of exploitation which   
counts all values in terms of cash4 ,no 
sooner is the sinfulness of waste       
observed than its connections with moral
 delinquencies of country people becomes
 clear4 ,in the improvement of rural    
morality due to the sifting of country  
people during the farmer period1 it     
becomes evident that among a people so  
serious-minded some delinquencies still 
remain4 ,the immoralities that still    
lurk and fester in the country are due  

very largely to waste4 ,this waste of   
human things is parallel to the waste of
 economic values4  ,in a conference     
there was some difficulty in persuading 
a certain country minister to speak4    
,when finally he arose he said1 ,i am   
not much interested in the scientific   
analysis of the country church4 ,all ,i 
am interested in is sin4 ,one wonders   
whether he was dealing with the sins of 
the country in their causes or in their 
effects1 or was he simply concerned with
 the sins which consist in opposing the 
doctrines of his particular             
denomination1 whatever it was4 ,this    
wastefulness of the values in the soil  
enters into the social life of the      
country4 ,farmers care as little for the
 social values as for land values4      
,young men and women ignore the moral   
importance of little things4 ,they are  
not taught that coarseness is wrong4    
,they are not made to realize that      
cleanliness and courtesy and reverence  
for the human body are of vital         

importance in life4  ,country people are
 prudish and they cover with a strict   
reserve all discussion of the moral     
relations of men and women4 ,yet in the 
same communities there is loose private 
conversation and coarse references are  
common4 ,the strict standard of the     
household prevails within its limits4   
,books and magazines must not discuss1  
however seriously1 the problems of life4
 ,but in the intercourse of the         
community there is not the same care4   
,the moral life of country people       
requires cultivation of the leisure     
hours1 the casual talk1 the occasional  
meetings of men and women1 and          
especially of young people4  ,the sale  
of votes in every election is a fixed   
quantity in the life of certain country 
towns4 ,it is to be counted on each     
year4 ,the number of votes for sale in  
each town is a known proportion of the  
whole1 and through certain counties the 
selling of votes is the political factor
 everywhere present4 ,these uniform     

facts point to a common cause4 ,that    
cause is the degeneration of a          
proportion of the rural population into 
peasantry4  ,the growth of a peasant    
population in ,america is surely our    
greatest danger4 ,a peasantry is a rural
 population whose moral and spiritual   
state are controlled by their material  
states4 ,there may be rich peasants1    
though most peasants are poor4 ,peasants
 are a specialized class1 incapable of  
self-government and controlled by some  
political masters who exercise for them 
essential rights of citizenship4 ,the   
peasants in ,europe are the last to     
receive the ballot4 ,in ,america they   
are the first to surrender the ballot by
 selling their votes4  ,a young minister
 called to a country parish denounced   
the sale of votes1 in his first year1   
and publicly fixed the whole blame on a 
prominent political leader of the town1 
who was there present in the church4    
,his criticism was resented by the whole
 community4 ,he was right1 and so were  

they4 ,it is well to denounce the       
purchase of votes1 but the duty of the  
country church to ,americanize the      
peasant class is the greater duty4 ,the 
presence of such a class in a town      
infallibly leads to this iniquity4 ,the 
sale of votes is as bad as the sale of  
woman's virtue1 and both have an        
automatic tendency to degrade the       
population4  ,the danger sign of        
peasantry is a degraded standard of     
life4 ,in this town there is one        
household in which nobody works but the 
mother4 ,how they live beats me1 is the 
public comment of the neighbors4        
,through the winter into that house are 
crowded the father and mother1 two sons 
and two daughters1 the husband of one   
daughter and their two children1 with   
three other small children1 whose       
presence in the house is due to the     
loose good nature of the family4 ,there 
is an indolent uncle of these children4 
,none of the household follows any      
gainful occupation4 ,the table is       

furnished with potatoes and pork4 ,the  
attraction of the household is the easy1
 loose1 good-nature of all its members4 
,there is no one to complain of the     
indolence of the five grown men who     
lounge about through the winter days4   
,the presence of such a household in a  
town means degradation4 ,three of these 
men can be purchased for money to vote1 
though they cannot be hired for money to
 work4 ,the daughters of the household  
are an equally dangerous factor in the  
countryside4 ,the cause of this moral   
peril is the low grade of living to     
which the family has sunk4 ,there is no 
known state of ill-health to account for
 their indolence4 ,the first duty of the
 church in such a community is to       
regenerate such a household and to lift 
the standard of ambition of its members4
  ,slowly the country town is coming to 
realize that its reputation as well as  
its progress is determined by this grade
 of citizen4 ,no exceptional success on 
the part of one or more families and no 

substantial goodness by a whole grade of
 the population can compensate for the  
lowering of the standard of the whole   
town by these people4 ,the life and     
death1 the reputation and the progress  
of the town are dependent upon the      
extinguishment of these peasant         
conditions4  ,this is illustrated by the
 fact that where votes are for sale in a
 town those purchased votes determine   
the election in the majority of cases4  
,they constitute the movable margin     
between the two parties2 and by shifting
 them one way or the other the political
 policy of the town is determined4 ,this
 fact illustrates the whole moral       
situation of the town1 for just by the  
same flexible margin is the moral life  
of the town determined4 ,the duty of the
 church therefore is with the people    
upon the economic and social margin of  
the life of the rural community4  ,the  
farmer's moral standards are opposed to 
combination4 ,he believes in personal   
righteousness and family morals4 ,he    

does not believe in the moral control of
 the individual or the household by the 
economic group4 ,it has been impossible1
 therefore1 to combine the farmers in   
the ,east in any general way so as to   
control their markets by maintaining a  
high standard of product4 ,the only     
control that is dreamed of by the       
leaders of the farmers is the control of
 the quantity of their products4 ,they  
do not think of combination which will  
control themselves1 and so maintain a   
higher quality of product in order that 
thus they may dominate the market in the
 great city4  ,the present state of     
ethical opinion among ,eastern farmers  
is not in sympathy with the ethical     
demands of city populations4 ,the       
,western fruit growers' associations    
have fixed the standard for the farmers 
who raise the fruit1 first of all1 and  
by means of this standard they have     
conquered the market in distant cities4 
,the standard to which they compel their
 members to conform is the standard of  

the demand in the world market4 ,if the 
milk farmers about ,new ,york ,city are 
to combine they must first impose a     
self-denying ordinance upon their own   
members and furnish the city with a     
quality of milk in harmony with the     
demands of modern sanitary experts4     
,this is an ethical principle not of the
 pioneer or the farmer economy1 but of  
the new husbandry to which very few     
farmers have conformed4  ,in the        
building of country communities1        
therefore1 the ethical teaching must be 
of a new order4 ,there is already a     
general teaching of morality in the     
country churches4 ,the temperance reform
 is a moral propaganda born of the      
farmer economy4 ,the expulsion of the   
saloon from country places has been in  
obedience to the farmer's conscience4   
,the temperance reform exhibits the     
transformation from individual ethics   
which were advocated in #ahhj to        
communal ethics which are represented in
 the local option aspects of this       

reform4 ,in #ahhj the individual was    
asked to sign the pledge of total       
abstinence4 ,in those days it was as    
important that innocent children sign   
the pledge as that drunkards sign it4   
,the lists of pledge signers were padded
 with the names of persons who had never
 tasted strong drink4 ,in #ahic the     
,anti-,saloon ,league began its         
agitation1 which has proceeded among    
country people with increasing          
influence4 ,the individual is ignored   
and the pledge is signed now by the     
community1 by the county or by the      
state4 ,the attack is not upon the      
individual drunkard1 but upon the       
community institution1 the saloon4 ,this
 is a great gain in the direction of    
social ethics4 ,it illustrates the      
transformation from the pioneer whose   
impact was upon the individual to the   
standards of the exploiter period in    
which the impact is upon the commercial 
institution4 ,the local option movement 
has had its growth in the period of     

exploitation dated by ,prof4 ,ross from 
#ahij4 ,in this movement the country    
churches have been distributing centers1
 the places of discussion and nuclei of 
moral energy4  ,if the general moral    
standards of country people are to be   
transformed from the pioneer formulae to
 those of the modern world economy1 the 
country churches must be led by men     
trained in economics and reinforced by a
 thorough knowledge of social processes4
 ,the temperance movement already begins
 to show the deficiencies of a          
propaganda purely negative4 ,its leaders
 have shown no conspicuous sympathy with
 the play-ground movement1 which is an  
essential part of the same ethical      
process4 ,if the saloon is expelled     
something must be put in its place1 but 
the temperance reformers have not been  
wise enough for substitution3 they have 
only been skilful in expulsion4 ,country
 life1 in its representative            
communities1 suffers today from monotony
 and emptiness4  ,the ministers1        

teachers and other rural leaders need   
the training which will equip them in   
positive and aggressive social          
construction4 ,as the economy of the    
exploiter comes in to transform the     
country community it is necessary for   
the preacher and the teacher to train   
the population in the ethical standards 
of the new time4 ,naturally new         
contractual relations will prevail in   
business1 and trusts will be committed  
to the leading men in the farming       
community1 for which they need definite 
moral preparation4 ,there is many a     
farmer in the ,united ,states who may be
 safely entrusted with the honor of a   
woman1 but cannot be entrusted with a   
million dollars to spend in the interest
 of the community4 ,in many a country   
community it is perfectly safe to leave 
the door unlocked1 but it is not safe to
 purchase a quart of milk for a child4  
,there is many a farmer from whom it is 
morally safe to purchase an acre of     
ground1 but one cannot be sure in       

purchasing a cow from him that she will 
not be tuberculous4 ,these are new      
standards not required by the old       
economy and not taught in the old       
meeting-house4  ,one defect of the      
country church at the present time is   
that it has for the countryman no       
message appropriate to the struggle in  
which he is actually attempting to do   
right4 ,many churches in the country    
teach only the standards of right and   
wrong to which the farmers already      
conform4 ,for a short time a new        
minister is popular with them because   
his new voice and his fresh elocution   
contain a subtle flattery4 ,he denounces
 the sins to which they are not inclined
 and praises the virtues which they have
 learned to practise from their fathers4
 ,but after about six months of such    
preaching the farmer wearies of a       
preacher with no new message4 ,indeed   
the countryman is puzzled and perplexed 
by modern situations about which the    
minister has no knowledge4 ,the farmer  

is forced to be an economist1 but the   
minister has never studied economics4   
,the farmer is face to face with        
problems of exploitation4 ,the values   
not merely of land but of money are in  
his thought4 ,but the preacher has had  
no training in finance and he cannot    
speak wisely or surely upon the marginal
 problems with which the farmer is      
perplexed4  ,the household economy of   
the farm is no longer sufficient4 ,the  
sins are not merely those of adultery   
and disobedience and disloyalty4 ,they  
are the sins of the world market and the
 world economy4 ,in these moral         
situations the minister is silent4 ,he  
knows nothing about them4 ,he is        
inclined merely to object if the farmer 
purchases an automobile4 ,he does not   
see what the automobile is to do for the
 agriculturist4 ,sunday observance1     
total abstinence1 family purity1 honesty
 as to personal property1 these are his 
stock in trade and these alone4 ,it     
requires1 therefore1 a genius to preach 

in the country1 because only the most   
brilliant preaching can render          
traditional moral standards interesting 
among country people4  ,it is proverbial
 among ministers that the best preachers
 are needed in the country4 ,the reason 
for this is that none of the preachers  
has any but an outworn standard to      
preach4 ,they must reinforce it with    
extraordinary eloquence in order to keep
 it attractive4 ,very ordinary men1     
however1 if they understand the modern  
spirit1 can hold the attention of       
country people4 ,the grange has         
ministered to the farmer's conscience4  
,yet its leaders have been commonplace  
men1 unknown to the nation at large4    
,the great movements which have         
influenced the farmer in the past twenty
 years have most of them been pushed to 
success by men unknown to any but       
farmers4 ,what orator has come into     
national prominence out of the          
enterprises of agricultural life in the 
past two decades8 ,the farmer does not  

need great eloquence1 but he does need a
 thorough understanding of the moral and
 spiritual situations arising out of the
 exploiter process in which he is       
immersed4 ,he needs moral teachers for  
the era of husbandry which is dawning in
 the country4  ,there is an actual and  
most conspicuous dearth of leadership of
 a high order in rural life4 ,this is   
evident when we consider the economic   
and social importance of the            
agriculturists4 ,the agriculturists     
constitute about half of our population1
 they owned over #ba per cent of the    
total wealth in #aijj1 and in #aiji     
their products had a value of           
#h1gfj1jjj1 or just about one-third that
 of the entire nation for that year4    
,yet this vast and fundamental element  
of our nation elects no farmer          
presidents1 has scarcely any of its     
members in congress1 but few in state   
legislatures as compared with other     
classes2 it has no governors nor judges4
 ,in fact1 this class is almost without 

leadership in the sphere of political   
life and must depend on representatives 
of other classes to secure justice4     
,economically it is relatively powerless
 likewise1 possessing practically no    
control over markets and prices through 
organization in an age when organization
 dominates all economic lines1 accepting
 interest rates and freight rates       
offered it without the ability to check 
or regulate them1 and buying its goods  
at whatever prices the industrial       
producers set4 ,its leadership up to the
 present time has been of the sporadic  
and discontinuous sort4 ,it has been    
individualistic1 lacking social outlook 
and vision4 ,consequently for community 
purposes its significance has been      
slight4#cd  ,,footnote3  ,footnote #cd3 
,prof4 ,john ,m4 ,gillette1 in ,american
 ,journal of ,sociology1 ,march1 #aiaj4 
,,xiii  ,,recreation   ,the time has    
passed in which the amusements of the   
community can be neglected or dismissed 
with mere condemnation4 ,in the         

husbandry of the country every factor   
must be counted4 ,we are dealing no     
longer with a fatalistic country life1  
but with the economy of all resources4  
,therefore the neglecting of the play   
life and ignoring the leisure           
occupations of a country people are     
inconsistent with the new economy4      
,moreover the ancient method of         
condemning all recreations passed away  
with the austere economy of earlier     
days4 ,the churches in the country no   
longer discipline their members for     
going to frolics4 ,the country community
 no longer is of one mind as to the     
standard by which recreation shall be   
governed4 ,yet every event of this sort 
is closely inspected by the general     
attention4  ,the experience of the      
cities1 in which social control has gone
 much farther than in the country under 
the deliberate harmonizing of life with 
economic principles1 has much to        
contribute for the building up of rural 
society through various means1 among    

which is recreation4  ,the need of      
recreative activities in the country is 
shown by recent surveys undertaken in   
,pennsylvania1 ,indiana1 ,illinois1     
,missouri and ,kentucky by the          
,presbyterian ,department of ,church and
 ,country ,life4 ,generally1 throughout 
the farming population1 it was          
discovered that no common occasions and 
no common experiences fell to the lot of
 the country community4 ,in the course  
of the round year there is1 in thousands
 of farming communities in              
,pennsylvania1 ,indiana and ,illinois1  
no single meeting that brings all the   
people together4 ,the small town has its
 fireman's parade1 to the small city    
comes once a year the circus and to the 
great city comes an anniversary or an   
exposition4 ,every year there is some   
common experience which welds the       
population1 increases acquaintance and  
intensifies social unity4 ,the tillage  
of the soil in those farming communities
 from which the blacksmith1 the         

storekeeper1 the peddler and the        
shoemaker have departed1 is very lonely4
  ,the telephone is the new system of   
nerves for the rural organism1 but the  
telephone is a cold1 steel wire instead 
of the warm and cordial personal        
meetings with which the countryside was 
once enlivened4 ,in eighty country towns
 in ,pennsylvania1 of which fifty are   
purely agricultural1 we found in our    
survey only three that had a common     
leadership and a common assembling4 ,the
 life of the people in these communities
 is so solitary as to be almost         
repellent4 ,their social habits are     
those of aggressive loneliness4 ,this   
isolation in the pioneer days made the  
country people cordial to the visitor3  
but in the coming of the new economy the
 farmer shrinks from strangers1 because 
he has become accustomed to social      
divisions and classifications in which  
he feels himself inferior2 so that the  
loneliness of country life has become   
not merely geographical1 but            

sociological4 ,the farmer is shut in not
 merely by distances in miles1 but by   
distances of social aversion and        
suspicion4 ,difference has become a more
 hostile influence in the country than  
distance4  ,organized industry          
necessitates organized recreation4 ,the 
subjection of mind and body to machine  
labor requires a reaction in the form of
 play4 ,all factory and industrial      
populations1 without exception1 provide 
themselves with play-grounds of some    
sort4 ,in the city where no public      
provision is made the streets are used  
by the boys for their games1 even at the
 risk of injury or death from the       
passing traffic4 ,jane ,addams has      
shown1 in a fine literary appeal in her 
,the ,spirit of ,youth and the ,city    
,streets1 the necessity of some         
provision for the recreations of the    
young and of working people in a great  
city4  ,this necessity is not primarily 
due to congestion of the population4    
,its real sources are in the system and 

organization by which modern work is    
done4 ,this necessity is as             
characteristic of the rural community as
 it is of the city1 for on the farms as 
well as in the factory towns labor is   
performed by machinery4 ,this means that
 through the working hours of the day1  
from eight to twelve in number1 the     
attention of the worker must be         
concentrated upon one task1 patiently   
and steadfastly pursued4 ,the machine   
worker exerts himself in the control of 
great powers1 horse power or steam      
power1 committed to his charge4 ,he has 
no opportunity for languor or rest4 ,he 
has no choice4 ,his job drives him4 ,his
 movements are fixed and regulated by   
the nature of the machine with which he 
is working1 and of the task to be       
accomplished4 ,at the end of the day he 
has acted involuntarily and mechanically
 until his own powers of will and choice
 are accumulated4 ,being repressed      
through long hours of prescribed labor  
he is ready for a rebound4 ,his nature  

demands self-expression4 ,this          
self-expression takes the form of play4 
,the recreation which results is        
organized4 ,the laborer in a factory or 
on a railroad is conscious of           
organization by the very nature of his  
work4 ,he labors with a machine driven  
by powers unseen but of whose operation 
he is aware1 in a great plant wherein   
his own labor is co-ordinated with that 
of other workers like unto himself4 ,the
 hours of self-devotion and prescribed  
attention leave him free for sympathy   
with the other workers1 whose action and
 whose toil are organized with his own1 
and on whose skill and devotion his life
 and limb and the continuance of his job
 are dependent4 ,when he turns to       
recreation he naturally seeks to        
continue the silent communion with his  
fellow-workers4 ,the repressed personal 
energies are already prepared for team  
work4 ,he comes out of the factory      
bubbling over with good fellowship and  
seeking for comradeship in the          

self-expression which the long hours of 
the day have denied him4  ,the result is
 that in every factory town the open    
spaces are devoted to playground uses4  
,vacant lots1 unoccupied fields1 and the
 open street are used by men and boys   
for their games4  ,exactly the same     
experience results from school and      
college organization of education work4 
,the student in the common schools does 
not choose his course2 it is prescribed 
for him by his family and by society4   
,he does not go to school because he is 
mentally ambitious1 but because the     
standards of universal education require
 it of him4 ,especially in the colleges 
which inherit a great name and attract  
young men and women for social          
advantage1 the students are             
characterized by an involuntary         
subjection to the routine of modern     
pedagogy4 ,educational discipline is    
imposed upon them through the long hours
 of lectures and laboratory and         
recitations4 ,the students in high      

school and college are accumulating a   
rebound of voluntary action4 ,this      
organized self-expression takes the form
 of school and college athletics1 which 
has long since been adopted as a part of
 the educational routine4 ,no           
considerable number of educators are in 
favor of abolishing it1 and only a few  
venture to believe in restricting       
college athletics4 ,its moral value is  
everywhere tacitly recognized1 and      
pretty generally it is consciously      
accepted by college and school          
faculties4  ,play of this sort has great
 moral value4 ,we are hired to work1 and
 we do it without choice or enthusiasm1 
but in play the natural forces and the  
personal choice are at their maximum4   
,every action is chosen and is saturated
 with the pleasure of self-expression4  
,the result is that play has high       
ethical value4  ,especially has         
organized recreation great moral power1 
because it involves team work1 and the  
subjection of the individual to the     

success of the team4 ,organized         
recreation teaches self-denial in a     
multitude of experiences which are all  
the more powerful because they are not  
prescribed by any teacher or preacher1  
but are the free natural expression of  
the human spirit under the government of
 chosen associates working out together 
a common purpose4  ,therefore it is     
necessary to use play for the recreation
 of country life4 ,the word is literal1 
not figurative4 ,it is not a problem    
merely of games1 nor the question of    
gymnasium1 but a profound ethical       
enterprise of disciplining the whole    
population through the use of the play  
spirit4 ,this question must be          
approached on the high plane of the     
teaching of modern theorists1 and the   
experience of such practical            
organizations as the ,young ,men's      
,christian ,association4  ,the          
,christian ,associations began their    
work in the lifetime of present         
generations and for accomplishing       

certain purposes they have used         
recreation4 ,they provided a gymnasium1 
at first1 in order to get men into the  
prayer-meeting4 ,they offered social    
parlors in which young men could always 
hear the sound of sacred song4 ,but the 
,young ,men's ,christian ,association   
has traveled far from its crude and     
early use of recreation4 ,some of the   
early ,association leaders are still    
living and still leading4 ,they have    
steadily advanced with care and wisdom  
in the use of recreation4 ,within very  
recent years the leaders of the         
,associations have countenanced the use 
of billiard tables4 ,no longer is the   
gymnasium an annex to the               
prayer-meeting4 ,it has values of its   
own4 ,without moralizing1 these         
practical men have discovered that the  
social parlors were good for ends of    
their own and not merely as a place for 
hearing the distant sound of hymns4 ,in 
other words1 recreation is a form of    
ethical culture4  ,rev4 ,c4 ,o4 ,gill1  

who was captain of the ,yale football   
team in #ahij1 has had an extended      
experience among farmers4 ,he says1 ,the
 reason why farmers cannot co-operate is
 in the fact that they did not play when
 they were boys4 ,they never learned    
team work4 ,they cannot yield to one    
another1 or surrender themselves to the 
common purpose4 ,the writer1 observing  
,mr4 ,gill coaching a university team1  
commented upon the good spirits with    
which a player yielded his place on the 
team just before the victory4 ,mr4 ,gill
 had removed him1 as he explained to    
him1 not because he played poorly1 but  
because a new formation required a      
rearrangement of the team4 ,in reply to 
comment upon the player's               
self-forgetfulness1 ,mr4 ,gill said1    
,football is the greatest school of     
morals in the country4 ,i learned more  
ethics from the coaches when ,i was an  
undergraduate in ,yale1 than from all   
other sources combined4  ,it is this    
high ethical value of recreation which  

causes the working man to defend his    
amateur baseball team1 and makes it so  
hard to repress ,sunday games4 ,the     
working man admits the high value of the
 ,sabbath1 but he sets a value also upon
 recreation1 and without analysis of the
 philosophy either of the ,sabbath or of
 the play-ground1 stoutly maintains the 
goodness of recreation and its necessity
 for those who have labored all the     
week4 ,i work six days in the week1 and 
,i must have some time for recreation1  
is the working man's answer to all      
,sunday reformers4 ,waiving for a moment
 the question of the ,sabbath1 the human
 process to which the working man       
testifies is exactly as he describes it4
 ,organized labor and systematic        
industry will react on any population in
 the form of systematic recreation4     
,the ,play-ground ,movement1 therefore1 
is extending itself throughout the      
country by the very influence of modern 
industry4 ,given intelligence to        
interpret it1 and one understands at    

once the desire of philanthropic and    
public spirited men and women to provide
 a playground beside every school       
building1 open for all the people4  ,dr4
 ,luther ,h4 ,gulick1 who was born of   
missionary parents1 was trained in      
religious schools1 graduated as a       
physician1 employed for years in the    
,young ,men's ,christian ,association1  
and then made ,play-,ground ,director in
 the ,new ,york ,public ,schools1 has   
become legitimately the heir of the     
experiences of the modern social        
conscience4 ,he has summed up the       
philosophy of working men1 students1 and
 of the people whose lives are          
systematized1 in a sentence3 ,there is a
 higher morality in the reactions of    
play than in the experiences of labor4  
,the tradition of the church has been   
opposed to amusement and recreation4    
,the church of our fathers recognized   
the moral possibilities of play by      
calling all play immoral4 ,the early    
,quakers filled their records in the    

eighteenth century with denunciations of
 frollicks4 ,consciously they denounced 
amusement1 acting no doubt in a wise    
understanding of the rude1 boisterous   
character of the pioneer's social       
gatherings4 ,only unconsciously did the 
,quakers cultivate the spirit of        
recreation in their social gatherings4  
,it was permitted to have but few and   
repressed opportunities4 ,the decadence 
of the ,quaker church is probably due1  
in a considerable measure1 to their     
stubborn unwillingness to see both sides
 of this question4 ,they saw that       
recreation was immoral4 ,they refused to
 see that its possible moral value was  
as great as its moral danger4           
,extensive correspondence with working  
pastors1 by means of a system of        
questions sent out from a ,new ,york    
office1 has brought this result4 ,in    
answer to the question1 ,what amusements
 of moral value are there in the        
community8 the answer1 ,baseball1       
boating1 tennis1 golf1 bicycling1 etc4  

,a smaller number of recreations was    
named in answer to the inquiry for      
immoral sports4 ,the subsequent         
question1 ,what is your position before 
the community8 brought from the minister
 very often this answer3 ,i am known to 
be opposed to all sports4 ,few ministers
 realize the inconsistency of this      
position4 ,they stand before the        
community as the professed advocates of 
public and private morality1 and they   
stand also before the community as the  
professed and violent opponents1 often1 
of the public sports which are known to 
the young men and workingmen generally  
as promoters of ethical culture and     
moral training4 ,is it any wonder that  
the churches1 in these communities1 are 
often deserted by the common people8    
,in ,lewistown1 ,pa41 the old           
,presbyterian ,church there1 seeing the 
congested character of the town         
population and the need of              
breathing-places for the young people   
and working people1 looked about for a  

recreation field4 ,the only available   
ground is the old cemetery1 in which the
 earlier members of the congregation    
have buried their dead4 ,this1 the only 
open spot in the center of the town1 it 
has been proposed to turn into a        
playground1 the bodies of the dead to be
 disinterred and laid reverently away in
 a quieter place1 and the ground newly  
consecrated to the needs of the living1 
and of the young4 ,the action           
contemplated by this fine old church is 
emblematic of the modern spirit4        
,christianity is no longer a mere       
reverence for death and the other world4
 ,but it is an energetic service to the 
young1 and the working people1 in this  
present world4 ,it is no longer a solemn
 reverence for the salvation of the     
individual soul in a heaven unseen1 but 
it is a social service1 no less serious1
 unto the living and unto the young and 
the employed4  ,certain modern sports1  
such as baseball1 are free from the     
corruption which has attached itself to 

horse-racing and pugilism4 ,this        
corruption is not in racing a horse1 or 
punching an opponent4 ,it is in the     
dishonesty of the race1 for horsemen    
believe that there never was an honest  
horse-race1 and the followers of the    
prize ring are constantly suspicious    
that the fight will be fixed4 ,the first
 question they ask after the decision of
 the referee is generally1 ,was it a    
frame-up8 ,the moral power of baseball1 
tennis1 football and the other most     
popular sports1 is in the confidence    
that the game is fairly played4 ,this   
fairness of the game is the widest      
extended school of ethical culture that 
the ,american and ,british population   
know4 ,honorable recreation trains in   
courage1 manliness1 co-operation1       
obedience1 self-control1 presence of    
mind1 and in every other of the general 
social virtues4 ,it makes men citizens  
and good soldiers when need comes4 ,this
 was the meaning of the remark of the   
,duke of ,wellington1 when1 after the   

conquest of ,napoleon1 he returned to   
view the playground at ,eton1 and said1 
,here the ,battle of ,waterloo was won4 
,for the building up of a community1    
therefore1 the promotion of recreation  
is an essential4 ,just as necessary as  
the providing of common schools for all 
the people1 is the provision of public  
play-grounds for all the people4 ,as    
many as are the school houses so many1  
generally speaking1 should be the       
play-grounds accessible to all1 under   
the care of trained and responsible     
leaders1 in which1 without too much     
government1 the free movements of the   
young and the abounding self-expression 
of the great mass of the employed shall 
have opportunity to work out their own  
education through play1 into public     
righteousness4  ,the training of        
citizens for days to come demands       
exactly the qualities which are imparted
 on the play-ground4 ,morality is not   
taught and ethical culture is not       
imparted by precept1 though precept and 

exhortation have their due place in the 
analysis of moral and spiritual matters1
 for the thoughtful4 ,but the great     
number of people are not ethically      
thoughtful1 and in the acquirement of   
righteousness all people are            
unconscious4 ,the desired action in     
moral growth is universally spontaneous4
 ,the most sober and intellectual of men
 must be caught off his guard and must  
be lured into voluntary actions before  
any moral habits can be formed in him4  
,mere analysis of truth or              
self-examination makes no man good4 ,but
 men become good by doing things first1 
and thinking of them afterward4 ,they   
can be just as good if they never think 
about them1 though thinking about       
ethical matters renders a service to the
 community as a whole4  ,it should be   
the duty1 therefore1 of the churches1   
who are acknowledged before the whole   
community as repositories of the        
conscience of men1 to promote public    
recreation4 ,where necessary the church 

should even provide a play-ground4 ,in  
,galesburg1 ,ill41 fifteen churches are 
co-operating1 through their men's       
societies1 in a central council of forty
 members4 ,this ,council is made up in  
the form of four ,committees of ten4    
,each ,committee considers one great    
interest of the community4 ,one of these
 interests is recreation4 ,it is the    
duty of this ,committee in winter to    
provide musical and literary            
entertainment and lectures4 ,in the     
summer this ,committee has secured the  
use of the ,knox ,college recreation    
field1 and employing a trained man1 has 
opened it throughout the summer as a    
play-ground for all the children of the 
city4  ,the use of recreation for the   
building up of a community seems to     
involve expensive apparatus and         
sometimes does so4 ,mrs4 ,russell ,sage 
at ,sag ,harbor1 ,long ,island1 has     
expended many thousands of dollars in   
the experiment4 ,interested in the      
children1 of whom there are about eight 

hundred in the town1 through the        
experience of giving them a ,christmas  
tree1 she determined to devote to their 
use a piece of land on the borders of   
the village1 formerly used as a fair    
ground4 ,this work is to have local     
value for the children of this          
community1 and has been used as a       
demonstration center of the efficiency  
of recreation as a moral discipline     
among the young4  ,but most communities 
have not so much money to spend4 ,the   
proposal of a play-ground or of a       
gymnasium is itself sufficient to       
condemn the doctrine of play4 ,we cannot
 afford it1 settles the whole question4 
,in the country expensive apparatus is  
not necessary2 nor do the farmer's son  
and daughter require in recreation so   
much physical exercise4 ,the gymnasium  
is an artificial and expensive machinery
 for inducing sweat1 but the farmer     
needs no such artificial machine4 ,the  
problem is purely one of play1 not of   
exercise4 ,for this purpose a careful   

study of the community1 and of its      
tendencies and inclinations1 is         
necessary4 ,the great essential of      
recreation in the country is the        
opportunity to meet and to talk4        
,therefore the social life of gatherings
 in the church1 and in the schoolhouse1 
no matter what their program1 provided  
it be innocent1 is valuable4 ,farmers   
will attend an auction1 and go a long   
way to a horse-race1 or gather at a     
fair1 without any intention of buying or
 selling4 ,the fundamental service      
rendered by the county fair and the     
auction is an opportunity afforded to   
converse4 ,this exercise of the tongue  
is far more important in rural          
recreation than the exercise of the     
biceps4 ,but country people cannot talk 
without an occasion which unlocks their 
tongues4 ,they must not be directly     
solicited to converse or they are       
silent4 ,if the occasion is provided and
 is made to be sufficiently plausible   
its greatest success will be in         

conversation4  ,in almost every country 
community1 therefore1 there should be   
revival1 in various forms1 of the old   
,bees1 which had so much of a place in  
the former economy4 ,if there is a widow
 who has no one to cut her wood1 the men
 of the country church should assemble  
to do it4 ,if there is a household whose
 bread winner and husbandman has died at
 the time of planting corn1 let the men 
of the community gather at an appointed 
day and till the ground for the family1 
whose grief is greater at that moment   
than their need4 ,let the women of the  
community assemble at noon to provide an
 abundant repast4 ,this was recently    
done by a countryside1 at the           
instigation of the minister1 and the    
effect of it was lasting in its values  
as well as intense in the joy of the    
day's work4 ,it seems1 in view of the   
need of recreation1 that no other       
quality is so important in the country  
community as a lively leader4           
,resourceful1 energetic and fertile men 

in the rural ministry can accomplish    
vastly more than conventional1 orderly  
and proper men4  ,the church in which ,i
 began my ministry used to have a play  
every ,christmas4 ,we built out the     
pulpit platform with boards1 we hung it 
around with curtains1 giving            
dressing-room space1 and we placed      
lanterns in front for foot-lights4 ,the 
first play we gave made us anxious1 for 
the neighborhood was an old ,quaker     
settlement2 but we found that the       
,quakers enjoyed the play immensely and 
were the best actors4 ,we made it a     
genuine expression of the ,christmas    
spirit4 ,we abolished the old speaking  
pieces4 ,our little stage offered the   
young people team work1 instead of      
individual elocution4 ,the rehearsals   
filled a whole month with happy and     
valuable meetings4 ,everybody           
co-operated in the labor necessary to   
prepare the decorations and to take them
 down1 during ,christmas week1 and on   
the night of the play everybody was on  

hand1 ,catholic1 ,protestant and        
heathen4  ,the holidays of the passing  
year suggest the recreations of the     
country church4 ,these should not       
necessarily be productive of sweat1 but 
the country boy and girl do need the    
recreation of laughter and happy meeting
 and social liveliness4 ,farm work is   
lonely and monotonous4 ,such immorality 
as there is in the country has direct   
connection with the tedium and dullness 
of long hours out-doors1 alone4 ,the    
recreations of country life should be   
meetings for the celebration of great   
events of the year4 ,easter expresses   
ideas which are age-old among country   
people3 it is both a pagan festival and 
a ,christian anniversary4 ,if ,easter is
 developed in a celebration of song or  
procession1 of sermon and of decoration1
 with full use of its symbolic value1 it
 is sure to bring the whole countryside 
together1 in an experience of the ,new  
,year rising from the grave of winter   
and of the divine ,lord risen from the  

dead4  ,most country communities have no
 such celebration4 ,in very many the    
whole year passes without neighbors     
meeting for a common social experience4 
,this is why people move to the city1   
because every city1 great and small1 has
 in the course of the year some events  
which bring all the people to the       
curbstone4 ,country life has few such   
times and therefore it is dull1 because 
the richest experience of mankind is the
 experience of common social joy4 ,the  
best recreation is acquaintance and     
conversation4 ,the farmer's son spends  
many hours in silence4 ,he wants someone
 to help him to talk1 and to talk unto  
some purpose4  ,the ,fourth of ,july is 
celebrated in ,rock ,creek1 an ,illinois
 community1 by a wild animal show4      
,instead of explosives1 which are       
discouraged1 the boys of the community  
bring together in small cages their     
animal pets4 ,the boys are encouraged to
 make small carts for the transportation
 of their pets1 and the crowning event  

of the day is the procession of these   
carts1 in an open place1 before the     
great dinner1 at which the countryside  
sits down together4  ,recreation in the 
country1 above all1 should revolve about
 something to eat4 ,the farmer's        
business is to feed the world1 and      
country people love1 above all things1  
the social joy of eating4 ,farmers'     
wives are the best cooks and the country
 household perpetuates its culinary     
traditions4 ,especially does a permanent
 farm population enrich its household   
tradition with delicious recipes and    
beautiful customs of the table4         
,thanksgiving ,day should be the great  
celebration of the round year in the    
country4 ,what a comment upon the       
country community it is that so few     
communities in the country meet         
together1 in response to the            
,president's proclamation of            
thanksgiving1 to express gratitude unto 
the bountiful ,father of all4  ,the     
country church should minister to       

country people in some effective        
gathering of all the countryside4 ,a    
most fruitful method now in use is a    
corn judging contest for the boys4  ,in 
the ,middle ,west the ,corn ,clubs for  
boys have had an extraordinary value1   
and in the ,south1 also1 the ,farmer's  
,co-operative ,demonstration ,work has  
made use of the boys in the country     
community for demonstrating progressive 
methods on the farm4 ,thanksgiving ,day 
can be prepared for in the preceding    
spring1 and the boys and girls who have 
managed a garden1 or half acre1 through 
the summer can make their showing at    
that time4 ,such a competitive showing  
in the country1 in the production of the
 staple crop1 is sure to bring together 
the whole countryside4  ,the local      
history of the country community is a   
fruitful source of recreation4 ,farmers 
look to the past1 and even the new      
people in the country are keen to hear  
the story of the old settlers and of the
 early pioneers4 ,nothing is of greater 

value in developing and refreshing      
country life than to enrich it by       
celebrating its early history4          
,recreation is essential to the moral   
life of any people4 ,it is the          
constructive method of making           
individuals into good citizens4         
,especially valuable is it as a means of
 educating the young people and the     
working people of the community4 ,the   
craving for this social training and    
ethical experience drives many out of   
the country community4 ,conversely1     
training in social morality is to be    
undertaken especially by the church1    
which possesses the conscience of the   
country community4 ,this training is    
expressed in the one phrase2 the        
promotion of recreation4     ,,xiv      
,,common ,,worship   ,the worship of    
,god is an expression of the            
consciousness of kind4 ,this            
consciousness is a social and a         
socializing force1 sometimes exceedingly
 delicate and subtle in its action2     

sometimes turbulent and all-powerful4   
,assuming endlessly varied modes of     
prejudice and of prepossession1 of      
liking and disliking1 it tends always to
 reconstruct and dominate every mode of 
association and every social            
grouping4#ce ,this description by       
,professor ,giddings is so near to a    
description of worship1 that it is      
startling4  ,of all human acts of the   
conscientious man worship is the most   
highly symbolic4 ,they who worship are  
alike1 and in their likeness are unlike 
to others4 ,it is an expression of their
 awareness of resemblance and of        
difference4 ,the definitions of         
consciousness of kind1 as a sociological
 process1 go a long way to explain      
without further comment1 both the       
strength and the weakness of the        
churches in ,america4  ,the churches    
have to struggle with a narrow and small
 social horizon4 ,few people are so     
conscious of their kinship with all     
others in their community that they     

desire those others to worship with     
them4 ,the sense of unlikeness to others
 is1 unfortunately1 as strong in their  
feelings as the sense of likeness unto  
their own4 ,in the ,american community  
with many newcomers1 and some           
foreigners1 this sense of unlikeness is 
natural4 ,it is not to be wondered that 
men should think themselves more like   
unto their old neighbors than unto the  
new4 ,it is not surprising that with new
 economic processes men should ignore   
their unity with those who co-operate   
with them in getting a living1 and      
should be conscious of their unity with 
those whose living comes in the same    
form4 ,as a result1 we have working     
men's churches and rich men's clubs1    
college churches1 student pastors1      
churches which minister to old families1
 and new chapels built by tenant        
farmers4 ,but these phases of worship   
are peculiar to the times of transition 
in which we live4 ,the immaturity of our
 economic processes1 and the greater    

immaturity of our economic knowledge1   
explain the failure of worshiping people
 to assemble by communities2 but the    
process which assembles men of kindred  
mind to worship together now is capable 
of bringing men together in larger      
wholes4  ,the spirit of federation is in
 the air4 ,the longing for religious    
unity is a response to the stimuli of   
common experience in the same locality4 
,men who meet throughout the week1 if   
they worship at all1 discover a desire  
to worship together4 ,the coming of     
great occasions and the celebrations of 
anniversaries1 train them in some common
 assemblies4 ,i remember how the tidings
 of the death of ,president ,mc,kinley  
brought together all the people of the  
community in an act of worship4 ,their  
response to a profound sense of danger  
was a community response1 and the church
 which was prompt to open its doors1    
found men of all faiths within4  ,at a  
recent meeting of the ,national ,body of
 one of the greatest ,protestant        

churches1 proceedings were halted by the
 moderator1 who read a telegram         
announcing the friendly action of       
another religious body4 ,this action    
looked toward union of the two          
denominations4 ,it was a response to    
overtures from the body there in        
session4 ,instantly the whole assembly  
sprang up1 applauding and cheering1 and 
led by a clear1 musical voice1 broke out
 in a hymn4 ,that hymn is profoundly    
sociological in its language1 and its   
use is increasing among ,christian      
people4 ,it expresses that worship which
 is a consciousness of kind4 ,its words 
are     ,blest be the tie that binds    
,our hearts in ,christian love3    ,the 
fellowship of kindred minds      ,is    
like to that above4     ,before our     
,father's throne      ,we pour our      
ardent prayers2    ,our fears1 our      
hopes1 our aims1 are one1      ,our     
comforts and our cares4     ,we share   
our mutual woes1      ,our mutual       
burdens bear1    ,and often for each    

other flows      ,the sympathizing tear4
     ,when we asunder part1      ,it    
gives us inward pain2    ,but we shall  
still be joined in heart1      ,and hope
 to meet again4  ,it would be hard to   
find a member of a ,protestant church in
 ,america1 among the older              
denominations1 who does not know these  
words1 and is not accustomed to use them
 in response to the stimuli of kinship  
with other ,protestant ,christians4     
,the consciousness of kind is an        
awareness of differences and            
resemblances4 ,it is a finding of one's 
self among those to whom one is like1   
and an aversion to those unto whom one  
is not like4 ,worship is an expression  
of this common likeness4 ,it is an      
enjoyment of fellowship4  ,the          
experience of worship is impossible in  
an atmosphere of difference4 ,this is a 
reason for the cleavage of              
denominations1 and the splitting of     
congregations4 ,without this separating1
 men could not enjoy the uniting1 and   

without the aversion1 men could not     
taste the sweets of fellowship4  ,this  
brings us very near to the sacred       
experiences in which men find ,god4 ,a  
very early chapter in the ,bible        
describes ,god as the ,friend of a man4 
,in the succeeding pages he becomes the 
,king1 the ,priest1 the ,prophet1 and   
the ,father of men4 ,in every one of    
them the mind of the worshiper has      
expressed a profound sense1 that ,god is
 found by the soul in society4 ,herbert 
,spencer has insisted that all religion 
is ancestor worship1 that is1 it grows  
out of the family group4  ,simmel       
teaches that religion is the resultant  
of the reactions of the individual with 
his group fellows1 and with the group as
 a whole4 ,christian folk are accustomed
 to express this by calling one another 
brothers and sisters1 meaning clearly   
that religion is a social experience4   
,this is not the place for extended     
biblical interpretation1 but ,i am      
convinced that the whole course of      

scripture will testify to this1 that in 
the peaceful1 continuing1 social unities
 men have found ,god1 and in the        
differences1 in their group conflicts1  
in their wars1 and in the oppositions to
 their enemies1 there has been found no 
religious experience4 ,that is1 such    
conflict has intensified unity1 and the 
resulting unity has been ever richer in 
religion3 but the thoughts for ,god have
 come forth clothed always in terms and 
titles of fellowship1 unity and kinship4
  ,in country communities this principle
 explains the divisions and the unities 
of religious life4 ,in many towns1 the  
,presbyterian church1 for instance1 is  
the church of the old settler and the   
earlier farmers4 ,a new denomination has
 come in with the tenants and the       
invaders4 ,that is1 men have found it   
impossible to worship in a constant     
experience of difference4 ,it is true   
that their difference is an element in  
their religion1 because the             
consciousness of difference is an       

element in the consciousness of kind4   
,in the ,southern ,states1 the white    
slave-holders worshiped1 before the war1
 in the same congregations with their   
negro slaves4 ,they were conscious of   
the plantation group1 and of the        
economic unity with their work-people4  
,when emancipation came and the slaves  
were made free1 they must needs worship 
apart2 and today1 throughout the whole  
,south1 the negro churches have been    
erected to express the consciousness of 
kind1 both on the part of the white and 
of the black4  ,if this argument has    
force1 it goes to prove that religion   
is1 in a small community1 the strongest 
organizing force4 ,the seeking after    
,god requires as a vehicle the          
consciousness of likeness and           
difference4 ,it can only proceed along  
those lines4  ,the earnest desire of    
many common folk to know ,god is a      
working force1 which follows the        
cleavage of social classification4 ,the 
churches become expressions of social   

forms4 ,in the country particularly1    
where life is simpler and changes are   
slower1 the church becomes an almost    
infallible index of the social condition
 of the people4  ,the duty1 then1 of the
 religious worker1 and the task of the  
prophet and the seer1 is to enlarge the 
consciousness of kind4 ,worship is to be
 placed on a larger plane4 ,americans   
must be taught to see their unity with  
immigrants4 ,owners of land must be made
 to recognize that they are one with    
their tenants4 ,the employer must be    
shown that his alliances are with those 
who help him to get his living4 ,at     
once1 when this task is put before us1  
we see the futility of the ideals of our
 time4 ,church workers and other        
teachers have played up before the eyes 
of the people those ideals which        
separate men into artificial classes4   
,the consciousness of kind has been a   
consciousness of money and consciousness
 of belonging to old families1 or a     
consciousness of the ideals of higher   

education4 ,a great many ,american      
families live in the ideal of sending   
their boys and girls to college4 ,this  
leads them to feel a difference between 
themselves and the larger number of     
people who do not care for higher       
education1 and who discover no energies 
in themselves that move on the path of  
learning4 ,the result is that their     
worship is narrow2 churches become      
culture clubs3 the preachers are        
exponents of literature3 the service of 
worship is a liturgy of esthetic        
pleasure4  ,the true consciousness of   
kind must be economic and social4 ,there
 is no escape from this for religious   
people4 ,they must go deep down to the  
unities with men who co-operate with    
them in getting a living4 ,the          
,pittsburgh mill owner has no other     
unity by which he can find himself at   
one with his foreign born mill-hand1    
than the fact that he and the mill-hand 
are fellow workers in the mill4  ,what  
other bond of union is there between the

 farm landlord and the farm tenant8     
,they have no common idealism4 ,the one 
reads books1 the other does not4 ,the   
one sends his son to college1 the other 
sends his into the stable and the field4
 ,the one is enjoying a life of leisure 
and his hands are clean2 the other      
sweats1 saves1 and produces1 in soiled  
clothing1 and with hard1 coarse hands4  
,they have only one basis of unity1     
namely1 that they co-operate in tilling 
the soil1 and in the producing of food  
and raw materials4 ,the teacher1 or     
preacher1 who attempts in this case to  
escape the economic unity1 will find no 
other4  ,the trouble with most of the   
ideals which express themselves in      
diversified worship1 is that they are   
peculiar to the life of leisure1 they   
are a part of the leisure class         
standard4 ,many teachers and preachers  
reiterate similar demands which can only
 be responded to by people who do not   
have to work4  ,from this leisure class 
standard our ideals must be changed to  

the standard of work1 and the man who   
has vision is he who shall see the      
economic1 the industrial unities1 and   
who with compelling voice1 will call men
 together to worship in a new           
consciousness of kind4  ,ministers in   
the country are feeling this very       
deeply4 ,the pastor who ministers to a  
whole community1 boasts of it4 ,he      
realizes he is serving a true social    
unit4 ,this is the joy of many country  
churches which might be named1 and the  
lack of it is the blight of many other  
country communities4 ,it must be clearly
 born in mind1 however1 that the church 
can not organize a unity that is apart  
from the life of men4 ,religion is the  
expression of social realities4 ,there  
can be no federation of those who are   
not conscious of their likeness and of  
their resemblances4 ,this means that the
 religious teaching of days to come must
 be a teaching of the real unities of   
mankind4 ,for in these true bonds of    
union men are brought together4 ,the    

efforts to assemble them in artificial  
bonds1 however ideal1 will be futile4   
,,footnote3  ,footnote #ce3 ,descriptive
 and ,historical ,sociology1 by ,prof4  
,franklin ,h4 ,giddings1 p4 #bge4       
,,selected ,,bibliography   ,,books     
,the ,conservation of ,natural          
,resources in the ,united ,states1      
,chas4 ,r4 ,van ,hise1                  
,the ,macmillan ,co4     ,the ,rural    
,life ,problem of the ,united ,states1  
,sir ,horace ,plunkett1                 
,the ,macmillan ,co4     ,principles of 
,rural ,economics1      ,thomas ,nixon  
,carver1                       ,ginn and
 ,company     ,the ,country ,life       
,movement in the ,united ,states1       
,l4 ,h4 ,bailey1                        
,the ,macmillan ,co4     ,ireland in the
 ,new ,century1      ,sir ,horace       
,plunkett1                           ,e4
 ,p4 ,dutton     ,the ,american ,rural  
,school1      ,harold ,w4 ,foght1       
,the ,macmillan ,co4     ,the ,country  
,town4 ,a ,study of ,rural ,evolution1  

,wilbert ,l4 ,anderson1                 
,the ,baker  ,taylor ,co4               
,descriptive and ,historical ,sociology1
      ,franklin ,h4 ,giddings1          
,the ,macmillan ,co4     ,rural ,denmark
 and ,its ,lessons1      ,h4 ,rider     
,haggard1                     ,longmans1
 ,green  ,co4     ,quaker ,hill1 ,a     
,sociological ,study1      ,warren ,h4  
,wilson1                                
,privately printed     ,youth1      ,g4 
,stanley ,hall1                         
,d4 ,appleton  ,co4     ,the            
,presbyterian ,church in the ,united    
,states1      ,robert ,e4 ,thompson1    
,chas4 ,scribner's ,sons     ,chapters  
in ,rural ,progress1      ,kenyon ,l4   
,butterfield1      ,the ,university of  
,chicago ,press     ,the ,country       
,church and the ,rural ,problem1        
,kenyon ,l4 ,butterfield1      ,the     
,university of ,chicago ,press     ,the 
,story of ,john ,frederick ,oberlin1    
,augustus ,field ,beard1                
,the ,pilgrim ,press     ,the ,church of

 the ,open ,country1      ,warren ,h4   
,wilson1             ,missionary        
,education ,movement     ,the ,day of   
the ,country ,church1      ,j4 ,o4      
,ashenhurst1                       ,funk
  ,wagnalls ,co4     ,the ,distribution 
of ,wealth1      ,john ,bates ,clark1   
,the ,mac,millan ,co4   ,,articles      
,,referred ,,to ,,in ,,the ,,text       
,the ,american ,journal of ,sociology1  
,march1 #aiaa1      ,statement by ,john 
,l4 ,gillin4     ,the ,american ,journal
 of ,sociology1 ,march1 #aiaa1      ,the
 ,drift of the ,city in ,relation to the
 ,rural ,problem1      ,john ,m4        
,gillette4     ,modern ,methods in the  
,country ,church1      ,matthew ,b4     
,mc,nutt1            ,missionary        
,education ,movement     ,a ,method of  
,making a ,social ,survey in a ,rural   
,community1      ,c4 ,j4 ,galpin1       
,university of ,wisconsin               
,circular of information ,no4 #bi       
,bulletins of ,international ,institute 
of ,agriculture1                        

,rome1 ,italy     ,the ,political       
,science ,quarterly1 ,december1 #aiaj1  
,the ,agrarian ,changes in the middle   
,west1      ,j4 ,b4 ,ross     ,,index   
,abandoned country churches1 #abf       
,absentee landlords1 #cb-ci             
,academy1--,old ,new ,england1 #be      
,addams1 ,jane1 #aia     ,adult ,bible  
,class1 #acd     ,agee1 ,prof4 ,alva1   
#aje     ,agriculture1 teaching of1 #afg
     ,amish1 #gd     ,amusement1 problem
 of1 #hd     ,anabaptist1 #gb           
,anderson1 ,wilbert ,l41 #ajb           
,anti-,saloon ,league1 #ahc     ,apples1
 marketing of1 #age     ,augustine1     
,saint1 #hb     ,austerity1 #eg         
,bailey1 ,l4 ,h41 #ej     ,bees1 #bjc   
,bellona1 ,n4 ,y4 #ef     ,boll weevil1 
#adc     ,bone1 ,r4 ,e41 #hf            
,braddock1 ,rev4 ,j4 ,s41 #eh           
,breach of contract1 #agd               
,breadwinner1 type1 #aac                
,butterfield1 ,kenyon ,l41 #acg         
,casselton1 ,n4 ,d41 #db                
,centralized school1 #afc     ,chaffee1 

farm1 #dc     ,chester ,county1 ,pa41   
#abd     ,chesterton1 ,gilbert ,k41 #aae
     ,christmas play1 #bjc     ,church1 
,budget1 #ach      ,envelope system1    
#aci      ,financial system1 #acj       
,records1 #agb     ,clark1 ,john ,bates1
 #hj1 #aaa     ,college athletics1 #aic 
,columbus1 ,christopher1 #aab           
,community center1 #ajd                 
,consciousness of kind1 #bjh1 #bac      
,corn ,clubs1 #bjf     ,country ,fair1  
promoted1 #ag     ,country ,life        
,commission1 #aga     ,cranberry1 ,n4   
,j41 church at1 #bg     ,crete1         
,nebraska1 #hf      ,danish ,folk       
,schools1 #eb1 #afi     ,delaware1      
produce exchanges1 #aed                 
,demonstration work1 #bjf     ,denmark1 
#ea1 #adg     ,desmoulin1 #if           
,diminishing returns1 law of1 #hh1 #aaj 
,donation1 system1 #bg     ,dunkers1    
#eh1 #fg     ,du ,page ,church1 #ajf    
,eliot1 ,ex-,president of ,harvard1 #acg
     ,endowment of churches1 #acf       
,exploitation of land1 #cb-cc1 #abc1    

#abd      ,family group1 #ai            
,shrinkage of1 #abd     ,farm laborers1 
#bb     ,federation of churches1 #ace1  
#bji     ,foght1 ,harold ,w41 #ig1 #afj 
,fourth of ,july celebration1 #bje      
,galesburg1 ,ill41 #bja     ,galpin1    
,prof4 ,c4 ,j41 #id     ,giddings1      
,prof4 ,franklin ,h41 #bjh     ,gill1   
,rev4 ,c4 ,o41 #aie     ,gillette1      
,prof4 ,john ,m41 #ahh     ,gillin1     
,prof41 #eg1 #eh1 #fg     ,greeley1     
,horace1 #ajh     ,group system1 #aj1   
#aa1 #ab     ,grundtvig1 ,bishop1 #ea1  
#ec1 #afi     ,gulick1 ,dr4 ,luther ,h41
 #aig      ,haggard1 ,h4 ,rider1 #adg   
,hanover1 ,n4 ,j41 #aef     ,hays1      
,willet ,m41 #ia     ,hernando1         
,mississippi1 #aje     ,holidays1       
celebration of1 #bjd     ,homestead act1
 #cd     ,hood ,river ,valley1 ,oregon1 
fruit growers1 #agf     ,hormell1 ,dr4  
,w4 ,h41 #hh      ,illinois1 #abf       
,survey of1 #aij     ,immigrants1 in    
country districts1 #abc     ,indiana1   
survey of1 #aij     ,ireland1 ,christian

 ,brothers1 #eb      ,co-operative      
organizations1 #adg-aea      ,country   
,life ,movement1 #hj      ,john ,swaney 
,consolidated ,school1 #afe-aff         
,kentucky1 co-operative organizations1  
#aeb      ,survey of1 #aij              
,lancaster ,county1 ,pa41 #eg     ,land 
values1 #cd     ,leadership1 #ahg       
,lewistown1 ,pa41 #aih      ,mc,nab1    
,ill41 #aff     ,mc,nutt1 ,rev4 ,matthew
 ,b41 #hf1 #ajf     ,marginal man1 #aac 
,massachusetts communities1 #if         
,mennonites1 #gb     ,middle ,creek     
,church1 #eh     ,minimum salary1 #afa  
,missouri1 survey of1 #aij     ,money   
crop1 #ie     ,mormons1 #eg1 #fb-gh     
,morrison1 ,rev4 ,t4 ,maxwell1 #ef      
,mountain community1 #d                 
,mountaineers1 #f1 #h1 #af      ,new    
,england ,country ,church ,asso41 #acg  
,new ,york ,central ,r4 ,r41 #agg       
,oberammergau1 #hc     ,oberlin1 ,john  
,frederick1 #ad     ,oblong meeting1    
#ga1 #agb     ,ohio1 counties less      
productive1 #aja     ,ottumwa1 ,iowa1   

#hh     ,over churching1 #bf1 #ade1 #adf
      ,palatinates1 #gb     ,pastor1    
need of1 #ac     ,passion ,play1 #hc    
,penn1 ,william1 #gb     ,penn ,yan1 ,n4
 ,y41 #dj     ,pennsylvania ,germans1   
#eg1 #fb-gh     ,pennsylvania1 survey   
of1 #aij     ,planters1 south1 #ah      
,playground1 #ih     ,playground        
movement1 #acd1 #aif     ,plunkett1 ,sir
 ,horace1 #ea1 #adg     ,polk1 ,rev4    
,samuel1 #ed     ,poor1 ministry to1    
#aae     ,protestantism1 #aah           
,quaker ,hill1 #gj1 #id1 #aee           
,quaker meeting1 ,mc,nab1 #afh          
,quakers1 #gj1 #aig1 #bjd      ,rankin1 
,david1 #da     ,recreation1 importance 
of1 #aci1 #aid     ,retired farmers1    
#cf-ch     ,retirement from farm1       
process described1 #abe     ,revivals1  
#g1 #h1 #i     ,riis1 ,jacob1 #hg       
,rock ,creek1 ,ill41 #aef1 #afd1 #bje   
,ross1 ,prof4 ,j4 ,b41 #b1 #ba1 #bi1    
#cb1 #ahd     ,rural evangelism1 #aca   
,rural exodus1 #hg1 #ig     ,rural free 
delivery1 #abh      ,sag ,harbor1 ,l4   

,i41 #bja     ,sage1 ,mrs4 ,russell1    
#bja     ,schenck1 ,norman ,c41 #d      
,school1 country1 #bc1 #he1 #fj1 #aei   
,scientific farming1 #dh                
,scotch-,irish1 #cj1 #eg1 #fb-gh        
,simmel1 #bab     ,slave-holding        
churches1 #bh     ,smith1 ,adam1 #e     
,smith1 ,john1 #aab     ,socialism1 #aaf
     ,social service1 #aaj1 ,,xvi       
,spencer1 ,herbert1 #bab     ,store1    
country1 #bb1 #id     ,sunday ,schools1 
#aca1 #acd     ,swaney1 ,john1 #hf      
,tard1 ,gabriel1 #ei     ,teachers1     
training of1 #afa     ,team play1       
ethical value1 #ii     ,telephone1      
rural1 #abh1 #aij     ,temperance       
movement1 #df1 #aag1 #ahc     ,tenant   
farmers1 #ce      ,tenants' lease1 #dj  
,thompson1 ,r4 ,e41 #fe     ,theological
 seminaries1 #aai-abj     ,trolley1     
inter-urban1 #abh     ,types1 economic1 
#c      ,utility1 initial1 #ajh         
,marginal1 #aji      ,van ,alstyne1     
,edward1 #agg     ,vote selling1 #agi   
,washington ,county1 ,pa41 #abd         

,waterloo1 ,iowa1 community church1 #fh 
,wealth1 conservation of1 #dg     ,west 
,nottingham1 ,md41 church at1 #ed       
,winnebago1 ,ill41 #eh      ,young      
,men's ,christian ,association1 #acd1   
#aid     ,young ,people's ,societies1   
#bh          99       99       99       
99       99  ,transcriber's note   ,the 
following changes have been made to the 
text3  ,page xi3 ,,ix changed to ,,xiii4
  ,page #b3 are separated form changed  
to are separated from4  ,page #f3       
langour changed to languor4  ,page #ag3 
this be brought changed to this he      
brought4  ,page #bb3 desti-period       
changed to destination4  ,page #bi3     
estended changed to extended4  ,page    
#cj3 recorded in out literature changed 
to recorded in our literature4  ,page   
#hf3 individiuals changed to            
individuals4  ,page #id3 ,in #aiaj every
 country community changed to ,in #ahaj 
every country community4  ,page #aje3   
embarassed changed to embarrassed4      
,page #ajg3 ,footnote #bd3 ,willett     

changed to ,willet  ,page #aaf3         
proletarean changed to proletarian4     
,page #abc3 ,portugese changed to       
,portuguese4  ,page #aej3 gradiloquently
 changed to grandiloquently4  ,page     
#aia3 ,addam changed to ,addams4  ,page 
#aib3 elf-expression takes the form     
changed to self-expression takes the    
form4  ,page #aig3 inmoral changed to   
immoral4  ,page #aih3 disintered changed
 to disinterred4  ,page #bjf3 frutiful  
changed to fruitful4  ,page #bjh3       
expresssion changed to expression4      
,page #bji3 immaturity of our ecnomic   
changed to immaturity of our economic4  
,page #bbj3 ,lewiston changed to        
,lewistown4  ,page #bba3 ,,xii changed  
to ,,xvi4  ,page #bba3 ,tard changed to 
,tard4