C33 .,_ , ^£;™«'l Unlv»r«lty Library HT 467.C33 Rural economy as a factor In the success 3 1924 014 003 523 p ^ Cornell University Library The original of tliis book is in tlie Cornell University Library. There are no known copyright restrictions in the United States on the use of the text. http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924014003523 \ \ Social Service Series Bulletin Number 8 Rural Economy as a Factor in the Success of the Church By Thomas N. Carver Boston American Unitarian Association 25 Beacon Street 5 SOCIAL SERVICE BULLETIN The purpose of the Bulletin is to offer sug- gestions for the conduct of work for the com- mon good in our churches, and also to give circulation to articles of value on different phases of the social question, — some original contributions, and others reprints from the magazines and the reports of various societies. No. 1, The Social Welfare Work of Unitarian Churches. The report of an iavestigation. No. 2. Working with Boys. By Rev. Elmer S. Forbes. Hints on the organization and conduct o( Boys' Clubs. No. 3. The Individual and the Social Order in Religion. By Rev. Frederic A. Hinckley. Individualism and socialism reconciled by religion. No. 4. A Remedy for Industrial Warfare. By Charles W. Eliot. The Canadian Act (or maintenance of industrial peace. No. 5. Some Unsettled Questions about Child Labor. By Owen R. Lovejoy. Four problems which require immediate attention. ^o. 6. The Social Conscience and the Reli- gious Life. By Francis G. Peabody. The awakening of the churches to social problems. No. 7. Friendly Visiting. By Mary E. Richmond. A direct and personal method of philanthropic activity. No. 8. Rural Economy as a Factor in the Suc- cess of the Church. By Thomes N. Carver. Prosperous members essential to a successful church. Order by number only, not by title. AMERICAN UNITARIAN ASSOCIATION 25 Beacon Street, Boston. Rural Economy as a Factor in the Success of the Church In studying rural economy in its connections with the church, one or two considerations of a general nature suggest themselves. First, that if there is anything which the modern world has learned, it is that miracles do not happen, nowadays, to protect men or institutions from the results of their own ig- norance of natural laws. Therefore they who plan for the success of the church, as well as they who plan for individual success, must depend upon a knowledge of these laws, and not expect to succeed through a miraculous suspension of them. "Put your trust in God, but keep your powder dry," was Cromwell's very direct and concrete way of express- ing this generalized experience of mankind. With respect to physical laws, the experience of mankind is so definite and convincing that no intel- ligent person now expects to succeed in any under- taking, however worthy, in opposition to them. He knows so well that these physical laws are unchange- able and inexorable, that they are never suspended even to save the life of a good man, or to save any [Ij Rural Economy as a Factor good cause from failure, that he never thinks of ig- noring them. But it is with economic laws that we are more concerned here, and on this point experi- ence is less definite and therefore less convincing; still, it is as true that no large and permanent suc- cess is attained in violation of these laws as it is that no success at all is attained in violation of physi- cal laws. Some economic laws are physical laws, as a mat- ter of fact. Such a law is that of diminishing re- turns from land; but the significance of such laws as this is usually understood. There are other laws of a statistical nature. Such a law, for example, is that cheap money will drive out dear money. This law is not based upon physical necessity; it is merely an observed tendency. It is an observed fact that the net result of the actions of all men — acting in many different individual ways — is to bring about this displacement of dear money by cheap money, unless the cheap money is kept within very definite limits. But though this law is not based upon physical necessity, its operation is so definite and unpreventable that any government, however powerful, which tries to maintain a circulation in violation of it will invariably fail, as governments have always failed, in the attempt. Is it with such laws as this, as well as with physical laws, that gov- ernments and churches, as well as individuals, must reckon. [2] in the Success of the Church It may be laid down as a general law of rural economy that the productive land in any farming community will tend to pass more and more into the hands of those who can cultivate it most efficiently, — that is, into the hands of the most efficient farmers, — unless it is prevented from doing so by some kind of military force exercised by an aristocratic ruling class. In a democratic country, like the United States, where there are so few impediments in the way of the free transfer of land, we need look for nothing else. The men who can make the land pro- duce the most will be able to pay the most for it, and in the end they will get it and hold it. This looks simple enough, no doubt, and may not at first seem to signify much, but it is weighted with conse- quences of the most stupendous and far-reaching^ character, — consequences which it would be suicidal for the church to ignore. It means simply and literally that the rural dis- tricts are never to be thoroughly christianized until Christians become, as a rule, better farmers than non-Christians. If it should happen that Christians should become really better farmers than non-Chris- tians, the land will pass more and more into the pos- session of Christians, and this will become a chris- tian country, at least so far as the rural districts are concerned. The first result would probably be to pa- ganize the cities, since the non-Christians displaced from the rural districts by their superior competitors [3] Rural Economy as a Factor would take refuge in the towns. But since nature has a way of exterminating town populations in three or four generations, and the towns have there- fore to be continuously recruited from the country, the christianizing of the rural districts would even- tually mean the christianizing of the towns also. But, vice versa, if non-Christians should become the better farmers, by reason of some false philosophy or supercilious attitude toward material wealth and economic achievement on the part of the church, then this would eventually become a non-Christian coun- try, for the same reason. But if, as a third possibility, there should be no perceptible difference between Christians and non- Christians as to their knowledge and adaptability, or as to their general fitness to survive and possess the earth, — ^fitness, that is, as determined by nature's standard rather than by some artificial standard of ■our own devising, — ^the result would be that Chris- tians would remain indefinitely a mere sect in the midst of a non-Christian or a nondescript popula- tion. The only way of avoiding this rather unsat- isfactory situation would be to force the whole popu- lation into a nominal Christianity by military force. But, assuming that physical force is not to be used, and that the ordinary economic forces are to operate undisturbed by such violent means, then the conten- tion will hold. This is what is likely to happen if certain religious leaders should succeed in identify- [4] in the Success of the Church ing Christianity with millinery, or with abstract formulae respecting the invisible world, or with mere loyalty to an organization, rather than with rational conduct. By rational conduct is meant that kind of conduct which conserves human energy and enables men to fulfill their mission of subduing the earth and ruling over it, which enables them to survive in the struggle with nature, which is the essence of all genuine morality. If the significance of this law is once clearly un- derstood, there is little danger that the church will make the wrong choice, or hesitate long in making the right one. It would at once decide to make bet- ter farmers of its rural members than non-members can possibly become, not having the stimulating in- fluences which go with membership. The only dan- ger is that the churches, some of them at least, will fail to see the point, or refuse to see it, and continue to hug the delusion that they are under the guidance of a higher power than political economv, and may therefore safely ignore its laws. That would be a delusion, because a law is a law and the words higher and lower have no application. To believe that there may be a conflict between divine law and physical law, or between divine law and economic law, is to believe that this is an irrational universe, at war with itself. Moreover, we must form our con- clusions as to the will of God and the duty of man on the basis of the observed facts and uniformities [5] Rural Economy as a Factor of the world of actual experience; and the laws of political economy are among these observed uni- formities. Our only way of knowing that we are in tune with the Infinite is by observing that we are in tune with the finite; and we cannot possibly be in tune with the finite unless we act in harmony with known physical and economic laws. There was once a preacher who held that it was useless to educate men for the ministry, because when the Lord wanted an educated minister he could take some man who was already educated, and convert him and call him to the ministry. Fortunately that policy did not prevail in the church. But there may be those who hold that it should not be the mission of the church to make good farmers, but to convert to Christianity those who are already good farmers. Reliance upon the process of conversion may appeal to some as the right policy for the church to pursue ; but, unless conversion means increased efficiency, greater adaptability, greater fitness for the struggle for existence, better conservation of human energy, the church can scarcely hold the ground won by that process, but will be continually losing it through economic competition with the more efficient non-Christians. But it might happen that a religious body should ignore these economic laws and depend upon the pro- cess of conversion alone. It might also induce in its adherents a kind of life which would unfit them [6] in the Success of the Church rather than fit them for the struggle with nature. Its adherents would then, generation after genera- tion, lose ground as compared with men of other re- ligious beliefs, or of no religion at all. Then it would eventually require all the energy which this religious body could exert to regain the ground lost by the other process, for a law similar to the law of diminishing returns applies even to the process of conversion. No doubt there are those who will repu- diate the notion that the Spirit of God is limited by economic law. It is an observed fact, however, that revivals always and everywhere wear themselves out. There comes a time, after a few weeks, when it takes greater and greater effort to make a convert. The more willing recruits are gathered in first. As the campaign proceeds, recruits must be gained from the ranks of the more and more unwilling, until eventually the whole campaign comes to a standstill. This may seem like a cold and unenthusiastic presen- tation of the case ; but, if this be not the general rule some one is called upon to give a satisfactory reason why a religious revival ever stops. It may not be the same law, but it is certainly a similar law to that which determines how much corn a given field can be made to produce. And this presentation will not seem sacrilegious to any one who will reflect that the same power that made the corn field and the soil, and set a bound to its yield, made also the field for the human harvest, and set a bound to its yield. [71 Rural Economy as a Factor A religious body finding itself facing a situation of this kind, where it is continually losing as much ground by reason of the unfitness of its teachings for survival in a world of physical and economic laws as it is gaining by making new converts, and seeing no prospect for a permanent and satisfactory success because of the persistence of these laws with which it finds itself in conflict, might reasonably be expected to revise its religious teachings in order to adapt them to the conditions which it has to face. That would certainly seem to be the reasonable thing to do. As a matter of fact, it is the last thing which religious bodies are willing to do. The tendency is rather to take refuge in the doctrine that, although their teachings are of divine origin, this material world is of the devil, and therefore in conflict with the oracles of God. An irrational universe in con- flict with itself is to them preferable to a rational universe in conflict with their particular views of theology. But if this is a rational universe, must we not con- clude that any religion, or any religious movement, however attractive it may seem, is proved a false re- ligion, or a misdirected religious movement, which does not increase the capacity of its followers to con- trol the forces of nature, to dominate the earth and to rule over it, which does not increase their adapta- bility, which does not make the nation which adopts it a prosperous nation ? Conversely, must we not con- L8] in the Success of the Church elude, assuming, still, a rational universe, that that is a true religion which, if adopted by a whole com- munity, or a whole nation, would increase the adapt- ability of that community or that nation, and en- able it to subjugate the earth, and to outgrow, both in power and wealth, in comfort and prosperity, the nation which does not adopt it? The alternative to this conclusion would seem to be to fall back upon the concept of an irrational universe, on the belief that this world is satan's world, in conflict with God's law, instead of God's world in harmony with itself. But this doctrine which is presented is not so revo- lutionary as it may seem. Indeed, it is so old fash- ioned as to be positively reactionary, and that is why it may seem new and revolutionary to those who have forgotten certain old truths. If it be correct to say that the rural districts will become christianized only in proportion as Christians become better farmers than non-Christians, it must also be true that what- ever permanent success the rural church has had in the past has been due to the same reason, except where force or some other non-economic factor has intervened. Such is, as a matter of fact, the case. In spite of its emphasis upon spirituality, or because of its emphasis upon a sane and wholesome kind of spirituality, men have usually actually become bet- ter farmers under its influence. For along with cer- tain formalities of belief and conduct there has gen- erally been, for one reason or another, considerable [9] Rural Economy as a Factor emphasis upon the plain economic virtues of indus- try, sobriety, thrift, forethought, and mutual help- fulness. Wherever there has been a pure and ele- vated type of Christianity, there Christians have ex- hibited these virtues in somewhat greater degree than non-Christians. This simply means that they have wasted less of their energy in vice, dissipation, brawling, or in riotous living than their non-Chris- tian neighbors. Economizing their energy, they ■were able to prevail over those who wasted theirs. Sometimes, however, war and persecution have been resorted to to check this economic growth. At other times Christians themselves have resorted to these non-economic methods of gaining ground. But where economic forces have been allowed to work un- hindered, and where Christianity has been of a type worth preserving, there it has grown strong by rea- son of these economic forces alone, and it has not needed to appeal to force to spread itself. But is not agricultural competition itself a form of war.'' Certain half-baked philosophers have fallen into the habit of saying so. There is this difference. In war success depends upon the power and the will- ingness to destroy. In agriculture success depends ■upon the power and the willingness to produce. In war they win who inflict the greatest pain and in- jury. In agriculture they win who render the great- est utility or service, and to a sober mind this must appear to be a real difference. [10] in the Success of the Church But is there not a conflict in agricultural competi- tion, and is not this doctrine a proposal to place re- liance upon the power of conflict rather than upon the power of love? There is a certain notion of Christian love which glides over such texts as, "The soul that sinneth, it shall die." Yet these words were written in love and not in cruelty. But there is only one sin known to nature ; that is maladaptation. And the sinner she exterminates. Is this cruelty.'' No, it is love. The human being who wastes his energy is the human sin- ner — the unadapted man; and he goes the way of all the unadapted. The human being who econo- mizes his energy is the righteous man. He is na- ture's darling, the adapted ; and he — ^that is, his type — survives. Again, is this cruelty.'' No, it is love. By preserving those who have the power and willing- ness to produce, — to serve, — who economize their energy for productive service, and by exterminating the opposite type, a world is being created, or evolved, in which the largest possible service is being Tendered by every individual to every individual. Again, is this cruelty ? No, it is love. "Love is the fulfilling of the Law" — even the law of survival and extermination. "The soul that sinneth, it shall die." That type of man who wastes his energy is doomed to extinc- tion in competition with the type who economizes his energy and applies it to the mastery of nature in [11] Rural Economy as a Factor the rendering of productive service. That, so far as can be determined by observation, is God's way of building a righteous world. But how slow of heart we are to believe, and how fearful we are — we of lit- tle faith! But why confine these observations to agriculture and rural economy? Are not the conditions of eco- nomic success the same in the city as in the country."* And must not religion prevail over irreligion in the city as well as in the country, provided religion se- cures a greater conservation of human energy than irreligion secures? In a certain very broad sense,, or in the long run — with a great deal of emphasis upon the word "long" — that is probably true. But the conditions of individual economic success in cities are so complex, there are so many opportuni- ties . . . "for ways that are dark And for tricks that are vain" as to obscure, if not to obliterate entirely, the work- ing of this law. In agriculture one must wrest a living from na- ture, and nature cannot be tricked or deluded. But a large element of city populations, — and generally they are the dominant element, — get their living out of other people ; and people are easily deceived. In- stead of laboring to make two blades of grass to grow where one had grown before, their business is to make two dollars emerge from other people's pock- ets where one had emerged before. Neither impu- [12] in the Success of the Church dence, nor a smooth tongue, nor a distinguished man- ner, nor lurid rhetoric, ever yet made an acre of land to yield a larger crop of grain; but they have fre- quently made an office, a sanctum, a platform, and even a pulpit yield a larger crop of dollars. They w;ho get their living out of other people must, of necessity, interest those other people, and men are so constituted that queer and abnormal things are more interesting to them than the usual and the normal. They will pay money for the privilege of seeing a two-headed calf, when a normal calf would not inter- est them at all. The dime museum freak makes money by showing to our interested gaze his physi- cal abnormalities. He, is an economic success in that he makes a good living by it, but it does not follow that he is the type of man who is fitted to survive or that religion ought to try to produce. Other men, going under the names of artists, novelists, or dra- matists, of certain nameless schools, make very good livings by revealing to interested minds their men- tal and moral abnormalities. They, like the dime museum freaks, are economic successes in that they make good livings, but it does not follow that they are the type of man fitted to survive or that religion ought to try to produce. This type of economic suc- cess is an urban rather than a rural type, and it flourishes under urban rather than rural conditions. So long as it flourishes there is no reason why re- ligious men who conserve their energies for produc- [13] Rural Economy as a Factor tive service should succeed in crowding them out of existence. The only chance of attaining that end will be for religion to give people a saner apprecia- tion of things, teach them to be more interested in normal calves than in two-headed calves, in normal men than in dime museum freaks, in sane writers than in certain degenerate types now holding the atten- tion of the gaping crowd. If this can be brought about, then it will result that the religious type of man, even in cities, will more and more prevail over the irreligious, provided the religion itself is worth preserving, — ^that is, provided it becomes a positive factor in the conservation of human energy. - As has already been suggested, there is a great deal more involved in the making of a good farmer than in the teaching of scientific agriculture. Mr. Benjamin Kidd has done well to emphasize the im- portance of moral qualities as compared with intel- lectual achievements. In the first place, intellectual achievements, or their results, can only be utilized where there is a sane and wholesome morality as a basis. In the second place, the results of intellectual achievement of one race or one man may be bor- rowed freely by the rest of the world, provided the rest of the world have the moral qualities which will enable them to profit by them ; whereas moral quali- ties can not be borrowed from one race by another. Japan, for example, could easily borrow from Euro- pean nations the art of modern warfare, together [14] in the Success of the Church with its instruments of destruction ; but it did not borrow, and could not borrow, that splendid courage and discipline which enabled her to utilize so effi- ciently the inventions which she borrowed. So, one nation can easily borrow farm machinery and mod- ern methods of agriculture, but it cannot borrow the moral qualities which will enable it to profit by them. Saying nothing of mental alertness and willingness to learn, which might be classed as mental rather than moral, it could not borrow that patient spirit of toil, nor that sturdy self-reliance, nor that fore- thought which sacrifices present enjoyment to future profit, nor can it borrow that spirit of mutual help- fulness which is so essential to any effective rural work. Again, a nation cannot easily borrow a sane and sober reason, a willingness to trust to its own care in preparing the soil rather than to the blessing of the priest upon the fields, nor can it borrow a gen- eral spirit of enterprise which ventures out upon plans and projects which approve themselves to the reason. And, finally, it cannot borrow that love for the soil, and the great outdoors and the growing crops, and the domestic animals which marks every successful rural people. These things have to be de- veloped in the soil, to be bred into the bone and fibre of the people; and they are the first requisites for good farming. After them come scientific knowl- edge. In the development of such moral qualities as these the church has been, and may become again, the most effective agency. [15] Rural Economy as a Factor Because of such moral qualities as these, the Puri- tans were able to subdue the New England forest, and to build up a great rural civilization on the basis of a sterile soil and an inhospitable climate, and with- out any great amount of scientific knowledge, though as compared with other communities their knowledge of agriculture was not inferior. They took their work seriously, as befitted those who had such a task before them as the building of a wilder- ness empire. Their thrift and foresight have be- come proverbial, as has their keenness, their alert- ness, and their humor. But their mutual helpful- ness, though less proverbial, is attested by their log rollings, their house raisings, their husking bees, etc., making even their pleasures bring them useful re- sults, both material and social, — material in the sense of having something more substantial than head- aches to show for their festivities, social in the sense of having that strongest of all bonds of social sym- pathy, namely, co-operative labor, as the result of their social enjoyment. It is said that the great problem of the country church is that of an adequate support of the minis- try. But how can the ministry be adequately sup- ported.'' One obvious answer is to reduce the num- ber of churches. This is a good answer, perhaps that is the easiest way; but it is the second best way. Another way is to build up the community in order that it may furnish adequate membership and ade- [16] in the Success of the Church quate support for all the churches. This may be a harder way, but where it is not impossible, it is the best. There was a time when the finance ministers of European governments were hard pressed to provide a revenue for the governments. They eventually found that the best way to get adequate support for the government was to increase the prosperity of the country. When they began studying how to make the country prosperous, the science of national econ- omy or political economy was born. When they who are charged with the task of raising money for the support of the churches and the ministry awaken to the fact that the best way to secure adequate sup- port is to make the parish more prosperous, they will be on the right road. When they begin study- ing how to make the parish more prosperous, the sci- ence of parish economy will be born. This will be, for our rural churches, as fortunate an event as the birth of political economy was for modem govern- ments. Of course there should be continued emphasis, in the teachings of the church and the pulpit, upon the plain economic virtues of industry, sobriety, thrift, practical, scientific knowledge, and mutual helpful- ness ; but much more emphasis than hitherto should be placed on the last two. Practical, scientific knowl- edge of agriculture, and mutual helpfulness in the promotion of the welfare of the parish are abso- [17 J Rural Economy as a Factor lutely essential, and unless the churches can help in this direction they will remain poor and inadequately supported. For those who think that the church should hold itself above the work of preaching the kind of conduct which pays, or the kind of hfe which succeeds, the economic law stated above, is the strongest argument. If the kingdom of God is a kingdom of service, these efforts are quite consistent with the mission of the church. If it will seek to serve the community in this way, seeking first to be of service, all the other things, — that is, sufficient wealth, membership, es- teem, etc. — will be added unto it. If, however, it seeks first merely to make proselytes, to increase its membership, or to get money, it will have no reason to expect permanent success. Again, if preaching Christ and Him crucified means preaching the gos- pel of service, this program of service is an effective way of preaching the gospel. Organized efforts in the churches for the study of parish economy, for gaining more and more sci- entific knowledge of agriculture, for the practical kind of Christian brotherhood which shows itself in the form of mutual helpfulness and co-operation, in the form of decreasing jealousy and suspicion, in the form of greater public spirit, greater alertness for opportunities for promoting the public good and building up the parish and the community, in help- ing young men and young women to get started in [18] in the Success of the Church productive work and in home building, in helping the children to get the kind of training which will enable them to make a better living in the parish, — efforts of this kind will eventually result in better support for the churches themselves, because the community will then be able to support the church more liberally ; and, what is more important, it will then see that the church is worth supporting. This ideal of a church which makes itself a factor in building up a community even in material things, is not an impossible ideal. It has been realized in the past, and it can be realized again. An illusti^-ious ex- ample is that of John Frederick Oberlin in the Stein- thal. Numberless other examples can be found in the religious orders of the medieval church, examples of communities which were made rich and prosper- ous by the teachings and the example of these self- sacrificing leaders. It will, however, never be real- ized by a church which affects to despise this world and the things of this world, that regards the world itself as lost, and conceives of its own mission as con- sisting in saving as many individual souls as possible from the wreck. Let us assume that the world is not going to per- dition, that it is going to last for a long time, and that it will eventually be a Christian or a non-Chris- tian world, according as Christians or non-Christians prove themselves more fit to possess it, — according as they are better farmers, better business men, bet- [19] Rural Economy as a Factor ter mechanics, better politicians. Therefore, let those who believe this, turn their attention more and more to the making of better and more progressive farmers, business men, mechanics, and politicians. [20]