liijSlllii. :;!!i!l!!ii!'!! iil'illiii Hate C?0lUge of Agricttltute At (locnell 3Imue«aUg 3ti(ma. S?. 1. iCtbrarg Cornell University Library BV 638.M65 The country church in industrial zones; t 3 1924 014 012 409 THE COUNTRY CHURCH IN INDUSTRIAL ZONES c<^>^ Cornell University Library The original of this book is in the Cornell University Library. There are no known copyright restrictions in the United States on the use of the text. http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924014012409 The Women's Boards have in- itiated a splendid work among the foreign-born migrant work- ers in the canneries of Har- ford County. The children especially are beneficiaries of this work. COMMITTEE ON SOCIAL AND RELIGIOUS SURVEYS TOWN AND COUNTRY DEPARTMENT Edmund deS. Brunner, Director THE COUNTRY CHURCH IN INDUSTRIAL ZONES THE EFFECTS OF INDUSTRIALISM UPON THE CHURCH LIFE OF ADJACENT RURAL AREAS AS ILLUSTRATED BY TWO TYPICAL COUNTIES BY H. N. MORSE WITH ILLUSTRATIONS. MAPS AND CHARTS NEW xSli^ YORK GEORGE H. DORAN COMPANY COPYRIGHT, 1922, BY GEORGE H. DORAN COMPANY PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA PREFACE THE Committee on Social and Religious Surveys was organ- ized in January, 1921. Its aim is to combine the scientific method with the religious motive. The Committee con- ducts and pubhshes studies and surveys and promotes conferences for their consideration. It cooperates with other social and re- ligious agencies, but is itself an independent organization. The Committee is composed of : John R. Mott, Chairman ; Ernest D. Burton, Secretary; Raymond B. Fosdick, Treasurer; James L. Barton and W. H. P. Faunce. Galen M. Fisher is Asso- ciate Executive Secretary. The offices are at 111 Fifth Avenue, New York City. In the field of town and country the Committee sought first of all to conserve some of the results of the surveys made by the Interchurch World Movement. In order to verify some of these surveys, it carried on field studies, described later, along regional lines worked out by Dr. Warren H. Wilson * and adopted by the Interchurch World Movement. These regions are: I. Colonial States : All of New England, New York, Penn- sylvania, and New Jersey. II. The South : All the States south of Mason and Dixon's line and the Ohio River east of the Mississippi, including Louisiana. III. The Southern Highlands Section: This section comprises about 250 counties in "The back yards of eight Southern States." IV. The Middle West: The States of Ohio, Indiana, Michigan, Illinois, Wisconsin, Iowa and northern Missouri. V. Northwest: Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota and eastern Montana. VI. Prairie: Oklahoma, Kansas and Nebraska. VII. Southwest: Southern Missouri, Arkansas and Texas. VIII. Range or Mountain: Arizona, New Mexico, Utah, Colo- rado, Idaho, Wyoming, Nevada and western Montana. The Director of the Town and Country Survey Department for the Interchurch World Movement was Edmund deS. Brunner. He is likewise the Director of this Department for the Committee on Social and Religious Surveys. * See Wilson, "Sectional Characteristics,'' Homelands, August, 1920. vii PREFACE The original surveys were conducted under the supervision of the following: Columbia County — Rev. I. E. Deer, State Survey Supervisor of the Interchurch World Movement for Pennsylvania. The county surveyor was Miss Martha Robison, then executive secretary of The Columbia County Sunday School Association. Harford County — Rev. Charles F. Scofiield, State Survey Super- visor of the Interchurch World Movement for Maryland. The county survey leaders were Rev. Wilson T. Jarboe, for the white churches, and Rev. C. H. Matthews, for the colored churches. In the spring and summer of 1921 field workers of the Com- mittee on Social and ReHgious Surveys visited these counties, veri- fied the results of the survey work previously done, brought it up to date, and secured additional information not included in the original study. These field workers were, for Columbia County, Miss Marjorie Patten, and for Harford County, Miss Elizabeth Hooker, whose manuscript reports for their respective counties have been freely used in the preparation of this narrative. Special acknowledgment should be made to the ministers, county officers and others in these counties for their helpful cooperation and assistance in the successful completion of the survey. The statistical and graphical editor of this volume was Mr. A. H. Richardson, of the Chief Statistician's Division of the American Telephone and Telegraph Company, formerly connected with the Russell Sage Foundation. Valuable help was given by the Home Missions Council ; by the Council of Women for Home Missions through their sub-Committee on Town and Country, and by a Committee appointed jointly by the Home Missions Council and the Federal Council of Churches for the purpose of cooperating with the Committee on Social and Religious Surveys in endeavoring to translate the results of the survey into action. This Joint Committee is composed as follows: JOINT COMMITTEE ON UTILIZING SURVEYS (Federal Council, Home Missions Council, and the Council of Women for Home Missions) Rev. L. C. Barnes, Chairman Rev. Rodney W. Roundy, Secretary Alfred W. Anthony C. A. Brooks Mrs. Fred S. Bennett C. E. Burton viii PEEFACE Anna Clark C. N. Lathrop A. E. Cory U. L. Mackey David D. Forsyth Florence R. Quinlan Roy B. Guild A. E Roberts Rolvix Harlan Charles E. Schaeffer A. E. Holt W. P. Shriver R. A. Hutchison Fred B. Smith F. Ernest Johnson Paul L. Vogt Warren H. Wilson IX INTRODUCTION POINT OF VIEW THIS book is a study of the work of Protestant town and country churches in two counties, one in Pennsylvania, the other in Maryland. Its purpose is to show the efiFect upon the country church of two conditions which obtain in much of the middle Colonial area. The first of these is the industrial development which is encroaching upon the area of rural com- munities and which is outbidding these communities for workers. A glance at the map will show that these counties lie in the great industrial zone of America which would be enclosed by drawing lines from Chicago to Washington, Washington to Boston and Boston to Chicago. Columbia County itself has been invaded by some industries and is situated in the state which, though one of the greatest manufacturing commonwealths of America, has, at the same time, the second largest rural population of any state in the Union. Quite apart from the industrial development, this eco- nomic background has affected rural life throughout the Colonial area. Of secondary importance is the effort in this study to indicate the problem which arises through social and religious cleavages. They have their root in the historical background or the racial strains entering into the make-up of any given population. The study proceeds in these tasks by describing the interaction of the Church upon the types of communities found in these counties and of these communities upon the Church. This survey, therefore, does not attempt to deal directly with the spiritual effect of any church upon the life of individuals or groups. Such results are not measurable by the foot rule of statistics or by survey methods. It is possible, however, to weigh the concrete accomplishments of churches. These actual achievements are their fruits and "by their fruits ye shall know them." The two counties studied in this book are Columbia County, Pennsylvania, and Harford County, Maryland. Many considera- tions entered into their choice. For one thing, it must be borne in mind that this book, while complete in itself, is also part of a larger whole. From among the one thousand county surveys com- INTRODUCTION pitted or nearly completed by the Interchurch World Movement, twenty-six counties, situated in the nine most representative rural regions of America were selected for intensive study. In this way it was hoped to obtain a bird's eye view of the religious situation as it exists in the more rural areas of the United States. All the counties selected were chosen with the idea that they were fair specimens of what was to be found throughout the areas of which they were a part. In selecting the counties an effort was made to discover those which were typical not merely from a statistical standpoint but also from the social and religious problems they represented. For ex- ample, the two counties in the Middle Atlantic States described in this volume were chosen because they are representative of large sections throughout the Colonial area. It is recognized that there are reasons why exceptions may be taken to the choice of counties. No area is completely typical of every situation. A careful study of these counties leads, however, to the conclusion that they are fair specimens of the region they are intended to represent. All these studies have been made from the point of view of the Church, with the recognition, however, that social and economic conditions affect its life. For instance, it is evident that various racial groups influence church life differently. Germans and Swedes usually tend toward liturgical denominations; the Scotch to non- liturgical. Again, if there is economic pressure and heavy debt, the Church faces spiritual handicaps and needs a peculiar type of ministry. Because of the importance of social and economic factors in the life of the Church, the opening chapters of this book have been given over to a description of these factors. At the first glance some of these facts may appear irrelevant, but upon closer observa- tion they will be found to have a bearing upon the main theme — the problem of the Church. Naturally, the greatest amount of time and study has been de- voted to the churches themselves; their history, equipment and finances; their members, services and church organization; their Sunday schools, young people's societies and community programs, have all been carefully investigated and evaluated. Intensive investigation has been limited to the distinctly rural areas and to those centers of population which have less than five thousand inhabitants. In the case of towns larger than this an effort has been made to measure the service of such towns to the INTRODUCTION surrounding countryside, but not to study each church and com- munity in detail. The material in this book itself will present a composite picture of the religious conditions within these two counties. Certain ma- jor problems which were found with more or less frequency in both counties are discussed, and all available information from either of the counties has been incorporated in the discussion. The open- ing pages of the book give a summary of the condition within each county. While this method has obvious drawbacks, it is felt that the advantages outweigh them and that this treatment is the best one possible to bring out the peculiar conditions existing throughout this area. The appendices present the methodology of the survey and the definitions employed. They also include in tabular form the major facts of each county as revealed by the investigation. These appendices are intended especially to meet the needs of church executives and students of sociology who desire to carry investiga- tion further than is possible in the type of presentation used for the main portion of the book. xiu CONTENTS PAGE I Where the Story Begins 21 II Introducing Columbia County 27 III Introducing Harford County 32 IV Cooperative Organizations 38 V Social Considerations 41 VI A General View of the Religious Situation . 49 VII Church Equipment and Finance .... 55 VIII The Minister 61 IX Church Membership 65 X Organizations Within the Church .... 74 XI Other Forms of Religious Work . ... 77 XII Service to Migrants 81 XIII "Par Standard" and the Program of the Church 92 XIV Conclusions and Recommendations .... 97 Appendices I Methodology AND Definitions . . . Ill II Tables 115 XV ILLUSTRATIONS, MAPS AND CHARTS ILLUSTRATIONS Americans of To-morrow Frontispiece PAGE Where Early Settlers Worshipped . ... 22 The Oldest Church in Columbia County .... 24 Of English Ancestry .... . . . 25 Farmers of the Future 28 Typical Pennsylvania 30 I]s.>ustrialism in Columbia 31 Main Street, Darlington, Maryland 32 j^ Picturesque Schoo£hoUse in Harford County . 42 One of Columbia's Many High Schools . . 43 ;5TiLL A "Meeting House" . . 47 Aberdeen Presbyterian Church 49 In Memory of Early Days 51 Methodist Episcopal Church at Jarretsville . . 52 Serving the Community 53 Ring-around-a-Rosie" 75 For the Foreign-born 78 A Colored Church at Havre de Grace 79 Migrants' Living Quarters 81 *N Enlightened Cannery Owner 83 iERE the Tomatoes Meet the Cans 84 Waiting for Teacher 87 Tee Lesson Hour 87 "Rurbanism" 99 xvii ILLUSTEATIONS, MAPS AND CHARTS MAPS PAGE Church and Community Map of Columbia County, Pennsylvania 29 Church and Community Map of Harford County, Maryland 33 Columbia County, Showing Circuits 69 CHARTS I What the Average Church Member Gives . . 59 II Residence and Activity of Church Members . . 65 III Church Growth as Affected by the Amount of Pastoral Service 70 IV Churches Classified According to Residence of the Ministers 71 V Churches Gaining and Losing During One Year Period 72 VI Relation of Size of Church Membership to Gain . 72 THE COUNTRY CHURCH IN INDUSTRIAL ZONES THE COUNTRY CHURCH IN INDUSTRIAL ZONES CHAPTER I Where the Story Begins IT is the Middle Atlantic States which have developed the most characteristic forms of America's religious life. Here old world models have been modified to meet new world conditions. True, New England has left a type of impress upon all American culture including religious thought, but the first American home of most of our denominations was farther south. Thus it is that, while the Middle West received the best of New England and has some com- munities that are entirely New England in origin, it is the early churches of the Middle Atlantic States which largely dominate the country today, so far as form and polity are concerned. In the two counties with which this report deals, we see much of the characteristic strength and weakness of rural religion throughout America. Here are liturgical churches rich in tradition, and churches with more meager forms and a more flexible type of organization. The major variations of rural religious experience are represented here. The religious life of these counties is the logical product of all that is most characteristic in American rural development. Where they dififer from others, the differences at root are those of age and environment. These counties are old, as age goes in America. What seems most significant about them is that their old life, long since crystallized, now finds itself beaten upon by all the forces of our modern industrialism. They are in the heart of our greatest industrial zone. Predominantly agricultural — as probably they will always be — the spell of industry and of great cities is upon them. Their economic interests are becoming more diverse. Every aspect of their social, institutional and community life is undergoing change. The question they present, from the point of view of our immediate interest, is "What will be the future of rural religion in the industrial zone?" 21 THE COUNTRY CHURCH IN INDUSTRIAL ZONES Aristocratic Refugees Fifty years before the settlement of Pennsylvania was begun, Virginian traders were pressing northward to establish their stations along the Patuxent and the Chesapeake. In 1632 Charles I created a palatinate for Lord Baltimore out of the region between the Po- tomac and the fortieth parallel and authorized him to plant a colony there. A year later he sent his brother, Leonard Calvert, as governor, with "the best equipped company that England had ever sent to WHERE EARLY SETTLERS WORSHIPPED The old Friends' Meeting House at Darlington, Maryland. America." Their avowed object was to provide a refuge for Roman Catholics, though protection was offered to every Christian sect. These colonists, 200 in number, landed at the entrance of Chesapeake Bay. The Indians were friendly and the wigwam of the chief was offered them for use as a chapel, the first Roman Catholic church established by the English in America. The first arrivals were soon followed by others including many rich, aristocratic families. Quak- ers and Puritans came, and people from France, Germany, Holland, Sweden, Finland and Bohemia. By 1675 there were 25,000 inhabi- tants in Maryland. Even before the coming of the Catholics, Protestant colonists took advantage of the religious freedom offered to settle in that part of the Palatinate granted to Lord Baltimore which is now Harford 22 WHERE THE STORY BEGINS County. Settlement began there about 1650, English Episcopalians and Quakers, Scotch-Irish Presbyterians and a few Germans being the first colonists. They established themselves on the lowlands near the mouths of the rivers and then gradually pressed inland. The new colonists prospered from the beginning. Quantities of tobacco were sent over the "rolling roads" to the seaboard for export. The land was gradually brought under cultivation until, by the end of the Colonial Era, practically the entire area was settled. The spirit of independence and self-government early asserted itself. When, in 1782, the county seat of Baltimore County was moved from Joppa to Baltimore, the people in the northern part of the county, accustomed to a representative government close at hand, demanded and obtained a county organization of their own. This led to the formation of Harford County, and the county seat, after much debate, was fixed at Bel Air. When the dispute between the colonists and their mother country became acute, thirty-four Harford County representatives signed the first Declaration of Independence on March 22, 1775, about two months before the famous Declaration of Mecklenburg. King Charles Pays a Debt Pennsylvania was settled somewhat later than Maryland. In 1681, Charles II granted to William Penn a tract of more than 40,000 square miles on the west bank of the Delaware River, naming it Pennsylvania in honor of the elder Penn, who had served him faithfully as an admiral for sixteen years. Three shiploads of Friends, mostly from northern England, set sail for the new com- monwealth that same year. Irish, Welsh, Dutch, French, Germans and Swedes followed in increasing numbers. A contingent of Men- nonites were the forerunners of the great German immigration which soon made that race the dominant one in the colony. Barely four years after Penn had received his charter the province held 72,000 people. The first white settlers to push into what is now Columbia County were Irish Quakers. They chose for their new home a favorite resort of the Indians, the lands about Catawissa Creek. This was in 1774. The Friends' Meeting House, the oldest church edifice in the county, with its quaint log walls and hand-wrought nails that defy destruction, is still used, though only for the Yearly Meeting. Not long after the arrival of the Quakers there came from other parts of Pennsylvania and from New Jersey settlers of other na- THE COUNTRY CHURCH IN INDUSTRIAL ZONES tionalities, chiefly Dutch, Welsh, Germans and Scotch-Irish, who desired rehgious freedom and had been lured to the region by its farming possibilities. The county's subsequent growth came chiefly from agricultural development, but was accelerated by the tapping of the coal mines and by the thrifty industrial life. The brain and brawn of the men of the county, who have worked slowly but steadily, rather than any special favor of Providence or any sudden industrial boom, have made the county what it is today. THE OLDEST CHURCH IN COLUMBIA COUNTY The Friends' Meeting House at Catawissa, still used for the Yearly Meeting. Geography and Religion In subsequent development these counties followed somewhat different lines, as will appear from the succeeding chapters of this narrative. They have been in the track of quite different movements of population. Harford County traces its descent from England and the north of Ireland. In Columbia County, the importance of these strains was early obscured by the dominance of the German influence. Something of the same difference has characterized the religious de- velopment of the counties. Methodism is strong in both, but in Harford Scotch-Irish Presbyterians, Quakers, Catholics and Epis- copalians of English descent have exercised continuously an im- portant influence. In Columbia County, the various German de- nominations are a major factor in the county's religious advance. Columbia has developed within its borders busy industrial cen- 24 WHEEE THE STORY BEGINS OF ENGLISH ANCESTRY These two Episcopal churches in Harford County, at Forest Hill and Emmorton, with their quiet graveyards, might belong in many a typical English village. 25 THE COUNTRY CHURCH IN INDUSTRIAL ZONES ters and towns of considerable size. Harford County has no cities and no important industries which are not more or less directly related to agriculture, but the county is well within the area of influence of the great urban centers of the East. In Columbia County a new movement of population has recently begun which has brought in elements quite unlike the earlier stock, chiefly from the east and south of Europe. Harford County, though without immigrant settlers, has before it the problem of assimilating many newcomers from further south. It has, moreover, a large annual influx of migrant laborers, most of whom speak little English, and also a considerable negro population. In Columbia County, the topography, possibly in combination with the racial divergences in the population, has retarded the development of a genuine county consciousness, in consequence of which social life centers within rather small units. In Harford, however, the county has assumed a very considerable importance, and the attitude of mind which is responsible for this fact has inspired the development of coopera- tion. These and other differences make the counties present as many contrasts as similarities. 26 CHAPTER II Introducing Columbia County IF Bloomsburg, the county seat of Columbia County, boasts that it is "the only town in the State of Pennsylvania," this modest admission, being interpreted, means chat it is, or was, the only place in the State legally incorporated as a town, and a certain indul- gence may fairly be accorded to local pride which extends the uniqueness of the county seat to apply also to the county itself. At any rate, in a state renowned for its natural beauty and for the wealth of its people Columbia County rather more than holds its own. It is a comparatively small county, with 479 square miles of rolling hills, fertile valleys, rich coal fields and heavily wooded ridges. The Appalachian coal fields encroach upon it from the northeast, and its northwestern sector includes some of the foot- hills of the Allegheny Mountains. The Susquehanna River, flowing in a general southwesterly direction, divides the county into almost equal parts. Numerous small streams wind in and out through the county in every direction, watering the soil, furnishing power for manufactories and luring fishermen. Highways and B3nvays Railroad facilities are ample and convenient. The D. L. & W. and the Pennsylvania follow the Susquehanna River on its northern and southern banks, respectively. Various branches of the Phila- delphia and Reading, the Lehigh Valley and the Pennsylvania, and three trolley lines, reach other points in the county. The public highway system is fairly extensive, but of the 1,206 miles of road, only 10 per cent, is improved state road. The contour of the county makes road building expensive, for extensive grading is required and surface drainage is always a problem. In recent years, much has been done on highway improvement but more remains to be done. The majority of the roads are of the unimproved dirt variety. On the hills, with the native rocks cropping out, such highways ceased to be popular even before automobiles became as common as they now are. The greatest economic resource is the land, although there are 27 THE COUNTRY CHURCH IN INDUSTRIAL ZONES other important natural sources of wealth. Among these resources mining comes first. During the last year for which figures are available, approximately 40,000 tons of anthracite coal were mined. Bloomsburg and Berwick are important manufacturing centers. They are not included within the scope of this survey, except in so far as their influence affects the rural districts. Elsewhere in the county some 2,500 men are employed in mining and manufacturing. FARMERS OF THE FUTURE Columbia's younger generation learns its business early. Buckwheat and Maple Syrup Agriculture is, however, the chief wealth producer in Columbia County. The soil is varied but generally very fertile. Buckwheat is the chief money crop and is shipped to all parts of the country. Potatoes and wheat rank next. Maple syrup, fittingly enough for a buckwheat county, has been made in large quantities, but is a slowly diminishing resource. Farms occupy barely three-quarters of the land area, and less than three-fourths of this land is classed as improved. During the last ten years, there has been a decided decrease in the total number of farms, but the average acreage per farm has slightly increased. The census of 1920 assigned to Columbia County a total popula- tion just under 50,000, of which slightly more than two-fifths is represented by the combined populations of Bloomsburg and Ber- wick. In thirty years, the population of these cities has nearly — KEY. — courrnr Lwc ^ — ^ Cor^^TV UNE "^'t^I^^tt-- I PWtSH ur* ■^NTVjilsS^ "' RdSTOpfe RCSOCNCE ^ ^^'^ rl'^^^^S* ••'/V>V'^\\ ' Qt.»?CH (*B*M»NED) a *.?^^^^^V^^-— V'^^^'^^^K"?^**'!^^ t SUNDAY SCHOOL S •^^^^^^5^(^^ / / X^^k > Si, -"'' -^^ Ji'Cxv,'' /W y 'tW^^'VA v ^ 1 ^VT^ / -^C^R^^ \ /V*^ /^V''>'^^S'EENwOff'* SpS^iWsrf/MrOv ^,--^' \a X y /-....r' "P'^^^A^'V>^ify''^«3^ ?^T<>i&^^"^>^^ JH lifOWN CK S.^^^xnZ' SnxA M>r«n V 3>C /V-^^^VX^^^^^^^^ jfe^*^ ■^'-^^^7''^>^'^^»J?"^>'^^^d><^^"''"iU ^?^L^^^^> ^^\>^0?/x/ /fe^^^^=^^^^^ Y^wWf \A\/f^^^^^^J=-\.'j^^^^^ ^S^^^^ilNAli-LE. V ''^^^^^^s^^'A '^i^^^^^^^^^ C." > 1 > ^ -J'"^^^— — ^^"z \ r^^P"^ yvwKi^-' . ,^,^-^f';-~ yy^^Z^^ I'Jfyi /x\\ .-^'^^"■-^ r. /^xr N, ^"^ """"^ Cl^^^^^^^'Vx>c-^ A xv- ""*"'' ^^^fa^"^^^ v^^^P^^/^ ^/^ \\"^"'^l)v'^"^fe^ Sr^^wr? /I ^^\/ / / \ \LI ^-' ^\/yV W»^^=^ \^V\ // ^^^^1 ^^ -;ii-5oo 5(aIe'*il'-ilMit* \!r ^^ felfe^"^ M/ armtn Alhhni' CHURCH AND COMMUNITY MAP OF COLUMBIA COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA 29 THE COUNTRY CHURCH IN INDUSTRIAL ZONES trebled, whereas the population of the remainder of the county is less now than it was thirty years ago. Indeed, industrial develop- ment has brought the only considerable increase of population during many decades. Increase in that part of the population which the census classifies as rural is due to development in mining, lumber- ing and industries in the smaller centers. It is not possible, from the census statistics, to segregate the strictly farming population, but it is doubtless true that its numbers have steadily decreased for many years. A considerable increase during the first decade of TYPICAL PENNSYLVANIA The Main Street of picturesque Orangeville, which is a typical small country town of Pennsylvania. the century in the population classed as rural, and the corresponding decrease in the second decade, were occasioned by the same fac- tors, that is, by fluctuations in industrial development. The de- crease, to a considerable extent, also reflects the movement of labor- from farms, and the decline in the total number of farms. It is not likely that Columbia County's population, outside its cities, will be greatly changed in the near future. Certainly the population peak appears to have been passed, and some further decline is quite probable. The Human Ebb and Flow The population changes of recent years have been caused chiefly by economic changes. The newer elements have been brought in 30 INTRODUCING COLUMBIA COUNTY for work in the mines, the mills and the factories, particularly at Centralia, Berwick, Bloomsburg and Jamison City. They include Italians, Slavs, Poles, Greeks, Lithuanians, Russians and Hun- garians. Poles, in considei-able numbers, have occupied farms, especially south of the Susquehanna River. The topography of the county, much of which is broken and some of which is mountainous, the industrial towns and the rather marked racial differences have combined to affect the number of dis- tinct communities * that there are in the county. While these com- munities vary in size and population, on the average they are small. INDUSTRIALISM IN COLUMBIA Yards of the Lehigh Valley Coal Company at Centralia. with less than fifteen square miles and 1,000 people to a community. There are thirty-one communities in all, beside Bloomsburg and Berwick, four of which are primarily industrial, while the rest are primarily agricultural. In general, the tendency in Columbia County seems to be toward a more diversified and highly centralized industrial life. The rela- tive importance of agriculture decreases as the dependence upon cities and industrial centers increases. The agricultural population falls as the industrial rises, and along with this phenomenon is observable a growing racial complexity in the population. * See Appendix I for definition of "Community." SI CHAPTER III Introducing Harford County HARFORD COUNTY, Maryland, consists of 442 square miles of fertile soil lying in the northeastern part of the _, State, bounded by Pennsylvania on the north and Chesa- peake Bay and the Susquehanna River on the south and east. The county is well drained by Deer Creek and numerous other streams. The surface rises from low, level lands along the Bay, through MAIN STREET, DARLINGTON, MARYLAND gently undulating slopes and hills, to rougher and steeper hills in the north-west. The climate is mild and the rainfall is abundant and well distributed. The southeastern part of the county is served by the main lines of the Pennsylvania and the Baltimore and Ohio railroads from Philadelphia to Washington. A local road running north and south through Bel Air furnishes several communities with an outlet 32 A lMm9n/r^MnT - Caunttj BounJari) - Commufiittf Boundary "Nsighbarhood Boundary - Pariih Boundarif - Pariah t Church Connecting Lirw ■ Crcuit of Patter KEY AND SYMBOLS • Harnlel ® Villa^K ^ Town -sv«r 5.000 □ Church -Whit« S Church -Colar«d O Church -lYhit* w.th Poslar't ftfsidencc Q Church -Colarfd. with hsror'i Rttidaat* E>^< A Postor'» RfSidene* without Chu«h-l«iite 4 pastor's Residence without Church- Colored B Abdndoned Church. B Inacrire Church m 5undai) School trithout Church -Whitv (S 5uiido(j School without Church -Colored n Church uainq School Bidj. CHURCH AND COMMUNITY MAP OF HARFORD COUNTY, MARYLAND 83 THE COUNTRY CHURCH IN INDUSTRIAL ZONES to Baltimore. From Bel Air bus lines run to Havre de Grace, Aber- deen, Dublin, Darlington, Shawsville and Baltimore. Always an important adjunct to economic development, the public roads are of especial importance to Harford County in view of its position on the main highways connecting four great cities and many smaller ones. The automobile is revolutionizing the life of the county. Among the farmers ownership of cars is fast be- coming universal. Much of the marketing is done by truck. A large part of the milk, in particular, is conveyed to Baltimore in seven great cooperative trucks, of which more will be said in Chapter IV. It is not surprising, therefore, that the sentiment in favor of good roads continues to grow. The combined length of the State and county roads is 796 miles, nearly one-twelfth of which consists of State road of asphalt or concrete of the best quality. There are also many miles of excellent macadam road. The Cream of the County Agriculture underlies the economic life of almost the entire population, and the soil is, in general, very fertile. The chief crops are vegetables raised for canning, grains and forage crops, the last being fed largely to dairy cattle. Dairying is by far the most im- portant agricultural industry and brings in the largest returns, Harford not only furnishing Baltimore with two-fifths of the milk that is used, but also shipping cream to Washington. Truck-farm- ing has developed into an industry of considerable importance. There are a number of creameries and some nineteen flour and grist mills scattered over the county. Dwellers along the Chesapeake, especially at Havre de Grace and Lapidum, are employed in the fisheries. In the shad season, the fisheries also employ a number of migrants. Something more than three-fourths of the total land area is included in farms, and a little less than three-fourths of this farm land is classified as improved. The total number of farms decreased somewhat during the last decade, the principal reason being the segregation of a large tract of land along the Bay for a Government Proving Ground and Arsenal. To make room for the Proving Ground, 150 large and productive farms, supporting 800 families, were wiped out, while the Arsenal caused the dispossession of farmers along thirteen miles of road. Except for this fact, the total number of farms would have increased within the last decade. Predominantly, the farms are operated by native-born white owners. 34 INTRODUCING HARFORD COUNTY Within the last fifteen years, ownership of a considerable number of farms has passed into the hands of farmers from states farther south. The rate of tenancy is low and decreasing. Harford's Canneries There are important non-agricultural industries in the county, but the most important industries deal with agricultural products. Chief among these are the canneries. Canning began to be an im- portant industry in Maryland about 1850. In 1920, this state led all the others in the value of canned vegetables, and among its counties the foremost in this particular was Harford. There are ninety-nine canneries for vegetables in the county, and they are so distributed that every community has at least one, and two communities have nineteen each. In a normal year these canneries employ thousands of workers for periods of from six weeks to three months during the summer. In 1921, owing to the indus- trial depression, hardly more than one-fifth of the canneries were expected to operate. The chief products canned are tomatoes and corn, others being apples, beans and peas.* Quarrying is an industry of some importance. In certain sec- tions, fine qualities of roofing slate, building stone and flint are found. Havre de Grace has a textile mill and a shipyard. Here, too, live a great many people employed at the Proving Grounds, and at the hospitals across the Susquehanna. The present population of Harford County, which is wholly a town and country district, since it has no cities of 5,000 or more inhabitants, is just under 30,000, only slightly exceeding the rural population of Columbia County. From the date of the earliest Federal census, in 1791, when the county had 14,976 inhabitants, the population gained steadily until the decade of the Civil War. After a decline between 1860 and 1870, the number of inhabitants increased rapidly during the seventies and slowly during the eighties. For the next two decades it again declined; but since 1910 it has recovered lost ground and made a small advance. The gain in the past decade, which was at the rate of 4.7 per cent., was due partly to an influx of farmers from states farther south, and partly to the opening of the Government Proving Ground and Arsenal, and of the Federal hospital across the river. The number of foreign- born in the county is only about 3 per cent, of the total population. * These canneries and the migrants that work in them will be more fully- described in Chapter XII. 35 THE COUNTRY CHURCH IN INDUSTRIAL ZONES Negroes constitute nearly one-sixth of the whole population, a some- what smaller proportion than twenty years ago. Social Grouping To divide Harford County into communities having in common their main interests is not so simple as in the case of Columbia County. From the beginning, the main unit of government has been the county: schools, roads, enforcement of order and poor relief have been administered for the county as a whole. Natural barriers like Deer Creek and the steep slopes in the northeastern and north- western districts set apart certain areas, but limiting topographical features are not general. Formerly some of the main interests of the people centered in small neighborhoods, each with a general store and post office, a one-room school, and often a church. The pull of these neighborhoods has been decreased by improved roads, the automobile, the telephone, and rural delivery of mail. The scattered one-room schools are now beginning to give way to con- solidated schools. As the importance of the neighborhoods has waned, county organizations for relief, a county library, a county chapter of the Red Cross, county War drives, a County Grange and a county Farmers' Federation have emphasized the significance of the larger unity. Consciousness of identity by communities, ex- cept in three instances,, has always been slight and is today on the decline. A division into communities, however, is necessary for this survey, in order to render possible localized study of the relative distribution of churches and population. In some cases, the draw- ing of community boundaries is an easy matter. Havre de Grace, Aberdeen, and Bel Air, the county seat, are clearly marked com- munities, each surrounded by a fairly distinct rural area in which people turn to that town or village for the satisfaction of their fundamental needs. Other localities, though smaller and less easily bounded, yet have each a recognized individuality, and provide cen- ters for wider areas than are generally realized. In three sections, groups of small neighborhoods, though without a community center, share common interests to a degree sufficient to warrant their being mapped as single communities. In all, twenty-two communities, varying in population from less than 200 inhabitants to more than 2,000, have been mapped. In general, the tendency of Harford County is toward the de- velopment of a highly organized agricultural life. It is not likely 36 INTRODUCING HARFORD COUNTY that there will be further industrial development, save that which its agriculture makes possible ; nor is it likely that its population will greatly increase or, in the near future, change its racial composition. Agriculture is here soundly enough based to make steady develop- ment probable. S7 CHAPTER IV Cooperative Organizations GOLUMBIA COUNTY is not so far advanced in cooperative organization as is Harford County. A successful farmer described it as still a one-man county. This does not imply a complete lack of cooperative spirit. On the contrary, in at least half of the communities, there is a good cooperative spirit out of which organized business enterprise may ultimately come. Among the farmers themselves, and also between the farmers and the busi- ness men, there is, generally speaking, a cordial relationship as re- gards both trade and business concerns, and their mutual partici- pation in public affairs and social activities. In addition, certain definite beginnings of cooperative effort have been made with a record of positive achievement and considerable promise for the future ; but organized business cooperation is noticeably ' absent. There is little cooperative buying or selling. Farm business is con- ducted on the basis of the individual farmer. Friends in Deeds The best cooperative work is being done through the County Farm Bureau, which was organized in the summer of 1915 at the urgent request of the farmers and others interested in agri- culture. The services of a County Agent were obtained, various surveys, tests and experimental projects have been carried through, dairying has been stressed, and a Cow Testing Association organ- ized. As a basis for extensive community work, the county was divided into seven districts. There is also a Home Demonstration Agent who brings information and instruction in home manage- ment to the women. This work was begun in 1917 as a war meas- ure, and under efficient leadership, has been most successful. The Agent reaches as many rural schools as possible, giving the pupils instruction in the preparation of food, the making of clothing and the protection of health. During the vacation she works with the pupils in their homes. Special projects were carried out in connec- tion with four high schools which were selected according to loca- tion, and because of the interest of the school and the community in the program proposed. 38 COOPERATIVE ORGANIZATIONS Other organizations in the county of economic significance in- clude the Granges and a County Fair Association. The latter em- ploys a secretary and devotes itself to promoting the county's agri- cultural interests. An annual county fair is the high point of its program. There are thirteen local Grange organizations with a total membership of more than 1,300. They have not functioned so directly in economic concerns, but they have been a strong factor for progress in the county and possess considerable social importance. Harford's Cooperative Activity In contrast with Columbia, Harford County has made great progress in the perfecting of its cooperative and economic organiza- tion. The Grange, which is of about equal strength in the two counties, in Harford County serves as a unifying county organiza- tion. Its local branches, in addition to their regular and very im- portant social and educational activities, do a considerable amount of cooperative buying. There is no county farm bureau, but in its place is a County Farmers' Federation affiliated with the State or- ganization, which in turn has membership in the National Board of Farm Organizations. This County Federation includes repre- sentatives of each farmers' organization in the county. The Federa- tion does cooperative buying, and last year was expected to purchase about 1,500 tons of fertilizers, making possible a saving to the farmers of from $5,000 to $8,000. Both a County Agent and a Home Demonstration Agent are employed. The Federation has been influential in the organization of many clubs. There are thirty-eight farmers' clubs, more than half of which include the farmers' wives and children. Twenty-five boys' clubs and thirty-two girls' clubs have a combined total membership of over 1,000. They hold meetings monthly at which talks are given by the young people themselves. Among Maryland boys com- peting for State premiums two years ago, Harford boys won first place for potatoes, second for pigs, fourth for corn. In 1920, these boys won $1,491 in premiums. The Jersey Cattle Club has an annual field day, besides regular instructional meetings. The Harford Berkshire Club, the Harford Duroc Association and the Sheep Growers' Association are all active. The South Harford Tomato Growers' Association was in the year of the survey (1921) much less active than formerly be- cause of a slump in the market for canned tomatoes. $9 THE COUNTRY CHURCH IN INDUSTRIAL ZONES Justified by Results There are also a number of distinctively business organizations of a cooperative character, which apply the principle of coopera- tion exemplified in the activities of the Grange and the County Fed- eration. The northern part of the county has a Farmers' Supply Company with 200 members, with branches at Pylesville, Cardiff and Delta. This company buys and sells farm machinery coopera- tively. Both the northern and the southern parts of the county have cow-testing associations. The most important cooperative enter- prise has been the employment of cooperative milk trucks. The earliest of these truck associations, known as the Farmers' Coop.- erative Association of Harford County, Inc., has been described as a model in a publication of the United States Department of Agri- culture (Farmers' Bulletin, 1,032). Altogether, seven large trucks carry the milk of nearly 350 farmers to Baltimore. Generally these associations are organized on a strictly cooperative basis with one vote to each stockholder. No one can ship milk without holding stock, though a few who do not ship milk are stockholders. In most cases the cooperative system has worked successfully, a con- siderable saving of time and money has resulted, and the production of milk has been Encouraged. Nearly all of the milk shippers be- long to the State Dairying Association. It is hard to say just why cooperation has developed in Harford more rapidly and extensively than in Columbia County. Perhaps the greater racial diversity of Columbia County has been a retard- ing factor, although this experience has not been general. There is a greater diversity of economic interests in Columbia County which would naturally retard cooperative organization. Harford County has long been accustomed to thinking of a county unit and the local community has not, generally speaking, been a definite factor, which would also make easier cooperative organization of the kind described. It is probable, also, that business conditions in Columbia County have not been such as to impress upon the resi- dents the necessity and desirability of cooperative organization. 40 CHAPTER V Social Considerations ANY county in whose early settlement Quakers were a con- siderable factor is apt to have had a long and distinctive educational history. Schools were started at an early date in the two counties considered, and among the first were those managed by the Friends. Recently, educational facihties have been greatly improved. The two counties have developed along some- what different lines. In Harford County, whose less rugged contours make the entire area more easily accessible, there has been considerable progress in the consoHdation of schools. Although the county still has many one-room schools, nineteen such have been replaced by eight consol- idated schools. In each of the five rural election districts of the county, there is, in a central location, a modern consolidated school with both elementary and high school grades. Transportation at public expense is not mandatory, but may be ordered by the Board of Education. Educational Efforts The teaching of agriculture has been stressed in all rural schools, at least two periods a week being given to this subject. Constant efforts have been made to improve the grade of teaching. At pres- ent, nearly half of the teachers of the county are graduates of col- lege or normal school. Health instruction receives a regular place in the curriculum of both elementary and high schools. The Red Cross nurse examines the children of the schools as rapidly as she can cover the ground, and a public athletic league provides for the annual examination of 400 or 500 pupils engaged in athletic sports. The high school enrollment is not relatively large, being now about 10 per cent, of the enrollment of the elementary schools, but it is increasing. An interesting feature of the educational life of Harford County is the important place that is taken by the Parent-Teachers' Asso- ciation. There are about twenty local associations which have just gone through a process of reorganization. A county committee assigns the oversight of each school in the county to some individual 41 THE COUNTRY CHURCH IN INDUSTRIAL ZONES member of that committee. These organizations have raised hun- dreds of dollars for equipment, and have labored untiringly to im- prove the rural schools in the county. In Columbia County, a somewhat different policy of educational development has been followed. The condition of the roads and the contour of the country are partly responsible for the fact that consolidation of one-room schools has not been very seriously con- sidered. In consequence, this county has nearly two and one-half A PICTURESQUE SCHOOLHOUSE IN HARFORD COUNTY times as many elementary schools and nearly four times as many high schools as has Harford County, with about the same area and rural population. It is the policy of the school administration to close out the smaller schools as rapidly as possible, that is, those which have been left by changes in population with' but a few pupils; but no general policy of school consolidation is at present contemplated. The present county superintendent has been long in service and has made a distinct contribution to the life of this county. He has proceeded along the line of not only improving the quality of the class-room work, but also of making the schools, in a real sense, definite influences for community development. 42 SOCIAL CONSIDERATIONS Nurseries of Community Spirit The community interests of the schools have been varied. Around a number of them neighborhood associations have been formed, witli the idea that ultimately these might be combined into community associations and, in turn, form a basis for a county-wide associa- tion. The schools have cooperated with the Sunday School Asso- ciation and Farm Bureau in the holding of community institutes and exhibits. Each year three-day institutes have been held in a selected number of schools in addition to these joint institutes. The three-day program usually includes contests in school work, decla- ONE OF COLUMBIAS MANY HIGH SCHOOLS Columbia has the highest percentage of High School pupils to population of any county in Pennsylvania. mation and other features, lectures on various topics, entertain- ments and exhibits. These gatherings have touched all sorts of community questions. They have had a large measure of popular support. Taking it all in all the interaction is stimulative. The influence of the schools upon the community life has been unques- tioned and notable, with the result that the school program and curriculum have consistently developed along practical lines. Columbia County now leads its State in the percentage of high- school pupils. It was one of the first counties to take up vocational education. The vocational school at Benton has as yet an inadequate equipment, but makes up for this shortcoming by a well-rounded curriculum and a well-trained and enthusiastic teaching force. Mainville had the first consolidated junior high school in the State 43 THE COUNTRY CHURCH IN INDUSTRIAL ZONES and this, by the way, is the only consolidated school in the county. Several schools have especially good i-ecreational equipment. At the Catawissa High School, the pupils themselves raised more than $2,500 a year ago with which they purchased twelve lots to be used as a playground. Splendid apparatus for play has been provided, and the grounds are open evenings for the use of the pupils, their families and friends. The differences in emphasis be- tween the school systems of the two counties seems, in the main, warranted by the different circumstances existing. The schools have an increasing measure of popular support in both counties, and increasingly identify themselves with the development of the social and recreational life. Probably those in Columbia County have the most definite, practical importance, and are making their contri- bution to community welfare in a more direct and unmistakable fashion. Rural Reading Both counties are inadequately equipped with libraries. In Co- lumbia County, Bloomsburg and Berwick have libraries, but only two of the thirty-one rural communities have libraries of any sort, one being a traveling library and the other a school library. It does not appear that the city libraries are extensively used outside the city boundaries. Harford County has a county library, started in 1913, which has slowly grown through the efforts of interested individuals, until it now contains about 2,500 volumes. There is a County Library Association with some 200 members. The county commissioners make a meager allowance because of a rest' room attached to the library. The headquarters are in the armory at Bel Air. Any one is permitted to take out books, but a membership fee of fifty cents a year is desired. A case of books containing from thirty-five to fifty volumes is sent to a deposit station in any community desiring the privilege, on guaranty of payment of $5.00. Five communities now have such branch libraries. It is hoped in the future to increase the number of branches and to obtain for the main library a new building with equipment for a many-sided com- munity service. Aside from the county library and its branches, there is a small library in Aberdeen and a few insignificant libraries are attached to schools or churches. All the books available for public use do not total one book to ten inhabitants. There is, moreover, no store in the county where books in any considerable number are displayed 44 SOCIAL CONSIDERATIONS for sale. In both counties there is much room for development in providing good books at accessible places and in encouraging their use. Ideas for All Four local papers are published in Harford County, three at Bel Air and one at Havre de Grace. Three rural communities in Columbia County publish newspapers, Benton, Catawissa and Mill- ville. Bloomsburg has a daily newspaper and it is a very important community factor. In both counties, city dailies circulate widely. The habit of newspaper reading has spread and strengthened during the last five years. "Now," a lield worker was told, "everybody has ideas even if he doesn't use them." Both counties impress the observer as possessing a spirit of enterprise. As a whole they are progressive and prosperous ; they are on a sound economic basis, and they have a wholesome com- munity life. Their organized social life is on the up-grade, and the value of the get-together spirit is beginning to be generally recognized. These counties do things ! Their communities, on the whole, are facing forward. Their social atmosphere is congenial to progress. The net impression obtained is that of a very general and genuine desire for substantial social and educational progress. Communities, like individuals, have their characteristic attitudes, resulting from their associations and traditions. On the whole, the predominant attitude in these counties is sympathetic toward every advantageous development, although it must be said that the most recent additions to the population have not made an altogether help- ful contribution at this point. Leaders Not Lacking One indication of wholesome community life, if not one cause of it, is the type of leadership to be found in these counties, and the attitude of the people toward their leaders. Social advance IS difficult if not impossible, unless its purpose and objective can be personified in individuals to whom people look for leadership, and whose influence and opinion they respect. Such leaders are found in most of the communities of both counties, and some of them have county-wide influence. These leaders are drawn from all occupations, and among them are not a few women. 4.5 THE COUNTRY CHURCH IN INDUSTRIAL ZONES Community and County Spirit Community spirit is rather hard to define, but the surveyors iound evidences of it in most of the communities. Throughout both counties, there is an emerging social consciousness. Some communities are still too composite in population, and too diversi- fied in economic interests for such a definite social consciousness to crystallize, while others are without any activities to give it expres- sion. In most there is, however, an increasing recognition of com- mon interests and needs, and an enthusiasm for common action is apparent. War activities, the work of the Granges and civic asso- ciations, and the influence of certain schools and churches have contributed noticeably to this development. In Harford County, with its communities less well defined, county spirit largely takes the place of community spirit. In those communities of Harford where there is not much local conscious- ness, there is found a deal of county pride and a very active devo- tion to county-wide interests. The various forms of cooperative activities described in the previous chapter are manifestations of this spirit, as is the increasing support of the schools, of the Red Cross and of various forms of social and philanthropic activities. Organized cooperation in some form of social service, coupled with a desire to exalt the community or the county, is increasingly evident. Recreational Opportunities In one community in Columbia County, the social problem has been largely solved by the building of a community house on the site of an unused Quaker Seminary. This community house is used for meetings of all sorts, including the Chautauqua. A com- munity club has been organized, the membership of which is now several hundred. Improvements of various sorts are under way; a gymnasium is to be installed in the basement of the building, tennis courts and a ball field are provided, while a fine grove is being protected in the hope that, some day, it may become the cen- ter of a community park. This community house is the center of most of the town's activities. There is this distinct contrast in the recreational life of the two counties : in Columbia County, public recreation is very largely on a commercial basis, in Harford County, recreational opportunities are generally home-made. There is, however, a good deal of neigh- 46 SOCIAL CONSIDERATIONS borhood social life of a wholesome sort in both counties. Par- ticularly in Harford County picnics, strawberry festivals, oyster suppers and similar gatherings are popular. Annual picnics gather in hundreds from all parts of the county. In about two-thirds of the communities of both counties there is some public building available, at least occasionally, for recreational purposes, perhaps a Lodge hall, a school or a Grange hall. Comparatively few of the communities have dance halls, moving-picture theaters, bowling- alleys or pool-rooms. Athletic organisations are more common in Harford County, but there are more musical organizations in Co- STIIX A "'meeting house" This Community Hall is on the site of the old Friends' Academy at Millville, Columbia County. lumbia County. Columbia County has an amusement park, located on the trolley line between Bloomsburg and Berwick, with all the usual commercialized attractions of such a resort. This is the summer gathering place for the entire county. There is an increasing interest in the amount and kind of social life that is provided. Very substantial progress is being made in meeting the need for recreation. Pleasures of a more educational sort are, however, still rare. Lectures and concerts, music and art clubs, as well as debating, dramatic or literary societies are un- common. The racing season in Havre de Grace is an influence on the life of Harford County that is far from desirable. Lodges are numerous in both counties, somewhat stronger in Columbia than in Harford. They have a varying amount of social importance, but usually do not figure largely from this point of 47 THE COUNTRY CHURCH IN INDUSTRIAL ZONES view. Other organizations have a greater significance. These in- clude, in Columbia County, three community clubs, a large men's club, a ladies' union, two book clubs, a sportsmen's club, a Boy Scout troop, and a young people's patriotic society. In Harford County, there are social organizations in at least seventeen com- munities besides the various important county-wide organizations. 48 CHAPTER VI A General View of the Religious Situation IN the discussion of public schools it was noted that Columbia County has by far the larger number of schools, and that the tendency to reduce the present number through consolidation is much more apparent in Harford County. The same conditions which have resulted in the multiplication of schools, together with other factors, have apparently operated to increase the number of ABERDEEN PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH Presbyterians were among the first settlers in Harford County. churches. Of course, in each county, almost from the beginning the population has contained several distinct strains. In part the lines of cleavage have been racial, but in part they have been re- ligious. Thus, in Columbia County the liturgical issue has divided the German population, and in Harford County the English-speaking immigrants included Roman Catholics, Episcopalians, Friends and Presbyterians. , One result is that, in Harford County particularly, ancestral loyalties still hold many to an individualized church doctrine and procedure, while church life has assumed a great variety of mani- festations in adapting itself to different temperaments and different 49 THE COUNTRY CHURCH IN INDUSTRIAL ZONES stages of moral and intellectual development. Such distinctions are as significant socially as distinctions based upon race and language. Entirely apart from any other factors, they have operated to put into these counties more churches than an impartial view of the situation would regard as necessary. The multiplication of churches has been carried even farther in Columbia than in Harford County for the apparent reason that the former county has a more broken topography and in consequence has a larger number of rather small communities. It has already been noted that most of this county's social life is centered within limited areas and that a larger county loyalty has been very slow in developing. One God: Many Churches Church life in Harford began early. The Episcopal church called Spesutia was estabhshed in 1681. Churchville Presbyterian Church was organized in 1738, and the first Roman Catholic priest came in 1747. Only a little later Harford Old Baptist Church was founded. By 1765 Bethel Church had a hundred members, and in 1782 came the organization of Old Waters Methodist Church. By the end of the eighteenth century the work of all the present leading denominations was well established. At the present time the three Methodist bodies have more than half of the total number of churches in the county. The religious life of Columbia County began forty years later than that of Harford with the organization of a Friends' Meeting. This first organization and another of the same faith, begun two years later, were the only churches in the county prior to 1800. Subsequently church development proceeded more rapidly in Co- lumbia County than in Harford, largely because the population grew more rapidly and soon became more diversified. These counties, as is to be expected, display both, the faults and the virtues of our American system of church development. Here is found the customary wide distribution of religfous forces and their organization into comparatively small and independent local units. Churches are planted to accord with the capacity of a man's legs, or, at least, of a horse's legs, so that not many homes in- either county are beyond walking distance of some kind of church. The advantages of ready accessibility are, however, partly offset by the American system of combining churches in large and cumbersome circuits, so that a scattered and almost exclusively vocal ministry becomes the only possibility. In this respect Harford 50 A GENERAL VIEW OF THE RELIGIOUS SITUATION is better off than Columbia. The circuits of the Maryland county are the more compact and the automobile brings the minister nearer to his church. Of the thirty-six churches in Harford which have ministers residing outside the parish, twenty are served by minis- ters who live less than ten miles away and who own automobiles. The outstanding weaknesses of the circuit system are the lack of coordination between parish and community and the conception of the ministry as a preaching office and little else. These weak- nesses, as well as the virtues of the system, are characteristic of IN MEMORY OF EARLY DAYS The Waters Memorial Methodist Episcopal Church, Cooptown, Harford County- the older settlements of rural America and are perhaps more clearly demonstrated in Columbia County than in any other county studied in the series of surveys of which the present volume is part. Its habitable rural area has one Protestant church for about every three and one-half square miles and for every 283 persons of whatever race or age. Harford County has a Protestant church for every six square miles and for every 308 persons. Here is illustrated the diffuse distribution of religious forces carried almost to a point of absurdity. If the Roman Catholic churches, of which there are ten in the two counties, and the churches for colored people, of which Harford County has twenty-one, are left out of considera- tion,* there are in the two counties 174 more or less active Protest- * Roman Catholic and colored churches are dealt with in Chapter XI. 51 THE COUNTRY CHURCH IN INDUSTRIAL ZONES ant churches, besides reHgious work carried on at eight points out- side the organized church. In addition, there are visible remains of fifteen churches which have been abandoned. The above takes no account, of course, of the churches in the cities of Bloomsburg and Berwick. On the other hand, this diffuse distribution has not prevented substantial religious progress. The stronger religious communions METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH AT JAERETSVILLE More than half the existing churches in Harford County belong to Methodist bodies. that are represented here are of a tenacious sort, particularly those whose racial characteristics are marked. In Columbia County, for example, during the last thirty years, while the total popula- tion of the entire county was increasing about one-third, the total church membership more than doubled, and the Protestant church membership increased about 120 per cent. During the last decade, although the rural population showed a decided decrease, the Prot- estant church membership showed an equally decided increase. Harford County churches have not registered so large an advance, but they have gone forward steadily. 52 A GENERAL VIEW OF THE RELIGIOUS SITUATION Where Denominations Dominate In Columbia County, outside its cities, there are at the present time 100 active Protestant churches representing thirteen different de- nominations, while Harford County has seventy-four white churches representing thirteen denominations. In the two counties, four denominations have 64 per cent, of the total number of churches. Divided according to the size of population, five of the total num- SERVING THE COMMUNITY The Methodist Episcopal Church at Wilburton, Columbia County, is the only church in the community and has risen to its opportunities. ber of churches are in towns of 2,500 or more, sixty are in villages of from 250 to 2,500, and 109 are in hamlets or in the open country. Only one community in the two counties is without an organized church, and this one has a preaching point and a Sunday school. In only fourteen communities in the two counties is church com- petition absent. One of these communities has as many as 2,500 people, but one has as few as 140 and six have less than 350 in- habitants each. There are twenty-four communities in Columbia County which have each two or more Protestant churches, the 53 THE COUNTRY CHURCH IN INDUSTRIAL ZONES largest number per community being eleven. The ratio of churches to population varies from one church to every 127 people up to one church to every 389 people. In the two counties there are thirteen communities with fewer than 200 persons to every church and there are fifteen others with fewer than 300 to each church. This is a multiplication of churches to a degree far beyond the average in eastern states, where there are very generally more churches than are needed. Thirty typical counties in the colonial area show an average of one church for every 486 people. It is to be doubted if there are as many as a half dozen churches in the whole of Columbia County which have undisputed access to as many as 500 actual or prospective Protestant adherents. Moreover, in both counties, especially in Columbia, there is necessarily a great deal of overlapping of service areas, often of churches of the same denomination. The abandoned churches pointedly illustrate the extreme effects of this competition. A number of others precariously survive. Only a small part of the area of these counties is not included within the parish of some church, and most of it is within easy reach of two or more churches. The most extreme example of this condition is to be found in the eastern section of Columbia County, north of the Susquehanna River. Here, in an area eight by ten miles, there are thirty active churches, thirteen of which are of one denomination, while thirteen more represent two other denominations. 54 CHAPTER VII Church Equipment and Finance THE church building is generally a fairly accurate reflection of the ideas of church program and function current at the time of its erection. All but two of the church or- ganizations in these two counties own their buildings. Since many of these buildings are rather old, their plan reflects the ideas of an earlier day rather than of the present. In the main they are sub- stantial, well-kept buildings, of ample size and in excellent repair. Many of them are exceedingly attractive in appearance. But a building houses an idea as well as a congregation. Not only is its architectural style an indication of prevailing artistic standards, but its floor plan and equipment, withirl the limits set by financial resources, rather accurately embody the ideas of its people as to what the Church should do for its community. Generally speaking, these churches have been built to house preaching services and little else. Their size is adequate for this purpose, their combined capacity enables them to seat, at simul- taneous services, every person in the two counties who is not actively a member of some non-evangelical organization, and still have a safe margin of reserve space. Few of them are equipped to render any other service. Three out of every five of them are one-room structures and more than half of the remainder have but two rooms each. Only ten churches in the two counties have as many as five rooms. The large number of small and relatively weak organiza- tions would almost inevitably mean a preponderance of meagerly equipped buildings. The total investment in church property is very considerable. For the church auditoriums and land alone it considerably exceeds a million dollars. With the value of parson- ages and such auxiliary buildings as there are, the total reaches the very respectable sum of $1,273,225. Just as the church person- nel is so widely scattered that its impact on the life of the county is lessened, so its financial investment is distributed in such a way that at only a few points is adequate equipment provided according to a generous conception of church work. 55 THE COUNTRY CHURCH IN INDUSTRIAL ZONES Quantity, Not Quality A comparatively small number of churches have buildings other than the main church auditorium. About one in fourteen owns or has the use of a stereopticon or a moving-picture projector. There is a negligible amount of other sorts of equipment useful for social and educational purposes. This means that very few of the churches in the two counties have the physical facilities either for a broadly conceived social and recreational ministry or for an adequate pro- gram of religious education. In all fairness it must be added that most of the churches have sufficient equipment for all that they actually undertake to do. The average valuation of church property in Harford is con- siderably larger than in Columbia County. The comparison of the two counties is, however, less significant because of the. inclusion in the Harford County figures of five town churches in Havre de Grace which have an average value of $34,000 per church. Even so, the difference in value is all in favor of Harford County, whose vil- lage churches have nearly double, and whose country churches have more than double the average value of similarly located churches in Columbia County. Into how small units the total property valua- tion is divided can better be appreciated from such facts as these: that Columbia County's fifty-four country churches have an aver- age valuation of only $2,056; that nearly one-fourth of all the country churches in both counties are valued at less than $1,500 each, while one-fourth of the village churches are valued at less than $3,000 each. Harford County is much better provided with parsonages than is Columbia County, having twenty-nine for its seventy-four churches, whereas Columbia has but thirty for its 100 churches. The significance of this fact will be apparent in connection with the discussion of ministerial service. Harford County's parsonages, incidentally, have more than twice the value of Columbia County's. This whole property situation is only another indication of how recent is the emphasis upon a broader program for the Church, and a resident ministry for the direction of that program. Such a con- ception, old enough in some denominations and with some individ- uals in all denominations, is hardly yet fully established in the con- sciousness of church people generally. 56 CHURCH EQUIPMENT AND FINANCE The Dollar Barometer The financial methods employed to obtain the amounts required for the current operating expenses of the Church show all the usual variations in system and effectiveness. In a voluntarily supported institution like the average Protestant church, finance is a very sensitive barometer of the esteem in which the Church is held by its constituency and by the community in general. These counties are prosperous, but giving depends upon interest as much as upon prosperity. It depends upon adherence, not alone to the Church as an idea, but to the Church as a working organization. There are plenty of people, indeed whole sects, who adhere to the idea of the Church with great fidelity, but who do not put any con- siderable sums of money into its program. Experience suggests that the problem of church finance is three-fold: first, and above all else, it is a question of the performance of an adequate and substantially valuable ministry; secondly, it is a question of edu- cating the constituency to the value of the Church's work at home and abroad, and in the principles and practices of Christian stew- ardship; thirdly, it is a question of the employment of simple but sound business methods in the presentation of the financial needs of the Church and in obtaining and administering funds. Judg- ment on the first of these points must be suspended until the whole record of work is reviewed. On the second point it may be said that actual giving is urged more than education in giving is pro- vided. On the third point, the following paragraph offers testimony. The Plate or the Envelope Vntually one-half of the churches have instituted a budget sys- tem, with respect both to their local requirements and to their benevolences. These churches prepare, at the beginning of the fiscal year, a complete itemized budget of the amounts which they require, on the basis of which subscriptions are secured. Perhaps half as many more prepare such a budget for their local needs only. In three-fourths of the total number of churches, an annual every- member canvass is made. In nearly this number contributions are made through some form of weekly envelopes. The other churches depend variously upon monthly, quarterly or annual payments, or some combination of them. At least one-third of the churches may be said to be without any organized financial system, depending for the most part on periodic appeals and church collections, supple- 57 THE COUNTRY CHURCH IN INDUSTRIAL ZONES mented perhaps by the time-honored custom of circulating a paper. The obtaining of money for benevolent purposes is slowly being systematized. In this process, the pressure of the greatly aug- mented denominational appeals for funds has been effective. A decreasing number of churches depend exclusively upon public col- lections for their benevolent offerings. Aid for Competitive Churches Home Mission aid is not a large factor in financing the ordinary forms of local church work in either county. The most interesting Home Mission project is that concerned with the ministry to the migrant workers in Harford County, which is the subject of a separate chapter. Apart from this project eighteen churches, four- teen of them located in the open country, are receiving Home Mis- sion aid to the total amount of about $1,900 annually. Of the eight churches receiving Home Mission aid in Harford County three have less than fifteen active members. Four are of non-competitive service to isolated communities, two are in com- munities which also contain several self-supporting churches, and two more stand within a mile of each other in an outlying neigh- borhood of a village community. One of these last two lies within the actual parish area of a church of the same^ denomination in the village, which also has several other self-supporting churches and four resident pastors. Eight of the ten aided churches in Columbia County are in competition with other Protestant churches. Gen- erally speaking, therefore, it appears that Home Mission aid has not as yet made any very statesman-like contribution to the de- velopment of the religious life of these counties, save in the one instance of the service to migrants to which reference has been made. County Accounts Analysis of the receipts and disbursements for church work in these counties discloses some rather curious contrasts which it is difficult wholly to explain. The total sum raised annually is con- siderable. For the year of the survey it was $168,859, of which amount about 54 per cent, was raised by the Harford County churches. The average amount raised per church in Harford County is nearly 60 per cent, larger than the average per church in Columbia County. The discrepancy was greater among country than among village churches. This is partly explained by the larger 58 CHURCH EQUIPMENT AND FINANCE number and the smaller size of the Columbia County congregations. This fact does not, however, explain the very considerable varia- tion between the two counties in the matter of per capita giving. The average per capita giving in Harford County is not high, as such counties go, but in Columbia County it is almost unaccount- ably low. Church members in Columbia County last year, for all church purposes, gave an average of only $10.96, as compared with $16.30 in Harford County. Like too many of these counties in the East giving is far lower in proportion to resources than it has any WHAT THE AVERAGE CHURCH MEMBER 6IVES Annual Amount Contributed per Active IWember HARFORD CO. COLUMBIA CO. $11.88 $8.43 I C $14.08 Country TownS: Country TownS: Churches Villoge Churches Village Churches Churches right to be. Many counties in the Range states, despite the struggle to become established, average twice and more per capita than these two settled and firmly rooted eastern counties. In each county, the country churches make a poorer record than the village or town churches. In Columbia County, the country church member gives nearly one-third less, and in Harford County more than two-fifths less per year than his brother in the village or town church. Even at that, the average per capita giving for Harford County country churches exceeds the county average of Columbia County by about 30 per cent. One explanation of the difference between them lies in the fact that the average gross income per farm in Columbia County is not much more than half 59 THE COUNTRY CHURCH IN INDUSTRIAL ZONES that of Harford County. Another explanation is found in the ab- normal under-pastoring of the churches in Columbia County. People give in proportion to their real interest and real interest cannot be sustained by a traveling ministry. The details of church expenditure show certain items of special interest. The proportion of the total budget devoted to missions and benevolences is in each county rather high, being around 30 per cent, of the total. The proportion required for various miscel- laneous purposes is also rather high, less than half of the amount raised in each county going into pastors' salaries. This would not be particularly surprising in counties characterized by more generous giving, but is rather surprising under the circumstances, and in view of the prevailing low salaries paid. It is not unnatural that in the country churches the proportion of the budget spent for salaries is higher, and the proportion spent for missions is lower than in the village churches. The country churches, generally speaking, live "nearer the line" than the village churches. It is quite possible that the poor record which Columbia County makes in the matter of church finances has some bearing upon the fact that it is so seriously over-churched. 60 nr CHAPTER VIII The Minister HE history of church life in colonial counties is full of the . names of great preachers of the past, many of them men of outstanding personality, scholarship and influence. Har- ford County, for instance, is rich in traditions of Whitefield, Bishop Asbury and William Finney. The minister has not quite the place in the public mind or in the church economy of the present that he had a hundred years ago, but it is not a less important place that he has come to fill. In current thinking, the function of the pulpit is probably not less highly regarded than in the past, although at times it would seem so. The significant change about the modern emphasis in church work is that the minister is required to be so much more than a preacher. As a leader and executive in a congre- gation, the minister is the most important single factor in its prog- ress. The practical development of religious work involves no more important questions than those which concern the number, status and qualifications of the men who are primarily charged with its direction. More Churches Than Pastors The facts already brought out as to the distribution, of the churches and their financial support have a very definite bearing upon this phase of the inquiry. In the first place, both financial and general considerations make it likely that the county which is over- churched will be underministered. Not only is it true of the local community that the more churches it has the less real pastoral serv- ice is it likely to get, but it is also true of the whole county. Cer- tainly this proposition works out in the two counties under consid- eration. Columbia County's 100 churches command the service, in whole or in part, of only thirty-eight ministers. Of these, six pastors serv- ing fifteen churches combine some other occupation with the work of the ministry. The other thirty-two pastors serve a total of seventy- three churches within the county. Twelve churches were pastorless at the time of the survey. In addition to serving eighty-eight 61 THE COUNTRY CHURCH IN INDUSTRIAL ZONES churches within the county, the 38 pastors also serve thirty-one churches in other counties, or 119 churches in all, an average of 3.1 churches per man. All but seven of these men serve at least two churches each, the largest circuits containing six churches. Harford County makes a much better pastoral record. Sev- enty-one churches there are served by thirty-nine pastors, only two of whom do not give full time to the ministry. The other three churches are of the denomination of Friends who customarily are without a paid ministry. Here, therefore, the ministers average but. 1.8 churches per man. Moreover, there are eleven ministers serving but a single church each and only twelve serving more than two. Such circuits as there are in Harford County, as has already been noted, are more compact than those in Columbia County, where the distances to be traversed are longer and the country is more rugged. A Pastor at Hand Is Worth Two on Circuit It is obvious that a distribution of ministerial services such as obtains, particularly in Columbia County, must operate to deprive most of the churches of the advantage of a resident minister, or at least of the advantage of having a considerable proportion of his time. The circuit system is essentially a pioneer device which had its justification in a day of scattered population and few ministers. Its continuance under modern conditions can only be attributed in general to the competitive element which still so prominently in- fluences our church practice. From the point of view of the larger Christian community, the circuit system in so extreme a form has no longer the justification of necessity. It never had the justifica- tion of efficiency. The whole of modern church work pivots upon the idea of a resident pastor. That point is no longer seriously questioned ; the debate upon it is a dim memory. We have not yet, however, had the courage to accept the implications either of our theory or of our tested experience. Note, for example, that in these two counties, there are only eight communities, four in each county, which have full-time resident pastors, that is, resident pastors with no other occupation than their ministry, and each serv- ing but a single church. Twenty-eight communities, more than half the total number, seventeen of them in Columbia County and eleven in Harford, have no pastors resident within their bounds. Only six churches out of 100 in Columbia County have full-time resident pastors. There are 107 churches in the two counties J2 THE MINISTER served by non-resident men. Of course, it is true that in many of these cases, the pastors do not live at any great distance, and if one could assume good roads and an automobile in each case (an unsafe assumption) the distance between pastor and congregation would not usually be excessive. But the minister knows, as every one knows, that it is not a question of getting to his church, but of living with it every day. The importance of this point will be more obvious when the question of evangelization is considered, in the chapter on church membership. One factor of importance is that usually circuits have little re- lation to the facts of social or trade relationships between com- munities. Many of these circuits, especially in Columbia County, in addition to being large, are cumbersome and unworkable, and deny the minister the opportunity helpfully to relate his life and work to the needs of a single community. A glance at the church map will support this contention. If the denominational lines were not so sharply drawn, a redistribution of the present pastoral force might be effected which would insure to each minister a compact, workable parish, and to each community a resident religious lead- ership. Spiritual Labor and Its Hire The question of ministers' salaries has an important bearing in this connection. The motive in the formation of most circuits is, frankly, "to make up a salary." The average salary is low in both counties. In order to make a proper comparison between the sal- aries of ministers who have, and those who have not the free use of a parsonage, the rental value of the parsonage may be assumed to be $250 a year. If this sum be added to the cash salary paid in cases where a parsonage is furnished, the average salary for ministers devoting themselves exclusively to their ministry, is, in Columbia County, $1,442 and in Harford County $10 higher. In other words, the average salary is approximately equivalent to $1,200 cash and the free use of a house, which, since the war, according to the standards of most denominations, has come to be regarded as at least $300 below a reasonable minimum. The question of salaries is not wholly divorced from the ques- tion of the educational qualifications of the minister, as to which there is considerable variation in the standards of different de- nominations. Harford has the better educational record of the two counties, only four of its pastors being without either college or 6? THE COUNTRY CHURCH IN INDUSTRIAL ZONES theological seminary training. More than half have had both. On the whole, the better trained men here are making the better record. In Columbia County, there are seven ministers without either col- lege or seminary training, and less than half of the total number have had both. In both counties the churches have been unable, as a rule, to hold their ministers for any considerable period of years. Most of them have had a rapid succession of men. For example, only ten of the present pastors of Columbia County have been serving their present charges for more than two and one-half years ; but seven- teen churches in the two counties have retained the same pastor throughout the last decade. There are thirty-three churches in which the average pastorate has lasted two years or less. In three-fourths of the churches pastors had served three years or less. It hardly needs to be argued that such instability of pastoral service has an unfortunate effect upon the continuity of church work, and must generally result in a lack of acquaintance between pastor and people. An unstable condition of this kind leads the minister to place re- liance for church gains upon high pressure methods which may or may not produce permanent results. G4, CHAPTER IX Church Membership THE obvious test of church strength is in the proportion of the population that is actively identified with the member- ship and work of the church. The total enrolled member- ship of the 174 churches of these two counties is 15,702 — 27 per cent, of the total rural population, or 32 per cent, of the non-Cath- olic town and country population. The percentage is practically the RESIDENCE AND ACTIVITY OF CHURCH MEMBERS 88% of Total Roll are Resident *An inactive member is one who does not attend church or contribute to its support Chart based on figures from 174 Protestant cfiurcfies same in each county and is slightly above the average for the entire United States. This is rather a negative merit, for predominantly Protestant counties, with old established churches and well-matured religious traditions ought, on the face of things, to exceed the na- tional average. Of the total membership practically four-fifths are classified as resident, active members. The others are about evenly divided between non-resident members and non-active resident members, the latter being defined as those who neither attend the 65 THE COUNTRY CHURCH IN INDUSTRIAL ZONES church services nor contribute to church support. The active mem- bership is, therefore, little more than one-fifth of the total popula- tion. The average active membership for town churches is 105, for village churches 98, and for country churches 51. The churches of Bloomsburg and Berwick, which are not included in the scope of this survey, have apparently very slight impact upon the life of the county outside their incorporated limits, and enroll a negli- gible number of rural members, about 100 in all. The figures given above, therefore, fairly represent the standing of the Protestant Church among the rural population. * Records, Good and Bad A study of the proportion of population in the church member- ship by communities discloses some interesting and important varia- tions. In Columbia County this proportion varies from less than one-tenth to more than three-fourths. In Harford County it varies from 3 per cent, to 67 per cent. The ten communities of Columbia County which make the poorest record in this respect average prac- tically one-eighth of the population in the church membership, while the eleven communities of Harford County which have the poorest record average slightly better than one-fifth. The ten "best" evan- gelized communities in Columbia County have, on the average, a little less than one-half of their population in the church member- ship, considerably bettering the record of the ten "best" communities in Harford County. The causes of such variations are not easily determined. That after more than 150 years of Protestant Church effort there should still be communities with less than one-tenth of their population evangelized seems strange enough. Many factors enter into the account. First, it may be said that the variation is not primarily along the line of racial or economic differences, and it is apparently not aflFected by the distribution of particular denomina- tions. The communities with the best records, have, on the whole, much the same balance in denominational strength as have those with the poorest, and the denominations which include the greater proportion of the churches show the same sort of marked variation in the effectiveness of their churches. "Fruit That Remaineth" A study of the variations in church effectiveness by communities in Harford County is not particularly significant for the reason 66 CHURCH MEMBERSHIP that the communities themselves, as has been shown, have such loosely defined boundaries and that often representatives of one community belong to the churches in another. The number of mem- bers Hving more than two miles from their church is a little larger in Harford County than in the average. To some extent the extra- community attendance and membership equalizes. Only a house to house religious census could definitely determine the exact degree of evangelization. The facts do establish, however, that there is a wide degree of difference in the evangelization of various sections of Harford County. With the sharply defined community boun- daries and the negligible amount of extra-community membership existing in Columbia County it is possible to make a much closer analysis of the situation and it throws a good deal of Hght on the question of church failure. As a basis for comparison, the communities of Columbia County may be divided into three groups. The first group comprises the ten communities which show the largest proportion of their popula- tion in the church membership; the second group, the ten with the lowest proportion, and the third, the remaining eleven or interme- diate communities. The first group consists, on the whole, of the large communities. They have an average population two and one- half times that of the second group and nearly one-half as much again as that of the third group. The distribution of pastoral service is an important factor. In the ten "best" communities just one-third of the churches have resident pastors. In the ten "poorest" communities less than one-fifth have them and in the rest of the communities about one-fourth. The least effective work is done where the circuits are the largest. The record in this particular is not especially good for any of the communities of the county, but in the ten "best" communities 54 per cent, of the churches are combined on circuits of four or more churches, as compared with 81 per cent, in the "poorest" com- munities and 64 per cent, for the rest of the county. The percen- tages of churches on six-point circuits are respectively 4, 25 and 22 in the three groups of communities in the same order. This means that the "best" evangelized communities are the ones where churches receive the most pastoral attention. Computing the percentage of the ministers' time which each church receives (that is, figuring that a church on a six-point circuit has one-sixth of the minister's time) 51 per cent, of the pastoral time of the county goes into the ten "best" communities, and only 16 per cent, goes into the ten "poorest." On this basis the ten "best" communities have the equivalent of a 67 THE COUNTRY CHURCH IN INDUSTRIAL ZONES full-time minister for every 795 persons, as compared with the proportion of one to, every 1,149 in the "poorest" communities, and 1,104 in the rest of the county. The number of persons per resi- dent minister, irrespective of the number of churches he serves, is respectively 750, 1,839 and 1,549 for the three groups of com- munities. It is a fair inference, then, that the variations in the evangelistic efifectiveness reflect primarily the variations in the amount of pastoral service provided. When Competition Ruins The size of the membership of individual churches is related to the foregoing both as a cause and as an effect. It is a cause since, in a stable community, the size of the organization seems to have a direct bearing upon its work and efficiency. It is an effect because obviously imperfect evangelization reduces membership by winning fewer members to allegiance to the Church. There are many Small churches in both counties, too many in the interest of efficiency. Those in Columbia County, as would be expected, average smaller than those in Harford County. In each county the village and town churches are much larger than the country churches. The variation in size is great. For town churches the active membership ranges from sixty-three to 255, for village churches from five to 405, for country churches from four to 200. There are sixteen village and sixty-five country churches, nearly half of the whole number of churches, with less than fifty active members each. In Harford County seven-eighths of the membership are in little more than half of the churches. The initial handicap of the country churches as compared to the village and town churches is here ap- parent. The country churches have access to fewer people since, as a rule, the village churches draw from both the town and the country, but the country churches from the farms only. The coun- try churches have, therefore, a smaller average constituency and are most of them in the smaller membership groups. Out of 109 country churches only nine have memberships exceeding 100. Gen- erally speaking, the country churches which are in the vicinity of the cities and the more populous village centers are the weakest and the most obvious suft'erers from competition with town and village churches. Turning to the question of gain or loss in membership, it may be noted, first, that exactly one-half of the churches in Columbia 68 6 Circuit 4 Postflr'* Rpjidfncff without Chureh-ffhifc 4 Pajtor'j Residence tvithaut Church -Celdrtd ■ Abandoned Church. Q In&clive Church (S Sundaij School Hithout Church -Whits [g] 5urido^ School Without Church -Colsrod 9 Church ueing Sebool fildj. COLUMBIA COUNTY, SHOWING CIRCUITS THE COUNTRY CHURCH IN INDUSTRIAL ZONES and 63 per cent, of those in Harford County made a net gain in membersliip in the year preceding the survey. About one church in six in the two counties suffered a net loss, the remaining number breaking even on the year. Those churches whose membership records are available for a period of ten years show commendable progress. During the first half of the last decade, membership in- creased but slightly, but during the last five years the gain was nearly 50 per cent. The rate of gain in Columbia County was slightly higher than in Harford County. The net gain for the past year was at practically the same rate as the ten-year average. Prac- CHURCH GROWTH AS EFFECTED BY THE AMOUNT OF PASTORAL SERVICE CHURCHES WITH CHURCHES WITH CHURCHES WITH FULL TIME OF HALF TIME OF LESS THAN HALF TIME A MINISTER A MINISTER OF A MINISTER / ^^^k 27% / ^^^^ • GAINEDj ^^^k ( ^-(^ ^ Chartbasedonfiguresfrom 174 Protestant churches CHART III tically one-half of all the churches which made a net gain last year added more than 10 per cent, of their former net active mem- bership. About the same proportion of the village and country churches gained during the year. The total gain for the two counties was about 10 per cent, of the former active membership, whereas the net gain was about 7 per cent. Three-fourths of those joining the churches during the year came in by confirmation or confession of faith. The gains by letter were almost sufficient to offset the loss by death or removal. The causes of gain or loss are frequently obscure. Many facts, some of them difficult to measure, have to be taken into account. Some of these are locally significant but do not provide a conclusive basis for generalization. For example, in Columbia County village churches as a rule make a much better showing than the country churches. Here there is a growing tendency toward the centering 70 CHURCH MEMBERSHIP of interest in the village which is reflecting itself in church life. The village churches are better organized and have more pastoral oversight. They made, therefore, a substantially better record for the year. In Harford County, however, the reverse is the case, but here the country churches have not been so handicapped in the matter of pastoral service, and are generally larger and stronger than they are in Columbia County. Wanted! — A Mission Policy The residence of pastors and the distribution of pastoral service have a clear relation to growth. Among the churches that have CHURCHES CLASSIFIED ACCORDING TO RESIDENCE OF THE MINISTERS I With I No Pastor I With Non- 3 Resident Pastop I — iWith Resident Pastor Town and Village Country Town and Village Country COLUMBIA CO. CHURCHES 20% 40% 60% 80% 100% CHART IV gained the percentage having resident pastors is higher than the percentage for the counties as a whole. Of all the churches having resident pastors 71 per cent, gained, as compared with 53 per cent, of those having non-resident pastors or no pastors. Of the churches which do not have to share their pastors with other churches 72 per cent, gained, as compared with 27 per cent, for churches on two- point circuits, 17 per cent, on three-, 24 per cent, on four-, 17 per cent, on five-, and 2 per cent, on six-point circuits. The advantage is, therefore, all with the one-point charge. Size of membership has a relation to growth. The greater the resources in personnel, finance, and enthusiasm of members, the better the organization. All the churches which have a membership of more than 150 made a net gain last year. The percentage of churches gaining and the average size taper oflf together. Of 71 THE COUNTRY CHURCH IN INDUSTRIAL ZONES churches with memberships between 100 and 150, a little less than three-fourths gained, of those between 25 and 100, a little less than two-thirds gained, while of those with memberships of 25 or less, one-sixth gained. CHURCHES GAINING AND LOSING DURING ONE YEAR PERIOD COLUMBIA COUNTY 100 CHURCHES HARFORD COUNTY 74 CHURCHES RELATION OF SIZE OF CHURCH MEMBERSHIP TO GAIN SMALL CHURCHES MEDIUM CHURCHES 60% 38% ■CM ■(% "JEDl ^^^^^^m gained] ^Kf 0-50 MEMBERS 50-100 MEMBERS LARGE CHURCHES 13% NEDl / OVER 100 MEMBERS Chart based on figures from 174 Protestant churches CHART VI In Columbia County, there is a wide difference between the "best" evangelized and the "poorest" evajagelized communities, pre- viously referred to, in the percentage of churches growing. In the "best" evangelized communities just one-half of the churches made 72 CHURCH MEMBERSHIP a gain last year; in the "poorest" evangelized communities, where there are, on the average, seventy-five more persons per church and where the number of un-evangelized persons per church is greater by 166, just one-fourth of the churches gained. It may be considered that these points all come to the same thing, which is that the well organized, well manned churches in the populous neighborhoods where religious traditions have taken firmest root are growing, while the smaller, unorganized, under-manned churches in the less favorable locations, with the smaller initial support, are not growing. But this is, as a matter of fact, exactly why we have or should have a mission policy. It is a lack of any well defined strategy for supporting weak points that leaves feeble churches to grow more feeble and waits for a long drawn-out proc- ess of attrition to work out the problem of overchurching and leave the field to the churches equipped to serve it adequately. In the meantime, there must be a large proportion of the population and a large part of the territory essentially untouched by the Church. 73 CHAPTER X Organizations Within the Church THE first and most important of the organizations within the churches is the Sunday school. Ninety of the 100 churches in Columbia County and sixty-eight of the sev- enty-four in Harford maintain Sunday schools. It is in this branch of church work that Columbia County makes its best record. The ten churches which have no Sunday schools are all small, with an aggregate membership of but 172. For the other ninety churches the Sunday school enrollment exceeds the resident church member- ship by a considerable margin. The country churches make a better record in this particular than the village churches. In forty-three village churches the resident church membership slightly exceeds the Sunday school enrollment in the aggregate. In forty-seven country churches the total Sunday school enrollment exceeds the resident church membership by nearly one-third. The Sunday school en- rollment that exceeds the church membership is usually a promise of future growth and a sign of an all-round healthy condition. In this case it is also an indication that the Sunday school is more flexible in its organization and program than is the Church and gains adherents whom the Church is subsequently unable to hold. Here we see evidence both of the value of the increasing community interest of the Sunday school and of the weakness of the Church's recruiting policy. In Harford County, the record is not nearly so impressive, the total Sunday school enrollment being less than three- fourths the combined membership of the churches, while of the Sunday school enrollment, less than half consists of children under sixteen. For the two counties as a whole, the regular weekly attend- ance averages a little less than two-thirds the enrollment, being proportionately smallest in the country and largest in the town. A Goodly Showing The progress of the Sunday schools of Columbia County is largely due to its splendid County Sunday School Association. This is one of the finest of such associations in the entire State and is one of the most active and influential organizations in the county. 74 ORGANIZATIONS WITHIN THE CHURCH It has had for years efficient and interested leadership. The asso- ciation has conducted a unique experiment in cooperation by hold- ing an annual series of conferences in conjunction with the County Farm Bureau and the County Superintendent of Schools. Five two- day conferences have been held each year, combining a discussion of economic, educational and Sunday school matters. In both counties a fair beginning has been made in organizing the schools in accordance with modern educational ideas. A cradle roll, a home department and the organized classes are features of an increasing ■'ring-around-a-rosie" The Kindergarten of a Daily Vacation Bible School in Columbia County. proportion of the schools. Mission study is being introduced and the schools are interested in making regular missionary offerings. Social affairs of one sort and another are fairly common, and there are a few instances of specialized athletics or organized activities. Teacher training and leadership training are still far from com- mon, but nearly one-third of the schools have classes to prepare pupils for church membership, and a somewhat fewer number regularly observe Decision Day. The recruiting possibilities of the Sunday school are far from realized, but even so, the Sunday schools furnished last year nearly two-thirds of the new members added to the churches on confession. During the past ten years, nine pupils from Harford County Sunday schools and twenty-nine from 75 THE COUNTRY CHURCH IN INDUSTRIAL ZONES Columbia Sunday schools have entered some form of definite Chris- tian service. There are various other types of organizations within the churches, of which the most numerous are the women's societies. These are found in more than two-thirds of the churches, and have a combined membership of more than 3,000. Young people's or- ganizations are fewer in number. They are found in little more than one-third of the churches and have a combined enrollment of 2,665. The boys and girls and the men are the unorganized groups. There are only seven specific organizations for boys and eleven for girls. Only nine churches have organizations for men. 7d CHAPTER XI Other Forms of Religious Work Roman Catholic Church THE seven Roman Catholic churches of Harford County care simply for their people. The parishes cover the whole territory without overlapping. The priests are devoted and broadminded men, held in high esteem by Catholic and Prot- estant alike. Complete information about these churches is not available. Five churches report a total property valuation of $179,- 000. The membership of the four churches reporting is 910, and the total number of Roman Catholics, as reported by the Census of Religious Bodies for 1916, is 1,637. Nearly every church main- tains devotional organizations both for men and for women. The chief social activities of the churches are the tournaments held each summer. These attract many hundreds of people, and they also provide a considerable part of the running expenses of the churches. Another Catholic church is to be erected at Aberdeen. Regular services, apart from those in the churches, are held both at Aber- deen and at the Arsenal. There is a parochial school at Bel Air. In the rural districts of Columbia County, there are only three Roman Catholic churches — a Polish Catholic church at Roaring Creek, and Greek and Irish Catholic churches in Centralia. The last has the largest membership, and a fine parochial school is main- tained in connection with the church. There is a large Greek Ortho- dox church also at Centralia. Colored Church Life in Harford County Of the colored men over twenty-one years of age nearly one- eighth operate farms. The proportion of colored farmers that are tenants, 17.4 per cent., is not much higher than the rate for all farmers. In several communities, large, well managed and pros- perous farms are owned by colored men. Of the rest of the col- ored male population, the majority are farm hands. Some are en- gaged upon public works, especially on the roads and at the Proving Ground. Many colored women go out to domestic service. In the last fifteen years, there has been a growing tendency for colored 77 THE COUNTRY CHUECH IN INDUSTRIAL ZONES pupils to attend high school, and a number have attained graduation. There are in Harford County twenty-one organized colored churches, and two colored missions, serving a total of 4,604 people. Each of the twenty-one organizations owns a building. Twenty of these church edifices are of wood, and one is of concrete. The condition of six is reported to be fair, that of eleven good, and that of four very good. The total seating capacity is 5,600, more than the colored population. The total valuation for the twenty churches for which information is available * is $61,400, and the average ^^ rOR THE FOREIGN-BORN The architecture of the Greek Orthodox Church at Centralia strikes an exotic note amid its plain sur- roundings. valuation is $3,070. Six churches own parsonages, which have a combined valuation of $10,400. All but one are reported as in good condition. Thirteen of the church buildings are of the tradi- tional one-room type; five have two rooms each, and three have three rooms. In handling their funds, fifteen churches use a comprehensive budget, -and four other churches use the budget system for local * One church had no available records. 78 OTHER FORMS OF RELIGIOUS WORK expenses. Nine churches employ weekly envelopes. Twelve collect monthly, and sixteen collect annually. Half the churches make an annual every-member canvass. The total amount raised during the year preceding the survey was $13,770.50. Of this, 44 per cent, was raised by subscription, 55 per cent, by collection, and 1 per cent, by miscellaneous methods. The average per capita contribution per active member was $21.62. This is $3.70 more per capita than the average contribution of the white Protestant churches in Harford and practically double the average per capita contribution in Columbia. SiSffi 1 nil -^-' ^ A COLORED CHURCH AT HAVRE DE GRACE The colored churches of Harford County are flourishing and well supported. The total amount spent by all the colored churches during the same year was $14,964. Of this total, 56 per cent, was applied to salaries, 13 per cent, to missions and benevolences and 31 per cent, to contingent expenses. Nine churches have deficits. The net deficit for the colored churches is $1,193.50. For the other churches, there is a balance between receipts and expenditures. The total membership of the twenty churches is 940, which forms 20.4 per cent, of the total colored population. Of the church members, 637, or 68 per cent., are active. The total net gain in church membership during the year preceding the survey was 138. Every church has at least one preaching service a month. Five churches have two services, and four have three. Ten churches have services every week, and of these, one has six services a month 79 THE COUNTRY CHURCH IN INDUSTRIAL ZONES and seven have two services each Sunday. Seventeen churches hold occasional union services. All the churches conduct Sunday schools, which have a total enrollment of 842,, corresponding to 90 per cent, of the church en- rollment. During the past ten years, nine young people, from eight churches, have entered some form of Christian work. Apart from the Sunday schools, there are three nien's organiza- tions, with a total of thirty-three members, and nine women's societies. Four churches have societies for young people, including three Ep worth Leagues, a Temperance League which has been in existence for nearly fifty years, two choir organizations, and an- other young people's society. The total membership is 102. Nineteen churches do some charitable work and most of them have something in the form of social, educational or cultural activities. The twenty-one churches are served by fourteen ministers, four of whom are college graduates. Seven give full time to one church each ; two serve one point each but have other occupations ; two serve two points each; one serves three; and two serve four points each. The average salary is $843.85, including an allowance of $250 for each free parsonage. 80 CHAPTER XII Service to Migrants By Elizabeth R. Hooker NEAR the canneries that are so famihar a feature in the Harford County landscape, may be seen long, low build- ings of a uniform type, each having on one side doors and small windows at regular intervals. Here, for a few weeks or months of every summer and fall, are housed the foreign laborers without whose help the canneries could not be operated. For years MIGRANTS LIVING QUARTERS These are the sheds in which the seasonal cannery workers sleep, cook and do the family wash. they have come and gone. Except when attention has been called to them by some outbreak of petty thieving, people have not given them much attention. Impulses toward helpfulness have met with what appeared to be serious obstacles. Many of these workers speak little English ; most of them are Roman Catholics ; they are here for but a short period, and when they leave seldom return. Their standard of living is so low that they may be presumed not to want what the rest of the community requires. For the most part, therefore, they have been left alone. 81 THE COUNTRY CHURCH IN INDUSTRIAL ZONES "Who Is My Neighbor?" For the past two summers, however, an attempt has been made to bring these people help. Women's denominational Home Mis- sion Boards have cooperatively carried on work for farm and can- nery migrants at six centers, one of which is in Harford County at Mr. W. E. Robinson's cannery at Hickory, near Bel Air. This work has been conducted by a committee composed of representa- tives appointed by each of the boards financially cooperating. The Council of Women for Home Missions, the interdenominational agency of the women's national boards and societies, has acted as clearing house. In the summer of 1920, eight boards furnished the funds ; during 1921, ten boards. Of the six centers, the largest is the one at Hickory. The location is so central for the county that many people have seen the picturesque pavilion erected by Mr. Robinson, the row of clean babies in their white baskets, and the children at their lessons, their hot lunches or their games. There were so many of the children just at the one cannery, — and in a slack season, too, — and they were so teachable and so much in need of help, that many people, especially mothers, must have begun to wonder about the children at canneries close to their homes. How many are there of these foreigners throughout the county during a prosperous season? That is hard to tell, for records of individuals are not kept. The number working at a cannery varies here from twenty to 250. In the 417 canneries of Maryland during September, the month when the largest number is at work, there are, according to the United States Census of Manufactures for 1914, over 31,000 wage earners. If these laborers were evenly dis- tributed Harford would have in its ninety-nine canneries of fruit and vegetables more than 7,000 persons. As the State has a few es- tablishments much larger than any in Harford, the number must be somewhat smaller; but it can hardly be less than 6,000. This total is not entirely composed of migrants, for some of the smaller can- neries depend partly or wholly upon local labor ; but the discrepancy is probably counterbalanced by migrants who come to work in the fields. At least 500 other migrants come for the fishing season, and more to work in canneries preserving fish. The workers are frequently accompanied by children. At Hickory this summer, with 105 workers, there were forty-five children under the legal age for work. The colonies must include many hundreds of little children. S2 r SERVICE TO MIGRANTS d/ In«i AN ENLIGHTENED CANNERY OWNER Mr. W. E. Robinson, of Bel Air, and some of the Polish women and children who have benefited by the social work carried on at his cannery. 83 THE COUNTRY CHURCH IN INDUSTRIAL ZONES Canning by Nationality Since the work is seasonal and intermittent, and does not re- quire skilled labor or command high pay, the laborers available for it are foreigners of recent importation and a low stage of develop- ment. Most of those employed in Harford are Poles : there are also a few Germans, Bohemians, and Slavs. For the sake of har- mony, efforts are made to have all the people at a given cannery of the same nationality and religion. The canner tells his "row boss" how many workers he will need, and the "row boss" hires them through an agency in Baltimore. WHERE THE TOMATOES MEET THE CANS This is the unloading shed of a typical cannery at which the newly picked vegetahles are received. The length of working season depends on what crops, and how many crops are canned. Canneries dealing only with tomatoes are in operation from about the middle of August until frost time, which here comes about the middle of October. Establishments canning only corn run from the middle of August for five or six weeks. Those that can beans as well as corn or tomatoes may open as early as July 20; and those canneries that follow tomatoes with apples may continue to work almost until Christmas. The working season, therefore, varies from five or six weeks to several months. In the shacks where the people are housed, single rooms, sep- 84 SEEVICE TO MIGRANTS arated only by wooden partitions, are occupied by entire families. The beds are raised boxes filled with straw. In some cases, the rooms are open in front, making the whole structure like a row of horse sheds. The women do their cooking out of doors. Sanita- tion is extremely poor. Work is done in places sometimes too hot, sometimes draughty, frequently dark and usually damp. Seats are often without backs; knives are frequently dull. The presence of machinery entails noise, nervous strain, and occasional accidents. Waste is sometimes allowed to become a source of annoyance and danger. The irregular ripening of perishable products results in intermittent periods of hurried and protracted toil. These strangers are not, as one might suppose, residents else- where who come to Harford to earn extra pennies while they enjoy an outing in the country. They are transients everywhere ; aliens, who, because of their undeveloped intelligence, their ignorance of English, and their lack of any special skill, must travel hither and thither, to perform heavy drudgery for an uncertain reward. Much has been said and written about these migrant laborers. Among New Americans they are the most retarded class. If neglected, they will become a menace to the future prosperity of America. As yet they are not fully awake to the inequality of their lot ; they are ignorant and unorganized. What might some day happen may be guessed from the hop-field riots at Wheatland, California. The presence of these thousands of workers with their chil- dren offers the people of the county a wonderful social opportunity. These strangers camp at the doors of every one of the communities ; they are grouped in convenient colonies large enough to repay effort and small enough to allow personal and effective work; and they are withdrawn from the temptations and distractions of the city. The canneries are owned not by large and impersonal corporations, but by individuals, in many cases by public-spirited men, leaders in the churches, who would cooperate with undertakings to promote the welfare of the migrants. Child Workers Among the workers there are children. Maryland law allows children between fourteen and sixteen years of age, upon obtaining a certificate, to work at canneries until the middle of October. Those given certificates are supposed to have finished the fifth grade, and to have passed an examination by a physician. At canneries last summer were big boys of twelve and fourteen who could not 85 THE COUNTRY CHURCH IN INDUSTRIAL ZONES write their names. Children are employed mainly at canneries ,pre- serving beans, where they both gather the beans and snip them. As tomatoes form the most important crop canned, the canneries packing them employ the largest number of migrants. If no other crop is handled, about the middle of October the families are trans- ported back to Baltimore. The children are then supposed to go to school. But clothes are not ready ; and being behind the rest makes the children dread to appear. It may be November before they are all in their places. The parochial schools of the sections of Baltimore to which these people betake themselves have a slim attendance during the first six weeks of the school year. And very soon, the people are transported to the South, to work in the oyster canneries, and the children are again without a school. Harford people, on their side, do not need every moment of time and every ounce of energy for the bare struggle of earning a living. They have a margin of time, of energy and of money. Harford women did splendid volunteer service in war time under the Red Cross. Many Harford young people enjoy considerable leisure, especially in summer. If they lived in a city, many of these women and young people would work in the tenements or settlement houses of the slums. The neediest of slum people annually come to them. Especially distressing is the plight of the children. Their moth- ers cannot tend them, for they have neither time nor knowledge. The workers at Hickory found the little babies filthy and sometimes diseased or covered with sores. Children a little older tumble about neglected, under-nourished, quarrelsome. Boys and girls old enough to work are lamentably ignorant of English, common school branches, cooking and sewing, and even of the simplest of every- day virtues. The mothers, upon whom the burden falls, need to have that burden lightened through occasional recreation and sym- pathetic advice on the care and improvement of their children. The younger men, if taught English and the rudiments of arithmetic, are capable of developing into "row bosses," or of becoming fitted for better kinds of work. All groups need training in morals and religion. "Unto the Least of These — " The common objections to undertaking work for the migrants may need a few words of answer. "They cannot speak English." True ! But the children understand more than their shyness allows to appear; and to learn more they must be taught, and must be 86 WAITING FOR TEACHER THE LESSON HOUR The Porch of the Pavilion at Hickory makes an admirable Class Room for these little Foreigners. 87 THE COUNTRY CHURCH IN INDUSTRIAL ZONES brought into contact with American children. . . . "They are Roman Catholics." . . . Yes ! But one of the broad-minded priests of Harford gave his approval to the social center at Hickory, and told one of the workers that such a task needed a woman. . . . "They stay here so short a time." . . . Alas ! They stay only a short time anywhere ; and here circumstances are so favorable that in the short period children's entire lives may be changed. . . . "They are strangers. We owe no duty to them." . . . Yes! But they are neighbors long enough to add to the general prosperity of the residents by their presence and their labor. To determine how these urgent needs can be met by Harford people one has merely to consider the fine example at Hickory, near Bel Air. This examiple is all the more notable since it is provided at the expense of the cannery proprietor, Mr. W. E. Robinson. The building provided has three parts : a nursery and dispensary, a domestic science and lunch room, and a big porch. The Home Mission Boards sent last summer three young college women, each of whom had received special training, one in nursing, the second in domestic science, the third in playground activities. The nurse washed and tended the seven or eight babies, gave any needed physical attention to the other children and administered first aid to cases ranging from accidents connected with machinery to human bites. This work received the cooperation of the county Red Cross nurse. The other two workers conducted a school, in- cluding religious exercises, Bible stories, a little common school teaching, sewing, singing, patriotic exercises, and many kindred activities. At noon, the domestic science worker prepared a hot lunch, making use of the opportunity to teach the little girls some- thing about cooking. The meal was enjoyed by from thirty to fifty- five children, those who were able paying three cents each. The supervisor of play conducted games both on the porch and in the wood close by, where the Council of Women had placed such simple apparatus as swings and slides. After working hours, there was a class for the larger girls in cooking, sewing, and English ; and in the evening, a class for big boys in English and arithmetic. Occasional evening entertainments, including stereopticon views, were given for the whole colony. On days when the cannery did not run, some of the women went over to the pavilion. They heard talks on the care of children, and a few learned something about sewing on a sewing machine that had been donated. Used children's dresses, contributed by persons interested, were sold for ten cents apiece. An interde- 88 SERVICE TO MIGRANTS nominational committee of Bel Air women stood behind the work, providing food and clothing and cooperating with the workers in other ways. Mr. Robinson lent a Ford for the transportation of the workers, and was otherwise helpful. Assistance was rendered also by many other individuals. The amount expended by the Women's Boards, sums received for lunches and garments having been deducted, was $983.48. The undertaking won that elusive and priceless thing, the confidence of these shy, wild strangers ; and in the six weeks during which the center was in operation there was efifected a noticeable change in the health, manners and spirits of the children. Please Page More Mr. Robinsons! In the light of this experiment, much can be done for the mi- grants that make their periodical appearance in every corner of Harford County. There are two county-wide agencies, the County Relief Committee and the Harford Chapter of the Red Cross, either of which, in the absence of a County Union of churches, could be empowered to serve as trustee for funds and to correlate local un- dertakings. The Women's Boards of Home Missions, who have already operated a successful social center on the ground could, if provided with funds, conduct similar centers in other sections. If three such centers were in operation, the Boards without much ad- ditional expense could conduct a training course in which women and young people could learn to be of assistance to the regular workers, to carry on under supervision certain activities at out- lying canneries, and to prolong some of the work after the de- parture of the workers. A few of these volunteer workers might wish later to go elsewhere for more complete training. The work and responsibilty undertaken at first by the Boards would pass into the hands of local agencies; and these under ideal conditions would be coordinated by a county organization of churches. Gradually the work could be extended till it covered all the canneries of the county. The activities of a social center require a shelter and some equip- ment. The bad times in the canning business may render it impos- sible for many canneries, with the best of will, to play the generous part taken by Mr. Robinson. If no building can be erected or adapted to the requirements, the public can do what the Council of Women for Home Missions did this summer at its welfare station fifteen miles from Dover, Delaware — it can use a portable house, fur- 89 THE COUNTRY CHURCH IN INDUSTRIAL ZONES nished as the model of an inexpensive country home. The War gave us model huts that might be adopted for this transitory type of work. Food, clothing, furniture, and the many other articles re- quired, could be procured through some woman's society or com- munity committee from philanthropic people in each section. The money could be subscribed by individuals, as in the case of the Red Cross, or by churches, as in many instances in connection with the Relief Fund. Perhaps some day Harford, following the example of Prince George's County, may provide money for social work through a tax assessed by the County Commissioners. It's Up to Maryland A social center can serve the migrants in many ways, but it cannot meet completely their needs for education and for religion. The children must go to school. Harford school authorities are willing to receive these children for the short period of their stay; but few of them present themselves. In regard to a similar situa- tion in New York, the State Factory Investigating Commission has made the following suggestion : * It is our opinion that it can be done ... by authorizing the State Edu- cation Department, where there is a large colony, to establish schools, and where there are only a few foreign children, to lend financial assistance to the local school authorities on condition that they educate the foreign children. In Harford County the number of children in a colony is com- paratively small, and there are a great many small country schools, often not far from the canneries. Can the children be taught in these schools to the profit of both the foreign and the American children? The foreign children in their natural state are hardly fit to be received ; but a few weeks of social center work before the opening of school would do much to make them so. It would also make the children more likely to attend. It is our democratic American principle that all classes of white children should be taught alike and be taught together. The little strangers would learn Eng- lish rapidly if brought into contact with children of their own age. And the American children might learn from the association many lessons of helpfulness and sympathy. Before it is possible to meet the moral and religious needs of the migrants, 'the social and educational work is a necessary pre- liminary. The strangers must first of all be led to believe that their * State of New York: Second Report of the Factory Investigating Com- mission. 1913. Volume II, page 796. 90 SERVICE TO MIGRANTS would-be benefactors are friendly, and that they profess the same Christianity as the religious teachers of their own land. During the next summer at Hickory it is hoped to have services conducted by a PoHsh minister. In time, the churches can draw the children of the colonies into their Sunday schools, and can arrange for them some special religious exercises. Effective work in these three lines, social, educational and religious, would transform these poor migrants from a menace to our civilization into happy and useful citizens. 91 CHAPTER XIII "Par Standard" and the Program of the Church IT is natural that one should ask, at the conclusion of a study of this character, just what is the contribution that the churches are making to the life of these counties or, perhaps, just what it is that the churches are consciously attempting and what is the net value of their achievements. It is obvious, of course, that religious values cannot be comprehended in statistical tables. The churches which by any standard that one can erect are the least effectual, will often make spiritual contributions of incalculable value. This survey fully recognizes that fact. Nevertheless with the ideal before one of the genuine Christianization of community life, it is reasonable to examine the apparent purposes of the churches as expressed in their organization and program. First, the general policy governing church extension and develop- ment has evidently been a policy of denominational expansion. The multiplicity of churches, especially in Columbia County, their geo- graphical frequency, their limited range of influence in terms of miles, the facts that many of the recently organized churches have been established in previously churched communities, and that few churches have undivided fields — all these are the earmarks of de- nominationalism. The resulting division of the religious forces, which has necessarily placed severe limits upon them in matters of equipment, finance and ministerial supply, suggests that denomi- national prestige rather than the primary consideration of com- munity need has been the dominant motive in church policy. The idea of religious unity has had no general acceptance. It is ap- parent also that the idea of small, rather personal groupings of members on the neighborhood basis has prevailed as a method of work rather than the idea of large, compact parishes. "Whose Service Is Perfect Freedom" While circumstances limit ideas, what the churches actually do should fairly indicate their underlying purpose and their larger possibilities. The one thing which they do, and which they are all 02 "PAR STANDARD" AND THE CHURCH equipped to do, is to hold public services of worship with some degree of frequency. In one of every seven churches this is literally the whole sum of the church activity, and in from one-third to one- half of the whole number of churches, the preaching services, the Sunday school and certain routine, organizational activities com- prise the definite program of work. The social and recreational interest is increasing, particularly among the churches of Harford County, nearly all of which supply their communities with some form of social life. In the more isolated communities the preach- ing services and the Sunday schools are, apart from any formal intent, of considerable social as well as of religious importance, but taking the two counties as a whole the churches keep within the realm of the strictly ecclesiastical, and within a limited interpreta- tion of that word. Their impact upon the general community life is slight, and their ecclesiastical ministry is limited by the meager- ness of their resources. A Sunday school, a Ladies' Aid Society, and two, or even in some cases four, preaching services a month, with such pastoral work as is possible for a non-resident minister with several other churches to care for, can hardly be said to con- stitute a completely rounded ministry. The importance of preach- ing and religious instruction may not be minimized, yet the failure to embrace the opportunity for wider service is to be deplored. In- ability to support preaching and teaching by the interpretative activities of community service will impose severe handicaps upon the religious life of the community. Some interesting and rather significant instances of interchurch cooperation should be noted. In Columbia County institutes con- ducted under the auspices of the Sunday School Association have had a unifying influence. Nearly one-fourth of the churches unite, at least occasionally, in union services. Especially popular are the Union Grove meetings at Darlington, Maryland. These have been held in the grove close to the village on Sunday evenings for the last seven years. Addresses are delivered, sometimes by neighbor- ing pastors, sometimes by speakers from a distance. At these meet- ings all the churches in the community unite and the people come to them from miles around. The attendance ranges from 500 to 1,000. Another important series of union services is held at St. Mary's Church, Emmorton, Maryland, on Sunday evenings during the summer. Sixteen churches in Columbia and Harford Counties are inter- ested in the support of some particular mission work, either home or foreign. Thirty-three churches engage in some form of local 93 THE COUNTRY CHURCH IN INDUSTRIAL ZONES charitable work, and a small number are definitely interested in civic or agricultural development. The stronger churches usually have some feature in their program of an educational, cultural or social character. The majority of the pastors, in spite of the handicaps under which they labor, are exceptionally optimistic as to the future of their fields and believe that the days ahead are those of opportunity. They fully recognize, however, the serious problems which must be solved, not only those which concern the methods of the churches themselves, but those which grow out of the underlying economic conditions and the general social tendencies of the day. When a Church Is at a Par Finally, by way of general summary, the churches may be analyzed from the point of view of the Par Standard. This Stand- ard was developed by the Interchurch World Movement; it was worked out and approved by the Town and Country Committee of the Home Missions Council, and has, since that time, been approved by the rural survey supervisors of the Interchurch who represented every state in the Union and were familiar with the practical re- quirements of church work, and also by various denominational societies. The Standard has been projected, not as an ideal, but as a fair average of what a church might, in all reasonableness, expect to attain. In the use of it here, no attempt has been made to give comparative value to the various points included, which are by no means of equal value, but which all enter into a complete equip- ment and' program. The program is here given in full, but there are certain points on which reliable information was not secured for all the churches. The following table shows, after each item, the number of churches, out of Columbia County's 100, and Harford County's 74, which have met that particular point in the Standard. Those after which no numbers are given are the ones on which information was not available. 94 "PAR STANDARD" AND THE CHURCH PAR STANDARD TABLE Adequate Physical - Equipment Up-to-date Parsonage Adequate Church Auditorium Space Social and Recreational Equipment Well Equipped Kitchen Organ or Piano Sunday School Rooms Stereopticon or Moving Picture Machine Sanitary Toilets Horse Sheds or Parking Space . . . Property in Good Repair and Con- dition Pastor Finance {Resident Pastor Full Time Pastor Service Every Sunday Minimum Salary of $1,200 Manse and {Annual Church Budget Adopted Annually Every Member Canvass Benevolences Equal to 25% Current Expenses r Cooperation with other Churches Meetings -i in Community L Systematic Evangelism Parish ■! Church Serves All Racial and Oc- j cupational Groups Sunday School Held Entire Year Sunday School Enrollment Equal to Church Membership Attempt to bring Pupils into Church Special Instruction for Church Membership Teacher Training or Normal Class .Provision for Leadership Training Religious Education Program of Work 'Organized Activities for Age and Sex Groups Cooperation with Boards and De- nominational Agencies Program Adopted Annually 25% of Membership Participating . . . Church Reaching Entire Com- munity Columbia 28 99 22 Harford 30 73 10 Total 58 172 32 SO 23 73 4 5 9 100 69 169 79 65 144 25 6 31 32 9 56 57 IS 87 71 42 113 66 61 49 34 lis 95 41 17 37 22 78 39 85 46 131 48 9 57 48 38 86 28 25 10 25 5 2 53 30 12 17 2 19 20 11 31 11 11 It will be seen from the above that there are twenty-four points on which information was available. The highest score in either county is nineteen points, which record is made by four churches in Columbia County and one in Harford. Eleven churches in Co- lumbia County and nine in Harford score fifteen points or better. 95 THE COUNTRY CHURCH IN INDUSTRIAL ZONES The average rating for Harford County is 9.4 points per church, and for Columbia . County 9.9. If the answers be analyzed according to the main topical divi- sions of the Standard and if each county be given, under the head of each item, the percentage rating based on the number of actual affirmative answers out of the possible maximum, the following result is obtained : Number of Points on Percentage of Rating which Information for Items Is Available Columbia Harford Physical Equipment 7 S4.3 53.1 Pastoral Service 4 33.2 47 Finance 3 56 54.1 Religious Education 6 40.7 30.4 Program 4 16.2 15.8 It will be noted that both counties make their best records in matters of finance and equipment, though these records are not unusually high. Harford County has a better record in pastoral service and Columbia County in religious education. In each case, however, the record for program is low beyond all reasonable ex- pectations for counties with such traditions and background. m CHAPTER XIV Conclusions and Recommendations THIS study records many facts which are distinctly to the credit of Harford and Columbia counties. When the whole scene is viewed in perspective, the favorable impressions unmistakably outweigh the unfavorable. In many respects these counties show us country life in its most attractive phases. Here is substantial wealth and a generally progressive attitude manifest- ing itself in many ways which call for commendation. Education- ally, socially and cooperatively, marked progress is being made. There are enough capable and public-spirited leaders in both counties to lead the way in the promotion of common, practical interests and public welfare. The lines of development which have been favor- ably noted in the body of the volume need not be here described again. In the Wake of Industrial Awakening The full effect of that industrial development to which reference was made in the opening paragraph of this report cannot in all respects be accurately measured. It is not as yet altogether clear in what respects that industrial expansion has modified, or will modify, the ordinary lines of rural development under general mod- ern conditions. Obviously, its first effect is seen in the current of population change. For one thing, the population is becoming more composite. In cities the social and religious agencies have, in the last decades, been placed under tremendous strain to adapt them- selves to the service of great numbers of alien, foreign-speaking peoples, whose diverse habits, ideals and traditions these city com- munities have struggled to incorporate in orderly manner into their own life. The country experiences a different angle of this san:;