hope of improvement. Religion alone can permanently cure this ill. It alone can bring into the hearts and lives of men the spirit of the new chivalry and a true appreciation of the beauty of unsullied womanhood.

COUNTRY LIFE

Attention has been called so persistently of late years to the needs of the rural districts that all have become familiar with the conditions. Whereas in 1790 four per cent of the population of our country was urban and ninety-six per cent rural, at present about forty-seven per cent is urban and fifty-three per cent rural. The change from country to city has resulted in a serious impoverishment of the rural districts. However, the schools, the state authorities, churches, health boards and other social agencies are co-operating to improve conditions in the country. To do its part the country church must become more efficient. At present it is weak, and in a large number of fields almost a total failure. In a survey of 2000 churches, conducted under the direction of Warren H. Wilson, it was shown that forty-five per cent were losing, twenty-three per cent were standing still and only thirtytwo per cent were making any growth at all. Basing our estimate on this study and the facts that have been secured from other sources, it is safe to say that not more than one-third of the rural churches are in a healthful growing condition.

We have thought of our Congregational churches as being largely in the cities, but an estimate based on a rather careful study of the Year Book shows that nearly sixty per cent of all our Congregational churches are in villages and towns and many of them in the open country. Therefore, if we as a denomination are to do our part in the work of rural reconstruction that is now going on we must know the facts and co-operate in the programs that are being adopted.

Some of the factors that conspire to make the rural church weak are the inevitable isolation in the open country and depletion in the population of thousands of villages and

towns, not merely counting the loss in population, but the impoverishment of life of those who are forced to remain. Then there is the economic side of the question: poor methods of farming, the reckless disregard of the laws of conservation as applied to the soil, and the pressing problems presented by the growing tenantry class. The propertyless farmer is on the increase. And at present in many sections of our country the people are suffering from the same form of landlordism which has long cursed older countries. These tenant farmers are hard to reach by the church and social agencies of the community. The report of the committee that made a survey of neglected fields for the Home Missions Council shows that the average church membership is much lower in the rural districts where the majority of the people are farm tenants than in other parts of the country. The natural uncertainties and risks of farmers cause them to grow despondent. The hardships of poverty bear heaviest upon the farmer's wife. The tenant farmers' homes for the most part are poor, miserable affairs, and with the bad economic, sanitary and social conditions, there is developing a settled and well defined feeling of protest. We cannot go far in any program of reconstruction in rural life without studying the forces which are causing a concentration of wealth in the form of land ownership.

There must be a more just relationship between landlord and tenant. The tenantry class in the rural district has been compared to the casual workers of our cities. The accuracy of this comparison calls for a study and an analysis of the land question in its relation to labor and wages. This leads to the greater and more fundamental demand that there should be a more comprehensive constructive land policy decided upon nationally and made operative in every state, county and community in the United States.

Another failure of the country church is found in the lack of efficient leadership together with wasteful sectarian competition. The Home Missions Council's report shows that in hundreds of fields there are from three to five churches having services once a month, but having no

resident minister. It is well known that churches suffer greatly from this partial time of ministers. The percentage of churches investigated in Colorado shows 68.8 per cent having pastors in residence; in Oregon only 49 per cent have resident pastors. Another surprising thing brought out in this report is the fact that such a large number of churches in rural districts have no church building. Sectarianism is hard to combat in the country because of the excessive individualism and the lack of co-operation on the part of the country people.

Your Commission is convinced of the fact that in order to meet the crisis through which the country church is passing we must recognize the new situation that is upon us. To meet this situation there must be adopted a program that is broad enough and efficient enough to meet the needs of the hour. The program has been carefully worked out by those who have specialized on the rural problem, and these principles as stated by Henry Israel of the International Young Men's Christian Association can well be made the basis for the church's work. The principles may be briefly given as follows:

A task for every man and a man for every task.

A recognition of the resident forces as the redemptive forces.

The approach to the rural problem a community approach. The recognition of the inherent value of country life in and for itself.

The maximum development of constructive forces in the community life.

Trained leadership for community enterprises.

Deliverance from the enervating paternalism of the city. To stem the tide which sweeps toward the city.

Adequate preparation and appreciation for the problems of the city by those who must leave the environs of country life.

Better health and sanitation in farm homes and country communities.

A redirected educational system which will fit for life in the country.

A more scientific type of crop production and farm administration as essential to greater satisfaction in rural life. A wholesome development of the recreative life. The increased power of the church.

Co-operation rather than competition.

A standardizing of operation. Membership is based upon what is given in service rather than what is secured in privileges. And finally a dominance of Christian ideals in the character of the manhood and boyhood of the country.

For the guidance of the churches your Commission, therefore, recommends that the following program, which in substance was adopted by the Massachusetts Federation of Churches, be adopted as the Country Life Program for our Congregational churches.

I. The Function of the Country Church.

"The country church (and its allies) is to maintain and enlarge both individual and community ideals, under the inspiration and guidance of the religious motive, and to help rural people to incarnate these ideals in personal and family life, in industrial effort and political development, and in all social relationships."

II. A Platform or Policy.

1. In common with all churches the country church should emphasize social service, evangelism, moral reform and missions as vital issues of its policy.

2. The country church should be a sympathetic center for all the legitimate interests of the entire community.

3. The different church organizations of each country community should federate for consolidation somewhere and co-operation everywhere.

4. The country church should make a thorough survey of the community as the basis of its work.

5. The country church should promote or inspire:

(a) The improvement of schools and their consolidation wherever possible.

(b) All movements looking toward better farming. (c) Public recreation through playgrounds.

(d) Public health and better living conditions.

(e) Co-operation with the Grange and other community organizations for plans of progress.

(f) An Old Home Week. Promote active connection with old and former members.

6. Within the community the country church should determine its policies by the needs of the marginal man.

7. The pastors of country churches should receive salaries commensurate with the present prevailing economic conditions.

III. Program for the Local Church.

1. There should be an emphatic and aggressive campaign for temperance, no-license and law enforcement.

2. There should be a business-like financial system which will insure prompt payment of debts and free the church from the incubus of being considered a charity patient in the community.

3. There should be a clear-cut missionary policy for the local church.

4. There should be developed a people's mid-week meeting worth while, led not by the pastor alone, but by representatives of the young people and of the older people.

5. The attempt to develop deeper spiritual life among church members cannot be an end in itself. The only way to save men spiritually is to secure proper spiritual activity. 6. Working together for given aims in the community must precede church federation.

7. Where worship, personal devotion, edifying religious exercises, and missionary endeavor are displaced by pleasures and practices evidently demoralizing, there should be a campaign of evangelism, personal, educational and revivalistic. In the face of special problems a method of ministerial supplementation may be used in securing aid of specialists to treat these conditions, if needed.

8. Develop extension work in outlying homes and district schoolhouses and a more general use of the Sundayschool home department.

9. Develop activities of a social service committee that shall keep the pastor of the church informed, do sick and friendly visiting, and plan for various enterprises that come properly under the head of social work of the church.