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 DIRECTED BY 
 
 The Department of Church and Country Life 
 
 BOARD OF HOME MISSIONS OF THE PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH 
 ' IN THE U S. A. 
 
 Warren H, Wilson, Director 
 lalph A. Fehon, FieU Director 
 
 '.< Fifth Avenue, New York City 
 

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 Presbyterian ' 
 
 U.S.A. Board 
 
 Ohio rural li 
 
 Church in 
 
 of Home 
 fe survey 
 
 the 
 

 President W. O. Thompson 
 
 Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio 
 
 Chairman 
 
 Warren H. Wilson, Director 
 Ralph A. Felton, Field Director 
 
 Contributors 
 Stanley C. Morris 
 Frederick C. Landsittel 
 Clarence A. Neff 
 Daniel S. McCorkle 
 
 Arthur O. Stockbridge, Historian 
 
 PRESBYTERIAN DEPARTMENT OF CHURCH AND 
 COUNTRY LIFE 
 
 156 Fifth Avenue, New York City 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 Chapter I. — Introduction: page 
 
 1. Origin of the Survey and Agencies Concerned 5 
 
 2. Purpose of the Investigation 5 
 
 3. Method of the Study 6 
 
 Chapter II. — The Region Surveyed: 
 
 1 . Area and Omitted Communities 7 
 
 2. Physical Features 7 
 
 Chapter III. — Economic Conditions : 
 
 1. Natural Resources, Importance of Agriculture 8 
 
 2. Soil Depletion 8 
 
 3. Soil Conservation, and the Agricultural Future of the 
 
 District 9 
 
 4. Soil Monopoly 10 
 
 5. Tenantry 11 
 
 6. Marketing 12 
 
 7. The Farmers' Income 13 
 
 8. Summary 15 
 
 Chapter IV. — Social Conditions : 
 
 1. The Depletion of the Rural Population 16 
 
 2. Means of Communication 16 
 
 3. Community Leadership 18 
 
 4. Community Meetings, Informal and Formal 20 
 
 5. Recreation and Morals 22 
 
 Chapter V. — Rural Schools : 
 
 1. Reason for the Study 24 
 
 2. Scope of the Study 24 
 
 3. Material Equipment 24 
 
 4. Enrollment and Attendance 27 
 
 5. School Session 28 
 
 6. The Teaching Force 29 
 
 7. What One Teacher Has Done 30 
 
 8. The School as a Community Center 32 
 
 9. Summary, Need for Supervision 32 
 
 Chapter VI. — Religious Conditions and Activities: 
 
 1. Number and Distribution of Church Organizations 34 
 
 2. Church Membership and Population 34 
 
 3. Status of the Churches 35 
 
 4. Causes of Rural Church Decline 36 
 
 5. Sectarianism 42 
 
 6. Material Equipment of the Churches 46 
 
 7. Classification of the Church Membership 46 
 
 8. Sunday Schools 47 
 
 9. The Church and Social Life 50 
 
 10. The Minister 53 
 
 Chapter VII. — Conclusion and Recommendations 59 
 
 3 - 
 
MAP OF OHIO. THE COUNTIES SURVEYED ARE INDICATED BY A STAR 
 
CHAPTER I. 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 1. Origin of the Survey, and Agencies Concerned. 
 
 To make rural life in Ohio more satisfying is a task that calls for 
 the earnest endeavor of everyone of her patriotic citizens. The Ohio 
 Rural Life Survey aims to present an unbiased picture of this task. 
 Instigated by leaders in the work of developing the rural sections of 
 the State, the Survey has been carried to completion under the direc- 
 torship of Warren H. Wilson, Ph.D., Superintendent of the Presby- 
 terian Department of Church and Country Life, and under the un- 
 prejudiced supervision of an Advisory Council representing twelve 
 religious denominations and eighteen educational institutions, all at 
 work within the State. A total of twenty-eight counties scattered all 
 over the State were covered by the operations of the investigators, 
 most of their work being done during the summers of 1912 and 1913. 
 This pamphlet deals with the rural situation in six of these counties 
 — Washington, Morgan, Athens, Vinton, Lawrence and Adams — all 
 of which disclose conditions that are fairly representative of those 
 prevailing throughout Southeastern Ohio. Other pamphlets have 
 been published which deal with the rural situation in other sections of 
 the State. 
 
 2. Purpose of the Investigation. 
 
 The problem of rural development is a many-sided one, having its 
 economic, social, moral and educational phases. But, at bottom, the 
 problem is a religious one. As religion is a force to stimulate every 
 phase of life to its highest activity, so the country church, as the in- 
 stitutional embodiment of religion in the rural community, should 
 give the impetus for every movement of rural advance. Are the 
 churches in the villages and open country of Southeastern Ohio doing 
 this effectively? This pamphlet seeks to give an answer. We will 
 deal with such topics as the farmer's income, his recreation, his home, 
 his school, and his church. A correct and careful treatment of all of 
 these subjects is absolutely necessary for the carrying out of our 
 dominant purpose, which is, to give the rural churches of South- 
 eastern Ohio a vision of their task, and to help them in the doing of it. 
 
 5 
 
3. Methods of the Study. 
 
 Before \vc proceed, just a word as to the method followed in the 
 field investigations. The township was made the unit of study, and 
 was called a "community." An investigator would spend about a 
 week in each township or community, asking specified questions of 
 the leaders of its religious, educational, social and political institutions, 
 and making house to house visits in certain sections. The written 
 record of these interviews were made on uniform blanks, and, to- 
 gether with the investigator's personal o])servations; formed the basis 
 for his report upon the conditions existing in the community. For 
 the intensive study of the farmer's income, questions furnished by the 
 United States Department of Agriculture were used. The investi- 
 gators were carefully selected, being either young men of college 
 training or adults of seasoned judgment. 
 
CHAPTER II. 
 THE REGION SURVEYED. 
 
 1. Area, Omitted Communities. 
 
 Southeastern Ohio may be described as consisting of the two tiers 
 of counties bordering on the Ohio River, from Monroe County on 
 the northeast to Adams County on the southwest. Thus defined, the 
 section embraces thirteen counties and has an area of 6,066 square 
 miles. The six counties surveyed comprise 2,920 square miles, or 
 nearly one-half of the total area of the district. All of the com- 
 munities within the six counties were studied with the following ex- 
 ceptions : Marietta City and four rural townships in Washington 
 County, McConnellsville Village and one rural township in Morgan 
 County, the cities of Athens and Nelsonville in Athens County, and 
 Ironton City in Lawrence County. Of these ten omitted communities, 
 five are urban and five rural. The passing over of five rural town- 
 ships, out of a total number in the six counties of 86, is too small an 
 omission to afifect in any way the validity of our general conclusion. 
 
 2. Physical Features. 
 
 As Southeastern Ohio lies within the foot-hills of the Appalachian 
 Mountain System, its topography is predominantly hilly. Its navigable 
 streams are only three in number, the Ohio, Muskingum and Scioto 
 Rivers. The region, however, is well watered by numerous small 
 rivers and creeks. The climate is temperate, there being no great 
 extremes of heat or cold. The rainfall is heavy, thus, on the one 
 hand, afifording an abundance of springs and good drinking water; 
 and, on the other hand, swelling the floods that as often as twice 
 during a decade work considerable damage in the lowlands. 
 
CHAPTER III. 
 ECONOMIC CONDITIONS. 
 
 1. Natural Resources, Importance of Agriculture. 
 
 Most of the hills of Southeastern Ohio are underlaid with coal. 
 Of the six counties covered by this report, Athens, Vinton and Law- 
 rence possess deposits of this mineral in great abundance, Washing- 
 ton and Morgan have a smaller supply, although in these counties 
 the shortage in this respect is perhaps balanced by the presence of an 
 oil and natural gas territory. Adams County is outside the coal 
 region. All of the eastern counties have an abundance of clay suit- 
 able for brick and tile. Water-power is an available resource, al- 
 though at present it is largely neglected. 
 
 Agriculture is to-day the most important industry of the district. 
 Limestone, freestone and clays give a soil of wide diversity, suited to 
 many products. That farming will continue to be the chief occupa- 
 tion of the people is true for those living in Adams, Morgan and 
 Washington counties ; but probably untrue for those dwelling in 
 Athens, Vinton and Lawrence counties, where in the coming years 
 agriculture is likely to be overshadowed by coal mining. 
 
 2. Soil Depletion. 
 
 A marked characteristic of Southeastern Ohio is the decrease dur- 
 ing the last decade in the acreage of improved farm lands. In Wash- 
 ington, Morgan, Athens, Vinton and Lawrence counties, according to 
 the returns of the United States Census, the amount of improved 
 farm lands diminished 7.6^ during the period from 1900 to 1910, a 
 loss for the five counties of one acre in every thirteen of their im- 
 proved lands, or an area of improved land equal to more than one- 
 third that of a single county. Adams County was the only one of the 
 six counties surveyed that during the same period increased its area 
 of improved farm lands. The increase there was 3.1%. 
 
 The gradual withdrawal of arable land from profitable use, and 
 the consequent increase in the acreage of abandoned farm lands, has 
 for its cause the depletion of the soil. The hilly nature of the country 
 gives the opportunity for the washing away of the soil, especially in 
 those places where the surface loam is kept pulverized by constant 
 cultivation. The farms, then, of Southeastern Ohio are becoming less 
 
 8 
 
Decrease in Improv/cd Farm Lands 
 
 1,01130^ acres m iqoo 
 
 935,033 acres in 19 10 
 
 Five counties ir\ 
 
 Southeastern Oh*o 
 
 Ohio1?ura\ L*fe borye^ 
 
 fertile. This process must be stopped, for if allowed to continue, it 
 spells the agricultural ruin of the district, and that means the ruin of 
 the farmer's home, of his school, and of his church. Whoever does 
 not see the religious significance of entering upon a crusade for soil 
 conservation in Southeastern Ohio needs to be spiritually awakened. 
 
 3. Soil Conservation, and the Agricultural Future of the 
 District. 
 
 How can the soil be conserved? It is for the country churches of 
 Southeastern Ohio to inspire their members to seek an answer to this 
 question. We can offer but a few untechnical suggestions. The hill- 
 sides must be saved from constant cultivation, and converted into pas- 
 tures or fruit-growing tracts. But a serious difficulty immediately 
 presents itself. The income from mere pasture-land is not sufficient 
 at present to support the farmer's family. Some way to make the 
 farms yield a livelihood without resorting to cultivated crops must be 
 found, and such a way will be found, for the situation is far from 
 hopeless. What are some of the reasons for encouragement as we 
 look toward the future? 
 
 First. The farmers themselves see clearly that continued cultivation 
 will end in the ruin of their farms. The farmer who makes no effort 
 to reduce the wasting of the soil is an exception. Rotation of crops 
 is practiced almost universally throughout the district. So also is the 
 use of both stable manures and commercial fertilizers. But this care 
 only delays the ruin, it will never prevent it. 
 
Second. Both soil and climate are adapted to animal husbandry, 
 upon which the agricultural future of the six counties unquestionably 
 rests. Most of the farms of the district must sooner or later be con- 
 verted into pasture land. Prime beef cattle, fattened without grain on 
 Morgan County pastures, bring top market prices. Horses and hogs, 
 however, can never be raised on any large scale, owing to the scarcity 
 of grain. 
 
 Third. Milk and other dairy products are sure to be great resources 
 of the near future. As a profitable industry for the farmers of South- 
 eastern Ohio, dairying only waits upon the building of good roads 
 and trolleys, and the consequent opening up of markets. When de- 
 veloped, the industry will make the pastures yield a sufficient income, 
 and thus the present necessity of resorting to cultivated crops will be 
 removed. 
 
 Fourth. The district is very successful in the production of poultry 
 and eggs. The United States Census returns for the six counties 
 show that in the year 1909 poultry and eggs yielded a cash income of 
 more than a million dollars. This acquires significance only when we 
 compare it with the fact that in the same year the sales of all other 
 animals and of dairy products brought a little less than three million 
 dollars on an investment which was fifteen times greater than that 
 represented in the poultry industry. 
 
 Fifth. With intelligent care and available markets, fruit growing 
 will become an important resource. The recent decadence of the in- 
 dustry in Lawrence County was due, not to any non-adaptation in soil 
 or climate, but rather to the inaccessibility of markets. Fruit growl- 
 ing, like dairying, awaits the construction of better means of trans- 
 portation for its development. 
 
 We have given these five reasons to justify our confidence that the 
 farmers of Southeastern Ohio will find ways to make their farms 
 yield a sufficient income without depleting the soil by the constant 
 cultivation of the hillsides. Altogether, the picture is one for the 
 optimist. Our hope is that the country churches of Southeastern 
 Ohio will see the religious significance of the farmer's struggle for 
 an adequate income, and help him in his life-battle. 
 
 4. Soil Monopoly. 
 
 In the six counties included in the purview of this report, half the 
 land is in the hands of one-eighth of the farmers. This means that 
 farms of medium size are comparatively few in number. Such a con- 
 dition is startling, and afifords a sure index to the decay of the 
 
 10 
 
LAND MONOPOLY 
 
 oi tke Farmeri Onn 
 
 5ix Counties m 
 ,5outke4.5teTn Unio 
 
 Ok.oT^ural Liie5 
 
 urve- 
 
 country churches, the decline of country schools, and the wide loss of 
 community spirit. Men with farms of medium size, say from 100 
 to 150 acres, are the chief dependence for the support of churches and 
 schools. When such men are scarce in any locality, the churches and 
 the schools languish. And they are scarce in Southeastern Ohio. Of 
 the 17,963 farms in the six counties surveyed, more than one-third 
 contain less than fifty acres, and as many as two-thirds are under one 
 hundred acres. It can be asserted with confidence that within the 
 six counties one farmer in every four has a farm too small to feed 
 and clothe his family decently, and, of course, has nothing for the 
 church. 
 
 This condition is not helped by the purchase of extensive tracts of 
 land by outside interests for purposes of speculation. In Athens, 
 Vinton, and Lawrence counties the complaint against this practice is 
 loud. Nearly 40,000 acres of Vinton County land is held in this way. 
 With two or three notable exceptions, such purchasers have mani- 
 fested no interest in agriculture, or in the development of the com- 
 munities. By their holding of the land for a rise in price, they dis- 
 courage its purchase by local buyers. On the one hand, they make it 
 very hard for the farmhand or the farmer's boy to become the owner 
 of a farm ; while, on the other hand, they make it comparatively easy 
 for him to become the renter of a farm. 
 
 5. Tenantry. 
 
 Tenantry, however, is not an alarming feature of the economic 
 situation in Southeastern Ohio. Four-fifths (78.5%) of the farms of 
 
 11 
 
the six counties are operated by their owners, thus leaving one farm 
 in every five (20.7%) worked by a tenant. An insignificant number 
 (0.8%) are cared for by hired managers. But here, as elsewhere, 
 tenantry stands in most cases for a process of soil impoverishment and 
 human deterioration. Most of the tenants are forced to occupy the 
 poorest homes and to make use of the most decayed farm buildings. 
 In order to meet the demands of the landlords for rentals, the tenants 
 must turn everything marketable into immediate cash. Very little 
 is given back to the soil for the replenishment of its exhausted 
 strength. A concrete example will depict the result very vividly. 
 Of two adjoining farms in Waterloo Township, Athens County, one, 
 after having been rented for seventeen years, was sold for $15 per 
 acre; the other, after having been operated all these years by its 
 owner, was sold at about the same time for $38 per acre. The low- 
 priced farm had been sapped of its fertility for the sake of rentals. 
 Should the country church allow this form of immorality and sin to 
 go on without at least lifting its voice in protest? 
 
 With these conditions to face, it is not surprising to discover that 
 many tenants are leaving. In all the counties, with the exception of 
 Adams, the proportion of tenantry has declined appreciably (3.3%) 
 during the last decade. Those who leave usually go to some town 
 or city. The tenants who become owners, having bought farms with 
 money made on the land they rented, are extremely few in number. 
 
 Before leaving the subject of tenantry in Southeastern Ohio, spe- 
 cial mention should be made of the pitiable condition existing among 
 those tenants who grow tobacco. The crop, before it is harvested, 
 is mortgaged, in most cases for all it is worth. If there chance to be 
 any profits, the landlords and the local storekeepers pocket them all. 
 Fortunately, tobacco is a crop that has been abandoned save in parts 
 of Lawrence and Adams counties. 
 
 6. Marketing. 
 
 The cities along the Ohio River, especially Pittsburgh, Wheeling 
 and Cincinnati, aflford an excellent market for farm produce. The 
 margin taken by middlemen is slightly larger than in some other dis- 
 tricts of Ohio. As a rule, the farmers keep themselves informed as 
 to the current market prices of livestock; although in a few isolated 
 districts their ignorance causes them oftentimes to become the victim 
 of a "sharp deal" put through by some local trader. 
 
 In the marketing of garden truck special mention must be made of 
 the Marietta Truck Growers' Association, a highly successful co- 
 
 12 
 
operative organization among the growers of garden truck in the 
 Valley of the Muskingum River near Marietta. Formerly, the farm- 
 ers in this section were victimized by local buyers who made out that 
 the markets were continually poor. Finally, one farmer went to 
 Pittsburgh, and watching the sales, telegraphed the prices back to his 
 neighbors each day. The outcome of the surprise created was the 
 forming of the organization just named. The Association has a con- 
 tract with a Pittsburgh commission house for the taking of all pro- 
 duce on a margin of 12^%. A representative of the Association has 
 access at all times to the books of the commission house, and possesses 
 the right to trace any consignment to the men who purchased it. All 
 goods are inspected carefully before shipment and refused unless 
 they come up to the standard of quality indicated by the stamp the 
 individual farmer puts upon them. 
 
 Such an organization as the one we have just described has a 
 profound religious significance. Most of the prosperity existing 
 amoung the country churches of Washington County is to be found 
 in the three townships covered by the operations of this co-operative 
 enterprise. It cannot be denied that the success of the rural church 
 is very closely related to what a farmer gets for his crops. 
 
 7. The Farmers' Income. 
 
 Are the farmers of Southeastern Ohio making enough money to 
 support adequately their churches, schools and community improve- 
 ments ? In order to afiford some basis for an answer to this question, 
 a fanning community in Morgan County was selected, and the yearly 
 income of forty of its families studied. The study was made for the 
 season of 1912, which was favorable for Morgan County crops. We 
 believe that this community is typical of the entire section. The 
 forty families were divided on the basis of the findings of the investi- 
 gation into four groups of ten families each, poor, medium-poor, com- 
 fortable and prosperous. The following table gives the average per 
 family for each group : 
 
CONSTITUTION AND BY-LAWS. 
 MARIETTA TRUCK GROWERS' ASSOCIATION. 
 
 Article I. 
 The Association shall be known as The Marietta Truck Growers' Association. 
 
 Article II. 
 
 The object of this association shall be to promote the interests of the growers 
 in all possible ways. 
 
 Article III. 
 
 The officers of this association shall be a President, two Vice Presidents, a 
 Secretary and an assistant Secretary, Treasurer, and an Executive Committee 
 of three members. The terms of all officers shall be one year and the yearly 
 meeting for the election of the officers shall be on the first Wednesday in Febru- 
 ary of each year. The Executive Committee shall be appointed by the President 
 and confirmed by a two-thirds vote at a called or regular meeting. The duties 
 of the officers shall be such as usually devolve upon the officers and executive 
 Committee of such associations. They shall act as mediators between growers 
 and shippers, and shall interpret the meaning of any terms inserted in the speci- 
 fications or rules for packing any fruits or vegetables or other regulations which 
 may be adopted. They shall pass upon and allow all bills or claims against the 
 association before the same shall be paid, and may authorize the expenditure of 
 any funds which may be in the treasury for such expenses as they may consider 
 necessary. Amendments may be made at any meeting by a two-thirds vote of 
 those present, due notice of said meeting having been given to all members. 
 
 Article IV. 
 The membership in this association shall be limited to growers who market 
 their produce through Marietta. The annual membership fee shall be One 
 ($1.00) Dollar, payable at the annual meeting. All members shall sign the copy 
 of the constitution and by-laws in the hands of the Secretary ; and agree to 
 abide by the rules and regulations of the association, in regard to packages, 
 packing, identification marks and other rulings. Failure to comply with such 
 regulations will render members liable to suspension from the association, by a 
 majority of votes of the officers and executive committee sitting as a body; and 
 such dismissal forfeits all right to use the name or stamp of the association. 
 Any members having been dismissed can be admitted again only by a two-thirds 
 vote at any called or regular meeting of the association. 
 
 BY-LAWS 
 Packages shall be of standard size. 
 
 Tomato baskets should weigh on an average of twenty-five pounds. Tomatoes 
 should be graded in two sizes, designated as Fancy and Choice. Fancy shall be 
 about 2J4 in. and up in diameter, smooth, sound and good form. Choice shall 
 be from IJ/2 up to 2^ in. in diameter, smooth, sound and good form. Fancy 
 tomatoes shall be placed individually in close and regular order ; and shall be 
 faced as smoothly as possible ; not to be thrown in and shaken down. All stems 
 shall be removed and no tomatoes shall be packed until they begin to turn. 
 Cucumbers : Fancy should be of good color, smooth and six inches or above 
 in length. 
 Choice should have good color, exceed in length three inches 
 and no small round nubs shall be put in. 
 Cabbage : Each head solid without regard to size. Shall not be broken or 
 
 crushed. 
 June Pinks, Chalks Edrly Jewell, and other inferior colored varieties shall be 
 packed separately from other standard varieties. Specifications for other kinds 
 of vegetables or other regulations of interest will be adopted from time to time. 
 
 14 
 
8. Summary. 
 
 From our review of the economic situation in the rural sections of 
 Southeastern Ohio, it would appear that the chief evils which its 
 citizens should seek to correct are: Soil depletion through over- 
 cultivation; soil monopoly, which gives to a majority of the farmers 
 an insufficient acreage for the adequate support of their families, and 
 which also increases the wastes of tenantry; poor transportation 
 facilities which shut the door to better markets; and the absence of 
 sufficient mutual trust to bring the farmers together in co-operative 
 associations for buying and selling. To suggest the antidotes for 
 these evils is easy; to remove them is harder. But, the task will be 
 lighter if the country churches of the section see it as a religious task, 
 commanded of God, and hence sure of accomplishment, if men will 
 obey. 
 
 THE HOME OF A PROSPEROUS FARMER 
 
 15 
 
CHAPTER IV. 
 SOCIAL CONDITIONS. 
 
 1. The Depletion of the Rural Population. 
 
 The number of people in the rural districts of Southeastern Ohio 
 is decreasing. According to the figures of the United States Census, 
 the total population in 1910 of the six counties considered was 186,655. 
 Of this number, more than three- fourths (146,513 or 78.59^) are 
 classified as rural, that is, as living in the open country or in villages 
 of less than 2,500 people. Of this rural population, fully five-sixths 
 (121,062 or 65.5% of the total population) live on farms or in 
 hamlets of less than 200 people. In these same country districts there 
 was in 1900 a population of 122,024, or 70.1% of the total popula- 
 tion of the six counties. This comparison reveals a loss for the de- 
 cade from 1900 to 1910 of 4.6%, or 962 persons, from these strictly 
 rural sections. This loss becomes interesting when we compare it 
 with the fact that for the same period the towns and cities of more 
 than 5,000 people show a total gain of 3,912, or 11.6%. The drift 
 is evidently toward the cities. The farms have not been able to stand 
 the competition of the factories and the mines bidding for the wage- 
 earning class. Soil impoverishment and land monopoly have made 
 farming less profitable and hence less attractive to the ambitious. The 
 decrease in the number of farmers will not be checked until these 
 economic evils have been corrected. 
 
 2. Means of Communication. 
 
 The hilly nature of Southeastern Ohio has been an obstacle in the 
 way of good road construction. Consequently, the mileage of im- 
 proved roads in the district surveyed is comparatively small. The 
 Ohio State Highway Department calls any road improved that is made 
 of brick, stone or gravel. According to this definition, thirty-one per 
 cent, of the ninety townships in the six counties do not have a foot 
 of improved road. By grouping the ninety townships into four 
 groups according to the number of improved roads they have, an in- 
 teresting relation between good roads, growing populations and pros- 
 pering churches discloses itself. Where the roads are poorest the 
 population is decreasing; where they are best the population is in- 
 creasing. Where the number of miles of improved roads is greatest, 
 
 16 
 
both the church membership per township and the enrollment per 
 church is greatest. These facts are shown in the following table: 
 
 Miles of 
 
 Improved 
 
 Road 
 
 Change in 
 Population 
 1900-1910 
 
 Church ^ 
 Membership ' 
 per Town- 
 ship 
 
 Twenty-two townships with 
 
 the poorest roads 11.4% dec. 
 
 Twenty three townships 
 
 with poor roads 44 (i^% dec. 
 
 Twenty-two townships with! 
 
 good roads 174 0.02% dec. 
 
 Twenty three townships 
 
 with the best roads 490 6% inc. 
 
 305 
 346 
 375 
 501 
 
 Members 
 
 per 
 Church 
 
 55.9 
 
 56 
 
 63.1 
 
 100.3 
 
 This table is in no wise intended to teach that good roads are the 
 only cause of growing churches and a thriving community. The 
 prosperity and density of population which permits them to be built 
 indicates a community with an income adequate for supporting a 
 church. The roads in time increase the prosperity of the community 
 and for that reason churches thrive and the population is not so apt 
 to decline. 
 
 The section is fairly well supplied with railroads, although the train 
 service is far from being on par with the advertised schedules. In 
 the building of electric car lines, the section is especially backward, 
 there being only thirty-five miles of trolley in all the six counties. 
 
 The Ohio and Muskingum rivers would seem to afiford rather ready 
 avenues of communication, but transportation by steamers is so 
 slow and so undependable that they do not possess the advantages 
 that would at first appear. Even with the locks and dams along the 
 Ohio the traffic is still very irregular. For constancy of traffic the 
 Muskingum is more dependable than the Ohio. For years past the 
 steamboats on the former have been able to run throughout the year, 
 whereas on the latter conditions have been such that boats could not 
 run except for something like a half-year or less. Although the rivers 
 can doubtless be made far more serviceable for purposes of transporta- 
 tion than they are at present, yet we believe that the opening up of 
 markets to the farmers of the district depends largely upon better rail- 
 road service, the extension of trolley lines, and the building of im- 
 proved roads. 
 
 For the sake of completeness in this review of the means of com- 
 munication, mention should be made of the telephone service made 
 use of by a growing number of the farming families. The proportion 
 of farm homes in which telephones are found ranges from thirty per 
 
 17 
 
cent, in Adams County to eighty per cent, in Athens County. Tele- 
 phones are not an unmixed blessing. Being on party lines, they be- 
 come news-distributing agencies for the neighborhood. While, on 
 the one hand they afford many conveniences and facilitate business, 
 they have, on the other hand, practically done away with the old- 
 fashioned all-day visits, which were such a fine expression of the 
 social unity of a neighborhood. 
 
 A ROAD THAT IIKLI'S 
 
 3. Community Leadership. 
 
 In seventy- four out of the ninety comnumities studied, there could 
 not be found any man or institution standing out conspicuously as a 
 directing force. The church rebukes most cases of individual wrong- 
 doing, but because of its lack of a resident minister is seldom effective 
 in leading and assisting in the improvement of the community. In 
 its lack of a resident minister the church Itoses its opportunity for 
 
 18 
 
A ROAD THAT HINDERS 
 
 leadership. The reason why leadership on the part of individuals is 
 so rare is that the ahlest of the farmers are not aware that they need 
 to work together under the guidance of trusted leaders. There is an 
 absence of a common purpose. Each farmer is for himself. "If I 
 were planning to go to market tomorrow with a load of apples," said 
 one farmer, "and any one of my neighbors were to find it out, he 
 would get up before daylight, load his wagon and beat me to town, in 
 order to sell his stuff ahead of me." Middlemen take advantage of 
 this individualism. Within a radius of four miles there was found a 
 variation of sixty cents per barrel in the price of approximately the 
 same kind of apples, marketed at the same place at about the same 
 time. "Now don't tell anyone around here, but I think I got a little 
 more than my neighbors," said the man who got the lowest price. 
 The self-reliant individualism of these farmers, inherited from their 
 pioneer fathers is, under new conditions, the greatest weakness of 
 the sons of the men it once strengthened. 
 
 At present there are some leveling influences at work against the 
 stubborn individualism of these communities. The pressure of un- 
 just comljinations, which control the markets and against which the 
 individual farmer is helpless, is tending to force the farmers to work 
 together. The Marietta Truck Growers' Association is an instance 
 
 19 
 
of a successful organization of farmers for the promotion of their 
 own interests. 
 
 4. Community Meetings, Informal and Formal, 
 
 More intermingling at friendly gatherings would tend to destroy 
 the prevailing mutual distrust and narrow individualism, but as yet 
 no institution in all the district studied is providing suitable places 
 for the informal meetings of the rural people. At present they get 
 together at the railway stations, livery barns, pool rooms, lodge halls, 
 saloons, blacksmith shops, post offices, streets and stores. Neither 
 the school nor the church of any village in the six counties has as yet 
 taken advantage of this opportunity of providing a suitable social 
 place for the farmer's boys and girls, or a rest room for the farmer's 
 wife. 
 
 But not only in providing suitable places for casual and informal 
 meetings, can the churches and schools serve more adequately the 
 rural population of Southeastern Ohio, but also they will meet an 
 urgent need if they provide a larger number of gatherings where all 
 the neighborhood can meet to develop a community spirit. The fol- 
 lowing assemblies were found in rare instances to be so well attended 
 as to be properly called meetings of the community: County Fairs, 
 public school entertainments, Farmers' Institutes, Fourth of July 
 celebrations, camp meetings, Sunday School conventions, Chautauquas, 
 Memorial and Labor Day celebrations, Sunday School, Lodge and 
 Grange picnics,-FIarvest Home celebrations. Old Soldiers' Reunions, 
 funerals, and Home Comings. Picnics are the most popular of all 
 diversions that form an opportunity for informal visiting, and for 
 the meeting of whole families with one another. Before the people 
 will co-operate, they must come to know each other. These com- 
 munity gatherings give the people a chance to become acquainted with 
 one another, and thus give impetus to the spirit of unity and co-oper- 
 ation. 
 
 We desire, in this connection, to commend the Farmers' Gubs, 
 which are doing such a good work in promoting the spirit of unity 
 in some of the more prosperous sections of Washington County. 
 Meeting once a month at the homes of their members, they contribute 
 much to the social life of their respective communities. We believe 
 that they could perform a still larger service by including co-operative 
 buying and selling among their activities, but we would not have 
 them in any way lessen their endeavors along social and educational 
 lines. On the following page we print the constitution and by-laws 
 
 20 
 
CONSTITUTION AND BY-LAWS 
 Of a 
 
 FARMERS' CLUB IN WASHINGTON COUNTY 
 
 Constitution. .; 
 
 Article I. 
 This organization, which is for the mutual improvement of its members, shall 
 be called "The Farmers* Club." 
 
 Article II. 
 
 The members of this club shall consist of farmers of 
 
 township and adjacent townships, with their families, as active members, to- 
 gether with any others as associate members (Associate members not having 
 a vote) who shall be elected by a two-thirds vote at any regular meeting, each 
 of whom shall sitbscribe his name to this Constitution. 
 
 Article III. 
 All persons signing the Constitution this 13 day of August, 1904, and paying 
 their annual dues, shall constitute the original membership. All members who 
 are in arrears for more than one year's dues shall not be qualified members. 
 
 Article IV. 
 
 Each member over 16 years of age shall pay into the treasury 25 cents 
 annually, and such additional sum as the club may see fit to assess not to exceed 
 25 cents. 
 
 Article V. 
 
 This Constitution may be amended by a two-thirds vote of the members 
 present at any regular meeting, notice having been given in writing, at the 
 previous meeting. 
 
 By-Laws. 
 
 Section 1. This Club shall meet at the residence of one of its members 
 on the second Saturday of each month and have a picnic dinner. 
 
 Section 2. The exercises of the Club shall begin at 1 :30 P. M. The hour 
 of serving dinner shall be 12 o'clock noon. 
 
 Section 3. The literary exercises shall consist of recitations, essays, read- 
 ings, criticisms, queries and discussions, which shall be so conducted as to 
 exclude contention. And it shall be the duty of each member to prepare the 
 work assigned them or provide a substitute. 
 
 Section 4. Each member shall be privileged to invite friends to any meeting, 
 and when this privilege is exercised shall provide for their lunch. 
 
 21 
 
of one of these organizations. In glancing through the 1912 Year 
 Book of this club, we note the following as some of the subjects dis- 
 cussed at its meetings: "Doctoring an Old Orchard", "Parcels Post", 
 "Qualities of Shorthorn Cattle", "Potato Culture", "The Country 
 School", "Music in the Home", "The Advantages of the Cream Sep- 
 arator", "Feeding Cattle Economically." The mutual helpfulness ex- 
 pressed in such an organization cannot help but do good to its com- 
 munity. There are at least four such clubs in the county. Each 
 country church would do well to inquire into the desirability of having 
 a club of similar character as one of its regular organizations. 
 
 5. Recreation and Morals. 
 
 The problem of recreation is one of difficulty in villages, and of 
 extreme difficulty in the country communities. Many district schools 
 do not have an attendance large enough for organized play of any 
 sort. Baseball is the most popular game, yet few regular baseball 
 teams are maintained. For instance, in all Morgan County, only two 
 teams are kept going with other than a very tentative organization. 
 In this same county there is no gymnasium or public play ground, 
 and it may be said that there is no investment whatever in any play 
 apparatus. As a result, the country boys seek their recreation in the 
 towns. Conditions of this sort prevail throughout the six counties. 
 In consequence of the neglect on the part of the churches and schools 
 to provide wholesome recreation, it generally falls into the hands of 
 irresponsible interests and becomes degenerate. The cheap and im- 
 
 TllE HOME OF A POOR FARMER 
 
 22 
 
moral show, furnished by commercial agencies, filches the nickels from 
 the country boys and girls. The motion picture shows are too fre- 
 quently immoral in their appeal, although it should be said that in a 
 growing number of cases the\- are in the hands of men who allow 
 only high grade films, and that the moral tone of the average moving 
 picture show is generally good. In West Union, Adams County, the 
 business men furnish free motion picture shows on Saturday after- 
 noons and evenings for the country people. 
 
 Washington and Athens are the only counties of the six that have 
 licensed saloons. But in neither of these counties can the presence 
 of the saloon be charged to the people of the farming communities, 
 who, for the most part, returned decided majorities against them in 
 the recent I^ocal Option elections. This is a reason for viewing the 
 temperance situation in the district in an encouraging light. 
 
 The moral conditions in any community have as one index the 
 relation between the sexes, especially those prevailing between young 
 men and young women. The church has a special duty here. It 
 should seek to throw around young people during the mating period 
 those wholesome religious influences that make for self-control and 
 moral character. At present the young people meet for their courting 
 under more or less unregulated conditions, such as prevail at public 
 dances and on long and late buggy rides. Country girls find great 
 embarrassment and monotony in entertaining their men friends in a 
 parlor. The buggy ride and the dance hall are usually the only 
 alternatives. If these places of meeting and forming friendships are 
 considered unwholesome, then let the church provide healthy oppor- 
 tunities for the young men to meet and get acquainted with their 
 future wives. The pastor should not dissolve the young people's 
 society because it turns out to be "nothing but a courting institution", 
 but instead should give to this most sacred of its functions wise 
 religious direction. The ministers throughout the section preach 
 against dancing, but it does very little good because it is not always 
 accompanied by the provision of a more wholesome form of social 
 enjoyment. 
 
 23 
 
CHAPTER V. 
 RURAL SCHOOLS. 
 
 1. Reason for the Study. 
 
 The ultimate purpose of the country school and the country church 
 in their work for the young is one and the same. They are both 
 seeking to equip the boys and girls for efficient and useful living in 
 a rural society. But in their common task, there is a differentiation 
 in function. The country school seeks to supply the youth with the 
 intellectual tools for successful social intercourse, whereas the country 
 church aims to give the growing boys and girls that religious dynamic 
 which will impel them to use these tools for the glory of God, and 
 for the highest welfare of the rural community. These two functions 
 are closely related to one another. Neither institution can afford to 
 be indifferent to the welfare of the other. This fact is the justification 
 for the inclusion of a study of the rural schools of Southeastern Ohio 
 in this report. The country churches of the district have a right to 
 know whether or not the country schools are adequately performing 
 their part of the common task. This part of our pamphlet seeks to 
 supply them with an answer to this inquiry. 
 
 2. Scope of the Study. 
 
 Unless otherwise indicated, whatever is here said about educational 
 conditions in Southeastern Ohio, is based upon an investigation made 
 during the summer of 1912 of 548 rural schools, distributed as fol- 
 lows: Adams County, 119; Athens, 88; Lawrence, 117; Vinton, 74; 
 and Washington, 150. The schools of Morgan County have not been 
 included in this report because they were studied in co-operation with 
 the Ohio State School Survey Commission and have been reported 
 upon by that organization. 
 
 3. Material Equipment. 
 
 In point of material equipment, the rural schools of the five counties 
 are as a rule sadly behind the times. Inadequacy appears almost 
 everywhere. Of the 548 school buildings investigated, 526 (96%) 
 are of frame, 18 of brick, 2 of concrete, and 2 of logs. Those having 
 one room only number 475 ; two rooms, 45 ; three rooms, 3 ; four 
 rooms, 15; five rooms, 2; and six or more rooms, 8. Of course, no 
 
 24 
 
one has any complaint against frame and one-room school buildings 
 in those places where the conditions would seem to demand their con- 
 struction ; but what every patron of the schools has a right to demand 
 is that the school building, of whatever material or of whatever size, 
 shall be so constructed and so equipped as to minister most largely to 
 the physical health and the intellectual growth of the scholars. But 
 this is not the case with most of the rural school buildings throughout 
 Southeastern Ohio. 
 
 For instance, all the one-room school buildings have windows on 
 both sides, a most unhealthy arrangement, since the location of win- 
 dows on two opposite sides of the school room causes "cross lights" 
 to work their damage upon the eyes of the scholars and teacher. The 
 school room should be lighted from the left side or rear, or both, but 
 never from the two opposite sides. 
 
 Again, the one-room buildings are each heated by a single un- 
 jacketed stove, a heating apparatus that succeeds in roasting those 
 who have to, sit near it and in freezing those who are obliged to sit 
 far away from it. 
 
 Again, let us take as an example of inadequate equipment the seating 
 facilities offered by the rural schools. To be sure, they are ample 
 enough, except in a few places; but their quality is poor. The old- 
 fashioned double desks are found in 78% of the school rooms, the 
 remaining 22% being furnished with the more modern single desks. 
 But in only 15% of the school rooms were any adjustable desks found. 
 In only 59 of the schools was there a cloak room separate from the 
 class room. 
 
 The equipment for instruction has been sorely neglected. Wall 
 maps were found in only 38% of the schools, and a smaller number, 
 only 32%, had charts of any kind. Libraries of varying sizes were 
 found in seventy-nine schools. Twenty-one of the schools had either 
 an organ or a piano, but it is an interesting note upon the barrenness 
 of the rural schools to observe that only five of these twenty-one 
 schools were situated in the open country. 
 
 Little provision is made for the development of the children's sense 
 of beauty. Li less than half of the school rooms are there decora- 
 tions of any sort. Most of these are unframed pictures, some of 
 which are advertisements. 
 
 But if the interior of the average country school in Southeastern 
 Ohio is unattractive, its exterior is even farther from the ideal. An 
 ugly school building surrounded by ill-kempt grounds is not only an 
 eye-sore but also a direct means of lowering the moral tone of the 
 
 25 
 
AN UNTIDY SCHOOL YARD 
 
 community. The school property ought to be constantly and silently 
 teaching high ideals of beauty, neatness, and carefulness to the entire 
 neighborhood. But in most places in Southeastern Ohio the severely 
 plain, or even shabby school room, is matched with grounds that 
 receive little attention. Of all the school properties investigated, only 
 8% had good walks, and most of the schools in the open country had 
 no walks at all. Flower beds were found in only 2% of the school- 
 yards, although trees lent their grace and their shade to the grounds 
 of 64% of the schools. In most instances, the grounds are trodden 
 out of all beauty by the children at their play. We would not stop 
 the playing, but would urge the setting aside of a distinct place on 
 the school property where the games could be played. The ground 
 in close proximity to the school building could then be made beautiful 
 without fear of molestation. The provision of such a playground 
 in connection with most of the rural schools would perhaps necessitate 
 the allotment of a larger amount of land to each school. Three-fifths 
 of an acre is the average amount assigned at present throughout the 
 section surveyed. 
 
 Wells supply the water for the children in 86% of the schools : 
 15% use the water from cisterns, filtering it in most cases; 7% get 
 water from nearby springs ; and 2% carry it from creeks. 
 
 The toilets are for the most part placed at a respectable distance 
 from the school building, although only a third of them can in any 
 wise be called sanitary. Many are not even decently closed. 
 
 26 
 
4. Enrollment and Attendance. 
 
 Every year an enumeration is made in each township of all persons 
 of school age, that is, of all who are between the ages of 6 and 21 
 years. Those between the ages of 16 and 21 are not required to 
 attend school, and of course many avail themselves of this liberty 
 allowed by the law. On the other hand, some of the pupils enrolled 
 in the schools are under 6 years. Not being able to make the proper 
 allowance for these two groups, we cannot tell exactly what propor- 
 tion of the children who should be in school are actually enrolled. 
 The relation, however, between the enrollment and the average attend- 
 ance affords a very satisfactory index of the efficiency of the schools. 
 For the five counties covered by this section of our report, this rela- 
 tion is given in the following table : 
 
 County 
 
 Average 
 Enrollment 
 
 Average 
 Attendance 
 
 % of Average At- 
 tendance to Aver- 
 age Enrollment 
 
 Adams 
 
 29 
 
 25 
 28 
 24 
 24 
 
 19 
 13 
 18 
 15 
 17 
 
 16 
 
 66 
 
 Athens 
 
 52 
 
 Lawrence 
 
 64 
 
 Vinton 
 
 63 
 
 Washington 
 
 71 
 
 All Five Counties.. 
 
 26 
 
 61.5 
 
 The rather low percentage of attendance to enrollment (61.5%) 
 shows that many pupils are lax in attendance. According to the 
 testimonies of teachers interviewed, a considerable number of boys 
 and girls of school age do not attend at all. Some families send their 
 children for a few days at the beginning of the term, and then let 
 them drop out. Our investigators found one school which enrolled 
 only three pupils during the winter of 1911-12. That there were 
 other children of school age in this district is revealed by the fact 
 that the children of at least three families living within its bounds 
 did not attend at all. In another school the attendance for several 
 days was one. The pupils did not come because of a "fall-out" with 
 the teacher. A more extreme condition was found in a certain place 
 in Athens County where the teacher "kept school" for twenty-seven 
 consecutive days without a single pupil in attendance. In one town- 
 ship in Adams County the attendance was less than 53% of the total 
 number of children between the ages of 6 and 16 years. From our 
 review of the situation, then, it would appear that the rural schools, 
 as judged by the relation between their enrollment and attendance, 
 are not as efficient as their loyal patrons would like to see them. 
 
 27 
 
5. School Session. 
 
 If there is a laxity in attendance upon school, one reason may be 
 that the curriculum is not adapted to the lives of the pupils, or if 
 adapted, then inadequately taught. Is this one of the causes operative 
 in Southeastern Ohio? For our answer, let us take a glimpse at the 
 rural schools in session. 
 
 We find, in the first place, that the traditional country school cur- 
 riculum still holds sway, with the addition of the study of agriculture, 
 required by state law. This latter subject is taught almost entirely 
 from books, there being very little field or experimental work done. 
 Out of 463 schools reporting, 6 included Domestic Science in the cur- 
 riculum, 4 Manual Training, 57 Music, and 76 Drawing. The small 
 proportion of schools giving some attention to these subjects is a very 
 evident fact. One cannot escape the conclusion that the course of 
 study in most of the rural schools is designed only to prepare the 
 pupils for high-school and college^ and not necessarily for life in the 
 community. 
 
 In the second place, we find that although the session is of proper 
 length, being eight months in most cases, the average number of reci- 
 tations per day is far too many for efficient teaching. The following 
 table gives the number of recitations per day in 387 schools reporting: 
 
 No. Recitations 
 
 No. 
 
 Schools 
 
 1 to 9 
 
 
 5 
 
 10 to 14 
 
 
 14 
 
 15 to 19 
 
 
 38 
 
 20 to 24 
 
 
 63 
 
 25 to 29 
 
 
 140 
 
 30 or more 
 
 
 127 
 
 The table shows that the larger proportion of the schools have from 
 25 to 30 recitations per day. This means that only about twelve min- 
 utes can be devoted to each recitation. This overcrowded condition 
 results from the large number of grades that in the one-room schools 
 are placed under the control of one teacher. The only remedy for this 
 condition lies in some plan of township centralization whereby the 
 children in one, two, or three grades can be placed economically under 
 the instruction of one teacher. 
 
 We find, in the third place, that in the work of most of the rural 
 schools there is very little recognition of the immense educational 
 value of play. Less than 3% of the schools have any play apparatus 
 or recreation facilities. The teachers usually play with the pupils at 
 recess, and thus some direction is given to this part of their activities. 
 
 28 
 
NEED FOR CONSOLIDATION 
 
 
 Five Counties tn rw X> \\i. *< ^ 
 
 6. The Teaching Force. 
 
 Of the 612 teachers employed in the schools studied by our investi- 
 gators, 269 were men, and 343 women. The training of 393 was 
 ascertained. Of these : 
 
 120 Teachers have had only common school training. 
 46 Teachers have had some summer school work in addition to com- 
 mon school. 
 67 Teachers have had nothing in advance of high school. 
 4 Teachers have had a correspondence course in addition to high 
 school. 
 95 Teachers have had normal training in addition to high school. 
 44 Teachers have had summer school training in addition either to 
 
 high school or to high school and normal training. 
 17 Teachers have attended college. 
 
 It is gratifying to note that 58% of the 612 teachers have received 
 at least a high school training. 
 
 A state law requires that a minimum of $40 a month be paid to 
 school teachers. Out of 400 teachers reporting, as many as 332 
 (83%) received for the year 1911-12 nothing more than this minimum 
 wage. In one county where 55 reported, only 4 teachers received 
 more than the $40; in another where 108 reported, only 7 received 
 more. But none of these 11 fortunate ones taught in the open country. 
 
 29 
 
The salaries paid to the 400 teachers are as follows : 
 
 $40—44 paid to 332 teachers. 
 
 45 — 49 paid to 11 teachers. 
 
 50 — 54 paid to 24 teachers. 
 
 55 — 59 paid to 8 teachers. 
 
 60 — 64 paid to 4 teachers. 
 
 65 — 69 paid to 3 teachers. 
 
 70 — 74 paid to 2 teachers. 
 
 75 — 79 paid to 2 teachers. 
 
 80 — 84 paid to 1 teacher. 
 
 85 — 89 paid to 4 teachers. 
 
 90 — 94 paid to 4 teachers. 
 
 95 — 99 paid to 1 teacher. 
 
 100 — or more paid to 4 teachers. 
 
 7. What one Teacher Has Done. 
 
 We can make no better comment on what we mean by an efficient 
 country school teacher than by telling the following true story about 
 one of them : 
 
 When he went to teach in one of the schools of Adams County 
 eight years ago, the weather-boarding had been kicked off up as high 
 as he could reach. Twenty-two window panes were broken. Every- 
 thing was dirty. Tramps had used the building as a place for roasting 
 corn and sleeping. He refused to teach until the building was put 
 into shape. The Board furnished materials, and donating three days 
 of his time, he made the proper repairs. He then taught this school 
 for three years and had no trouble in keeping the property from being 
 defaced or damaged. In his present school the walls are decorated 
 with pictures of high artistic value, and there are maps and charts, 
 some of which he furnished himself. The National flag waves from 
 the flagstaff or hangs on the wall during the whole school term. The 
 library contains one hundred and thirty volumes, all procured through 
 the influence of the teacher. 
 
 He is teaching his pupils the mixing of fertilizers and their value. 
 He has them hunt up the old fertilizer sacks and find the proportion 
 of phosphates and other elements in the composition. The class in 
 agriculture was especially interested in the germination of seeds. All 
 the pupils have taken a great interest in the breeding of different kinds 
 of dairy cattle, their parents being engaged to a considerable extent 
 in dairying. 
 
 30 
 
On last Arbor Day an agricultural display was held in the school 
 with the following exhibits : 50 agricultural bulletins ; 8 agricultural 
 papers taken in the district ; pictures of fruits and grains taken from 
 garden seed catalogues; 50 drawings by the children of farm animals, 
 seeds and fruits; more than 50 kinds of farm and garden seeds in 
 bottles ; a Babcock milk tester ; a seed tester with, germinating seeds ; 
 a collection of different kinds of soil, with litmus paper tests; a 
 collection of seed-corn ears brought in by the children; a drinking 
 fountain for small chickens, made by one of the boys; 36 flags and 
 some good pictures hung on the walls. 
 
 The teacher was planning an exhibition of various woods and a 
 demonstration of their use for the pupils and parents, and expected 
 to send to dift"erent parts of the United States for samples. 
 
 As to his preparation, he has had a course of 4 terms (10 weeks 
 each) at a normal college and has had 12 years of teaching experience. 
 He is besides a practical farmer. Although he has never studied agri- 
 culture, he has attended Farmers' Institutes and reads the best agri- 
 cultural papers and bulletins that he can get. Besides newspapers and 
 popular magazines, he takes five farm papers and four periodicals. 
 He tries to keep up with the most modern methods of education. 
 More young people have taken up teaching from the schools he has 
 taught than from any others. 
 
 1 
 
 ■i '^^* ' , '*^B ^m 
 
 AN IMPROVED SCHOOL BUILDING WITH WELL KEPT 
 GROUNDS 
 
 31 
 
8. The School as a Community Center. 
 
 The school building, as the property of the entire community, can 
 very properly be made the center of social joys and intellectual delights 
 for all the families within its district. But in Southeastern Ohio this 
 possibility has but very rarely been turned into actual fact. Of the 
 548 school buildings, studied as a basis for this report, 438 or 80% 
 of them are used for nothing except the ordinary school purposes. 
 And of the remaining 20%, only a very few can be called community- 
 centers. The following list gives an idea of the other purposes for 
 which this 20% of the school houses are used : 
 
 2>7 are used for Sunday School. 
 27 are used for preaching services. 
 
 7 are used for elections. 
 
 6 are used for Literary, Debating Societies and Reading Circles. 
 
 5 are used for temperance rallies. 
 
 5 are used for political meetings. 
 
 5 are used for School Board meetings. 
 
 4 are used for traveling shows. 
 
 2 are used for Fruit Growers' Association. 
 
 2 are used for Grange. 
 
 2 are used for meetings of Telephone Company. 
 
 2 are used for revivals. 
 
 2 are used for socials. 
 
 2 are used for Teachers' meetings. 
 
 1 is used for band practice. 
 
 1 is used for Farmers' Club. 
 
 1 is used for Lodge meetings. 
 
 Occasional opportunities for social enjoyment are ofifered by the 
 musical and literary entertainments which are given about once or 
 twice a year by 55% of the schools. The attendance at these enter- 
 tainments is usually good, showing that the people are appreciative 
 of such eflforts. 
 
 9. Summary, Need for Supervision. 
 
 All of the shortcomings of the rural schools in Southeastern Ohio 
 — inadequate material equipment, laxity in attendance, a curriculum 
 unadapted to country life, insufficient time for satisfactory instruction, 
 lack of provision for recreation, incomplete preparation of teachers — 
 all of these call loudly for a closer supervision over the schools. Town- 
 ship supervision has been found to be beneficial to the schools in 
 
 32 
 
almost every place where it has been tried. One township in Adams 
 County, having both a superintendent and a truant officer, shows for 
 the year 1911-12 an average daily attendance of 72% of the children 
 between the ages of 6 and 16 years. But only 8 out of the 76 townships 
 in the 5 counties, according to the Ohio School Report for 1912, have 
 township superintendents. 
 
 As we write this report, word reaches us that the Ohio School 
 Survey Commission has recommended the establishment in each county 
 of the State of a board of education which will district the county 
 for supervision purposes, and also elect a county superintendent who 
 will nominate district superintendents for the various supervision dis- 
 tricts, subject to confirmation by the local boards of education in these 
 same districts. We also learn that a bill incorporating these recom- 
 mendations of the Commission has been introduced into the State 
 legislature. Without in the least attempting to pass judgment upon 
 the details of this measure, we may be allowed to remark that in our 
 opinion it represents a movement that is headed in the right direction. 
 
 33 
 
CHAPTER VI. 
 RELIGIOUS CONDITIONS AND ACTIVITIES. 
 1, Number and Distribution of Church Organizations. 
 
 Churches were in ahiiost every case the first community l)uildings 
 to be erected in Southeastern Ohio. With very few exceptions they 
 are spoken of respectfully, almost reverently, even in those com- 
 munities which have ceased to support them. This report undertakes 
 to set forth some of the important facts concerning the churches of 
 the six counties which are located in the open country or in villages 
 of less than 2,500 people. 
 
 In the district surveyed, 520 churches were found. (Jf these, 143 
 (28% ) are in villages and VJ7 (72%) are in the open country. They 
 are distributed among the counties as follows : 
 
 Number o£ Churches. 
 
 County 
 
 Adams 
 
 Athens 
 
 Lawrence .. , 
 Morgan . . . . 
 
 Vinton 
 
 Washington 
 
 Total .... 
 
 Village 
 
 Country 
 
 50 
 
 Total 
 
 31 
 
 81 
 
 32 
 
 65 
 
 97 
 
 25 
 
 61 
 
 86 
 
 6 
 
 70 
 
 76 
 
 22 
 
 51 
 
 73 
 
 27 
 
 80 
 
 107 
 
 143 
 
 yn 
 
 520 
 
 2. Church Membership and Population. 
 
 The total membership of these churches is 33,2v30, or 22.4% of 
 the population of the townships surveyed. The following table com- 
 pares the population and the membership of each county: 
 
 County 
 
 Adams 
 
 Athens 
 
 Lawrence . . 
 
 Morgan 
 
 Vinton 
 
 Washington. 
 
 Total .... 
 
 Population of Town- 
 ships Surveyed 
 
 24,755 
 33,726 
 26,341 
 13,457 
 13,096 
 27,926 
 
 Church Members % of Population 
 
 139,301 
 
 6,000 
 4,431 
 6,182 
 4,937 
 3,489 
 6,791 
 
 31,830 
 
 24.2% 
 13.1% 
 26.5% 
 36.7% 
 26.6% 
 24.3% 
 
 22.8% 
 
 It will be seen that Athens County falls more than 11% below any 
 of its neighbors in its ])roportion of church nienil)crs. Morgan County 
 on the other hand, is 10% above any of the rest. The difference in 
 Athens County must be interpreted by the fact that a large number 
 of coal miners live in its country villages. These people are chiefly 
 
 34 
 
foreigners, and the church has thus far failed to present its appeal 
 in a way to win them. 
 
 In Morgan County, the good showing as to church membership 
 seems to be based upon a greater evenness in the distribution of 
 property. There are very few large farms, and in proportion to fer- 
 tility, fewer small farms than in any of the other counties. In conse- 
 quence democratic traditions have survived, and people feel them- 
 selves on terms of social equality with one another, and hence meet 
 together more freely in the church services. 
 
 3. Status of the Churches. 
 
 Considering the churches of the six counties together, 27.8% show 
 an increase in membership in the past ten years, 14.9% are standing 
 still and 57.3% are losing ground. The following table compares the 
 counties in this respect and shows how the country churches have lost 
 especially : 
 
 
 % 
 
 Growing 
 
 % Standing 
 
 Still 
 
 % Losing Ground 
 
 County 
 
 Village 
 
 42.8 
 
 Country 
 
 21.0 
 
 Comb'd 
 
 28.8 
 
 Village 
 
 28.6 
 
 Country 
 
 15.8 
 
 Comb'd 
 
 20.3 
 
 Village 
 
 28.6 
 
 Country 
 
 63.2 
 
 Comb'd 
 
 Adams .... 
 
 50.9 
 
 Athens 
 
 30.0 
 
 24.5 
 
 26.7 
 
 26.7 
 
 13.3 
 
 18.7 
 
 43.3 
 
 62.2 
 
 54.6 
 
 Lawrence . . 
 
 30.0 
 
 38.9 
 
 35.4 
 
 
 
 16.7 
 
 12.5 
 
 70.0 
 
 44.4 
 
 52.1 
 
 Morgan .... 
 
 58.3 
 
 26.1 
 
 32.5 
 
 8.3 
 
 8.7 
 
 9.1 
 
 33.3 
 
 65.2 
 
 58.4 
 
 Vinton 
 
 18.2 
 
 20.0 
 
 19.7 
 
 41.8 
 
 10.0 
 
 18.0 
 
 50.0 
 
 70.0 
 
 62.3 
 
 Washington. 
 
 37.5 
 
 15.4 
 
 20.6 
 
 25.0 
 23.2 
 
 23.1 
 
 23.5 
 14.9 
 
 37.5 
 
 61.5 
 
 55.9 
 
 Total .... 
 
 34.2 
 
 25.2 
 
 27.8 
 
 11.3 
 
 42.4 
 
 63.5 
 
 57.3 
 
 Hural Lhurch JJeclme in OoutlieasWn Ohio 
 
 Of /f 3 N/ilUge 
 Ch lurches 
 
 fefc% 
 
 we 
 
 SiK Counties 
 
 Of 3TT Coontry 
 Chu(-ches 
 
 not G 
 
 35 
 
 15% 
 
 rowinO 
 
 OKio nor^l Life Swrve*| 
 
The alarming fact that three-fourths (74.8%) of the country 
 churches in the six counties surveyed are either standing still or losing 
 ground, is one of sufficient magnitude to cause every Christian in 
 Southeastern Ohio to stop and think. What are the causes of this 
 arrest and decline? 
 
 4. Causes of Rural Church Decline. 
 
 (a) A decreasing rural population. Is it due to the decrease in 
 the rural population of this section of the state? Such an explanation 
 sounds plausible, and is partly true. But it does not adequately ac- 
 count for the decline of such a large proportion of the churches, be- 
 cause, as a matter of fact, this decline has been more rapid than the 
 decrease in the rural population. The six counties have lost during 
 the last ten years 2.5 %> of their population, but of their church mem- 
 bers they have lost 12%. These losses have been very unevenly dis- 
 tributed, as the following table will show : 
 
 County 
 
 Increase or 
 Detrease in Population 
 
 Increase or Decrease in Church 
 
 Membership in Past 10 Years 
 
 Adarhs 
 
 Athens 
 
 Lawrence 
 
 Morgan 
 
 Vinton 
 
 Washington 
 
 Total 
 
 6.0% Decrease 
 20.1% Increase 
 
 4.8% Decrease 
 11.3% Decrease 
 14.6% Decrease 
 
 6.9% Decrease 
 
 2.5% Decrease 
 
 10.8% Decrease 
 
 17.8% Decrease 
 
 6.1% Decrease 
 
 7.0% Decrease 
 
 26.8% Decrease 
 
 4.8% Decrease 
 
 12.0% Decrease 
 
 The large increase in population in Athens County has been due to 
 foreign immigrants who have come to work in the mines. The de- 
 crease in church membership is largely caused by the removal of old 
 American families. The churches of the county seem to be failing to 
 adapt themselves to the needs of the new situation. Leaving Athens 
 County out of our reckoning, owing to its peculiar conditions, we find 
 that the other five counties combined show a decrease in population 
 of 7.6%, but in church membership a decrease of 9.5%. In one town- 
 ship in Adams County the population has decreased 22.2%, while the 
 church membership has decreased 47.1% in ten years. We must admit 
 that the decrease in rural population, though it has been a very potent 
 factor in the decline of the country churches, does not completely 
 explain it. Some other factors must be included in our explanation. 
 
 (&) An absentee ministry. Is it due to the absence of efficient 
 leadership ? Very largely so. That the success of any church depends 
 to a considerable degree upon the ability of its pastor is a truism. 
 
 36 
 
Changes m Popuktion'^V Church ITIembership 
 
 (».07. 
 I0.Z7. 
 
 20 17, 
 
 n.n 
 
 Athens Co 
 
 UoLwrente Co 
 
 1300 - 1310 
 
 AoLarns Co 
 
 
 W%MM^y 
 
 
 
 
 TDor^an Co 
 
 
 II 2t 
 
 ^^^^^^^ 
 
 WMM 
 
 lot 
 
 
 
 
 Ymton Co 
 
 
 
 
 lHot 
 
 ■mmm. 
 
 'WMi!& 
 
 'MMM. 
 
 
 I'o.if. 
 
 
 Waslnin^to-n Co 
 
 6fci 
 
 ^ if. 
 
 m 
 
 I»«-I«»>« 11 
 
 5ix Counties in 
 SoutKeisterTi Ohio 
 
 cn 
 
 "Dctre tse "v 
 
 Ohio KuTdl LiicSuTVCY 
 
 But even an able minister, if he does not live within his parish, can- 
 not give to his church adequate direction. Churches do not thrive on 
 absent treatment. Therefore, when we say, on the basis of our investi- 
 gation, that 61% of the churches in the villages and open country of 
 the six counties surveyed have non-resident ministers, we have a sure 
 clue to their decline. At the time the survey was made, 21% of the 
 churches were without a pastor, leaving only 18% that were being 
 served by resident ministers. And yet, of this 18% having a resident 
 
 37 
 
ministry. 47% were growing, while of the 61% having a non-resident 
 ministry only 25% were growing. Of the 21% without ministers, 
 20% were growing. These results show that inadequate leadership, 
 due to non-resident pastorates, is the cause of much of the decline 
 in the rural churches. 
 
 (c) Over-churching. The ideal is that each church shall have a 
 resident minister. But before this ideal can be accomi)lished in South- 
 eastern Ohio, many of the smaller churches must be willing to fed- 
 erate, that is, join with one another for worship and for work in 
 bettering their own community. They will do this perhaps more 
 readily, if they realize that in most cases a small church in communi- 
 ties as old as those of Southeastern Ohio is a dying church. We can 
 prove this fact. The average size of a church in the communities 
 studied is 61.2 members, ranging from 45.2 in Athens County to 74.1 
 in Adams County. The following table shows that more than half 
 (56.8%) of the churches of the six counties are small, that is, have a 
 membership of 50 or less. 
 
 Per Cent of Churches having from 1 to 25 members, 23.7% 
 Per Cent of Churches having from 26 to 50 members, 33.1% 
 Per Cent of Churches having from 51 to 100 members, 28.8% 
 Per Cent of Churches having from 101 to 150 members, 8.3% 
 Per Cent of Churches having from 151 to 200 members, 1.9% 
 Per Cent of Churches having from 200 to — members, 4.2% 
 The bearing of these figures upon church growth and decline is 
 shown in the following table : 
 
 Where the membership is 
 
 1 — 25 4.7% of the churches are growing. 
 
 26 — 50 21.3% of the churches are growing. 
 
 51 — 100 33.9% of the churches are growing. 
 
 101 — 150 53.1% of the churches are growing. 
 
 151 and over, 70.8% of the churches are growing. 
 
 Over one-half of the churches have a membership of 50 or less, 
 
 and three- fourths of these are losing ground. Surely this is a crying 
 
 call for the adoption of some workable plan of federation. The fact 
 
 that there are too many churches in the territory surveyed must be 
 
 taken account of in reckoning the causes that have led to their decline. 
 
 But, after all, over-churching is but a symptom. Its root lies in 
 
 ecclesiastical selfishness and an unsocial view of religion. We will 
 
 have occasion to describe these attitudes when we come to treat of 
 
 sectarianism in Southeastern Ohio. Suffice it at this point to say that 
 
 unless they are replaced by a willingness on the part of the churches 
 
 38 
 
Residency or Ministers 
 
 520 CliuTches 
 
 (olYo 
 
 zir. 
 
 Kav* haye have 
 
 KesidentlZliTuater Hon-Restdent lioTRiatsteT 
 
 Tiliriister 
 
 G».TOYt»T>£ 
 
 P5? 
 
 v^^yy\ n.t Gcfowi-n^ 
 
 S<x Counties »T» 
 ooutneastern Onio 
 
 vhfo lAurdl Li Je. OuTvei 
 
 to come together for the building up of their respective communities, 
 the decline of the rural churches will not be checked. 
 
 (c?) Poverty of the people. Are the causes that we have thus far 
 mentioned — decrease in rural population, a non-resident ministry, 
 
 39 
 
A Crvjing Call for rederat\on 
 
 FTom Southeastern Ohio 
 Of its churches with a membersh 1 13 of 
 
 a,5 or less Afe-50 5I-I0O IOJ-150 /5I or over 
 
 5% Xi% SH-fo 53% 11% 
 
 are Growing 
 
 The SmaU chorche?. wou)c( fare tetter if Combine d 
 
 Six counties OKio Tio rat Life SurvcN^ 
 
 over-churching — all of the factors that enter into the problem of 
 church decline in the rural districts of Southeastern Ohio? Doubtless 
 there are many more. But we desire to make mention of only one 
 other, and that a very important one. We refer to the poverty that 
 prevails among such a large proportion of the rural population through- 
 out the district. As asserted in the section of this report dealing with 
 economic conditions (page 11), fully one-fourth of the farmers in 
 the six counties are too poor to contribute anything to the church. 
 The church in a prosperous community makes its appeal to people 
 who have time and means for other things than a mere struggle for 
 bread; and can, therefore, hire a more efficient pastor and furnish 
 those advantages that will secure and hold the support of a large 
 membership. But in a poverty-stricken community, the church bell 
 sounds in the ears of men and women who are too tired to listen to 
 it, and hence the church fails to win the people around its very doors. 
 Many of the country churches of Southeastern Ohio are in coiiinuiiii- 
 ties of this latter type. And, as a rule, they arc dying. For instance, 
 Vinton County's extreme poverty is paralleled by a loss of more than 
 one-fourth of its church members during the last decade. Tbe income 
 of the families to which the country church must appeal for support 
 is surely one of the keys to a solution of its problem. 
 
 (e) Class distinctions. But not only does the failure of the entire 
 
 40 
 
community to attend and support the church go back usually to pov- 
 erty, but also in many cases to the invidious distinctions and the 
 unwholesome prejudices which poverty brings in its train. Poor 
 people do not like the feeling of subordination which comes from 
 their inability to dress as well and mingle on terms of equality with 
 the others who are connected with the church. As a result, the poor 
 members of the community either join the throng of the churchless 
 or form a weak and inefficient organization of their own. The situ- 
 ation in Adams County is an apt illustration of this tendency, and 
 shows its evil results. In that county, the laborers, small tenants, and 
 owners of poor hill farms are treated as a distinctly inferior class. 
 These poorer people, constituting as they do a large section of the 
 total population, are struggling to develop a church life of their own. 
 Lacking as yet the power to discriminate, and without the means to 
 maintain trained leaders, religious stimulation runs frequently to 
 excess in its temporary manifestations, but largely fails to build up 
 congregations with a stable membership. A loss for the last decade 
 of 10.8% in the number of its church members is not surprising. 
 That those belonging to a certain social class will gravitate to one 
 church and exclude those of other classes from its membership is 
 inevitable. The only way to remedy the situation is to get rid of class 
 distinctions by lifting all the people of the community to a plane of 
 social equality. 
 
 (/) Failure to see the economic value of religion. There seems to 
 be one best way for the country church to survive. This lies through 
 devising means for bringing prosperity to every family of the com- 
 munity. The country minister who succeeds, as did John Frederick 
 Oberlin, in making all the people prosperous, will be rewarded by 
 reaching all the people for his church. The need is imperative. At 
 the present rate of loss in membership, it will be but a few years until 
 two-thirds of the country churches in Southeastern Ohio will be 
 abandoned. This will not result in attendance elsewhere, but rather 
 in the dying out of organized religion. Such communities exist 
 already. The poverty that destroys the church lowers also the moral 
 standards of the people. One community in Adams County and two 
 or three in Lawrence County have reached levels which render their 
 conduct unfit for publication. It is far easier for the church to in- 
 spire its members to take an active hand in the restoration of pros- 
 perity and the upbuilding of community life, before such stages are 
 reached, than to recover these communities after integrity of char- 
 acter among their people has been lost. 
 
 41 
 
Before we close our discussion of this topic, we desire to caution 
 the reader against a possible misunderstanding. In emphasizing the 
 necessity of the church to pay attention to the material prosperity of 
 its people, we do not desire to be interpreted as claiming that the 
 success of the church is a material matter and rests upon "mere" 
 economics. Nay, we believe that the success of the church is a spirit- 
 ual matter and rests upon the consecrated endeavors of men and 
 women who have been touched by the Holy Spirit. But God, who 
 has given us our minds with which to think, is surely telling us in 
 unmistakable terms that the economic prosperity of any people is one 
 of the very real conditions upon which depends their spiritual wel- 
 fare. Surely, he who is led by the Spirit of God will not ignore this 
 revelation which He has vouchsafed to us, but will accept it and use 
 it as a regulative principle in his work for the church. 
 
 Too many people think of the Holy Spirit as being confined in His 
 activities to revival meetings. If this were true, we could assert that 
 He has signally failed in building up the rural churches of South- 
 eastern Ohio. Of the rural churches in the six counties surveyed, 
 72^c held revival meetings during the twelve months previous to the 
 time of the survey, and most of these churches have been holding such 
 meetings every year for many years jxist. and yet, the same propor- 
 tion of them (72%) are either standing still or losing ground. The 
 revival method has not succeeded in permanently building up the 
 churches. We rejoice in all the good that these protracted meetings 
 have accomplished. But let us have a broad and truly Christian view 
 of the work of the Holy Spirit. Let us rejoice in the truth that the 
 churches, in seeking to l)uil(l up their communities and to bring an 
 adequate income to every family, are therein following the leading 
 of the Spirit of God. 
 
 5. Sectarianism. 
 
 There are at least 40 (Icnomiiialions rc])resented in the six counties, 
 listed as follows : 
 
 Denominations. No. of Churches. 
 
 Apostolic Holiness 7 
 
 Baptist : 
 
 Missionary Baptist 47 
 
 Free Will 14 
 
 Union 5 
 
 Colored 4 
 
 Regular 3 
 
 42 
 
Primitive Baptist 1 
 
 Separate Baptist 1 
 
 Brethren 2 
 
 Brothers Society of America 1 
 
 Catholic (Roman) 10 
 
 Christian 19 
 
 Christian Order 1 
 
 Christian Union 15 
 
 Church of Christ in Christian Union 2 
 
 Church of God (Saints) 4 
 
 Come Outers 1 
 
 Congregational 11 
 
 Disciples, Non-Progressive 7 
 
 Disciples, Progressive 40 
 
 Emanuel Mission 1 
 
 Episcopal 1 
 
 Evangelical Association 3 
 
 Evangelical Protestant 3 
 
 Friends 3 
 
 Latter Day Saints 4 
 
 Lutheran 7 
 
 Mennonite 2 
 
 Methodist : 
 
 Methodist Episcopal 175 
 
 Methodist Protestant 33 
 
 Free Methodist 6 
 
 Wesleyan Methodist 2 
 
 German M. E 1 
 
 African M. E 1 
 
 Nazarenes 1 
 
 Presbyterian : 
 
 Presbyterian U. S. A 36 
 
 United Presbyterian 5 
 
 United Brethren : 
 
 United Brethren, Liberal 51 
 
 United Brethren, Radical 6 
 
 Universalist 4 
 
 43 
 
A DVIXG CIIURCn. THE RESULT OF SECTARIANISM 
 
 Southeastern Ohio has suffered greatly from sectarianism. Where 
 ecclesiastical selfishness exists and each denomination looks after it- 
 self, without any reference to what the other denominations are doing, 
 there is bound to be over-churching in some communities and under- 
 churching in others. In Adams County, one township with 36 square 
 miles and 976 people, has seven churches, while an adjoining town- 
 ship with 40 square miles and 1,332 people has but one church organi- 
 zation of 35 members, and one other preaching place. One township 
 in Lawrence County with 1,639 people has ten church buildings, one 
 of which is abandoned. Another township, with 33 square miles and 
 with a population of 950, has but one church building, and another 
 organization meeting in a school house. Considering the six counties 
 together, there is one church to every 268 people. Vinton and Mor- 
 gan Counties have each one church for every 180 people. 
 
 In 25% of the communities there is still some church strife. Adams 
 County has been the scene of considerable dissension. A United 
 Brethren congregation was divided twenty years ago over the question 
 of secret societies. One of the resulting churches is now abandoned; 
 the other has less than twelve members. A Methodist Protestant 
 church split off from a Methodist Episcopal church through a dis- 
 pute over the erection of the church building. In a village of a dozen 
 houses an Apostolic Holiness church was formed by dissatisfied mem- 
 bers of the Christian Church, and a new church house was built. In 
 1910 a Pentacostal Nazarene preacher held meetings in the Holiness 
 Church and organized a band of his own sect. A quarrel ensued, and 
 
 44 
 
the Pentacostal Nazarenes tore off the locks put on by the other 
 faction, put on locks of their own and nailed down the windows. 
 They gained possession of the deed, but returned it later. Both con- 
 gregations are now disorganized. In the words of one of the mem- 
 bers, "The Devil got into the church and tore it up." 
 
 Organized religion throughout the region has suffered considerably 
 through the inroads of Holiness sects. These sects stand for emotion 
 and excitement with little ethical content. Holiness preachers gen- 
 erally come into a community well supplied with churches. The 
 excitement of their meetings draws people from other churches, which 
 then decline and possibly die from lack of support. The new church 
 thrives for a while, but the people soon tire of the excitement, and 
 lacking organization it falls to pieces, leaving the community in a 
 worse state than before. Holiness sects thrive especially among the 
 poorer and more ignorant classes. They attract the greatest following 
 in places where the other churches are doing little to serve the com- 
 munity. 
 
 Indeed, the root of all the evils of sectarianism is a failure to see 
 that religion has significance, not only for the individual, but also 
 for the community as a whole. This sounds like a truism, and it is. 
 But if the Christian people of Southeastern Ohio really believed it, 
 five years would not pass before there would be a federation of 
 churches in every over-churched rural community throughout the 
 district. A common service for the welfare of their respective com- 
 munities would soon bind them together in Christian love. 
 
 Are there any evidences of a dawning spirit of active co-operation 
 among the rural churches of this section of the state? Occasional 
 union meetings are about the only sign that can be found at present. 
 Such meetings have been held in 20% of the communities for the 
 following purposes : 
 
 Children's Day, Memorial Day, Sunday School Convention, Com- 
 mencement, revivals and temperance meetings. The only instance 
 found of regular union meetings was in a village of Adams County 
 where the three churches met together on Sunday evenings during 
 one of the summer months. Twelve union revival meetings were found 
 to have been held during the winter previous to the time of making 
 the survey. Six of these were held in villages of Adams County. In 
 one of the villages the union character of the revival was such a 
 novelty as to cause considerable comment. The people thought that 
 such meetings could never be held. As a matter of fact, it proved to 
 be the best revival in years. 
 
 45 
 
6. Material Equipment of the Churches. 
 
 The total value of the church buildings in the districts surveyed is 
 $650,000. Nearly one-half of the edifices are valued at less than 
 $1,000 each. The usual type of building is that of a one-room struc- 
 ture. Out of 459 churches reporting: 
 
 378 have one room each 
 50 " two rooms " 
 18 " three " 
 
 9 " four " 
 
 3 " five " 
 
 1 has seven " 
 A one-room church building can hardly be regarded as adequate to 
 serve as a community center. Federation of denominations in over- 
 churched communities would result in church edifices more worthy of 
 their high purpose and better designed for community service. A 
 church in the open country in Morgan County has been built at a cost 
 of $5,400, and has five rooms, three of which are used for library, 
 kitchen and dining room. In the matter of heating, 90% of the 
 churches have stoves, the remaining 10% being favored with furnaces. 
 As to artificial lighting. 71% use oil, 15% gas, 9% gasoline, 4% elec- 
 tricity, and 1% acetylene. It is a commendable fact that 84% of the 
 buildings were found to be in good repair. But it is less commendable 
 that only 68% of the grounds surrounding the churches were found 
 in good condition. The country church should by all means provide a 
 shelter for the farmer's team. But in all six counties, only 3% of 
 the country churches had horse-sheds upon their grounds. 
 
 7. Classification of the Church Membership. 
 
 In this report, we will make but two classifications of the church 
 members: first, as to sex; and second, as to their economic status. 
 
 Southeastern Ohio shows a low percentage in the number of males 
 within its churches. In the six counties surveyed, 38.7% of the church 
 members are males, while 61.3% are females. In population, the six 
 counties contain more males (50.7%) than females. Evidently, some- 
 thing needs to be done to interest more men and boys in the work of 
 the church. 
 
 The church is not winning the tenant farmer to the same extent 
 that it is winning the owner. Of the farm operators in the six coun- 
 ties 20.7% are tenants and 78.5% are owners, while of the farmers on 
 the church rolls only 15.4% are tenants and 84.6% are owners. While 
 this discrepancy is not as large in Southeastern Ohio as in wealthier 
 sections of the state, nevertheless it is another indication of the fact 
 
 46 
 

 MEN NEEDED! 
 
 Fopu oLiion 
 
 
 
 
 ITlale 50.7?: 
 
 
 Femak 1-9.3?: 
 
 
 Cliurc^ TTl^mloftrbh 
 
 jp 
 
 
 
 m^ied8.7% 
 
 
 
 Female 6 (.3X 
 
 
 
 5i t Counties in 
 
 SoutheiitcrTi Ohio Ohio Rural Life ouT^t^^ 
 
 r 
 
 that where the church is not making a special effort to minister to all 
 within its reach, it becomes the church of a class, and generally of 
 that class which is better able to support it, in this case, the owning 
 class. 
 
 8. Sunday Schools. 
 
 The rural Sunday School plays a more important part in the life 
 of the church than does the Sunday School of the city. This is espe- 
 cially true where circuits are large and preaching services come only 
 once or twice a month. The Sunday School services held every week 
 give continuity to church life. The rural Sunday School is an institu- 
 tion for old and young alike and generally includes all active church 
 members. 
 
 (a) Number and Distribution. A total of 536 churches in South- 
 eastern Ohio were examined with reference to the Sunday School, 
 the 16 rural churches in the four townships of Washington County, 
 not included in the rest of the survey, being added to the 520 mentioned 
 on page 34 of this pamphlet. Out of the 536 churches, 65 were 
 found that had no Sunday School, leaving the total of churches with 
 
 47 
 
Sunday Schools at 471. Adding to this, the 11 schools that were 
 found existing independently of any church organization, we have a 
 total of 482 Sunday Schools as the basis for this report. Of these 
 schools, 142 are in villages of less than 2,500 people, and 340 are in 
 the open country. Most of them (81.1%) are held the year around. 
 The remaining 18.9% are held for less than 9 months of the year. 
 Nine-tenths of the short term Sunday Schools are in the open country. 
 
 (b) Enrollment and Attendance. The total enrollment of 113 vil- 
 lage Sunday Schools is 10,648 or 94.2 members per Sunday School. 
 In 284 country Sunday Schools there are enrolled 13,986 or an aver- 
 age of 49.2 per school. On this basis the total enrollment of all the 
 Sunday Schools is 30,000 or 19.3% of the population. 
 
 In the statistics of 61 village and 127 country Sunday Schools, 
 enrolling a total of 1 1,033, the pupils were classified by ages as follows : 
 
 Ages 
 
 Per Cent of Pupils 
 
 Village 
 
 Country 
 
 4-5 yrs. 6-8 yrs. 9-12 yrs 
 
 12.9% 
 13.5% 
 
 14.3% 
 14.6% 
 
 18.2% 
 17.9% 
 
 13-16 yrs. 
 
 15.5% 
 17.2% 
 
 .- „ I 20 yrs. 
 17-19 yrs. ^^^^ 
 
 14.3% 
 16.0% 
 
 24.8% 
 20.8% 
 
 The pupils from 6 to 19 years inclusive represent 64% of the total 
 enrollment of these 188 schools. On the basis of 30,000, as an esti- 
 mated total enrollment for the 482 schools covered by the survey, the 
 total number of Sunday School pupils between the ages of 6 and 19 
 years in these schools is 19,200, which is only 40.8% of 46,966, the 
 total number of persons from 6 to 20 years inclusive in the six coun- 
 
 DOVJS and Girls Not in Sundavf- School 
 oH. out of every ten are on the outside 
 
 4'fo,9<?6 from 6^o a.Oi"c m Hie populition 
 
 19,^.00 (f 0.8%) 
 from fc<o iq inc in the 
 Sunday -Schools 
 
 SiXw counties m 
 Southeastern Ohio 
 
 Uhio Kural Lire b 
 
 urv/6v/ . 
 
 48 
 
ties. Out of every ten boys and girls from 6 to 20 years of age, six 
 are not enrolled in any Sunday School, 
 
 The total average attendance of 110 village Sunday Schools report- 
 ing is 6,594 or 59.9fo for each school; and of 286 country Sunday 
 Schools reporting, 9,314 or 32.6% for each school. On this basis the 
 number of pupils present in all Sunday Schools on an average Sunday 
 throughout the rural sections of the six counties would be about 19,500. 
 
 In villages the attendance is 63.6% of the enrollment; in the open 
 country 66.3%. This better attendance in the country, in spite of 
 the greater distance to travel in getting to church, is an evidence of the 
 higher place of the country Sunday School in church and community 
 life. 
 
 (c) The Curriculum. The course of study is generally the Uni- 
 form International Lessons. In a very few cases the Bible alone with- 
 out helps is studied because of objection to Sunday School literature. 
 The Graded Lessons have been partially introduced in a few favored 
 places, but no instance was found of a Sunday School using graded 
 lessons in all classes. Small schools, classes with wide range of ages 
 and few trained teachers seem to be the principal difficulties in the 
 way of a more extended use of the graded lessons. A very few 
 schools, 14 in number, are seeking to do away with the last-named 
 obstacle by having teacher training classes. '-- ' -. 
 
 {d) Equipment. Practically none of the church buildings exam- 
 ined by our investigators are in any way adapted for Sunday School 
 purposes. It should be evident to everyone that the ordinary one- 
 room church building is not fitted for class instruction in the Sunday 
 School. A few schools, about 20 in number, are trying to remedy the 
 situation by providing a few additional rooms, or by using curtains 
 and screens to divide off portions of the auditorium. 
 
 {e) Teachers. In the villages 36% of the teachers are men and 
 64% are women. In the country 39% of the teachers are men and 
 61% are women. The minister teaches in 15% of the schools. 
 
 (/) Social Activities. The principal and in many cases the only 
 social event of the year in country churches is the Sunday School 
 picnic. During the year previous to the time of the Survey, 40% of 
 the village and 23% of the country Sunday Schools had picnics. Other 
 social events, such as class socials, suppers, Christmas festivals, etc., 
 were enjoyed by 41% of the village and 28% of the country Sunday 
 Schools. A large proportion of the social life of the Sunday School 
 is furnished by organized classes, of which we will speak later under 
 the topic, "The Church and Social Life." The facts stated in this 
 
 49 
 
Sunday 5cliool Outmjs 
 
 lr» V)//A^es Iti Owen Country 
 
 have 
 No Ticnics 
 
 77/. 
 
 5outKea.stern OKic 
 
 Oliio Kural hie. 5 
 
 urve- 
 
 paragraph show that one-half of the churches in the villages and two- 
 thirds of those in the open country are practically without any social 
 life. 
 
 9. The Church and Social Life. 
 
 Social events under the auspices of the churches are usually pro- 
 vided by societies of one kind or another. The following table classi- 
 fies church organizations of the six counties according to membership 
 and social activities : 
 
 No. Organizations 
 
 Average Members 
 
 Per Cent. Giving Socials 
 
 No Socials Reported 
 
 Per Cent, of Socials for Pay.. 
 
 Young Peoples'] Women's Other 
 
 Organization Organization Organizations 
 
 108 
 38 
 
 41% 
 265 
 16% 
 
 127 
 
 26 
 
 57% 
 281 
 
 47% 
 
 The young peoples' societies are principally the Christian Endeavor, 
 Epworth League and B. Y. P. U. Two Boy Scout organizations were 
 found. The women's societies are mainly Missionary and Ladies' Aid. 
 Only four men's organizations were found, as follows: 2 Catholic 
 clubs, a Fellowship club, and a Brotherhood. In this dearth of men's 
 
 50 
 
Whv( tniS dreat difference ? 
 
 13/7 societies for women. 
 
 H- Societies for men 
 
 In 5iO churclies m SoutKeastern OhiO 
 
 SiK counties Ohio Tlural Lite Survey. 
 
 societies within the churches we may have one explanation for the 
 smah proportion of men in the membership of the churches. 
 
 As community social life has declined, many churches have come to 
 look upon all amusements as sinful, or at least as something that the 
 church as an institution should have nothing to do with. Religion is 
 looked upon as something exclusive, and consisting in not doing certain 
 things. ,One man said that when he had been converted the Lord 
 saved him from fairs, festivals and ice cream suppers. "Base-ball is 
 of hell!" exclaimed another. Yet in that same community one of the 
 survey men on Saturday afternoon found 21 young men and boys 
 between the ages of 13 and 30 playing base-ball. There was practi- 
 cally nothing out of the way in their behavior, and they all wanted to 
 act properly and honorably. Out of the 21 there was but one church 
 member, although the young men expressed themselves in ways that 
 indicated that they were in sympathy with religion. They were 
 merely excluded from church membership by fanaticism on the part 
 of church members. 
 
 In a village of another county a young athlete helped the boys fur- 
 nish a small gymnasium, and organize themselves into an enthusiastic 
 club. Instead of encouraging and giving moral direction to the 
 organization, the church people stood back and regarded it with 
 suspicion. 
 
 An old church building, needing paint badly and with broken win- 
 dows, was deemed too sacred a place to be used for a young people's 
 social, although the young people were very anxious to have one. A 
 split occurred in another church because the young people held an ice 
 cream social. 
 
 The moral value of recreation is becoming appreciated by some of 
 the churches through thoughtful leadership. It has been introduced 
 
 51 
 
A SUNDAY SCHOOL PICNIC 
 
 largely through organized Sunday School classes. One of the pastors 
 in Adams County has organized a men's Bible class with a present 
 membership of 64. Men who had formerly been indifferent to reli- 
 gion are now active in church work. During the summer the mem- 
 bers chartered a boat and took their families on an excursion up the 
 river. In the same village another pastor has a Sunday School class of 
 boys whom he takes on a weekly excursion during vacation, one of 
 these being a camping trip for a whole week. His wife meets her Sun- 
 day School class of girls for a social afternoon every two weeks. 
 
 A lady who was formerly a school teacher, but is now married, was 
 unwilling to give up her work with young people. She brought to- 
 gether a Sunday School class of 15 boys, opening her house to them 
 and giving them a large room for their own to which they had access 
 at all times. The boys met her twice a week. In organizing them 
 she had each one write what he thought a member of the club ought 
 or ought not to do, and the points on which they had been unanimous 
 became the rules of the organization. The enforcement of the rules 
 was left in their hands and they developed excellent order and kept 
 the room clean of their own accord. She has now the third club of 
 this sort, the members of the others having grown to be useful men of 
 good character. 
 
 A young men's Bible class in Athens county managed a lecture 
 course and paid the expenses of the speakers. They have regular 
 
 52 
 
business meetings every four weeks, and always plan for a program. 
 At one of the meetings a young ladies' class rendered the program 
 after which the boys served ice cream on the lawn. On Mothers' Day 
 the class furnished carnations for every mother present at Sunday 
 School, and delivered a bunch of carnations to every mother in the 
 village not able to attend. 
 
 A splendid example of a church which has built up the spiritual life 
 of the community through social service was found in Adams County. 
 Among the features of the work of this church are: 
 
 1. Men's Meetings. 
 
 2. General social gatherings for all women of the community. 
 
 3. An active young people's society with a splendid social side. 
 
 4. A musical festival for 12 days in the spring. 
 
 5. School house meetings : 
 
 (1) For evangelism, 
 
 (2) For social fellowship, 
 
 (3) For the discussion of topics of special interest to the 
 
 community. 
 As a result of these activities 112 persons have united with the 
 church in the last 3^ years, a Sunday School has been organized in 
 a needy district, and prayer meetings have been carried on without the 
 help of the pastor. 
 
 10. The Minister. 
 
 The total number of ordained ministers preaching in the six coun- 
 ties is a little less than 222, or an average of 37' to each county. Of 
 these ministers : 
 
 19% serve only one church 26% serve four churches 
 
 20% serve two churches 13% serve five churches 
 
 15% serve three churches 7% serve six or more churches 
 
 A little over half the ministers with only one church have other 
 occupations. Most of these are farmers, though among them were 
 found teachers, mechanics, a lecturer, a probate judge, an undertaker 
 and a mail carrier. 
 
 A minister can have his home in only one community. But since 
 81% of the ministers at work in the six counties preach in more than 
 one place, it is evident that the vast majority of the ministers live at 
 a distance from most of their parishes. The great waste of time, 
 energy, and money involved in the travelling about of ministers, many 
 of them going along the same road or crossing one another's path, may 
 be realized by the reader if he will glance at the maps on the following 
 page or scan the following table: 
 
 53 
 
VINTON CO., OHIO 
 
 X Mmi^ter's residence EJ CKorcK with resident mtnisler CI CKorth witKout Ttsritivt mtnisW 
 ^ GiurcK wifhoutmmiiter > AUndoned chu>-c.!i NomeriU indicitc mtmber^.V>ih 'f '^"'''ti 
 
 Inc , incre»si»»^ ; Dec, decreasing ; 5t, stahemrvj 
 
 B Baptist 
 
 Br Brethren (German Baptist) 
 BSA Brothers Society of America 
 C Christian 
 Ca Catholic (Roman) 
 Co Congregational 
 CP Cumberland Presbyterian 
 CS Christian Science 
 CU Christian Union 
 
 D Disciples 
 DM Defenseless Mennonite 
 DNP Disciples, Non-Progressive 
 
 E Episcopal 
 EvA Evangelical Association 
 EvL " Lutheran 
 
 F Friends (Orthodox) 
 FM Free Methodist 
 FWB Free Will Baptist 
 
 G Church of God 
 GME German M. E. 
 H Apostolic Holiness 
 
 HF Friends (Hicksite) 
 
 L Lutheran 
 LDS Latter-Day Saints 
 
 M Mennonite 
 MB Missionary Baptist 
 ME Methodist Episcopal 
 MP Methodist Protestant 
 
 N Nazarenes 
 OM Old Mennonite 
 
 P Presbyterian 
 PB Primitive Baptist 
 
 R Reformed 
 RM Reformed Mennonite 
 RUB Radical U. B. 
 S Saints 
 U Union 
 UB United Brethren 
 UP United Presbyterian 
 Uv Universalist 
 USS Union Sunday School 
 WM Wesleyan Methodist 
 
 55 
 
A ONCE ABANDONED CHURCH REVIVED 
 
 26% of the churches have ministers Hving less than 2 miles from 
 church. 
 
 26% of the churches have ministers living 2 to 5 miles from church. 
 
 23% of the churches have ministers living 6 to 10 miles from church. 
 
 7% of the churches have ministers living 11 to 15 miles from church. 
 
 5% of the churches have ministers living 16 to 20 miles from church. 
 
 5% of the churches have ministers living 21 to 30 miles from church. 
 
 3% of the churches have ministers living 31 to 50 miles from church. 
 
 5% of the churches have ministers living 51 or more miles from 
 church. 
 
 The Lord's money is being squandered through our sectarian selfish- 
 ness which makes the circuit system a necessity. Federation of 
 churches in all over-churched communities would eliminate most of 
 this waste. 
 
 In the matter of salary, about one-half of the ministers receive less 
 than $600 per annum. The following table shows the average amount 
 received by 157 ministers, divided into four groups: 
 40 receive an average salary of $276. 
 39 receive an average salary of 561. 
 39 receive an average salary of 712. 
 39 receive an average salary of 927. 
 
 Only about one-half of the ministers are supplied with manses. 
 
 The scholastic preparation of the ministers in the six counties is 
 shown in the following table : 
 
 34% of the ministers have had only a common school education. 
 
 56 
 
22% of the ministers have had a high school education. 
 
 19% of the ministers have had a college education. 
 
 9% of the ministers have had seminary training (v^rithout college). 
 
 16% of the ministers have had both college and seminary training. 
 
 The table shows that one-third of the ministers have had nothing 
 more than an elementary education, and that over one-half (56%) 
 have not gone in their schooling beyond the high school. That the man 
 with more training comma'ids a higher salary is shown by the follow- 
 ing facts about the ministers whose training has been given in the 
 preceding table: 
 
 Ministers with only common school training receive $409. 
 
 Ministers with high school training receive $627. 
 
 Ministers with college training receive $635. 
 
 Ministers with seminary training receive $644. 
 
 Ministers with college and seminary training receive $876. 
 
 Individual cases can be cited where the salary paid is in no way a 
 measure of the minister's efficiency, but when a large number of cases 
 is taken, as in the present instance, it can be asserted that a low aver- 
 age salary argues for a low grade of ministerial efficiency. For the 
 six counties surveyed, the average yearly salary paid to a minister of 
 the Gospel is about $500, a low enough figure to make one believe, 
 in view of the remark just made, that Southeastern Ohio needs a corps 
 of church leaders of a broader and deeper training. As has been said 
 
 A CHURCH AT THE CROSS ROADS 
 57 
 
before, an efficient ministry is surely one of the conditions of an 
 efficient church. Southeastern Ohio waits for ministers of sufficient 
 training to enable them both to have a clear vision of the problems 
 facing its churches, and to work most advantageously for their solu- 
 tion. 
 
 58 
 
CHAPTER VII. 
 CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS. 
 
 The religious and educational workers in Ohio have in these South- 
 eastern Counties the task of ministering to a diminished farm popula- 
 tion and a growing mining population. We make no reference to the 
 cities or large towns not included in the Survey. We have in mind a 
 definite program of service to the rural population of farmers and 
 miners when we make the following recommendations : 
 
 First. Evangelistic work must be varied in its methods, according 
 to whether it is employed in a diminishing farm population or in a 
 growing population of miners. In the former, evangelism should be 
 used only by settled pastors. The type of evangelism that is not 
 followed by any pastoral service has done more harm than good in 
 Southeastern Ohio. Ministers among a farm population should within 
 their own parishes hold regular evangelistic services each year, but we 
 believe that it is a waste of religious energy and a detriment to both 
 religious and educational work to "burn over the ground" with 
 ungoverned, inflammatory preaching among a people all too inclined to 
 emotional expression. 
 
 There are a few townships referred to in this Survey in which 
 definite evangelistic work, aiming at the organizing of Sunday Schools 
 and the building, perhaps, of a few new churches, is needed. But 
 generally speaking, among a diminishing farm population professional 
 evangelism is not to be commended. It is a method to be used only by 
 the settled pastor. 
 
 With the churches located in a growing population of miners, the 
 case is different. In these churches, professional evangelists may be 
 wisely employed. For the need of evangelistic preaching, even of 
 professional evangelists, among the miners is great, because their 
 number is increasing and they are a shifting population. Their social 
 character is different from that of the farmer and the preaching of 
 a gospel of personal salvation has greater value among them. This 
 evangeUstic work, however, should be followed, as quickly as possible, 
 by the patient and faithful care of resident ministers. 
 
 We recommend, too, that among the mining population churches 
 should extend their ministry along the lines of Young Men's Christian 
 Association work. There is need of reading rooms, of recreative 
 
 59 
 
facilities and of educational work; and the working pastor will find 
 himself a social service secretary quite as much as a preacher. 
 
 Second. The reconstruction of the common schools is, religiously 
 speaking, necessary in Southeastern Ohio. Until better common 
 schools are provided there cannot be better churches. Trained intelli- 
 gence is in greater demand throughout these counties than aroused 
 emotion. Religious institutions need a better school policy more than 
 they need an increased emphasis upon evangelism. The Protestant 
 church depends quite as much upon the teacher as upon the preacher. 
 We must not forget this. Because the majority of the people living 
 in these counties are Protestant, and because their denominations do 
 not provide parochial schools, their gospel becomes vitally dependent 
 upon the teaching in the public schools. The public school is the right 
 hand of the free Protestant church. Therefore, church leaders in 
 Southeastern Ohio should use every influence to bring about a better 
 school policy by the State. Ministers should study the books on the 
 country school problem and church officers should be alert, especially 
 at the present time when the State of Ohio, under a far-seeing admin- 
 istration, is moving to the betterment of the standards of public school 
 teaching. A better public school will not give us a better church, but 
 so long as we have an inferior public school an improved country 
 church is impossible. The schools cannot build us up, but they can 
 keep us back. The inferior country school is a great religious obstacle 
 in Southeastern Ohio. 
 
 Third. A method must be studied out and used diligently by con- 
 ferences, synods and presbyteries, which will absorb the emotion of 
 the population, restrain the religious scourge of pietism, which thrives 
 upon ignorance and monotony. We commend for this purpose a union 
 between Sunday School work and recreation. We suggest that this 
 union take the form of organized Sunday School classes that meet for 
 social purposes during the week. The study of the Bible on the Lord's 
 Day and the social organization meeting throughout the week is the 
 best method of working ofif emotional tension, of making people 
 acquainted, of putting an end to neighborhood bitterness and of creat- 
 ing a sense of community oneness. The churches in Southeastern 
 Ohio have been split to pieces and neighborhoods have been embittered 
 l)y pietism. "Holiness" has made life almost intolerable in many 
 communities. Its dominance is due to the neglect of social life by the 
 churches and to the lack of intelligent use of the lUble and the Chris- 
 tian tradition. These sectarian movements which wield the lash of 
 frantic excitement cannot get a hearing in communities, as a rule, 
 
 60 
 
where legitimate social life and organized play are provided for all. 
 They are the reaction against dead monotony, divided "cliques" and 
 sour, embittered neighborhood feeling. They are an expression of 
 the same spirit which creates feuds. They will be healed with the 
 same medium. 
 
 Rev. Harvey S. Murdock, who in 1913 received over one hundred 
 persons on confession of faith in a mountain church in Kentucky, 
 declared, "that his two arms of evangelism were base-ball and the 
 fighting of illicit whiskey." Of course he preached the gospel and led 
 his people in Bible study, but he used recreation and civic leadership 
 as a means of winning the population, and of extending the influence 
 of his Bible teaching. 
 
 Fourth. It is very important to introduce into Southeastern Ohio 
 the rural method of co-operation in order to provide the farmers with 
 a form of organization in which they can combine. One great danger 
 in this section is seen in the invasion of the open country by capitalistic 
 ownership. Land is passing into the hands of those who do not till 
 the soil, but hold it for an increased price. The farmers must defend 
 themselves and in the interest of the churches they must defend their 
 way of life by a method of combination. In all parts of the country 
 and of the world farmers have tried to combine without success on 
 the method pursued by townsmen. The only method generally suitable 
 to farmers' needs goes under the name of co-operation. Every minister 
 and church leader should study this method. And the books of Sir 
 Horace Plunkett and the recently issued Senate Document No. 214 
 should be possessed by every rural minister and school teacher and 
 diligently studied. 
 
 Co-operation will enable the farmer to hold the land. It will give 
 him something to say in the market as to the price of what he buys 
 or what he sells. It will enable him to manufacture his own products 
 and get the profit of such manufacture. It will enable him to keep 
 his young people in the country community and to employ them in 
 factories owned by farmers. It will enable the farmer to organize 
 banks for the use of country money in farm loans at a low rate of 
 interest. This method of combination is essential to the welfare of the 
 country population and the welfare of the church is bound up in the 
 permanence and self respect of the country population. 
 
 We entertain hopes also that the practice of co-operation in daily 
 life will make possible a higher co-operation in religious life. When 
 men become accustomed to getting their daily bread together they may 
 be more willing to seek heavenly bread in common. 
 
 61 
 
Fifth. Education of the ministers for the purpose of creating a new 
 rural idealism, based on a new intelligence as to country life, should 
 be provided in this region. The minister, as an educated man, requires 
 graduate study to keep him abreast of his work. Whether he is a 
 graduate of college and seminary or not, by the nature of his work 
 he needs the training of the teacher and the discipline of the schools. 
 
 Country life conferences and institutes are excellent. Their value 
 is, however, for the layman. They belong with the farmer's institute, 
 in which ministers should take part as learners and helpers ; but for 
 the minister schools of Christian learning not less than two weeks in 
 length should be held twice a year; one in winter and one in summer, 
 for graduate discipline of the working pastor. 
 
 If theological seminaries or religious colleges will do this work, it 
 woud be profitable for the ministers and for those schools that they 
 provide graduate study. Rut if they will not, we urge upon the state 
 universities that this is a duty not unworthy of their consideration. 
 The training needed is not theological nor necessarily Biblical. These 
 factors in graduate education can be supplied by the denominations. 
 It should be training in pedagogy and in social service. The pedagogy 
 is to train the minister as a teacher ; the sociology is to train him as a 
 pastor. Both these topics are nowadays taught by state educators. 
 
 The Extension System of the various State Universities of Ohio 
 could serve the state, we believe, in no better way than by holding for 
 these thirteen counties at suitable centres three or four schools, each 
 school being two or three weeks long and the pupils being ministers 
 of religion. 
 
 Sixth. This Survey concerns churches and it approaches the study 
 of the church by analysis of social conditions. We are making no 
 report upon personal or individual character. Rural Ohio is proverb- 
 ially rich in individuals of the highest character. But churches, as 
 well as souls, are vehicles of the divine Spirit. Indeed churches, that is, 
 corporate religion, in scripture and in history are presented as "the 
 body of Christ." It is obvious from this study that a strong church 
 is a necessar}' means of evangelism. Through such a church more 
 persons are brought to confession and the character of Christians is 
 conserved. The Survey shows that unless more attention is paid to 
 saving churches there will be less of religion for souls. As churches 
 fail, fewer persons give evidence to a hope of heaven. 
 
 This situation indicates that each church should be as large as the 
 community, and all matters that concern the whole community should 
 have a place in the church. Since the church lives or dies with the 
 
 62 
 
life of the community, no matter what its denomination, it is obvious 
 that ministry to the whole community is a means of ministering to 
 each or any soul. So that both the social and the economic and educa- 
 tional life of the community are of prime concern to the church. 
 
 Seventh. Federation, or comity of churches, should be actively 
 pursued in this region. The following method of organizing federa- 
 tion among the churches is suggested : Let a deputation, made up of 
 one or two representatives of each of the leading denominations in 
 these counties ; that is, Methodists, Presbyterians, Baptists, Disciples, 
 Congregational, United Brethren, travel through these thirteen coun- 
 ties once in each two years, holding conferences, addressing churches, 
 urging co-operation, organizing local federations, advising as to local 
 instances of church competition. The influence of such a delegation 
 would be far-reaching. The mere spectacle of a Methodist Presiding 
 Elder, a Presbyterian Pastor Evangelist, a Baptist or Disciple Con- 
 ference Chairman, and a Bishop of the United Brethren Church 
 teaching the same thing and advising recognition of common religious 
 duties, would effect a salutary change in the feelings of church mem- 
 bers. It would also enlist the men, especially the business men and 
 men of weight, as nothing else can enlist them, in effective leadership 
 and support of the churches. Furthermore, the gospel which such a 
 delegation could teach in common is basic and fundamental in all these 
 churches. Upon this gospel alone can community churches be con- 
 structed. 
 
 Eighth. There is need of money for church buildings of a new type 
 and probably some of this money should come from outside the region. 
 The community church, which is the embodiment of church federation, 
 comity and Christian unity, without which these ideals cannot live, 
 requires a building appropriate to its needs. Old church-houses should 
 be reconstructed and enlarged and new ones erected in the place of 
 some which have a congregation and a future, but are unsuited to the 
 work required. If some one denomination should institute a campaign 
 of church reconstruction throughout this region, it would have a great 
 influence upon all the churches of the county. It would bring its 
 rewards, moreover, to the denomination which takes the lead. 
 
 Ninth. At bottom, the decline in the rural church organizations 
 of Southeastern Ohio, which is the outstanding fact revealed by the 
 Survey, is due to the mistakes of the unenlightened mind and to the 
 sins of the unregenerated human heart. The poverty of the people, 
 resting as it does upon the evils of soil depletion and land monopoly, 
 has its ultimate basis in the ignorance of the many and in the selfish- 
 
 63 
 
1 1012 01235 2920 
 
 ness of the few. The over-multiplication of churches and a non- 
 resident ministry, both of which spring from sectarianism, are the out- 
 growth of an exclusively individualistic view of religion, which, in the 
 final analysis, rests upon human selfishness. 
 
 The only remedy for the trouble lies in the regeneration of the 
 human heart and the enlightenment of the human mind. Only thus 
 can the rural churches of Southeastern Ohio be saved from extinction. 
 And this regeneration can only come through the preaching and the 
 practicing of the Gospel of the Kingdom of God. A living faith in this 
 Evangel is the only power that will give vitality to the suggestions 
 ofifered in this chapter of recommendations. 
 
 As proclaimed by Jesus, this Evangel emphasizes the regnancy of 
 a God of love and sacrifice in the whole of human life. Ministers and 
 church leaders, who fully accept this Gospel, will see the spiritual 
 significance of directing the young people in their social activities or 
 taking means to promote the material prosperity of all the families in 
 the community. Such church leaders will seek, not to perpetuate their 
 organizations as such, but to give them in service for the up-building 
 of their respective communities. They will aim to make their churches 
 the centers for all the healthy interests of their neighborhoods. To 
 carry out this ideal in Southeastern Ohio, some of the individual 
 churches may have to die, others will have to federate. But in either 
 case, they will be doing less than their Master did. He gave his life 
 for the advancement of the Kingdom of God. The churches that 
 profess His name should be willing to do the same. 
 
 64 
 
Wimmrn'mmMm^S 
 
 aiDtJifiorp Council 
 
 W. O. Thompson, Chairman, 
 
 rreaident, Ohio State University 
 Pitisldent, Ohio Church Federaticm 
 Columbus, Ohio 
 
 J. O. Ashenhurst, Secretaiy, 
 Committee on Rural Churches. United 
 Presbyterian Chxutih 
 
 George F. Bareis. 
 Chairman, Board of Trustees 
 Heidelberg College 
 
 Edward Byers, A.M., ScD. 
 School of Education, Defiance College 
 
 I. T. CahUl 
 
 Sec y, Ohio Christian Missionary Society 
 
 H. J. Christman, President, 
 Central Theological Semhiary 
 
 W. G. Clippinger, President, 
 Otterbein University 
 
 Charles William Dabney, President, 
 University of Cincinnati 
 
 G. Walter Fiske. Junior Dean, 
 
 Oberiin Theological Seminary 
 
 L. H. Goddard, Chief, 
 
 Dept. Cooperation, Ohio Experimvnt 
 Station 
 
 A. B. Graham, Superintendent of 
 Agricultural Extenaon, Ohio State Univ. 
 
 George J. Henderson, 
 
 >Supt. Central District, American S. S. Union 
 
 "'^"'ter H. Houston, 
 
 F'resbyterian Home Missions 
 i of Ohio 
 
 C. W. Kurtz, 
 
 Presiding Elder. United Brethren Church 
 
 Frederick C. Landsittel, 
 
 State Normal College. Ohio Universi;,, 
 
 Charles Marston, 
 
 Pastor. Presbyterian Chiu-ch, MlUersbiu-g. 
 <nilo 
 
 E. A. MiUer, 
 
 Oberlln College 
 
 J. Knox Montgomery, Presidlent, 
 Muskingum College 
 
 S. K. Mosiman, President, 
 Central Memionite College 
 
 T. O. Notestein, 
 University of Wooster 
 
 W. W. MUls, 
 
 Hoard of Trudtecs, Marietta, College 
 
 H. C, Price, Dean, 
 
 College of Agriculture, Oyo State Univ 
 
 O. W. Powers, 
 
 Home Mission Sec'y. Christian Church 
 President, Ohio Stat« Christian Assoni;>i i 
 
 C. J. Rose, Secretary, 
 
 Oluo Baptist ConventiOD 
 
 E. S. Rothrock, 
 
 State Superintendent, Congregational 
 Conference of Ohio 
 
 B. R. RyaU, 
 
 Sefrctary. Y. M. C. A. of Ohio, 
 County Work Dept. 
 
 A. C. Shtunan 
 
 Pastor, Reformed Church, TlflBi^, Ohio 
 
 J. K. Shellenberger, 
 
 Sec'y of the Brotherhood, Dfeciples "f 
 
 CMst ' 
 
 Worthington B. Slutz, 
 
 District Supt., Methodist Episcopal 
 
 Church 
 
 T. Warren Smith, 
 
 Director, U. S, Weather Bureau 
 
 George F. Smythe, 
 
 Kenyon College 
 
 George Stibitz, 
 Central Seminary 
 
 N. W. Stroup, 
 
 District Supt., Methodist Episcopal 
 
 Chiuxih 
 
 Omer S. Thomas. 
 
 Secretary of Miami Christian Conferen - 
 
 Samuel Tyler. 
 
 Chairman. Social Service CoQimlssion 
 Diocese of Southern Olilo 
 Protestant Episcopal Church 
 
 Selby H. Vance, 
 
 Lane Seminary 
 
 Paul L. Vogt, 
 
 Professor of Sociology, Ml^rri! iTnivcryiy 
 
 Ralph J. White, 
 
 Missionary Superihtondent vt ii;M C'Wr 
 Syuod Evangelical Lutheran Churrn ' .' ; 
 
 G. P. Williams, ■•'', ^ ''.' 
 
 Superintendent of Misalons ,; ', 
 
 American Simday School Union ' '' v , 
 
 Warren H. Wilson, ' '■■ ,i; ;; 'J'%., 
 
 Supt., Presbyterian Department of CiUjirfv^i ;'■_ \ .'''ifi-i 
 
 ^>C