The average salary paid by the country church is $108, and the average salary of the town church $455. In the printed report is included a photograph of four churches in a row, three of which have preaching once a month; one, twice a month, and there is no resident minister in the town! In the spring of 1909, a joint committee composed of representatives of most of the leading Protestant home mission. societies was formed to investigate conditions in certain states. This committee selected Colorado, a typical Western state, and at once began their investigations there with some exceedingly interesting results. "Nearly 90 per cent. of home mission aid to-day goes either where there is no duplication of effort whatever, or to the swiftly growing cities." Whatever duplication was found naturally belonged to the regions in which this small percentage was expended. Exceptional instances of a town with 400 people and four churches receiving home mission aid to the amount of $660, and of another of 300 people with six churches receiving $530 of such aid, "call for prompt and careful scrutiny." The committee reports, however, that there is much more over-looking than overlapping. There were 133 places found, ranging in population from 150 to 1,000, without Protestant churches of any kind; 100 of these are also without a Roman Catholic church. There are 428 communities that are of sufficient importance to have post offices, but that are without churches. There are whole counties with no adequate religious work, of which the committee cites several examples. Of the sixty counties in the state, at least eighteen appear to be without adequate church work of any kind. The whole investigation seems to point conclusively to the fact that the rural sections are suffering more than the cities. This condition is not confined to any locality East or West. Many churches whose active work has ceased are not yet dead, being kept alive by unwise aid. Without question, over-churching has been a predominant cause in producing present conditions, but it does not follow that if the conditions could be changed salaries at once would be increased. Tradition, local conceptions, and unwillingness to enlarge this support are still prevalent. The over-churching primarily is not due to the efforts of the present generation. The condition largely is the outcome of the unwise zeal of former workers who believed that by multiplying churches they were increasing instead of dividing their strength. The slogan, “a new church every day," in places has drawn out the line of attack until it has crumpled from sheer weakness or thinness. The condition to-day is recognized in many states and an honest effort is being made to remedy it in most of the religious bodies. The tax upon many communities in the support of more churches than the religious needs of the place demand is heavy. An average debt of half the value of the church property had been a fixed overhead charge Union or federated churches do not solve the problem, and in most instances they soon die. Federated churches only touch the surface of the problem, still leaving the underlying causes unchanged. The sal aries in federated churches are no large: than they were in the individual churches that federated. Among many religious bodies inefficiency is increased by lack of care in the selection of men for the ministry. The Protestant churches suffer much more than Catholic from over-churching. latter churches are unified, the former are not and in many places are competitors among themselves. If over-churching has produced a condition in which it is well-nigh impossible for many churches to support their ministers, the recognition of the condition is the first step toward improvement, though its | effect may not be seen in the presen: generation. Improvement may not come speedily, but it can never come until efficiency is recognized as a logical ele- | ment in extension. It is as necessary to weigh as to count. Religion may be needed in business. It is no less certain that unbusinesslike methods cannot make | even zealous efforts successful. A THE MARCH OF THE CITIES COLLEGE TRAINING FOR COMMERCIAL SECRETARIES NEW era has opened in the work of the chambers of commerce of the cities of the United States by the new course in secretarial training which will be opened to graduate students of Harvard University this fall. RemarkRemarkable results have been achieved by such bodies as the Chamber of Commerce of Boston and the Chamber of Commerce of Chicago and the Chamber of Commerce of Los Angeles under leadership that has developed naturally with the growth of this type of organization. But these bodies have drawn upon the best constructive ability of the country and have been able to hold it because they have been able to pay large salaries. But there are now more than 4,500 commercial organizations in the United States and more than 1,000 of sufficient importance to justify membership in the Chamber of Commerce of the United States of America. Doubtless hundreds of these organizations are less efficient than they might be. It is time for a clearing-house to be established that shall put at the service of all these bodies the knowledge of the best methods of developing the commercial interests of these communities. This is what the Graduate School of Business Administration of Harvard University has decided to do toward this ideal: It has opened a course that will cover two full years and that will be open to college graduates only. In the first year students in this school may select five full courses from the following: Business Law, Accounting, Commercial Organization, Industrial Organization, Business Statistics, Work and Methods of Trade Bodies, Municipal Government, Railroad Organization, and Investments. In the second year, four courses are required in Problems in Trade Body Management, Business Policy, Corporation Finance, and The Railroad and the Shipper and a choice may be selected from the following: Commercial Organization, Foreign Trade, European Trade, and South American Trade. Practical experience in trade body management will be given by an arrangement with the Boston Chamber of Commerce under which the students will be given tasks in the various departments of that body under ordinary working conditions to work out definite practical problems such as they will confront later, wherever they may go. As the Boston Chamber of Commerce is one of the largest and one of the most efficient commercial organizations in the country, this training will be invaluable. The following quotation from the announcement of the courses gives some idea of their scope: The various forms of activity in which chambers of commerce and similar bodies engage are examined in the light of the actual experience of some of the more progressive organizations. The subjects covered include various aspects of the supervision of trading, such as inspection of grain and other commodities, control of warehouses, vigilance work, etc. They also include some of the methods for city development employed by trade bodies, such as methods for securing new industries, methods for bettering existing industrial conditions, railway rate activity, internal transportation problems, etc. The course also provides for a comparison of the organization and powers of chambers of commerce and similar bodies in the United States with those in some of the chief European countries and a survey of the federation movement both in the United States and abroad. Similar courses are under consideration by the officers of the Wharton School of Commerce of the University of Pennsylvania and by the officers of the University of Wisconsin. Professional rank for the leaders in organized commercial development will lend a new dignity and a new seriousness to the work of commercial bodies throughout the United States. ANSWERS TO QUESTIONS ABOUT FARM LANDS 97.-Q. A man whom I have known since boyhood is selling land in Florida, well located on the Caloosahatchee River, not far from Fort Myers, for $46.50 an acre. Two other friends have bought and are already down there developing their land. I am thinking of buying ten acres, having grape fruit trees set out, and going down to attend to them for a few months every winter when they reach a bearing age. What do you advise? A. To repeat our invariable advice, we would not buy land anywhere from a best friend, a brother, or any one else until we had seen it. The land may be excellent and its highest commendation is the satisfaction of men already there; but how do you know that you will like the country and the work and be able to market crops at a profit? Your plan of giving only a few months' attention every year is wholly impracticable unless you put the place in the hands of some one else — and if you do that you are not really farming at all. A. The only safe guide in buying land, as in buying horses intelligently, is experience. The best written advice we know of is contained in Volume 1 of L. H. Bailey's "Cyclopedia of American Agriculture" and in T. F. Hunt's "How to Choose a Farm," (both published by the Macmillan Co.). In the "Garden and Farm Almanac" for 1913, published by Doubleday, Page & Co., you will find a score card for farms, devised and used by the New York State College of Agriculture, that should be useful to you. 99.-Q. In what part of Arkansas should a person from the North look for good, moderate priced farm land that is likely to increase in value? A. It depends first on the type of farming to be pursued. On the rolling Ozark country of the northwestern part of the state, general farming, fruit-growing, and stock-raising are most profitable. As the land is cleared and the country settled, values should rise considerably. Farther south and east, the rich, more level soils produce abundant cotton and corn. Here values are somewhat steadier, but diversified farming and improved methods should increase the worth of farms even here. Then there is a section along the Mississippi River which, when reclaimed, is well adapted to rice-growing. Land here increases greatly in value when drained, but the operation is ordinarily extensive and costly. 100.-Q. I have considered going into commercial bulb and flower growing in either lower Delaware, Maryland, or Virginia. What is your opinion of the location and of the opportu nities in that line? A. Openings can often be found near large villages, towns, and cities for the sale of cut house culture. The localities you mention flowers and plants of both outdoor and greenwould, of course, give you the benefit of a lengthened season and less expensive land than places near northern centres. The only large eastern bulb growing section is around Petersburg, Va. You might, however, find other locations where soil and climatic conditions the industry. These are, briefly, a plentiful satisfy the rather fastidious requirements of supply of water, within six or eight inches of the surface, to permit rapid growth; a loose, well drained top soil; and a period of dry, warm weather at the end of the growing season, to permit the ripening and to prevent the rotting of the bulbs. 101.-Q. I would like information as to Stanton County, Kansas-land prices, crops, transportation, etc. A. Although farm property there increased 349 per cent. between 1900 and 1910, we hardly consider it a section of farm opportunities. At the latter time there were only 263 farms. covering 35 per cent. of the land area, of which only 15 per cent. was improved; the rainfali averages only 17 inches a year; dry farming is hard and often precarious; irrigating can be done only from a partially investigated underflow supply; and transportation facilities are extremely poor, no railroad lines running into the county. The total value of crops in 1910 was $60,240, 9,400 acres of hav and forage, 2,643 acres of broom corn, and 2,250 acres of kaffir cor comprising the chief items. The land averages about $7 an acre in price. CARL CROW 516 R. M. CLEVELAND 529 540 F. M. WHITE WHAT ABOUT THE FILIPINOS? (Illustrated) NEW WONDERS OF PHOTOGRAPHY (Illustrated) 549 C. M. KEYS 558 SARAH COMSTOCK 579 ANSWERS TO QUESTIONS ABOUT FARM LANDS TERMS: $3.00 a year; single copies, 25 cents. For Foreign Postage add $1.00: Canada 60 cents. Published monthly. Copyright, 1913, by Doubleday, Page & Company. All rights reserved. Entered at the Post Office at Garden City, N. Y., as second-class mail matter Country Life in America The Garden Magazine - Farming CHICAGO 1118 Peoples Gas Bldg. DOUBLEDAY, PAGE & COMPANY, GARDEN CITY F. N. DOUBLEDAY, President H. S. HOUSTON, Vice-President N. Y. S. A. EVERITT, Treas. RUSSELL DOUBLEDAY, Sec'y |