t not hold to a theoretic
opposition to such a method. The important thing is to provide a trained
pastor for the country community. In these Eastern communities a larger
proportion of the former members of the community have prospered than in
Western communities. Many of them are very rich. In these cases it is
but natural that an endowed church in the country community express the
ministry of the more prosperous citizen to his poorer brethren, but
everybody knows that these depleted communities--I will not say these
excessive fortunes--are among the most lamentable factors in American
life.

The endowment of the church, however, is a very poor apology for a bad
situation. It has but limited use, and the creation of a large fund to
be used in the country community necessitates careful supervision by men
of such business ability as are not usually found in a country
community. To remedy such conditions as those with which President
Eliot and President Butterfield are most familiar is a specific
problem. It is not the general situation throughout the United States.
The purpose of these chapters is to make plain the way by which the
average American community may escape depletion, may retain the
leadership of its best minds and may prosper in a democratic way. I am
interested more in training the country population for the future than
in mending the mistakes of the past. But I believe that for depleted
country communities in New England, New York and Pennsylvania an
endowment of the country church would in many instances be effective:
and for them alone.

Let the country church undertake its financial problem in a
business-like way. At the beginning of the year make a budget of all the
monies needed for the year's work. Face the issues of the year frankly.
Pay to the minister and to other employees of the church a sufficient
amount to provide them with needful things throughout the year. A living
wage is not enough. The minister especially needs a working salary. With
little variation throughout the country as a whole the minister in the
rural community should have in order to minister to his people, to
educate his children and to look forward without fear to old age, twelve
to fourteen hundred dollars a year and a house. Many country communities
have a more expensive standard, and there are a few in which less is
required. But in Southern States and in Western communities I have found
the conditions, created by the pri