of those
independent, self-reliant types of countrymen.

For these reasons in all parts of the country the pitiful story is heard
of divided communities. One need not recite it here. It usually is the
account of three hundred or four hundred people with five or six country
churches. At its worst there is a small community in which missionary
agencies are supporting ministers who do not average one hundred
possible families apiece in the community. The condition of Center Hall,
Pennsylvania, has been described in another chapter, in which there are
within a radius of four miles from a given point twenty-four country
churches. This community represents a condition of transition from the
land-farmer type to that of exploitation. Some of these churches are the
old churches of the land-owning resident farmers, but the most of them
are said to be the newer churches of tenants who have come into the
community. Our present concern is to recognize the relation of the
divided churches to the divided social life of the community. The
criticism of the country community must be made on an understanding of
the stage of development to which that community has attained. Whatever
is planned for the upbuilding of the country community must be planned
in harmony with the well-known facts of rural development.

Business life introduces into the community a new standard of values.
Cash and credit take the place of barter. The exchange in kind on which
originally the community depended comes to an end. Business life very
shortly induces combination. The whole of modern business presents a
spectacle of universal combination and co-operation. The farmer who is
most conservative is surrounded on all sides by the aggressive forces of
business. Combined in their own interest they compete with him on
unequal terms. He stands alone and they stand combined.

Americans are looking with growing interest on the experience of Denmark
where a multitude of co-operative associations represent the spirit of
the people. This spirit has been deliberately cultivated in the land for
forty years. It is the universal testimony of observers that the
prosperity of Denmark is dependent on these co-operative agencies and
upon this united spirit. The exodus from the country has been arrested,
agriculture has been made a desirable occupation, profitable for the
farmer and most probable for the state, and the people as a whole have
taken front rank in social and econo