thought. But the preacher has
had no training in finance and he cannot speak wisely or surely upon the
marginal problems with which the farmer is perplexed.

The household economy of the farm is no longer sufficient. The sins are
not merely those of adultery and disobedience and disloyalty. They are
the sins of the world market and the world economy. In these moral
situations the minister is silent. He knows nothing about them. He is
inclined merely to object if the farmer purchases an automobile. He does
not see what the automobile is to do for the agriculturist. Sunday
observance, total abstinence, family purity, honesty as to personal
property, these are his stock in trade and these alone. It requires,
therefore, a genius to preach in the country, because only the most
brilliant preaching can render traditional moral standards interesting
among country people.

It is proverbial among ministers that "the best preachers are needed in
the country." The reason for this is that none of the preachers has any
but an outworn standard to preach. They must reinforce it with
extraordinary eloquence in order to keep it attractive. Very ordinary
men, however, if they understand the modern spirit, can hold the
attention of country people. The grange has ministered to the farmer's
conscience. Yet its leaders have been commonplace men, unknown to the
nation at large. The great movements which have influenced the farmer
in the past twenty years have most of them been pushed to success by men
unknown to any but farmers. What orator has come into national
prominence out of the enterprises of agricultural life in the past two
decades? The farmer does not need great eloquence, but he does need a
thorough understanding of the moral and spiritual situations arising out
of the exploiter process in which he is immersed. He needs moral
teachers for the era of husbandry which is dawning in the country.

"There is an actual and most conspicuous dearth of leadership of a high
order in rural life. This is evident when we consider the economic and
social importance of the agriculturists. The agriculturists constitute
about half of our population, they owned over 21 per cent of the total
wealth in 1900, and in 1909 their products had a value of $8,760,000, or
just about one-third that of the entire nation for that year. Yet this
vast and fundamental element of our nation elects no farmer presidents,
has scarcely any of its members in congress, bu