Conserving the Values of Rural Life 



Excerpts From Address Of Dr. Mark Datwber, IMew York City 



The Church is concerned in a peculiar 

 way with those distinctive values that are 

 inherent in rural life. Each day in cross- 

 ing the campus of the University at 

 Berkeley, California, where I lectured last 

 summer, I read the inscription on the 

 frieze of Hilgard Hall, to "Rescue for 

 Human Society the Native Values of 

 Rural Life." As I stood outside the 

 Union Station in Washington, D. C. 

 recently I read once again those impres- 

 sive words that are engraved on the 

 front of this magnificent building, "The 

 farm, best home of the family, source 

 of all national wealth, foundation of 

 civilized society, the natural Providence." 



This inscription from California sug- 

 gests three things that I think have pro- 

 found significance. First, that rural life 

 is responsible for certain values that are 

 inherent in the nature of rural life; sec- 

 ond, that these values are of supreme 

 importance to human society as a whole; 

 and third, that as rural life is now go- 

 ing, society is in grave danger of losing 

 these values. A very casual study of his- 

 tory will reveal that the decline and fall 

 of civilizations is due in large measure 

 to the crushing out of rural life and the 

 loss of these basic values. The other 

 inscription from Washington would seem 

 to give the answer to the one from 

 California, and to set forth what these 

 fundamental values of rural life are. 



The most important contribution farm- 

 ers are making to society is not corn, 

 wheat and livestock but children, homes, 

 and character. . . . Cities are draining too 

 much of the best human stock from the 

 farm. We must be concerned with the 

 kind of stock we are going to send down 

 to the cities tomorrow. ... I see no hope 

 for democracy in New York City or 

 other metropolitan centers. The hope 

 of this democracy rests in rural America 

 .... The New gadgets of the cities are 

 much less important to society than the 

 development of the mind and intellect. . . 



The farmer is more important than the 

 farm. The farm is only a means to an 

 end. For what profiteth it a man if he 

 have the best farm in the world but lose 

 the joy of living. The farm is a place 

 to live rather than just a place to make 

 money. Most businesses can be measured 

 by the yardstick of Wall Street but home 

 and fireside are infinitely more important 

 .... there is no financial rating for them. 



More decency, honesty, integrity and 

 economic jus^ce are needed in this world. 

 The farmer is suflFering economically be- 

 cause of a lack of them. . . . Democracy 



teaches two things, the sacredness of the 

 human being and the unity of peoples 

 of all the world. In Naziism and fascism 

 the individual is degraded ... he exists 

 merely for the state. 



Theodore Roosevelt once said: "No 

 nation has ever achieved permanent 

 greatness unless this greatness was based 

 on the well-being of the great farmer 

 class, the men who live on the soil; 

 for it is upon their welfare, material and 

 moral, that the welfare of the rest of the 

 nation ultimately rests." 



The rural church has a responsibility 

 to the farmer and rural people in terms 

 of economic justice. First, in the inter- 

 ests of farm people themselves we are 

 concerned with the building of a whole- 

 some rural life and a satisfying rural 

 community. These things are impossible 

 unless rural people have the purchasing 

 power to secure the things that are nec- 

 essary to such a standard of culture and 

 living. It is hopeless to appeal to the best 

 of our young people to stay on the farm 

 or in the country, unless we can hold out 

 to them the possibility of such a standard 

 of living and the development of such 

 a wholesome community. 



Faith in God, faith in man himself, 

 faith in life and an understanding of its 

 meaning and purpose; these are the 

 things that matter, and these can best be 

 achieved by those whose roots are in 

 the soil and whose daily lives are in 

 contact with Mother Earth. For those 

 who believe in freedom, who appreciate 

 the home and the family and stability, 

 and who have a respect for persons, the 

 land has deep spiritual significance. 



Mr. J. Maspons, a leader in the very 

 progressive agrarian reforms that the 

 Catholics were instituting in Spain prior 

 to the Civil war, wrote the following 

 in Iberica, November 1, 1930: "You 

 cannot reckon with the factor of the 

 land unless you reckon with the factor of 

 the man on the land." Not only eco- 

 nomic but moral conditions are neces- 

 sary if we are to make right use of the 

 soil and to prevent its exploitation. Men 

 have not only robbed one another in their 

 misuse of the soil but they have robbed 

 God. It is for this reason that the 

 Church, and in particular the rural 

 church, must understand the basic spirit- 

 ual values of the soil and lead its people 

 out in a new sense of stewardship in its 

 use. 



It was for these and other spiritual 

 values that Prene LaFargue, whose family 

 had been on the same farm for eleven 



hundred and fifty years, said, that "big 

 cities are bad places for country people." 

 The other side of this statement is more 

 imperative. To be on the land is a good 

 place for people. Rural people must be 

 helped to a greater appreciation of the 

 religious significance of the land. It is 

 for this reason that we should give our 

 support to every measure that is being 

 instituted to conserve and replenish the 

 soil. This is not a political question; it 

 is a religious question. 



Clark Service Company held its fourth 

 and largest annual meeting in the Court 

 House at Marshall, January 18, with G. W. 

 Bunting as speaker. President Paul Behner 

 reviewed the growth and development of 

 the company. Manager Voelkel distributed 

 446 dividend checks totaling $7,036.91 at 

 the close of the meeting. 



New directors elected were George Ham- 

 mond, Luther Hammond, and Ralph Swear- 

 ington. Members bought 87 per cent of 

 supplies sold. 



"Sure there's room in our 

 car. No, we never drive to 

 town with a cream can in 

 the back seat . . . The Pro- 

 ducers Creamery picks it 

 up." 1 



For convenient twice-a- 

 week pick-up service call, 

 or write, your Farm Bureau. 



Illinois Producers Creameries 



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C«rbondale 



AT 



Bloomington 



Moline 



Cariinvilia 



Peoria 

 OIney 

 Mt. Sterling 



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Is Your Insurance of 



Better Prices. 



24 



L A. A. RECORD 



