180 CHAPTERS IN RURAL PROGRESS 



cannot unite for religious work, can they not 

 join hands long enough to secure a more intelli- 

 gent basis for their separate work ? It seems 

 to me that this sort of union is worth while, and 

 that it is something in which there could be full 

 union, in which "there is neither Jew nor Greek, 

 there is neither bond nor free." 



4. The pastor may aid if not lead in the fed- 

 eration of rural social forces. The idea in- 

 volved is substantially this: Given a farmers' 

 organization that ministers chiefly to industrial 

 and economic ends, though incidentally to 

 moral and educational ones; a school system 

 that feeds chiefly the accepted educational needs, 

 though acting perhaps as a moving force in 

 industrial and social betterment; a church 

 which is chiefly a religious institution, but 

 which touches the life of the community at 

 many other points — given these things and the 

 obvious next step is co-operation among them 

 all, in order that a well-balanced kind of social 

 progress may result. This form of federation 

 means the attempt to solve the farm problem at 

 all points. It suggests that the army of rural 

 progress shall march with the wings abreast the 

 center. It means that the farmer, the editor, 

 the educator, the preacher — all, shall see the 



