PROBLEMS OF RURAL SOCIAL LIFE 349 



dissipation, brawling, or in riotous living, than their non-Chris- 

 tian neighbors. Economizing their energy, they were able to 

 prevail over those who wasted theirs. Sometimes, however, war 

 and ] persecution have been resorted to, to check this economic 

 grow:h. At other times Christians themselves have resorted 

 to these noneconomic methods of gaining ground. But where 

 economic forces have been allowed to work unhindered, and 

 where Christianity has been of a type worth preserving, there it 

 has grown strong by reason of these economic forces alone, and 

 it has not needed to appeal to physical force or to the state to 

 spread itself. 



But is not agricultural competition itself a form of war ? Cer- 

 tain misinformed philosophers have fallen into the habit of say- 

 ing so. There is this difference. In war success depends upon 

 the power and the willingness to destroy. In agriculture success 

 depends upon the power and willingness to produce. In war 

 they win who inflict the greatest pain and injury. In agricul- 

 ture they win who render the greatest utility or service ; and 

 to a sober mind this must appear to be a real difference. 



But why confine these observations to agriculture and rural 

 economy? Are not the conditions of economic success the 

 same in the city as in the country ? And must not religion 

 prevail over irreligion in the city as well as in the country, pro- 

 vided religion secures a greater conservation of human energy 

 than does irreligion ? In a certain very broad sense, or in the 

 long run, with a great deal of emphasis on the word "long," 

 that is probably true. But the conditions of individual eco- 

 nomic success in cities are so complex, and there are so many 



opportunities for 



" ways that are dark 

 And for tricks that are vain," 



as to obscure though not to obliterate entirely the working of 

 this law under which success depends upon productive service. 



