MISSION INDUSTRIES 45 



2. Agriculture is likely to remain the main occupa- 

 tion of India, because of its climate and the long grow- 

 ing season. 



3. Improved agriculture is the line of least resistance 

 in a society bound by caste and may be the line of 

 greatest wisdom. It is the simplest and most direct way 

 to give India enough to eat and to prevent famine. 



4. Improved agriculture, taught to the low-caste con- 

 vert will give him enough to eat and will provide him 

 with a surplus with which he can purchase clothing, 

 pay the doctor, educate his children and contribute 

 reasonably to the support of his religion. He learns 

 by his own efforts how to support himself and his family. 



5. Improved agriculture provides an occupation for 

 sons of Christians who are not fitted to be mission 

 teachers or preachers. Hitherto the main efforts of 

 mission training have been directed toward the keep- 

 ing up of the supply of evangelists and teachers. Not 

 all good Christians are called of God to these forms of 

 service. Since mission service is a form of life insur- 

 ance for the time server, many have entered into this 

 form of Christian work who were not suited either by 

 their aptitude or their consecration to teaching or 

 preaching. Because there was no other form of train- 

 ing provided by the mission a class of professional re- 

 ligionists has been fostered who are not always a credit 

 to their mission or to Christianity. The boy who is 

 trained in agriculture has no difficulty in obtaining a 

 good job apart from the mission, often at a salary much 

 higher than the mission could afford to pay. We have 

 had men, trained on the farm at Allahabad, who delib- 

 erately chose mission service at a lower rate of pay, 

 rather than other employment at a higher salary be- 



