434 RURAL SOCIOLOGY 



corn declined from thirty-four to twenty-fight bushels to the 

 acre; a larger proportion of the population are afflicted with 

 tuberculosis than in any similar area in the United States; a 

 trained hygienic expert who has made careful investigations de- 

 clares that the prevalence both of infectious disease and feeble- 

 mindedness is extreme; politics are corrupt, the selling of votes 

 common, petty crimes abound, the schools are badly managed and 

 poorly attended while there is much illiteracy. 



The itinerant evangelists who come into the county each year 

 are the chief religious leaders. The ministers who live in the 

 county usually remain but a year. They have several churches 

 each and direct their efforts to increasing the membership of the 

 particular churches they serve. They have no intimate relation 

 with the people and exert very little influence upon them. One 

 minister serves no less than ten churches. 



The type of religion here described is strongly intrenched in 

 parts of manj' counties while its influence through the migration 

 of farm laborers is seriously affecting the religious and social life 

 in some of the more prosperous and progressive counties. In one 

 of these in an area of sixteen miles long and from seven to eleven 

 miles wide there are three abandoned but no living churches. 

 One of the causes of this condition is the fact that the farm 

 laborers, imported by the owners of large tracts of land, have 

 never been made familiar with a normal type of religion. In- 

 vestigation has disclosed the fact that they come from the regions 

 where the excessively emotional type of religion prevails. 



In no less than nine counties conditions such as we have de- 

 scribed may be found in localities. In two of the counties homi- 

 cides are common and frequently go unpunished. In Vinton 

 County there are two Mormon Churches. It has been truly said 

 that in this southeastern section of the State our civilization is 

 not being conserved. 



A fairly good community, typical of a considerable area, may 

 be found in a certain township in the northwestern section of the 

 state. In this township one-half of the inhabitants are descend- 

 ants of the early settlers who came from New England. The tra- 

 ditions of these people are good, but they are too conservative 

 to encourage progress in agriculture. The other half of the 

 population consists of farmers coming mostly from the western 



