Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1912-06-28
MINISTER'S rGLl RURAL CONFER.
ENcE rRousLE WITH RURAL
PARlshEs.
FARM EMS KEEPING THEM
NEAR EDGE OF BANKRUPTCY
Paying Preachers Starvation Wages
and Semstimes Forgetting That Oh.
lieation 10 . Dsbt-ssttsr Business
Management in Church Affairs Need
Of the Rural Community.
Special to Times Republican,.

Specaol 10 1kmeS-Hepu0llcan,
Ames. June 2s.-"I can tell you what
10 the trouble with the rural church in
Iowa" declared Rev. c. L. Baxter. OF
Council Bluffs. district superintendent
OF the Methodist church, at the session
OF the rural life conference at Iowa
state college. Our farmers are keeping
II too near the edge Of bankrupt
cy. and they're paying their preachers
starvation wages"
MI. Baxter declared that the average
church society is unfair, while some
are downright stingy and mean, in
their treatment Of ministers. "They
demand a man who is well educated:
tney want good lockers; they want
men who dress well and who dress
their families well; they want them to
keep open house and have good homes;
they want them to be well read and
own libraries and take magazines:
they want them to keep up with the
times, and yet they won't pay much
more than $500 a year salary to such a
man.. People can be religious and not
nave very good sense about these
things One church in Iowa had new
preacher ten weeks and in that time did
not pay him more than IS on salary,
yet he had family of six to feed and
cloths for the winter, fuel to buy, and
other things to pay. He was suffering
physically; mentally, he was suffering
more because of his shameful treat
ment. Yet his congregation wanted
good service from him. When we put
cur churches OH higher standard A.
nancially, we will go far toward soIv-
ing the rural church problem"
4 Poorly Managed.
Rev. NJ. B. McNutt of the Presbyter-
ian department of country church
work. declared that no other business
on earth was SO carelessly managed
as the rural church's business. 'Our
farmers are accused of being stingy
with their churches. and it looks like
it." he said. "They keep their churches
and minister on the verge of starva-
ton. The $4,000 ministers outside the
$50 large cities Of the United States get
an average salary Of 1913 a year. Sta
tistics show that the average family
must spend $3.50 year for food alone.
How can minister get along on what
is left, support his family and be happy
and efficient?
1.-The average farmer thinks he can't
afford to give to the church's support.
Yet here are the facts: IN q typical
rural community Of $40 families it was
found that the average among them
owned property worth $4,000. This
average family spent on itself, $771 a
year; on schools, 1872: on roads. So;
on the church, $3.1S.
"The church needs business system,
bookkeeping and a good finance COM
mittee. Support of the preacher must
be put on other than begging basis.
1t must be looked on as a debt. There
is nothing more vital In solving the
rural problem than this one Of church
finance"
The conference has attracted some
fifty or sixty rural life workers and
they are digging deep into the rural
problems in Iowa. They are all men
Of practical experience In the rural
communities Of this and other states.
Some Of them, like H. w. Abbott Of
Hawkeye, are farmer leaders; others
like DR.. Alex Crawford Of Mt. Vernon
and H. ]. Shuts Of ERADICATE. are doc
tors or teachers. Their conferences,
with their informal discussions are
lively and valuable. They are held
daily and make an hour Of vital dis
cussion Of Iowa's rural need.