Produced by Tom Roch and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images produced by Core Historical Literature in Agriculture (CHLA), Cornell University and by The Internet Archive/American Libraries.) THE CHALLENGE OF THE COUNTRY [Illustration: THE COUNTRY BOY Why does he want to leave his father's farm to go to the city? He ought to be able to find his highest happiness and usefulness in the country, his native environment, where he is sadly needed. Can we make it worth while for this boy to invest his life in rural leadership?] THE CHALLENGE OF THE COUNTRY _A Study of Country Life Opportunity_ GEORGE WALTER FISKE JUNIOR DEAN, OBERLIN THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY OBERLIN, OHIO Association Press NEW YORK: 124 East 28th Street LONDON: 47 Paternoster Row, E. C. 1912 COPYRIGHT, 1912, BY THE INTERNATIONAL COMMITTEE OF YOUNG MEN'S CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATIONS TO THE COLLEGE MEN AND WOMEN WHO LOVE COUNTRY LIFE ENOUGH TO RESIST THE LURE OF THE CITY AND INVEST THEIR TALENTS IN RURAL CHRISTIAN LEADERSHIP WE OFFER THIS CHALLENGE OF THE COUNTRY PREFACE This study of country life opportunity and analysis of various phases of the rural problems in America has been written at the request of the International Committee of Young Men's Christian Associations, particularly for their County Work and Student departments. The former desired a handbook for the training of leaders in rural Christian work and the latter a textbook for the use of college students in Christian Associations wishing to study the fundamentals of rural social service and rural progress. It is the sincere hope of those who have asked for this book that it may bring to very many earnest young men and women, and especially in the colleges of the United States and Canada, a challenging vision of the need of trained leadership in every phase of rural life, as well as a real opportunity for life investment. Being the first book in the field which makes available the results of the Thirteenth U. S. Census, it is hoped that its fresh treatment of the latest aspects of the rural problems will commend itself to general readers who are interested in the Rural Life Movement and the welfare of the rural three-fifths of America. The author acknowledges with thanks the courtesy of the Presbyterian Board of Home Missions, the Macmillan Company and _Rural Manhood_, in granting the use of the cuts appearing in this volume. CONTENTS PAGE INTRODUCTION xi Country Life Opportunity. CHAPTER I. THE RURAL PROBLEM 1 Its Development and Present Urgency. CHAPTER II. COUNTRY LIFE OPTIMISM 33 Rural Resources and the Country Life Movement.