Our country: its possible future and its present crisis

Front matter

BRARY OF CONGRESS.

i^iipI£)V©»it?rig|l IjnZin

Shelft

Preface To The Revised Edition

Living issues have changing aspects. The first edition of ''Our Country," which was prepared for the American Home Missionary Society when the author was its representative in Ohio, appeared early in 1886, and most of the book was written a year earlier. Although I endeavored, to apply to the subjects discussed fundamental principles, which remain equally applicable to-day, the statistical treatment of these living issues renders revision, after six years, quite essential to the further usefulness of the book. Moreover the census of 1890 marks the present as a favorable time for such revision. Although important results of the census will not be available for many months and even for years to come, the Superintendent, Hon. Robert P. Porter, has kindly furnished me with much valuable information.

The favorable reception accorded to the book would seem to be sufficient reason for its revision. Perhaps it may be of interest to state that in addition to the 130, 000 copies which have passed into circulation, a large part, if not the whole of the book, has been reprinted by the daily press, prominent papers in the East, West, South and in Canada, each having printed from one to three chapters entire. Four chapters were re-published in London and one in Glasgow. The book has been translated into one foreign language, and numerous propositions have been received relative to translating it into others.

I am devoutly thankful to God that he has used the

4 PREFACE.

book to accomplish in some measure what was intended by it. No one, I am sure, can have been more sensible of its defects than myself.

This revised edition has the benefit of criticisms made on earlier editions. It surely is not strange that among some thousands of statements of fact a number of errors should have been found, due in most instances to having accepted statements or estimates from men eminent enough, but not authorities on the point quoted ; e. g. , Mr. Gladstone's estimate (p. 98.) that ''manufacturing power, by the aid of machinery, doubles for the world once in seven years," which, it appears, is altogether extravagant. I may add that none of the errors referred to was essential to the argument, and therefore did not invalidate its conclusions.

Our Eoman Catholic friends have objected, and quite justly, that the Pope's utterances were not quoted literally. That no injustice might be done, it was my intention in the first edition to take all statements of Roman Catholic teaching or policy from Roman Catholics themselves, but as I then had no access to original sources of information, I was obliged to take quotations second-hand from Protestant writers. Six years ago there was very little agitation of the Roman Catholic question and reliable information was then much more difficult to obtain. The utterances of the Pope quoted were taken from " Fate of Republics," in which the propositions of the " Syllabus of Errors," issued by Pius IX., December 8, 1864, were put in positive instead of negative form, which does to some extent change their force and perhaps their meaning. Although I had then no reason to doubt the literalness of the quotations, I made repeated but unsuccessful efforts to obtain the Latin original by which to verify them.

No Roman Catholic, however, will have occasion to criticise the revision on any such ground.

It having been decided that the book would bear some enlargement, explanatory notes have been added more freely than was practicable in the narrower limits of the

MEE*ACE. 5

earlier editions. Some short passages have been omitted to make room for new and more important matter, which has been added to every chapter but one. A chapter on Peril to the Public Schools has been added, the greater part of which was read before the seventh triennial session of the National Council of Congregational Churches at Worcester, Mass., October 14, 1889. The chapter on Romanism is almost entirely new and much enlarged.

The map and most of the diagrams which appear in this revision are from "Leaves from ' Our Country,'" illustrated by Rev. C. C. Otis, of Springfield, 111., published by the American Home Missionary Society in 1888, to which society I am indebted for their use. I desire also to express my thanks to the many gentlemen, too numerous to name, who have kindly aided me with courteous answers to my inquiries for information.

The outlook is distinctly brighter than it was a half dozen years ago, not because there are fewer perils to face, nor, with one or two exceptions, because they are any less threatening, but because the public mind is being aroused to some appreciation of them, and the Christian Church is beginning to awake to the magnitude of her opportunity and obligation. The awakening however, is only a beginning, and leaves very much to be desired.

The difference in the situation to-day and five years ago is not such as to warrant the slightest relaxation of effort, but should rather stimulate endeavor with new courage.

This work is an attempt to present some of the perils which threaten our future, and to point out the magnitude of the issues which hang on the present. I have in preparation a work which is more constructive in character, and which will endeavor to show what action is demanded by existing conditions. This book is for the most part, a diagnosis ; the forthcoming one will venture to suggest some remedies. Josiah Strong.

Contents

Inteoduction. p. 11.

Chapter I. The Time Factor In The Pkoblem

The closing years of the nineteenth century are one of the great focal points in history. It is proposed to show that the progress of Christ's kingdom in the world for centuries to come depends on the next few years in the United States. P. 15

CHAPTER 11.

NATIONAL RESOURCES.

Yastness of our domain, compared with Europe and China. Our agricultural resources equal to sustaining 1,000,000,000 inhabitants. Mineral wealth : mineral product greater already than that of any other country. Manufactures, present and prospective: led Great Britain, in 1880, by ^650,000,000. Our threefold advantage. United States to become the workshop of the world. With all our resources fully developed can not only feed, but enrich 1,000,000,000. P. 21.

Chapter III. Western Supremacy

Extent of Western States and Territories. Nearly two and one-half times as much land west of the Mississippi as east of it, not including Alaska. The " Great American Desert." Amount of arable, grazing, timber, and useless lands. Min-

Vlll CONTENTS.

eral resources of the West. With more than twice the room and resources of the East, the West will have probably twice the population and wealth of the East. P. 29.

CHAPTER IV. PERILS. — IMMIGB ATIGISr

Controlling causes threefold. 1. Attracting influences in the United States; prospect of proprietorship in the soil; this is the land of plenty; free schools. 2. Expellant influences of Europe: prospect not pacific; France, Germany, Austria, Italy, Russia, Great Britain ; military duty; the "blood tax"; population becoming more crowded. 3. Facilities of travel; labor-saving machinery. All co-operate to increase immigration. Foreign population in 1890. Moral and political influence of immigration. Influence upon the West. P. 44.

Chapter V. Pebils. — Romanism

I. Conflict of Romanism with the fundamental principles of our government ; popular sovereignty ; liberty of conscience ; free speech, and a free press ; separation of Church and State ; free schools ; loyalty to the Constitution and loyalty to the Pope. II. Attitude toward our free institutions. III. Impossible to "make America Catholic " without bringing the principles of that church into active conflict with those of our government. IV. The course of moderate Romanists in such an issue. V. Rapid growth of Romanism in the United States, especially in the West. P. 62.

Chapter VI. Pekils. — Beligion And The Public Schools

Two theories which threaten the schools. I. That of the Roman Catholic hierarchy ; II. That of the Secularists. Tlie State must provide for its own preservation. Popular morality essential to popular government. Certain fundamental religious truths essential to successful training in morality. Those truths should be taught in the public schools. P. 92.

CONTENTS. IX

CHAPTER YII.

PERILS. — MORMONISM.

Polygamy not an essential part of Mormonism ; might be destroyed without weakening the system. Strength Hes in ecclesiastical despotism. Mormon designs. The remedy. Important decisions of the supreme court. P. 111.

CHAPTER YIII.

PERILS. — INTEMPERANCE.

I. The progress of civilization renders men the easier victims of intemperance. Civilization must destroy the liquor traffic, or be destroyed by it. The problem serious enough in the East. What of the West, where the relative power of the saloon is two-and-one-half times greater ?

II. The liquor power ; wealth ; organization ; aims ; methods. Influence in Rocky Mountains and beyond. P. 121.

CHAPTER IX.

PERILS. — SOCIALISM.

The Socialistic Labor Party and the International Working-men's Association. Teachings. Numbers. Conditions favorable to growth : 1. Immigration ; 2. Increasing Individualism ; 3. Prevalence of skepticism ; 4. Development of classes ; 5. Growing discontent. Modern enginery of destruction. Conditions at the West peculiarly favorable to the growth of Socialism. P. 138.

CHAPTER X.

PERILS. — WEALTH.

Comparative statement of wealth. Rate of increase. Advantages over Europe. Dangers : 1. Mammonisra ; 2. Materialism ; 3. Luxuriousness : 4. Congestion of wealth. All these dangers greater at the West than at the East. P, 162.

X CONTENTS.

CHAPTER XI.

PEBILS. — THE CITY.

Disproportionate growth of the city. Each of the preceding perils, except Mormonism, enhanced in the city, and all concentered there. Moral and religious influence and government all weakest in the city, where they need to be strongest. The West peculiarly threatened. P. 179.

CHAPTER XII.

THE INFLUENCE OF EABLY SETTLERS.

First permanent settlers impress their character on future generations. Illustrations. Character of the formative influences in the West. P. 195.

CHAPTER XIII.

THE EXHAUSTION OF THE PUBLIC LANDS.

Meaning of cheap public lands, and significance of their occupation. Their extent. Exhausted in fifteen or twenty years. The character of the West and, hence, the future of the nation to be determined by 1900. P. 203.

CHAPTER XIV.

THE ANGLO-SAXON AND THE WOELD'S FUTURE.

Reasons why the world's future is to be shaped by the Anglo-Saxon. The United States to be the seat of his power The most marked characteristics of the Anglo-Saxon race are liere being emphasized, and the race schooled for the competition with other races, which will begin as soon as the pressure of population on the means of support is felt in the United States. The result of that competition. The responsibility of this generation. P. 208.

CHAPTER XV.

MONEY AND THE KINGDOM.

For an unparalleled opportunity God has conferred on this generation the power of unprecedented wealth. It is for the Church to recognize the relations of the one to the other, P. 228

Introduction

TO THE

CUMBERLAND PRESBYTERIAN EDITION.

Whoever would not be content with a defective education concerning his country's resources and progress, the elements and conditions of society which are significant of peril, the emergencies of the hour, the grand opportunities for Christian endeavor, and the imperative need of strategy in Home missions should not forego reading and studying this masterly production. Dr. Austin Phelps of Andover, in his introduction to the regular edition, says, ** This is a powerful book. Its great strength lies in its facts. These are collated with rare skill, and verified by the testimony of men and of documents whose witness is authority. The book will speak for itself to every man who cares enough for the welfare of our country to read it, and who has intelligence enough to take in its portentous story."

Even those readers who fancy themselves fairly informed through other sources, will be instructed and thrilled by the story unfolded, and by the sound arguments presented. '' Kacth me the Bible, and I will prove it," said the stern old Scotch elder, whose seemingly extravagant statements no one dared formally to question, but which manifestly taxed the credulity of his class. In like manner, while very many have taken in hand to set forth in order, by the use of the most expressive adjectives, America's superior advantages and enrichments, and the wonderful progressiveness of the age, the author of this book furnishes absolutely overwhelming evidences thereof, and demonstrates beyond question that the people of the United States, enriched by Nature's gifts, and favored as they are with free civil institutions, and the wealth, priceless, of pure Christian teachings, are pre-eminently endowed and equipped for advancement in Christian civilization, and for shaping in a large measure, the world's future.

lNTEODUCTlO:tf.

The ideas and acts of one generation inevitably affect the fortunes of those thaff^low. Tlie fifteenth century, in many particulars, witnessed much that is characteristic of the current age, — remarkaj^le physical activity on the part of restless, eager man, — bold intellectual strides, — crossing of currents of thought, — hitherto unparalleled discoveries and inventions ; — another continent was needed, and America was discovered. "From all this," writes Guizot, "some idea may be formed of the greatness and activity of the fifteenth century : a greatness which at the time was not very apparent ; an activity of which the results did not immediately take place. Violent reforms seemed to fail ; governments acquired stability. It might have been supposed that society was now about to enjoy the benefits of better order and more rapid progress. The mighty revolutions of the sixteenth century were at hand ; the fifteenth century prepared them." There was a veritable Renaissance, besides that of Classical literature, and the Fine Arts. The Reformation came on apace, and religious revolution was the absorbing fact of the sixteenth century. The human mind revolted against absolute power, ecclesiastical and civil, and asserted its right to freedom.

Representatives of different nationalities, but of similar experiences, and with distinctively Protestant religious convictions exiled themselves and united their energies, and mingled tlieir blood in the new British Colonies on American soil. The preparatory process has continued. The phenomenal growth and the steadfast tread of the nation have placed it in all things important, at least abreast, and in some particulars a full step in advance of every other ruling power of earth.

With a touch of humor, Americans are often charged with lofty speaking, but in sober truth, largeness is a notable characteristic of much that is American. Although our country is the youngest of the great nations, with seven eighths of its aiable lands yet untouched by a plow ; with seemingly exhaustless beds of minerals, yet undeveloped ; and vast forests, in which the woodsman's axe is yet unheard,— its annual income, number of cattle, amount of agricultural products, metallic yield, out-put of factories, and mileage of railroads, exceed those of Great Britain. The daughter has taken the first and the mother occupies the second rank among the nations of the world, and the transfer of empire from Europe

IKTROBUCTIOH.

to America, so long ago predicted by Adam Smith, may as well be accepted as an accomplished fact.

J^o where else is modern enterprise causing the fullness of the earth to be poured out in such torrents. Mighty forces muscular and mental are daily applied in finding and appropriating Nature's treasures for man's uses, in constructing great indu'stries, and in adding elegancies and conveniences of life. The rush, even rage, in pursuit of riches is simply marvelous. If civilization consisted merely in multiplication of comforts and luxuries, then would America be indeed on the high road to excellence, but it is a mooted question whether large wealth is even a friendly factor in race elevation— a question which can be determined only in given cases, the result depending wholly upon the right or wrong use made of it.

Thoughtful men and women cannot fail to see that pluck, push, and plethoric purses have a bearing upon vital problems touching human destiny and well-being, other than those relating to the supply of physical wants and the gratification of legitimate taste. " Meat, fire and clothes ! what more do riches give ? " inquired Alexander Pope. To the sensuous, nothing, except a surfeit of luxuries and a shameful indulgence of lust and the pride of life ; while, in the hands of the philanthropist and the spiritually-minded, wealth is an instrument of tremendous power for good. Dissociated from worth, and devoted to other than personal and family support, intellectual growth, and benevolent uses,— it is a dreadful foe. Consecrated to the Lord, to whom all belongs, including self, it is a true friend to humanity, and through it friends are made for eternity. Since money may be rightly used »for whatever is essential for highest individual development and fitness for the greatest measure of usefulness, reasonable appropriation for such ends, is a duty as well as a privilege. With utmost fairness our author, in his forcible discussion of "Money and the Kingdom," holds that art has an educating value and that the beautiful is to some a necessity. Albeit wealth can be rightly applied only in the way and manner most honoring to God.

What shall be done with the surplus ? Is there too much wealth ? No, — the Lord made it and it is his. " Brother John," said Lord Gifford, "I have had a terrible night. I began to fear that I was growing fond of money. I must make it useful, not to myself, not to my family, but to my iKTilODtrci^IOK.

fellow creatures at large." There is to-day a Gifford Lectureship in Glasgow University.

The money problem, however, is not chief ; the most serious question relates to manhood and talent ; rightly used, they carry with them all things else. The brainy, brawny,' brisk American is, in himself, an estate in trust for the world's good. " The noblest of God's making " is a noble wise-hearted man, or woman, given to noble deeds. A dire calamity is life misspent, which comes of wrongly directed energy, or the non-use of means for worthy ends ; and as communities and states are but associations of a number of individuals, the calamity is all the greater when they go wrong, and betray their trust.

Great trusts entail great responsibilities. Much given, much required is not only the law of the kingdom, but a rule approved by enlightened human judgment as well.

Will our country with its enormous resources, and its splendid equipments, fulfill its mission, and in the progress of the ages, exemplify in the sight of all nations the excellency of a true civilization ? This is a pregnant question, inviting, even commanding, the most serious thought of christian and non-christian patriots and philanthropists. Thinking men are impressed with the truth that the permanency of our institutions is by no means assured. Although the idea that failure is even possible may be appalling, yet, our national life has never been free from peril.

Pending problems touching the nation's welfare require, for their solution, the best brain and heart of the land. The world is looking on, and wondering what the result will be. "The nations of the earth," says Dr. Pierson, "are waiting to see whether liberty, guarded by the minimum of law and granting the maximum of personal independence, freedom of speech and freedom of movement, is a safe estate for the average man." The test, yet to be completed, relates more directly to the question, — whether the people, in whose hearts the spirit of personal liberty is regnant, will wisely exercise the functions of empire for the public good, not merely in matters of social welfare and the supply of means for physical support, but in that which civilization in its extensive signification comprehends, the development of man's higher nature, which commits him to a destiny above and beyond the mundane. While liability to corruption and anarchy in limited

INTRODUCTIOK.

circles in a republic may be great, it is obvious that the free exercise of personal liberty, duly guarded, is most conducive to the upbuilding of personal character, and hence it is fairly assumed that a popular form of government is at once, when judiciously administered, the best matrice for race development ; and yet perchance the worst, should liberty, unchecked, become headstrong. Electricity promises to surpass steam and all other natural agencies in serving humanity, yet when not under proper control, it is an instrument of dreadful mischief.

The history of pure civilization, universal in a single state or nation, is yet to be written ; such a condition having never existed, not even in our own country. The truth should not and cannot be disguised that shameful disorders are not uncommon. Some are outgrowths, though not necessarily, of our free institutions. License has been mistaken for liberty. Wisdom and virtue have been tolerant of vice, until wickedness has entrenched itself and become defiant, — crime stalks abroad unpunished, — greed for pelf and pleasure is enormous, and political corruption and fraud are flagrant, even shockinoto the moral sense of the nation ; and what Ruskin calls *' the infidelity of England" is rife among many brain-workers in high fife, as evinced by their disregard of God's laws in planning life work for themselves and for others.

Not a few whose attention has been arrested by the motorwheels of vice at work in our country, take quite a pessimistic view of the situation, and well-nigh despair of the Republic. To them the cloud has no silver lining. Others, though not unobservant of the lawlessness so common, and of the depraved tendencies of the tim^s, see counter-active forces at work, and entertain high hopes of a peaceable adjustment of all our difficulties and an escape from the dangers that environ us.

We are to look for these counter-active forces in the vitalizing doctrines of grace, proclaimed and taught by energetic Christianity. Ignore the fact who may, nevertheless the history of civilization in its purest form is the history of the gospel's strange work, and the best social order is found only in communities wherein the ethical spirit of Christianity is dominant. We do not say that there are no features of civilization where the gospel has not been published, but that "human nature is under a constitutional law of ethical iNTKODUCTlOi^^.

progress," Dr. Behrends rightly affirms, "is tlie purest of assumptions contradicted by all ethnic testimony." Nothing, absolutely nothing, except the mind which was in Christ Jesus "can supplant the spirit of self-seeking which is at the bottom of every meanness at work in social life, from slum to senate. When selfishness, with its cruel motto, " Every man for himself, and the weakest to the wall," succumbs to brotherly kindness under the Spirit's ordering, "Look not every man on his own things, but every man, also, upon the things of others," social problems will be solved, and not before.

In the light of these facts, the question of transcendent importance touching present problems, and even the life of the commonwealth, as well as the spiritual welfare of souls in the life that now is and that which is to come, awaits an answer, which, possibly in the near and certainly in the not distant future, will be the answer to the questions in hand. Will God's people fulfill their sacred trust in sounding out the gospel, apart from which, there is no spiritual regeneration of the individual, and no social order worthy to be called civilization.

In no other land is the relative number of evangelical christians so large, and the wealth so vast. Statistical tables consulted, show that there are more than thirteen millions of communicants in evangelical churches in our country, over one fifth of the entire population ; there are, in round numbers, 142,000 church organization, 93,000 ordained ministers, 8,650,000 Sabbath-school scholars, 146 Theological Seminaries, with, 309 Colleges and Universities, owned and controlled by evangelical denominations ; while the wealth of Protestant Christians m the United States exceeds thirteen billions of dollars and their annual income over and above the cost of living is estimated at more than four hundred millions. The relative increase has been marvelously great; in 1800 there was one church to 1751, and one communicant to 14^ inhabitants. In 1886 there was one church to 483, and one communicant to 4.8 inhabitants. The increase of communicants since 1800 has been 33.03 fold as compared with 11.01 fold of population ; and it is fairly estimated that three-fourths of the inhabitants are either members, or adherents of the Protestant churches.

Though the testimony of the church in the past has been immensely valuable, and Christian achievements brighten i:NrTRODUCTlOir.

every page of history upon which they are recorded, it is nevertheless questionable whether even half of the possible has been accomplished. The number of workers impressing the current age with the force of personal character in Christain endeavor is lamentably small as compared with the enrolled membership. Unhappily churches are not properly distributed; in cities they are crowded into popular and fashionable localities. Many are self-centered ; some are '* castles of indolence," and a large per cent, of the money contributed is used in the congregations which are well established, and the average gift for sending the gospel into destitute places is a mere bagatelle.

The emergencies of the hour require, in order to a tremendously aggressive movement, not a larger number of men and women counted as church members, but a larger number of thoroughly consecrated workers, identified with the moral purposes of Christ ; men and women of prayer, empowered by the spirit for "holding forth the word of life" forcibly and persuasively ; men, who will use voice and ballot and influence against the popular vices which are menacing society ; women, whose whole life and speech will be the severest protests against evil in its protean forms : men and women, conscious of their power and opportunities, creating around them an atmosphere of pure Christianity. Not until the great body of Christians in America know the knowable, believe the believable, and awaken to the discovery of their obligations and their potentiality, will there be " stir and onset " equal to the exigencies of the present crisis.

It is morally certain that there must be more thorough organization of forces, and wiser strategy in Home missionary operations before there will be real grappling with pending problems. No people in any age ever had fields for labor so wide and accessible ; incentives to work so great, or facilities so abundant for pressing the gospel into every neighborhood, and town, into every ward, and every subdivision of wards in our great cities.

When, as in the moment of King David's conquests, two-thirds of the Lord's hosts gird themselves and go forth, holding the doctrines of grace in sustained contact with the masses of native and alien whites, the two hundred and fifty thousand yet unevangelized Indians, and seven millions of colored people, then may we expect that there will be " enough li^TRODUCTIOlf.

intelligence and virtue to take care of the ignorance and vice," or at least, tlie responsibility will be removed from the shoulders of the Lord's people, while experience will attest the truth of the proverb, "virtue grows under an imposed weight."

There is yet a broader aspect of the subject presented in this volume. . . . "The climax of the argument," says the Sage of Andover, "appears in the view taken of the auxiliary relation of this country's evangelizing to the evangelizing of the world. . . . Forecasting the future of Christianity, as statesmen forecast the destiny of nations, we must believe that it will be what the future of this country is to be, — as goes America, so goes the world in all that is vital to its moral welfare." Dr. N. G. Clark, always on the alert and watchful of the signs of the times, forcibly strikes the same key-note : " The truth is we have come to one of the critical periods of history when tlie future of races and countries turns on the decisions almost of an hour. The lines of Providence converge on this age as on the first century of the Christian era. To us is given the great privilege of having part in the last and greatest triumphs of the Redeemer's work in the social regeneration of mankind. To us pre-eminently, is given the establishment of states and empires around the globe. By every sentiment of gratitude that can stir a (renerous christian heart, in every view of what the gospel has been to our country; by every sentiment of lovalty to our Great Leader, that should prompt to a loving obedience to his command ; by the loftiest motives that can move a redeemed soul, eager to offer its tribute of love, conscious of its high privileges as an heir of glory, we are called to accept and to fulfill our sacred trust."

What is the bearing of the trust in question upon the Cumberland Presbyterian Church,— for whose benefit chiefly this special edition of this book is published ? Not by accident but according to the Divine programme of the ages, as we conceive, a choice part of this young Republic's domain, wherein there are found the best opportunities and greatest inducement for Church extension and Christian service, has been for four-score years, the center of its influence and life-growth. It is not arrogance to say that the fabric of our church has been interwoven with the nation's best interests west of the Alleghanies during this period. Happy in location, happy in

INTEODUCTIOi^^.

creed, happy in homogeneousness, with church machinery in all departments, moving in harmony and with constantly increasing power, our inheritance is superb. . . . The prestige gained, and the capacity acquired are significant of the measure of trust imposed, and of the corresponding responsibilities. The thousands of doors opportunely opened to the church are as thousands of voices calling for messengers and messages of life.