The Lutheran Pioneer St. Louis — 1927, Page 68

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68

THE LUTHERAN PIONEER.

to be earned in the city factories, succumbed to the
temptation to leave his native heath and go city-
ward. So, too, the business man of the village and
the countryside saw opportunities to better himself
in the city with its teeming thousands. Oppor-
tunities for more ‘rapid advancement and better

A St. Louis Suburban School.

pay did not only take the mechanic and laborer to
the cities, but likewise the high school graduate, the
clerk, the salesman, the bookkeeper, and the pro-
fessional man. The great factories and corporations
held out inducements to the wide-awake and in-
telligent young man and seta premium on mechan-
ical, mental, and executive ability such as was un-
dreamed of a few decades ago. Larger pay, shorter
hours, steady employment, were most. attractive
allurements for the young man on the farm. Also

the social advantages which the cities have to offer ,

play a great part in taking the young men and
women from the farms and bringing them to the
city. Not a few are drawn to the larger cities by
the educational advantages they offer to the ambi-
tious young man and woman. Night classes of all
kinds, schools that offer young people the oppor-
tunity to work while pursuing their courses of study,
draw thousands of the best young men and girls
from the country to our large cities.

The increasing cost of farm machinery joined to
the unsatisfactory prices of farm products have also
had their share in sending the young country people
cityward. Farm tenants have found it increasingly
difficult to make ends meet on the farms they rented.
This has been an inducement to leave the farm for
the city. In many cases such former farm tenants
haye been able to realize enough from the sale of
their farming implements and other chattels to
make a substantial payment on a house in a new
suburb of the city and thus set them upon the way
of soon becoming the happy owners of their own
homes. What is true of the farm tenants is in

great measure also true of the ordinary laborer and
mechanic in villages and rural communities. The
better opportunities and greater advantages offered
by the larger cities has drawn thousands of them
with their families away from their old homes.
Thus many farms have been abandoned, and the
tural and village populations have decreased to
furnish operatives for the large city manufacturing
plants and help build up whole suburbs.

A Challenge to the Church.

The migration from country and village to the
larger city offers a serious challenge to the Church.
The amazing speed with which suburban communi-
ties spring up present a problem of great difficulty
to the Church. For if the Church does not wish
to lose its opportunity, it must follow the people to
these suburbs and provide them with churches and
a leadership which will from the very start com-
mand the attention and respect of the community.

It is no exaggeration to say that our large cities
have become our real home mission fields. These
cities have not within their borders the resources to

Lutheran Church at East Northport,
Long Island, N. Y.

supply their own spiritual needs. The evangeliza-
tion of cities like New York, Chicago, Detroit, and
the like is a task for America. These greatest and
most rapidly growing cities present the greatest
missionary opportunities. No greater task faces
the Church of America to-day than the spiritual
conquest of its large industrial centers.