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Mountain Life & Work vol. 06 no. 2 July, 1930

Mountain Life & Work vol. 06 no. 2 July, 1930 Council of the Southern Mountains 400dpi TIFF G4 page images University of Kentucky, Electronic Information Access & Management Center Lexington, Kentucky 2003 mlwv6n20730 These pages may freely searched and displayed. Permission must be received for subsequent distribution in print or electronically. Mountain Life & Work vol. 06 no. 2 July, 1930 Council of the Southern Mountains Berea College; Council of the Southern Mountains Berea, Kentucky July, 1930 $IMLS This electronic text file was created by Optical Character Recognition (OCR). No corrections have been made to the OCR-ed text and no editing has been done to the content of the original document. Encoding has been done through an automated process using the recommendations for Level 1 of the TEI in Libraries Guidelines. Digital page images are linked to the text file. Volume VI July, 1930 Number II Conference Number Adult Education: Its Basis and Background in the United States .-Robert E. Lester . . . . . 2 The Mountaineer in Industry -James Myers . . . . . 7 A Mountaineer's Viewpoint -James Barren, . . . 11 Public Health: A Winning Game ~-Robina K7aeebone . . . . 13 Human Government -Frank Bane .... 16 An Economic and Social Study of the Southern Appalachians The Mountain Handicrafts: Their Importance to the Country and to the People in the Mountain Homes -Thomas Cooper . . . . 20 -Allen Eaton .. 22 Published Quarterly at Berea College, Berea, Ky., in the interest of fellowship and mutual understanding between the Appalachian Mountains and the rest of the nation July, 1930 MOUNTAIN LIFE AND WORK Page 1 Mountain 1,ife,ANDWork Volume VI July, 1930 Number II Mountain Life and Work Helen H. Dingman . .. ..... . ... Editor Dr. Wm. James Hutchins . . . . . . . . Counsellor Orrin L. Keener . . . . . .... . Associate Editor William P. Fenn . . . . . . . . . . Associate Editor CONTRIBUTING EDITORS Dr. Warren H. Wilson . . . . . . New York City Mrs. John C Campbell . . . . Brasstown, N. C. Mr. Marshall E. Vaughn . . . . . . . Atlanta, Ga. Eton. W. 0. Saunders . . . . Elizabeth City, N. C. Dr. John P. McConnell . . . . East Radford, Va. Dr. Arthur T. McCormack . . . . Louisville, Ky. Dr. E C Branson . . . . . . . . Chapel Hill, N. C. Dr. John J. Tigert . . . . . . . . . . Gainesville, Fla. ISSUED QUARTERLY-JANUARY, APRIL, JULY, OCTOBER Subscription Price $1.00 per year. Single Copy 30c. Entered at the Post Office at Berea, Ky., as second class mail matter. ADDRESS ALL COMMUNICATIONS TO MOUNTAIN LIFE AND WORK BEREA, KENTUCKY On April 24, 1913, thirty-five people gathered in Atlanta "to promote acquaintance among those engaged in work in the Southern Highland region, and through exchange of ideas to further the best methods of work." At that meeting the Conference of Southern Mountain Workers came into being; and it has met annually ever since. At the meeting this year, March 25-27, one hundred and fifty-nine people were registered and between two hundred and three hundred were in attendance at many of the sessions. Seven of those who attended the Atlanta meeting eighteen years ago were present, all of them having been loyal supporters of the Conference since its inception. The call to the first meeting, at the instigation of Mr. John C. Campbell, was issued through the Home Missions Boards of three of the major denominations. At this last gathering fifteen of the church Boards were represented, as well as the Home Missions Council and the Federal Council of Churches of Christ in America. Representatives from the United States Department of Agriculture, four of the State Agricultural colleges, thirteen independent mountain schools, and several of the National Associations were also in atttendence. Thus the interest in and influence of the Conference increase. But greater than the growth in numbers and representation is the growth in cooperation. Not only are mountain workers talking over their problems together but they are ,joining hands in the solution of some of them. For years a favorite subject for discussion has been the development of cooperation among the individualistic mountaineers, but the mountain workers continued to go their individual ways. This year those interested in the handicrafts have formed an assocJation, the Southern Mountain Handicraft Guild, through which real cooperation will be developed in the meeting of the problems of production and marketing. Another evidence of this growing cooperation was the vote to form a committee of fifteen to work with the Golden Rule Foundation and to administer a common fund to advance social welfare both in the Southern Mountains and in the Ozarks. Studying the social needs and spending money together without regard to sectarian interests, will bring the group (Continued on Page 6) Page 2 MOUNTAIN LIFE AND WORK July, 1930 ADULT EDUCATION Its Basis and Background in the United States My appearance here as a speaker on adult education wraps me in an almost impenetrable disguise from which I must extricate myself, like Houdini, in record breaking time and reveal my identity as a former Tennessee School teacher. I am not an adult education expert. Neither does there rest upon me the mantle of a philosopher. My connection with adult education is similar to that of the isolated electricians on the northeastern point of Nova Scotia who keep watch over the delicate instruments through which by night and day sweep messages in exchange between North America and the countries of Europe. They perform their tasks and keep in touch with affairs of the world by seeing what goes through. My chief concern with continuing education has naturally been with that of myself. Some of this education was thrust upon me by boys of West Tennessee and Kentucky, by their parents and Boards of Education for whom I functioned; some was provided in the army, by drill sergeants, effective in word and action; a part by illiterate soldiers in camp, for whom I essayed an introduction to reading, writing, and arithmetic. Much came from contact with professors and students in Columbia University; and most of all, and more recently, from college presidents, research specialists, directors of institutes, from mountain workers, protagonists of educational causes (plain and fancy), librarians-all of whom are in need of funds to carry on their valuable activities in the United States and points north, east, south, and west. Certainly, that "continual stimulation of the adult mind" set down by some as a definition of adult education has been mine, as has to an uncertain degree "that process by which men and women beyond the school age keep in touch with the changing world, thus preparing themselves for their destiny and their possibilities." By Robert M. Lester Really, your chairman might have confined herself to the simple introduction that as one speaker of this evening there stands before you a rather uneasy person who is concerned with adult education because he is subject to it. Adult education has, in less than a decade, (appeared in the educational firmament like the planet recently discovered by the patient scientist working with the most advanced astronomical instruments. Other students of the heavens had long believed in the existence of that planet. Now it has been discovered, and awaits a name. So the fact of adult education as a movement had long been suspected, but somehow had not, until a few years ago, been definitely catalogued by name in the minds of thinking people. In the United States the origins of continuing education are easily found. There was the New England town meeting of the seventeenth century, and the lyceum movement, in which Emerson (leaving his pulpit), Lowell, Holmes, and Thoreau played important parts. Later came the Chautauqua Institution, with imitators in commercial chautauquas, lyceums, and lecture courses. Correspondence schools started early. A half century ago University Extension began; later came Carnegie benefactions for libraries. As a result of all these there developed in the United States before 1914 an interest in out-of-school education such as has hardly appeared in any great nation. Meanwhile other influences, more easily traceable, were at work. Tax-supported schools were extended until the dominating feature of the American community scene was no longer the weathervane of an awkward wooden church but the red brick community school house. The compulsory school age was pushed forward, a series of vocational extensions set up, with subsequent development, in many places, of the July, 1930 MOUNTAIN LIFE AND WORK Page 3 voluntary evening high school for adults. Schools and colleges once regarded as chiefly preparatory, vocational, and for the indoctrination of faith, became places of training for democracy and for meeting the demands of a modern industrial civilization. The development of habits, attitudes, and appreciation became more and more a task, not of the home, but of the school. In the school itself, teachers of the old regime, trusting in all too little learning and with some of the oriental scholar's prejudice against manual labor, suddenly almost, found themselves working side by side with a new type of teacher who delighted in handicraft or in acquaintance with cooking and house keeping, crop rotation, breeding of animals, selection of seeds, study of pests, soil analysis, etc. To dig, he was not ashamed. A glance at enrollment statistics is startling. In 1900 the enrollment in public high schools was 500,000 ; in 1928, nearly 4,000,000. College students increased in like proportion. The increase in high school pupils from 1920 to 1926 alone was more than 70 per cent. Such changes indicate a tremendous revolution in later adult attitudes. The pupil has begun to realize that education is a part of life. Now, what has been happening in life in the United States in the last fifty years? Above all else, the increase of industrial power and mass production, peculiarly American phenomena, have changed our ways. Ours has become a civilization based upon technology. Some person fond of figures has found that the census of 1869 showed that the average American man, woman, and child had the power equivalent of 12 slaves; in 1929 each had the equivalent of 175 slaves. In 1869, 50 per cent of the total available power was in the use of animals; now 971/2 per cent is mechanical. Mechanization has so increased production that we could make all the steel needed in America for use during a single year in 71/2 months; all the boots, shoes, textiles, and coal in 6 months. One-quarter of our working population today are at jobs which did not exist 20 years ago; within 100 years 300 occupations have been altogether supplanted. In a city of 50,000 population studied by Robert S. Lynd, there were found 400 ways of making a living. Seasonal unemployment, emphasis on workers under 40 years of age, reduction of hours of labor from 10 to 8-all should make us realize that the machine in industry has changed life. Then, too, man has provided himself with ready access to ideas and information. The effectiveness of the printing press, telephone and telegraph, the automobile, highways, the rural free delivery, moving pictures and radio, serves to break down geographical barriers, to diminish time and space, and to complicate life in almost unbelievable ways for worker, business man, and professional man. Another element peculiarly American, and more evident than ever before, is that distinctions between the so-called working class, middle class, and upper class are purely temporary in reference to individuals. Intellectual capacity and ability to make the economic grade serve to transfer a man from one class to another. The son of the farmer, the butcher. the baker, and of the street cleaner, garbage man, ditch digger, may, if it is in him, become the lawyer, doctor, or business magnate of tomorrow. Though disputed by many, this freedom to shift from class to class is more than a national tradition or a democratic pose. It has had a profound effect upon our national civilization; it has furnished a compelling impulse toward scholastic and continuing education. With life being lived by us as it is, there has developed the question of what is to be done with leisure time now at the disposal of the individual. Here, for a moment, let us take stock of our educational progress. Our system of schooling, organized from the bottom up, from elementary school to college and university, is based upon the theory that the people, who are supposed to be the final authority in government, shall be educationally prepared and intellectually fitted to exercise sovereign power. But we must admit that our elementary task has not yet been accomplished. Observant Americans, conscious of their government and its problems, believe that for the proper functioning of the state through political processes there is necessary a continuing education of citizens in order that the nation may profit Page 4 MOUNTAIN LIFE AND WORK duly, 1930 from enlightened opinions of voters to assist in world peace, domestic security, and', equally important, in individual satisfactions. Our educational ceiling is low. England, Scotland, Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands, Sweden, and Switzerland are recorded as more literate than the United States. Groups underprivileged in education exist here and there in large areas of the land. The foreign-born in our great cities, the negro in the South, the mountaineer, the Spanish-andMexican-American in the Southwest, the American Indian, though they have long been with us, are as yet receiving only the minimum of attention. Many states do not at this time have sufficient elementary school facilities for their citizens. The relatively small leisure time of the underprivileged, however, cannot be our sole concern. Mere provision for elementary education, for the under-privileged adult and youth, vital though it is, will not meet the needs of today. Schools can give only schooling (or information) ; education must be mixed and seasoned with life experience (or wisdom). The most startling condition with which adults are now faced is the rapidity with which so-called edu cated people lose much of what they once learned. It isn't, simply because they forget. The field of knowledge undergoes kaleidoscopic changes. Chemistry, physics, astronomy, electricity, biology, economics, history, as taught in the best colleges three decades ago, have passed out of date like the Conestoga wagon. A college graduate of twenty years standing has a merry time trying to keep himself in tune. No fixed terminus is in sight for either the uneducated or the educated. It may be held as true that an educated man must strive constantly to get and to forget his education. No matter how well trained an intelligent person may be, he has continually to adapt himself to the requirements of his trade or profession, but as a thinking man he is equally faced with the question, as Walt Whitman put it, "Shall a man lose himself in countless masses of adjustments, and be so shaped in reference to this, that, or the other, that the simply good, worthy, and brave parts of him are reduced and clipped away like the bordering of box in a garden?" The Carnegie Corporation, concerned as it is with the advancement and diffusion of knowledge and understanding, and aware of American interest in continuing education and of the phenomenal growth of the adult education movement in England, in 1924 instituted an inquiry into the present day efforts of individuals to make constructive use of their leisure time. Five volumes constituting reports on as many broad phases of the subject were issued, and later there was established the American Association for Adult Education to serve as a clearing house of information, to sponsor and initiate research and study, to conduct experiments and demonstrations, and to cooperate with local and national agencies. Later, Professor E. L. Thorndike showed scientifically the ability of adults to learn at various age levels. In a brief period adult education, in its fullest sense, has come to occupy the recognized position of being at least one essential means to meet the needs of a changing civilization. Educational leaders and social philosophers now agree that, for citizen and nation, much depends upon the wise use of leisure. What educational activities in out-of-work hours enlist the interest of adults? Correspondence schools sell seventy million dollars worth of courses each year-as much as the total school budgets of a dozen states-to two million people-four times as many as in all our colleges, universities, and professional schools together. Public libraries are being used as never before, Women's clubs, parent-teacher organizations, lyceums, chautauquas, university extension, museums, Y.M.C.A., Y.M.H.A., K. of C., music and dramatic organizations, forums, discussion groups, reading courses, all are distinct efforts during leisure hours to meet specific adult education needs. In the background is a consciousness that literacy and a mere elementary education are inadequate, and do not give information enough to promise personal satisfaction, social stability, or the promotion of civilization. July, 1930 MOUNTAIN LIFE AND WORK Page 5 Much of the need for education is not purely vocational. In fact, it is erroneous to enforce an arbitrary distinction between vocational and non-vocational interests. The work to which we devote our labor and the living we get from it are but one continuous process looked at from opposite ends. Men and women confronted with narrow and specialized services during their working hours, deprived of any creative satisfaction, any stamp of their individual skill and ability on a product, are trying to secure something to round out their intellectual lives, in many cases by using their occupations as a center. In cities there are many places for such people to find intellectual stimulation, but for the twenty=five million people in rural communities and areas there are formidable obstacles to carrying out one's interest, desire, and will to learn. Subsidized beginnings have been made around agriculture and home-science, but much remains to be done in teaching the crafts and skills, and their implications, which will enable man to make his environment more attractive and life more satisfying. Trained educational leaders for adult activities are hard to find. Rural communities for a long time to come will have to depend on lay leaders, and on the strength of community interest to extract from educational storehouses a part of the needed non-vocational re-enforcements. Public schools are becoming useful by night for adult teaching as well as by day for youth. It may be that sooner or later as we become familiar with the present range of schooling, state and federal government will take steps to amplify the educational system by giving adult instruction, note only vocational but non-vocational (the questionable terms) as well-but the way is probably long and weary. With the American passion for organization, institutes, committees, and programs, enthusiasts wish to standardize, regulate, and to prescribe formulae for adult education. Since the basic element in the whole matter is the desire of the individual adult to learn, the chief characteristic in the past has been, and probably should always be, a certain informality. Of course, class instruction, courses of study, and group discussion, involving the interplay of ideas, have sound features. Too often, however, these classes and groups swing away from the interest of the student himself to the single thinking of the leader. Then spontaneous willingness settles down into a deadening and unsatisfying routine reminiscent of the school classroom. Probably the greatest reservoir for adult education is the library, which, though it has made remarkable development in the past twenty years, is as yet unable to reach adequately the vast majority of adults in rural areas. Library extension service with its boxes of books, branch libraries in schools, book trucks, etc., is a step in the right direction. But even in making books accessible, there are handicaps. In this day of printing gone wild, we are flooded with books of every quality. Critical choice is necessary. Libraries try to make up our minds for us in advance as to what we shall read; book clubs try to do our selecting; publishers, by advertising and clap-trap, force their publications upon us, until even one who realizes his need for books is forced to wander in a labyrinth. It must be thankfully admitted that experience in reading may gradually build up a capacity for intelligent choice. Many libraries, too, are adding to their staffs capable people for the purpose of aiding isolated individuals by correspondence to make the desired acquaintance with stimulating and helpful books. Separately endowed institutions and organizations solely for adult education are far away. Government and trust funds are still concerned and will, for many years, be concerned with extending opportunities for formal schooling and research, but, in many places, it is certainly possible at present for university and state extension agencies t o aid informal community groups, where there is a concerted desire, to map out vocational and non-vocational activities. Unfortunately we are in the habit of underestimating the latent educational resources of a small community. The church and the school house, even a cross-roads store, can furnish the necessary central location, and always there are some few people who are willing to accept responsibility for getting things going, and others Page 6 MOUNTAIN LIFE AND WORK July, 1930 with undeveloped powers. Inspiration and contact with the outside world through occasional visits and observation, by even a few, are essential. Such an effort, I realize, does not approach an adequate arrangement, but it is a start toward making rural life more interesting. Where is the initiating force to come from? Through exchange of ideas among different communities there comes into effect the imitative process, so active in American life. What is done successfully in one place is soon copied in others. In the entire field, much clarification remains to be made. Why, after all, is this extraordinary outburst today of interest in every phase of educational activity of adults? Who is involved? How is it done? What does it cost? What is false? What is true? How can man meet the insistence of a technological age? What really makes life more worth living? How are we to employ leisure to better ends? These are questions yet to be answered, even by philosophers. Taking a long view, those who deal with youth in school must readjust their sights to the fact that schooling is not the end of education. The end is neither the storing up of information in memory nor the building of habits of right conduct. High school graduates and college graduates have received only a brief introduction to education, which, if life is to be lived with any satisfaction to the individual or the state, must be a continuing process. This is no new pronouncement. Every one in this assembly knows it from his experience. Still many teachers look on education as a process definitely terminating at the end of high school, college, or university. Not too soon do graduates discover that they have been misled-without evil intent, of course, on the part of their teacher. L. P. Jacks, in a recent article "Breadwinning and Soul Saving," reminds us that every thing in the world is interconnected. The work and play of our civilization, he says, its labor and leisure, its breadwinning and soul saving, the "industry" which earns its living and the "living" which is so earned, are interconnected. Each is strengthened by the other's strength and weakened by its weakness, vital ized by its health and devitalized by its diseases. If the vocations devitalize and demoralize man's humanity, then vocational training is dangerous. Since life has to be lived in and with industry, if we are not to become mere machine tenders, we must make use of our socalled vocational knowledge in order to save. our own souls. Under such a conception education is no longer a departmental activity, either in the sense of being preparatory for later life, or in the sense of being carried on by a special class in the community. It becomes a social enterprise of first magnitude, covering life from birth to death and demanding the mobilization of all the higher forces of society. In the education of life we are concerned with an enterprise whose final object, fantastic as it may seem at the moment, is to make vocations educational, and upon this depends the outcome of industrial civilization, our civilization. Adult education exists in a thousand forms, like Proteus, old man of the sea, or Christianity with its eighty denominations in the United States. There is in it a substantial, underlying entity. In its variety is a virtue, since what we really desire is not uniform intellectual development, but opportunity for every man to reach his own level. EDITGRIAL (Continued from Page One) still closer togetheF and will help to promote other ,joint enterprises. The account of the progress of the cooperative survey, of the Southern mountains, as given in the proceedings, reveals the growing feeling of all engaged in mountain work that a study of present day conditions, economic and social, is imperative. Such great changes have taken place in the past decade and are still continuing that many of the schools are facing the necessity of a re-evaluation of their work. An outstanding testimony of the interdependence of all interested in the mountain section is the way the Federal Government, the State colleges, and the private agencies have been seeking a plan by which facts may be gathered and made available to all. These beginnings only suggest the possibilities of united action in the future work of the mountains. July, 1930 MOUNTAIN LIFE AND WORK h'age 7 THE MOUNTAINEER IN INDUSTRY By James Myers It is not necessary to describe the rapid progress of industrialization of the South or to quote statistics to show what is happening. The facts, I am sure, are well known to all of you. We do not have to prove it this morningwe admit it. But the social, religious, and economic implications of the great changes in the lives of the people who are drawn from the farms and mountains into modern factories call for our most serious consideration. If we are to look forward to ordered and constructive progress rather than to continued industrial conflict, bloodshed, and bitterness, we shall need to focus upon the problems involved in these changes our best knowledge of history, sociology, economics, and religion. It would be difficult to imagine a more revolutionary change in human relationships and living and working conditions than is involved in the sudden transfer of the tenant farmer, and particularly the mountaineer, into modern industrial life. The mountaineer is an individualist. He lives and works in isolation from his fellows. His home, at least, is his own. While he may be poor to the point of desperation, he enjoys personal independence of judgment and freedom from dictation from above in regard to the details of his work. The only industrial relationship of which he has experience as tenant, cropper, or even hired man, is direct contact with an individual employer. The relationship is a highly personal arrangement. All this is changed when the mountaineer becomes a factory employee. He becomes a cog in the machinery of mass production. He lives at close quarters with neighbors on all sides in the serried ranks of company-owned houses, is regimented in the mill with hundreds of other workers, under a highly systematized and closely supervised system of production. His most vital daily relations are no longer with the owner, but with a .foreman or superintendent, who nevertheless has the power to hire and fire, to assign houses and otherwise determine much of the happiness of his lot. While in many mills, owners are still in residence and bake a personal interest, so far as is possible, in their employees, there is a trend toward non-resident ownership, which will still further de-personalize the industrial relationship. For the freedom-loving mountaineer, who has entered industry, everything is now standardized and subject to rules and regulation laid down from above. Wages and hours are determined by the management. The factory whistle tells him when to get out of bed in the morning, and indicates when the day's work is done. No doubt the mill village-at least of the better type, where there are good schools and social workers to help adjust the people to their new surroundings and way of life-has been a blessing in the transitional period of adjustment. Cash wages, although low, and community facilities have no doubt constituted in many cases an improvement at least on the physical living conditions of mountaineers. Yet ten, eleven, or twelve hours a day of indoor work in the heat and humidity of a cotton mill, with wage scales so low that the children of a family are put to work the moment the law allows, or before, and that married women toil all night in the mills to help supplement the family income have not allowed such margin of contentment as many would have us believe. When, on top of these conditions, wages were cut in some places and the "stretch-out" installed, we witnessed in the South what has always happened in other sections and in other countries under similar conditions, widespread manifestations of industrial unrest. Extensive, first-hand observations in the strike areas of North Carolina, South Carolina, and Tennessee during the past year, during which interviews were had with employers, state officials, labor union leaders, and Page 8 MOUNTAIN LIFE AND WORK July, 1930 rank and file workers, made it clear that most of the extensive strikes and walk-outs in these states were due not to outside labor agitators but to spontaneous revolt of employees against the conditions in the mills themselves. The workers at Marion had a grievance committee which met secretly in the woods; and as they said, "because conditions got so bad we couldnot stand them," on their own initaive they sent out of town to find a labor-union leader and asked him to come to Marion and help them organize. Many of the workers at Marion had been working 12 hours and 20 minutes a day. The state law calls for not over 11. At Greensville there was no sign of a union during the first strikes. Evian at Gastonia, where the strike was led by Communists, conditions had previously been so bad that it was easy for the National Textile Workers (Communists) to exploit the situation. The workers merely followed any leadership which offered itself. In a recent Colorado strike many coal miners followed I.W.W. leadership, but declared they did not believe in I. W. W. philosophy. The conditions in the mines made them willing to follow anyone who would lead a protest. "The W.C.T.U.," they said, "could have led this strike and we would have followed just the same." The American Federation of Labor organizer for the South, a man prominent in church circles in Savannah and one whose word I would trust, told me that he had requests from employees in one hundred cotton mills asking for help to organize. It seems to me that the industrial disturbances in the South in the past year have exhibited characteristic reactions, such as might have been expected from the mountaineer in industry and from those with mountain traditions behind them even though a generation or two removed. A Southern business man in Greenville said to me during the big strike there, "A lot of these Northern owners don't understand our Southern workers. You can't drive them the way you can a foreigner; they feel they are as good as anybody else. They will stand just about so much, but you can't push them any further. They will stand up for what they believe to be their rights. In fact they'll shoot you if it goes too far." Is not this the independent spirit of the mountains-the freedom-loving individualist pushed too far by the industrial machine? Another characteristic of the mountaineers who have entered the mills undoubtedly proved to be one of the causes of the disturbances last year. I refer to the desire to better themselves. This was the reason for their leaving the mountains to find employment in the mills But the desire to better oneself is a deep human instinct, a constant inner urge-not a passing whim which is satisfied by a single move. The very reason why the mills can obtain workers from the hills is the reason why these workers will not be forever content with set standards of living which do not allow the fullest possible enjoyment of life. This is of course particularly true when workers see the owning class enjoying the luxuries of life in their own communities, and the illustrated supplements of the press are full of their doings in winter and summer resorts. A truly scientific management will take account of the urge to better himself in the heart of every worker. In increasing productivity in industry, wise management will share increased earnings with labor. Wise management will strive for ever rising standards of living, higher wages, and shorter hours for labor, as increased efficiency and production make these things possible. It was the failure of management in many instances to take account of this basic law of human nature which caused industrial unrest. Where the "stretch-out" was installed without the benefit of new machinery, where the burdens of the workers were arbitrarily increased without taking them into consultation, without increasing their earnings or shortening their hours-trouble followed. Where really scientific management gave the human factor intelligent consideration, for the most part there was no trouble in either northern-owned or southern-owned mills. The recent voluntary move of Southern extile manufacturers, at the instance of the Textile Institute, to reduce hours to 55 a week for day work and 50 hours a week for night work is a move in the right direction if, as sug July, 1930 MOUNTAIN LIFE AND WORK Page 9 gested by a leading manufacturer, it is accompanied by no reduction in total weekly wages. If, on the other hand, it means a further reduction in income .to the workers, there is apt to be further industrial unrest. We cannot expect to disregard a basic human law-the divine impulse to better oneself implanted in the soul of man by God himself-and yet have peace in industrial relations. I am not unmindful of the very great economic problems of the textile industry nor of the practical difficulties which are faced by well-meaning managements. But the situation makes it all the more important that the most scientific management shall be applied to the industry, including the vital matter of labor relations. This leads me to another observation to which, it seems to me, both scientific management and religious idealism point, and which again is suggested by the American background of the mountaineers who are now coming into industry. They are 100 percent AngloSaxon, we are told; they represent American traditions and are impervious to the imported ideas of foreign radicalism. Personally, I believe we must have more Americanism in industry. An Americanization expert was interviewing a foreign-born worker in a company village in the steel district in Pennsylvania. "Do you understand," she said, "-the difference between your old country and this country?" "Yes," he said, "I understand. In the old country, we must obey the King; in this country, we must obey the Superintendent." Do not misunderstand me. I have been in the management of a factory for many years and believe in the necessity of obeying the superintendent, of maintaining a proper order and discipline in industry. But is it not a profoundly significant fact that this foreign-born worker failed to see any difference between the autocratic principle in the political life in his old country, and the autocratic principle in the industrial life of America? Autocracy-no matter how benevolent it may be, even though it takes the form of the kindly but complete paternalism of a good mill village is not the ultimate Christian ideal for human relations. When Jesus taught that all men are children of God with out distinction of economic class, or race, or color, he laid the basis for democracy. No one can truly believe in Jesus without believing in democracy. No one can believe in America without believing in democracy in representative government, which gives to the common man an equal voice in the determination of those matters which mean most to his life, liberty, and pursuit of happiness. The freedom and happiness of the wageearner are now determined largely by industrial relations, wages, hours, housing, and working conditions. It is thrilling, therefore, to see in our day the beginnings of democracy in industry-a voice for the worker in industrial government-Americanism in industry. My time will not permit me to describe the forward-looking experiments in democratic relations, cooperation of management with labor unions, and other forms of labor representation and partnership, which are being carried on in this country today. But seven years experience in the actual operation of such a plan in a textile mill, including democratic management of a mill village and recognition of a local of the United Textile Workers (A.F. of L.) convinced me that the principle of representative government in industry is practical, scientifically sound, and the nearest expression of Christian brotherhood in industrial relations. What is the responsibility of the Church in the new industrial situation? The church must be informed. We must come to understand the religious significance of industrial problems. Our ministers and home missionaries need courses of study in the seminaries and later in institutes which will give them a grasp of labor history and of the principles of the social gospel. And by the social gospel I mean the gospel itself-an overwhelming urge toward love and brotherhood and democracy and partnership in industry and all social relations. In the South, Vanderbilt is leading the way with its chair of Social Ethics, occupied by a distinguished leader in social thought, Dr. Alva W. Taylor. The Western North Carolina Conference of the Methodist Church South has asked for such a chair at Duke University. The church must be free to prophesy. It cannot afford to be silent in the face of de Page 10 July, 1930 MOUNTAIN LIFE AND WORK plorable conditions or injustice in industrial relations. Southern churches are making progress in social thinking. Liberal ministers and liberal bishops are leading the way. Many Southern church bodies have recently passed resolutions calling for a study of the entire textile industry by a permanent government commission, and have gone on record in favor of living wages, the right of labor to organize and the abolition of night work for women.* The Church will be wise if it also faces frankly the problem of the restricted freedom of the mill-village church, a problem by no means limited to the South. A mill village church is a part of a company-owned village; the land on which the church stands is given or loaned by the company; part of the building ccst is usually paid by the mill, and part of the pastor's annual salary; the preacher often lives rent free in a company house and is given free light, fuel, and perhaps a telephone by the company. In many mill villages where conditions are good, mill churches are able to render valuable service, although it is doubtful how much free discussion of industrial problems from the point of view of religious idealism could be carried on in such churches. When, on the other hand, conditions are not good, when women and children are exploited on low wages and long hours, are we merely to censure the individual mill preacher who under the circumstances does not stand out against the mill owners in the cause of industrial justice? Where is the city minister who will cast the first stone? The mill-village church needs to be studied from the point of view of its freedom to prophesy. The churches of the South have in one respect an unique opportunity at the present time, due to the fact that so many Christian employers are in the churches and that the labor union leaders of the South are nearly all *Information Service December 28, 1929, published by the Research Department of the Federal Council of Churches„ 105 East 22nd Street, New York, N. Y., 15c a copy. This issue gives an account of the strikes at Marion, N. C., and includes the attitudes of the churches, also the economic background of the textile problem. active church members. Before the breach widens, as it has in other sections and in other industrial lands, shall not the church bring her friendly offices to bear? My time will not permit me to describe the technique which has been worked out by various churches in the field of industrial relations. In many places they have striven to focus attention on the religious significance of industrial problems, they have engaged in scientific research to get the facts, they have aroused the conscience of their own members to the need of humane legislation regulating hours and conditions for women and children in industry, they have mediated in times of conflict, they have given relief to those who were suffering during strikes, they have stood for social justice. After outstanding efforts for mediation and relief on the part of the churches in a large city in a recent industrial situation, a labor leader made the following significant remark. "I wish that earlier in my life I had met the kind of religious leaders I have come to know during this strike. The ministers and priests of my acquaintance were not interested in labor problems. The more orthodox they were, the less interested they seemed to be. When I decided that the best service I could render humanity would be to work with the unions to do away with sweatshops and secure better wages for men and women, and I still found that the churches were not interested in these things, my mind swung way off, not only from belief in the church but from belief in God as well." Out of the mouth of labor comes this profound warning to the churches and this word of hope as to the witness for Christ which lies in social action. A glance at the history of the other industrial nations is enough to show that wherever the churches have failed to maintain sympathetic contacts with the labor movement, or have aligned themselves with wealth and privilege, the workers have in the end deserted the churches and many have lost their faith in God. The atheism and religious persecution in Russia today are a direct result of the blind and selfish alignment of the Russian church with the Czar's regime. The people lost faith July, 1930 MOUNTAIN LIFE AND WORK Page 11 in the sincerity, independence, and unselfishness of the church. It was but one step more to lose their faith in God. It is difficult, when one has lost one's faith in an institution, to retain one's faith in the things for which that institution is supposed to stand. Shall we not determine that the workers in American industry shall have no cause to lose their faith in the church or their belief in God because of failure on the part of the Church to sense the religious significance of industrial problems and to stand four-square for justice and brotherhood and democracy in industry? Discussion A MOUNTAINEER'S VIEWPOINT By James Barrett Mountain problems are rapidly changing, because the mountain people are now living under constantly, changing conditions. Establishment of a factory at the foot of the hill has called the mountain man from the quiet and isolation of the hillside to become one of the milling throng in the valley below. Where once he tilled the soil in absolute silence except when he spoke to a member of his family, or called back a greeting to a neighbor who happened to pass his way, with hours upon hours and days upon days given over to silent reflection upon his problems, he has now been transplanted to the big group of his fellows in the factory, and hears their joyous laughter or their moaning complaints, their expressions of .gratitude to a considerate employer or their bitter denunciation of the man who is robbing them of the fruits of their labor. The independent spirit which isolation nurtures, the self-reliance which comes to the man who must work out his own salvation, the individualistic characteristics that predominate in the life of the man who spends much time alone and keeps his own counsel, have been transformed overnight into a life that is carefully guarded and guided by a paternalistic system, his home erected and arranged for him, even his lawn being laid out by the system which feels that it is the bounden duty of the management of industry to provide every thing and arrange every detail in the lives of the workers if they are to be satisfied and remain in the plant as contented, docile workers. Now if one can. visualize the extent of the drastic changes in the life of the mountaineer, then one can know something of the changed problems facing those who would assist the mountain man. I am glad indeed that I was asked only to state these changing problems, and not to offer a solution to them. A few weeks ago I spent several days in my native county in North Carolina, the county of Madison. Vivid recollections came to me of the first entry into the mountains of that county thirty-five years ago of preachers and teachers sent there by the North Presbyterian church. Our longest school term was two months in the year; my nearest school was four miles from home. The Presbyterians erected churches and school houses in each community throughout the county. To me, they were the finest buidings in the world. No other work has ever contributed so much to the advancement of my native county as did the work of those Presbyterians. Schools being placed within reach of all the children of that county, it was not long until about all the children were in these schools. But now those buildings are decayed, some being used by farmers as storage houses for hay and grain, or shelter for stock. On the highways are many school busses, carrying the children to the consolidated public school, that is, the children of the families that have remained there. Hundreds of other families are now in the factory instead of the field. Where is the mountain problem? I asked myself. Once this problem could not be hidden, so glaringly did it stand out. I knew it had net been solved; I knew there was yet much work to do. In fact, I knew all the time where Page 12 MOUNTAIN LIFE AND WORK July, 1930 to find it, because I had lived with it and in it, and had stood back, hopeless and helpless, in the face of the bigness of it. Once upon a time you good people, anxious to help, went far back into mountain fastnesses to face these problems. Today, you will go into centers of population, into crowds gathered in mill villages and about industrial plants to find your problem, the big problem, the real problem; and the man or woman who finds a solution to this problem will be acclaimed an immortal and his praises will be sung throughout the ages to come. The exchange of the rippling mountain stream that flows from the spring high upon the hillside for a company-owned house with running water in it has not solved the problem. The exchange of the kerosene lamp that provided the illumination in the mountain home which the mountaineer owned for a companyowned house with electric lights in it has not solved the problem. The spirit of patience that once was so marked in the mountaineer that he could, with deliberation and in an unhurried manner, clear his new ground, prepare the soil, plant the seed, cultivate the crop, and await without any show of impatience the time of harvest, has been supplanted by a patience that is tested in waiting for a pay day from week to week, or even two weeks, as the case may be. So this means of reward has not solved the problem. When the mountaineer lived in the mountains, it was no rare event for his son to rise to places of mighty power in state or national affairs, or become a preacher whose eloquent earnestness extended the Kingdom wherever he went. Seldom is it, however, that one reads of young men from an industrial village rising to the high places in life. On the mountainside he could look out upon a world that was his just so far as his eyes could behold and so far as his ambitions feet might lead him. When he enters the factory at the foot of the hill, however, he closes the gate after him, and remains a factory hand. So the problem of advancement has not been solved in these changed conditions. On many occasions I have appeared before groups similar to this one, groups of ripen and women actuated by strong desire to be of real benefit to mankind, and have urged them to go into the mountains and assist in providing, a way whereby the boys and girls of worthy ambitions might become educated men. and wcmen. Because of the changed conditions, I now plead with you to go into the industrial centers and search out these cases where real talent is dying because of lack of opportunity to prepare for advancement. You will find them there, in homes where death has played havoc, where an improvident father has spent every cent the whole family earned even before it was received, in homes where factory shut-downs have kept the family purse empty; they are there, thousands of them, boys and girls whose greatness in the future would pay huge dividends on the assistance given them now. Please do not interpret anything said here as a criticism of factory owners. Some of them should be severely criticised, while others should have monuments erected to their memory for the good they have tried to do. Yet these employers must come to a recognition of the facts that they no longer can work men and women sixty hours a week for a period of time, and then lay them off for weeks with no work at all. All of us must recognize the absolute necessity of a maximum eight-hour day and the early adoption of the five-day week, if all of our workers are to have work all the time. Our improved machinery, our greater knowledge of manufacturing, our ever increasing output in all lines of production, make this imperative, and in securing its general adoption this Conference can be of material aid. Let me urge upon you the importance of more general vocational training as one big way to help solve these problems. Not all the boys and girls in school can become lawyers and doctors, although at times it seems that about all of them are headed that way. A boy who learns a trade, and on the day of his graduation is also qualified to step up to some machine and go to work on it, is a really educated boy. There are those here, however, to speak on this great important question, and I only add my earnest appeal to give due consideration to their pleas. July, 1930 MOUNTAIN LIFE AND WORK Page 13 The church has been doing much in solving these problems that so vitally affect the working people. Too much praise cannot be given the church for what it has done. Delivering myself of these complimentary remarks, I feel at liberty now to say something else about the church. I wish the church would stop sending its young, inexperienced preachers to practice on the working people until such time as they make sufficient advancement to fill the downtown pulpit and preach to the plutocrats. I do not charge that this has been a general policy, but I do charge that it has been done until many thousands of working people have not one iota of confidence in the church. I wish that the churches would stop placing a minister on a charge in a factory community paying him a thousand a year, and then permitting the factory owner to pay him another thousand a year. I love preachers, but I know how preachers love a thousand dollars in one lump sum. Let that factory owner give his money direct to the church conference, and then have the conference or association officials use it in their budgets, but let us remove from the minds of the workers this suspicion of the preacher's interest in the factory because half of his salary comes from the factory. So bitterly has this practice been assailed by workers of my acquaintance that I have often hear them refer to a preacher as a "celestial policeman" for the mill owner. If there ever was a time in the history of Christendom when the church needed to take a hand in affairs of industry, that time is now here. The mountaineer who has left his home on the hillside and entered the industrial plant is right now, for the first time in his life, hearing men and women attack the Bible, declare the beautiful story of Jesus all bosh, and ridicule the idea of a hereafter. The most beautiful thing in the world today is the mountaineer's faith in Jesus Christ, and his deep reverence for God. Let us do whatever work is necessary to help the mountaineer keep that faith. As a mountain boy whose education was made possible through just such groups as this, may I urge you in the name of other mountain boys and girls to keep the good work going, and diligently search out those whose lives would be made better and more beautiful because of your interest, and I assure you on the authority of the Holy Bible that stars will be added to your crown for all that you do for those who need your assistance. PUBLIC HEALTH A WINNING GAME By Robina Kneebone A few weeks ago, it was my pleasure to see awarded a medal for services rendered in the field of social service, the scope of the accomplishment of which is of local, state, and national significance. The speaker who made the presentation said, "This work was begun thirty-five years ago by inviting a few children to play in a front yard"-a mighty oak from a little acorn. Coupled with this incident is another: a group of rural women have just been awarded certificates after completion of Red Cross Home Hygiene and Care of the Sick classes. Some of the women had to rise at 4:00 A. NI. to get the chores done so that they might spend two precious hours in the middle of winter days in class; then they hurried home for the evening meal. They set up the bed in a schoolhouse, brought the mattress tied onto a rickety Ford, and had to improvise a mattress of corn shucks when the donor needed the regulation mattress. Why did they come regularly? What were they seeking? As I pondered over these two events, I became convinced that Public Health is indeed a winning game. But the problem remains to add to the score and to increase the number of players. To prove the need for increasing the score one needs only turn to Dublin's "Health and Wealth." "From my point of vantage in the Metropolitan Life Page 14 MOUNTAIN LIFE AND WORK July, 1930 Insurance Company I could scarcely avoid seeing how great are the stakes in the new public health campaign. Possibly this is an opportune time to drive home the lesson that life and health are our greatest possessions, and that their preservation justifies much greater effort, on economic grounds, if for no other reason."* In 1901 a baby born in the U. S. Registration Area might expect to live 49.24 years; this expectation of life has now risen to 57.7 4. * * In the last twenty years, the infant mortality rate has been cut 60 percent. Today in most American communities only about 7 percent of the babies die in that difficult first year, and two-thirds of such deaths will be prevented in the near future. But why not increase the expectation of life beyond 57 or 58 years, as we are told by authorities that we could were we but willing to utilize the knowledge that we have preventive medicine? Why should 7 percent of the babies die during the first year? or 10,000 deaths from tuberculosis occur annually? Why should 50 per cent of school children have enough defective teeth to interfere seriously with health? or thousands of women die during the puerperal stage? Why should children die from diphtheria or be physically impaired by it when a known protection exists? Further, we might discuss the millions of dollars to be saved by the application of the principles of preventive medicine to disease and the effect on social conditions of the saving of the money. To correct or improve the conditions cited above, we need workers for this public health game. No one is too old, and few are too young. May we, therefore, all become players from this minute. "But," someone says, "one cannot play a game without knowing what the game is, its rules, and how to keep score." Very well, what is Public Health? Public Health is nothing new, for most of us know all the rules already. A Public Health viewpoint is the first essential. One must think in terms of the group as opposed to thinking in terms of the individual. A case of typhoid is a problem for the individual who has it and needs to recover. But *Dublin, Health and Wealth, p. VI (Preface). "Ibid., p. 11. it is a far more serious matter to know its source, and how many other people are probably infected though still able to be about; also, to estimate how many the first case has infected, and the mode of infection. However, teaching everyone that typhoid fever is preventable by proper disposal of human discharges, and that typhoid immunity is procurable, will ultimately remove typhoid from the list of diseases. Once the viewpoint of the group or community consciousness is established, we may be said to understand the public significance of Public Health. But again, we often teach disease rather than health. Our goal is health, not disease. A radiant and abundant physical, mental and emotional, and spiritual health is needed. We need all three to be truly healthy. The school child may need his tonsils out, but he also needs a course of study adapted to develop him to his highest mental capacity, in an atmosphere conducive to the cultivation of feelings of satisfaction, shared responsibility and group inclusion. The public health game is one of sowing rather than one of reaping. Seeds must be dropped always, every day, every minute, to secure a harvest. It is a program of tomorrow as well as of today. Correction is not enough; and since the program is so immense, may we keep ever before us as our beacon, "Not what we are, but what we may become." How can we teach others to play the game? Teach simple truths in an understandable, practical way, all the time. When my first nurse instructor in public health told me to teach all the time, I wondered how we could teach when we were washing our hands-anyone could see what we were doing. A class for colored midwives taught me that there was much to learn about washing hands. Every finger or thumb has four sides-top, bottom, right and left, and then that special place under the nails. I only learned that four weeks ago. There can be no sliding over surfaces if one has to wash four sides of each finger. Too often we inspect children to discover defects that we know exist, when we should be striving to have children enter school defect free and thereby avoid unnecessary scho July, 1930 MOUNTAIN LIFE AND WORD Page 15 lastic retardation, unhappiness, feelings of inferiority, and future handicaps, due too often to defective vision and defective hearing. Every year when my students test each other on the basis of Virginia's five-point program, we discover defects little suspected. One student of fine intellect, but unduly sensitive, said she was in high school before she discovered that grass was blades instead of just green surfacing. A few things that each of us could teach are: (1) Keep the fingers out of the mouth. (2) Wash the hands before eating. (Once in holding a class, we all trailed out to the pump to wash our hands before some party refreshments. We had pumped and scrubbed vigorously before we noticed that the soapy water was running down into the well. We are hoping that the abiding by the letter of the law will influence that school to adequately protect its water supply.) (3) Always wash the hands after toilet. (4) Cover the coughs and sneezes; use a handkerchief. Use individual drinking cup. (5) Flies carry disease. Kill or trap the flies. Destroy breeding places. (6) All human refuse should be protected against flies. (7) Open wells spread disease: Cover the well. Have the water supply safe and tested. (8) Milk is an essential food for children and adults. (9) Green vegetables and fruits should be eaten by all. (10) Good teeth can be built by the right kind of food. We build two sets and no more. (11) Are the teeth clean? Not, how often are they brushed? (12) Mental health can be taught. Temper and bad disposition hinder us. We can teach mothers how to regulate habit formation. Good habits can replace bad habits. (13) Every child can be taught health responsibility: to stay at home when sick; to keep the sickness to oneself; to respect quarantine. School room records are affected by each child's health. (14) All surroundings that are clean affect physical health and promote mental health as well as provide for a cultivation of aesthetic senses. Keep a clean school house. (15) Mothercraft classes for girls, public health classes for boys, are a means of citizenship training. (16) Every girl before leaving school should know that prospective mothers need care before the child is born as well as at the time of delivery. (17) The handicapped should receive early treatment. Cripples, children with defective vision, mental defectives, cleftpalate cases and the like, should be taken as early as possible to receive care. (18) Tuberculosis is contagious but preventable; it is curable if discovered early enough. (19) Every individual should have an opportunity to excel in something. Creative effort should be encouraged. (20) One can check up on his own health by an annual physical examination, and be sure he is protected' against small pox, typhoid and diphtheria. (21) Ventilation is important-and good posture-and sunshine. This may sound as if it were a pretty large problem, but it can be solved by cooperation. I like to think of cooperation as trusting the other fellow to do his share. There can be no share unless we provide an opportunity for sharing. There can be no share completed unless we give the other fellow trust, and time to get his share done. Did you ever attempt to do something as a child, and have your mother say, "Here, let me do it, I can get it done faster myself?" You didn't learn to sew, or read, or make a rug that way. So true cooperation for health means "Never work alone." Each time a teacher or a nurse plants a health message in a school room, she has just as many helpers as there are children present in that audience. Every time a special worker or health worker visits a family, she should enlist all the members of the family in the task to be accomplished. Even a three-yearold can help. A three-year-old daily watched my bag and didn't let the little brother, aged 19 months, touch it while I cared for the mother and a new baby. There is no better convert Page 16 MOUNTAIN LIFE AND WORK July, 1930 than a grandmother, for grandmothers wield influence. If one shares, one also accepts. Many homely truths could we learn by accepting from those whom we aim to teach. Once while I was conducting a mothercraft class, a foreign mother said, "You don't know much about babies; let me tell these girls." So she told them emphatically, precious truths, with her month-old baby on her lap. Teach always, teach with an audience, who in turn can teach others. Therein is the value of a nurse holding classes and teaching twenty people, in one hour, at one place, whereas if she went to see twenty people it would take considerably more time. Just because a person refuses to accept our health teaching the first time is no reason why he won't accept it later, after opportunity for better understanding. At a game how often do we hear "Shoot!" or "Run to second!" or "Touch down!" from the crowd; and the players keep right on trying to score. In some parts of the public health game there is no time limit. We can find occasions to repeat the same mesage-change the wording-or lead the conversation back to the topic. We can find someone else to tell the mother how well another child is after a tonsillectomy. Our children can tell others or show defects cor HUMAN GOVERNMENT rected. My own experience has led me to believe that one should never give up. To give up is to quit. A small boy aged seven asked me about the Pied Piper. Said he, "There's one book I like to read, The Pied Piper of Hamelin. How did he get the rats and children to follow him?" It's a bit hard to explain this magic touch, the thing that puts things over. Once in visiting a second-grade class-room in a school for crippled children, I found the teacher had printed rules for reading in step formation. On the topmost step was "The Magic Touch." The magic touch may be a picture, a story, a verse, a tone, a smile, the infectious enthusiasm or conviction of your phraseology, but whatever it is for you, don't leave it out. As teachers, we might call it the "surprise element." The accidentally-on-purpose leaving a book at a rural school; the magazine one just has in one's bag; the "I just dropped in to see you. What are you going to do today?" element. Even the hardest person will respond to the magic touch. In the two weeks I've been away from them, two of my students have hurried to get their glasses before I get back. It's the fun, the game spirit, that is the motive power that carries us on when nothing else does. Let us incorporate that in our Public Health Game. By Frank Bane The government of a state today resembles little the state government of a quarter of a century ago. State government in 1900 was an organization characterized chiefly by machinery which held together various administrative departments and bureaus. The mechanism was the essential feature, and any attempt to change or simplify it was regarded with suspicion. Today state government is a great administrative and human instrument, primarily economic and social in its function. For the common good, it regulates most of the things which we do, and, in fact, is a part of our very being. Modern state government might be said to be merely "collective housekeeping." In most states it is necessary to secure governmental permission in order to be born-in the nature of a birth certificate. Ere we are out of swaddling clothes, government insists upon "scratching our arms and puncturing our hides." When we arrive at the venerable age of six, state government takes over our lives for the greater part of our time and insists that we go to school whether we would or not. We wish to go into some business or profession: we must get the permission of the July, 1930 MOUNTAIN LIFE AND WORK Page 17 government and must pay government for it. Under food and drug acts the government regulates what we shall eat and what we shall drink. And finally, if we wish to die, we must secure a permit from the government before we can be buried. In the twentieth century, governments have been elaborated and humanized along several lines: education of the people; preservation of health; care, treatment, and prevention in the field of defectiveness, delinquency, and dependency. Public education had made some progress prior to 1900, but it remained for the educational revival during this century to clarify the problem, to popularize the appeal for educational opportunity for all the children everywhere, and to make some progress in the field of adult education. Developing steadily, if spasmodically from time to time, most of our states have progressed until today the situation relative to public education is far different in the realm of personnel and facilities than it was twenty or even ten years ago. The organized movement for public health is essentially a twentieth century product. Early realizing the necessity for education and organization in this field, state public health departments have concentrated upon these two functions until they have developed well organizd and efficiently operated public health units in most of the cities and in a great many counties of the various states of the Union. The improvement of hospital service, plus the carrying on of a constructive, preventive program, has done much to reduce the mortality rate in the South and to make various states safer places in which to live. Undoubtedly, the most important governmental function from the standpoint of either state or locality is the preservation of public health, and in recent years we have all come to realize that in a large measure public health is a purchaseable commodity. The earlier part of the twentieth century likewise saw the conception and the beginning of departments of public welfare in a great many states. For many years we have been contributing thousands upon thousands for the care and treatment of various types of dependents, but we had not until recently classified them and attempted both prevention and intelligent constructive care. Public welfare departments might be said to deal primarily with three great scourges which have afflicted mankind for centuries: Defectiveness, delinquency, and dependency. Whether we are interested in the cost of proper care or in the enormous losses occasioned by thousands of citizens being incapacitated and becoming thereby liabilities instead of assets, we should be deeply concerned about the inroads which insanity and other mental defects are making upon our population and upon our common treasury. Some states are spending almost as much money upon their hospitals for the mentally disturbed and mentally defective as they are for their institutions of higher learning. Throughout the South there are almost twice as many persons in state hospitals for these classes as there are hospital beds in all of the hospitals for physical diseases. Hospital facilities, modern equipment, etc., provide excellent treatment for patients and are thereby not only necessary but very beneficial, but without the development of a state-wide system which looks to the prevention and control of insanity, the proper outside care of those persons paroled from hospitals, and the development of an enlightened consciousness of insanity as a disease, the state hospitals ten years hence will be as crowded as they are today, despite greatly increased expenditure. If commitments to institutions are to be taken as an index, we may assume that mental disturbance and mental defect seem to be increasing. Certain it is that the large number of patients which we have in our institutions and those constantly seeking admission, constitute the most important human problem with which a modern state is confronted. In fact, mental hygiene is today the most pressing public health problem in every state. If we are to control this disease, prevention of insanity must receive at least as much attention as its cure, as it is the more hopeful field in which to reap a harvest of healthy minds. In the near future, many states will, because they must, develop statewide systems of mental hygiene which will include special Page 18 MOUNTAIN LIFE AND WORK July, 1930 classes for abnormal children in public schools, diagnostic and treatment clinics in many centers, definite and comprehensive training in psychiatry in our medical schools, and adequate systems of investigation, of follow-up, after-care, etc., of persons who have no supervision or who have been paroled from our various institutions. Such a program will not necessarily entail large expenditures, but it will require a close co-ordination of all public activities and all private endeavor. Such a program developed upon sound principles and along progrssive lines should within a few years enable us to give much better care to our unfortunate defective citizens and to curtail to some extent the ever increasing number of defective citizens; also to handle intelligently the serious human problems that confront us in our mountain areas and elsewhere. Man's most characteristic endowment is his mind, with its reasoning, its deeper and more expansive emotions, its social possibilities on which human society rests for its achievements and its progress. To prevent bodily disease is important, but to preserve the mind and to promote mental health is absolutely imperative for the happiness of the individual and for the welfare of the state. The country is in the throes of an epidemic of crime surveys and crime studies. Everyone believes that crime is bad and that something should be done about it. It seems to be the general opinion that we should have a group of more or less qualified individuals study the question for a short time and suggest a plan which would cure our malady. A great many cities and states have had commissions study the problem. Virginia has had one on penal institutions and another on criminal procedure, and the President of the United States about a year ago appointed a National Committee to study crime in general and prohibition incidentally. To date, almost without exception it seems that such commissions have studied everything except the criminal who causes the trouble and the public that suffers thereby. The reports of these commissions have dealt almost exclusively with police systems, court procedure, pardon and parole, penal in stitutions, and statistics. Very few of the studies have delved into the causes of crime, or attempted to appraise the attitude and interest of the general public. They have studied the police apart from the criminal and the courts apart from the people. Certainly no study designed to secure the facts can overlook the two most important elements involved and hope to develop an intelligent plan upon which to base reforms. These elements have been disregarded for perhaps two reasons (1) There are so many different and conflicting opinions as to the causes of crime and the nature of criminals that commissions have elected to leave out this phase of the subject, lest it lead them into devious ways and detailed research. (2) The many crime commissions have usually been made up largely of lawyers, and lawyers and criminal courts have not as a rule been interested in the causes of crime, but rather in crime as a fact, including criminal intent. It is quite possible that many facts having to do with causation are contrary to the rules of evidence. The same applies to the attitude and interest of the public. Crime exists, according to many of the reports, largely because of loopholes in the administration of criminal justice. It has always seemed to me that the attitude and interest of the general public have much to do with these loopholes. The public as a group is to be found almost always advocating the increase in the certainty and especially the severity of punishment-Baumes' laws, Jones' laws, restoration of whipping posts, etc., while, individually, they call for mitigation of penalties, for pardons and paroles, and go into every court available for appeals and with writs of habeas corpus when one in whom they are interested happens to be affected. The machinery of the law should be used to the limit to prosecute and punish the criminal, unless, perchance, said criminal happens to be one of us, or one of ours. There is no disposition on my part to contend that loopholes do not exist in the administration of criminal justice. They are very apparent and much improvement is possible. Po July, 1930 MOUNTAIN LIFE AND WORK Page 19 lice systems and court procedure can be made more efficient, and penal institutions can be developed to give much better care and treatment to those convicted. Recent recommendations of many commissions if enacted into law will be some improvement, but it is contended that these things are not enough to affect very materially our problem of crime. A long-time study upon the basis of scientific research into the causes of crime, the nature of the criminal, and the attitude and interest of the people may point the way to a solution; anything else is merely temporizing with a situation which no one understands. In our fight against disease, extensive laboratories have been set up and earnest and learned men without preconceived notions have spent years of patient research and effort to find causes; in the development of scientific agriculture the hunger fighters have labored for years in study and research; the problems incident to human nature and conduct are of equal importance and require the same method. The Department of Public Welfare of Virginia eight years ago set up a most interesting laboratory of crime and delinquency. The acts of the General Assembly of 1922 provided that children adjudged by the courts to be delinquent and not suitable for probation should not be committed to jail, reformatory, or penetentiary, but should be committed directly to the Department of Public Welfare, an administrative organization, for an indefinite time or until they were twenty-one years of age. The act further provided that the State Department should carefully study the social history of each individual child, his environment and his problem; that it should have a physical examination made of each child, and a careful mental examination; that the Department should develop local county and city units for handling children and other social problems, and that the Department should, upon the basis of all the facts obtainable, determine what should be done for the best interests of the individual child with due regard for the welfare of the community. Approximately four thousand delinquent children have passed through this laboratory, with its clinics and its investigators, and the laboratory has established-certainly to its own satisfaction-that broken up families, housing conditions, labor and industrial conditions, mental and physical defects, abject poverty and lack of recreational opportunities, are perhaps more important in their effect upon crime in general than loosely organized police departments or loopholes in criminal procedure. You cannot entirely separate crime from dependency, disease, and defectiveness. It is interesting to note that while the adult commitments to penitentiaries, jails, etc., have increased enormously in recent years, commitments from juvenile courts to the State Department and transfers by the state Department to state industrial schools, have shown a small but constant decrease. In fact, the industrial schools or reformatories in the state of Virginia have been the only state institutions that have not during the past eight years had to increase their capacity. A plan which seems to work in the field of juvenile delinquency might point the way to a more effective program for handling the adult, and the next quarter of a century may see us seriously attacking this problem of crime with our intellects, rather than with our passions. Dependency per se seems to be on the decline. Better economic conditi~,)ns in the country at large and an increasin,- interest in the constructive handling of our economic and social problems have apparently yielded returns. The old poorhouse back over the hill is not what it used to be. For many years it was an isolated institution which cared for a very heterogeneous mass of peoplE representing almost every type of human d.stress. Today, in Virginia and in some other Mates the county poorhouse-that relic of inefficient and reactionary government-is fast ceasing to exist. In its place have come well Equipped state institutions which provide for the crippled, the blind, and the defective, anJ consolidated local institutions, in which several counties participate, which care for our indigent, aged, and infirm. With the further development of social agencies intent upon the job of making fam Page 20 MOUNTAIN LIFE AND WORK duly, 1930 ilies self-supporting rather than giving out doles, I think we may expect more progress in this field. I have thought that your great problem, the ministering to the mountain people of this .;ountry, is largely economic and social. It is economic in that the normal development of peoples must be predicated upon the economic independence of the individual family. In other words conditions must be such that men and women may make a decent livelihood. This, it seems to me, is a problem of land and many other things. Your problem is social, in that any program for the betterment of conditions must take into consideration those forces such as I have discussed which so vitally effect the individuals. We cannot expect normal, average individuals to develop a modern civilization unless they can secure the necessities and comforts of life; nor can we expect defective persons of very low mentality to become leaders under any condition. AN ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL STUDY OF THE SOUTHERN APPALACHIANS Excerpt from address by Thomas P. Cooper Last fall when Miss Dingman discussed with me the desirability of a social and economic stud;, of the Southern Appalachians and indicated that many institutions now engaged in work them needed more information, I was impressed with the tremendous possilailities of such a study, not only to the states and government, but to all institutions now carrying on work in this region. A meeting vas called (mention of which many of you have noted in Mountain Life and Work) which brought together a group to determine whether there was an actual interest in the problem. The conference was held in New York and was attended by a number of individuals representing the interest of departments of government, state, church, and private mission schools. At the conference, the fact was brought out that there was an important problem and that there was a possibility of cooperation in the development of a study that would mean much to all. As an example of the type of problem in mind, Mrs. Campbell raised these questions Are the private schools competing with public schools and thus hindering healthy growth of a good public school system? Are leaders being developed-the purpose claimed for the private school-or do the students graduating from these schools leave the rural sections for regions of wider opportunity ? Is it possible to have a full life in the mountains, or should we encourage students to leave? Can there be an adequate living on the soil? Where are the areas clearly unsuited to agriculture Will industry solve the problem, and what bearing have Elizabethton, Marion, and Gastonia on the question? Is there a dynamic process at work that is really meeting the economic, social, and spiritual needs of the people? Following this conference, a committee was formed with the idea of determining the interest of the states, particularly the state institutions, regarding a study of this character. In December, the various states concerned were invited to send administrative officers to determine whether they could cooperate in a comprehensive research study of this region. This conference, held in Knoxville, represented Kentucky, Tennessee, North Carolina, Virginia, Alabama, Georgia, and the United States Department of Agriculture, and a number of mountain institutions. It was decided that the problem was worth undertaking. The question in the minds of these men was whether it was feasible, wheth July, 1930 MOUNTAIN LIFE AND WORK Page 21 er is could be financed? The necessary committees were formed for giving it further consideration, and all representatives left the conference with the conviction that something could be done. After much study, Dr. Gray and Mr. Clayton, in conference with the states interested, formulated a project (a tern used by experiment stations to indicate an outline of the type of research that is to be performed) which was presented to the states and accepted. Already, several state institutions through their agricultural colleges have indicated their interest and approximately what they can assign in the way of funds. Churches, private schools, and mission schools have indicated their interest and possibilities of assistance. Among the reasons for undertaking the study, the following are outstanding 1. Farming unprofitable in many parts of the region. This is due to soil conditions, etc. Many farmers are forced into industry, mining, and other employment to supplement the income from the farms. Studies made by various individuals and institutions indicate very interesting conditions, making the problem an outstanding one. 2. Lack of roads. Economic and cultural isolation lowers physical development and undermines the efficiency of the population. 3. Rapid depreciation o f the forests tracts. There is the possibility of planting the barren areas of our states for the future, also the possibility of supplementing the income from the farm through this source. 4. Emigration. The more energetic elements of the population tend to move out. 5. Problem of the remaining population. As the population decreases, the per capita cost of maintaining churches, roads, and schools increases, and this makes a much greater burden upon the remaining population. The population alone is apparently incapable of improving its condition. Improvement can be made only after careful study and analysis of the situation, and then by a unified plan and effort. A thorough knowledge of the opportunities and limitations of the several marginal sections in the region is necessary for the guidance of federal and state forces. What should be the outcome of such a study? First, essential knowledge for the development of programs of reform adapted to the needs of this region as determined by the results of this survey of study. Second, reshaping of the programs which other agencies may continue, or an entire change of programs for their own and the general welfare. A tentative project of the work has been laid out. It embodies the general scheme of development and likewise indicates something of the policies proposed. A piece of research that deals with so large a problem will require considerable time for completion. It will involve practically three years of work-two in the field and another year to bring the results of the studies together in a usable form. A large amount of funds will be needed in order to carry on the work effectively. It is estimated that the project which we have in mind will cost about $275,000. The state experiment stations and the departments of the federal government can see their way clear to finance $139,000 of this expense for the next three years. Also the agencies as represented by church boards are to assist in financing a part. It is something of a task to bring together a large number of agencies and weld them for a single purpose for a long period of work. We have made a start. There is general agreement among Kentucky, Virginia, Tennessee, North Carolina and Georgia, contingent upon sufficient funds being made available, that they will group themselves for a study of this character under the leadership of Dr. L. C. Gray of the United' States Department of Agriculture. The work will consist of studies in the field comprising definite areas-six thousand square miles. All of our representative institutions are affected in one way or another; all must have a great interest in this particular problem. It should have the complete cooperation and support of all our mountain institutions, the various educational institutions, mission schools, and all other similar agencies. It needs your support not only from the standpoint of your own future, but also from the Page 22 MOUNTAIN LIFE AND WORK duly, 1930 standpoint of the welfare of all of us. That support may take the form of finances, of contributions of help in one field or another, or it might take the very important form of advising the communities in which one lives to give cooperation and be helpful in every possible way. A great many persons have asked me whether it is capable of accomplishment. I believe that it is. It represents a very large study. The very size and complexity is a challenge. The greatest difficulty, after securing a competent and efficient personnel, is that of financing. A problem of this kind involving many important interests should secure support. Some have asked why the Government can not finance it entirely. I presume that there is only one answer and that is that the Government does not yet have the interest. Why can not a problem of this kind wait until the states and government appropriate the necessary funds? The answer is, the problem is one that needs to be taken care of now, and the necessity is so great that we must find a means of doing it. At the New York conference it was brought out that in this particular region there are about 150 institutions engaged in mountain work, supported from private funds, and that approximately $4,500,000 is being spent each year to support them. In comparison with that amount of expenditure one sees that the cost of this survey is not very great. From the standpoint of the institutions, it is worth while to secure facts and to know in what diregion we are advancing. A summary of the general situation is: In New York it was decided that there is a need for information. Various groups found that information would be useful and were ready to interest themselves in securing it. In Knoxville, the interests of the divisions of the U. S. Department of Agriculture and of the states were brought together. It was decided, contingent upon funds to undertake the study. In Washington, the plan was submitted and accepted, and arrangements made for taking up the work when funds became available. I hope that this Conference will approve the idea of the study, and will give it the moral support that is so necessary. THE MOUNTAIN HANDICRAFTS: THEIR IMPORTANCE TO THE COUNTRY AND TO THE PEOPLE IN THE MOUNTAIN HOMES By Allen Eaton This afternoon we are to complete the work begun a little over a year ago, bringing into closer association the several handicraft centers of the Southern Mountains. I say "we," for I like to think of this as an organization broad enough to include in its membership all those who are interested one way or another in conserving and continuing the handicrafts; and you have in your plans made a place for persons like me by creating a type of membership to be known as "Friends of the Guild." I hope it will not be long until there will be scores, yes, hundreds, of people throughout the country who are enrolled as "Friends," for it is my conviction that there is hardly a limit to the number of people in our country who will become interested in the things for which this organization stands, and will by their subscriptions and in other ways help to carry on its work. I am going to try to tell you some of the reasons why I think the handicrafts of the mountains are of great importance to all of us wherever we happen to be. But before getting to this I have promised to say something about the steps that have already been taken toward the organization which is to be completed today; and I am glad to do this because it has been my privilege to sit in on the three meetings preceeding this one, in which plans for the July, 1930 MOUNTAIN LIFE AND WORK Page 23 handicraft guild have been considered. I will be glad to sketch briefly what has thus far been done. The first meeting was held at Penland, North Carolina, on December 27 and 28, 1928, in the Weavers Cabin on the top of Conley Ridge, near the Appalachian School. Here a few people came together to ask themselves if it would be possible, through some kind of cooperative association, to advance the general cause of the handicrafts in the mountains, without in any way interfering with the individual work that had been or might be done. It was clear that no one wanted to interfere with any one else, but is was also clear that each one felt that in union there should be strength and that there were a number of ways in which a broad cooperative organization might be helpful. Here at Penland, for the first time as far as I know, a list of handicraft centers was prepared, showing about forty places in different parts of the mountains where some work in the handicrafts was being done. Eight of these centers were represented in the conference. The conclusion reached at Penland was unanimous for recommending to the next meeting of the Conference of Southern Mountain Workers, which was to be in Knoxville, April 2-5, 1929, that steps be taken to bring these handicraft workers into some kind of cooperating organization. At the Knoxville conference in April we took up the discussion where it had been left at Penland, and out of it emerged a unanimous recommendation by the Conference that Miss Helen Dingman, Executive Secretary, be authorized to take the necessary steps toward completing the organization. Pursuant to these instructions another meeting was called for December 28, 1929, at The Spinning Wheel, Beaver Lake, North Carolina, where the form the organization should take was quite fully discussed and twenty-two handicraft producing centers were agreed upon as eligible for charter membership. Several committees were appointed, including one on constitution and bylaws, and further authority was given to proceed with the organization,as it is proposed to do this afternoon. At the meeting held at The Spinning Wheel on December 28th, it was decided to bring together at this conference some examples of the handicrafts from the centers which had been suggested for membership, and this is the exhibit which some of you have seen and about which you will hear more later this afternoon. Let me say in passing that I think in your efforts to form a handicraft association you have set one pattern for the 'Guild that ought to be followed in the future, that of having at least two meetings each year: one at the conference and the other at one of the producing centers. If my contacts with the handicraft workers should never be extended beyond those made at Penland and Beaver Lake, I still would have such pleasant and definite impressions of the work and the people that it would always seem to me a privilege to do anything I could to encourage this useful and beautiful work. We could not possibly have had, it seems to me, a more appropriate place for our first meeting than that of the Weavers Cabin, on the high ridge above Penland. This cabin built by Miss Lucy Morgan and her weavers you shall hear more about this afternoon, but it will long remain for me one of memory's most beautiful pictures, as with the snowflakes falling outside and the log fire blazing within, a small group of us gathered around the hearth that winter afternoon to talk over the possibilities which are today about to be realized. And equally appropriate was the place of our last meeting, The Spinning Wheel, at Beaver Lake, in the old log cabin which Miss Clementine Douglas found somewhere in the neighborhood and which she moved and made over, with no loss of character, but a positive gain in comfort and convenience, into a workshop and exhibition room of rare charm. Here we had a still larger group of friends, but there was a good strong mountain chair for every one who joined our circle, and the great old wooden loom in the corner by the fireplace was piled high with coats and hats from many places. Page 24 MOUNTAIN LIFE AND WORK July, 1930 SOUTHERN MOUNTAIN HANDICRAFT GUILD EXHIBITS This log cabin is an excellent example of mountain architecture, and only a few steps away is the weaving room with its big family of looms. Hanging on the walls were masses of beautifully colored yarns, and these, with weavings on the looms in all stages of progress, made a glowing picture of mountain handicrafts that I shall long remember. These visits to Penland and Beaver Lake, with a few other glimpses of workers, both leaders and craftsmen, have impressed me deeply with the vital and important place of the handicrafts in the life of this mountain region. The handicrafts are a measurable part of the culture of the mountains, and they should be the concern of all people everywhere who believe, as I do, that no invention of any time can bring to a man, woman, or child a satisfaction which equals that of creating with his own hand something which he thinks is useful and beautiful. It is bezause I think that the preservation of the handicrafts and their encouragement to higher levels should interest all Americans, whether in or out of the mountains, that when Miss Dingman asked we what I would suggest as a subject for this afternoon's discussion, I gave her the rather inclusive one that is printed on the program, "The Mountain Handicrafts: Their Importance to the Country and to the People in the Mountain Homes." One of the first reasons why the handicrafts of the mountains should interest the people of our country is that their practice is making it possible for many to live in the mountains who would otherwise have to move out. Every influence which makes possible the continuation of life in the mountains of the Southland contributes just so much to the preservation of American rural life. I know there are those who think that it would be better for the mountaineer if he moved out of the moun July, 1930 MOUNTAIN LIFE AND WORK Page 25 tain home into the city or into some industrial center where, as a machine tender or as some other contributor to mass production, he might become a regular wage earner. Indeed there are those quite bent on forcing the change. There is not time for a discussion on this point, but may I express the conviction that one of the privileges which ought to be preserved to Americans for a little longer is that of deciding for themselves where they shall live. As to the mountaineer, before we decide to move him from the mountains to the town, yes, even before we press upon him the economic standard of life which seems essential to us, let us make an honest, unprejudiced study of his life and his culture. It is just possible that we should find values which we would not have him exchange for our program of averages even if he were willing to do so. I am glad that most of us who work with mountain people are not bent on moving them out of the mountains, or on keeping them in, but rather on helping them to make life fuller and better wherever they may be. Students of American life are alarmed at the rate at which for several years our people have been moving from the country to the city. We seem, in point of population, to be changing from a rural to an urban nation. Whatever advantages may be in the new conditions-and there are undoubtedly some-the most thoughtful students are seriously asking what this change will mean to our future. And they are asking the question because they know that what we are as a nation has been largely an outgrowth of our rural life. Not only has our population until recent years been predominantly rural, but rural life has contributed largely to leadership in all fields of endeavor. The growth and strength of our cities of today has been determined more by the forces from without than by the forces from within. And this feeding from without has been from rural communities mainly native Americans, but partly through immigrants, many of them from the rural districts of Europe Although about two-thirds of all our people are now living in cities, it is probably not too much to say that more than half of the acknowledged leaders in our nation have come from the country districts. I am not trying to make a case against city life. The only point I am trying to make is that what we are and what we have achieved as a nation can be traced largely to rural life and rural influences, and that the majority of men and women who have led us and who are doing so now have spent their formative years in a rural environment, either in the country or in small towns. These are the reasons why students are watching this great population shift with concern. Whatever contributes to the stability of our rural life, as the handicrafts in the mountains certainly do, is a matter in which the whole country should be interested. The second reason why the handicrafts of the Southern Mountains should interest our people throughout the country is that they make an important contribution to rural culture. One purpose of the exhibition across the hall (see illustrations) is to furnish evidence to the conference of its conviction that there is a distinct mountain culture of which the handicrafts are an important part. But we should think of this mountain culture as belonging not alone to the region with which we are especially concerned, but as being a part of the rural heritage of America. In speaking a moment ago of the handicraft exhibition as furnishing evidence of a mountain culture, I was thinking entirely of the objects which have been sent in from the different producing centers throughout the highlands. However, I would like to refer briefly to another feature of the exhibition of which many of you have expressed appreciation, that is the portraits of mountain people which have been loaned to us by one of America's foremost photographers, Doris Ulmann of New York City; and the interpretations of the mountain cabins by the gifted photographer, Charles A. Ferrill, now of Greensboro, North Carolina. It is because these artists see in the mountain people and their modest habitations something very worthy that they bring us these fine interpretations; it is because they Page 26 MOUNTAIN LIFE AND WORK July, 1930 share our view that there are unique qualities of culture in this mountain country that they have gone far from the beaten path to record them. And finally the handicrafts are important to the whole country because they furnish objects of use and beauty for the homes of countless people who may never get within this mountain region at all. I believe that an increasing number of home-makers are following the excellent advice of the great English craftsman, William Morris, who said: "Have nothing in your home which you do not know to be useful or believe of the culture of our native land. Let us now turn to the importance of the handicrafts to the people in the mountain homes, for after all it is here that we shall find their greatest justification. The first and most obvious measure of the value of the handicrafts is their economic return, the money which they bring to those who practice them. Just because this measurement is so obvious I shall dwell on it for only a moment here and use the remainder of my time in dicussing other values not so well understood or so widely acknowledged, but of very great importance. If we were compelled to rest HANDICRAFT EXHIBIT-MAIN WALL to be beautiful." The endeavor to follow such a good rule is sure to lead to discrimination in the furnishing of any home. In case of American homes it is quite certain to lead to a knowledge of and interest in the handicrafts of these mountains, for there is no rural section of our country where so many useful and beautiful things for home use and decoration are made by hand at such reasonable prices as in this mountain region. And so I think we who live far from the mountains will look increasingly to you to help us make our homes more attractive, more interesting, and more expressive our case alone on the economic return from the handicrafts it would' be possible to fully justify it. Information by no means complete, which a few of those in charge of this work have given me, indicate a return to the workers in the mountain homes far in excess of what my guess would have been. The figures alone would challenge the consideration of any good business man, and would far exceed any estimates that I have ever heard before. But if we knew the exact figures, impressive as they may be, they would not alone suggest the full meaning of the earnings to the workers, for July, 1930 MOUNTAIN LIFE AND WORK Page 27 the dollar that comes into the mountain home is a dollar of unusual value. It does more than the average dollar in the city. There could be no better way to make a complete case for our cause than to describe how the earnings from the handicrafts are spent. However, many in this audience are familiar with these facts, and for those who are not, I am glad to commend an article in the January, 1928, issue of Mountain Life and Work entitled "THE SPINNING WHEEL," written by Miss Helen Dingman. If you would gather still more information on this vital point you will be able to get it first hand from any of the several handicraft leaders who are with us here today. We shall therefore leave this very basic consideration of what the earnings from the handicrafts have meant to home life in the mountains and to the many boys and girls who have been able to gain an education through them, and we shall turn to some of the other reasons why they are so important. The values of which I wish now to speak cannot be measured in terms of money. They are noc material values, but rather spiritual in the broad sense of that word; that is they contribute to the life, to the growth, and to the development of the individual, and to the community. And these values are perceivable only to those who know the workers and their work. Therefore I thought you would enjoy getting some of this information first hand, and I have asked a few members of our Handicraft Guild to speak directly to you of some of the things which I have in mind. Five friends have agreed to help me out with this, the most important part of my talk. They will speak on the worth of the handicrafts as follows: Their Cultural Value; Their Social Value; Their Traditional Value; Their Therapeutic Value; and Their Educational Value. In the circle of friends who gathered at The Spinning Wheel last December to consider the formation of the Handicraft Guild was one to whom we often turned for answers to questions growing out of our discussion. As fresh in her quiet enthusiasm as the youngest in the group, Miss Frances Goodrich was in point of experience the oldest advocate of the handicrafts for the mountain people. In fact she was the pioneer not only to see the need of the handi crafts but to start them, and what is still more inspiring, she has continued to encourage them to this present moment. Miss Goodrich has seen more clearly than many of us, beyond the economic value of this work into its cultural side. I have, therefore, asked her to tell us a little of her pioneer work and of the contributions of the handicrafts to mountain culture. There is no need to introduce Miss Goodrich to this Conference, but in presenting her I have thought I might bring you what a few days ago was indeed good news to me, the fact that Miss Goodrich has written a book on her experiences in these mountains and it is to be published by the discriminating Yale Press. When I read of this I at once wrote for a copy of the book, but instead I received a letter explaining that it would not be published until autumn. For my information they included in the letter a short statement which Miss Goodrich has made, and which I would like to read to you both as a delightful announcement of this promised book and also as a fitting foreword in presenting her to you: "It was in the Fall of 1890 that I went into the Southern Mountains to help in a country school and to be as far as I might a good neighbor. Going to teach, I remained to learn. Out of what was taught me, of crafts, of country ways and of life has come this book, HOMESPUN." Miss Goodrich told how forty years ago she had come as a teacher into the mountain country near Asheville, North Carolina. Her first interest was in the children. Rural schools were not then well developed but were bringing the children knowledge and enlightenrrent. The men got out occasionally ands saw something of life. The women did not. They were shut-ins and it was for them especially that something must be done. First they needed a way to earn. There was a beautiful craft which was dying out. Miss Goodrich saw a coverlet made by a mountain woman. That was the start. (They have that very coverlet today). If this weaving could be developed it would bring in money and preserve the craft. They set to work, a few of them, and began to make coverlets. Progress was slow at first, but the great return came as these mountain women found a new interest in life, became producers recognized in the community and at the country store, were able to purchase family necessities which had always been out of their reach, and came to feel that they were no longer isolated and shut in but that they were themselves a part of the workers of the world. They felt deeply the satisfaction of making something beautiful that was recognized as worth while by their own people and by the people in far off places. They would not claim it outwardly, but they were inwardQy conscious that in making these coverlets Page 28 MOUNTAIN LIFE AND WORK July, 1930 and other beautiful things they were contributing something, be it ever so little, to the culture of the mountains. Out. of the need for encouraging this work and' finding an outlet for the weaving and other crafts, the Allanstand Industries grew and developed. The folks up on Laurel say that through these mountain industries the name of Allanstand has become known throughout the United States. One of the great immeasurable values of the mountain handicrafts is their social value, the way in which they bring the workers together and often draw in other members of the neighborhood . If we had no other record of the social value of the handicrafts than that in Penland it would be quite sufficient to prove our case completely. I have asked Miss Lucy Morgan, of Penland, to tell whatever comes to her mind about the social doings of her weavers, but I would like before presenting her to give you a little of the background there as I had an opportunity to see it in connection with that first meeting of those interested in forming the Southern Mountain Handicraft Guild. Within a radius of thirty miles of Penland in the mountain homes are about forty looms, generally one in a cabin, but sometimes two. As we sat in the Weavers Cabin the morning after our conference, a young mountain girl came in to get some weaving supplies. The warm morning sun had melted the snow of the night before, and as she stood by the open fireplace drying out her clothes and visiting with Miss Morgan, I finally made out that she was the girl whose excellent weaving, along with that done by her mother, I had seen earlier in the day. And Miss Morgan had, through the window of the cabin, pointed out to me the spot seven and a half miles away behind the Blue Mountain where they lived. This girl explained that last week her father had lost one of his span of mules and she was afraid of an accident to the other if she rode him across the mountain; so she had walked. She had not been sure that she could get the supplies needed, but-there are no telephones in this region-she thought she would come over to see, especially as there was some weaving she was just longing to get to. Before noon she had started back with about 40 pounds of yarn and warp, which, except for the first half mile, when I was going her way, she toted over the mountain alone. Weaving has meant something to this family, especially to the mother who can now stay at home and care for the children. With her loom by the fireplace in their mountain cabin she can make even a little more than she used to make before weavin' came into her life. She used to go out into the woods and do a man's work, felling trees, shaping them into crossties, loading them on the wagon, and hauling them out to the railroad miles away. I refer to the girl and her mother not only because they are so deft and dependable in their weaving, but because they also helped in the building of the Weavers Cabin, which in addition to being a workshop, is a social center for the weavers and their friends. Miss Lucy Morgan is going to tell us how the handicrafts develop sociability among the mountain folks at Penland. Miss Morgan told of how a few years ago no one was weaving anymore in the region of Penland and in the hope of r:viving an old art she went to Berea, learned weaving, and brought two looms back with her. One of the older women took one of the looms, and Miss Morgan furnished her with materials and stayed with her until she could weave by herself. When the weaver finished her first piece, Miss Morgan sold it for twenty-three dollars. From then until now there have been more people asking for looms than could he kept busy. It was the weavers and their .families who joined in building the Weavers Cabin, where once a week during the summer months, the weavers, their families, and their friends gather to plan their handicraft work and for social times such as they never knew before. When the Cabin was built they had! a "log-raising" which is to this day looked back upon as the social event of recent years. The neighbors gave logs, stone for the fireplace, so many days of work, each doing what he or she could to make the Cabin possible. Then on the great day the men "raised" the logs and the women gave a big dinner. At the Cabin are discussed not only weaving problems, but also the neighborhood problems such as new roads, telephone lines, and other community matters. Then when a new weaver is to start, some neighbor will go and! help her put on her warp, and another neighbor will help teach her how to weave. They all teach each other and thus there is a great deal of neighborliness. Since the weaving has been going on, some women have met who have not seen each other since childhood, although they have lived only a few miles apart. Efforts are made to get people who used to weave to come out to these gatherings, and sometimes the Penland School truck is sent after them. One woman who had not been out for eight years sent back word that she was afraid of the Ford and of the mule and wagon, but that she would come on their sled. Bonnie Willis, a student at Berea, whose mother was the ,first one to take up weaving at Penland, July, 1930 MOUNTAIN LIFE AND WORK Page 29 wrote a play last year on The Life of the Weavers. It was in three parts. Part I. The Passing of O=d Things; Part II, Weaving Planned; Part III, A Scene in the Weaving Cabin. It was played by the weavers at Penland. Dr. Koch of the University of North Carolina drove down to see it, and this time the play `vas given on the porch of the Willis cabin. The foot-lights were behind the posts of the porch. Dr. Koch asked, "Are they talking or are those lines they have learned?" They were lines they had learned. He said, "I can't believe it, for they are just talking their everyday language." It is always a pleasure to me to learn of the handing down of American traditions from one generation to the next. There is more of that in these mountains than any one would guess. In the exhibition across the hall, in the center of the main wall is a beautiful quilt which was made by Mrs. Andy Hatcher of Ware's Valley, Tennessee, on a little farm that has been in the family since 1795. I have not had the pleasure of meeting Mrs. Hatcher or of learning just how unbroken has been the practice of the handicrafts in their family, but some day I hope to know. I do have the pleasure, however, of knowing another family represented in this exhibition in which the torch of the handicrafts has never been lowered from the early colonial days to this 27th of March, 1930. This is the Dougherty family of Russellville, Tennessee. The three sisters whose textiles and rugs are shown in the exhibition learned weaving, spinning, and coloring with native dyes from their mother, who in turn had learned the crafts from their grandmother just as that generation was passing from the hand work of the homestead to the machine industries of the cities. In their home at Russellville the Doughertys have many examples of the handicrafts associated with the family and neighborhood from the early colonial days, and in this spacious old house are several hand looms on which are being made textiles that go out into every part of this country. It is our privilege this afternoon to have with us the mother, Mrs. Leah Dougherty, and two of the daughters, Miss Sarah Dougherty and Mrs. Rebecca Hyatt. I have just this minute learned that they are leaving at once to make the Russellville train. Since I don't want them to miss it I am going to ask Miss Sarah Dougherty to speak to us for as long as she can, and afterwards while she is catching her train I will introduce her to you. Miss Dougherty said that her mother, her married sisters, and she represented three generations of weavers in their home in Russellville. Miss Dougherty was compelled to leave the hall in order to catch her train home. As she and her mother and sister, Mrs. Hyatt, were leaving Mr. Eaton introduced them all to the Conference; and when they had gone an account of bheir interesting and important work in the handicrafts was given, of which there were several examples in the Guild exhibition. The therapeutic or curative value of the handicrafts is a subject that has interested me for a long time. There are authentic records of cases in our hospitals, asylums, and prisons, in which patients have through a practice of the handicrafts been literally made over physically and mentally. I did not expect in my brief contact with the mountain people to find examples of the therapeutic value of the handicrafts, but Mrs. N. W. Johnson. of Crossnore. has told me of an experience in point which she has had and which I want her to pass on to you. This was the case of a large family in which there was a dull child. It is this child's story which Mrs. Johnson will tell you. I am especially glad to have this testimony from one who is not a physician, a trained nurse, or a specialist in occupational theraphy, but an instructor in the handicrafts at Crossnore, with a keen sense of observation and a great fund of common sense. Mrs. Johnson told of a family of thirteen in which the brother who was crippled] came to the school to learn weaving. He did it well, and he and the children thought they would like a loom for their mother. The family lived over the hill and there was no wagon road to their cabin; so the children came over and, each one carrying a part or two, took the loom over the hill to their home, and put it together. The children learned to weave-all but one, the oldest girl of seventeen, who was. considered too dull to learn anything that required concentrated effort or memory. She was only in the third grade. The family had always had her work outside in the field. When she was sent to the store for anything, one of the smaller children would go along to do the buying. She told Mrs. Johnson she wanted to learn to weave, but she could not do anything; she was afraid to try. One day Mrs. Johnson heard somone passing make the remark that Z - - - was dumb. The girl flushed. Mrs. Johnson thought to herself that if Z - - - could flush about this remark she was not hopelessly dumb. Upon this she began to build. The next time Mrs. Johnson started to teach her to weave she told her she knew she could do it, and informed her also that although she had pulled that "d'umb stuff" over others she couldn't over her. The girl brightened up and seemed pleased at this rather questionable compliment. She seemed to feel encouraged to take hold. Slowly she learned to weave. Then Mrs. Johnson gave her things to do, a spool of thread to take home to her mother. The first time she laid the thread down on the way and forgot it. But Mrs. Johnson did not send one of the other children to get it; she sent her Page 30 MOUNTAIN LIFE AND WORK July, 1930 back for it. Later she could go to the store and get things for the school and bring them back. And what she learned in her weaving, she kept. With this basis of accomplishment to give her confidence, she kept on, and when Mrs. Johnson asked her to show someone else how to do something in weaving a new light seemed to break for her. Life had a new interest, a vital one, and now she often helps others with their weaving. We have just had a glimpse of the value of the handicrafts in the development of a mentally handicapped child. I wish we had the time to discuss the place of the handicrafts in the broad field of child education. This we cannot do today, but we shall have time to hear of a very interesting and original experiment in adult-education which Miss Clementine Douglas and her girls are working out at Beaver Lake, North Carolina. I am sorry Mr. Lester of the Carnegie Corporation could not have remained over to hear this talk. In his excellent address on "Adult Education: Its Basis and Background in the United States," which he delivered on the evening of March 26th, he referred specifically to the importance of developing an educational program out of an established interest. He stated this principle in better words than these, but I think he meant the same thing. Miss Douglas will tell us how with their daily work as a center these weavers are making fascinating excursions into history, geography, art, and other fields. Miss Douglas, of The Spinning Wheel, told how her weavers through their own thinking out had insisted that they take up the study of weaving. Some of them had gone to Opportunity School at Berea and had come home with the idea that whatever work one was doing was important and that from this work as a center it would be possible to reach out to all the world. So the study began, and since Miss Douglas had a very small choice weaving from Italy one of the early excursions was to that sunny land. The weavers not only went back into the history of weaving, of which there are so many records in Italy, but they have had something to do with current events. One of the girls gave this terse but comprehensive sketch of Mussolini's career: "He said, you just lay off Italy for awhile and I will manage it." Other studies of Italy have been made, also of Greece, and other European countries. Miss Douglas gave her group an account of the very beginning of weaving, after which it was decided to include the ,Spinners as sisters of the Weavers, and' now the quest for traces of both will go along together. Through books, maps, charts, and pictures the study continues, leading every way. There are pictures of the temples of Egypt, and a photograph of a mummy who was a sister weaver shows that the wrapping had a flat-she had tramped her treadle too much. And so the search goes from one age and country to another age and country as the thread of weaving is followed, and it seems as if through the quest for weaving alone it would be nearly possible to learn everything there is to know about the world. In closing, may I say a few words aside about the handicraft exhibition. This exhibition as you know is the first one to be given by the Southern Mountain Handicraft Guild. One of the purposes of it was to give us all a better idea of the things that are being made in the mountains. Thirty-two different centers sent in examples of their best work, and on the main wall of the exhibition room is arranged at least one example of the handicraft work from each of these places. It has been a very interesting experience to see these objects and to help arrange them. My opinion of the importance of the mountain handicrafts has been confirmed. I would like to take this opportunity to thank the committee which has done the work and made the task of arrangement both easy and pleasant for me. The Exhibition Committee consists of Miss Evelyn Bishop of Gatlinburg, Miss Marguerite Butler of Brasstown, and Mrs. Mary Sloop of Crossnore. Since Mrs. Sloop could not come, her associate Mrs. N. W. Johnson has taken her place here. This then completes the formal program and we will without delay resolve ourselves into a meeting of the Southern Mountain Handicraft Guild, to which you are all, whether or not you are members, invited to remain. j uly, 1930 MOUNTAIN LIFE AND WORK Page 31 DISCUSSION GLEANINGS Following "ADULT EDUCATION" Teach people to do their work intelligently and build around that work a cultural life. =x :x The teachers should know how to make country life worth while. Is there such a thing as a finished educa There are lots of people who have very little surface education who are happy and can tell me a great deal about happiness of the spirit and of life. It is our yob to get people to have an, attitude toward life that is great and fine. =;That is what I call Adult Education. We who go into the mountains must live the life we expect them to live. We have got to do the things they do better than they do them. We must live what we say. More libraries is one of the greatest needs in the rural or mountain districts. One is handicapped in teaching the adult because there is so little literature, simple in words but containing some real thought, that we can put into the hands of the people. There is so much illiteracy in America that we should be doing more than we are. A determined effort to see that every child from now on gets sufficient elementary education to read and write well and to have a foundation to build a continuous education upon will solve our future problem. :x ~ :x The illiteracy problem is practically two or three times as great as that reported by the census. Of the soldiers who were not able to read a newspaper intelligently or to write an intelligent letter home, many had been through the third or fourth grade, but had not formed the reading habit; so in the next twelve or thirteen years after leaving school they had not read much and had forgotten the art. It is necessary by some means to carry the people on in their reading after they leave school-if they leave school in the lower grades. Children who learn to read continue to read if they have some advantages. They must form the habit and have it confirmed by reading some years, so that it will continue through life. Following "HUMAN GOVERNMENT" Three generations of idiots are enough! Following "AN ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL STUDY" I have in the past thirty years-five as a civil engineer and twenty-five as a lawyercome in contact with mountain people in Kentucky, Tennessee, and North Georgia. I have never yet been able to visualize a type mountaineer. If I lived in Chicago it would be easy to tell you a great deal about the mountaineer. I do not find they are any more typical than any other large group. x Electric power is going to change the complexion of our problem. It is going to make it possible to take power to labor, rather than bringing labor to power. I think we make a mistake in assuming it is necessary to urbanize or industrialize the mountaineer too fast. Do not destroy this type of man who has given leaders to the world. Contributors to this Issue MR. ROBERT E. LESTER, of the Carnegie Corporation of New York. MR. JAMES MYERS, Industrial Secretary, Federal Council of Churches of Christ in America. MR. JAMES BARRETT, Editor of the Brevard News, Brevard, North Carolina. Miss ROBINA KNEEBONE, Director, Public Health Nursing, School of Social Work and Public Health, Richmond, Virginia. Mx. FRANK BANE, Commissioner of Public Welfare of Virginia. DR. THOMAS COOPER, Dean, College of Agriculture, University of Kentucky. Mx. ALLEN EATON, of the Russell Sage Foundation. DON'T CARRY ypUR MOUNTAIN; CLIMB IT! ARE YOU UNDER A MOUNTAIN OF TROUBLE? YOUR LIFE AND WORK IS WORTH WHILE MOUNTAIN LIFE AND WORK-BEREA, KENTUCKY ONE DOLLAR PER YEAR

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