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The Rural Ideal and Agrarian Realities: Arthur E. Holt and the Vision of a Decentralized America in the Interwar Years

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 July 2009

Jacob H. Dorn
Jacob H. Dorn
Affiliation:
Mr. Dorn is professor of history in Wright State University, Dayton, Ohio.
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Extract

A revolution in rural life since the 1940s has produced agribusiness, corporate farms, and situation in which less than five percent of Americans are engaged in farming activities and fewer still work family farms. Richard Hofstadter once observed, “The United States was born in the country and has moved to the city.” Today, when few vestiges remain of “the localistic and personalistic frame of reference, which describes farming and country life effectively all the way through the depression years,” it is important to remember the influence that an idealized picture of rural life had on earlier generations of American intellectuals. Amidst the profound changes in American society produced by industrialization, urbanization, and corporate capitalism, many thinkers adhered to a vision of simpler times—one of grass-— Hofstadter, The Age of Reform: From Bryan to F.D.R. (New York, 1955), p. 23. John L.—Last Minority: The Transforming of Rural Life in America (DeKalb, Ill., 1976), p. xvi; Shover's book is a poignant analysis of the revolution in rural life since the 1940s. Jean Quandt, From the Small Town to the Great Community: The Social Thought of Progressive Intellectuals (New Brunswick, N.J., 1970), examines the nostalgia for simpler times in the thought of nine people, including John Dewey, Charles H. Cooley, Jane Addams, Josiah Royce, and Robert E. Park, who identified personally and professionally with urban life.

Type
Research Article
Information
Church History , Volume 52 , Issue 1 , March 1983 , pp. 50 - 65
Copyright
Copyright © American Society of Church History 1983

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References

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10. Basinger, , “Holt,” pp. 5–9;Google Scholar Holt, Arthur E., “A National Resource without a Scandal: What Has Been Done in Irrigation,” Congregationalist 109 (22 05 1924): 648–650;Google Scholar Holt to John B. Holt, 18 November 1935, Holt Papers, Chicago Theological Seminary, Chicago, Ill.

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14. “Dr Holt and His Work,” Congregationalist 109 (22 05 1924): 648.Google Scholar There are no primary records of the Congregational commission for Holt's secretaryship.

15. Ozora S. Davis, “The Chicago Theological Seminary: Report of the President to the Twenty-Fourth Triennial Convention… September 23, 1924 to June 3, 1928,” Holt Papers; McGiffert, , No Ivory Tower, pp. 183–185, 196.Google Scholar

16. Kincheloe, Samuel C. to author, 3 12 1980;Google Scholar Hutchinson, Carl R. to author, 13 12 1980;Google Scholar Greene, Shirley E. to author, 19 12 1980;Google Scholar Holt, , “Town and Country Churches,” CTS Register 17 (03 1927): 8–11;Google Scholar and Carl R. Hutchinson, “The Seminary Co-operates with Country Churches,” ibid. 20 (January 1930): 11–14.

17. “Holt, Arthur—A Modern Christian Pioneer,” Christian Century 59 (21 01 1942): 67–68.Google Scholar

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19. Holt's views on theological education and social experience were set forth in “How Can the Minister Co-operate With the Social Worker?” Proceedings of the National Conference of Social Welfare (1923): 249–252; “Observing the Vocational Experience of Your Parish,” CTS Register 16 (March 1926): 3–8; “Trends in Theological Education,” ibid. 19 (January 1929): 27–32; “Case Records as Data for Studying the Conditioning of Religious Experience by Social Factors,” American Journal of Sociology 32 (September 1926): 227–236; “The Ecological Approach to the Church,” ibid. 33 (July 1927): 72–79; “The Contribution of Sociology to the Making of the Minister,” Crozer Quarterly 3 (October 1926): 432–439; “Case Method and Teaching at Chicago Theological Seminary,” Religious Education 23 (March 1928): 207–212; “Legitimate Fields for Research,” ibid. 23 (April 1928): 357–361; and with(Edwin D. Starbuck) “Theological Seminaries and Research,” ibid. 23 (May 1928): 404–406.

20. Holt, Arthur E., “Personal Work with the Hobos,” CTS Register 16 (03 1926): 10–12;Google Scholar idem, “'Bos,” Survey Graphic 60 (1 August 1928): 456–459, idem, “Have the Laboring Men Deserted the Churches?” Federal Council Bulletin 10 (January 1927): 15; idem, “New Studies of the City Church,” Christian Century 45 (27 September 1928): 1152; idem (with Carl R. Hutchinson), “The Religion of Two Hundred Farmers of McHenry County,” 10 May 1928, Holt Papers; idem, “Pure Milk Members Go to Church according to Seminary Survey,” Pure Milk 2 (June 1928): 3; idem, “A Study of Rural-Urban Conflict,” Federal Council Bulletin 10 (May 1927): 11.

21. McGiffert, , No lvory Tower, p. 193;Google Scholar Holt, Arthur E., “Hiking Through the Milk Shed,” Milk Market Reporter and Cream Shipper 8 (04 1929): 1, 9, 15;Google Scholar Kincheloe, Samuel C., “Social Explorer,” CTS Register 32 (03 1942): 13–14.Google Scholar

22. Holt, Arthur E., “On the Trail of the Iowa Protesters,” Christian Century 50 (17 05 1933): 651–653;Google Scholar Shover, , Cornbelt Rebellion, p. 128.Google Scholar

23. Mcgiffert, , No Ivory Tower, p. 190.Google Scholar

24. White, and White, , The Intellectual Versus the City, pp. 160–170.Google Scholar See also Quandt, , From the Small Town to the Great Community, pp. 69–70, 150–154.Google Scholar

25. Holt used current work in urban sociology in the “Re-Thinking Chicago” movement, which originated under his leadership in 1931 and finally died out in 1937. Designed to awaken the city to its “lack of a ‘soul’” and provide a “new philosophy and statesmanship,” the movement relied on study groups and conferences. Reading lists included Park, Robert E. and Burgess, Ernest W., The City (1925);Google Scholar Anderson, Nels, The Hobo (1923);Google Scholar Cavan, Ruth, Suicide (1928);Google Scholar Cressy, Paul G., The Taxi Dance Hall (1932);Google Scholar Shaw, Clifford R., Delinquency Areas (1929);Google Scholar idem, The Jack Roller (1930); Thrasher, Frederic M., The Gang (1927);Google Scholar and Zorbaugh, Harvey M., The Gold Coast and the Slum (1929).Google Scholar “Sociological Studies of Chicago,” 2 pp. mimeographed, Holt Papers; Greene, Shirley E., “Re-Thinking Chicago: An Experiment in Christian Community Building” (M.A. thesis, University of Chicago Divinity School, 1935).Google Scholar

26. Holt, Arthur E., The Bible as a Community Book (New York, 1920), pp. 28–67,Google Scholar passim.

27. Holt, Arthur E., “Wanted—A Distributed America,” Kiwanis Magazine 11 (10 1926): 558–559, 592;Google Scholar and idem, “Cities and Revolution,” Christian World 84 (8 April 1933): 5–6.

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29. Holt, , “Cities and Revolution,” p. 6.Google Scholar “Readings on the City of God,” which was prepared for “Re-Thinking Chicago” and other meetings, contained sections on “The City of God as Seen by the Hebrews,” “St. Augustine's City of God,” “Humanistic Utopias,” and other categories of literary excerpts.

30. Holt, Arthur E., “Our Common Perversion,” Christian Century 52 (26 06 1935): 850–852;Google Scholar idem, “Small Town America,” Christian Advocate 102 (6 January 1927): 8–10; idem, “Values in Town and Village Life,” ibid. 102 (13 January 1927): 42–43; idem, “Wanted—A Distributed America,” p. 592; idem, “Next Great Step for the Church in the City,” Christian Century 45(26 July 1928): 927–929; idem, “Religion and City Tensions,” ibid. 46 (24 July 1929): 938–940; idem, “This City-Controlled World,” CTS Register 21 (March 1931): 6–10; idem, “Bigger and Better Peasant Wars!” Christian Century 51 (6 June 1934): 759–760; idem, “Justice for the Revolutionary Farmer!” ibid. 54 (8 December 1937): 1522–1524.

31. Holt, Arthur E., “Let Power Return to the Villages,” Congregationalist 110 (8 01 1925): 41–42.Google Scholar

32. Arthur E. Holt, “The Case for Rural Democracy,” October 1931, Holt Papers; idem, “A Platform for Rural Democracy,” CTS Register 21 (November 1931): 22–23.

33. Holt, Arthur E., “What the Farmer Really Needs,” Christian Century 45 (15 11 1928): 1393–1395.Google Scholar

34. Holt, Arthur E., “Social Justice for the Farmer,” CTS Register 23 (01 1933): 7–9;Google Scholar idem, “Social Justice between Farmer and City-Dweller,” Federal Council Bulletin 17 (November-December 1934): 12–13; idem, “The Tricks of the Trader Class,” Christian Century 49 (31 August 1932): 1051–1052; idem, “Challenged by the Trader-Controlled World,” Cooperative Marketing Journal 6 (September-October 1932): 157–160; idem, “Is Debt Paying Moral?” University of Chicago Magazine 25 (December 1932): 61–63. See also idem, “This City-Controlled World,” CTS Register 21 (March 1931): 6–10; idem, “More Hell and Less Hogs,” Rural America 9 (December 1931): 3–5; idem, “The Beginning of a New Epoch,” Journal of the National Education Association 21 (March 1932): 77–78.

35. Holt, Arthur E., “Urban People Want Cheap Food,” Christian Century 49 (22 06 1932): 802–803;Google Scholar idem, “Urban Liberals and Agriculture,” Rural America 12 (October 1934): 6–7. See also idem, “Urban Consumers and the Martyr Role,” Christian Century 50 (13 December 1933): 1577–1578.

36. Arthur E. Holt, “Social Idealism in the Middle West,” n.d., Holt Papers; idem, “On theTrail of the Iowa Protesters,” 651–653; idem, “Communication: An Appeal to the Churches,” Christian Century 50 (26 April 1933): 552–553. For Holt's own use of hearings, see “The Load on the Farmer's Back” (editorial), Christian Century 49 (15 June 1932): 760–762. On his sympathy for militants, see idem, “Silent Excommunication of the Poor,” Christian Century 50 (15 November 1933): 1438–1439.

37. “Why A League for Justice to Agriculture,” 4 pp. typescript, n.d., Holt Papers, delineates such methods. Holt, Arthur E., “Selling Agriculture to the City,” Christian Century 53 (3 06 1936): 798–800,Google Scholar similarly stresses changing attitudes. Even Holt's justification of radicals in the Farmers' Union rested on his impression that, though they “sometimes have to take rather vigorous political action,” “as they would interpret their own movement to themselves, it is a very idealistic group” (Holt to Gordon A. Riegler, 3 November 1934, Holt Papers). One of his enthusiasms in the “Re-Thinking Chicago” movement was the city manager plan, which, with its twin motifs of efficiency and nonpartisanship, promised to take the politics out of politics (Bulletin of the Chicago City Manager Committee 1 [June 1935]: 4; and H. Barry McCormick to “Dear Fellow Member,” Chicago City Manager Committee, 13 January 1937, Holt Papers).

38. Holt to Wallace, 25 February 1933, Holt Papers; Holt, “Bigger and Better Peasant Wars!” pp. 759–760; idem, “Selling Agriculture to the City,” pp. 798–800; idem, “Social Engineering in the Tennessee Valley,” Advance 126 (19 April 1934): 54–55; idem, “The Government Is in Business,” ibid. (26 April 1934): 69–70; idem, “Back of the Chicago Milk Strike,” Christian Century 51(24 January 1934): 121–124; idem, “The Future of Homestead Democracy,” Christian Century 52 (29 May 1935): 723–724; idem, “America's Real Farm Issue,” Christian Century 53 (19 February 1936): 290–291.

39. Holt, , “Let Power Return to the Villages,” pp. 41–42.Google Scholar

40. Holt, Arthur E., The Fate of the Family in the Modern World (Chicago, 1936);Google Scholar idem, This Nation Under God (Chicago, 1939), pp. 3, 83–84; idem, Christian Roots of Democracy in America (New York, 1941), p. xv, chaps. 5, 8. See also idem, “Why Cooperatives?” Farmers' Elevator Guide 36 (January 1941): 12.

41. Holt, Arthur E., “The Church and the Welfare State,” Mountain Life and Work 16 (Spring 1940): 1–3, 26.Google Scholar See also idem, “This is the Church's Job!” Christian Century 58 (20 August 1941): 1032, for his opposition to federalization of Civilian Public Service camps for conscientious objectors. Holt also became involved in the America First movement, supporting programs of the Hyde Park chapter, defending Senator Gerald Nye and Charles Lindbergh against criticism, and taking a critical view of the Lend Lease bill. Although he had other reasons, including the belief that intervention in the First World War had been a mistake, there is a striking compatability between his ruralist ideology and isolationism (Wieman, Henry Nelson and Holt, Arthur E., “Keep Our Country Out of This War!” Christian Century 56 [27 09 1939]: 1162–1164;Google Scholar Holt to McGiffert, 30 January 1941; Fred L. Adair to Holt, 23 May 1941; Holt to Henry A. Atkinson, 31 October 1941; and Holt to Charles F. Boss, 6 February 1941, Holt Papers).

42. Holt, Arthur E., review of Common Sense in Idealism, by Hjalmar Rutzebeck, Christian Century 56 (4 01 1939): 23;Google Scholar Holt to Benson Y. Landis, 15 November 1939, Holt Papers;—“Correspondence and Miscellaneous Papers: ‘Relief from Relief’ Meeting— 11/9/39-Self Help Groups,” Holt Papers.

43. Paul A. Gettinger to author, 3 December 1980; Greene to author, 19 December 1980; Albert W. Palmer to Holt, 31 January 1936, Holt Papers; Arthur E. Holt, “The Neglected Factor in American Education,” 30 August 1936, Holt Papers; idem, “The Merom Idea,” CTS Register 31 (March 1941): 6–8.

44. Greene, Shirley E., “The Merom Idea At Work,” CTS Register 31 (03 1941): 8–11;Google Scholar“Minutes of a Meeting of the Faculty of the Chicago Theological Seminary,” 4 November 1938, Holt Papers; Basinger, “Holt,” p. 89; Holt to E. G. Kaufman, Rufus Bowman, and M. R. Ziegler, 18 November 1940, and Holt to Frank J. Scribner, 18 November 1941, Holt Papers.