The Church on the Changing Frontier, by Helen O. Belknap

AGE AND SCHOOL ATTENDANCE IN THE RANGE COUNTIES ACCORDING TO THE FEDERAL CENSUS FOR 1920

	Beaverhead		Hughes		Sheridan		Union
	Number	Per cent.	Number	Per cent.	Number	Per cent.	Number	Per cent.
Under 7 years	1,057	...	847	...	2,779	...	3,217	...
7 to 13 years inclusive	850	...	790	...	2,395	...	2,909	...
Attending school	789	92.8	714	90.4	2,225	92.9	2,594	89.2
14 and 15 years	213	...	201	...	564	...	700	...
Attending school	195	91.5	191	95	495	87.8	590	84.3
16 and 17 years	206	...	216	...	531	...	655	...
Attending school	137	66.5	153	70.8	286	53.9	337	51.5
18 to 20 years inclusive	302	...	306	...	829	...	846	...
Attending school	68	22.5	82	26.8	147	17.8	140	16.5

The proportion of children in school is high through the age of sixteen. Beyond that age the ratio of attendance falls off rapidly, Sheridan and Union having a smaller proportion in school than the other two counties.

VII

ILLITERACY IN THE RANGE COUNTIES ACCORDING TO THE FEDERAL CENSUS FOR 1920

	Beaverhead		Hughes		Sheridan		Union
Ten Years and Over	Number	Per cent.	Number	Per cent.	Number	Per cent.	Number	Per cent.
Total	5,950	...	4,520	...	14,320	...	12,123	...
Illiterates	59	1.0	20	1.4	437	3.1	668	5.5
Native Whites	4,863	...	3,982	...	11,284	...	11,830	...
Illiterates	13	.3	2	.1	33	.3	652	5.5
Foreign Born Whites	1,023	...	460	...	2,828	...	276
Illiterates	29	2.8	9	2.	393	13.9	14	5.1
Negro	14	...	23	...	131	...	12	...
Illiterates	3	...	1	...	4	3.1	1	...
16-20 Years Inclusive
Total	508	...	522	...	1,359	...	1,501	...
Illiterates	2	.4	1	.2	9	.7	44	2.9
Illiteracy 21 Years and Over
Males	42	1.4	8	.5	276	4.2	211	4.6
Native Whites	11	...	...	...	16	...	205	...
Foreign Born Whites	18	...	5	...	252	...	6	...
Negro	2	...	...	...	3	...	...	...
Females	15	.8	11	.7	148	3.2	350	9.2
Native Whites	1	...	1	...	9	...	341	...
Foreign Born Whites	10	...	4	...	137	...	8	...
Negro	1	...	...	...	1	...	1	...

The rate of illiteracy is higher in Sheridan and Union than in Beaverhead and Hughes.

VIII

DEVELOPMENT OF PROTESTANT CHURCH ORGANIZATIONS ON THE CHANGING FRONTIER

	BEAVERHEAD				HUGHES				SHERIDAN				UNION				TOTAL
	Total Number Churches	Number Now Active	Number Now Abandoned	Number Now Inactive	Total Number Churches	Number Now Active	Number Now Abandoned	Number Now Inactive	Total Number Churches	Number Now Active	Number Now Abandoned	Number Now Inactive	Total Number Churches	Number Now Active	Number Now Abandoned	Number Now Inactive	Total Number Churches	Number Now Active	Number Now Abandoned	Number Now Inactive
Period of organization:
1871-80	1	1	..	..	1	1	..	..	..	..	..	..	..	..	..	..	2	2	2	..
1881-90	7	4	3	..	8	7	1	..	3	2	1	..	1	1	..	..	19	14	5	..
1891-1900	..	..	..	..	1	1	..	..	5	5	..	..	3	3	..	..	9	9	..	..
1901-10	2	2	..	..	1	1	..	..	7	4	1	2	15	9	5	1	25	16	6	3
1911-20	..	..	..	..	5	5	..	..	6	6	..	..	21	18	3	..	32	29	3	..
Total	10	7	3	..	16	15	1	..	21	17	2	2	40	31	8	1	87	70	14	3

About one-sixth of all the churches which have been organized are now either abandoned or inactive. Population has shifted; communities have changed; the churches sometimes have not survived.

IX-A

DISTRIBUTION OF CHURCHES AMONG DENOMINATIONS

	Churches in
Denominations	Country	Village	Town	City	Total
Baptist, North	0	1	2	1	4
Baptist, South	3	1	1	0	5
Church of Christ or Christian	0	1	1	1	3
Church of Christ (Unprogressive)	2	1	0	0	3
Congregational	3	0	1	1	5
Evangelical Association	0	0	1	0	1
Lutheran:
Norwegian Lutheran of America	0	0	1	0	1
German	0	0	0	1	1
Swedish	0	0	0	1	1
Polish	0	1	0	0	1
Others	0	1	0	0	1
Methodist, North	13	6	3	1	23
Methodist, South	6	0	0	0	6
Nazarene	1	0	0	0	1
Presbyterian in U. S. A.	3	2	1	1	7
Protestant Episcopal	0	0	2	1	3
Seventh Day Adventist	1	0	0	1	2
United Brethren	2	0	0	0	2
Total	34	14	13	9	70

IX-B

Denominations	Beaverhead	Hughes	Sheridan	Union	Total
Baptist North	1	1	2	0	4	}	9
Baptist South	0	0	0	5	5	}	9
Church of Christ or Christian	0	1	1	1	3
Church of Christ (Unprogressive)	0	0	0	3	3
Congregational	0	2	3	0	5
Evangelical Association	0	1	0	0	1
Lutheran:
Norwegian Lutheran of America	0	1	0	0	1	}	5
German	0	0	1	0	1
Swedish	0	0	1	0	1
Polish	0	0	1	0	1
Others	0	1	0	0	1
Methodist North	2	6	5	10	23	}	29
Methodist South	0	0	0	6	6	}	29
Nazarenes	0	0	0	1	1
Presbyterian in U. S. A.	3	1	1	2	7
Protestant Episcopal	1	1	1	0	3
Seventh Day Adventist	0	0	1	1	2
United Brethren	0	0	0	2	2
Total	7	15	17	31	70

With so many denominations at work in the field, every square mile of inhabited area ought to be reached. But large areas and many people are not even touched by the church.

X-A

RESIDENCE AND ACTIVITY OF CHURCH MEMBERS BY TYPES OF COMMUNITIES

	Churches in
	Country	Village	Town	City	Total
Net active members	616	497	1,178	1,665	3,956
Inactive members	129	66	221	607	1,013
Non-resident members	152	60	186	453	851
Total enrollment	897	623	1,575	2,725	5,820
Average per congregation	26	45	121	303	83

X-B

BY COUNTIES

	Churches in
	Beaverhead	Hughes	Sheridan	Union	Total
Net active members	345	884	1,988	739	3,956
Inactive members	96	74	646	197	1,013
Non-resident members	94	108	496	153	851
Total enrollment	535	1,066	3,130	1,089	5,820
Average per congregation	76	71	184	35	83

The non-resident member is an “unattached Christian” and no one looks out for him.

XI-A

CHURCHES CLASSIFIED ACCORDING TO SIZE BY TYPES OF COMMUNITIES

	Country	Village	Town	City	Total
Churches with a net active membership of:
25 or less	26	7	2	1	36
26 to 50	7	4	1	1	13
51 to 100	1	3	5	1	10
101 to 150	0	0	3	1	4
Over 150	0	0	2	5	7
Total	34	14	13	9	70

XI-B

BY COUNTIES

	Beaverhead	Hughes	Sheridan	Union	Total
Churches with a net active membership of:
25 or less	3	7	4	22	36
26 to 50	1	2	5	5	13
51 to 100	2	3	2	3	10
101 to 150	1	1	1	1	4
Over 150	0	2	5	0	7
Total	7	15	17	31	70

Scattered and transient population together with denominational competition has resulted in a large proportion of small churches.

XII

HOW THE CHURCHES HAVE GROWN DURING A ONE-YEAR PERIOD BY TYPES OF COMMUNITIES

	Country Churches		Village Churches		Town Churches		City Churches		Total
	Number	Per Cent	Number	Per Cent	Number	Per Cent	Number	Per Cent	Number	Per Cent
Gained	12	35	7	50	10	77	8	89	37	53
Stationary	9	27	6	43	1	8	0	0	16	23
Declined	13	38	1	7	2	15	1	11	17	24
Total	34	100	14	100	13	100	9	100	70	100

The gain in church membership increases with the size of the community.

XIII

MEMBERSHIP GAIN OF THE CHURCHES ORGANIZED TEN YEARS OR MORE, DURING THE LAST TEN YEARS

Year	Nine Country Churches	Seven Village Churches	Thirteen Town Churches	Eight City Churches	Total
1910	257	166	1,197	1,012	2,632
1915	303	278	1,385	2,011	3,977
1920	326	271	1,575	2,660	4,852

Village and Country Churches Increased 41% Town and City Churches Increased 92%.

XIV

AGE AND SEX OF RESIDENT MEMBERS

	By Counties
	Beaverhead	Hughes	Sheridan	Union
Men over 21	24%	31%	31%	33%
Women over 21	55%	45%	47%	47%
Young men and boys under 21	8%	10%	9%	7%
Young women and girls under 21	13%	14%	13%	13%

The churches are not winning the boys and girls. They need better recreational methods and broader programs.

WAYS OF RAISING MONEY

A = Beaverhead		B = Hughes
C = Sheriday		D = Union

	CITY				TOWN				VILLAGE				COUNTRY				ENTIRE COUNTY
	A	B	C	D	A	B	C	D	A	B	C	D	A	B	C	D	A	B	C	D
Number of churches with:
Budget for all monies	0	0	5	0	2[11]	3	0	1	0	2	0	1	0	4	4	3	2	9	9	5
Budget for local expenses only	0	0	1	0	1	3	0	1	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	2	1	4	1	3
Annual every member canvass	0	0	6	0	3[11]	5	0	2	0	4	0	1	0	3	4	4	3	12	10	7
Both budget and every member canvass	0	0	6	0	3[11]	5	0	1	0	3	0	1	0	3	4	3	3	11	10	5
No budget and no every member canvass	0	0	3	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	4	0	0	1	11	0	0	4	16
Total number of churches	0	0	9	0	4	6	0	3	2	5	2	5	1	4	6	23	7	15	17	31

A fair proportion of the churches are using modern methods of financing their work.

XVI

OCCUPATIONS OF CHURCH MEMBERS

	Churches Located in
	CITY		TOWN		VILLAGE		COUNTRY		ENTIRE COUNTY
	Number of Members	Per Cent of Total	Number of Members	Per Cent of Total	Number of Members	Per Cent of Total	Number of Members	Per Cent of Total	Number of Members	Per Cent of Total
Beaverhead:
Retired farmers			6	5.7					6	5.3
Operating farmers			28	26.6					28	24.8
Farm renters
Farm laborers
Business or professional			51	48.6	2	40	2	66.7	55	48.7
All others			20	19.1	3	60	1	33.3	24	21.2
Total reporting occupations			105	100	5	100	3	100	113	100
Hughes:
Retired farmers			6	2.8	1	1.7			7	2.5
Operating farmers			8	3.8	34	58.7	6	75	48	17.2
Farm renters			12	20.7	1	12.5	13	4.7
Farm laborers
Business or professional			114	53.5	6	10.3			120	43
All others			85	39.9	5	8.6	1	12.5	91	32.6
Total reporting occupations			213	100	58	100	8	100	279	100
Sheridan:
Retired farmers	16	2.3							16	2
Operating farmers	49	7.2					41	51.8	90	11.1
Farm renters	8	12					15	19	23	2.8
Farm laborers	5	.7							5	.6
Business or professional	179	26.2					6	7.6	185	22.9
All others	426	62.4			49	100	17	21.6	492	60.6
Total reporting occupations	683	100			49	100	79	100	811	100
Union:
Retired farmers							1		1
Operating farmers			13	16.4	41	622	46	80.1	100	49.5
Farm renters							3	5.1	3	1.5
Farm laborers							3	5.1	3	1.5
Business or professional			36	45.6	11	16.6	3	5.1	50	24.7
All others			30	38	14	212	2	3.6	46	22.8
Total reporting occupations			79	100	66	100	57	100	202	100

Of the four counties, Union is the only one with a higher percentage of farmers on its rolls than of men in other occupations. Yet over half the churches in the four counties are country churches.

XVII-A

THE AMOUNT OF MONEY RAISED AND SPENT

The amount raised by the local churches is $97,571.98.

		Per cent.
Subscription	$70,910.74	72.68
Collections	9,464.24	9.7
All other methods	17,197.00	17.62
	$97,571.98

XVII-B

The amount spent by the local churches is $96,992.85.

		Per cent.
Salaries	$41,268.79	43.
Missions and benevolences	24,657.55	25.
Upkeep and all other expenses	31,066.51	32.

The entire amount spent for church purposes is $110,080.35.

		Per cent.
Salaries	$54,356.29[12]	49.
Missions and benevolences	24,657.55	23.
Upkeep and all other expenses	31,066.51	28.

Of the entire church dollar, about 12 per cent. comes from Denominational Boards.

XVIII

RECEIPTS PER CHURCH

	Country	Village	Town	City	Total
From:	Thirty-one Churches	Fourteen Churches	Thirteen Churches	Eight Churches	Sixty-six Churches
Subscription	$235.45	$526.51	$1,972.93	$3,824.04	$1,074.41
Collections	57.99	106.57	254.35	358.49	143.40
All other methods	12.96	297.42	458.01	834.63	260.55
Total	$306.40	$930.50	$2,685.29	$5,017.16	$1,478.36

XIX

RECEIPTS PER ACTIVE MEMBER

	Country	Village	Town	City	Total
From:	Thirty-one Churches	Fourteen Churches	Thirteen Churches	Eight Churches	Sixty-six Churches
Subscription	$12.39	$14.07	$21.77	$18.65	$18.04
Collections	3.05	2.85	2.81	1.75	2.41
All other methods	.68	7.95	5.05	4.07	4.37
Total	$16.12	$24.87	$29.63	$24.47	$24.82

The average active member is generous in the support of his church.

EXPENDITURES PER CHURCH

	Country	Village	Town	City	Total
For:	Thirty-one Churches	Fourteen Churches	Thirteen Churches	Eight Churches	Sixty-six Churches
Salaries	$220.12	$366.43	$1,247.31	$1,637.50	$625.28
Missions and Benevolences	42.59	117.85	638.84	1,672.75	373.60
Upkeep and all other expenses	40.95	441.63	794.22	1,661.18	470.70
Total	$303.66	$925.91	$2,680.37	$4,971.43	$1,469.58

XXI

EXPENDITURES PER ACTIVE MEMBER

	Country	Village	Town	City	Total
For:	Thirty-one Churches	Fourteen Churches	Thirteen Churches	Eight Churches	Sixty-six Churches
Salaries	$11.59	$9.79	$13.76	$7.99	$10.50
Missions and Benevolences	2.24	3.15	7.05	8.16	6.27
Upkeep and all other expenses	2.16	11.80	8.76	8.10	7.90
Total	$15.99	$24.74	$29.57	$24.25	$24.67

XXII-A

HOW A TYPICAL DOLLAR IS RAISED AND SPENT BY THE LOCAL CHURCHES

	Country	Village	Town	City	Total
By:	Thirty-one Churches	Fourteen Churches	Thirteen Churches	Eight Churches	Sixty-six Churches
Subscription	$.77	$.57	$.74	$.76	$.73
Collections	.19	.11	.09	.07	.10
All other methods	.04	.32	.17	.17	.17
Total	$1.00	$1.00	$1.00	$1.00	$1.00

XXII-B

	Country	Village	Town	City	Total
For:	Thirty-one Churches	Fourteen Churches	Thirteen Churches	Eight Churches	Sixty-six Churches
Salary	$.72	$.39	$.46	$.33	$.43
Missions and Benevolences	.14	.13	.24	.34	.25
Upkeep and all other expenses	.14	.48	.30	.33	.32
Total	$1.00	$1.00	$1.00	$1.00	$1.00