Page:Final Report of the Northwest Territory Celebration Commission.pdf/43

 The net result is that on the fingers of two hands can be counted the instances of the total known church participation, among the entire thirty odd thousand churches in the States of Northwest Territory.

However, let it be clearly said that among the handful of those who did cooperate, the effort was intelligent, effective and altogether splendid. None was any better, and they served to show what could have been done if the ministry generally could have been awakened to the opportunity.

The desire of the Commission for active church cooperation was so great that effort was made to find out where the trouble lay. The general reply obtained was that ministers are too busy—have too much to do—and are suspicious of participating in any celebration or other programs. Some leading church people said that, based upon their long experience, there was no use in making any effort—that ministers could not generally be enthused in activity outside the affairs of their own churches.

All of these participated more or less generally. Many year books contained comprehensive programs covering several meetings. This was true of a great many women's clubs of various sorts.

The state regents of the Daughters of the American Revolution from the states of Northwest Territory were members of the Federal Commission and did yeoman service in all respects.

The general practice throughout the Territory was to appoint officers or members of the patriotic societies on local committees for the celebration, and they served well and ably.

All the well known luncheon clubs were contacted by mail and most of them conducted one or more programs dealing with the subject of the celebration. A number of interested speakers made considerable sacrifice in time and frequently money in giving their services to the various clubs and organizations for program purposes.

The interest of schools was much like that of various organizations; i.e. spotted, and varied widely according to the knowledge of teachers as to history, and also of course reflected their individual initiative and energy.

Many teachers did a splendid job of it, not only as to the success of the celebration, but also as to teaching history to their students.

This is clearly reflected in the number of requests for help, literature, dramas, music, etc, which came from those teachers. Also in the number of essays submitted and prizes won by certain localities in the elaborate contests put on by the commission. It is very evident that certain teachers were wide awake to the opportunity and their work helped vitally in attaining the purposes of the celebration.