In the Ohio Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church the average salary of the country minister in 1905 was $733, including the estimated rental value of parsonage, while in 1915 it was $915, making an increase of $182, or 25 per cent, in ten years. During the same period, however, according to data supplied by the United States Bureau of Labor Statistics, the retail prices of food consumed by the ordinary workingman’s family in the nation increased no less than 37 per cent.
It is probable, on the other hand, that the farmers have a constantly increasing ability to pay, for in the ten-year period from 1900 to 1910 there was, according to the United States Census reports, an increase in the total value of farm property in the State of nearly 60 per cent.
TABLE IX
Salaries of Methodist Episcopal Country Ministers, 1917
| No. of ministers | Average salary (including estimated rental value of parsonage) | No. of charges giving salaries less than $1,500 | Per cent | No. of charges giving salaries less than $1,200 | Per cent | No. of charges giving salaries less than $1,000 | Per cent | |
| State | 688 | $993 | 662 | 96 | 513 | 75 | 303 | 44 |
| Ohio Conference | 151 | $972 | 145 | 96 | 110 | 73 | 79 | 52 |
| West Ohio Conference | 237 | $1,004 | 230 | 97 | 184 | 78 | 87 | 37 |
| Northeast Ohio Conference | 300 | $995 | 287 | 96 | 219 | 73 | 137 | 46 |
TABLE X
Salaries of Country Ministers, United Brethren in Christ, 1917
| No. of ministers | Average salary (including estimated rental value of parsonage) | No. of charges giving salaries less than $1,500 | Per cent | No. of charges giving salaries less than $1,200 | Per cent | No. of charges giving salaries less than $1,000 | Per cent | |
| State | 188 | $787 | 188 | 100 | 171 | 91 | 135 | 72 |
| Sandusky Conference | 63 | $866 | 63 | 100 | 58 | 92 | 39 | 62 |
| Southeast Ohio Conference | 47 | $687 | 47 | 100 | 43 | 91 | 37 | 79 |
| Miami Conference | 42 | $779 | 42 | 100 | 37 | 88 | 30 | 71 |
| East Ohio Conference | 36 | $787 | 36 | 100 | 33 | 92 | 29 | 80 |