An Amish Paradox

by Charles E. Hurst

  Another young Swartzentruber man “had a construction company, and he pushed it and … made good money.” He was being paid by the hour, and then church representatives “came up with this rule that you can’t make more than a certain amount in an hour … They try to control your finances if they can.” A young man who had grown up in a Swartzentruber family with fifteen brothers and sisters but had left before joining the church told us that there was a belief that people would “rest on their laurels” if they made too much money. The amount one could charge for construction was fixed to avoid the possibility of large profits. He also indicated that there were separate pay scales for those under 21, those over 21 but single, and those who were older than 21 and married. Variations in permitted pay followed variations in perceived need. These practices represent attempts by church leaders to apply church beliefs about community and equality, “principles held dear.”

  The lower wages paid to nonunionized Amish workers by Amish and non-Amish employers often put them in direct conflict with English unionized workers who see them as competing unfairly. Regardless of affiliation, Amish men have a negative view of unions, as “unreasonable,” “a racket,” and having “too much power.” While some say that unions may have been needed in the past, the Amish believe that even if so, their time is now gone. In their view, the combination of Amish employers’ concern for their employees and government regulation of safety and related issues make unions an unnecessary obstacle resulting in higher costs of production. Some church elders have discouraged Amish crews from working in nearby large cities because of the hostility they might face from unionized workers. While it has not been a big issue in the Holmes County Settlement, for Amish work crews who have ventured into large cities, there have even been occasional incidents of English workers sabotaging and destroying Amish construction.

  Multiple Benefits of Family Farming

  As we have seen, the pressures brought on by population growth, outside competition, and land costs have forced the Amish in the Holmes Settlement to seek out new means of livelihood. “As the world progresses, we have to move on,” one said. There is no question that the shift out of farming into other forms of business has brought significant and often worrisome changes to the Holmes Settlement. As Kline and Beachy comment, the movement away from farming creates a challenge for the Amish attempt to maintain a “Christian life” that is “a balanced, sensible experience.”26 A recurrent theme in our conversations with both New and Old Order Amish leaders was the perceived threat to traditional values brought about by the movement away from farming, a refrain voiced by Amish in other settlements as well.

  Most of the Amish men in our survey held farming in higher regard than any other occupation. The order of which the respondent was a member made little difference. Farming was seen as being “good for body and soul,” an occupation that involved “working closely with nature,” and farmers were viewed as workers who were “dedicated to family,” “down-to-earth,” “practical,” “energetic,” “hard working,” and “ordinary.” Farming is considered “the ideal situation”; it “has been the root of the Amish”; and it teaches “better work ethics, responsibility, and moral conduct.”

  Farming allows everyone to be at home together and to work together, and it creates a situation in which parents can easily teach their children work skills and habits that will serve to maintain Amish culture. It encourages the strong work ethic that is expected in Amish culture: “You know, you realize what work is all about with all the chores and duties on a farm.” This value is part of the deeply rooted ethic for life that has long been associated with the ascetic Anabaptist tradition.27 The strong work ethic is one reason wasting time is to be assiduously avoided. As a 2002 lead article in the Gemeinde Register put it, when it comes to time, you either “use it or lose it.” “Time is precious because time is life … It must be used wisely or it is gone forever.”28

  Some Amish employers mentioned explicitly that they could tell the difference between employees who had been raised on or worked on a farm and those who had not. An Old Order Amish greenhouse and outdoor furniture owner believes the work ethic is different: “When I was young, every Amish man was employed in farming, and that was doing work until it was done, doing it when it had to be done … the thoroughness of our work.” Family farming requires that everyone pitch in and work together. When hiring employees, “you can tell the difference between those who had chores when they were young.”

  The absence of a family farm means that children are not as likely to have regular responsibilities and to learn how to organize their time in a useful manner. They develop less discipline and less sense of purpose. An Old Order businessman who had grown up on a farm found that individuals who had not been used to working as young children were less likely to be committed to their jobs when employed as adults. They were not used to the demands of a regular job: “You mean I have to be there at 6:00? I can’t get up that early.” Moreover, they are less inclined to want to work on the weekend: “On the farm there was no weekend … I mean you worked six days a week like the scripture says you should.”

  In this businessman’s view, the lack of commitment to the job is often coupled with an assumption of entitlement on the part of the worker. The sense of individual responsibility is slowly eroded. The worker comes to expect the employer to take care of him by providing pay and other benefits: “And we start acquiring this mentality that someone else is responsible for my welfare from cradle to grave.” Simultaneously, since this “someone else” is the business and not one’s fellow Amish, the whole process weakens reliance upon members of one’s church. For some Amish, moving away from farming also means relying more upon stores for food and other products. This change can produce some undesirable fallout: “Every year the trash pile gets bigger,” said an Amish customer at Wal-Mart.29

  The Kidron Auction, held every Thursday, is an important means of redistributing animals within the Amish community and between Amish and English farmers. Photograph courtesy of Charles Hurst.

  Owning or working in a nonfarm business also removes one from working directly with forces of nature and from the necessity of submission to them. Regularized, fixed hours designated for work foster the notion that the worker controls his or her work and life. This notion can breed an attitude of self-sufficiency, even arrogance, and certainly individualism, worries a young New Order Christian Fellowship Amish man with whom we spoke. It may endanger the selflessness and Gelassenheit demeanor prized in Amish culture. In contrast, farming does not have fixed hours and is as much a holistic way of life as it is an occupation. It nurtures humility and awareness of dependence upon a natural time cycle and forces beyond one’s control. “When the sun comes up, it’s time to work; when it goes down it is time to go to bed.” Thus, the Amish sense of dependence on and interdependence with the environment derives from the capriciousness of weather and the inability to fully control nature.

  Whereas the twenty-four-hour routine of farm life makes it difficult to compartmentalize different components of one’s lifestyle, the structure of a nine-to-five job away from home fosters mental separations between work and leisure, family and factory. As a local Anabaptist historian commented: “It used to be on the farm, when you got done in the evening, you were ready to eat supper and go to bed. But now they get home at 4:00 to 5:00 in the afternoon, and the big question is, what do you do? This is a real problem and they know it.” Having “free time” can be a problem, because it endangers discipline and the work ethic. If you have free time, “it gets filled up with things that are not good in a lot of cases, if there’s not real leadership and supervision.”

  Working for an employer in a business also ties the employee down during his shift, and the nature of his work often makes it difficult for him to leave the job in the event of some family or other emergency. On the farm, observed an Amish owner of a wood-bending business, when there was a family event or emergency, “everybody just dropped
everything,” but in this business “we have obligations … and so sometimes it really makes it tough.” He has adapted to the challenge by training his employees so that each can work several machines; this versatility makes it possible for workers to substitute for one another in case of family or other demands. As more Amish encounter the problems associated with these newer ways of making a living, they search out creative solutions that allow them to maintain traditional values and practices.

  Family farming on fifty to one hundred acres creates a work environment in which family members freely communicate and learn from one another using their own language. Factory work may result in less communication because of its nature: “Some shops you’ve got earplugs in, and headphones all the time. They don’t do a lot of communicating, and maybe limited interaction. That’s not as good as hauling manure, you know, … you kind of talk.” Amish men often work alongside English workers, and while camaraderie is usual, problems can arise because of language or cultural differences. A New Order lumber owner noted that communication in English may be difficult for the more conservative Amish who have left farming, even temporarily, to work in a factory or a lumber yard. As in any organizational situation, there can be difficulties when token members work with a majority from another group.30

  While Amish or English workers may not constitute actual formal labor unions, tight-knit cultural groups can make work life easy or difficult for the group that happens to be in the minority. Since each group may have different cultural values and expectations, the minority individuals are often put on the spot to perform, and the boundaries between the groups may be accentuated. Persons in both groups may be hard workers, but their styles may differ: “[The Amish are] not taught, or they’re not exposed to, people skills. So they can be beastly blunt with no malice intended. It just comes out that way.” This comment by an English businessman who has worked closely with the Amish for decades is an outsider’s interpretation of the Amish tendency toward unadorned and unembellished, straightforward language. As in their work, there is an economy of style in their communication, “with no malice intended.”

  Some Amish groups have replaced farming with other work more than other groups. A member of the National Amish Steering Committee contended, for example, that the Andy Weaver Amish have moved away from farming more than the Old Order Amish have. The Andy Weavers lost their enthusiasm for farming when milking machines and mechanized cooling became a virtual necessity for turning a profit on a dairy farm. Most Old Order churches relaxed the Ordnung on these key pieces of technology, but the Andy Weavers stood firm against it. As a result, there are less than a dozen Andy Weaver full-time dairy farmers in the entire settlement. Nevertheless, in the view of one farmer, the Andy Weavers’ overall concern for maintaining smallness and using less technology has meant that “the loss of farming as a ‘way of life’ is less” and that the Andy Weavers can “better maintain ‘Amishness’ than groups that adapted more for more farming.” Andy Weavers who are farmers are likely to be produce farmers and participate in regular produce auctions. In addition, some of the family breadwinners in this affiliation have become quite successful businessmen, and several are among the biggest furniture makers in the settlement. Some Andy Weaver Amish work in local factories as well. Concern about the loss of farmers among their ranks continues, though, and has led to a serious discussion at present about relaxing the rules on milking machines to try to coax young farmers back.

  For those who stick to farming regardless of the difficulties involved, daily issues differ from those faced by Amish workers who enter factories and businesses. For example, the Swartzentruber Amish, who are much more likely to be farmers, encounter problems specific to farmers. An estimated 70 percent of them are involved in family farming.31 If they cannot afford land for their own farms, some Swartzentrubers rent land from Old Order Amish.

  It is estimated that three thousand Swartzentruber Amish live in northern Holmes and southern Wayne Counties.32 More than the Old or New Order groups, this order considers it very important for men to be at or near home when working. The Swartzentruber restrictions on technology and employment can reduce the work options open to them. A Swartzentruber farmer mentioned, for example, that members of his affiliation will not make pallets because a forklift has to be used to raise them, and “back in Bible times, lifting was by hand.” He observed that it may make “Bible sense,” but it does not make “common sense.”

  Another looming problem for the Swartzentrubers is finding employment for their children. Since they cannot work for English employers, we were told that “it’s gonna be a bigger problem.” Some seek to solve it by helping their children purchase land or moving as a family to another state, or both. In 2007, New York and Missouri were among the most attractive states for those contemplating moving. Rather than seeing these limitations on lifestyle as negative and oppressive, persons within the fold generally interpret them positively as adherence to deeply held beliefs.

  The generally poorer economic position of Swartzentruber Amish demonstrates more the effects of their strict rules than it does a weaker work ethic. A young man who grew up in a Swartzentruber household told us that there is less leisure time within this Amish group than in others because work is emphasized so heavily. For example, they “will spread their own gravel rather than having a truck do it, and will put up a pipe to fill the silo and take it down each time.”

  In addition to their farming, many Swartzentrubers have small side businesses such as making baskets or selling produce. But they don’t advertise and don’t always participate in the most effective ways to sell their products. As an Old Order bishop told us, if the Swartzentrubers took part in flea markets instead of merely selling by the roadside, they would do a lot better. Their lower sales also reflect the broader problems of small business, which many Amish see as a critical component of our increasingly corporatized economy. One Swartzentruber pointedly argued for the importance of small business in U.S. history: “Small businesses are being crowded out and that’s what made America great; small streams made a big river.” Benjamin Franklin could not have agreed more.

  Working for Others

  One of the distinguishing qualities of many Amish businesses in Holmes County is that they employ workers from several different orders; while they may not be in fellowship, they work side by side. One Old Order employer has thirty employees, including his six oldest sons, one daughter, his son-in-law, and a couple of nephews. He has also employed New Order Amish, Andy Weavers, and some English in the past. In 2006, about one-quarter of his employees were Swartzentruber Amish. He considers them very good workers, but he realizes that there are some tasks that they are not allowed to do (for example, drive a forklift or weld) and that there will be turnover in their ranks: “We know … upfront that a job like this is never considered as an option to make a career out of it. This is just something until [a Swartzentruber employee] can either farm or do something at home.” This employer thinks there is less focus among Old and New Order Amish men on being at home as the children approach their teenage years.

  Employing individuals from groups such as the Andy Weaver or Swartzentruber Amish can create some challenges for Amish employers. One Amish business owner, for example, found that teaching safety by using a video is resisted by some of these employees. More conservative employees are more likely to adhere to their traditional ways and not even tolerate an explanation from a member of a different church of why they should accept a change: “‘No, we won’t.’ I think … you will find that mentality a little bit amongst the Swartzentruber Amish. They would say ‘no’ and just turn their backs and walk away.”

  Work safety is an issue that became more public in the mid-1990s when a fifteen-year-old Amish boy was injured and killed at an Amish business in southern Holmes County. Representatives from the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) came to investigate. A local safety consultant who had worked with businesses that had Amish employees
suggested that the Amish community should organize a group or committee to serve as a support group, resource, and liaison between government regulatory agencies and the Amish community. As a consequence of his suggestion, the three-person Amish Safety Committee was created. Representatives from the Old Order, New Order, and Andy Weaver groups are eligible to serve on the committee.

  Safety is only one of the concerns when children work. As farms have declined, the question of what to do with children who no longer have farming chores has become more acute. Amish parents worry that their youth may become involved with drugs when they make money and still have time on their hands. According to a girl who left her Old Order church before joining, while working children are supposed to pass along their earnings to their parents for later use, some keep portions of their earnings to purchase “radios and tapes, that kind of stuff, which you’re not supposed to have.” The Amish believe in keeping their young people active in productive work that serves the community. They also believe in the value of manual labor. “Everyone needs to learn to work with their hands, and you can’t learn that too early for children.” Fathers and mothers teach their young people skills that will serve them throughout their work lives.

  Parents are committed to seeing that their children do not have idle hands. One of the reasons increasing size is not an issue for some Amish businessmen is that they are generating jobs for the younger generation. “We can’t just push them out and let them fly,” remarked an Old Order employer. Amish have relocated to obtain jobs for their sons in sawmills and woodworking shops, but these include machines that can cause injury. In the past, the Department of Labor has argued that letting boys younger than age eighteen work in these places would constitute a violation of child labor laws. Over several years, attempts were made to pass a bill in Congress that would allow persons exempt from public school beyond eighth grade and at least age fourteen (a definition that would include Amish youth) to work in such businesses under adult supervision as long as the youths themselves did not operate power-driven woodworking machines and if they were protected from flying wood particles, dust, and noise. In 2004 the legislation was passed and signed by President George W. Bush despite arguments against it by the Child Labor Coalition and the United Food and Commercial Workers Union.