Industry: Render unto Caesar

As they rushed to finish a 38,000-lb. order of jelly for shipment to Chicago last week, the workers in the preserves factory outside Spencer, Mass, would have made any boss happy. They worked relentlessly, spoke not a word, took no coffee or cigarette breaks, smiled constantly. Occasionally, they glanced up at a sign that spurred them on even more: IT is GOOD FOR us TO BE HERE. The contented workers were the Trappist monks of St. Joseph's Abbey, and their thriving jelly business (1,230,000 jars a year) is typical of a fascinating—and...

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