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You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Farmer and His Community + +Author: Dwight Sanderson + +Release Date: August 19, 2009 [EBook #29733] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE FARMER AND HIS COMMUNITY *** + + + + +Produced by Tom Roch, Barbara Kosker, and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net. (This +file was produced from images produced by Core Historical +Literature in Agriculture (CHLA), Cornell University.) + + + + + + +</pre> + + +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> + +<h1>THE FARMER AND HIS COMMUNITY</h1> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> + +<h4>BY</h4> + +<h2> DWIGHT SANDERSON</h2> + +<h4> PROFESSOR OF RURAL SOCIAL ORGANIZATION<br /> + CORNELL UNIVERSITY</h4> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> + +<div class="img"> +<img border="0" src="images/deco.png" width="10%" alt="Publisher's Mark" /> +</div> + +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> + +<h4> NEW YORK<br /> + HARCOURT, BRACE AND COMPANY</h4> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> + +<h5><span class="smcap">COPYRIGHT,</span> 1922, <span class="smcap">BY</span><br /> +<span class="smcap">HARCOURT, BRACE AND COMPANY, INC.</span><br /> +<br /> +PRINTED IN THE U. S. A. BY<br /> +THE QUINN & BODEN COMPANY<br /> +RAHWAY, N. J.</h5> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> + +<hr /><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_v" id="Page_v">[Pg v]</a></span> +<br /> +<h2>EDITOR'S PREFACE</h2> + + +<p>In the "good old days" of early New England the people acted in +communities. The original New England "towns" were true communities; +that is, relatively small local groups of people, each group having its +own institutions, like the church and the school, and largely managing +its own affairs. Down through the years the town meeting has persisted, +and even to-day the New England town is to a very large degree a small +democracy. It does not, however, manage all its affairs in quite the +same fashion that it did two hundred years ago.</p> + +<p>When the Western tide of settlement set in, people frequently went West +in groups and occasionally whole communities moved, but the general rule +was settlement by families on "family size" farms. The unit of our rural +civilization, therefore, became the farm family. There were, of course, +neighborhoods, and much neighborhood life. The local schools were really +neighborhood schools. Churches multiplied in number even beyond the need +for them. When farmers began to associate themselves together as in the +Grange, they recognized the need of a strong local group larger than the +neighborhood. A subordinate Grange for example is a community +organization. Experience gradually demonstrated that if farmers wished +to coöperate they must coöperate in local groups. Strong nation-wide +organizations are clearly of great importance, but they can have little +strength unless they are made up of active local bodies. Gradually, the +community idea has spread over the country, in some cases springing up<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_vi" id="Page_vi">[Pg vi]</a></span> +almost spontaneously, until to-day there is a very widespread belief +among the farmers, as well as among the special students of rural +affairs, that the organization and development of the local rural +communities is the main task in conserving our American agriculture and +country life. It is interesting to note that what is true in America is +proving also to be true in other countries. In fact, the farm village +life in Europe and even in such countries as China is taking on new +activities, and it is being recognized that the improvement of these +small units of society is one of the great needs of the age.</p> + +<p>Professor Sanderson, in this book, has attempted to indicate just what +the community movement means to the farmers of America. He has brought +to this task rather unusual preparation. In turn, a graduate of an +agricultural college, a scientist of reputation, Director of an +agricultural experiment station, Dean of a college of agriculture, he +has had a wide, varied and successful experience in various states. He +finally arrived at the conviction, however, that the most important +field of work for him lay in dealing with the larger phases of country +life, and he gave up administrative work for further preparation in the +new field. In his position as Professor of Rural Organization in the +College of Agriculture at Cornell University, he has been unusually +successful, both as investigator and as teacher. He speaks as one who +knows the farmers and not as an outsider, and also as a thorough +student.</p> + +<p>This book therefore is sent out with a good deal of confidence. It deals +with one of the most important of the rural topics that can be discussed +these days. It points out fundamental principles and indicates practical +steps in applying principles.</p> + +<p class="right"> +<span class="smcap">Kenyon L. Butterfield</span>. +</p> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> + +<hr /><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_vii" id="Page_vii">[Pg vii]</a></span> +<br /> +<h2>FOREWORD</h2> + +<p>In recent years we have heard a great deal about the rural community and +rural community organization. All sorts of organizations dealing with +rural life discuss these topics at their meetings, the agricultural +press and the popular magazines encourage community development, and a +number of books have recently appeared dealing with various phases of +rural community life. The community idea is fairly well established as +an essential of rural social organization.</p> + +<p>One might gain the impression that the community is a new discovery or +social invention were he to read only the current discussions. It is, +however, a form of social organization as old as agriculture itself, but +which was very largely neglected in the settlement of the larger part of +the United States. This new emphasis on the community is, therefore, but +the revival in a new form of a very ancient mode of human association. +The community becomes essential because the conditions of rural life +have changed and rural people are again being forced to act together in +locality groups to meet the needs of their common life.</p> + +<p>The author has attempted to define the rural community and to describe +the new conditions which are determining its structure and shaping its +functions, in the belief that an understanding of the nature of the +rural community should aid those who are seeking to secure a better +social adjustment of the countryside. It attempts to relate "The Farmer +and His Community." The problems and methods of community organization +have been <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_viii" id="Page_viii">[Pg viii]</a></span>discussed but incidentally, and the book is not designed as a +handbook for community development. Its chief aim is to establish a +point of view with regard to the rural community as an essential unit +for rural social organization through a sociological analysis of the +past history and present tendencies of the various forms of associations +which seem necessary for a satisfying rural society. It is hoped that +such an analysis presented in an untechnical manner may be of service to +rural leaders who are working for the development of country life by +giving them a better understanding of the nature of the community and +therefore a firmer faith in its future and greater enthusiasm and +loyalty in its service.</p> + +<p>The present volume is a brief summary of a more extended study of the +rural community, not only in this country but in other lands and in +other times, which is now in preparation for publication.</p> + +<p class="right smcap">Dwight Sanderson.</p> +<p class="noin ml smcap">Cornell University.<br /> +<i>May, 1922.</i></p> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> + +<hr /><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_ix" id="Page_ix">[Pg ix]</a></span> +<br /> +<h2>CONTENTS</h2> + +<div class="centered"> +<table border="0" width="75%" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" summary="Phosphate"> + <tr> + <td class="tdl" width="10%" style="font-size: 80%;">CHAPTER</td> + <td class="tdl" width="80%"> </td> + <td class="tdr" width="10%" style="font-size: 80%;">PAGE</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdrp">I.</td> + <td class="tdl smcap">The Rural Community</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_3">3</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdrp">II.</td> + <td class="tdl smcap">The Farm Home and the Community</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_14">14</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdrp">III.</td> + <td class="tdl smcap">The Community's People and History</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_29">29</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdrp">IV.</td> + <td class="tdl smcap">Communication the Means of Community Life</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_37">37</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdrp">V.</td> + <td class="tdl smcap">The Farm and the Village</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_46">46</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdrp">VI.</td> + <td class="tdl smcap">Community Aspects of the Farm Business</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_58">58</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdrp">VII.</td> + <td class="tdl smcap">How Markets Affect Rural Communities</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_67">67</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdrp">VIII.</td> + <td class="tdl smcap">How Coöperation Strengthens the Community</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_77">77</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdrp">IX.</td> + <td class="tdl smcap">The Community's Education</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_91">91</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdrp" style="vertical-align: top;">X.</td> + <td class="tdl smcap">The Community's Education, Continued; The Extension Movement</td> + <td class="tdr" style="vertical-align: bottom;"><a href="#Page_107">107</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdrp">XI.</td> + <td class="tdl smcap">The Community's Religious Life</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_121">121</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdrp">XII.</td> + <td class="tdl smcap">The Community's Health</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_137">137</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdrp">XIII.</td> + <td class="tdl smcap">The Community's Play and Recreation</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_153">153</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdrp">XIV.</td> + <td class="tdl smcap">Organizations of the Rural Community</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_169">169</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdrp">XV.</td> + <td class="tdl smcap">The Community's Dependent</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_181">181</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdrp">XVI.</td> + <td class="tdl smcap">The Community's Government</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_196">196</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdrp">XVII.</td> + <td class="tdl smcap">Community Organization</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_209">209</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdrp">XVIII.</td> + <td class="tdl smcap">Community Planning</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_222">222</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdrp">XIX.</td> + <td class="tdl smcap">Community Loyalty</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_234">234</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdrp"> </td> + <td class="tdl smcap">Appendix A</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_247">247</a></td> + </tr> +</table> +</div> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> + +<hr /><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_x" id="Page_x">[Pg x]</a></span> +<br /> +<h2>THE FARMER AND HIS COMMUNITY</h2> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> + +<hr /><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2" id="Page_2">[Pg 2]</a></span> +<br /> +<p><i>The core of the community idea, then—as applied to rural life—is +that we must make the community, as a unit, an entity, a thing, the +point of departure of all our thinking about the rural problem, and, in +its local application, the direct aim of all organized efforts for +improvement or redirection. The building of real, local farm communities +is perhaps the main task in erecting an adequate rural civilization. +Here is the real goal of all rural effort, the inner kernel of a sane +country-life movement, the moving slogan of the new campaign for rural +progress that must be waged by the present generation.</i>"—<i>Kenyon L. +Butterfield, in "The Farmer and the New Day."</i></p> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3" id="Page_3">[Pg 3]</a></span> +<br /> + +<hr /> +<br /> +<h2>CHAPTER I</h2> + +<h2>THE RURAL COMMUNITY</h2> +<br /> + +<p>No phase of the social progress of the Twentieth Century is more +significant or promises a more far-reaching influence than the +rediscovery of the <i>community</i> as a fundamental social unit, and the +beginnings of community consciousness throughout the United States. I +say the "rediscovery" of the community, for ever since men forsook +hunting and grazing as the chief means of subsistence and settled down +to a permanent agriculture they have lived in communities.</p> + +<p>In ancient and medieval Europe, in China and India, and among primitive +agricultural peoples throughout the world, the village community is +recognized as the primary local unit of society. In medieval France the +rural "<i>communaute</i>" was the local unit of government and social +administration. Its people met from time to time at the village church +in regular assemblies at which they elected their local officers, +approved their accounts, arranged for the support of the church, the +school, and local improvements. In most of France and throughout much of +Europe the farm homes are still clustered in villages, from which the +farm lands radiate. There the village is primarily a place of residence, +and with the lands belonging to it forms the community.</p> + +<p>New England was settled in much the same manner, being divided into +towns which still form the local units of government, and which for the +most part are single communities, though here and there more than one +center <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_4" id="Page_4">[Pg 4]</a></span>has sprung up within a town and secondary communities have +developed. The New England town meeting has ever been lauded as the +birthplace of representative democratic government in America, and in +its original form it was a true community meeting, dealing not only with +the political government, but considering all religious, educational, +and social matters affecting the common life of the town.</p> + +<p>Although the New England tradition determined the form of local +government in the areas settled by its people in the central and western +states, the township was but an artificial town resulting from methods +of the land surveys. The homesteader "took up" his land with but little +thought of community relations. He traded at the nearest town; church +was first held in the school-house and later churches were erected in +the open country at convenient points; his children went to the district +school; and his social life was chiefly in the neighboring homes. His +life centered in the immediate neighborhood. As railroads covered the +country, villages and town sprang up at frequent intervals, and +gradually became the real centers of community life, but usually there +was but little realization on the part of either village or farm people +of their community interests. The farmer's attention was on the farm, +the townsman's chief interest was his business, and not infrequently +their interests were in conflict and they gave little thought to their +real dependence on each other.</p> + +<p>In the South the plantation system of the landed aristocracy, which as +long as it existed was quite self-sufficient, gave little encouragement +to community development. The county was the most important unit of +local government and the "carpet-baggers'" efforts at establishing local +townships were repudiated with the ending of their régime. <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_5" id="Page_5">[Pg 5]</a></span>Only in +recent years have conditions throughout the South, largely the result of +increased immigration and the breaking up of large plantations, favored +the development of local communities.</p> + +<p>In general, the American farmer has voted and taken his share in local +politics and government, has attended his own church, has traded where +most convenient or advantageous, has joined the nearest grange or lodge, +and with his family has visited nearby friends and relatives and joined +with them in social festivities; he has loyally supported these various +interests, but until very recently, he has had little conception of the +interrelations of these institutions in the life of the community or of +the possible advantages of community development as such. But new wants +and new problems have arisen which may only be met by the united action +of all elements of both village and countryside. The automobile demands +better roads and both farmer and businessman are interested to have them +built so that the natural community centers may be most easily reached. +Better schools, libraries, facilities for recreation and social life, +organization for the improvement of agriculture and for the better +marketing of farm products, are all community problems and force +attention upon the community area to be served by these institutions. A +consolidated school or a library cannot be maintained at every +crossroads. Only by the support of all the people within a reasonable +distance of a common center are better rural institutions possible.</p> + +<p>The trend of events was thus bringing about a recognition of the place +of the community in the life of rural people, when the Great War +hastened this process by many years. Liberty Loan, Red Cross, and other +war "drives" were organized by communities which vied with each other in +raising their quotas. A new sense of the unity of the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_6" id="Page_6">[Pg 6]</a></span>community was +brought about by the common loyalty to its boys in the nation's service. +Having created state and county councils of defense, national leaders +came to appreciate that the primary unit for effective organization for +war purposes must be the community, and President Wilson wrote to the +State Councils of Defense urging the organization of community councils. +Thousands of these had been organized when the Armistice was declared, +and although most of them were not continued, the importance of the +local community was given national recognition and attention was +directed to the need of the better organization of local forces for +community progress.</p> + +<p>What, then, is the rural community? Is it a real entity or is it merely +an idea or an ideal? Where is it and how can we recognize it?</p> + +<p>We are indebted to Professor C. J. Galpin, now in charge of the Farm +Life Studies of the United States Department of Agriculture, for first +developing a method for the location of the rural community. Professor +Galpin<a name="FNanchor_1_1" id="FNanchor_1_1"></a><a href="#Footnote_1_1" class="fnanchor">[1]</a> holds that the trading area tributary to any village is +usually the chief factor in determining the community area. He +determines the community area by starting from a business center and +marking on a map those farm homes which trade mostly at that center. By +drawing a line connecting those farm homes farthest from the center on +all the roads radiating from it, the boundary of the trade area is +described. In the same way the areas tributary to the church, the +school, the bank, the milk station, the grange, etc., may be determined +and mapped. The boundaries of these areas will be found to be by no +means coincident, but it will usually be found that most of them center +in one <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_7" id="Page_7">[Pg 7]</a></span>village or hamlet, and that the trade area is the most +significant in determining the area tributary to this center. When the +areas served by the chief institutions of adjacent centers are mapped, +it is usually found that a composite line of the different boundary +lines separating these centers will approximate the boundaries of the +communities. A line which divides adjacent community areas so that most +of the families either side of this line go most frequently to, or their +chief interests are at, the center within that boundary, will be the +boundary between the adjacent communities. Thus, from the standpoint of +location, <i>a community is the local area tributary to the center of the +common interests of its people.</i><a name="FNanchor_2_2" id="FNanchor_2_2"></a><a href="#Footnote_2_2" class="fnanchor">[2]</a></p> + +<p>As indicated above the business center may usually be taken as the base +point or community center, from which to determine the boundaries of the +community. However, in the older parts of the country or in hilly or +mountainous regions, the trade or business center is not always the same +as the center of the chief social activities of the people, and may not +be the chief factor in determining the community center. Not +infrequently a church, school and grange hall located close together may +form the nucleus of a community which does its business at a railroad +station village some distance away, possibly over a range of hills. The +chief trading points cannot, therefore, be arbitrarily assumed as the +base points for determining community areas, but those points at which +the more important of the common interests of the people find expression +should be considered as community centers. It is not simply a question +of where the people go most often, but of where their chief interests +focus.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_8" id="Page_8">[Pg 8]</a></span>With this concept of a community it is obvious that the "center" of a +community must be the base point for determining its area. It would seem +that the community center is essential to the individuality of any +community: The community "center" need not necessarily be at the +geographical center of the community; indeed in many cases it is at or +close to one of its boundaries, though in an open level country it will +tend to approximate the center.</p> + +<p>The term "community center" is here used in a literal sense of being the +center of the activities of the community. It should be distinguished +from the "community-center idea" which refers to a building, whether it +be a community house, school, church, or grange hall, as a "community +center." Such a building in which the activities of the community are +largely centered may be a community center in a very real sense, but in +most cases these activities will be divided between church, school, +grange hall, etc. No one of them can then be a center for the whole +community, but taken together they constitute the center in which the +chief interests of the community focus. Every community must necessarily +have a more or less well defined community center; it may or may not +have some one building in which the chief activities of the community +have their headquarters. Such buildings, of whatever nature, may well be +called community houses or social centers.</p> + +<p>Although attention has been directed to the area of the community, the +community consists not of land or houses but of the people of this area. +Its boundary merely gives a community identity, as does the roll of a +company or the charter of a city. The community consists of the people +within a local area; the land they occupy is but the physical basis of +the community. The nature of the community will depend very largely upon +whether its people <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_9" id="Page_9">[Pg 9]</a></span>live close together or at a distance. In the Rocky +Mountain States many communities are but sparsely settled and may have a +radius of forty or fifty miles and yet be true communities, while on the +Atlantic seaboard a definite community with as many people may have a +radius of not over a mile or two.</p> + +<p>Nor is the community a mere aggregation or association of the people of +a given area. It is rather a corporate state of mind of those living in +a local area, giving rise to their collective behavior. There cannot be +a true community unless the people think and act together.</p> + +<p>The term "neighborhood" is very frequently used as synonymous with +"community," and should be definitely distinguished. In the sense in +which these terms are now coming to be technically employed, the +neighborhood consists of but a group of houses fairly near each other. +Frequently a neighborhood grew up around some one center, as a school, +store, church, mill, or blacksmith shop, which in the course of time may +have been abandoned, but the homes remained clustered together. Or the +neighborhood may be merely six to a dozen homes near together on the +same road or near a corner. The school district of the one-room country +school is commonly a neighborhood, but as there are no other interests +which bind the people together it cannot be considered a community. +Likewise people associate in churches, granges, etc., but church +parishes overlap, and the constituency of any one of these associations +is not necessarily a community. Only when several of the chief human +interests find satisfaction in the organizations and institutions which +serve a fairly definite common local area tributary to them, do we have +a true community. In many cases the neighborhood, particularly the +school district, forms a desirable unit for certain purposes of social +organization, and, indeed, in <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_10" id="Page_10">[Pg 10]</a></span>many cases it may be necessary to develop +the neighborhood as a social unit before its people will actively +associate themselves in community activities, but the neighborhood +cannot function in the same way as the larger community which brings +people together in several of their chief interests. The community can +support institutions impossible in the neighborhood, such as a grange, +lodge, library, various stores, etc. The community is more or less +self-sufficing. A community may include a variable number of +neighborhoods. The community is the smallest geographical unit of +organized association of the chief human activities.</p> + +<p>Bringing together these various considerations concerning the nature of +the rural community we may say that <i>a rural community consists of the +people in a local area tributary to the center of their common +interests</i>.</p> + +<p>Obviously the community thus defined has nothing to do with political +areas or boundaries, for very commonly a community may lie in two or +three townships or counties. That rural areas are actually divided into +such communities and that the community is the primary unit of their +social organization may best be tested by taking any given county or +township and attempting to map its area into communities on the basis +above described. In most of the northern and western states and +throughout much of the South, most of the territory may be quite readily +divided into communities. This has been demonstrated by the rural +surveys of the Interchurch World Movement<a name="FNanchor_3_3" id="FNanchor_3_3"></a><a href="#Footnote_3_3" class="fnanchor">[3]</a> and by the community maps +made by County Farm Bureaus.</p> + +<p>A very large part of the South, however, has no natural <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_11" id="Page_11">[Pg 11]</a></span>community +centers and in such sections it will be found very difficult if not +impossible to define community areas. The store may be at the railroad +station, the church in the open country, and the district or +consolidated school at still another point. Some people go to one store +or church and others to another. Under such conditions, no real +community exists. Usually, any form of social organization is more or +less difficult under such conditions, for the people are divided into +different groups for different purposes and there is nothing which makes +united activities possible. It seems probable that only to the extent +that certain centers of social and economic life come to be recognized +by the people, and community life is developed around them, will the +most effective and satisfying social organization be possible.</p> + +<p>Recognition of the community as the primary unit for purposes of rural +organization has now become quite general. Several mid-western states +have passed legislation permitting school districts to combine into +community districts for the support of consolidated schools or high +schools, irrespective of township or county boundaries. The present +tendency in the centralization of rural schools seems to be in the +direction of locating them at the natural community centers. Rural +churches are coming into a new sense of responsibility to the community +and the community church is increasingly advocated. The American Red +Cross in planning its peace-time program is recognizing the importance +of the rural community as the local unit for its work. The County Farm +Bureaus, working in coöperation with the state colleges of agriculture +and the United States Department of Agriculture, very soon discovered +the value of the community as the local unit of their organization, and +carry on their work through community committees or community clubs. +Possibly no <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_12" id="Page_12">[Pg 12]</a></span>other one movement has done so much to bring about the +definite location of rural communities and their appreciation by rural +people. A conference of national organizations engaged in social work in +rural communities held in 1919 summed up the experience of a group of +representative rural leaders in the statement: "In rural organization it +is recognized that the local community constitutes the functional unit +and the county or district the supervisory unit." In other words, it is +the rural community which really "carries on," whatever the executive +organization of the county or district may be.</p> + +<p>The strength of the rural community as a social group lies in two facts. +First, it is not so large but that most of its people know each other. +The size of the community in this regard does not depend so much upon +the actual number of square miles involved as upon the number of its +population. People may all be acquainted in a sparsely settled community +covering a ten-mile radius, and there may be less acquaintance in a +small community with a dense population. Secondly, the great majority of +the people in the average rural community are dependent upon agriculture +for their income, either directly or once-removed. These two facts make +possible common interests and a social control through public opinion +which is not possible in larger social units such as the county or city. +Sir Horace Plunkett appreciates this when he says:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"Our ancient Irish records show little clans with a common +ownership of land hardly larger than a parish, but with all +the patriotic feeling of larger nations held with an +intensity rare in modern states. The history of these clans +and of very small nations like the ancient Greek states +shows that the <i>social feeling assumes its most binding and +powerful character where the community is large enough to +allow free play to the various interests <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_13" id="Page_13">[Pg 13]</a></span>of human life, but +is not so large that it becomes an abstraction to the +imagination</i>."<a name="FNanchor_4_4" id="FNanchor_4_4"></a><a href="#Footnote_4_4" class="fnanchor">[4]</a></p></div> + +<p>This inherent social strength of the rural community, the fact that the +community is relatively permanent, and the appreciation that only +through community effort may rural people realize their natural desire +to enjoy some of the advantages of cities, force the conviction that the +community must be the primary unit for the organization of rural +progress. It is from this point of view that we shall discuss the +community aspects of the various human interests of the farmer and the +consequent relations of "The Farmer and His Community."</p> + +<h4>FOOTNOTES:</h4> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_1_1" id="Footnote_1_1"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1_1"><span class="label">[1]</span></a> Galpin, C. J., "The Social Anatomy of an Agricultural +Community." Research Bulletin 54, Agricultural Experiment Station of the +University of Wisconsin, May, 1915; and also in his "Rural Life," +Century Co., New York, 1920.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_2_2" id="Footnote_2_2"></a><a href="#FNanchor_2_2"><span class="label">[2]</span></a> The following four pages are revised from the author's +bulletin, "Locating the Rural Community," Cornell Reading Course for the +Farm, Lesson 158.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_3_3" id="Footnote_3_3"></a><a href="#FNanchor_3_3"><span class="label">[3]</span></a> See Reports of the Town and Country Department, Committee +on Social and Religious Surveys, 111 Fifth Ave., New York, or Geo. H. +Doran, New York.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_4_4" id="Footnote_4_4"></a><a href="#FNanchor_4_4"><span class="label">[4]</span></a> "Rural Life Problem in the United States," p. 129. Italics +mine.</p></div> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_14" id="Page_14">[Pg 14]</a></span> +<br /> + +<hr /> +<br /> +<h2>CHAPTER II</h2> + +<h2>THE FARM HOME AND THE COMMUNITY</h2> +<br /> + +<p>The American farmer thinks first of his own home; only recently has he +commenced to appreciate that his and other homes form a community. In +the "age of homespun" the pioneer subdued his new lands and built his +home; the farm and the home were his and for them he lived. He bought +but little and had but little to sell. Farms were largely +self-supporting. Neighbors helped each other in numerous ways and as the +country became more thickly settled neighborhood life grew apace. But +there was little sense of relation to the larger community. Roads were +bad and people were too widely scattered to come together except on +special occasions. The family was the fundamental social unit and social +life revolved around the family, or in the immediate neighborhood.</p> + +<p>But "times have changed." The farm is no longer largely self-supporting. +It is now but a primary unit in a world-wide economic system, conducted +with money as the basis of exchange and dominated by the interests of +capital. Farm products are sold for cash and their value is determined +by distant or world markets with which the farmer has no personal +contact and of which he often has but little knowledge. Most of the +goods consumed on the farm must be purchased. The marketing of his +products and the purchasing of goods have given the farmer increasing +contacts with the village and town centers and a broader knowledge of +the world at large.</p> + +<p>During the past century modern ideas of <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_15" id="Page_15">[Pg 15]</a></span>transportation and the +development of industries due to inventions and scientific discoveries +have resulted in an enormous growth of city populations. The social life +of the cities is increasingly dominated by the interests of the +individual rather than those of the family, until the breaking down of +urban family life has become a world-wide problem. The family is no +longer the social unit of the city as it is in the country.</p> + +<p>Now farm people are by no means as isolated from town and city as is +often imagined. Their brothers and sisters, sons and daughters have gone +to make up the increasing urban populations. Through correspondence and +visiting back and forth, through frequent trips to town, through the +daily city newspapers, and through the general reading of magazines, +farm people are in more or less close contact with the life and manners +of the cities. Inasmuch as slightly over half of our people now live in +towns or cities and only one-third live on farms, it is not surprising +that urban ideals and values and the urban point of view tend more and +more to dominate those of the countryside. There has been a natural +tendency, therefore, for the association of country people to center in +the country town and village, in the community center.</p> + +<p>Better transportation and the inability to maintain satisfactory +institutions in the open country have made this process inevitable and +it will do much to abolish the evils of rural isolation. The increasing +difficulty of maintaining successful churches in the open country and +the growth of the village church, the dissatisfaction with the one-room +district school and the desire for consolidated schools and community +high schools, are evidences of this tendency.</p> + +<p>The smaller size of the farm family has made it less self-sufficient +socially than formerly, and the fact that fewer near relations live +nearby and farms change hands <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_16" id="Page_16">[Pg 16]</a></span>more often has resulted in fewer +neighborhood gatherings. The different members of the family tend to get +together more with groups of their own age and sex coming from all parts +of the community, and definite effort is made for the organization of +such groups according to their various interests.</p> + +<p>Attention is directed to these tendencies because in our present +emphasis on the relation of the farmer to his community and on community +values, we must not lose sight of the fact that the family must ever be +recognized as the primary social institution of rural life. Indeed, it +may not be too much to claim that the largest value in the agricultural +industry is in the possibility of the most satisfactory type of home +life. The millionaire farmer is so rare as to be negligible, and +although farmers as a class doubtless have as wholesome and satisfactory +a living as they would in other pursuits, yet no one engages in farming +as a means of easily acquiring large wealth. The highest rural values +cannot be bought or sold.</p> + +<p>The mere fact that farming is practically the only remaining industry +conducted on a family basis—which seems likely to continue—and that +all members of the family have more or less of a share in the conduct +and success of the farm, creates a family bond which does not ordinarily +exist where the business or employment of the father and of other +members of the family is dissociated from the home. Although the burden +of the farm business on the home is often decried and there is obvious +need of lightening the mother's work for the farm as much as possible, +yet under the best of conditions there is on the farm a constant and +intimate contact between the father and mother and children which is +rarely found under other conditions.</p> + +<p>Primitive woman discovered the art of agriculture. At <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_17" id="Page_17">[Pg 17]</a></span>first, the men +assisted the women in what time they could spare from hunting; but as +game became scarce and the food supply grown from the soil was found to +be more certain, agriculture became man's vocation. Permanent home life +commenced with the development of agriculture. As he became a farmer, +primitive man stayed at home with his wife and shared with her the +nurture of the children. Before then the family had been <i>hers</i>, now it +was <i>theirs</i>. The mere fact that the home and the business are both on +the farm, that father is in the house several times a day and that the +whole family are acquainted with his farm operations, will always give +the farm home a superior solidarity, so long as the family lives on the +farm. Though but few farm homes are ideal and some of them have but +little that is attractive, yet nowhere are conditions so favorable for +the enjoyment of all that is most precious in family life as in the +better American farm homes.</p> + +<p>If this be true, that the chief value in agriculture is in the +possibility of the most satisfactory home life, then community +development should be considered primarily from the standpoint of its +effect on the farm home, for the social strength of the country will be +more largely determined by its homes than by its other social +institutions. We should endeavor, therefore, to build up that type of +community life which makes for better homes and stronger families. While +seeking to afford superior advantages to individuals, all effort toward +community improvement should recognize that the strength of the +community is in its home life.</p> + +<p>The need of this point of view with regard to rural community +organization has been very forcibly indicated by Mr. John R. Boardman, +one of our keenest observers and interpreters of country life in his +"Community Leadership." He says:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"At the heart of the rural situation is the rural family.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_18" id="Page_18">[Pg 18]</a></span> +The social problems involved in home life in the rural +village and on the farm are of two kinds,—developmental and +protective. The social unit in the city is the individual. +Urban conditions have rapidly disintegrated the family as a +social unit. Grave dangers have resulted from this +interference with the unity of domestic life. The rural +family is in danger of meeting the same fate. It is now the +social unit in the rural social structure. Every effort must +be put forth to make this situation permanent. The major +problem is one of home conservation. Protection of the rural +family against social exploitation will demand increasing +attention. The development of social organization along +lines which interfere with the unity and solidarity of rural +family life must be approached with extreme caution and +tolerated only as they may be absolutely necessary. So far +as possible social organization must be built around the +rural family and give it every possible opportunity to act +as a family in the scheme of organization and activity. The +home as a social center must receive increased attention. +There is great danger, in the new interest which is being +aroused in rural social life, that the matter of social +organization be greatly overdone. The rural family will be +the one to suffer first and most severely as a result of +this craze for social organization."</p></div> + +<p>In support of this point of view it is interesting to note that the +strongest rural institutions, the church, the grange, and the recently +organized Farm Bureaus, are all organizations which have an interest for +the whole family or for most of its members. With an increasing sense of +social needs and responsibilities on the part of rural people, new +organizations will be formed and various community activities must be +undertaken, but if country people will remain true to their traditions +and, with clear view of changing conditions, will seek to organize their +community life as an association of farm and village <i>families</i>, they +will create the most satisfying and enduring <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_19" id="Page_19">[Pg 19]</a></span>type of society. The +community buildings now becoming so popular in rural communities are a +good example of a family institution organized to furnish better +recreation and social facilities for the whole family.</p> + +<p>Inasmuch as the home is its primary social institution, the rural +community must give its first consideration to its relations to the home +and how the home life may be strengthened, if the rural family is to +withstand the influence of the disintegrating home life of the city. For +the farm home is in a process of readjustment to modern conditions and +the recognition of ideals and objectives of home-life by the community +will be a powerful factor in their maintenance.</p> + +<p>The mother has ever occupied the central position in the home. Under +modern conditions, as a result of her education and broader knowledge of +life, through her more frequent contacts with town and city and through +her wider reading, many a farm mother is coming to feel that her +position is an anomalous one. In some cases she may be able to solve her +own problems, but only a general change in public opinion concerning +their position will bring a more acceptable status to farm women as a +class.</p> + +<p>Some of the farm woman's problems arise from the increasing division of +labor between her husband and herself and from the marketing of the farm +products; these are the problems of her economic status. The peasant +woman of medieval Europe or the wife of the American pioneer never +worried that she did not receive a monthly allowance or a certain share +of the farm income. She worked with her husband and family in raising +the farm products and she shared in their consumption, for but +relatively little was sold off the place. To-day, the wife of the farm +owner does little work on the farm; its products are sold and much of +the food and practically all of <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_20" id="Page_20">[Pg 20]</a></span>the clothing is purchased. She and her +children contribute a considerable amount of the labor of the farm +enterprise, and do all of the housework; but the husband does the +selling and most of the buying, she often has but little share in the +management of the family's finances, and rarely knows what she may count +on for household expenses. She comes to feel that she is no longer a +real partner, but a sort of housekeeper, though without salary or +assured income. In over nine thousand farm homes studied in the northern +and western states,<a name="FNanchor_5_5" id="FNanchor_5_5"></a><a href="#Footnote_5_5" class="fnanchor">[5]</a> one-fourth of the women helped with the +livestock, and one-fourth worked in the field an equivalent of 6.7 weeks +a year, over half of them cared for the home gardens, and one-third of +them kept the farm accounts. Over a third of them helped to milk, +two-thirds washed the separators, and 88 percent washed the milk pails, +60 percent made the butter and one-third sold the butter, but only 11 +percent had the spending of the money from its sale. Likewise 81 percent +cared for the poultry, but only 22 percent had the poultry money for +their own use and but 16 percent had the egg money. These figures do not +give us a complete analysis of the household finances in relation to the +amount contributed by farm women, but they are indicative of the general +situation.</p> + +<p>It is because of these facts that farm women feel that a larger portion +of the farm income should be spent in giving them better household +conveniences, somewhat commensurate with the amount that is spent for +improved farm machinery and barn conveniences. Only one-third of these +farm homes had running water; and but one-fifth had a bath-tub with +water and sewer connections; 85 percent had outdoor toilets. Improvement +is in evidence, however, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_21" id="Page_21">[Pg 21]</a></span>for two-thirds had water in the kitchen, 60 +percent had sink and drain, 57 percent had washing machines, and 95 +percent had sewing machines. It is not that she is merely seeking less +work so that she may attend her club or go to the movies, that the farm +mother desires better conveniences and shorter hours—her average +working day is now 11.3 hours—but because she has new ideals of the +nurture which she wishes to give her family and of what she might do for +them had she the time and physical strength.</p> + +<p>As a result of the coöperative survey of 10,000 representative farm +homes in 241 counties in the 33 northern and western states made by home +demonstration agents and farm women, Miss Ward<a name="FNanchor_6_6" id="FNanchor_6_6"></a><a href="#Footnote_6_6" class="fnanchor">[6]</a> gives some interesting +"side-lights," which are as illuminating as the statistics:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"Women realize that no amount of scientific arrangement or +labor-saving appliances will of themselves make a home. It +is the woman's personal presence, influence, and care that +make the home. Housekeeping is a business as practical as +farming and with no romance in it; home making is a sacred +trust. A woman wants time salvaged from housekeeping to +create the right home atmosphere for her children and to so +enrich their home surroundings that they may gain their +ideals of beauty and their tastes for books and music not +from the shop windows, the movies, the billboards, or the +jazz band, but from the home environment.</p> + +<p>"The farm woman knows that there is no one who can take her +place as teacher and companion of her children during their +early impressionable years and she craves more time for +their care. She feels the need of making the farm home an +inviting place for the young people of the family and their +friends and of promoting the recreational and educational +advantages of the neighborhood in order to cope with the +various forms of city allurements. She realizes that modern +conditions call for an even deeper realization and closer +contact between mother and child. <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_22" id="Page_22">[Pg 22]</a></span>The familiar term, 'God +could not be everywhere so He made mothers' has its modern +scientific application, as no amount of education and care +given to children in school or elsewhere outside the home +can take the place of mothering in the home. 'The home +exists for the child, hence the child's development should +have first consideration.'</p> + +<p>"Farm women want to broaden their outlook and keep with the +advancement of their children 'not by courses of study but +by bringing progressive ideas, methods, and facilities into +the every day work and recreation of the home environment.'"</p></div> + +<p>"True enough," you say, "but these are problems of the individual home. +What have they to do with the community?" Just this: The status of the +farm woman is a matter determined more by custom than by individual +achievement. It is difficult for any one woman, no matter how able or +strong-minded, to maintain a status much in advance of that of her +neighbors; but let the women of a community get together and discuss +their problems and ideals and the group spirit strengthens each of them +in the pursuit of the common ideals. It is such a desire for mutual +support—even though they are not conscious of it—which has drawn farm +women together into clubs and which has given such an impetus to the +Home Bureaus, or women's departments of the county Farm Bureaus. Not +only in women's organizations, but finally in community organizations of +men and women, such as the Grange and the church, the social standards +of the community receive the sanction of public opinion, than which +there is no more powerful means of influencing family usages. The +community as such, must give recognition to a new and better status of +its farm women.</p> + +<p>If the rural home remains the primary social institution, it will be due +to its intelligent effort at self-defense, and not to any inherent right +which it has to such a position. <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_23" id="Page_23">[Pg 23]</a></span>Originally the family was but a +biological group. Until modern times the agricultural family was chiefly +an economic unit. Only with the isolation of the American farm, did the +individual family assume the primary social position known to our +fathers and grandfathers. Physical isolation and large families made the +farm home the only possible social center. Isolation is largely passing, +families are smaller, and organizations of all sorts and commercial +amusements compete with the family. It is the use of leisure time which +reveals the true loyalty of the family group. If there be nothing to +attract them to the fireside, they will inevitably go elsewhere whenever +possible. Hence, if it would have its foundations strong, the community +must encourage the enrichment of home life, particularly, in the hours +of leisure when life is most real. The family games after supper, the +group around the piano singing old and modern songs, the reading aloud +by one member of the circle, the cracking of nuts and the popping of +corn, the picnic supper on the lawn, the tennis court or croquet ground, +the home parties, the guests ever-welcome at meals, these are but items +in a possible scorecard of the sociability of the home. We are giving +much thought to all sorts of group activities, but how much attention +have we given to systematically encouraging the social unit which has +the largest possibilities, the family? Last summer my friend, Professor +E. C. Lindeman, of the North Carolina College for Women, spent several +weeks in becoming acquainted with rural Denmark under peculiarly +favorable conditions. A statement in a letter from him regarding Danish +home life is apropos in this connection:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"I observed that the country people find a great deal of +social expression within their own homes. The home life is +organized <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_24" id="Page_24">[Pg 24]</a></span>on a much higher plane than is common in America. +In addition, there is a larger content of cultural and +educational material within the family circle."</p></div> + +<p>In the same way the economic position, health, education, and all other +phases of life of the family are the most potent influences both in the +life of its members and of the community.</p> + +<p>The question arises, therefore, what is the community doing to +strengthen the home? In recent years the new discipline of Home +Economics has vigorously attacked the problems of diet, clothing, and +household management, and has accomplished much. It is now concerning +itself with health, child welfare, and even with child psychology and +the family as an institution. Yet the home economics point of view is +necessarily restricted to that of the institution which it serves, i.e., +the home; it has the same limitations, when pursued solely from the home +standpoint, that farm management has as an interpretation of farming if +not related to agricultural and general economics. We need a +consideration of the problems of the home from the standpoint of other +social institutions and with regard to its function in social +organization. We need a clearer concept of the relation of the home to +the community and to community associations and activities.</p> + +<p>The community institutions, the school, the church, and various +organizations, have had too much of a tendency to compete with the home +rather than to support and strengthen it. Thus the tendency of the +school has been to demand a larger and larger portion of the child's +time and to assume that because certain phases of education can be more +economically given in the school, that, therefore, it should take over +as much of the educational function of the home as is possible; a +conclusion which is by <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_25" id="Page_25">[Pg 25]</a></span>no means valid. In the home project a new +educational principle has been discovered, which has far-reaching +significance: for in it the school and the home coöperate, the school +outlining, standardizing, and interpreting, while the home furnishes +supervision, advice, and encouragement. Thus, the home is stimulated to +perform those educational functions in which it is superior, through a +definite effort upon the part of the school to strengthen them. The same +principle is being applied to education in hygiene. Why should not the +church and Sunday school adopt similar methods and undertake a definite +system of encouraging the home to give moral and religious education in +an adequate fashion, rather than attempt to give homeopathic doses to +children <i>en masse</i>? Why should not the church, or the school, or both, +give parents instruction and inspiration as to how to educate their +children in matters of sex, about which they are in the best position to +gain their confidence? Should not our clubs and social organizations, +for men and women, boys and girls, face the question, as to whether +their aggregate activities are unduly competing with the home, and +should they not give definite thought as to how they may assist and +strengthen the basic institution of our social organization? If the home +is the essential primary social institution, then its well-being should +command the consideration of every institution of the community; for the +function and objectives of the home cannot be determined solely by +either its own ideals and purposes, or by the values established by the +various special interest groups. The home and the community institutions +are constantly in a process of adapting themselves to each other, and to +the extent that each recognizes the function of the other and is willing +to coöperate rather than to compete, is the highest success of each made +possible.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_26" id="Page_26">[Pg 26]</a></span>This problem of the relation of the home to the community is a +relatively new one, and is largely the result of better means of +communication which have enlarged the horizon of every farm home. When +the life of the child was almost wholly within the home and the +neighborhood, the parents gave themselves little concern about the +influence or conditions of the larger community. But when her children +go to a consolidated school and their school associates are unknown to +her, when they attend the movies in the village, and when they read the +local weekly or the city daily newspaper and the monthly magazines, so +that they know what is going on throughout the world, then, if she be +wise, a mother commences to realize that the community is having a +growing influence in shaping their character and that however ideal the +home may be, it is but a part of their lives. She commences to +appreciate that she must have an understanding of the life and forces of +the community so that she may use her influence toward making their +social environment what it should be and so that she may be able to make +the home so attractive that it will hold their primary interest and +loyalty. Thus community problems of health, of education, of recreation +and social life, and of religion become inter-related with those of the +home. The successful homemaker can no longer concern herself solely with +home-management, but must assume her share of responsibility in +community-management, or "community housekeeping."</p> + +<p>With the new responsibilities of suffrage rural women are following the +example of their city sisters in taking a larger interest in civic +affairs and social legislation, and with a most wholesome influence on +community life. There is, however, some danger that while the men are +engaged with their business problems, these social problems will <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_27" id="Page_27">[Pg 27]</a></span>be too +largely left to the women;<a name="FNanchor_7_7" id="FNanchor_7_7"></a><a href="#Footnote_7_7" class="fnanchor">[7]</a> for without the sympathetic understanding +and hearty coöperation of their husbands, rural women will find that +their new social ideals will materialize but slowly. Here again, such +family organizations as the Grange, the Church, and Farm and Home +Bureau, in which community activities engage both men and women are +peculiarly serviceable.</p> + +<p>An interesting example of how the family may function in community life +is found in a small town in southern Michigan (Centerville) where the +people have established a coöperative motion picture theater, to which +the families buy season tickets, and where one may find whole families +together enjoying the best pictures to the accompaniment of a community +orchestra. This is also being accomplished in many community buildings.</p> + +<p>On the other hand the home need not abdicate all of its old-time +functions as a social center. A few years ago in attending a rural +community conference at the University of Illinois I was interested to +hear a farm woman, a graduate of that university, tell how she and her +neighbors had held amateur dramatic entertainments on their front +verandas during the summer. The young people took the parts and the +audience sat on the lawn, and thus many families were brought under the +influence of the better homes who would not have thought of visiting +them. When winter came on, these entertainments were continued in a +slightly different manner, so that neighboring <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_28" id="Page_28">[Pg 28]</a></span>families were brought +into contact without any tendency toward undue intimacy between families +which would not associate otherwise. Family parties for young and old, +should by no means be abandoned in favor of community parties, however +satisfactory and attractive the latter may be.</p> + +<p>The social responsibility of the rural home must receive new +recognition, for the day when we can live to ourselves in the enjoyment +of a select group of personal friends is rapidly passing, if we are to +have satisfactory social conditions. It is one of the bad effects of the +increasing amount of tenancy in our best farming sections, and of the +frequent changing of farm ownership, that the shifting of residence +makes it difficult for the family to secure a satisfactory social +position in the community life.</p> + +<p>In the last analysis, however, the largest contribution of the home to +the community and the best means of solving the problem of its relation +to community life, is in the development of the best social attitudes +among its members toward each other and toward the life of the +community; for all sound social organization is but an application of +the relations of the family to the affairs of larger social groups, and +unless attitudes of mutual aid, common responsibility, and voluntary +loyalty, are maintained in the home, so that its relations form a norm +for all other human groups, rural society will have lost the chief +dynamic of social progress.</p> + +<h4>FOOTNOTES:</h4> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_5_5" id="Footnote_5_5"></a><a href="#FNanchor_5_5"><span class="label">[5]</span></a> From "The Farm Woman's Problems," Florence E. Ward. U. S. +Dept. of Agriculture, Circular 148 (1920).</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_6_6" id="Footnote_6_6"></a><a href="#FNanchor_6_6"><span class="label">[6]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i>, pp. 14, 15.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_7_7" id="Footnote_7_7"></a><a href="#FNanchor_7_7"><span class="label">[7]</span></a> Benjamin Kidd claims that this superior interest of women +in race welfare is due to woman's cultural inheritance and that from the +very nature of the division of labor between man and woman, man is less +capable than woman of devoting himself to human welfare. "But the fact +of the age which goes deeper than any other is that the male mind of the +race as the result of the conditions out of which it has come, is by +itself incapable of rendering this service to civilization. It is in the +mind of woman that the winning peoples of the world will find the +psychic center of Power in the future."—"The Science of Power," p. +241.</p></div> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_29" id="Page_29">[Pg 29]</a></span> +<br /> + +<hr/> +<br /> +<h2>CHAPTER III</h2> + +<h2>THE COMMUNITY'S PEOPLE AND HISTORY</h2> +<br /> + +<p>The community is composed of people in a certain area, but the community +may be dead or it may be alive. The <i>life</i> of the community is +determined by the degree to which its people are able to act together +for the best promotion of their common welfare. This ability to act +together will obviously depend upon the extent to which the people have +common aims and purposes. If the people of a community form distinct +groups with diverse ideals and purposes, it will be much more difficult +to secure that sympathy, tolerance, and understanding which are +necessary for united action, than if they are more alike. Yet it is just +such diversity of interests of different elements in the community which +gives rise to community problems and which brings about an appreciation +of the need of developing community life.</p> + +<p>It is necessary, therefore, to have some appreciation of how the +characteristics of its population influence community life.</p> + +<p>In the first place, a community of people of different nationalities or +races, or sometimes even of people from different states, find it much +more difficult to secure a common loyalty than if they were of one +stock. It is, of course, quite true that many an old community of a +single stock is divided by family, religious or political feuds; yet +usually there is more solidarity between people of common traditions and +culture. The largest problem in <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_30" id="Page_30">[Pg 30]</a></span>the so-called "Americanization" of +foreigners in rural communities is to get the natives to understand and +appreciate the newcomers and to realize that the future of the community +depends upon mutual respect and good will. Had we a little more of an +historical perspective, we would remember that all of our ancestors were +"foreigners" but a few generations back. In almost every part of the +United States are communities in which alien groups form one of the +chief obstacles to a better community life. Throughout the South, the +most fundamental problem is that of a better understanding between the +two races, and until some means of amicable adjustment is attempted, +there is little prospect for the development of community life. In some +of our best agricultural sections there have been successive waves of +immigration of different nationalities. Thus in Dane County, Wisconsin, +of which Madison—the state capital—is the county seat, Dr. J. H. +Kolb<a name="FNanchor_8_8" id="FNanchor_8_8"></a><a href="#Footnote_8_8" class="fnanchor">[8]</a> describes communities in which Germans, Norwegians, and Swiss +have largely supplanted the original settlers from New England. In an +interesting study of Americanization in a community in the Connecticut +Valley of Massachusetts, John Daniels<a name="FNanchor_9_9" id="FNanchor_9_9"></a><a href="#Footnote_9_9" class="fnanchor">[9]</a> has described how the French +Canadians and Irish and then the Poles have taken up the land, and how +good feeling between them and the native Yankees was gradually +established. On the other hand, a nearby community in southern New York +comes to mind, in which there is a colony of Bohemians, and another of +Finns, which have been fairly successful in building up hill farms +deserted by the descendants of the original settlers, and yet the +community as a whole has done little toward making these people feel +that they <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_31" id="Page_31">[Pg 31]</a></span>are a part of its life, although their industry is one of its +largest economic assets. "America is the home of the free" and most of +our people do desire a real democracy, but we seem to have assumed that +it will develop spontaneously, and we have not appreciated that good +will and common understanding require some means of acquaintance and +exchange of ideas, and that the interests and desires of all the people +in a community, young and old, must receive recognition. Unless we can +establish democracy in our own local community, how can we expect it in +the state or nation?</p> + +<p>A second factor in community life is the age of its people. How often do +you find a community composed chiefly of elderly people which is +progressive? In the more progressive communities are not the middle-aged +and young married people in control? The younger people desire better +advantages for themselves and particularly for their children, and so +they stand for better schools, better churches, and better facilities +for all phases of community life. It is largely for this reason, it +seems to me, that older communities seem to have cycles of relative +decline and progress, according to the proportion of older and younger +people. It is to be hoped that in future generations the ability to +"keep young" may become more common; indeed, this is one of the chief +objectives of modern education.</p> + +<p>The density of population is also a determining factor with regard to +many phases of community life, for it is obviously much easier to carry +on many community activities where the people live fairly close together +and not very far from the community center, than where the country is +but sparsely settled. Even with automobiles and telephones, the distance +between homes will have a large influence in determining the nature of +community activities. <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_32" id="Page_32">[Pg 32]</a></span>One of the most difficult of our rural problems +is how to bring to the people in sparsely settled regions the advantages +which they rightly crave. It will be physically and economically +impossible for them to have as good opportunities as sections which are +more densely settled, but ways must be found whereby a larger degree of +equality of opportunity is available to more thinly inhabited +communities.</p> + +<p>Changes in population immediately affect community needs. Where +immigration is increasing rapidly, institutions such as schools, +churches, and stores are often inadequate, and there is every incentive +toward the development of community spirit and united effort to meet the +common needs. On the other hand, in the older sections decreasing +populations make it impossible to maintain as many institutions as +formerly. Many an eastern community has inherited two or three churches, +which were once well filled, but which now merely serve to divide the +community as none of them are able to operate successfully, though it is +obvious that unless the people are more loyal to their common needs than +to their differences that the community will be unable to survive.</p> + +<p>In relatively new communities, and often for several generations, the +influence of the original settlement of the community may have a strong +effect on its life. Thus where a new section is settled by acquaintances +from an older community, by relatives, or those of one church, there is +a bond between them from the beginning, but where land is settled by +homesteaders from different sections, the process of establishing common +ideals and purposes is a gradual one. Many a community in the middle +west still bears the stamp of its original settlers. About in the center +of West Virginia is the little community of French Creek which was +settled by a few New England <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_33" id="Page_33">[Pg 33]</a></span>families a little over a hundred years +ago. A recent study<a name="FNanchor_10_10" id="FNanchor_10_10"></a><a href="#Footnote_10_10" class="fnanchor">[10]</a> of this community shows that it has had a +powerful influence in the educational life of the whole state, and that +its progressive spirit is largely traceable to "an ancestry of energetic +people with high ideals which have been passed on by each generation." +On the other hand, in many cases this influence is soon lost, due to +some radical change in local conditions and the influx of new elements.</p> + +<p>Its history plays an exceedingly large rôle in advancing or retarding +community development. History and tradition are the memory of the +community; they bring to mind its past experiences. Common ancestors and +common participation in important events in the past give a sense of +identity and heighten community consciousness. Pride in the history of +the community is like pride in a good family, and is a strong factor in +maintaining the standards of its people. Of course the past may be one +of which no one is proud and which they may prefer to forget, but this +is a spur to new endeavor as it is to a family to attain a new status.</p> + +<p>Community life is likely to be at a low ebb where there is but little +knowledge of, or interest in, the history of its past. I was recently +impressed with this in visiting a small inland community, which was not +without many events of interest in its earlier development. I failed, +however, to find any connected records of the community's past or any of +its people who know much of its history. So far as I could learn there +had been few celebrations or community activities for many years and +there was a general feeling that the community had been on the down +grade and needed redirection. It seemed to me that one <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_34" id="Page_34">[Pg 34]</a></span>of the things +which might arouse community loyalty in this instance would be for its +people to clean up some of the old neighborhood cemeteries where many of +the early pioneers lie buried, and which are now grown up and unkept.</p> + +<p>Then I think of another community where every few years on important +anniversary events the history of an organization or of the community as +a whole is related and often published in the local press. Its past has +no more striking events than that of the locality last mentioned, but +these people have pride in their community and their loyalty is renewed +on these anniversary occasions.</p> + +<p>Miss Emily F. Hoag<a name="FNanchor_11_11" id="FNanchor_11_11"></a><a href="#Footnote_11_11" class="fnanchor">[11]</a> has recently given a good picture of how the +history of their community has been made to live in the hearts of the +people of Belleville, New York, through their loyalty to the old Union +Academy, and she has given a fine example of how a community may be +brought to a realization of the contribution which it has made to the +life of the state and nation.</p> + +<p>Only by a knowledge of the community's history can the nature and origin +of the attitudes of its people be understood. A generation or two ago, +perchance, there was a quarrel between two families which was carried +into the school meeting, and to this day two factions have persisted. +The attitudes of the people in many a progressive town may be directly +traced to the influence of some outstanding leaders—a teacher, +minister, or doctor, perhaps—long since gone to their reward. A village +fire, the coming of a railroad or its deflection to a nearby town, a +bank failure, a prohibition crusade, the establishment of a library are +but a few examples of events which form crises <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_35" id="Page_35">[Pg 35]</a></span>in the life of every +community and which have a far-reaching and subtle effect in moulding +its character.</p> + +<p>The cultivation of a knowledge of its own history is, therefore, one of +the first duties of a community which seeks to understand itself so that +it may better direct its life. Every community should maintain a record +of its history, and have some means of preserving important historical +material. The New York legislature has recently passed an act +authorizing any township or village board to appoint a local historian, +without salary, and to furnish safe storage for historical records. One +of the most progressive rural communities in the country is the Quaker +settlement at Sandy Spring, Maryland,<a name="FNanchor_12_12" id="FNanchor_12_12"></a><a href="#Footnote_12_12" class="fnanchor">[12]</a> whose first historian was +appointed in 1863 and whose historian reads the record of the year at +each annual meeting. These "Annals" form a most intimate account of the +community's progress. The custom of some rural newspapers of publishing +local history of the past year on New Year's Day serves much the same +purpose.</p> + +<p>One of the best means of encouraging historical appreciation, and one +which is very generally neglected, is the teaching of local history in +the schools. Educators have learned that it is more pedagogical to +commence instruction in geography with the local environment of the +child, which it can know and understand, than to begin—as +formerly—with the nebular hypothesis; but they are only commencing to +appreciate that the same principle applies to the teaching of history. +Is it not true that most children can glibly recite dates and events in +the history of their own and foreign countries, of whose significance +they have only a vague appreciation, but who never secure any <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_36" id="Page_36">[Pg 36]</a></span>real +historical point of view or an appreciation of the importance of history +because it has not been made concrete and intimate, as must be the case +in considering local events? If national history is taught to develop +patriotism, why should not local history be taught to inspire civic +loyalty? Such a study of the efforts and sacrifices of former citizens +would bring a new sense of obligation to be worthy of the heritage they +have bequeathed, and would gradually establish an attitude of loyalty to +the community which would be considered as essential to respectability +as devotion to one's country. Indeed, how can one be truly loyal to a +great country which is mostly unknown to him if he is not loyal to the +people with whom he lives day by day in his home community?</p> + +<p>One of the best means of reviving interest in the community's past is +through the production of an historical pageant, which is discussed on +page 161; for as the people act together the events of the past, they +gain a new realization of what they owe to the life of the community in +bygone days, and come to appreciate that men come and men go but the +community continues and perpetuates their influence for better or for +worse.</p> + +<p>Socrates' injunction to "know thyself" is the epitome of wisdom for the +community as it is for the individual. The first step in this process of +self-acquaintance is to secure an accurate knowledge of the kinds of +people which compose the community, and how its past is influencing its +present.</p> + +<h4>FOOTNOTES:</h4> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_8_8" id="Footnote_8_8"></a><a href="#FNanchor_8_8"><span class="label">[8]</span></a> "Rural Primary Groups," a study of agricultural +neighborhoods. Research Bulletin 51, Agr. Exp. Station of the University +of Wisconsin, Madison, 1921.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_9_9" id="Footnote_9_9"></a><a href="#FNanchor_9_9"><span class="label">[9]</span></a> "America via the Neighborhood," p. 419, D. Appleton & Co., +1920.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_10_10" id="Footnote_10_10"></a><a href="#FNanchor_10_10"><span class="label">[10]</span></a> A. J. Dadisman, "French Creek as a Rural Community," +Bulletin 176, Agricultural Experiment Station, West Virginia University, +June, 1921.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_11_11" id="Footnote_11_11"></a><a href="#FNanchor_11_11"><span class="label">[11]</span></a> "The National Influence of a Single Farm Community," +Bulletin 984, United States Department of Agriculture, Dec., 1921.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_12_12" id="Footnote_12_12"></a><a href="#FNanchor_12_12"><span class="label">[12]</span></a> See "A Rural Survey of Maryland," Dept. of Church and +Country Life, Board of Home Missions of the Presbyterian Church in the +U. S. A., 1912; reprinted in part in N. L. Sims' "The Rural Community," +p. 227, New York, Scribners, 1920.</p></div> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_37" id="Page_37">[Pg 37]</a></span> +<br /> + +<hr /> +<br /> +<h2>CHAPTER IV</h2> + +<h2>COMMUNICATION THE MEANS OF<br /> COMMUNITY LIFE</h2> +<br /> + +<p>We have seen that the real life of the community depends on common +interests and the ability of its people to act together. This having +things in common is the basis of all community and is achieved only +through the exchange of ideas by various means of communication. Without +communication there would be no community and no civilization. It is +man's ability to communicate through spoken and written language that +has made him <i>human</i>. Man is more than animal because he can exchange +ideas with his fellows, and can profit by the experience of the race. +This power of communication creates a new world for him in which he +lives on a different plane from all other living things. The very words +<i>community</i> and <i>communication</i>, both derived from <i>communis</i>—common, +indicate their relation to each other; <i>community</i>—the having in +common, <i>communication</i>—the making common.<a name="FNanchor_13_13" id="FNanchor_13_13"></a><a href="#Footnote_13_13" class="fnanchor">[13]</a></p> + +<p>Until modern times practically all communication between the masses of +the people was by word of mouth. The people of the old world lived +together in villages which were largely self-dependent, and only the +higher classes were educated to read and write. There was little +opportunity for contact with the outside world, and the people <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_38" id="Page_38">[Pg 38]</a></span>felt +little need of better means of communication. It has been frequently +asserted that isolation has been the chief rural problem in America. The +reason for the dissatisfaction with life on isolated farms is better +appreciated when we remember that during all previous history men have +lived together in close association and their whole mode of thought, +customs, attitudes, and desires have been formed in the intimate life of +compact groups. It is but natural, therefore, that life on the isolated +farm with but few contacts with others than immediate neighbors should +become irksome and that town and city have had a peculiar attraction for +farm people.</p> + +<p>We cannot here examine the causes and history of the development of our +modern means of communication, but we must recognize that it is due to +them that rural community life as we are coming to know it in the United +States is made possible. Without these newer facilities for more +frequent association and exchange of ideas, rural life would still be +confined to the small local neighborhood.</p> + +<p>At the same time, the railroad and trolley have abolished the isolation +of the rural community and have made possible the diversion of local +interests and loyalties to larger centers. Thus while communication aids +the integration of the community it affords equal facilities for its +disruption. Doubtless some of the smaller community centers will be +unable to compete with the attraction of nearby larger centers, but +there seems no good reason to believe that better communication will +injure the best life of communities which are of sufficient size to +support the institutions which will command local loyalty. This dual +influence of means of communication on the internal and external +relations of rural communities creates some of the chief problems of +rural social organization, for the increase of means of communication in +the past two or <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_39" id="Page_39">[Pg 39]</a></span>three generations has been more momentous and has had a +more far-reaching effect on human relations than in all the previous +centuries since the invention of writing.</p> + +<p>A brief survey of the more important of these new agencies will indicate +how they affect the relations of the farmer to his community and to +other communities. These may be considered under the two general heads +of means of transportation, and means for the exchange of ideas.</p> + +<p>As long as transportation was by wagon and by boat, commerce was slow +and expensive; each community was compelled to be largely +self-dependent, and life was isolated to an extent that it is difficult +for us to conceive. Anderson has well stated the situation when he says:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"Merchandise and produce that could not stand a freight of +fifteen dollars per ton could not be carried overland to a +consumer one hundred and fifty miles from the point of +production; as roads were, a distance of fifty miles from +the market often made industrial independence +expedient."<a name="FNanchor_14_14" id="FNanchor_14_14"></a><a href="#Footnote_14_14" class="fnanchor">[14]</a></p></div> + +<p>It was the steam railroad which made larger markets available, made +possible the growth of our large cities and the opening up of new lands +distant from markets. The railroad and manufacturing by power machinery +put an end to the "age of homespun," and made it more profitable for the +farmer to sell his products and to purchase his manufactured goods in +exchange. The railroad, and the markets which it made available, changed +the village center from a place of local barter to a shipping point and +so tended to center the economic life of larger areas in the villages +with railroad stations. Better local roads were necessary and business +tended to become centralized in the village. The numerous wayside +taverns along the main <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_40" id="Page_40">[Pg 40]</a></span>highways disappeared, as did the neighborhood +mill and blacksmith shop. The railroad, more than any other one factor, +has determined the location of our rural community centers.</p> + +<p>The electric railroad made the village centers more available to farm +people and gave transportation facilities to many villages without +railroads, but it also made it possible for the people of smaller +communities to go to the larger centers for trading and other +advantages. Trolleys have made it possible for many farm children to get +to high school who could not otherwise have attended and have enabled +those living near them to more easily get back and forth from the +village centers for all phases of community life. On the whole, however, +they have probably carried more traffic between communities, and it +seems strange that they have not more generally been able to find a +profit in hauling produce from the farms to the nearest markets or +shipping stations.</p> + +<p>Of more importance to community life has been the development of good +roads, a movement which did not get under way until the present century +and which was chiefly due to the rural free mail delivery and the +automobile. The change in rural life due to automotive vehicles can +hardly be exaggerated. In our best agricultural states practically every +farmer has his automobile. He can get to the community center as quickly +as the business man or laborer gets to his work in the average city, and +can go to the county seat or neighboring city as quickly as one can +drive to the business section from the more distant parts of New York or +Chicago. Auto-bus lines radiate from most of our small cities, and auto +trucks not only bring freight from nearby wholesale centers, but are +rapidly supplanting horses for hauling farm produce to the shipping +station or market.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_41" id="Page_41">[Pg 41]</a></span>As good roads have been due chiefly to state and county, and more +recently to national aid, it is but natural that they should have been +constructed where the traffic is heaviest connecting the main centers. +What is now most needed to build up the local communities is a +systematic development of the principal local roads radiating from the +community centers.</p> + +<p>Good roads and automobiles have made possible a new sort of a local +community, which could never have existed without them. Consider the +present possibility of consolidated schools with auto-busses to haul the +children; the numbers of automobiles which come in from the farms to +every village center where there is a band concert or movie show; the +ability to get in the "flivver" after supper and ride to a relative's or +friend's on the other side of the town and be back for early bedtime; +and one can perceive how the people in a community area are bound +together and develop common interests in new advantages made possible by +their ability to get together easily and quickly. How could the county +agricultural agent or the visiting nurse cover a county as effectively +as they now do without the automobile? The rural community can now enjoy +the services of expert paid executives in many fields of work as diverse +as a county commercial club secretary, a Boy Scout leader, a Sunday +school executive, or county health officer, because the county has +become a unit which can be covered as easily as a city and is large +enough to support such a division of labor as no one community could +enjoy. We shall have occasion to refer to many county organizations and +agencies which not only build up the county and the county seat, but +which strengthen the life of every community which they serve, and whose +work is very largely possible because of good roads and automobiles. +Where bad roads still exist many of these <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_42" id="Page_42">[Pg 42]</a></span>services must wait and less +community life is possible.</p> + +<p>Nor does the home lose with the community advancement due to better +transportation. Surely it is better to have the children living at home +than boarding in the village while they attend high school; the doctor +is secured more quickly and the visiting nurse is available; and the +family can come and go as a family because less time is required and +there is no waiting for the horses to feed, or to get rested.</p> + +<p>It is true of course that the automobile makes it possible for people to +go to the larger towns and other village centers, and to visit their +particular friends and relatives in neighboring communities, and thus +seems to furnish means for breaking down and stratifying community life. +These tendencies exist, but they will not seriously injure the community +which has anything worth while for its people. Better transportation +simply makes possible a more highly organized community life, and any +complex organization is the more easily deranged; a complex machine or a +high-bred animal is more susceptible to injury than a simple tool or +scrub. Many ministers have railed against the automobile, while others +have used it to fill their pews. We cannot get away from that oldest of +paradoxes, first learned by Father Adam, that every new good has +possibilities of evil. A certain type of mind has always enjoyed +condemning every new invention as "of the Devil," and yet the world wags +on and no one who knows them would go back to "the good old days."</p> + +<p>The automobile has brought new ideas both to the community and to the +farm and home. Farmers and their wives are traveling by auto much more +than they ever did by train, and it is impossible not to pick up new +ideas. One of the most effective educational devices is the farm tour in +which a group of Farm Bureau members travel <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_43" id="Page_43">[Pg 43]</a></span>from one farm to another +studying the methods of farming, and the women have adopted the idea for +an inspection of farm homes.</p> + +<p>To discuss all the effects of automotive vehicles—cycle, car, truck, +bus, and tractor—on farm life would fill a book in itself: space +forbids except for incidental mention in the following chapters.</p> + +<p>Turning to the mechanisms for the transmission of ideas, we appreciate +the even more wonderful inventions which have brought the whole world to +the farmer's door.</p> + +<p>A generation ago farmers went several miles to the nearest postoffice +for their mail, and usually got it but two or three times a week. To-day +over the greater part of the country it is delivered to them daily, and +they can ship small packages by parcels post from their doors. This +daily delivery has greatly widened the circulation of the daily +newspapers and magazines of all sorts, and has given farm people a new +knowledge and a livelier interest in city and world-wide affairs. The +parcel post has made the mail-order business, but it is even more +beneficial to the local merchant who can fill a telephone order and mail +it to a customer for less expense than delivery costs in the city. +Correspondence and advertising by farm people have greatly increased. It +is true that the abolition of many rural postoffices has destroyed an +old-time rendezvous, but farmers probably go to the community center +more frequently than formerly. A more unfortunate feature of the rural +delivery service is that it often gives the farmer a mail address at a +postoffice of a community where he rarely goes, and fails to indicate +the community in which he is located to one unacquainted with the local +geography (see page 232).</p> + +<p>Even more important as an aid to community activities is the telephone. +Visiting is now done more over the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_44" id="Page_44">[Pg 44]</a></span>phone than in person, but +conversation can be had with any one in the community at any time, and +isolation is banished. The telephone has brought a larger protection to +the farm home in calling the doctor, police, or fire assistance. The +economic value of the phone soon became apparent for the distribution of +market reports and weather forecasts or for ordering goods or repairs +from town, and the marvelous wireless telephone will greatly extend +these services. The Extension Service of the Kansas Agricultural College +is installing a wireless outfit which will receive market and weather +reports and will transmit them to the farm bureau offices at the county +seats, where they may be relayed through the local telephones to every +farmer. Thus world-wide conditions may be flashed to the farmer's +fireside. Within the community the telephone has made possible a degree +of organization hitherto impossible. Meetings are called, committees are +assembled, or their business is done over the phone, so that both social +and economic life are greatly stimulated.</p> + +<p>The farmer is sometimes chided for not having organized rural life more +effectively. The simple reason is that he has not had the mechanisms +whereby he could do so. With only mud roads and horses people could get +together but infrequently, and arrangements had to be made when they +were together. City life was better organized because people could get +together more easily. To-day both time and space have been so largely +overcome that communication in the country is almost as rapid as in the +city and more effective organization is possible.</p> + +<p>Better transportation, mail, and telephone service have made available +agencies for the communication of ideas, previously accessible only to +the few or patronized so infrequently by those further away as to +furnish too small a constituency for their successful maintenance. The +free <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_45" id="Page_45">[Pg 45]</a></span>public library is a powerful educational agency, but many a +community has been too small for its support. Now county library systems +are being organized—thanks to automobiles—which give branch stations +to every community (see p. 102). Lyceum courses of lectures and +entertainments, chautauqua courses, public forums for the discussion of +current problems, and last, but not least, the moving picture shows with +their pictures of important events from all parts of the world and +showing life from Central Africa to the Antipodes, all of these are +agencies for bringing new ideas to the rural community, and are becoming +increasingly common as better transportation makes it possible for the +people to utilize them. The fact that these agencies must be located +where they can serve the largest number of people, determines their +location at the community centers and they are thus a large factor in +unifying the community.</p> + +<p>Modern transportation has abolished the isolation of the farm and new +means of communication have freed the spirit of the farmer and brought +the world to his doors. Together they make possible so many +satisfactions heretofore only available to the cities, as to quite +revolutionize the whole aspect of rural life. They give a new position +to the rural community and to the farmer's status in it.</p> + +<h4>FOOTNOTES:</h4> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_13_13" id="Footnote_13_13"></a><a href="#FNanchor_13_13"><span class="label">[13]</span></a> Community is derived from the Old English word <i>commonty</i> +which came to mean "the body of the common people, commons." +Communication is from the Latin <i>communicare</i>, also derived from +<i>communis</i>—common, and <i>ic</i> (the formative of factitive verbs)—to +make, or to make common.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_14_14" id="Footnote_14_14"></a><a href="#FNanchor_14_14"><span class="label">[14]</span></a> "The Country Town," p. 20.</p></div> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_46" id="Page_46">[Pg 46]</a></span> +<br /> + +<hr /> +<br /> +<h2>CHAPTER V</h2> + +<h2>THE FARM AND THE VILLAGE</h2> +<br /> + +<p>We have seen that an active community must focus its life at some +center, and that this center is usually a village which has been +established primarily for business purposes. The relation of the +American village to the surrounding farms is historically unique and is +largely due to the rapidity and ease with which large areas of the +United States were settled after the advent of railroads. In the +colonial period and the early days of the New West, every settlement was +so isolated that it was obliged to be largely self-sufficient. +Transportation was slow and uncertain and prohibitive for other than the +necessities which could not be locally produced. Under these conditions +the farmer and village business man were so inter-dependent that they +were forced to consider each other's interests. But when settlement +became safer and transportation easier the homesteaders took up their +claims without relation to village connections; they traded where it was +most convenient, and their social life centered largely in the immediate +neighborhood and in the district school and country church. On the other +hand the village was settled by men who came primarily for business. The +spirit of the age was that of competition and they came primarily for +profits. Their business came from the farms, but they felt little sense +of obligation to them. Every village was a potential city in their eyes +and its growth and the rise of real estate values was of more concern to +them than the development of the community's basic industry of +agriculture. The village craftsman and business man gets most of his +living from <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_47" id="Page_47">[Pg 47]</a></span>the farms and it should be to his interest to give them the +best of service, but more and more he has become primarily a business +man or craftsman, coming to the village to "make money" and moving on +when he sees better opportunities elsewhere. His business and craft +affiliations link him to the centers of commercial and industrial life +in the cities, and he is strongly inclined to take the city's point of +view. Particularly has this been the case with the country banker who +has so largely controlled the economic life of the village and +countryside. Too often he has inevitably been more largely influenced by +the interests of eastern capital and the mortgage owners than by the +real needs of his local constituency.</p> + +<p>The result has been an increasing friction between the villages and the +farms, and we have come to think of them as two separate groups or +interests rather than as essential and inter-dependent parts of a social +area—the community. The literature of country life and of rural +sociology has very rightly recognized the existing situation, but many +writers seem to accept the division between village and farm as +inevitable, and even question whether there can be a rural community of +the type herein described, rather than to recognize that this is but a +necessary stage in the beginning of community life, due to the mode of +settlement and temporary conditions.</p> + +<p>This friction between farmer and villager has been most acute in the +Middle West and has found its extreme expression in the Non-partisan +League Movement, which has engendered a degree of bitterness between the +two factions which cannot be permanently maintained without serious +injury to their common interests. This, however, is only an attempt of +the farmers to secure redress through political control, and is but the +political form of expression of a protest which is being more +effectively made as an <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_48" id="Page_48">[Pg 48]</a></span>economic movement through coöperative buying and +selling agencies, particularly strong in Kansas and Nebraska, but +rapidly spreading throughout the country.</p> + +<p>Some rural leaders would have us believe that the interests of the +village and the farm are fundamentally antagonistic and irreconcilable. +They advocate that the consolidated school or high school be placed in +the open country where it will be uncontaminated by the urban-mindedness +of the village; that the grange is the farmers' organization and is +sufficient for him and has no need of affiliating itself with the +affairs of the village; that the farmers should develop their own +coöperative stores and selling agencies so that they can be economically +independent of the "parasitic" trader of the village. Such a naïve point +of view has a certain logical simplicity which is based on the +presupposition that conflict is inevitable and that justice and equity +can be secured only through dominance. The same line of reasoning finds +no solution of the problem of capital and labor, or of the interests of +producer as over against consumer, except in strong organization and +eternal economic conflict. It is apparent that there is much +justification for this view and that it seems in many cases to be a +necessary stage in the adjustment of interests, but that it is either +inevitable or a permanent necessity is controverted both by experience +and by a more thorough analysis of the relationships involved.</p> + +<p>There is no gainsaying the fact that conflict has been one of the chief +agencies of human progress in the past; but neither can it be disputed +that coöperation, or mutual aid, has been of equal importance. Neither +attitude can be conceived as primary or dominant; they have interacted +throughout the history of mankind. Fundamentally, the problem of the +relationship of these two phases of life is much the same as that of the +nature and function of good <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_49" id="Page_49">[Pg 49]</a></span>and evil. The one cannot exist without the +other, and both are relative terms. Our present thought on these +problems has been too largely dominated by a wrong interpretation of the +theory of the survival of the fittest as the primary force in human +evolution. We have assumed, and the German militarists carried the +doctrine to a logical conclusion, that this hypothesis gave the sanction +of a biological law to a competitive struggle between men. But such an +inference was explicitly denied by Charles Darwin,<a name="FNanchor_15_15" id="FNanchor_15_15"></a><a href="#Footnote_15_15" class="fnanchor">[15]</a> and has no +biological foundation. The struggle he described is between species and +not between members of the same species. On the other hand, we find +throughout nature that those species have been most successful which +have developed the most effective means of mutual aid.<a name="FNanchor_16_16" id="FNanchor_16_16"></a><a href="#Footnote_16_16" class="fnanchor">[16]</a> Thus our +economic and political thought has been dominated for the past two or +three generations with a blind worship of the dogma of unrestrained +competition, which has no basis of proof either in biological or social +science.</p> + +<p>When we examine what has gone on in the older sections of our country +and project the present tendencies into the future, we get a different +point of view, and come to see that only by an adjustment of the +relations of the village and the farm to each other can the best life of +both be secured. We shall have occasion in subsequent chapters to +consider the social and political problems involved, but let us here +discuss merely the economic relations, which have been the chief source +of discord.</p> + +<p>In the first place if we examine the situation in the older parts of the +country we find a much more cordial relation between village and country +than farther west, and a greater sense of belonging to a community. The +reasons <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_50" id="Page_50">[Pg 50]</a></span>for this cannot be discussed in detail, but a large factor is +the increasing tendency to centralize institutions; school, church, +grange, lodge, stores, etc.; in the village as the country becomes +older, roads are better, and higher standards develop. Furthermore, the +relative status of the farmer changes the situation. In the older parts +of the country most of the capital needed to supply credit to farmers +and their business organizations comes from within the locality, whereas +in the newer sections they are dependent upon outside capital. In the +older sections where land has become more valuable and wealth has +accumulated, the farmer as well as the villager is a bank director, and +the amount of capital which the farmer has invested in his business is +often much greater than that of the village business man. When the +farmer comes into town in his first-class automobile as frequently as he +desires, he has a very different status from former days. The +"banker-farmer" movement, which started as an effort of the banker to +assist the farmer in better methods of production and marketing, has now +become a "farmer-banker" movement in which the country banker has been +forced to give new thought to the credit facilities of his patrons, and +is already challenging the justice of the country's credit facilities +being dominated by the large city banks which are chiefly interested in +financing industry and commerce.</p> + +<p>There is no question that in many a rural town there are too many +stores, as there are in the cities, that in many cases their service is +very inefficient, and occasionally their prices are exorbitant, but +several forces are already tending to remedy these evils where they +occur, and improvement may be hastened by intelligent and constructive +discussion. Thus exorbitant prices or poor service has made possible the +large sales of the mail-order houses, but the total volume of their +business in most localities is relatively small <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_51" id="Page_51">[Pg 51]</a></span>and their competition +has probably been beneficial to the wide-awake merchant. For first-class +merchants have been able to show that they can meet the mail-order +prices if the customer is willing to pay cash, and the advertising of +the mail-order houses has undoubtedly increased the wants of the average +farm household. In a recent address Dr. C. J. Galpin has pointed out +that one of the shortcomings of the average country merchant is that he +has not studied the needs of his patrons and brought to their attention +new inventions and the better grades of goods. He holds that the higher +standard of living of city people is largely due to the fact that +attractive goods and better equipment are constantly brought to their +attention in the shop windows and by salesmen.</p> + +<p>The coöperative buying of farm supplies and machinery, which is now +assuming such large proportions, is due not merely to an effort to +secure lower prices, but to secure better goods. It is a notorious fact +that for many years the farmer has had to buy inferior fertilizers and +feeds from local dealers because they were all he could get. Both mixed +feeds and fertilizers have been sold under certain brands on much the +same principle as patent medicines, until the farmer has organized his +own agencies to secure their manufacture in accordance with the best +scientific formulas. This has been primarily due to a short-sighted +policy on the part of manufacturers, but it has done greater injury to +the retailer who, in general, has made little effort to learn the real +needs of his trade and supply it with the best goods. The same has been +true of seeds and agricultural machinery. As a result of this one of the +chief claims of such a coöperative agency as the New York +Grange-League-Federation Exchange is that it is able not only to sell at +a lower price but to furnish the best quality. The wide-awake country +merchant has been keen to <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_52" id="Page_52">[Pg 52]</a></span>appreciate these facts and wherever he has +studied his trade and devoted himself to its interests he has built up a +successful business. The "Country Gentleman" has done a real service in +recently publishing a series of articles by A. B. MacDonald which have +described the successes of a few of the outstanding "Big Country +Merchants."</p> + +<p>The "chain store" has not as yet invaded the village, but it is rapidly +gaining a foothold in the smaller cities and village merchants may as +well prepare for its competition, for there seems no good reason why its +greater buying power and superior organization should not enable it to +undersell the local merchant if the customer is willing to pay cash. As +yet all chain stores are on a cash basis and this would seem to prevent +their gaining much of the business of the farmer who has depended on +long time credit. But the coöperative stores, which do business only for +cash, have solved the credit problem by establishing credit facilities +whereby short-time loans may be made and a credit established against +which purchases are charged. There is no question that both farmer and +merchant would be better off if credit were carried by a financial +institution. The farmer is being rapidly educated in business practices, +and it will be surprising if some enterprising corporation does not +establish a chain of village stores which will do a cash business, but +which will arrange for separate credit on a strictly business basis. If +one looks at the trend of business in the cities and towns during recent +years, he cannot but come to the conviction that either country +merchants will have to get together so as to pool their purchasing power +and get the advantages of expert assistance in advertising, accounting, +store arrangement, and other technical services which the chain store +enjoys, or they will be forced to content themselves with the poorer and +less profitable class of trade. I have seen <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_53" id="Page_53">[Pg 53]</a></span>no studies of the matter, +but it would be interesting to know how large an amount of farmer trade +is now enjoyed by the chain groceries in our larger towns. My own +impression is that they are a much more serious competitor of the small +country merchant than is the mail-order house. These are but a few of +the forces which will bring better service from the village merchant.</p> + +<p>There are also ways in which farmers may secure better service without +attempting to operate a coöperative store of their own or deserting the +local merchants. Farm Bureau associations have in numerous cases made +arrangements with a local dealer whereby he would handle their seeds, +fertilizers, or spraying materials at a specified rate of profit, upon +condition that they give him all their trade in these articles and place +their orders in advance. This principle of collective buying through an +established merchant at an agreed rate of profit has much to commend it, +and is being utilized by the Grange-League-Federation Exchange in New +York state to take care of its local business as far as possible. The +fact is that the profits of a strictly coöperative store, after paying +the salary of a competent manager and other costs of operation, which +would make a very attractive income for a single merchant, do not make a +dividend to each of its many patrons much more than a good rate of +interest on the total cost of purchases. It may as well be recognized +that unless there be a strong loyalty to the coöperative principle by a +considerable group of patrons and unless there be peculiar need of a +coöperative store that it is not a mechanism which will automatically +secure much lower prices or superior service, for the success of the +enterprise depends primarily on the manager and if he be competent, he +must be paid sufficient to command not only his services but his loyalty +and initiative. The coöperative store will find it good business to have +a <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_54" id="Page_54">[Pg 54]</a></span>profit-sharing arrangement with its manager and employees, if it +expects to secure the same service from them that may be secured from +the better merchants. On the other hand, if by pooling their buying +power a group of farmers can throw their business to one merchant in +consideration of his selling at a specified profit, even if only for a +particular line of goods, they get the advantage of their collective +purchasing power and have none of the responsibility for maintaining the +business. Although it is my belief that the coöperative principle is +essentially sound and must ultimately dominate our business life, yet it +will need to find means of giving larger incentive to its managers if it +is to compete with the best individual business men. After all, what is +wanted is to get business on a functional basis, and if this can be +accomplished by means of collective buying through an established +business which furnishes its own capital and management, the farmer is +the gainer. The essential thing is that business be put on the basis of +public service rather than private profit. When that principle is +recognized as being the only sound basis of our economic system, then +the methods of business organization will be determined by what +experience shows to be most advantageous to the community, and it may +well be that true "<i>coöperative competition</i>" between individual +merchants and coöperative stores may exist side by side with advantage +to all concerned.</p> + +<p>Another factor in rural community life is the increase of industrial +establishments in villages and small towns. There can be no question +that the centralization of industry in our large cities, which has +proceeded so rapidly since the development of steam power, has now +passed its maximum and that there will be a considerable +decentralization of certain industries which can be operated profitably +in small units. The metropolitan city has passed its maximum <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_55" id="Page_55">[Pg 55]</a></span>of +economic efficiency for many phases of manufacturing, if economic +efficiency is judged by its power to produce "well-being," rather than +mere wealth. We have been obsessed with the glamour of the bigness of +the modern city and we are but beginning to seriously question its real +efficiency. The possibility of superior living conditions in a small +town are now being recognized both by employer and laborer, and better +transportation and the development of electric power lines make possible +the organization of certain of our large industries in small units. As +this process proceeds the business of the village and small town will no +longer be chiefly dependent on agriculture and there will be a further +need for accommodation of the different interests of the community. Here +again, some see only loss to rural life; but if one examines the +situation more thoroughly, mutual advantages are equally apparent. If +the farmers are organized for coöperative selling, they will be +benefited by the better local markets, which are the backbone of the +agricultural economy of so prosperous a country as France. Certain local +industries, whose production is of a seasonal nature, might so arrange +their operation that some of their labor might be available to work on +the neighboring farms during the rush season. Even more important would +be the increased purchasing power of the community, making possible +better stores and business and professional services of all sorts, and +the increase of wealth which would make possible the support of better +schools, churches, and social advantages of all sorts. It is, of course, +true that the introduction of industry in not a few cases seems to have +lowered the standards of community life, but this is by no means +universal or inevitable.</p> + +<p>One of the unfortunate phases of the efforts of small communities to +secure industrial plants is that they often secure establishments which +are not adapted to local <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_56" id="Page_56">[Pg 56]</a></span>conditions or whose financial status is +insecure, and the enterprise inevitably results in failure, with +discouragement to all concerned. There is great need for county chambers +of commerce or commercial clubs with skilled commercial executives as +secretaries who can give the same expert service to the business life of +the small rural communities that the cities now have. The business life +of the community might profit as much from such a service as the farms +have from the expert assistance afforded through the Farm Bureaus.<a name="FNanchor_17_17" id="FNanchor_17_17"></a><a href="#Footnote_17_17" class="fnanchor">[17]</a></p> + +<p>We have been considering the economic relations of the farm and the +village as affecting community life, for they are at present the chief +factor in creating community interest, as well as the leading cause of +group friction. The rural community of to-day is primarily an economic +unit, but in the future it seems probable that business will occupy a +relatively less important place than the social activities of the +community center. Not that there will necessarily be less business, +although the widening of markets constantly tends to take business from +the local centers, but that business will be more efficient and less +competitive; business will not occupy so large a share of attention, but +will take its rightful place as a means to an end, while the community +will take more interest in those institutions which actively promote all +phases of its higher life, of health, education, art, sociability, and +religion.</p> + +<p>These social institutions will increase in relative importance and they +must be located at the community center if they are to have a sufficient +constituency to be efficient in their work and command the loyalty of +rural people. Inasmuch as both farmer and villager are necessary for the +adequate support of church, lodge, school, and other <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_57" id="Page_57">[Pg 57]</a></span>community +organizations, they cannot be expected to work together in these +activities if one is antagonistic to the other, or if the one is helping +to put the other out of business. The farmer has had many grievances +against the townsman, but the fault has not been entirely on one side, +and only by mutual support and the recognition of their dependent +interests can a satisfactory community life be maintained. The root of +the whole trouble lies in the imaginary division of the community into +town and country. With the realization that their common interests are +essential and that their differences are due to lack of proper +adjustment, many of these difficulties will be alleviated. It is my +experience that in the most successful communities, the farmers speak of +"our" town, they are proud of "our" bank, and "our" stores, school, and +churches are the best in the region. Such loyalty is the best of +evidence that the business men of the town have devoted themselves to +supplying the farmers' needs, and that there is mutual understanding +between them. Only by a common loyalty to mutual service can the true +community exist.</p> + +<p>Farmers need the village and it should be to them "our town," of whose +successes and improvements they are proud. As the villagers cannot exist +without the farmers they should be interested in supporting every +movement for the farmers' weal. As they have more frequent contacts with +other centers and with cities, they will be the first to bring many new +ideas and suggestions to the community, but they must realize that only +as all elements of the community are agreed will any new movement be +permanently successful. There must be loyalty to farm leaders as well as +to those of the village. Indeed, the most successful rural communities +are those in which all are one big community family whose institutional +interests center in the village.</p> + +<h4>FOOTNOTES:</h4> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_15_15" id="Footnote_15_15"></a><a href="#FNanchor_15_15"><span class="label">[15]</span></a> See George Nasmyth, "Social Progress and the Darwinian +Theory."</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_16_16" id="Footnote_16_16"></a><a href="#FNanchor_16_16"><span class="label">[16]</span></a> See P. Kropotkin, "Mutual Aid."</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_17_17" id="Footnote_17_17"></a><a href="#FNanchor_17_17"><span class="label">[17]</span></a> See L. H. Bailey, "The Place of the Village in the +Country-Life Movement," York State Rural Problems, II, 148. Albany, N. +Y., 1915.</p></div> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_58" id="Page_58">[Pg 58]</a></span> +<br /> + +<hr /> +<br /> +<h2>CHAPTER VI</h2> + +<h2>COMMUNITY ASPECTS OF THE FARM BUSINESS</h2> +<br /> + +<p>In the days of the pioneer the farm business was hardly affected by +community conditions. A general store where necessities could be +purchased, a mill where grain could be ground, and a blacksmith shop +were about the only necessary business agencies. The farm was largely +self-sufficient and there was but little real community life. Nor was +there much change in the next generation or two among the farmers who +built substantial homes, supported their neighborhood churches and +schools, and with the free labor of a good-sized family made a +comfortable living. Their interests were chiefly in their families and +neighbors, and questions of local government were about the only +community bond. When new sections of the country were opened up by +railroads and with the growth of cities farm lands increased rapidly in +value, there was an era of speculative farming, which Dr. Warren H. +Wilson has called the era of the "exploiter."<a name="FNanchor_18_18" id="FNanchor_18_18"></a><a href="#Footnote_18_18" class="fnanchor">[18]</a> A farm was bought with +an idea of its improvement and resale at a good profit, and many farmers +moved from one section to another in search of new land which was both +fertile and cheap.<a name="FNanchor_19_19" id="FNanchor_19_19"></a><a href="#Footnote_19_19" class="fnanchor">[19]</a> The era of land speculation has by no means +passed, as has been learned to their sorrow by many who bought farms at +inflated prices during the World War, and whenever <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_59" id="Page_59">[Pg 59]</a></span>there is a sudden +rise in land values, speculation will doubtless recur. On the other +hand, as cheap lands become scarce, as the better lands become more +valuable and the amount of capital required to equip and operate a farm +in the better agricultural sections increases, there will be less +tendency to be on the lookout for a profitable sale and the farm +business will become more permanent because of the large effort and +capital expended in the enterprise and the consequent attachment of the +owner. A man with a considerable investment does not care to move +frequently. Thus higher land values—inevitable with an increasing +population—will favor a more permanent type of farming, conducted on +scientific and business principles, of what Dr. Wilson calls the +"husbandman" type. This type of farmer not only desires but requires +better institutions of all sorts, which can only be maintained at a +community center. Thus permanency of ownership of farm operators +conduces to community development.</p> + +<p>Unfortunately, however, the rise of values of the best land seems to +encourage tenancy rather than ownership, for tenancy is greatest and +increases most on the best farm lands. The general economic aspects and +the ultimate solution of the tenancy problem are national rather than +local problems. The effect of tenancy as it now exists, with a frequent +shifting from one community to another, is, however, a very serious +community problem, for all observers agree that the maintenance of a +satisfactory standard of community life is much more difficult where +tenancy predominates.</p> + +<p>One important economic aspect of tenancy is that tenants, who are +frequently moving, will less readily and effectively affiliate in +coöperative enterprises, and we shall see that coöperative organizations +have a large influence in promoting the solidarity of the rural +community. This has <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_60" id="Page_60">[Pg 60]</a></span>been well brought out by one of our best students +of the tenancy problem, Dr. C. L. Stewart, who says:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"Farming efficiency in the future, however, will probably +consist to a greater extent in the ability to increase net +profits through coöperative dealing with the market. The +efficiency test must, therefore, rule more strongly against +operators of the tenures, whose characteristics are opposed +to successful coöperative effort on their part.</p> + +<p>"That tenants," he continues, "changing from farm to farm at +more or less short intervals, should generally be more +active and successful than owners in building up coöperative +organizations is hardly in the line of reason.... If in the +future, coöperation assumes forms requiring greater +permanency of membership in the societies, greater intimacy +of acquaintance among the members, or greater investment per +member, the tenants will doubtless find themselves +handicapped in their relation thereto."<a name="FNanchor_20_20" id="FNanchor_20_20"></a><a href="#Footnote_20_20" class="fnanchor">[20]</a></p></div> + +<p>The effect of a large percentage of tenants is even more serious upon +the social side of community life. Those who have studied the problem +are agreed that both schools and churches tend to be inferior in tenant +communities. There is little "chance of development of deep friendships +and associations which give vitality to church life" where a large +proportion of the tenants are frequently moving, nor can they give as +good financial support to the church as landowners. The frequent +shifting of the tenant population creates a difficult problem for all +the social life of the community, for it is impossible for a community +to assimilate a considerable percentage of its population every year and +to develop those strong ties of loyalty which are essential to real +community life.</p> + +<p>Thus a reasonable permanency of residence of its <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_61" id="Page_61">[Pg 61]</a></span>population is +essential to successful community life and this is largely determined by +the economic situation of the farm business. And the importance of the +effect of tenancy, or any other economic aspect of agriculture on the +life of its people must be recognized as a fundamental consideration in +determining rural policies. Well being <i>on</i> the land and not wealth +<i>from</i> the land is the final goal of agriculture.</p> + +<p>Community life is also affected by the type of farming which is +prevalent among its people. Modern agriculture is becoming specialized, +and the crops grown are determined both by soil and climate and by the +markets available. Fruit sections are due primarily to the former, while +the regions producing market milk are determined chiefly by the latter +factor. Now various types of farming make distinctly different demands +upon the time of the farmer and so to a considerable extent they +condition his social life. Dairying is probably the most confining sort +of farming, and on the one-man farm there is little opportunity for +getting away. "Haven't missed milking morning or night for six years," +one dairyman replied to me when asked if he ever had a vacation. The +fruit grower, on the other hand, during the winter can take a few weeks +to go South or visit relatives without injury to his business. In the +South after the crops are "laid by" in midsummer is the season for +camp-meetings, picnics, and "frolicking" in general. Not only does the +fruit grower have more leisure than the dairyman, but population is +denser in a fruit-growing or trucking community and hence the +communities are smaller and more compact. Just what characteristics of +community life may be attributed to these differences in vocation it +would be difficult to say, for so far as I am aware no exact studies +have compared several communities of each type, but that they exercise a +large influence on community customs and the social attitudes of the +people is <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_62" id="Page_62">[Pg 62]</a></span>patent to even a casual observer who passes from a dairy +section to a fruit region, or from the northwestern grain belt to a +region of general farming.<a name="FNanchor_21_21" id="FNanchor_21_21"></a><a href="#Footnote_21_21" class="fnanchor">[21]</a></p> + +<p>Specialization in agricultural production also affects community life in +that its economic interests are unified both as regards production and +marketing and as the income of most of its people comes from one or two +products, their attention is focused upon them and a greater degree of +solidarity results than where farming is more diversified and farmers +are not so dependent on the sale of one or two crops. Specialization is +chiefly due to advantages which it ensures in marketing, as will be +indicated in the next chapter, and it is because there is less economic +pressure to compel general farmers to market together and that they lack +the solidarity developed by specialization, that coöperative selling +associations have not generally succeeded in a general farming region +when they have attempted to handle various farm products.</p> + +<p>Specialization in agriculture encourages further division of labor +because there is a sufficient volume of work to pay for expert services. +Thus dairy communities have developed cow-test associations, which +employ one man to test the percent of butter-fat for each cow, to +interpret their milk production records, and sometimes to advise them +with regard to feeding. In fruit regions a considerable business is done +in contract spraying. Threshing crews and threshing-rings have long been +common. Custom plowing by tractor, and hauling of farm produce by motor +truck are becoming common. It seems probable that such division of labor +will increase as much as is practicable, but it finds very definite +limitations in the agricultural industry, due to the very short season +in which many operations can <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_63" id="Page_63">[Pg 63]</a></span>be performed and which thus gives short +employment for any of the seasonal operations.</p> + +<p>Division of labor also involves increasing the manufacture or +"processing" of agricultural products which is an asset to the community +if performed locally as far as possible. Butter is no longer made in the +home but at the creamery, and milk is prepared for the city market at +the shipping station, or is sold to a local condensary, all of which +employ more or less skilled labor. With crops which are perishable or +bulky, "processing" must be performed locally. Thus canneries are +located where the vegetables or fruits are grown. Although the selling +of equipment for coöperative canning plants has been almost as much of a +swindle as promoting coöperative creameries, yet large numbers of +coöperative creameries exist where conditions for them are suitable, and +there seems no inherent reason why coöperative canneries cannot be made +successful when farmers have learned how to organize and to employ +expert help.<a name="FNanchor_22_22" id="FNanchor_22_22"></a><a href="#Footnote_22_22" class="fnanchor">[22]</a> In his delightful vision of the possibilities of a new +Ireland, entitled "The National Being," George William Russell ("A. +E."), holds out the hope that the increase of such local coöperative +manufacture of agricultural products may be the means of furnishing an +opportunity for the rural laborer to better his status.</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"But what I hope for most," he says, "is first that the +natural evolution of the rural community, and the +concentration of individual manufacture, purchase, and sale +into communal enterprises, will lead to a very large +coöperative ownership of expensive machinery, which will +necessitate the communal employment of labor. If this takes +place, as I hope it will, the rural laborer, instead of +being a manual worker using primitive implements, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_64" id="Page_64">[Pg 64]</a></span>will have +the status of a skilled mechanic employed permanently by a +coöperative community. He should be a member of the society +which employs him, and in the division of the profits +receive in proportion to his wage, as the farmers in +proportion to their trade."<a name="FNanchor_23_23" id="FNanchor_23_23"></a><a href="#Footnote_23_23" class="fnanchor">[23]</a></p></div> + +<p>To the extent that "processing" farm products is taken from the farm and +performed at the community center, or that there is a division of labor, +the local community is thereby strengthened, for its life is more highly +organized; it is more inter-dependent.</p> + +<p>An interesting phase of the relation of the community to the farm +business is in the protection of crops and animals from insect pests and +diseases. If one man plants his wheat late enough to escape the Hessian +fly his crop is benefited, but if all in a community do so the +subsequent infection is greatly reduced with consequent advantage to +all. The chief obstacle preventing the successful combating of the +cotton boll weevil in the South has been the difficulty of securing +united action in the necessary cultural measures for its control. Most +striking results have been secured in the eradication of the Texas Fever +Tick from large areas of the South, although this has been carried on +using the county as a unit; for many purposes in the South the county is +practically a community. Some of the best community work in this field +has been in the West in poisoning ground squirrels and other injurious +rodents and in rabbit drives. Although the poisoning campaigns are +conducted over whole counties or several counties, they are organized by +communities and their success is possible only because every one in the +community does his part. Whenever the farmers of a community become +convinced <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_65" id="Page_65">[Pg 65]</a></span>that they are unable to fight a pest or disease individually, +but can do so if they act collectively so that a sufficiently large area +is treated as to prevent immediate re-infection, a new community bond +has been established. Whether these activities are carried on by +communities of the exact nature previously defined (page 10) is +immaterial. The significant fact is that their people are learning how +to act together in the common defense, for it was the common defense +which first compelled mankind to live in communities, and it is defense +for one purpose or another which is ever compelling the people of a +locality to act together.</p> + +<p>Farm management experts point out the practical value to the farmer of +community experience with regard to methods of farm practice peculiarly +adapted to local climate, soils, and markets. If one is going into +dairying he can learn little from his neighbors if he locates in a fruit +section, but in a dairy section he may constantly learn from the common +experience. Dr. G. F. Warren says:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"There is so much to learn about farming in any community +that one man cannot hope to learn it alone. The experience +of the community is of the utmost value to every farmer. +Different men try out new varieties of crops, new machines, +different breeds of animals, different methods of raising +crops, different methods of building construction, different +ways of saving labor. Each man gets the experiences of all; +if a man is following a type of farming different from his +neighbors, he cannot hope to try all these things. He is not +likely to progress very rapidly."<a name="FNanchor_24_24" id="FNanchor_24_24"></a><a href="#Footnote_24_24" class="fnanchor">[24]</a></p></div> + +<p>These advantages occur if there be a true community; i.e., if through +communication one may learn the experience of others, but in some cases +the experience is of little value because it is not available.</p> + +<p>Finally farmers are coming to find it profitable to <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_66" id="Page_66">[Pg 66]</a></span>establish the +reputation of a community for advertising purposes. So at the railroad +station we are faced with the sign, "Kalamazoo, the home of celery." We +know of "Kalamazoo, direct to you" stoves, but we had forgotten that it +is one of the oldest and best celery-growing communities in the country. +Thus increased specialization gives very real advertising values to a +community which builds up a reputation for its products. But such a +reputation is simply the recognition by the outside world of the +character of the community. Thus ability to advertise itself is a very +real index of its solidarity, and the desire to be able to gain +advantage from advertising may become a real motive for activities of a +community, as it does with many an individual. The ability to advertise +but shows the economic value of the creation of a real community.</p> + +<p>Common interests in the farm business form the primary bond for the +establishment of true rural communities, and the strongest of these +common interests are those involved in the problems of marketing.</p> + +<h4>FOOTNOTES:</h4> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_18_18" id="Footnote_18_18"></a><a href="#FNanchor_18_18"><span class="label">[18]</span></a> See "The Evolution of the Country Community."</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_19_19" id="Footnote_19_19"></a><a href="#FNanchor_19_19"><span class="label">[19]</span></a> See Hamlin Garland, "A Son of the Middle Border."</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_20_20" id="Footnote_20_20"></a><a href="#FNanchor_20_20"><span class="label">[20]</span></a> Land Tenure in the United States with special reference to +Illinois, University of Illinois, "Studies in the Social Sciences," Vol. +V, No. 3, Sept., 1916, p. 124.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_21_21" id="Footnote_21_21"></a><a href="#FNanchor_21_21"><span class="label">[21]</span></a> See John M. Gillette, "Constructive Rural Sociology" (1st +Ed.), Chapter III.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_22_22" id="Footnote_22_22"></a><a href="#FNanchor_22_22"><span class="label">[22]</span></a> For an excellent discussion of "Processing Farm Products," +see Theodore Macklin, "Efficient Marketing for Agriculture," Macmillan, +New York, 1921, Chap. VI.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_23_23" id="Footnote_23_23"></a><a href="#FNanchor_23_23"><span class="label">[23]</span></a> "The National Being, Some Thoughts on Irish Polity," p. +57, Maunsel & Co., Dublin and London, 1916.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_24_24" id="Footnote_24_24"></a><a href="#FNanchor_24_24"><span class="label">[24]</span></a> "Farm Management," p. 98, Macmillan & Co., New York, +1913.</p></div> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_67" id="Page_67">[Pg 67]</a></span> +<br /> + +<hr /> +<br /> +<h2>CHAPTER VII</h2> + +<h2>HOW MARKETS AFFECT RURAL COMMUNITIES</h2> +<br /> + +<p>We have already observed the influence of transportation and the growth +of markets in revolutionizing the self-sufficient farming of the pioneer +and the industrial self-dependency of the isolated community, but we +must give further consideration to the influence of markets on rural +community life, for the world is now facing problems of the readjustment +of its whole economic system which necessitate a better understanding by +the farmer of his dependence on markets and by urban populations of +their dependence upon the raw materials produced by the farm, if the +mechanism of our complex modern civilization is to be maintained. These +relations involve the largest questions of the interdependence of +industries and of national and international policy in relation thereto, +and we can but call attention to some of the more fundamental principles +involved. An understanding of some of the elementary principles of +agricultural economy in relation to national and international economy +by the masses of our farmers, but particularly by their local leaders, +is essential to any permanent progress not only of agriculture, but of +industry and commerce.</p> + +<p>Before the time of railroads when rural communities were isolated from +the few cities situated on the seaboard and along the larger waterways, +there was little incentive for the inland farmer to raise more than he +needed for the use of his own family. As a result there was inefficient +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_68" id="Page_68">[Pg 68]</a></span>farming and a low standard of living.<a name="FNanchor_25_25" id="FNanchor_25_25"></a><a href="#Footnote_25_25" class="fnanchor">[25]</a> Railroad transportation made +it possible for the farmer to send his products to the existing markets +and so made it an object for him to produce a surplus, but, more +important, it also made possible the rapid growth of numerous industrial +and commercial centers and so was directly responsible for the creation +of new and growing markets. Steam power, the use of coal, and the +economies of the factory system made it possible to manufacture in large +city factories many articles previously produced in the farmer's home or +in the village centers. Thus a division of labor was effected which was +profitable to all parties; the growth of industrial populations gave the +farmer a market for his produce, and in turn he was able to purchase +from the city many goods previously unknown to the farm—fertilizers, +agricultural machinery, factory-made clothing, furniture, and other +factory products too numerous to mention. Furthermore, transportation +and reasonably stable government made possible the growth of +international commerce so that the markets of many staple farm products +became practically world-wide and a division of labor arose between +certain nations. England and Germany are dependent on other countries +for a considerable part of their food supplies and raw materials, while +certain agricultural countries depend on them for manufactured goods.</p> + +<p>The point which must ever be borne in mind in considering the relation +of rural and urban communities is their interdependence; that the +development both of modern industrial centers and of modern agriculture +and the higher standards of living on American farms, have been due to +an exchange of commodities and services which was <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_69" id="Page_69">[Pg 69]</a></span>mutually +advantageous. Without the growth of markets our farms would still be +self-sufficing, but they would lack the many comforts and cultural +advantages which they now enjoy, and this rise in the farmer's standard +of living has stimulated further growth of industry and so made better +markets.</p> + +<p>These considerations are particularly pertinent at the present time of +agricultural and business depression. The present position of American +agriculture, and its lack of buying power in our markets, has been +largely due to the fact that Europe has heretofore furnished an open +market for our surplus agricultural products. To-day Europe is unable to +purchase this surplus. The cause seems to be chiefly an economic +paralysis resulting from the political interference by the tariff walls +of newly-created states with the established economic relations of +agricultural areas and manufacturing centers, and an unwillingness of +the farmer to do business with a currency so debased that its value is +highly problematical. So we see the great city of Vienna,<a name="FNanchor_26_26" id="FNanchor_26_26"></a><a href="#Footnote_26_26" class="fnanchor">[26]</a> once one +of the gayest and most brilliant capitals of Europe, now reduced to +destitution, and the cities not only of Russia but of Germany being +forced to revert to the ancient system of barter in order to secure +adequate food.</p> + +<p>The ultimate dependence of all cities upon the farms and mines is to-day +exemplified in Europe with such appalling tragedy, that even the smug +isolation of the American farmer and the American business man is broken +down, not only by human sympathy but by the necessity of <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_70" id="Page_70">[Pg 70]</a></span>a better +adjustment of their own economic system to the world crisis from which +they are unable to escape.</p> + +<p>This shift of control from the city to the country has been powerfully +portrayed by Norman Angell:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"Moreover, the problem (of feeding Great Britain) is +affected by what is perhaps the most important economic +change in the world since the industrial revolution, namely +the alteration in the ratio of the exchange value of +manufacture and food—the shift over of advantage in +exchange from the side of the industrialist and manufacturer +to the side of the producer of food."<a name="FNanchor_27_27" id="FNanchor_27_27"></a><a href="#Footnote_27_27" class="fnanchor">[27]</a></p> + +<p>"Before the War the towns of Europe were the luxurious and +opulent centers; the rural districts were comparatively +poor. To-day it is the cities of the continent that are +half-starved or famine-stricken, while the farms are +well-fed and relatively opulent. In Russia, Poland, Hungary, +Germany, Austria; the cities perish but the peasants for the +most part have a sufficiency. The cities are finding that +with the breakdown of the old stability—of the transport +and credit systems particularly—they cannot obtain food +from the farmers. This process which we now see at work on +the continent is in fact the reverse of our historical +development."<a name="FNanchor_28_28" id="FNanchor_28_28"></a><a href="#Footnote_28_28" class="fnanchor">[28]</a></p></div> + +<p>But although the farmer may have sufficient food for the time—though in +Russia millions are starving, due in considerable measure to the +economic and political chaos of the nation—yet if this reverse process +should go on, rural civilization would be reduced to that of former +generations, and its advance would be possible only when the industries +which furnish its material basis were revived and confidence in the +medium of exchange were again established. The city owes its existence +to the farm, but without the city the farm would go back to the hoe and +the sickle and the "age of homespun."</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_71" id="Page_71">[Pg 71]</a></span>I am not seeking to justify the modern city, for its economic and social +weaknesses are ever increasingly apparent, but it is important that we +fully realize the fact that rural progress has been chiefly due to the +goods and services received in exchange from urban markets. We have +already noted the tendency toward specialization in agriculture and its +effect on the rural community, and that specialization has been chiefly +due to markets. One of the chief factors in encouraging specialization +in the growth of certain products by whole communities and sections is +the fact that a larger volume of a given product ensures better +marketing facilities and a better price to the producer as long as the +supply is not in excess of the demand. Where there is a considerable +volume of a certain product, buyers can meet their demands more easily +and are attracted to it, whereas a small lot of howsoever good a product +must seek a buyer. Freight rates are reduced, damage in transit is +reduced, and better transportation is secured in carload and trainload +than in small shipments. The middleman's charges are less if he is +assured a considerable volume of business. Thus specialization makes +possible a more effective system of marketing than is possible with +indiscriminate production.</p> + +<p>Not only must there be sufficient volume of a given product, but it must +be so standardized with regard to varieties, grade and quantities or +packages that the reputation of the goods may be established in the +market. In order to secure uniformity it has been found necessary to +standardize varieties and to grow a few well-known varieties of a given +product which are best adapted to local conditions and to the market, +rather than a number of varieties, as might be feasible if they were all +sold directly on the local market.</p> + +<p>Uniformity of grading and packing is also essential to <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_72" id="Page_72">[Pg 72]</a></span>establish a +reputation on the market. A concern like the California Fruit Growers' +Exchange cannot afford to spend half a million dollars a year in +advertising unless it knows that its product will be as advertised, for +advertising an unreliable product may secure temporary sales, but will +hardly be a profitable investment, for the value of advertising an +honest product is cumulative. To secure necessary uniformity of grading +and packing it has been found necessary with almost all agricultural +products to have the grading and packing done at a central establishment +rather than on the farm. For even assuming the honesty and good intent +of the farmer, the standards and skill of different farmers will vary to +such an extent that uniformity is impossible. Uniformity of grade and +package must be secured at some stage of the process of marketing before +the goods are bought by the retailer. Until recently much of this +service has been performed by the commission men at the central markets, +who have taken what was shipped to them or what their agents purchased +and graded it to meet the demands of the trade, and who, of course, had +to charge for their services. It has been found more profitable with +most products to have the grading and packing done as near to the farm +as is possible to secure a sufficient volume of business for the +enterprise. Thus we have local packing houses for fruits, potatoes, +poultry products, grain elevators, etc., usually located at the point of +primary shipment. These local plants, as well as local creameries, +canneries, and other agricultural factories and storage plants, become +community institutions as they meet the needs of the farmers within the +areas tributary to the centers where they are located. It is true, of +course, that many of these plants are located in the open country or at +mere railroad stations, and that many of them draw their patronage from +several <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_73" id="Page_73">[Pg 73]</a></span>communities; yet more commonly than otherwise they are located +at village centers and serve the areas tributary to them. With the +advent of good roads and motor trucks, the areas served by such +establishments will tend to become larger, but there are many local +circumstances which will tend to limit the process of centralization. +Whether these plants are operated by private individuals, by stock +companies, or by coöperative associations of the producers, they are +essential to an effective marketing system and may greatly strengthen +community life. If, however, there be two or three elevators in a little +village, each operated for profit by a private owner, where all the +business could be more economically handled by one concern and where the +competition creates friction and suspicion, then like the rivalry +between an excessive number of churches, they tend to divide the +community.</p> + +<p>Students of marketing problems seem agreed that better marketing systems +will benefit the farmer through greater efficiency which will reduce the +costs of the process rather than through greater profits from higher +prices, and that in many lines the largest improvement is possible in +the grading, packing, and shipping from the local station. This being +the case, it seems obvious that the solution of the marketing problem +will increasingly depend upon community action.</p> + +<p>Better transportation and storage facilities tend to stabilize prices +over large areas and to give the larger markets increasing advantage in +bargaining for the farmer's products. Not that there is any concerted +action upon the part of the buyers to take an undue advantage of the +farmer, for there is usually keen competition between them, but +inevitably the "centralization" of the buying power of the larger +markets makes it possible for them to very largely determine the price, +just as the large employers <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_74" id="Page_74">[Pg 74]</a></span>of labor can to a considerable extent +determine the wages they will pay if labor is unorganized; for whenever +there is a surplus the individual farmer must sell, while the buyer can, +within limits, purchase where or from whom he chooses. Thus for the same +reason that labor is forced to organize trade unions to maintain its +wages and working conditions, farmers are forced to organize to market +their products together and to bargain collectively for their price. +This is the outstanding agricultural movement of the past decade and at +the present time is so successfully challenging the established system +of marketing as to command national attention. The success of such a +movement depends primarily upon the solidarity and efficiency of the +local units, so that collective bargaining requires the organization of +the agricultural community into selling associations for its various +products. The whole process encourages the economic organization of the +rural community and heightens community consciousness through the effort +of its members to defend their common economic interests.</p> + +<p>The method of collective selling may vary, but in practice the +coöperative selling association has proven the most satisfactory and +will be discussed in the following chapter.</p> + +<p>When the most successful farmers on the best land in Illinois lose +twenty-five cents on every bushel of corn they raised, as was the case +in 1921, and when it is easier for isolated farmers in Kansas to burn +corn than to buy coal at the prices current, while at the same time +millions of innocent women and children are starving in Europe, it seems +evident that the complex system of marketing upon which modern industry +and civilization has depended, is pretty well out of gear and that +national and international questions must be wisely solved before it can +again function. Yet in last analysis the solution of the complex +problems <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_75" id="Page_75">[Pg 75]</a></span>of marketing rests not alone with international treaties, but +with the farmers' selling associations of the rural communities. If we +are to have a marketing system which is truly functional, which is built +on the principle of the greatest service at the lowest cost, rather than +on the principle now implicit in business of sufficient service to +secure the maximum of profit which the traffic will bear, then it must +be a coöperative system, the primary unit of which is the local +coöperative association, whose success depends upon the loyalty of its +members to the coöperative principle. So coöperation is a community +problem.</p> + +<p>Nor can we expect marked progress in other phases of rural life as long +as the economic question is acute. It is not true that economic +prosperity in agriculture will of itself ensure the higher culture of +the countryside; but it is true that so long as the farmer is compelled +to devote all of his strength and time to making a competence for his +family, that his attention must necessarily be fixed on economic ends +and that he will have neither the means nor the time for those +satisfactions of life which are possible to one with some leisure. Says +"A.E.": "I believe the fading hold the heavens have over the world is +due to the neglect of the economic basis of spiritual life. What +profound spiritual life can there be when the social order almost forces +men to battle with each other for the means of existence?"<a name="FNanchor_29_29" id="FNanchor_29_29"></a><a href="#Footnote_29_29" class="fnanchor">[29]</a> For weal +or woe the material existence of both farmer and townman throughout the +civilized world is inextricably inter-dependent. If a better economic +system is to arise it must come through the general understanding of +these relations by the education of all parties and by a willingness to +find satisfaction in the well-being of all rather than in the largest +individual profit. Unless these attitudes can be established in the +local community, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_76" id="Page_76">[Pg 76]</a></span>how can we expect to secure harmony of interests among +larger groups? Loyalty to the common good must first be developed in the +local community among neighbors.</p> + +<p>In subsequent chapters we shall have occasion to consider various forces +and methods for creating this spirit of community, and we shall see that +whereas the higher culture of rural life awaits a better economic +system, this spirit of loyalty which is essential for coöperative +organizations may be developed through various forms of community +activity.</p> + +<h4>FOOTNOTES:</h4> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_25_25" id="Footnote_25_25"></a><a href="#FNanchor_25_25"><span class="label">[25]</span></a> See Percy Wells Bidwell, "Rural Economy in New England at +the Beginning of the Nineteenth Century." Trans. Comm. Acad. Arts and +Sci., Vol. 20, p. 253, 1916; and E. G. Nourse, "Agricultural Economics," +p. 65.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_26_26" id="Footnote_26_26"></a><a href="#FNanchor_26_26"><span class="label">[26]</span></a> See the account of Mr. A. G. Gardiner, <i>Manchester +Guardian</i>, Weekly Edition, Feb. 6, 1920, quoted by Norman Angell in "The +Fruits of Victory," p. 27: "Suddenly all this elaborate structure of +economic life was swept away. Vienna, instead of being the vital center +of fifty millions of people, finds itself a derelict city, with a +province of six millions. It is cut off from its coal supplies, from its +food supplies, from its factories, from everything that means existence. +It is enveloped by tariff walls."</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_27_27" id="Footnote_27_27"></a><a href="#FNanchor_27_27"><span class="label">[27]</span></a> "The Fruits of Victory," p. 12, New York, 1921.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_28_28" id="Footnote_28_28"></a><a href="#FNanchor_28_28"><span class="label">[28]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i>, p. 14.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_29_29" id="Footnote_29_29"></a><a href="#FNanchor_29_29"><span class="label">[29]</span></a> (George William Russell), "The National Being," p. 167.</p></div> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_77" id="Page_77">[Pg 77]</a></span> +<br /> + +<hr /> +<br /> +<h2>CHAPTER VIII</h2> + +<h2>HOW COÖPERATION STRENGTHENS THE COMMUNITY</h2> +<br /> + +<p>The greatest improvements in marketing are being effected through +coöperation. We have indicated that willingness to work together for the +common good and loyalty to this principle are essential for successful +coöperative enterprises. As these same attitudes are the basis of +community life, it seems obvious that to the extent that membership in +coöperative associations becomes general throughout a community, the +stronger will be the community life. Indeed, the very etymology of the +two words, <i>coöperate</i>—to work together, and <i>community</i>—having in +common, indicate that community activities are essentially a form of +coöperation—of working together. Inasmuch as coöperative enterprises +are rapidly increasing and that they must, therefore, exercise a +powerful influence upon community life, it is necessary to gain a clear +idea of just what is involved in the principle of coöperation and to +what types of organization the term is applicable.</p> + +<p>In a general way there has always been a certain amount of coöperation +between neighboring farmers in the exchange of work in barn-raisings, +threshing, silo-filling, slaughtering, etc. Out of this have grown such +coöperative organizations as threshing rings, and groups for the common +ownership and use of all sorts of more expensive machinery, the +coöperative ownership of sires, cow-test associations, and many other +forms of organization for mutual <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_78" id="Page_78">[Pg 78]</a></span>aid in farm operations. All of these +are coöperative associations in the common usage of the word +coöperation, but in recent years the term has come to have a more +technical meaning to denote a form of organization in contrast to the +corporation or stock company, which has been the most prevalent type of +business organization in recent years.</p> + +<p>The coöperative association differs from the corporation or stock +company in three essentials. First, it is democratic in its control; all +true coöperative organizations employ the principle of "one man, one +vote," the influence of each member of the association being equal as +far as the legal control of its administration is concerned. The +individual members and not the amount of stock owned controls the policy +of the association. Coöperation is democracy applied to business. +Second, the coöperative association is organized to secure more +efficient service rather than to exact profits. This is a point upon +which there is much misunderstanding upon the part of those starting +coöperative enterprises and which requires further explanation. Third, +the earnings or savings of the association (commonly thought of as +"profits") are distributed among the members or patrons of the +association <i>pro rata</i> according to the volume of the business which +they have transacted with the association, so that although its control +is democratic its benefits accrue according to the amount of financial +interest involved. There are certain other principles of business +procedure which have been found essential to the successful operation of +different kinds of coöperative associations, but these three—individual +voting, service rather than profits, and pro-rating the earnings—are +fundamental to all truly coöperative associations, and it is to this +combination of business methods to which the term coöperation has now +come to be applied in a technical sense.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_79" id="Page_79">[Pg 79]</a></span>Exclusive of associations formed for coöperation in the general sense of +the term, i.e., for various purposes of farm operation as mentioned +above, farmers' coöperative associations may be divided into three +general groups: for buying, for selling, and for finance.</p> + +<p>Coöperative buying has been most successfully developed by industrial +workers in towns and cities and is commonly known as "consumers' +coöperation." Starting with a few poverty-stricken workers who pooled +their meager savings so that they could buy at wholesale and share in +the profits of the retailer, the Rochdale system has grown until the +wholesale coöperative societies of England and Scotland are probably the +largest general merchandising corporations in the world, doing a +business of approximately a billion dollars a year.</p> + +<p>Coöperative buying of farm supplies, fertilizers, machinery, spraying +materials, feeds, binder twine, etc., is one of the first forms of +coöperative effort ordinarily undertaken by farmers' associations, and +is carried on by numerous methods. In most cases the services rendered +in the business management of such buying is at first largely on a +voluntary basis or is but poorly paid. Only in a few sections of the +country has the coöperative buying of agricultural supplies assumed a +permanent or stable form of organization, and in those cases it is very +frequently a department of a coöperative selling association, such as a +fruit exchange. From an educational standpoint there is much to be said +for commencing coöperation through organization for buying agricultural +supplies, for through it farmers are trained in the principles of +coöperation with the greatest possibility of advantage and the least +risk of loss. There is little probability of loss in judicious +coöperative purchases of carload lots with orders in hand, while in +coöperative selling, unless marketing <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_80" id="Page_80">[Pg 80]</a></span>facilities are so bad as to force +him to take the risk, the chance of loss is a serious consideration to +the farmer. This point has been well stated by Edwin A. Pratt, a leader +of agricultural organization in England, who says:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"Inquiry into the conditions under which organization of +agriculture has been successfully carried out in other +countries showed that a beginning had invariably been made +with the simplest form of combination for the joint purchase +of agricultural necessaries. In this way the advantages of +coöperation could be brought home to cultivators, who were +gradually educated in the theory and practice of combination +without having their suspicions aroused and their mutual +distrust stimulated by proposals that they should at once +alter their old conditions of trading in accordance with +that system of combination for transport or sale which +really constitutes not the beginning of agricultural +organization, but one of the most difficult and most +complicated of all its many phases."<a name="FNanchor_30_30" id="FNanchor_30_30"></a><a href="#Footnote_30_30" class="fnanchor">[30]</a></p></div> + +<p>One of the allurements of coöperative buying has been to at once +establish a coöperative store for a general merchandising business. The +history of such stores started by granges in the 70's and 80's is +instructive in this connection. A few of them survive, but most of them +were failures. Only after years of experience and education in +coöperative purchasing and other coöperative enterprises have the aims +and methods of operating coöperative stores been sufficiently +appreciated by most rural communities to ensure their successful +establishment. We have already considered (page 48) some of the +considerations which should govern the attempt to compete with local +merchants. Generally the successful operation of a coöperative store <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_81" id="Page_81">[Pg 81]</a></span>is +more difficult for an average group of farmers to manage than the +simpler forms of coöperative purchasing, or coöperative credit or +selling associations.<a name="FNanchor_31_31" id="FNanchor_31_31"></a><a href="#Footnote_31_31" class="fnanchor">[31]</a> Moreover, a coöperative store will seriously +affect the solidarity of a small community unless a goodly majority, +both from farm and village, are convinced of the necessity of competing +with local retailers and will give the store their patronage. Except in +the buying of agricultural supplies, which may be considered rather as +the raw materials and equipment of the farm as a manufacturing business +and which are therefore entitled to wholesale prices, consumers' +coöperation as usually conducted through coöperative stores is not a +distinctively agricultural problem, but is the same for the farmer as +for the villager or industrial worker, and its desirability and +limitations are determined by similar considerations.</p> + +<p>With the change to a commercial type of farming and with the higher +price of land, the American farmer has had to make larger use of +borrowed capital and his business has been seriously hampered by a lack +of credit facilities to meet his needs. Probably in no field of +coöperative effort have the benefits been more apparent than in that of +the rural credit banks which are found throughout Europe and which have +thoroughly demonstrated their usefulness. Attention has been called to +the fact that our best farm lands are more and more operated by tenants, +and that this is inimical to strong community life. One of the reasons +for this tendency has been the inability to secure long-term loans on +farm real estate by the man who has little capital of his own. As lands +rose in value <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_82" id="Page_82">[Pg 82]</a></span>this became increasingly difficult. To meet this +situation a commission representative of all sections of the United +States visited various countries in Europe in the spring of 1913, and as +a result of their report, in 1916 Congress finally enacted the Federal +Farm Loan Act establishing a system of farm land banks. Under this +system one-half of the value of a farm and buildings up to $10,000 may +be borrowed and paid off under the amortization plan in from five to +forty years at a low rate of interest. The details of the system do not +concern our present discussion, but the essential feature of the system +is the local land bank through which the loans are made and collected. +The local land bank is strictly a coöperative society organized to +secure long-term credit facilities for its members under the terms of +the federal act through the regional land banks of which each local bank +is a member. Like other coöperative associations, the area in which the +local bank does business is not necessarily that of a community, it may +be a whole county where there are but few members, or there may be more +than one bank in a single community, but more commonly it is located at +a village center and tends to become a community institution.</p> + +<p>Equally important for financing the current expenses of farming +operations and to make possible the orderly marketing of crops, is the +farmer's need for short-time credit. Our banking system has been +developed to meet the needs of the business world, and the period for +which loans can be made is too short to meet the needs of the farmer, +who often requires credit for six months to a year. In some ten states +legislation has been passed authorizing the formation of local credit +associations, which are really local coöperative banks, but the number +of credit associations established in rural communities has been +insignificant, thirty-three out of a total of thirty-six being in <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_83" id="Page_83">[Pg 83]</a></span>North +Carolina.<a name="FNanchor_32_32" id="FNanchor_32_32"></a><a href="#Footnote_32_32" class="fnanchor">[32]</a> The tremendous losses suffered by American farmers during +1921 and their inability to secure sufficient credit from their local +banks has shown the necessity for better short-time credit facilities, +and bills are now before Congress which will enable the local land banks +to also handle short-time loans in coöperation with the Federal Reserve +Banks. If this is done, the amount of business done by these local banks +will be greatly increased and the coöperative principle in banking will +be greatly strengthened.</p> + +<p>Coöperative selling associations have had a rapid growth in the United +States during the past decade. In 1919 the federal Bureau of Markets +estimated that agricultural products worth one and a half billions out +of a total of nearly nineteen billion dollars sold from farms were +marketed through coöperative associations, and the total has greatly +increased since then. The California Fruit Growers' Exchange, probably +the largest coöperative selling association, does a business of over +$50,000,000 annually and has one of the most efficient distributing +systems in the country.</p> + +<p>At the present time some very ambitious programs of national +organizations for coöperative marketing are being started, such as the +United States Grain Growers, Inc., which is modeled after the successful +Canadian Grain Growers, Inc. One of the chief obstacles to all such +plans of effectively organizing the marketing of various agricultural +products is the fact that a strong central organization can be developed +only by the federation of local associations whose members understand +the purposes of the organization and are loyal to them. The history of +all <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_84" id="Page_84">[Pg 84]</a></span>coöperative movements shows that those which have been permanently +successful have arisen through the federation of strong local +associations, and numerous failures of well-intentioned efforts at +large-scale coöperative marketing have been due to the fact that +numerous local associations cannot be organized by the parent +association with any assurance that they will function effectively.</p> + +<p>The late G. Harold Powell, for many years the successful manager of the +California Fruit Growers' Exchange, in his discussion of the +fundamentals of coöperation emphasizes that coöperative associations +must be born of a real need:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"Among farmers, who under existing conditions are already +prosperous, the need of business organization is not usually +felt, even though the costs of marketing and extravagant +profits of the middlemen or the railroads might be greatly +reduced. They must feel the pressure of need before they can +launch a successful business association. When the farmers +buy their supplies at reasonable prices, and sell their +products readily at a good profit, they do not feel the +necessity of organization. It has been the experience of the +past that they must feel the need of getting together to +meet a crisis in their affairs, and the realization of the +need must spring from within and not be forced upon them +from without by the enthusiasm of some opportunist who seeks +to unite the farmers on the principle that organization is a +good thing.... In short, if an organization is to be +successful, the investment of the farmer must be threatened +by existing social and economic conditions before he can +overcome his individualism sufficiently and can develop a +fraternal spirit strong enough to pull with his neighbors in +coöperative team work."<a name="FNanchor_33_33" id="FNanchor_33_33"></a><a href="#Footnote_33_33" class="fnanchor">[33]</a></p></div> + +<p>The tremendous losses suffered by American agriculture in 1921 furnish +exactly such a crisis as Mr. Powell <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_85" id="Page_85">[Pg 85]</a></span>suggests, and have given the +strongest impetus to the coöperative movement. But even when the +necessity exists and is recognized it takes time to build up a strong +coöperative association.</p> + +<p>The successful operation of a local coöperative association is a matter +of slow growth, because it requires the education of the membership in +the principles both of coöperation and of marketing, and what is equally +essential, the development of a willingness to sometimes forego the +advantage of larger profits by individual members in order to ensure the +permanent success of the association. The local association has to learn +how to conduct its business just as does the individual business man, +and it has to compete with individuals and firms who are in business for +profit and who have the advantage of experience in the existing +marketing system and the financial backing of its business connections. +In the attempt to create local selling associations rapidly so as to +secure a sufficient volume of business to ensure the success of large +marketing enterprises, there is always a tendency to encourage the local +members to believe that they will secure a considerably larger share of +the consumer's dollar, and when prices are not materially better than +under the old system they readily become dissatisfied and withdraw. The +best authorities and advocates of coöperative marketing insist that it +will be successful only to the degree that it can become more efficient +than the existing system and so effect savings and make legitimate +earnings, but that there is little prospect for large "profits"; indeed, +that the legitimate objective of coöperation is not profits, but +savings. Professor Macklin summarizes the matter as follows:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"The true coöperative organization seeks to establish and +maintain a distributing system to provide adequately and +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_86" id="Page_86">[Pg 86]</a></span>dependably at minimum cost the essential marketing services +of which the industry and its individual members have +constant and vital need. Its justification lies in rendering +these services at a lower cost and in bringing to farmers a +higher proportion of the consumer's dollar."<a name="FNanchor_34_34" id="FNanchor_34_34"></a><a href="#Footnote_34_34" class="fnanchor">[34]</a></p></div> + +<p>With the factors involved in successful coöperative selling associations +we are not here concerned, except to insist upon the point that as the +weakest link measures the strength of a chain, so the strength of the +local association determines the strength or weakness of the central +selling association. A joint stock company may afford more efficient +management than a coöperative association, and unless the local +membership is convinced of the superior equity and ultimate advantages +of a strong coöperative system, there is little hope for the coöperative +to compete with the stock company. Coöperation means working together, +and its emphasis is more on duties and obligations than on rights and +personal advantage. In coöperative enterprises the individual must be +convinced that his best interest in the long run is bound up with the +best interest of the whole membership, and unless he is sometimes +willing to forego immediate personal advantage and unless he can learn +how to work with others, sometimes without compensation or with less +than he could secure otherwise, there is little chance for developing a +strong organization. For coöperation is but democracy applied to certain +phases of business, and, like democracy in politics or any other sphere +of life, its highest sanction lies in belief and satisfaction in the +collective well-being.</p> + +<p>It seems obvious, therefore, that those attitudes which are essential +for coöperation are the same which encourage <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_87" id="Page_87">[Pg 87]</a></span>community life, and that +where the coöperative spirit dominates, community activities will be +strengthened. Whereas, on the contrary, in those localities where +family, political, or personal feuds, jealousies and suspicions are +rife, coöperative enterprises will be difficult and the community will +be weak.</p> + +<p>That coöperation does develop those qualities which make for better +communities is attested by all who have observed its effects. As a +result of his long experience Sir Horace Plunkett says:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"It is here, in furnishing opportunity for the exercise of +education secured from the agricultural colleges, that the +educational value of coöperative societies comes in; they +act as agencies through which scientific teaching may become +actual practice, not in the uncertain future, but in the +living present. A coöperative association has a quality +which should commend it to the social reformer—the power of +evoking character; it brings to the front a new type of +local leader, not the best talker, but the man whose +knowledge enables him to make some solid contribution to the +welfare of the community."<a name="FNanchor_35_35" id="FNanchor_35_35"></a><a href="#Footnote_35_35" class="fnanchor">[35]</a></p></div> + +<p>So, likewise, a keen observer of Danish coöperation describes its +influence in creating scientific and social attitudes:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"Among the indirect, but equally tangible results of +coöperation, I should be inclined to put the development of +mind and character among those by whom it is practised. The +peasant or little farmer, who is a member of one or more of +these societies, who helps to build up their success and +enjoy their benefits, acquires a new outlook. The jealousies +and suspicions which are in most countries so common among +those who live by the land fall from him. Feeling that he +has a voice in great affairs he acquires an added value and +a healthy importance in his own eyes. <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_88" id="Page_88">[Pg 88]</a></span>He knows also that in +his degree and according to his output he is on an equal +footing with the largest producer and proportionately is +doing as well. There is no longer any fear that because he +is a little man he will be browbeaten or forced to accept a +worse price for what he has to sell than does his rich and +powerful neighbor. The skilled minds which direct his +business work as zealously for him as for that important +neighbor."<a name="FNanchor_36_36" id="FNanchor_36_36"></a><a href="#Footnote_36_36" class="fnanchor">[36]</a></p></div> + +<p>It is interesting to note that the three highest authorities on the +coöperative movement in Ireland all lay great stress on its importance +as a means of community organization and value its social effects as +highly as its economic benefits. Thus Sir Horace Plunkett says:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"Gradually the (coöperative) Society becomes the most +important institution in the district, the most important in +a social as well as an economic sense. The members feel a +pride in its material expansion. They accumulate large +profits, which in time become a sort of communal fund. In +some cases this is used for the erection of village halls +where social entertainments, concerts and dances are held, +lectures delivered and libraries stored. Finally, the +association assumes the character of a rural commune, where, +instead of the old basis of the commune, the joint ownership +of land, a new basis for union is found in the voluntary +communism of effort."<a name="FNanchor_37_37" id="FNanchor_37_37"></a><a href="#Footnote_37_37" class="fnanchor">[37]</a></p></div> + +<p>In the same vein Smith-Gordon and Staples in their account of the +coöperative movement in Ireland, see it as the most important force for +socialization because it makes the most immediate and practical appeal +to men of all parties and sects and establishes a business system which +develops the community attitude:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"The present individualist system which takes care of the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_89" id="Page_89">[Pg 89]</a></span> +business interests of the farmer is a dividing and +disintegrating force. It tends to destroy the natural +associative character and to set each man against his +neighbor.... But as a member of a society with interests in +common with others, the individual consciously and +unconsciously develops the social virtues.... The society is +in miniature a community, and the community is but a part of +the larger social group."<a name="FNanchor_38_38" id="FNanchor_38_38"></a><a href="#Footnote_38_38" class="fnanchor">[38]</a></p></div> + +<p>George William Russell ("A.E."), the poet-prophet of Irish agriculture, +bases his whole conception of a desirable polity for the Irish State +upon coöperative communities, and considers coöperative societies as a +prerequisite to rural organization. After describing the marked economic +and social changes which have taken place in a typical Irish community +as the result of coöperation, he says:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"I have tried to indicate the difference between a rural +population and a rural community, between a people loosely +knit together by the vague ties of a common latitude and +longitude, and people who are closely knit together in an +association and who form a true social organism, a true +rural community, where the general will can find expression +and society is malleable to the general will. I will assert +that there never can be any progress in rural districts or +any real prosperity without such farmers' organizations or +guilds. Wherever rural prosperity is reported in any country +inquire into it, and it will be found that it depends on +rural organization. Wherever there is rural decay, if it is +inquired into, it will be found that there was a rural +population but no rural community, no organization, no guild +to promote common interests and unite the countrymen in +defence of them."<a name="FNanchor_39_39" id="FNanchor_39_39"></a><a href="#Footnote_39_39" class="fnanchor">[39]</a></p></div> + +<p>The same observations might be made upon the effect of coöperative +enterprises in solidifying rural <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_90" id="Page_90">[Pg 90]</a></span>communities in the United States. It +seems doubtful whether coöperative associations in the United States +will develop a general social program as they have done in Ireland, +Belgium, and Russia. On account of a different social inheritance and +account of our facility in forming and belonging to numerous +organizations, it seems probable that we will limit our coöperative +societies to strictly economic functions, and will use the increased +income secured through them in other organizations for social purposes.</p> + +<p>Commercial farming is breaking down the old individualism of the farmer, +for the exigencies of the economic situation are forcing him to market +collectively through coöperative selling associations, and as he learns +that his own best interests are bound up with those of the whole +community, he becomes increasingly concerned for the common welfare; he +commences to think in terms of "us" and "ours," instead of only "me" and +"mine." The community becomes a reality to him.</p> + +<h4>FOOTNOTES:</h4> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_30_30" id="Footnote_30_30"></a><a href="#FNanchor_30_30"><span class="label">[30]</span></a> "Agricultural Organization," p. 99. London, P. S. King & +Son, 1912.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_31_31" id="Footnote_31_31"></a><a href="#FNanchor_31_31"><span class="label">[31]</span></a> See Clarence Poe, "How Farmers Coöperate," Chap. III, p. +37. "Coöperative buying is good; coöperative merchandising may or may +not be." New York, Orange Judd Co., 1915.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_32_32" id="Footnote_32_32"></a><a href="#FNanchor_32_32"><span class="label">[32]</span></a> V. N. Valgren and E. E. Engelbert, "The Credit Association +as an Agency for Rural Short-time Credit." Department Circular 197, U. +S. Dept. Agr., 1921.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_33_33" id="Footnote_33_33"></a><a href="#FNanchor_33_33"><span class="label">[33]</span></a> "Coöperation in Agriculture," pp. 22, 23. New York, The +Macmillan Co., 1913.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_34_34" id="Footnote_34_34"></a><a href="#FNanchor_34_34"><span class="label">[34]</span></a> Theodore Macklin, "Efficient Marketing for Agriculture," +p. 260. New York, Macmillan Co., 1921.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_35_35" id="Footnote_35_35"></a><a href="#FNanchor_35_35"><span class="label">[35]</span></a> "The Country Life Problem in the United States," p. 123.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_36_36" id="Footnote_36_36"></a><a href="#FNanchor_36_36"><span class="label">[36]</span></a> Harvey, "Denmark and the Danes," p. 146, quoted by F. C. +Howe, "Denmark a Coöperative Commonwealth," p. 61.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_37_37" id="Footnote_37_37"></a><a href="#FNanchor_37_37"><span class="label">[37]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i>, p. 128.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_38_38" id="Footnote_38_38"></a><a href="#FNanchor_38_38"><span class="label">[38]</span></a> "Rural Reconstruction in Ireland; a Record of Coöperative +Organizations." New Haven, Yale Univ. Press, 1919.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_39_39" id="Footnote_39_39"></a><a href="#FNanchor_39_39"><span class="label">[39]</span></a> "The National Being," p. 39.</p></div> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_91" id="Page_91">[Pg 91]</a></span> +<br /> + +<hr /> +<br /> +<h2>CHAPTER IX</h2> + +<h2>THE COMMUNITY'S EDUCATION</h2> +<br /> + +<h3>THE SCHOOL</h3> + +<p>At its beginning the United States Government gave support to education +by the allotment of public lands to the states as an endowment for +public schools, and although the federal government has done but little +since then for primary education, the support of education has become +one of the chief concerns of state and local governments. In colonial +times public schools were largely confined to New England. With the +settlement of the Middle West district schools were established with the +aid of the government land grants. But in the South conditions were not +favorable for public schools until long after the Civil War, and only in +the last generation or two has public education become firmly +established.</p> + +<p>The district school, the famous "little red school-house" of the +nineteenth century, was frequently the neighborhood center and the +school district commonly formed a neighborhood area, particularly in +hilly sections where its lines were adjusted by topography. A recent +study of neighborhood areas in Otsego County, New York, shows that about +half of them are identical with the school districts, chiefly on account +of topography, while in Dane County, Wisconsin, more neighborhood areas +are determined primarily by the school district than by any one +factor.<a name="FNanchor_40_40" id="FNanchor_40_40"></a><a href="#Footnote_40_40" class="fnanchor">[40]</a> Formerly the district school-house was quite frequently +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_92" id="Page_92">[Pg 92]</a></span>used for Sunday school or preaching services; spelling-bees and other +entertainments were held from time to time; and political meetings and +elections were commonly held there.</p> + +<p>Although the district school is still a neighborhood social center in +many sections, its decadence commenced at the close of the nineteenth +century, the change depending upon the general progress or isolation of +the community, particularly as affected by transportation. Several +factors have combined to make the district school unsatisfactory to the +rural community of to-day. In the older parts of the country the +population has so decreased that in many districts the maintenance of a +school has become exceedingly expensive, it is difficult to secure +competent teachers, and there are too few pupils to make the school +attractive. The better educational advantages of town and city schools +have caused much dissatisfaction upon the part of the better class of +farmers who wish their children to have the best possible start in life, +and many of those who can afford to do so have "moved to town" to +educate their children, thus making a bad matter worse for the district +school. As long as roads were poor the district school was the only one +possible, but with better roads, automobiles and trolleys, the +consolidation of schools has proceeded rapidly in the past decade, +particularly in the prairie states.</p> + +<p>A modern school cannot be maintained at every other crossroads. Improved +roads naturally radiate from the village center and hence it is the +logical point for a consolidated school or high school. There are +localities in isolated regions where it might be desirable to establish +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_93" id="Page_93">[Pg 93]</a></span>consolidated schools in the open country, but in most cases where there +is a natural village center, the school should be located there and the +school laws should make possible the organization of the consolidated +school district regardless of township or county lines. Indeed +legislation has already been enacted to this end in several states and +forms one of the most important movements for strengthening the rural +community. Here and there are to be found consolidated schools which +have been placed in the open country at the center of a township because +it was the point most easily agreed upon by all the patrons, +particularly where the township is an administrative unit of the school +system. In some cases somewhat successful efforts are being made to have +such consolidated schools serve as social centers, but it is believed +that in the long run community life will flow to its natural centers and +that the seeming success of such social centers in the open country, +unless the neighborhood be an isolated one, will tend to weaken the +communities concerned. Usually a consolidated district of this sort will +contain parts of two or three community areas and the location of the +school at a point between them weakens the support of the community +centers to that extent. Here we encounter one of the many ways in which +our artificial unit of rural government—the township—interferes with +community progress.<a name="FNanchor_41_41" id="FNanchor_41_41"></a><a href="#Footnote_41_41" class="fnanchor">[41]</a></p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_94" id="Page_94">[Pg 94]</a></span>Formerly only the children of the upper classes who were preparing for +college received a secondary education, but during the past generation +there has been a rapid growth of public high schools which serve as the +"people's colleges." At first these were found only in the cities and +larger towns, but rural communities have demanded equal advantages and +state and national legislation has aided them in the cost of +maintenance. Federal aid for secondary education in vocational subjects, +now available through the Smith-Hughes Act of 1917, has encouraged the +establishment of rural high schools and has greatly increased the number +giving instruction in agriculture and home economics. Hundreds of rural +high schools are now giving agricultural courses better than the +agricultural colleges gave twenty-five years ago.</p> + +<p>Rural high schools with full four-year courses have been found mostly in +the larger villages and towns, but the movement is now well under way to +divide the period of secondary education into a junior and senior high +school (the so-called "six-six" plan), and junior high schools, +including the seventh to ninth grades, are being established in many +smaller communities by simply adding a grade to the consolidated +schools. The educational forces of the country, as expressed by +statements of the U. S. Bureau of Education and the National Education +Association, are now committed to the policy of consolidated rural +schools wherever they are practicable and to the establishment of a +sufficient number of high schools so that every rural child may attend +high school and still be able to live at home. Obviously it is important +from the standpoint of community development that the high schools +should be placed at community centers and that where some of the +communities are too small to support senior high schools that they +should be located at a village which <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_95" id="Page_95">[Pg 95]</a></span>serves as a center of what, for +want of a better term, we may call "the larger community" (see pages +232-3).</p> + +<p>One of the reasons for consolidated schools is that the objectives of +rural education are changing and that country people are demanding that +their children be educated for country as well as for town life. +Formerly the content and method of rural education was an imitation of +that of the city and inevitably made industrial, commercial, and +professional occupations the ideal of the pupil. The schools of New +England have done an immense service to the rest of the country but they +were an important factor in depopulating many a New England town. The +introduction of nature study, agriculture, and home economics is +becoming general in rural schools. Educators do not desire to train +rural children solely for farm life, and thus to segregate a farm class, +even were that possible, but they are attempting to give equal emphasis +to the values of country life so that it may prove equally attractive to +the best as well as to the less efficient rural youth.</p> + +<p>Furthermore the whole attitude of rural as well as urban education is +changing from that of teaching individuals so as to equip them with +intellectual tools for their personal advancement, to one of training +future citizens who will attain their own best interests by useful +service to the community. The curriculum and objectives of the school +are rapidly becoming socialized, and as this process goes on the school +will more and more become the most important single institution for +creating community loyalty.</p> + +<p>The community school, particularly the high school, no longer confines +itself to the instruction of its regular pupils; it is the educational +center and headquarters of the community. With the assistance of the +Extension <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_96" id="Page_96">[Pg 96]</a></span>Service of the agricultural colleges, rural high schools are +holding one-week extension schools for farm men and women, and under the +Smith-Hughes Act they are offering continuation short courses for the +younger farmers. The progressive rural high school is taking a live +interest in the one-room district schools which may be too far from the +center for consolidation, and is seeking to interest their pupils in +attending high schools through athletic meets, play festivals, and +similar assemblages of all the schools of the community, which thus +create a natural bond of interest and common enthusiasm. The principal +of the high school at Oxford, N. Y., recently organized a +public-speaking contest of representatives of all the country schools in +his supervisory district, in connection with the annual play festival +which he had established several years before. This proved to be a huge +success and gave the boys and girls from the district schools new +confidence in their ability of self-expression. One of the greatest +needs which farmers' organizations are to-day feeling is their lack of +leaders who can speak for them effectively at public gatherings and +before legislative hearings in competition with men who make their +living by talking. Such contests, particularly when the topics discussed +deal with affairs of country life with which the children are acquainted +and in which they are vitally interested, as was the case with the one +at Oxford and to which much of its success was attributed, are therefore +of great value and may well be substituted for the academic debates so +often heard on subjects quite foreign to the child's life and beyond his +real comprehension.</p> + +<p>In many places new school buildings are being constructed with an +auditorium, which may be used as a gymnasium, library room, dining room, +etc., so that they may serve as social centers for the community. Where +the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_97" id="Page_97">[Pg 97]</a></span>community is not large enough to afford a separate community house +this is frequently the best and most economical means of meeting this +need. This will be discussed further in considering community buildings.</p> + +<p>Numerous rural high schools are conducting lyceum and entertainment +courses, and some are operating motion-picture shows on Saturday nights. +Where no other organization is better adapted for taking the +responsibility of furnishing high-class entertainment to the community, +this is a useful service. School orchestras and bands, choruses, and +dramatic clubs are also valuable additions to the community life.</p> + +<p>The successful community school will not center all of its activities in +its own building, but it will take some of its talent to the country +schools for local athletic and play contests, dramatic or musical +entertainments, etc., and thus magnify the importance of the local +school in the neighborhood, for only by acquiring a desire for these +advantages will the people in the more isolated parts of the community +come to interest themselves in the activities of the whole community at +its village center.</p> + +<p>It is becoming more and more apparent that if the school is really to +function as it should, that it must have the active interest and support +of its patrons. It is not enough that they should assemble at the annual +school meeting, elect school officials, vote taxes for its maintenance, +and then leave its management to the school board and teachers. It is +highly desirable that every encouragement should be given toward making +teaching a life profession, but as teaching becomes professionalized it +tends, like every other calling, to become more or less of a +bureaucracy. It is essential that educational methods should be +determined by and be in charge of educators who are trained for such +service, but if they get the idea, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_98" id="Page_98">[Pg 98]</a></span>as sometimes seems unfortunately the +case, that it is the business of the people to supply funds for the +support of the schools and then to leave their entire operation to the +teachers and superintendents, they assume an attitude which is fatal to +the life of the school, for no educational system, however ideal in +theory, can be effective without the sympathetic understanding and +cordial support of the majority of its patrons. It is for this reason +that large emphasis is being placed by progressive educators on the +organization of parent-teachers associations or school improvement +leagues for the discussion of school problems by parents and teachers. +In many cases the parent-teachers association forms one of the chief +bonds of the country community and the State of Virginia has built up a +remarkable system of community organization through its Coöperative +Educational League with hundreds of local leagues which interest +themselves in all phases of community life.</p> + +<p>The school is also coming to realize that although it is the institution +specially created for the systematic education of the child, that much +of his education is received outside the school and that certain phases +of his education may be accomplished more effectively through the +coöperation of the school with other institutions and agencies. Thus +instead of seeking to absorb all of the time of the child and to give it +all kinds of training within the school or as part of its curriculum, +the school is commencing to develop methods for strengthening and +coördinating the educational work of the home, the church, and of +various organizations.</p> + +<p>The teaching of agriculture has been made vital and effective by the +home project in which the boy comes to appreciate the value of the +principles studied at school in connection with an agricultural +enterprise in raising crops <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_99" id="Page_99">[Pg 99]</a></span>or livestock of his own on the home farm. +This tends to enlist the interest of the parents, who contribute largely +to the educational process. The same principle is being applied to a +less extent in work in home economics, and the giving of school credit +for various kinds of home work has established a community of interest +between home and school. In the teaching of hygiene, and particularly +with regard to sex hygiene, the school finds it difficult to establish +those habits and attitudes which are as important as mere knowledge +without the help and coöperation of the home. So, too, the medical +inspection of school children, with the work of school nurses and +clinics held at the school for children of pre-school age, stimulate the +home to better health.</p> + +<p>Because of the separation of church and state in this country we have +very largely neglected all effort toward religious education in our +public schools, and even ethical training has been more or less of a +secondary objective until very recently. A growing appreciation of the +inadequacy of the ordinary Sunday school has led to a movement for +giving systematic instruction and training in religious education under +church auspices at a time set apart by the school and for which school +credit is given when it meets reasonable educational standards. The +week-day school of religion is still in an experimental stage. It has +been established longest in cities, but is now being attempted in rural +communities, and if sectarian dogmatism and jealousies can be submerged, +there seems every reason to hope that this may be a most important +feature of our educational system.</p> + +<p>So, too, the boys' and girls' clubs in agriculture and home economics, +the boy and girl scouts, the campfires, the little mothers' leagues, the +health crusades, the Y.M.C.A and Y.W.C.A., and other organizations for +children <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_100" id="Page_100">[Pg 100]</a></span>and youth, have created new interest in certain aspects of +school work and are a source of educational dynamic which progressive +educators are utilizing as valuable allies.</p> + +<p>Thus in very many ways the school is adapting its methods to meet its +responsibility for developing good citizens who are loyal to the welfare +of the community, and the school principal is rightly expected to be a +leader in community affairs in so far as they concern the participation +and interests of the school.</p> + +<p>It is a far cry from the isolated one-room, box-type district school, +with a young girl with no professional training teaching a dozen +youngsters of all ages as best she can with little or no equipment, to +the modern consolidated school or rural high school with all the +intimate connections with the life of the whole community above +described, but this difference measures one phase of the progress which +has been made in recent years toward the integration of the rural +community and depicts one of the most important forces involved in this +process, whose influence is only commencing to be felt. How different +will the life of rural communities be a generation or two hence when in +most of them practically all of the parents and children will have had a +high-school education, with all the broader contacts and outlook on life +which that involves! We need only to study the influence of the Danish +Folk High Schools<a name="FNanchor_42_42" id="FNanchor_42_42"></a><a href="#Footnote_42_42" class="fnanchor">[42]</a> to visualize the outcome.</p> +<br /> + +<h3>THE PUBLIC LIBRARY</h3> + +<p>The public library has possibilities as an educational institution +exceeded only by those of the school. In many <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_101" id="Page_101">[Pg 101]</a></span>cases it is the +intellectual center of the community, while in others the caricature of +the library of Gopher Prairie in Sinclair Lewis' "Main Street," where +one of the chief objects was to keep the books from being soiled or worn +out, is not much overdrawn. Increasingly, however, the librarian is +studying methods of salesmanship for increasing the local consumption of +the products of the world's best minds in books and magazines, and is of +inestimable service to all organizations whose members have occasion to +study what human thought has contributed to the solution of their +problems. The public library gives the means of further education to +many a person deprived of academic privileges, who may realize the truth +of Carlyle's saying: "The true University of these days is a Collection +of Books."</p> + +<p>In many states public libraries are aided by state and local +appropriations, particularly in New England and the states settled by +New England stock, for it is to New England<a name="FNanchor_43_43" id="FNanchor_43_43"></a><a href="#Footnote_43_43" class="fnanchor">[43]</a> that we are indebted for +the public library as well as the public school. It is not, however, +economically possible for every small community to support a permanent +local library, and many of those established have a precarious existence +and are maintained only through the devotion of public-spirited +individuals. To meet the need of isolated neighborhoods a few county +libraries, notably in Washington County, Maryland, and a few counties in +Delaware and Minnesota, have made use of book-wagons which are +accompanied by a librarian who makes a "rural free delivery" of books to +each home and assists the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_102" id="Page_102">[Pg 102]</a></span>families in their selection. It seems, +however, that the chief value of the book-wagon is as a means of +creating a desire for books, and that when this is created it will be +much more economical to furnish them through branch stations at +neighborhood or community centers. Systems of traveling libraries are +also supported by many states and make it possible for the most isolated +neighborhoods to secure the best of books. Unfortunately, however, the +places which need them most do not always know of them nor will they +take the initiative to secure them. They are of particular value for +securing collections of books on special topics for the use of granges, +churches, and study clubs of all sorts. But as the demand for traveling +libraries grows, the administration of the system from the state library +becomes a large undertaking and the need of better local libraries is +realized.</p> + +<p>A system of "county libraries" has been developed in California, has +spread to several other states, and is now being advocated by the +American Library Association and by library leaders generally. Under the +county system a central library is established at the county seat, with +branches or loan stations at the different community centers, and with +traveling collections for the more isolated neighborhoods. The larger +centers which have local libraries continue to maintain them and simply +serve as part of the system. Thus the library resources of the county +are pooled and the farm people are given the same sort of service that a +city library gives its people through its branches. The feature of +interest from a community standpoint is that, although this is a county +system, it recognizes the usefulness of local branches and makes +possible a library service adapted to its needs for every small +community, whereas separate libraries have heretofore been possible only +in the larger centers.</p> +<br /> + +<h3><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_103" id="Page_103">[Pg 103]</a></span>THE COUNTRY WEEKLY</h3> + +<p>One of the most important educational agencies of the rural community is +the oft-derided weekly newspaper. After a period of difficult +competition with city dailies the surviving weeklies are becoming +recognized as community institutions. Those which are succeeding are +doing so by becoming the voice of the community and the means of its +self-acquaintance. No agency may be more powerful in unifying or +disrupting the life of the local community. This new concept of the +country weekly has been well expressed by W. P. Kirkwood, of the +University of Minnesota:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"Community building was a concept unknown to the editor of +thirty or forty years ago. To-day it is an accepted concept +of dynamic force, full of significance in most of the +country towns of America.</p> + +<p>"Community service, as such a concept, is fast finding its +way into the country press—in the Middle West, at least. As +this ideal gains acceptance, giving definite direction to +newspaper effort for the upbuilding of communities, the +press gains an enlarged constituency with a truer conception +of the power and usefulness of the newspaper....</p> + +<p>"Community service, community building, then, as a master +motive, establishes the country weekly newspaper publisher +securely in his position of leadership. It assures added +community prosperity and the local development of the finer +satisfactions of life in which he must share, and no other +agency can take this from him, neither the city daily, +coming in from a distance and concerned with the larger +affairs of the larger community, nor the school, nor the +church, nor any other."<a name="FNanchor_44_44" id="FNanchor_44_44"></a><a href="#Footnote_44_44" class="fnanchor">[44]</a></p></div> + +<p>In a bulletin on "The Country Weekly in New York <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_104" id="Page_104">[Pg 104]</a></span>State,"<a name="FNanchor_45_45" id="FNanchor_45_45"></a><a href="#Footnote_45_45" class="fnanchor">[45]</a> Professor +M. V. Atwood, of the New York State College of Agriculture and for +several years a successful publisher, discusses the purposes and future +of the country weekly. He holds that the country weekly is not, as often +stated, and should not be a molder of public opinion, but should rather +express and interpret the sentiment of its constituency.</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"The country newspaper," he says, "is a service agency; it +is a community institution like the church, the school, the +library, and the farm and home bureau. It helps all these +institutions to do their work....</p> + +<p>"If the country newspaper does not do much thought-molding +it does offer a medium for the dissemination of thought, for +the propagation of ideas of the people of the community. The +value of the newspaper to the community becomes especially +apparent when some local project is to be considered, like +the erection of a school, the building of good roads, or the +installation of a water system. For weeks the paper will +offer in the form of letters, the views of different people +of the community. The subject is thoroughly aired. Even if +the editor takes no sides in the matter, his paper has been +of inestimable service to the community."</p></div> + +<p>Indeed, as we shall see later, such a free discussion is a most +essential step in all community activities, and the service of the +newspaper is probably greater if it acts as a free and open forum for +discussion rather than a partisan of either side. Of the news of the +future, Professor Atwood says:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"Most of these papers will also be printing much more farm +news than they do to-day because as the publishers have +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_105" id="Page_105">[Pg 105]</a></span>surveyed their fields they will have found the primary +interest of their readers is agricultural. There will be +some exceptions for some communities will have ceased to be +dominated by agriculture because of the coming of factories. +The real country weeklies will not become agricultural text +hooks; but the news of the farms, the improvements to farm +buildings, and the experiences of successful local farmers +will find much space in their columns.</p> + +<p>"The community editor of the future is not going to worry +much about 'hot' news. He will realize that most of the +striking facts of any story have already been printed in the +neighboring city papers, but he will realize also that the +genuine community interest in the event has not been +glimpsed by the city editor, who is out of touch with the +local situation; around these community aspects the local +editor will weave his story."</p></div> + +<p>Possibly the best appreciation of the country weekly is a prose poem +written by Professor Bristow Adams, editor of the New York State College +of Agriculture, and presented at the first country newspaper conference +held at that institution during Farmers Week 1920, entitled "I am the +Country Weekly,"<a name="FNanchor_46_46" id="FNanchor_46_46"></a><a href="#Footnote_46_46" class="fnanchor">[46]</a> and which vividly depicts its service as an agency +for developing community consciousness:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"I am the Country Weekly.</p> + +<p>"I am the friend of the family, the bringer of tidings from +other friends; I speak to the home in the evening light of +summers vine-clad porch or the glow of winters lamp.</p> + +<p>"I help to make this evening hour; I record the great and +the small, the varied acts of the days and weeks that go to +make up life.</p> + +<p>"I am for and of the home; I follow those who leave humble +beginnings; whether they go to greatness or to the gutter, I +take to them the thrill of old days, with wholesome +messages.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_106" id="Page_106">[Pg 106]</a></span>"I speak the language of the common man; my words are fitted +to his understanding. My congregation is larger than that of +any church in my town; my readers are more than those in the +school. Young and old alike find in me stimulation, +instruction, entertainment, inspiration, solace, comfort. I +am the chronicler of birth, and love and death—the three +great facts of man's existence.</p> + +<p>"I bring together buyer and seller, to the benefit of both; +I am part of the market-place of the world. Into the home I +carry word of the goods which feed and clothe, and shelter, +and which minister to comfort, ease, health, and happiness.</p> + +<p>"I am the word of the week, the history of the year, the +record of my community in the archives of state and nation.</p> + +<p>"I am the exponent of the lives of my readers.</p> + +<p>"I am the Country Weekly."</p></div> + +<h4>FOOTNOTES:</h4> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_40_40" id="Footnote_40_40"></a><a href="#FNanchor_40_40"><span class="label">[40]</span></a> Out of 185 neighborhood areas, 39 were chiefly due to the +school district, the next most important influence being the church +parish which determined the neighborhood in 33 cases. J. H. Kolb, "Rural +Primary Groups." Research Bull. 51, Agr. Exp. Sta. of the Univ. of +Wisconsin, p. 48.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_41_41" id="Footnote_41_41"></a><a href="#FNanchor_41_41"><span class="label">[41]</span></a> The relation of the consolidated school to township and +community lines is well shown in a study of the schools of Randolph +County, Indiana, and Marshall County, Iowa, by Dr. A. W. Hayes, in his +"Rural Community Organization" (Chap. VI, Univ. of Chicago Press, 1921). +In Randolph County more of the schools are located in the open country +while the more recent consolidations in Marshall County are located +mostly at the village centers. Dr. Hayes recognizes the differences but +he gives no facts which make possible a judgment as to the relative +efficiency of the two methods from a community standpoint.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_42_42" id="Footnote_42_42"></a><a href="#FNanchor_42_42"><span class="label">[42]</span></a> F. C. Howe, "Denmark a Coöperative Commonwealth." H. W. +Foght, "Rural Denmark and its Schools."</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_43_43" id="Footnote_43_43"></a><a href="#FNanchor_43_43"><span class="label">[43]</span></a> "In Pease and Niles' 'Gazateer of Connecticut and Rhode +Island' (1819) the social library is almost as regularly mentioned in +the descriptions of the various towns as are the saw-mills, or the +ministers and doctors."—Bidwell, "Rural Economy in New England," p. +347.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_44_44" id="Footnote_44_44"></a><a href="#FNanchor_44_44"><span class="label">[44]</span></a> In the <i>Inland Printer</i>, February, 1920, quoted by Atwood, +l. c., p. 305.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_45_45" id="Footnote_45_45"></a><a href="#FNanchor_45_45"><span class="label">[45]</span></a> "The Cornell Reading Course for the Farm," Lesson 155, +March, 1920. See also his "The Country Newspaper and the Community," +Chicago, A. C. McClurg & Co., 1922.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_46_46" id="Footnote_46_46"></a><a href="#FNanchor_46_46"><span class="label">[46]</span></a> Quoted by Atwood, <i>l. c.</i>, p. 314.</p></div> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_107" id="Page_107">[Pg 107]</a></span> +<br /> + +<hr /> +<br /> +<h2>CHAPTER X</h2> + +<h2>THE COMMUNITY'S EDUCATION (<span class="smcap">Continued</span>)</h2> +<br /> + +<h3>THE EXTENSION MOVEMENT</h3> + +<p>The era of modern agriculture in the United States began with the +passage of the Morrill Act by the Federal Congress in 1861. This made a +grant of public land to each state to establish a college for +instruction in agriculture and the mechanic arts, and it has been the +influence of the "land-grant colleges," more than any other agency, +which has been responsible for our agricultural advancement. In 1888 the +Hatch Act made an annual federal appropriation to each of these colleges +for the establishment of an agricultural experiment station, whose +investigations, with those of the United States Department of +Agriculture, have been largely responsible for the scientific basis of +modern agriculture.</p> + +<p>From the beginning the agricultural colleges realized their obligation +to bring the results of scientific investigations to the attention of +farmers as well as to their own students, and their faculties spoke +before meetings of state and county agricultural societies, granges, and +farmers' institutes. In 1875 Michigan was the first state to make an +appropriation to its State Board of Agriculture for conducting farmers' +institutes, and in the next twenty-five years most of the states +established systems of farmers' institutes either under their state +boards or departments of agriculture or under the agricultural colleges, +through which itinerant speakers addressed one or more meetings of +farmers in each county every year. These institutes <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_108" id="Page_108">[Pg 108]</a></span>grew in popularity +and led to separate meetings for farm women, and sometimes for children, +and in some cases permanent county organizations were created for +holding institutes with local speakers as well as for managing those +furnished by the state. Farmers' institutes have performed an important +service in the education of the rural community. Not only have they +given instruction in methods of agriculture and in the problems of +country life, but they have been an important means of bringing rural +people together in a common cause; they are a community activity and +strengthen the community bond. In many cases in isolated localities the +annual farmers' institute has been one of the few occasions at which the +people of the community get together, and has been looked forward to as +a social event. Furthermore, it was through experience with farmers' +institutes that the need of better means for bringing instruction to +rural communities was appreciated and other methods were developed.</p> + +<p>It was but a few years after the establishment of the agricultural +experiment stations under the Hatch Act of 1888, that the colleges +commenced to realize that the results of their investigations would not +be extensively utilized by farmers unless other means were employed than +mere publication of reports and bulletins and addresses at farmers' +institutes and agricultural meetings. These were good, but they were +felt to be inadequate and it was evident that to secure the general +adoption of new methods some means of more systematic instruction and of +local demonstrations were necessary. The agricultural colleges came to +feel that they should have definite departments with men who could +devote their time to giving instruction to the people on the land. The +first appropriation for agricultural extension work was made to Cornell +University by the State of New York in 1894, but it was a <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_109" id="Page_109">[Pg 109]</a></span>decade later +before the leading agricultural colleges had established departments of +extension work. In general the early period of the extension movement +was chiefly concerned with methods of agricultural production and had no +definite program for the local organization of its work. This finally +came about through the county agent movement.</p> + +<p>The county agent movement<a name="FNanchor_47_47" id="FNanchor_47_47"></a><a href="#Footnote_47_47" class="fnanchor">[47]</a> had its origin in an effort to combat the +ravages of the Mexican Cotton Boll Weevil as it swept through Texas and +advanced eastward from 1900 to 1910. It was in 1903 that Dr. S. A. Knapp +was commissioned by the Federal Secretary of Agriculture, James Wilson, +to devise methods whereby the Texas farmers might be shown how they +could grow cotton in spite of the weevil. He soon found that progressive +farmers who were using the cultural methods which the entomologists had +found to be successful for raising an early crop, were able to raise +fairly good crops before injury became serious. He therefore employed +practical farmers to go among their neighbors and get them to agree to +give a fair trial to the methods advocated by the government, i.e., to +demonstrate their practicability. Those making the trials were called +"demonstrators" and their neighbors who came to follow their example in +testing the new methods were called "coöperators" and were called +together at the "demonstrator's" farm to see the results of his work and +to receive instruction from the "demonstration agent" who supervised the +work for the government. As this work was in charge of practical farmers +more or less known locally, it appealed to the farmers as a +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_110" id="Page_110">[Pg 110]</a></span>common-sense method, the results spoke for themselves, and the demand +for the work spread rapidly. Dr. Knapp found that the county was the +best unit for the work of the supervising demonstration agent, and he +soon came to be known as the county demonstration agent, which was later +contracted to county agent or county agricultural agent. The whole +movement came to be called "the farmers' coöperative demonstration +work." Three new features in agricultural instruction of farmers were +involved in this system; it was more or less coöperative on the part of +a local group of farmers; it used the demonstration method of teaching, +i.e., the farmer demonstrated to himself by his own trial; and a local +county agent was employed for the supervision of the work. It soon +became apparent that merely trying to circumvent the depredations of the +boll weevil would not solve the problem and that instead of raising only +cotton as a cash crop the farmer must diversify his crops so as to raise +more of the foodstuffs consumed on the farm and to have other products +for sale. This involved the application of the demonstration method to +the growing of corn, legumes, hogs, etc., in short, it involved the +whole field of farm management and agricultural practice. The work of +the county agricultural agents was liberally supported by local business +men, commercial clubs and railroads, and the General Education Board, as +well as by the U. S. Department of Agriculture. In 1909 the Mississippi +legislature passed the first act permitting counties to appropriate +funds for this work, and this was followed by most of the southern +states within a few years.</p> + +<p>The Report of President Roosevelt's Country Life Commission in 1909 +called attention to the need of a national system of agricultural +extension work in charge of the agricultural colleges, and congressmen +and agricultural <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_111" id="Page_111">[Pg 111]</a></span>leaders in the North who had observed the success of +the county agent movement in the South commenced to feel that county +agricultural agents might be equally valuable in the North as a means of +local agricultural education. As a result, the first county agricultural +agents in the North were appointed by the Office of Farm Management of +the U. S. Department of Agriculture in 1910 and 1911. In 1912, 113 were +employed in coöperation with the state agricultural colleges and local +county organizations in the North and West. The success of the work of +these agents and of the extension work of the agricultural colleges led +to a general demand from the agricultural interests of the country for a +federal appropriation to the agricultural colleges for establishing a +system of extension work the chief feature of which would be the +employment of county agricultural agents who would supervise field +demonstrations by the farmers on their own farms. This resulted in the +federal Smith-Lever Act of 1914, which made an annual appropriation to +each land-grant college "to aid in diffusing among the people of the +United States useful and practical information on agriculture and home +economics and to encourage the application of the same ... through field +demonstrations, publications, and otherwise, ... to persons not +attending or resident at said college." This act is notable in that it +established the most comprehensive national system of non-resident +instruction in agriculture and home economics of any country, and +recognized the necessity of de-centralizing this instruction by having +it carried on by agents in the counties who could have immediate and +continuous contact with individual farmers and groups of farmers.</p> + +<p>As the work of the county agents in the South grew more permanent they +found that it was more efficient if they worked with and through local +groups of farmers, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_112" id="Page_112">[Pg 112]</a></span>and community agricultural clubs were quite widely +organized, but no strong county federation was developed, except in West +Virginia, where the local clubs formed a county organization which was +called a Farm Bureau. The term Farm Bureau originated in Broome County, +New York, in 1911, when the first county agent in that state was +employed by the Binghamton Chamber of Commerce, the Lackawanna Railroad, +and the U. S. Department of Agriculture. As the number of county agents +rapidly increased in the northern states it soon became apparent that if +their work was to be of the greatest service to the farmers for whose +benefit they worked, that it should be supported and managed by the +farmers themselves rather than by business interests. The Farm Bureau +Association, composed of farmers throughout a county, soon came to be a +prerequisite to the placing of an agricultural agent in a county, and +with the passage of the Smith-Lever Act and of state legislation +accepting its provisions and appropriating state funds contingent upon +similar appropriations by the counties, this became the usual procedure. +The county farm bureau association coöperates with the state college of +agriculture and the U. S. Department of Agriculture in the employment of +the county agent, and the annual membership fees together with county +appropriations pay the expenses of the work other than salary. The +affairs of the farm bureau association are in the hands of the usual +officers and executive committee, who report to an annual meeting of the +membership. Further than this the method of organization varies in +different states. In most of the northern and western states there is a +local committee in each community which arranges for the demonstrations +and meetings to be held by the county agent, and there is no further +organization of the local membership, but in a few states definite local +organizations or <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_113" id="Page_113">[Pg 113]</a></span>community clubs with officers and regular meetings +have developed. In either case, however, the unit of local organization +and interest in the work of the farm bureau is usually the community, +although its executive administration is on a county basis.</p> + +<p>As the extension work came under the local control of these +organizations of farmers, the objectives of the work were more largely +determined by the farmers' point of view. Whereas the original purpose +had been to "extend" to the farmer the better methods of agriculture +discovered by the experiment stations and the federal department of +agriculture, the program of work came to be largely determined by the +particular needs and problems of the local communities in a given +county. The farmers conferred with the agent—their agent—and pointed +out their greatest difficulties. The program of work was then a matter +of determining what demonstrations and instruction could be arranged to +meet these problems, under the direction of the county agent and with +any assistance possible from the state agricultural college. With the +rapid growth of Farm Bureaus,—for on June 30, 1918, there were 791 farm +bureaus with approximately 290,000 members,—the movement became truly a +farmers' movement rather than a mere "extension" of the work of the +agricultural colleges, though the close affiliation with them +constituted its strength and furnished its leadership.</p> + +<p>It so happened that almost as soon as the Smith-Lever Act became +effective the world was plunged into war and marketing problems became +more and more important. Whereas in the first decade of the county agent +movement interest had been chiefly in better methods of production, it +now rapidly shifted to include better methods of marketing and the +development of coöperative selling <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_114" id="Page_114">[Pg 114]</a></span>associations, whose organization was +assisted by the farm bureaus wherever they were needed and practicable.</p> + +<p>The entry of the United States into the World War greatly accelerated +the farm bureau movement. "Food will win the war" was the slogan which +challenged American agriculture. The number of county agents in the +North and West increased from 542 to 1,133 within the year ending June +30, 1918. It was the county agent system which formed the mechanism +through which the federal government secured the whole-souled +coöperation of the farmers of the United States under peculiarly trying +conditions. The winter of 1917-18 was severe and seed corn was unusually +poor. As a result, the available supply of sound seed corn in the spring +of 1918 was the lowest on record in the face of the greatest need for a +bumper crop. Had it not been for the remarkable organization developed +through the county agents and the farm bureau system of the entire +country, the corn crop of the great Corn Belt would have been far below +normal. As it was, nearly a normal acreage was planted and an abundant +harvest secured. The rôle which the agriculture of the United States +played in the World War has never been adequately written or +appreciated, but it was full of as much romance and heroism as were the +industries which commanded the headlines of the press. Dr. Bradford +Knapp, for many years in charge of the county agent work in the Southern +States after the death of his father, its founder, has called attention +to the fact that during the war "of the four great activities or +industries in America, agriculture, manufacturing, mining, and +transportation,—one alone—agriculture, stood the test, and that mainly +because there was already in existence an organization extending from +the United States Department of Agriculture through every state +agricultural college ... to <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_115" id="Page_115">[Pg 115]</a></span>the counties and the farmers, by which +information was rapidly disseminated and farmers were made aware of +conditions of what must be done to win the war."</p> + +<p>It was inevitable that such an organization growing rapidly during a war +should develop an unusual solidarity, and this was but strengthened by +the difficulties which agriculture encountered with the cessation of +hostilities. During the war several states had formed state federations +of the county farm bureau associations and in November, 1919, a +convention was called at Chicago for the formation of a national +organization, which resulted in the formal organization of the American +Farm Bureau Federation<a name="FNanchor_48_48" id="FNanchor_48_48"></a><a href="#Footnote_48_48" class="fnanchor">[48]</a> in March, 1920, with 28 states represented, +and a membership in county farm bureaus of 400,000. In the next two +years the southern states, which previously had developed no strong +county organizations, rapidly adopted the farm bureau idea, and when the +American Farm Bureau Federation held its second annual meeting at +Atlanta, Ga., in November, 1921, it included 35 states with a local +membership of 967,279.</p> + +<p>I have dwelt at length upon the growth of the county agent and farm +bureau movement, because there is probably no one agency which has done +more in the last decade toward the integration of rural communities +throughout the United States or which has had a larger educational +influence on all aspects of country life. The farm bureau usually +organizes its local work by communities and in large numbers of counties +the community areas have been defined for the first time by the county +agents. The value of this organization by communities was repeatedly +shown during the war. For example, in New York State it was <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_116" id="Page_116">[Pg 116]</a></span>possible +for the county agents to organize meetings on the Agricultural +Mobilization Day called by the Governor on April 21, 1917, in 1,089 +communities, with an attendance of 85,075 persons, upon only a weeks +notice. In several of the states which have encouraged community +organizations, a very definite effort has been made to develop an +all-round program of community improvement. Thus the West Virginia +extension service has invented a community score card<a name="FNanchor_49_49" id="FNanchor_49_49"></a><a href="#Footnote_49_49" class="fnanchor">[49]</a> with which +several communities have scored themselves for three successive years in +order to make an analysis of their social situation and to enable them +to outline a program of work for the solution of their local problems. +Several of the states are now employing specialists to assist the farm +bureaus in their problems of community organization.</p> + +<p>The county organization of extension work has been unique in its +educational methods; methods which have large significance for all +movements for rural progress.</p> + +<p>First, its educational method is that of the demonstration carried out +by farm people under the expert direction of paid county leaders in an +effort to solve the immediate problems of the farm and the farm home. It +builds on the experience, point of view, and interests of its pupils, +who learn under the supervision of a teacher chosen by them, through a +process which involves their making real experiments in finding the best +solution of their problems. No class of people, here or elsewhere, has +ever had opportunity for the training in the scientific attitude and +point of view which American farmers may now receive, and on account of +the nature and organization of their work they are steadily and surely, +if not entirely consciously, adopting the method of science. The +consequence of this <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_117" id="Page_117">[Pg 117]</a></span>movement in the social and political development of +this country cannot be foretold, for the scientific attitude must +finally be the basis of all true democracy.</p> + +<p>Secondly, the program of work—the subject matter of the educational +method—is largely chosen by the people themselves, but with the help of +experts employed by them to supervise its execution. Here we have an +institution arising from the land, wholly democratic in spirit and +polity, yet recognizing the services of experts and employing them for +its own purposes. In the county farm bureaus, and the organizations to +which they have given rise, there is developing a new use of science +both in the educational methods and in the employment of scientifically +trained leaders, in the service of and directed by a democracy—a +democracy no longer provincial but of national scope in that there is +real coöperation between the local community, the county, the state, and +the nation.</p> + +<p>Lastly, the extension movement recognizes that only by the development +and training of the largest amount of enthusiastic, voluntary, local +leadership can its work have a foundation which will make it permanent. +It thus recognizes an essential factor of all social organization, i.e., +the power of personal leadership in shaping the public opinion of the +group, and it consciously undertakes the development of intelligent +initiative as a means of social progress.</p> + +<p>When one has observed the feeble beginnings of this movement only a +decade ago, and has witnessed its growth to the present nation-wide +system, promoting plans for national organizations for coöperative +marketing, he appreciates the power of science, education, and +organization as new forces in the life of the rural community, whose +future influence one would be rash to prophesy.</p> + +<p>This account would be misleading if it failed to indicate <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_118" id="Page_118">[Pg 118]</a></span>that the +extension movement has given attention to the problems of the farm home, +of the mother and the children, as well as to those of the farm +business. In 1910, girls' canning clubs were started in the Southern +States and young women were employed to supervise their work. Very soon +the mothers became interested and before long home demonstration agents +were appointed to work with the agricultural demonstration agents. In +1916 home demonstration work was in progress in 420 counties in the +South. A few home demonstration agents were employed by farm bureaus in +the Northern States prior to 1917, but the additional funds appropriated +by Congress for food conservation work during the war caused a rapid +increase in their number and women's work in the North received its +chief impetus during the war. The Smith-Lever Act specified that its +funds should be used for extension work in home economics as well as in +agriculture, but it was not until the farm bureaus commenced to employ +home demonstration agents and to organize the women for their support +that work with the farm home became established on a permanent basis. In +most of the northern states the farm bureau is now organized on what is +called the "family plan," that is, it includes in its program of work +projects dealing with the farm for men, with the farm home for women, +and with club work in agriculture and home economics for boys and girls. +In many of the states a separate agent is employed for each of these +lines of work and the women are organized in a separate department of +the county farm bureau and have their own local farm women's clubs. In +New York State the women's work has been further differentiated by +organizing it as a County Home Bureau which with the Farm Bureau forms +the County Farm and Home Bureau Association.</p> + +<p>During the war the home demonstration agents gave <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_119" id="Page_119">[Pg 119]</a></span>their attention to +food conservations and clothing, but as a permanent program has +developed the local clubs of farm women have shown a lively interest in +problems of health, home management, care of children, education, +recreation, and civics. They have found that the problems of the home +cannot be solved without an effort to create better community conditions +and "community housekeeping" has attracted an increasing interest. The +present aims of the women's work have been aptly phrased in the Home +Bureau Creed written by Dr. Ruby Green Smith, associate state leader of +home demonstration agents in New York:</p> +<br /> + +<div class="blockquot"><p class="cen">The Home Bureau Creed</p> + +<p>"To maintain the highest ideals of home life; to count +children the most important of crops; to so mother them that +their bodies may be sound, their minds clear, their spirits +happy, and their characters generous:</p> + +<p>"To place service above comfort; to let loyalty to high +purposes silence discordant note; to let neighborliness +supplant hatreds; to be discouraged never:</p> + +<p>"To lose self in generous enthusiasms; to extend to the less +fortunate a helping hand; to believe one's community may +become the best of communities; and to coöperate with others +for the common ends of a more abundant home and community +life:</p> + +<p>"This is the offer of the Home Bureau to the homemaker of +to-day."</p></div> +<br /> + +<p>Nor should we fail to recognize the part which the boys' and girls' club +work has had in the extension movement. Space will not permit any +adequate account of its origin and growth, or of its methods and +influence. No movement has done more to redirect and give dynamic to the +rural school than has the club work; nor has any movement <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_120" id="Page_120">[Pg 120]</a></span>done more to +train leadership among the coming generation on the farms. Commencing +with corn clubs for the boys, canning clubs were soon organized for the +girls, and later pig clubs, potato clubs, calf clubs, sewing clubs, +cooking clubs, and clubs are now organized with various projects +covering almost all phases of agriculture and home economics. These +clubs may be called the Junior Farm Bureau, for in them farm children +are receiving a training which will mean much for the future +organization of country life. The public confidence in the work is shown +by the fact that in 1920, 500 banks in the northern and western states +loaned nearly $900,000 to club boys and girls for financing their +projects.<a name="FNanchor_50_50" id="FNanchor_50_50"></a><a href="#Footnote_50_50" class="fnanchor">[50]</a> As a result of the school exhibits of the products of the +club work, many a community fair has been started, and as a result of +club picnics and play days community picnics or festivals have become an +annual event in many places and have brought better feeling and +increased pride and loyalty to the community. In 1919, 464,979 boys and +girls were enrolled in club work.</p> + +<p>Thus the extension movement started by the agricultural colleges and the +United States Department of Agriculture has become a national movement +of rural people, men, women, and children, whose strength is largely due +to the fact that it has been the means of organizing the local +communities and of bringing them together in county organizations, which +with the aid of state and national funds and supervision, employ trained +executives to stimulate and supervise the work of the local groups. It +is a unique agency for the education and organization of rural life +which is giving the American farmer a new position in the life of the +nation.</p> + +<h4>FOOTNOTES:</h4> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_47_47" id="Footnote_47_47"></a><a href="#FNanchor_47_47"><span class="label">[47]</span></a> This movement can only be sketched in barest outline. It +is fully and authoritatively discussed in another volume of this series +by Prof. M. C. Burritt, entitled "The County Agent and the Farm Bureau." +See also O. B. Martin, "The Demonstration Work." Boston, The Stratford +Co.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_48_48" id="Footnote_48_48"></a><a href="#FNanchor_48_48"><span class="label">[48]</span></a> For a full discussion of this movement, its objectives and +accomplishments, see O. M. Kile, "The Farm Bureau Movement," Macmillan, +New York, 1921.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_49_49" id="Footnote_49_49"></a><a href="#FNanchor_49_49"><span class="label">[49]</span></a> Nat. T. Frame, "Lifting the Country Community." Circular +255, Extension Division, W. Va. University, 1921.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_50_50" id="Footnote_50_50"></a><a href="#FNanchor_50_50"><span class="label">[50]</span></a> See "Status and Results of Boys' and Girls' Club Work, +Northern and Western States," 1920. George E. Farell. U. S. Dept. of +Agriculture, Department Circular 192.</p></div> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_121" id="Page_121">[Pg 121]</a></span> +<br /> + +<hr /> +<br /> +<h2>CHAPTER XI</h2> + +<h2>THE COMMUNITY'S RELIGIOUS LIFE</h2> +<br /> + +<p>From the earliest times and among all peoples the common religious life +has formed one of the strongest bonds of the rural community. Several of +the original thirteen colonies which formed the United States were +settled by those seeking freedom to worship as they chose, and as their +descendants migrated westward many of the new settlements were largely +composed of the membership of some one church or those of a similar +faith. Dr. Warren H. Wilson has called attention to the fact that the +Mormons, the Pennsylvania Germans, and the Scotch Presbyterians are the +most successful farmers and remain on the land because they have given a +religious sanction to country life and have made the church the center +of the life of the community, as it was in the medieval village +community of Europe. Whatever attitude one may take toward their +religious beliefs, all impartial observers are agreed that the Mormons +have established the strongest agricultural communities and that they +have discovered and applied to a high degree some of the most +fundamental principles of social organization. Concerning them Dr. +Wilson says:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"These exceptional farmers are organized in the interest of +agriculture. The Mormons represent this organization in the +highest degree. Perhaps no other so large or so powerful a +body of united farmers is found in the whole country. They +have approached the economic questions of farming with +determination to till the soil. They distrust city life and +condemn it. They teach their children and they discipline +themselves to love <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_122" id="Page_122">[Pg 122]</a></span>the country, to appreciate its +advantages and to recognize that their own welfare is bound +up in their success as farmers, and in the continuance of +their farming communities. This agricultural organization +centers in their country churches. They have turned the +force of religion into a community making power, and from +the highest to the lowest of their church officers the +Mormon people are devoted to agriculture as a mode of +living."<a name="FNanchor_51_51" id="FNanchor_51_51"></a><a href="#Footnote_51_51" class="fnanchor">[51]</a></p></div> + +<p>But although large numbers of communities throughout the United States +were settled by people of one religious faith, and thus had the +strongest bond of community, yet large areas were settled by scattered +homesteaders belonging to different sects, and as time went on, +newcomers came into the older communities and established churches of +various denominations, so that throughout most of the country the +churches have come to have more of a divisive than a unifying influence +on community life.</p> + +<p>In our discussion of the religious life of the rural community we shall +confine our attention to the protestant churches, because most of our +rural people are protestants. It is true that in some sections, such as +Louisiana and southern Maryland, and in many sections recently settled +by Europeans, the people are mostly Roman Catholics; but in general the +catholic church is strongest in the cities and towns and does not have +strong rural parishes throughout the country. Throughout most of the +United States the Methodist, Episcopal and Baptist denominations have by +far the largest number of churches and membership, and their traditions +and methods have largely shaped the religious life of our rural +communities.</p> + +<p>During the century in which the United States west of the Alleghanies +has been settled conditions have changed with such rapidity that the +religious life is still largely <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_123" id="Page_123">[Pg 123]</a></span>dominated by its development during the +days of early settlement and the present generation is faced with the +problem of readjustment of its religious institutions to meet the +present situation. In the days of the pioneer the circuit rider made his +rounds over a large district, preaching at school houses and private +homes and in the few country churches at intervals of one to three +months. As the country became more thickly populated, country churches +sprang up and several of them were joined together in the employment of +a resident pastor with preaching at the larger churches every week and +at the outlying stations once in two or three weeks. Doctrinal beliefs +were strong and theological differences were frequently bitter. The +preaching was practically the only service of the church, except for an +annual "protracted meeting" or revival. The main emphasis was upon the +personal salvation of the sinner. Sunday schools had not become a +recognized feature of the church and but little thought was given to +religious education and training by the church. The minister christened +the babies, married the young people and buried the dead, but otherwise, +with numerous preaching services, he was unable to do much pastoral +work. A large proportion of the rural churches were located in the open +country and like the district school were largely neighborhood churches, +for bad roads and horse-drawn vehicles made it difficult for people to +go over two or three miles. In many cases several churches were +established in a single village or in nearby neighborhoods by different +denominations and were largely supported by home-missionary aid +contributed by the older churches in the East and the wealthier city +parishes. Prior to the Civil War when most of our population was engaged +in farming and before the exodus of the last half century to the towns +and cities, most of the rural churches <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_124" id="Page_124">[Pg 124]</a></span>were fairly well attended, but +with the recent decline in rural population, many of them, and +particularly those in the open country, have faced the same situation as +the district school in that there are now too few people to make +possible the economic support of a pastor and church building.</p> + +<p>Furthermore, it must be recognized that the standards of rural people +have changed as regards the church in the same way that they have +concerning the school. When all of the people have had a common school +education, many of them have had high school training, a few have been +to college, and many of them now and then visit the larger churches of +towns and cities, they are no longer satisfied with the occasional +preaching of an uneducated man, however religious and earnest he may be. +The Sunday school has become an established part of the work of the +church and as people have appreciated the value of education in secular +affairs, they have come to place more hope in the religious training of +their children than in merely saving them by sudden conversion. The +church is becoming more and more an institution for the training and +expression of religious life rather than only a place for preaching. +Moreover, the church now has to meet the competition of other +institutions and interests which did not exist in the earlier days. The +grange, the lodge, organizations of all sorts, moving pictures, +athletics and automobiles, furnish means of association and command the +interest and support of the people, where formerly there was only the +church for the righteous and the tavern or the saloon for the convivial.</p> + +<p>All of these and other factors have conspired to weaken the relative +influence of the church in our rural communities and the situation has +become so serious in many sections that it has challenged the attention +of denominational <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_125" id="Page_125">[Pg 125]</a></span>leaders. During the past fifteen years there have +been a series of careful studies of the condition of the rural churches +in various parts of the country. These studies have given indisputable +evidence of the conditions responsible for the decline of the rural +church and of the measures which must be taken if the religious life of +the rural community is to be adequately fostered; and they have clearly +shown that the problems of the rural church must be solved from the +standpoint of meeting the religious needs of the rural community rather +than that of the interests of the individual church. In the older parts +of the country, and—alas—far too frequently in the newer sections, the +most serious obstacle to the religious life of the community is an +unnecessary number of churches, which divide its limited resources both +of funds and leadership. Overchurching is more largely responsible for +the decadence of the rural church than any one factor. Small +congregations are unable to support a full time pastor, and where +several of them are competing in a small community, it is deprived of +the services of a resident minister. Preaching once in two weeks and +practically no pastoral visitation are not conducive to the life of a +church. The small church maintains its Sunday school with difficulty for +there are too few of any one age for a satisfactory division of classes. +Equally serious is the fact that the ablest men will not enter the +ministry to devote themselves to what they regard as an unnecessary and +unchristian competition.</p> + +<p>Tompkins County, where I live, is a fair average of rural New York. A +recent survey shows that but eight of its twenty-eight rural communities +have full time resident pastors, though there are ministers residing in +twenty-five parishes who also serve other parishes nearby. Throughout +the county there was one church for every 332 people, but the average +village church had but 92 active members, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_126" id="Page_126">[Pg 126]</a></span>and the average country +church had but 32. The church membership has remained practically +stationary for thirty years, while the attendance has decreased from 21 +percent of the rural population in 1890 to 14 percent in 1920. One +community of 900 population had five churches, no one of which had a +resident pastor or over 45 members, while two of them had but 11 members +each and were closed. Six strictly rural communities in the southern +part of the county have 16 churches, though none of these places can +properly support more than one church with a resident pastor. After a +careful study of the whole county, I am of the opinion that if at least +one-third of the rural churches were abandoned or combined, the work of +the church would be greatly strengthened. This county is cited because +it is fairly typical; many worse have been reported in other surveys.</p> + +<p>Another handicap of the rural church is the frequent shift of ministers. +In Tompkins County only 4 of the 57 churches have had the same pastor +for ten years, 17 changed pastors three times in ten years and 17 of the +pastors had been in their parishes one year or less. When a minister +stays but a year or two, his parishioners tend to be only acquaintances +and rarely does he really know them. A minister cannot become well +enough acquainted with a new parish to do effective pastoral work in +less than a year, and many ministers who have seemingly good programs of +work fail to realize them because they attempt to force progress and to +secure results more rapidly than is possible. One of the chief duties of +the rural pastor is to train leadership. A church is no stronger than +its permanent resident leadership. No matter how brilliant the work of +the minister, if he has failed to develop local leadership, his work is +soon dissipated when he leaves. Now leadership cannot be produced in a +year or so and where it is <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_127" id="Page_127">[Pg 127]</a></span>most needed it requires several years to +discover and develop it. Unfortunately much of this frequent shifting of +rural pastors is directly due to ecclesiastical rule rather than to the +needs of the local churches, though much of it results from meager +salaries and sectarian rivalries which soon discourage a man who sees +larger opportunities for service elsewhere.</p> + +<p>Numerous studies of the actual condition of the rural church in many +parts of the country all show the futility of denominational competition +in maintaining two or three churches where only one is needed or can be +supported. Furthermore, the present generation of young married people +who desire the best religious influences for their children are no +longer much interested in the theological or ecclesiastical differences +of the various denominations, and they refuse to support them or do so +under protest and with an apathy which makes effective church work +impossible. As a result, there has been a strong movement in recent +years toward the consolidation of rural churches and for the +establishment of what are called "community churches." Although much +effort has been given toward getting denominational boards and leaders +to form state federations for promoting inter-denominational comity, and +although notable progress in this direction has been made in a few +states, particularly in Maine and Vermont, yet the chief impetus to the +community church movement has come from the people themselves, who have +insisted upon a combination of the local churches often in spite of +ecclesiastical indifference or opposition. The lack of coal in 1918 +induced many churches to hold their services together and in many cases +gave an impetus to the idea of their permanent federation.</p> + +<p>The term community church has come to be applied to various forms of +churches, but whatever its form, its <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_128" id="Page_128">[Pg 128]</a></span>fundamental purpose is the service +of the community rather than the advancement of a particular +denomination and it admits all Christian people to its fellowship, in +contrast to the exclusiveness of the purely denominational church which +insists upon the importance of particular theological beliefs or systems +of church government.</p> + +<p>As the term is now used a "community church" may be a church definitely +affiliated with some denomination, it may be a "federated" church, or a +"union" church. The union church is unaffiliated with any religious +denomination. If it be the only church in a community, it is then a +community church, but if one or two others decline to unite, it is a +<i>community church</i> only in aspiration. It is this type of independent +union church, to which the term community church is most commonly +applied by the laity, and such community churches have increased rapidly +in the past five years as a protest of the people against denominational +competition and inefficiency. These independent community churches have +now become so numerous in one or two states that they are holding state +conventions. The question at once arises whether if they become +affiliated in even the most nominal manner they will not soon constitute +what will practically be another denomination and will fail to effect +the growth of Christian unity which they desire. On the other hand, +denominational leaders who are in entire sympathy with the abolishment +of competition and the establishment of but one church in a rural +community where only one is needed, point out that the union church +loses the advantages of affiliation with a body of churches which have +regional and national boards and agencies for giving them assistance and +support in their work. The history not only of church but of all sorts +of secular organizations, indicates that sooner or later local +organizations with common aims and purposes tend to get <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_129" id="Page_129">[Pg 129]</a></span>together in +conventions and to establish federations through which they may unite +their resources in maintaining agencies to promote the common cause. +Most organizations, whether religious or secular, need the stimulus of +association with kindred organizations devoted to the same purposes and +the help of expert supervision which can be secured only from state or +national bodies.</p> + +<p>The "federated church" obviates this difficulty to a certain extent. +Each of the federating churches maintains its own corporate identity and +its affiliation with its own denomination, to which it sends its +contributions for benevolences and denominational work. The federating +churches form a joint organization for the employment of a minister and +use the same building, or use two buildings in common—sometimes one for +church and one for Sunday school services or social purposes,—and the +church is a community church for all practical purposes. In the long run +this usually results in a federated church finally affiliating with the +denomination which is preferred by the large majority of its membership +and which is least objectionable to the minority.</p> + +<p>Denominational leaders, on the other hand, hold that neither "union" or +"federated" churches will be permanently satisfactory, but that the +community church, though organized on the "federated" principle, should +be definitely affiliated with some one denomination, and that a single +denominational church which effectively serves the whole community may +be truly a "community church."</p> + +<p>Whatever the outcome of this movement may be it has forced the +recognition of the fact that the religious welfare of the rural +community should be the first consideration and that denominational +relations must be conceived as a means rather than an end, as has +commonly been the case heretofore. When country people have learned the +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_130" id="Page_130">[Pg 130]</a></span>advantages of consolidated schools and of coöperation in marketing, and +have developed the ability to work together in these and other phases of +community life, they are no longer content to waste their energies in +maintaining feeble churches, whose differences no longer command their +loyalties, and they very naturally desire to bury their religious +differences and to coöperate in the maintenance of a single church which +will give that inspiration and dynamic to all the life of the community +which can be furnished only through the religious motive. So in religion +as in other phases of life, the community idea is replacing the older +individualism.</p> + +<p>We have already noted the change of emphasis in the work of the church +from that of merely holding a preaching service for the personal +salvation of adults, to a greater reliance upon the power of religious +education through the Sunday school and other organizations of young +people. When Sunday schools were first started, a century or more ago, +they were bitterly opposed by many of the more conservative church +people. To-day they are a recognized part of all protestant churches, +but oddly enough their advancement has been due more largely to the work +of the laity than to that of the clergy, although there can be no +question that church membership is most largely recruited from the +Sunday schools. Thus in our survey of Tompkins County, New York, we +found that out of 175 persons admitted to the rural churches on +confession of faith, 61 of whom were adults and 114 children, 134 were +previous members of the Sunday school.</p> + +<p>The rural Sunday school in the small church has the same difficulty as +does the district school, in that it has too few scholars of +approximately the same age to form classes of sufficient size to command +their interest and enthusiasm. Likewise it is forced to depend upon +untrained and <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_131" id="Page_131">[Pg 131]</a></span>frequently-changing teachers. Although there has been a +marked advance in the grading and organization of Sunday schools and of +the literature for their study, yet there is a growing conviction that a +period of twenty minutes a week is inadequate to secure effective +religious education. On the other hand, although the separation of +church and state in this country prevents the giving of religious +instruction in our public schools, educators have come to recognize its +importance in the education of the child. As a result there is now a +definite movement for the organization of week-day schools of religion. +When these schools are conducted by trained teachers and their work is +of an educational standard satisfactory to the public schools, the +pupils are given credit for their work toward promotion in the public +schools. The State of New York has enacted definite legislation +permitting the schools to dismiss those pupils whose parents so desire, +for a definite period each week when they may attend whatever school of +religious instruction their parents may designate, and for which the +public schools shall give credit when satisfactory as to educational +methods. Such week-day schools of religious instruction have been +carried on in some of our cities for several years, and at the present +time are being introduced into rural communities in various sections of +the country. Sometimes each church maintains its own school, but +inasmuch as this movement is usually promoted by the +inter-denominational Sunday school associations the tendency is to +secure the coöperation of all the protestant churches in establishing +one school for the community. This movement is still young, but if it +makes the progress which now seems probable, it should be a powerful +agency toward the elimination of weak churches. It makes possible the +organization of graded classes of sufficient size so that a real group +spirit and interest are created and the instruction <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_132" id="Page_132">[Pg 132]</a></span>can be given with +the same pedagogical efficiency as in the public schools. Obviously the +success of the movement will depend upon the degree to which it can +command the support of the whole community and it will thus tend to +strengthen community life.</p> + +<p>A new attitude toward the social life of its people is also having a +large influence upon the program of many rural churches. Formerly +religion was one thing and sociability was another, and the church felt +no responsibility for the recreation of its people. Gradually church +suppers and sociables became customary, but they were held either to +raise money or as a means for attracting outsiders into the fold. In the +days when money was scarce in the rural community it was often difficult +to raise the pastor's salary. Much of his salary was paid in kind, and +annual "donation parties" contributed a considerable share of his +living. But as markets developed and farmers came to sell most of their +products for cash, money became more plentiful and it became evident +that no church can be maintained upon a sound business basis which does +not make up an annual budget and raise it by the direct contributions of +its people. Putting the finances of the church on a business basis has +removed the need of church suppers for raising funds, but their social +value has become so apparent that they are now held merely for the +better acquaintance and enjoyment of the church people. In so far as the +social life of the church has been consciously planned as a "bait" for +outsiders to attract them into the church, it has, in the long run +usually been ineffectual. Too often the motive has been so thinly veiled +and the program of the social hour has been given such a religious +atmosphere that outsiders very naturally take a defensive attitude, and +although they may enjoy the occasion they are perfectly aware of its +ulterior objective.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_133" id="Page_133">[Pg 133]</a></span>Recently, however, the church has come to appreciate that play and +recreation are a normal and necessary part of the life of its people and +that it cannot abolish the saloon and condemn certain amusements without +incurring a responsibility to provide, or to see that there is provided, +satisfying facilities for recreation and sociability. In short, it is +coming to recognize that a social program should be undertaken because +it is a worthy service and a real need of the people and not as a mere +means to other ends. Furthermore, where the church generously sponsors a +social program which is enjoyed by all the people of the community, +without thought of its being aimed at any proselyting, many of them come +to take an increased interest in the strictly religious services and +work of the church.</p> + +<p>So to-day many a rural church is holding community sings, its young +people are staging amateur dramatic entertainments, its boys have a +troop of boy scouts and the girls join the girl scouts or the camp-fire +girls, baseball and basketball teams are formed from the Sunday school +classes, the men have a club which meets once a month for the discussion +of current topics and a supper, the women come together for sewing +parties, and the whole people assemble for suppers and for the +celebration of national holidays and festival occasions. In a small +village in western New York the four Sunday schools have recently formed +an athletic association which has erected a one-story gymnasium in which +the boys can play basketball and all can find enjoyment.</p> + +<p>One of the handicaps of the average country church is that its building +is not adapted to social purposes, although the newer buildings are +being constructed with better facilities. Sometimes this need is being +met by erecting a separate church house which is used for Sunday school +and social purposes. Where there is more than one <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_134" id="Page_134">[Pg 134]</a></span>church it is +frequently felt that one building may serve the needs of all and so in +many communities the churches have united in the promotion of community +buildings to serve as social centers for all the people. Thus in its +social as well as in its educational program the church finds that a +satisfactory social life cannot be secured through sectarian +competition, but that by united effort the churches may meet the +community needs.</p> + +<p>Although in the past the chief duty of the country minister was to +preach on Sunday, yet those most beloved and most successful in building +up strong churches have won the hearts of their people more largely +through their pastoral work, through their personal acquaintance and +influence on the lives of families and individuals. Although a broader +educational and social program is needed in the rural church, there is +an equal opportunity for a larger service through a new sort of pastoral +work by the minister who can serve the community as a social worker. +There is an impression that there is no need for so-called social work, +for the expert assistance of the poor, the neglected, the delinquent, +and the mentally defective, in most rural communities; that this may be +necessary for the city slums, but that there are but few such people in +the open country. But the recent work started during the war by the Home +Service of the local chapters of the American Red Cross and the work of +various child welfare and health organizations have shown that country +people are not always aware of the needs of some of their not distant +neighbors, and that there is a deal of service which might be given the +more unfortunate members of the average rural community which they are +not now receiving. The average rural community cannot support a paid +social worker and needs but part of her time, while the county is +usually too large an area for her to cover. Why should not the rural +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_135" id="Page_135">[Pg 135]</a></span>minister be qualified to do much of the family welfare work of his +community, calling in outside expert assistance when needed? What better +pastoral work could he do, and yet how many rural pastors are doing this +sort of work in any intelligent sort of fashion, and how many families +in need, outside of his own membership, would turn to the average rural +minister for help? Dr. C. J. Galpin has well said of the rural minister +that "he is the recognized community psychologist and sociologist." The +trouble is that although he is often so recognized, he is usually an +amateur rather than a professional. Obviously, as a doctor of souls, the +village pastor should be the local "social worker" of every rural +community, but if he is to so serve he must first be trained so that he +can bring to bear a knowledge of social science upon the problems of the +families with which he deals. An average rural community can hardly +afford more than one pastor with such qualifications, and it is evident +that he would need to give his whole time to one parish. Such a modern +representative of the old "curé" of the medieval parish could give real +spiritual service to many a rural family which the average rural church +never reaches, and he would be a real father to his people.</p> + +<p>Finally, and most important, we must recognize that no other institution +can take the place of the Christian church as a source of those ideals +of life which give religious sanction to loyalty to the common good—to +the community—rather than to self or particular interests. The ideals +of its Founder who conceived the fatherhood of God and the brotherhood +of man as the norm of human relationships, and who thought man's +relation to man should be the expression of his loyalty to their common +Father, will ever furnish the strongest spiritual dynamic for the best +community life, for the whole community movement is but one means toward +the realization of His ideal of the Kingdom <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_136" id="Page_136">[Pg 136]</a></span>of God on earth. Indeed so +keen a mind as the late Professor Josiah Royce has interpreted the +spirit of the early church and the ultimate aim of Christianity as that +of "the beloved community."<a name="FNanchor_52_52" id="FNanchor_52_52"></a><a href="#Footnote_52_52" class="fnanchor">[52]</a> Though it may require new equipment and +new methods to meet the changed conditions of modern life, the mission +of religion to interpret the highest values of life will ever make it +the motive force of community life, the heart of the community. As Dr. +E. DeS. Brunner has well said, "The aim of the country church movement +is not to substitute anything for the Gospel. It is to assist in +expressing the best religion of the ages in terms of the best spirit of +the age."<a name="FNanchor_53_53" id="FNanchor_53_53"></a><a href="#Footnote_53_53" class="fnanchor">[53]</a></p> + +<h4>FOOTNOTES:</h4> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_51_51" id="Footnote_51_51"></a><a href="#FNanchor_51_51"><span class="label">[51]</span></a> "The Evolution of the Country Community," p. 63. Boston, +The Pilgrim Press, 1912.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_52_52" id="Footnote_52_52"></a><a href="#FNanchor_52_52"><span class="label">[52]</span></a> Cf. "The Problem of Christianity."</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_53_53" id="Footnote_53_53"></a><a href="#FNanchor_53_53"><span class="label">[53]</span></a> "The Country Church in the New World Order," p. 39.</p></div> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_137" id="Page_137">[Pg 137]</a></span> +<br /> + +<hr /> +<br /> +<h2>CHAPTER XII</h2> + +<h2>THE COMMUNITY'S HEALTH</h2> +<br /> + +<p>In the early days in which the country was but sparsely settled, +sickness, except for epidemics of such diseases as smallpox and yellow +fever, was regarded as an individual affair. In recent years +bacteriology and medical science have revealed the causes of many +diseases and the manner in which they are spread. With a denser +population and with more frequent contacts as a result of better +transportation, the possibility of contagion has very largely increased +and we now appreciate that the health of the family—even of the rural +family—cannot be maintained without attention to the health of the +community as a whole. Good health has become a responsibility of the +community.</p> + +<p>The rapid growth of cities in the last fifty years has forced them to +take measures for the preservation of health, and public health +administration has become a distinct branch of medical science. It is +the health problems which have arisen in the congested sections of our +large cities, and those which are due to a sedentary life or to +unhealthful conditions of certain trades and industries, which have +incited the discoveries of medical science and which have created a new +attitude toward sanitation and hygiene among city people.</p> + +<p>There has been a distinct change with regard to the attitude of society +toward health. A generation or two ago many people—particularly elderly +females—were not ashamed of "enjoying poor health," and a delicate +physique was regarded as rather incidental to the more highly <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_138" id="Page_138">[Pg 138]</a></span>cultured. +To-day, although we sympathize with the afflicted, society places a +premium upon a sound physique. The importance of physical exercise, of +recreation and athletics for the development and maintenance of a sound +body are now much more fully appreciated than they were fifty years ago. +We are coming to understand that good health is largely due to habits of +personal hygiene which must be instilled by the home and the school, and +that without such habits the mere knowledge of sanitation and hygiene +will not be generally applied. This new emphasis upon physical fitness +has naturally received larger attention in the cities on account of the +more unfavorable conditions of city life, while the new knowledge and +appreciation of the value of health has not been so constantly forced +upon the attention of rural people.</p> + +<p>Gradually we are coming to appreciate that we have an ethical +responsibility for good health, and it is even receiving a religious +sanction, for we have come to know that the cause of evil behavior may +be due primarily to an unsound body rather than to a perverted soul. The +church has ever ministered to the sick and has supported hospitals, but +to-day it is commencing to advocate the prevention of disease through +sanitation and hygiene, and to preach the religious duty of fostering +health and preventing sickness.</p> + +<p>One of the principal factors in the farmer's relative indifference to +health measures is the fact that he has become accustomed to think that +an outdoor life and isolation from other people give him an ability to +withstand sickness and he has rather gloried in his ability to throw off +ordinary ailments and to withstand the physical hardship which his work +often demands. He can see how health conditions may need attention in +the city where people are crowded together, but he is not impressed that +other causes make such diseases as typhoid and malaria much more +prevalent <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_139" id="Page_139">[Pg 139]</a></span>in the open country, and that bad sanitation on a farm a mile +away may cause sickness in his own family. American farmers have been +educated on the nature and spread of disease by their experience with +animal diseases, such as bovine tuberculosis, hog cholera, and Texas +fever. If they can be interested to utilize this knowledge in the care +of the health of their own families, and if they will provide health +facilities for their own families equal to those which they feel +necessary for their livestock, health conditions on the farm will show +rapid improvement. It is not that the farmer is indifferent to the +health of his family, but he has been <i>forced</i> to have his herd tested +for tuberculosis, and he faces the possibility of heavy losses if he +does not have his hogs vaccinated for cholera, while he has not +appreciated that by preventative agencies the better health of his wife +and children may be insured and the cost of remedial treatment be +greatly lessened.</p> + +<p>The purely economic aspects of sickness and disease have been a potent +factor in the health movement, particularly in cities. The vast sums +invested in life insurance have led progressive insurance companies into +extensive campaigns for promoting public health so that their risks may +be reduced. Vast quantities of the best health literature have been +distributed by some of the industrial insurance companies and they have +done much to demonstrate the value of public health nursing by employing +nurses who visit their policy holders. The extension of the insurance +method to health insurance, and the adoption of insurance by large +corporations for their employees has furthered this general movement, +and has revealed the tremendous economic losses due to preventable +sickness and disease. The farmer has failed to appreciate the purely +economic handicap under which he labors as a result of sickness and the +lack of adequate medical service and efficient public health +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_140" id="Page_140">[Pg 140]</a></span>administration such as cities enjoy, because the cost of sickness is +distributed and is borne by each family and he has no means of knowing +the aggregate cost for the whole community. Were it possible for a rural +community to secure and have brought to its attention the total economic +loss due to sickness in a given year and the proportion which might be +preventable with a reasonable expenditure for better health facilities, +its people would doubtless become as interested in better health +administration as does the employer in a large city industry, and the +true economy of better health facilities would be apparent.</p> + +<p>Few concrete studies of the losses occasioned by sickness in rural +communities have been made, but one of Dutchess County,<a name="FNanchor_54_54" id="FNanchor_54_54"></a><a href="#Footnote_54_54" class="fnanchor">[54]</a> New York, in +1915 well illustrates the conditions which would doubtless be found in +many another rural county. This survey covered five districts of the +county with an aggregate population of about 11,800—most of which was +rural territory. 1,600 cases of serious illness were found to have +occurred during the year. "Some 9,000 days were lost by men and women of +working age (15 to 54 years). Children lost 13,700 school days. On the +average this cost the community for each child at least 33 cents a day +for which it received no return. These two items safely represent a +money loss of $20,000 to $25,000." As a result of the study it was +estimated that the total money loss occasioned by sickness in a year +within the whole county would be at least $412,000. "Of the 1,600 +patients whose care has been analyzed in this report, 72 percent could +have been cared for adequately in their own homes had there been +available medical and nursing service. The remaining 28 percent (442 +patients) could not have been cared for adequately in their own homes +... 24 percent <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_141" id="Page_141">[Pg 141]</a></span>of the patients secured no medical care. Many startling +instances of unnecessary and indefensible suffering and misery were +found.... Of the 113 women who went through childbirth in their homes, +only one had the continuous care of a graduate nurse, and only 18 had +any service whatever from graduate visiting nurses. 35 percent of the +children born came into the world under unfit conditions and +surroundings." Largely as a result of this study, Dutchess County now +has an efficient county health association through which a number of +public health nurses are employed, who visit all districts of the +county.</p> + +<p>One of the most serious handicaps in maintaining the health of the rural +community is its frequent lack of medical service. The number of doctors +practising in the open country was always inadequate, but in recent +years it has decreased until now many large sections are without any +resident physician. The influenza epidemic of 1918, following the +shortage of doctors during the war, revealed the plight of many a rural +community without medical service. The higher standards now required by +medical colleges and state licensing boards has resulted in a real +shortage of physicians and the young men are not going into the country +to practise. A recent study made by the New York State Department of +Health showed that in 20 rural counties 88 percent of the physicians had +been practising over 25 years and only 3 percent less than ten years. +This means that most of the rural doctors in these counties have less +than ten years more to practise and that there is no indication that +their places will be filled by younger men. In Manitoba one rural +municipality has employed a physician on full time, and a recent act of +the New York legislature makes it possible for towns to employ +physicians. It seems probable that country people will be <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_142" id="Page_142">[Pg 142]</a></span>forced to +employ physicians on a salaried basis if they are to secure adequate +medical service. This does not necessarily mean, however, that the +physician will be employed by the local government. Industrial workers +are now employing physicians on a salary and farmers' organizations are +employing salaried veterinarians. Why cannot a local health association +be formed to employ a physician, whose job it will be to keep its people +well?</p> + +<p>Two factors prevent the larger use of physicians now available. Chief of +these is the cost. Farmers handle relatively less actual money than +townsmen, and their income is less frequent so that they have less on +hand, while the cost of medical attendance is necessarily higher in the +country. Fear of running up a bill deters many a farm woman from calling +a doctor, when one call might prevent many more later on. The farm home +tends to employ a physician only for serious sickness, rather than as a +medical adviser who may forestall illness. Another difficulty is one of +the physician's own making. The experience is far too common that in +cases of immediate need when the family doctor cannot be located, +doctors will refuse to attend a case on account of so-called +"professional courtesy." It is time that public opinion be aroused so +that such cases be brought to the attention of county medical societies +with sufficient public opinion to force them to take suitable action. +The ethics of every profession must be shaped to meet the needs of those +it serves as well as the pocketbooks of its members.</p> + +<p>Lack of medical attendance is most serious for the farm mother during +confinement, and the mortality of rural mothers during childbirth, as +shown by the investigations of the U. S. Children's Bureau, is an +indictment of our supposed civilization. When we learn that in a +homesteading county in Montana there were 12.7 deaths of <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_143" id="Page_143">[Pg 143]</a></span>mothers per +1,000 births, which is twice the rate for the United States as a whole, +which is higher than that of fifteen foreign countries for which +statistics were available in 1915, we face a condition which cannot be +neglected. When we find that in Wisconsin this rate was but 6 per 1,000, +and that 68 percent were attended by physicians, and in Kansas it was +but 2.9 per thousand and 95 percent had physicians, while in Montana +only 47 percent were attended, loss of life due to isolation and lack of +medical care is apparent. In sparsely settled regions the solution of +this problem seems to demand the provision of local maternity hospitals, +for the difficulty is primarily one of isolation.</p> + +<p>Since medical science has shown that sparkling spring water may carry +the deadly typhoid germ as a result of distant contamination, that wells +are frequently contaminated by nearby privies or barn yards, that +malaria is carried by mosquitoes, and that the house fly may carry +typhoid fever and intestinal diseases of infants, we have come to +appreciate that isolation and pure country air do not insure freedom +from infection, and that sanitation is as important on the farm as in +the city. Indeed the transmission of disease by flies is much easier on +the farm, for too often the manure pile where they multiply is not far +from the house, while in many a city the smaller number of horses and +the cleaning of manure from the streets prevents their increase. The +sanitation of the farm home thus becomes a very large factor in the +health of the rural community. Surveys made by health officers in recent +years have shown the general need of better sanitary provisions and also +the possibility of the direct benefits secured from their improvement. +In Indiana the State Board of Health surveyed nine typical rural +counties taking only the homes on farms and in unincorporated villages. +The <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_144" id="Page_144">[Pg 144]</a></span>average score of 6,124 rural homes in these nine counties was but +56.2 percent, the average for individual counties varying from 43 to 61 +percent. In 1914, 1915, and 1916, the U. S. Public Health Service made +sanitary surveys of 51,544 farm homes in 15 rural counties scattered +throughout the United States, but mostly in the South. Its report<a name="FNanchor_55_55" id="FNanchor_55_55"></a><a href="#Footnote_55_55" class="fnanchor">[55]</a> +states that only 1.22 percent of these farm homes were equipped for a +really sanitary disposal of human excreta, while in one county in +Alabama less than 20 percent of the farm homes had toilets of any kind. +"Sixty-eight percent of the water supply used for drinking or culinary +purposes was obviously exposed to dangerous contamination from privy +contents"; and only 32.88 percent of the houses were effectively +screened against flies. A very considerable improvement in farm +sanitation has resulted from the educational campaigns conducted during +the past decade, but effective rural sanitation awaits the employment of +public health officials who will convince the people of each local +community of their individual responsibility for the health conditions +on their own farms and of their common liability for the health of each +other.</p> + +<p>With the above conditions in mind, let us now consider the agencies for +health conservation in rural communities. We have already seen that the +old-fashioned country doctor is rapidly disappearing. With better +transportation now available it seems probable that physicians will live +in the larger village centers, but with telephone communication and the +automobile it should be possible to secure as prompt medical attendance. +We may as well recognize that many a rural community is too small a unit +to support a resident physician and that if satisfactory medical +treatment is to be secured we shall have to have better hospital and +clinical <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_145" id="Page_145">[Pg 145]</a></span>facilities so that the time of the physician can be economized +and frequent attention can be given.</p> + +<p>Most rural townships have a local board of health and health officer, +who is charged with reporting births and deaths and with the enforcement +of quarantines against contagious diseases, but it is notorious that +these local health officials are rarely efficient or take any leadership +in the betterment of public health. Ordinarily the health officer +receives little if any pay, and is a resident physician who is not +inclined to antagonize his own clients when the enforcement of health +regulations would meet their opposition. Students of rural health +problems are now fairly agreed that the only means of securing efficient +administration of public health regulations in rural communities is by +the employment of a full time county health officer, working under a +county board of health, who will have the same general duties as the +health officers in our cities. Local health officers would be retained, +but their work would be under the supervision of the county health +officer and would have the benefit not only of his support and +encouragement, but also of his superior technical training. If a county +superintendent is necessary for our schools, a county health officer is +equally necessary for the supervision of public health, and several +states have enacted legislation requiring or permitting the employment +of county health officers. The county is usually the best unit for rural +health administration.<a name="FNanchor_56_56" id="FNanchor_56_56"></a><a href="#Footnote_56_56" class="fnanchor">[56]</a> The county health officer would have +laboratory facilities for the examination of drinking water, and samples +of blood, urine, or sputum for the detection of disease, and would give +direction for the taking of samples which might be sent to the +laboratories of the state department of health for the examination of +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_146" id="Page_146">[Pg 146]</a></span>those specimens for which his laboratory was not equipped. He would +have general supervision of the medical examination of school children. +In numerous ways he would promote better means for health conservation, +as can be done by one who has had special training for such work and who +is giving his whole time and thought to its problems.</p> + +<p>Although the county health officer is necessary for the administration +of the technical aspects of public health administration, the most +important gains in the health of the rural community will come through +the personal education of its people on matters of hygiene and +sanitation. This is the field of public health nurses, and I believe +that the records of their work in rural communities will show that they +have done more for health education than any other one agency. A decade +ago trained visiting nurses were practically unknown in rural +communities. In 1914 the American Red Cross first organized its Town and +Country Nursing Service and coöperated with a few rural communities in +supervising the work of trained public health nurses, but relatively few +places employed rural nurses prior to the war. The county tuberculosis +societies also employed visiting nurses who worked throughout a whole +county and whose work inevitably created a demand for visiting nurses +for a more general service. The shortage of physicians during the war +and the influenza epidemic of 1918 revealed the need for rural nurses +and since the war the local chapters of the American Red Cross, which is +devoting much of its attention to public health work, have employed +hundreds of rural public health nurses.</p> + +<p>The success of school nurses in the cities has led to their employment +in the smaller towns, and now county school nurses are being employed in +individual counties in <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_147" id="Page_147">[Pg 147]</a></span>several states, and in other states school +nurses are employed by townships or jointly by several rural school +districts. Wisconsin and Ohio have recently enacted laws compelling +every county to employ at least one public health nurse, and a dozen or +more states have passed legislation making the employment of county or +local nurses optional. Under whatever auspices they are employed, rural +public health nurses have found that their most effective work may be +done at first in connection with the schools. Medical examination of +school children is now required in many states, but unless it is +followed up by some one who will see the parents and encourage them to +secure the necessary medical or dental treatment, the results of these +examinations are often disappointing.</p> + +<p>A most interesting and instructive account of the work done by a county +school nurse during the first year of her work in typical Minnesota +county has been given by Miss Amalia M. Bengtson, superintendent of +schools of Renville County:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"Renville County is prosperous; there are few poor people, +no child is underfed and no one wilfully neglected, yet our +tabulated report shows an appalling amount of physical +defectiveness. Out of our school population of six thousand +we examined five thousand children, and found four thousand +and ninety-five defective, testifying that 81 percent of the +children were defective. This seems almost unbelievable, and +yet it does not tell the whole story, for I could take you +to school after school where there was 100 percent +defectiveness, where we sent a notice to every parent in +that school. Yet, as I said before, Renville County is a +prosperous county, and we have every reason to believe that +conditions in Renville County to-day are the same as in +other counties where a health survey has been taken. The +percentages of the defectiveness found were: teeth, 55 +percent; nose, 40 percent; throat, 66 percent; eyes, 22 +percent; ears, 17 <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_148" id="Page_148">[Pg 148]</a></span>percent; malnutrition, 16 percent; +nervous disorder, 16 percent; neck glands, 14 percent; skin, +13 percent; and general appearance, 12 per cent."<a name="FNanchor_57_57" id="FNanchor_57_57"></a><a href="#Footnote_57_57" class="fnanchor">[57]</a></p> + +<p>In reply to the question, "What of it? What good came of the +health survey?" Miss Bengtson says: "Our records show that +about one thousand of the children examined were taken to +see either a doctor or a dentist, or both, the first year. +Parents who at first opposed the work are fully convinced +that a county nurse should be a permanent worker among us +when they see how much their children have been benefited by +a little medical help.</p> + +<p>"Besides examining the children, the nurse has been a great +factor in bringing about a general education for better +health. In our county to-day you are behind the times if you +do not know what adenoids are and the havoc bad tonsils can +bring; why eye strain is so prevalent and how to prevent it; +why teeth should be taken care of; why we should drink +plenty of water and eat the proper kind of food; what kind +of clothing is best to wear, and why we should not wear too +heavy and too much clothing while indoors (we have induced +some little boys to remove one coat and three sweaters while +in school); why we need to be clean, etc.</p> + +<p>"Another great service the nurse rendered us was to bring +about a veritable epidemic of school-house improvement. She +proved that the physical condition of the school-house was +reflected in the physical condition of the children. For +example, a poorly lighted and badly ventilated school-house +always housed children with eye strain and nervous disorder, +and in a school-house having ill-fitting desks were children +of poor posture.</p> + +<p>"During the summer of that first year the nurse was with us, +we conducted so-called 'baby clinics' in the county, one in +every township and one in each village. We urged the mothers +to bring their children below school age to the clinics, and +much the same kind of examination was given them as was +given the children of school age. We found that 60 percent +of the children of pre-school age were defective."</p></div> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_149" id="Page_149">[Pg 149]</a></span>This is but a sample of the work and experience of hundreds of rural +nurses and shows how the nurse is a health teacher in the most effective +manner, for she gets into the homes and gives personal help in bringing +about better health. She uses the demonstration method in health work +just as the home demonstration agent does with food, clothing, and home +management. Furthermore, when the nurse is devoted to her work—and most +nurses are or they would not stick to so hard a job—she becomes +endeared to the people just as does the family doctor, for the help she +gives in cases of sickness, accident, and childbirth, when she is of +invaluable service to isolated homes who can secure no other help. A +slip of a girl—though a well-trained nurse—who commenced work in a +nearby community was introduced to her new work with two confinement +cases and an accident case the first day, for none of which was a +physician obtainable. The Red Cross Nurse in my own county has spent +many a night in a farm home in order to get sufficiently acquainted with +parents to induce them to allow her to have needed treatment given to +their children, and when the parents come to realize the benefit which +their children have received from operations on tonsils or adenoids, the +fitting of glasses, and similar services, and appreciate the handicap +which such defects would have been to them through life, the nurse has a +warm place in their hearts and they eagerly support her work.</p> + +<p>One of the difficulties of the average country doctor is his lack of +facilities for the expert diagnosis of disease and for the care of +patients who need to be kept under observation and given supervised +care. Medical science has become highly specialized. The human body is +so complicated and wonderful a mechanism that we no longer can expect +any one man to be expert on all its ailments. If <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_150" id="Page_150">[Pg 150]</a></span>one desires to secure +the best medical service, he goes to a large city hospital or a +sanitarium, where various specialists can be consulted and where +laboratory facilities are available for their aid. In the average +village or country town both specialists and laboratories are lacking +and the physician is dependent on his own knowledge and resources. The +well-trained physician who appreciates his own limitations and that he +cannot give many of his more difficult cases the care they ought to +have, sends those who can afford it to the nearest hospital, and does +the best he can for the others, but he is keenly aware that he cannot +always give them the treatment they should have and he envies his city +colleague who can take his patients to specialists for examination.</p> + +<p>It is a fear of this professional isolation which causes the average +young doctor to start his practice in the city where he has better +facilities, and which is largely responsible for the small number of +young doctors in rural counties. It is, of course, impossible to have a +hospital in every hamlet, but it is possible to have a good hospital and +laboratories at every county seat or small city center, so that there +will be at least one such medical center in a county. Legislation has +now been enacted in several states making it possible for counties to +support a public hospital just as the larger cities have done for many +years. Here clinics may be held from time to time, to which eminent +specialists may be brought for the diagnosis of different cases, to the +advantage of both patient and physician. It is quite impossible for a +busy country doctor to maintain a private laboratory and to provide +himself with all the expensive equipment for making examination and +tests of blood, sputum, urine, for X-ray examinations, etc., but the +hospital may have all this equipment at his service.</p> + +<p>One of the most important features of the domestic <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_151" id="Page_151">[Pg 151]</a></span>program of the +American Red Cross is the promotion of so-called "Health Centers," a +movement which is also sponsored by the American Medical Association and +other national health organizations. Such a health center may include a +hospital with well equipped laboratories and clinical facilities, or it +may be nothing more than a room in a small village, equipped with scales +for weighing children, with first aid kits for accident cases, and used +for occasional clinics for the examination of babies and children of +pre-school age and for classes in home nursing or first aid; but every +community of any size should have some place which will be a +headquarters for its local health Service, equipped as may be most +practicable to meet its needs, according to the size of the community.</p> + +<p>Curiously enough the local physicians, who would be most helped by such +improved health facilities and whose practice would be benefited by +them, are often their chief opponents. The leaders in the medical world, +who are keen for all practicable means of improving the public health, +heartily support the "health center" movement.</p> + +<p>We are coming to the time when the maintenance of health will be +regarded as a public function just as education is now provided for all +the people and supported by them. That country people are alive to the +need of better health facilities is shown by a resolution of the recent +(February, 1922) Agricultural Conference called by President Harding at +Washington. Its committee on farm population reported:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"The safeguarding of the health of the people in the open +country is a first consideration. Any program that looks +toward the proper safeguarding of health must include +adequate available facilities for the people in the open +country in the way of hospitals, clinics, laboratories, +dispensaries, nurses, physicians, and <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_152" id="Page_152">[Pg 152]</a></span>health officers. This +committee endorses the growing tendency through public +agencies to maintain the health of the people by means of +these facilities and agencies."</p></div> + +<p>The life of rural people in America is no longer threatened by the +invasion of human foes, but it is constantly threatened by disease. It +would seem that the first public concern would be for the maintenance of +the health—the very life—of its people, but as yet we have given much +less thought to health than to education. The New York State Department +of Health has as its slogan: "Public health is purchasable. Within +natural limitations any community can determine its own death rate." +This is no longer theory, but can be demonstrated by official mortality +statistics. The death rate has declined more rapidly in cities than in +rural communities because the cities have given more adequate support to +public health organization. The rural community has all the natural +advantages in its favor and will ever have the most healthful +environment, but it must recognize that if preventable disease—with all +its attendant evils to the family and to the individual—is to be +reduced, this can be accomplished only through education and public +health agencies. Better health is a matter of the hygiene of the home +and the individual, but it has also become a concern of the common +life—a community problem.</p> + +<h4>FOOTNOTES:</h4> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_54_54" id="Footnote_54_54"></a><a href="#FNanchor_54_54"><span class="label">[54]</span></a> "A Study of Sickness in Dutchess County, New York." State +Charities Aid Association, New York City.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_55_55" id="Footnote_55_55"></a><a href="#FNanchor_55_55"><span class="label">[55]</span></a> L. L. Lumsden, "Rural Sanitation," U. S. Public Health +Service. Public Health Bulletin No. 94, Oct., 1918.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_56_56" id="Footnote_56_56"></a><a href="#FNanchor_56_56"><span class="label">[56]</span></a> See Dr. W. S. Rankin, "Report of Committee on Rural +Health," Proceedings Second National Country Life Conference, p. 93.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_57_57" id="Footnote_57_57"></a><a href="#FNanchor_57_57"><span class="label">[57]</span></a> "An Adventure in Rural Health Service." Proceedings Second +National Country Life Conference, p. 47.</p></div> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_153" id="Page_153">[Pg 153]</a></span> +<br /> + +<hr /> +<br /> +<h2>CHAPTER XIII</h2> + +<h2>THE COMMUNITY'S PLAY AND RECREATION</h2> +<br /> + +<p>The people of most rural communities have an unsatisfied desire for more +play, recreation, and sociable life. Opportunities for enjoyment seem +more available in the towns and cities and are therefore a leading cause +of the great exodus. Economic prosperity and good wages are not alone +sufficient to keep people on farms and in villages if their income will +not purchase the satisfactions they desire. To a certain extent many of +these advantages of the town and city can be brought to the rural +community, but only when country people come to appreciate and develop +those forms of play and recreation which are possible and adapted to +their conditions, and when they are willing to afford ample facilities +and opportunity for the play of their children, will the lure of the +city be checked. With such a changed attitude the rural community need +have no fear of the competition of the city. It may not be able to have +as fine commercial amusements, but it can have the best sort of play and +recreation at small cost, for which the cities incur large expense.</p> + +<p>There is a peculiar need for a better understanding of the place of play +and recreation in the open country at the present time. Formerly large +families gave better opportunity for the children of one family to play +together, and there were more children of similar ages at the district +school of the neighborhood. To-day with farms farther apart and fewer +children, farm children do not have sufficient opportunity to play +together in groups. The better <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_154" id="Page_154">[Pg 154]</a></span>opportunity for group play and team +games is one of the advantages of the consolidated school which has been +too little appreciated.</p> + +<p>We have seen that one of the obvious necessities for the economic +progress of agriculture is that its business be conducted on a +coöperative basis. The chief obstacle to coöperation is the +individualism of the farmer. The training of boys and girls in team +games, in which they learn loyalty to the group and to subordinate +themselves to the winning of the team, will do much to change this +attitude. Boys who play baseball and basketball together, who are +associated in boy scouts and agricultural clubs, will be much quicker to +coöperate, for they grow up with an attitude of loyalty to the team +group as well as to their own family.</p> + +<p>Again, the awkwardness and self-consciousness of the country youth in +comparison with his city cousin is due to no inherent inferiority, for +in a few years he often out-strips him, but it is the direct result of +his lack of social contacts. Personality develops through social life, +through the give and take of one personality with another, through +imitation, and the acquirement of a natural ease of association with +others. The country boy and girl who has had the advantage of +association with larger groups in the consolidated school or high school +tends to become quite the social equal of the city child.</p> + +<p>Heretofore many people, and particularly farm people, have regarded play +and recreation for adults as more or less frivolous or unnecessary, +while for children play has been used as an award for good conduct or +hard work, but it has by no means been deemed a necessary phase of the +child's life. If Johnnie does all his chores or if Mary washes the +dishes and dusts the furniture faithfully, the opportunity for play is +held up as a reward for services <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_155" id="Page_155">[Pg 155]</a></span>rendered; but that time for play and +proper kinds of play are essential for a child's education has only +recently been established by the students of child psychology and is +not, as yet, generally appreciated either by parents or teachers.</p> + +<p>It is often said that this is the "age of the child," in that our +civilization is more largely shaped by a desire to give our children the +best possible advantages. We have come to appreciate, thanks to the +insight of such philosophers as John Fiske,<a name="FNanchor_58_58" id="FNanchor_58_58"></a><a href="#Footnote_58_58" class="fnanchor">[58]</a> that the advancement of +the human race has been very largely due to the prolongation of the +period of infancy. Ordinarily we think of play as an attribute of +childhood, but as an incident rather than as a fundamental reason for +the prolongation of childhood. Most modern students of child psychology, +however, will take the view of Karl Gross,<a name="FNanchor_59_59" id="FNanchor_59_59"></a><a href="#Footnote_59_59" class="fnanchor">[59]</a> an authority on the play +of man and animals, who says: "Children do not play because they are +young; they are young in order that they may play." Play is a normal +process of the child's growth through spontaneous activity. Joseph Lee, +the president of the Playground and Recreation Association of America, +goes so far as to say: "Play is thus the essential part of education. It +is nature's prescribed course. School is invaluable in forming the child +to meet actual social opportunities and conditions. Without the school, +he will not grow up to fit our institutions. Without play he will not +grow up at all.<a name="FNanchor_60_60" id="FNanchor_60_60"></a><a href="#Footnote_60_60" class="fnanchor">[60]</a></p> + +<p>I do not mean that a child should have no responsibilities, for that is +the misfortune of the city child, but it is important to recognize the +truth of old adage that "all work and no play makes Jack a dull boy," +which modern psychology has given a scientific basis. One of the most +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_156" id="Page_156">[Pg 156]</a></span>fundamental needs for the promotion of play in rural communities is to +secure a new attitude toward it on the part of many parents. Too +frequently—and alas, often from necessity—children are compelled to do +too much farm labor. Agriculture is still a family industry, and very +often on the poorer farms the older children seem to be considered +chiefly as an economic asset. Overwork and little or no time to satisfy +the innate tendency of children to play, inevitably produces a dislike +of farm life and is one of the most obvious reasons why many of them +leave the farm as soon as possible.</p> + +<p>Many parents have forgotten how to play and have lost the "feel" of it. +It is important for them to play themselves in order to appreciate the +needs of their children, and to have a real sympathy with them. Picnics, +play festivals, and sociables, at which every one is compelled to "get +into the game," are valuable for this purpose. Many a man recovers his +youth in a picnic baseball game. Others have never had much play in +their own lives and do not appreciate its value for the best development +of their children. Play festivals or demonstrations and local athletic +meets in which their children participate may appeal to their parental +pride. Furthermore, when such play days are community affairs, they give +the sanction of public opinion to the games played and to those +participating in them. The play idea is popularized.</p> + +<p><i>Play in the Home.</i>—Although the small family does not furnish +opportunity for group games, which are necessary for the satisfaction +both of children and adults, yet the movement for better play facilities +for the community should not overlook the fact that the home is the +fundamental social institution of rural life and that play and +recreation in the home are essential to its success and happiness. Home +games bind the family together, and <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_157" id="Page_157">[Pg 157]</a></span>parents who play with their +children find it much easier to secure and maintain their confidence. +The community may well give attention to the encouragement of games and +play in the homes as well as in the community gatherings. We need a +definite movement on the part of pastors, teachers, and especially by +such organizations as granges and farm and home bureaus for the +promotion of play by young and old in the farm home.</p> + +<p><i>Influence of the Automobile.</i>—One of the values of the automobile is +that by its use many a farmer has been given a new realization of the +value of recreation. The new desire for recreation thus created is a +great gain for farm life. There is no reason why the farmer and his +family should not have as much enjoyment of life as town and city +people, and if they cannot, then only the poorer class of people will +remain on the farms. Occasionally one hears a commercial salesman or +some city business man decrying the effect of automobiles on farmers, +claiming that they are neglecting their work while chasing around the +country having a good time. Doubtless in occasional instances this is as +true of the farmer as it is of the townsman, but such farmers will soon +come to their senses or get off the farm, and even were there a general +tendency of this sort in some communities it must be regarded as the +temporary excitement of a new experience. On the other hand, the +breaking down of the old stolidity which dominated many a farmer who had +become so accustomed to work day in and day out that he was hardly happy +when he had a chance for recreation, and the creation of a wholesome +desire for a larger experience and more association with others, is one +of the largest gains in country life and will not only raise the +standards of living, but will be a potent incentive for better +agricultural methods. There can be no progress without a certain amount +of <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_158" id="Page_158">[Pg 158]</a></span>dissatisfaction. Contentedness has its virtues, but it may +degenerate into inertia and the death of all desire for better life.</p> + +<p>On the other hand, the automobile and trolley have made it possible for +farm people to easily reach the towns and there attend movies and other +commercial amusements and to take part in the social life of the town +and city. This may weaken the social life of the rural community, and it +also tends to make rural people imitate the forms of play, recreation, +and social life of the city, which are not necessarily best suited to +rural life. When rural people come to appreciate that those forms of +play and recreation which are native or are adapted to the country have +many advantages over those of their city cousins, and in many ways may +have higher values and satisfactions, they will give more heed to +developing those which are most suitable for their enjoyment. Because +various kinds of expensive play apparatus are desirable for the small +playground of the city, which is crowded with hundreds of children, is +no reason why similar apparatus should be thought necessary for the +school-yard of the rural school. Many of the present tendencies of +recreation in cities are but revivals of rural customs which are +receiving new recognition because they appeal to that which is innate in +human nature. What is community singing but a variation of the +old-fashioned singing school? Folk-dancing originated in the country as +an expression of the activities of every-day life, and should be +encouraged everywhere. Dramatics and pageantry are native to the +countryside. The fair and festival are rural institutions.</p> + +<p><i>Commercial Amusements; Moving Pictures.</i>—A certain form of recreation +may be secured through amusements which involve mere passive +participation upon the part of the spectators, as in various +entertainments, dramatics, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_159" id="Page_159">[Pg 159]</a></span>etc. As long as those giving the +entertainment are local people, friends or relatives, the audience takes +a more or less sympathetic part in the performance and is not actuated +solely by the desire to purchase pleasurable sensations as is the case +with commercial amusements. I mean by commercial amusements those which +are operated solely for profit, whose advantages the individual +purchases for his own pleasure rather than with any idea of +participating in a group activity. Commercial amusements have their +place and may be of great benefit, but they are largely an +individualistic form of enjoyment and tend to make the spectator +increasingly dependent upon passive pleasurable sensations, and do not +have the social value of those forms of play in which one actively +participates as a member of a group.</p> + +<p>Although commercial amusements have these limitations, yet they have +very real values which might be secured for many rural communities if +they were operated on a coöperative basis by the people themselves +rather than merely for profit by an individual. Motion pictures are now +the most popular form of commercial amusement and have unlimited +possibilities when operated for the good of the community rather than +for profit alone. It is now possible to secure relatively cheap +projection outfits and electric plants, so that many small communities +are now operating their own motion picture shows. In many places this is +one of the leading attractions at the community building and is a source +of revenue for its maintenance. In such places the motion picture +entertainment is becoming a sort of family affair, and when it can be so +operated as to secure the attendance of the family as a group the +objectionable features will soon disappear. Indeed, there is a +well-organized effort on the part of certain motion picture firms to +supply films for just this type of <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_160" id="Page_160">[Pg 160]</a></span>entertainments. Moreover, the +picture show may possibly be supplemented with other features which will +make a more attractive evening's entertainment, especially in small +places where it is practicable to operate but one show during an +evening. During the war community singing was tried at the opening and +between reels in many movie houses with conspicuous success, and should +be encouraged wherever suitable leadership can be secured. The speeches +of the "four-minute" men were also an innovation which might well be +tried further in a modified form. Would not a four-minute speech on some +current topic by a live speaker, given in an uncontroversial manner, be +a welcome feature of the movie show between reels, and an effective +means of educating public opinion? The community orchestra or community +band might well receive encouragement and financial aid by occasional +programs at the community movies.</p> + +<p><i>Dramatics and Pageantry.</i>—In the last few years amateur dramatics have +become increasingly popular in rural communities. The "little country +theater" idea has caught the attention of rural people, and seems +destined in one form or another to become a rural institution. Amateur +dramatics are one of the most enjoyable and wholesome forms of +recreation. The actors not only have a deal of fun as well as hard work, +but real acting involves putting one's self into the part and gaining an +understanding of various types of people and social situations which is +a most liberal education. The audience, on the other hand, takes a +particular interest in the acting of its children, friends, and +relatives, and it enters into the spirit of the play much more fully +than when seeing professional actors. The amateur dramatic club tends to +become a community organization in which the people have a real pride +and for which they develop a loyalty which <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_161" id="Page_161">[Pg 161]</a></span>affords it a peculiar +opportunity and responsibility for portraying various problems and +phases of life, giving not only enjoyment but a finer and deeper +appreciation of human relationships.</p> + +<p>For special occasions the historical pageant is not only a most +delightful entertainment but is one of the best means of arousing +community pride and spirit. The pageant grips both actors and audience +with a common loyalty to their forefathers. Such an historical picture +of the development of a community brings to its people an appreciation +of their common heritage and they come to a new realization of their +present comforts and their responsibility for the community's future. +All sorts and conditions of people will work together in a pageant and +enjoy the association. Any rural community which really makes up its +mind to do so can produce an historical pageant of its own, which will +give new meaning and inspiration to the common life.<a name="FNanchor_61_61" id="FNanchor_61_61"></a><a href="#Footnote_61_61" class="fnanchor">[61]</a></p> + +<p><i>Play in the School.</i>—The school is commencing to realize the +importance of play as a phase of education, but in many cases the +one-room country school has too few children of the same age to make it +possible for them to play together with much satisfaction. School +consolidation is essential for better play. The grounds of most one-room +schools are ill-adapted to play and it is not always practicable to have +sufficient land attached to them for a suitable playground. It has been +assumed that children know how to play, but such is by no means always +the case. They have the desire to play, but if they have not had +opportunity to play with others, the forms of their play may be very +limited. Herein is the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_162" id="Page_162">[Pg 162]</a></span>opportunity for supervision by the teacher, who +may teach them new plays and games, may uphold the code of play, and may +see that all have opportunity to participate. Obviously the teachers +themselves need training for this which they have not had in the past. +New York State has provided that any school district or combination of +several school districts may employ a supervisor of physical training, +towards whose salary the state will contribute half up to $600 per +annum, who will assist the teachers in developing physical training and +play in their schools. Similar plans are being adopted in other states. +Maryland has a state-wide athletic league organized by counties. The +children of each school are given physical tests, and recognition by +buttons and medals is given for the attainment of definite standards of +physical development and prowess, graduated according to age and sex. +Athletic meets are held by the schools of each county, and the winners +then compete in a state-wide meet.<a name="FNanchor_62_62" id="FNanchor_62_62"></a><a href="#Footnote_62_62" class="fnanchor">[62]</a></p> + +<p>In many parts of the country the schools of a community, township, or +county are now holding play days or play festivals, with which is +usually a picnic, at which children and parents from the whole +countryside get together for a day of real recreation, and which have a +large influence in winning the support of their patrons for the play +activities fostered by the schools.<a name="FNanchor_63_63" id="FNanchor_63_63"></a><a href="#Footnote_63_63" class="fnanchor">[63]</a></p> + +<p><i>Boys' and Girls' Organizations.</i>—Probably a larger impetus to the best +types of play for country boys and girls has been given by such +organizations as the Young Men's Christian Association, the Young +Women's <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_163" id="Page_163">[Pg 163]</a></span>Christian Association, the Boy Scouts, the Girl Scouts, the +Camp Fire Girls, and the Boys' and Girls' Clubs fostered by the +extension departments of the state agricultural colleges and the U. S. +Department of Agriculture, than by any other agencies. Each of these +organizations has a program of children's activities involving both +recreation and education, as well as a definite effort for character +building. They are invaluable allies of the home, the school, and the +church, for they are the boys' and girls' own organizations and meet +their desire for group activities. Just which one or how many of them +are needed in any one community is a local problem, and it is +impracticable to here attempt any evaluation of their particular +advantages. Suffice it to say that every rural community which can find +suitable leadership should have such an organization of boys or girls, +and will find the assistance of the state and national headquarters of +these movements of the greatest help in the development of a local +program of play and recreation.<a name="FNanchor_64_64" id="FNanchor_64_64"></a><a href="#Footnote_64_64" class="fnanchor">[64]</a></p> + +<p><i>The Church and Play.</i>—We have already noted (page 133) a changing +attitude on the part of the rural church toward play and recreation.<a name="FNanchor_65_65" id="FNanchor_65_65"></a><a href="#Footnote_65_65" class="fnanchor">[65]</a> +In the past it has too often been simply a negative condemnation of the +so-called "worldly amusements," with no effort to understand the normal +cravings of human nature which they satisfy or to furnish any +satisfactory substitute for them. It is true that socials of the older +classes in the Sunday school and <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_164" id="Page_164">[Pg 164]</a></span>of the young people's societies have +done much for the sociable life of the country, but very often they have +failed to interest those who would be most benefited by them. Recently, +however, church leaders are actively encouraging rural churches to +develop such programs of play and recreation as may be necessary to meet +the needs of their communities. The Sunday schools are organizing +baseball teams and baseball leagues, and are promoting +"through-the-week" activities of organized classes. A majority of the +troops of Boy Scouts are affiliated with churches, and scouting is +becoming a recognized means for the direction of the church's +recreational work for boys.</p> + +<p>Just how far the rural church should go in affording facilities for play +and recreation, is a local problem and it is difficult to generalize as +to the duty of the church in this field. If there is but one church in +the community, or there is a community church, and other agencies are +lacking, it may be highly desirable for the church which has suitable +rooms to equip one as a play room, or to establish a play ground for the +children, or to organize a dramatic club. But where there is more than +one church in a community, it is obviously difficult to organize +recreational work on sectarian lines. In some instances the churches are +pooling their interests in the support of a common recreational program. +Some of those who most keenly feel the responsibility for the leadership +of the church in this field, even go so far as to claim that on account +of the moral values involved in the play of its people, play and +recreation should be chiefly directed by and centered in the church. +There is no question but that the church which does not give attention +to this aspect of life and does not have some recreational and social +features among its activities will fail to meet the needs of its people, +but whether the church can compete with the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_165" id="Page_165">[Pg 165]</a></span>school, the community +building, and independent social organizations, or whether it should +seek to do so, is hardly a debatable question. The play and recreational +life of most rural communities inevitably crosses church lines, and it +is well for the community that it does. People may differ on religion +and yet enjoy playing together. So the church may lead and promote +better means for play and recreation, but whenever it attempts +domination or control it will prejudice its position and will be unable +to accomplish its objective.</p> + +<p><i>Community Buildings.</i>—The larger appreciation of the importance of +play and recreation in rural life has brought attention to the lack of +physical equipment. Every rural community needs a playground large +enough to include a good baseball diamond and a basketball court, and a +building where indoor sports, gymnasium work and basketball games can be +held.</p> + +<p>On account of the lack of such facilities many cities have bought +playgrounds upon which have been erected special buildings containing +gymnasiums, game and club rooms, and often a branch library, which have +become known as "social centers." The "social center idea" has spread to +the country, for which various forms of social centers have been +advocated. Any building which is available for such purposes to the +whole community—the school, church, or grange hall—may become a social +center if suitable arrangements are made for its operation as such. The +U. S. Bureau of Education has urged that every school shall be made a +social center, and as far as this is possible, it is most desirable. +What can be accomplished through the country school is well shown in the +work of Mrs. Marie Turner Harvey in the Porter School at Kirksville, +Missouri.<a name="FNanchor_66_66" id="FNanchor_66_66"></a><a href="#Footnote_66_66" class="fnanchor">[66]</a> But the district school will, at best, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_166" id="Page_166">[Pg 166]</a></span>be only the social +center of a neighborhood, and in many cases its district is too small +for successful play or social life. Furthermore, the average one-room +school is ill-adapted in architecture or equipment for social purposes. +The consolidated school or village high school may well be made a social +center as far as it is possible for it to so function and new schools +should be, and are being, constructed with this in view. The school +building and the school playground are naturally the best places for +centering the play activities of the children, especially where physical +training or play supervisors are employed by the schools. It is a +question, however, whether those over school age will use the school for +social purposes as freely as some other building, unless the general +policy and management of the use of the building for community purposes +is in the hands of a community organization formed for that purpose.</p> + +<p>Where there is but one church in a community, which is practically a +community church, the church building or church house may be utilized as +a social center, and the erection of community buildings by such +churches is now being advocated. In some cases such a community building +attached to a church may be a means of meeting the need; but in other +communities affiliation with the church may not be advantageous. Where +there is more than one church, the churches may join in the operation of +a community building, but in that case all of the churches must be +included or it will not have the support of the whole community—it will +not be a real <i>community</i> building.</p> + +<p>Many grange buildings are now used but once in a fortnight or so for +grange meetings, and remain idle the rest of the time. May it not be +possible to devise some equitable and satisfactory arrangement whereby +they may be made available for the constant use of all the people <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_167" id="Page_167">[Pg 167]</a></span>as +community buildings and still reserve them to the grange for its use at +such times as it desires? The average rural community cannot afford to +tie up so much capital in buildings which are so infrequently used.</p> + +<p>In any event, the auspices under which a community building is to be +operated and the possibility of securing the united support of the whole +community for it are essential if it is to be permanently successful as +a "community home."</p> + +<p>Because of the limitations of school, church, and grange hall, many +communities are now planning to erect "community buildings"<a name="FNanchor_67_67" id="FNanchor_67_67"></a><a href="#Footnote_67_67" class="fnanchor">[67]</a> in which +all the "leisure-time activities" of the whole community may be +centered. The community building will usually include an auditorium with +stage for entertainments and dramatics, which is often used for a +gymnasium or basketball, a kitchen and dining room, a game room, +possibly a library room, and such other features as may be practicable. +In older communities there are often more buildings than are being used. +Unused churches may well be converted to community buildings with +relatively small expense. The advent of prohibition and good roads has +driven many village hotels out of business and their buildings are in +some cases suitable for conversion into community buildings and may be +purchased at much below cost. Some sort of organization must be the +owner of a community building and assure its support, and it would seem +that if the building is to be truly a community affair it should be +operated by the community as such. In some states legislation has been +passed permitting the township, or any voluntary tax district, to erect +and operate a community building, and many such buildings are in +successful operation. In other <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_168" id="Page_168">[Pg 168]</a></span>cases, it will be desirable to form some +sort of community organization, which is open to all members of the +community and which represents all of the organizations and interests +which may use the building, for its erection and control.</p> + +<p>Thus rural play and recreation which formerly centered in the +neighborhood, is now being organized on a community basis, and the +increased interest in adequate facilities for play and recreation is, in +last analysis, an effort of the rural community to defend its integrity +against the lure of its people by the city. Just as in their economic +life and in their educational system rural people are compelled to act +together as a community if they are to compete with the advancing +standards of the city, so play and recreation is also becoming a concern +of the whole community.</p> + +<h4>FOOTNOTES:</h4> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_58_58" id="Footnote_58_58"></a><a href="#FNanchor_58_58"><span class="label">[58]</span></a> See his "The Meaning of Infancy."</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_59_59" id="Footnote_59_59"></a><a href="#FNanchor_59_59"><span class="label">[59]</span></a> "The Play of Man." Translated by Elizabeth L. Baldwin. New +York, 1901.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_60_60" id="Footnote_60_60"></a><a href="#FNanchor_60_60"><span class="label">[60]</span></a> "Play in Education."</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_61_61" id="Footnote_61_61"></a><a href="#FNanchor_61_61"><span class="label">[61]</span></a> See Abigail F. Halsey, The Historical Pageant in the Rural +Community. N. Y. State College of Agriculture, Cornell Extension +Bulletin, 54. June, 1922.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_62_62" id="Footnote_62_62"></a><a href="#FNanchor_62_62"><span class="label">[62]</span></a> See Official Handbook of the Public Athletic League, +Baltimore, Md. Edited by William Burdick, M.D. Spalding Athletic +Library, New York, American Sports Publishing Co.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_63_63" id="Footnote_63_63"></a><a href="#FNanchor_63_63"><span class="label">[63]</span></a> See Galpin and Weisman, "Play Days in Rural Schools," +Circular 118, Exten. Div. of the College of Agr., Univ. of Wisconsin, +Madison.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_64_64" id="Footnote_64_64"></a><a href="#FNanchor_64_64"><span class="label">[64]</span></a> National headquarters are as follows: Y. M. C. A., County +Work, 347 Madison Ave., New York; Y. W. C. A., Country Dept., 600 +Lexington Ave., New York; Boy Scouts of America, Fifth Ave. Bldg., New +York; Girl Scouts, Inc., 189 Lexington Ave., New York; The Camp Fire +Girls of America, 128 E. 28th St., New York; Boys' and Girls' Club Work +(in agriculture and home economics), States Relations Service, U. S. +Dept. of Agriculture, Washington, D. C., or the extension department of +any state agricultural college.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_65_65" id="Footnote_65_65"></a><a href="#FNanchor_65_65"><span class="label">[65]</span></a> The best discussion of this topic is Henry A. Atkinson's +"The Church and the Peoples Play." Boston, Pilgrim Press, 1915.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_66_66" id="Footnote_66_66"></a><a href="#FNanchor_66_66"><span class="label">[66]</span></a> See Evelyn Dewey, "New Schools for Old." New York.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_67_67" id="Footnote_67_67"></a><a href="#FNanchor_67_67"><span class="label">[67]</span></a> See Farmers' Bulletins 825, 1173 and 1192, U. S. +Department of Agriculture, by W. C. Nason, on Rural Community +Buildings.</p></div> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_169" id="Page_169">[Pg 169]</a></span> +<br /> + +<hr /> +<br /> +<h2>CHAPTER XIV</h2> + +<h2>ORGANIZATIONS OF THE RURAL COMMUNITY</h2> +<br /> + +<p>Throughout most of the United States the farmer's sense of belonging to +a community is rather vague. The villager has a definite idea of the +village because it has a boundary, he can see it, and in many cases it +is incorporated; but in most cases, outside of New England at least, the +villager and the farmer have not thought of themselves as belonging to +the same community. Farmers do, however, belong to many organizations +which meet in the village and more and more farmer and villager mingle +in the associations devoted to various special interests. The farmer's +loyalty has, therefore, been primarily to organizations rather than to +the community as such, but as these different organizations have +multiplied he has become increasingly aware that most of them, each in +its own field, are devoted to the interests of the common good. Through +the common interests of organizations in the life of all the people is +arising a new conception of the community. As Professor E. C. Lindeman +has well pointed out,<a name="FNanchor_68_68" id="FNanchor_68_68"></a><a href="#Footnote_68_68" class="fnanchor">[68]</a> at the present time the community is more an +association of groups than of individuals, and it is these groups and +organizations which largely control community action. If we are to +understand the relation of the farmer to his community, we can do so +only by knowing the organizations and groups to which he belongs, for it +is in them and through them that his loyalty to the community arises.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_170" id="Page_170">[Pg 170]</a></span><i>The Grange.</i>—By all odds the strongest local organization of farmers +throughout the northern and western states is the Grange, which is the +local unit of the Order of Patrons of Husbandry. For half a century, +from the time of its organization in 1868 until 1920, it had a larger +influence upon national legislation than any other organization of +farmers, and it was largely through its efforts that many of the more +important acts for the benefit of agriculture were passed by +Congress.<a name="FNanchor_69_69" id="FNanchor_69_69"></a><a href="#Footnote_69_69" class="fnanchor">[69]</a> The growth in membership and number of local granges in +recent years testifies that the grange meets a real need in farm life. +Its maximum membership was in 1875 when 858,050 members were paying dues +to the National Grange. From then it declined to 106,782 members in +1889, but in the next thirty years it grew to approximately 700,000 +members in 1919. State Granges are now organized in thirty-three states +and there are approximately 8,000 local or subordinate granges. In the +earlier years of its history there were many granges in the South, but +since the decline in the '80's there have been practically no granges +south of Virginia and Missouri.</p> + +<p>Although the Grange is a secret order or fraternity, with a ritual +similar to other fraternal orders, its membership is open to any one of +good character, and the local granges frequently hold "open" meetings to +which all the people of the community are invited. The strength of the +Grange as a community organization is largely due to two factors: first, +its broad program, and second, that it is a family organization. Both +men and women are admitted to membership and in several states junior +granges for the older children are numerous. Although <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_171" id="Page_171">[Pg 171]</a></span>the grange +actively supports state and national legislation for the benefit of +agriculture, it is strictly non-partisan in politics and is +non-sectarian with regard to religion. In the earlier years it undertook +to operate numerous coöperative enterprises, including many coöperative +stores, and it was the failure of many of these which caused its sudden +decline of membership in the late '70's. In recent years, although it +has vigorously sponsored coöperation, it has favored independent +coöperative organizations, having no organic connection with the grange, +with the exception of grange insurance companies whose advantages are +usually limited to grange members.</p> + +<p>Possibly the greatest service of the Grange is its educational and +social work. The "lecturer's hour" is a feature of every meeting, and in +this hour a program planned by the lecturer is given by members of the +grange, or outside speakers are invited to address it on topics of +interest. These programs include both discussion of educational topics +having to do with all phases of agriculture, home life, and civic +affairs, but also music, recitations and other entertaining features. +Special social evenings and suppers are held at frequent intervals and +the young people often enjoy an informal dance after the regular grange +meeting. The local grange, more than any other organization, provides a +forum for the discussion of the problems of agriculture and country +life, and is thus a powerful agency for the creation of public opinion +on any matters of community concern. The management of its business and +the participation in the lecturer's programs furnish the best +opportunity for the development of leadership and for training in public +speaking, so that the local Grange has been the means of discovering and +training much of our best rural leadership.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_172" id="Page_172">[Pg 172]</a></span>For many years the attention of the Grange seemed to be directed chiefly +toward the support of needed national legislation, but recently grange +leaders have perceived that, like all such organizations, its permanent +strength and influence depend more largely on the degree to which the +local grange is a vital force in the life of its members and of its +community. In a recent article on "The Future of the Grange," S. J. +Lowell, Master of the National Grange, ably voices this point of view:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"The farm people of America are better informed on all the +great questions of the day; are pursuing better agricultural +methods; are demanding better roads, better schools, better +churches; are doing more effective teamwork for +forward-looking projects; and in consequence are more +valuable men and women and citizens because of the Grange +influence of the past and its presence in their life to-day. +Remove the Grange from America and there would be taken out +of our progress of a half century one of the largest +contributing factors.</p> + +<p>"It will be setting up a declaration contrary to the belief +of some that exerting legislative influence, important as it +is, is not the most valuable function of the Grange; that +its coöperative activities, however they may have +flourished, will not loom largest in the grange program of +the future; that not even its efforts for state and national +reform will be recorded as its greatest service to its day +and generation. Rather we must estimate the Grange value of +the future by its quiet, steady, unfaltering efforts, +continued year after year, in thousands of local +communities—many of them far removed from the busy +activities of men—to bring the rural people together, to +teach them the fundamentals of coöperation, of efficiency, +of teamwork, of practical educational progress, and of the +value of a forward-looking rural program, into whose +accomplishments all the people of a locality may +conscientiously enter.... This view of Grange service to +rural America is apparent in the extent to which the +community-betterment program has been taken up by +subordinate granges <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_173" id="Page_173">[Pg 173]</a></span>in nearly every state. Though a secret +organization—a fraternity in fact as well as in name—the +Grange is more and more making of itself an overflowing +institution, seeking to render actual benefits to its +immediate home locality. Hundreds of live Granges this year +are carrying out some form of community improvement along a +great variety of directions."<a name="FNanchor_70_70" id="FNanchor_70_70"></a><a href="#Footnote_70_70" class="fnanchor">[70]</a></p></div> + +<p>He then goes on to give a brief glimpse of the variety of these +community enterprises. In Massachusetts the State Grange has for several +years had a committee which awards annual prizes for the best community +improvement work done by the local granges, and this has stimulated a +lively interest in community activities.</p> + +<p>Although the Grange is primarily a farmers' organization, yet where the +local grange meets in the village, and particularly in the older states, +a considerable number of the members are village people, so that the +Grange represents the life of the whole community. On the other hand, in +many neighborhoods which are at some distance from a village center, the +Grange hall may be located in the open country, its membership is +composed wholly of farmers, and it is solely a class organization. No +studies are available to show the proportion of Granges which meet in +villages or in the open country and the effect which this has upon the +relation of the Grange to the community, but it may be safely asserted +that, as is the case with the church and the school, the Grange tends to +meet in village centers as a matter of convenience to the largest number +of its members, and that, as indicated by Mr. Lowell, it is coming to +recognize its responsibility for the general improvement of the +community as a whole.</p> + +<p><i>Other Farmers' Organizations.</i>—Throughout the South and in Kansas and +Nebraska the Farmers' Educational <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_174" id="Page_174">[Pg 174]</a></span>and Coöperative Union is the leading +farmers' organization, but it is chiefly devoted to coöperative business +enterprises and does but little for the education or social life of its +members, who are usually all men. The same may be said of the Society of +Equity, which is strongest in Wisconsin, Kentucky, and South Dakota. In +Michigan, although the Grange is strong, the Gleaners have a +considerable membership.</p> + +<p>In many states, particularly where the grange is not well established, +farmers' clubs have been organized. In some cases local conditions make +clubs feasible where it would be difficult to enlist a large enough part +of the community to make a grange equally successful. In some cases such +clubs are open to farmers only; in others they include the whole family; +while in recent years many farm women's clubs have been organized. +Whether such clubs should be for the whole family, or for men or women +only, is largely a local question depending upon the social usages and +homogeneity of the population. In Wisconsin and Minnesota family clubs +have been most successful. It is doubtful whether this would be equally +true in the South. In the South such local clubs have been the local +units of the extension work in agriculture and home economics. Where for +any reason it is not possible to include the whole community in a club, +several clubs may be organized, each including a congenial membership, +as is now the case with women's clubs in cities, and these may then be +federated for community purposes.</p> + +<p><i>Lodges.</i>—In most rural villages will be found one or more lodges of +fraternal orders, such as the Masons, Odd Fellows, Knights of Pythias, +Maccabees, etc., with the corresponding orders of women's auxiliaries. +The place and influence of lodges in the life of the rural community +have been strangely neglected by students of country life, and <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_175" id="Page_175">[Pg 175]</a></span>we have +no means of evaluating their place in the rural community. Not +infrequently the regular meetings and special parties and banquets held +by these orders form a large part of the social life of the village. In +other cases the meetings are but poorly attended and the lodge is +maintained chiefly for its insurance benefits. In some of the larger +villages and towns the larger and more prosperous lodges have game rooms +and reading rooms attached to their halls, so that they serve as club +rooms for their membership. Usually the membership is more largely +composed of village people, but a considerable number of farmers +maintain their membership, even though they do not attend regularly, and +in exceptional cases the membership is largely composed of farm people. +It is obvious that the lodge as a secret order is devoted to the +interests of its own membership and usually it has no definite program +of work for the benefit of the whole community. Yet it must be +recognized that the assistance rendered by the lodge to its members in +sickness and to their families when in distress of any kind, is a +considerable asset to the welfare of the community and is a powerful +influence in promoting that spirit of brotherhood upon which all +community life depends. Usually the lodges actively support and +participate in any community activities in which they may appropriately +take part, such as Memorial Day or Fourth of July celebrations, +community Christmas trees and other festival occasions. The churches, or +at least the ministers, sometimes feel that the social life of the +lodges absorbs so much of the time and interest of their members as to +prevent their activity in church work, which attitude has often obtained +between the church and Grange, but it is a question whether this is not +often due to the failure of the church to provide such activities as +will command the loyalty of the people, and, on the other hand, not +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_176" id="Page_176">[Pg 176]</a></span>infrequently the leaders in lodge work are also most active in the +churches. To the extent that the lodges seem self-centered and make no +direct contribution to community improvement, this is doubtless due to +the lack of any means whereby their support may be enlisted in a program +of community betterment. The place of the lodge in the community is much +like that of a fraternity in a college or university; its primary +obligation is to its own membership, but when enlisted in any activity +for the common welfare it furnishes one of the best means for developing +the community spirit of its members, and its participation is a means of +strengthening its own organization.</p> + +<p><i>The Village Band.</i>—A good village band is one of the most effective +agencies for promoting community spirit and sociability. The village +merchants have also found that it is an economic asset, and in many +country towns they contribute liberally for its support. A band concert +every Saturday night, or twice a week, never fails to bring a crowd of +people to town and it is a common sight to see the streets lined with +automobiles of farm people who have come in to enjoy the concert and +incidentally to do a little shopping and chat with each other and their +village friends. Although it may be called by the name of the village, +it is usually a community band, for farm boys who can play an instrument +are always welcome and frequently form a considerable part of the +membership. The community comes to have a real pride in even a +moderately good band, and on holiday celebrations and other festival +occasions it is an invaluable asset to community spirit. A crowd will +always follow a band, for it exercises a sort of group leadership for +which there seems to be no substitute.</p> + +<p>In one small town in central New York the high school operates a moving +picture show every Saturday evening, which is preceded by a band concert +and part of the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_177" id="Page_177">[Pg 177]</a></span>profits of the show goes to the support of the band. +Thus the community finances and controls its own entertainment. Another +small village in western New York had a fairly good band which had been +playing in neighboring villages as the only means of securing an income, +and was thus drawing trade of farmers from its own village to those +where it played. The first enterprise of the community council which was +formed there was to build a band stand and to see that the band was +financed so that it played every Saturday night in the home town. In +another case a community council was formed for the primary purpose of +bringing the support of the whole community to a fine band which had +struggled along for several years with little local appreciation.</p> + +<p>Community orchestras are of equal value for indoor entertainments and +give opportunity for the talent of the young women as well as the men. +The community chorus or choral club has often taken the place of the +old-fashioned singing school. If a good director can be secured he will +always discover more vocal ability than has been suspected, and the +people of many a rural community have been surprised at the musical +works they have been able to produce under competent leadership.</p> + +<p>The amount of music in a community and the public interest in its +musical entertainments are among the most significant indices of its +general culture and progressiveness. Where there is music there is life.</p> + +<p><i>The Fire Company.</i>—One of the "most ancient and honorable" of the +organizations of the village is the volunteer fire company. The fire +company makes an appeal to the spirit of adventure and heroism common to +all red-blooded young men and furnishes something of Professor William +James' "moral equivalent of war." Its drills, exhibits and competitions +develop the finest type of team work <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_178" id="Page_178">[Pg 178]</a></span>among its members, while its +parties, festivals and entertainments for raising money are always +occasions of note in the social calendar of the community. In the older +parts of the country the firemen very frequently have a building with +clubrooms on the second floor, which form a rendezvous for its members. +Not infrequently many of the nearby farm boys belong to the fire company +and pay their dues for its support so that they may enjoy its social +advantages, although they may rarely have opportunity to do much actual +fire-fighting. In several cases community houses have been built with +one corner of the first floor constructed to house the fire equipment. +In one village I found that the fire company had taken over an old hall, +where it had clubrooms and was holding moving picture entertainments +every Saturday evening to finance the building.</p> + +<p><i>The Women's Christian Temperance Union</i> is by all odds the strongest +non-sectarian organization of women in the rural communities of the +United States. In the past it has been chiefly a reform organization and +its persistent agitation was a large factor in the enactment of the +Eighteenth Amendment to the federal constitution making prohibition +national. Although prohibition is, as yet, by no means achieved, and +there is still need of upholding and encouraging those charged with its +enforcement, yet the primary purpose of the organization seems to be +largely realized. In the past it has been chiefly a militant +organization, although it has taken an active interest in problems of +child welfare, education, recreation, social hygiene, and similar topics +affecting home life. Its public speaking contests, picnics, suppers, and +sociables have done much for the social life of many a rural community. +If the fighting spirit of the past can be enlisted in a well-rounded +program for social welfare in every community <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_179" id="Page_179">[Pg 179]</a></span>where there is a Union, +this organization will continue to be a powerful factor in uniting the +women in many a rural community.</p> + +<p><i>The Cemetery Association.</i>—Finally, the influence of the Cemetery +Association as a community organization, should not be overlooked. The +"Friendship Village Married Ladies' Cemetery Improvement Sodality," +which Miss Gale has made famous in her delightful stories of village +life,<a name="FNanchor_71_71" id="FNanchor_71_71"></a><a href="#Footnote_71_71" class="fnanchor">[71]</a> well illustrates the influences which have been started by +many a cemetery association. Not infrequently the one thing which +evinces some civic pride in an otherwise stagnant community is its +well-kept cemetery. The condition of the cemetery is a good index of +community spirit. When people neglect the resting place of their dead +they are not apt to do much for the living. But once arouse a feeling of +shame for such neglect and the effort to clean up and beautify the +cemetery has often brought all elements of the community into a common +loyalty as nothing else could do, and the satisfaction from such an +achievement may sufficiently stir community pride as to encourage other +enterprises.</p> + +<p>The cemetery itself has a not inconsiderable influence in bringing about +the integration of the rural community. In early days every farm had its +own burying lot. Nothing is more pathetic than the abandoned burying +lots—often two or three of them—on many a New England farm. In many +cases rural neighborhoods have had a local cemetery by the country +church or district school. These, too, are increasingly neglected. On +the other hand the village cemetery is more largely used merely because +more assurance is felt in its permanent maintenance. It needs no +argument from history or from the customs of <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_180" id="Page_180">[Pg 180]</a></span>other lands, to show that +the people who bury their dead in the same place are bound together by +the most sacred ties, and that the cemetery which serves the whole +community is one of its primary bonds.</p> + +<h4>FOOTNOTES:</h4> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_68_68" id="Footnote_68_68"></a><a href="#FNanchor_68_68"><span class="label">[68]</span></a> "The Community," p. 119. New York, Association Press. +1921.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_69_69" id="Footnote_69_69"></a><a href="#FNanchor_69_69"><span class="label">[69]</span></a> See T. C. Atkeson, "Semi-centennial History of the +Grange." New York. Orange Judd Co.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_70_70" id="Footnote_70_70"></a><a href="#FNanchor_70_70"><span class="label">[70]</span></a> In "The Country Gentleman." Oct. 8, 1921, p. 17.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_71_71" id="Footnote_71_71"></a><a href="#FNanchor_71_71"><span class="label">[71]</span></a> Zona Gale, "Friendship Village"; "Friendship Village Love +Stories"; "Peace in Friendship Village." New York. Macmillan Co.</p></div> + +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<hr /> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_181" id="Page_181">[Pg 181]</a></span><br /> + +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XV" id="CHAPTER_XV"></a>CHAPTER XV</h2> + +<h2>THE COMMUNITY'S DEPENDENT</h2> +<br /> + +<p>The neighborliness and hospitality of farmers is proverbial in every +land and clime. Throughout much of the old world where farmers still +live in village communities the poverty or distress of any family is at +once apparent and the more fortunate members of the village in one way +or another give such assistance as is possible. The more primitive the +people the more binding is this obligation for mutual aid, and one +cannot but feel that our so-called advanced civilization has failed to +develop as keen a sense of responsibility for the unfortunate. In rural +America this is possibly due to the fact that our farms are scattered +and the condition of needy families may not be noticed. The average +rural community will usually inform an inquirer that it has practically +no poverty and no need of a social worker. Yet investigation will almost +always show that tucked away in some hollow, back on some hill, or even +huddled near the outskirts of the village are a few unfortunate +families, of whose needs the community is unaware. These families, for +one reason or another are "disadvantaged," they do not commonly +associate with others, they may be foreigners, or in some way they are +"queer" and are more or less avoided, or possibly they are merely +isolated and so are unknown. From the standpoint of the social welfare +of the community such families, or individuals, have been called the +"unadjusted"; they do not mix freely and are not up to the local +standards of life. In short, such families or <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_182" id="Page_182">[Pg 182]</a></span>individuals are abnormal, +and are a social liability of the community.</p> + +<p>These "disadvantaged" or "unadjusted" people may be roughly grouped into +four classes: the dependent, the defective, the delinquent, and the +neglected. In one sense they may all be called the "community's +dependent," for they all require some sort of assistance from the +community if their relationship to it is to be satisfactorily adjusted.</p> + +<p><i>Poverty.</i>—In a narrower sense the "dependent" are the poor; those who +are unable to support themselves and who must be aided by the community +if they are to exist. If this condition becomes chronic they are +paupers; but in most cases their dependency is temporary and has been +due to some unusual drain on the family's resources, such as, sickness, +fire, crop failure, or inability to secure employment. There is a very +natural aversion on the part of the latter class against becoming +stigmatized as paupers and of having to secure public relief, of "being +on the town"; whereas the habitual dependents have frequently lost all +pride in their social status and are quite willing to continue to +receive all the help they can secure. In both cases, if assistance is to +be of permanent value, the problem is not only that of furnishing +immediate relief in the form of food, clothing, or shelter, but of +ascertaining the causes of the dependency and giving such assistance and +sympathetic encouragement as will enable the family or individual to +again become self-supporting and regain a normal status in the +community. Obviously this is a delicate task which requires the best +knowledge of human nature as well as genuine sympathy which will inspire +confidence and faith, and in so far as possible is likely to be more +effective if it can be done privately. On the other hand, a large +proportion of the chronic <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_183" id="Page_183">[Pg 183]</a></span>dependency also involves mental or physical +defectiveness or moral delinquency which cannot be remedied by the mere +giving of alms. Much of the poor relief given by rural communities is +practically wasted because of a failure to ascertain the real cause of +poverty or by lack of knowledge or means for its treatment.</p> + +<p><i>Defectives.</i>—In most cases the care of "defectives" cannot be +undertaken by the rural community itself, because they usually require +the care of institutions which can only be supported by the county or +state. Furthermore, a family is usually able to take care of one of its +members who is so afflicted or will assume the burden of sending him to +an institution, so that only in the case of dependent families does the +responsibility rest on the community. There is, however, a duty on the +part of the community to see that the afflicted are given necessary +care, so that they may not have to go through life so handicapped that +they are unable to be self-supporting and thus may become wholly +dependent.</p> + +<p>The physically defective are largely cared for by state and county +institutions. We have learned that the deaf and blind may become largely +self-supporting if given the advantages of a specific type of education, +for which the state maintains special schools. County and state +hospitals provide for the care of those afflicted with tuberculosis and +a beginning is being made in the provision of state hospitals for +crippled children where they may receive necessary surgical and +orthopedic treatment. Likewise the more helpless mental defectives, the +insane, the imbeciles and idiots, are cared for in state institutions.</p> + +<p>One of the most serious menaces to the social health of the rural +community is from those mental defectives who are able to care for +themselves but who are mentally incapable of rearing a normal family and +of conforming <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_184" id="Page_184">[Pg 184]</a></span>to the customary standards of morality. These +"feeble-minded," are far too numerous in rural communities and their +proper care and education has been neglected because they have been +commonly regarded as merely "simple minded" or "foolish"; to be pitied, +and the subject of many a jest, but entirely harmless. A large number of +the feeble-minded are so nearly normal that they are considered merely +shiftless or stupid. Nearly every rural community has one or more +families, and not infrequently a small slum neighborhood, who are +ne'er-do-wells, more or less delinquent and frequently requiring aid +from the town. Thanks to modern psychology, we now know that many of +these adults have the intelligence of only a seven or nine-year-old +child and that they are incapable of further mental development. +Furthermore, carefully conducted studies in the heredity of these +families show that feeble-mindedness is congenital; that where both +parents are feeble-minded all the offspring will be so afflicted; and +that when one of the parents is sub-normal that some of the children +will be feeble-minded and that those who appear normal may transmit the +defect to their children. Psychological tests have now been developed so +that adults with a mentality of nine or ten years or less may be +definitely diagnosed as mentally deficient.</p> + +<p>It must be obvious that an adult with fully developed sexual desires but +with the mind of a child is incapable of conforming his or her behavior +to the standards of society and will be incapable of giving proper +parental care to children. So a considerable percentage of our petty +criminals, vagrants, prostitutes, and dependent are found to be +feeble-minded. They are unstable, suggestible, easily victimized.</p> + +<p>The farm and the village have a considerable amount of routine work +which can be done by these sub-normal <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_185" id="Page_185">[Pg 185]</a></span>people and they therefore have +opportunity to maintain themselves and to multiply to better advantage +than in the city where the competition of life is keener. Although they +are best off in a rural environment, when unrestricted and unsegregated +they are a constant menace to the community and often involve it in +considerable expense. As soon as farmers become aware of what the +feeble-minded are costing the community, how they endanger its moral and +physical health, and that when unrestricted they continue to reproduce +incapables and thus perpetuate the burden, they will demand that some +practicable and reasonable measures be taken for their control. The +difficulty is that at present in most states there is no method whereby +the feeble-minded can be committed to state institutions or be otherwise +segregated unless they are paupers or unless they go voluntarily, nor is +there any means of preventing their marriage and reproduction. Dairy +farmers have learned that it pays to weed out the "boarder" cows from +their herds and that if they breed from a scrub sire they will have +scrub stock; but if the boarder cow was also inclined to become vicious +and to corrupt the habits of the rest of the herd and the farmer knew +this trait to be hereditary, he would invariably send such a cow to the +butcher. I believe that as soon as farmers appreciate the biological +significance of feeble-mindedness they will insist upon reasonable +legislation for its control.</p> + +<p><i>Delinquency.</i>—The third class of abnormal citizens are the +delinquents, both adult and juvenile. Almost every rural community has a +certain number of adults and children who, although not definitely +criminal, are constantly committing various misdemeanors, are vicious, +or incorrigible, and there are occasional rural communities and +neighborhoods which are as true slums as are found in the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_186" id="Page_186">[Pg 186]</a></span>cities.<a name="FNanchor_72_72" id="FNanchor_72_72"></a><a href="#Footnote_72_72" class="fnanchor">[72]</a> +Drunkenness was formerly the greatest cause of delinquency, and the +tavern and saloon were responsible for the prohibition movement whose +staunchest supporters were rural people. The bootlegger and the illicit +still continue the illegal traffic in liquor, but where prohibition has +been in force for some time liquor has ceased to be an important factor +in delinquency.</p> + +<p>We have but few definite studies of delinquency in rural communities +upon which to base any generalizations. One of the best of these is a +study of the juvenile delinquents in 21 average rural communities in New +York state, made under the auspices of the U. S. Children's Bureau in +1917.<a name="FNanchor_73_73" id="FNanchor_73_73"></a><a href="#Footnote_73_73" class="fnanchor">[73]</a> In these 21 communities 185 delinquent children were found, 41 +of whom were classed as "incorrigible," 68 were involved in sex +offenses, and 75 had stolen, or were guilty of fraud. The number of boys +guilty of incorrigibility and theft exceeded that of the girls by six to +one, but among the older sex offenders 41 were girls and but 9 were +boys. This study is of particular value in showing that almost every +rural community, however prosperous and progressive it may be, has its +problem of delinquency, and in its analysis of the responsibility of the +home, the school, and the church, for wayward children.</p> + +<p><i>The Neglected.</i>—The fourth class which require the care of the +community are the neglected. Although the aged occasionally require +neighborly assistance, even though they have means for their +necessities, most of the neglected are infants and children. Orphans and +foundlings for whom homes must be found, children who are over-worked or +abused, or who are living with dissolute parents, all of <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_187" id="Page_187">[Pg 187]</a></span>these must be +given proper guardianship and a chance for healthful growth and +education, or they are likely to become delinquent and thus become a +permanent liability to society. It is true that in the country the home +is at its best (see chapter II), but it is also unfortunately true that +some of the most shameful and almost unbelievable cases of neglect and +abuse of children are frequently found in out-of-the-way places in rural +communities. Where compulsory school attendance laws are strictly +enforced such cases may come to the attention of school officials, but +in many instances no one seems responsible for discovering neglected +children and ensuring their proper care. Most of the cities and larger +towns have Societies for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children whose +agents investigate rural cases reported to them and bring them to the +attention of the courts when necessary, but there is a need for some +local agency in every rural community which will see that neglect is +prevented or stopped.</p> + +<p><i>Agencies for Rural Social Work.</i>—When we examine the means for dealing +with these "misfit" members of the rural community, we find that in most +of our states there are few agencies either public or private, and that +as a rule they are poorly adapted to render the service needed.</p> + +<p>For the care of the poor there is the township or county poor officer, +and the county poor farm as a last resort. But the poor officer, however +upright and well-intentioned he may be, usually conceives his job as one +for doling out sufficient groceries, clothing, and fuel to keep a family +alive, and of keeping the cost to the taxpayer as low as possible. He +feels little responsibility for furnishing sufficient aid to give the +family a fair chance to get on its feet or for advising them or bringing +such influences into their lives as will ensure their rehabilitation. He +is charged with a most difficult task for which he has had <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_188" id="Page_188">[Pg 188]</a></span>no +experience or training, which he must handle with the greatest economy +and for which he receives little compensation either in salary or public +esteem. Very commonly his election is due to political strength rather +than special personal fitness. The case of the poor is commonly regarded +as a necessary evil to be handled with as little trouble as possible, +rather than as an opportunity to give such help to the unfortunate that +further assistance may be unnecessary and that they may become an asset +to the community.</p> + +<p>Cases of delinquency involving only misdemeanors or minor offenses are +tried before a justice of the peace or local magistrate. Usually these +officials are men with no legal training and with little understanding +of the causes of delinquency or of how delinquents should be treated in +order to give them a fair chance to become normal citizens. The usual +attitude is one of determining the offense and meting out just +punishment for it. Furthermore, the local justice frequently avoids +handling a case which may involve him in difficulties with his +neighbors, unless he is forced to do so. Not infrequently juvenile +offenders are sent to reformatories where they come into contact with +worse characters and are hardened rather than reformed, whereas if they +had been placed on probation under proper supervision and under +satisfactory home conditions they might have lived decent lives.</p> + +<p>In most of our cities juvenile cases are now handled in special juvenile +courts, which have shown the futility of the old methods of legal +procedure in the treatment of juvenile offenders. In this court the +judge is assisted by probation officers who are trained as social +workers and who investigate the home conditions and other influences +surrounding the child for the information of the judge, who then handles +the case in whatever manner seems best <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_189" id="Page_189">[Pg 189]</a></span>in order to get at the facts and +to bring the child to a real desire to "make good." The case is heard +privately, without the ordinary rules of legal procedure, and the whole +attitude of the court is more like that of a father than of the ordinary +judge who inflicts punishment according to the gravity of the offense. +It must be evident that one person handling numerous cases of this kind +will soon gain an experience with them which will enable him to act more +intelligently and with greater justice both to the offender and to the +interests of society than can be done by a local official who may have +but one or two such cases to handle during his whole term of office. In +several states legislation has been passed creating juvenile courts in +each county, which have jurisdiction over all juvenile cases and which +can deal not only with the children but also with their parents or +guardians. The general adoption of such a system seems to be the most +important step in the intelligent treatment of juvenile delinquents in +rural districts.</p> + +<p>Very often the first waywardness of a child is in truancy from school, +which, if it cannot be handled by the teacher, is turned over to the +local truant officer. In many cases the truant officer is appointed +because of his availability for such work rather than his special +competency, and the enforcement of the truancy law is handled in a most +perfunctory manner, whereas an intelligent investigation of home +conditions and an effort to gain the coöperation of the parents and the +confidence and interest of the child are the only means of securing any +real reform. In several cities truancy is in charge of what are known as +"visiting teachers," who not only look after truants but visit the homes +of those children who are not doing well in their school work, in order +to determine whether home conditions are responsible and how they may be +improved. <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_190" id="Page_190">[Pg 190]</a></span>Usually the country school teacher is more in touch with the +homes of her pupils, but some of the more progressive rural counties are +providing an assistant to the county superintendent of schools, who acts +both in the capacity of truant officer and visiting teacher, assisting +the local teacher in the more difficult cases which require a +considerable amount of time to develop proper relations in the home. To +be of most service such a person should not only have experience in +school work but should have had the training of a social worker, so that +she may understand the best means of dealing with the wayward child and +with unfavorable home conditions. It seems probable that more may be +done toward the prevention of delinquency through such social workers +connected with the school system than by any other means.</p> + +<p>In many states there seems to be no definite system for the supervision +of children for whom the state is responsible. They may be boarded or +adopted by families or placed in institutions by any one of several +local officials having jurisdiction, but none of them have the means of +determining whether the children are being properly cared for, nor does +the county or state provide any agency for this purpose. In several +states the registration and supervision of such wards of the state is +placed in the hands of a state child welfare board or a state department +of charities or public welfare, but in other states the supervision of +their welfare is wholly dependent upon private philanthropy. Experience +has shown that where a trained social worker is employed to look up the +relatives of such children and to assist in finding homes for them and +in visiting the homes and institutions to which they are committed, a +considerable saving in the cost of their maintenance to the county is +frequently effected. In order that all of the care of children may be +centralized <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_191" id="Page_191">[Pg 191]</a></span>under one county office which can employ competent persons +for its work, several states have created county boards of child welfare +which are charged with the whole responsibility for the care of +dependent and neglected children, which is then taken entirely out of +the hands of local officials. In a few states, county boards of public +welfare have been created which have supervision not only of children +but of all dependents, defectives, and neglected, and in some cases also +have charge of the public health administration. The centralization of +such authority in a county board which can employ executives who have +had special training and experience for such work is not only good +business, but it is the only method by which the state can +satisfactorily fulfil its obligation to those who are dependent upon it.</p> + +<p>Usually the rural community has few if any private agencies or +associations devoted to the assistance of its dependent. The churches +and the lodges assist some of their own members. Here and there are +isolated groups of King's Daughters or similar societies which devote +themselves to the care of the poor and the sick, but they are +comparatively rare in the country. The Society for the Prevention of +Cruelty to Children often prosecutes rural cases, but it is usually a +town or city organization and has practically no rural membership. Over +the United States as a whole, the American Red Cross has probably done +more to introduce the idea of social work into rural communities than +any one agency. During the war the local chapters of the Red Cross were +authorized to give assistance to soldiers' families in any way possible. +This involved rural as well as town families, and the need of organized +social work became apparent in thousands of rural communities. When +peace was declared, the local chapters were authorized to extend the +Civilian Relief <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_192" id="Page_192">[Pg 192]</a></span>work to civilian families in territory where there was +no other organization doing welfare work, which meant practically all of +the rural United States, providing the work was carried on by trained +workers on a basis approved by the division headquarters. The family +welfare work of the Red Cross was happily named "Home Service" and has +been organized in many rural counties where its value has been +repeatedly demonstrated. The work is directly in charge of a social +worker employed by the county chapter but the local branch in each +community is encouraged to form a Home Service Committee which looks +after the local work as far as it is able, calls in the county worker +when needed, and gives her all the assistance possible. Thus the work is +localized and each community has a definite group of workers who feel +responsible for looking after those needing the community's assistance +and who are learning how to do this in an intelligent manner. No other +agency organized on a national basis has attempted any systematic +organization of social welfare work in local rural communities.</p> + +<p><i>Social Education of Rural Opinion.</i>—The primary need for the care of +the dependent of the rural community is for a better understanding of +their needs by its more intelligent and public-spirited people. It is a +matter of social education. Social work so-called has had a rapid +development in our cities to meet the situation caused by their sudden +growth with large numbers of foreigners having different standards of +living and unable to adjust themselves to strange conditions with +congested districts where housing and sanitation is poor and with +poverty due to unemployment, sickness, and with the many factors which +result from the complexities of city life. The city slum first +challenged the humanity of the better people and numerous philanthropic +organizations grew up in an effort <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_193" id="Page_193">[Pg 193]</a></span>to give assistance to needy families +and children. For the most part this work has been financed by the +wealthy, has been carried on by social workers who have had special +training for such service, and is commonly known as charity. What social +work has been done in rural communities has been introduced by city +organizations and has usually been fostered by organizations of as few +of the more progressive people at the county seats and the larger towns +or small cities which have worked out into the rural communities from +these centers. Though the purposes and work of these organizations are +excellent, they will never be able to effectively meet the needs of +rural communities until their people appreciate the need for such work +and actively support it.</p> + +<p>Much of this sort of work is regarded by rural people as "uplift" and +without local interest and support has little permanent value. The +average rural community has little use for charity in the ordinary sense +of the word. If relief is needed within its borders, it will provide, +but it fails to appreciate that more than relief is needed to prevent +the recurrence of dependency, and that punishment will not correct or +prevent delinquency. The fact is that at present country people have not +seen the social situation in their own communities and so are not +concerned with it. Most of them are of the opinion that the less +government the better, and have not come to realize that an increasingly +complex society—even in the rural community—makes it no longer +possible for the farm family to live to itself, but that for +self-preservation it must look to the social welfare of the whole +community with which its life is bound up.</p> + +<p>The need, therefore, is for the education of rural people with regard to +their social responsibilities, which must be largely accomplished +through existing local rural <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_194" id="Page_194">[Pg 194]</a></span>organizations and local leadership. Any +system of rural social work which is to be permanently successful must +be one which is established by the people themselves from a realization +of their needs, and progressively developed as they appreciate its +worth. As Dean A. R. Mann recently said, "In dealing with rural affairs +it has long been a common mistake to underrate the validity of the +farmer's own judgment as to what is good for him." "Superimposed +organizations are usually doomed to failure because they express the +judgments of those without the community rather than those within whom +they are intended to serve." "Ordinarily the most serviceable rural +organizations will be built out of the materials of the community."<a name="FNanchor_74_74" id="FNanchor_74_74"></a><a href="#Footnote_74_74" class="fnanchor">[74]</a> +It is for this reason that the advance of rural social work will depend +upon arousing an active interest in the welfare of the community's +"disadvantaged" through discussion by such organizations as the church, +the grange, the farm and home bureau, lodges, women's clubs, instruction +in high schools, etc. The work of the public health nurse will reveal +many family problems with which she is unable to deal and which demand +the help of one experienced in social work, and the nurse will be of +service in educating the community to the need of such work.</p> + +<p>It seems obvious that by itself the rural community is too small a unit +to employ a social worker who is professionally trained for dealing with +the more difficult social mal-adjustments, and that it must coöperate +with other communities for the organization of such work on a county +basis. Experience has shown that trained social workers actually save +the county the cost of their salaries and expenses, without considering +the greater efficiency and <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_195" id="Page_195">[Pg 195]</a></span>permanent value of the work done. The social +worker has been well termed a "doctor of domestic difficulties." Every +county and community needs such a doctor who is skilled in treating +social disease, but one of her chief functions will be to act as an +educational director in promoting the study of local social conditions +by the existing organizations in every community and in discovering and +training leadership for carrying out a constructive program as it is +evolved. In some way there should be a volunteer committee or worker in +each community associated with the county social worker to advise +concerning policies and to carry on much of the local work under her +supervision and training. For it must be recognized that the economic +resources of rural communities are limited and that they cannot afford +several social workers for different lines of effort, as is common in +cities. But more important is the fact that social welfare depends more +largely upon a proper understanding of its problems by the local +community and a willingness to grapple with them intelligently and +sympathetically, than upon the remedial treatment afforded through +professional workers, courts, institutions and other public agencies. +Social welfare is like health, for which sanitation and hygiene are more +important than doctors and medicines.</p> + +<p>What is needed in the rural community is a transformation of the +old-time family hospitality and neighborliness into a feeling of +responsibility for the unfortunate within the community with whom there +may not be immediate contact, but who nevertheless affect the moral and +social life of all its people. It needs the spirit and devotion of the +Good Samaritan on the part of the people, but it also needs the public +health nurse and the social worker who, like the inn-keeper of the +parable, can give adequate care to the unfortunate.</p> + +<h4>FOOTNOTES:</h4> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_72_72" id="Footnote_72_72"></a><a href="#FNanchor_72_72"><span class="label">[72]</span></a> See Charles E. Gibbons, "A Rural Slum Community." The +American Child. February, 1922. pg. 343.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_73_73" id="Footnote_73_73"></a><a href="#FNanchor_73_73"><span class="label">[73]</span></a> "Juvenile Delinquency in Rural New York." Kate Holladay +Claghorn. U. S. Dept. of Labor, Children's Bureau. Publication No. 32. +Washington. 1918.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_74_74" id="Footnote_74_74"></a><a href="#FNanchor_74_74"><span class="label">[74]</span></a> "Social Responsibilities of the Rural Community," p. 129. +Cornell Extension Bulletin 39. Rural Community Conference Cornell +Farmers' Week. 1919.</p></div> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_196" id="Page_196">[Pg 196]</a></span> +<br /> + +<hr /> +<br /> +<h2>CHAPTER XVI</h2> + +<h2>THE COMMUNITY'S GOVERNMENT</h2> +<br /> + +<p>Local self-government is a well-established tradition in the United +States, but as far as the rural community is concerned it is more +tradition than fact, for outside of New England the rural community has +no legal or political status. In New England the townships were +originally created as community units, for they were modelled after the +European village community. The meeting house determined the site of the +village where the farmers and craftsmen resided, and the boundaries of +the township were coincident with the limits of their lands. The origin +of the New England township has been well described by John Fiske in a +famous chapter on this subject:<a name="FNanchor_75_75" id="FNanchor_75_75"></a><a href="#Footnote_75_75" class="fnanchor">[75]</a></p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"When people from England first came to dwell in the +Wilderness of Massachusetts Bay, they settled in groups upon +small irregular-shaped patches of land, which soon came to +be known as townships. There were several reasons why they +settled thus in small groups, instead of scattering about +over the country and carving out broad estates for +themselves. In the first place, their principal reason for +coming to New England was their dissatisfaction with the way +in which church affairs were managed in the old country. +They wished to bring about a reform in the church, in such +wise that members of a congregation should have more voice +than formerly in the church-government, and that the +minister of each congregation should be more independent +than formerly of the bishop and of the civil government.... +Such a group of people, arriving on the coast of +Massachusetts, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_197" id="Page_197">[Pg 197]</a></span>would naturally select some convenient +locality, where they might build their houses near together +and all go to the same church. This migration, therefore, +was a movement, not of individuals or of separate families, +but of church congregations, and it continued to be so as +the settlers made their way inland and westward....</p> + +<p>"In the second place, the soil of New England was not +favorable to the cultivation of great quantities of staple +articles, such as rice or tobacco, so that there was nothing +to tempt people to undertake extensive plantations. Most of +the people lived on small farms, each family raising but +little more than enough food for its own support; and the +small size of the farms made it possible to have a good many +in a compact neighborhood. It appeared also that towns could +be more easily defended against the Indians than scattered +plantations;...</p> + +<p>"Thus the early settlers of New England came to live in +townships. A township would consist of about as many farms +as could be disposed within convenient distance from the +meeting-house, where all the inhabitants, young and old, +gathered every Sunday, coming on horseback or afoot.... +Around the meeting-house and common the dwellings gradually +clustered into a village, and after a while the tavern, +store and town-house made their appearance."</p></div> + +<p>When the Mormons settled Utah they established a very similar form of +community government centering around the church. Elsewhere, with rare +exceptions, throughout the North and West the township is the primary +unit of local government, save for school administration, but it is by +no means identical with a community. When the lands west of the +Alleghanies were surveyed for settlement they were laid off in blocks +six miles square, which were known as congressional townships, for +Congress gave each township a square mile of land the proceeds of which +should form a permanent school fund. In discussing the development of +the township in Illinois, Dr. Albert Shaw writes:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"To give effect to this liberal provision, the state enacted<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_198" id="Page_198">[Pg 198]</a></span> +a law making the township a body corporate and politic for +school purposes and authorizing the inhabitants to elect +school officers and maintain free schools. Here, then, was a +rudiment of local government. As New England township life +grew up around the church, so western localism finds its +nucleus in the school system. What more natural than that +the county election district should be made to coincide with +the school township, with a school-house for the voting +place? or that justices of the peace, constables and road +supervisors and overseers of the poor, should have their +jurisdiction determined by the same township lines?"<a name="FNanchor_76_76" id="FNanchor_76_76"></a><a href="#Footnote_76_76" class="fnanchor">[76]</a></p></div> + +<p>Thus in many of the North-central States the township came to be the +local unit of government for certain minor purposes, though in other +states it is little more than an election district, and in none of them +is there preserved the old town meeting which gave the New England +township its fundamental democracy.</p> + +<p>Owing to the large plantations and the economic and social conditions +prevailing throughout the South, it has had practically no units of +government smaller than the county, other than incorporated villages.</p> + +<p>Until very recently our conception of society has been mostly in terms +of political units, largely on account of the lack of any local unit +which had social significance to rural people. In recent years, however, +students of rural government have become aware of the artificiality and +the anti-social character of the township unit. There may be two rival +villages within a township, each competing for trade and the support of +its associations, and striving for the political domination of the +township, while some of the farmers in a far corner of the township may +trade in a village in the next township. Or a village may be on a +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_199" id="Page_199">[Pg 199]</a></span>township line, which must be observed in all matters of government +although there is no real division of interests between its people.</p> + +<p>Outside of New England villages were located at points of geographical +advantage, or along through roads or railroads, primarily as business +centers. There was no particular relation between the village and the +farming area surrounding it. But as the village grew it often desired +modern improvements such as water systems, pavements, street lights, +etc., for which the farmers were unwilling to be taxed and which were +thus prevented as long as the village was controlled by the township. +This has led to most of the larger villages becoming incorporated, so +that they may administer their own local government and tax themselves +for such improvements as they desire. This separation of the village +from the township has been inevitable where the farmers take no pride or +interest in it, and has often been necessitated by their parsimony or +conservatism. This is well illustrated by an incident related by +Professor Herbert B. Adams:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"In my native town, Amherst, Mass., the villagers struggled +for years in town-meeting to secure some system of sewerage +for 'the center,' but the 'ends of the town' always voted +'no'. On one occasion, in order to allay suspicion of +extravagance, a leading villager moved that, whatever system +of sewerage be adopted, the surface water and rainfall be +allowed to take their natural course down-hill in the +ordinary gutters. The farmers sniffed danger in this wily +proposition and voted an overwhelming 'No.' Accordingly by +the local law of Amherst, water had to run uphill until the +next town-meeting! Such is the power of Democracy."<a name="FNanchor_77_77" id="FNanchor_77_77"></a><a href="#Footnote_77_77" class="fnanchor">[77]</a></p></div> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_200" id="Page_200">[Pg 200]</a></span>This separate incorporation of the village has been a large factor in +making a distinction between villagers and farmers and preventing their +recognition of their community interests. Not infrequently, however, it +will be found that some of the more progressive villages are not +incorporated and that they have the loyalty of the farmers. Numerous +examples of unincorporated villages might be cited to show that where a +spirit of pride in local village institutions has been developed among +the farmers of the territory tributary to it, that village improvements +not only are not impeded, but the community is much strengthened. This +is more likely to be true, however, where the township boundary and the +natural community area are practically the same.</p> + +<p>On the other hand, the progress of a rural community, i.e., a village +and the territory tributary to it, often is prevented if it cannot +command a majority of the votes in a township. In a nearby village is a +town hall which might be used as a community house and be a social +center for the whole community. But the borders of the township belong +to other communities and do not come to the township center, and these +people on the edge of the township very naturally take the position that +if the village and neighboring people wish to use the town hall, let +them rent it of the town, but why should the whole township be taxed for +advantages which only half of it can enjoy. The same line of argument +arises with regard to the location of schools, roads, libraries, and the +districts for public health nurses. Unless the whole township can be +equally well served, a community which forms but part of the township is +unable to secure these advantages unless it can command a majority of +the votes, or except as the village incorporates, and then it loses the +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_201" id="Page_201">[Pg 201]</a></span>support of the taxes from the farms of the community which share the +benefits.</p> + +<p>As long as farm life was on the neighborhood basis, its interests +largely centering in the district school and the country church, its +roads maintained by the labor of its citizens under a local road +supervisor, and trips to the village were made only once or twice a week +for mail and supplies, farmers did not feel the need for a unit of local +government other than the township. But when the church, the grange and +the lodge are in the village, when they desire consolidated schools, +libraries, and community houses, which are most convenient to all at the +village center, and when they desire the improvement of local roads so +that they will best connect with state and county roads, then the +interests of the farmers and the villagers unite them in these common +enterprises, and the community comes into conflict with the rest of the +township if the township is composed of more than one community.</p> + +<p>On the other hand, it must be recognized that for many purposes the +community, or even the township, is too small a unit to secure the +greatest efficiency in administration of public agencies, and so there +has been a distinct tendency toward the centralization of many functions +of local government in county officials. Thus the county superintendent +of schools is assuming more and more control over the local school +system, the county supervision of roads is increasing, and we have shown +(p. 145) the desirability of a county health administration, the need +for county juvenile courts (p. 188), county boards for the +administration of welfare work (p. 191), and a county library system. +The county tends to become a rural municipality very similar in function +and organization to the city, and the logical outcome seems to be the +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_202" id="Page_202">[Pg 202]</a></span>employment of a county manager under a commission or county council, +which has already become possible in Maryland and California.<a name="FNanchor_78_78" id="FNanchor_78_78"></a><a href="#Footnote_78_78" class="fnanchor">[78]</a> That +this centralization makes possible a greater efficiency in +administration can hardly be doubted, but that it tends to destroy the +initiative and responsibility of the local community is equally +apparent. With an over-centralization of administration, whether in the +county or the state, the local community loses the very ties which have +bound it together. The adjustment of the desires for efficiency and for +local democracy is one of the unsolved problems of government. +Experience shows clearly that the local community or township is too +small a unit to secure efficient administration; but it is also evident +that without some degree of local responsibility and control, +centralized administration tends to become bureaucratic and the people +are deprived of that participation in government which is essential for +the life of a democracy.</p> + +<p>Thus the need for the local self-government of rural communities has +become apparent to rural leaders. It is interesting to note that this is +becoming appreciated in the South, where on account of social and +economic conditions local government has been almost entirely lacking in +the past, but where new conditions give rise to new desires which cannot +be realized except through some means whereby a locality can be free to +work out its own salvation. This point of view has been vigorously +expressed by Dr. Clarence Poe, editor of the Progressive Farmer and a +recognized leader of rural life in the South:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"The chief task of the man who would help develop a rich and +puissant rural civilization here in the South—the chief +task <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_203" id="Page_203">[Pg 203]</a></span>perhaps of the man who would make an agricultural +State like North Carolina the great commonwealth it ought to +be—is to develop the rural community."...</p> + +<p>"Consider the fact that the country community is the only +social unit known to our civilization that is without +definite boundaries and without machinery for +self-expression and development—without form, and void, as +was chaos before creation."...</p> + +<p>"But for the country community there is no organic means of +expression whatever. There is, of course, that shadowy and +futile geographical division known as the Township—but it +is laid off utterly without regard to human consideration, +and serves no purpose save as a means of defining voting +boundaries and limiting the spheres of constables and +sheriff's deputies—a mere ghostly phantom of a social +entity that we need not consider at all."<a name="FNanchor_79_79" id="FNanchor_79_79"></a><a href="#Footnote_79_79" class="fnanchor">[79]</a></p></div> + +<p>And he then goes on to show the advantages of the New England township.</p> + +<p><i>Community School Districts.</i>—The most significant beginning toward the +creation of self-government for the rural community is in the laws which +have been passed by several states permitting redistricting for the +establishment of community high schools or consolidated schools, +irrespective of township or county boundaries and according to the +desire of the prospective patrons of the schools. Thus in 1919 Nebraska +passed a state rural school redistricting law under which every county +has a redistricting committee which determines what seem to be the +natural boundaries of the district, which are then subject to petitions +from the people for their alteration, and the whole plan is then +submitted to a vote of the county. <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_204" id="Page_204">[Pg 204]</a></span>"The law does not explicitly state +that the proposed districts must correspond to a natural community in +the social sense; it only says that they must be very much larger than +the old ones, approximately twenty-five square miles. The inevitable +result, however, of opening the question and of freeing community choice +from old political boundaries is to settle on new areas approaching +social units with self-conscious community ties."<a name="FNanchor_80_80" id="FNanchor_80_80"></a><a href="#Footnote_80_80" class="fnanchor">[80]</a> Kansas and +Illinois have somewhat similar legislation and a community unit is +proposed by the Committee of 21 which has recently conducted a survey of +the rural school situation in the State of New York.</p> + +<p><i>Community House Districts</i>.—Wisconsin has passed an act whereby the +people of any local area may vote to erect and maintain a community +house and may establish the boundaries of the area in which the citizens +shall have the right to tax themselves for this purpose, and to elect +trustees of the house, in much the same manner as community school +districts are established. It seems probable that when a natural social +area has thus been determined it will probably be the same for both +school and community house, and that it might be the best unit for the +support of such community agencies as a public library, or a +public-health nurse, and thus a real community government might +gradually arise and might ultimately displace the arbitrary township +government, although the township might be retained for its original +purpose of land registration.</p> + +<p><i>Rural Community Incorporation</i>.—The most advanced step in giving the +rural community self-government is An Act to Provide for the +Incorporation of Rural <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_205" id="Page_205">[Pg 205]</a></span>Communities, passed by the legislature of North +Carolina in 1919.<a name="FNanchor_81_81" id="FNanchor_81_81"></a><a href="#Footnote_81_81" class="fnanchor">[81]</a> This act gives authority for the incorporation of +rural communities including definite school districts, which may or may +not include hamlets or village centers, but which must be at least two +miles from any town or city of five thousand or more inhabitants. It +gives such incorporated rural communities the general powers and +privileges of an incorporated village, except that they cannot lose +their identity as a part of the school and road systems of the county. +Taxes may be levied for various public purposes, but they must be voted +at an annual meeting at which a majority of the registered voters must +be present, or be submitted to an election, and the amount of taxes and +bonds are limited. Although about a dozen communities have incorporated +under this act, but few of them seem to be actively functioning, due to +various local causes. The act itself, however, is well conceived and is +worthy of study by those interested in better rural government.</p> + +<p>Another method of accomplishing the same end is by a special act of +incorporation for a particular community, as was passed by the +Legislature of New Jersey for Plainsboro Township in 1919.</p> + +<p>Concerning the organization of this community, Hon. Alva Agee, State +Secretary of Agriculture, writes:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"Every voter within its boundaries signed a petition to the +legislature for the creation of a new township embracing the +territory belonging to the community, and this was granted. +The community then met, made a declaration of its purposes +and adopted a constitution providing for control of all +township and community affairs. It is a return to direct +government by the people, and places responsibility upon +every individual. It is the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_206" id="Page_206">[Pg 206]</a></span>old New England town-meeting +made effective. Patient study of every detail was given by +members of the community."<a name="FNanchor_82_82" id="FNanchor_82_82"></a><a href="#Footnote_82_82" class="fnanchor">[82]</a></p></div> + +<p>The declaration of purposes and constitution<a name="FNanchor_83_83" id="FNanchor_83_83"></a><a href="#Footnote_83_83" class="fnanchor">[83]</a> are so unique that they +should be studied by all interested in community government.</p> +<br /> + +<div class="blockquot"><p class="cen">"A DECLARATION OF PURPOSES</p> + +<p>"We, the residents of Plainsboro Township, New Jersey, +declare our purpose to accept all the duties of American +citizenship.</p> + +<p>We are forming an association to secure all the benefits of +community life, and affirm the right of our community to +each one's best effort.</p> + +<p>We support all individual rights just as far as their use +does not harm our fellows.</p> + +<p>We agree that the public good is superior to any private +gain obtained at the expense of community welfare.</p> + +<p>We recognize and acknowledge the gracious influences of +practical Christianity in community life.</p> + +<p>We ask that our homes be guarded by right social conditions +throughout our community.</p> + +<p>We declare the duty of the community to provide good +schools, means for community recreation, safe sanitary +conditions, improved highways, and encouragement to thrift +and home-ownership.</p> + +<p>We purpose to make the neatness and attractiveness of our +homes and farms assets of distinct value to the township.</p> + +<p>We agree to do our share in the creation of public sentiment +in support of all measures in the public interest.</p> + +<p>We agree to put aside all partisan and sectarian relations +when dealing with community matters.</p> + +<p>We state our conviction that the best rewards from this +organized effort lie before each one in a deepened interest +in others <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_207" id="Page_207">[Pg 207]</a></span>and in an increased ability to coöperate the one +with the other for the good of all.</p> + +<p>We, the citizens of Plainsboro Township, incorporated by act +of the Legislature of the State of New Jersey, approved +April 1, 1919, and accepted by us on May 6, 1919, subscribe +to this declaration."</p></div> +<br /> + +<p>If such a Declaration of Purposes were adopted by every rural community, +and were taught the children as a civic oath of allegiance, would it not +have more immediate effect on practical patriotism than even the +Declaration of Independence, and what new meaning would be given to +local government? Here is an example of rural civic spirit which, if it +could become general throughout the rural communities of the United +States, would remold the political and social organization of the whole +country; for it provides both the mechanism and the spirit which are +essential for making democracy a reality rather than an ideal.</p> + +<p><i>Community Government and Democracy.</i>—The local community is +indispensable as the primary political unit for the maintenance of true +democracy, both because it is small enough that there can be personal +relations between its members, in which a real consensus of opinion can +be formed, and also because only in it can the masses of mankind have +any personal experience or participation in government. Unless the +individual has a social consciousness of the community in which he +lives, he can have but a feeble and hazy realization of larger social +groups. Unless the community through its individuals is self-conscious, +it cannot take its rightful place in the larger community of which it +forms a part. If democracy does not obtain in the local community, the +voice of such a community in the affairs of the county or <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_208" id="Page_208">[Pg 208]</a></span>state will be +that of its self-chosen leaders. It is difficult to conceive how any +real democracy can be secured in State or Nation where it does not +obtain in their constituent communities. It is entirely possible to have +a government democratic in form and theory, but actually a political or +economic feudalism, supported by local chieftains who represent not the +people, but themselves or some business or other special interests. The +very life of true democracy is in the participation of individuals in +the government of the local group and in the organization of the +locality groups, so that there may be a fair discussion and expression +by those who are bound together by common interests through some form of +self-government for the rural community.</p> + +<h4>FOOTNOTES:</h4> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_75_75" id="Footnote_75_75"></a><a href="#FNanchor_75_75"><span class="label">[75]</span></a> "Civil Government in the United States," pp. 17, 18. +Boston, 1890.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_76_76" id="Footnote_76_76"></a><a href="#FNanchor_76_76"><span class="label">[76]</span></a> "Local Government in Illinois," p. 10. Johns Hopkins Univ. +Studies in History and Political Science. Vol. I, No. 3, 1883.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_77_77" id="Footnote_77_77"></a><a href="#FNanchor_77_77"><span class="label">[77]</span></a> Editor's note, p. 51. "Penn. Boroughs," by Wm. F. Holcomb. +Johns Hopkins Univ. Stud. in History and Pol. Sc. Vol. IV, No. 4, 1886.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_78_78" id="Footnote_78_78"></a><a href="#FNanchor_78_78"><span class="label">[78]</span></a> See E. H. Ryder, "Proposed Modifications and Recent +Tendencies in Rural Government and Legislation," p. 112, Proc. 3d Natl. +Country Life Conference.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_79_79" id="Footnote_79_79"></a><a href="#FNanchor_79_79"><span class="label">[79]</span></a> "Why Not Local Self-Government for Rural Communities," pp. +4-48. North Carolina Club Year Book, 1917-1918. "County Government and +County Affairs in North Carolina." The University of North Carolina +Record. No. 159. Oct., 1918. Chapel Hill, N. C.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_80_80" id="Footnote_80_80"></a><a href="#FNanchor_80_80"><span class="label">[80]</span></a> H. Paul Douglas. "Recent Legislation Facilitating Rural +Community Organization," p. 124, Proc. 3d Natl. Country Life +Conference.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_81_81" id="Footnote_81_81"></a><a href="#FNanchor_81_81"><span class="label">[81]</span></a> Public Laws of 1919, Reprinted as Appendix A, p. 116, of +A. W. Hayes, "Rural Community Organization." Chicago, 1921.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_82_82" id="Footnote_82_82"></a><a href="#FNanchor_82_82"><span class="label">[82]</span></a> "A Community Organization." National Stockman and Farmer. +July 26, 1919.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_83_83" id="Footnote_83_83"></a><a href="#FNanchor_83_83"><span class="label">[83]</span></a> For the constitution see Appendix A, page 247.</p></div> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_209" id="Page_209">[Pg 209]</a></span> +<br /> + +<hr /> +<br /> +<h2>CHAPTER XVII</h2> + +<h2>COMMUNITY ORGANIZATION<a name="FNanchor_84_84" id="FNanchor_84_84"></a><a href="#Footnote_84_84" class="fnanchor">[84]</a></h2> +<br /> + +<p>From one standpoint the whole progress of civilization is but a process +of social organization, the establishment of those relationships which +best promote the largest measure of human welfare. In the previous +chapters we have noted the various aspects and problems of rural life +which have necessitated the community as a unit for social organization. +As a result of the growing conviction that the conditions of rural life +can be made satisfying only through the collective efforts of definite +communities, there has arisen a widespread movement for the better +organization of community interests and activities, which has come to be +known as community organization. Although this movement is being +encouraged by many agencies, its greatest significance and importance +arises from the fact that, for the most part, community organization of +many diverse types is springing up in rural communities throughout the +country as a means of meeting their local needs. This spontaneity of the +movement is the best evidence that changing conditions have brought +about a real need for some better machinery for community development.</p> + +<p>In order to understand community organization so that we may +intelligently encourage its development, it will be well to consider (1) +the underlying causes, (2) the process of organization, and (3) the +forms of organization.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_210" id="Page_210">[Pg 210]</a></span>1. <i>Causes.</i>—Usually the immediate cause of attempting community +organization is the common desire to meet a need which cannot well be +realized except through the united effort of the whole community. +Improved roads are needed, a library or playground is desired, a Liberty +Loan must be raised, a Fourth of July celebration or a pageant is to be +undertaken, a band or baseball team needs financial support and +patronage to prevent its disbanding, hard times or a fire make unusual +aid necessary to certain families, an influenza epidemic compels a +united effort for the care of the sick. In all such cases a citizens' +committee is usually organized which represents various organizations +and interests so that the support of all the elements in the community +may be enlisted. When any common need is of such a magnitude or of such +a nature that it is not within the field of any one organization or +agency, then some form of at least temporary community organization is +necessary. When some of these needs, such as a community house or a +public health nurse, require permanent maintenance, and the coöperation +of various organizations is essential for the success of the enterprise, +then some permanent form of community organization becomes desirable. If +a community organization is to be permanent and is to really function, +there must be work for it to do which cannot or will not be done by +existing agencies.</p> + +<p>A second cause for community organization arises from the increasing +complexity of human relationships, even in a rural community. We have +observed that in recent years there has been a rapid increase in the +number of associations each of which is devoted to some one special +interest. The life of simpler or more primitive communities is a unit +with regard to all phases of their life, religion, government, and +social affairs. Such was the township of <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_211" id="Page_211">[Pg 211]</a></span>colonial New England and many +a community in the pioneer stage. But in modern times a multiplicity of +voluntary associations have sprung up and have spread from one community +to another. In many cases the members of such organizations become more +loyal to them than to the community; organizations become self-centered +and divisive rather than being devoted to the community good. Religion, +government, economic life, and education have become more or less +separate spheres of life, each having a code of its own, whereas human +problems involve all of these aspects of life and cannot be successfully +solved while there is conflict of standards between religion, business, +government, and social life. Not infrequently more than one organization +undertakes the same or similar work, or the demands of one clash with +those of another, and social confusion arises. When this occurs in a +large city between organizations which are supported by the wealthy or +by different groups, each may go as far as its resources will permit; +but in the rural community where organizations must be of the people and +supported by all of them, such a situation cannot be tolerated for both +funds and leadership are limited.</p> + +<p>Organizations arise to meet recognized human needs, but no one +organization can meet all the needs of the whole community. Nor do all +organizations appeal to all people. Men associate according to their +special individual interests, some are more interested in religion and +business, others in social life or athletics, or what not. As the +organizations representing these interests become more and more +specialized, each individual belongs to several organizations, whose +interests sometimes conflict and members of a community are arrayed +against each other. Thus an individual is sometimes involved in a +divided loyalty between two groups, and finds himself with a conflict of +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_212" id="Page_212">[Pg 212]</a></span>purposes which lessens that personal unity which is essential for +character and personal peace. The character of the individual is +developed to the extent that he is able to resolve this conflict of his +interests in one dominant purpose. So the welfare of the community can +be secured only by a unity of purpose among its organizations in their +loyalty to the common good. This tendency to form associations for +special interests is shown in the following diagram:</p> + +<div class="centered"> +<table border="0" width="90%" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" summary="Associations"> + <tr> + <td class="tdl" width="30%">FOR A SATISFYING<br /> LIFE EVERY MAN<br /> NEEDS:</td> + <td class="tdr" width="5%"> + + <table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" summary="bracket"> + <tr> + <td class="bt br bb"> <br /> <br /> <br /> </td> + </tr> + </table> + + </td> + <td class="tdc" width="20%">These needs<br />are met by</td> + + <td class="tdl" width="5%"> + + <table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" summary="bracket"> + <tr> + <td class="bt bl bb"> <br /> <br /> <br /> </td> + </tr> + </table> + + </td> + <td class="tdl" width="40%">ASSOCIATIONS AND ORGANIZATIONS<br /> REPRESENTING SPECIAL + INTERESTS<br /> OF THE COMMUNITY, such as</td> + </tr> +</table> +</div> + +<div class="centered"> +<table border="0" width="90%" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" summary="Phosphate"> + <tr> + <td class="tdlt"> </td> + <td class="tdl"> </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdlt" width="50%">1. ECONOMIC PROSPERITY<br /> —An + Adequate Income</td> + <td class="tdl" width="50%">Coöperative Marketing Assns.<br />Coöperative Buying + Assns.<br />Commercial Clubs<br />Farm Loan Assns.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdlt"> </td> + <td class="tdl"> </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdlt">2. HEALTH<br /> —Physical Fitness</td> + <td class="tdl">Public health nurses<br />Local health officer<br />Local hospitals</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdlt"> </td> + <td class="tdl"> </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdlt">3. EDUCATION<br /> —The Ability to Learn</td> + <td class="tdl">Schools<br />Parent-Teacher's Assns.<br />Farm and Home Bureau<br /> + Boys' and Girls' Clubs<br />Public Library and Museum<br />Community Fairs</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdlt"> </td> + <td class="tdl"> </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdlt">4. SOCIABILITY AND RECREATION<br /> —The + Joy of Playing Together</td> + <td class="tdl">Lodges<br />Women's clubs; men's clubs<br />Scouts; Camp Fire Girls<br /> + Athletic Clubs and Assns.<br />Moving pictures and theatres<br />Public playground + & gymnasium</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdlt"> </td> + <td class="tdl"> </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdlt">5. ARTISTIC ENJOYMENT<br /> —Appreciation of + Beauty in Nature, Music,<br /> Art and Literature</td> + <td class="tdl">Village Improvement Societies<br />Community Choruses<br />Bands and + Orchestras</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdlt"> </td> + <td class="tdl"> </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdlt"> </td> + <td class="tdl"> </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdlt">6. RELIGIOUS LIFE<br /> —The Common Quest of + the Highest Ideals</td> + <td class="tdl">Churches and church federations<br />Y. M. C. A. and Y. W. C. A.<br /> + Young People's Societies</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdlt"> </td> + <td class="tdl"> </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdlt"><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_213" id="Page_213">[Pg 213]</a></span> + 7. FAMILY WELFARE<br /> —Love of Family</td> + <td class="tdl">Red Cross—Home Service<br />Child Welfare Bureaus and Child<br /> + Study Clubs</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdlt"> </td> + <td class="tdl"> </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdlt">8. A PROGRESSIVE COMMUNITY<br /> —A Desire for + Opportunity for All—i.e., Democracy</td> + <td class="tdl">Some form of a Community organization,<br /> bringing together all the above.</td> + </tr> +</table> +</div> + +<p>On the other hand we must recognize man's gregarious tendency, his +desire for the support of public opinion, his craving of a feeling of +"togetherness." The elation which comes to a people engaged in war or in +meeting any common disaster comes chiefly from the satisfaction they +experience in being united in a common cause and enjoying the sanction +of their fellows without division among them. The individualistic +philosophy of the more sophisticated may enable them to find +satisfaction in more or less socially segregated groups under ordinary +conditions, but when they face calamity, when the most fundamental and +deepest issues of life are involved, then they enjoy association with +those who surround them—they become "neighbors."</p> + +<p>This desire of men to associate in groups which represent their special +interests, and their equal desire to be <i>en rapport</i> with all their +fellows with whom their life is associated in community life, is one of +the paradoxes into which many of our basic human problems resolve, and +furnishes one of the primary reasons for some form of community +organization which will unify the increasing complexity of associations.</p> + +<p>A third underlying motive for community organization, which is just +coming to receive recognition, is the need of defending the interests of +the local community against the domination of national or state +organizations, of maintaining a necessary degree of local autonomy. All +organizations which become associated in state or national federations +inevitably develop a central administration which <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_214" id="Page_214">[Pg 214]</a></span>tends to become more +or less of a hierarchy or bureaucracy. The national organization seeks +to achieve its special objects and to emphasize their supreme +importance. It tries to secure efficiency of the local groups through +standardization, and very naturally encourages their loyalty to the +state or national aims and purposes. This tendency is more or less +inevitable and is an inherent weakness of all large organizations which +do not constantly place their emphasis on strengthening their local +units and encouraging devotion to community service. But in many cases +the larger organization has lost a true perspective of its relationship +to its local units and of their primary duty to their local communities. +The most flagrant instance of this principle is in the domination of +local government by national political parties, whose policies have +nothing whatever to do with local administration, but who maintain their +"machines" so that an efficient organization is available for mobilizing +the vote in state and national elections. The resulting reaction has +given rise to citizen's tickets, commission government and city +managers, and in the more progressive smaller communities a growing +tendency to vote for the best man irrespective of party. Wherever a +community votes independently of national party lines on local affairs, +there will be found healthy local government. For the same general +reasons we have observed the growth of the community church movement (p. +127) as a protest against sectarian rivalries, the new emphasis of the +master of the national grange (p. 172) on the community responsibilities +of the grange as more important than its legislative activities, and the +effort to prevent an over-centralization of school administration +through the creation of community school districts under local control. +A striking example of the reaction of local communities in self-defense +against the demands <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_215" id="Page_215">[Pg 215]</a></span>for support from many organizations was the rapid +spread of the "War Chest" movement among our cities during the war as a +means of raising funds for various national organizations carrying on +war work. Subsequently the same idea has given rise to the organization +of "Community Chests" or "Community Funds" for financing various +community and national welfare agencies, so as to ensure adequate +support for those which are necessary, but to discourage a multiplicity +of competing organizations, and to furnish a mechanism whereby the +community may exercise some definite policy with regard to its social +work.</p> + +<p>Such are some of the fundamental causes which have given rise to various +experiments in community organization. They commenced about a decade +ago, but increased slowly prior to the war. The war brought about a new +realization of the community, as it was necessary to organize war +activities, "war drives," etc., on a community basis. Under the National +Council of Defense were organized State and County Councils of Defense +and finally President Wilson issued a letter encouraging the +organization of local Community Councils,<a name="FNanchor_85_85" id="FNanchor_85_85"></a><a href="#Footnote_85_85" class="fnanchor">[85]</a> to bring together all +organizations and interests of the community not only for war purposes +but with a view to their future usefulness in times of peace. In this +letter, President Wilson said:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"Your State, in extending the national defense organization +by the creation of community councils, is in my opinion +making an advance of vital significance. It will, I believe, +result when thoroughly carried out in welding the Nation +together as no nation of great size has been welded before. +It will build up from the bottom an understanding and +sympathy and unity of purpose and effort which will no doubt +have an immediate and <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_216" id="Page_216">[Pg 216]</a></span>decisive effect upon our great +undertaking. You will find it, I think, not so much a new +task as a unification of existing efforts, a fusion of +energies now too much scattered and at times somewhat +confused into one harmonious and effective power. It is only +by extending your organization to small communities that +every citizen of the State can be reached and touched with +the inspiration of the common cause."</p></div> + +<p>The organization of community councils was actively pushed by the +National and State Councils of Defense, and thousands of them were +organized. This was in the summer of 1918, but owing to the early +declaration of the Armistice they had but little opportunity to become +thoroughly established. As they had been created primarily for war +purposes, most of them ceased to function with the cessation of +hostilities, but the idea had taken root and the experience of common +effort in war activities had brought about a new sense of the value of +some sort of community organization.</p> + +<p>2. <i>The Process of Community Organization.</i>—As corollaries of the +motives for community organization which we have just discussed, there +are certain fairly obvious principles concerning the process of +organization which deserve emphasis.</p> + +<p>The first essential is to determine whether there are unsatisfied +desires which cannot be met except by community action and whether they +are sufficiently desired to command the united support of the community. +Only as individuals and associations have common desires which cannot be +satisfied without their united activity can community organization be +effected. The mere logical desirability of coördination of effort, +however rational it may appear, is too abstract an objective to inspire +enduring devotion. The allaying of antagonisms between special interests +makes no appeal to any of them until they are unable to achieve their +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_217" id="Page_217">[Pg 217]</a></span>ends without joint action. Therefore, the primary consideration in +community organization is to determine what is the most important unmet +need of the community which requires united action for its satisfaction, +and to enlist all possible elements in the common enterprise.</p> + +<p>A community must be thoroughly convinced of the need of some definite +form of community organization before it can succeed. Sudden enthusiasm +due to the power of a persuasive speaker or a community meeting may +result in the formation of a community organization, but unless a +considerable proportion of the people representing various interests are +firmly convinced of the need and are willing to pool their interests in +community activities, such an organization will be like many a convert +of a revival meeting, it will soon "backslide." To secure the +recognition of the need for concerted action by all elements of the +community will usually require time and education, and is a process +which cannot be forced too rapidly—all education or learning involves +time.</p> + +<p>Even when an outstanding need is apparent it may not always be possible +to gain the support of a sufficient portion of the community to justify +an immediate effort for its achievement. It may be necessary to first +arouse good feeling and community spirit by some activity which, though +relatively less important, will command more general interest and +participation, and may pave the way for other enterprises. The first and +essential step in community organization is to get the community to act +together, for only through collective activity is community spirit and +loyalty developed. It is for this reason that Old Home Weeks, family +reunions, athletic or play festivals, baseball teams, picnics, pageants, +dramatics, community fairs, community Chautauquas, holiday celebrations, +and kindred events are often the best means for creating better +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_218" id="Page_218">[Pg 218]</a></span>community spirit.<a name="FNanchor_86_86" id="FNanchor_86_86"></a><a href="#Footnote_86_86" class="fnanchor">[86]</a> It should be remembered that the objective of +community organization is not <i>an</i> organization, but the active +coöperation of all the people and organizations of the community for the +common welfare. The essential is common ideals and loyalties; the +mechanism whereby these may be achieved is incidental.</p> + +<p>Until genuine local leadership is available, community organization will +be impossible. It is true that often where the need for community +activity is sufficiently great that the very necessity develops new +leadership. Herein lies the value of beginning the process of community +organization by some enterprise which enlists the enthusiastic support +of the whole community, for in such activities new leadership is often +developed.</p> + +<p>Any form of community organization which is to be permanent and +effective must represent the actual life of the community, which is +largely dominated by existing organizations. Most individuals are loyal +to certain of these organizations and these loyalties are the social +realities which must be recognized in any attempt to unite them in +larger aims. Unless most of the leading organizations of a community can +be affiliated for community progress, any so-called community +organization will be but another organization. The League of Nations +hardly represents the world community as long as the United States, +Germany and Russia are not affiliated with it, nor would our federal +government be representative of our national life if it were +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_219" id="Page_219">[Pg 219]</a></span>responsible only to the direct vote of the people and did not give +recognition to the states as states. It is for this reason that +community organization will proceed most efficiently where it is +initiated by the joint effort of several of its leading associations, +the churches, the grange, the farm and home bureau, the Red Cross, the +business men's association, etc., for without their support a divided +loyalty will persist.</p> + +<p>For the same reason, a community organization cannot be under the +auspices of any one existing organization as a chamber of commerce or +farm bureau. Both of these and others are community organizations, but +they are for specific purposes. Proponents of both of these have +advocated making them community-wide and all-embracing in their +functions, but it needs but little reflection to show the impossibility +of such a plan. To cite but one objection. The rural church is the most +deeply-rooted and in many ways the most powerful of rural institutions. +It can coöperate with these other organizations for community purposes, +but neither of them can enter into the religious field. The same is true +of lodges, schools, health organizations, government, etc. Community +organizations, such as the Chamber of Commerce or Commercial Club, the +Grange and the Farm Bureau for agriculture and homemaking, the Red Cross +for its activities, Church Federations, and others should all be +encouraged where needed, but although each of these has certain +community functions, no one of them can do or can direct the work of +another. The community organization must bring them together so as to +best coördinate their work for the good of the community, not through +the power of an organic federation, but through the influence of +conference, good will and devotion to the common weal.</p> + +<p>3. <i>The Community Council.</i>—Community organizations <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_220" id="Page_220">[Pg 220]</a></span>are, as yet, in an +experimental stage and their formal constitutions or by-laws are of many +different types.<a name="FNanchor_87_87" id="FNanchor_87_87"></a><a href="#Footnote_87_87" class="fnanchor">[87]</a> The Community Council, as suggested by the National +Council of Defense, has been adopted in many communities with various +modifications to meet local conditions. A community council consists of +one representative from each general organization which affiliates with +it and of a variable number of members-at-large elected by the annual +community meeting. All citizens are entitled to vote for the +members-at-large. The usual officers may be elected by the community +meeting, or, preferably, be chosen by the council itself. Thus the +council represents both the existing organizations and the community as +a whole. The council does not attempt any control over existing +organizations, but merely provides a means for their voluntary +coöperation and is an agency for promoting community activities. In many +cases where there are a large number of organizations, and it is +surprising how many are found in many average-sized rural communities, +the council will be too large to be an effective working body. +Furthermore, the members who represent various organizations may not +always be the best persons to carry on the particular enterprises which +the council desires to promote. The council may, under such +circumstances, devote itself to the consideration of policies and +enterprises, and may create committees of citizens who are best +qualified and most interested in particular projects to have charge of +their execution. Thus if the council decides to get back of a movement +for a playground, a public health nurse, and a band, committees would be +appointed to take charge of organizing each one of these enterprises. +These <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_221" id="Page_221">[Pg 221]</a></span>committees should be selected so as to represent the various +organizations most directly concerned with or interested in the +particular project as far as possible, but they should be chosen +primarily for their ability to produce results. Committees should be +appointed only for those projects which the council decides to +undertake, although one or two committees may be appointed merely to +investigate suggested projects and to report their findings for further +consideration. Where the council is large, and it is not practicable to +have it meet more than once a quarter, it may be well to have its work +carried on in the interims by an executive committee consisting of the +officers and the chairmen of the committees.</p> + +<p>There can be no one best type of community organization adapted to the +widely varying conditions of all sorts and sizes of rural communities; +each community must have a form of organization adapted to its needs. +The important thing is not the creation of another new organization in +the community, but to afford the means for the better team play of those +which already exist. The mechanism must therefore depend upon the +character and stage of development of the community and will be modified +from time to time as its experience, or that of similar community +organizations, warrants.</p> + +<p>Finally let us remember that community organization is not an end in +itself, but that it is merely a means whereby conditions in the +community may be made such that every individual in it may have the best +possible chance to develop his personality and to enjoy the fellowship +of service in the common good. The aim of all social organization is +personality, but personality is achieved and can find its own +satisfaction only through fellowship. The ideal community but furnishes +the social environment in which the human spirit realizes its highest +values.</p> + +<h4>FOOTNOTES:</h4> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_84_84" id="Footnote_84_84"></a><a href="#FNanchor_84_84"><span class="label">[84]</span></a> Much of this chapter is a revision of parts of an article +by the author entitled "Some Fundamentals of Rural Community +Organization." Proceedings Third Natl. Country Life Conference, pp. +66-77.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_85_85" id="Footnote_85_85"></a><a href="#FNanchor_85_85"><span class="label">[85]</span></a> See Elliott Dunlap Smith, Proceedings first National +Country Life Conference, pp. 36-46 and Appendix C.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_86_86" id="Footnote_86_86"></a><a href="#FNanchor_86_86"><span class="label">[86]</span></a> In this connection, Dr. N. L. Sims in his "The Rural +Community" (p. 640. New York. Scribners, 1920), has propounded a most +interesting "Law of Rural Socialization":—"Coöperation in rural +neighborhoods has its genesis in and development through those forms of +association which, beginning on the basis of least cost, gradually rise +through planes of increasing cost to the stage of greatest cost in +effort demanded, and which give at the same time ever increasing and +more enduring benefits and satisfactions to the group."</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_87_87" id="Footnote_87_87"></a><a href="#FNanchor_87_87"><span class="label">[87]</span></a> See pp. 74-5, "Some Fundamentals of Rural Community +Organization." Proc. 3d National Country Life Conference; and, E. C. +Lindeman, "The Community," Chap. X. New York, Association Press, 1921.</p></div> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_222" id="Page_222">[Pg 222]</a></span> +<br /> + +<hr /> +<br /> +<h2>CHAPTER XVIII</h2> + +<h2>COMMUNITY PLANNING</h2> +<br /> + +<p>So far we have been considering the community with regard to how its +people associate, with community psychology and behavior. But we must +not forget that the community has a physical basis. The buildings which +house these associations at the community center, the church, the +school, the grange hall, the stores, with the roads which radiate from +it and the farmsteads which they serve, these are the structures which, +with the natural topography of stream and hill, give material form to +the community and condition its life.</p> + +<p>One of the chief difficulties in the development of rural communities in +the United States is that, like Topsy, they have "just growed." Village +centers have sprung up here and there and gradually the surrounding +countryside becomes associated with them. As a result little +consideration has been given to planning the community either for +efficiency or attractiveness. Sinclair Lewis' description of Gopher +Prairie in "Main Street" may be overdrawn and unjust to many a rural +community, but it describes conditions which are so common that it has +aroused the public conscience concerning the lack of civic spirit in +rural communities.</p> + +<p>A community is much like an individual. The man who is slouchy and +careless of his personal appearance is rarely a strong character. The +community whose cemetery is neglected, whose school grounds are a mass +of mud and the outhouses a disgrace, whose lawns are unkept, where +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_223" id="Page_223">[Pg 223]</a></span>ash-piles and neglected puddles fill the vacant lots, whose roads are +tortuous and unimproved, whose farm houses are unpainted and whose +barnyards are more prominent than the door-yards—such a community is +usually weak. It has little pride in itself or desire for improvement. +In the case of the man who is "down and out," if we wish to give him a +new start, we encourage him to take a bath and a shave and we then +furnish him clean clothes, so that looking more respectable he may act +the part. Likewise in community improvement a "clean up day" is often +one of the best means of starting a new pride among its people.</p> + +<p>But improving its looks will not remedy the more fundamental structural +defects which frequently handicap the rural community. Utility as well +as beauty is essential in community arrangement. If the community is to +escape ugliness and inconvenience, it will sooner or later come to the +time when it must definitely plan the arrangement of its streets and +roads, its public buildings and its open spaces, so as to best serve all +parts of the community. Community planning is as essential to +satisfactory "community housekeeping" as the plan of a house is for the +convenience of the home. An architect is needed to plan a home for the +community, a community structure which is mechanically sound and +efficient and withal both beautiful and comfortable, just as much as for +designing a house. So the art of "town planning" is extending from the +cities to the country and some of our landscape architects who love the +countryside and appreciate its life and problems are giving their +attention to rural community planning.<a name="FNanchor_88_88" id="FNanchor_88_88"></a><a href="#Footnote_88_88" class="fnanchor">[88]</a></p> + +<p>This is not the place to enter into any extended discussion of the art +of community planning, but we may well <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_224" id="Page_224">[Pg 224]</a></span>consider a few principles which +are essential for realizing the ideals of community development.</p> + +<p>As the community center is the nucleus of the community life, let us +first consider the village plan.</p> + +<p>One enters the community at the railroad station or by a main road. It +is, of course, impossible to prevent the property adjoining a railroad +from being the least attractive, because it is the most undesirable for +residence purposes; but it is entirely practicable to have a neat +railroad station with well-kept surroundings. Some of our more +progressive railroad companies have perceived that it is good business +to make their stations and grounds attractive and most of them will be +willing to meet the local people halfway in an effort to improve their +appearance. In far too many cases the grounds of the railroad station +and the adjoining properties are the most neglected spot in the village +and give an unfavorable impression of the community. Certainly we would +think a man queer who placed the back-door of his house to the street, +but the railroad station is usually the back-door of the community +instead of the main entrance as it should be. On the other hand, on +alighting at a well-kept station, with a neat lawn, good walks and +roads, which is not surrounded by the village rubbish heaps and +dilapidated buildings, the newcomer feels that here is a place which +invites further acquaintance, while the native has a sense of +satisfaction rather than of apology.</p> + +<p>The same principles apply to main road entrances to the village. The +automobile has greatly increased highway travel. Where a village places +a sign at its entrance "Welcome to Smithville," and at its exit "Come +Again," as is now frequently done, it not only makes a favorable +impression on the tourist, but it gives the community a sense of +identity. In New England these signs are frequently <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_225" id="Page_225">[Pg 225]</a></span>placed, at the +township line rather than at the village boundary. In a few cases +villages have erected dignified stone pillars or arches at the entrance +points.</p> + +<p>The building of state roads between village centers has almost +necessitated paving or hard roads in the village, for people resent +traveling over a good road in the open country and then plowing through +mud holes in a village. Not infrequently the streets of the incorporated +village are much poorer than the state roads outside the village and +although incorporation formerly enabled the village to do its own paving +and make other public improvements, the unincorporated village now has +the advantage of having its main roadways constructed as a part of state +or county road systems at less expense to the villagers. In any event +the paving of the principal streets of the village should be considered +an obligation of the whole community, not only of the village but of the +farm area surrounding it—<i>i.e.</i>, the township, for on them the traffic +of the whole community centers and in many cases the farmers of the +community do more actual hauling over the village streets than do the +people of the village. It is, of course, entirely proper, where state +laws permit, to assess part of the cost of village pavements on the +abutting property, but it is short-sighted economy for farmers to object +to sharing in the cost of such improvements in their community centers.</p> + +<p>When we come to a consideration of the general plan or layout of the +village, it is obvious that in older communities it is hardly +practicable to make material changes. In the old New England villages a +part of the original town common has often been preserved as a "common" +or park in the center of the village with a broad expanse of lawn and +stately shade trees, while newer communities have frequently been laid +out around a central open square. Here is the flagpole and the Soldiers' +Monument or other historic <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_226" id="Page_226">[Pg 226]</a></span>memorials, and possibly a fountain or +watering trough, and sometimes a band stand. It is a place where +open-air meetings of all sorts, band concerts and community singing, may +be held. It is the modern substitute for the forum of the old Roman +town. When one compares a village which is merely strung along a main +roadway, or two crossroads, with one which has such a civic center, he +cannot but feel that the latter has a physical structure which gives it +an identity and a common interest which is lacking in the former and +which must mean much in the maintenance of community pride and which +must give much better opportunity for outdoor gatherings of all sorts. +In planning a new community such a public square should be a central +feature. Around it may be built the school, the town hall or community +house, the churches, the library and other public buildings. If large +enough it should include tennis courts and a playground. Where the main +streets are already occupied with business blocks and residences, it may +be possible to secure a square not far from the village center where a +new school building or community house may be erected and which may +include a playground, bandstand, and whatever features are desired, even +if it is necessary to place it at the edge of the village. Wherever +possible the playground should adjoin the school building or community +house, or both. Either as a feature of the playground or adjoining it, +there should be a baseball diamond and bleachers or grandstand. Such a +civic center will be found to be a powerful factor in the maintenance of +community pride and loyalty.<a name="FNanchor_89_89" id="FNanchor_89_89"></a><a href="#Footnote_89_89" class="fnanchor">[89]</a></p> + +<p>The growth of automobile touring has encouraged the provision of camping +sites for tourists on the edge of the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_227" id="Page_227">[Pg 227]</a></span>village. Wherever a suitable +grove or other natural setting can be found nearby a village it should +be reserved as a public picnic ground or park. A part of this might also +be made available for a tourists' camp, and often it will be a good +location for a ball diamond. There has recently been a steady growth of +interest in community fairs and such a picnic ground or park might well +be arranged with an open space adjoining it for fair and festival +purposes.</p> + +<p>These general features and facilities of the village plan are not simply +for the advantage or beautification of the village, but they benefit the +life of the whole community and should be considered as features of the +community's plant.</p> + +<p>When we leave the village center and survey the farming area of the +community, the most fundamental feature of its structure is the road +plan. In hilly regions the location of roads is necessarily largely +determined by topography, but over most of the Middle West the roads +were laid out on section lines at the time of the original surveys and +their location has never been changed. One who has grown up in that +section feels a sort of pride in the straight roads and looks askance at +the crooked roads of the East, but as a matter of fact the latter are in +many cases much better located as regards their utility, for they were +laid out to reach certain centers by the most direct route. On the other +hand, the location of the village centers of the Middle West was largely +determined by the railroad stations, and the roads were located without +regard to them. As a result it is almost always necessary to traverse +two sides of a <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_228" id="Page_228">[Pg 228]</a></span>square in order to reach the community center. This +means that such a route is forty percent longer from the corners of the +community than it would be by a straight line. This was bad enough with +dirt roads, and if all the roads could be hard-surfaced, the automobile +would, of course, lessen the time required for travel. It is, however, +economically impossible to improve all minor roads and with the high +cost of macadam, concrete, brick, or other hard-surface, not only for +original cost but for upkeep, it seems absurd to continue to build the +main roads on rectangular lines rather than by the shortest route +between the most-traveled points. The saving in cost of construction and +maintenance would much more than pay for the cost of all land which it +would be necessary to condemn for their right-of-way, and the saving in +time and cost of transportation for the whole community would amount to +a large sum every year. Far too little attention has been given by road +engineers to community planning, and with the vast sums which are now +being expended by the federal, state and county governments on permanent +roads, it is of the utmost importance that this matter of road location +with regard to directness of access to the community centers should +receive much more careful study and better supervision by all the +authorities concerned, not only with regard to topography, but with +regard to the social and economic welfare of the areas concerned. The +newer sections of the country, and particularly western Canada, have +become aware of this lack of economy in road location and are giving it +consideration. In a report on Rural Planning and Development prepared +for the Canadian Commission on Conservation, Mr. Thomas Adams, the town +planning adviser of the commission, has outlined several plans for the +better location of roads so that they will radiate from the community +center and has shown that it is entirely possible to retain <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_229" id="Page_229">[Pg 229]</a></span>rectangular +farm plans with radial roads.<a name="FNanchor_90_90" id="FNanchor_90_90"></a><a href="#Footnote_90_90" class="fnanchor">[90]</a> He summarizes his discussion of this +matter as follows:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"The main points of contention in this chapter are:—That +the present system of surveying land for the purpose of +securing accurate boundaries to arbitrary divisions and +sub-divisions of land, while satisfactory for that purpose, +is not a method of planning land, but only a basis on which +to prepare planning and development schemes; that no +definite or stereotyped system of planning can be +satisfactory for general application; that all plans should +have regard to the physical and economic conditions of the +territory to which they apply and should be made for the +general purpose of securing healthy conditions, amenity, +convenience and economic use of the land; and that more +complete and adequate surveys and a comprehensive +classification of land is essential to secure successful and +permanent land settlement." (p. 71)</p></div> + +<p>Another feature of community planning which is coming to receive larger +attention is the preservation of unusual geological and scenic features +for the use of public. One of the scenic attractions most commonly +neglected is the land along waterways. Sometimes the land on one side of +a stream is occupied by a road, but in many cases it is private +property. If reserved to the public many of these watercourses might be +most attractive parkways. In many cases the control of waterways has +been necessitated for the maintenance of the purity of the water supply +and the advantage of having the adjoining land—usually more or less +wooded—available for picnic parties has encouraged the extension of +public control of waterways. Several states now have legislation +permitting counties or towns to <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_230" id="Page_230">[Pg 230]</a></span>acquire such areas for park purposes, +and the Province of Ontario and some other Canadian provinces require +that a width of 66 feet be reserved around all lakes and rivers.</p> + +<p>In order to utilize the waste land of the watersheds and to protect the +shores of reservoirs and streams which furnish public water supplies, +many cities have reforested considerable areas, which will be maintained +as public forests and will be cut as the timber becomes merchantable. +This movement has called attention to the practicability of establishing +town or community forests on cheap land unsuitable for tillage, as a +source of income to the community. Communal forests have existed in +Europe for many centuries, and at the present time form 22 percent of +the forests in France. A movement has now commenced for the planting of +town forests in this country,<a name="FNanchor_91_91" id="FNanchor_91_91"></a><a href="#Footnote_91_91" class="fnanchor">[91]</a> and the better utilization of the +community's waste land by planting it in timber should be considered a +feature of community planning.</p> + +<p>The improvements effected in cities through city planning commissions, +both with regard to street location for the better routing of traffic, +and the laying out of parks and the location of public buildings, have +been so apparent, that the idea has been taken up by rural communities +and a few states have passed legislation for the creation of special +agencies for rural community planning. Thus Massachusetts has for +several years had a Town Planning Commission and in 1919 Wisconsin +passed an act<a name="FNanchor_92_92" id="FNanchor_92_92"></a><a href="#Footnote_92_92" class="fnanchor">[92]</a> creating <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_231" id="Page_231">[Pg 231]</a></span>a division on rural planning of the State +Department of Agriculture, and creating rural planning committees in +each county. In 1920 thirty-six counties had organized such committees +under this law and had already accomplished much under its +authority.<a name="FNanchor_93_93" id="FNanchor_93_93"></a><a href="#Footnote_93_93" class="fnanchor">[93]</a> Some of the more progressive land companies which are +colonizing new lands in northern Wisconsin are making definite community +plans to encourage settlement,<a name="FNanchor_94_94" id="FNanchor_94_94"></a><a href="#Footnote_94_94" class="fnanchor">[94]</a> and in California the State Land +Settlement Board has done much to encourage better rural planning by the +demonstrations which it has made in its farm colonies at Durham and +Delhi.<a name="FNanchor_95_95" id="FNanchor_95_95"></a><a href="#Footnote_95_95" class="fnanchor">[95]</a> The Extension Services of several of the State agricultural +colleges have experts on landscape art who give assistance in the +improvement of public grounds and in community planning.</p> + +<p>A system of numbering farms has recently been invented which is based +upon the relations of farms to their community centers and which +therefore makes necessary the definite location of rural community areas +and their boundaries. This is known as the "Clock System" rural index +and is now in use in four counties in New York State. The county map +published in the directory shows the different communities outlined by +heavily shaded lines and the farm numbers radiate from the community +centers. On the map each community is divided as a spider's web into a +number of small spaces by twelve dotted lines that extend from each +village on the same radii as the hour-marks on the dial of a clock, and +by concentric circles which are a mile apart from each community center. +Each set of lines and circles extends to the community boundary, and the +farm is given a number which shows the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_232" id="Page_232">[Pg 232]</a></span>sector in which it is located +with reference to the distance from the community center. In front of a +farm will be found a number, usually just below the mail box, such as +Alton 3-2-K. This indicates that the farm is in the direction of the 3 +o'clock mark on a clock, or east, of Alton; the second term, 2, shows +that it is between two and three miles from Alton and the letter K +enables one to locate the individual farm on the small area between the +3 o'clock and 4 o'clock radial lines and the two and three mile circles. +In the directory accompanying the map the names of all householders are +arranged alphabetically and also serially by their numbers, so that the +name of the householder at a certain number of his location on the map +may be readily ascertained. This system not only makes necessary a +definite determination of the center and boundary of every community, +but the number itself relates the farm to its community. This is a +matter of considerable importance, for since the abolishment of many +rural postoffices the farmer's mail address may be on a rural route +starting from some railroad station or larger town which he visits only +occasionally, and has no reference to the community in which he lives. +The system was invented by a Colorado farmer, Mr. J. B. Plato, who +devised it so that it might be possible for buyers to find his farm. As +he claims, such a number "puts the farmer on the map" and gives his home +a definite location just as does the street number of the city +house.<a name="FNanchor_96_96" id="FNanchor_96_96"></a><a href="#Footnote_96_96" class="fnanchor">[96]</a></p> + +<p>Finally, in any effort toward community planning it must be remembered +that most rural communities are, in a way, but parts of what, for want +of a better term, we may term larger communities. Not every small rural +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_233" id="Page_233">[Pg 233]</a></span>community can support a library building, a hospital, a high school, a +moving picture theater, or a public health nurse. As has been pointed +out in the previous chapters, these agencies can be maintained only at +such centers as can command the support of several smaller communities. +Obviously they will tend to be located at the larger towns, such as the +county seats. Roads should be planned with regard to making these larger +centers most readily available to their tributary territory. It would +seem to be advantageous to the smaller communities to definitely relate +themselves to one of these larger centers in the support of some of the +more costly community services which they are unable to maintain, and an +understanding should be developed between the smaller and larger +centers, whereby the latter will not attempt to displace the former. The +larger villages and towns must recognize that the smaller nearby +communities are an economic and social asset and that the maintenance of +their village centers is essential to successful community life. On the +other hand, the smaller communities should recognize their own +limitations and should utilize the advantages of the larger centers +without jealousy of them. The county library system and the county +hospital illustrate the advantages to be obtained through the larger +community, but which are impossible without the support of the voters of +the smaller subsidiary communities.</p> + +<p>With the growth of the community idea, and as communities become so +organized that they have some mechanism for self-examination and +self-expression, more study will be given to the physical structure of +the community as essential for economy and utility, and more pride will +be taken in making it beautiful and satisfying. Community planning is +essential for the highest type of community development.</p> + +<h4>FOOTNOTES:</h4> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_88_88" id="Footnote_88_88"></a><a href="#FNanchor_88_88"><span class="label">[88]</span></a> For a most suggestive introduction to this whole field see +Prof. Frank A. Waughs "Rural Improvement." New York, Orange Judd Co., +1914.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_89_89" id="Footnote_89_89"></a><a href="#FNanchor_89_89"><span class="label">[89]</span></a> Many plans for ideal rural community centers have been +published. Among them see N. Y. State College of Agriculture, Extension +Circular No. 1, "A Plan for a Rural Community Center"; Peter A. Speek, +"A Stake in the Land," Plate facing page 252; plans of Durham and Delhi, +California, in reports of Calif. Land Settlement Board.</p> + +<p class="noin"> +One of the most comprehensive studies in rural community planning is +"Town Planning for Small Communities," by Walpole (Mass.) Town Planning +Committee. Edited by C. S. Bird.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_90_90" id="Footnote_90_90"></a><a href="#FNanchor_90_90"><span class="label">[90]</span></a> Thomas Adams, "Rural Planning and Development." Canada +Commission of Conservation, Ottawa, 1917, pp. 53-64, with +illustrations.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_91_91" id="Footnote_91_91"></a><a href="#FNanchor_91_91"><span class="label">[91]</span></a> Samuel T. Dana, "Forestry and Community Development." +Bulletin 638, U. S. Dept. of Agriculture, Washington, D. C.</p> + +<p class="noin"> +A. B. Recknagel, "County, Town, and Village Forests." N. Y. State +College of Agriculture, Cornell Reading Course for the Farm, Lesson 40, +1913.</p> + +<p class="noin"> +John S. Everitt, "Working Plan for a Communal Forest for the Town of +Ithaca, N. Y.," Cornell Univ. Agr. Exp. Station, Bulletin 404.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_92_92" id="Footnote_92_92"></a><a href="#FNanchor_92_92"><span class="label">[92]</span></a> Chapter 693, Wis. Laws of 1919, Creating section 1458-11 +of the Statutes.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_93_93" id="Footnote_93_93"></a><a href="#FNanchor_93_93"><span class="label">[93]</span></a> See "The Survey," Dec. 25, 1920, p. 459.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_94_94" id="Footnote_94_94"></a><a href="#FNanchor_94_94"><span class="label">[94]</span></a> See Peter A. Speek, "A Stake in the Land," p. 53. New +York, Harpers, 1921.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_95_95" id="Footnote_95_95"></a><a href="#FNanchor_95_95"><span class="label">[95]</span></a> See Elwood Mead, "Helping Men Own Farms." New York, +Macmillan, 1921.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_96_96" id="Footnote_96_96"></a><a href="#FNanchor_96_96"><span class="label">[96]</span></a> The "clock system" is described in detail in the writer's +bulletin, "Locating the Rural Community." Cornell Reading Course for the +Farm, Lesson 158. Information concerning it may be secured from the +American Rural Index Corporation, Ithaca, N. Y.</p></div> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_234" id="Page_234">[Pg 234]</a></span> +<br /> + +<hr /> +<br /> +<h2>CHAPTER XIX</h2> + +<h2>COMMUNITY LOYALTY</h2> +<br /> + +<p>Just as we know a man by his bodily presence, so we recognize a +community by its location and its physical structure. Yet the man is +more than a body and the community is more than its material basis; the +real community consists of the men, women, and children living together +in a restricted environment. Dr. R. E. Hieronymous has well expressed +the most fundamental aspect of the community when he says that its +people "are coming to act together in the chief concerns of life."<a name="FNanchor_97_97" id="FNanchor_97_97"></a><a href="#Footnote_97_97" class="fnanchor">[97]</a> +The life of the community consists of the common activities of its +people. There can be no community where there is no devotion to a common +cause. The cause may be now one thing, now another, it may be worthy or +debasing, but in so far as the people of a locality are acting together +in the support of various common causes they are living as a community. +Just as the character of an individual is determined by his life +purposes and the degree to which he conforms his behavior to them, so +the highest type of community is that in which its people are +consciously loyal to the common welfare and are "coming to act together" +for the common good. Like the character of an individual, the community +is in process of becoming; it necessarily exists on an unconscious +basis, due to locality and heredity, but the strength of the community +is measured by the degree to which its members become voluntarily loyal +to common purposes.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_235" id="Page_235">[Pg 235]</a></span>Outside of early New England the circumstances of settlement of the +United States were not conducive to community development. Most of the +country west of the Alleghanies was settled by individuals who secured +their land from the federal government and whose prime allegiance was to +the nation. The federal government was the outgrowth of a revolution for +the right of self-government. Liberty and Freedom were its watchwords +and the conditions of life of the pioneer settlers and their rapid +spread over one of the richest natural areas in the world favored +individual independence. It was the natural reaction from the previous +domination of a feudal aristocracy. For over a century our national +philosophy has been dominated by a doctrine of rights, and only recently +have we come to perceive that if democracy is to function in a complex +modern civilization, there must be an equal emphasis on duties. This is +the significance of the present interest in instruction in citizenship +in our schools.</p> + +<p>Most of us hardly appreciate how complete a reversal of the organization +of rural life was involved in this sudden domination of individualism. +Primitive agriculture was made possible by men associating in small +village communities for defense and mutual aid. Their whole system of +agriculture, until very modern times, was controlled and directed, not +by the individual or family, but by the community. The typical peasant +community of Russia or India was in many respects but an enlarged family +and its economy and social control were based upon the customs of the +family. Indeed, historically the community was the outgrowth of the +enlarged family or clan. It is not surprising, therefore, that the +peasant's first loyalty is to his community. The nation or state is far +away and beyond his ken; his patriotism is for his home village. So Park +and Miller in their discussion of immigrants' attitudes say: <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_236" id="Page_236">[Pg 236]</a></span>"The +peasant did not know that he was a Pole; he even denied it. The lord was +a Pole; he was a peasant. We have records showing that members of other +immigrant groups realize first in America that they are members of a +nationality: "I had never realized I was an Albanian until my brother +came from America in 1909. He belonged to an Albanian society over +here."<a name="FNanchor_98_98" id="FNanchor_98_98"></a><a href="#Footnote_98_98" class="fnanchor">[98]</a></p> + +<p>Prior to the last century the whole social organization of rural life in +the Old World was built up around the community. The family, the +community, and the state were the primary forms of human association. +Obviously, therefore, when families dispersed over the new territory of +the United States with no community ties and with but few contacts with +the national government, there was a lack of that social organization to +which the people had been accustomed and through which their whole mode +of life, their customs and moral code had been built up. These forms of +human association, the family, the community, the state, have been built +up very slowly through centuries of human strife and suffering; they +represent the experience of the race as to the best means of adjusting +human relationships. Break down an essential feature of the structure of +human society, as was done when American settlers abandoned community +life, and men are compelled to find new methods of meeting their common +needs and of maintaining standards of conduct essential for their common +welfare. Had it not been for the influence of the school and the church, +rural life over most of the United States would have inevitably +degenerated, for wherever there is no form of associated control there +humanity reverts to the level of the brute. Human life is what it is +because for countless generations mankind has <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_237" id="Page_237">[Pg 237]</a></span>been learning how to +adjust itself through association so that larger opportunity for the +individual is secured through a larger measure of well being for all.</p> + +<p>The devotion of the American settler to his family eventually +necessitated his association for advantages which could be secured only +through collective action. When he had subdued the land and established +his home, when he commenced to raise farm products for market rather +than primarily for support of the family, when better communication gave +more contacts with the town and city, the farm family developed new +wants and interests which could only be satisfied through association +with others. We have already indicated the processes whereby the +economic situation, religious life, public education, the need of local +government, and the desire for recreational facilities, are inevitably +drawing the people of the countryside together at the natural centers +into communities. The locality group is again recognized as essential +for the best organization of rural life. But the new rural community is +a voluntary group, it is not determined by common control of the land or +by common subjection to a feudal lord as was the village community of +the old world; its people are free to come and go where and when they +will. The community can compel only through the power of public opinion +and its success must depend upon the voluntary loyalty of its people.</p> + +<p>Thus the strength and the weakness of the community lies in the loyalty +of its people. No community can permanently succeed whose people +associate in it merely for the advantages which they may gain. There +must be a genuine willingness to give as well as to receive, a real +desire to do one's share for the common life. Human association cannot +succeed on a basis of organized selfishness. The joy of family life +arises from the fact that each <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_238" id="Page_238">[Pg 238]</a></span>member is devoted to all and is willing +to sacrifice personal interests for the family; without such devotion +and sacrifice the true home is impossible. Just because human nature has +arisen through long ages of association, man finds no permanent +satisfaction in pursuing his own selfish interest; his greatest joy is +found in his devotion to others. All human association therefore depends +upon loyalty and the higher and more complex the association, the more +essential is the loyalty of its members. As Miss Follett has well said, +"Loyalty means the consciousness of oneness, the full realization that +we succeed or fail, live or die, are saved or damned, together. The only +unity or community is one we have made of ourselves, by ourselves, for +ourselves."<a name="FNanchor_99_99" id="FNanchor_99_99"></a><a href="#Footnote_99_99" class="fnanchor">[99]</a></p> + +<p>Here social science and religion agree upon the ultimate objectives of +life. Professor Josiah Royce has shown<a name="FNanchor_100_100" id="FNanchor_100_100"></a><a href="#Footnote_100_100" class="fnanchor">[100]</a> that the ideal of +Christianity, the Kingdom of God, is but a universal community, what he +calls the "beloved community," which is made possible through the +loyalty of all to love and service. There is a fundamentally religious +sanction to community loyalty and only an essentially religious motive +will inspire men to sublimate personal interests in devotion to the +community. Only through loyalty to the highest ideals of community life +can the Kingdom of God be realized on earth. No conceivable cataclysm +could make its existence possible without the voluntary allegiance of +mankind, for the Kingdom of God is the kingdom of love; it can exist +only as the minds and hearts of men are devoted to it. Nor can the +community universal, the "beloved community," be achieved except each +local community adjusts its own life to the highest social values. The +community movement is but a means <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_239" id="Page_239">[Pg 239]</a></span>whereby the ideals of democracy and +religion may be given concrete expression in a definite locality. Unless +these ideals can be applied to local areas where it is possible to +achieve some measure of common life, of community, there is little +probability of their realization in the world at large.</p> + +<p>But these higher values of human life cannot be brought about by a mere +process of organization. They require the dynamic of a religious +conviction in the hearts of men. The Gospel and life of Jesus of +Nazareth furnish the essential inspiration for that spirit of loyalty +without which all organization is in vain. Professor E. C. Lindeman has +ably expressed this in his discussion of the relation of the Community +and Democracy:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"The most formidable foe of Democracy, however, is the +confidence which people place in schemes and plans and forms +of organization. What the social machinery of our day needs +is spiritual force to provide motive power. The modern +Community Movement will fail to give Democracy its practical +expression if it is not motivated by a spiritual dynamic. +Such a dynamic force was unloosed with the message and life +of Jesus of Nazareth. He lived his life on the basis of +certain basic democratic assumptions, and He scientifically +demonstrated those assumptions. In His eyes all individuals +were of value; through the social implications of His +message sin became democratic and the burden of all; in His +aspirations all humankind were included. He assumed that +Love would solve more problems than Hatred. He even assumed +that to have a human enemy was a social anomaly. And He +believed that religion was essentially a system of behavior +by which the individual need not be swallowed up in the +group, but by which the individual must find ultimate +satisfactions in spiritualizing the group."<a name="FNanchor_101_101" id="FNanchor_101_101"></a><a href="#Footnote_101_101" class="fnanchor">[101]</a></p></div> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_240" id="Page_240">[Pg 240]</a></span>Community loyalty will give rise to a true provincialism which will do +much to give smaller communities a satisfactory status and to make them +more independent in their standards and purposes. It is common to deride +provincialism, but what we deprecate is the inability of the provincial +to associate with the outside world, and the city man may be as +"provincial" as the farmer from the back hills. True provincialism, on +the other hand, is essential to the progress of civilization. The +tendency of city life is toward imitation and reducing life to a dead +level. Eccentricity may be objectionable, but without individuality of +persons and communities life would be stupid and monotonous. There is +probably no greater need for strengthening rural life than a community +loyalty which will prevent the unthinking imitation of urban life and +will take justifiable pride in local ideals and achievements. The need +of a larger appreciation of the value of a true provincialism has been +well described by Professor Royce in his essay on "Provincialism":</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"Local spirit, local pride, provincial independence, +influence the individual man precisely because they appeal +to his imitative tendencies. But thereby they act so as to +render him more or less immune in presence of the more +trivial of the influences that, coming from without his +community, would otherwise be likely to reduce him to the +dead level of the customs of the whole nation. A country +district may seem to a stranger unduly crude in its ways; +but it does not become wiser in case, under the influence of +city newspapers and summer boarders, it begins to follow +city fashions merely for the sake of imitating. Other things +being equal, it is better in proportion as it remains +self-possessed,—proud of its own traditions, not unwilling +indeed to learn, but also quite ready to teach the stranger +its own wisdom. And in similar fashion provincial pride +helps the individual man to keep his self-respect even when +the vast forces that <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_241" id="Page_241">[Pg 241]</a></span>work toward industrial consolidation, +and toward the effacement of individual initiative, are +besetting the life at every turn. For a man is in large +measure what his social consciousness makes him. Give him +the local community that he loves and cherishes, that he is +proud to honor and to serve, make his ideal of that +community lofty,—give him faith in the dignity of his +province,—and you have given him a power to counteract the +levelling tendencies of modern civilization."<a name="FNanchor_102_102" id="FNanchor_102_102"></a><a href="#Footnote_102_102" class="fnanchor">[102]</a></p></div> + +<p>Community loyalty is largely dependent upon leadership. There is a +reciprocal relation between loyalty and leadership; leaders inspire +loyalty and loyalty incites leadership. Thus the amount of leadership in +a community and the willingness of its people to assume leadership are +good indices of community loyalty, and the willingness to work under +leaders is its crucial test. The leader is essential to group activity. +Without a leader group activity is difficult or impossible. If men are +to act together effectively some one must be spokesman and director.</p> + +<p>Lack of leadership has ever been one of the chief handicaps of rural +life as compared with that of the town and city, and with the growth of +organization the need of rural leadership is increasingly apparent. +Until very recently the vocation of agriculture has had but little call +for leadership. Successful farming required strict attention to the work +of the farm and leadership brought no pecuniary advantage to the farmer +as it did to the business or professional man. Furthermore there seems +to be an innate desire for equality among farmers and a disinclination +to recognize one of their number as in any degree superior, which +discourages the development of leadership among them. The town and city +place a premium on leadership and a position of leadership gives a +status <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_242" id="Page_242">[Pg 242]</a></span>which is coveted; but for the farmer any position of leadership +is a burden or a public duty rather than an opportunity. For this reason +the control of government, education, religion, and all the larger +associations of life has been largely in the hands of urban leaders. +This has been inevitable and the lack of representation of the farmers' +interests has been incidental to the nature of his vocation.</p> + +<p>Whenever the need of adjustment to new conditions becomes sufficiently +acute as to demand action for the preservation of interests of any group +of men, the cause creates leadership; leaders either come forward or are +drafted and the successful leaders survive through a process of natural +selection and receive recognition and support. This is what is now +occurring in American agriculture. New conditions have forced farmers to +organize for coöperative marketing and are necessitating the better +organization of the whole social life of rural communities for reasons +which have been previously indicated. With better education and with +more contacts with city life, farmers have come to appreciate that if +they are to compete with other industries and if the rural community is +to have a satisfactory standard of living, they must develop their own +leadership and that those who are qualified for leadership cannot be +expected to devote their time to the business interests of their fellows +unless they are adequately compensated. On the other hand, there is +gradually developing a new sense of responsibility for assuming +<i>voluntary</i> leadership in community activities, and a larger +appreciation of the need of leadership and the duty of supporting it.</p> + +<p>One of the greatest benefits of the Extension Service and the Farm +Bureau Movement is the definite effort to develop local leadership and +the large measure in which this has been successful. The demonstration +work and <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_243" id="Page_243">[Pg 243]</a></span>coöperative organizations produce a new type of leader, for he +must be one who is successful in his own farm business and who +understands the better methods of agricultural production and marketing +if he is to be able to interest others in them and to wisely guide the +policies of his group. The successful agricultural leader must first of +all be a good farmer, for the basic ideal of his group is the best +agricultural production. Not infrequently an unsuccessful farmer who is +a good talker comes into prominence because he is willing to devote more +time to public affairs, but he rarely attains a position of real +leadership in his own community, for being unable to manage his own +business he is unable to wisely direct that of the community.</p> + +<p>Unselfish leadership is the highest form of community loyalty and is +essential for permanent community progress. There are obvious +satisfactions in leadership, but the true leader must have a clear +vision, a strong purpose, and intense faith in his people, if he is not +to become discouraged by the lack of loyalty in others and their slow +response to his ideals. For the true leader must always be thinking in +advance of his community. It is his function to see what is needed for +the common good and then to gradually convince the group, and he must be +willing to withstand the criticism and rebuffs of those who are as yet +unwilling to sacrifice temporary personal advantage for the common good. +The real leader will not attempt to do everything himself but will +constantly seek to discover leadership in others and to inspire them +with his own enthusiasm and faith in their ability. Not infrequently +this involves the supreme test of leadership, for the leader must be +responsible for the failure of his helpers, and although he may feel +that a given undertaking would be more certain of success were he to +assume direct responsibility for it or place it in the hands of some one +who has demonstrated <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_244" id="Page_244">[Pg 244]</a></span>his ability, yet because of his belief in the +distribution of responsibility as essential for a strong community and +because of his faith in the individual and in the undertaking, he takes +the risk and lends his influence to the success of the other. The +discovery and training of leadership is one of the chief concerns of the +true leader. Witness the devotion of the Master to the chosen Twelve and +his willingness to leave his whole cause in their hands.</p> + +<p>The willingness to assume leadership is the acid test of community +loyalty, for only through the development of a maximum of leadership can +the best life of the community be achieved. Every citizen has some +ability which qualifies him to lead some group, however small it may be, +or however humble the cause. Indeed the highest type of community is one +in which there is a conscious direction of community purposes through a +body of leadership which is divided among all its members, so that each +feels responsible to the whole community for the success of his share of +the common enterprise and has satisfaction in his contribution to the +common achievement. In last analysis the success of the community rests +upon the loyalty of its people as measured by their willingness to +assume leadership in whatsoever capacity may best serve its interests.</p> + +<p>As the farm people of the United States have more contact with towns and +cities and as through better education and means of communication they +come into a larger participation in all the ranges of human culture, +they come to realize that only through collective effort can they secure +many of their new desires. Although many associations for special +interests attract their allegiance, their attachment to a locality and +their common relation to the existing center of social activities, give +rise to a devotion to the community, for only through the united effort +of all interests can they realize their highest desires. Loyalty to the +family is <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_245" id="Page_245">[Pg 245]</a></span>broadened into loyalty to the community, which finds its +incentive and dynamic in devotion to the family. The family becomes less +self-sufficient, but through its wider associations in the community, +the relations of the members of the family to each other assume new +and—because they are more largely voluntary—higher values, and the +family attains its highest development through the larger fulfilment of +its members.<a name="FNanchor_103_103" id="FNanchor_103_103"></a><a href="#Footnote_103_103" class="fnanchor">[103]</a></p> + +<p>The farmer no longer glories in his isolation, or magnifies the virtues +of independence, for new conditions require the coöperation of the whole +community if farm life is to be made satisfying. Willingness and ability +to work with others for the common good win social approval. Next to +devotion to the family, loyalty to the community is essential for the +realization of the best possibilities of rural life.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i2">COMMUNITY SERVICE<a name="FNanchor_104_104" id="FNanchor_104_104"></a><a href="#Footnote_104_104" class="fnanchor">[104]</a><br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"Strong, that no human soul may pass<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Its warm, encircling unity,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Wide, to enclose all creed, all class,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">This shall we name, Community;<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"Service shall be that all and each,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Aroused to know the common good,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Shall strive, and in the striving reach<br /></span> +<span class="i2">A broader human brotherhood."<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<h4>FOOTNOTES:</h4> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_97_97" id="Footnote_97_97"></a><a href="#FNanchor_97_97"><span class="label">[97]</span></a> "Balancing Country Life," p. 60. New York, Association +Press, 1917.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_98_98" id="Footnote_98_98"></a><a href="#FNanchor_98_98"><span class="label">[98]</span></a> "Old World Traits Transplanted," p. 145. New York, +Harpers, 1921.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_99_99" id="Footnote_99_99"></a><a href="#FNanchor_99_99"><span class="label">[99]</span></a> Mary P. Follett, "The New State," p. 59.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_100_100" id="Footnote_100_100"></a><a href="#FNanchor_100_100"><span class="label">[100]</span></a> "The Problem of Christianity."</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_101_101" id="Footnote_101_101"></a><a href="#FNanchor_101_101"><span class="label">[101]</span></a> "The Community," p. 74. New York, Association Press, +1921.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_102_102" id="Footnote_102_102"></a><a href="#FNanchor_102_102"><span class="label">[102]</span></a> Josiah Royce, "Race Questions and Other American +Problems," p. 65.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_103_103" id="Footnote_103_103"></a><a href="#FNanchor_103_103"><span class="label">[103]</span></a> For "through the process of limitation the family attains +a completeness impossible before. Its members may not realize within it +what is in truth the life of the family, for it now retains alone within +its limits that principle of mutual affection of husband, wife, and +children which alone is its <i>exclusive</i> possession."—R. M. Maciver, +"Community," 2 ed. p. 242. London, Macmillan & Co., 1920.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_104_104" id="Footnote_104_104"></a><a href="#FNanchor_104_104"><span class="label">[104]</span></a> Sarah Collins Fernandis, Survey. February 8, 1919.</p></div> + +<br /><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_246" id="Page_246">[Pg 246]</a></span> +<br /> +<br /><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_247" id="Page_247">[Pg 247]</a></span> +<br /> + +<hr /> +<br /> +<h2>APPENDIX A</h2> +<br /> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>Constitution of Plainsboro Township, New Jersey.<a name="FNanchor_105_105" id="FNanchor_105_105"></a><a href="#Footnote_105_105" class="fnanchor">[105]</a></p> +<br /> + +<p class="cen">CONSTITUTION</p> +<br /> + +<p class="cen"><span class="smcap">Article 1.—Name</span></p> + +<p>The name of the organization is the Community Association of Plainsboro +Township.</p> + + +<p class="cen"><span class="smcap">Article 2.—Object</span></p> + +<p>The object of this Association is to carry out the Declaration of +Purposes as subscribed to by the residents of Plainsboro Township, New +Jersey.</p> + + +<p class="cen"><span class="smcap">Article 3.—Membership</span></p> + +<p>Every resident of Plainsboro Township has the right to membership in +this association and to participation in discussion at its meetings, and +every citizen has a vote.</p> + + +<p class="cen"><span class="smcap">Article 4.—Community Council</span></p> + +<p>A council of seven members shall be elected to carry out the will of the +community as expressed in open meetings and to act for the community in +minor matters and all emergencies. But all decisions affecting the +material welfare should be made in open meetings of the community.</p> + +<p>The council shall designate one of its members as president, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_248" id="Page_248">[Pg 248]</a></span>another as +secretary, and another as treasurer, and these persons shall serve +respectively as community president, secretary and treasurer.</p> + +<p>The members elected at the first community meeting shall serve until +their successors are elected at the first meeting in the month of +January, and thereafter members shall be elected for one year and serve +until their successors are elected.</p> + + +<p class="cen"><span class="smcap">Article 5.—Meetings</span></p> + +<p>There shall be an annual meeting in the month of January, ten days' +notice of the date being given by the council.</p> + +<p>At this meeting reports shall be made by all township officers of their +respective duties.</p> + +<p>At this annual meeting, and at all other meetings when requested, the +council shall make report of its proceedings.</p> + +<p>A regular community meeting shall be held at a date conforming to the +law respecting the nomination of candidates for Township offices.</p> + +<p>Other meetings shall be held upon call of the council, or upon notice +signed by ten citizens and posted at the usual place of meeting ten days +prior to the date of meeting.</p> + +<p>Twenty voting members shall constitute a quorum for the transaction of +business.</p> + + +<p class="cen"><span class="smcap">Article 6.—Duties of the Council</span></p> + +<p>The council shall advise with all township officials in the performance +of their duties. It shall determine and initiate matters concerning +health, thrift, home ownership, community protection, village +improvement, coöperation with outside organizations, and all other +matters of community interest.</p> + +<p>It shall prepare and propose township and community budgets from time to +time for consideration.</p> + +<p>It shall suggest a ticket for nominees for township offices, posting the +same ten days prior to meeting of community when nomination shall be +made.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_249" id="Page_249">[Pg 249]</a></span>It shall also make provision for posting of nominations that may be made +by groups of ten or more citizens.</p> + +<p>The council shall faithfully carry out the will of the community as +determined in public meeting.</p> + + +<p class="cen"><span class="smcap">Article 7.—Defining "Citizens"</span></p> + +<p>The word "citizen" and "citizens" as used in this constitution, shall be +interpreted as referring to any person and persons who would have the +right of suffrage if equal suffrage prevailed.</p> + + +<p class="cen"><span class="smcap">Article 8.—Amendments</span></p> + +<p>This constitution may be amended at any community meeting by a +three-fourths vote of the members present, provided an exact copy of the +proposed amendment has been properly posted at the usual place of +meeting ten days prior to the date of meeting.</p></div> + +<h4>FOOTNOTE:</h4> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_105_105" id="Footnote_105_105"></a><a href="#FNanchor_105_105"><span class="label">[105]</span></a> As given by Alva Agee in the National Stockman and +Farmer, July 26, 1919.</p></div> + +<br /><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_250" id="Page_250">[Pg 250]</a></span> +<br /> +<br /><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_251" id="Page_251">[Pg 251]</a></span> +<br /> + +<hr /> +<br /> +<h2>INDEX</h2> +<br /> + +<ul><li> Adams, Bristow, <a href="#Page_105">105</a></li> + +<li> Adams, H. B., <a href="#Page_199">199</a></li> + +<li> Adams, Thos., <a href="#Page_228">228</a></li> + +<li> Advertising, community, <a href="#Page_66">66</a></li> + +<li> Age of community's people, <a href="#Page_31">31</a></li> + +<li> Agricultural colleges, <a href="#Page_107">107</a>; + <ul class="nest"> + <li> extension, <a href="#Page_108">108</a></li> + </ul> +</li> + +<li> Agriculture, goal of, <a href="#Page_61">61</a>; + <ul class="nest"> + <li> in schools, <a href="#Page_98">98-99</a></li> + </ul> +</li> + +<li> American Farm Bureau Federation, <a href="#Page_115">115</a></li> + +<li> Americanization, <a href="#Page_30">30</a></li> + +<li> Amusements, commercial, <a href="#Page_158">158</a></li> + +<li> Angell, Norman, <a href="#Page_70">70</a></li> + +<li> Associations and organizations, <a href="#Page_212">212</a></li> + +<li> Athletic leagues, <a href="#Page_162">162</a></li> + +<li> Atkeson, T. C., <a href="#Page_170">170</a></li> + +<li> Atkinson, H. A., <a href="#Page_163">163</a></li> + +<li> Atwood, M. V., <a href="#Page_104">104</a></li> + +<li> Automobile, influence of, <a href="#Page_41">41</a>, <a href="#Page_50">50</a>, <a href="#Page_157">157</a><br /><br /></li> + + +<li> Bands, <a href="#Page_176">176</a></li> + +<li> Banker-farmer, <a href="#Page_50">50</a></li> + +<li> Belleville, N. Y., <a href="#Page_34">34</a></li> + +<li> Beloved community, <a href="#Page_136">136</a></li> + +<li> Bengtson, Amalia M., <a href="#Page_147">147</a></li> + +<li> Bidwell, P. W., <a href="#Page_68">68</a></li> + +<li> Boardman, John R., <a href="#Page_17">17</a></li> + +<li> Boys' and girls' clubs, <a href="#Page_119">119</a>, <a href="#Page_163">163</a>; + <ul class="nest"> + <li> organizations, <a href="#Page_162">162</a></li> + </ul> +</li> + +<li> Boy Scouts, <a href="#Page_163">163</a></li> + +<li> Brunner, E. DeS., <a href="#Page_136">136</a></li> + +<li> Burritt, M. C., <a href="#Page_109">109</a></li> + +<li> Butterfield, K. L., <a href="#Page_2">2</a></li> + +<li> Business, farm, community aspects, <a href="#Page_58">58-66</a><br /><br /></li> + + +<li> Camp Fire Girls, <a href="#Page_163">163</a></li> + +<li> Capital, local, <a href="#Page_50">50</a></li> + +<li> Cemetery association, <a href="#Page_179">179</a></li> + +<li> Centralization of buying power, <a href="#Page_73">73</a></li> + +<li> Chamber of commerce, county, <a href="#Page_56">56</a></li> + +<li> Childhood, play and, <a href="#Page_155">155</a></li> + +<li> Child placing, <a href="#Page_190">190</a>; + <ul class="nest"> + <li> welfare boards, <a href="#Page_191">191</a></li> + </ul> +</li> + +<li> Church and health, <a href="#Page_138">138</a>; + <ul class="nest"> + <li> play, <a href="#Page_163">163</a>;</li> + <li> recreation, <a href="#Page_133">133</a>;</li> + <li> federation, <a href="#Page_127">127</a>;</li> + <li> rural, <a href="#Page_121">121-136</a>;</li> + <li> social program of, <a href="#Page_132">132</a></li> + </ul> +</li> + +<li> Cities, <a href="#Page_54">54</a>; + <ul class="nest"> + <li> health, <a href="#Page_137">137</a></li> + </ul> +</li> + +<li> City, effect of, on farm, <a href="#Page_68">68-70</a>; + <ul class="nest"> + <li> vs. country, <a href="#Page_70">70</a></li> + </ul> +</li> + +<li> Claghorn, Kate Holladay, <a href="#Page_186">186</a></li> + +<li> Clock System Rural Index, <a href="#Page_231">231</a></li> + +<li> Communication, <a href="#Page_37">37-45</a></li> + +<li> Community activities, <a href="#Page_217">217</a>; + <ul class="nest"> + <li> association, Plainsboro Township, N. J., constitution, <a href="#Page_247">247</a>;</li> + <li> buildings, <a href="#Page_165">165-167</a>;</li> + <li> legislation for, <a href="#Page_204">204</a>;</li> + <li> center, <a href="#Page_7">7</a></li> + </ul> +</li> + +<li> Community chests, <a href="#Page_215">215</a>; + <ul class="nest"> + <li> churches, <a href="#Page_127">127-129</a>;</li> + <li> councils, <a href="#Page_6">6</a>, <a href="#Page_215">215</a>, <a href="#Page_220">220</a>;</li> + <li> defined, <a href="#Page_7">7</a>, <a href="#Page_9">9</a>, <a href="#Page_10">10</a>;</li> + <li> etymology, <a href="#Page_37">37</a>, <a href="#Page_77">77</a>;</li> + <li> experience, <a href="#Page_65">65</a>;</li> + <li> forests, <a href="#Page_230">230</a>;</li> + <li> incorporation, <a href="#Page_204">204</a>;</li> + <li> mapping, <a href="#Page_6">6</a>;</li> + <li> organization, <a href="#Page_89">89</a>, <a href="#Page_209">209-221</a>;</li> + <li> of extension service, <a href="#Page_116">116</a>;</li> + <li> people, <a href="#Page_29">29-33</a>;</li> + <li> planning, <a href="#Page_222">222-233</a>;</li> + <li> pride, <a href="#Page_57">57</a>, <a href="#Page_223">223</a>;</li> + <li> school districts, <a href="#Page_203">203</a>;</li> + <li> score card, <a href="#Page_116">116</a>;</li> + <li> service, <a href="#Page_245">245</a>;</li> + <li> vs. home, <a href="#Page_24">24-25</a></li> + </ul> +</li> + +<li> Competition, dogma of, <a href="#Page_49">49</a></li> + +<li> Conflict and progress, <a href="#Page_48">48</a></li> + +<li> Collective bargaining, <a href="#Page_74">74</a></li> + +<li> Coöperation and community, <a href="#Page_77">77-90</a>; + <ul class="nest"> + <li> business democracy, <a href="#Page_86">86</a>;</li> + <li> Danish, <a href="#Page_87">87</a>;</li> + <li> in farm operations, <a href="#Page_77">77</a>;</li> + <li> strengthens community, <a href="#Page_87">87</a></li> + </ul> +</li> + +<li> Coöperative buying, <a href="#Page_51">51</a>, <a href="#Page_79">79-81</a>;<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_252" id="Page_252">[Pg 252]</a></span> + <ul class="nest"> + <li> companies, essentials of, <a href="#Page_78">78</a>;</li> + <li> credit, <a href="#Page_81">81</a>;</li> + <li> educational League, <a href="#Page_98">98</a>;</li> + <li> manufacture, <a href="#Page_63">63</a>;</li> + <li> marketing, <a href="#Page_74">74</a>;</li> + <li> selling associations, <a href="#Page_83">83</a>;</li> + <li> stores, <a href="#Page_53">53</a>, <a href="#Page_54">54</a>, <a href="#Page_80">80</a></li> + </ul> +</li> + +<li> County agent movement, <a href="#Page_109">109</a>; + <ul class="nest"> + <li> boards of public welfare, <a href="#Page_191">191</a>;</li> + <li> health officer, <a href="#Page_146">146</a>;</li> + <li> library, <a href="#Page_102">102</a>;</li> + <li> manager, <a href="#Page_202">202</a></li> + </ul> +</li> + +<li> Country church, <a href="#Page_123">123</a>; + <ul class="nest"> + <li> life commission, <a href="#Page_110">110</a>;</li> + <li> weekly, <a href="#Page_105">105</a></li> + </ul> +<br /> +</li> + + +<li> Dadisman, A. J., <a href="#Page_33">33</a></li> + +<li> Dane Co., Wisconsin, <a href="#Page_30">30</a></li> + +<li> Daniels, John, <a href="#Page_30">30</a></li> + +<li> Darwin, Charles, <a href="#Page_49">49</a></li> + +<li> Decentralization of industry, <a href="#Page_54">54</a></li> + +<li> Defectives, <a href="#Page_183">183</a></li> + +<li> Delinquency, <a href="#Page_185">185-186</a></li> + +<li> Democracy, <a href="#Page_207">207</a>, <a href="#Page_239">239</a></li> + +<li> Demonstration agent, <a href="#Page_109">109</a>; + <ul class="nest"> + <li> method, <a href="#Page_110">110</a></li> + </ul> +</li> + +<li> Denominational rivalry, <a href="#Page_127">127</a></li> + +<li> Dependent, <a href="#Page_181">181-195</a></li> + +<li> Dewey, Evelyn, <a href="#Page_165">165</a></li> + +<li> Disadvantaged, <a href="#Page_181">181</a></li> + +<li> Doctors, country, <a href="#Page_141">141</a></li> + +<li> Douglas, H. Paul, <a href="#Page_204">204</a></li> + +<li> Dramatics, <a href="#Page_27">27</a>, <a href="#Page_160">160</a></li> + +<li> Dutchess Co., N. Y., health survey, <a href="#Page_140">140</a><br /><br /></li> + + +<li> Education, <a href="#Page_91">91-105</a>; + <ul class="nest"> + <li> objectives of, <a href="#Page_95">95</a>;</li> + <li> religious, <a href="#Page_99">99</a></li> + </ul> +</li> + +<li> Educational methods of extension work, <a href="#Page_116">116</a></li> + +<li> Exchange of goods, <a href="#Page_68">68</a></li> + +<li> Exploiter, <a href="#Page_58">58</a></li> + +<li> Extension movement, <a href="#Page_107">107-120</a>; + <ul class="nest"> + <li> service, of schools, <a href="#Page_95">95-96</a>;</li> + <li> work, methods, <a href="#Page_116">116</a></li> + </ul> +<br /> +</li> + + +<li> Family, <a href="#Page_15">15</a>; + <ul class="nest"> + <li> life, <a href="#Page_23">23</a></li> + </ul> +</li> + +<li> Farm bureau, <a href="#Page_112">112-115</a></li> + +<li> Farmers clubs, <a href="#Page_174">174</a>; + <ul class="nest"> + <li> coöperative demonstration work, <a href="#Page_110">110</a>;</li> + <li> institutes, <a href="#Page_107">107</a>;</li> + <li> organizations, <a href="#Page_170">170-174</a>;</li> + <li> union, <a href="#Page_174">174</a></li> + </ul> +</li> + +<li> Farming types, effect of, <a href="#Page_61">61</a></li> + +<li> Farm loan act, <a href="#Page_82">82</a>; + <ul class="nest"> + <li> management, <a href="#Page_65">65</a></li> + </ul> +</li> + +<li> Federated church, <a href="#Page_129">129</a></li> + +<li> Feeble-minded, <a href="#Page_184">184</a></li> + +<li> Fire companies, <a href="#Page_177">177</a></li> + +<li> Fiske, John, <a href="#Page_155">155</a>, <a href="#Page_196">196</a></li> + +<li> Fernandis, Sarah Collins, <a href="#Page_245">245</a></li> + +<li> Follett, M. P., <a href="#Page_238">238</a></li> + +<li> Frame, Nat T., <a href="#Page_116">116</a></li> + +<li> French Creek, W. Va., <a href="#Page_32">32</a><br /><br /></li> + + +<li> Gale, Zona, <a href="#Page_179">179</a></li> + +<li> Galpin, C. J., <a href="#Page_6">6</a>, <a href="#Page_135">135</a></li> + +<li> Gibbons, C. E., <a href="#Page_186">186</a></li> + +<li> Gillette, J. M., <a href="#Page_62">62</a></li> + +<li> Girl Scouts, <a href="#Page_163">163</a></li> + +<li> Government, rural, <a href="#Page_196">196-208</a>, <a href="#Page_214">214</a></li> + +<li> Grange, <a href="#Page_170">170</a>; + <ul class="nest"> + <li> buildings, <a href="#Page_166">166</a></li> + </ul> +</li> + +<li> Grading in marketing, <a href="#Page_71">71-72</a></li> + +<li> Gross, Karl, <a href="#Page_155">155</a><br /><br /></li> + + +<li> Halsey, Abigail F., <a href="#Page_161">161</a></li> + +<li> Harvey, Mrs. M. T., <a href="#Page_165">165</a></li> + +<li> Hatch Act, <a href="#Page_107">107</a></li> + +<li> Hayes, A. W., <a href="#Page_93">93</a></li> + +<li> Health centers, <a href="#Page_151">151</a>; + <ul class="nest"> + <li> community, <a href="#Page_137">137-152</a>;</li> + <li> economics of, <a href="#Page_139">139</a>;</li> + <li> farmers attitude on, <a href="#Page_138">138</a>;</li> + <li> officials, <a href="#Page_145">145</a>;</li> + <li> surveys, <a href="#Page_140">140</a>, <a href="#Page_143">143</a>, <a href="#Page_147">147</a></li> + </ul> +</li> + +<li> Hieronymous, R. E., <a href="#Page_234">234</a></li> + +<li> High schools, <a href="#Page_94">94</a>; + <ul class="nest"> + <li> Danish, <a href="#Page_100">100</a></li> + </ul> +</li> + +<li> History, community, <a href="#Page_33">33</a>; + <ul class="nest"> + <li> local, <a href="#Page_34">34-35</a></li> + </ul> +</li> + +<li> Hoag, Emily F., <a href="#Page_34">34</a></li> + +<li> Home bureau, <a href="#Page_118">118</a></li> + +<li> Home bureau creed, <a href="#Page_119">119</a>; + <ul class="nest"> + <li> demonstration work, <a href="#Page_118">118</a>;</li> + <li> economics, <a href="#Page_24">24</a>;</li> + <li> farm, <a href="#Page_14">14-28</a>;</li> + <li> play in the, <a href="#Page_156">156</a>;</li> + <li> project, <a href="#Page_25">25</a>, <a href="#Page_98">98-99</a></li> + </ul> +</li> + +<li> Hospitals, <a href="#Page_149">149-150</a></li> + +<li> Husbandman, <a href="#Page_59">59</a><br /><br /></li> + + +<li> Industries in villages, <a href="#Page_54">54</a></li> + +<li> Insects, a community problem, <a href="#Page_64">64</a><br /><br /></li> + + +<li> Justice of peace, <a href="#Page_188">188</a></li> + +<li> Juvenile courts, <a href="#Page_188">188</a><br /><br /></li> + + +<li> Kidd, Benj., <a href="#Page_27">27</a></li> + +<li> Kile, O. M., <a href="#Page_115">115</a><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_253" id="Page_253">[Pg 253]</a></span></li> + +<li> Kingdom of God, <a href="#Page_135">135</a>, <a href="#Page_238">238</a></li> + +<li> Kirkwood, W. P., <a href="#Page_103">103</a></li> + +<li> Knapp, S. A., <a href="#Page_109">109</a></li> + +<li> Kolb, J. H., <a href="#Page_30">30</a>, <a href="#Page_91">91</a></li> + +<li> Kropotkin, P., <a href="#Page_49">49</a><br /><br /></li> + + +<li> Leadership, <a href="#Page_117">117</a>, <a href="#Page_218">218</a>, <a href="#Page_241">241</a>; + <ul class="nest"> + <li> church, <a href="#Page_126">126</a></li> + </ul> +</li> + +<li> Lee, Joseph, <a href="#Page_155">155</a></li> + +<li> Lewis, Sinclair, <a href="#Page_101">101</a>, <a href="#Page_222">222</a></li> + +<li> Library, <a href="#Page_45">45</a>; + <ul class="nest"> + <li> public, <a href="#Page_100">100</a></li> + </ul> +</li> + +<li> Lindeman, E. C., <a href="#Page_169">169</a>, <a href="#Page_220">220</a>, <a href="#Page_239">239</a></li> + +<li> Lodges, <a href="#Page_174">174</a></li> + +<li> Lowell, G. J., <a href="#Page_172">172</a></li> + +<li> Loyalty, community, <a href="#Page_234">234-245</a></li> + +<li> Lumsden, L. L., <a href="#Page_144">144</a><br /><br /></li> + + +<li> Maciver, R. M., <a href="#Page_245">245</a></li> + +<li> Macklin, Th., <a href="#Page_63">63</a>, <a href="#Page_85">85</a></li> + +<li> Mann, A. R., <a href="#Page_194">194</a></li> + +<li> Markets, effect of, <a href="#Page_67">67-76</a></li> + +<li> Martin, O. B., <a href="#Page_109">109</a></li> + +<li> Maternal mortality, <a href="#Page_142">142</a></li> + +<li> Mormons, <a href="#Page_121">121</a>, <a href="#Page_197">197</a></li> + +<li> Morrill Act, <a href="#Page_107">107</a></li> + +<li> Moving pictures, <a href="#Page_45">45</a>, <a href="#Page_158">158</a><br/><br /></li> + + +<li> Nason, W. C., <a href="#Page_167">167</a></li> + +<li> Nasmyth, George, <a href="#Page_49">49</a></li> + +<li> Nationalities, <a href="#Page_29">29</a></li> + +<li> Neglected, the, <a href="#Page_186">186</a></li> + +<li> Neighborhood areas, <a href="#Page_91">91</a>; + <ul class="nest"> + <li> defined, <a href="#Page_9">9</a>;</li> + <li> social center, <a href="#Page_92">92</a></li> + </ul> +</li> + +<li> Newspaper, country, <a href="#Page_103">103-106</a></li> + +<li> Nourse, E. G., <a href="#Page_68">68</a></li> + +<li> Numbering farms, <a href="#Page_231">231</a></li> + +<li> Nurses, rural, <a href="#Page_147">147-149</a><br /><br /></li> + + +<li> Organization, rural, difficulty of, <a href="#Page_44">44</a></li> + +<li> Organizations of rural community, <a href="#Page_169">169-180</a></li> + +<li> Orchestras, <a href="#Page_177">177</a></li> + +<li> Overchurching, <a href="#Page_125">125</a><br /><br /></li> + + +<li> Pageants, <a href="#Page_36">36</a>, <a href="#Page_161">161</a></li> + +<li> Parent-teachers associations, <a href="#Page_97">97-98</a></li> + +<li> Parks, <a href="#Page_230">230</a></li> + +<li> Park, R. E., and Miller, <a href="#Page_236">236</a></li> + +<li> Patrons of Husbandry, <a href="#Page_170">170</a></li> + +<li> Personality and play, <a href="#Page_154">154</a></li> + +<li> Physical education, <a href="#Page_162">162</a></li> + +<li> Plainsboro, N. J., incorporation, <a href="#Page_205">205</a>, <a href="#Page_247">247</a></li> + +<li> Play and recreation, <a href="#Page_153">153-168</a>; + <ul class="nest"> + <li> festivals, <a href="#Page_156">156</a></li> + </ul> +</li> + +<li> Plunkett, Sir Horace, <a href="#Page_12">12</a>, <a href="#Page_87">87</a>, <a href="#Page_88">88</a></li> + +<li> Poe, Clarence, <a href="#Page_81">81</a>, <a href="#Page_202">202</a></li> + +<li> Poor officer, <a href="#Page_187">187</a></li> + +<li> Population, changes, <a href="#Page_32">32</a>; + <ul class="nest"> + <li> density of, <a href="#Page_31">31</a></li> + </ul> +</li> + +<li> Postal service, <a href="#Page_43">43</a></li> + +<li> Poverty, <a href="#Page_181">181</a>, <a href="#Page_182">182</a></li> + +<li> Powell, G. Harold, <a href="#Page_84">84</a></li> + +<li> Pratt, Edwin A., <a href="#Page_80">80</a></li> + +<li> Provincialism, value of, <a href="#Page_240">240</a></li> + +<li> Public speaking contest, <a href="#Page_96">96</a></li> + +<li> Public welfare boards, <a href="#Page_191">191</a><br /><br /></li> + + +<li> Race problems, <a href="#Page_29">29</a>, <a href="#Page_30">30</a></li> + +<li> Railroad, effect of, <a href="#Page_39">39</a>; + <ul class="nest"> + <li> stations, <a href="#Page_224">224</a></li> + </ul> +</li> + +<li> Rankin, W. S., <a href="#Page_145">145</a></li> + +<li> Recreation, <a href="#Page_153">153-168</a>; + <ul class="nest"> + <li> church and, <a href="#Page_133">133</a></li> + </ul> +</li> + +<li> Red Cross, <a href="#Page_151">151</a>; + <ul class="nest"> + <li> home service, <a href="#Page_134">134</a>, <a href="#Page_191">191-192</a>;</li> + <li> nurse, <a href="#Page_149">149</a></li> + </ul> +</li> + +<li> Religious life of the community, <a href="#Page_121">121-136</a>; + <ul class="nest"> + <li> education, <a href="#Page_99">99</a>, <a href="#Page_130">130</a></li> + </ul> +</li> + +<li> Renville Co., Minn., health survey, <a href="#Page_147">147</a></li> + +<li> Roads, <a href="#Page_40">40</a>, <a href="#Page_225">225</a>, <a href="#Page_227">227</a></li> + +<li> Rochdale system, <a href="#Page_79">79</a></li> + +<li> Rodent control by communities, <a href="#Page_64">64</a></li> + +<li> Royce, Josiah, <a href="#Page_238">238</a>, <a href="#Page_240">240</a></li> + +<li> Rural organization, <a href="#Page_89">89</a>; + <ul class="nest"> + <li> planning committees, <a href="#Page_230">230</a>, <a href="#Page_231">231</a></li> + </ul> +</li> + +<li> Russell, Geo. Wm. ("A.E."), <a href="#Page_63">63</a>, <a href="#Page_75">75</a>, <a href="#Page_89">89</a></li> + +<li> Ryder, E. H., <a href="#Page_202">202</a><br /><br /></li> + + +<li> Sandy Spring, Md., <a href="#Page_35">35</a></li> + +<li> Sanitation, <a href="#Page_143">143-144</a></li> + +<li> School, <a href="#Page_91">91-100</a>; + <ul class="nest"> + <li> consolidation, <a href="#Page_93">93-95</a>;</li> + <li> nurses, <a href="#Page_147">147</a>;</li> + <li> play in the, <a href="#Page_161">161</a>;</li> + <li> social center, <a href="#Page_96">96</a>, <a href="#Page_165">165</a></li> + </ul> +</li> + +<li> Settlement of community, <a href="#Page_38">38</a></li> + +<li> Shaw, Albert, <a href="#Page_197">197</a></li> + +<li> Sims, N. L., <a href="#Page_218">218</a></li> + +<li> Smith-Gordon and Staples, <a href="#Page_88">88</a><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_254" id="Page_254">[Pg 254]</a></span></li> + +<li> Smith-Hughes Act, <a href="#Page_94">94</a></li> + +<li> Smith-Lever Act, <a href="#Page_111">111</a></li> + +<li> Smith, Ruby Green, <a href="#Page_119">119</a></li> + +<li> Social center, <a href="#Page_8">8</a>; + <ul class="nest"> + <li> organization, <a href="#Page_209">209</a>;</li> + <li> work, agencies for rural, <a href="#Page_187">187</a>;</li> + <li> of minister, <a href="#Page_134">134</a></li> + </ul> +</li> + +<li> South, community in the, <a href="#Page_4">4</a>, <a href="#Page_10">10</a></li> + +<li> Specialization in agriculture, <a href="#Page_61">61-63</a></li> + +<li> Standardization in marketing, <a href="#Page_71">71</a></li> + +<li> Stewart, C. L., <a href="#Page_60">60</a></li> + +<li> Stores, country, <a href="#Page_50">50-52</a></li> + +<li> Sunday school, <a href="#Page_123">123-124</a>, <a href="#Page_130">130-131</a><br/><br /></li> + + +<li> Telephone, <a href="#Page_43">43</a></li> + +<li> Tenancy, <a href="#Page_59">59</a></li> + +<li> Tompkins Co., N. Y., churches, <a href="#Page_125">125</a></li> + +<li> Town planning, <a href="#Page_223">223</a></li> + +<li> Township, <a href="#Page_196">196</a></li> + +<li> Transportation, effect of, <a href="#Page_39">39</a>, <a href="#Page_67">67</a><br /><br /></li> + + +<li> Union church, <a href="#Page_128">128</a><br /><br /></li> + + +<li> Values of rural life, <a href="#Page_16">16</a>, <a href="#Page_17">17</a>, <a href="#Page_61">61</a></li> + +<li> Vienna, <a href="#Page_69">69</a></li> + +<li> Village communities, <a href="#Page_3">3</a>, <a href="#Page_235">235</a></li> + +<li> Village and farm, <a href="#Page_46">46-57</a></li> + +<li> Village, incorporated, <a href="#Page_199">199</a>; + <ul class="nest"> + <li> plan, <a href="#Page_224">224</a>;</li> + <li> square, <a href="#Page_225">225</a></li> + </ul> +</li> + +<li> Visiting teacher, <a href="#Page_189">189</a><br /><br /></li> + + +<li> Waugh, Frank A., <a href="#Page_223">223</a></li> + +<li> Warren, G. F., <a href="#Page_65">65</a></li> + +<li> Wilson, Warren H., <a href="#Page_58">58</a>, <a href="#Page_121">121</a></li> + +<li> Woman, farm, position of, <a href="#Page_19">19-22</a></li> + +<li> Woman's Christian Temperance Union, <a href="#Page_178">178</a><br /><br /></li> + + +<li> Young Men's Christian Association, <a href="#Page_162">162</a></li> + +<li> Young Woman's Christian Association, <a href="#Page_162">162</a></li> +</ul> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> + +<hr /> +<br /> +<h2>THE FARMER'S BOOKSHELF</h2> + +<h4>Edited by</h4> + +<h3>KENYON L. BUTTERFIELD</h3> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> + +<hr /> +<br /> +<p class="noin"><b>THE FARMER'S BOOKSHELF</b></p> + +<p class="noin"> +Edited by <span class="smcap">Dr. Kenyon L. Butterfield</span>, +President, Massachusetts College of Agriculture. Each $1.25, by mail, +$1.35.</p> + +<p>The changing conditions and new problems in rural life are known in a +general way through newspaper and magazine articles, but few books have +appeared which show what a force the farmer is and will continue to be +in national and international life. This series is to contain books by +men who know the farmer as well as the subject; while written primarily +for rural leaders and progressive farmers they are interesting also to +anyone who wants to keep up with contemporary history.</p> +<br /> + +<p class="noin"><b>THE GRANGE MASTER AND THE GRANGE LECTURER</b></p> + +<p class="noin">By <span class="smcap">Jennie Buell</span></p> + +<p>An account of the origin and ideals of the Grange and +of what this organization has done and is doing. It also +gives practical suggestions for future development. Miss +Buell had been active in the work of the Grange for 36 +years. From 1890 to 1908 she was State Secretary of the +Grange in Michigan, then lecturer until 1915, when she +was again elected State Secretary.</p> + +<p>"We have never read a book on The Grange which contains +more practical information. Every member should +read this book, and we should like to have it read by +town and city people, too."—<i>Rural New Yorker</i>.</p> +<br /> + +<p class="noin"><b>THE LABOR MOVEMENT AND THE FARMER</b></p> + +<p class="noin">By <span class="smcap">Hayes Robbins</span></p> + +<p>The labor question of factory and town crowds in upon +the farm on every side—in the price of almost everything +the farmer buys, in the freight he pays, in the higher wages +and shorter hours he must bid against for help. This book +gives us the labor movement as it actually is, and what it +proposes, as it affects especially the farmer.</p> + +<p>For twenty years Mr. Robbins has been studying industrial +problems. At one time he was connected with the +New York Central Railroad, and in 1905 he undertook +organization of the Civic Federation of New England, +devoted to the betterment of relations between employers +and employees. During the war he assisted in the organization +of the Committee on Labor Advisory Commission +to the Council of National Defense.</p> +<br /> + +<p class="noin"><b>THE COUNTY AGENT AND THE FARM BUREAU</b></p> + +<p class="noin">By <span class="smcap">Maurice Chase Burritt</span>, Vice-Director Extension Department, +New York State College of Agriculture, +Cornell University.</p> + +<p>Despite its prominence during the past few years, the +county agent farm bureau movement is not fully understood +or appreciated either by the general public or by +farmers themselves. This book describes in detail the +work of the county agent and farm bureau and gives an historical +sketch of their development.</p> +<br /> + +<p class="noin"><b>THE FARMER AND HIS COMMUNITY</b></p> + +<p class="noin">By <span class="smcap">Dwight Sanderson</span>, Head of the Department of Rural +Social Organization, New York College of Agriculture, +Cornell University.</p> + +<p>The rapid spread of the rural community idea, due in +part to the recent work of county agents and county farm +bureaus, calls for a book which describes in plain terms +just what this idea means and just how important it is in +rural progress. This book does these two things in a way +that promises to make it an important contribution to the +farmers' thinking.</p> +<br /> + +<p class="noin"><b>THE AGRICULTURAL BLOC</b></p> + +<p>By <span class="smcap">Honorable Arthur Capper</span></p> + +<p>An authoritative review of the difficulties and economic +changes that led to the present situation in the United States +Senate and an account of the present program among agricultural +leaders. Senator Capper is the recognized leader +and proper spokesman of this movement.</p> +<br /> +<br /> +<p class="cen smcap"><b>In Press</b></p> +<br /> + +<p class="noin"><b>COUNTRY PLANNING</b></p> + +<p class="noin">By <span class="smcap">Frank A. Waugh</span>, Head of the Division of Horticulture +and Professor of Landscape Gardening, Massachusetts +Agricultural College.</p> + +<p>Country Planning is not a fad involving the expenditure +of sums of money for useless "frills" but is a practical means +of getting better results with money that must be expended +in such changes as disposition of lands, the location +of roads, the furnishing of playgrounds, forests, and +school grounds, etc. How these changes may be wisely +directed is told in this book.</p> +<br /> +<br /> +<p class="cen noin"><b><span class="smcap">In Preparation</span></b></p> + +<p class="noin"><b>OUR SOIL WEALTH</b></p> + +<p class="noin">By <span class="smcap">Dr. J. G. Lipman</span>, Director of the New Jersey Agricultural<br /> +Experiment Station.</p> +<br /> + +<p class="noin"><b>THE FARMER AND THE WORLD'S FOOD</b></p> + +<p class="noin">By <span class="smcap">A. E. Cance</span></p> +<br /> + +<p class="noin"><b>THE FARM MOVEMENT IN CANADA</b></p> + +<p class="noin">By <span class="smcap">N. P. Lambert</span></p> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> + +<div class="tr"> +<p class="cen"><a name="TN" id="TN"></a>Transcriber's Note</p> +<br /> + +Typographical errors corrected in the text:<br /> +<br /> +Page 8 necessarly changed to necessarily<br /> +Page 48 parisitic changed to parasitic<br /> +Page 52 enterprisng changed to enterprising<br /> +Page 85 considerbly changed to considerably<br /> +Page 183 hispitals changed to hospitals<br /> +Page 214 dominaton changed to domination<br /> +Page 251 Bengston changed to Bengtson<br /> +</div> + + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's The Farmer and His Community, by Dwight Sanderson + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE FARMER AND HIS COMMUNITY *** + +***** This file should be named 29733-h.htm or 29733-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/2/9/7/3/29733/ + +Produced by Tom Roch, Barbara Kosker, and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net. 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