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 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.
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.
FOOTNOTES:
[15] See George Nasmyth, "Social Progress and the Darwinian Theory."
[16] See P. Kropotkin, "Mutual Aid."
[17] See L. H. Bailey, "The Place of the Village in the Country-Life
Movement," York State Rural Problems, II, 148. Albany, N. Y., 1915.
CHAPTER VI
COMMUNITY ASPECTS OF THE FARM BUSINESS
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