Bismarck daily tribune., 1912-03-27

that were puzzling the wise men al
Washington. The facts seem to be
otherwise. The social mind of !our
rural communities, according to DR.
Warren H. Wilson, Presbyterian Sup
erintendent of Church and Country
Life. is saturated at such times, not
with political wisdom, but with econ
onlic commonpsaces. The church
does little more for the social in.
stinot. Being far too numerous for
the population they serve, the
churches become the vehicle Of ex'
pressing grudges, resentments. mar
row and mean social feelings" The
old fashioned rural home has disap-
peared. and consolidation and centl:a-
hzation of country schools has only
begun.
The way to better things is a double
one. In the first place, there >is the
conscious effort that is being made to
supply the social activity duhat is want
ing. With what would seem to a
stranger the height Of 'humor, the
metropolitan centre of the, hemisphere
is the headquarters of an organization
that proposes to train our, rural in
habitauts In the art of recreation be
instructed in tthe telling Of stories,
clubs shall be organized for thes boys
and grils, there shalt be lecture and
entertainment courses, reading cir
ctea public libraries, choral unions,
more Intelligent, church and school
socials," ftdnerant social and literary
meetings, systematic teaching Of plays
and games, modern forms of camp
ing, encouragement Of tramping and
l1ouseboat': PARTIES; and a great many
more delightful dpings. Ones head
reels at the elaborateness of the pro.
gramme. Carried out; In its entirety,
it ould inevitably defeat it's purpose
by driving the exhausted merrymak.
ers from the country ito the cities, for
the sake of rest and quite. But prob
ably it will not be carried SO far. Pro
grammes seldom are. The Inertia of
the rural subjects of the experiment
will furnish a sufficient cDunterpoise
to the enthusiasm of the experiment.
ers. Tried tactfully, as no doubt 1T
will be tried, it must awaken many a
community to the realization that
there is better means of escape
from the grind of toll than "recrea-
tions" that leave the body little bet-
ter of, and the mind decidedly worse
off.
The large hope, however, would ap-
pear to HE in less seaf-conscious, less
external, less specific methods Of So
oial salvation. Typical and perhaps
most important of.4he@e .at the mp:
ment is the ohautauqua. Here
people sit together without petty dis
tinctSon OF creed or panty, 1istening
to vigorous utterance and challenge
of opinion, and finding their way into
new intellectual realms. The keen
interest in 1T makes this a peculiarly
Intensive from the instruction and
appeal, and it's effects are correspond
ingly lasting. The extent of the
movement in rural regions may be
judged from the statement that In
Nebraska, with its sixty towns of a
population of more than a Thousand
each, there are fifty five Chautauquas;
in Iowa, there are nearly two hun
dred and in Kansas and Missouri,
fifty each. The brevity of the time
during which the sessions are held,
the average being only ten days, rem
ders them q means of suggestion and
inspiration rather than a social dnsti-
tuition. But in this circumstance is
their value. Instead of supplying the
famer and his household with ready
made schemes of social recreation,
they quicken his intellectual pro-
cesses, give him to see beyond the
boundaries Of the farm and, best of
al, make it harder for him to emily
the thin and vap.d amusements Of the
neighboring village. With such q
hint, he can be trusted to develop
social alfe of his own, Without peril
to the ividualism which no one
wants him to lose.
Alienists who are to consider the
case of Harry Thaw with a view 10
bis release sholld produce reasonable