The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1914-02-24
DEVELOPING COMMUNITY LIFE
IN COUNTRY NEICHBORHOODS|
Effect 1t. There Must Be Some Voluntary Organizing
Agency-No Function of Government To Give Aid
Preacher and Teacher Can Help.

OISdElLIfS dS'IA1g int IIC 4
Union. is the only kind Of a body that
can pursue its work wfr!tout fear,
and unhampered BY special interests,
and this work must be done by farm
ers. themselves. II is true that an
occasional uplifting" speech from an
emotional rural reformeT and social
nthusia may not DE out of place,
community cooperation has IN
many instances been defeated by de-
pending too much upo outside talent
instead of depending upon organized
self-help.
And do not believe it should be
a function of government 10 give
material aid in establishing the kind
of organized cooperative rural as
sociations that | nave described, and
| fully agree with a statement made
to the American Commission Of
Agricultural Inquiry at Dublin, Ire
land. last summer, by that eminent
authority, George W. Russell, when
he said:
ITO ask the Estate or a State De-
! partment to undertake this work is to
ask a body influenced and often con
| trolled by powerful capitalists and
middle agencies, which it should be
the aim OF the organization TO eiinl-
! nate. The State can, without OBJ
struction from any quarter, give
farmers u technical education in the
science OF farming; but let it once
Interfere with business and a horde OF
angry interests set to work to ham
per and limit by every possible means;
and compromises on matters of prln-
ciple. where no compromise ought to
be permitted, are almost inevitable
Preacher INC Teacher Can Help.
The rural teacher and the rural
preacher occupy positions where they
may be Of great service in establish
ing the cooperative rural community.
But the teacher must be wide-aWake
and practical enough to use every
available effort to eradicate the aris-
tocratic idea of h professions and to
democratize all socially useful voca-
tons. If all occupations were de-
mocratized-that is, made socially as
respectable as any ~ occupation
requiring the same intelligence and
| CharaCteT-men and ONE IN
choosing their life work. would follow
their natural bent, and the feveriSh
rush OF aspiring young men and
women from the country to the city
might be retarded. And the preacher
should take a personal and active par,
in promoting better business as vel
as better living in the community
The homes of both the preacher anC
the teacher should be in the com
munity in which they serve. The
country pastors should be trained fol
church work in the country ant
should give themselves wholly to thi,
work as experts as long as they live
] and should not look upon a countr!
= charge simply as q stepping stone t
a city station.
Noteworthy Fact
1t is a noteworthy fact that most o
those who are theoretically urgin:
$ a return to the country have them
I selves made their complete eScap
4 from the arm and show NO SipnS n
returning. No teacher or social ser
wee worker will be able to accom-
S pilSh much in the betterment of rura
life unless he himself believes tina
q happy and cultured life is pOssibl
$ on the farm as we'll as in town. n
ermon on the beauty and dignity 0
country life Will avail much. if tn
& preacher links rural life, as it ca
h be made, is unworthy of himself an
family. This divergence between pre-
q cept II practice leads some of GU
country people to loo with distrus
y upon many of our social philosopher
l. and feel Ia they are seeking t
~hoodwink the people into believin
something hat they do not beliey
themselves.
Il The genuine community life tht
= comes through organization and CO
II operation will mean perhaps MOI
Ie for the women on the farm than any
lc body else, because they need this be
lie ter community life more. But hel
II again the uplifting agencies must
'e developed among themselves. II
8, you know" said an agricultural Worl
n er the other day, "tha- one of tt
TO greatest curses in this land is II
l. woman who spends her unme
y. the seashore or in the mountains ar
N then comes back home in the Wint'
is to preach uplift to farm IN
:. This gentleman further says:
TO These women many of them. dor
lr know the first principles OF far
III nome life. for they never lived on
III farmland wouldn't. Yet they tai
s. the platform and preach to the far
women a lot OF ill-digested theori
&c OF farm home economies. and VIII
n not. They tell how to bring up ch
dren when they themselves ha
ny never experienced motherhood.
De | would not be harsh in m cri
III CismS of the well-meaning emotion
Al reformers and professional phila
thropists. They all mean we'll h