The Chickasha daily express. (Chickasha, Indian Territory [Okla.]) 1899-current, 1916-10-12
fron His ksek up Il IS Up 10 Hin to
Rsarh A1y Scale Of RsnunsrsIiSn
Declares Community Builder
PROSPERITY
BEGINS IN COUNTRY
Best Preachers, Best Ttsehsrx Best Edi-
tors Should Be Sent to Rural Districts
to Mould Opinions and Character

With the prospect Of returning Il
ChIckasha for a weeks engagement
to deliver lectures both to thirteen
county schools and 10 the business
community. Dr. Harry R. McKeen. na-
ti0nally recognized As 3 community
builder and ruFaiist OF the highest
rank. left Tuesday afternoon for Nar-
low and later for E Reno.
Dr.. McKeen not only knows farming
and town builGlng theoretically from
the ground up bat be is just as proud
OF being able 10 stack hay and build
q wheat rick or run binder after the
most approved fashion as he is Of de-
livering an address or writing an edi-
toriaL Farmer. minister and journal
ist, be has taken the best out Of the
three Tocations and culled the most
valued experiences in each line that
his fellow man may benefit BY his OBJ
servations. His range Of vision is
large. IS is his range OF topics. which
includes the community builder. the
community church the man from the
country. the rural community in the
fate Of the nation, the rural church
IFS needs. rural problem solved and
unsolyed. overchurched and under
churched America, the efficient rural
church. the boy problem. our best
crop. and why We are poor.
One OF his most interesting series
Of lectures on community building is
one comprising five topics, the preach
er. the teacher, the physician. the edi.
tor. the banker. His statement is
most positive that instead Of shifting
the poorest preachers and unsophisti-
Gated young teachers 10 the country
the best preachers, the best teachers
and the best editors should 60 to the
rural district to mould that public
character which in time is destined
to leave its imprint on men who win
become city builders
One OF the strong points that the ru.
ralist makes in his Lectures was again
emphasized in an Interview which was
accorded the Express before tNe ex-
pert's departure. 'The man from the
rural district who goes away and ac-
quires learning and efficiency should
return to his own village and become
identified with its progress and the
OF its people.
we are making living that we
might make life. Life is more inn
portsnt than the living. though the
kind Of living helps shape the life
Across the platform of the Choctaw /
school have gone in ten years one hum
dred and fiftyfsye graduates. These
may not have gone out into the world |
as teachers. preachers, doctors, law
yers. bankers and business men, but
to my mind. the most splendid part of
il is that the majority Of the gradu.
ates OF this school have gone back 10
their own rural communities and are
there investing their lives to good ad.
in community development.
THE tragedy of ldral life today is
that the most Of these splendid young
men and young women going into our
institutions are going out
IN TO the great centers instead Of re-
turning to give their trained minds 70
he development of the Community.
Recently | stood before a group OF
.Ss students in a small educational in
Five out OF six of those
'oung people came from the country
districts. and a vote revealed the fact
hat but three OF them were going
'ack to give their lives and services
o the country district This is trag-
CALI"
Il wish you might see an Arkansas
ommunity which have in mind which
ras- about as Ear advanced as the
indermost in the country before it
'as rejuvenated by a young man who
'ent away to get education and expe-
Ience and then refused a most fiat
sring offer in large city in order 70
sturn to his native community to ele-
ate it, After numerous hardships
nd difficulties in the way OF non-sup-
DIT and lack OF interest he reached
ie stage Of a high school which he
iilt regardless OF the dictum Of the
,wers that be that such an institution
as not necessary-built it practical
with his own hands assisted onlrl