The Butler County press. [volume] (Hamilton, Ohio) 1900-1946, 1919-11-07
Delegate Stanley
Ogg.
Submits Report of National
Social Unit Convention

! Close observation of the Social Unit
plan of community organization. the
purpose of which is to mobilize demo-
cratically the entire resources of the
community for the discovery and
meeting of common needs, is being
urged by Delegate Stanley Ogg, who
has just returned from the National
Social Unit convention in Cincinnati.
and who submitted his report to
Trades Council Tuesday night.
'The great redeeming power Of the
cities and this nation is to spring up
from the hearts Of the people" said
Brother Ogg In Cincinnati we saw
at close range how democracy, reduced
to terms of neighboriness and un-
selfish interest in others for the good
of the whole community, has been put
to work to stimulate a healthy con
dition of thinking along progressive
lines and actual participation by all
of the people in the direction Of com
munity activities
Brother Ogg described the Social
Unit as plan for democratic com
munity organization applied on the
basis Of small, geographical units il
which all of the people are given the
opportunity of speaking and acting
upon every matter Of community in
terest. This type Of organization in
the experimental area has proved that
greater interest and better team
work on the part Of the people as a
whole, is possible.
At the beginning Of the Social Unit
experiment the Mohawk Brighton
District, which was selected as the ex-
perimental area, was divided into
/ thirty-one blocks. There are approx
imately 10000 people in this area, and
each block or neighborhood contains
about 100 families AS early as pos
4 sible in the experiment, it's funda-
mental principle Of democracy was
expressed in a most intensive way by
the 3 block elections, in which every
+ person more than 18 years Of age was
given an opportunity to participate.
4 The people Of each block then selected
by ballot seven representatives, who,
meeting together, comprised the block
councils. The members of the3l block
councils thereupon each selected a
leader or executive, and this executive
became the representative of her par
tcular block to the Citizens Council.
In the same democratic manner a
4 beginning has been made in the or
ganization Of the occupations Of the
district The physicians Of the dis
trict have formed a Physicians Coun-
ell and elected one Of their number as
executive BY the same method
nurses, social workers and clergymen
nave been selected, and the trades
unions have had a representative
| The executives Of these respective
| groups, meeting together, form the
Occupational Council
The foregoing description Of the
machinery through which the people
Of the Social Unit experimental dis
trict have found way of cooperating
between one another as interested
neighbors, and also of cooperating in
she most commendable manner with
the various skilled professional and
vocational groups working within the
ueighborhood.
Just how this type Of machinery
has been utilized, both BY the people
and the doctors, nurses and other vo-
cational groups" said Brother Ogg,
was described in a most thorough
manner by a number Of leading social
workers, doctors, ministers, nurses
9nd other experts at the National
| Convention recently held in Cincin-
aati. Delegates could form only one
conclusion from the word pictures
chat were presented by national
authorities in describing the things
that they had seen in the Social Unit
experiment And that conclusion was
that genuine democracy is really be-
ginning to be put to work in
| America"