Brownsville herald. [volume] (Brownsville, Tex.) 1910-current, 1927-11-09
TEXAS DAILY PRESS LEAGUE
FOREIGN Advcrffsin0 Re-nraeert,sivo
Organizing Rural Communities

An innovation in community organization. inaugu-
rated by Farm and Ranch, one Of the most popular
agricultural publications in the South. has aroused
much interest among rural community workers in Tex
as Apparently the Farm and Ranch staff has evolved
a rural community organization plan which will prove
lasting. and in the organization work now under way
j. performing a real service for the rural communities
and the state.
The novel feature Of the so-caIIed -Four-square
Farm and Ranch is now inaugurating in a number Of
TEXAS counties. is the fact that it takes the public
school sits point Of contact, making the school the
foundation upon which the organization is construct
cd. The other "cornerstones" Of the "Four-Square"
structure are the boys and girls al clubs, health
work and the community club. The organization has
proved a harmonious and efficient correlation Of the
activities Of all public agencies and educational insti-
tutions and m~ultiplies the efficiency Of each.
Rural community organization work has hereto
fore been largely the efforts Of individual agencies
and they have failed TO secure community-wide inter-
est and cooperation. The extension service, state uni
versity, the Farmers Union, and various others have
made repeated attempts to secure efficient organiza-
ton in rural communities, but there have always been
certain elements that failed to cooperate. The COM
munity church has been tried as a means Of uniting
communities. but this also proved a failure, due to de-
nominationalism.
However, there is one point Of contact through
which practically every resident Of a community can
be reached-the public school. The Farm and Ranch
staff conceived the idea that the school should be the
real foundation upon which the community organiza-
ton should rest, and from this idea has sprung up
hundreds Of community organizations which are prov
ing a potent factor in improving rural conditions in
Texas. All state and county agencies whose services,
in whole or in part. are intended for rural people are
by this plan joined into one team They have an or
ranization through which their services can be ~proffer-
ed, an organization designed TO function in any man
ner helpful to the community.
There is no state in which the rural community
organizations can perform a greater srevice than Tex
a.. and there is no agricultural state with less organ
izations in proportion to its rural population. The ul-
timatepossihilities Of rural self help under this plan
have not been fully demonstrated, but ID is very APP
parent from the success already achieved and the
great interest displayed in those communities where
organizations have been formed that the plan is des-
tined 70 revolutionizs rural conditions throughout the
state.
IN every community there exists the resources and
abilities to solve the problems Of that community. Too
many communities are depending upon individual initi-
alive and energy to solve their problems. They make
no effort to solve these problems comparatively, and as
a -esult they are unsolyed.
The campaign now under way in Texas 70 organ
Ire upon the -Four-Square" plan is the most encourag-
ing movement ever inaugurated in the state, and should
have the unstinted cooperation Of leaders in ell rural
communities.