The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1943-09-02
Turning Over An
Old Leaf
By Phillip A. Gladheim

that are not forgotten yet"
The above quotation is from poem
by Edwin Arlington Robinson, en-
titled, THE Valley of the Shadow"
This poem, together with Edgar Lee
Masters Spoon River Anthology"
are among the notable American elias
! sizes in verse that portray with poig
nant cynicism the futility that has
crept into American life, particularly
| in the small communities. In Ameri-
| can prose we have Sinclair Lewis with
| his acid satire Of the bourgeois COM
munities (small and large), and the
/ equally vitrolic satire of John P Mar
quand toward our sophisticated COM
munities.
! Let us accept the truth of our lit
erary muckrakers, which is the very
apparent failure to achieve an ade-
quate and ideal community life. In
deed we do not even have a workable
concept of community" because we
llO live III q dIC DI IIllctI ny
there as competitive individuals We
compete not only in business, but in
/ politics, society, culture, and even in
religion. Because life is organized
within the pattern of competition our
relation to one another, at all times,
is that Of comparison. This makes
L T.
ton.
Now comes along a book which is
not written by literary genius, but
| by a hard-headed business man-an
engineer, an educator and an admin
istrator. He has written a book that
gives a very simplified blue print for
a new communal idealism. No one who
is interested in the real development
of a community can afford to be with
out this powerful and helpful treatise
entitled, "The Small Community" by
Arthur E. Morgan. The book is the re-
suit Of twenty years intensive re-
search by means of books, by actual
contact with various types of COM
munities and experimentation with
personnel of diverse backgrounds, on
a vast scale The book is the fruit of
! a comprehensive study. The bibliog-
raphy covers the whole field of con-
I temporary sociology. In other words,
when you read "The Small Commun-
ity' you can be certain of saying that
you have read the latest phase of Am
erican sociology.
Mr.. Morgan has had an unusual
career. For one thing, he was the
founder and head of Antioch College,
and also the person in charge of the
Tennessee Valley Authority. 1t is be-
cause he is a man of affairs rather
than mere scholar of books, that his
material sounds most convincing and
sincere.
Here are a few though-provoking
quotations.:
1.-THE preservation and perfecting of
the small community is one of the
greatest issues facing our times"
Modern men are bluffed by the
prestige of bigness, by the so-called
etficiencies of centralized control and
mass production. The small commun-
ity, the intimate group within the
scope of a mans acquaintance, re-
mains the primary pattern in which
men must live if they would have good
life. Their moral sensibility and devo-
ton, their appreciative integrity and
natural art depend on it. They must
live in small communities, it would
seem, to maintain even their repro
ductive vitality and racial existence"
ON modern times the small COM
munity has played the part of an or
phan in an unfriendly world"
"All rural America has been skim
med of its material wealth and its
human quality to feed the Unsuitable
city. The small community has been
despised as something to escape from
to the larger, better life of the city.
The typical American farm village
has become little more than a local
market and location for church and
school"
"America is waking to the mean
ing Of the community, and to its pres
ent danger. During the last decade
about three hundred communities in
the United States have established
community councils Each socially
minded organization is community
such as the Parent-Teachers Associa-
ton, the Town Council, the Chamber
of Commerce, the service clubs, the
trades organizations, the Y. NJ. C. A.,
the several churches, etc. Each of
these organizations appoints one
member to a central council. Through
suitable committees, this organiza-
ton keeps in touch with all vital
community interests, brings neglected
issues to the attention of those re-
sponsible or to the public or directly
undertakes the necessary service. This
new invention of democracy promises
to be a powerful instrument for COM
munity welfare"
Community well-being requires a
spirit of open, full, free inquiry, with
no organization or sect claiming su-
preme merit, authority or revelation,