Community Civics and Rural Life Part 3

A man owning an orchard in a locality where there are no other orchards has trouble getting rid of his crop. Even when the farmer is so fortunate as to get buyers, he generally receives a lower price for the same grade of fruit than would be received in a general apple-growing region.

If a man wants to buy several purebred Holstein cows, he generally goes to a locality where a large number of farmers keep that kind of stock. Often there is a man in his own community who has for sale Holsteins that are just as highly bred as those in other districts, but he either has no market for them or must sell them at a greatly reduced price.

The farmer ought not to think on account of these facts that he should not change his system of farming just because his neighbors do not do likewise.

Probably the best way for a farmer to start such a movement is to arouse the interest of his neighbors in his farming operations. As soon as this has been accomplished he can gradually bring about the change that he advocates. Farmers in a community profit from the experiences of other individuals.

WHAT GIVES VALUE TO LAND

The value of a man's property is dependent not upon his efforts alone, but upon what his neighbors do. The land occupied by a pioneer increases in value as other people settle in the neighborhood, and BECAUSE they settle there. Men often buy land and then simply wait for it to increase in value because of improvements in the neighborhood. The property that we own may increase or decrease in value according to the care that neighbors take of their property. Even if we take good care of our property, it will be less valuable if the neighbors let their fences and buildings run down and the weeds grow than it will be if they keep their fences and buildings in good repair and their weeds cut.

INTERDEPENDENCE IN HEALTH

Malaria is carried by mosquitoes, and we know that mosquitoes breed in standing water, as in swamps and in old barrels or tin cans that hold rainwater until it becomes stagnant. Now we may endeavor to get rid of mosquitoes, and thus of malaria, by removing all open receptacles of water about our premises and by draining the marshes on our land; but unless our neighbors do the same, we are not much better off than we were before.

Give other ill.u.s.trations to show the dependence of people upon one another in your community.

Compare the farmer of to-day in your neighborhood with the pioneer of Indiana described on page 14 with respect to his equipment, skill in making things and kinds of implements used.

Compare the average farmer's home in your neighborhood to-day with that of the New England farmer described on page 14 with respect to household activities.

Are farmers in your neighborhood to-day more or less dependent upon others to supply their wants than they were when your parents were children? Why is it? Get all the information you can from your parents on this point.

Which is more dependent upon others for its daily wants: a family that lives on a farm in your neighborhood or one that lives in town? Give examples to prove your answer.

Do you know cases in your own community where land has increased in value while lying idle? What are the reasons?

Do you know of cases in your community where property has depreciated in value because of neighborhood influences such as suggested on page 18?

Do you know of cases in your community similar to the one described on page 17 under the heading "Held Back by Neighbors"?

Explain. (Consult at home.)

UNEXPECTED RESULTS OF INTERDEPENDENCE

We do not always realize how dependent we are upon one another until something happens to disturb our accustomed relations. We best realize our dependence upon the telephone when it is out of order. The recent great war produced conditions that made us conscious of our interdependence in unexpected ways.

For example, if we had gone into a store to buy underwear in the early part of the war, we would have found that the price had greatly increased, and we might have been told, if the salesman were well informed, that the high price was due to the manufacture of airplanes! The explanation is that the wire stays used in the manufacture of airplanes are made of steel wire from which machine knitting needles are also made. In the early part of the war all of the available wire of this kind was taken for airplanes, thus limiting the supply of knitting needles and consequently of knit goods.

The manufacture of airplanes is also said to have affected the price of fish! The nets used for catching certain deep-sea fish, such as cod, must be made of linen, which is invisible in water.

The linen which had been used for this purpose suddenly came into great demand for the manufacture of airplane wings. Since airplanes were necessary, linen fishing nets were sacrificed and the price of deep-sea fish went up. This, of course, created a demand for other kinds of fish, and the price of the latter also went up.

CONFLICTS DUE TO INTERDEPENDENCE

When people are so closely dependent upon one another conflicts are likely to occur. Sometimes they are due to selfish disregard by some persons of the rights and interests of others; but more often they are due simply to failure to see what the real results of a particular act may be and how it may affect other people. It was not dreamed that the building of airplanes would affect the price of underwear and fish, and it was only after careful investigation that the relation between these things was discovered. A family that is careless in the disposal of refuse from the household and stables may unconsciously poison the wells of neighbors half a mile away. Sometimes men oppose public improvements, such as better roads, or a new schoolhouse, because they see only the direct costs of the improvements, and fail to see the more important losses to themselves and to the community if the improvements are not made.

DANGER OF HASTY JUDGMENTS

One thing we may learn from such facts as these is the danger of forming hasty judgments about things that happen, or conditions that exist, or proposals that are made, in our community life.

Even those conditions or events that are apparently most simple may be related to other conditions and events that are not at first apparent. Wise judgment and wise action are dependent upon the most complete knowledge obtainable.

We shall see, as we proceed with our study, how this fact of interdependence appears in every phase of our community life.

From observation in your own community, give ill.u.s.trations to show how people, in attempting to satisfy their own wants, may interfere with the efforts of others to satisfy theirs. The following are given as suggestions:

An employer and those whom he employs.

A man who owns a house or farm and the tenant to whom he rents it.

A man who keeps a livery stable adjoining a schoolhouse.

A grocer who displays his goods on the sidewalk (especially food products).

Men who raise cattle and those who raise sheep on the western ranges.

A boy who raises chickens and one who has a garden adjoining.

Suppose a schoolmate comes to school with measles or some other contagious disease. How may this affect your schoolwork? your a.s.sociation with your friends? How may it even add to your father's expenses?

Show that your schoolmates are as dependent upon you as you are upon them.

Is the community in which you live dependent upon you in any way?

Give ill.u.s.trations.

Taxpayers like to keep the tax rate as low as possible. In their interest in doing this, is it possible that they might interfere with your getting a good education in favorable surroundings?

Explain. Who are the taxpayers?

We often hear of "self-made men." What does it mean? Can a man be entirely "self-made"?

Does a child become more or less dependent upon others as he grows older? Explain your answer.

Show that as a person becomes more "self-dependent" other people become more dependent upon him; for example, in the home, and in school.

Watch the newspapers for items ill.u.s.trating interdependence, or conflicts due to it.

READINGS

Lessons in Community and National Life (see note on reference materials in Introduction)

Series A: Lesson 1, Some fundamental aspects of social organization.

Lesson 2, The western pioneer.

Series B: Lesson 1, The effect of the war on commerce in nitrate.

Lesson 2, The varied occupations of a colonial farm.

Lesson 12, Impersonality of modern life.

Series C: Lesson 1, The war and aeroplanes.

Lesson 2, Spinning and dyeing in colonial times.

Lesson 9, Inventions.

Lesson 11, The effects of machinery on rural life.