The Challenge of the Country Part 14

This acute social problem is a great challenge to true lovers of the country. We believe rural life will survive the test. In most respects it has made great progress in recent years, and in many quarters it is rapidly learning the practical value of cooperation. Given adequate, intelligent leadership, country life will surely grow in social efficiency and happiness, and thus be better able to hold its best people loyal to the open country.

The problem, then, of socializing the community so that it will cooperate successfully, is to unite all the personal and social resources, federate all worth-while inst.i.tutions for concerted action for mutual welfare; then "focus on mutual interests" and work together on the common tasks.

Fellowship in work or play is a great uniter of hearts. It irresistibly develops a community spirit.

_Who Shall Take the Initiative?_

Woe to the man who starts anything in the country! He must have a good cause and an obvious reason. The success of any rural enterprise usually depends overwhelmingly upon its leader. In a "Get Together Campaign" for community betterment, the strongest local personality or inst.i.tution would better issue the call. If there is a strong Farmers' Club, or Cooperative a.s.sociation, or Community Library Board, or a Village Board of Trade with community ideals, they may well a.s.sume the right to take the first step toward an ultimate union of all the community interests. If there is only a single church in the place and it commands the respect and loyalty of the people, it may well be the federating agency. Or the strongest church can invite in the others and together they can make this movement a community welfare proposition with a definitely religious stamp; working through committees of a church federation in the interests of all the people. Often this is best done by the Rural Young Men's Christian a.s.sociation, working in behalf of all the churches.

In short, whatever inst.i.tution controls the greatest local influence, and is most representative of the people, has the best right to take the lead in socializing the community. Perhaps it may not be a religious body at all. It may be a social club, or a village improvement society, or a civic league, or a Rural Progress a.s.sociation embodying modern rural ideals. If it has the backing of the people, it is responsible for using its social influence in the most effective way. For instance, in the prosperous little rural community of Evergreen, Iowa, the popular and effective socializing agency is "The Evergreen Sporting a.s.sociation"! It unites all the young people in the neighborhood, both married and unmarried, and for some fifteen years has had a fine record for social efficiency. By its elaborate and varied annual program of popular interests it has made life in Evergreen wholesome, happy and worth while. The young people as a rule are loyal to the place and stay on their prosperous farms instead of losing themselves in the city.

_A Community Plan for Socialization_

Rural social life is simple and should be kept so. Elaborate organization is never necessary. What we need is that "touch of human nature which makes the whole world kin." We do not need another inst.i.tution, but possibly a social center and a working plan which can express and develop the common humanhood. The place may be an up to date "Neighborhood House"

with rest room and reading room with its chimney corner; a place for tired mothers and babies, and a meeting place for men of business; or it may be just a room at the church or the school house or the public library, easily accessible to all. Or the social spirit can be developed wholly without any special equipment. The main point is the growth of community ideals and a willingness to work together to attain them.

The plan should be the result of careful study of community needs by the social survey method, and a more or less definite program of constructive propositions to work out as conditions allow. It may be a thorough-going plan from the start, or a gradual growth as the vision enlarges; in any case it should embody and stimulate the community desire for progress. The first result of such a community effort will be a natural reaction on the local inst.i.tutions, tending to encourage them and help them to function normally; bringing a finer spirit of cooperation into the church, new efficiency into the school and a revival of responsibility in many homes.

The beautifying of public and private grounds, the establishing of play grounds and possibly a lecture or entertainment course, the stimulating of the local social life in an infinite variety of ways, will be suggested in detail by the local needs.

_The Gospel of Organized Play_

"A new gospel of the recreative life needs to be proclaimed in the country," says J. R. Boardman. "Rural America must be compelled to play.

It has, to a degree, toiled itself into deformity, disease, depravity and depression. Its long hours of drudgery, its jealousy of every moment of daylight, its scorn of leisure and of pleasure, must give way to shorter hours of labor, occasional periods of complete relaxation and wholehearted partic.i.p.ation in wholesome plays, picnics, festivals, games and other recreative amus.e.m.e.nts. Better health, greater satisfaction and a richer life wait on the wise development of this recreative ideal."[27]

[Ill.u.s.tration: A game of stone hustle at a one-room school two miles from railroad; the teacher and boys and girls of all ages partic.i.p.ating.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: One of the leaders' corps at work during recess time.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: London Bridge and graded games. Home-made bean-bags and b.a.l.l.s help give expression to the spirit of cooperation.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: The county committee of the Orange County, N. Y., a.s.sociations is cooperating with the public schools for play on the school grounds. Bullying, fist fights and bad manners have given way to the spirit of courage, endurance, chivalry and helpfulness.]

Very slowly people in the country are coming to believe that play is a necessity, not merely a luxury, for children and that it is a law of the child's growth. But it is not merely a matter of health nor of child life.

It is a matter of social welfare and the development of community spirit.

It affects every individual, old as well as young.

Consequently we find in the past six years, since the organization of the Playground a.s.sociation of America at Washington under President Roosevelt's patronage, great attention has been given to the subject.

Country children, whose repertory of games was found to be very limited, have been taught to play a great variety of new and interesting games; and this has given them a new zest in life. Country school athletic contests have been organized and inter-community meets held, sometimes on the county basis. Great field days have been held, rural picnics have been developed which have been marvelously successful in interesting adults as well as children; out-of-door folk-dancing has been revived; play festivals have interested whole townships, with hundreds of visitors, many of whom have tested their strength and skill at the various games and contests. It has not been a commercialized or professional performance by paid experts, but a day of play, of, for, and by the people.

The social effect of these play festivals is far reaching. "Acquaintances formed on these occasions," says Prof. M. T. Scudder, "may be followed up by profitable correspondence, by exchanging visits, and thus lead to the establishment of life-long friendships. The names of those who excel in one sport or another become household words throughout the county. How this stimulates self-respect and ambition! The real leaders in each community become known, be they boys or girls, men or women, and these may be brought together thereafter for organized efforts in worthy enterprises for the common good. And all the time the isolation of country life is being lessened."[28]

More and more at these festivals the products of manual training, industrial and domestic arts are being exhibited. There are compet.i.tions in bread making, sewing, gardening, carving, basketry, corn and vegetable raising, with every opportunity for varied interest. The dramatic instinct is developed by the revival of pageantry, in connection usually with the Fourth of July or other holidays, often with special local historical significance. "The Pageant of Thetford" is an interesting pamphlet describing a successful program of this order in Vermont. It may be obtained of the Playground a.s.sociation.

In summarizing the value of such efforts, Dr. Scudder claims, "Perhaps it is not too much to say that through a series of properly conceived and well-conducted festivals the civic and inst.i.tutional life of an entire country or district, and the lives of many individuals of all ages, may be permanently quickened and inspired; the play movement thus making surely for greater contentment, cleaner morals, and more intense patriotism and righteousness on the farm lands and in the village populations of our country. Such indeed are the socializing effects of organized and supervised play."[29]

_The School a Social Center_

Under the modern system the centralized school has become sometimes the chief social center of the township. The mere fact of the gathering of numbers gives it initial prestige. Often a fine school spirit is developed by the inter-community contests and teachers of the modern type are not slow to see their opportunity to cooperate with the pupils out of school hours in wholesome games. The school building is often in the winter the meeting place of the young people for social purposes and its central location, its large capacity, its neutral and public character make it often the most desirable social center in the township. This topic will receive fuller treatment in our next chapter on rural education.

_The Social Influence of the Grange_

The ordinary fraternal orders are seldom found in the rural districts except in villages of some size. They are essentially a town inst.i.tution, and are of little a.s.sistance in the rural situation. But an organization of great influence and social value is the Grange, the Patrons of Husbandry, which is frankly endeavoring to serve the economic, intellectual and social needs of the working farmer and his family.

Founded in 1867, the Grange had a quiet growth for six years, then suddenly developed surprising strength in the panic year of '73 because of the popularity of its economic program for the relief of farmers, just when their grievances were most pressing. On the crest of this mighty wave of discontent 20,000 local granges were organized within two years; but decline soon followed and by 1880 the movement had utterly collapsed, as suddenly as it had developed. It had disappointed those who had expected too much of it. It could not make good its promises of panacea legislation which would cure all the troubles of the farm; and many of its academic schemes for business cooperation failed ignominiously, after arousing the steadfast faith of thousands.

The order was not dead however. It never declined in New England, and from that quarter has renewed its strength in the East and middle West, so that it is now more prosperous than ever in its history. It has little hold yet in the South or far West; but is easily the most influential farmers'

organization in the country.

The Grange has done a splendid service in thousands of communities by uniting the people of all ages on a broad platform of mutual benefit and community welfare. Often where rival churches tend to divide the neighborhood unpleasantly, the Grange unifies with its broad fellowship and constructive program. Its greatest service has been social, but it has rendered also large educational and economic service and has taught the people the simple fundamentals of cooperation. Out of the wreck of its earlier experiments, its mutual fire insurance and cooperative purchasing have survived and developed successfully.

Unique among fraternal orders, the Grange has emphasized in a most helpful way the instruction of the people in all matters of popular interest, particularly on subjects relating to farming and the farm home. It has immeasurably broadened the horizons of countless farm women and has thus raised the whole level of rural life in many places. In promoting social fellowship in countless ways it has relieved the bareness of a life of toil and its plans for wholesome recreation have greatly enriched the community life. After years of meager opportunity, country folks are apt to go to social extremes, and the Grange's greatest danger in some places seems to be to yield to the pleasure-loving spirit rather than to serve all the vital needs of rural people.

II. Business Cooperation.

_Modern Rural Cooperative Movements_

The rather reckless plunge of the Grange, in its earlier years, into the untried schemes of business cooperation expressed the very general belief of farmers that somehow their common interests demand cooperative enterprise to gain real success. It is a mighty truth. They blundered only in details of method. In an age of trust consolidation, in which manufacturing and commercial interests have attained wonderful development and success by merging their resources and their operations under united management, the spirit of cooperation has slowly but inevitably made its way in rural life. But "rampant individualism" dies hard; and most farm communities are still compet.i.tive rather than cooperative.

In recent years however there has been a most encouraging increase of cooperation in all important rural interests, which indicates that the old individualism is doomed. In 1907 there were over 85,000 agricultural cooperative societies with a membership of three million different farmers (excluding duplicates); a large proportion of the total farm operators of the country, and doubtless the most progressive of them all. This number included 1,000 cooperative selling agencies; 2,400 cooperative creameries and cheese factories; 1,800 community grain elevators; 4,000 purchasing societies; 15,000 telephone companies on cooperative lines; 15,650 cooperative insurance companies and some 30,000 cooperative irrigation projects.

Not only has this vast development of cooperation served to unite farmers and develop common initiative and community spirit; it has greatly reduced the expense of farm business and the cost of living. Professor Valgren estimates that mutual fire insurance saves the Minnesota farmers annually $750,000. Cooperative telephones save often one-half the cost of the service. Cooperation reduced the price of reapers from $275 to $175; of sewing machines from $75 to $40; of wagons from $150 to $90; and of threshers from $300 to $200. The Pepin County Cooperative Company of Wisconsin did about a quarter of a million business in the year 1909 in its nine retail stores. A far greater cooperative plan is the Right Relationship League which has a hundred successful stores in Minnesota and Wisconsin, though incorporated but six years ago.

_Cooperation Among Fruit Growers_

It is safe to say that the great success of fruit growing on the Pacific slope would have been impossible without cooperation. Individual growers were at the mercy of the railroads and the middlemen; but unitedly they have mastered the situation and control the New York market. The fruit is inspected, sorted and packed by the company, not by the individual growers, and thus the standard is maintained and all trickery eliminated.

The organization is able to get all possible advantages in the way of low rates for large shipments, to secure ideal accommodations in refrigerated fast freights and storage warehouses; and to keep in touch, by telegraph, with the market conditions in all eastern centers, thus preventing over-supply.

These a.s.sociations often purchase for their members all supplies needed in the business and keep their laborers busy in the slack seasons making boxes, crates, etc., so that they are able to develop and retain a permanent force of skilled labor instead of depending on the precarious supply of seasonal help. The Grand Junction Fruit Growers' Union of Colorado bought, in 1906, 224 carloads of supplies for its members, both for business and household use.

For fifteen years past, three-fourths of the citrus growers of California have been cooperating successfully and are most efficiently organized.

Their central agency markets an annual product worth fifteen millions and keeps representatives in some seventy-five leading markets of America and in London. They command the highest market price for their product and distribute it at a saving of about one-half the expense.

_Some Elements of Success and Failure_

Cooperation is succeeding well not only among fruit growers, but producers of tobacco, onions, potatoes, tomatoes, celery, and, to a limited extent, cereals. Experience has proved that it pays for farmers of a whole section to specialize on the same product; and the most uniform success has come in societies that are purely cooperative, that is, not joint-stock companies with voting power according to shares, but _one vote for each member_, the profits being of course proportionate to the relative volume of business each contributes.

Short-sighted selfishness resists this plan and yields slowly to pure cooperation; but experience shows that, as Prof. E. K. Eyerly states, "in the stock companies the large shareholders are tempted constantly to increase the dividend rate on capital at the expense of the other patrons.

This may explain in part the difficulty of the cooperative creamery in New England to hold its own, where only 20% are of the purely cooperative type." Dr. Eyerly includes among the more common causes of failure individualism, conservatism, jealousy, mercenary traits, poor business management, a lack of knowledge of what other societies are doing, and lack of restrictions on share voting and the number of shares owned.

In the local beginnings of cooperation, ingrained selfishness as well as rural suspicion and ignorance, sometimes blocks progress. When the strong California Fruit Growers' Exchange began twenty years ago, it had difficulty holding some of its members to their agreements. After pledging their crops to the company they would sometimes yield to the temptations offered by outside buyers, for the sake of greater temporary profit; but after a few lawsuits this tendency to break cooperative contracts was entirely checked.