1918.] THE XliCESSlTV FOR ORGANIZATION. 63 



and seemed g-eiiuinely zealous in tlic promotion of his reform, 

 who stated, rather proudl) J ihoU|^ht, that he did not know- 

 even the name of a sinijle in(h\idual, outside uf hi.s own fam- 

 ily, of several hundred win* li\c-d in the same house with him- 

 self in \ew N'ork City. 1 U- had ahsolutely lost the la>t 

 vestige of the neighborhooil idea. and. needless to say, his re- 

 form has never made any headway ; nor would it d<j any go«jd, 

 ■e\en if it should succeed, lie needed first a regeneration 

 within himself before he was in a ])osition even to begin the 

 Work ^)i regenerating society. 



Having the germ of the neighborhocjcl idea in the country, 

 Ave have something with which to begin the work of rural 

 organization; for all rural organization must begin with the 

 neighborhood, and we must develop a genuine interest in 

 the neighborhood as such. W'c must even develop some- 

 thing which may be called ''neighborhood statesmanship,'' 

 — that is, a feeling of patriotism toward the neighborhood 

 and a kind of wisdom in the way of neighborhood building, 

 comparable to the patriotism and the wisdom which are felt 

 and shown with regard to national problems. In fact, if 

 every citizen would show a determination to make his own 

 neighborhood the best neighborhood in the Avorld, there is 

 not much doubt that the United States of America would 

 easily take care of itself and become the finest country in 

 the world. Patriotism, like charity, may be said to begin at 

 liome. We need a thousand neighborhood statesmen 

 where we need one national statesman. A\^e need a thousand 

 men with the genuine ambition to build a fine neighborhood 

 where we need one with the wisdom which knows how to 

 Luild a great nation. 



It is often said that one difficult}' in the way of neighbor- 

 "hood building is the lack of leaders. But there arc two kinds 

 of leaders; the destructive and the constructive. There is 

 one kind of leader who achieves leadershi]) by a])pealing to 

 the lower rather than the higher motives oi the j^eople ; who 

 tells them a great deal about their rights, their wrongs, and 

 their grievances ; who stirs up resentment among them. 

 There is another kind of leader who tells j)eople very little 

 about their rights, their wrongs or their grievances, but a 

 great deal about their opportunities and their obligations. 



