Missouri Country Life Conference. 185 



because, on the other hand, you know that in every community 

 there are large numbers of people, splendid citizens, men and 

 women who are not allied with any church, and just as soon 

 as a church comes into a community and shows that it is work- 

 ing for the uplift of that community, and that its enterprises are 

 for the betterment of the community and working on a broad 

 expansive plan, you are going to at once get the attention of 

 those people. This has resulted in some of our very best sup- 

 port coming from that class. 



The Community Idea. — The community idea should be 

 made a very definite thing. It should have a very definite place 

 in community life development. I emphasize the importance 

 of having a plat and a survey of the community. This is very 

 necessary, very important. I would just like to dwell on this 

 plat of our community as I have it drawn (indicating picture). 

 It would be hard for me to tell you how much I realize on this 

 plat, what it means to me and what it has meant to me in my 

 working to develop this place. In the center (referring to plat) 

 you see the church; all of these dots over the plat represent 

 homes and the schoolhouses. 



Do you know what that plat teaches me? It has put me so 

 in touch with these folks that I know a great deal more about 

 them than they think I do. I have learned to be so close to them 

 that I know their financial and economic standing as well as 

 their religious leanings — even know their politics. I have 

 learned to know whether they are interested in the public roads 

 and in the development of public roads, learned to know whether 

 or not they are interested in good schools, and learned many 

 other things surrounding their lives. I keep a card index of 

 every man, woman and child in this plat, and this card index is 

 a source of knowledge to me in doing the work while I am at 

 this place. 



Another thing you will notice on this plat, and it has taught 

 me an economical fact. At the top of our plat you see that sec- 

 tion lying on the north. There is a section that absolutely con- 

 tributes nothing to our community, excepting the school tax 

 and the road tax. There is not a home, you notice, in that 

 section — not one home. This fact has taught me to know who 

 is supporting and who is not supporting the enterprises of the 

 community. 



My experience has taught me this: That the open country 

 should be for country folks. Now then, what we are wanting to 



