A Richer Rural Social Life Is 

 Emerging From the Depression 



By D. E. Lindsfrom, University of Illinois 



D. E. LntSSTBOM 



HIGHER prices, it is commonly be- 

 lieved, was the first sign of re- 

 turning better times for the farm- 

 ers. Many farming communities, how- 

 ever, induce better times for themselves 

 by their own efforts. For though prices 

 were low they saw the change coming 

 and prepared themselves for it. They 

 kept up their morale by holding commu- 

 nity meetings where 

 they could have good 

 times at a cost of 

 only time and effort. 

 They embarked on a 

 live - at - home pro- 

 gram in which they 

 found not only good 

 use for some of the 

 surplus products, 

 but also found new 

 ways of using their 

 time to make living 

 more attractive. In 

 this way social good times began to ap- 

 pear even before the economic good 

 times. 



The returning better times were re- 

 flected this year in the renewed interest 

 rural people are taking in community 

 activities. Community life is richer for 

 their having found a way to get satis- 

 faction without having to spend money. 

 This is part of their live-at-home pro- 

 gram. Numerous rural communities are 

 now seeing the return of the community 

 meeting. In many counties of the state 

 the farm and home advisers with the 

 cooperation of the Farm Bureau and 

 Home Bureau boards have ta'ken the 

 leadership in setting up and holding 

 community meetings. The rapid changes 

 in national policies are frequently dis- 

 cussed at these meetings. Local talent, 

 including the youth returned from the 

 cities, give a variety of self-made en- 

 tertainment in them. Outside speakers, 

 more available now than ever before, 

 help to enrich and broaden the program. 

 The county community Isaders' meet- 

 ings to advance the program of discus- 

 sion and develop community meeting 

 programs have been attended better in 

 the last year than they have ever been 

 attended before in the last five years. 

 At these conferences which are attended 

 by Farm Bureau, Home Bureau, 4-H 

 club, young adults and other community 

 leaders, local problems are discussed, 

 community meetings are planned, pro- 



gram outlines worked out and special 

 projects arranged for. 



One of the chief benefits to come from 

 such meetings is that projects of the 

 Extension Service carried on in the coun- 

 ty are made available directly in an 

 orderly and comprehensive manner to 

 the people of the community. Soil con- 

 servation, crops and livestock manage- 

 ment, AAA activities, cooperative mar- 

 keting and purchasing, rural rehabilita- 

 tion, activities for young adults, rural 

 library service, health protection, legisla- 

 tion affecting the farmer and similar 

 problems are discussed at these confer- 

 ences and are carried into the programs 

 of the community meeting. Farm ad- 

 visers estimated that there were over 

 600 community units holding regular 

 community meetings in the state in 1934. 



Special projects carried on by these 

 units include those for the building of 

 secondary roads, the development of 

 projects for the advancement of the cul- 

 tural life of the people, the organization 

 of music and drama tournaments and 

 the providing of recreational activities 

 for all members of the family. For 

 example, county choruses developed in 

 nine counties of the state this year are 

 sending approximately one thousand 

 voices to the State Fair to sing in a 

 huge State Fair chorus festival on Farm 

 Bureau Day. Two of the counties are 

 sending special features, one being the 

 Boone County Farm Bureau Band and 

 the other a Sidney Girls' Chorus from 

 Champaign County. 



Young adults in the rural communities 

 are demonstrating a renewed faith in 

 the future. At one time it was thought 

 that the 4-H club program and the adult 

 extension program were absorbing their 

 interest quite satisfactorily. The Exten- 

 sion Service has recognized for a num- 

 ber of years, however, that this is not 

 true. Young people have grown up on 

 the farm and have stayed at home 

 because there was nothing much else to 

 do. The older ones have come back from 

 the city causing a vastly greater number 

 of young people on the farms than be- 

 fore the depression started. 



These young adults are a restless 

 group. But they are a singularly high- 

 class and wholesome type. They are 

 serious-minded, though they like to have 

 good times. They seem far removed 

 from the restless, emotional type we 



read about taking part in city up- 

 risings. Most of the groups in Illinois 

 are mixed groups, ranging in age from 

 about 15 to 35 years. At least one- 

 fourth of the counties of the state, 

 through Farm Bureau and Home Bureau 

 organizations, have helped such groups 

 to function. The groups want to plan 

 their own programs, however, and are 

 glad to get help in working these pro- 

 grams out from the Extension Serv'ce, 

 the Illinois Agricultural Association, and 

 the county organizations. 



These programs frequently consist of 

 monthly meetings devoted to literary 

 programs, recreational games and folk 

 dances, the organization of discussion 

 teams and county music and drama 

 tournaments. Other activities include 

 county-wide young people's banquets, 

 soft ball tournaments, special projects 

 for home beautification, or to "Know Il- 

 linois." Most of the groups are still in 

 the "dough" stage, but they have prom- 

 ise of making some of the most potent 

 forces for good in agriculture, for among 

 them there are the future agricultural 

 leaders of America. The Extension 

 Ser\Hce has recognized its responsibility 

 to these young people and has provided 

 the services of two members of the staff 

 to meet with and help these young peo- 

 ple's groups build their programs. G. 

 S. Randall and Miss Cleo Fitzsimmons 

 are leaders representing the Extension 

 Service in this work. 



The need for discussing issues of im- 

 portance to agriculture has led to the 

 development of discussion teams and dis- 

 cussion groups everywhere. Three hun- 

 dred forty-five leaders from young adult 

 groups. Farm Bureau, Home Bureau and 

 community units met in district leader 

 training schools this spring to discuss 

 ways of handling discussion, so that they 

 might go back in their own counties and 

 handle discussions of their own problems. 



Thus, a new rural social life is emerg- 

 ing from the depression. When farm 

 people gather together to work out ways 

 and means of bettering their situation, 

 they are developing their powers of ex- 

 pression, and a keener realization that 

 the problems of each are the problems 

 of all. When people discover that they 

 can work together in their own commu- 

 nities, they have made the first difficult 

 step in solving problems affecting the 

 whole of agriculture. 



SEPTEMBER, 1935 



