FEDERATION FOR RURAL PROGRESS 235 



cially gratifying. Co-operative efforts among 

 farmers are more cautious, but more successful. 

 The Grange has nearly doubled its membership 

 since 1890; and it, as well as other farm organi- 

 zations, has more real power than ever before. 

 The rural-school question is one of the liveliest 

 topics today among farmers as well as educators. 

 Opportunities for agricultural education have 

 had a marvelous development within a decade. 

 Discussion about rural church federation, the 

 rural institutional church, rural social settle- 

 ments, and even experiments in these lines are 

 becoming noticeably frequent. The Young 

 Men's Christian Association has, its officers 

 think, found the way to reach the country young 

 man. 



The institutions which we have just discussed, 

 together with the improvement that comes from 

 such physical agencies as assist quicker commu- 

 nication (good wagon roads, telephones, rural 

 mail delivery, electric roads), constitute the 

 social forces that are to be depended upon in ru- 

 ral betterment. None can be spared or ignored. 

 The function of each must be understood and 

 its importance recognized. To imagine that 

 substantial progress can result from the empha- 

 sis of any one agency to the exclusion of any 



