30 THE RURAL PROBLEM. 



" ready -packed " type of goods has come to stay. Also such 

 centralizing movements as the National Insurance Act are robbing 

 the village of its autonomy and its sense of community. The 

 village sick-club is no longer self -organised and self-governed — 

 either it has disappeared before the " insurance man " of the great 

 companies, or become attached to one of the great orders of friendly ,, 

 societies. The immediate result is in most cases an increase in 

 utility and financial stability. But even in the case of federation 

 with other societies some villagers lose a lot of personal interest 

 in organisation. Their initiative or capacity is not sufficient to 

 carry them into the management of the federation, while the loss 

 of power leads to lack of interest in the local body. In almost 

 every phase of local government the tendency towards centralization 

 leads to the governed village and the governing town. This is not 

 entirely to be deprecated. Association in the villages is limited 

 by mere numbers, and it has been Hmited even more by rigid class 

 distinctions. The future of corporate life in rural areas will be 

 found in group associations covering more than one village. When 

 trade or occupational interest, intellectual aspirations or ideals, 

 or religion, provide the motive for association more interest and 

 power will be developed in a society consisting of groups of people 

 drawTi from several villages than in a limited village society. The 

 status of purely local standing will vanish before the more real 

 standards set up inside an association drawn from a wider area. 

 The corporate life of the village community, with recognition _ of 

 the rights and duties attached to status, has gone. Status remains 

 to a large extent, with the demand for rights without the full recog- 

 nition of duties, and no steps to return to the bygone conditions 

 are possible. The future lies with a new grouping of interest not 

 altogether on the lines of economic position, such as has developed 

 in the towns. Meanwhile the village youth cycles to the town 

 football match and cinema while he mostly neglects the town 

 church, library, lecture, or trade union meeting — even though his 

 trade has an association in the local town. The leeway to be made 

 up in the dissemination of broader ideas and development of wider 

 interests in the rural districts is enormous. More leisure and 

 greater command of means will be necessary before great develop- 

 ments are possible, but no advance at all will be made without 

 inspiration and guidance. 



THE RURAL SCHOOL. 



The most important of the organizations for developing intel- 

 lectual and social life should be the rural school. But the people 

 of some rural districts, or their governors, have not yet fully 

 acknowledged the value of education. The schools are denied 

 money, often for building conveniences, perhaps more often for 

 salaries. The teachers are apt to be those who have failed to 

 reach the standard of ability demanded in the towns, or merely 



