FIFTY MILLION STRONG 



and in which there is a tendency to make county and city 

 boundaries coterminous ; those which have one or more cities 

 that dominate the activities of their respective counties, and 

 in which the tendency is to correlate city and county functions 

 in such a way that both cities and counties may enjoy the most 

 efficient government; and those in which the county govern- 

 ment dominates the county. Now, standardization is possible 

 among cities, since all cities are very much alike and have 

 for the most part the same problems. So with all the munici- 

 palities of the nation concentrating their best efforts on the 

 solution of their common problems, each municipanty can 

 take advantage of the investigations and profit by them. 

 Counties cannot do this to the same extent, since the 2,500 

 rural counties of the nation differ in so many respects. 



The tendency among rural counties is twofold: to transfer 

 to state governments some of the old county functions and to 

 reduce to simplicity, for the sake of economy and efficiency, 

 those that are retained. Moreover, many counties are giving 

 special attention to agencies that have to do with the develop- 

 ment of a higher average citizenship. To illustrate : counties 

 are beginning to tax themselves under state laws to establish 

 county libraries, county hospitals, county health agencies, 

 county agricultural agencies, county experiment farms and the 

 like, and are encouraging such institutions as County Y. M. C. 

 A.'s, County Y. W. C. A.'s, County W. C. T. U.'s and county 

 church and school associations, and under the stimulus that 

 comes from industrial, commercial, philanthropic and other 

 organizations, both without and within, are making progress 

 in many directions. 



