RURAL COOPERATION 



and the " social server." * But how imperfect the coopera- 

 tion within each class and among the four classes ! Produc- 

 tion is affected by individualism, the greatest enemy of co- 

 operation. Manufacture is just beginning to wrestle with the 

 problems that concern employer and employed. Transporta- 

 tion has scarcely cast aside its swaddling clothes, and social 

 service, on its practical side, has made comparatively little 

 progress, and, on its philanthropic side, is just getting a good 

 start. But one sees perfect cooperation in the individual. 

 Man, the producer, gathers the food with which his body and 

 inind are nourished. His digestive tract takes the physical 

 food and by a process of manufacture prepares it to become a 

 part of the body, and his mental faculties take the spiritual 

 food and by a higher process of manufacture prepare it to 

 become a part of the mind. The physical food, after having 

 become a finished product, is transported by the blood to all 

 parts of the body, and the mental food after it has become a 

 finished product is borne by invisible means to the great 

 storehouse of the mind. The social servers of the body are 

 the senses and of the mind the higher faculties, and these 

 working together supervise and direct the complete life. Just 

 as there is perfect cooperation in the individual, so there will 

 be in God's good time perfect cooperation among individuals, 

 in society. 



In the preceding chapter the conclusion was drawn that fur- 

 ther progress in Rural Society depended on leadership. In the 

 present chapter the thought will be developed that the big task 

 of leadership in Rural Society will be inaugurating a more 

 perfect cooperation. 



The greatest obstacle in the path that leads to a higher rural 

 civilization is individualism. Life in the country fosters 

 individualism. No person on earth is more independent 

 than the farmer. In the village or the city the resident is, to 

 a greater or less extent, dependent upon the other residents, 



1 " Social server " is used in a broad sense and by " social service " 

 is meant all service not included in the other three classes: industrial, 

 commercial, intellectual, spiritual, humanitarian. 



