FEDEEATION 



good leadership. If the general welfare of 

 a certain region is to be considered with 

 any effect, some kind of organization must 

 take up the work and bring the people to- 

 gether; this is what the New England 

 Conference on Rural Progress aims to ac- 

 complish. In every state or region some 

 such open organization should stand in a 

 large way for the working together of all 

 other organizations so far as they touch 

 public rural questions. 



Reforms and progress are not to be 

 brought about by abuse of the present con- 

 ditions or by a process of muck-raking. 

 The work must be shaped up in a construc- 

 tive way and put through by a body that is 

 beyond reproach and that has fairly defi- 

 nite aims. 



The greatest function of a Commission 

 on Country Life would be the handling of 

 such questions as these. A national 

 Commission is much needed to serve as a 

 clearing-house on rural problems, as an 

 organ through which the people can ex- 

 press themselves, and as an agency to 

 study the whole situation. 



6 81 



