probably true that the county is expending upon the negro schools an 

 amount as great as is paid by the negro population in direct taxes. It 

 is becoming a recognized principle of economy however, that the re- 

 sponsibility of a city, county, or state to its people or to any part of them 

 for the best interests of all the people in the political unit can not be 

 measured in terms of the direct taxes paid. 



The criticism made relative to the lack on supervision and to the over- 

 abundance of small schools would apply equally as well to the larger 

 number of counties in the majority of states in the Union. From the 

 2,000 inquiries made during the recent survey of the county a general 

 appreciation of these two needs seems to exist. 



GENERAL RECOMMENDATIONS 



In closing this sur\Ty of Montgomery County it is fitting that we 

 state, in a few strong paragraphs, what are the main needs of the county 

 as a whole. It is not a needy county, as compared with others. Its 

 resources are many; and its situation so near to a market — so near also 

 to one of the great capitals of intellectual life in the world, the city 

 of Washington, puts the county in a favored relation to many others 

 throughout the country. But it is a very representative cpunty for all 

 that. The weaknesses which rob the American farmer of his best in- 

 heritance are all here. The new order of rural life has not come, to 

 most of the county. A rural civilization is not there so strong as to 

 resist that of the city. 



First, there is need of organized cooperation among farmers. The 

 business of the farmer is done too much by the city man, or by business 

 men who thrive on the farmers' inattention to their own affairs. There 

 should be cooperative banks or trust comjianies at which a farmer might 

 borrow money at less than four per cent. These will come only when 

 farmers organize on the cooperative principle, for the purpose of placing 

 their own security on the market. Capital is willing to go into the 

 country at three and a half per-cent. but the farmer must handle his 

 own banking, in order to secure for himself and other farmers this ad- 

 vantage. The Reiffeissen Bank system is commended for study by 

 farmers, as a good model of the farmers' bank. 



When such low rates of interest are secured, as the security offered 

 in farm land will justify, then the farmer's son will be able to buy a 

 farm in the county, and the community will not lose its own best 

 blood, by reason of the impossibility of buying farms. 



The same ])rinciple applies to the manufacture of farm products. 

 This should be in the hands of farmers. Milk should in every community 

 be made into butter, so far as is of advantage. The remainder should 

 be sold to the city buyers. This can only be done by combinations of 



110 



