468 RURAL SOCIOLOGY 



into which it is born. In the main these ways satisfy the indi- 

 vidual; even the rebel is too unoriginal to depart from them. 

 Moral sentiment and social convention do most of their work 

 without need of law or police. 



The control of conduct through social tradition is, however, 

 not so simple as the formula sounds ; there are traditions rather 

 than a tradition. Not only is there still a dash of frontier wild- 

 ness surviving as lawlessness in the little towns of much of the 

 country, but the little towns as a group are peopled largely by 

 those who formerly lived in the country and who are still 

 largely dominated by the countryman's point of view. In brief, 

 they are incompletely socialized. Their people cling to country 

 ways in spite of new environment. Thus in matters of sanita- 

 tion, the maintenance of the barnyard manure pile is a sacred 

 private right worth dying for, as a symbol of our liberties ; or on 

 the other hand, as the little town grows there come to be those 

 who want to push on prematurely into city ways for the free- 

 dom of which they contend as martyrs to new light. In short 

 the struggle is always on between existing conditions and ad- 

 vancement. Now, any group of people which is distinctively 

 at outs with environment presents a serious moral problem. Just 

 as the spirit of youth is inevitably at war with the necessary 

 limitations of the city streets, so the rural mind is at war with 

 little-town conditions. Hence the necessity of vigorous moral 

 control in order to conform the individual to the requirements 

 of collective life. 



The minor struggle between traditions, the give and take of 

 moral sentiments in search of equilibrium, the clash between 

 temperaments, ages and views of life will go on normally for- 

 ever. But no community can do anything in the direction of 

 its ideals till the fact and main tendencies of social control are 

 settled. The little town may as well face its battle and have it 

 over. The necessary ordinances of safety and decency are to be 

 obeyed. Pigs and poultry will be the most frequent issue. 

 Their economic value under town conditions must first be de- 

 termined. If it is best to keep them at all, the whole wearying 

 round of issues must be pursued agitation, education, a contest 

 in local politics, a suit at law or two, a clash at wills and of per- 

 sonal sentiments all along the line. 



