472 RURAL SOCIOLOGY 



(4) Public recreation facilities, especially playgrounds. 



(5) Public service equipment, such as telephone lines, elec- 

 tric light lines, railway stations and grounds. 



(6) Private grounds inasmuch as the improvement of 

 private grounds adds greatly to the attractiveness of 

 any community. 



Civic improvement then is an enterprise applicable to cities, 

 villages, or country districts, in fact to every civilized commun- 

 ity. Inasmuch as the great cities possess an undue proportion 

 of the wealth and initiative of the nation, they may be expected 

 to take care of their own interests along these lines. Country 

 districts and rural villages, however, have equal need to im- 

 prove to the utmost their physical surroundings. The country 

 as well as the city needs good roads, suitable public grounds, 

 modern school buildings, libraries and churches, and all the im- 

 proved equipment of twentieth century civilization. 



It is the purpose of civic improvement to achieve, as rapidly 

 as practicable, every possible advance in the community equip- 

 ment as already denned. These improvements can be secured 

 by: 



(1) Informing the public as to present conditions, needed 

 improvements, and means of securing the same. 



(2) Securing professional and technical advice on pending 

 improvements. 



(3) Foreseeing and planning ahead for coming changes, thus 

 avoiding expensive mistakes and reconstructions. 



(4) Adopting definite and coordinated plans for community 

 betterment. 



(5) Forming improvement programs according to which 

 successive enterprises are taken up in an agreed and 

 logical order. 



(6) Assigning particular enterprises to particular groups or 

 organizations, e.g. the Grange may assume responsibility 

 for the roads, the Woman's Club for the school houses 

 and playgrounds, one church for the public cemetery, 

 another for the town common, etc. 



Civic improvement, therefore, is not a newfangled luxury, 

 not a new means of spending public money, but a means of 



