492 RURAL SOCIOLOGY 



line drawn about the village. Next the banker would indicate 

 the long-distance farmers coming to the village to bank. A 

 visit for confirmation would be made at the village milk factory, 

 grocery stores, and the like. Then a local map was cut out of 

 the county map one mile wider and longer than the trial limits 

 set. This became the working map for the area having the village 

 as center. 



Gathering the Facts. The first requirement was the name 

 of the farmer residing on each farm represented on the map. 

 In some cases this meant the gathering of 600 names. Usually 

 the banker, real estate man, livery man, and physician in the 

 village could give the bulk of the names. The telephone helped 

 with the remainder. The result was a card catalogue of all 

 farm homes on the map, typewritten on the schedule blanks, 

 one blank to each farm home. Each farm home was located 

 on the schedule by township, section, and number in the section, 

 to correspond with the spot on the map locating the home. 

 With this package of names and the map as a guide in case of 

 doubt as to the man, the survey-maker visited the leading dry 

 goods merchants and got an hour to go through the list, and ask 

 the question, "Does John Doe buy dry goods regularly in this 

 village ? " If he does, a cross is put to his account in the blank 

 opposite ' * dry goods. ' ' 



In like manner, a visit is made to each grocery, bank, milk 

 factory, village paper, village clergyman, high-school principal, 

 library; and from the records as matters of fact, and not of 

 opinion, it is indicated on the blanks which homes are con- 

 nected with the village institutions. In case of the high-school, 

 the question was, "Has any one in John Doe's family attended 

 the high-school during the last three years? " In case of the 

 paper, "Does John Doe take your paper?" In case of the 

 church, "Is any one in the family of John Doe connected with 

 your church?" 



Making the Final Maps of the County. The trade map was 

 made first by merging the dry goods and grocery maps which 

 nearly coincided. A large piece of corrugated paper board 

 was placed under a copy of the county base map. Each farm 

 home trading at Elkhorn, for example, was marked and then 

 a pin stuck in the spot. A thread was run around the outside 



