586 RURAL SOCIOLOGY 



almost exclusive consideration. But with the passage of time 

 the farmers have become wiser and, imbued with a larger degree 

 of humanistic sentiment, they are now discussing what sort of 

 institutions will turn out the best men and women. And it is 

 very significant that the perception has gradually arisen that 

 a rural leadership is an indispensable means to the attainment 

 of permanent improvement. 



I consider the prime requisites of a productive rural leader- 

 ship the power of initiative, organizing ability, sympathy with 

 human aims, trained intelligence, and vision and outlook. Up 

 to the present time, for community purposes, the country has 

 depended on a transient leadership from the outside in the shape 

 of itinerant preac-hers and teachers, and for purposes of produc- 

 tion, on the occasional able farmer and the visiting expert. Due 

 reflection over the situation leads us to think that such sources 

 will never prove sufficient or efficient, and that what the country 

 wants most is men and women who by their training are at 

 one with farm life and whose influence is ever present because 

 they live in the country and have their interests there. 



Several kinds of agencies may contribute toward supplying 

 a leadership of the right kind. Our institutions of higher learn- 

 ing must devote more attention to training men and women for, 

 country service. Those which train pastors, teachers and 

 Y. M. C. A. workers should establish courses of instruction, the 

 content, spirit and emphasis of which will serve to specialize 

 their students for constructive work in rural institutions. The 

 nature of the rural community must be emphasized, its particu- 

 lar problems studied, and the agencies capable of supplement- 

 ing and improving agricultural life receive much consideration. 

 When training schools renounce the absurd notion that general 

 training courses qualify equally well for rural and urban serv- 

 ice, a great step in advance will have been taken. Educating 

 individuals specifically for rural service has the double advan- 

 tage of qualifying them to carry on constructive undertakings 

 and of retaining them in that service because their qualifica- 

 tions tend to make them ineligible for urban positions. 



Much is being accomplished by the county agent and the co- 

 operative demonstrator which the agricultural colleges have 

 educated for country service. The various states are, 



