LEADERSHIP 589 



the finest social intercourse, that which has real educational 

 value. Such people are real leaders, as well as the finest kind 

 of teachers. The groups which gather about them are real social 

 organizations. The more of such groups there are in the com- 

 munity the better. It is of such groups that a vital social 

 structure is built. They make a valuable contribution to the 

 socialization of the community, especially with reference to the 

 younger people of the community. 



A fourth source of leadership material is worthy of attention. 

 Leaders can be made to order, they can be grown from seed. 

 Social engineers frequently meet a demand for the organization 

 of certain groups for which there is no available leader. It 

 becomes necessary then to select some person who can fit himself 

 for the work by definite study and experience. It is possible 

 to take many boys and girls and by proper training prepare them 

 to become leaders in some special line. 



These four sources should furnish all the leadership needed for 

 the largest possible development of the social organization of 

 any community. 



THE DEVELOPMENT OF RURAL LEADERSHIP 1 



G. WALTER FISKE 



I HAVE never heard it suggested that there is any dearth of 

 latent leadership in country life. The topic assigned me seems to 

 assume that there is a lack of developed leadership, and I believe 

 that this is generally true. The question at once arises: Why 

 should leadership be lacking in the country if most city leaders 

 in business, politics, and religion were country-bred? Opinions 

 on this point vary, but it seems to be undoubted that city 

 people who were country-born furnish fully their share of 

 urban community leadership, the percentages suggested run- 

 ning from 50 to 90 per cent. In a casual reference just now to 

 " Who's Who in America," I notice that out of the first 100 

 names selected quite at random, sixty-eight were born in the 

 country. Leadership still comes in considerable measure from 



1 Adapted from Publications of the American Sociological Society, Vol. 

 XI, 54-70, Dec., 1916. 



