128 COMMISSION ON COUNTRY LIFE 



ing a clearing-house, and a collecting, distribut- 

 ing and investigating organization. It is now 

 wholly inadequate to accomplish these ends. In 

 a country in which education is said to be the 

 national religion, this condition of our one ex- 

 pressly federal educational agency is pathetic. 

 The good use already made of the small appro- 

 priations provided for the Bureau, shows clearly 

 hat it can render a most important service ift 

 sufficient funds are made available for its use. 



9. NECESSITY OF WORKING TOGETHER. 



It is of the greatest consequence that the 

 people of the open country should learn to work 

 together, not only for the purpose of forwarding 

 their economic interests and of competing with 

 other men who are organized, but also to develop 

 themselves and to establish an effective com- 

 munity spirit. This effort should be a genuinely 

 cooperative or common effort in which all the 

 associated persons have a voice in the manage- 

 ment of the organization and share proportion- 

 ately in its benefits. Many of the so-called "co- 

 operative" organizations are really not such, 

 for they are likely to be controlled in the interest 



