the order of the surveys should preferably follow this 

 sequence. We should first know what the region is, 

 — geography, physiography, climate, resources, soils ; 

 then what it does, — the farming, the industries, the 

 markets, the business, the profits-and-loss ; then how 

 it lives, — its people, its homes, its health, its institu- 

 tions, its modes of expression, its outlook. 



I very much doubt the lasting value of surveys 

 of church or school or particular crops or special 

 products that are not founded on a good knowledge 

 of the physical and economic conditions of the region. 



How are we to go about it ? 



I presume that we have no models for these 

 countrj^-lif e surveys. My own philosophy of the situ- 

 ation has not been derived from the current social 

 surveys of cities, and I do not know whether their 

 methods will apply to the rural work. 



These new surveys must be serious studies on the 

 spot rather than note-takings or correspondence. 

 The different parts of the survey in any region must 

 be made by different persons or parties, in a cumula- 

 tive way. Of course, as I have said, I should not 

 estop any competent person or agency from making 

 a partial and wholly independent study, but its de- 

 ficiencies should be recognized. 



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