ORGANIZATION 127 



its efforts should be based? What sort of program is 

 practicable at the present time for the purpose of carry- 

 ing out these principles? How can this institution best 

 perform its task? What are the methods, devices, 

 plans that will be most effective? 



Each institution should have a program composed of 

 a series of definite objectives, together with lists of 

 methods worth trying in order to gain these objectives. 

 This program will vary from time to time, will be dif- 

 ferent in its application to different parts of the country 

 and even to different communities in the same state or 

 county. It cannot be a hard and fast outline of meth- 

 ods for the local community, but it ought to be sugges- 

 tive and helpful devices that have been a success. 

 A so-called program may be merely a piece of writing 

 which anybody with a facile pen can evolve. A real 

 program is hammered out of the thought and experi- 

 ence of the people who are doing the work, and has 

 the advantage of keeping before them something clear- 

 cut and definite, something that they can come back to 

 every little while and check up in order to discover 

 whether they are making progress. 



3. How can each institution cooperate with other 

 associations and institutions in order to avoid duplica- 

 tion of effort or misunderstanding of purpose? How 

 may this institution participate in the great getting- 

 together, the larger cooperation that is evidently essen- 

 tial to rural efficiency? 



This is a hard test. Institutions as well as individ- 

 uals are subject to the human passions of jealousy and 

 envy. One of the most conspicuous examples of this 

 fact is in a community having four or five small strug- 

 gling churches, when one good strong church would 

 fully suffice. Some of the most unchristian things that 



