156 THE FARMER AND THE NEW DAY 



form a real community. They must act together to 

 the last man. They must be willing to pool their busi- 

 ness interests, to take some business risks together. 

 Probably American farmers will be rather slow in ap- 

 plying this principle but it is fundamental, nevertheless, 

 and lies at the foundation of a permanent system of 

 rural credit, which in turn is almost essential to a 

 permanent agriculture. 



SOME OTHER APPLICATIONS OF THE COMMUNITY IDEA 



The farm community may produce its own supplies 

 to a considerable degree. It may partially feed itself. 

 It may build its own houses, make its own furniture, 

 have its own laundry, can or preserve its own surplus 

 fruit, produce its own butter, meat, eggs and poultry, 

 bake its own bread; it may even do its own sewing! 

 Now the question whether the community will do these 

 things or not is purely one of economy. If it is cheaper 

 to buy outside of the community that should be done, 

 if it is cheaper to manufacture and buy within the com- 

 munity, that should be done. The whole idea is 

 what is best for the community, and whether a 

 group of five hundred or a thousand people will 

 choose to do its own business. A community can de- 

 termine whether it is properly served by its mer- 

 chants and its blacksmiths. Why should not a 

 community decide on service of this sort as well as on 

 its school teacher or its preacher or its political agents? 

 Some industrial communities have a community physi- 

 cian; why not a rural community? The household ac- 

 tivities may sometimes yield themselves to the coopera- 

 tive idea. A community kitchen has been maintained 

 in Montclair, N. J., for some years. Would it be prac- 

 ticable in a farm village? Three or four cooperative 



