THE COMMUNITY IDEA 161 



munity education, methods of prevention, the futility 

 of most patent medicines, are all matters of importance. 

 But they are best taught on a community basis, so that 

 they become a part of the common knowledge of the 

 community. In the preventing of the spread of com- 

 municable diseases, the community idea is absolutely 

 essential, because public opinion must be brought to a 

 point where it will acquiesce in health regulations and 

 indeed insist that individuals comply with them. There 

 ought to be in every rural community health study clubs 

 or rural health leagues. There should be a health 

 program for the community. Unhealthful places 

 should be cleaned up, a public nurse should be provided. 

 Wherever possible there should be a health center and 

 a public clinic. The time is not far distant when com- 

 munities may be expected to employ their own physi- 

 cian who will be a preventer rather than a curer of 

 disease. In more populous rural communities, espe- 

 cially with the village at the center, community baths 

 are not without the possibilities. The community hos- 

 pital, or at least a hospital service for a group of com- 

 munities, will soon become an essential in country life. 



The Community at Play. Farmers desire recreation 

 just as much as other people and enjoy it just as much, 

 and in the better farming communities there is a vast 

 deal of wholesome recreation for both the old and the 

 young. But every investigation that has ever been 

 made on this subject has revealed the fact that as a 

 whole, farmers actually do not play enough. Recrea- 

 tion is a social affair. It is impossible to play alone. 

 It is difficult to get very much recreation any great dis- 

 tance away from home. Thus the play of the children 

 and the social life of the older people become very dis- 

 tinctively a community affair. How can play better be 



