148 BOAKD OF AGKICULTUKE. [Pub. Doc. 



community, but it is also the development of all these in a 

 great harmonious whole. 



And, secondly, the campaign will consist of utilizing all 

 of the means at our disposal. I have heard enthusiastic 

 grangers — and I am a good granger myself — talk as if the 

 grange ^vere chiefly responsible for rural progress. It is 

 true, if you were to take out the work of the grange from 

 any community where it has successfully existed for some 

 time, you would change the history of the community. But 

 the grange can't do everything, 



I have heard some country pastors say, "You must make 

 the church the social centre ; it nnist be the nucleus around 

 which must be gathered all social things." T like to hear 

 them talk like that. But there are other means, and we can 

 use them all. No matter Avhat our prejudices are, if we are 

 to have a genuine campaign for rural progress, we must use 

 all these means, and use them to their full. Let the grange 

 go on, let the country church enlarge, let our boards of 

 agriculture do still more work, let our colleges increase 

 their work, enlarge the functions of our schools. 



But if we are to Imxe a genuine campaign for genuine 

 rural progress, we must have co-operation among all these 

 means ; because no one agency is enough, l)ecause they have 

 common work, and they ought to see the common problem, 

 and they ought to see their relation to that common prol)- 

 lem. Then, when they see the common problem and see 

 their relation to it, let them work together. 



My recipe for this idea of co-operation is a ' ' conference 

 on rural progress." We have tried this in Rhode Island. 

 We iifot too-ether the oranoes, the State federation of 

 churches, the superintendents of schools and anybody else 

 that was interested, — just l)rought them together in a com- 

 mon meeting place, on a common j)latf(>rm, and talked over 

 all these different phases of rural development. The trouble 

 is, the farmers, the dairymen, the board of agriculture, the 

 granges, hold their se})arate meetings, and they look at their 

 little corner of tiic pro))lem. Now, we have tried to bring 

 together all these different agencies, to look at all the phases 

 of the rural i)roblem, and have tried to get a view point 



