470 RURAL SOCIOLOGY 



agreements in these debatable fields is that of the voluntary ref- 

 erendum, which has been tried out in a number of communities. 

 It is proposed usually by the federation of women's organiza- 

 tions and consists simply in a systematic canvass of the most 

 influential and earnest members of all classes and tendencies in 

 the community, to see what they think the reasonable standards 

 for "our town" are. At what hour should the parties of high 

 school young people close? How many times a week should 

 growing boys and girls be away from home at night? What is 

 a reasonable scale of entertainment at club functions? How 

 much should the cost of graduating dress and attending functions 

 be? What are the reasonable terms of social association be- 

 tween adolescents of the two sexes? When the results of such 

 questions are generalized and announced a considerable range 

 of choice is still open, but weak-kneed parents are strengthened 

 to enforce some kind of a standard. It is easier for the poorer 

 hostess not to spend more than she should. The ultra-puritanical 

 are restrained and the way to rational agreements is open. 

 Surely this is better than the eternal anxiety of the little town 

 as to what is right and proper in social matters, the harsh judg- 

 ments of the stricter upon the less strict, the internal difficulties 

 by which a man's foes are often they of his own household. 



In some such ways as the above the steadying force of social 

 standards may be thus vitally evolved without hardening into 

 unyielding, clashing and non-progressive traditions. 



So far the discussion has concerned the logical fundamentals 

 of little-town betterment. It is quite another thing to make a 

 constructive program of social advance. All merely formal di- 

 rections, and especially negative ones for the control of life, 

 will and ought to fail. The most vitalizing possibility of the lit- 

 tle town is that of having a positive program secured by the con- 

 tinuous activities of the institutions of education and service, 

 and by the direct pursuit of wholesome ideals by individuals. 

 One who sees life steadily and sees it whole will not attempt to 

 deal compulsorily with structural fundamentals without at the 

 same time creating an atmosphere in which wholesome com- 

 munity choices may take place. He will not dare to specialize 

 on law enforcement until he has created the playground and 

 appreciated the spiritual aspects of recreation. He will not at- 



