THE VILLAGE 471 



tempt to make social standards for his fellows except as he can 

 present a vision of normal life compelling in its attractiveness. 

 But on the other hand, and equally, the most idealistic and spon- 

 taneous community movements will wander far without a well 

 planned physical basis of town life ; without a well ordered eco- 

 nomic program through which people can win a livelihood and 

 pay the cost of their collective enterprises ; without a firm basis 

 in human health through the facilities of public safety and sani- 

 tation; and without a substantial though flexible moral frame- 

 work within which individual destinies may be wrought out. On 

 these greatest civic commandments hang all the law and the 

 prophets of community welfare. 



CIVIC IMPROVEMENT IN VILLAGE AND COUNTRY 1 



FRANK A. WAUGH 



THE rural population of the United States has always been 

 noted for its public spirit and patriotism. At the same time, it 

 has been recognized that the farmers themselves have benefited 

 least from their own public spirit. They have generally been 

 unable to act in their own interests. For this, reason, rural com- 

 munities should give special heed to the modern movement for 

 civic improvement. 



Civic improvement may be accepted as a convenient term to 

 designate all efforts made toward the betterment of the physical 

 conditions of the community. It refers, therefore, especially, to 

 those matters in which the public is interested. Some of the 

 important- items in the physical equipment for community life 

 are: 



(1) Roads and streets, including bridges, street railways, 

 and street trees. 



(2) Public grounds, such as parks, commons, lakes, water- 

 fronts, and cemeteries. 



(3) Public and quasi-public buildings, such as school houses, 

 town halls, libraries and churches. 



i Adapted from Extension Circular, No. 11, Mass. Agricultural 

 Amhersl, March, 1017. 



