568 RURAL SOCIOLOGY 



in mind the idea that the most efficient method must be used, 

 and, owing to varying local conditions, each community has 

 its own starting point at which the beginning must be made, that 

 it is only through cooperation and united action that agriculture 

 and community life are going to be developed and that the goal 

 to be attained is the community united and working together in 

 the carrying out of a definite, practical, long-term plan of de- 

 velopment along those lines of greater interest. 



The most successful communities have found the following 

 principles to be indispensable in their development: 



1. In any redirection of rural interests the community is the 

 natural unit of activity. 



2. The progress of the rural community represents one prob- 

 lem and one only. This problem has a number of phases but 

 they are all parts of the whole and must be dealt with as such if 

 substantial progress is to be made. 



3. Improvement plans must be based on actual farm and vil- 

 lage conditions. They must be based on facts guessing must be 

 eliminated. 



4. Those things by which the people live must be adequately 

 organized if substantial community progress is to be brought 

 about. These are usually expressed through local organizations, 

 unorganized group interests, or both. This does not mean that 

 something new must be organized. It means that the various 

 elements of the community must get into the best possible work- 

 ing relation to each other so they will become an harmonious 

 working unit the team work idea. 



There are three forms which have been used in this State, each 

 one applying to different conditions. The first two are thought 

 of as stepping stones toward the third. 



1. The Local Leader. There are many towns in which there 

 is very little interest in matters of progress. In these cases 

 about the only possibility lies in the efforts of a few local leaders 

 to awaken general interest by bringing about some special events 

 which will be sufficiently interesting to create a desire for some- 

 thing of a more permanent nature. In some towns a teacher, 

 minister, farmer, or doctor has been the local leader and by 

 working through the school, church, grange, or farmers' club has 

 produced valuable results. Some of these results have been : 



