584 RURAL SOCIOLOGY 



RURAL LEADERSHIP 1 



L. II . BAILEY 



RURAL leadership lies in taking hold of the first and com- 

 monest problems that present themselves and working them 

 out. Every community has its problems. Some one can aid 

 to solve these problems. The size of the problem does not 

 matter, if only some one takes hold of it and shakes it out. 

 I like to say to my students that they should attack the first 

 problem that presents itself when they alight from the train 

 on their return from college. It may be a problem of roads ; of 

 a poor school ; of tuberculosis in the herds ; of ugly signs along 

 the highways, where no man has a moral right to advertise 

 private business; of a disease of apple trees; of poor seed; of 

 the drainage of a field; of an improved method of growing a 

 crop ; of the care of the forests. Any young man can concentrate 

 the sentiment of the community on a problem of the community. 

 One problem solved or alleviated, and another awaits. The next 

 school district needs help, the next town, the next county, the 

 next state. Every able countryman has much more power than 

 he uses. 



The scale of effort in the open country is so uniform that 

 it 'ought to be easy to rise above it. I do not see how it is 

 possible for an educated young man to avoid developing leader- 

 ship in the open country, if only he attacks a plain homely prob- 

 lem, is not above it and sticks to it. 



It does not follow that all leadership will be reached for. It 

 will come to a man. 



THE SECRET OF INFLUENCE 2 



JAMES BRYCE 



THERE are at least four elements, two or more of which will 

 be found to be always present in whoever leads, or is trusted 



i Adapted from "The State and the Farmer," pp. 172-176, i Macmillun, 

 N. Y., 1908). 



- Adapted from Chambers' Journal, 7th Series, Vol. I. 



