588 RURAL SOCIOLOGY 



ership ability being used to its full power? Are these leaders 

 doing more than one thing? These are important questions 

 and demand careful answer. There are also other leaders who 

 are not conspicuous who need attention. They are leaders of 

 obscure groups, natural leaders of small, informal collections 

 of people. They are real leaders, vitally related to the groups 

 they serve. They should not be disturbed, under ordinary con- 

 ditions, and unless we discover their present leadership relation 

 we are apt to consider them for other positions with consequent 

 social loss. On the other hand these persons may not be prop- 

 erly placed. They may be able to render better service at other 

 points in the social organization but they should not be changed 

 unless the desirability of the transfer is very apparent. 



The second source of leadership material is the vocations of 

 people, the business in which they are regularly engaged. 

 Many trades and professions are of definite social value in an 

 indirect way. Many business and professional men could make 

 their business relations a source of social benefit and leader- 

 ship service. Carpenters, machinists, engineers, physicians, 

 dentists, lawyers, teachers, bankers, veterinarians, florists, 

 gardeners, poultrymen, farmers and many others are doing 

 things as a business which are of genuine interest to other people 

 in the community from a purely cultural standpoint. Such 

 people are the very best ones to give practical talks and courses 

 of informal lectures on their special subjects. They can con- 

 duct effective study classes for several weeks at proper seasons of 

 the year and render a piece of social service that is of positive 

 value. 



A third class of people who have great potential leadership 

 are the people who have vocations or hobbies. They are in- 

 terested in birds, insects, wild animals, pets, trees, flowers, in- 

 ventions, astronomy, minerals, chemistry, stamps, coins, antiques, 

 and many other things. These people are always glad of a 

 chance to talk with others about these hobbies of theirs and 

 there are always small groups of people who covet the privilege 

 of sitting at the feet of these hobbyists and learning something 

 about the things in which they are specialists. Many times 

 these hobbyists have splendid collections of things along their 

 line. These may be made the basis for evening after evening of 



