If there is organized cooperation in your county, similar to that described on page 32, has it been brought about or encouraged by government, or solely by voluntary effort on the part of citizens?  If the government had anything to do with it, was it the county government, state government, or national government?

Has farmland increased or decreased in value in your locality since your father was a boy?  Can you show a relation between this change in value of farmland and the growth of nearby towns or cities?

What industries in your town (or a neighboring town) are dependent upon farming for their raw materials? for the sale of their product?

What is the cotton gin? the spinning jenny?  Show how these inventions were a benefit to agriculture.  How did they promote the growth of cities?

Make a map of your school district.  Do the people of this district cooperate in matters other than those pertaining to the school?

On a map of your county, show approximately the “trade area” served by the “trade center” nearest you.  For what other purposes besides trade do the farmers of this trade area come to the trade center?

On a map of your county, show the area from which pupils come to the high school nearest you.

On a map of your state, show the principle “railroad centers.”  Show how these are the centers of larger trade areas corresponding to the small trade areas of your county.  Show how the farmers and the residents of these railroad centers have common interests.

READINGS

Dunn, Arthur W., The Community and the Citizen, Chapters, i-iii.

Galpin, C. J., “The Social Anatomy of an Agricultural Community,” Research Bulletin 34, Agricultural Experiment Station, University of Wisconsin, Madison, Wis.

Gillette, John M., Constructive Rural Sociology (Sturgis & Walton Co., New York), Chapter iv ("Types of Communities").

Small and Vincent, An Introduction to the Study of Society (American Book Co.), Book ii, Chapters i-iv.

CHAPTER VII

OUR NATIONAL COMMUNITY

IMPERFECTIONS OF OUR NATIONAL COMMUNITY

It is important to get in the habit of thinking of our nation as a community, just as we think of our school or town or rural neighborhood as one.  This is not always easy to do because of its huge size and complicated character.  It would be wrong, too, to get the idea that it is a perfect community—­none of our communities is perfect.  Conflicts of interest are often more apparent than community of interest.  Teamwork among the different parts and groups that make up our nation is often very poor.  Although our government is a wonderfully good one, it is still only an imperfect means of cooperation.  Our nation is far from being a complete democracy, for there are many people in it who do not have the full enjoyment of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness; and large numbers of our “self-governing” people really have little or no part in government.