except in small matters, and even then he must go or send to town for the necessary parts, which may be sent to him by parcel post.  Not only does he get better tools and services generally through this reliance upon others who are specialists in their lines, but also on account of it has more time to give to the actual business of farming, for which others depend upon him, and leisure for thoughtful study of his problems, for social life, and for recreation.

THE VALUE OF SELF-RELIANCE

It must be acknowledged that reliance upon others may be carried so far as to result in loss or disadvantage.  “Self-reliance” is one of the most admirable traits of character.  The pioneer farmer possessed it from necessity to a remarkable extent.  A habit of depending upon others may quickly cause a person to lose the “knack” of doing things for himself, to become less “handy about the place,” and less “thrifty” about keeping things in repair or installing small improvements—­the casting of a cement trough, mending the harness or the fence or painting the barn.

WHO MAKES OUR SHOES

The interdependence of people in community life to-day may be illustrated by starting with some of our own needs, as was suggested in the topics on page 12.  For example, if we need a pair of shoes, we must have money, which we will suppose that we earn by farming.  In order to farm successfully we must have machinery.  This we also buy in town; but it is manufactured for us in distant city factories from metals procured from mines and from wood from the forest.  The shoes bought at the store were also made in a factory employing hundreds of men and women, perhaps in Massachusetts.  They were made from leather from the hides of cattle raised in the far west, or perhaps even in the Argentine Republic.  The leather is tanned by another industry, and tanning requires the use of an acid from the bark of certain trees from the forest.  The making of the shoes also requires machinery which is made by still other machines, the necessary metals coming from mines.  To smelt the metals and to run the factories there must be fuel from other mines.  Meanwhile the workers in all these industries must be fed and clothed and housed.  This means the work of farmers, food packers, millers and bakers, lumbermen, carpenters, cotton and woolen mills, clothing factories, and many others.  At every stage transportation enters in,—­by team and automobile truck, by railway, by water.  These are only a part of the activities necessary in order that we may have a pair of shoes.  It would seem that practically every kind of worker and industry in the world had something to do with it.  People in communities today are indeed very interdependent.

The following item appeared in a newspaper: 

HELD BACK BY NEIGHBORS