Community Civics and Rural Life

by Arthur William Dunn

The citizen farmer who lives in the same community with the miner … must invest in land and buildings, tools and livestock. He must pay taxes and insurance and repairs and veterinary fees. He must work often sixteen hours, seldom less than ten, and he must be on duty day and night, ready always to care for his independent plant—all this, and yet in order to receive a labor income equal to that of the soft coal miner … the farmer must not only work himself as no professional laborer ever works, but he must also work his children without pay.

[Footnote: E. Davenport, Dean of the College of Agriculture,
University of Illinois, in "Proceedings of the First National
Country Life Conference," Baltimore, 1919. p. 183.]

IMPROVED CONDITIONS ON THE FARM

Although this only too faithfully describes living conditions on the farm as they have been in the past and still are in many cases, much improvement has taken place. Improvement of agricultural machinery and methods has brought a greater measure of leisure to the farmer, while better means of transportation and communication have both saved him time and made easier for him and his family association with other people and the enjoyment of entertainment in the neighboring village or city. The farm woman has benefited by the introduction of labor-saving devices and better management in the household, and by the development of community cooperation in such matters as dairying and laundry work (see pp. 106, 107). In fact, better team work in every phase of the business of agriculture means greater opportunity for the enjoyment of living, and the efforts of the national and state governments to encourage such team work and to improve the methods of agriculture have for their purpose not merely the increase of the agricultural product, but also the greater happiness of the rural citizen.

FACILITIES FOR DISSIPATION

When leisure may be found for recreation, the facilities for it are often inadequate. The city, and even the village, affords facilities for amusement and social enjoyment that good roads, automobiles, and trolley lines have made more accessible than formerly to the country round about. While the urban community naturally affords greater opportunity than the rural community for social recreation, its opportunities for dissipation are equally great. "Going to the movies" may be a real recreation, or it may become a dissipation when indulged in to excess without discrimination as to the merit of the performance. Almost every village has its well-known "loafing places," and the saloon used to be a favorite meeting place for certain classes of people. Amusements that are especially harmful are more or less regulated by law. Even moving pictures are "censored." Saloons have now been totally abolished.

FACILITIES FOR RECREATION

The most effective preventive of dissipation is ample provision for wholesome recreation. Various agencies in urban communities seek to supply this need, both for their own residents and for visitors from outside. Men's clubs, such as chambers of commerce, afford social and amusement advantages for the business men of the town, and for visiting farmers who formerly met only at the store or courthouse, in the saloon or on the street corner. Public libraries, often with the cooperation of women's clubs, provide "rest rooms," arranged for the comfort and entertainment of visiting women, and afford means of profitable and enjoyable recreation for young people. Town churches sometimes maintain social rooms, open during the week for similar purposes. The Young Men's and Young Women's Christian Associations have performed a great service by providing entertainment and social life for young people. One of the more recent developments is the "community center," usually at the schoolhouse, where there are offered lectures and concerts, social entertainments, dances, games, and sports. In some large cities such "recreation centers" are of the greatest value in the crowded districts.

OPPORTUNITIES AFFORDED BY THE CONSOLIDATED SCHOOL

Rural communities have suffered from a dearth of recreational facilities of their own, especially of a SOCIAL type. One of the most promising influences to supply this deficiency is the CONSOLIDATED SCHOOL, which makes provision for assembly halls, social gatherings, and recreation grounds for young and old alike. An illustration of this is given in Chapter XIX (p. 296). Development of community recreation centers at consolidated rural schools is going on rapidly in many parts of the country.