But within the last century women have been emancipated politically. Property rights have been extended them; the growth of the woman's movement has resulted in the winning of female suffrage. Economic independence and social freedom have combined with political emancipation to emphasize the spirit of individualism among women. Politics and club work have, in the eyes of many wives and mothers, become more attractive than domestic concerns, with a resultant neglect of the home. Higher education for women, including a wider knowledge of legal matters, has acquainted women with their legal rights and privileges, and has made them familiar with the steps necessary to secure a divorce.

268. INDIVIDUALISM MAY BE EXAGGERATED.—The American people are celebrated for their strongly individualistic character. This trait is closely related to the initiative and self-reliance which have helped toward our industrial success; on the other hand, individualism may be carried to the point of selfishness. It is desirable, of course, that both men and women maintain high standards of living, and that they cultivate their respective personalities. It should be noted, however, that marriage is often delayed or altogether avoided because of selfish ambition and the desire to live a care-free and self-centered life. The insistence which many young people place upon personal rights has encouraged the belief that marriage is intended for man's and woman's convenience, rather than for the building of normal homes and the development of community life. In too many marriages the contracting parties selfishly refuse to make the mutual concessions necessary in married life and so wreck their domestic happiness.

269. THE DIVORCE EVIL.—Family instability has been increased by the demoralizing influences which we have been discussing. A familiar symptom of family instability is the divorce rate. One out of every eight or nine marriages in the United States is dissolved by divorce. Not only do we have more divorces than all of the rest of the world together, but our divorce rate is increasing three times as fast as is our population.

The value of these statistics is affected by two factors. In the first place, much domestic unhappiness does not express itself in the separation of husband and wife. Or, where such separation does take place, it may not be through the divorce court. Among the city poor, for example, desertion is four times as common as is divorce. Thus the divorce rate indicates only a share of family instability.

The second modifying factor, however, lessens the force of our divorce statistics. A high divorce rate is to be interpreted with care. Our divorce rate is higher than that of European countries, but it should be remembered that in those countries where customs, laws, and religious beliefs are relatively conservative, families may be held together legally in spite of the fact that they have already disintegrated. Thus family life may be as unstable in a country in which the divorce rate is low, as in a country in which the divorce rate is high.

270. LAXITY OF OUR DIVORCE LAWS.—Although divorce may sometimes be necessary, it is clear that in many of the states of the Union divorce laws are too lax. The practice of the states as regards divorce is divergent: in South Carolina divorce is absolutely prohibited; in the remaining states there is a variable number of grounds upon which divorce may be secured. Divorces are often rushed through the courts, partly because of the overworked character of the divorce tribunals, and partly because public opinion tolerates the lax administration of divorce laws. In some states divorces have been secured in fifteen minutes, being granted without any attempt at solemnity, with no adequate investigation, and with numerous opportunities for collusion between the parties involved. The effect of this laxness has been to encourage the dissolution of the home for trivial and improper causes.

271. THE QUESTION OF STRICTER DIVORCE LAWS.—Uniform divorce laws among the several states are now being agitated. The essential provisions of such laws may be outlined as follows: It is desirable to have a court of domestic relations, which shall carefully and wisely attempt a reconciliation of husband and wife before divorce proceedings are resorted to. Applicants for divorce should be bona fide residents of the state in which the suit is filed, and should be required to reside in the state two years before a decree of absolute divorce is granted. In some states at least, the number of grounds upon which divorce may be secured should be reduced. An adequate investigation should be undertaken, both in order to determine the justice of the suit, and to prevent collusion. The primary aim of the divorce laws should be to allow relief from a vicious and hopelessly wrecked union, but at the same time to prevent the misuse of the statutes by irresponsible and unscrupulous persons.

272. LAXITY OF OUR MARRIAGE LAWS.—The fact that unwise marriages are an immediate cause of divorce leads back to the question of our marriage laws. Marriage laws often permit the mating of couples unfit for home-making. In some states the authorities are not overcareful to prevent the marriage of persons who are mentally defective. There is among the several states no agreement as to the legal age of marriage, and no agreement as to the relationship within which marriage is forbidden. Hasty unions have been encouraged by the lack of solemnity which characterizes civil marriage. Marriage is more and more a civil contract, devoid of religious sanctions and spiritual associations. Many consider marriage as a civil relation not radically different from any other contract. The effect of this changed attitude has been to encourage the enactment of loose marriage laws, and the careless administration of sound marriage laws.

273. THE QUESTION OF STRICTER MARRIAGE LAWS.—Stricter marriage laws are being advocated in many states. We know far too little about eugenics to warrant prediction as to the type of individuals best fitted to build normal homes, but it is clearly desirable to prohibit the marriage of all mental defectives. There are also good reasons for the restriction of the marriage of minors, of persons between whose ages there is a wide disparity, and of persons who are members of widely divergent races. It would probably check hasty marriages to increase the length of time elapsing between the issuance of the marriage license and the performance of the ceremony. If modern marriages were more distinctly upon a religious basis, it is likely that many persons who now rush thoughtlessly into marriage would be led seriously to reflect upon the significance of the step.

274. LAW NOT THE UTLIMATE REMEDY FOR FAMILY INSTABILITY.—The careful enactment and wise administration of sound laws on marriage and divorce will undoubtedly check the number of unhappy and unsuccessful marriages. Nevertheless, law is not the ultimate remedy for family instability. Unduly restrictive marriage laws may result in abnormal tendencies among certain classes of the population, while severe prohibitions upon divorce may prevent individuals from securing release from a hopelessly wrecked marriage. Divorce is only a symptom of deeper-lying evils. Really to remove the dangers which threaten the integrity of the family we must go deeper than legislation.

275. ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL READJUSTMENT.—One fundamental method of safeguarding the family is to counteract the injurious effects of the Industrial Revolution. Poverty must be lessened or eliminated, so that men will be enabled to marry and support families decently. The evils of overcrowding must be attacked in the interest of a normal home life. Mothers' pensions and social insurance are desirable methods of protecting the laborer's family against the risks of industry. The prohibition of child labor and the safeguarding of women in industry will also tend to keep the family intact, and to permit proper home training. In short, any measures which will help individuals to adjust themselves to the economic and social changes of the present age will provide a more firm and solid foundation for a normal family life.

276. EDUCATION AND THE FAMILY.—Far more fundamental than legislation on marriage and divorce is the training of young people toward a fuller appreciation of the responsibilities of home-making. In the problem of family instability, laws reach symptoms, while education attacks causes. By education is here meant not merely formal training in the school, but character-building of every type. This includes training in the home, in the school, and in the church. Only when boys and girls are accorded sound training by these various agencies will they be properly prepared to make homes.

Our whole educational system ought to emphasize the importance of a pure and wholesome family life. The sanctity of the marriage bond, the seriousness of family responsibilities, and the duty to rear a normal healthy family, ought to be impressed upon every boy and girl. Young people should be taught to consider adolescence as a period of preparation for home-building. During this period it is the duty of the boy to fit himself for the proper support of a family, while the girl ought to feel obligated to become familiar with the tasks and duties of housekeeping. The choice of a husband or wife ought to be made, not on the basis of passing fancy, but with regard to a life of mutual service. Extreme individualism ought to be discouraged; personal pleasure ought to be interpreted in the light of marriage as a partnership. Above all, marriage should be faced with the realization that it requires adaptation and concessions on the part of both husband and wife. Mutual consideration and respect must predominate in the future American family, while the spirit of impatience and selfishness must be eliminated.

QUESTIONS ON THE TEXT

1. What is the significance of the family?

2. What were the essential characteristics of the medieval family?

3. Why is the modern family in a period of transition?

4. Outline the effect of the Industrial Revolution upon the family.

5. To what extent has the factory supplanted the home as an industrial center?

6. Discuss the difficulties of home-making in crowded cities.

7. How have many groups of women become economically independent?

8. Discuss the political emancipation of women.

9. What is the extent of divorce in this country? What two factors must be taken into account in interpreting these figures?

10. To what extent are our divorce and marriage laws lax?

11. What proposals have been made toward the correction of this evil?

12. Why is law not the ultimate cure for family instability?

13. What is the importance of economic and social readjustment in the problem of the family?

14. What should be the chief aims of education with regard to preparation for home-making?

REQUIRED READINGS

1. Williamson, Readings in American Democracy chapter xxiii.

Or all of the following:

2. Burch and Patterson, American Social Problems, chapter xxii.

3. Ellwood, Sociology and Modern Social Problems, chapters v, vi, vii, and viii.

4. Goodsell, The Family as a Social and Educational Institution, chapters xi, xii, and xiii.

QUESTIONS ON THE REQUIRED READINGS

1. Discuss the origin of human marriage. (Ellwood, pages 97-108.)

2. Distinguish between the maternal and paternal types of family. (Ellwood, pages 110-128.)

3. What was the character of the early Roman family? (Ellwood, pages 132-138.)

4. What influence has Christianity exerted upon the family? (Ellwood, pages 142-144.)

5. Summarize the ways in which industry may disintegrate the family. (Goodsell, pages 461-464.)

6. What is the origin of higher education for women in this country? (Goodsell, pages 439-441.)

7. Discuss the divorce rate in this country. (Ellwood, pages 148-154; Burch and Patterson, pages 315-321; Goodsell, pages 457-459.)

8. Name the various grounds upon which divorce may be secured. (Ellwood, pages 154-157; Burch and Patterson, pages 321-322.)

9. Why is our divorce rate increasing? (Burch and Patterson, pages 322-327.)

10. What proposal has been made relative to a uniform divorce law? (Burch and Patterson, pages 327-328.)

TOPICS FOR INVESTIGATION AND REPORT

I

1. Interview an elderly friend for the purpose of discovering how many commodities now produced outside the home were made within the family circle a half century ago.

2. Make a list of the advantages which the city offers over the country or the small town. Make another list showing wherein it is more difficult to maintain a normal home in the city than in the more sparsely settled districts of the country.

3. The extent to which girls and women in your community are going into industrial pursuits.

4. The marriage laws of your state.

5. The divorce laws of your state.

6. What amendments, if any, would you offer to the marriage and divorce laws of your state?

II

7. The primitive family. (Goodsell, The Family as a Social and Educational Institution, chapter ii.)

8. The family in the early stages of civilization. (Burch and Patterson, American Social Problems, chapter vi.)

9. Influence of Christianity upon the family. (Goodsell, The Family as a Social and Educational Institution, chapter vi.)

10. The family in the Middle Ages. (Goodsell, The Family as a Social and Educational Institution, chapter vii.)

11. The English family in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. (Goodsell, The Family as a Social and Educational Institution, chapter ix.)

12. The family in the American colonies. (Goodsell, The Family as a Social and Educational Institution, chapter x.)

13. The feminist movement. (Annals, vol. lvi, part i.)

14. The home in the crowded city. (Riis, Peril and Preservation of the Home.)

15. Desertion. (Colcord, Broken Homes.)

16. Divorce statistics. (Willcox, The Divorce Problem, a study in statistics; Lichtenberger, Divorce, chapter v.)

17. Uniform divorce laws. (Wolfe, Readings in Social Problems, chapter xv.)

18. Education for family building. (Annals, vol. lxvii, pages 47- 53.)

FOR CLASSROOM DISCUSSION

19. Should Congress be granted the power, through constitutional amendment, to pass a Federal divorce law?

20. Should men be required to have a minimum income before being granted a marriage license?

21. Is domestic science more or less important now than it was a century ago?

22. Are the chances of a successful marriage greater or less if marriage takes place after both parties are more than twenty-five years of age?



CHAPTER XXIV

DEPENDENCY: ITS RELIEF AND PREVENTION

277. THE MEDIEVAL NEIGHBORHOOD.—Throughout the earlier part of the medieval period the majority of the common people of western Europe lived in small agricultural communities. There was little in the way of trade or travel, for the area comprising the village or the feudal manor was relatively self-sufficing. The interests of the people centered almost wholly about the local neighborhood into which they had been born, and in which they lived and died. Life was stable, and the daily work of the peasants entailed few hazards. When, because of illness or accident, individuals were temporarily unable to support themselves, informal aid was extended them by neighbors and friends. In case of a more serious dependency, growing out of physical or mental defect, for example, the aid extended by neighbors might be supplemented by help from the feudal lord. The few strangers in the community found the monasteries always open to them, regardless of the character of their need.

278. BREAKDOWN OF THE MEDIEVAL NEIGHBORHOOD.—During the latter half of the medieval period, and during the earlier part of the modern period, a number of factors combined to break down this early type of neighborhood. The Crusades, the decay of feudalism, and the Renaissance disrupted the stable, isolated, and self-sufficing life of the medieval neighborhood. The discovery of America and the growth of towns and cities stimulated trade and travel. People moved about more, strangers came into the community, family contacts and friendships were broken, and community life became more impersonal. For many people a change of habitation or of occupation increased the hazards of life, while the decline of the neighborhood spirit made informal aid by neighbors and friends less available. To meet the growing needs of the dependent classes, the Church extended and improved its system of almsgiving. To a greater extent than ever before the monasteries became havens of refuge for the helpless and friendless. The clergy not only themselves dispensed alms, but encouraged the wealthy laity to do likewise.

Unfortunately, however, the aim of almsgiving in this period was not so much to help the dependent back to self-support, as to increase the piety of the individual dispensing the alms. Pauperism was looked upon as inevitable, and the moral effect upon the giver was generally of more importance than was the use that the needy made of the alms received.

279. RISE OF THE URBAN NEIGHBORHOOD.—The breakdown of the medieval neighborhood was completed by the Industrial Revolution. The factory system drew large numbers of countrymen to the cities. Here they worked long hours in insanitary work-shops, and lived in crowded tenements devoid of many improvements which we now regard as necessary to health and comfort. Home life was disrupted, and neighborhood ties were broken in the process of adjusting agricultural laborers to the factory system. The medieval neighborhood began to be supplanted by a new type of neighborhood, one primarily urban and impersonal in character. This new type of neighborhood brought with it greater hazards for the poor, and at the same time offered fewer opportunities for mutual aid between neighbors. Under such circumstances, the problem of dependency became increasingly serious.

280. EXTENT OF DEPENDENCY IN MODERN TIMES.—One of the vital problems of American democracy is the proper care of those individuals who are unable, either to support themselves, or otherwise to protect themselves against the hazards of modern life. The extent to which individuals are dependent for help upon agencies outside their family circle is unknown. Statistics are meager, and the complex nature of dependency renders it difficult of measurement. Perhaps a reasonable estimate of dependency in the United States is that at some time during the year about five per cent of the population seeks charitable assistance. The total amount expended annually for the care of the dependent classes in the United States is more than half a billion dollars.

281. CAUSES OF DEPENDENCY.—The causes of dependency in a modern community are difficult to analyze. Generally the applicant for charity is not in a state of dependency because of a single isolated cause, but because of a number of combined causes, interlocking in a most confusing way. In the effort to throw light upon this tangled situation, let us briefly survey the problem from the economic, social, personal, and political viewpoint.

From the economic viewpoint much dependency is the result of maladjustments in industry. Most laborers have little or no savings, so that when unemployment, strikes, industrial accidents, or crises interrupt their earnings, they are soon forced to fall back upon charity. Economic causes figure in from fifty to eighty per cent of charity cases, either as minor or major factors. In the majority of these cases the unemployment or other handicap of the laborer is due to industrial maladjustments beyond his power to control.

Closely connected with the economic causes of dependency are the social causes. The crowding of large numbers of workmen into cities leads to abnormal living conditions, which encourage ill-health, disease, and vice. Among unskilled laborers, poverty and the large number of children often prevent the young from securing a helpful amount of education. The lack of wholesome and inexpensive recreation, and the existence of costly and injurious forms of entertainment, encourage unwise expenditure of savings, and, to that extent, may influence dependency. Child labor and the employment of mothers in industry prevent a normal family life, and may be intimately associated with illiteracy, low moral standards, and pauperism.

Often indistinguishable from social causes are the personal causes of dependency. Laziness, irresponsibility, and thriftlessness figure in from ten to fifteen per cent of charity cases. Penniless old age is often the outcome of bad personal habits in youth and middle life. Idling, gambling, and other vicious habits are important causes of pauperism. Sickness is a factor in at least a third of charity cases, while disease figures in seventy-five per cent of such cases. Physical or mental defect is of great importance in dependency, often accompanying bad personal habits as either cause or effect. The feeble-minded, the epileptic, and the insane constitute a serious burden upon the community.

Defects in government have in some cases either encouraged dependency, or have perpetuated it. In so far as we have neglected legislation designed to reduce the force of industrial maladjustments, political factors may be said markedly to influence dependency. Our tardiness in protecting the labor of women and children is certainly responsible for a share of dependency. Our failure to adopt a comprehensive program of social insurance has added to the burden upon charity. Housing is receiving more and more attention in our cities, yet the living quarters in many districts continue to be sources of ill-health and vice. Probably we shall eliminate a share of dependency when we shall have established a comprehensive system of state and Federal employment bureaus. The wise restriction of immigration is also important, as is the matter of vocational education for the unskilled classes.

282. THE GIVING OF ALMS.—Until the period of the Reformation in Europe, the distribution of alms by the clergy and by pious laymen was the chief method of dealing with the problem of dependency. Then the Reformation crippled the temporal power of the Church, and ecclesiastical almsgiving declined in importance. The place formerly held by the Church was filled, partly by public almshouses or workhouses, and partly by indiscriminate and unorganized almsgiving on the part of kind-hearted individuals. Individuals distributed alms chiefly to dependents with whom they were personally acquainted, and whose needs could be effectively met without their being removed to an institution. Wandering dependents, and unfortunates whose needs were relatively serious and permanent, were cared for in the almshouse. This latter institution developed very early in England, and appeared in colonial America in the seventeenth century. Until about 1850 it was often the only institution in American communities which cared for the helpless adult dependent. The almshouse, as it existed in this country a few decades ago, has been described as a charitable catch- all, into which were crowded paupers, the insane, the feeble-minded, the blind, the orphaned, and other types of dependents.

283. ALMSGIVNG PROVES INADEQUATE.—The attempt to meet the problem of modern dependency solely by the giving of alms illustrates the difficulty of employing an ancient and simple method of treatment for a disease which has become highly complex.

Almsgiving by individuals very often pauperizes rather than helps the individual to help himself. When the dominant aim of the almsgiver is to satisfy himself as to his piety, it is only by accident that the alms really help the recipient. Very often what is needed is not money or material aid in other form, but wise direction and friendly advice. There is still a great deal of unwise and indiscriminate almsgiving by individuals, but the spread of new ideals of social help is probably cutting down the amount.

The almshouse, as it existed in the last century, was productive of much evil. Very often superintendents were allowed to run these institutions for personal profit, a practice which allowed the exploitation and neglect of the inmates. The practice of herding into this generalized institution every variety of dependent had great drawbacks. Specialized care and treatment were impossible. Disease was transmitted, and vice encouraged, by the failure properly to segregate various types of dependents. Inmates were in many cases allowed to enter and leave the institution at will, a privilege which encouraged shiftlessness and improvidence.

284. THE EVOLUTION OF NEW IDEALS.—After the middle of the last century our attitude toward the dependent classes began to change rapidly. There was a gradual abandonment of almsgiving as the sole method of attacking dependency. Rising standards of conduct contributed to the development of new ideals, some of them now fairly well established, and some of them still in the formative process. The general content of these new ideals may be briefly described as follows:

The primary aim of those who come in contact with the dependent classes should be to help those classes, rather than to satisfy pious aspirations or to indulge sentimental promptings. Rather than believing that alms are helpful because they are gratefully received, we should first discover what will help the dependent, and then train ourselves and him to take satisfaction in that which is helpful.

Poverty is not to be taken for granted. It is neither inevitable nor irremedial. It is a social disease which we must attack with the aim of destroying.

When individuals are found in an emergency they should be given relief, regardless of personal merit. The extension of relief in case of fire, flood or other accident is only an act of humanity.

A different and more productive form of help is remedial work. This type of work often accompanies and follows relief work. It is corrective, for example, the finding of employment for a friendless man, or the medical treatment of a sick man, is remedial work.

A still higher form of social work is preventive. Hand in hand with the giving of work to friendless men, and the curing of sick men, for example, we must undertake measures which will prevent a recurrence of unemployment on the one hand, and illness on the other. Preventive work is often indirect, but ultimately it is the most important type of social work.

Recently there has been a reaction against almsgiving or pure charity, and a distinct tendency to develop what may be called the concept of social service. Charity is too often concerned with the pauper class; social service is a wider term and includes not only what was formerly known as charity, but also child welfare, settlement work, folk dancing, and other socializing activities which are helpful in a modern community, but which have nothing to do with alms. Charity too often pauperizes and degrades; social service encourages self-help and self-expression in the vital social relations. Formerly charity was almost exclusively the function of the pious and the sympathetic; the present tendency is for social service to become a distinct profession, administered by highly trained specialists.

285. THE STAGE OF SPECIALIZATION.—One of the signs that we are recognizing the growing need of an individualized treatment of dependents, is the degree to which our social service agencies are becoming specialized. The treatment of the dependent may take either an institutional or a non-institutional form. Let us briefly notice the specialization in each of these forms.

The almshouse, almost universal a century ago, is being rapidly displaced by a series of specialized institutions. In most states there are now separate institutions for the treatment of the pauperized, the diseased, the blind, the deaf, the insane, the feeble- minded, and the otherwise dependent. Inmates of these institutions are given special treatment by experts. When the defect has been remedied, the patient is released; in case remedy is impossible, the individual is segregated and accorded humane and sympathetic treatment during the rest of his life. This prevents the untold harm of releasing defective and irresponsible people into the community. Institutions of this character are largely under state control, and are intended primarily for individuals who cannot be properly treated in their homes.

Dependents who are only slightly or temporarily handicapped, or who are not in need of special treatment, may be best cared for in their homes and by private individuals or associations. In this non- institutional form of social service there is also a high degree of specialization. The casual almsgiver has been succeeded by a whole series of social service agencies. Prisoners' aid societies, employment bureaus, immigrant aid societies, flower missions, Americanization clubs, recreation centers, housing clubs, community nursing clubs, and scores of other organizations have sprung up. Every large city in the United States has several hundred of these organizations, each attacking social problems of a special type.

286. NECESSITY OF CORDINATION.—Specialization in social service has been followed by the development of means of cordinating the various specialized agencies.

That there is urgent need of such cordination has been repeatedly called to our attention. It is still true that often the institutions for the dependent classes within a single state pursue different methods, and so limit their separate fields that many types of dependents are inadequately cared for.

Among the large number of private agencies there has been a great waste of time and energy. The fact that each society is independent of its fellows has meant that in some fields of social service efforts were duplicated, while other fields were neglected. Cases demanding treatment by several agencies could not be given adequate care because of the lack of correlation among such agencies. Beggars often imposed upon a number of different societies by assuming different names. Each society had its own periods of campaigning for funds, a practice which meant an excess of tag-days and campaigns and a waste of time and energy on the part of social workers.

287. CORDINATION OF PUBLIC INSTITUTIONS.—The cordination of public institutions for the dependent and defective classes proceeded rapidly after 1880. At present the situation in the various states is somewhat as follows:

The actual administration of local institutions is generally in the hands of the town or county authorities. Large cities, however, often have a system of institutional relief separate from that of the county in which they are located. In many states the local authorities are subject to some measure of central supervision by a state board, which is called by various names. In most cases this is merely an advisory board with power to inspect state institutions, and to make recommendations to the governor or state legislature. More recently, there is a tendency to go still further, and to reorganize and consolidate the various state institutions so as to bring them directly under the control of a state board or commission. In several states the board is already one of control, that is to say, it has the power not only to inspect the various institutions of the state, but also the power to appoint their superintendents, and, in general, to administer the institutional relief of the state.

288. CORDINATION OF PRIVATE AGENCIES.—The movement to cordinate social service agencies of a private nature has been relatively slow and unsatisfactory. This has been due, partly to the large number of societies involved, and partly to the lack of any centralized authority to supervise such organizations. In some large cities there has been a considerable degree of consolidation among societies which are purely charitable, but among the large number of social service organizations which are not purely charitable, the cordinating process has not gone beyond the functional stage. In this stage the various social service agencies of a city remain separate and distinct, but may become members of a council or federation which serves to cordinate their various functions. [Footnote: In this functional cordination the "consolidated" or "united" charities of the city generally appear as a single organization.]

The aim of this functional cordination is to secure the greatest degree of coperation possible without the actual amalgamation of the coperating agencies. Imposition by beggars is unlikely, because a clearing house of information keeps the various agencies informed as to the work of one another. By periodic reference to a centralized system of card indices, different societies may keep informed to what types of social work are being duplicated, and as to which lines of effort are being neglected. Where the social service agencies of a city are thus cordinated, an applicant applies to the central agency and is then directed to the organization best suited to meet his needs. Such cordinating agencies stress the necessity of scientific work which will aid in the adjustment of personal relations and help secure the maximum of result with the minimum of expenditure.

289. THE NEIGHBORHOOD OF THE FUTURE.—The small, stable, and relatively unprogressive neighborhood of the early European period has disappeared before the important economic, social, and political changes of the last five centuries. The typical neighborhood of modern times is larger, more inclined to be made up of transient and dissimilar types of people, and more impersonal. It is more progressive, but more likely to hold hazards for the average individual. The whole period since the Industrial Revolution has been one of neighborhood readjustment, of which many aspects of the problems of crime, the family, and dependency are phases. The new type of neighborhood has probably come to stay, but there are indications that life in the community of the future will prove less and less hazardous. The development of professional social service, growing out of the charity movement, but now embracing community work of every kind, will probably lessen the evils of the modern neighborhood, and retain its desirable features.

QUESTIONS ON THE TEXT

1. Describe the character of the medieval neighborhood.

2. What factors contributed to the breakdown of the medieval neighborhood?

3. What effect did the Industrial Revolution have upon the neighborhood?

4. What is the extent of dependency in modern times?

5. What are the economic causes of dependency?

6. What are the social causes of dependency?

7. What are the personal causes of dependency?

8. How may defects in government contribute to dependency?

9. Discuss the giving of alms in early Europe.

10. Why is almsgiving inadequate as a method of treating dependency?

11. Outline the new ideals which recently have begun to influence the treatment of the dependent.

12. What is the nature of social service?

13. Discuss specialization in social service.

14. Why is cordination a necessary step when social service agencies have become highly specialized?

15. What may be said as to the character of the neighborhood of the future?

REQUIRED READINGS

1. Williamson, Readings in American Democracy, chapter xxiv.

Or all of the following:

2. Devine, Misery and its Causes, chapter v.

3. Devine, Principles of Relief, chapter ii.

4. Guitteau, Government and Politics in the United States, chapter xiv.

5. Warner, American Charities, revised edition, chapters iii and xxii.

QUESTIONS ON THE REQUIRED READINGS

1. Why is it difficult to classify the causes of poverty? (Devine, Misery and its Causes_, pages 167-169.)

2. What are the objective causes of dependency? (Warner, page 41.)

3. What are the subjective causes of dependency? (Warner, page 42).

4. What is the Charity Organization Society? (Warner, page 450.)

5. Why did the Charity Organization Society arise? (Warner, page 451.)

6. Where did the first society of this type arise? (Warner, page 451.)

7. Discuss the methods of the Charity Organization Society. (Warner, page 458.)

8. What is the nature of the machinery employed by the Charity Organization Society? (Warner, page 458.)

9. What are the essentials of a sound relief policy? (Devine, Principles of Relief, page 13.)

10. Under what circumstances should charitable aid be refused? (Devine, Principles of Relief, page 21.)

11. What is meant by the term "medical charities"? (Guitteau, page 154.)

12. What is the great aim of social service? (Devine, Misery and its Causes, page 235.)

TOPICS FOR INVESTIGATION AND REPORT

I

1. Make a study of your neighborhood with regard to some or all of the following points: (a) Increase in population (b) Changes in the racial type of the population (c) Changes in the occupational tendencies of the population (d) Changes in the spirit of neighborliness (e) Changes in the administration of relief to dependents.

2. Study the causes of dependency in your community with regard to the influence of economic, social, personal and political factors. (For this information, interview local social workers.)

3. Study an actual charity case, and make a diagram or sketch showing the number of factors involved.

4. Make a visit to an almshouse (sometimes called the poorhouse), and report to the class upon conditions there.

5. List and classify the types of institutions which care for dependents in your state.

6. The extent to which institutions for the dependent have been cordinated in your state.

7. Classify the agencies which are performing some type of professional social service in your community.

8. Interview a local social worker with regard to his or her ideals of social service. (Compare the result with the ideals set forth in Section 284 of this chapter.)

II

9. The personal causes of degeneration. (Warner, American Charities, chapter iv.)

10. The social causes of degeneration. (Warner, American Charities, chapter vi.)

11. Desertion. (Devine, Principles of Relief, chapter xi.)

12. Dependent children. (Devine, Principles of Relief, chapter ix; Warner, American Charities, chapter xii.)

13. Relief in the home. (Devine, Principles of Relief, chapter vi.)

14. Relief in disasters. (Devine, Principles of Relief, part iv.)

15. Beggars and impostors. (Conyngton, How to Help, chapter ix.)

16. Volunteer work in charitable relief. (Devine, The Practice of Charity, chapter vi.)

17. The social settlement. (Conyngton, How to Help, chapter xxvi.)

18. The insane and the feeble-minded. (Warner, American Charities, chapters xiv and xv.)

19. Medical charities. (Cabot, Social Work; Henderson, Introduction to the Study of the Dependent, Defective and Delinquent Classes, part ii, chapter viii.)

20. Organization of charity in England. (Henderson, Introduction to the Study of the Dependent, etc., chapter iv.)

21. Organization of charity in France. (Henderson, Introduction to the Study of the Dependent, etc., chapter ix.)

22. Organization of charity in Holland. (Henderson, Introduction to the Study of the Dependent, etc., chapter v.)

23. Organization of charity in Germany. (Henderson, Introduction to the Study of the Dependent, etc., chapter i.)

24. The spirit of social work. (Devine, The Spirit of Social Work.)

25. Tendencies in social service. (Warner, American Charities, chapter xxiii.)

FOR CLASSROOM DISCUSSION

26. To what extent is the number of inmates in institutions for the dependent classes an accurate guide to the extent of dependency throughout the state or nation?

27. Should all institutions for the dependent classes be placed under the direct control of the state authorities?

28. Should the state authorities attempt to administer relief to dependents who remain in their homes?

29. Should the giving of alms by individuals be abandoned in favor of the practice of treating dependency entirely through professional or official agencies?

30. What should we do when street beggars ask us for money?



CHAPTER XXV

RURAL LIFE

290. THE SIGNIFICANCE OF RURAL LIFE.—Agriculture is our oldest and most basic industry. Almost half of our people are found in the rural districts, most of them subsisting directly upon the products of farm, forest, and range. Directly or indirectly our cities are largely dependent upon the country. The foodstuffs consumed in cities, as well as the vast quantities of raw materials used by our manufacturing industries, come largely from the rural districts. To some extent even our urban population is recruited from the ranks of the country folk. Altogether, American rural life is a matter of vital concern to the nation. "Our civilization rests at bottom," Theodore Roosevelt once said, "upon the wholesomeness, the attractiveness, and the completeness, as well as the prosperity, of life in the country."

291. NATURE OF THE RURLAL PROBLEM.—Contrary to popular belief, the rural problem arises not so much from the actual degeneration of rural society, as from the fact that many rural districts have failed to progress as rapidly as have urban communities. Compared with his predecessor of a century ago, the farmer of to-day is better fed, better clothed and housed, and better able to secure adequate education and recreation. At the same time the relatively greater advances which urban communities have made in economic and social activities render the improvement of rural life highly desirable. The specific problem of rural life is to develop in the country economic and social institutions which are especially adapted to the farmer's needs. Not until this is done shall we be able to maintain on our farms a class of people who can make the maximum contribution to American life in all of its phases.

292. THE RURAL PROBLEM IS OF RECENT ORIGIN.—The most spectacular development in American economic life has been the introduction and growth of the factory system. Commerce and manufactures were important during even the colonial period, and during the first half century of our national history our dominant economic interest was the fostering of manufacturing, domestic trade, and transportation. With the development of manufacturing came the growth of the cities, and with the growth of the cities added attention was called to immigration, crime, health, and related social problems. Farm life, so familiar and apparently so healthful, was not thought of as constituting a national problem until late in the nineteenth century.

293. THE CITYWARD DRIFT.—A half century ago more than three fourths of our population was rural; to-day less than half of the people of the United States live in the country. Both urban and rural districts have been steadily increasing in population since the opening of the nineteenth century, but since 1900 the city population has increased three times as fast as has the rural population. One reason for this more rapid growth of the cities is that since the eighties the majority of our immigrants have flocked to the cities rather than to the rural districts. Another reason, however, is that the country people have been drifting to the towns and cities. This cityward drift has an important bearing upon the character of rural life.

294. REASONS FOR THE CITYWARD DRIFT.—A number of factors explain the tendency of rural people to move to the cities. The perfection and wider use of farm machinery have decreased the need for farm laborers, and the excess laborers have gone to the towns and cities. The fact that urban industries offer shorter hours, better pay, and cleaner work than does farming has attracted many young country people. The isolation of farm life and its frequent lack of comforts have impelled many country dwellers to move to the cities. Some country people have gone to the city in order to be near schools and churches, and in order to have access to competent doctors and well-equipped hospitals. The craving for a more fully developed social life than many rural districts afford, has been an additional cause of the cityward drift. Unfortunately, the glamour of urban life, with its spectacles and its artificial pleasures, has also been a factor in the movement away from the country.

295. WHEREIN THE CITYWARD DRIFT IS DESIRABLE.—In some respects the cityward drift is a desirable development. When laborers who are no longer needed on the farms move cityward, the cityward drift may have the beneficial effect of removing such laborers to where they can find employment. It should also be remembered that successful rural life requires qualities which may be lacking in many individuals born and raised in the country. In so far as the cityward drift is composed of such individuals, it may be a helpful movement, since individuals unsuited to rural life may find themselves adapted to some type of urban life. When unneeded and unhelpful individuals are removed from the country, the rural population may be more efficient and more prosperous, even though relatively more sparse.

296. WHEREIN THE CITYWARD DRIFT IS UNDESIRABLE.—In so far as the cityward drift brings to the city individuals unsuited to urban conditions, the movement away from the country may be undesirable. It is certainly undesirable when the individuals in question are really suited to rural life. The tendency of young people to move to the cities may ultimately deprive the country of its natural leaders. Certainly the colleges and factories of the cities often drain the country of its most able and ambitious boys and girls. The cityward migration of such persons may strengthen the urban population, but it weakens rural society and retards the progress of rural institutions.

297. STATUS OF THE "BACK TO THE LAND" MOVEMENT.—Some reformers have sought to offset the cityward drift by an artificial "back to the land" movement. In so far as it would bring to the country persons really able to contribute to rural life, this movement is a desirable one. In so far as it would bring to the country persons unprepared or unable to adapt themselves to rural conditions, such a movement is injurious. On the basis of the data now available, we are warranted in concluding that the "back to the land" movement is founded upon sentiment and caprice rather than upon sound principles. It attacks the rural problem at the wrong end. If the natural leaders of the country are repelled by rural life and attracted by urban conditions, the remedy is not to create an artificial movement toward the country, but rather to make rural life so attractive that country boys and girls will prefer it to city life. The chief question before us is this: How can the country be made so attractive that individuals interested in, and suited to, rural life may be encouraged to lend themselves to its fullest development? Let us see what is being done toward answering this question.

298. HOW THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT IS HELPING TO MAKE RURAL LIFE ATTRACTIVE.—The material prosperity of the American farmer is due, in considerable part, to the activities of the Federal government. For more than a half century the Department of Agriculture has systematically encouraged various phases of agricultural industry. The Department conducts investigations and experiments designed to give farmers helpful information concerning soils, grains, fruits, and live stock. It distributes seeds gratuitously, and attempts to encourage scientific methods among farmers. The Department issues a Year-book, a Monthly Weather Review, a Crop Reporter, and a series of Farmers' Bulletins. Among the more important subdivisions of the department are the bureau of animal industry, the bureau of soils, the bureau of markets, and the office of farm management. The work of the Department of Agriculture is ably supplemented by the work of the Reclamation Bureau, which, under the direction of the Secretary of the Interior, is increasing the productivity of waste and arid lands.

299. THE FEDERAL FARM LOAN ACT.—The growing need of credit facilities among farmers resulted in 1916 in the passage of the Federal Farm Loan Act. By the terms of this act, the United States is divided into twelve districts, in each of which a Federal land bank is established. A Federal Farm Loan Board has general charge of the entire system, but each Farm Loan Bank is allowed a large measure of freedom in its own district in the organization of local Farm Loan Associations. A local association is made up of a number of farm owners, or persons about to become owners, who desire to borrow money. The Bank will not deal with the individual farmer except through the local association, but when a farmer has been vouched for by this association, he may receive from the Bank of his district a loan at not more than six per cent interest. The Bank authorizes loans for the purchase or improvement of land, for the purchase of live stock, and for the erection of farm buildings. Loans must be secured by first mortgages not exceeding in amount fifty per cent of the assessed value of the land and twenty per cent of the value of the improvements thereon pledged as security. Loans may run from five to forty years, and provision is made for the gradual payment, in small sums, of both principal and interest.

300. MARKETING NEEDS OF THE FARMER.—A problem vitally affecting not only the farmer but the urban consumer as well, has to do with the marketing of farm produce. The price of farm produce often doubles or trebles between the farm and the urban kitchen. This is largely because of a cumbersome marketing system and an overabundance of middlemen. Often the farmer gets entirely too little for his produce, while the city housewife pays too much for it. If the farmer is to secure a larger return for his labor, and if the cost of foodstuffs in cities is to be reduced, we must devise more efficient methods of marketing farm produce.

There is a general agreement among experts that in the marketing of farm produce there ought to be some method of securing the coperation of farmer, urban consumer, and government. The further improvement of country roads, together with the development of trolleys, motor trucking and other means of farm-to-city transport would reduce haulage charges. The number of public markets in cities should be increased, so that farm produce might be sold to consumers without the interference of unnecessary middlemen. The grading and standardization of farm products would also facilitate sale by making it unnecessary for prospective purchasers minutely to examine goods offered by the farmers. In some cases farmers might advantageously sell their produce directly to urban consumers. The coperative marketing of farm produce, also has the effect of reducing the number of middlemen. [Footnote: See Chapter XII, Section 116.]

One of the most important phases of marketing reform is the regulation of commission dealers. Many farmers commonly ship their produce to commission dealers in the city. These dealers are supposed to sell this produce and to return to the farmer the money thus secured, minus a small commission. In many instances these middlemen return to the farmer smaller sums than market conditions entitle the farmer to. At the same time, commission dealers often add an excessive amount to the price which they in turn ask of retailers and consumers. In a few states commission dealers handling farm produce must now be licensed. They are obliged to keep records which will enable an inspector to tell whether or not they have made false returns to farmers concerning the condition of goods on arrival, the time at which sold, and the price secured. A dealer convicted of dishonest methods loses his license. The future should see an extension of this licensing system.

301. OTHER ECONOMIC NEEDS OF THE FARMER.—The economic position of the farmer has been materially strengthened within the last forty years, yet much remains to be done before farming may be considered an altogether satisfactory and attractive occupation. Tenancy in rural districts needs to be studied carefully. Tenancy is not necessarily an evil, especially where it is a step toward ownership, but its rapid increase in this country has caused many serious problems to arise. From both the economic and the social point of view it is desirable that farmers own their land. Tenants have no permanent interest in the upkeep of the farm or in the rural community. Where tenancy is widespread, land and buildings deteriorate, and the development of rural institutions is slow.

Machinery is shortening the hours of labor for the farmer, and scientific farming is increasing his efficiency; nevertheless, in most sections of the country rural life still means long hours of hard labor for small returns. Many farmers still work ten hours a day in winter, twelve in summer, and from thirteen to fifteen in the harvest season. Despite this sustained effort, the perishable character of his product, the uncertainty of weather conditions, and his dependence upon commission dealers, too often jeopardize the returns to the farmer.

302. RURAL HEALTH.—We have noticed that in some cases people have moved to the city because in the country doctors tend to be both scarce and poorly trained, while frequently hospitals are inaccessible.

Recently a number of influences are counteracting this relative backwardness. The isolation of the rural dweller is disappearing before the automobile and the telephone. In many sections able doctors are increasingly plentiful. In most rural districts which are near large cities, there is now an efficient system of visiting nurses, free clinics, and health bulletins. Health campaigns are spreading the fundamental principles of sanitation into many of the outlying districts also.

But these measures, while helpful, are only a beginning. In the more isolated rural sections especially, ignorance of sanitary methods is still a serious evil. Many rural dwellers still rely upon traditional but ineffective remedies for common complaints. Quacks having nostrums and injurious patent medicines to sell often prey upon rural communities in which there is no adequate provision for doctors, nurses, and hospitals. Rural diet is often so heavy as to encourage stomach disorders. Farmhouses are in many cases poorly ventilated in summer and overheated in winter. Stables and stock pens are invariably so close to the farmhouse as to render difficult the protection of the dwelling against flies and mosquitoes.

303. THE RURAL SCHOOL.—The chief educational institution in rural districts has long been the small district school, inadequately supported and often inefficiently conducted.

But recently rural education has shown many signs of improvement. In most sections of the country the development of farm machinery has so reduced the amount of manual labor on the farm that rural children are enabled to remain in school for a longer period than formerly. The district school is in many cases being supplanted by the consolidated school. Under the consolidation plan, a single large and well-equipped school-house takes the place of a number of separate, small schools, indifferently equipped. When consolidation is accompanied by improved means of transporting children to school, the advantages of the plan are numerous. Because consolidation is a more economical arrangement than the old district plan, it allows larger salaries to be offered. This in turn allows the rural school to secure a higher grade of teacher. The trained educator is also attracted by the fact that the consolidation of rural schools allows curricula to be standardized and enlarged. Scientific agriculture and allied subjects are slowly finding their way into the rural grade school. The rural high school is beginning to appear.

In some sections of the country, on the other hand, the rural school is still in an unsatisfactory condition. In a number of states the rural school needs a more intelligent and consistent support from the taxpayers, in order that better teachers, more and better schoolhouses, and better working equipment may be provided. In many sections of the country there is very little understanding of the advantages of school consolidation and the necessity of more adequate rural education. It is desirable that rural schools be more closely correlated with the admirable work being done by experiment stations and agricultural colleges. The agricultural press might well coperate with the rural schools in attacking the problems of country life. Without doubt the rural school curriculum should place more emphasis upon practical agriculture and other subjects which will demonstrate the dignity and attractiveness of rural life. Finally, it is desirable that an increasing use be made of the schoolhouse as a social center.

304. THE RURAL CHURCH.—The rural church, though an older institution than the rural school, is advancing less rapidly. In many sections the cityward drift has drained the able ministers to the city, leaving inferior men to carry on the work of the rural church. Other rural sections have never had the benefit of an able clergy. In every part of the country it often happens that country ministers are not only inadequately trained, but are uninterested in rural problems.

One of the greatest needs of the American farming community, therefore, is for a vitalized church. In many places rural districts are overchurched, and there is great need of some such consolidation as has been developed among rural schools. This development would so decrease the number of ministers needed that higher salaries could be offered. This, in turn, would attract more highly trained ministers to the country. It is also desirable that rural ministers be trained to a keener appreciation of the economic and social problems of the country, with a view to making religion a practical help in solving the problems of everyday life. An efficient and vitalized church could advantageously be used as a focal point for the development of every phase of rural community life.

305. ISOLATION THE MENACE OF RURAL LIFE.—Isolation may be said to be the menace of rural life, as congestion is the menace of urban life. In many out-of-the-way rural districts isolation has resulted in moral inertia and intellectual dullness. Isolation has weighed particularly hard upon the farmer's wife. Often she is called upon, not only to rear a large family, but to cook and keep house for hired men, raise poultry and garden stuff, and even to help in the fields during the harvest season. In spite of this deadening routine, she has had fewer chances than the farmer to go to town, to meet people, or otherwise to secure a share of social life.

306. COMMUNITY SPIRIT IN THE COUNTRY.—In view of the injurious effects of rural isolation, it is encouraging to note the beginnings of a genuine community spirit in country districts. To a considerable extent this development is the result of improved means of transportation and communication. The coming of the automobile, the telephone, and the trolley, the development of the rural free delivery, the parcel post, and the agricultural press,—all these factors have been important. The farmer has been enabled to share more and more in the benefits of city life without leaving the farm. Even more important, perhaps, improved methods of transportation and communication have stimulated social intercourse among farmers. Coperation in church and school work has been encouraged. Clubs and community centers are more practicable where farmers make use of the automobile and the telephone. The fair and the festival are also proving to be admirable methods of developing the coperative spirit in rural life.

The growing realization among students of rural life that a strong and constructive community spirit is not only desirable but possible, is encouraging an interest in rural problems. The development of such a spirit must ultimately stimulate a healthy social life in the country, with a resultant increase in health and prosperity, not only for the farmer but for the nation as a whole.

QUESTIONS ON THE TEXT

1. What is the significance of rural life?

2. What is the nature of the rural problem?

3. Why is the rural problem of recent origin?

4. What is meant by the cityward drift?

5. To what extent is this drift desirable? To what extent is it undesirable?

6. What can be said as to the "back to the land" movement?

7. How does the Department of Agriculture help the farmer?

8. What is the object of the Federal Farm Loan Act?

9. Why is the marketing of farm products a problem?

10. What are some suggestions for solving this problem?

11. Discuss the recent improvement in rural health.

12. In what way is rural health still in an unsatisfactory condition?

13. What is the purpose of consolidating the rural schools?

14. What can be said as to the condition of the rural church?

15. What is the effect of isolation upon farm life?

16. What has been the effect of improved means of transportation and communication upon community spirit in rural districts?

REQUIRED READINGS

1. Williamson, Readings in American Democracy, chapter xxv.

Or all of the following:

2. Butterfield, The Farmer and the New Day, chapter iii.

3. Carney, Country Life and the Country School, chapter i.

4. Carver, Rural Economics, chapter vi.

5. Ely, Principles of Economics, chapter xxxix.

QUESTIONS ON THE REQUIRED READINGS

1. In what way is the rural problem threefold? (Butterfield, pages 30- 31)

2. What changes have taken place since 1850 with regard to the size of American farms? (Ely, pages 596-603.)

3. What problem arises in connection with the control of land in this country? (Butterfield, pages 40-41.)

4. Is absentee landlordism a danger in American rural life? (Ely, page 605.)

5. How could farm management in this country be improved? (Butterfield, pages 42-45.)

6. Discuss coperation among Danish farmers. (Carver, pages 357-358.)

7. Discuss agricultural credit in Europe. (Ely, pages 611-613.)

8. In what way is rural local government a problem? (Butterfield, page 47.)

9. Name an important defect of the rural church. (Carver, pages 343- 344.)

10. What are the chief organizations which are aiding in the reconstruction of the rural community? (Carney, page 13.)

11. What is the importance of community building in the country? (Carney, pages 9-10.)

12. What is the importance of federating all of the social organizations of a rural community? (Carney, page 16.)

TOPICS FOR INVESTIGATION AND REPORT

I

1. Nature of the cityward drift in your section.

2. Extent to which there is a "back to the land" movement in your section.

3. Work of the Federal Farm Loan Bank of your district. If possible, interview a farmer as to the advantages and disadvantages of the Federal Farm Loan system.

4. Work of the agricultural college in your state.

5. Use of the automobile by farmers in your locality.

6. Food markets in your neighborhood.

7. Draw up a program for reducing the cost of food distribution in your section. (Consult King, Lower Living Costs in Cities, chapter xiii.)

II

8. Transportation in rural districts. (Vogt, Introduction to Rural Sociology, chapter iv; Gillette, Constructive Rural Sociology, chapter ix; Waugh, Rural Improvement, chapter iii.)

9. The marketing of farm products. (Weld, The Marketing of Farm Products; Annals, vol. xlviii, pages 91-238; King, Lower Living Costs in Cities, chapter x; Harris, Coperation, the Hope of the Consumer, chapter iii.)

10. Tenancy. (Annals, vol. xl, pages 29-40; Vogt, Introduction to Rural Sociology, chapter v.)

11. Rural hygiene. (Ogden, Rural Hygiene; Gillette, Constructive Rural Sociology, chapter xi; Vogt, Introduction to Rural Sociology, chapters vii and viii.)

12. Immigrant communities in the country. (Annals, vol. xl, pages 69-80.)

13. Rural housing. (Annals, vol. li, pages 110-116; Waugh, Rural Improvement, chapter x.)

14. The country town. (Anderson, The Country Town.)

15. The rural school. (Bailey, The Training of Farmers, pages 173- 194; Vogt, Introduction to Rural Sociology, chapter xv; Galpin, Rural Life, chapter vii; King, Education for Social Efficiency, chapters iii and iv; Butterfield, The Farmer and the New Day, chapter vii.)

16. The country church. (Butterfield, The Country Church and the Rural Problem; Gill and Pinchot, The Country Church; Carney, Country Life and the Country School, chapter iii; Gillette, Constructive Rural Sociology, chapter xv; Vogt, Introduction to Rural Sociology, chapters xvii and xviii; Galpin, Rural Life, chapter xi; Annals, vol. xl, pages 131-139.)

17. The Grange. (Carney, Country Life and the Country School, chapter iv.)

18. The farmer in politics. (Vogt, Introduction to Rural Sociology, chapter xii.)

19. Clubs and organizations in rural districts. (Gillette, Constructive Rural Sociology, chapter xiii; Waugh, Rural Improvement, chapter v; Galpin, Rural Life, chapters viii, x; Vogt, Introduction to Rural Sociology, chapter xiv; Annals, vol. xl, pages 175-190.)

20. The Country Life movement. (Bailey, The Country Life Movement in the United States; Carney, Country Life and the Country School, chapter xiii; Gillette, Constructive Rural Sociology, chapter viii.)

FOR CLASSROOM DISCUSSION

21. The relative advantages of life in the city and life in the country.

22. Should immigrants be encouraged to settle in rural districts?

23. Advantages and disadvantages of tenancy from the standpoint of the rural community.

24. To what extent should country people copy the social institutions of the city rather than develop institutions of their own?



CHAPTER XXVI

EDUCATION

307. THE MEANING OF EDUCATION.—A half century ago education might have been defined as the process of acquiring certain types of book knowledge which contributed to the culture of the individual. More recently the concept of education has been broadened and deepened. Present-day education aims not only to add to the culture of the individual, but to vitalize the community as well. Education is no longer limited to the schoolroom, but includes all agencies and activities which in any way help toward a fuller and more responsible citizenship. Education is no longer confined to infancy and youth, but is a life-long process. Our educational system no longer assumes that the needs and capacities of all pupils are similar, but attempts so to diversify training that each individual will be enabled to develop his peculiar powers and to contribute to American life in the manner best suited to his individual ability. Taken in its widest sense, education has seven great objectives. These are health, command of fundamental processes (such as reading, writing, and arithmetic), worthy home- membership, vocation, citizenship, worthy use of leisure, and ethical character. [Footnote: These objectives have been formulated by the National Commission on the Reorganization of Secondary Education.]

308. EDUCATION AND DEMOCRACY.—Two centuries ago the education of the masses was politically a matter of small concern, for most governments were conducted by a narrowly restricted class. But in a democracy education is fundamental. The idea that the masses should govern themselves is an appealing one, but before self-government is safe a comprehensive educational system must have made substantial inroads upon illiteracy and ignorance. Not only must the citizen of a democracy be individually capable, but his capacity to coperate with his fellows must be large. Under an undemocratic government the people rely upon their rulers; in a democracy they must rely upon their own joint efforts. From both an individual and a social standpoint, therefore, democracy demands more of its educational system than does any other form of government.

309. DEVELOPMENT OF EDUCATION IN THE UNITED STATES.—Education was an important concern in most of the American colonies, and especially so in New England. After 1800 the common school system was extended rapidly, the district school passing westward with the pioneer movement. Educational facilities continued to expand and to diversify until at the end of the Civil War period there were more than seven million children in the elementary schools of this country. The period following the Civil War also saw the beginnings of the high school, a characteristic American educational institution which arose to take the place of the older Latin grammar schools and the private academies. Normal schools for the training of teachers, and colleges and universities for higher education, developed rapidly after 1880. Today there are more than three quarters of a million teachers in the United States, instructing more than 25,000,000 students in institutions ranging from kindergarten and elementary schools to colleges and universities.

310. MERITS OF OUR EDUCATIONAL SYSTEM.—The merits of our educational system are of great significance. We are definitely committed to the ideal of an educated citizenry. It has been the policy of the several states to establish and maintain free public schools. School attendance is compulsory, on full or part time, for children up to a certain age, the age varying from state to state. No public school is sectarian, the freedom of religious thought and action guaranteed by the Federal Constitution having been continued into our public school system. The public schools stimulate democratic tendencies by bringing together large masses of children from all walks of life. Our school system likewise has an Americanizing influence upon a large number of foreigners because their children study in our public schools and then carry into their homes the influence of the school. Within the last quarter of a century our schools have greatly extended their functions, becoming, in many cases, genuine community centers.

311. FINANCIANG THE SCHOOLS.—The substantial advances made in American education during the last century are a cause for congratulation. At the same time, our standards of education are rising so rapidly that a number of educational problems are becoming acute.

An important problem has to do with the financial support of our rapidly expanding school system. In many states the schools are inadequately supported by the tax payers. In some of these states the public schools are not readily accessible to large numbers of children, while in the schools that are accessible the equipment is often inadequate to the demands made upon it. In many states teachers still receive insufficient salaries.

Our schools ought not to suffer from lack of funds. Ours is the richest country in the world, and our school system is one of the most vital and fundamental of our institutions. Often the failure of taxpayers properly to support the schools is due to either or both of the following causes: First, failure to appreciate the importance of education; second, the lack of accessible wealth as a basis of taxation. The first objection must be met by so perfecting our educational system that taxpayers will be convinced that money invested in schools means large profits in the form of a more efficient and prosperous citizenship. The second objection calls for the reform of our taxation system.

312. CONTROL OF EDUCATION IN THE UNITED STATES.—In the United States education is a state rather than a national function. There is no Federal administration of schools, each state having its independent system. Each state has a system of elementary education, and nearly every state has a secondary or high school system. Nearly all of the states also have state universities in which instruction is either free or is available at a nominal charge. The public schools are supported chiefly by local taxes and are controlled mainly by the local authorities. In most states local outlays are supplemented, to a greater or less degree, by state contributions. State support is almost always accompanied by a measure of state control, though the extent of this control varies widely among the several states.

313. THE QUESTION OF UNIFORM STANDARDS.—To what extent should there be uniformity within our school system? We have no national system of education, and the lack of cordination between the educational systems of the several states has many undesirable features. Educational standards vary widely from state to state, and often from county to county within the same state. The confusion growing out of this situation has given rise to the demand for the systematization or standardization of our school facilities.

The question is a difficult one. Most authorities believe that education ought not to be centralized under the Federal government, but ought, rather, to remain a state function. But even though it is not desirable to allow the Federal government to take over the chief educational powers of the state, it is believed by many that some national agency might render valuable service in cordinating the educational programs of the several states. At present many educators feel that the Federal government should insist upon minimum standards in education in the various states of the Union.

Standardization within each state is considered desirable by most authorities. All of the educational facilities of a given commonwealth probably ought to be cordinated under some supervising state agency. The administrative ideal in state education is so to systematize the schools of the state that they will be bound together by a common purpose, guided by the same set of established principles, and directed toward the same social ends.

314. SCHOOL ATTENDANCE.—A serious defect of our educational system arises in connection with school attendance. In many states the school attendance laws are laxly enforced. It is claimed that at no one time is more than three fourths of our school population enrolled in the schools. Of those who do comply with the school attendance laws, there is a considerable percentage which cannot acquire an adequate education within the limits of the compulsory school period. Only about one third of the pupils who enter the first year of the elementary school reach the four-year high school, and only about one in nine is graduated. Of those who enter high school, about one third leave before the beginning of the second year, about one half are gone before the beginning of the third year, and fewer than one third are graduated.

Within the last decade there has been a marked tendency among the several states to enforce school attendance laws more strictly. No less encouraging is the growing belief among educators that the school attendance period ought so to be adjusted that every child will be guaranteed the working essentials of an education. There is grave doubt as to the wisdom of raising the minimum age at which children may withdraw from school, but at least greater efforts ought to be made to keep children in school at least for part-time schooling beyond the present compulsory period. As will be pointed out presently, much is already being done in this direction.

315. EDUCATION AS PREPARATION FOR DAILIY LIFE.—It is sometimes said that our educational system neglects practical activities for subjects that have no immediate connection with the problems of daily life. Many citizens have thoughtlessly condemned the whole program of education because they have observed that particular schools have allowed pupils to go forth with a fund of miscellaneous knowledge which neither helps them to get a better living, nor aids them in performing the duties of citizenship. On the basis of these and allied considerations, there is a growing demand that education be made more "practical."

There is much to be said for and against this attitude. Some enthusiasts are apparently carrying the demand for "practical" education too far. The growing importance in our industrial life of efficiency and practical training should not blind us to the fact that education is cultural as well as occupational or vocational. The education of an individual is not estimated alone by the degree to which he succeeds in practical affairs, but as well by the extent to which he shows evidence of training in the appreciation of moral, artistic, and literary values. It is sometimes difficult to see that the study of literature, ancient languages, and similar subjects is preparation for life, and yet wise training in these fields may prove as important as studies which aid more directly and immediately in getting a living.

On the other hand, our educational system must take note of the growing importance of industrial activities. Since education is preparation for life, the school must accommodate itself to the changes which are now taking place in our economic and social organization. As modern society becomes more complex, more tinged with industrial elements, more a matter of coperation and interdependence, education must become more highly evolved, more attentive to vocational needs, and more emphatic in the stress which it lays upon the actual duties of citizenship.

The more complex the needs of daily life, therefore, the greater the necessity of shifting emphasis in education. But in thus shifting the emphasis in education we must be careful not to disturb the balance between cultural and "practical" subjects. To discriminate between what should be taught and what should be omitted from the curriculum, to retain the finest elements of our cultural studies, but at the same time to fit our citizens to meet the demands of office, shop, and factory,—these are the tasks of the educator.

316. VOCATIONAL EDUCATION.—Vocational training is one of the most significant developments in modern education. This type of education is designed to train the young person to earn a good living in that branch of work for which he seems best fitted. Some of the supporters of vocational education believe that this specialized form of training ought to be commenced very early and in connection with the regular curriculum. Others think that vocational education should not be attempted until the child has been given enough generalized training to enable him properly to perform the fundamental duties of citizenship.

But whatever its relation to the curriculum, vocational education is of great significance. If combined with vocational guidance it not only prevents the boy or girl from aimlessly drifting into an unskilled occupation, but it singles out for special attention children who show special aptitude for particular trades and professions. Vocational education for the blind, the deaf, the crippled, and the otherwise disabled is social service of the finest and most constructive type.

317. FEDERAL ENCOURAGEMENT OF VOCATIONAL EDUCATION.—In February, 1917, Congress passed the Smith-Hughes Act, establishing a Federal Board for Vocational Education. This board promotes vocational education in coperation with the several states, and administers the Federal aid granted to the states under the Act. Each state accepting the provisions of the Act must provide a state board to control a system of vocational schools. Evening, part-time, and continuation schools offer instruction in agriculture, industry, commerce, transportation, and the professions. Each state must also agree to appropriate, either through the state or locally, an amount of money for teachers' salaries, equivalent to the sum received from the Federal board. Such states must also agree to provide proper buildings and meet the running expenses of the system. In the first year under this Act, the Federal appropriations amounted to more than a million and a half dollars. This sum is to be increased annually until the year 1925-1926, when the states will receive $7,000,000 from the Federal government in support of vocational education.

318. LIMITATIONS OF THE CONVENTIONAL SCHOOL TERM.—A few decades ago, the typical school in an American city offered instruction to certain classes of young people between nine o'clock in the morning and three or four o'clock in the afternoon, for from 150 to 180 days a year. During the rest of the time the schoolhouse was idle.

This policy greatly restricted the education of important groups of people. Adult immigrants were barred from the elementary public schools. Persons desiring educational guidance in special fields often found that the school offered them no help. Cripples, men and women employed in the daytime, and other individuals who found it impossible or inconvenient to attend school during the conventional time limits, were restricted in educational opportunity. Many boys and girls who drop out of school because of the necessity of going to work, do so before their education has been completed. For most of these classes, the inability to take advantage of the regular school term has meant the denial of adequate education.

319. WIDER USE OF THE SCHOOL PLANT.—Recently the "wider use of the school plant" movement is helping these classes to secure or continue their education. For unassimilated immigrants, day and evening courses in citizenship are now provided in many cities and towns. In many cities vacation schools have been established for the convenience of children who have failed in their studies, or who are able and willing to make unusual progress in various subjects. For those who work by day there is often a chance to go to school by night. For those who find it inexpedient to leave their homes, there are, in many places, travelling libraries and correspondence courses. In some western states the farmer now has an opportunity of taking extension courses from the State university during those seasons in which his work is lightest. For pupils who are under the necessity of partially or entirely supporting themselves, some cities now have part-time or all- around-the-year schools.

320. THE SCHOOL AS A SOCIAL CENTER.—Closely associated with the movement to extend school facilities to those who would ordinarily be debarred from them, is the movement toward making the school a social center. Many city and some rural schools now provide free to the general public lectures on science, art, literature, and business. Moving pictures, dramatics, and other forms of entertainment are becoming a regular feature of this type of school work. In many schools the gymnasiums are available to the public under reasonable restrictions. Folk singing and dancing are being encouraged in numerous schools. Schoolrooms devoted by day to regular school courses are in many places being used during the evening for the discussion of public questions. In these and other ways the school is becoming a center of life for the community. It is extending into the homes of the people and is becoming the instrument of the community rather than of a particular group.

321. EDUCATION AND SOCIAL PROGRESS.—We may sum up the problems so far discussed in this text by noting that their solution calls for three different types of treatment.

First, we must strike at the root of poverty by giving every individual just what he earns, by making it possible for every individual to earn enough to support himself and his family decently, and by teaching him to spend his income wisely and economically.

Second, wise and careful laws must be passed for the purpose of correcting and lessening the social defects of American democracy.

Third, education must be relied upon to render the individual able and willing to do his duty toward himself and his country. The boys and girls of to-day are the voters and home-makers of to-morrow, and the responsibility of preparing those boys and girls for the efficient conduct of community life rests almost entirely upon the school. Thus education is one of the most basic factors in social progress. Neither a reorganized economic system, nor the most carefully drawn laws on social questions will solve the problems of American democracy until the individual citizen is trained to a proper appreciation of his responsibilities toward himself and toward his country.

QUESTIONS ON THE TEXT

1. What is the scope of education?

2. What is the relation of education to democracy?

3. Trace briefly the development of education in this country.

4. Enumerate the chief merits of our educational system.

5. What problem arises in connection with financing the schools?

6. Explain the failure of some taxpayers properly to support the schools.

7. Discuss the control of education in this country.

8. Outline the problem of uniform educational standards.

9. To what extent is school attendance a problem?

10. What are the chief tasks of the educator?

11. Discuss the purpose of vocational education.

12. What is the nature of the Smith-Hughes act?

13. What are the limitations of the conventional school term?

14. What is meant by the "wider use of the school plant" movement?

15. To what extent is the school becoming a social center?

16. What is the relation of education to social progress?

REQUIRED READINGS

1. Williamson, Readings in American Democracy, chapter xxvi. Or all of the following:

2. Cubberley, Changing Conceptions of Education, all.

3. Guitteau, Government and Politics in the United States, chapter xviii.

4. McMurry, How to Study, part i.

5. Perry, Wider Use of the School Plant, chapter i.

QUESTIONS ON THE REQUIRED READINGS

1. Discuss briefly the progress made in education since the Civil War. (Cubberley, pages 38-42.)

2. Name an important defect of our educational system as it existed in the eighties. (Perry, page 3.)

3. Discuss the development of the high school. (Guitteau, pages 174- 175.)

4. To what extent does the Federal government aid State education? (Guitteau, page 176.)

5. Compare briefly the four types of school administration. (Guitteau pages 177-180.)

6. What are the chief sources of school revenues? (Guitteau, pages 182-183.)

7. What has been the effect of immigration upon our educational system? (Cubberley, pages 14-15.)

8. What is the function of the vacation school? (Perry, pages 6-7.)

9. What is meant by the problem of leisure time? (Cubberley, page 20.)

10. Outline briefly the present tendencies in education. (Cubberley, pages 49-69-)

11. Outline the principal factors in study. (McMurry, pages 15-23.)

TOPICS FOR INVERSTGATION AND REPORT

I

1. Trace the development of public school education in your state.

2. Classify the types of schools in your state.

3. Draw up a list of the more important provisions in your state constitution regarding education.

4. Sources of school revenues in your community.

5. State supervision of the public schools in your commonwealth.

6. Influence of the Smith-Hughes act upon education in your state.

7. Use of the school as a social center in your community.

8. The meaning of education. (Butler, The Meaning of Education; Henderson, What is it to be Educated? Hadley, The Education of the American Citizen; Baldwin, The Relation of Education to Citizenship.)

9. The beginnings of American education. (Cubberley, Public Education in the United States, chapter ii.)

10. The reorganization of elementary education. (Cubberley, Public Education in the United States, chapter x.)

11. Education through play. (Curtis, Education through Play.)

12. The use of leisure time. (Annals, vol. lxvii, pages 115-122.)

13. Wider use of the school plant. (Cubberley, Public Education in the United States, chapter xiii; Annals, vol. lxvii, pages 170-202. Perry, Wider Use of the School Plant.)

14. The relation of the school to the community. (Dewey, Schools of To-morrow, chapter vii.)

15. Physical education. (Sargent, Physical Education.)

16. The education of Helen Keller. (Keller, The Story of My Life. See also an encyclopedia.)

17. The education of the crippled child. (Hall and Buck, Handicrafts for the Handicapped.)

18. Education for efficiency. (Eliot, Education for Efficiency; Davenport, Education for Efficiency.)

19. Vocational education. (Taylor, A Handbook of Vocational Guidance; Bloomfield, The Vocational Guidance of Youth; Leake, Industrial Education, Its Problems, Methods and Danger.)

20. Choosing a vocation. (Parsons, Choosing a Vocation.)

21. The United States Bureau of Education and the immigrant; (Annals, vol. lxvii, pages 273-283.)

22. Education and social progress. (Ellwood, Sociology and Modern Social Problems, chapter xvi.)

FOR CLASSROOM DISCUSSION

23. Do grammar school graduates who fail to enter high school stop their education at this point because of poverty, because of the attraction of industry, or because of dissatisfaction with school?

24. The question of free text books.

25. The question of uniform text books throughout your state.

26. At what point in the school curriculum should vocational education be begun?

27 How are ancient languages, ancient history and the fine arts helpful in daily life?

28. The question of a more intensive use of your school building as a social center.



PART IV—AMERICAN POLITICAL PROBLEMS

A. SOME ECONOMIC FUNCTIONS OF GOVERNMENT

CHAPTER XXVII

PUBLIC INTEREST IN BUSINESS: REGULATION

322. NECESSITY OF PUBLIC INTEREST IN BUSINESS.—Although individuals carry on business primarily for their own ends, the economic activities of men affect not only themselves, but the community as well. If every individual voluntarily confined his attention to those forms of business which strengthened the community as well as adding to his own prosperity, there would be little need for laws regulating the conduct of business. But because experience has shown that some persons will seek to benefit themselves in ways that react to the injury of the community, it becomes necessary for law to adjust private and public interests. A community cannot remain indifferent to the economic activities of its citizens. Public interest in business is a fundamental necessity, if the community is to be safeguarded against the abuses of free enterprise.

323. NATURE OF PUBLIC INTEREST IN BUSINESS.—In general, the object of laws regulating business is either to encourage helpful business methods, or to discourage harmful business methods. A good deal of legislation has been designed positively to encourage helpful business methods, yet it remains true that the most significant of our industrial laws have been aimed primarily at the discouragement of harmful business. A fundamental American ideal is to insure to the individual as much freedom of action as is consistent with the public interest. Thus we believe that if harmful business is controlled or suppressed, private initiative may be trusted to develop helpful business methods, without the aid of fostering legislation. In this and the following chapter, therefore, we may confine our attention to legislation designed to suppress harmful business methods.

324. THE NATURE OF MONOPOLY.—We may begin the discussion by inquiring into the nature and significance of monopoly.

Under openly competitive conditions the free play of supply and demand between a number of producers and a number of prospective consumers fixes the price of a commodity. In such cases consumers are protected against exorbitant prices by the fact that rival producers will underbid each other in the effort to sell their goods.

But if the supply of a good, say wheat, is not in the hands of several rival producers, but is under the control of a unified group of persons, competition between the owners of the wheat is suppressed sufficiently to enable this unified group more nearly to dictate the price for which wheat shall sell. In such a case a monopoly is said to exist. Complete control of the supply of a commodity is rare, even for short periods, but modern business offers many instances of enterprises which are more or less monopolistic in character.

The essential danger of monopoly is that those who have secured control of the available supply of a commodity will use that control to benefit themselves at the expense of the public. By combining their individual businesses, producers who were formerly rivals may secure the chief advantage of large-scale management. That is to say, the cost of production per unit may be decreased, because several combined plants might be operated more economically than several independent concerns. If the cost of production is decreased the combining producers can afford to lower the price of their product. But if they are practically in control of the entire supply, they will not lower the price unless it serves their interests to do so. Indeed it is more likely that they will take advantage of their monopoly to raise the price.

325. TYPES OF MONOPOLY.—Monopolies are variously classified, but for our purpose they may be called either natural or unnatural.

A natural monopoly may exist where, by the very nature of the business, competition is either impossible or socially undesirable. Examples of this type of monopoly are gas and water works, street railways, steam railways, and similar industries. These will be discussed in the next chapter.

Where an unnatural monopoly exists, it is not because the essential character of the business renders it unfit for the competitive system, but because competition has been artificially suppressed. The traditional example of an unnatural monopoly is that form of large- scale combination which is popularly known as a trust.

326. ORIGIN OF THE TRUST.—After the Civil War, rivalry in many industries was so intense as to lead to "cutthroat" competition and a consequent reduction in profits. For the purpose of securing the advantages of monopoly, many previously competing businesses combined. In 1882 John D. Rockefeller organized the Standard Oil Company, the first trust in this country. The plan drawn up by Mr. Rockefeller provided that the owners of a number of oil refineries should place their stock in the hands of a board of trustees. In exchange for this stock, the owners received trust certificates on which they were paid dividends. Having control of the stock, the trustees were enabled to manage the combining corporations as one concern, thus maintaining a unified control over supply, and opening the way to monopoly profits.

327. PRESENT MEANING OF THE TERM "TRUST."—The plan initiated by Mr. Rockefeller was so successful that other groups of industries adopted it. After 1890 the original trust device was forbidden by statute, and the trust proper declined in importance. But there continued to be a large number of industrial combinations which, under slightly different forms, have secured all of the advantages of the original trust. In some cases previously competing corporations have actually amalgamated; in still other cases, combining concerns have secured the advantages of monopoly by forming a holding company. A holding company is a corporation which is created for the express purpose of "holding" or controlling stock in several other corporations. This the holding company does by buying a sufficient amount of the stock of the combining concerns to insure unity of management and control. Since the holding company and similar devices secure the chief advantages of the original trust, the word "trust" is now used to designate any closely knit combination which has monopolistic advantages.

328. GROWTH OF THE TRUST MOVEMENT.—The trust movement developed rapidly after 1882. There were important combinations in the oil, tin, sugar, steel, tobacco, paper, and other industries. By 1898 there had been formed some eighty trusts, with a total capitalization of about $1,000,000,000. At the beginning of 1904 the number of trusts exceeded three hundred, while their combined capital totaled more than $5,000,000,000. The largest single trust was the United States Steel Corporation, which was capitalized at almost a billion and a half dollars. At the beginning of 1911, in which year the Supreme Court of the United States ordered two important trusts to dissolve, the combined capital of the trusts was probably in excess of $6,000,000,000.